“Captain Lim, reporting the delivery of Lord Kestrel to the palace, as ordered,” Lim began to shout as he slowed down and they approached the gate.
“Take him inside to the command building,” the guard at the gate replied, and the two arrivals passed through the gate and onto the palace grounds.
“Thank you my lord,” Lim said quietly, as Kestrel wheezed alongside him. “You’ve saved my career from a setback, at least over this. I had no hope of actually meeting this deadline,” he said.
Kestrel was too breathless to reply until they reached their destination, an office building that was close to the actual palace itself.
“Lord Kestrel and Captain Lim, reporting to see Major Grenwort,” Lim told an orderly at the front desk, who told them to proceed.
“Captain Lim, reporting as ordered,” he spoke again upstairs in an upper floor hallway, addressing a guard outside a door of imposing appearance.
The guard nodded, then disappeared inside the office, and Kestrel thought of when he had first come to Center Trunk and met Giardell for the first time, outside of Silvan’s office. So much had happened since then, and he had seen so much since then, he thought, lost in a reverie until Lim elbowed him, and he saw that the door was open for their entrance.
Inside the office was an oval table and two officers. Kestrel recognized neither one, but he reminded himself that he’d spent virtually no time in the capital, since Silvan had sent him for training in far-off Firheng to be a spy.
“Lim, I would have thought you’d be more presentable when bringing a nobleman to meet superior officers,” one of the men who sat at the table said in a cutting tone.
“And I’d think you’d stand in the presence of the Warden of the Marches,” Kestrel snapped, angry at the officer’s attitude, short of temper in his exhausted state.
The man who hadn’t spoken stood immediately. “Begging your pardon, sir,” he addressed Kestrel. “Captain Vene.”
Kestrel nodded slightly at the man, and watched silently as the other stood in a more leisurely manner.
“Major Grenwort,” he introduced himself.
“Where’s Elder Miskel?” Kestrel asked.
Grenwort’s face looked confused by the unexpected question.
“If I’m this close to the palace, I’d like to see the Elder,” Kestrel was bluffing, too tired to think through his actions, as he felt ready to lash out at the officer whose order had precipitated the long, grueling journey to the capital. “Shall we go find him?” Kestrel pressed Grenwort.
“That’s not necessary at this time,” Grenwort tried to regain the upper hand.
“If I say it’s necessary, then it’s necessary,” Kestrel insisted. “Do you have quarters ready for me in the palace?” he asked.
“No,” Grenwort wasn’t ready for the change of tact.
“Goddess above!” Kestrel shouted. “You knew I was coming here and you didn’t even have the courtesy to prepare a suite for me?”
His anger was feeding upon itself. He felt something click within him, and he instantly knew that his emotions had removed the barrier between him and the divine powers within him. He could use the powers; he could punish the petty officer who had played a hand in creating the erupting incident, or he could reward Lim for completing his duty, or he could simply remove himself from the situation.
“You don’t seem fit for duty, Major,” Kestrel said. “This mishandled situation is a disgrace to the uniform. Take it off until you deserve to wear it,” he waved his hand, and there was a ripping sound as the shirt Grenwort wore shredded itself and fell to the ground.
“You captains are dismissed,” Kestrel said. He waved his other hand negligently, and the door to the office slammed open. “Captain Lim, have my things delivered to Elder Miskel’s office.
“You,” he pointed around at the hallway guard who had looked into the room in alarm, “will escort us to go see Elder Miskel,” he was improvising in his anger, as he felt the energy within him, ready to be used, just as it had answered his controls when he had built the statue.
He needed to give himself an imposing stature, he decided, to intimidate the truculent elves he faced.
“Let’s get going, everyone,” he snapped, and then he made himself both grow and glow, so that he shone with light as he suddenly towered over the others.
“Goddess above!” Grenwort repeated Kestrel’s earlier oath, in a hysterical tone. He started to bolt from the room, until Kestrel reached out and closed his fingers in midair, as if grabbing the fleeing officer.
Grenwort jerked to a stop, Captain Vene screamed and fled from the scene by jumping out of a window. The guard at the door drew his knife off his hip, until Kestrel flicked his fingers, and the weapon went whirling away through the air.
“We can do this simply, or I can grow angry,” Kestrel spoke.
“My lord,” Lim spoke up. “This isn’t necessary, my lord.
“I can take you to see Elder Miskel,” Lim proposed, “if Major Grenwort agrees.”
Kestrel looked at the shocked officer. “Would you agree to the captain’s proposal?” he asked.
“Yes, by all means,” Grenwort said instantly. “May I be released?” he pleaded.
“Pick up your uniform, and you may go,” Kestrel waved his hand to release his power’s grip upon the frightened officer.
“We’ll be on our way. You’ll step aside,” he spoke to the hallway guard, while Grenwort scrambled to grab all the ribbons of green cloth on the floor.
The guard did instantly step aside, and Lim walked out of the room ahead of Kestrel.
As they descended the stairs, Kestrel heard the guard above shouting for help. It was time to calm down, he realized, having humiliated Grenwort as he had wanted to. He doused his own glow, making the stairwell grow instantly dim. Lim’s head swiveled around to see what had happened, and he saw that Kestrel was still following him as they exited the building.
“Which way to Elder Miskel’s?” Kestrel asked.
“That way, my lord,” Lim answered as he pointed left.
“We’ll go the other way,” Kestrel told him, and they turned to the right.
“Do you know a physician named Alicia, the widow of the former spymaster?” Kestrel asked. They heard a group of guards burst out of the office building they had just exited from; the guards went running towards Miskel’s office.
“I know of her,” the captain said doubtfully.
“Where are her quarters?” Kestrel asked.
“Perhaps where they always were,” Lim might have been asking more than telling. “Since she has a baby I think they agreed to let her remain on the base.”
“Thank you, captain,” Kestrel said as he felt his use of the powers dwindle away and disappear. “You can go. Have my things delivered to Alicia’s and do it discreetly.”
“Yes, my lord. My apologies for anything I said or did on our journey,” he told Kestrel.
“You behaved well. I hope I taught Major Grenwort a little humility. I’ll visit the palace early tomorrow.”
And with that, Kestrel changed direction again, and slipped off in another direction. He left Lim, then left the palace grounds, and strolled over to the guard base where Silvan’s office had been, and where Alicia had practiced her medicine, so often receiving Kestrel as her patient.
Chapter 12 – A Visit to Alicia
Kestrel passed through the gate at the base without challenge, then stopped and stood at the foot of the stairs that led up to the front door. All during his run to Center Trunk, a part of Kestrel’s heart had considered the fact that every step towards the capitol was also a step towards the intelligent, beautiful, and emotional woman who had been so intimately involved in his life in recent years.
He couldn’t think of her as a lover, not after she had been Silvan’s wife and Giardell’s lover. Yet he could not help thinking about her.
He took a deep breath, then climbed the steps and opened the door. Down the hall to the left were he
r rooms. He heard no sounds, nor saw any lights shining beneath any of the doors. Footsteps suddenly sounded on the stairs, and he made a quick, panicked decision. He tested the door latch, felt it open, and he slid into Alicia’s bedroom, the room she had slept in when she hadn’t gone upstairs to sleep with Silvan.
He took a deep breath, then slumped into the chair in the corner of the room, next to a crib, and closed his eyes. He drifted off to sleep almost immediately, and found himself dreaming of being upstairs, talking to Silvan once again.
“Peaceful trade with Hydrotaz? That’ll be tough to sell to the isolationists at the court,” Silvan warned him in his dream-state conversation.
“But we have peaceful trade with Estone,” Kestrel protested.
“We say we do, but very little actually is traded, and it’s mostly from Firheng itself, where no member of our noble court has ever actually set foot. It’s of no consequence up there, and allows us to do some spying.
“What you’re developing is different. Oaktown has always been a bulwark against imps and humans both,” Silvan explained. “This human relationship looks suspicious, coming on top of this ambassador you’ve talked the king into putting into Hydrotaz.
“The humans there in the past made it very convenient for the court to maintain the status quo. If Hydrotaz is no longer the enemy, the king will have to come up with some other reason for collecting taxes and holding powers,” Silvan told him.
“Kestrel! Oh my word!” Alicia’s voice woke him with a start.
He looked up, and saw Alicia’s profile. The door was open, and she stood there, lit from the back by a lantern in the hallway. She held a tiny baby to her chest. And there was a man’s profile silhouetted in the doorway as well.
“What is it Alicia?” the man asked. He thrust forward in a protective motion, moving closer to Kestrel.
“It’s a visitor, a friend, Gandel. He’s alright. He means no harm. He was Silvan’s greatest student – his greatest success. I’m sorry, but he must need for me to tend to him if he’s here. He shows up bloody and bruised and in trouble fairly often. I better tend to him tonight. You go home, and I’ll see you tomorrow,” Alicia talked her way through the circumstances rapidly.
“He doesn’t look bloody to me,” the elf said suspiciously.
“I had a lovely time tonight,” Alicia told her companion as she contorted her body around his and entered the room. “Silvic says good night as well,” she said, then shut the door, turned, and stared through the darkness at Kestrel.
He heard the footsteps of the man walking away in the hallway.
“Are you hurt?” Alicia asked as she moved towards him.
“Emotionally,” he answered, and grinned at his own joke.
Alicia placed her child in the crib next to Kestrel’s chair; she was so close to him that he could detect her scent. Then she fell backwards onto the bed and rolled away, and a moment later she struck a spark and lit a candle, then looked at him.
He could see her clearly for the first time, with the illumination now revealing her features. Her face was fuller, her hair was longer, her body was still recovering from producing the tiny elf that slept in the crib – but she was still Alicia, in every way. Kestrel stood, and stepped towards her, gently pressing the hand with the candle out of the way as he enveloped her in a tight, emotional embrace.
“I’m not hurt. I’m just here,” he spoke at last.
“I suppose you think it’s wrong for me to go out to dinner with Gandel, when Silvan’s only been dead for a few months,” she said.
“I’m not here to judge you. I just wanted to see you, and I needed a place to spend the night,” Kestrel replied, as there was a knock at the door.
“My lord?” a man’s voice called softly. Kestrel released Alicia, and opened the door to see a guardsman there, holding his things, trying to discreetly peer over Kestrel’s shoulder. “Here are your things, my lord. The captain said to tell you thank you, and to be careful – there’s quite a search underway for you now.”
“Thank you,” Kestrel accepted the staff and the pack from the guardsman, who quickly turned and slunk away.
“There’s a search for you?” Alicia’s voice was strained.
Kestrel closed his eyes. It wasn’t right. Whatever he had imagined his reunion would be like with Alicia, this tense moment wasn’t right. Not when she was unprepared to see him, and he brought the danger of pursuit towards her.
“I got crossways with an officer tonight, and used your home as the place to escape to and plot my next step,” he told the doctor.
“Is your boy well?” he asked politely.
“Yes, he’s well,” Alicia suddenly looked ready to cry, as she sensed the distance Kestrel was putting between them.
“I better go before they come looking for me,” Kestrel told her. “Send word if you ever need anything, if I can do anything for you,” he told the beautiful elven doctor.
“You’re leaving, Kestrel?” she asked. “You don’t have time to talk?” there was a sound of boots on the stairs leading into the building.
“Stillwater, Stillwater, Stillwater,” Kestrel called quickly.
“I need to go to the healing spring, instantly,” Kestrel told the imp as soon as he appeared, and two others arrived.
Stillwater looked at Alicia. “Both of you?” he asked, as other imps arrived.
“No, just me. Now. Go!” Kestrel barked the order in a way that startled the imps, but they complied, and he disappeared just two seconds before Alicia’s door was thrown open.
“Where is he?” Grenwort was leading a dozen elves, some of whom had arrows already notched and bows already drawn.
Alicia’s baby started to cry.
“Now are you happy?” she asked in an angry tone. “You’ve made Silvic cry.”
Chapter 13 – The Palace Meeting
Kestrel and the imps landed on the sward of turf next to the pool.
“Is this what you wanted, Kestrel-commander?” Mulberry asked.
“Yes, thank you,” he answered.
“Those men outside the room were chasing me,” he explained.
“Will your lady friend be safe?” Acanthus asked, puzzled.
“If I’m not there, then she is in no danger,” Kestrel assured the imps. “Would you like to get in the water now?”
They all quickly shed their clothes, and Kestrel doused them in the waters of the pool, then simply lay on the grass and looked up at the stars overhead, and thought about all that had happened – the long run, the confrontation and release of powers, the reunion with Alicia.
The only things remotely salvageable from the recent hours were the facts that he had helped Captain Lim comply with orders, and then felt the powerful energy within himself, and it had come to the fore. He had undeniable evidence that he did contain such power. It had emerged when his emotions were running high; some dam within him had been breached, and the power had come through.
If he could learn where that blockage was, and learn how to remove it as needed, he thought to himself, then the powers would be available, and he could learn what they offered. And with that last thought, he fell asleep.
When he awoke, the morning sun was halfway above the horizon, and the imps were still in the water of the palace. Kestrel wondered why their skin didn’t wrinkle up the way his fingers did when he let them soak in water. Goodness knew that he had given the imps hours of time to sleep and dream in the spring water.
He pulled his small companions out of the water, and waited for them to dry. He needed the time to think, to plan out what he was going to do next. He had to return to the palace, and present himself to the king. It was going to be difficult as long as the guard was out looking for him, hunting for him as a renegade monster.
He needed to bypass the guards, and get directly into the palace, to present himself to the king. With the help of the imps, that would be no problem. He also needed to make himself more presentable; he was still wearing the wrinkled,
dirty, sweat-stained clothes he had worn while running all the way from Oaktown to Center Trunk.
As long as he had the imps, he decided, he might as well do things right.
“Stillwater, are you and your folks ready?” Kestrel asked, as he saw the imps sitting up.
“Would you take me back to my office in Oaktown?” he asked.
“Not back to the great city of the elves? Not back to the bedroom of the lovely elven mother? Was that not your elf bambino sleeping in the crib?” Mulberry asked. “I have heard stories about the many, many, many, many female acquaintances you have made among the elves, and the humans, and the gnomes, and the sprites – are there others?” she rambled on, with a twinkle in her eye that made Kestrel grin.
“Mulberry, friend,” Kestrel replied, “that child was not my child. That elf lady was not my lover. But I wonder whether you are in a relationship? Is your heart available to be wooed?”
“You would be overwhelmed by my passion, Kestrel-child. No, you are not ready for me. I will protect you, but I will not enchant you,” she said with a straight face.
“But you already have enchanted me!” he protested.
“By all that the god of the imps protects, tell us what is going on!” Acanthus impatiently interrupted the banter. “Do you want us to take you to Oaktown?”
“Yes, my friend,” Kestrel laughed. “Let us go to Oaktown. I’d like to change clothes, and then we can go back to the palace at Center Trunk, where I will be nicely dressed to meet the king.”
The small blue bodies closed in around him.
“Watch where you put your hands, Mulberry,” Kestrel said just a split second before they entered the dimension of nothingness for the trip to Oaktown.
“You dream of my hands!” Mulberry retorted as soon as they re-emerged in the reality of Oaktown.
“I’ll go get changed, and then be right back,” Kestrel said. He dashed to his room and freshened up, then put on the best clothes he had, and returned to the office. “Let’s go to the palace. Let’s go to that small pantry room near the kitchen in the palace,” he suggested.
The Guided Journey (Book 6) Page 12
