The Lifesaving Power: Goldenfields and Stronghold

by Jeffrey Quyle

  “What can you do with your light powers?” she asked Shaiss.

  The answer caught the light ingenaire off-guard. “I can do the same as everyone else,” he said in confusion. “I can bend light, concentrate it, collect it, cleave it, and distort it,” he answered, rattling off the five key precepts every apprentice light ingenaire learned.

  Armilla thought his answer was no help at all. “No,” she said hastily, “I meant, is there something you can do to help Nathaniel protect Rosebay? Can you use your powers as a weapon in some way?”

  Understanding entered Shaiss’s mind. He looked at Armilla speculatively. “Well, I could make the light around them flash brightly. That would confuse them. I could maybe make the light around them go elsewhere, so that they would be in darkness. In both cases I could only do a small area for a short while, working from this distance. I could make a rainbow appear over them. Do you think that would stop them?” he asked Armilla with a grin.

  “I don’t know if they have superstitions about that or…” she stopped in mid-sentence as she realized the ingenaire was teasing her. Her grim face wiped the smile from his.

  “I could try to start fires among them. I’m pretty good at concentrating light so that it becomes like a long rope that is very hot. It only lasts for a second at a time, but it will start a fire where ever I aim it,” he suggested next. “I can do it better than practically any other ingenaire in Oyster Bay,” he proudly added.

  He watched Armilla mull that over, and saw the approval blossom on her face. “Could you make the hair on the heads of their generals catch on fire?” she asked.

  “Yes, I believe so. I’d have to drop our invisibility to focus my power on that task, though,” he warned. “Pick out someone down there you’d like for me to try it on,” he suggested with a nod to the army column they faced.

  “You can do it from up here?” Armilla said with pleased surprise. “Then try that one there,” she pointed towards an evident leader who held a baton and was motioning towards a small group.

  Shaiss stood still for a moment, then raised his hand and pointed. For a fraction of a second Armilla saw the rope of light head towards the target, and then the officer toppled over, flames rising from his head.

  They watched for several minutes as soldiers scurried about the unmoving body. “I didn’t think it would harm him like that,” Shaiss said with some fear in his voice. “I thought it would just set a fire on him.”

  There was considerable excitement occurring among the leaders of the lacertii column now, Armilla noted. “Can you do that again?” she asked.

  “I could do it a few more times,” Shaiss replied, “but then I’ll be used up,” he added.

  “Try it on that one,” Armilla said, pointing at another apparent officer. Shaiss concentrated, then obliged her, with the same results.

  Rosebay started walking towards Shaiss, at a pace that suggested she was feeling confidence in the progress of their efforts. “That is very effective, and very frightening,” she said in reference to his light beams. “Please wait now to see how they react,” she asked. “Perhaps they have concluded they cannot win.” She looked down and saw the three unconscious ingenairii and warriors. “Are they okay?” she asked. “That one is your young king, isn’t he?”

  “Yes, he is our leader, but not exactly our king,” Armilla replied. “He’ll be better when we can get him out of this battle zone to a place where he can rest and recuperate.” Though she didn’t know that for a fact, Armilla wasn’t going to tell anyone anything else.

  “I hope we can finish here and go in peace soon,” Rosebay answered. “I pray your king recovers quickly. He has a very good heart.” They stood there without further comment for a moment. “I see another delegation coming,” she said. “We’ll see if their attitude is changing,” and walked back to her position in the center.

  A small group of only four soldiers approached slowly, without any show of weapons. “May we talk with you?” one asked from thirty yards away.

  “Do you know what I want?” Rosebay asked.

  “Yes,” the man replied simply.

  “Are you going to comply?” she asked.

  “We are ready to comply,” another one said.

  “That is good. We don’t have much time to prepare,” Rosebay said. “Please prepare the soldiers for inspection. I’ll be down soon,” she added dismissively.

  With an air of uncertainty, the lacertii representatives, returned to their command. The small group that had just defeated an army stood above and watched as the troops re-organized themselves for presentation to their new commander.

  “Nathaniel, Kinsey, Alder! Come over here,” Armilla shouted.

  Sensing that they no longer needed to maintain their positions for battle, Alder dropped his invisibility, and the three ingenairii hastened over to their injured friends and leader. “What’s wrong with Alec?” Nathaniel asked bending over to examine the three unconscious forms.

  “I don’t know,” Armilla replied. “They were like this when I got here. You’re the ingenairii; what can you tell?”

  Only Kinsey spoke, as the others shrugged. “The spirit of Yula is not a problem. Alec and Imelda, I don’t know what to tell you; they are not exactly separate people right now. I think Alec has done something that, well, I haven’t ever seen anything at all like this, but it seems that he has pulled the two of them together.” She looked at the others uncertainly.

  “Are they going to be okay?” Alder asked first.

  “I don’t see why not, but I’ve never seen anything like this,” Kinsey answered.

  “We’ve got to get them out of here and someplace where they’re safe and can rest. We don’t need to stay stuck in the middle of two lacertii armies,” Armilla proclaimed. “Can you summon the cavalry to come retrieve us?” she asked the light ingenairii.

  “Imelda set up the signal with us,” Alder answered. “I can send up the light beam, and repeat it to give them our location at any time.”

  “I don’t know if we should do that yet,” Nathaniel said slowly, causing Armilla’s head to whip around. “We don’t know how secure Rosebay’s command is here right now. It would be better to give her some support until we have a better idea things are in hand.”

  “You can stay, but I intend to get Alec and the others out of here,” Armilla said hotly as she gestured to the sprawling figures.

  “

  “I’ve only got one signal – come and get us,” Alder said with exasperation. “We don’t have a code for every contingency.”

  “We should have kept Allisma with us,” Nathaniel said. “She might have some ideas about what to do. How long do you think Alec and Imelda should rest?” he asked Kinsey.

  “He must have used a lot of healing power to help Imelda,” Shaiss answered instead. “She took quite a wound. I remember when he healed Cassie, though; he was better the next day. Can we stay here with him and wait for him to wake up while Rosebay’s army moves on?”

  Armilla realized how unsure everyone was and the uncertain ground they were treading on. “Listen,” she said. “Here’s what we need to do. Our first priority is to save the crown protector, right?” she looked around, and everyone nodded their heads. “Then we need to call in the cavalry, so they can either help protect him or take him away. Shaiss, you and I will go out and intercept them just short of here, and then bring only a few guards and some extra horses in to this spot.”

  “Once we do that, Nathaniel, you can help guard Rosebay; I agree it’s a good idea to make sure that she remains in control. It’s what he wants,” she indicated Alec. “But until then, we all need to stay close by to help protect Alec.”

  No one spoke, and Armilla took their silence for consent. “Shaiss or Alder, would one of you send the signal to the cavalry to head this way? We need to get started,” Armilla said after a suitable silence.

  The two light ingenairii looked at one another, then Alder raised his hands in the air. A light breeze ru
ffled his hair as he looked up at gray clouds against the blue sky, closed his eyes, and paused before engaging his powers once more. His hands glowed yellow for an intense moment, then a beam of light extended upwards from them through the sky, brashly announcing itself to anybody within miles. The group of humans, their heads all thrown back, failed to notice the silence that descended over the nearby lacertii army as all eyes turned towards the brilliant mark in the sky.

  Alder was quietly counting backwards, and those standing with him heard him count down to zero, when the beam suddenly disappeared. His hands again seemed to glow for a moment, then they lost their luminescence, and the ingenaire lowered them. “I’ve done about all I can do until we can rest for a while,” he muttered to no one in particular.

  “Well then, come with me to go out and intercept the arrival of the cavalry,” Armilla told him. “Nathaniel, you, Shaiss and Kinsey stay here to watch these three. We should be back in an hour or so.”

  Armilla looked down at where Rosebay was descending through the rocky field of the hillside with her small force to begin her inspection of her new army, then shook her head and began walking in the opite direction. Alder looked at his fellow light ingenaire, grinned, and then followed Armilla out of sight.

  The three young ingenairii sat down on the stones of their promontory and watched the inspection take place below them, as Rosebay was presented with a baton in an apparent ceremony to mark the transfer of power to her. Upon receiving it, she began walking along the line of regiments, acknowledging each one as she passed down the line and then came back up. She conferred with her officers, then watched as the soldiers began to head into the hills towards an encounter with the other lacerta force coming down the river out of the mountains. The column climbed across the far side of the recent battlefield, and Rosebay waved at her human allies as she led the way over the crest of the hill and out of sight.

  “Kinsey, is there anything we can do for Alec?” Shaiss asked after the last warrior was out of sight.

  “I don’t know. My guess is that he drained himself trying to heal Imelda, which may have become more complicated with Yula’s injury as well. He may just need to rest, or he may need something more. I’m not certain. We could try to wake him, but he is still in some type of powerful connection with Imelda, and I don’t understand what it is, especially how he does it with someone who isn’t an ingenaire.”

  Just then Yula groaned and turned her head. Her face was smudged, as were her clothes from when the arrow had struck her down. Shaiss bent down and gently moved the strands of hair off her face. Her eyes fluttered and opened, then focused on Shaiss, and she groaned again.

  Nathaniel gripped her leg to prevent her from rolling over onto the arrow that still protruded from her flesh. Yula gave a loud cry, then moaned. “What’s happening? Why are you here?” she asked Shaiss as she reached up and grabbed his shoulder.

  “Rosebay won control of the army. Now she’s taken her lacertii and gone to meet the other lacertii. Armilla and Alder have gone to summon the cavalry. And we’re here wondering why you and Alec and Imelda are taking a nap in the middle of the day,” Shaiss replied lightly.

  “Alec was trying to heal Imelda, and he was using all the power I could give him. But then my power gave out – I couldn’t maintain the flow he was using with his abilities, and I passed out. I don’t know what happened to them after that. Is Imelda okay?” the plant ingenaire asked.

  Kinsey bent over Imelda and gingerly moved her leather armor to examine the wound. “She appears healed, at least on the outside,” Kinsey said as she looked at the dull red scar from the sword injury. “All three of you were unconscious when we got here. You were the first to wake up.”

  “Alec was doing something that felt like it was more than healing her physical body,” Yula said. “It felt like he was giving a piece of himself in addition to giving energy from the other realm,” Yula tried to describe what she had sensed.

  “Kinsey said there’s still some type of connection between them, even while they’re unconscious,” Nathaniel told her.

  Yula groaned again as a muscle spasm in her leg brought a fresh wave of pain.

  “Should we try to wake him? Alec could heal Yula, if he’s ready,” Shaiss said.

  “Let’s wake Imelda first,” Nathaniel suggested. “If she’s healed, then Alec will probably be able to arouse himself.”

  They both looked at Kinsey, who shrugged. “I think waking Imelda may be better. Let me do it.”

  Kinsey knelt next to Imelda and placed both hands on her head and began massaging her scalp, then gently called her name.

  Imelda drew a deep breath, and moaned an indistinguishable word.

  Kinsey continued to massage, and called Imelda again, then raised her head with a start. “Alec?” she blurted out loud.

  Imelda’s jaw moved without sound, then a strangled voice called out, “Kinsey.”

  “Oh Lord, Oh Lord, that’s Alec talking through Imelda,” Kinsey said, as she sat back on her haunches.

  “Need energy…Yula?” Imelda’s mouth, but Alec’s voice murmured.

  Three heads swiveled to look at the injured girl, whose eyes widened at the mention of her name.

  Yula closed her eyes, took a deep breath. She realized she was being asked to contribute more power again. “Would you add your energy to mine, Kinsey?” she asked, then she reached out her hand and placed in on Alec, and sent as much energy as she could muster into the depleted healer. “Kinsey?” she called one more time as she acted, then went silent as she concentrated all her focus on blocking the pain of the injury and supporting Alec.

  Immediately Alec greedily began to suck in her power, and she sensed that all of it slipped directly into the connection he had established with Imelda. Like a recurring nightmare, Yula felt Alec’s craving for more energy, and she felt her personal abilities bursting at the seams as Alec wantonly withdrew energy through her to a point beyond her abilities.

  She felt tears on her face and knew that she was about to falter again from the strain of Alec’s demands. She held on to her consciousness for as long as she could, hoping to postpone another descent into the abyss. Just as she felt at a loss, ground down to the point of surrender, a sudden wave of relief washed over her. “I’m here,” she felt Kinsey say, and she sensed the demand on her strength diminish as Alec tapped into the new source of energy and began to drain the spirit ingenaire as well as Yula.

  Alec also felt the arrival of Kinsey, and immediately shifted his attention to the new ingenaire in the connection, finding, evaluating and pulling energy from the frail girl who had placed her hand on Yula. The power that came through Kinsey was much like his own spirit powers which he had only haphazardly experienced, except smoother and much more sophisticated, and suited his need to disengage his soul from Imelda with seamless d she felection.

  Using those powers, which he shaped with his abilities, Alec strengthened his attenuated bond with Imelda’s still distant spirit, which hovered beyond her body. “Come back Imelda,” he called, and his voice now sounded like the roar of a lion to his own ears. He gained a surer grasp on the remote entity, and began to bring her closer to her earthly home. He sensed her hovering just beyond the dimensions of the human world, and then she dove back into her own vessel in a deft movement that shook Alec loose and pressed him back into his own body.

  Her body gave a convulsive heave, and Alec’s body was thrown off her, away from her and all the others, so that all the bonds of energy flowing between the four individuals were abruptly snapped. Yula cried out in agony at the sudden wrenching, while Kinsey gave a great sigh, then fainted.

  Alec lay with his eyes closed, then raised and shook his head. He opened his eyes and saw the others just a few feet away. The first thing he saw was the arrow in the back of Yula’s leg, and he felt a shudder run through him at the thought of the girl’s pain.

  “Is Imelda back in her body?” Alec asked, as his eyes continued to focus on the sha
ft rising from the leg of the plant ingenaire. The others noted how drawn and tired he looked, as though he had aged greatly.

  He lay and rested for another moment, waiting as no one answered at first. “Kinsey is unconscious, and Imelda is unconscious, and neither Shaiss nor I have the talents to tell what Imelda’s state is right now,” Nathaniel answered Alec.

  “Give me your knife,” he told Nathaniel as he sat up.

  Nathaniel handed the weapon over. “Is she unconscious?” Alec asked about Yula, and he poked her ribs with a finger to check. Satisfied that the girl was unconscious, Alec gingerly pulled on the shaft, and saw a grimace cross Yula’s face. Alec resolutely slid the knife blade down along the shaft of the arrow and probed the arrow head, then with a quick slice of the metal and a flick of his wrist he pulled the weapon from the damaged flesh.

  Yula cried out, but still remained comatose. Alec put the knife down and took a deep breath, then closed his eyes, placed both palms on Yula’s wound to force the edges of the cut together, and focused his insubstantial trace of energy on healing her leg. He had only a slow, limping trickle of power to use, and steadily he progressed through the healing of the tendons and the vessels and the flesh, little by little.

  He didn’t look at Yula as he healed her leg, but instead stared at Imelda. Seemingly prodded by his attention, the leather-clad cavalry-rider groaned and raised her head, then opened her eyes to see Alec healing the leg of the blond plant ingenaire. Images, memories, and concepts rushed through Imelda’s consciousness.

  “Oh, my Lord, what have we done here?” she asked as she tried to sort through her thoughts and the sight of the others lying around her.

  Alec stared at Imelda, who returned his look. “Alec, you look so tired and worn? Are you alright?” she asked as she tried to sort ou the jumbled mix of memories and experiences she was returning from. She reached out a hand towards him.