“Your majesty, I am honored,” the girl said, trying to look sultry despite the beads of nervous sweat on her forehead.
“Thank you for allowing me this dance,” Alec replied just before the music started. Thereafter they spoke about the ordinary aspects of the girl’s family and life, with Alec saying little, but letting the young woman fill the length of the dance with a stream of inane comments.
Alec found, with slight relief, that he was free from a partner for the next dance. Instead he listened to a number of visitors and well-wishers, especially from the very class of nobilit he hoped to attract back to the city. Thereafter the musicians took a break, so that he was able to disengage from conversations and disappear from the public’s sight for a short break. “Armilla, is there any way out of this?” he asked.
“Sire, you could pretend to break your leg, but then people would expect you to heal it. No, there’s no way out,” she concluded emphatically, with a chuckle.
“How many more dances are there?” Alec asked with resignation.
“Six more, your majesty.”
“How many do I have to dance?”
“At least four, your majesty.”
“The music is starting. Who do I dance with now?” Alec asked the final question as he opened a door to return to the ballroom.
“Your next dance is with the ingenaire you requested, sire,” Armilla said.
Soon thereafter Bethany stood before Alec, and they held hands as the movement began.
“Should I say anything, or let you break the ice?” Bethany asked after several silent seconds.
“Tritos. Tell me about him, Bethany. He cares for you a great deal. When we spoke, he spoke about you, and how much you deserved,” Alec said abruptly.
Bethany stumbled mentally. She had been prepared to talk about receiving his letter, but Alec swung the conversation in the opposite direction.
“’He cares for me a great deal?’ Alec, why is it so hard for you say the word ‘love’? Why not say he loves me a great deal?” she asked.
“When we parted in the courtyard in Bondell, you couldn’t say ‘love’ to me,” Bethany said, bothered because she perceived Alec was undercutting Tritos, even while she wanted to have a warm conversation with Alec herself. In her confusion, she inadvertently went on the offensive.
“My heart knew then, I think, that you wouldn’t ever love me, but I kept hoping. And then you wrote to tell me you weren’t coming back, and you still didn’t say you loved me. And then you disappeared, and no one knew where you were. All our friends in Goldenfields tried to comfort me, to tell me you’d turn up; they knew I was distraught with hurt and worry. Then many months later, a letter comes out of the blue to the Duke, I heard, and one to Colonel Ryder, but not one to me, not until later.
“And Tritos has been a good friend, while everyone else has been so polite to my face, but I know they talk about me,” Bethany started to cry. “They talk about how you left me.”
“Shush, Beth, shush,” Alec said awkwardly, desperately, not wanting to see his friend in tears.
“And then you come back to Oyster Bay and magically take over the whole city. We meet, we talk, we part, and I think I can go on with life,” she was almost sobbing. “And then after all that, I suddenly get a letter you wrote sometime a long time ago.”
Bethany paused, and decided to drop the topic so that she wouldn’t have to reveal her pain any longer. “That girl from Stronghold you danced with, that was Noranda, the one you healed?” she asked.
“She’s a pretty girl. You seemed to enjoy your dance with her,” Bethany commented. “After you followed her across the Dominion and saved her life, it’s nice to see she’s come all the way back here to see you again.”
“She is engaged to Brandeis, her companion tonight. He had waited faithfully for her in Stronghold for years,” Alec swiftly countered, wanting to make a point. Bethany grew silent and said no more.
Alec held her closer, his eyes closed, even while feeling confused and upset. “Oh Bethany,” he paused. “Oh Bethany, the music has ended and we’re out here in the middle of the room all alone being watched by everyone. Can you make this look graceful?”
She stopped crying, and a moment later loosened the contact between them. “Walk me back to the other ingenairii and we’ll remember that a ruler is never able to have a private moment in front of hundreds of other people,” she said quietly. They walked across the floor self-consciously, Alec unable to make eye contact with anyone at the moment as he thought about all that Bethany had said. He released her hand, and she walked away. As she re-entered the group of ingenairii, she turned to look back over her shoulder at Alec with an inscrutable gaze, then turned back. Alec walked away, deeply saddened by the dashing of his dreams for an affectionate reunion.
By the time the last dance arrived, Alec was emotionally exhausted. “Armilla,” he called, “Who am I dancing with now?”
“No one, your majesty,” she replied.
“Come here then,” he asked her as he took a step out from his retinue.
“Yes, your majesty?” she said, then her voice raised in a tone of horror as Alec held his arm out. “No, I can’t. I can’t. I can’t.”
“You would deny the crown protector in front of all these people?” Alec asked her, holding out his other hand.
She dutifully approached him, and began the closing dance of the evening. “This will really have the wags gossiping more than before,” she said in a mock spiteful tone.
“More than before what?” Alec asked.
“Well, the last dance is usually who you hope to woo after the dance, but the gossip is that either you’ve already forced the blonde ingenaire to secretly join you tonight,” Armilla answered, “or the girl from Stronghold has come all this way to be with you. So now they won’t know where your devious heart lies – with one of them, or just with me, your faithful companion.”
“You’re mocking me, aren’t you?” Alec asked, but Armilla gave no answer.
As the dance came to an end, the crowd broke into applause, and Alec was thanked by many people as they walked towards the doorway where dozens of carriages jostled and waited. He responded cordially and accepted the comments, watching the social status of guests play out as larger carriages departed earliest. Sunrise was not many hours away, and Alec cringed at the thought of awakening early.
Chapter 25 – The Crown Protected
For days afterwards, Alec found the dance was the topic of conversation throughout the palace and the town. Even at the cathedral as he healed the sick he heard gossip about the dance. He listened to many patients chat about the event, and they likened it in all cases to the good old days when the king had ruled and the city had felt prosperous.
However, his main preoccupation immediately following the ball, was speaking with Brandeis and Noranda, and Nathaniel and Moriah. Late on the morning after the ball, Nathaniel and Moriah called on Alec, to apprise him of what had transpired in Stronghold.
“In principle, they acknowledge you as rightful protector, they pledge their support, and they agree to resume peaceful trading among the nations of the Dominion,” Moriah explained. Alec sat with his head propped on his hand, trying to rouse himself from the fog of the late night.
“As we have negotiated in the proposed treaty, you will give them a five year exclusive franchise to trade the waters from the cleaning fountain, but the people of Oyster Bay will still be allowed to fill their own jugs daily, as you wished,” she added. “And you will get half the profits.”
“They will provide an army regiment to fight the lacertii at your calling,” Nathaniel said. “You’ve got good friends there now.”
That same day a note arrived from the Duke of Goldenfields, two notes actually. A formal note accepted the offer of aid; alongside it was a personal note that was a lengthy message of pleasure and joy at Alec’s survival and ascension to power. Alec immediately sent the troops from Slone who wished to continue to battle, and p
romised that more troops would come in the spring. He also sent his road-building convicts to work on the eastern highway along the river in Goldenfields.
“Rander, prepare messages to go forth to all the provinces and states of the Dominion, calling for a grand army to rendezvous at Three Forks in three months time to join the effort against the lacertii, and start shipping supplies in advance so we’re ready when they arrive,” he instructed his steward.
Alec enjoyed the visit of Brandeis and Noranda, reliving the adventures they’d shared in Stronghold, and sharing stories about their actions since then. But when they left several days later, he felt relief. He had taken pains not to be alone with Noranda, wanting to neither stir rumors in the palace nor jealousy in Brandeis. He sensed no unease in Brandeis, and did not want to jeopardize his friendship in any way.
Alec escorted them to the pier, and watched their ship depart on its return to Stronghold, a thick sheaf of documents onboard to verify the new links between the Locksforts’ city and the crown of the Dominion. Included was the call to arms that Alec hoped would bring a host of warriors to Three Forks as part of the army he expected to lead in defense of Goldenfields.
Oyster Bay continued to regain its sense of normalcy; a ruler on the throne, a bountiful harvest, the return of the noble class, and a flow of funds out of the palace all combined to help people recover. Alec’s regular healings at the cathedral inspired people’s morale, and continued to let him hear the common people’s thoughts, both good and bad.
Amidst the good works taking place, Alec felt trapped. He could not leave the capital city because it still needed the calming assurance of his presence. He wanted to leave now and make his way to the front to fight the lacertii, but he knew the time was not yet right. Until the weather improved and the messages called his grand army together, Alec had no place to go. He threw his excess energy into healing the people, and training and building the Palace Guard and the army.
And still he felt uncomfortable in the city. He remembered meeting Noranda in the palace gardens, and seeing her at her uncle’s home. He remembered spending time with Bethany, especially on Ingenairii Hill, as well as in the shops and along the streets. He remembered bringing Cassie from her fishing village to Rubicon’s home, healing her legs, and restoring her life one night on a beach. Now he was disconnected from them all of those friends. Although he’d felt lonely while traveling across the Dominion, he felt more lonely now. Rubicon, Nathaniel and Moriah, the remaining warrior ingenairii, had returned to Ingenairii Hill. Alec had some friends in the palace, but they all looked upon him as the protector of the crown, and there was always some distance.
“Where is the crown?” Ari asked Alec one day.
Alec was befuddled by the question.
“You are the protector of the crown, right? So where is it?” Ari repeated. “I know you do not see yourself as the permanent ruler of the Dominion, but others will start to think of you that way, if you do not remind them that you are not. Go get the crown, and remind people that you are only a trustee for it. Hold some kind of ceremony to let the people view the crown as one thing, and you as something else.”
Alec pondered A’s advice, knowing that he would follow it eventually.
The days went by, with Alec seeking more and more duties to keep his days busy. Then at midwinter festival, the nobility returned to its habit of lavish parties and balls held at mansions through the city and the surrounding countryside, and Alec was invited to them all.
His advisors at the palace selected several for him to go to, and he found his evenings became as busy as his days. He was given the opportunity to meet many young ladies from the noble families. “You do need to think about securing an heir,” Marble must have spoken to Aristotle at some point, Alec realized when the senior advisor reminded him before he left for the fifth or sixth social event of the season. “You should flirt with several of them for a while to keep many families happy with you, but at some point we need to get you married and enjoying fatherhood, so we don’t fall back to where we were.”
Alec felt no affection for any of the young women he met, attractive and pleasant though many of them were. None of them had experienced any life other than their pampered homes. They didn’t know or speak of anything in their lives that matched the excitement Alec had found in his adventures with Noranda, Leah, Bethany and Cassie. Their discussions about drawing lessons and new carriages bored him to tears.
The young ruler debated inviting Bethany to go to a dance with him. She would be right at home in such surroundings, and if she tried she would be more than able to make him comfortable too. And that would lead to what, he wondered. Would he be willing to invite her away from Tritos? Would she be willing to come? Was he thinking of her so much because she mattered so much, or because she was so close by? Or would she come, and they would have another frosty exchange that left them both unhappier? He constantly thought of inviting her, but never did.
A month after the height of the midwinter festivities, replies began to arrive from the vassal states of the Dominion, bearing pledges of funds, as well as troops that would be sent to the rendezvous at Three Forks in just a few weeks’ time. “Either the princes and dukes and councilors are very determined to win the good graces of the new king, or they’re genuinely afraid of the threat of the lacertii,” Brannis suggested during a council meeting. “Check to see if the ones with eligible daughters have sent the most troops,” he added with a smile.
Alec didn’t know or even want to know the answer to that question, but he was grateful for the large number of troops that would make a mighty army. With a road-building crew already on the way, he felt confident that he was going to deliver needed support for the Duke of Goldenfields, to whom he owed so much.
Alec finally settled on the way to handle the crown. Two days were spent comically trying to locate where it physically resided, and Alec lost sleep one night imagining that he had lost it. When a clerk disclosed that it was in the palace vaults, Alec, Rander and others collectively sighed in relief.
Alec invited Aristotle and the Ingenairii Council, the Arch-prelate, cardinals and bishops, high members of the nobility, and army and Guard officers to a ceremony in the throne room. The room had sat vacant since Alec’s accession to power, other than for cleaning staf>
As he looked out at the crowd, he suddenly recognized the ghosts of Enguerrand and Gildevny standing in the front row clapping in approval, and John Mark standing beside them. He felt such shock that he fumbled the crown, and saw it flash in the air as it began to fall. He swiftly lowered his hands and caught it in mid-air, causing the gathering to first gasp then cheer.
“Place the crown on the throne,” John Mark told Alec, speaking clearly, even though no one else seemed to hear or see the specters.
Alec stepped sideways, extended his arms, and placed the crown on the seat of the throne. The room’s humorous twitters were silenced. As he took a step back, the crown seemed to brighten, then a flash of light momentarily blinded everyone who was looking at it. Alec stepped back in surprise.
When his vision cleared, he saw that the light had signaled an extraordinary exercise of power. The crown was encased in a translucent violet cube. The room was abuzz, as necks craned and people shuffled to see it better. Cautiously, Alec reached a hand towards it, and the room grew silent again. Alec’s fingers touched the cube; it was solid, slick, and impenetrable.
The air seemed to grow brighter again, and Alec stepped back yet again. There was a second flash, and when his vision returned, Alec was standing beside a second, yellow translucent box, one that encased the entire throne itself as well as the encased crown upon its seat. The room was full of talking, shouting, shuffling people, but Alec paid no attention to any of them. Instead he turned and looked at John Mark and the ghosts, who stood with solemn visages.
“The throne and crown are protected until the rightful heir is ready. The throne shall remain protected until the heir reaches his nineteenth
birthday. On that day the cube shall dissolve, and the Dominion shall know that the time is approaching for the heir to be revealed,” John Mark explained. “The crown will remain protected until the day the heir enters this room after he reaches his age of majority.”
The saint and the two silent ghosts looked at Alec, gave him a salute, and dissolved into nothingness.
“Alec, Alec,” he heard his name being called. He raised his head and re-focused his eyes. Rander, Ari, and Rubicon had all stepped up towards the dais. “What have you done?” Ari asked.
“I did not do these things. This is the work of the prophet John Mark,” Alec answered, and his voice seemed to carry unnaturally well throughout the room. “The throne is protected until the day the rightful heir reaches his age of majority, nineteen. On that day the protection surrounding the throne shall disappear.
“The crown will remain protected in its cube until the day thereafter when the heir eoom. By these signs you will know that the crown and the throne and the Dominion have been reunited under the name of Tarnum.”
“What about you?” someone in the crowd asked loudly.
“I was instructed to cleanse the Dominion, protect the crown and revenge the old king,” Alec answered. “I was never told to be a ruler. “I will leave soon to go with the army to war on behalf of Goldenfields, and I hope that your rightful king shall be enthroned before I return.”
“All honor to you for your scruples, Alec. Another would have simply taken control of the power and the throne by now,” Rubicon said.
“It’s not scruples, Rubicon. I’m just tired,” Alec answered. He looked out over the crowd. “I thank you all for attending today. This ceremony is over now, and you all are free to return to your homes, businesses, or other significant places.
“I want an end to all the conflict, and I don’t want to know so much about how the world works,” he continued to his friends as he stepped down and started to walk out with them.
The Lifesaving Power: Goldenfields and Stronghold Page 25
