Visions of Power

by Jeffrey Quyle

  “Well, here they are at last!” Amiel exclaimed as she opened the door for them. They were invited to the dining room, where Annalea came to join them.

  “Leah, Angel, good to see you alive and well,” Annalea said as she entered the room.

  “Our apologies for not letting you know that we were spending the night at our new shop,” Leah apologized. “We had to await the delivery of some furniture to the shop, and then we decided we’d enjoy the adventure of our first night in a place of our own.”

  Annie smiled indulgently at Leah’s enthusiasm.

  Alec looked at Annalea, satisfied with the state of health he saw. “Someone told me you were ill once, but I can’t imagine that’s true,” he joked with her.

  “No, I’ve never spent a day in a sick bed,” she mockingly agreed.

  After a few brief questions about her rest, her breathing and her appetite, Alec confirmed that Annalea was free from any restrictions.

  The two travelers only needed a few polite questions to start describing in detail all that they had accomplished and what they hoped to do next. Annie showed keen interest in all they mentioned. “So you will be able to mix some of the potions and medications that Alec prescribes?” she asked Leah as they discussed how to serve patients waiting in the different rooms they expected to use.

  “Yes, we talked about the different medicines and ingredients we collected while we were coming down the river,” Alec explained. “Leah knows the basic ones for aches and pains and she understands the reasons for including some ingredients by studying the patterns of use,” he continued, unaware that he had let slip a clue to their past.

  Leah heard it and knew what had happened, but since Annalea showed no sign of surprise she let it pass.

  Soon after that Leah was ready to go. “We need to get to the bank for cash to have the furniture delivered and after that there are more things to do, as there always are. Please remember we are in the shop with green shutters on Bakers Street, next to Henree’s bakery, and come to us anytime you wish or let us know if you need Alec to come see you.”

  Annalea promised that only Alec would ever be her doctor for the rest of her life.

  Thereafter they walked and carried and moved for long hours, and by the end of the long, busy day all their chores were accomplished but one. “Let’s go have dinner at the tavern on Goldsmith Street and talk to Gim’s friend,” Alec proposed. “We can splurge with a dinner out and let someone else fix some hot food. Then we can try to find news of Natalie.”

  With Leah’s ready assent, they walked around the block and found the Coopers Stave tavern within ten minutes. Amidst the hustle and bustle of the busy common room they found a small table available by the door to the kitchen and gratefully accepted the chance to sit down. At Alec’s insistence Leah ordered vegetables to go with the lamb chops she wanted, while Alec ordered hot tubers with butter along with pork chops and a whole pitcher of cherry water. The constant comings and goings of customers and servers gave them a show to watch while they enjoyed the tavern fare at their small table.

  As they finished their meal Alec asked the serving girl if Mistress Welgon was in the tavern. “Yes she’s the lady up front at the desk for the sleeping rooms,” the girl replied as she moved on to other customers.

  With a few coins placed on the table to pay for the meal, Alec and Leah walked through the dining room to the hallway, where a stout woman watched them approach her desk.

  “Are you Mistress Welgon?” Alec asked.

  “I am, though most folks hereabout just call me Annie,” the woman replied without a smile, unsure why someone wanted to know.

  “We met a man down by the wharf, a man named Gim, who said he knew you,” Alec responded. “We were supposed to see him again but haven’t been able to raise him for three days now. Gim mentioned your name to us, so we thought we’d stop by to see if you had heard from him or knew how we could reach him.”

  “What interest would you have in a poor old dog like Gim?” Annie Welgon asked. “He’s a nice fellow, harmless as a butterfly, but there’s nothing to him to interest anyone that I can imagine.”

  “I am a healer, and I told him I would help heal some of his problems. But since I haven’t been able to find him I can’t keep my promise, and I really want to fix those sore teeth before they get worse,” Alec replied.

  “You don’t look old enough to be a healer, sonny,” Annie responded. “But you do at least know he’s got a powerful ache in his mouth. I saw him a week ago and he was moaning something fierce then about it.

  “I tell you what. I’ll send someone to search for Gim in a couple of places I know, and see when he can come over for a visit. You come back here tomorrow night and I’ll have the answer for you,” she said as an end to the conversation.

  Satisfied that something was likely to come of their efforts to find Gim at the Coopers Stave, Alec and Leah then asked Annie if she’d had any of the Walnut Creek refugees staying at her hotel. “Heavens no, children,” she replied. “Those folks didn’t land here. I thought some might when word first went around about them, but with all the gossip and fuss and followers that trailed after them, I’m kind of glad we don’t have any of them. My friends from the other inns don’t seem so happy to have them already, and some of them turn out to not have a penny to pay their bills, but how do you throw them out right now?”

  Alec and Leah listened to several minutes more, then left Annie and returned to their shop. On the way they saw Henree outside talking to two others. “These are my new neighbors I was just telling you about,” Henree said loudly with a wave to them to join the group. “Alec and Leah, these are two of the second best bakers you’ll find in Goldenfields, Armon and Rene. Alec and Leah are the two young healers who are going to bring good health to our street, isn’t that so youngsters?”

  “You’ll find that Henree overestimates himself compared to artists like Rene and myself,” the one named as Armon replied. “Are you trained healers?” he asked.

  “If you know someone who has a malady, tell them to come see us after lunch tomorrow, and Alec will demonstrate his abilities for free on opening day,” Leah replied.

  After a brief exchange of polite pleasantries, Alec and Leah excused themselves and entered their shop. “If we’re going to have folks in

  tomorrow I need to clean the shop,” Leah said and began working on mopping and dusting the front room.

  With only a mild sense of shame, Alec decided to leave the cleaning duties, and climbed the stairs to the third floor. In the back-most room, where the ceiling slanted down to the back wall, Alec opened the panel and climbed out onto the roof, where he felt a comfortable isolation. The shop felt like home to him. He’d never had a place that was his own home, and now, the day he moved in, this one already felt more comfortable than anyplace else he’d ever been.

  He lay on his back on the roof, looking up at the stars of the sky. He recognized the constellations that Ari had taught him to look for in the past few months: the Eagle, the River, the Mountain with the Cave, the Bear, and King’s Crown were highest in the sky now. With that knowledge, Ari had said, Alec could navigate across the Dominion. He remembered weeks ago when he had been with Natalie in the woods caring for Ari, and had seen King’s Crown rising in the eastern sky.

  Where was Ari now? Could he have died in the battle against the lacertii at Walnut Creek? Alec believed Ari found a way to save himself so that he could share his knowledge with the ingenairii in the kingdom. From the conversation Areley and Natha had shared at the dinner table a few nights ago, he knew that Ari’s knowledge was what the ingenairii would be looking for. In Ari’s absence, would those ingenairii still want to hear Alec’s story? Alec wondered whether he needed to do something more to share what he knew, such as possibly write it down and anonymously turn it over to them? Alec missed the man who was such a powerful leader, and a friend, and a confidant. Would Ari approve of how Alec had handled his circumstances so far, or would he say th
at circumstances were handling the boy? Alec shied away from that uncomfortable train of thought.

  What had become of Natalie? She must have made it to this very town he was in now. She was somewhere nearby. He wanted to stand up at that very moment and call out her name. Even while setting up home with Leah, he felt a desire to talk to Natalie about all that had happened since they parted in Walnut Creek. But he didn’t know how to go about finding her. He’d just have to start asking some cautious questions about where the Walnut Creek refugees were staying, in a quiet manner. As he thought about the daunting prospects for such a search, he grew less certain.

  He focused on the stars again. They’d moved impossibly far across the sky. How long had he lain here thinking? He stood up and returned downstairs. Leah was finishing up her cleaning. “How does it look?” she asked, spreading her arms around the damp but brighter rooms. Alec had the good sense to tell her that it looked great.

  The next morning after they awoke Alec left to go browsing through the market for more medicinal herbs and items he felt he wanted to stock in the shop, then went to a street of metal workers and purchased some sharp

  knives and slender probes he thought he might be able to use. As he returned to the shop he passed through the Market Square, where he saw a large number of soldiers hurrying rapidly towards the north, followed moments later by several members of the cavalry who came into the Square from a different direction and followed towards the north, scattering pedestrians and bystanders without regard.

  When he walked up Bakers Street he was surprised to see a large group of people standing outside his shop. “What’s everyone here for?” he asked in the back of the crowd as he walked up.

  “There’s going to be a doctor here who will heal folks for no charge today,” a woman with three children replied.

  Alec pressed through the crowd to get to the door and started to go in.

  “Hold on lad, we’ve been waiting longer that you to see the doctor,” said an elderly man with an unfriendly tone.

  “Oh don’t worry, I’m not going to see the healer,” Alec responded, certain that if he announced he was the healer half the crowd would leave rather that face someone so young.

  Inside he found Leah rearranging chairs and bustling with nervous energy. “Are you ready to let them in?” he asked. “Bring in as many as will comfortably fit in the waiting room,” she said, “and then put the first three in patient rooms, and we’ll just work our way through that group. Let me know which ones you think may be most seriously ill, and you can tend those while I try to take care of the ones with minor aches.”

  He went back to the sparsely supplied kitchen and ate a piece of Henree’s bread and an apple. “Lord, let me do your work and make the right decisions today,” he quickly prayed, and then stood up and walked down the hall to the first room.

  When he opened the door the same elderly man who had questioned him outside the door was waiting. Alec took a thorough look with his health senses. The man’s joints were sore with rheumatism, and his heart was weak, but for a man his age he appeared to be doing well.

  “What do you want youngster?” the elderly man asked after being stared by the teenager who had walked into the room where he sat.

  “What seems to be the problem today?” Alec asked, deciding to just play this out as straight as possible.

  “I’m here to see the doctor, I’ve got things to ask him about,” the man replied grumpily.

  “I am the healer,” Alec replied. “So tell me what you want to talk about.”

  “You’re not the doctor, boy. Now send him in,” the man said angrily.

  Alec opened the door. “Leah, would you come here?” he asked.

  When she joined them in the room, Alec said “Leah, would you tell this man who the healer is?”

  “Alec is the greatest healer you’re ever going to meet,’ Leah said with an absolutely straight face. “Others are waiting, so please help us do this quickly.”

  The man looked in disbelief, then stood and pushed by them without a word and left the building.

  “That went smoothly, I see,” Leah said wryly. “Oh well, on to the next one.”

  Alec walked to the next room and went in. A woman sat with her small child held in her arms.

  “I’m the healer, and I’d like to help you. What has brought you here today?” he asked, holding his fingers crossed behind his back in hopes of bringing better luck.

  “You seem a mite young to be a doctor, but I’ve got no other choice,” the woman replied, studying him. “My daughter’s smaller than the other children. She cries constantly, and has a bad cough and she doesn’t sleep well, so I don’t sleep well. Can you do something for her?” Her voice gave away her fear of the bad news she was afraid Alec might deliver.

  Alec looked casually at her, then walked up to the girl and touched her throat while thinking about what to say.

  “She’s not as bad as you think,” he said. “Does someone in your home smoke any tobacco or does your fire place flue draw poorly?” he asked, knowing from the odor they brought with them that the mother herself must smoke.

  She nodded acknowledgement.

  “The smoke is bad for her lungs. She’s got sensitive lungs to begin with, and the tobacco smoke is an additional problem. You need to stop smoking in the house or around her. If you can stop altogether it would be best because it would be good for you too. But at least step outside to smoke when she’s around. Also, I’ll ask Leah to bring you some herbs. I want you to put a pinch of those in a bowl of hot water every night and have her breath the fumes for about a quarter of an hour before she goes to sleep. Hold a blanket over her head so she gets the benefit of the fumes. Do that every night for a week, and then come back next week and we’ll give you another batch to use. Wait here and Leah will bring the medicine to you. Do you have any questions?”

  The mother sat silently without saying a word.

  “You’re not pleased about stopping smoking, are you?” he asked.

  “No,” she replied. “Lots of people smoke around their children and no harm comes of it. You’re just a child yourself, and I don’t think you have any idea what you’re talking about. But honestly, I don’t smoke myself, and I don’t care. It’s the man I live with who smokes, and he’s not going to stop smoking in his own home just because you said to.”

  Alec considered what to say. He looked at the mother, and his health vision examined her without his intention for it to do so. He froze in disbelief as his mind registered all the things he saw. He looked at the daughter again, and grew shocked, then angry.

  “What is your girl’s name?” he asked.

  “Hannah,” the mother replied.

  “And what is your name?”

  “I’m Ellen,” the mother said.

  “Ellen, you and Hannah have both got signs of being treated very roughly. Hannah’s had a broken arm, and you’ve got bruises you’re hiding under that long sleeved dress, and other injuries I’m not going to mention,” he said in agitation. “I think that that man’s smoking is the least of your problems, although it is a problem.”

  Ellen burst into angry tears. “I’ve got no place to live, no job while I watch and support Hannah, and no family I can go back to. I have to stay with Roger to keep a roof over our heads and some food in our bellies. I want to leave, but I’ve got nowhere I could go that we wouldn’t be worse off.”

  Alec didn’t know what to say. He’d stumbled into something far over his head, and he didn’t have an answer. He asked questions to stall for time, hoping that some answer would appear.

  “How did you hear about this shop being open today?” he asked.

  I was in the market and overheard two folks mention it. Since Hannah was with me and we were close by, I decided to just try it out. It was an impulse. A bad one I guess; you can’t do anything to help me,” she ended bitterly. “You see the problem, and so do I. But I don’t see any answer, and neither do you. So what good are you?” s
he challenged him.

  “So Roger has no idea where you are or where to come looking for you?” Alec asked.

  “He expects me to be home from the market any minute now, and he’ll probably thrash me for being late with his food,” Ellen replied.

  “I’ll be right back, don’t go anywhere,” Alec told her and slipped out if the room.

  When he found Leah up front he motioned for her to join him in the back of the house. “Is everything okay in that room?” Leah asked. “I heard tears and raised voices. I wasn’t sure what to do.”

  “Could we let that woman stay in one of our third floor rooms for a few days? She is being beaten and worse by her boyfriend and her daughter is suffering too,” Alec asked.

  Leah looked at him steadily. They had no income yet and a brand new home they could barely call their own. Bringing in a strange woman made no sense at all. But she remembered the feeling of panicked entrapment she had felt when she had expected to suffer abuse or death at the

  hands of her husband. “Tell her she can stay here and do cleaning for us for a week to earn her keep. We’ve certainly got plenty of cleaning to do.”

  Alec looked at her with appreciation, gripped her hand tightly, and returned to the examining room.

  When he opened the door the room was empty. Ellen and Hannah had left.

  Alec looked down the hallway and ran to the waiting room up front. “Did a woman and a little girl just leave?” he asked those who were seated.

  “They just walked out a minute ago,” a man replied.

  Alec went out the door and looked both ways. Just down the street he could see Ellen’s head bowed low as she walked with Hannah holding her hand beside her.