“Yes I am,” Alec blithely replied. “Here take our blanket rolls and find a spot for us to sleep while I get the saddles off these horses and put them on the picket line. Allisma, do you need a hand with anything?”
Alec helped the other water ingenaire as well, even healing her sore legs too, then walked the animals up to the picket line where others were placing their horses as well. He finished his task, observed that wood had been gathered and a fire was starting, and went to find Imelda. “Everything appears to be setting up well. Do you need any of the ingenairii in the watch rotation?”
“We’ll work our way through the Guard members first, and then get to the ingenairii for watch turns,” she replied. “With a group this size we have the luxury of letting people sleep through the night more often than not.”
“I’d like to address everyone this evening to tell them what we’re doing. When you think we’re ready, let me know,” Alec asked, and he returned to the area when Bethany had set them up. She and the other ingenairii were gathered together eating their dinner rations.
“Go easy on those,” Alec warned everyone. “They have to last you several days, and in the worst case, even longer than that. I spoke to Imelda, and none of us will serve watch duty tonight, so you’ll all get a full night’s rest. We should have a quick meeting soon to explain the mission, and then you all can turn in for the night.”
A few minutes later a Guard member came over to Alec. “The lieutenant has gathered the cavalry squad together for you,” he reported.
“Thank you,” Alec told the young cavalry rider. “Let’s go,” he said to the ingenairii, and he walked over to the fire, where everyone was gathered.
“I appreciate you gathering together like this,” Alec said as he stood by the fire. “We left the city this afternoon on an important mission. We are going to test the ability of this cavalry unit to perform the duties that others cannot, to protect the interests and the reputation of Goldenfields. We’re also going to see how well we can use the abilities of the ingenairii to mesh with and enhance the fighting abilities of Guard members. You’ll notice we’re traveling light, without water wagons or bags because we have water ingenairii who will serve us.”
“They’ll serve you!” a friendly heckler shouted to raucous laughter.
Alec felt flustered for a second, but Imelda stood momentarily and stared in the direction of the comment, then sat down.
“We are racing towards Bondell as rapidly as possible, to set the Duke’s envoy, Lord Kelvin, free before the forces from Oyster Bay realize that we’ve arrived. Speed is going to be our first weapon, and we’ll be traveling light and fast. We’ll go through the desert and the mountains on the usual route to Bondell, and stay outside the city while we try to locate exactly where Kelvin and the others are being held. After we succeed, at least some of us will need to remain with Kelvin while he carries out negotiations with the Prince of Bondell to secure that state’s friendship and support in the war,” Alec explained.
“This is important for the Duke. I suggested we use the cavalry because I believe you can accomplish something no other warriors in the Dominion can. We are going to go as rapidly as possible these next few days. Save your energy and save your strength on this trip, and be prepared for a battle at the end. We’ll fight differently from other Guard units – we’ll use arrows and we’ll keep to our saddles when we swing our swords. No man on the ground can withstand an assault by a mounted swordsman’s weight and speed, so you’ll have advantages like you’ve never had before,” Alec concluded. “Do you have any questions?”
“How many will we face?” a voice in the crowd asked.
“There were originally two squads from Oyster Bay that attacked Captain Whelan and his folks with Lord Kelvin. I’m assuming Oyster Bay lost a fair number in that battle against our Guardsmen, so probably they have about the same number we do,” Alec answered.
“We’ll win any battle if we’re close to even odds!” the voice replied, and there was a round of raucous laughter.
Alec answered a few more questions about specifics with honest admissions that he knew little more about the situation. “We’ll scout more information when we get there, so we know what we’ve got to face. If there’s nothing else for now, please get a good night’s sleep and be ready for an early departure,” Alec finished. “Lieutenant Imelda, do you have any words for the troops?”
“Just take good care of your horses these next few days, and be prepared. You’re all good men and women, and I’ve got confidence in what you can do. And I look forward to working with our ingenaire friends; I know you’ll give us the extra advantages we can use to make this a resounding success!”
The group around the fire began to break up, and Alec walked over to where Bethany and the others were preparing to sleep. “So you’ve got an adventure in mind for us, don’t you Captain?” asked Colado, the air ingenaire who Alec didn’t know at all.
“You don’t have to call him Captain. You just call him Alec,” Chester chided Colado. “Those folks officially in the Guard have to treat him with respect, but we’re free to keep him humble.”
“Depending on how this all works out, I may join the Guard,” Colado said. “I’ve always enjoyed riding horses, and if there’s a spot for me in the cavalry, I’ll enter.”
“We’ll work out something for any ingenairii that want to join the Guard,” Alec said. “That’s not an urgent issue right now, but when we return from Bondell I’ll figure out what’s in everyone’s best interest for remaining a part of their house and still serving with the Guard.”
“For now though, I recommend everyone get some sleep, because I imagine Imelda will have us up pretty early,” Alec suggested, and the conversation ended for the night.
The next morning Alec woke up to the feel of Bethany’s long hair tickling his face. “Time to get up, Alec,” she said bending low over him. “Imelda just came around and is getting everyone up.”
Alec opened his eyes. By the twinkling starlight he could see the outline of Bethany’s head above him, and the cloud of her warm breath rising into the air over her head. “I’m awake,” he said groggily.
“And never had a more appealing wake up in your life before now, did you?” Bethany humorously asked, raising her head above him.
“Never anything close, so far,” he answered raising his head and sitting up. He felt the chill air hit his body as he crawled out of his blankets and pulled his cloak over his head. “Let me go bring the horses over and get them ready while you roll up the blankets and get a bite of breakfast for us.”
Alec walked to the picket line, where others were also gathering their mounts. Alec brought back animals for himself, Bethany and Allisma, along with the extra mounts he had led the previous day. He made a note to remember to see what the other ingenairii were riding so that he could help them prepare each morning and learn how to tend their own horses.
Alec saddled up the three horses that hadn’t been ridden the day before, and helped the two water ingenairii place their supplies on the extra mounts, then collected supplies from the other ingenairii and placed those on the extra horses as well. He went to find Imelda. “Is everything in order this morning?” he asked her as she stood watching the Guard riders start mounting their horses.
“Everything seems in good order. We should leave in just a couple of minutes,” she answered.
“Shall we have them empty out their extra water skins this morning to relieve the horses of all that needless weight?” Alec asked.
“Do you really believe the ingenairii can replace all that?” Imelda asked. “I saw what you did fighting in the palace, not to mention to heal yourself, so I know ingenairii do incredible things. It’s just so comforting with that water sitting there in the skins.”
“Come with me for a moment,” Alec said, and led her to Bethany and Allisma. “Can you ladies demonstrate your skill at providing water by making it rain over there?” Alec asked, pointing at a group of
trees twenty yards away.
Without looking at one another both women focused their eyes on the trees for a second, and then the sound of an intense rainstorm hitting the tree branches and remaining leaves became a cacophonous outburst of loud noise. All heads spun around to stare through the darkness at the unusual noise. Alec gestured his hand, and the women ended the rain shower abruptly.
“I’ll give the order as I move up the ranks,” Imelda said without hesitation, and turned to walk back to the other side of the camp, speaking to soldiers as she went along.
“Thank you,” Alec said simply, then mounted his own horse. Bethany handed him his breakfast rations, and sat contentedly eating her own.
A minute later a shrill whistle started the cavalry unit moving back out onto the road, westward bound. They traveled in silence for nearly two hours before sunrise lightened the eastern sky behind them. Around them the landscape appeared much as it had at nightfall, with farmsteads consistently scattered among fields and tracts of woods. Many of the farmhouses showed thin lines of wood smoke rising from their chimneys, and once or twice they saw farmers leading cows out of their barns.
“It’s a peaceful country around here,” Alec commented. “I suppose they don’t have to worry about any trouble coming from the desert in the west, and Goldenfields is pretty calm in the east.”
“Don’t get any ideas,” Bethany warned him. “There’s no place for a girl to go shopping out here! Let’s just plan on having two or three homes in the cities!”
Alec laughed at her, and sat quietly again as they continued to ride at a ground-eating pace. By mid-morning, after they had passed through two country villages, Imelda called a stop to rest the horses and their riders along the side of a brook that crossed the road. Alec rode up front to see her. “Do you have anyone who knows this country very well to know when we’ll find the deserts?” he asked her.
“No, we don’t have anyone from out here, but I expect you’ll send a recruiter out this way after we get back,” she said. “From studying the map, I’d say we’ll see drier land by this evening, and we’ll consider it desert by sometime tomorrow. We may see it sooner than that; without the water to carry, our mounts are making good time without great effort. Let’s get going now and ride until mid-afternoon. If we need it, your ingenairii can produce water then, and we’ll be able to take another long ride after than until after nightfall. Pass the word on the way back that we’ll eat the mid-day meal in the saddle.”
Alec left her and spread the word as he returned to the tail of the group. He dismounted and checked his horse and the reserves, letting them drink water from the brook. “Bethany, don’t let your animal drink too much now. He’s probably had enough. We’ll stop again in mid-afternoon. Everyone get ready to ride, and plan to eat lunch in the saddle,” he called out.
Alec and Bethany talked as the cavalry squad began moving again, leaving a hoof print marked brook bank behind. “We need to make good time on this trip, and I think Imelda is setting the right pace to get to Bondell as fast as possible without ruining the horses. But if we were traveling at a more leisurely rate we’d have more time in camp to talk among ourselves and get to know one another,” he told her. He spun stories about the carnival caravan he’d traveled in before, and how the workers talked and entertained one another at camp time.
As the sun rose higher Alec pulled his cloak off and enjoyed the refreshing feeling of the cool air blowing past him. The freedom of these next few days was something he looked forward to as a break from constant meetings and training activities back in Goldenfields.
When the mid-afternoon break came, they were in a low dell between two ridges, but there was no water available, and Alec realized that the ground cover was changing. While Bethany and Allisma filled water skins for the riders to give to their horses, Alec turned over his reins to Colado and walked up to the top of the western hill. A few small scrubby trees dotted the countryside in widely scattered locations. Only two widely separated ranch homesteads were available, and cattle could be seen grazing. The western horizon was featureless. Alec turned and walked back to the cavalry unit. Half the horses were already watered and straying around eating wisps of grass as their riders sat in relaxed postures.
Alec helped Colado water his collection of horses, and climbed back in the saddle, then resumed the same pressing pace Imelda gauged best for the cavalry, though they slowed down after nightfall. That night Alec was first off his horse, and went around applying his healing touch to all the ingenairii who needed it to overcome saddle soreness, which was everyone but Colado. He took Chester with him to unsaddle the horses and picket them, showing his friend how to feed and check the animals for healthiness. Bethany and Allisma again began dispersing water to the riders and their animals.
Everyone fell quickly asleep and rose just as groggy the next morning before dawn as Imelda pushed them westward across the boundaries of Goldenfields and into the unclaimed lands between the duchy and the mountains. They traveled more slowly to start, and Alec went up front to see why.
“There’s not much of a track to follow this far out from the city, so we need to go slowly enough to make sure we stay on the path. The last thing we want to do is get lost out here. When the sun comes up we’ll be able to resume full speed,” she explained.
Alec thought for a moment. “If a light ingenaire came up here with you and lit the path in front would you be able to travel faster?” he asked.
Imelda looked at him. “If we ride single file so that everyone stays on the path and doesn’t put their horse’s foot into a hole that breaks a leg, yes, we could pick up the pace. Send one of your ingenairii up here. Why didn’t anyone ever do these things before, Alec?” she asked.
“No one ever had the need we have, I guess,” he surmised, and rode back. “Shaiss, can you go up front and cast enough light out front for the leaders to see the path clearly in front of them?” he asked his friend.
“That’s not a problem,” the young light apprentice said, and he nudged his horse towards the front of the line. A few minutes later the word came back to make a single line, and then the pace began to pick up speed.
By the time sunlight started to reach the landscape around them, Alec could see that they were spending their first morning in the desert, and surrounding him he saw a variety of plants he had never seen before. He felt assaulted by healing memories in a way he hadn’t felt since his first days as a healer. Plant after plant called out to him in a fashion, and he recognized numerous healing qualities they all held the potential to provide. He made a note that at the first water break he’d begin to collect samples.
When the sun broke above the horizon, Shaiss came back to join the rest of the ingenairii, his illumination complete. By the mid-morning break, the Guards automatically formed two water lines for Bethany and Allisma, who began to fill the skins for them. Afterwards, as the cavalry started moving in ranks of two once more, Bethany leaned over to Alec. “Next time we stop we ought to try to find a low place, like a waterway, where there may be more water in the ground we can call forth. Allisma and I both thought it was difficult to bring water out this morning.”
“Why don’t you go up to Imelda and tell her that? She’s just had a good experience with Shaiss, so if she gets some tactical advice from another ingenaire she’ll be more inclined to start to think about what all of you have to offer,” Alec prompted.
Bethany looked at him, uncertain whether he was being serious or not. “Do you mean that?” she asked.
“Yes, I think it’s the best way. I can’t tell everything because I don’t know very much about what you or Chester or Shaiss can do. If Imelda starts to think about all of you back here, she’ll start asking things. She’s a bright woman, so then she’ll start incorporating your skills into her plans,” Alec encouraged her. “Head on up there, and don’t break the hearts of too many of the Guards by being too pretty,” he added with a smile.
That was enough to send Bethany ridin
g ahead, and Alec was surprised when she stayed up in front of the column until the next break came hours later. They stopped at the bottom of a dry river bed, just as the water ingenairii desired. By then, the mountains were in sight on the horizon, and Alec pondered his approach to this mountain chain, in such different circumstances from the carnival’s approach to the Pale Mountains in the spring time.
“We’ll be at their feet tonight, in them tomorrow, and if all goes well, through them two days after,” Imelda’s second in command, Pember told Alec as they happened to stand together and looked to the west.
“They’re not a wide range to cross?” Alec asked in surprise.
“No, they’ve got three main ridges running north and south, and the passes are along the river bed, and pretty well scouted and visible. We’re standing at the bottom of the Bondell River right now, as a matter of fact. Our trail will follow the river course all the way to the city. We won’t be able to run at night quite like we are out here, but we’ll make decent time if you give us a light ingenaire again,” Pember told him.
Alec thanked him for the information, then walked to get to the end of the line to water his horses. All the animals were in good shape, and Alec heard of only one steed throwing a shoe so far.
After water was distributed, Bethany came back to ride with Alec again. “Did you have a good time up there?” Alec asked, slightly off-balance from her lengthy departure.
“We had a very nice time chatting with each other. Imelda told me quite a bit about you I never knew before,” Bethany said without a smile.
Alec felt a sudden qualm of concern. “Oh really?”
“There’s the fact that she’s seen more of you undressed than I have, especially when you were her patient in the infirmary, for instance,” Bethany said. “And then there’s this matter of her cousin Inga, who you were apparently quite an item with.”
The Loss of Power: Goldenfields and Bondell Page 18
