“That sounds satisfactory. Perhaps by tomorrow Bauer and I will be finished and able to separate, so that I can offer some medical care to anyone there,” Alec decided, sending Claudia to lead the squad towards the barn before the rains came.
“I felt something odd,” Bauer spoke. “I felt you doing something, looking with your spirit at that house over there. How do you do that?”
“It is part of the gift I have, the gift I’ve used to share my spirit with you,” Alec answered. “The real purpose of the energy is to attain the peace of God. The energy can be used in many ways – to detect truth, to detect emotional turmoil, to enhance the power of prayers and messages. I’ve use it to allow my spirit to speak to the spirit of others, the way we’ve been doing today.”
Now, I want to understand you better,” he changed the topic. “I’ve tried to show you as much as possible about my life and experiences. I want you to trust me and understand me. I’m going to ask you to do the same for me.”
“Tell me about your life as a sorcerer, and the demons you call,” Alec asked. “I want to understand what you do, and why you do it.”
You disapprove of sorcery. You are ready to judge me; what is the point of this? he asked defensively. I understand what you see in your own religion; isn’t that enough?
I don’t understand sorcery, but I see the results that are evident to the world – death and evil. Show me why these things are needed; show me where they came from. Perhaps I will understand, Alec told him.
Bauer showed him an image of a woman looking down at him, and Alec realized it was the childhood perspective of an adult. “This is our power. This is our legacy. It is what we have from the days when we were powerful in our old country, before the Demonslayer killed our people and destroyed our homes and made us flee,” the woman was telling young Bauer.
The woman was handsome in a hardened fashion. Her hair was long and very straight, so blond that it was almost white, and its length accentuated the long face, with its aristocratic nose and deep set blue eyes. “The power we have gives us a connection to powers that no other humans can control. Our sorcery makes us powerful. It protects us from our enemies.”
“But not from the Demonslayer?” the young Bauer asked.
“It could not protect us from the Demonslayer. He had horrible powers of his own, and he used them to wreck everything we had built in Michian, where we made the empire strong and unified,” the teacher said. Alec felt the young child’s adoration for the teacher; he absolutely trusted the woman, would not question anything she said.
Who was your teacher? Alec asked.
That was my mother. She was the head of our settlement’s sorcerers, Bauer answered.
Thank you. Show me more, Alec requested.
“This is the way we make the daily sacrifice,” her mother was telling Bauer and another young girl. They must have been older than before, because the mother’s face was not nearly so far above them. They were standing over a stuffed dummy, clothing filled with straw. “We must harvest the life energy from the sacrifice, so that we have the energy we need to pull the demon from the netherplace into our world, and so that we have the energy to make it obey our commands.
“When you make the sacrifice, do it quickly so that there is no pointless pain or thrashing. A clean death is a virtuous way to meet your sacrifice and to assume their energy,” the blond sorceress explained. “Now,” she held out a wooden knife, “let’s see you practice your stroke.”
Did you feel this power increase when you made a sacrifice? Alec asked.
I haven’t made an actual sacrifice yet, Bauer said. I’ve just learned all the rules and methods.
“We’re here sir,” a verbal interjection caused Alec to focus his eyes. His horse had been led inside a barn, where the others in the party had dismounted.
Bauer, I’m going to separate us so that we can get off the horse and stretch our legs and eat some dinner, but then I want to unite us again tomorrow morning, Alec told his companion. It will hurt for a moment.
I’d like to go to a corner for a couple of minutes, Bauer acknowledged. Just then there was a flash of lightening, followed seconds later by the rumble of thunder. Alec’s knife severed the connective tissue, and he immediately applied his Healing power to repair the cut on each of their arms, then treated Bauer’s saddle sore legs as he slid down off the horse.
Alec went around the group treating each of the riders for saddle soreness or other aches caused by the long day on horseback. Later they sat around the center of the barn, a circle of hay bales drawn together, illuminated every few seconds by flashes of lightening.
“We made good progress today. Even with the mud we’ll have to ride through tomorrow we’ll be back at Cearche before sunset,” Adelmo told Alec as they each ate their dinner fare. There was little other conversation as the guards felt uneasy about the continued existence of the sorcerer among their number.
Adelmo and Claudia took the first two watch shifts, then Ofelia, so that Alec was able to sleep through the night without interruption. After his lack of sleep from the night before he slept soundly, right next to Bauer to assure him of protection and to ward off Huena from any rash actions. When they arose the next morning the sky was still cloudy but the rain had stopped. Alec went to the farm house with Bauer, and offered his healing services to the farmer and his family as a means of thanking them for the use of the barn.
The whole squad was soon on horseback again, and Alec re-united his arm and Bauer’s as their companions began to lead them on the road south towards Cearche. There was no pain this time, no cleansing needed when the boy’s blood entered his body.
You slept well last night, Bauer told Alec. You started to snore!
Alec laughed, pleased that the youngster was feeling com-fortable enough in his company to make such small talk. I feel refreshed, he acknowledged. And tonight we’ll be able to sleep in a real bed, he gladly noted. Now tell me more about the sorcerers and sorceresses that were with the army you were in.
Bauer proceeded to talk about the community of black-robed people who had called forth the demons for the rebels’ army. Our whole coven moved to the mainland and joined the army. The other coven from the islands didn’t come with us.
Was your mother with you in the army camp? Alec asked, sensing the grief that was just below the surface of the boy’s conscience thoughts.
She was killed in the last battle. She called a demon forth, but she was shot with arrows and the demon was defeated, Bauer said. Alec sensed the sudden suspicion in his mind. Did you kill my mother?
No, I killed the demon, Alec replied, and felt the boy relax in part while also feeling a sense of grudging respect for his survival of the battle. I have fresh scars across my stomach from the battle.
So you are the only surviving sorcerer of your coven? Alec questioned.
Except for Limbaw, he agreed.
Who is he? Where is he? Alec asked.
He went away, Bauer’s mental voice faltered. He was sent to Vincennes to try to kill your queen. He was supposed to release a demon in the palace, to try to kill the leaders there.
He tried, Alec replied. He called a demon to come during my wedding to the princess. It was a terrible battle.
But you managed to escape, Bauer commented. You are married to the princess? You are a nobleman, out fighting in the war?
Yes, I am married to the princess. I didn’t escape the battle with the demon so much as just barely survive, he corrected. The demon wounded me worse than practically any other battle I’ve had. It took a long time and some special circumstances to heal from the wounds I received there.
You fought that demon too? The boy’s tone sounded astonished. And you won?
Alec decided to tell Bauer part of the truth. I am called the Demonslayer now in Vincennes. But as I said, it was a very tough battle. I killed the demon; I don’t know what happened to the sorcerer, Limbaw you called him.
He would have been wounded, in
shock. The stories about the old days tell that when the old Demonslayer killed demons but left their sorcerers alive, it took several months for the sorcerers to recover to be able to call another demon, Bauer explained. If they were allowed to live; sometimes the emperor ordered their execution for failure.
Alec felt a sense of sudden concern. So you think that Limbaw will try to raise another demon in Vincennes?
That’s why he went there in the first place. He wouldn’t want to come back and admit failure. And if he knows that you’re gone, and there’s surely no one else there who could fight a demon, is there, why wouldn’t he call forth another demon when he’s able? The boy posed the question.
Alec was engulfed in rising panic. He had felt uneasy about not finding the sorcerer at the time of the demon attack, but when no further attack happened during his convalescence he had persuaded himself there would be no future attack.
You’re scared, Bauer told him. I can feel it.
My wife and child are there, in the palace in Vincennes. They are his target. I have to get back there to find him, or to fight his demon, Alec was trying to keep himself calm. Will you help me?
Help you kill another sorcerer? Help you fight a demon? Bauer asked in astonishment.
If you would, or help me in any other way that you can, Alec replied. Show me what Limbaw looks like.
The youngster projected the picture of a man with a fleshy face, a receding hairline and jowls defining his features. Are you the Demonslayer from the old world? Have you stayed alive all these years? You didn’t answer my question yesterday after you showed me all those battles with demons.
Yes, I was the Demonslayer in the wars with Michian. When I was young I lived in the Dominion, and when Michian invaded they used demons as part of their military battle plan. So I fought demons to protect my nation. Then I met the princess Jeswyne, and we fell in love. We were married, so I lived in Michian. I feared the demons, so I attacked the sorcerers and drove them from the empire, just as your stories recollect, he told the boy.
“How can you be that old, and how can you look so young?” Bauer challenged him aloud. “I may believe you,” his voice emphasized the word ‘may’, “but it is on faith.”
“I have had to re-heal my body after many battles, and that restores it; some battles have destroyed my body so badly I’ve had to start with practically a whole new one – that is part of the story. I don’t really understand it myself, Bauer, but I have lived as long as many lives of ordinary men,” he explained. “I have seen the people I love grow old around me, and I have outlived my friends. It is not a joy to live so long in that sense.”
But I am in love with the Princess Esmere. She is my wife, and I must protect her from another attack by a demon. Will you come with me to help identify Limbaw? Alec asked.
You make me believe in your God and your values. You have made my body feel more vibrant and clean than I can ever remember. I will help you find Limbaw, Bauer told him after a moment’s hesitation. And then you must tell me what I am supposed to do with the rest of my life.
I wish I could help you direct your life. I wish I could tell you that I knew what I will do with the rest of my own life; I am perhaps not the best choice for a mentor, Alec told him with a sad, dry sense of self-deprecation.
You seem to live your life always chasing after something, Bauer responded with more insight than a boy his age would typically have. Maybe you don’t think you know what your purpose is, but you seem to have always fought for something. I don’t have anything; if I’m not going to be a sorcerer, what will I do in life?
So you do not want to be a sorcerer? Alec asked.
No, not now. Not after seeing all that you have shown me, Bauer replied. You might turn out to be a mentor after all.
Alec grinned at the back of his head, and Bauer felt the warmth Alec projected. I think I can sever the connection between our arms now, he told the boy. “You’ve learnt as much as I could have possibly hoped to teach you. And you’ve taught me a bit as well.”
He pulled out a knife, and Bauer turned his head away. Alec made a quick, precision slice, then covered Bauer’s arm with his hand and sent a burst of healing power into the wound, and quickly followed by healing his own arm as well.
Caitlen, I can no longer hear you, but I hope you can hear me, he sent a message to Vincennes. The sorcerer who unleashed the demon at our wedding may still be alive and want to release another demon. Be careful, keep your bodyguards around you, and always know I’ll love you. I hope to be home in a few weeks.
The message wasn’t much, but it was all he could do for now, he thought to himself. His eyes looked around, trying to judge how the journey was going.
“How far do we have to go?” he asked Claudia.
“So you’re back with us?” she asked. “Here to stay?” she followed up when he nodded. “Well, we’re about ready to stop for lunch, and we’ve made respectable time, considering how muddy the roads are. We’ll be back in Cearche before sunset.
“How are you are he getting along?” Claudia nodded her head towards the youth in front of Alec.
“I think very well. He is helpful. I think he’s really a good person,” Alec replied. “The boy was raised in a family of sorcerers, so it’s natural he was being trained to be one. But now I think he sees things differently.”
“What exactly is it that you do when you’re connected like that?” Claudia asked, emboldened by the information Alec had volunteered.
In response he nudged his knees to direct his horse next to Claudia’s. He reached a hand out and placed in on her forearm, then engaged his Spiritual powers to let a feeling of God’s love issue forth, his unconditional love and his determination to create a bridge between himself and humanity. Alec allowed his energy to spread throughout her for a long minute.
“That is something like what we can do together,” Alec said. “Mostly we shared memories and thoughts.”
I felt what you gave her, Bauer said. It was powerful; I never thought that love could be humbling, but I feel humble to be loved by your God.
“That is remarkable,” Claudia said. “How can you be the same person who fights like a demon, then heals wounds like a miracle worker, and gives peace like a priest?”
“They are all parts of my heritage, and my gifts,” Alec told her. “I’ve been blessed.”
“Lunch break,” Adelmo called from the rear of the squad. They were near a bridge that crossed a small stream, albeit a stream that was currently full to its banks from the rain that had fallen over night. The squad dismounted and shared bread and travel fare from their saddle bags before remounting.
The spirits of the squad rose as they knew they were approaching the end of their journey, and they began to banter cheerfully with one another as the afternoon passed, so that all of them were nearly giddy when the saw the walls of Cearche arise on the horizon after they crested a low rise.
Connors, we’ll be in the city in half an hour, Alec sent a message. Have a messenger meet us at the gate and bring us to you so we can report. If Perry is here, please let him know I’d like a fast ship to immediately take me back to Vincennes; it’s urgent.
When they arrived at the north gate in the city walls Connors was personally waiting for them. “Everyone is well? No injuries?” she asked. “I see you picked up a passenger,” she said with an eye on Bauer.
“We’re all fine. Is Perry here?” Alec asked.
“The Krimshelm fleet is here, and much of it has left again already, heading south to take the hostages you recommended,” the Black Crag officer told him.
“Very good,” Alec said. He followed Connors back to her headquarters, where Major Perry was busily going over reports about repairs underway to the portion of his fleet in the harbor of Cearche.
“I’m glad to see you for a change, instead of just receiving your messages,” Perry said with a smile. “I kept hearing your voice periodically in my head as we were sailing. It was rather unnerving!<
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“The duchess sends her most heartfelt greetings by the way. She and her son are doing well,” Perry told Alec. “Now, the lieutenant here tells me that you have a desire to leave immediately?”
“I do,” Alec agreed. “I am concerned that Princess Esmere may be in danger. I want to return to Vincennes by the fastest means possible to protect her.”
“Can’t you do whatever you did before, when you could move yourself back and forth from Vincennes to Krimshelm in the blink of an eye?” Perry asked.
For a few moments Alec felt regret over the loss of his ability to translocate, a loss he had lamented inside his heart since learning of the potential for a sorcerer to strike again in Vincennes. He had glanced down at his arm to confirm that the mark was still dark and unresponsive. “I no longer have that ability,” he said evenly. “In the course of my recent activities I lost the power to travel like that.”
“Can you lose your other powers?” Perry asked. “Is this something that may be repeated?”
Ajacii and Demons: The Ingenairii Series Page 21
