Visions of Power

by Jeffrey Quyle

“Will you make sure that someone guards the Duke’s bed at all times when I’m not present?” Alec asked the stern-faced man at his side.

  “Don’t worry lad, it will be done,” the man replied. “Corporal,” he said to a guard at the door, “Detail four of the Duke’s Guard to bedside duty at all times, on four hour shifts, until ordered otherwise by myself or this doctor. Continue to keep a guard here at the door as well. I’ll send more Guards along directly.”

  “Yes colonel,” the guard at the door replied without expression.

  “Let’s go to the officers’ quarters to let you rest safely,” the colonel told Alec as he began to lead him through the corridors of the palace.

  “Was the Duke alone attacked?” Alec heard himself ask as they left the ornate portions of the palace reserved for the Duke’s chambers.

  “He had two guards with him. One was killed instantly, and the other was as grievously wounded as the Duke,” the officer responded with sorrow evident in his voice. “Guarding the Duke had always been an honor, but never a dangerous assignment, until this.”

  “Who has tended the wounded guard?” Alec asked. “May I see him?”

  “Our own regimental medic has eased her pain, but gave us no hope of survival,” said the colonel. “After you rest we will take you to see her.”

  “If her health is in question, I’d prefer to see her now. Take me to her,” Alec said with as much command as he could muster in his voice, trying to hide his surprise at hearing the Duke’s guard was a woman.

  “A child playing at doctor, trying to order the Duke’s officers? The world has changed quickly, hasn’t it?” a voice trying to express humor caught Alec by surprise as another officer and five soldiers joined them from a crossing corridor.

  “I thought perhaps some extra guards for the sake of our guest were appropriate, since the Prince has brought a regiment of his own guards into the palace this evening,” the captain said after saluting Alec’s companion. “The rumor mill has already brought word of an interesting scene in the Duke’s chambers, and I decided to take a precaution.”

  “Your diligence is noted and appreciated,” the colonel replied without a smile. “Our guest has asked if he could visit the guard who was injured with the Duke. I will let you escort him to the infirmary, and then put him in a room where he can rest, and keep a strong guard around him. I’ll go see to some other matters now captain. Carry on,” and the colonel reversed course to return to the official palace.

  The captain’s eyes showed a flare of something Alec could not interpret as the colonel spoke.

  “Doctor, let’s go through here to get to the infirmary,” his escort led him across a parade ground and to a building apart from the others.

  Inside, only one of the six beds was occupied. Despite being prepared by what he had been told, Alec was startled to see that the injured guard was a woman. She was as badly hurt as the Duke, save for the fortunate fact that no poisoned blade had touched her. Alec looked at her intently with his health vision, examining her injuries and judging whether she could be saved. He exhaled as he released his vision, convinced that she was still holding onto enough life to be rescued.

  “Captain, please clear some of these men out of here. I want to examine her more closely,” Alec requested as he put one hand on the bed to steady himself, fatigue pulling on him more and more.

  “Do we need to do this?” the captain asked him quietly. “She fought valiantly and saved the Duke through her efforts. Do we need to do anything but let her die in some dignity?”

  “Yes,” Alec answered curtly. “We need to save her life, so that she can protect the Duke again.”

  The captain’s face turned pale.

  Chapter 15 – The Surviving Guard

  Alec opened his pack, grateful that he already had preparations remaining after treating the Duke. He turned and faced the guards. “I think that some dignity calls for you all to leave so that I may remove her blouse to treat her,” he told them. “Please leave and come back in half an hour, or when I call you, whichever comes first.”

  The guards all looked at his face, looked at their captain, who seemed stunned into inaction, then backed out of the infirmary, except for the captain. “Will you need any help?” he asked Alec, who nodded yes. “In that case I will stay. Inga will not feel her dignity compromised by her husband being present, I imagine,” he said with an unexpected hint of dry humor in his voice.

  Alec dropped the bag he was holding and looked at the Captain. “She is your wife?” he asked the obvious as he wearily bent to pick up his materials. “Please pardon me; I didn’t realize that members of the Guard marry one another,” Alec said, and then turned his attention to the woman on the cot. He opened the blouse on the guard and saw the same stab and slice wounds that were present on the Duke. Clearly a close fought battle had occurred in the palace to leave these two so badly cut, and another guard dead.

  Alec applied the foamy preparation for battling infection on all the stab wounds and cuts. He fed the blood-strengthening potion to her next, her husband helping to hold her upright. Alec then sat on a chair next to the bed and began to stitch the worst slices in the flesh back together.

  “Why do you do that?” asked her husband, who had been completely silent to that point.

  “It will help the flesh heal more quickly, especially in this one, see, where the muscle itself has been cut. Plus, on the surface it will reduce the growth of scar material and lessen the appearance of such scars,” Alec replied.

  He focused on getting the job done, aware that he was close to collapsing in exhaustion. He judged that some of the smaller cuts could be left unstitched, but he paid extraordinary attention and devoted extra time to stitching his finest possible thread through a slash that crossed the woman’s cheek from temple to chin; he hoped to leave the least visible scar possible. He placed another layer of the egg white potion on all the stitched cuts and covered them with bandages. Without standing he said to the captain, “She just needs to sleep now. Your doctor can continue to give her the tincture she received yesterday. I’d like to let her awaken slightly later today so that we can give her some nourishment. For her next meal I want her to have beef broth and some cooked liver, very finely ground and mashed into a paste.”

  “If you have given her life back, you have given me more than I could ask for,” the captain replied. “I did not look for her to live. If you have saved her, then I am in your debt. If she can speak to us briefly we would like to know more about the assassins who attacked. And if you will make her eat liver I will laugh at her or with her someday, knowing how much she hates it!” he laughed slightly himself.

  Before he could do or say anything in reply, Alec felt his knees buckle and his head grow dizzy, and he lost consciousness as he fell off his seat to the floor.

  Chapter 16 – The Palace Guard

  Alec knew that he had woken up, but he did not immediately open his eyes. He lay back in the bed he was resting in and casually listened to the slight rustle of other people in the room. He could tell that he had not slept as much as he needed to – he felt exhausted even as he lay there.

  Like a bolt there came to him a remembrance of all that had happened last night. He opened his eyes and sat up. He was lying in a bed in the infirmary, next to the bed of the female guard he had treated. The room was bright with sunlight streaming in through the windows. He saw sentries standing outside most of the windows, and he realized that there were four guards inside the building with him, all now looking at him. One by the door knocked on it twice but remained on station.

  Alec realized that another bed was occupied as well, and concluded with a shock that it was the Duke himself now in the regimental infirmary. He swung his legs over the side of the bed just as the door opened and the colonel he had walked with last night entered the infirmary.

  “You’ve certainly not had enough sleep to recuperate from your heroic night,” the colonel said, with bags under his own eyes as testimony t
o the long night he had experienced. “Please lie back down and rest some more. You and your patients have nothing to worry about now; you’re completely secure here, and no one can come to see you without fighting through our entire regiment.”

  Alec didn’t know what to make of the warlike implications of that statement, but he felt in his heart that the guards had only the best of intentions in whatever they were doing. “I am still tired, but I’d like to check on the two patients and think about what to do next. I’d also appreciate something to eat if that’s possible,” he said.

  “We’ll bring you breakfast right away. Is there anything else you need?” the colonel asked.

  “When my head clears I’ll probably think of several needs. For now, I’d just like to know your name,” Alec replied.

  “The colonel smiled. “I am Colonel Dearborn Ryder, commonly known to my friends as DR. I hope that you will call me DR.”

  Alec smiled in return. “Thank you DR. I’ll check on the patients and treat them as needed for now.”

  “All your supplies, including those you left in the Duke’s chambers, have been moved to the back room here at the infirmary. Tell us if you need anything and we’ll acquire it for you.”

  Alec acknowledged the offer. Growing more awake, he slipped all the way out of bed and walked around to look at the Duke, as the colonel slipped back out the door.

  He looked thoroughly at the Duke with his health senses, examining every portion of his body. He found two small cuts that he had failed to put the germ-killing potion on, and some infection was festering in them. Otherwise, the Duke was responding to his treatment just as Alec wished. The poison was being neutralized, the cuts were ready to heal, and the loss of blood was no longer a frightening concern. Today’s course of treatment would mean a second dose of the poison antidote this morning to address that problem, further small battles against the infections, and steps to restore his blood and strength. Alec saw no problems.

  He walked back to the bed of the guard, Inga. She too looked ready to recover with further treatment.

  Alec went to the back room and examined his supplies, making notes of what he would need. He had enough to battle the infections, having packed for that possible course of treatment when he had left the shop last night. He began drawing together ingredients he could use as a treatment to minimize the scar on the Guard’s cheek. He imagined how Leah would feel if she found such a scar on her lovely face, and he wanted to spare the wounded Guard from feeling such self-consciousness.

  He stopped and wondered, should he ask someone about Leah and the shop? If he was in danger for whatever reason, could his shop be as well? He decided to ask DR, and also to find out if he could talk to Natha, whom he suspected knew more than anyone else about what was going on.

  He considered all those matters while finishing the skin treatment and preparing the new ointment for fighting infection. This time he’d base it in oil instead of the egg whites, he decided. As he finished mixing the ingredients together, he heard the door open out front, and he went to see who had entered.

  It was Inga’s husband, the captain, followed by a guard carrying a large tray covered by a white cloth, from under which came the smells of a breakfast feast. It was placed on a small table and the cloth removed, revealing eggs, bacon, potatoes, fruits Alec didn’t recognize, milk, and a steaming mug of tea.

  “Do you have time to eat now?” the captain asked, “Or do you want us to bring fresh food after you treat the patients?”

  “I’ll eat now. Both the Duke and Inga are in good shape, and don’t need to be tended immediately,” Alec said as he walked over to the table.

  “Do you mean that they both will survive?” the captain asked the question he was straining to politely avoid but couldn’t help.

  Alec sat down and looked straight at the captain. “They will both survive. Right now it’s only a matter of making them heal as quickly and effectively and painlessly as possible, and that’s really not going to be too hard…provided your wife develops a taste for liver that is,” he added with a grin.

  “You’re dismissed,” the captain said to the guard who had brought the food. “May I stay and join you for a moment?” he asked Alec.

  “Please do, and help yourself to some of this. It’s more than I can eat,” he indicated the laden tray.

  The captain pulled a chair over to the table as Alec began to stuff food in his mouth. He was breaking a long fast, and one made more draining by all the healing he’d done in the past day. He’d have to be better aware of how he used his energy in the future, he decided to remember.

  Outside the tray-toting guard had apparently reported Alec’s positive outlook on the two patients in the infirmary, because several spontaneous cheers were raised over the next few minutes.

  Alec learned some interesting information from Lewis, the captain married to Inga, as the two talked over the tray of food. The colonel had ordered that the Duke be moved to the regimental infirmary, after hearing that Alec himself had been put to bed there. The report given to the palace staff was that it was to ease the strain on Alec in caring for both injured parties, although the whole corps of the regiments’ officers considered it prudent for several reasons, not least being their dislike of the Duke’s dissolute son and distrust of the men he had brought to the palace with him. The infirmary was located at the point of the palatial island and was considered very defensible if the worst were to happen and another attack of some type was attempted. The regiment’s physician had been dismissed from the service, and Alec was now in charge of medical care without interference.

  Alec considered all the information as he stood from the meal. “Thank you Lewis, I appreciate both the food and the information you’ve shared. The prince left a bad taste in my mouth. He seemed very surprised when he found out the Duke still lived, and not very happy about it.”

  “The colonel had the same impression,” the captain said.

  “I’m going to get to work here now. I’ll need some things later, and will give you a list if you’ll provide paper and pen,” Alec said. “And I have a favor to ask; may I speak with my friend, Natha the trader?”

  “Yes, I’ll see that he is passed through to you,” Lewis replied in his impassive military tone of voice. With that he left the room.

  Alec spent the rest of the morning treating his patients. With that done he wrote out his list of needed supplies, then laid down and fell asleep again.

  He awoke again after a nap, feeling refreshed. He checked on the Duke and the guard and detected that their sedatives were wearing off. While he instinctively wanted to dose them back to heavy sleep, he understood that the guards had an interest in talking to them, and it would make dosing them with healing potions easier, he rationalized. He saw that his supplies had been quietly dropped off while he slept, so he went to the back room and began preparing medications, nutrients, and sedatives.

  As he finished up there was a knock on the door, and in came DR the colonel, followed by another tray of food held by a guard, and behind them, a cautious-looking Natha.

  The guard placed the tray on the table and left. Alec looked at the two visitors. “Natha! I’m so glad to see you. Thank you for coming,” he said. “Let’s all sit down and have a bite. I’m starved, and not keeping regular meal hours has my belly convinced it’s emptier than it is.”

  “And not keeping regular sleeping hours will catch up with you pretty quickly, too,” DR said. “Will you let us post a nurse or aide to take care of the patients tonight so that you can sleep?”

  “That should be no problem, although I think we’ll all be able to sleep soundly tonight. They’re healing just fine and should heal better if we give them a good night’s sleep,” Alec replied.

  “First you perform one miraculous cure of Annalea, and now you’ve progressed to making two miracles happen at once it seems Alec,” Natha spoke for the first time. “Alec cured my daughter last week when all the other doctors had already dug her gr
ave. That’s why I knew if anyone could save the Duke, young Alec was the one.”

  “So you were the one who brought our doctor to us?” the Colonel said to the trader with evident surprise. “The question of his appearance among us was as big a mystery as anything else that’s happened in this episode. How and why did you do it?”

  Alec sensed the unusual tension between the two men in the room with him. It surprised him that two such natural leaders would not automatically be in harmony on something important, although he wasn’t yet sure exactly what they disagreed about.

  “I may disagree with the Duke on some matters of policy and business, but I know he is a good leader for our duchy. When I heard about his attack the first thing I did was find Alec and bring him to the palace,” Natha said, getting defensive. “I spoke to Noah Rastall, and he made arrangements for us to enter the palace.”

  “Wait,” Alec said to stop the brewing battle. “You both have done important things to help save the Duke. He is cured, he is healing, and he is safe. Natha, I wanted to see you to find out if Leah and my shop are safe. If I’m here being guarded by all these soldiers, for some reason I worry about Leah.”

  “Nobody knows who you are, so I don’t think your friend is in any danger at the moment. I don’t even know if you are actually in danger yourself, or if all this is for the Duke,” Natha said with a look to DR.

  “I would agree that for now nobody knows who you are so your family is safe currently. But this is not all exactly just for the Duke, or at least, we do want to protect Alec as well,” he replied. “Frankly, we don’t know anything about him ourselves, other than he did what everyone else said was impossible, and wore himself to the bone to do it.”

  “Do you think he is in danger for saving the Duke? How can being a hero place one in danger?” Natha asked incredulously.

  DR pondered his answer. “Your young hero was confronted by the Duke’s heir last night or this morning, and the tone of that encounter, along with some other items we’ve heard, does make the Duke’s regiment suspicious about some of the motives involved in the past day’s events. You being here as a friend of Alec, and your role in delivering him to us speaks better for you than I had anticipated, to be frank, in whatever big picture is out there.”