Visions of Power

by Jeffrey Quyle

  “A third group believes that ingenairii should step into the royal power void and take advantage of our power to make many decisions for the kingdom. They are looking to make a change in our society for the sake of gaining power, not because they believe there is more to be done by ingenairii among the people. They don’t see any reason to make changes in how we act; building roads for example, or healing people,” he added with a nod towards Alec, “are not in their plans.

  “As a court ingenaire, I have considerable latitude, and was able to assign three of my junior ingenairii to help your expedition that is moving up river. One of those assigned is Benjamin, a junior acolyte of considerable promise, but one who in his time at the capitol fell into line with the power-hungry faction of the ingenairii, led by the ingenaire Fallion, whose name you heard.

  “When the time is right, I shall put your case to my colleagues on the council with whom I am in sympathy, and ask them to support your cause and force Fallion to cease his actions against you. I have hope that they will succeed in an official council action, or at least in some unofficial agreement. That faction that seeks power includes those who are most interested in exploring and battling the lacerta threat that is coming from Walnut Creek, and my support for their warmongering should make them more willing to listen to me on this matter.

  “It helps that I believe their fear of the lacertii is correct, although they want to battle to save a kingdom they expect to inherit, and my motives are less self-interested.

  “So I think we can deal to put an end to this harassment. But we mustn’t let them know that you fought and killed their champion, Belman, or their rage will be impossible to overcome.

  “I am also going to appeal to the strongest ingenaire in the land, who has recently returned to take the leadership of the council. He will personally support my position, and more importantly in this case, he will support Alec personally, since they are long time friends.”

  “Alec has been consorting with powerful ingenairii?” the Duke asked with considerable surprise, looking from Merle to Alec and back.

  “He has, although he may not have thought of it in such a manner. He spent much time with our greatest ingenaire while that man was traveling incognito with a caravan. You’ve probably heard of Aristotle, who has returned from an unexpectedly perilous journey and is now rallying the ingenairii and the court to prepare to go to war against the lacertii.”

  Chapter 33 – A Captain and Ingenaire

  Alec’s astonishment knew no bounds at the nuggets of news that Merle tied together. He was incredulous at the notion that the caravan magician he had known simply as Ari, usually performing simple feats at carnival stops across the kingdom, was a powerful leader, the most powerful leader of the ingenairii.

  “You mean the leader of the ingenairii just walked away and went on a caravan journey for a year?” he asked with doubt in his voice, expressing the reservations the others in the room felt.

  “He is the most senior and the most powerful of the ingenairii in the land today, and the most influential too, but he was not exactly our leader before he left. He could have been, but he preferred not to sit in that chair. That’s not unusual; the powerful nature of ingenairii and their fierce independence has meant that we often have no true leader for the council. When there’s no emergency or great issue to deal with, that doesn’t really pose a problem, and it hasn’t for decades.

  “Aristotle believes the issue of the lacertii requires strong leadership, and so has stepped up and assumed limited powers.

  “All of which is beside the point. I expect Aristotle will exercise his influence to protect Alec in some fashion. Alec, this is something I will talk to you about after our meeting here.”

  “Your words please me, Merle,” the Duke spoke up. “This young man has become very dear to me for the services he has provided during his short stay in Goldenfields. I’m also pleased to hear you state that the ingenairii are likely to come to battle with the lacertii. I would almost have preferred that you tell me the ingenairii had dismissed them as an untrue fable, but short of that, having the ingenairii on our side is a powerful comfort.

  “It also helps explain why you were so willing to help us construct this road that will allow armies to move closer to the lacertii strongholds in the mountains. But for the moment, I think we’ve had enough talk of these matters. Colonel, will you call the Guards?” the Duke said as he stood up.

  The colonel went to the door and opened it, which allow the entrance of eleven Guardsmen in full uniform, who silently formed two columns leading to the Duke, with Colonel Ryder taking a spot, across from Inga, Alec realized, to make their number twelve. Their sudden appearance in the middle of this audience baffled him.

  “Alec, for your services to the duchy, the Guard, and myself, I wish to recognize and honor you. Please step between the Guardsmen drawn up here,” the Duke said.

  As Alec approached him the Duke drew out a sword. “This weapon has been prepared specifically for you, and bears the marking of an officer of the Duke’s guard. As such, I hereby name you a Captain of the Guard, in charge of the medical corps, with all the rights and responsibilities that attach to that office. Your name shall be read to the assembled Guardsmen at the next regimental gathering.

  “You shall draw a captain’s pay, and otherwise receive the privileges that go with your rank.” The Duke took the sword and presented it to Alec, who immediately heard the cheers of the Guardsmen thunder in the room.

  “You will not have to be present in the Guards’ quarters everyday Alec, given your peculiar situation and the uniqueness of the skills you bring. I do expect that you will train and improve medics for the Guard, so that our men and women will be able to count on the best medical treatment they can find if they happen to need it.”

  The Duke dismissed the other Guards, so that only a two man escort, along with Ryder, Merle, and now Inga remained in the room.

  “Very well. I think my part here is finished this morning. I understand that each of you have some conversations you wish to hold with the Captain here, so please carry on. Merle, I expect you will carry out the actions you promised, and report to me on how they proceed,” the leader of Goldenfields said before he left the room with his escort.

  As soon as the Duke was out of the room, Inga hugged the befuddled new captain. “When I found out that the Duke ordered the Colonel to prepare this, I demanded to be part of the ceremony! Alec, I am so proud of you, and very pleased for the Guard.

  “You’ll be able to resume your daily sword training now, won’t you? I’ll expect you at first light tomorrow,” she said, and then added with a crooked smile, “sir.” With that she too left the room.

  “I’ll be brief, and then gone. Alec, last night you mentioned the value of bringing some of your miraculous fountain water back to the city. The Duke believes that it would be a valuable trading opportunity for the Duchy to be able to sell throughout the Dominion if this water is all that you believe that it is, and I don’t doubt you,” Colonel Ryder said. “He’d like for you to discuss this with your trader friend Natha, and tell him that a three-way partnership of the Duke, Natha, and you would receive official recognition as the only authorized distributor of the water.

  “Let me know if Natha would like to discuss such an arrangement, and the court officials will draw up a proposal,” the Colonel said, and then he too left.

  “Alec, do you have time to talk with me, or do you need to go attend your fountain of profits?” Merle asked him as they were left alone in the chamber. The ingenaire saw that the reference to riches brought an uncertain look on the young healer’s face. “Your fountain water is apparently miraculously healthful for those who drink it or wash with it, I’m told. Captain Abraham has already detailed a squad to regularly deliver a wagonload of barrels to the expedition’s current camping place.”

  “If you and the Duke and Natha are about to establish a monopoly on the sale of such water throughout the Dominion, y
ou are going to become a very rich young Guard officer,” Merle explained. “And that’s what you’ve done after being with us only a few weeks. I look forward to seeing your next step.

  “Be that as it may, you apparently aren’t ready to go racing off to Natha this second to secure your wealth, so come with me to my suite of rooms here in the palace, and let’s talk about some important matters.”

  Although his head was whirling from all that had just happened, Alec was intrigued by the notion of seeing the ingenaire’s rooms, though now more intrigued by the notion that the colonel had just offered to make him rich, if he wanted it. For an instant he wondered if he would hold riches enough to become an eligible suitor of Natalie, provided he could get to Oyster Bay and find her. Then he stopped; he suspected that a lack of riches was not the reason he and Natalie were not to be a couple. He considered how little he had done to follow and protect Natalie, or to go visit Aristotle, for that matter. Maybe he wasn’t as deeply in love with the dancing girl as he thought, he speculated, not knowing how deep or shallow youthful infatuations could be.

  Deep in his speculation, Alec followed as Merle led the way to his rooms, located at the opposite end of the island from the Guard’s facilities.

  From the elegant ducal halls of the palace they descended down stairs and traveled along a passage lit by a lantern. When Merle opened the door, they entered a room with an enormously high ceiling, lit by windows near the top. They traveled through several such rooms, the latter two of which were filled with fascinating objects, to come to what was apparently Merle’s own room, lit by the same high windows, but also incorporating a window at a normal level, except that outside the glass were the murky green waters of the river flowing past the island.

  “One of my predecessors was a water ingenaire, and he wanted to be able to see his element. It’s rather ingenious I think, though I’m not a water ingenaire, but I enjoy seeing it. Some fascinating things occasionally pass by,” he commented in an offhand voice.

  “Nothing as fascinating as you though, Alec. There is an element of destiny around you, I think, showing up and experiencing the things that you do, and producing the changes in fortunes that you cavalierly happen to make in passing. I’m going to go back through the old prophecies to look you up, because I expect we were told we’d have you around for some key events in our lives.”

  Alec felt stunned by the notion that he would be an item in prophecy. “That’s hard to imagine,” he protested. “I’ve just done what the things around me made me do. Healing Annalea because she screamed when I walked by, healing the Duke, those are things I couldn’t have planned,” he protested, not mentioning his discovery of the sacred cave that had made all of it possible.

  “You didn’t plan it, but perhaps the Lord has Alec. I didn’t invite you here to quibble over destiny. I’ll mention the question in my letter to Aristotle, to see what he says. He’s usually far ahead of me in these things.

  “I thought I should give you a chance to ask any questions you have about ingenairii and the powers of an ingenaire before I ask you anything. You have been drawn into the world of our powers it seems, and I want to discover and better understand some of the things you’ve done, because a month ago most ingenairii would have said they were impossible.”

  Alec sat in silence, not knowing what to ask.

  “Very well, perhaps I can start us off,” Merle said dryly. “Ingenairii are born not made. Some people have the ability to call upon power from within themselves, and exercise it. Only a small percentage of people seem to have the ability, and not all of them are recognized and trained, I believe. Ingenairii have for centuries tried to teach this ability to people who seem like they are perfectly suited to practice the arts, but those efforts turn out to be incapable of creating the least glimmer of ability. Incidentally, in the past we have even tried to transfer power to such people to try to give them a push up to ingenaire; in every case, the person has died, until you came along.

  “When people are able to practice the magic of the ingenairii, they fall into one of ten schools,” Merle hesitated a minute. “Actually, there are more schools known, but some of them have had no practitioners for centuries. Metal, light, fire, stone, earth, water, spirit, air, plant and warriors you may have heard of. There have been sound and time ingenairii, but none in so long that we only know the myths. There have also been healer ingenairii, Alec, able to heal through their powers, but none in at least six hundred years.

  “There are some rare ingenairii, less than three in a hundred, who can master more than one form of magic. Your friend Aristotle has mastered four of the powers, more than anyone we know of in history.

  “Ingenairii go through training to learn to call upon and control their powers. When their training is done and they are declared competent, they are usually assigned a duty. They also find a mark that grows upon them,” he lifted his sleeve to show a cross transposed upon a heart, like a drawing upon his skin. “An ingenaire may remain in court at Oyster Bay and serve a great deal, or very little, or an ingenaire may be assigned out into the world, as in my case with the assignment to the Duke’s court,” Merle continued. “Or one may simply choose to act as a free agent, more or less, and take on such duties in the world as they find rewarding.”

  Alec felt a question form in his mind. “Am I considered a ingenaire because I used another ingenaire’s power?” He both longed for and feared an answer.

  “I think that many of us would say yes. It’s a rare ability; I think I read about it in a few cases in history. Accepting power from another ingenaire is very difficult for a ingenaire to do, because the tone is so different from person to person that we are incompatible; a non-ingenaire accepting power is unthinkable. It would be like forcing oil and water to mix in the middle of a furnace.

  “I know of no one has ever been able to outright take power from another ingenaire, as you did with Belman. That’s part of why I counseled that we keep that quiet. Not only did you kill a follower of a strong and vengeful ingenaire, but you did it with an ability that no ingenaire has ever heard of before,” Merle answered.

  “You haven’t felt a mark develop anywhere, have you?” the bearded man asked. “There’s a moment of pain involved when a person exercises their fullest powers, and the mark erupts.”

  Alec shook his head no, and lifted his sleeves to confirm. There was no blemish on either arm.

  “Aristotle has told me about your visit to the sacred cave, and how you received abilities from that. You are truly blessed for that experience. But I am convinced that the cave did not make you an ingenaire. I think it was something born into you and the healer ability has been laid on top of that power.”

  “There are legends of five mysterious holy sites, stories that have been forgotten by most people, but your visit gives them credit. And it’s a credit to you that you’ve kept that as secret as you wisely have. Does anyone here know about that experience?”

  “I told some of the church leaders at the cathedral,” Alec admitted.

  Merle paused and thought about that. “Who did you tell, and how did they react?”

  “The bishop, a priest, and two cardinals were there. The priest was one of the ones who prayed for the Duke’s healing; he’s the one who recognized me when I went to service. They seemed to believe and be touched by the story. One of them started to cry. They vowed to keep it secret.”

  “That was the same day I was fitted for this beauty,” Alec said, holding up his new sword. His mind momentarily wandered as he realized how much he was looking forward to trying it out in practice with Inga.

  “Well, we’ll see how that goes. The cardinals will go back to Oyster Bay, and your story may eventually spread there. That’s beyond our control. But Alec, I will have some influence with Benjamin, if he survives his time in the camp. However, we need to come up with plans to help you survive if I fail or Aristotle doesn’t act in time.

  “Can you come back in two days and let me formally
test you for potential ingenaire powers? I know what the answer will be, but we need to go through the formality of a test so that if we need to use that as part of your defense we can,” Merle said, leaving some ambiguity in his meaning. “If you are declared an ingenaire, no charges can be filed against you for being a non-ingenaire using our powers.”

  Alec thought about it. “I’m not sure I want to be a ingenaire, other than to heal people,” he said cautiously.

  “You’ve passed a test in a different sense just by saying that,” Merle said. “A hunger for the power is a dangerous thing. I’m glad we don’t have to worry about that with you.

  “Run along to see Natha and grow rich. But be sure to come back here two days hence for some testing to help protect your future.”

  Chapter 34 – Merle’s Test

  Alec left the lair of the ingenaire and wandered through the palace, trying to find his way out from the unfamiliar rooms. Eventually he found open sky and the bridge back to the mainland of Goldenfields. He walked to the printers’ street, and went into the shop of Rand the printer. Inside he asked to speak to Annalea, Rand’s wife.

  She came out to the front of the shop and saw who it was. “Angel! What a great surprise to see you today. It’s been a long time. Are you all right? You look somehow different. I don’t know if you look tired or older or both,” she said.

  “Annalea, I’m glad to see you looking as lovely as ever. I’m just tired from a recent journey. How is your family? Is your sister-in-law still expecting?” he replied.

  They chatted about their families for several minutes, until Alec stated his purpose for visiting. “I’d like to talk to your father about a business question. Can you ask him to come to my shop or to drop me a note about meeting him sometime soon so that I can explain it?”