The Caravan Road

by Jeffrey Quyle

  “Won’t you fight for us? Won’t you fight for my mother?” Kane asked Alec. “We can offer you great rewards!”

  “What battle would you need fought? Who is your enemy?” Alec asked.

  “Kane, that is enough!” Salem spoke sharply, silencing her son. “Go now; leave us,” she directed sternly.

  The boy looked at his mother defiantly for a moment, then turned and walked away.

  “I apologize, Alec. I didn’t expect the boy to pester you like that. It’s been hard for him,” she spoke hesitantly.

  “What is your story?” Alec asked. “If I can help on my way to finding Kriste, I will be there to assist you. You have been a good friend on this journey; I’m glad we were able to help you.”

  “My husband was the Marquis of Woven,” Salem explained. “We were the ruling family of the city.”

  “Until?” Alec asked.

  “Until his cousin overthrew him. We had many loyal followers, but after my husband was murdered, they felt it was best that we leave the city and run for safety,” she told Alec. “And so we did. We went to the edge of Oolitan, and lived on an estate there, and tried to forget the past.

  “But one night the past came to us, and attacked the estate. Many of our servants and followers were killed defending us, and we,” she paused, “and I decided we needed to run from the Twenty Cities if we were going to stay alive. And you know what happened after that.”

  “My grandfather was a king,” Alec said softly, looking off into the distant horizon.

  “Alec, if we’re going to make it down the Glide today, the stableman says we need to go soon,” Andi came over and interrupted.

  Alec held his hand up.

  “My grandfather, the king of the Dominion, was murdered by men who wanted power. I killed them in revenge, and eventually took the throne myself,” he continued, his voice so soft that both Salem and Andi leaned in closer to him.

  “My first wife’s father was the emperor of Michian, until he was killed by his own sister, who wanted to rule the empire. And I killed her.

  “Then Caitlen’s throne was usurped by the Conglomerate in Vincennes, and so I fought and returned her to the throne,” he said.

  “I will go to Woven with you, and we will restore you to the throne of your city,” he told Salem. “Those who violently seize power for themselves must not be allowed to succeed.”

  “Andi, we will wait here until nightfall. I have a different plan. Go tell everyone to settle in and rest, and send Stacha and Alfred over here to see me,” he directed the Black Crag guard.

  “Alec, I believe you could do this. I know you could fight your way into the palace and slay Trayma, the usurper. But the people would not accept us back on the throne,” Salem told him. “Trayma promised them that he would make Woven the ‘Sixth City’ with a miraculous power of its own. The people – the nobility, the merchants, the peasants – they all want that. They supported him so that they could become a ‘great city’, even if they dislike his treachery.”

  “How will he make the city a ‘great city’?” Alec asked. “What does that even mean?”

  “The Five Great Cities are right next to Woven,” Salem answered. “They each have some magical aspect to them, a feature that is maintained by the descendants of the ancient powers that founded the cities. They are the heart of the culture of the Twenty Cities.

  “Trayma says that he has a magician who will use magic to make Woven the city of crystals, so that it will glitter and sparkle like a gigantic gemstone, and all the people of the Twenty Cities will come to see its splendor,” Salem answered.

  “How would he do that?” Alec asked.

  “The reports I received said that he was doing it, but it was a sham. His ‘magician’ has a building where he mixes water and chemicals and makes a great deal of thick black smoke, and from that he produces a paste or a paint that has sparkles in it. They are going around painting all the buildings with this paint, and when people protest, they are beaten, or jailed, or worse, by the soldiers and thugs who Trayma has brought in to coerce the city,” Salem answered.

  “If you were to return, and promised that you would truly give the city something unique, something that would make the lives of the people better and make the city wealthy, would they turn back to you, and help to overthrow Trayma?” Alec asked.

  “Alec, you wished to see us, my lord?” Stacha and Alfred arrived.

  “Think about your answer,” Alec directed Salem, then turned to the two new arrivals.

  “Alfred, do you have a plan for what you will do now that we are in the Twenty Cities?” he asked the old trader.

  “Only what I planned to do when Gwen and Mrs. Grean and I were heading this way,” Alfred said.

  “If I offered an alternative, would you consider it?” Alec asked.

  “Knowing what a great man you are, my lord, I would in all likelihood agree to any plan of yours. I do not need to keep traveling to be happy,” Alfred said with a smile that displayed the genuine trust he had developed for Alec during their journey.

  “Stacha, if I suggested that we bought a shop where you could live and work in a city, and make hats and dresses and capes as you have been learning, would you think that is a good start to your new life?” he asked the girl.

  “Oh yes, my husband, I would live the happiest life if I could settle down with you and do those things,” she replied with a broad smile.

  “And if I said that I would not settle down with you, but that Alfred would live nearby to help you with running the shop, would you accept that?” Alec followed.

  Stacha’s smile disappeared.

  “Stacha, you have never really thought I am your husband, have you?” Alec asked, pushing the issue.

  “No Alec, I knew you were not, and I always knew in my heart you were not going to be,” she agreed, blushing lightly.

  “So a shop with Alfred nearby to help, and perhaps a real husband who would come courting you sometime soon as the pretty girl that you are, that would be a good way to start your life over here?” Alec pressed.

  “It would be more than I hoped for most of my life,” Stacha seemed to accept his proposal.

  “And Alfred, would like to be mentor to this young lady, and use your knowledge and skill to settle down and introduce the fashions of Cearche hats to the ladies of the Twenty Cities?” Alec asked.

  “You’re a shrewd man as well as a great one,” Alfred accepted. “A shop, the prospect of waking up in the same bed – the same city! – every day, and the company of this young lady: that’s a nice promise for an old man,” he said. “I think Gwen would approve of her hats coming back into fashion in a new town.”

  The sun was starting to set in the western sky, the air beginning to take on a warm golden glow as the rays lengthened and evolved towards red.

  “Thank you,” Alec said. “Go over to Jasel and Andi, and send them over to me now,” he told the pair. They nodded and walked away, talking intently between themselves, discussing their future shop, Alec suspected.

  “What plots are you hatching?” Salem looked at him keenly. “What new impossible tasks are you going to accomplish?”

  “I think we will all go to Woven,” Alec told her. “We will acquire a shop for Stacha, and we will use it as our base for a quick campaign to restore you to leadership in your city. If we need to, we will produce something unique and everlasting and magical that will make Woven the rich and powerful envy of the Twenty Cities. And then I will go find Kriste and bring her back to freedom,” he said with a smile, as the next two young members of his entourage arrived.

  “We are going to go to Woven,” Alec addressed them, and explained his plan to set Stacha up in a shop there, and spoke in general terms about restoring Salem’s family, “Lady Salem, I should have been saying, pardon my familiarity,” he apologized with a smile to her.

  “When that is accomplished, it will be time to resume the hunt for your sister,” Alec spoke directly to Jasel. “Are you com
fortable with this?”

  “You believe we will still be able to find them?” Jasel asked. “You don’t think Kriste will be lost forever in all these people?” He had never seen a city before, and even the high altitude view of Oolitan’s teeming warrens astonished, overwhelmed, and even frightened him.

  “I think we’ll be closer to them when we leave Woven that we were when we left Ridgeclimb,” Alec answered his question indirectly.

  “I’m ready, but we’ve spent all this time up here this afternoon, when we could have gone down the Glide,” Jasel said, as Andi nodded in agreement.

  “We’re not going down the Glide,” Alec answered. “We’re going down a faster way.”

  Chapter 18 – Avoiding the Glide

  “What do you mean?” Salem asked, her mouth hanging slightly open in astonishment. “There is no other path down.”

  “We will leave in,” he looked up at the sky, where the sun had slipped far down towards the horizon, casting a lurid red light upon them all, “about a half hour.”

  “But what?” Salem started to ask.

  “Let’s all just wait,” Alec said. What he had in mind was going to be unnerving for his companions, he knew. It would tax his every effort, and probably leave him strained, in need of rest for a day or two after his endeavors.

  Several minutes later, Alec judged the sky was growing dark enough to begin the journey. The people who had been milling around the View plateau were settling into their lodgings or stables, leaving the space relatively empty.

  “I want everyone inside the wagon now,” he spread the command around among his group.

  “But that’ll be crowded Alec,” Hope protested.

  “It won’t be for long,” he said, still standing near the edge of the plateau, watching the lights of the city twinkle below, defining the boundaries of the buildings and streets that were crowded together. “Everyone in,” he repeated, as he walked over to the mules and the horses, leading them to the wagon, and tying their leads to the wagon sides, or the harness leathers of the oxen. The configuration was crowded and dense; when they walked, the animals would inhibit one another and step into each other’s legs, but that would only be a problem for a short period.

  “Hop in there, Andi,” Alec commanded, giving the guard a friendly slap on the back. She was the last one to enter the wagon, and she had to jostle past Jasel and Kane to find a spot to sit atop the freight that was piled inside.

  Alec climbed up on the bench next to Alfred Graze. “Hold on, father,” he spoke. “You’re going to go on a ride like you’ve never had before.” Alec took the reins from Alfred’s hands to hold them; they wouldn’t really be necessary for this trip, but Alec didn’t want Graze to flick them in a way that might needlessly upset the animals.

  “Everyone grab on to something,” Alec called back as he grabbed hold of the energy in the Air ingenairii realm, and lifted his entire contingent of supporters, vehicle, and animals off the ground, just inches above the stony surface, and he propelled them towards the edge of the cliff.

  “Alec, my lord, what are we doing?” Alfred asked, his face displaying his fright.

  “We’re going to fly,” Alec answered, concentrating all his focus and energy on keeping the collection atop its cushion of dense air. The horses neighed in surprise, and one of the mules brayed loudly at the sudden motion, as its feet remained stationary.

  They came up to the edge of the cliff and then went off, so that only air was below them for thousands of feet, air that displayed the lights of the city below.

  “Alec, what are we doing?” Stacha asked as she took advantage of her position closest to the front of the wagon to poke her head out. She saw their location and screamed loudly, directly in Alec’s ear.

  Distracted by the piercing screech just inches from his skull, Alec let the load slip several feet, causing a sickening lurch downward that raised a loud buzz among those in the back, and the animals as well.

  “Alfred, get her back there!” Alec commanded, regaining control of his energy and stabilizing their flight. They were moving forward, and losing altitude, but losing it slowly. Alec didn’t believe he could make such a large and heavy load truly float through the air, but he had calculated that he could cause them to glide in what was a slow, controlled fall to earth, so that by the time they reached the surface they would not only touch down gently, but also land in a spot on the far side of Oolitan.

  If he could control their journey successfully for fifteen minutes, Alec had estimated, they could avoid three days of travel – one day descending the Glide, and two days traversing the city traffic.

  Already they were a quarter of the way across the boundaries of the city, and several hundred feet below the level of The View. The noises from the animals were a series of brays and whinnies, as the mules and the horses rolled their eyes in terror, though the stolid oxen did nothing but relax and wait patiently.

  The back of the wagon was settling into a lower level of pandemonium, as person after person pressed their way to the front or the back of the wagon and looked out at the dim red twilight sky and the twinkling lights of the city below.

  “Alec! Is this what you planned?” Salem was thrust forward between Alec and Alfred, who held onto the arm of the bench with white-knuckled intensity. The lady of Woven had her whole torso pressed in between the two men, and was turned towards Alec so that her face was just inches from his.

  Alec felt exultant. His plan was working smoothly now, his energy was strained to its limit, but was in no apparent danger of exceeding its limit in the still airs of the evening sky. They were virtually invisible; nobody would be scanning the dark of the sky except to look at the stars, and they would only see, at most, a momentary dark blob transit in front of the twinkling spots in the heavens.

  “This is what I planned!” Alec agreed, delighted with his success. They were past the center of the city already, and still had enough altitude that he expected them to safely clear the dense urban settlement, and land easily in the empty fields outside the city.

  He turned his head momentarily and looked at Salem with a wide grin on his face, joyous at succeeding in the first planned challenge he had given his ingenaire abilities in many years. “I almost feel young again,” he laughed.

  “I don’t know if you’re crazy, brilliant or drunk!” Salem said with a laugh. “But you’ve made this one a surprise – I never anticipated this!”

  “Wait ‘til you see what I have up my sleeve for our adventure in Woven, my lady,” he laughed. He leaned into her and kissed her soundly, not with passion, but in a surfeit of emotion. “Pull back into the wagon so I’m not distracted,” he told her.

  “Don’t distract him, please don’t distract him!” Alfred echoed fervently. Salem smiled in joy and astonishment, at the kiss, at the flight, at the youthful exuberance she had seen bubble up in Alec’s personality, so different from his usual persona, then pulled back into the wagon, her fingers stroking the nape of Alec’s neck as she disappeared.

  The unwieldy vehicle continued its unorthodox journey, only a couple of hundred feet above the ground, few lights showing from buildings as they left the city behind them, their forward momentum still fast, making the lights blur like small streaks as the wagon descended lower and lower. Alec could see the Western Road, running straight as an arrow, directly beneath them, and no vehicles in sight on their side of the highway as they continued to glide.

  From a hundred feet they slid down to fifty, then twenty then just five, and Alec strained to make the landing gentle, increasing his control of the dense surface air that held them as they still glided while just a foot above the road. A peddler and his companion, heading in the opposite direction towards Oolitan, looked in astonishment as the wagon and animals went by at thirty miles an hour, so close to the ground it appeared to be on it, moving even while the legs of the animals were stationary.

  Alec felt sweat break out on his forehead as he tried to finely slice the air cushion thi
nner and thinner, slowing them down more and more, until they finally glided to a stop. He released his hold on the power, and everyone and everything dropped abruptly an inch onto the ground, and they were finished with their flight.

  Pandemonium burst out in the back of the wagon and people tumbled out in relief. There was an acrid smell, and Alec realized that someone had been sick, in a manner that must have been like seasickness, he realized. He hadn’t thought of that as a problem. Alfred was down off the bench on his side of the wagon, holding on to the wooden frame of the vehicle tightly, looking up at the sky as his lips soundlessly gave either thanks or damnation, Alec couldn’t be sure which.

  Alec let out a sigh of relief, glad to have the long flight over with. It had been fun, frightening, valuable, useful, and something that he was not likely to ever do again. The strain of carrying so much weight had been at the extreme of his abilities, and he felt worn out. The passengers from the back of the wagon were circling around his side of the wagon, looking up at him, expressions of astonishment and enjoyment evident as they all spoke at once. And that was the last thing he remembered as he passed out.

  Chapter 19 – Arrival at Woven

  When Alec awoke he was lying on a comfortable mattress, alone in a large bed in a nicely appointed bedroom. The sun was shining brightly, and the room felt warm, even though no fire was burning in the fireplace. He was lying between smooth, comfortable sheets, and his body was clean. There was little noise coming from outside the window, and even less coming from the interior of the house.

  He was naked, and he had been bathed. He sat up, startled, surprised and confused.

  There were no clothes evident in the room. Alec got out of bed and hurried over to a wardrobe, which he pulled open to find a robe hanging inside, a thin robe with a belt. He wrapped the robe around himself and walked over to the window, through which he discovered that he was on the second floor of a large mansion, looking over a nicely manicured and landscaped lawn, one which stretched down to a pond.