Preserving the Ingenairii

by Jeffrey Quyle

  “You pledged to support me. You know what I can do. Do you trust me?” Alec asked.

  She looked squarely at him, then turned and looked at her men and woman, whose lives depended on her decision.

  “I trust you with my life and with their lives, Alec,” she said. “Do you want us to storm the gates?”

  “No. I’ll take this gate. I want you to send a squad to every other gate first, so we have control of all the entrances and exits. We don’t want to let anyone out right away, because there isn’t much need to let the rotten apples run free. I want you to send Danel and a squad over to the building we stood in when we planned our last assault on the palace. Stracha and Parnell and Lady Jeswyne will be there. Then I want you to send a messenger to Colonel Holbanks, where ever he is, and let him know that you are under my command, and let him know I want his loyalty as well. Will you do all those things immediately?”

  “Are you sure you want to take this gate by yourself? Do you have some trick you’re going to use?” Lewis asked.

  “I am going to win this gate in the name of Queen Bethany,” Alec said. “Today every victory I win will be a victory for her. You do what I ask of you, and I’ll take care of the rest.

  “Are there other military units in Oyster Bay or nearby?” he asked.

  “There’s a battalion of Stronghold forces camped nearby, and a company from Three Forks is down on the wharf right now waiting for transit to the front,” Lewis quickly told him.

  “Send a messenger to the Three Forks commander and tell him that the demonslayer is taking command of Oyster Bay and requests his loyalty,” Alec said. “Ask him to come to the palace.

  “I’ll plan to visit the gate in five minutes. Give your orders in the meantime, and send your men out. We’ve got a lot to do this morning!” Alec told Lewis with a smile. “There’s no telling what we may decide to do this afternoon!”

  He left her and began strolling among the nearby troops, touching many of them with his healing powers, telling them they would help him to win the throne and then win the war. When he judged he had given enough time, he turned to the soldiers around him. “I’ll go talk to the fellows at the gate and show them how Goldenfields thinks things should be. You might want to watch this!” he grinned, knowing that they would enjoy and repeat that moment of camaraderie.

  Alec stepped forth from the front ranks of the Guardsmen, and approached the gate alone.

  “Stop. Come no closer or suffer the consequences,” an officer said from the middle of the gate.

  Alec surveyed the situation. The immediate vicinity of the gate was held by two score soldiers, he estimated, and more were visible through windows or on the roof. Alec was armed with knives and a sword. He pulled out his sword, held it low, and took two steps closer to the gate.

  A number of bowstrings twanged from the rooftops in response to a hand gesture by the officer. Alec used his sword to block half a dozen arrows, and deflected two of them back at the commanding officer, leaving him dead. Alec caught the last arrow with his bare hand, and held it over his head. He knew he had the attention of every person in the palace and the plaza.

  “I am Alec, once known as the Crown Protector, now called the Demonslayer. I have come back to the Dominion to fight and win the war to end the invasion by the Michian Empire. I am the heir of the house of Tarnum; today I am here to assert my birthright to the crown of the Dominion. All those inside the palace who wish to pledge their loyalty to me must appear now before me on bent knee. For the rest of you, there will be no quarter given.

  “If there are officers who will acknowledge my command now, I call them to come forth, so that I may christen their blades for loyalty,” he finished his pronouncement, and waited just a moment. Then he dropped his warrior powers, and obtained his spiritual energy, using it to seek out feelings that were supportive.

  “You,” he pointed at a lieutenant standing by the left guard house. “Approach me and kneel.”

  He watched as the man stepped forward without hesitation, walked up to him, and knelt.

  “Offer me your sword,” Alec ordered.

  When the man did so, Alec reached out, and swiftly drew his thumb along the edge of the blade. “This is my blood. I will shed it for you, should the need arise. Will you shed your blood for me and for the Dominion, if the need arises?” he asked.

  The man raised his head and looked in Alec’s eyes, then drew his own thumb along the blade, adding his blood to the crimson edge.

  Alec reached out, and slowly pulled his thumb upon the edge of the blade again. As he vividly remembered from the same ceremony in Oyster Bay many years prior, a golden spark of alchemic reaction trailed behind his thumb, a bright spot visible to all around, and the blade was left with a deep golden red embossment.

  There was an audible sound, as several men dropped to their knees.

  Alec reached out his hand to the officer, and pulled him to his feet, healing the slice on his thumb as he did. “What is your name?” he asked.

  “Lieutenant Rihm, my lord,” he answered.

  “This is Lieutenant Rihm, now the commander of my personal Guard of Oyster Bay,” Alec announced loudly. “I see those of you who have knelt to me. Stand up, bring your weapons, and come to me now.”

  Several women and men flocked out of the gateway. They came to Alec, and as they passed him, he placed a hand on each to offer a touch of healing energy. As they arrayed themselves in the space behind Alec, in front of the Goldenfields forces at his back, the defenders left inside the palace gates shrank to only a handful. “Those of you who have just joined my forces, stay outside the gates, and let no one pass out or in until I tell you to. The Goldenfields forces will join me in scouring the palace.”

  Alec turned to face the palace gates once again. “You were offered the opportunity to take the right course,” Alec spoke loudly. He reached into the bandoliers he wore. “Now face the consequences.” He swiftly tossed four knives outward in a smooth motion that ended with him sprinting forward and drawing his sword to launch an attack. He thought of Bethany’s words about the quality of character of the people who occupied her court, and he took no pity as he charged into the gate, beginning a melee that rapidly overwhelmed the gate and spread within the palace grounds.

  “Place all prisoners in a dungeon. We’ll send them all to fight at the front, leaving next week,” Alec told Lewis and Rihm at noon, by which time they had the palace completely under control.

  “Do we have a chaplain or a priest available?” Alec asked.

  “There are priests in the cathedral, preparing it to be reconsecrated,” Lewis answered.

  “Would you send a messenger to them?” he asked. “Tell them I will hold a coronation the day after tomorrow in the cathedral. We need to keep taking actions to consolidate power. And immediately after the coronation, I will be available to the public to heal all illnesses and injuries I can manage in the cathedral plaza,” he paused, “next to the fountain there. The day after that,” he paused, and his voice softened, “we’ll have the Queen’s funeral at the cathedral.”

  “Rihm,” he swiveled, and regained his energy. “Once we have all the prisoners in one place, your job will be to sort through them. They all will go to the front to fight, but I want those who are rotten and venal in their own unit. The others, the ones who just followed orders, separate out, and keep the two groups apart in the dungeons.” The new commander of the guard nodded his assent.

  “The last two things for today: have Stracha and the others brought into the palace now, and send out criers through the streets to let the city know who is in charge,” Alec commanded. “We’ll only have one thing to do tomorrow, so we can begin to inventory, clean up, and repair the palace afterwards.”

  “What comes tomorrow?” Rihm asked, curiously.

  “That’s my little surprise,” Alec chuckled. “Assign a body guard to me, let me know if Colonel Holbanks arrives, and thank the men and women for me,” Alec told them. “If we hav
e any injuries, bring them to the throne room, and take Stracha there to do the healing work.”

  “What shall we do with your guest from Michian?” Lewis asked.

  “Assign a loyal bodyguard to her, and give her a secure suite in the residential wing,” Alec said casually. “I’m going to go tour the residential wing myself now, so have my bodyguard meet me there,” he left the two officers and strolled away.

  Lewis looked appraisingly at Rihm. “You’re going to have your hands full,” she said.

  “I think I’m going to like it!” he responded.

  That evening, Alec gathered his impromptu staff meeting together in a ballroom. Colonel Holbanks had not arrived, but the heads of the Stronghold and Three Fork contingents joined Lewis, Rihm, Danel, Givens and Parnell.

  “Why the ballroom for a meeting?” Parnell asked.

  “I held a dance here once, when I sat as the crown protector, and I danced with Noranda Locksfort that night, as well as Bethany, at that dance. It was a beautiful room then, light and clean and airy,” Alec reminisced. “What reports do we have?”

  “The citizens of the city have heard the criers, but they seem skeptical of any good changes,” Lewis reported.

  “You would be too, in their shoes,” Rihm said. “There’s still too little food, too many criminals, too much trash in the city. A different name in the palace doesn’t change that.”

  “Agreed,” Alec said. “Tomorrow afternoon, start using the prisoners you trust to pick up trash and haul it away.

  “Tomorrow morning, bring as many priests and ingenairii to the palace as you can, an hour before noon, in the throne room, and as many of our people too. If Colonel Holbanks arrives, make sure he has a front seat facing the throne,” Alec instructed.

  “Anything else?” he asked.

  “The Lady Jeswyne,” Givens replied.

  “What about her?” Alec asked.

  “I’m to be her bodyguard,” he glanced at Lewis. “We’ve put her in a suite next to yours, for security. And she wishes to speak to you.”

  Take good care of her Givens,” Alec answered. “Please tell her I am not available to speak to her for the next several days, but I will accompany her to the front when we take her to the Michian forces to return her to them.

  “If that’s all, let’s turn in for the night,” Alec said. “Moab, you’re free to go off duty,” he told his new bodyguard, and left the room first.

  Chapter 43 – From the Palace to the Battlefield

  Alec lay in bed listening to the muffled voices of Stracha and Jeswyne in the room next to his. He refused to see the imperial niece; his heart was sorely broken from Bethany’s death, and the girl would be a reminder of his inappropriate affection for her. He would see her when he returned her to her uncle’s forces, and he hoped that the pain of parting from her would not last long. The Michian forces had been driven at least a week’s march down the coast, but Alec thought that a journey by ship could reduce his time with her to only three or four days. He fell asleep to the sound of the soft murmur from next door, exhausted.

  The next morning Alec was up early. To his surprise, Moab was already on station outside his door. “Let’s go to the armory for a workout before breakfast,” Alec suggested. He wanted to learn how good the bodyguard was, and to begin to establish some standards. They spent two hours together, in which Alec gave Moab the most strenuous test he’d ever received, and Alec concluded that his bodyguard was a good bladesman.

  They cleaned up, ate breakfast, Alec listened to reports, and then they headed towards the throne room. Alec stood in a back hallway, near a side entrance to the room. He was listening to the room fill up with the arrival of guests. He sent Moab to find out who had arrived. Minutes later the bodyguard returned with a report than nearly two dozen ingenairii were present, along with six priests, assorted merchants from the city, and a large contingent of soldiers.

  As they were speaking, Rihm opened the door and stuck his head in. “It’s time,” he announced.

  “Go announce who I am, and that I am coming to take possession of the royal crown of the Dominion, as the rightful heir to the throne,” Alec instructed. “I’ll take care of the rest from there.”

  “You know the crown’s been inside that crystal forever, don’t you?” Moab asked. “Nobody knows how to get it out.”

  “I know all about it,” Alec responded. “I’m the one who put it in there, remember?” He opened the door and proceeded to step into the room, then paused for a moment to look at the crowd.

  The room was full. In the front row he saw Colonel Holbanks, seated next to Jeswyne and Stracha. Alec set his eyes straight ahead, and walked forward to the center aisle of the room, where steps rose. In the center of the dais was the throne, and upon the throne was a translucent violet cube, within which rested the ancient crown of the Dominion.

  Alec stopped at the bottom of the steps, and turned to face the crowd. Lewis was seated right along the aisle, and Parnell sat with a cluster of people who all wore the robes of the ingenairii.

  “This crown was sealed here to protect it until the House of Tarnum returned to rule the Dominion. My grandfather was King Gildevny, the last king to rule. Today I take up the crown again in the name of my house, as my Queen did in my absence, and I pledge to rule in a fair and faithful manner,” he finished his short speech, one that had made him nervous, but was the shortest he thought he could get away with.

  As Alec stepped up onto the first step, the candles in the room guttered low, dimming the room immensely. He paused in surprise, then proceeded to step up to the second step. As he did, the violet cube began to glow, causing the crowd in the room to mutter and gasp. Alec didn’t know what would come next, but he steeled himself and stepped up to the throne.

  When he did, the matter of the cube began to dissolve, becoming a rising column of glowing purple mist that gathered in a cloud, then began to float and hover above Alec. As the last of the violet cube left the crown completely exposed, the cloud began to descend upon Alec clothing him in a strange transparent cloth. He stepped over to the crown, reached carefully down, then picked it up. As he did, the purple cloud turned into a flock of white doves that flew around the room and out the door. The candles resumed their normal illumination, and the crowd stood in dumbfounded silence.

  Alec held up a free hand, and the crowd began cheering loudly, until he raised his other hand, at which the noise subsided. “Tomorrow, the cathedral will host the coronation ceremony,” he announced. “You all are welcome to watch the continuation of the monarchy that the Queen so ably held for all these years.” The cheering began again, and with that, Alec carried the crown back down the steps and out of the room.

  “Moab, please go ask Colonel Holbanks to come this way. I’d like to talk to him,” Alec instructed his bodyguard as he walked into the back hall.

  Several minutes later the door opened, and the colonel joined Alec.

  “Thank you for coming, Colonel. I hope it wasn’t an inconvenience,” Alec said, as he led him to a small sitting room.

  “It was an inconvenience, but well worth it,” Holbanks said cautiously. “That was quite a little magic show you put on in there. How did you do it?”

  “I have no idea,” Alec replied. “I was there when John Mark made it happen in the first place, to both the crown and the entire throne,” Alec answered matter-of-factly. “I didn’t have the faintest hint then of what happened, and I still don’t.”

  Holbanks was impressed by the sincerity and honesty of Alec’s answer. “I understand you have received pledges of support from several other military leaders here,” he said. “Are you building your own army to occupy the capital?”

  “I’m just starting to find the people who will be loyal to me. I’ll need to maintain strength here in Oyster Bay, because I’ll be leaving to go fight at the front very soon,” Alec answered. “This city is the heart of the Dominion, and it’s important that our people know we can restore it to the glory it on
ce had.

  “I recollect you told me you were from here originally, and the Queen told me your parents were my two good friends, Rander and Rief,” Alec began. “Rander was my friend from the first days I spent as an apprentice here. He was someone I trusted. And your mother was the best friend I had in Michian. Did she tell you the story of the first demon I fought, to save her life?”

  “She did,” Holbanks replied. “But I never believed or imagined how horrible a demon really was until we started seeing them in the war.”

  “When I first met her in Michian, I had no tongue, so I couldn’t speak,” Alec paused, as he remembered what Rief had been like back then. “She became my voice, and spoke for me, on my behalf. I sometimes think she liked me better without a voice than with one!” he laughed. “I never had a chance to know much about her healer abilities, but I imagine she was a good one. She gained her powers directly from John Mark’s cave, you know.”

  “She told me that herself,” Holbanks agreed. “And she and my father both told me many stories about you. They used to put me to bed at night by telling me ‘Alec’ stories.

  “And now it turns out I have stories of my own to tell that are just as exciting.”

  “And your opportunity to have stories is just beginning,” Alec commented.

  Holbanks raised an eyebrow.

  “Your father was my steward. He served the Dominion best by serving me. I couldn’t have achieved as much as I did if he hadn’t taken so much of the responsibilities off my shoulders. Now I need a new steward,” Alec said, looking directly at Holbanks.

  “I’d rather not,” the colonel began to try to cut off the request.

  “Before Bethany died, she told me that the Oyster Bay Court was nothing but criminals and craven cowards. There’s none of them I can turn over the administration of the government to, is there? If you know of one, please name him,” Alec waited.

  “Or I could stay here, and try to run things myself, instead of going to war. Perhaps you know someone else who can fight the next demon?” Alec let the question hang in the air.