“You take care of your work, I’ll take care of the rest. We’ll go collect that gold from Menard’s office and start paying what’s owed. How quickly can you deliver the rest?” Perry asked as he lowered his practice sword too.
“It will take me today and tomorrow,” Alec answered. “I’ll plan to spend the night elsewhere, if that’s acceptable; it’ll make it easier for me to get the money.”
“As of now, where you spend your nights is your business, provided you’re loyal to Krimshelm and the Countess” Perry said. “Go see the Countess, then go run your errands. I’ll expect to see you tomorrow.”
“You will,” Alec agreed. The two men shook hands and separated. I will come back to spend the night in Vincennes, Alec sent a message to Caitlen. I hope you will welcome your Jagine back to your room, he communicated with the distant princess as he walked back through the castle to find the countess, an unrealized smile on his face. Along the way he noticed that the others in the castle halls were casting sideways glances at him, if not gawking and pointing at him.
Countess, I will be with you shortly; I am on my way, he sent another message to prepare her for his entrance.
When he arrived at the door to her room, the guards nodded discreetly, and opened the door slightly, allowing him to enter. The countess sat on her bed wearing a white robe, while a lady of the court sat nearby to insure the propriety of the meeting.
“I have been a healer for a long time,” Alec told them both as he closed the door behind him. “After all the stress of your day today, I thought I should examine you to insure that no harm had come to you or the child you carry.”
“Thank you for your concern. Thank you for rescuing me,” the countess said. “Menard rushed in with two guards and said there was a serious threat in the castle, that he had just put a traitor in the prison cells, and that he had prepared a safe hiding place in the city where we could stay until Major Perry had the castle cleared of problems. And so I followed him, and when we got to that building, our guards were ambushed and I was taken upstairs, and it was just becoming clear that they were going to give me to the Conglomerate when you changed everything.”
My mother told me much about you, and said that I was fated to meet you. But I was not prepared for such a meeting, or to find that you are such an entity, she added silently.
Alec sat on the bed and examined the countess closely, discovering that her body had grown stressed by the events of the day. With a hand gently resting on her shoulder, he sent an infusion of energy into her to relieve her of the various small pains and her body’s reactions to the activities.
Mmmmm, she told me you could do that too, Ailse commented to Alec.
Your mother is the leader of the lokasennii at Warm Springs? Alec asked her. How do you come to be so far away, and the countess of this city?
My mother is the grendasteur, and I am her future successor, the grendasteusse. I hope and pray that her life continues for many years, Ailse explained to Alec. A part of our culture is for a grendasteusse to travel in the world beyond our society, to learn about the people of the other races and to be prepared to anticipate their actions. And in the course of my education in this world, I met the earl of Krimshelm, and we fell in love.
And so I agreed to marry him, because I expected my lifetime would exceed his, and allow us to enjoy much happiness together as I experienced this world.
Alec thought of Bethany and Jeswyne, and the idea of outliving beloved spouses. He flinched from the notion of enduring the pain of seeing one’s beloved partner grow old and die. The circumstances that had made him outlive Bethany, the curse and the struggle with the demon in the energy realm, they had been unusual and unlikely to occur again. But he still had no knowledge of why he was alive so long after Jeswyne’s passing. And he thought about Caitlen; would he, even if he overcame the cultural aversion to his foreign roots, would he possibly be able to live through another marriage, and watch another beloved mate slip away?
Our souls accept such things. We believe it is how we live, as slightly less ephemeral than our mortal cousins, but still ultimately bound to join them in the afterlife, Ailse joined his musings.
It was so painful to see Bethany pass away, he told her with great emotion. Maybe it would be acceptable for me if I was like you, and knew in advance that I was destined to outlive my mate, Alec replied.
It is not easy, Ailse warned, and Alec sensed a vein of loss and sorrow that ran through her heart from the unexpected loss of her husband. It is not easy when it comes so unexpectedly, but, but the love and joy we shared in his life are what have given my life value, she told him with a bittersweet tone.
“So you think my health is satisfactory?” Ailse asked aloud. My lady friend will wonder about us if we remain silent so long. “Please share your wonderful healing ability with Susannine,” she gestured to the demur woman who sat in the room. “And please come back frequently to check on me. I shall hope to see you at least once a day while you are in the castle.”
Alec stepped over to the apprehensive attendant. “What has troubled you recently, my lady?” Alec asked as he examined her with his healer vision, noting a twisted ankle and a bruised knee. “Please pardon me,” he said as she sat silently, and he knelt to touch her ankle, letting his healing energy flow into her limb, reducing the inflam-mation and ending the slight throbbing she suffered in both joints.
“Is that better?” he asked, standing and stepping back.
“That really feels much better! That’s better than putting ice on it.” Susannine replied, reaching down to gently stroke her knee. “You can do that by just touching it?”
“I use special gifts, and I use prayers to my God,” Alec explained, “and that helps me to heal a great many things. I will look forward to seeing you again,” he bowed as he reached the door.
Out in the hallway, Alec stopped to think about the best way to retrieve more gold from Vincennes. Alec translocated himself back to the forest along the trading path to the capital, then stopped to transform his skin to its blue hue, becoming a Jagine again. He continued the trip to Vincennes, and finished his journey in the apartment. He needed to find Bethany, so that she could help him withdraw money from one of the accounts he had set up in her name, and he suspected that his Jagine disguise would work as well as it had the day before.
Bethany, I need to meet you at the bank by the riverfront square. I’ll be a Jagine again, he told her, hoping she was available to join him. By the time he left the apartment and journeyed to the square, Bethany had beaten him there.
“Alec,” she said quietly, giving him a hug. “Back so soon? Do you need money from the bank?”
“I do,” he said. “I need to take it to Krimshelm, then I’ll come back and spend the night, if I’m allowed.”
“Oh no, Alec,” she replied in such a serious tone that Alec drew up to stare at her. She smiled, “Princess Esmere has been in such a good mood all day, I don’t know if we can stand to have her smile at everyone for two days in a row!” she laughed.
Inside the bank they withdrew the money and carried it outside. “Where shall I meet you when I return?” Alec asked.
“The green room in the palace. Give me a warning before you come,” she said, and then Alec was gone with the gold.
He arrived in the corner of Perry’s office, where he found no one present. He was grateful for that; it spared him the need to try to explain why his skin was blue, and he quickly unloaded his burden of sacks of gold coins onto the floor behind Perry’s desk, then left the city and began traveling back to Vincennes. He was growing weary from the travelling he carried out during the busy day, but he felt great motivation to see Caitlen again. Bethany, I’ll be in the green room in just a few minutes, he warned her.
Caitlen, I’ll be in the palace soon. I love you, he told his princess, before he made his next jump, and then his last trans-location before he was in the palace, where Bethany stood by the door.
“I know you’ve
done it, but you’ve just traveled from Vincennes to Krimshelm and back since we were at the bank?” Bethany asked.
Alec nodded, then sagged and slumped against her. “It takes a lot of energy to travel back and forth over long distances,” he explained. “Once I have a chance to rest I’ll be fine.”
“I hope so for your sake. The princess told me she knew you were coming back, and her eyes were sparkling. She isn’t going to want to just watch you sleep!” Bethany said.
Alec smiled, then straightened up. “We shouldn’t keep her waiting,” he said as he motioned for Bethany to lead the way through the palace to the princess’s suite of rooms in the residential wing. They had beaten Caitlen to the room, and were allowed inside to wait.
“Oh Alec, you are back! This is wonderful,” Caitlen said as soon as she entered the room. She thanked Bethany and dismissed her as she hugged Alec. He felt a soft percussion, as he sensed her tapping the ingenaire powers.
“You seem content,” she murmured.
“I am. I’m very content to be with you again. Can we do this again tomorrow, or will you be too busy with some royal dinner or meetings with generals?” Alec asked.
“I’ll be available for you tomorrow night,” Caitlen assured him. “Very soon, probably later this week, the army will begin to move out. We’re going to start to take the campaign out towards the coast to begin to really defeat the enemy.
“I plan to go with them,” she told him.
“Having a royal court along on a campaign is a distraction for an army on the move,” Alec warned her. “I’ve done that. Keep your court small and minimize distractions, or better yet, only travel with them for a few days, then turn back and come to Vincennes and leave them alone to concentrate on fighting their battles,” he advised.
“I will. The generals told me much the same thing. I’m going to take the Black Crag guards as my body guard and personal unit, plus a few more, like your friends,” Caitlen answered. “The army didn’t have any problems once I told them my retinue was the Black Crag force.
“I haven’t really listened to them very much today though. I’ve mostly been daydreaming about you,” she told him, and they shared a long kiss. “Did you spend your whole day fantasizing about me?” she asked as her lips drew an inch away from his mouth.
“Not exactly,” Alec answered, and received a playful bite on the chin in protest. He told the story of his day, without revealing the lokasenna identity of the countess.
“I’ll come back to Vincennes tomorrow to get more of the stolen money from the bank, but for the next few days after that I think we’ll be fighting the war with the invasion up there, and I don’t know when I’ll be back to see you,” Alec said. There was a knock on the door.
“Are you hungry?” Caitlen asked. “I ordered dinner to be delivered here.
“Don’t say anything,” she cautioned. “The maid this morning told folks about the Jag in my bed, the one with the accent,” causing Alec to sigh.
A large tray of food arrived, and then they were alone again, sipping wine and eating.
Much later that night, they laid in the dark talking, and Alec had a recollection of his conversation with Ailse, discussing love with mates, and he pondered again what was missing in his memory. Would Caitlen be his third mate, or were there others during the forgotten decades of his life? Did he have one right now that he did not know about?
“Caitlen,” he said. She heard the serious tone in his voice and rolled over to face him. “When my battle is done in Krimshelm and I know we’ve won there, I am not going to come back directly to you. I have to go to find my missing memories; I have to know the rest of my life story, so that when I come back to you I know that I haven’t cheated anyone else by giving my whole heart to you.
“I don’t know how long it will take, probably several weeks, but when I know the full story, I will come back to be with you,” Alec said. “And then we can work on how a foreigner can be accepted as the princess’s mate.”
Her hand stroked his arm. “What’s that about being my mate? I don’t think we’ve had that conversation. Are you just assuming I’m going to ask you?” she questioned him.
Alec grasped his Spiritual powers, and caressed her soul with his, and he felt her engage her powers as well. Caitlen, Esmere Caitlen Trelawney, when I return to your land, will you be my wife, my mate for as long as we both are alive? he asked, his soul full of love.
Alec, you know my heart and my love for you, but you don’t understand a little matter of protocol here. As a woman of higher social status, I am the one who must ask you to marry me, in front of witnesses, she explained. When you come back, I will call you before the whole court, and ask you to marry me, to be my consort.
“You presumptuous boy!” she laughed aloud. I love you, she told him.
“How will you find your memories, Alec? Didn’t you try to do that once before, and there were no answers?” she asked.
“I’m going to go further this time, to a place where the truth lives,” Alec told her. I’m going to go to John Mark’s Cave, he shared the memories again of the sacred nature of the cave, of the spirit of the saint he had encountered there.
It is a long journey, and the recovery from the jump through space is potentially several days itself, but I know that there is no place where I will have a better chance to learn the truth, he said.
“I wish you could find peace right here, being with me,” Caitlen told him. “But I understand your need to learn more. You know I’ll be waiting for you.”
They fell asleep soon after that, and awoke when the maid brought their breakfast.
“I’ll see you tonight,” Caitlen blew a kiss to him as she went out the door.
During the day Alec made two more large withdrawals, and two more round trips to Krimshelm, delivering more gold to Major Perry, and discussing with him the arrangements for gathering the best archers to serve in the ambushing army. And that night he colored himself blue again, and spent the night with Caitlen, and they made plans for the future.
Talk to me. Let me know that you’re alive and well. I will learn to speak to you from afar, I promise. I hope that you find peace, dear Alec, Caitlen told him as they parted that last morning together.
Alec took out his last withdrawal of gold, closed the bank account, and took his money back to Krimshelm to fight the war that would defeat the Conglomerate’s northern army.
Chapter 5 – The Battle of the North
Alec was leading a group of the new mercenary archers along the southern rim of the canyon, positioning them for the ambush that was expected to happen that afternoon. It was early morning, and Alec had remained exclusively in Krimshelm for the past several days. He had worked with Perry, and given routine medical attention to the countess, and used Macon the page as his own personal message-runner, something the boy took delight in, while training and developing his own relationship with the mercenaries assigned to him.
Their intelligence reports told of the Conglomerate army slowly on the move, suffering badly from the losses inflicted by the raid that Harbin’s squad had carried out on them. They had recovered hardly any horses at all, and a few officers with egos larger than brains had apparently commandeered those rather than use them to haul supplies. Alec and nearly one hundred archers were lined along the canyon rim, from which they could look down at the road two hundred feet below. The whole plan of ambush was spread out for them to see: the thin line of Krimshelm defenders who would rise to start the ambush, bottling the invaders up in the confined space, after which the archers would rain copious amounts of arrows down into the canyon.
A matching set of mercenaries were hidden on the north side of the canyon, prepared to match the death that Alec’s forces intended to inflict. By mid-afternoon, all the men were in place, and there was only waiting and watching left to do, something that Alec hoped would not dull their fighting spirit. At last a murmur began to rise among the archers, and Alec checked to see that the scouts
of the Conglomerate army were in sight, climbing up the roadway in advance of the main body of the army. Alec scurried up and down the line, forcing his men to keep out of sight, not wanting to spoil the ambush.
Minutes later the front line of the invaders began to arrive below Alec’s position. They were strung out, widely dispersed in a way that would prevent the ambush archery from inflicting enough damage to stop the invasion. On cue a string of Krimshelm soldiers appeared to block the Conglomerate progress. Units of the invaders began to slow down and stop in the face of the opposition, as more units came up behind them, and the canyon began to display the dense population Alec wanted to see, with only one exception – there weren’t enough soldiers down below; half the Conglomerate army seemed to be missing.
From what Alec had seen at the campsite, he expected twice as many Conglomerate warriors to be involved in the invasion. “Macon, take this message to Major Perry; tell him this is not the whole invasion,” Alec told his messenger. “Go fast and tell him there must be more elsewhere.”
He tried to imagine what he could do. Before he had considered all the possibilities though, a shout rose from the far side of the canyon. The other half of the ambush had begun to fire their arrows at the soldiers stuck below. “Fire only half your arrows!” Alec gave the order along his line. “Fire half and hold half in reserve,” he told each cluster of men he reached as he ran along the canyon edge. They had each been given a hefty quiver filled with arrows, so Alec anticipated a great deal of damage being accomplished on the floor of the canyon, even with only half the arrows being shot at this time. There were clear screams and shouts coming from below, telling of the pain being inflicted, as the Conglomerate soldiers began to withdraw surprisingly quickly.
Ajacii and Demons: The Ingenairii Series Page 6
