Ajacii and Demons: The Ingenairii Series

by Jeffrey Quyle

  “Possibly, but it doesn’t seem likely,” Alec answered, noticing how intently both Connors and Perry focused on his response. “I expect all my remaining powers will stay intact. Will you have a ship for me?”

  “Yes, oh yes; of course we will for you, Alec. If you want to go all the way up to Vincennes I’m going to provide a smaller vessel. It will be able to navigate right up the river. That will save you time by not having to change ships along the way,” Perry assured him. “The unfortunate part is that it will be a bumpy ride out at sea if the little slip of a ship encounters any turbulent weather.”

  “If it stays afloat, I’ll accept the choppy seas,” Alec replied. “I’d like to leave as soon as possible, if the both of you think everything else is under control.”

  “We now have enough troop strength here to hold the city and the surrounding countryside,” Connors said. “And the ships to take hostages are well on their way to carrying out their duties.”

  Alec looked at Bauer, who sat quietly nearby. “We are going to go on a ship in a little while, and we will sail all the way to Vincennes. It will take several days,” he warned the boy in his own language. “I’ll take you along with me.”

  After further instruction and discussion about the conduct of the war around Cearche, Alec and Bauer soon found themselves onboard a sloop, the Krimslock, which they shared with a hearty crew of rowers and sailors and very little space. Alec slung a hammock on the deck for himself and let Bauer have the small cabin, and for several days the two passengers spent their time in language lessons, as Alec ironically tried to teach Bauer the rudiments of the Avonellene language, and also began instruction in swordsmanship, on a very tight and tiny corner of the deck.

  My pronunciation of this language is poor, Alec told Bauer as they sat and worked on the language, and he tried to invite members of the crew to speak words the teacher and student were working on, so that Bauer might hear a better pronunciation.

  Not that one any more, Bauer said to Alec one day after he invited a young sailor to name the days of the week.

  Saturday’s not such a tough word, Alec reassured him.

  I wasn’t talking about the word. I meant the sailor. I can sense what he thinks of me; it isn’t comfortable, Bauer answered. I never knew that being able to sense people’s feelings like that would be so disturbing.

  I haven’t used the power that way very often, Alec replied, but I know it would be disturbing if you had those types of intrusions on your mind while you weren’t actively trying to feel them. He thought unexpectedly of Kinsey, a Spiritual ingenaire who had seemed to develop an uncanny ability to read him in particular. It had actually brought him comfort to know that the girl, one whose heart and spirit he believed were pure and noble, accepted him and followed him during the turbulent time he had been the crown protector.

  He decided to share that sunny aspect with Bauer. I once knew a Spirit ingenaire who developed a special ability to read my soul in particular, he told the boy as they knelt beside one another on the deck, staying low, behind a rolled up sail in a spot that was temporarily sheltered from the wind. It made me feel good to know that someone as nice as she was could know my moods and still want to be around me.

  What happened to her? Bauer asked, her attention caught.

  I wish I knew, Alec said wistfully. I was trapped with a demon for fifty years in the energy realm, and when I came out my friends were old or dead or gone. I never found out what happened to most of them, because the Dominion was losing the war with Michian, and society was all jumbled and torn apart.

  Bauer kept silent, studying him inscrutably.

  If you are developing Spiritual powers so well that you can read the moods of others now, you’re making a lot of progress, very rapidly, Alec told her.

  Would you trade it all? Bauer asked.

  Trade what? Alec asked in confusion.

  This life, your life as the Demonslayer – would you trade them to have lived your life with Bethany? The boy clarified.

  That kind of question is the kind of thing that would drive a man insane if he tried to weigh out all the imponderables and what-if and should-have-beens, Alec answered. I would have gained so much and lost so much personally. I guess the question would be whether God would have had missions go unfulfilled if he hadn’t selected me to carry them out. If he needed me to do those things, it was the fate I had to have.

  Let’s try some sword work, he suggested, rising to stand, and offering Bauer his hand to pull him up. He needed to shake off such deep questions before he began to brood.

  A day later they entered the mouth of the Carmen River, and began to sail up the river, pressed forward by a wind that blew from the ocean towards the interior of the land. “We’ll have to anchor for the night soon, when the breeze fades after sunset,” one of the officers came by to tell him. “We’ll either use the sails or the sweeps tomorrow to get moving as early as possible.”

  Caitlen, can you hear me? We’re entering the river. I hope to be back with you in just a few days, dear. Be careful, Alec broadcast his message.

  I hear you Alec. I love you, he barely detected Caitlen’s faint response.

  I barely heard your thought, but I did hear it! I’m glad you are safe. Alec acknowledged her reply.

  Five days later the Krimslock reached the docks in Vincennes along the river, where Alec and Bauer discovered Caitlen and a host of people from the palace waiting for them to disembark from their small sloop. Alec thanked the officers and the crew of the ship for the safe passage, giving them all a boost of healing power before he walked down the plank to shore and then beyond it to the waiting arms of Caitlen.

  “And here is Elisan,” Caitlen told him, taking the baby from a nearby nurse and presenting the growing infant to his father. Alec took the bundle of swaddling into his arms and peered down into the bright eyes that stared up at him.

  “Who is this, Alec? Would you like to make an introduction?” Caitlen asked of Bauer, who politely waited at Alec’s elbow.

  “This is my protégé, Bauer. He doesn’t speak Avonellene very well yet,” Alec explained. “I’ve been trying to teach him.”

  “You’ve been teaching him how to speak? Goodness help us – help him, that he doesn’t end up speaking with your accent,” Bethany said as she jostled forward. Alec handed Elisan back to Caitlen to hug the dark-haired bodyguard, the first friend he had made in the Avonellene Empire, then stepped back and tugged Bauer forward.

  “These are my family and friends,” Alec spoke in the old language. “This is my wife the princess, Caitlen, who is ruler of the land,” Alec gestured, and Bauer bent at the waist and knee. “While this is her head bodyguard, Bethany, who I have known from the first day I set foot in this land.” Bauer again bowed.

  “That is such a pretty language!” Caitlen said. “That is what it sounds like to speak in your world? Let us hear more!”

  Alec again made the mental leap between the languages. “She wants to hear us speak in our language; she says it is pretty!” Alec told Bauer. “Tell her something in our language.”

  “Your highness, I look forward to serving you and your prince,” Bauer told Caitlen in his own words.

  “I’m not actually her prince,” Alec said drily.

  “Why not?” Bauer asked in astonishment.

  “I wasn’t born of noble blood in this nation,” Alec explained.

  “You can fight against demons, you can speak with your soul to your God, and you are married to the princess but you aren’t called a prince? That doesn’t seem fair,” the boy admonished.

  “It doesn’t matter to me. As long as I am married to her and she loves me, I’m content. I’ve had titles before. It makes no difference in my life,” Alec answered.

  “What are you two talking about?” Caitlen asked.

  “Bauer doesn’t think it’s fair that I am not called a prince,” Alec grinned. “I don’t mind the ‘prince’ thing, but I want to make sure no ‘second consort’ h
as arrived at the palace in my absence.”

  “No dear, the reasonable candidates balk at the idea of opposition from a demon-killing, mind-reading rival, and the unreasonable ones aren’t up to snuff so far,” Caitlen told him mildly. “Shall we go back to the palace?”

  The whole entourage climbed aboard carriages and horses, and soon returned to the palace, where Alec made arrangements for Bauer to be housed with the hostages of the leaders who had been defeated in the standoff at Dana. “This is Bauer, a newcomer to the court, who doesn’t speak the language of Vincennes yet. Please treat him kindly, and help him as much as possible. I’ll be back soon regularly to check on him,” Alec told several of the hostages who were present.

  They have been well behaved, Caitlen told Alec. We have treated them well, and they have responded in kind. I think they will be good companions for him.

  Satisfied, Alec returned to the residential suite and spent time with Caitlen and Elisan. Over the next few days, no sign of a demon emerged at the palace, though Alec and Bauer prowled throughout the halls and grounds, and even went out through the streets in the neighborhoods around the palace looking for Limbaw the sorcerer. Alec took Rahm along to introduce him to Bauer as an additional friendly set of eyes that would watch over the young reformed sorcerer when Alec wasn’t available.

  Alec tutored Bauer in swordsmanship, and took him along as he resumed offering healing services to the members of the public outside of the palace. A week after Alec’s return there was no sign of a demon in Vincennes, but two reports from the southern coast brought news.

  First came the arrival of a ship load of hostages taken by the Krimshelm forces that had raided the homes of the rebellious planters in the south. Over two dozen wives and older children indignantly landed in Vincennes, and were given quarters in the palace. Bethany’s expanded roster of bodyguards was stretched to its limit as it provided the first line of oversight and care for the new arrivals.

  The next day Caitlen received a report from Field Marshal Stocker that the southern rebels were no longer winning battles against the Vincennes army. Even before news that the planters had lost their family members to the hostage-taking raids, the Vincennes army had started to win battles again, once there were clearly no more demons available to assist the rebels. Stocker had unkind things to say about the Black Crag forces that Alec had taken to Cearche, concluding that they had been wiped out in battle by the demon and the rebel army.

  “It’s such a shame about those Black Crag losses,” Caitlen told Alec as they sat down to lunch together. “But they didn’t know how to fight properly, the way Stocker wanted them to.”

  “You mean retreat frantically, the way Stocker wanted them to,” Alec said, rising to take the bait. “Why is he your commanding officer, anyway? There have to be dozens of officers who would be better for you.”

  “He is from Valeriane, and he stayed on our side after you dispatched Abelard. Lots of other Valeriane forces threatened to leave, but he stayed and kept a fair number of soldiers on our side,” Caitlen replied. “And he did win battles on this campaign until the demons became part of the equation.”

  Alec refrained from further dispute.

  “So what is the full story of your young protégé, Bauer?” Caitlen asked. Alec had been careful to conceal the fact that the boy had been raised as a sorcerer.

  Alec took a deep breath. “When those crazy Black Crag forces and I fought through the rebel lines, we ended up going all the way to Cearche. We decided that there were two things we could do to stop the rebels: we could kill the sorcerers who were with the army, calling the demons to fight in battle, and we could go take hostages, to make the planters cease their rebellion. Then a small squad and I went back towards the front,” Alec explained, as Caitlen listened closely. She moved her chair closer to him to better hear his story, told in a low voice.

  “Our squad infiltrated the rebel camp. We found the tent where the sorcerers were staying, and we attacked. I went in and started fighting, and as I was ready to leave, the tent was burning, there was flame and heat and smoke, and I suddenly heard a voice speaking in my own language, a child calling his mother,” Alec said.

  “I saw the boy on the ground, injured and pitiful, and I head his language, and I just reached down and swooped him up without another thought, and brought him out,” Alec finished.

  “What did you plan to do with him?” Caitlen asked.

  “There was no plan. I saved him, and I healed him. Then I had this boy, who was my prisoner, and a sorcerer apprentice,” he answered. “So I thought I could at least try to communicate with him, learn about the sorcerers, maybe teach him about God. And he became a good person. We shared blood, the way you and I did,” Alec’s fingers stroked Caitlen’s forearm gently, without revealing the painful agony that Bauer’s tainted blood had delivered, “and traded a lot of information.

  “Now he’s here to help me try to find the last sorcerer involved in this war. The one who tried to kill us at our wedding is probably still here in Vincennes, and will probably try to call another demon, unless we can find him first,” Alec finished. “So Bauer and I have been out looking around.”

  “Well, that explains why you’ve been out prowling so much,” Caitlen said after Alec’s story concluded. She paused. “And what eventually happens to Bauer?” she asked carefully.

  “I don’t know,” Alec admitted. “His heart seems good. He’s being a help to me. He’s learning your language. Bauer never actually called a demon forth; he never killed anyone or made a sacrifice. He learned a lot about their ways, but he was only an apprentice, a child. There are more sorcerers down in the islands who aren’t part of this rebellion, and we may need him someday to help us go confront them to try to wipe sorcery out. I tried once, in Michian.

  “I thought I had put an end to it, but I only made it move, and somehow it’s moved all the way to this land now,” Alec said.

  “You don’t think it’s your fault these sorcerers are here do you?” Caitlen protested.

  “No, not precisely, but there’s no one who has a better chance of putting an end to them than I do,” Alec countered.

  “As for Bauer, he has picked up quite a bit of Spiritual ingenaire ability as a result of all our interaction. You should converse with him yourself sometime, to look into his heart,” Alec returned to the origin of the conversation.

  “I’ll trust you,” she replied with a smile, and the conversation moved on to the healing activities Alec was offering.

  The next day another ship with hostages from the southern planters arrived, and the palace was busy providing them all with housing as it rearranged quarters for the previous hostages, and moved some of those who had been there the longest and seemed the most reliable, the hostages from the Dana uprising, out into other parts of the palace.

  Alec helped set up a tutoring program for the benefit of all the younger hostages, and just a few days later the first messages from the rebel planters started to arrive. They were outraged at the taking of hostages, calling it barbarous. But most of them offered to lay down their arms in return for the return of their family members.

  “Accept the peace offer, but tell them the hostages will remain here until a replacement is sent or until you’re satisfied that the planters are going to remain loyal to you and Elisan,” Alec advised. “And keep the hostages here and make your court the kind of place that they want to remain, so that they are loyal to you.”

  Caitlen protested at first, but her small circle of advisors joined Alec in support of the policy to retain the hostages at the court, and so her messages went forth. On their way out of the city they passed the inbound reports from Marshal Stocker that the rebel army was dissolving, as planters fell away from the core of the rebellion.

  With victory in sight, the state of mind in the palace relaxed considerably. Alec decided one early autumn day shortly thereafter to take a group of the young hostages on a trip to the countryside. Along with Rahm and Bauer and
a few additional guards the group left the palace early one morning to travel on the Krimshelm road into the mountain foothills. Alec wanted to look for plants to add to his pharmaceutical collection he was training healers to use, and the two dozen relatively well-behaved teenage hostages looked forward to the adventure of getting out of the city. And it was on that trip that a demon arose to attack again.

  Chapter 18 – The Demon Appears

  Late in the morning the group was already several miles from the palace; although it was early October with leaves changing colors and trees growing bare, the sun was shining and providing unseasonable warmth. They had left behind the last traces of the outskirts of the city’s sprawl and followed the road as it performed a winding climb up into the foot hills. Alec stopped the group at a stream crossing, and was sending the youths out along the stream banks to look for hydrophilic plants. As he gave them specific instructions, the group gathered around him to listen to his description of the number of leaves and the length of the stem, while a steady stream of regular traffic on the road moved past them.