Alec looked down at the ground, then looked at her face. “Three months,” he answered.
Her expression went blank, then she rolled her eyes and tossed a twig at his face. “You didn’t think to tell me that before now?” she asked.
“I didn’t,” Alec admitted. “It didn’t occur to me. I don’t think it will be like that this time though. And if it is, don’t wait for me.
“Would you like to take the first shift of the watch?” he asked.
“A watch? Out here in the middle of nowhere?” she asked, then saw the sly grin on his face.
“I’ll wait for you as long as I want to, and then I’ll go back to my mules, and I may decide they’re better companions than you!” Roslyn told Alec with mock ferociousness, then wrapped herself in her blankets and lay down on the ground.
Alec sat and stared at the fire for a while longer. He didn’t sense that he was supposed to stay at the Pool for a long time; he had a feeling of urgency, a feeling that he needed to get on with his efforts to set Andi free after the weeks that her body had been occupied, while he had slowly traveled across the land, and the feeling told him he needed to defeat Hellmann again. And to defeat him more permanently this time – somehow.
When Alec awoke in the morning Roslyn was already gathering plants swollen with moisture. He ate a few mouthfuls of breakfast, then said a somber goodbye and began hiking around the foot of the mountain, looking for the smaller, cone-shaped hill that he remembered entering before, memories that were vague in parts after centuries. He recollected little of the approach to the underground pool, while the events that had taken place inside the cave remained vivid.
The sun was not far above the horizon, and the day was not yet warm, when he saw the peak that he was confident was his destination. He began climbing with determination straight up the steep, rocky side of the hill, grabbing at rocks and bushes to help him keep advancing, wishing that there was something like a game trail he could follow, but finding nothing of the kind as he ascended higher.
After an hour he was at the top, and found the sinkhole at the center of the crown of the hill. There was no storm this time, no flash flood that washed him inside and downward – only the red sunrise, the gentle breezes, and the silence of the empty space were with him as he climbed down to the cavern entrance and began to descend through the tortuous turns and drops of the cave.
The air grew moister as he dropped further within the cavern, and then he dropped down a short distance in the dismal darkness, and sensed the openness of the space in front of him. It was pitch black in all directions. Alec knelt and felt around on the ground until his hand came upon a large pebble. He flicked it out in front of him and listened with satisfaction to the plopping sound as the stone hit the surface of the water in the pool.
Alec felt no sense of holiness in the dark space. There was none of the awe-inspiring atmosphere, the pervasive presence that the cave in the Pale Mountains provided. Yet he had experience in this cave to know that it was the place where he had been healed in the past.
He decided to strike out through the darkness, and approach the far side of cave where he hoped something would happen. The far side of the cave, as far as he knew, could only be reached by swimming across the water of the pool, the cold water, he thought with a shudder. He pulled off his boots and his sword and his shirt in preparation for the swim.
After just a moment’s hesitation, the thought became deed, and he dove into the water and began flailing in the chill for a moment before he asserted himself and began stroking briskly through the cold, cold depths that lay inside the hill. He needed only a couple of minutes to progress far enough to reach his unseen goal, as he bashed his head against the dark wall on the far side of the pool. Rubbing his head with one hand, he reached up with his other hand to feel for a handhold on the lip of the stony shelf that he knew existed there, the spot where he had been visited by the spirits of his father and Noranda and John Mark.
He slowly worked his way to his left, and then right, trying to find a place he could climb up and out of the water. His legs grew tired from treading water as his search dragged on and on, and he moved along hundreds of yards of the stony face of the pool’s edge. He at last came to a place where his fingers found a wide flat surface above him. He held on to the rocks and rested for several minutes, letting his leaden legs regain some strength in the chilly water, while his body began to shiver. At last he thrust himself upward and landed his torso on the top of the ledge, then wriggled and squirmed his way completely on top and stood up, out of the water for the first time since he had entered, and waited for his miraculous healing to occur.
“I’m here John Mark, will you heal me?” he called out after several minutes of dark silence.
“What would you have me do?” John Mark’s voice suddenly sounded on his right side. Alec whirled in the pitch blackness to stare in that direction.
“Please, restore my powers, as you called me here to do. I need them to set Andi free, to battle Hellmann again,” Alec pleaded.
“But your powers are restored – they have been restored since you dove into the pool,” John Mark replied.
Alec stood in stunned silence, then called upon his Light energy to create a ball of light that illuminated the location where he stood. He suddenly had sight of the water in the pool, which stretched off into the darkness, reflecting his light upward to the stony roof above. The shelf he stood upon was a few yards wide, a few yards deep. And John Mark stood beside him.
“I’ve been healed all this time? Why didn’t you tell me sooner? There wasn’t any flash of light or sound or anything that announced it,” Alec protested.
“God doesn’t usually advertise his good works, Alec,” John Mark replied. “The world runs on millions of miracles everyday that take place without notice.”
“But I didn’t know,” Alec said petulantly. “I’ve been swimming in here for hours when I didn’t need to.”
“Come, come Alec, you’re a grown man,” John Mark told him. “Get over this, and prepare for your future. You face a battle that will be beyond your ability to win alone Alec. I am going to leave you now, and I will pray for you. Know that you remain a man who gives joy to the Lord through your faith and your good deeds. But remember Alec, when the battle is at its climax, you will not win this battle alone.” Saying that, John Mark disappeared from his sight.
Alec stood alone once again. The water remained dark and still, and the cave remained silent and dark. He had his powers back, ready to be used in the great battle that sat in his future.
John Mark had told him that he could not win the battle against Hellmann one-on-one.
It was a frightening prophecy. He could not imagine any ally who was available to help him in a battle against Hellmann and the ingenairii.
But he had his powers restored, and that was good news. He extinguished the glowing ball of light and used his Traveler energies to return to the small canyon where he had left Roslyn.
“My word!” she spoke, jumping in startlement as Alec appeared out of thin air. “You’re healed – your powers are restored, aren’t they?” she asked.
“They are,” Alec agreed.
“You don’t look overjoyed about it,” she told him, seeing the worried distraction on his face.
“I have my powers, but I was told that I will not be able to win this battle alone,” he told her. “And I don’t know who I can turn to as an ally against Hellmann. The challenge is beyond any person’s ability, including my own.”
Roslyn switched languages, returning to the language of her youth, the language spoken by the Twenty Cities and the Avonellene Empire. “Couldn’t you use some of those mighty warriors who you fought with before, the ones you told me about in the eastern lands?”
“The Ajacii?” Alec asked in the eastern tongue she used. “I could!” he exclaimed. “I could go tell them of the challenge, and ask some of them to come to this land with me!” he switched back to the western lan
guage of the Dominion.
“It would take time to carry many people such a distance. It would take days, but I could do it,” he said, his face brightening at the thought. “Roslyn, you’re a treasure!”
“Of course. You’ve known that since you met me,” she demurely agreed with a twinkle in her eye.
“Roslyn, how attached are you to your mules?” he asked.
“What do you mean?” she looked at him with a perplexed expression.
“If we were to leave right now to start the journey to Exbury, would you mind leaving them behind at the stable in Bondell?” he asked.
“Going to Exbury? From here? You would take me to Exbury? Now?” she was flustered by the concept. “No, I’m sure they’ll find new homes when the stableyard decides I’m not coming back.
“We could really go to Exbury, like the restorers go?” she sought confirmation.
“Pick up everything you want to take with you,” Alec suggested. “This will be such a long journey we’ll need to travel through four or five spots on the way to land and rest before we move on.”
“How long will it take?” Roslyn asked, gathering up her materials and stuffing them in her bag. “And are you going to wear anything besides wet pants?”
Alec laughed as he realized he had left his clothes dry beside the pool. “I’ll be back,” he promised, and transported himself inside the cave, gathered up his attire, then transported back to rejoin Roslyn. He redressed, grinning at Roslyn as he hopped and pulled his boots on.
“Well, this will take us less than an hour to travel to Exbury,” Alec told Roslyn, wrapping his arms around her in a hug as they prepared to depart. “Say farewell to the Dominion.”
He engaged his energy, and they were suddenly transported to the spring of healing water on the Giffey River, far up the river from Goldenfields. “Gracious!” Roslyn exclaimed. “Is that what it feels like on a restorer?” she asked.
“Who are you?” a guard immediately challenged their presence.
“Here we go again,” Alec murmured, and he trans-located them to the bridge at Riverside, where sunset was beginning to take place. Shadows from the mountains blocked the sun’s rays from reaching them.
“Where are we now?” Roslyn asked. “And where was the last spot?”
The place we just came from is in Goldenfields. It’s the spring where the healing water issues forth,” he answered. “And this,” he paused, “is in the Pale Mountains, between the Dominion and the lands of the lacertii.”
“Are you like the restorers? Do you have to be at a place to know it before you can fly to it like this?” she asked. “Why would you have ever been in this god-forsaken spot?”
“There was a town here once,” Alec replied, “a long time ago. I learned something about life here,” he told her, thinking about the horror of seeing death and war for the first time.
He tightened his hold on her, and they transported to a dim alleyway in Chanradala. Alec could feel his powers beginning to strain from the multiple jumps they had taken, including his jumps into and out of the cave. Making the journey from the Dominion all the way back to the Twenty Cities and even to his intended destination, Valer, far beyond the Twenty Cities, would be a full day’s use of his energy, he realized. Depending on how many Ajacii he could carry back with him to Michian, he might have to spend several days ferrying Ajacii with him back to Michian.
A lacerta passed the entrance to the alley and Alec felt Roslyn’s body stiffen. The lacerta walked past without looking down the alley at them, and Roslyn relaxed. “Where are we now?” she asked in a whisper.
“This is Chanradala, the capital city of the lacertii nation. The next jump will be a long one, as we cross the rest of the lacertii lands to go to Boundary Lake. Then we’ll go to Moriadoc, the westernmost of the Twenty Cities. And then, we’ll go to Exbury,” he told her.
“We’re that close, really? Just three more jumps to reach Exbury? Oh stars! Who will I go see first? I can’t even imagine how to be reintroduced to the society?” Roslyn seemed to panic at the sudden approach of her destination.
“I’ll introduce you to the Old Ones I know,” Alec tried to calm her. Another lacerta walked past, but this time happened to look down the alley and saw the two humans standing there.
At the sound of the lacerta’s scream, Alec engaged his powers and they translocated again, this time to the alley on the side of the Red Horse Inn, located on the great square in the center of Boundary Lake. It was full night time in the city, but there appeared to be numerous lights that helped to illuminate the square, and Alec heard the sound of people and lively conversation within the building next to them. He was pleased to know that the city held enough life that people could laugh and socialize, and he hoped that conditions were secure and greatly improved since his departure.
They stood silently, as Alec took a deep breath, then engaged his powers again, and translocated them to a dark, empty doorway on a lonely empty street in Moriadoc. “Welcome back to the Twenty Cities,” Alec told Roslyn. He felt worn out by the multiple jumps, the demand on his energies multiplied by carrying his passenger with him. Using Traveler energy remained the least comfortable of the abilities he held, and he looked forward to making just one more jump for the day.
He leaned back against the wall to rest, when he heard the latch on the door click, and then a dim light appeared as the door behind them opened.
“You two get out of here. This is a home, not a bawdy joint!” a heavyset, balding man shouted at the two people he mistook for furtive lovers.
Alec paused, as he mentally adjusted to the different language again, the eastern language of the Twenty Cities and Avonellene. Regardless of the translation though, he understood the unhappy connotation of the man’s tone and gestures. He closed his eyes, and they made the last jump, leaving the man to goggle in astonishment at the emptiness that was all he suddenly had on his porch.
They landed in Exbury, and Alec sagged against Roslyn as a result of the final jump. She looked at his face, his eyes closed and his jaw clenched, and saw the stress he was in from the exertion; she continued to hold him in the hug that had been their traveling mode, except now she did it to support him.
A sound distracted her, and she turned her head to take in their surroundings. They were in a garden of a large home, clearly the home of a family in the Old One culture of Exbury. Luxuriant flowers blossomed at every location she examined, while music and laughter and conversation emanated from the lit windows and doorways of the house before them.
Alec’s eye’s opened, and he straightened up. “Welcome home, Lady Roslyn. You’re back in Exbury now, where I suspect you’ll never have to worry about tending to mules for the rest of your life, unless you decide that you really like mules,” he smiled at her. “This is the home of the family Andi and I stayed with in Exbury. The parents are named Lord Shaln and Lady Rooney and the children are Amane, Tarry and Casse.”
“I knew Shaln and Rooney, I think,” Roslyn replied. She attempted to steel herself for the shock that was about to be administered. “Please lead the way.”
She followed Alec to the door, where he opened it and walked boldly into the house, with Roslyn directly behind him.
They had walked into a party, it was evident. In every direction people filled the rooms they could see, and music wafted from an unseen band nearby. Their entrance attracted little attention, so that they were able to stand together by the door for several seconds, undisturbed by anyone – hosts, guests, or staff.
Alec searched the crowd, trying to find a familiar face, someone he could approach, when a sudden screech sounded from the next room over. Alec felt a pleasant chill run up his spine, and then a warmth in his spirit. His face broke into a grin, seconds before he heard Aja’s voice shout. “Alec! Alec is here! I can feel him.”
“Aja!” he called loudly in response, and he grabbed Roslyn’s hand to lead her with him as he forcefully entered the crowd and began to press forward, only
to stop after a few yards and step abruptly backwards as a slender girl’s body hurtled itself against him. Alec released his hand from Roslyn and wrapped his arms around Aja, then kissed her soundly on the lips and looked at her with a grin.
“Aja! I didn’t expect to see you! How marvelous,” Alec spoke loudly, staring at the girl’s face as she rapturously stared back.
“Alec, how could you not expect to see me here at my own engagement party?” she asked. “Oh, it is so wonderful to see you here tonight!”
Just then Amane came walking up to the pair of them, a strange expression on his face. “Alec, Amane has asked me to marry him!” Aja said brightly. “And I’ve said yes.”
“That’s wonderful,” Alec told her, keeping her in a hug that pressed her tightly against him, both because of his fondness for her and because he suspected it irritated her fiancé. “You will make him a happy man,” he told her.
“And if he doesn’t make you a happy woman, I’ll come back to Exbury and cut his head off,” he added, then laughed.
He released Aja from his embrace at last and reached towards Roslyn to bring her forward. “This is my traveling companion, Lady Roslyn. I want to reintroduce her to your parents, Amane,” Alec said. “She is an Old One who left Exbury many years ago, and has now returned to her city.”
At length a number of introductions were made, and the presence of numerous Old Ones in the house for the engagement celebration made the event an immediate re-introduction party for Roslyn as well, an extraordinary turn of events that redoubled the celebration for the evening. Not too many hours later, exhausted as he was, Alec was glad to quietly slip upstairs and back to the room he had occupied during his previous stay at the home.
He lay on the bed and thought of Andi. She had been unhappy while at the house, because of his lost memories and distant relationship with her. He wished he had been able to understand and share the unity of spirit with her during that time, instead of maintaining the distance that he had, crippled as he was by the brain injury he had suffered. And now, conversely, she was unable to share with him, crippled even more grievously by the horrific possession of her body, while Hellmann used it as his vehicle to seek dominion over the world. It had to be terrible for his beloved, he knew, and he longed to carry out the actions that would win the battle to set her free.
The Journey Home: The Ingenairii Series: Beyond the Twenty Cities Page 32
