His next target was the home of Munson, a person he had never met or seen. Alec left the home of the dead Bahyt behind and walked through the dark streets of the residential district to find Munson’s home, a tall building with a wide patio all around it.
As he had done before, Alec slipped around to the back, where the door to the kitchen was unlocked. The kitchen was empty, and Alec drew his sword as he entered the dining room, also empty and dark. He looked for a staircase, and climbed to the second floor, where the sleeping quarters were sure to be located.
A maid in the main hallway saw Alec, and soundlessly opened her mouth in surprise at the sight of a stranger in the home. Alec ran to her and put his hand over her mouth. “I mean you no harm, and I will not hurt you. Please show me where Munson’s quarters are,” he told her.
He removed his hand from her mouth and placed in on her arm. “You lead,” he directed the petite girl. She had a thin face framed by close-cropped, tightly curled dark hair. For the moment, she looked at him in fear, then began walking to the next staircase, that led to a third floor which consisted of only Munson’s suite. The room was dark and empty.
“May I go now?” the girl asked Alec with a pleading voice. “I’m supposed to end work soon and go home to my mother.”
“I can’t afford to let you go tell anyone I’m here. You stay here with me until Munson arrives,” Alec told the girl, who was only a little younger than him.
“What are you planning? Will you rob him?” the girl asked.
“What is your name?” Alec asked the girl.
“I’m Irena,” she replied. “Can I please go home if I promise to never tell anyone I saw you?”
“Irena, I am not going to let you go right now, but when I think the time is right I will make sure you get safely home,” Alec promised her, not sure how he would carry the promise out.
“What are you going to do?” she asked.
“Munson was one of the conspirators who plotted the murder of the king,” Alec explained. “They tried to poison him slowly, so that it looked like death by old age. When that was thwarted, they turned to brutal attack, and had him stabbed to death. Because of their greed and arrogance, the king is dead, many good people are dead, wars are occurring, and no one has trust in what’s right.”
“I am going to revenge the king, and set things right. I will kill each of the conspirators, including your master,” Alec concluded.
“Please do not. Do not kill any more people. You’re right, too many people have died already. You seem like a nice boy, don’t do this. Besides which, you might get killed yourself. And I would lose my job, which my mother relies on to feed our family since she lost her own job in the troubles,” Irena concluded.
“Justice must be served. I am under an obligation to see that the murderers of the king are killed,” Alec explained, without knowing why.
Irena remained silent, and Alec sat and waited.
“Do you know when your master will return? Where did he go?” Alec asked the nervous girl.
“He went out to dinner, and usually returns within three hours,” she replied. “He’ll likely be back in just a few minutes more.”
As if called by prophecy, there was the sound of a door closing downstairs, and then a tread on the stairs came from below.
“Go hide in the bath,” Alec ordered Irena.
“Don’t do this please. What would your mother say?” she pleaded one more time, laying her hand on his arm.
Alec felt a jolt at her touch, and he felt her revulsion at his plan to kill; he suddenly saw himself through her eyes, and realized that own in his heart he shared her dislike for what he felt compelled to do. “I was raised in an orphanage,” Alec evaded the question. “Now go.”
The steps were getting nearer. Irena ran to the bath, while Alec stepped into a corner where he would remain undetected.
A light came into view as Munson carried a candle with him up to the top floor. He walked into the room and lit a lamp, then began to undress from his formal attire, while Alec edged between him and the stairs.
“Who are you? Reckless fellow, you shouldn’t have picked this house to rob,” Munson said as he looked in the mirror, saw someone behind him, drew his sword and faced Alec.
“I’m not here to rob. I’m here to avenge the king,” Alec said. “You and all the other conspirators are going to pay for the harm you’ve done.”
Munson responded with a withering attack, one that Alec thought would have caught almost any other opponent unprepared. Alec parried and pressed his own attack against Munson’s formidable defenses.
“You’re better than just a typical street pad,” Munson said. “Who sent you?”
“Prince Enguerrand sent me to make everyone pay who was part of the plot to kill his father,” Alec said, not attacking during the conversation.
“Prince Enguerrand has been dead a decade, young fool,” Munson said. “Try better next time.”
“I will,” Alec said, and he launched a furious series of strokes that cornered Munson and knocked his sword from his hand.
“Stop!” Irena was behind him as she called loudly to him. “Don’t become an assassin just like him.”
Alec’s blood froze at the comparison. “As you can see, I can kill you. But for the moment, I won’t. You may take one horse and leave right now, never return within one hundred miles of Oyster Bay, and never plot again to harm the rulers of thee Dominion,” he told the still defiant Munson.
“I’ll take your offer,” Munson said with venom.
“Go now. Go directly, and don’t stop anywhere before sunrise,” Alec said, stepping aside so that the vanquished man could walk away from his estate.
“Irena,” Alec called after several silent moments. “Go down to the kitchen. I’ll be right behind you. Try not to let anyone see you.”
Irena stood and looked at him, ashen, and walked through the room without looking around. “Thank you,” she said as she left the room.
Alec extinguished the lamp, then followed her down to the dark kitchen in the back of the house.
“Let’s go,” Alec said, motioning as he opened the door.
“Where are we going?” the girl asked, tears starting to stream down her cheeks.
“I promised I’d see you safely home,” Alec reminded her. “Show me the way to your home, and we’ll part in peace.” He was suddenly tired, and knew he would not get to his third target of the evening.
“That’s all you’ll do? Just walk me home and then leave me alone?’ she pressed.
“Yes, Irena, I’m only going to watch out for you. Now go,” he gave her a slight shove, and she began walking around the house. She led his down the street and around several turns until they were back in a working class home in the city, where houses were closer to each other and the street.
“This is my home. Will you leave me now, please, now that you know where I live?” Irena asked Alec as she placed her hand on the knob of a green door.
He reached out a hand towards her, and she flinched as his fingers rested against her temple. Testing his spiritual ingenaire powers, Alec sent a prayer of peace and tranquility, and acceptance of God’s plan towards the girl, then removed his hand from her. “He never denied your accusation, did he?” she observed. “And then you listened to me and let him go.”
“Good night, Irena,” he said gently, then turned and started to walk rapidly away, leaving without even looking back.
Though unfamiliar with the quarter of town he was in, Alec managed to find his way back to the river, and located a late night boat that took him across to the dock he sought on the south bank. Alec returned to his inn, paid for his room and the stable fees, and fell quickly asleep in his temporary room.
Alec awoke in the morning and felt physically ill. He had no desire to carry out any more of the murders, the revenge killings he had been charged with. With his sword skills, Alec knew that each encounter was the same as him killing in cold-blood. Although he kne
w leaving Munson alive meant the potential existed for more trouble in the future, he felt relieved that he had listened to Irena. He went down to the tavern room and ate bread and sausage for breakfast, with a glass of milk. He resolved to kill no more of the conspirators, but to instead go capture the crown.
Before that though, he intended to go back and see Irena, to apologize to her and let her know that he would not kill any more of the Oyster Bay conspirators.
Alec went to the stables to treat his horses to some oats, and brushed them slowly, enjoying the time with no one else around, no worries, no thoughts of violence. Taking care of the horses was therapeutic and calming, and he took his time doing it. He thought about what he would do next.
Alec planned to go to Irena’s home and speak to her, then go steal the crown, then leave the capitol city and begin the long journey up the length of the river to Stronghold, where he would begin the next great challenge he faced, reviving Noranda.
With the horses contented by the attention they had received, Alec left the tavern and went to the river bank, where he caught a ferry over the water. Alec went to the marketplace in front of the cathedral, where he had begun his killing spree yesterday by avenging himself of Elgin, son of the Duke of Goldenfields.
Despite the violence of the day before, the market was back in action again, with vendors and customers freely exchanging goods. Alec found the woodworker who he had sat next to the day before.
“Credel,” Alec said, crouching down next to the man. “Do you have my goods?”
“Lord preserve us!” Credel said. “Are you back to wreak more havoc?”
“No, I’m not. I’m done with that. I have something else to do now. I’d like to take my herbs and materials if you happen to have them.”
“They’re right here,” he motioned to a bag beneath his table.
“Thank you,” Alec said. “I’ll be on my way.”
“We’ll all be on our way right behind you,” Credel said as Alec stood with his bag.
“Why’s that?” Alec asked absent-mindedly.
“Since Elgin and Bahyt were killed yesterday, and Munson disappeared, and Brahnam heard you tell Elgin that you were going to claim the crown, everyone else associated with the coup is leaving town in a hurry, other than the ingenairii. Pretty soon there’ll be no one left in charge in the city, and then heaven help those left. It will be anarchy here,” Crebel explained. “I’m going to stay two more days, then go visit my sister in the country.”
Alec stopped in his tracks, feeling the same sickness return that had plagued him earlier that morning. If what Credel said was true, he may have managed to unleash disaster that would bring more harm than he would have ever envisioned in a nightmare.
“Take care, Credel,” Alec said kindly to his acquaintance.
“You too, youngster. Take care of yourself, and take care of our city,” he replied.
Alec found himself shaking his head as he walked away with his bag over his shoulder. He walked through the city streets towards the neighborhood where Irena lived, doubting his way until he saw the green door he remembered. He knocked on the door and waited for several long seconds until the knob turned.
A woman’s face looked out at Alec, probably Irena’s mother, he thought to himself. Then suddenly his mental view shifted and he saw an old acquaintance, not a stranger. “Hinges, is it you?” Alec asked in a squeaky voice.
The woman gasped. “Master Alec?” she said breathlessly. “Master Alec!” she repeated loudly. “Bless us all!”
“Hinges, I am so glad to see you safe and sound,” Alec said to the woman who had been housekeeper for him at the Healer House on Ingenairii Hill.
She reached out a hand and grasped his arm tightly. “Won’t you come in, please?”
Alec entered the house, and Hinges closed the door behind him, locking it. “Why are you here? How did you know where I lived?” she asked.
“I actually came here looking for a girl named Irena,” Alec explained awkwardly.
“Irena? She is in the back room,” Hinges explained looking confused.
“Irena, Master Alec is here to see you,” Hinges called to the back of the house, still keeping an uncertain eye on Alec.
“Who, mama?” Alec heard the voice of the girl last night call. “I’m coming,” the voice sounded closer, and Alec heard the click of shoes coming towards him. She appeared through a doorframe, looked around the room until she saw Alec, and then screamed loudly.
“Irena, stop, please. This is Master Alec, the great man I told you about from the Ingenairii Hill,” Hinges said.
“Mama, last night, he broke into Master Munson’s home and made me go with him to the bedroom. He waited there and almost killed my master,” Irena said, her eyes only on Alec.
The room was silent.
“Hinges, what she said is true,” Alec admitted, and Hinges gave a little gasp. “She told me how wrong it was to seek revenge for the king’s death, and I felt the truth of her words in my soul. I will not seek to kill any of the others I had planned to hunt, Irena. I came to tell you that, and to make sure that you are okay.”
“Finding you Hinges, is a wonderful extra treat beyond what I had to say to Irena,” Alec said, breaking eye contact with the daughter to turn to his former housekeeper. “Irena said that her mother had lost her job. I didn’t know it was you,” he ran out of words.
“Pardon my manners Master Alec, would you like something to drink? Have a seat, please,” Hinges said. “Irena, keep our guest company while I go get a pitcher of juice.”
“Irena, your words have affected me, I want you to know. Those men deserve punishment, but I will not be the one to deliver it to them in this way,” Alec said to the short girl as they sat down.
“Will you have any problems when you go to work today? Would you like for me to go with you?” he added.
“I will go to work today just like any other day,” Irena replied. “I will have no problems, I’m sure. They will still need to keep some people working there to keep the house up for a little while until someone figures out what to do next.”
“My mother always spoke so highly about you, Master Alec,” Irena continued. “What happened to you to make you a killer?”
“I didn’t think of myself as a killer. I had a vision at a holy site, and I was told to avenge the death of the king,” Alec explained. “These were bad men,” he continued. “They’ve made the Dominion a worst place, with all the pain and death and poverty they’ve spread. Of course, now I worry that I may end up causing the same result if I cause the local government to fall apart,” he said mostly to himself.
“How are you going to fix things for us, so that doesn’t happen? Can you give people something to believe in?” Irena asked.
“He can do anything he sets his mind to,” Hinges said as she re-entered the room. “He brought a girl back to life once!”
“Oh mother, I’ve heard that story a dozen times now!” Irena said scornfully. “Tell me the truth now, Master Alec, did you bring a girl back to life?”
Alec remembered the night on the beach, when Cassie’s body had laid lifeless, and he had poured so much of himself into her that he left a part of his healer skills with her when she returned to life.
“Yes, he answered simply, looking directly into Irena’s eyes.
She started to stand up, but couldn’t remove her eyes from Alec. “I have to go now,” she said uncertainly. “I’ll see you later, mama,” and she turned and left the house.
“You were very good to me when I worked for you, so we are not desperate for money, like so many other unfortunate people,” Hinges said. “But we try to live simply, and Irena works now, and feels good that she can bring some money home.”
“When did you leave Ingenairii Hill? What happened to the Healer House?” Alec asked.
“I stayed at the job at Healer House even after the bad times, when the king was killed and so many were killed even on Ingenairii Hill,” Hinges replied.
“At first they brought many victims to Cassie, and she tried to treat them. But then it became rougher and rougher and she joined that pretty blond girl and the others…”
“Bethany?” Alec prompted.
“Yes, Bethany. Thank you,” Hinges continued. “But I stayed at first because I didn’t know what else to do or what to expect or when someone might come back.”
“Then so many did come back, but not you or Cassie,” Hinges said slowly. “And before long more bad times occurred and more ingenairii were getting killed by one another. That’s when I stopped going up there.”
“I told them not to go back,” Alec said sadly.
“They had to know what they were dealing with,” Hinges said in the same tone of regret. “So what can you do now?”
“Irena told me to give the city hope,” Alec replied. “And that’s what I think I’ll do.” He decided to go capture the crown.
“Hinges, take care of yourself and your daughter,” Alex said as he stood to leave.
“Will you come back and open up the Healer House someday?” Hinges asked as they stood at the door.
“I hope that someday I will open the Healer House on Ingenairii Hill again, and that you and Cassie and I all be together there just like the old days. First though, I have to travel a long way to keep a promise,” he told her as she hugged him.
With that Alec was back out in the streets of Oyster Bay and traveling towards the cathedral, where he intended to capture the crown of the Dominion.
Chapter 30 – The Cathedral Awaits
When Alec arrived at the Cathedral, he looked at it in a different light than he had ever seen it in before. Alec stood at the wall around the rear gardens and considered the cathedral as a place he was about to steal from.
He climbed over the wall and walked slowly through the gardens and workshops behind the cathedral, wondering where the Morn Rise Chapel was located. Obviously it was on the east side of the cathedral, but beyond that he knew nothing about where to look. After walking along the entire eastern exterior of the cathedral without finding any building that could possibly be a chapel, Alec approached a priest and asked directions.
The Loss of Power: Goldenfields and Bondell Page 35
