“There is your ride sir, and thank you for your timely aid this evening. Your fortune is on the rise,” his guide said, and he bowed.
Alec bowed in return, then stepped down to the carriage and climbed in.
The coach driver gave a whistle and shook the reins and the horses stepped briskly away from the palace, taking Alec back to the mansion of the Indige clan.
Chapter 25 – Rescuing Rief
Alec stepped down from the carriage as it came to a stop in front of the clan home. From every window he could see faces watching the startling appearance of the imperial coach. Alec turned and waved to the coach driver, then walked up to the door.
The door swung open as he reached the top step, and a pair of servants awaited him. “Good land, healer! You’re in the emperor’s own carriage. We’ve never seen it here at the clan home before. You’ve brought us such honor!”
Alec bowed, and looked around. He wanted to show Rief and Reast the note from the emperor.
“Who do you need?” one of the men asked, seeing Alec’s searching glance.
“Your personal extension,” the other man said, then halted.
Alec nodded vigorously.
“My lord, there is a problem,” the man said.
“Let’s hurry; maybe we can stop it!” the first servant said urgently.
The two men turned and began to run. “Follow us, my lord,” they cried as they entered the hallway. Alec sprinted after them, sensing their panic, as they turned, turned again, then went down a flight of stairs into a dark, unfinished part of the home.
Alec heard a cry of pain, and knew the voice was Rief’s. He pushed the two servants aside and ran to the doorway where the noise emanated from. He pressed his shoulder against the door and stormed in, urgently seeking Rief in these glooming surroundings.
The room was a tableau, with several men on one side, including one who was raising a sinister whip above his head. On the other side Rief was tied to a ring in the wall. The back of her robe was torn and bloody.
Alec engaged his warrior ingenaire energies, pulled the emperor’s dagger from his belt and threw it through the air. It sliced through the leathery whip as the painful tail snaked through the air towards Rief. The length of the lash fell harmlessly to the ground, while the man with the whip stumbled forward, his momentum disturbed.
The room was silent for moments, other than Rief’s sob of pain. She turned her head to look over her shoulder. “Healer! Oh, healer,” she said, and she began to cry.
Alec walked into the room and picked up the knife, which had smacked into the far wall after slicing the lash. He stuck it in his belt, and faced the half dozen men in the room, determination and anger on his face.
“Healer, I hope you have something extraordinary that can save you. Your effrontery in this clan duty is unacceptable. Your personal extension gravely failed to serve the clan tonight, and she is being punished appropriately,” Reast growled.
The torturer, the man who had wielded the whip, faced Alec with hatred on his face, and he pulled a club off the wall.
Alec stepped forward, grabbed the emperor’s note, and shoved it at Reast. At his sudden action the torturer began to swing his club at Alec’s head. Still holding his warrior powers, Alec ducked swiftly and exploded a powerful punch into his attacker’s midriff. The man collapsed to the floor, and Alec stepped over him.
Alec picked up his knife and held it high over his head, showing it to those in the room. “Is that the emperor’s knife?” one clan member whispered.
Alec nodded, and turned towards Rief.
Just then, another servant burst into the room. “You won’t believe it! The healer just arrived in the emperor’s own carriage! He, oh…” the servant said, recognizing that Alec was already in the room.
Reast had finished reading the note Alec had shoved at him. Alec walked over to Rief, and used the emperor’s knife to slash the bindings that held her to the wall. He was furious, and his anger threatened to boil over. Carefully, he placed his arms around her, and felt her body convulse in a silent sob.
His anger flared higher, and turning towards Reast, he raised his fist and shook it.
“Healer, it appears that you have gained great glory for our clan this evening,” Reast began. “Let us all make peace and celebrate what you have done.”
Too angry to accept the unspoken apology, angrier than he could ever remember feeling before, Alec Pulled out the dagger again and threw it at a spot half an inch from Reast’s ear. The blade stuck in the wooden paneling where he aimed, pinning a few strands of hair to the wall. Alec moved without responding further, taking Rief with him out of the room, and through the hallways away from the nasty scene. He walked for several minutes without thinking, wandering at random turns in the halls
“Would you like to go anywhere particular healer, maybe our room?” Rief asked softly after they had walked for a while.
Alec stopped and looked at her, still furious at the injustice done to her. He realized he had done nothing to help relieve her pain yet. He quickly dropped his warrior powers, then took a deep breath and used his healing powers to heal much of the injury to Rief’s back.
“Oh healer, thank you,” the girl said. “Let’s go to the room. Follow me.”
Alec fell in step behind Rief, dropping his healer powers and re-engaging his warrior powers in his current state of profound distrust for the Indige clan. Rief led them upstairs, and as they entered new halls with other people, Alec found himself being hailed as a hero by those who had seen or heard about his arrival in the emperor’s coach. Rief stopped several times, listening to the praise, and allowing the others to shake his hand or pat his shoulder.
When they reached the door to Alec’s room, they went inside, and Alec slammed the door shut behind him. Rief turned around and looked at him.
“Thank you healer, for your great kindness tonight. You are the best of men,” she said.
“I apologize for all this happening. It sounds as though this should be the best night of your life, and instead you are quarreling with the clan leader, on my account. A slave should never cause so much trouble for a master,” she bowed her head, then looked up with tears in her eyes.
Alec held his arms open wide, and Rief came to him. How unfair that she feels guilty because I ran away from meeting Mooreen, he thought. There was a knock on the door, and Marjet opened the door as Alec and Rief embraced. “Healer, the clan leader would like an opportunity to meet with you to clear up and apologize for events this evening,” he said. “Would you come with me?”
Alec broke his hug with Rief, looked at Marjet, and nodded. He motioned to Rief, indicating her tattered robe, and pointed to the changing screen, demonstrating, he hoped, that he wanted her to change and to come with him.
“What is he saying, extension?” Marjet asked.
“I think he wants me to change robes,” Rief guessed, as Alec nodded in response. “And then do you want me to go with you to see the clan leader?” Alec nodded again.
Alec ushered Marjet out into the hallway while Rief changed her clothes. “Healer,” Marjet said as they stood in the hallway. “The clan leader truly seeks your good will. He perhaps acted hastily towards your personal extension, but he will gladly agree to see that she is not harmed again.
“You have been with us now for a day and a half, and already you have raised our clan’s profile with the emperor higher than anyone in twenty years,” Marjet said. “If you can cooperate with the clan leader, he will give you great glory. Trust him.”
The door opened, and Rief appeared. Marjet led the way, and they walked through the halls until they returned to the entry hall, where they went upstairs, someplace Alec had only visited as a physician meeting clan members as patients. Marjet led them to a door with a guard standing in front, and when they entered, Reast was seated on a low sofa alone with one other guard in the room. “Thank you Marjet,” he dismissed his cousin. “Please have a seat,” he motioned for both of them
to join him on the spacious sofa.
“I rarely invite clan members to our quarters. A man should have someplace where he can escape his duties, I think,” Reast began. “But it is more than ordinary clan matters that we should discuss, healer, Tarnum, as the emperor has named you.” Reast held out the jeweled dagger for Alec to take. “I truly believe, after seeing you, that you knew you could throw your blade that close to me without hitting me. Is that right?” he asked.
Alec nodded.
“Where do you come from, Tarnum? How can someone as young as you show up from nowhere, with the great talents you have?” Reast asked. “Can you write? Can you tell me something about yourself?” Alec shook his head negatively.
“I’m sorry to know that. I am about to propose that our clan place a great deal of confidence in someone who we’ve only known less than two days. Is that crazy?” the clan leader asked with an infectious grin.
Alec grinned and nodded, feeling more comfortable; he recognized that the clan leader displayed a charming personality when he wanted to, and he suspected it was a part of his success as a leader. “I would have said so too, clan leader, but this one, he is so very different from the rest of us,” Rief spoke up for the first time. “I trust him with my life already.”
Alec looked at her gratefully. “It’s true, healer,” she confirmed.
“Personal extension, I will apologize to you here and now. You must know what it means for a clan leader to say that to a slave. But if Tarnum wants you to be treated as well as he seems, I will accept that,” Reast paused for a moment, “provided he helps finish the very little bit of work I think is left for him to carry out in order for our house to have the glory of being the first clan in the invasion.”
Chapter 26 – The Tournament Begins
Alec looked at Reast, waiting to hear what the rest of the bargain would turn out to be.
“If you can win your fencing tournament for us, the emperor will surely award the leadership of the invasion to our clan,” Reast explained. “I’m confident in your ability to win.”
“What else does the healer receive?” Rief asked.
“Tarnum,” Reast corrected.
“What’s that?” Rief asked.
“The emperor gave our healer a name. He is now known as Tarnum, as the emperor decrees,” Reast explained.
“What does Tarnum receive for his extraordinary service to the clan?” Rief re-stated her question.
“What does he want?” Reast asked mildly.
Alec could tell from his tone that he did not wish to be bargained with, but Rief persisted in being Alec’s advocate. “Will he be a full clan member, of the family, with every right?”
“Yes, we will make Tarnum a full member of the clan,” Reast agreed.
“Will he be given a family suite upstairs?” Rief asked.
Reast paused, perhaps considering what was available. “Yes, we will find a family suite for him.”
“May he have his own personal chef in the kitchen?” Rief queried again.
“That’s out of…,” Reast started to snap, before he saw the grin on Rief’s face. “Ah, you do have a personality too! No wonder Tarnum values you. I can see now why Cander is so disappointed to have lost you.”
Rief did not react to that statement, as Alec filed it away.
“There may be other items the healer will consider, but that seems like a sound beginning,” Rief responded.
“Good. Then we can expect to all work together to serve the clan,” Reast said, holding out a hand to shake on the agreement.
Alec extended his hand and shook.
“Tomorrow morning you shall go to the armorer’s to pick up the sword he has prepared for you. In the afternoon, you shall go to the tournament grounds, and begin your battles. Cander tells me that your registration was filed this morning before any of us had seen your abilities in person, so you will not be placed among the class of the best fighters from the clans and others. Your toughest competition may come early,” Reast said.
“He will be prepared and will be your champion,” Rief responded. “Is there anything else we can do clan leader?”
“No, I think we have an understanding. You two may leave, and I will see you tomorrow at the tournament,” Reast said, and he motioned for the guard to open the door.
Alec and Rief walked back to their room without speaking, but as soon as the door was closed, Rief burst out gleefully. “You are going to have this clan eating out of your hand! I know you can win the tournament.
“What did you do for the emperor? He gave you the use of his coach, he gave you his dagger, and he gave you a name?! You might as well move into the imperial household!
“I am fond of calling you healer though. May I still call you that?” she asked Alec.
He gave a warm smile and nodded, but abruptly yawned, growing tired from the day full of events.
“It’s time to go to bed, I agree. You tell me arrangements, since I forced the issue last night,” Rief said with a slightly nervous smile. He walked to the bedroom door and held it open, then motioned for her to use the room. As she passed him without comment, he pulled the door closed behind her, then went to lay down on the sofa, as he had done the night before.
Seconds later the door opened, and Rief peeked out. “Oh for heaven’s sakes!” she cried with exasperation. “You can’t sleep on the sofa while I sleep in the bed! You take the bed, and I’ll take the sofa.” Alec shook his head negatively.
“You don’t have to be so noble,” Rief told him. She looked back into the bedroom. “I know you don’t intend to sleep with me, but the bed is really large enough that you can sleep on one side and I’ll sleep on the other, and there won’t be any problems. Come look and see,” she said pointing into the room.
Alec came to stand beside her, looking into the room. He agreed the bed was large enough to suit their needs, but he struggled with the real feelings he had developed towards this bright, personable girl. Making a quick decision, he gave a shrug and stepped forward, sitting down on one side of the bed. He watched Rief close the door and walk around to the other side. There was a rustle of clothes. “Good night healer,” Rief said. “You are such a good man. I hope I can always help you.” Lying down with his back to her, he reached out his hand and patted her head, then kept to himself as he lay silent and nervous for several minutes before he drifted off to sleep.
The next morning Alec found that Rief has risen before him and had brought a tray of food back to their suite for breakfast. “Pick what you want. I brought a little bit of everything the kitchen had prepared,” she told him. She sat down as he did, and they began to nibble. “After we’re done, we can go to the armory and get your things. We can go to the tournament early if you like, though we have precious little money to spend at the moment. I should have asked the clan leader for some last night.”
Her comment prompted Alec’s memory. He placed a hand on her arm for a second, then reached into his bag of medical supplies, and pulled out the purse princess Waines had given him the night before. He handed it over to Rief. She opened the bag and poured out several bright gold coins into the palm of her hand. “Healer! We could buy two of everything with all this money! Is this something else from the emperor?”
Alec nodded his head even as he wavered his hand to equivocate.
“Would you like to go to the tournament, or do some shopping elsewhere?” Rief asked excitedly. Alec thought about his need to purchase some new medicinal herbs after healing members of the clan, and nodded yes. “We’ll get a carriage, if any are to be had. Or we could just ride a horse, if you know how. Do you know how? Could one horse carry us both?” Alec nodded an affirmation, and they left the scrapes of their meal to begin their day.
The first stop at the armory was uneventful. “Here’s the sword, as we discussed,” the armorer said. “And here’s some padding, although I don’t think you use padding in the emperor’s tournament, do you?” he asked in a tone that clearly indicated he k
new that participants did not. Alec took the sheathed sword and its scabbard, and belted them on, the first time he had worn a sword since arriving in the empire.
“It looks good on you. You wear it well,” the armorer told him.
“And with the dagger too you look positively dangerous!” Rief grinned.
Alec and Rief left the armory and next wandered to the stables, located far behind the mansion. Alec immediately began to look closely at the animals while Rief went to find a stablehand to talk to. Alec found a strong animal that he was sure would easily carry both he and Rief.
“She’s a beautiful animal, that girl is. You’ve got a good eye for horses,” Alec heard a voice behind him, and turned to see Rief with the stablehand. “But she is only for the clan leader’s wife, so you’ll need to find another. How about this one over here?” the man led them to a nearby stall. Alec inspected the horse, who he thought was suitable, and nodded.
Against the Empire: The Dominion and Michian Page 17