At the Seat of Power: Goldenfields and the Dominion

by Jeffrey Quyle

  Alec used a combination of knife, energy, and herbs to deaden the nerves in the area, cut the growth out, packed the gaping wound with a protective salve, bathed it all with some of his spring water and then bandaged all with cotton. He then gave Lanter a packet of willow bark and brown felt ferns. “Boil a third of this in hot water for ten minutes, when you get home, and drink the tea when it cools a little. Then use another third tonight before you go to bed and the rest tomorrow when you wake up. It’s to help deaden the pain you feel. If you need more of the mix, send an apprentice up to get some. Try to keep off your foot as much as possible for two days; rest it on a pillow.”

  Lanter thanked him and when Alec opened the door to allow him to hobble home, he found four others waiting in the parlor for treatment.

  Alec worked throughout the rest of the afternoon, never getting ahead of the flow of patients who arrived, many of whom saw the line waiting and decided to return another day. Alec made sure Cassie told them that they would be closed the next day, but open again the day after that.

  Alec knew very few of the people who came to see him, but he tried to talk a little bit to all of them and learn about them, picking up a surprising amount of gossip about Ingenairii Hill in the process.

  Finally, Alec asked Cassie to turn any more away so that they might close up the house for the evening, as the sun began to set. He’d found nothing fatal or problematic, and a few things that were exaggerated in the minds of the sufferers. When the last one left, he turned to Cassie and smiled, “So we’ve made it through the first day. Ready to do this again?”

  “Alec, I counted thirty seven people you saw today! At that rate, you’ll see everyone on the hill within a week!” she said with a smile.

  Alec felt tired from using his health vision so extensively. He wondered how he could regulate the use of it to a smaller level of ingenaire’s energy, as he had learned to do with his warrior powers. That was something to ask Aristotle, he decided, because he didn’t really understand how he touched his healing powers anyway.

  Hinges prepared a special meal for them, and Alec declared she made the best apple pie he’d ever tasted, a comment that brought a wide smile to her face and an insistence that he have another piece. Alec fell soundly asleep that night, satisfied that he’d done good work and looking forward to caring for the king.

  Chapter 19 – An Audience at the Palace

  The next morning Alec was back at training with Rubicon. “You’re getting close to bringing it all together Alec, I can tell,” Rubicon told him as they finished up at breakfast. “Just a few more sessions and all the things you’ve learned are going to blend together.”

  “Do you have any idea of how I could transfer some of these skills from warrior mode to healer mode?” Alec asked Rubicon.

  “What do you have in mind, lad?” Rubicon asked with interest.

  “Well, warriors learn how to throttle down the way we draw on our power to conserve it,” Alec explained. “After holding the open house yesterday, I was worn out from using my healing powers so much, and that happens anytime I use my healing power extensively. There should be a way to control it so I can pace myself better, but because I don’t really know how I call on my healer powers I don’t know how to control them.”

  “That’s a puzzler, son,” Rubicon said as he stroked his chin. “Without knowing what you’re doing it’s tough to know how to manipulate it. I’ll give it some thought. You ought to talk to some folks from other houses to get an idea of how they work with their powers. There may be some clues there.”

  Alec thanked Rubicon and left the house to go down to town where he picked up his clothes from the tailor. He tried them on and was assured that they looked perfect. He changed out of them again and went back up the hill with his addition to his wardrobe.

  Alec packed a bag of supplies to take to the palace, ate lunch, and put on his new suit, then said good bye to Cassie and Hinges. “Don’t be nervous Alec,” Cassie said. “You’re going as a healer, and there’s no better healer than you in all the Dominion. Please remember as much as you can, then come back and tell us all about the palace!”

  Alec smiled at the request as he left the house and walked down the hill. With his bag of medical goods over his shoulder he walked past the great gray stone cathedral and towards the palace. He decided to enter the main gates instead of the gates he usually used for the armory. As he turned down a side street he suddenly had an uncomfortable feeling. A minute later two men came towards him on the sidewalk, and drew their swords when just a step away from him.

  Alec grasped his ingenaire energies and immediately sensed two other men coming quickly behind him. He swung his bag of medical supplies at the head of one of the assailants in front of him, then grabbed his wrist and wretched his sword loose. Taking the weapon, he ran it through the other man who was coming from the front, turned and ran at the two behind him, catching them off-guard. He judged the right one to be the easiest, and parried her sword away from her, then fought the remaining one briefly, cutting his throat in a spray of blood. Alec then turned back to the first man he had disarmed, and ran the blade through his leg, disabling him.

  “Who sent you to do this?” Alec asked the woman assailant who still lived.

  “You just killed the man who hired me,” she said between gritted teeth.

  Alec turned to the other one who was still alive, but realized that he was going into shock from a fatal loss of blood. He turned back to the woman, and let his ingenaire powers drop away.

  “Why did he want to kill me? What was his name?”

  “He said his name was Walser, and that you were going to disrupt a long laid plan, and his boss didn’t like you anyway, there was some trouble over a girl” she said.

  “How did you know where to find me?” Alec asked.

  “We knew when you were scheduled to be at the palace, so we just waited for you to pass the cathedral, and then followed you,” she said.

  Alec stepped back and considered the situation. There was no one else in sight on the street. The girl was of no further value to him, that he could see. He asked one more question. “Which one was Walser?”

  She pointed to the first man he had killed, the one who had come at him from the front. Alec went over and looked at him, then checked his pockets and clothes for any clues. He found a handful of coins in one pocket, and a handwritten note in another, “Palace, 1:00,” denoting the time for his appointment. The clothes and boots appeared to be well made.

  “How much were you promised for killing me?” Alec asked the woman as he stooped over the body.

  “Six silvers for each of us,” she replied, still holding her leg where Alec had run it through.

  “You were cheated. There’s enough here to give each of you nine silvers,” he said. He picked out a whole gold and tossed it to her. “Here, take these bodies and hide them in the alley there, so I can retrieve them when I get back. And don’t ever try to attack an ingenaire again,” he said as he stood up.

  Alec picked up his bag of supplies and walked away from the wounded would-be assassin. He still had time to make it to the palace on time. He straightened out his clothing as he walked, and looked to see if it had any blood on it. Apparently it didn’t, from what he could see.

  He soon arrived at the main gates of the palace, where a steady flow of people moved in and out under the watchful eyes of a group of guards. Alec went to one of them and asked where the court physician’s offices were located. He was told with a shrug to go see someone inside the palace.

  Alec entered the largest building in front of him, a sprawling structure where about half the people coming into the grounds were going. Inside the ornate polished hallways he found a servant and received directions to the physician’s office, which took him ten minutes and further directions to get to.

  At a dark door down a side hall in a wing of the palace, Alec found Aerley’s office, and inside Aerley was waiting for him with his own bag of supplies to
take. Alec sat down and tried to listen to Aerley explain the king’s symptoms and treatments used so far. Alec hardly heard Aerley speak as he thought about the attempt on his life. He wondered who had done it, and why they thought that four would be enough to do it. Apparently it had been someone who hadn’t realized he was in training as a warrior ingenaire, but then he realized that very few people actually did know about his training in that respect.

  “Yes, I’m ready to go,” he told Aerley, and rose to follow him to the king’s chambers.

  They passed back through the main portion of the palace, and Alec caught glimpses of extraordinary and glorious rooms as they walked a large hallway wider than the healers’ house. The king’s chambers were in a wing on the other side of the palace, and as they approached they were stopped by a member of the palace guard, wearing the ornate yellow uniform Alec had seen before.

  “Alec, what are you doing with the walking death here?” the guard asked, motioning towards Aerley.

  Alec recognized Rander, one of the officers he had fenced against in the armory, a tall thin haired man he liked and trusted. “He’s invited me to give the king fencing lessons,” Alec jested with the captain.

  “We’ve an appointment to see the king,” Aerley said, taking their jocularity in stride.

  Alec watched as Rander checked a list of appointments. Reading over the man’s shoulder, Alec clearly saw his own name written with “1:00” following it.

  “Right,” Rander said. “Go inside and take a seat at the bench, and the chamberlain will announce you when his majesty is ready. Good to see you Alec. Will you be fencing again anytime soon?”

  “In a day or so,” Alec promised and followed Aerley through the checkpoint and down a hallway.

  They sat in a lavish waiting room for fifteen minutes, Aerley explaining the various ornate paintings on the wall, describing either their topics or their artists. Alec looked at the paintings, and at the many maids who seemed to walk aimlessly around the king’s quarters.

  “Does the king need so many, um, maids, to wait upon him?” Alec finally asked Aerley.

  “Gildevny is getting to an age where he looks more than he wants, but he believes it helps to bring many of his nobles to the palace to wait upon him if they enjoy the scenery, so he keeps these young ladies employed,” the court physician explained. “It may be Ventin’s idea more than Gildevny’s actually, but I think it has some truth. Better to have them plotting where you can see them instead of out where you can’t,” Aerley added.

  A closed door opened, and a man in a black suit, somewhat similar to Alec’s own new suit, came out. “The king will see Aerley and Alec, physicians,” he announced.

  “Thank you, Peter,” Aerley said, and he and Alec rose to enter the king’s chambers.

  They passed through a sitting room, and Alec suddenly realized that he had asked Aerley no questions about protocol or appropriate actions, having lost his concentration after the confusion of the assassination attempt. He realized that he was about to enter the king’s rooms as he saw through the next door a small retinue gathered around a man sitting on an elevated throne.

  Aerley slowed his pace so that they entered the room side-by-side. “What do I do, sir?” Alec asked.

  “Bow when I do and follow my lead,” Aerley said quietly. They advanced thirty feet across the room until they were directly in front of the small throne, then bowed.

  As he stood upright, Alec heard their names announced, and he looked at the king, studying Gildevny as a man. He appeared to be in his early 60s in age, with a build that showed weight gains in recent years. He had a circlet of hair surrounding a bald top, and a saturnine face, framed by a well-trimmed, snowy white beard. Alec noticed that the eyes appeared dull and lifeless.

  “Thank you for joining us today, Aerley,” the king said. “Who is your companion?”

  “This is Alec, a healer who I first met doing great things in Goldenfields, and who is now here in Oyster Bay,” your majesty,” Aerley replied.

  “Welcome to court, Alec,” Gildevny said, looking directly at Alec. “You look familiar, like someone I can’t remember from a long time ago. Have you been at court before? And what will you do while you are here this time?”

  Alec hesitated, not sure what to say. He waited a second to see whether Aerley would step in, but when silence reigned a second too long, he replied, “No, I’ve never been to court before. And I’ll do whatever you or Aerley desire, your majesty.”

  “Very good,” the king told him. “I think it’s around the mouth, and the nose. You remind me of Enguerrand,” the king seemed to muse to himself, then shook himself back to the moment at hand. “Aerley, what do we have in mind?”

  “I thought your majesty might benefit from a private visit with healer Alec, sire, and asked that we schedule some time for such,” Aerley replied. “I believe that is what we may accomplish quickly, and then be on our way.”

  “Aren’t you satisfied with your own care for me Aerley?” the king asked with a smile.

  “I believe that an extra, and newer, set of eyes may be of value, majesty,” Aerley said with polite insistence. He looked over at the chamberlain, who ostentatiously opened a door for them to pass through.

  “It appears my fate is sealed,” the king said, and several members of the small court politely laughed. Gildevny rose and walked down to the doorway, as those in the room bowed to him. Aerley nudged Alec, and the two of them followed Gildevny into the next room.

  “Well healer, how would you like to arrange things?” the king asked Alec.

  “Your majesty, would you please sit in that chair there?” Alec asked while looking around the room to see what was available.

  “Careful, Aerley, he’s much more courteous than you are when you’re not in front of the court,” the king told his physician. “I might want to keep him around just for his nice manners.”

  “He’s still young yet your majesty, and hasn’t learned the ways of wisdom,” the old healer gently riposted.

  Alec began examining the king with his health vision, looking intently at him from head to toe. “Please stand and turn, your majesty,” he asked, and when the king did so, he re-examined him even more closely and more slowly. He couldn’t believe what he saw.

  “Would you like for me to walk or breath or do the other things Aerley makes me do when he examines me?” the king asked, confused by the lack of activity.

  “No your majesty, I think I’ve seen enough. You may be seated again, “Alec said, “Sire,” he added.

  “Aerley,” the king said, showing some annoyance, “is this all there is to an examination? Are you wasting my time?”

  “Your majesty,” Alec said before Aerley could respond, “Aerley asked me to take a look at you. What he hasn’t told you is that I am a healer ingenaire, approved by the ingenaire’s council, and I have already examined you fairly thoroughly. I’d like to ask a few questions to confirm some things, but I already have a diagnosis that you are probably feeling listless, and your mind is not as sharp as you think it should be, you have double vision at times and that you’ve had pains in the kidneys and elsewhere the past few weeks. Are these things true?” Alec looked at both Aerley and the king for confirmation.

  “Good heavens!” Aerley said, while King Gildevny looked at him in shock. “What are you suggesting?”

  “The king has been receiving a steady and increasing dosage of spotted moss extract, delivered in some way that I don’t know. You’ll have to have someone you trust check on your food preparation and drinks, I suppose. It is a strong toxin, and it builds up in the body over time when fed in this fashion. I suspect that his teeth are starting to loosen now, and in another month, he’ll have palsy and die a month after that, unless the poison is removed from his diet,” Alec told them.

  “Do you agree with what he is saying Aerley?” the king asked his healer in an unsteady voice.

  “I would say that as he presents the case, I think it sounds plausible.
I don’t know how to test it to prove it though,” the healer replied.

  “How do you treat it?” Gildevny asked Alec. “As it happens, I have felt some of my teeth weaken in recent days, but thought it was just the latest undignified part of old age.”

  “I would suggest that we ask you to go on a diet for a week or so with very little food, and what you eat should be prepared only by Aerley or his staff, perhaps without even knowing the food is for you. Also, I know of some spring water that I think will purge a great deal of the poison out of your body if you drink large quantities of it during the week,” Alec said as he thought out loud.

  “Are you truly a healer ingenaire?” the king asked. “I’ve not heard of such ingenairii.”

  “I’m the first one in centuries,” Alec said. “It gives me an ability to see what troubles the body, and to understand how to treat it. Aerley first saw the results when I treated the daughter of Natha, the trader of Goldenfields. I’ve since treated many others, most of them easy cures for simple ailments.”

  “He did miraculously well with Natha’s daughter sire, and I suspect you are the one who treated the Duke as well, shortly thereafter, aren’t you?” Aerley asked.

  Alec nodded.

  “Can you acquire some of this spring water easily?” the court physician next asked.

  “It should be here before the end of the day or tomorrow morning,” Alec said, planning on heading directly to Natha’s dockyard to speak to the factor, Poltaire.

  “Majesty, I think you should take this course of action,” Aerley committed himself to following Alec’s advice.

  “I don’t know how to handle the calendar of feasts that are planned for this week,” the king said.