“Is that Boundary Lake?” Alec asked a traveler headed away from the city.
“It is, and if you’ll take my advice, you’ll turn around and head away from the accursed place,” the woman leading a mule replied.
“Is something wrong there?” Alec asked her.
“The city is infected with plague, and the lacertii army is not far off now. Another week or less and the snakes will be slaughtering and enslaving everyone left there. You’d be better off coming along with me; I can make your journey comfortable and worth your while,” she replied.
Alec stepped back from the woman. “You go on and travel in peace,” he told her, then watched her as she continued on her way.
“Let’s step over this way,” Alec told Amane, grabbing his arm and pulling him off the road. Alec knelt and unloaded his cargo.
“Are we going to turn around and give up?” Amane asked, unsure of what Alec was doing.
As he asked there was a sudden motion, and Aja stood between them, stretching her arms high above her lithe body. At last she lowered her arms and opened her eyes.
“Hello, friend, it’s good to see you again,” she told Amane, who she happened to be facing first as she returned to human form. “Has the daylight shown you many wonders today?”
“None so great as what the sunset has just shared,” he valiantly said. “We’ve had a long and arduous journey today,” Amane answered. “It’s so good to see you again.”
“Alec, I missed you so,” Aja turned to him, then rubbed her body up against his as she fluidly wrapped him in a hug, and began to kiss him passionately.
“Aja, stop,” Alec pushed her to arm’s length. Can you hear these thoughts? he projected his thoughts into her mind.
“I can!” she replied in amazement.
Reply with your mind only. Now, tell me again, can you hear the thoughts I send to you? he communicated again.
Is this the way to do it, Alec? she stumbled through the process of extending her thoughts to him.
Yes! You did so well! he encouraged her. Now listen, I have the pendant in my pocket, and that is making you lust for me. You must control your desire; it is not real, he told her.
We’ll go into the city and I’ll place the pendant someplace safe, so that you no longer are so affected by it. Will you keep your desire in check for me, Aja? he asked.
I will try, my lord, she responded.
“What’s happening here? Are you two having some lovers’ spat?” Amane asked. “I may have misunderstood your relationship.”
“This is complicated, but we are not lovers,” Alec answered promptly. He pulled his pack back over his shoulder. “Amane, you walk in the middle; Aja, you stay on his right side,” Alec told them. “We’ll go into the city and try to find an inn where we can spend the night. Maybe a place that needs a singer,” he smiled at Aja.
“You are too kind, my lord,” she replied demurely, and with that they descended along the road that led to Boundary Lake, a journey that was akin to fish swimming upstream as they pushed their way through the many refugees who were fleeing from the city.
They reached the city gates, where a cursory guard stood alone, watching his fellow city residents flee.
“We’re newcomers to the city,” Alec told the man. “We have been following a large group – over a dozen men, guarding two dozen women – all on horseback. Have they arrived in the city recently?”
“They did, a day and a half ago. They’re as crazy as you to be coming to Boundary Lake now,” the guard replied. He was tired and morose, Alec could tell. Alec grasped his Healer and Spirit powers, and placed his hand on the guard’s shoulder, trying to infuse some energy and hopefulness into the man.
“Have they left the city already?” Alec asked.
“I’ve heard that they’re still here, up in the northern quarter of the city. The situation is so chaotic there’s no telling what the case is really,” the man looked at Alec more attentively than before.
“Is there an inn in the city we can find a place to stay for the evening?” Alec asked.
“You’ll have your pick; just go to the square in the center of town. There are no other visitors coming in. Everyone’s dying or leaving,” the guard answered.
Alec thanked the man. “Better days will come. Just stay true to your cause,” Alec encouraged the guard, then led his two companions into the dying city.
There were dead bodies lying unclaimed on the streets, and some doors stood open, evidence of abandonment or thievery, along the way into town. Alec had never seen a city hit by such a virulent strain of the plague, and he felt overwhelmed as he considered ways he might help to alleviate the deadly results.
In the center of the town was a vast square, surrounded by buildings on all sides. In the dim darkness of the city evening, Alec could see few details, but he had the impression that some of the buildings were enormous in size.
“You two go in that inn,” he pointed to a building with a sign of a bright red horse hanging over the door. “See if you can get two rooms for us, and find out if Aja can sing to the crowd tonight,” Alec directed his two companions. He went around the corner of the building and placed the pendant beneath a loose cobblestone, then joined the others inside.
The inn had a melancholy air, unmistakable the moment he walked into the front hall. Aja and Amane were standing there waiting for him. “They’ve told us to take our pick of rooms,” Amane reported to Alec.
The three went upstairs to the third floor, and selected two rooms side-by-side. “Aja and I will be in this one,” Alec decided. “You take that one,” he pointed Amane into the adjacent chamber. They all unloaded their packs, then the three went downstairs to the public room.
The room was full of people, mostly local people it seemed to Alec, folks who desperately wanted to cling to some semblance of normalcy in the midst of the chaos that was overtaking their lives. “Sing cheery songs for them,” Alec whispered to Aja.
“Of course,” she replied with exasperation, as the three settled into a corner.
“Once I get started, clap a beat for me,” she directed Amane, then began to sing a cheery tune about the arrival of spring, then sang another song about two drunks at a tavern, and followed with the song about the apprentice named Alec, pointing at her companion and working the crowd into a festive mood.
A waiter arrived with a plate of food, unsolicited, allowing Alec and Amane to eat while Aja continued to sing to the crowd. She switched to a love song, then a battle song, then back to tavern songs, and continued for a dozen more songs, until Alec discretely signaled it was time to end.
“You’re an extraordinary performer!” Amane gushed as they three of them climbed the stairs soon after that.
“Alec lets me sing almost every night, don’t you Alec?” she told the new addition to their travels.
“He should! If you were my companion, I’d let you sing every night as well, for a long as you wanted,” Amane said emphatically.
“Good night Amane,” Alec said as they arrived at their respective doors. “You can sleep in tomorrow. We’ll stay here while we try to find out if the kidnappers are still in the city or if they’ve moved on.”
“Are we going to search the city tomorrow?” Amane asked.
“I’m going to search the city; you’re going to stay here and keep an eye on Aja while she’s a tree in my room, to make sure that nothing happens to her. It’s an important task since I won’t carry her with me,” Alec emphasized, then shut the door of his room, shutting Amane out for the night.
“Do you think you’ll find the girls you want tomorrow?” Aja asked as Alec sat on the end of the plush mattress and pulled his boots off, then laid them on the floor next to his sack of supplies. He took off his shirt, then laid backwards, letting his body relax and luxuriate in the comfort of a soft bed.
“Will you lie down here next to me?” he asked Aja after a long moment.
“As you wish, my lord,” she smiled as she complied
.
Alec wrapped an arm around her. We should practice sharing our thoughts clearly with each other, he told her mentally.
What makes this possible? she asked.
We shared the flow of our blood between our bodies for a night and a day, Alec explained. And that can transfer some abilities, such as this.
Is this something you can do with many people? Aja asked.
With a handful. With some, it can happen over long distances, even when we cannot see one another. Andi tells me that we were able to do it, and even more, before I was injured, he told her.
Would you and I be able to speak to one another over a great distance? Aja pressed him.
It takes some adjustment, Alec replied. I would have to reshape your spirit.
Will you do it for me? I want to be able to talk to you, she told him.
Relax, and let me examine you, he said. He felt a desire to share his thoughts with Aja, compelled by an attraction to the girl that was not physical, but that was driven by his admiration for the love of life she displayed at all times. Alec found her invigorating and inspiring.
Carefully, he let his spirit embrace hers fully, exploring the nature of her personality. She had a strong sense of faith he discovered, a faith that rested on some timeless tree faith that the sun would always come up again, the rain would always fall again, and life would continue. It was her positive faith that allowed her to start each new evening with an expectation of good things to come.
Her faith was like his, he realized, in that he too believed good things would always come, though he relied on God and Jesus, and even John Mark, to deliver the future, whereas Aja had no name she gave to the deliverer of better times ahead. Gently, he kneaded her faith with the inspiration he felt, then moved on, skirting around her memories. He didn’t wish to intrude or expose her secrets, and so he continued to move, discovering the innate ability she had to judge and read people. It was like the nugget of a Spirit ingenaire skill itself, he realized, letting her understand so much about others, and feeling sympathy for them. Convinced that he had seen enough ability to be confident she would grow stronger, he withdrew, hoping that he had done enough in the one short session.
You will be able to practice your skills while we are together, and maybe the time will come when we will be able to reach one another without our bodies touching, he transmitted the feeling of a warm smile.
Sleepy man, I can feel your sleepiness now. You rest Alec, and I will go talk to Amane; I can tell he likes to listen to me and look at me, she told him.
Good night, Aja, he told her as she left the bed, and then he rolled over and slept soundly.
When Alec awoke the next morning, the sun was halfway above the horizon, and Aja was standing in the corner in her deciduous glory. Alec equipped himself with every weapon he had at his disposal, sword, bow, and bandolier, then left the inn and went out to stand at the edge of the great square. He felt good as he looked around; he felt a certain premonition that he was going to win a battle today, and then, a surprising premonition told him, something even bigger would occur.
Before him was the largest public open space he had ever seen in a great city, larger than anything in Michian or Vincennes. The size of the square, along with the classic lines of several of the buildings that framed it, gave Alec an impression of great antiquity, of a city that had been built in a different age by a greater civilization, and he was struck by a long-forgotten memory of the great ruins on the western border of the Pale Mountains.
Alec walked through the square, which was empty, except for debris that blew across it, and entered one of the buildings, chosen at random, with great steps that rose between two rows of columns.
“There’s no one in here,” a pale woman in a guard uniform told Alec. “And soon there won’t be anyone in the city at all.”
Alec approached her, and examined her as he did. The lady was ill, suffering from the plague that was devastating the city. “Take my hand,” he commanded her, and sending a steady stream of Healing energy into her body as they touched.
The color returned to her face, she stood taller, and her hand grasped Alec’s with renewed strength, squeezing his with desperate hope. “What did you do to me?” she asked loudly.
“I healed you,” Alec said. “What is this place?” he asked conversationally. “I just arrived in the city last night.”
“This was the city hall. The mayor died last week. The chief of the guardians is at the war front, and the magistrate is in the hospital, doing healing as well,” the guard told Alec.
“I was told that there was a group of men who arrived two days ago. What have you heard of them?” he asked.
“I heard they went up to the north end of the city, and they took over a mansion by the fountain of powers. They’re trying to collect a few women in the city,” she answered.
“Thank you,” Alec said. “Which way is the fountain of powers?”
The guard directed him through the city, and watched in amazement as he turned and left her.
More people were out in the streets now, and Alec felt depressed by the signs of death and resignation that were so prevalent throughout the city. He walked for half an hour, until he came to a long bridge over a deep canyon within the city, then he took the last turn he needed to reach his destination. Before him rose an impressive bronze fountain of statutes of lions, spouting water high into the sky, and just beyond the circle around the fountain Alec saw several dozen horses tied along a rail in front of an impressive mansion.
One guard was stationed by the horses, and two guards were stationed at the front of the house. The number of horses suggested that the kidnappers had picked up more girls, and many more guards to help keep them captive on the journey.
As he stood and observed and tried to plan his next step, he heard a scream within the house. It was a scream of pain that ended in his name, and the voice was Andi’s voice.
With one hand Alec pulled knives free from his bandolier, then embraced his Light energy, Spirit energy, and Warrior energy. He was invisible, and ready to fight.
Chapter 11 – Rescuing the Captives
Alec began to run towards the house, as he curved his path around the fountain and around the horses. When he passed the guard who was stationed by the horses, he pulled his sword with his free hand and sliced the blade across the neck of the guard there, killing the man silently as he went by. He let both his knives fly with his other hand, striking both the guards at the door, and making his entry into the building effortlessly, after he stooped and retrieved his knives.
He entered a grand entry hall, with a balcony all around the second floor above, and doors going in three directions around him. His ears were desperately trying to hear any indication from Andi of what her location was, and finding no clues. In the absence of any sound from Andi, Alec reacted to the first sound he heard, and stepped through the doorway to his left. Four guards were sitting at a table, relaxing as they played cards, unaware of the invisible assassin that had entered the room with them.
He let his knives fly again at the two farthest guards, then stabbed his sword at the two closest to him, before a single guard had even pushed away from the table. Alec had no qualms about removing as many of the guards as he could on his way to finding the two surviving Warrior ingenairii, and he did not hesitate a second beyond the time he needed to recover his knives again. He returned to the entry hall, then climbed the stairs and ran down a long hallway, one that was dimly lit. He skidded to a halt in front of a door behind which he heard conversation, then kicked the door open and stood invisibly examining the interior for a split second. Six girls and two guards were in the room.
The knives left Alec’s hands again, causing the guards both to collapse with looks of surprise on their faces, and the girls to start screaming. Alec allowed himself to become visible as he entered the room and closed the door behind him.
“Stop the screaming! Stop screaming! Stop!” he told them. “I’m he
re to set you free and send you home.”
At the sound of such an extraordinary offer the girls silenced their shouts, though they remained fearfully huddled together.
“My name is Alec. I have been chasing these kidnappers since they took Kriste from my home in the mountains on the other side of the Twenty Cities, and I have come to set her and all of you free,” he told them.
“You were the one they fought in Exbury, weren’t you?” one of the girls asked. “Kriste told me about you.”
“And the new girl, she fights like you. She said you were coming!” another girl spoke.
“Where is she? Where is Andi?” Alec pressed. He heard the sound of boots on the stairs, probably coming to investigate the screams, he suspected.
“Everyone over there, and stay silent,” he motioned urgently, as he pulled the bodies of the two dead guards behind a low table, then stood in line with the door and made himself invisible again. Four guards appeared in the doorway, stepped in without caution, then immediately attempted to pull their swords free as they saw the two bodies lying on the floor. Alec threw knives from his invisible station, then swung his sword to finish off the last of the reinforcements. He returned to visibility, then bent to retrieve his knives once again, and heard the sound of one of the girls retching.
“Do you know where more girls are? Are they in any rooms up here?” Alec asked. “We need to get out of here. Where’s Andi?” he repeated his earlier question.
“There are four girls staying in the room at the end of the hall; I saw them when I went to the privy,” one of the girls volunteered the information.
“You girls lead the way down there, and walk into the room like there’s no problem. I’ll come in behind you and take care of the guards,” he told them. He counted in his head; three guards killed outside, four downstairs, six in the room they were leaving, probably two in the room they were going to – fifteen less guards to worry about.
The Journey Home: The Ingenairii Series: Beyond the Twenty Cities Page 12
