The Lifesaving Power: Goldenfields and Stronghold

by Jeffrey Quyle

  Coming in the fifth volume of the Ingenairii Cycle, the conclusion to the story…

  Alec sat in a soft chair, holding a mug of berry juice with a plate of warm meats and fruit slices on a table beside him. He watched the performance of a group of acrobats in the parade, the third parade participants he had watched. All of the groups had their backs to the blue and white striped tent as they performed.

  Across the way, a single huge golden tent was the recipient of the parade’s attention. Alec was paying only cursory attention to the back of the performers, as he pondered Rief’s comment. His healing powers were illegal in this land. He thought back to the healing he had given the fallen band member. Apparently the fern and the cooling water were attributed with the recovery of that patient, if anyone was even really aware of what had happened. Alec realized he would have to be circumspect in his efforts while he was in this unusual country.

  “The emperor will like that,” he heard one woman say to another as they watched the latest act. To Alec it appeared that a miniature dramatic performance was occurring, as a small mock battle gave way to a worshipful tribute to one of the players, and then the whole group bowed and moved on.

  “The emperor isn’t likely to be persuaded by such blatant adulation,” the other woman said. “He appreciates a subtler mind that Krayo’s excessive exhibitions,” she pronounced.

  The next act caught Alec’s attention as soon as it arrived. A single woman, dressed completely in black, stood before the golden tent and bowed deeply. As she did, Alec noticed two men in black suddenly appear to stand in front of the tent, facing her.

  The woman pulled out a knife, and deliberately cut each forearm, creating a flow of blood. She placed a small jar on the ground in front of her, then held her hands over the jar so that the blood dripped into the jar for several seconds. She followed that by pulling a bundle of sticks from inside her robe, scratching with the sticks to make several lines in the road surface in an intricate pattern around the vessel of blood, then dipping the ends of the sticks in the blood and propping them against one another around the jar.

  The woman began to chant loudly in a high-pitched, sing song manner that made Alec’s skin crawl, even though he could not understand any of the words she used. She paused in her chanting for several seconds, during which not another sound occurred anywhere in the vicinity. She then pulled a small bag out of a pocket, and threw a handful of bright red powder into the air, where it eerily stay suspended in a cloud directly over her. With that new manifestation of power, she resumed chanting. No one in the tent with Alec was saying a word, and he sensed that tension was rising with each passing minute as everyone watched intently while the performer continued her arcane activities.

  “Mosha!” she called out loudly, and Alec jumped when everyone around ritually repeated “Mosha” in formal voices. A second and third time the call and response occurred. The echoes of the words seemed to catalyze the elements of the process, as the lines that had been scratched in the sand began to glow, then began to rise off the road surface, and floated up into the red cloud several feet above. Alec’s left hand began to painfully throb, though whether it was pain or energy, he couldn’t tell.

  As the shape took its position, the performer began a new chant, that within seconds caused a darkening of the sky momentarily, until the shade coalesced in a cloud a hundred feet above the woman. From the cloud, an impossible n shower began to fall, only onto the red cloud, which it entered but did not pass through.

  Alec was gripping the arms of his chair as he watched the one minute deluge, after which the dark cloud evaporated. The two dark clad figures across the way seemed to believe something was eminent, as they held their hands out in front of themselves in a warding off posture, and Alec dreaded whatever was to come next. The woman raised her hand over her head and motioned, causing three men to carry out another figure, a naked man, tied and securely trussed, who they lay at the woman’s feet, next to the jar of blood. The woman raised one foot and placed it on the head of the man, then began chanting again, this time in a much deeper voice, using words that were harsh and disconsonant.

  As her voice abruptly stopped, the woman stepped back from the man. The red cloud overhead began to churn and boil, the lines writhing within the mass began to hang from the bottom of the cloud, and pure white bats dropped from the tubes, fluttering about in the vicinity for moments, then descending on the man below, and biting him. Through his gag, his muffled voice began to scream in agony, as more and more of the creatures began to land on him, covering his entire body in a writhing mass.

  For minutes the creatures held their spots, biting and then drinking his blood, and turning blood red themselves as they did so, while his cries grew fainter and then ceased. As they seemed to sate themselves, they rose and began to flutter again between him and the cloud. Alec felt ill watching, and even worse as he saw that no one else was expressing protest to the death that had just been witnessed by so many.

  At some unseen signal, the flock of bats all entered the cloud simultaneously. The cloud began to thicken, turning into a gelatinous mass hanging in the air, when the woman stepped forward again and called out a single word. The jar of blood still on the ground began to glow, and a ray of light shot up from the mouth of the jar through the touching points of the leaning sticks, to disappear into the red mass.

  Five seconds later, the light stopped, the mass fell gently to the ground, and then rose up in the shape of a hideous, man-like creature, with an animal-like snout and the legs of a goat. The creation walked in a circle around the woman, who stood perfectly still, snarling as it walked. Three times it circled her at no great distance, until she raised her hand and pointed at it to stop in its tracks.

  The creature terrified Alec. It was evil. He could feel hideous energy emanate from it, great power, with malevolence and malice directed towards everything it saw. Its appearance had clearly been what triggered the reaction in his left hand.

  The woman spoke in a low voice to the creature, then pointed at it again, causing it to kneel before her. She spoke again, in a demanding tone of voice, and the creature clapped its hands together three times, then gave a howl, which created a flash of light and a clap of thunder, the loud noise reverberating all around the parade ground.

  There, magically, nex the woman, stood an ugly animal, but one that did not seem as threatening as the horrific creature that still captured the attention of all. In a flash of memory, Alec recognized the creature as the same type of animal that he had seen disappear from the room in Stronghold with Mooreen and Elcome on its back.

  The woman bowed to the evil monster, and said something that may have been praise or thanks. She signaled again, and her group of servants brought out another trussed up sacrificial victim. The servants laid the poor man on the ground next to the monster, then quickly hurried away.

  With that, the woman seemed to have finished her awful ceremony. She stepped back, clapped her hands, motioned to the tied up offering, then chanted for several seconds, and clapped three times again. The monster stepped forward, grabbed the screaming, tied victim, and disappeared in a flash of crimson light.

  Alec sat, stunned and appalled by what he had seen, while his hand returned to a calmer condition. The crowd around the event was clapping vigorously, as the woman stepped forward towards the golden tent on the other side of the parade ground. She reached into the front of her black robe, loosening something that caused it to slide off her shoulders to the ground, so that she stood tall and slim in a tight yellow dress. A cheer erupted from someplace to Alec’s right, and the woman gestured back to the placid animal that remained, then towards the golden tent.

  The two black robed figured in front of the tent walked out with a rope, which they looped around the animal’s head, then led the creature at casual pace away and out of sight. “That was a tremendous performance. The emperor will hold Canare clan in high esteem this season. They may get to lead the invasion,” Alec heard o
ne man in his tent tell another.

  A small bag flew from the golden tent and landed at the feet of the woman in yellow. She picked it up, held it to her lips for a moment, then bowed and walked off the road to the right.

  “No one will top that. Shall we go?” a voice spoke in Alec’s ear. It interrupted his contemplation of the horrific scene that was now over. Alec did not know what the terrible creature was that he had just seen, He knew it was completely evil, and he could not fathom how anyone would be able to confront something like it in battle. The woman who had called it forth had obviously had some control over it, but Alec had no notion what or how.

  “Shall we go?” the voice repeated, and Alec saw that the man he had resuscitated was speaking to him. Alec nodded and stood, walking down to stand beside the man near the entrance they had arrived through.

  Another man came down from his seat at that moment, and as he passed, everyone else in the tent bowed. The short man had deep set eyes, but he caught Alec’s attention. “Who do you have here, Cander?” the man asked.

  Alec’s companion bowed, and Alec did likewise. “This is a healer who helped us just a little bit a, leader Reast,” Alec’s other companion spoke up, joining their group. “Cander passed out while carrying the pothorn in the band, and this boy treated him quickly. The band was back in formation in thirty, seconds none the worse for the incident.

  “We brought him in the tent as our guest,” he added.

  “We’re honored that you accepted the invitation to join us. Has our hospitality been acceptable?” Reast asked.

  Unable to answer, Alec bowed again. “He’s mute, sir,” Alec’s companion said in a kind tone. “He has no tongue, and cannot speak,” he added superfluously.