“Is there anything else you need?” the ingenaire kindly asked.
“There’s a lot I need,” Alec replied with unintended understatement. “But all I want to ask if you’ll help me try to reach the power again. I had a bad headache when I tried to use my health vision a few days ago, and I haven’t tried anything since.”
Merle placed a pair of fingers on Alec’s temple for several seconds. “Alec lie down here and we’ll see whether you’re ready to reach your power again. I suspect you are fully rested and recovered by now, so we’ll give it a shot.” Merle lay down next to him, and clasped his hand. “Alright, let’s begin.”
Alec took a deep breath, but found it easier to relax than he expected. He defined the barriers, and waited to sense Merle. He was immediately there. Alec looked around for the way through the barriers, and traveled to the entrance of the power realm. He felt no pain, and began to have confidence that he could complete his journey.
Carefully Alec gathered up his image of his Guard officer sword, and developed the simple image of his own body carrying the sword, then entered the tunnel where the light existed. Inside, he felt the light press against his image, but only lightly at first. Alec traveled further into the light, expecting the pressure to increase. It did so only slightly, and Alec decided to go further. He sensed that Merle was not going with him, but he felt the need to find where the power would envelope him. Further in he suddenly became aware of the power pressing against him, with pressure that began to build rapidly. Abruptly it permeated his image, faster than he remembered it had before. He sensed a sting somewhere, but it was of little consequence at the moment. He struggled to gain control of the image, which was driven by the surge of power that promised to do wonderful things with the sword. Alec fought, felt his control slipping, and redoubled his effort.
At last he succeeded in gaining control. It felt tenuous though. He stood within the image, making sure he had control, and sensed another image nearby. Examining the bright surroundings, Alec thought he saw a shadow pass nearby, and he had a sense that it was some other ingenaire.
Alec’s own image began to shift out of his control. He re-focused his attention on his image, and forced it to turn towards the exit from the power realm. The image began to move, and Alec felt his control begin to increase over it. He kept it moving, and focused again on the image in every regard, exercising his control over each limb individually, and every muscle. He felt the attention cement his control, and he began to move with less effort towards the way out.
The journey was a long one. Alec hadn’t realized how far into the power he had been lured, but he doggedly traveled, and finally came to the exit. He resolved to make it out and pushed through the emptiness, more easily than before. Without hesitation, Alec traveled to the barrier and pressed though the seam he knew was there. Back between the barriers, Alec opened his eyes and came into the conscious world.
Alec felt the same enhanced awareness of the world around him. He felt ready to anticipate and react to any threat. Turning his head, Alec looked towards Merle.
The old ingenaire wasn’t there.
Alec found that he was standing at the door, before he even realized that he had arose. What could have happened to Merle, he wondered? The doorknob started to turn, and Alec was suddenly behind the door with his sword drawn.
The door opened, and Merle re-entered the room with Fayette and Latvia. “He went further into the power than I’ve ever…he’s gone.” Merle said. The three of them started to look around, and jumped back when they spotted Alec standing behind them with his sword.
“Alec put the sword down. Everything is fine. You can release the power now,” Merle said.
Alec’s sword was in his scabbard before he realized it. He took a deep breath. He didn’t need to hold onto the power he realized; this had just been a test. With another moment’s hesitation, he made the decision and let the power flow out of him.
He felt his shoulders slump, and he sat down on the floor, worn out by the effort he had been expending. “Where did you go? I opened my eyes and you were gone,” he said to Merle.
“I went to find help. You went further into the area of light than I ever have, and you were in there a long time. I lost track of you, and couldn’t sense that you were still in reach. I hoped that with the others, we might be able to form a chain and extend our reach to look for you.
“As it turns out, that wasn’t necessary, apparently,” Merle said with a still slightly puzzled or worried expression on his face.
“I felt when we parted ways, but when I entered the zone the power wasn’t inhabiting my image; it felt like there was no pressure to penetrate into me. I kept trying to get to a place where the pressure would increase and power would enter the image. It finally happened. Then, when I started to return I found I had a long way to come to get back. It took a long time to finally get myself out of the energy, but I did eventually make it.
“Merle, could I have seen another ingenaire while I was in there? It felt like there were other presences, shadows I sensed, deep in the power with me,” Alec asked.
“Alec, I’m glad you’re back. I’m glad you have re-established your ability to attain your powers. But I have never heard of any ingenaire in the power realm making contact with another ingenaire. I don’t know what that might have been,” Merle said.
“Maybe it was one of the lost souls,” Latvia said, more understated than Alec had ever heard her. “You know, the people who go in and never come back. I always wondered what happened to them. Did their souls just dissolve, or are they still wandering around in the energy, maybe lost and confused, or maybe dazed with happiness from all the energy they have?”
“We have no way to know,” Merle said. “Alec went in further than anyone else I’ve ever known. It’s an interesting question, but not one we can resolve here and now, and I don’t want any volunteers to go searching in the power realm for answers,” Merle said, regaining his composure and sense of humor. “Off you go Latvia, Fayette.”
When they left, Merle turned to Alec. “Tell Aristotle about this when you arrive there. And be very careful about what you do. Better to not have the power on a particular evening than to be lost.
“Let me see your arm,” he suggested to Alec as he reached over to grasp his wrist. The older ingenaire rolled his arm over and pulled the sleeve up. He exposed a bright, shiny patch of skin. It was a replica of Alec’s sword, emblazoned on his flesh. Both of them stared for a moment.
“You’ve still got a ways to go in your training, but your ability is not in question. There will be no further questions about your right to handle power, eh?” Merle said, as Alec continued to stare at the inexplicable manifestation of his powers.
“Now travel safely, and write to me. I’d like to hear what happens. Even though you’ve got proof of your ability, stay away from Follin at every opportunity, Alec. He’s still looking for his lost ingenaire hunters.” Merle placed a fatherly arm around Alec’s shoulder and squeezed a long hug that brought a sentimental tear to the boy’s eye. He’d not felt such a comforting touch in a long time.
Alec thanked Merle for his advice and help, and left the palace. On the bridge he turned and looked. It might be his last time to see the structures where so many things in his life had changed. He imagined that he saw someone watching him from a high window, but couldn’t identify who it might be. Turning around, he walked back to the shop on Baker Street.
Inside the shop he found the now frequent visitor Ellison playing with Hannah. “I have something to deliver to you sir,” Ellison told him. He walked to a corner and picked up a soft, bulky package. “I can’t tell you who it’s from, but I was told to put it in your hands directly.”
Alec felt the package, then started to rip the paper wrapper. Beneath the paper he saw a rich, sturdy deep blue material. Opening it further, he shook out the material, and realized it was a complete dress uniform for a captain in the Duke’s Guard.
“You
can’t tell me who it’s from?” Alec asked, looking at Ellison. He saw a stony expression develop, and then the guard shook his head.
“Well, it’s a gorgeous gift. I hope I’ll have some occasion fancy enough to wear it, and,” he added, “I hope I’ll always merit the right to wear it with honor.”
Ellison suddenly drew stiff, upright and tall, and saluted Alec. “Those who listen to loose talk don’t know what a great man you are, Alec. I do, and the ones who count, they know too. You honor the Guard in representing us.
“I look forward to serving with you when you return.”
Alec felt his eyes well up with tears suddenly. He hadn’t expected that he could feel such pride from one man telling him what he longed to hear these days, especially a man who he respected so much.
“Thank you my friend,” he said to Ellison, and turned to take his uniform upstairs to pack.
Leah had laid out two large duffle bags for him, and had one full with the things she thought he needed, while the other sat empty waiting for the things he thought he needed to pack. Alec folded the uniform and slid it to the bottom of the empty bag, then added his sword and scabbard. He arranged the medical supplies he had already selected to take, and considered the packing job done.
Night fell quickly, and Leah, Ellen, Hannah and Alec sat down for their last meal together in their home. Alec looked at them, and took comfort in Ellison’s expected frequent visits. He enjoyed the food and the company and the speculation about his traveling future. “You’ll see some great cities on your way, that’s what I’ve heard from river sailors,” Ellen was saying.
Alec looked at Leah. He knew without a doubt that she was remembering, just as he was, the desperate river journey they had taken to escape Walnut Creek and arrive in their new home city. How different this one would be, as a passenger on a comfortable river freighter traveling along known and populated routes. “I probably won’t eat many tubers on this journey, will I?” he said with a grin to Leah, who smiled back.
After dinner Alec went to bed. He had to leave early to be on board the water hauler that was supposed to leave just after dawn. He lay in bed, and Leah came in and lay down beside him, squirming to find a comfortable position for her pregnant body.
“Alec, be careful. I have a premonition that I will never see you again,” Leah said. Alec felt a shiver run through his body, and the hair stand on the back of his neck.
“I’ll see you again, soon, don’t worry,” he told her. “I expect to deliver that child of yours and place it in your arms.”
Leah reached out and stroked his head, then raised herself up and got in her own bed.
Chapter 44 – Return to the River
The next morning Alec arose early and got dressed. He leaned over Leah and kissed her forehead, thinking that he had never seen her look as peaceful and serene as she seemed at that moment. He picked up the two heavy bags and left the shop, walking slowly with a bag over each shoulder, and stopping frequently on the way. He knew the pier he had to go to was still a fair distance down the river. He noticed a farm cart taking its goods to some market, and asked the driver if he could have a ride.
“Why not?” the farmer said. “Some folks would say you young people need to toughen up and do more on your own instead of seeking the easy way out, but I don’t cotton to that. Throw your bags up and hop on and ride ‘til you need to hop off, or until I get to my market.”
Alec lugged the two bags up and hopped on, landing amidst a collection of onions in burlap sacks. A mile down the road he saw the landmarks for Natha’s dockyards, and pushed both bags off, jumping off after them and said farewell as he went.
A hundred yards later Alec was in the gate of the yards and facing the ship he’d be on for the next ten days. Compared to the raft he’d called his last nautical home, it was spacious beyond note. Compared to the shop he’d lived in, it looked like a cramped way to live.
At the plank Alec looked for someone on board to hail, but found no one who paid any attention to him, so he hitched up the bags one more time and walked up to the deck of the ship. Within moments, an officer appeared. “How may I help you?” he asked suspiciously, looking at Alec’s bags.
“My name is Alec, and I’m a healer traveling to Oyster Bay. I was told that I had a berth onboard the Sophie, carrying barreled spring water,” Alec said.
“We’re the Sophie, and we’re carrying the water to Oyster Bay alright, so you’ve got a good story going so far. Let me check with the captain about needing another hand. I thought we were fully bunked,” the officer said and hurried away before Alec could correct him.
Two minutes later, the captain came to see him. “So you’re Alec? I’m Jack, captain of the Sophie, and glad to make your acquaintance. I want you to know that we understand you’re to travel in a cabin of your own, and not bunk with the crew,” he cast a withering sideways glance at the junior officer.
A crewmember came and took Alec’s bags, and led the way down a short steep set of steps and through a low corridor to a door that opened onto a small room in the interior of the ship. Alec surmised it was his cabin, and thanked the crewman for showing the way.
With his bags out of the way, Alec returned to the deck, watching the crew prepare the ship to cast off. A last load of miscellaneous merchandise was delivered to the ship and stowed in the hold, then a bosun’s whistle sounded, its pattern repeated by another whistle on shore, and the ship cast off, immediately starting to let the mighty river’s current pull it away from Goldenfields.
Alec stood at the back of the ship and looked upriver, where he faintly saw the sunlight shining on the tower of the Duke’s palace. The buildings on shore slipped by faster, and the crew raised sails at the order of the Captain, so that the Sophie quickly left Goldenfields behind and traveled past lands Alec had never seen before. He stood there as the morning sunlight cast illumination on his journey, and reflected on the many changes the year had brought.
He’d been a simple carnival worker just a few months ago, traveling to see eastern wilderness he’d never seen before. Now he was a young man weighed down by the many titles he carried, and worried about the traps that lay in waiting for him as he approached the sophistication of the great royal capital to the west.
Between the two lives was the wonderful interlude in Goldenfields, where he had been exposed to so much, drawn out so far, and forced to establish himself in so many ways. The city had become his home, the Duke had become his liege, and healing and swordsmanship had become his vocations.
Alec had had the fortune to have mentors and partners who had helped him adjust to the different life he’d found in the city. Leah, Natha, Ryder, Merle, Inga, Ellison. All had helped him, looked out for him, and given him advice and guidance. He was thankful and lucky to have had such people take an interest in him, so that he had not floundered among the challenges and decisions of recent months.
Ahead was what he looked forward to: the reunion with Ari, who’d been as good as a father to him for many months; the training to master his ingenaire powers, to find if he could join that elite class of people who influenced the world; and, the chance to find the girl he’d promised to help. Whether she was Natalie or Noranda, she had the face he remembered. He was determined to see her again.
Now he had only to wait until arrival in Oyster Bay, and he could open that new book of his life, to find what adventures awaited him in the tumultuous changing world of the Dominion. Though he didn’t realize it, his role in defining how the world would change was going to be much larger than he’d ever imagined.
A selection from At the Seat of Power, Book 2 in the Ingenairii Series…
Alec first went blind with anger as he heard the words. He could not see Ari, and barely heard him. For seconds, Alec could not respond. He felt no emotions beyond a huge barrier of denial that tried to prevent his heart from feeling pain over an attack on Noranda, and an irrational twinge of guilt that he had not been present to protect her.
“Who in the world would do this to her?” Alec seethed, as he stood up and grabbed his medicine bag.
Ari stood as well. “Let’s get you on a boat and across the river to their compound,” he instructed. He led the way back down the hill to a small dock on the river where a pair of guards watched over several small passenger boats.
With one of the dock men assigned to row him up to the Locksfort compound, Alec arrived in about 15 minutes.
“I am here to see Lapine Locksfort. I am a healer from the ingenaire’s compound,” he told the dock worker who came to question their arrival at the family’s private dock.
“I was not instructed that the family was expecting you to arrive here,” the man said evenly.
“They may not have been told to expect me, but I am here now, and am ready to offer my services,” Alec replied standing and grabbing hold of a pier to pull himself up. He rose to stand next to the man. “Time is pressing. I need to see what I can do for Noranda,” he said as he walked past the worker and towards the house.
The man looked at Alec walking away from him and at the ingenaire dock worker who still sat in the boat. He decided to follow Alec, and left quickly to catch up with Alec’s purposeful stride.
“I was just here a few days ago,” Alec told him as they climbed the stairs. “I’ll see myself in.”
“That’s hardly something I can allow,” the Locksfort man said, clearly uncertain about how to proceed. “I’ll walk you to meet the household staff,” he responded as he scanned the area for potential assistance.
They arrived at a small service entrance, apparently used to unload household goods from the river, and entered the kitchen unchallenged.
“Where is the way to Noranda’s room?” Alec asked the first person they found, a young girl bringing in towels.
Visions of Power Page 42
