All three men turned to look at Alec. “Are you an Old One too?” the largest of the men asked; he was a muscular man who appeared to be in the prime of his life.
“I am something like an Old One, but not as Amane is,” Alec answered cautiously.
“Like an Old One? Are you or are you not?” the man brushed Alec’s distinction aside.
“I am of a different race. My skills are different, and I’m from a different land; I can do Healing of injuries and illnesses best, and that’s why I hope to help Amane,” Alec answered.
“What do you heal? How do you do it?” the blacksmith tried to pin Alec down.
Alec looked at the man, then walked over to him, and stood with him next to his forge; the large man’s bulk towered over him. Alec reached out a hand and covered a small burn on the blacksmith’s forearm, healing it completely. He then touched a smashed finger on one of the assistants, and healed it too in less than a minute.
“I use energy and prayers to heal,” Alec said simply, as the three men examined the results of his work.
“I’ve never heard of such a thing,” the blacksmith declared. “But I can’t deny what I see and feel for myself.
“Your friend is in my sister’s home, three doors down from here, and he’s in a lot worse shape than these little spots you’ve treated for us.”
“What happened to him?” Alec asked. “I know that he and Andi were trying to track another group of travelers.”
“The two of them were riding through the village at sunset, and got ambushed; they’d stopped and asked questions down at the other shop, then came along the road and were caught flatfooted. We saw it from the doorway here. The girl – Andi, you called her? – went down but took three or more with her; that girl fought like no one else I’ve ever seen except the two who finally beat her. Her friend who’s at my sister’s house took an arrow to the stomach and was never involved; they just left him to die in the road, and we took him in.”
Alec exhaled a deep breath, as he thought of Andi struggling against two Warriors. He bowed his head for several seconds to pray for her soul, then looked up at the blacksmith. “Where did you bury her? I’ll go visit her grave after I heal Amane.”
“She’s not dead, man,” the blacksmith told Alec. “They took her captive. Bound her with chains too, not just rope. That was probably the smart thing to do, given the way that girl fought.”
Alec froze in astonishment. “She’s still alive?” he asked for confirmation.
“Alive, but in the hands of those two. She’s not likely to be an easy captive to deal with,” the blacksmith confirmed.
“Which road did they take when they left?” Alec asked.
“They were on their way to Boundary Lake; if anyone can fight their way through that area, it’ll be that group,” was the answer.
“Thank you,” Alec said sincerely, noting that the sun was approaching the horizon. “I’ll go look in on Amane,” he said, then excused himself from the shop and went outside. He strode swiftly down to the modest home where Amane was reportedly recovering, and knocked on the door frame.
Moments later a haggard-appearing woman, holding a small child on her hip, opened the door with a puzzled expression. She stared at Alec with a puzzled expression for just a moment, then smiled a warm and welcoming smile. “Come in, come in,” she held the door open and invited him into the home.
“I’m here to visit my friend, Amane. I was told you were tending to him,” Alec said as she closed the door behind him.
“Your friend?” she paused. “He’s in that room,” she pointed to one of the doors in the right wall. “Go in there,” she directed, as she turned to place her child in a corner of the room.
Alec stepped over to the room he was directed to enter, but inside the room held only a table and an empty bed.
“I misunderstood,” Alec began to say as he turned around, only to discover that the woman was behind him, blocking the door and preventing his exit, as she looked at him with a smoldering stare.
“I, excuse me, I’ll be right back,” he murmured, as he pressed past her and out the door, suddenly remembering the pendant that was stuffed in in his pocket. He went around the corner and quickly put the trinket in a cranny in the eaves of the roof, then walked back into the house.
The woman was pulling her blouse back down over her head hastily as Alec returned, and she shrieked as her head popped through the neck hole and she saw him standing in the home again. “I’m so sorry, I don’t know what I was thinking,” she blushed madly as she spoke to Alec, then she shrieked again as Alec felt a tremendous increase in the weight on his back, and realized that Aja had materialized.
He knelt and began to undo the straps on his chest. “What sorcerer are you? Who sent you here?” the woman cried as Alec released Aja.
“I am not a sorcerer,” Alec answered, where suddenly the door slammed open, banging loudly, and the blacksmith charged into the room, swinging his sledge hammer madly at Alec.
In a state of panic, Alec engaged his Warrior energy, pushed Aja out of harm’s way, then knocked the blacksmith’s feet out from beneath him, bringing the man down.
Standing, Alec released his Warrior energy and engaged his Air energies. He created a bubble of high pressure that forced the blacksmith and his sister separately against the far walls of the room, while pressing Aja down onto the floor.
“Alec, what is happening?” Aja wailed in panic.
He took a deep breath, then modified the boundaries of the air shield; he reached down and pulled Aja up. “If I release you, will you promise not to attack us?” he asked the blacksmith.
The man stood flat against the wall, bug-eyed in shock. “Yes, my lord,” he grunted.
Alec let him loose, then turned to the woman, the blacksmith’s sister. “If I turn you lose, will you promise not to attack, or scream?” he asked. She nodded, and Alec released his hold on the Air energy.
“My name is Alec, and this is my companion, Aja,” Alec told the brother and sister. “What names should I call you?” he asked.
“My name is Sparl, my lord,” the blacksmith said fearfully.
“I am named Sparrow, sir,” the woman said.
“Thank you,” Alec told them. “We are here to see Amane, and to heal him.”
“Where did she come from, my lord? Is she a spirit or a pet demon?” Sparrow asked. “I saw her appear out of thin air.”
“She has always been with me today, but could not be seen until sunset. She is a good woman, with a generous heart,” Alec briefly explained.
“Thank you Alec!” Aja said brightly.
“Our ways are different from yours, but we mean you no harm. Please show us to Amane’s resting place so that we may examine his condition, and we will trouble you as little as possible,” Alec said. He walked over to Sparl and extended his hand for a friendly shake, and released a small amount of Healing energy to take away the aches and burns from blacksmithing, then walked over to Sparrow and gave her a similar spark of comfort, easing the strain in her back and legs.
“This way, my lord,” Sparrow said, and she showed Alec and Aja into a dark room at the back of the house.
Alec used Light energy to create two small balls of floating light in the room, then knelt beside the recumbent figure of Amane.
“He’s a handsome fellow,” Aja commented as she knelt behind Alec and looked over his shoulder.
Alec pulled down the blanket that covered Amane’s body, and winced as he saw the deadly wound, infected and festering, in the Old One’s stomach. He placed his hands over the gaping slice in the flesh, then released energy, first to kill the infection, then, with an alteration in his efforts, he closed the small seeping wound that continued to bleed, before he began to knit together the organs that had been cut by the head of the arrow.
He removed his hands after several minutes of effort to allow himself to rest. “Is everything going okay?” Aja asked. “His face doesn’t look as pained.”
> “I’m almost done,” Alec told her. He replaced his hands on the wound and resumed healing, fixing the muscles and the skin in short order, then pulled his hands away.
Amane’s eyes fluttered open, staring about wildly at first, then coming to focus on Alec’s face.
“Are we dead?” he asked. “Is that an angel?” he asked as his eye’s shifted to Aja’s face.
“You’re not dead, I’m not dead, and I’m not sure how to describe her,” Alec said gently, standing up. “You were badly injured, but these people have been caring for you,” Alec gestured towards Sparrow and Sparl, standing in the doorway.
“Injured? The battle! Where’s Andi?” Amane asked with a vocal tone that increased in anxiety as memory returned to him.
“Sparl says the ingenairii took her as a captive with them,” Alec answered.
“Oh high heavens,” Amane mourned.
“Don’t worry; we’ll get her back,” Alec said. “I’ll leave tomorrow to track them down. We’re not far behind, just two or three days.”
“You can’t hope to beat them, my lord. There are two of them, and they’ll fight you together,” Sparl objected.
“He won’t have to fight alone. I’ll be with him,” Amane said. “I’m not going to abandon my lady Andi.” He stole a covert glance at Alec as he claimed the relationship.
“You need to get some sleep,” Alec told Amane. “We’ll talk in the morning.” He flickered one of the light orbs into nothingness, then sent the second orb floating out of the room, and ushered everyone else out.
“Is there a place in the village where Aja and I may sleep tonight?” Alec asked.
“You can sleep here, my lord,” Sparrow answered. “My husband is gone to Boundary Lake, hired as a soldier, so we have room in the house for extra bodies.” Satisfied that all was in order, Sparl excused himself for the night, and Sparrow showed Alec and Andi a pallet in the loft above the house.
As soon as they were settled into their space, Alec pulled blankets around himself and laid on the floor, floating a tiny spark of light that cast fantastic shadows upon Aja’s face as it slowly orbited above her.
“Alright – I missed an entire day of sunshine today. Tell me everything that happened,” Aja insisted, sitting upon Alec’s stomach.
“Well,” he began, “I woke up with a tree.”
“Oh, it happened so fast this morning! I had been sleeping when I suddenly woke up and felt the change about to happen. I jumped out of bed and barely got my feet in place before it happened,” she exclaimed.
“So tell me about the man you healed down there; he interests me. There’s something about him,” Aja switched topics.
“He is an Old One from Exbury. They are the race that makes plants grow and thrive. The boy at the tavern last night told us about him doing some tricks with plants,” Alec answered. “He has been riding with Andi, chasing the kidnappers.”
“He called your other friend his lady; are they pledged to one another?” Aja asked.
Alec hesitated. “I don’t know. They’ve been traveling together alone as long as you and I have, or even a few days longer. What the relationship is, I can’t tell you.”
“Is he going to travel with us tomorrow?” she asked.
“He thinks he is,” Alec said with a snort. He looked up at Aja. “How much farther should I take you, Aja? I don’t know what to do. There probably won’t be any danger for another day or two, but I’m going to catch the Warriors and their crew in a very short time, and that won’t be safe for you.”
“Don’t leave me Alec,” she leaned forward, until her face was close to his. “I feel connected to you; I don’t think we should part ways.”
He looked into her eyes, and thought about the challenges of having to shepherd Amane and watch out for Aja. They would slow him down and distract him from his goal. But they could provide company for one another if he had to depart from them, and Andi and Amane – whatever their relationship was – would appreciate being reunited, he was sure.
“I will take both you and Amane with me to Boundary Lake,” he agreed.
Aja smiled warmly and kissed Alec in gratitude, then rose graciously from atop him. “Thank you, my lord,” she told him.
Alec willed the tiny light to expire. “Don’t you start calling me that now; my name is Alec,” he ordered. “Good night Aja. Wake me in the morning,” he requested, then closed his eyes and fell fast asleep.
Chapter 10 – Despair in Boundary Lake
When Alec awoke, Aja was tapping him on the shoulder. “I’m going to transform in a moment. I’ll go downstairs so you don’t have to carry me,” she told him.
Alec blinked his eyes. “I’ll see you this evening,” he told her, sitting up. He watched as her head disappeared through the hatch where the ladder to the floor below rested, then he gathered together their belongings and rolled up his blankets, arranged everything, and awkwardly carried it downstairs. He went into Amane’s room, and much to his surprise, found Aja’s slender tree form standing next to the bed where the Old One slept. Alec gave Amane a firm shake to awaken him, then told the young man to get out of bed and get ready to go.
Amane sat up and looked around. “Must we leave so early? I didn’t get much sleep last night, after that delightful girl came down and visited me.”
“Aja came to see you?” Alec asked, surprised.
“She did; she said she couldn’t sleep. She sang some songs – what a lovely voice, and she told me about traveling with you. You’ve made quite an impression on her. Is she ready to go?” Amane asked.
“She is ready. We’re just waiting on you,” Alec said as he turned to dig a few coins out of the pouch of money he and Aja had traveled with. He placed the money on a table in the room to repay Sparrow’s hospitality, then picked up Aja. “I’ll see you outside,” he told Amane, and went out the door and around to the hiding place where the pendant awaited recovery.
By the time he came around the corner of the house again, Amane was outside, looking around. “Where’s Aja?” he asked.
Alec stepped out onto the road and began walking, forcing Amane to hurry after him. “See this tree I have on my back?” he asked. “That is Aja during sun light,” he told Amane.
The Old One stopped and stared. Alec stopped and turned. “Let’s keep walking,” he told Amane. “We can talk on the way.
“She comes from a race I know very little about, but they are trees by day and people by night. She’s only seen the world by daylight one time ever, and that was two days ago when I was treating her to help her recover from injuries,” he explained. “We’ll see her again tonight as soon as sunset occurs.”
“How did you find her?” Amane asked.
“When we were in Birnam Forest, where the Rangers were attacked, I found a village of women, which included her. She was ready to leave the village, and I agreed to be her protector,” Alec said. “We’ve been together since.”
“Andi thought you were dead in Birnam Forest,” Amane told Alec. “We were just recovering from everyone going crazy and attacking each other, when Andi screamed. She said you were fighting something terrible, awful. Then she couldn’t feel you at all, and we thought you had died. She couldn’t believe you had, but the rest of us thought that must be the case. We were all anxious to leave the forest, so we split up; the Rangers carried the dead back to Exbury, and Andi and I went on.
“Then one day Andi raised her head up. ‘He’s alive,’ she said, talking about you. She could feel you following us, getting closer, she thought, but we kept going. We caught sight of the kidnappers, and stayed behind them, waiting for the right moment to attack, but they ended up ambushing us, and the next thing I knew you were there, ready to help me set Andi free,” he concluded.
Alec rolled his eyes. “Since we’re two days behind the kidnappers, we need to move faster,” Alec told Amane, noting how high the sun had risen above the horizon already. “I can go much faster, but you wouldn’t be able to keep up,” he s
aid.
“I can carry you on a disk of air, that will allow you to rest and save your strength, while traveling faster than usual,” he explained. “But I will have to make you invisible, so that others don’t see you floating in the air, and you will need to stay silent while we travel,” Alec explained. Without waiting for comment from Amane, he called upon his powers, then lifted Amane off the road surface and enveloped him in a cloak of reflective light, making the Old One invisible.
“How can this be?” Amane shrieked.
“Be silent now,” Alec told him. “Just lie back and rest today, so that your body can recover from its injuries.” He began to run, switching his Light energy to Warrior energy so that he could pick up speed. Through long years of practice, Alec had discovered that he was able to only hold a maximum of three powers comfortably simultaneously, provided Spirit was one of the energies he used. With his Air abilities constantly carrying Amane, that left him with the quandary of using Light energy to hide Amane as he floated above the road, or using Warrior energy to speed up the pace of travel. He settled on using his Warrior abilities for the most part, allowing Amane to remain visible as he laid upon his floating platform, but when they approached other travelers, Alec would switch to his Light energy to maintain the invisibility around Amane. They ate from the meager travel rations Alec carried, despite Amane’s suggestion about stopping in a village tavern for a meal.
The switching of powers back and forth steadily drained Alec, and by mid-afternoon the amount of traffic around them had increased to the level to make it impractical to continue. “You’re coming down, Amane,” Alec warned, then lowered the Air platform and made Amane begin to walk with him again.
They engaged in little further conversation. Amane tried to converse about Andi, but Alec only set a faster pace, and soon Amane was too out-of-breath to talk and walk at the same time. They had climbed a considerable ways above the Twenty Cities, and Alec felt the impact of the thinner air in his own body as the day began to close. The pair of walkers came around a bend in the road amidst a heavy stream of other travelers heading in the opposite direction, and suddenly saw a shallow valley below them, in which many lights twinkled in the shadows of the surrounding mountains.
The Journey Home: The Ingenairii Series: Beyond the Twenty Cities Page 11
