Preserving the Ingenairii

by Jeffrey Quyle

  Alec looked down at his legs. The backs of his thighs were darkened from the burns inflicted by the demon’s blood. Alec tried to apply his powers to repair the damage, but was too weakened to provide significant healing against injuries of such an evil nature.

  He looked at the others who were lying on the floor around the hall. The emperor and his wife sat in their seats, head bowed together motionlessly. Stracha was rolling in pain up in the front of the hall where the demon had nearly severed her arm. Alec rose and limped over to her, then knelt down beside her and began to apply his own healing powers to her. He repaired the bone first, then knit together the severed muscles, and healed the vessels and nerves, before lightly restoring the skin, though not enough to prevent a scar from forming.

  “Go help the others,” he said as he released his powers and slumped to the floor.

  “Where’s Jeswyne?” Stracha asked immediately.

  “She’s safe. She’s alive and healed. I took her to John Mark’s cave and left her there,” Alec replied.

  “Oh thank God,” Stracha said. “Who did this Alec? Who would attack a wedding? This is monstrous.”

  “I suspect it was supporters of the former emperor,” Alec answered. “I don’t know right now.

  “Stracha,” he said. “Is Givens or Moab alive?”

  “They’re over there,” she pointed to where the two men were lying on the floor. “I’ll heal them for you,” she said as she stepped through the carnage to inspect the two men. Givens soon rose and the two of them returned to Alec.

  “Moab was beyond saving,” she told Alec.

  “That’s another one we need to avenge,” Alec said. “Go check the emperor and empress,” he directed without much hope. “See if you can save them. Then look after our friends and anyone else you have the power to aid.”

  He watched her walk away, then handed his sword to Givens. “Go up to the balcony. That’s where I found the sorceress. I killed her but there may be a guard left alive up there. If there is, seize him as a hostage until I get back. I want to question him to find out where this all began.

  “In the mean time, I’m going to go back to bring Jeswyne home,” he said. With great concentration he translocated himself back to his cottage, where he found the small jar of sand from John Mark. He sprinkled it in a ring around himself, then prayed, “Please bring me back to Jeswyne and your cave, John Mark. I need your help.”

  The change happened around him. He felt the movement and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he was back in the cave, next to the peaceful body of Jeswyne, lying pale on the floor of the stony chamber.

  Chapter 56 – The Wedding Completed

  “Oh John Mark, thank you for this blessed cave,” Alec gave thanks out loud.

  “You’re welcome Alec,” John Make replied.

  “Would you please awaken her? We have to go. We’ll have a long journey ahead of us,” Alec replied, standing on his repaired legs.

  “There’s something you need to think about, Alec. She is not a believer. She is a pagan. You’ve brought her here to this holy site. You need to convert her to the true religion,” John Mark prodded.

  “I will,” Alec responded simply.

  “I know you will, and you’ll succeed, as you’ve succeeded in so many other tasks,” John Mark replied, satisfied to have spoken and heard Alec speak his own intentions. “You should awaken her now,” he motioned to Jeswyne.

  Alec slid over and raised Jeswyne’s head in his lap, then gently rubbed her cheeks and stroked her arms. A muscle in her forehead twitched, then her eyes fluttered and opened.

  “Alec!” she said in alarm. “Oh Alec,” she looked up at him. “It was the most terrible dream.

  “Where are we?” she asked, looking around. She spotted John Mark. “I know you. You’re the dryad in the forest.”

  She looked at Alec. “Are we back in time?”

  “No, this is our own time,” he helped her sit up. Her eyes looked at the ragged tears on his wedding tunic, then she looked down at her own ripped gown.

  “It wasn’t a dream, was it?” she asked. “Oh, oh oh,” she moaned. “Where are we?”

  “We are in a holy place. The man you called a dryad is John Mark, a great saint in our Christian church. This is a hidden cave in the Pale Mountains, beyond your land or mine,” Alec explained. “A long time ago he traveled through my land and spread our religion. His spirit still remains to counsel and guide us.”

  “For you in particular, Alec,” John Mark gently corrected. “No other mortal has spent so much time with me, or needed or heeded the precepts of God so much.”

  “But I saw you in the forest, when Alec first took me to the ancient times,” Jeswyne interjected, forgetting the immediate crisis.

  “Yes, you did. I knew that you needed some guidance, and that Alec needed you to act to save his life, so I intervened,” John Mark replied.

  “I thought you were a dryad,” Jeswyne said. “That’s what I told Alec.”

  “I know,” John Mark said with a gentle smile. “It didn’t matter what you called me. It only mattered that you did the right thing. And of course, you did. Even in a moment of fear and confusion and panic, you did the right thing.

  “Which is the cue to Alec to carry on with the duties before him. It’s so good to see you here, Lady Jeswyne,” John Mark said. “You will be a great blessing and comfort to your husband, which he richly deserves. Bless you, children,” John Mark said before he faded slowly away to nothingness.

  “He seemed so tranquil,” Jeswyne said. “I feel comforted just seeing him.”

  “You should. He brings to us some of the joy and calm that are our gift from God and Jesus,” Alec stood, and pulled Jeswyne up.

  “We have much to do, my love,” Alec said. “We were attacked during our wedding, and there has been much tragedy. I brought you here to be healed,” he ran his finger along one of her fine white scar lines on her stomach, “because I knew the miraculous powers of this cave.

  “Then I went back to the wedding hall and killed the demon, and returned here again to you. It is almost time now for us to go back. There are many deaths, and we need to go back to help calm the people,” Alec said. He drew Jeswyne into a hug. “I think your parents were killed, Jess,” he said softly. He felt her body shudder with a sob, and she began to cry.

  “Oh Alec, why?” she asked moments later. “Who would attack a wedding?”

  “I’ll try to find out when we get back to Michian, I promise,” Alec told her, his words spoken softly into her hair. “I think I can discover who did this, and we’ll make them pay,” he said in a low soft growl.

  “Are you ready to go back?” Alec asked gently. “We have a long journey.”

  “Take me home, Alec my love,” Jeswyne said as she reached around to hug him tightly.

  And he hugged her as they made their first jump through space. They suddenly were standing in bright sunlight atop a long abandoned tower, looking out across a river that disappeared on a far prairie horizon.

  “We’re not in Michian. Where is this?” Jeswyne asked.

  “When I came to Michian to rescue you, I made the translocation from the Dominion to Michian in one jump,” Alec explained. “And it strained my abilities. So I’m going to take us through a series of shorter jumps to get us back to Michian; we’ll go to places I’ve been in the past. It will take longer, and I’ll be worn down, but it’s something I can rest and recover from.

  “This is a great ruined city on the Giffey River, as it leaves the Pale Mountains. I stood here once and watched my friends riding their horses up the river valley,” he thought of Delle and Kinsey and Armilla, and wondered at their fate.

  “We’ll go again, now,” he said, and they stood upon a bluff looking over the river as it made a sweeping turn in its course.

  “What happened here?” Jeswyne asked.

  “A lot,” Alec replied. “I helped a squad of soldiers here ambush ships to cut off the supply chain for a
lacertii army that was attacking the Dominion.”

  They jumped again, and stood on a slightly inclined roof of a building in a busy city.

  “This was my shop, when I was a healer in Goldenfields,” he told Jeswyne. “I was happy here,” he added in a softer voice.

  “I’ll make you happy again,” she promised, looking up at his face.

  “You already do,” he told her gently.

  They jumped again to a dusty, tumble down barracks building. “This is Bondell, where we trained a new unit of Guardsmen to protect the Prince of the land.”

  They jumped again to a road that crossed a bridge high above a mountainous river valley.

  “This is where I fought a demon to stop the Michian invasion of the Dominion. It was my last time on earth to see Bethany and Nathaniel and all my friends when we all were young,” he added without thinking.

  They jumped again, and were back in the chaotic wedding hall, where soldiers were arriving. Anatoli was commanding forces who were moving the injured to one side of the hall, where Stracha was attempting to care for them, while the dead were moved to the other side. “We can help Stracha,” Alec told Jeswyne, starting to lead her over.

  “Your majesty! You’re back. You’re alive!” Anatoli said loudly as he spotted Alec and Jeswyne. Every voice heard him, and all heads turned to look. Anatoli bowed, and suddenly all the soldiers bowed as well.

  “Please stand up,” Alec said. “We need to help heal the wounded.”

  “We’re not bowing to you, Alec,” Anatoli said, still kneeling. “We’re bowing to her imperial highness, Jeswyne, empress of Michian.

  “Her parents and siblings were killed here just now, and so the crown falls to her, unless her aunt and uncle are successful in their attempt to seize it for themselves.”

  “Dead? All dead? My brother and sister too?” Jeswyne asked. “Please, rise, all of you,” she asked as she broke into tears and collapsed against Alec.

  “Bogdana and Leonyd have taken the throne?” Alec asked.

  “They had Mikhail executed in his cell this morning. They stayed back at the palace instead of coming to the wedding. And then they announced that everyone in the family had been killed at the wedding and they needed to seize control. Leonyd said that since the demonslayer was dead, there was no longer any reason to fear further battles with the Dominion, so he sent instructions to the army to resume the war,” Anatoli recounted rapidly.

  “Wait, they already declared us dead?” Jeswyne asked

  “Give me your sword,” Alec said at the same time.

  “What are you going to do?” Jeswyne asked him as he extended his hand to take Anatoli’s sword.

  “They must have planned this. It was all an attempt to dispatch the rest of the family so they could become the empress and emperor. This was murder,” Alec waved his hand towards Jeswyne’s dead family.

  “I’ll bet they were the ones who whispered in your father’s ear that he should dethrone your uncle in the first place,” Alec said. He stopped.

  “Givens!” he shouted loudly. “Givens, do you have anyone?”

  A voice responded in echoes from the balcony. “There are two still alive up here, sir. I’ve got them both.”

  “Bring them down,” Alec shouted.

  “Those are the guards that were supposed to protect the sorceress that called the demon into the wedding. We can question them to find out who ordered this assassination attempt,” Alec said.

  “Alec,” Jeswyne said as she looked at his face. “I want you to stop for a moment. You just came from that wonderful cave where there was peace and comfort. Don’t forget that; don’t let your soul become consumed with hatred. Don’t go flying off to murder them yourself,” she placed her hand over his on the pommel of Anatoli’s sword. “I want to avenge my family – I want justice – but I don’t want you to stoop to murder.”

  She took a deep breath, then spoke after a moment of silence. “We’ll go re-assume control of the palace after we talk to these guards, and then do whatever comes next,” she added. “Commander, do I truly have the loyalty of you and the palace guard if strife breaks out?”

  “You are the next in line of succession. You are the empress. And the demonslayer is correct at least in part, they did set your father’s mind on the course to usurp the throne. They told him constantly that he needed to save the empire by removing Mikhail,” Anatoli confirmed. “We will follow you, especially if he is fighting for you,” he added as he motioned towards Alec.

  “You may not need to fight,” Alec said suddenly, his mind turning down a new course of thought.

  “Can you avenge my family without going into battle?” Jeswyne asked with both bitterness and hope.

  “Come close to me. We will do better than avenge them,” Alec told her. He reached out an arm and pulled her close, up against his body, and then the two of them disappeared from view.

  Chapter 57 – Unchanged Time

  “This is wrong,” Alec said as they arrived in John Mark’s cave. “I didn’t try to come here. I wanted to go back to the palace.” They were standing in the entry hall, with the curtain of water falling between them and the doorway to the mountainside. The stairs leading up to the chamber of vision dominated their vision.

  “Why the palace?” Jeswyne asked. “And why are we here instead?”

  “To deal with your aunt and uncle. We could go back in time and prevent them from sending the sorceress to assassinate your family,” Alec explained.

  “You would bring them back to life?” Jeswyne asked in astonishment, her face growing flushed with hope.

  “We wouldn’t bring them back to life, we’d go back to the palace to before the time your aunt and uncle told the sorceress to call the demon forth. We’ll prevent the order from being given, and there will never be a demon attack on our wedding. It will be a peaceful affair. Except we’re not supposed to be here!” Alec explained, and unleashed his frustration.

  “I saw the demon though,” Jeswyne responded. “How will I be able to both not see the demon at my wedding and see it too?”

  “There will be two of you in existence, Jeswyne; yourself, here, now, the person who has seen the carnage at your wedding, as well as the other Jeswyne, the innocent one, who won’t have a demon at her wedding,” Alec tried to explain. “And then, after a while, when we get back to the time where you and I just left the wedding hall, there will be only one Jeswyne, and one Alec. You and I will be the only ones left who had seen the demon. The world will go on without an attack taking place.

  “Except that we should be in Michian right now, and we’re not,” Alec squeezing Jeswyne in his arms and exercising his translocation power to take them back towards Michian.

  Nothing happened.

  “You are being held here to prevent your actions,” John Mark informed them. His voice echoed ominously in the small chamber.

  “Held? Held back from stopping murder?” Alec asked, more in astonishment than outrage.

  “Held back from saving my parents?” Jeswyne asked, more in outrage than astonishment.

  “Alec’s travels through time are an unusual talent, one the Lord has not allowed any other person to exercise,” John Mark explained, now visible to them.

  “Once before, Alec traveled through time to bring people back to life. And the extended lives those people lived were important contributions to God’s plan,” John Mark went on. “You remember that time Alec, and the lives you saved?”

  “I remember saving Imelda and Armilla and Nathaniel, and all the others in the lacertii war,” Alec recalled.

  “And given their extended lives, each was able to be available to help save your life Alec, at later dates, as well as carry out other duties and missions,” the saint told them. “All of which was part of what was intended to be.

  “Now, though, Alec, your purpose would have a radical change in what is expected to be. You must accept that what has happened, painful and ill-fated though it is, must be allowed to st
and.”

  “But I just saved the emperor a few days ago, when he was kidnapped at the Promenade,” Alec protested. “Why was I allowed to save him then but not allowed to now?”

  “He was not yet dead when you came to his rescue, remember. And those days you spared him were crucial ones for what will come to be. I cannot tell you more,” John Mark explained.

  “Your talk about the future and a plan and what will be are nothing to me. My father and my mother and my brother and my sister and all the other people who died back there at my wedding, they are important to me. A God should not condone their deaths when they can be saved,” Jeswyne spoke passionately. “You have told me your god is a god of love, Alec, but there is no love in this.”

  “I don’t understand the love this provides, but I have faith that John Mark is telling us truly,” Alec answered, his heart breaking with anguish for the pain he knew his bride was suffering. “I have to believe,” he whispered.

  “And you won’t take us back to save my parents because your God won’t let you?” she asked in a sharp tone.

  “I tried to take us there!” Alec rebutted. “That’s how we got here. I would have saved your family if I could have,” he added.

  Jeswyne broke down in tears that grew to sobs, while simultaneously there was a noise behind Alec that caused him to turn his head as he held the heart-broken girl against him. The sound of the water that flowed in front of the door had entered his consciousness, after he had let it become an unnoticed part of the background.