“Here are my papers, denoting that Natha Millershome, owner of this property, has delegated me to restore his business here and prepare the yard for the resumption of business,” the captain explained. Despite the clear displeasure on the faces of the visitors, all the papers were in order, and the crew was able to continue in its duties.
“The next shipment of goods will arrive here in a week, and after their arrival we’ll go to the upriver yard and restore it so we’ll be ready to transship around the falls,” the captain told the crew. “Within a month we should have everything re-established so that Natha will be able to give the Locksforts some competition in these lands again. One of the family will likely be here on the next ship so they can make the rest of the decisions and sign contracts with merchants.”
Curious citizens of Stronghold passed the yard throughout the day to see the return of the Millershome forces to their city, and many unkind jeers were directed at the men working at the gate. That night Francis took the first watch and assigned Alec to the second, his first work duty since their arrival. As he had the night before, Alec again felt a strong sense of unease while talking to Francis, a disturbance without any observable reason. Nothing occurred as Alec walked the grounds and the ship deck, especially keeping an eye on the gate, where a sailor was separately detailed to provide security. Alec slept the next morning when his duty was over, and awoke before noon. He saddled up Walnut and decided to take the animal out for a ride through the city, his first chance to see reconnoiter his new surroundings.
“Be careful lad,” Parlton warned him. “And here are some things we’d like you to get from the market,” he told Alec, handing him a list of items, especially food stuffs. Alec was aware of the eyes outside scrutinizing him as he left the makeshift gate of Natha’s dockyard.
He found the city streets like the streets of any other bustling community, full of commerce and conversations. Walnut slowly navigated the gaps between wagons, people, and curbside vendors, eventually coming to the bare rocky wall at the base of the great cliff that created the waterfall. Colored bands of stone showed stark contrasts with one another as they mounted upward behind the row of buildings that abutted them to a height of forty feet or so.
At that point in his journey Alec reversed course and went down to the water’s edge, where he found a ferry that carried a busy commerce across the river to the north side. Alec joined the line waiting for the boat to return, and stared at the high hill with the white buildings that rose across the horizon in front of him. Natha’s home was large and luxurious, he remembered, but it didn’t convey the same single-minded fortress mentality that the Locksfort compound displayed. This spoke of a family that ostentatiously protected its privilege. And it was the place he had traveled so far to visit, driven by a compulsion to act.
Alec paid his change and led his horse onto the flatboat that was winched along a long, taunt rope. He walked Walnut off the boat, then mounted and rode again. The road climbed the hill beside the river, switching back and forth at a steep angle, and Walnut climbed slowly, until Alec dismounted at one switchback and walked up the road with his horse, constantly dodging downward bound traffic.
After almost an hour’s climb, Alec crested the top, and stepped to the side to catch his breath and observe the Locksfort hill. Two rings of large walls were visible, separating the hill into concentric sections. Buildings were scattered about the hill connected by a network of paths. Those structures in the uppermost portion of the hill were busiest, judging by the number of people Alec could see moving among the buildings, walking briskly or toting crates from site to site, apparently carrying out the business functions of the Locksfort clan. Below that ring were the buildings that Alec guessed might be the residential portion of the compound, which left the lowest area of the hill for workers quarters, storage, stables, and other functional needs.
Turning away from the Locksfort compound, Alec saw the great waterfall beside him, and for the first time he saw the upper river, the Carmen that flowed from the far away Great Inland Sea, the enormous lake upon which Sturgeon and other cities sat.
Alec realized as he watched the flow of traffic that the road on the north side of the river mostly accommodated traffic flowing downriver. He had climbed up the road that mostly carried freight going down to be trans-shipped to eastbound boats on the lower river; across the river he suspected the traffic on the road was likely to be reversed for goods heading further inland.
Alec wondered about the strange sense of unease he had twice felt. It had come over him like a premonition of disaster, but passed without reason. As he stood here so close to the Locksfort enclave, he felt no such feelings, where he would have expected them to be strongest. He knew that Noranda lay somewhere in a tomb inside the hill, but had no clue about how to enter the compound and find her. The apparent hostility of the city residents towards Natha’s trade in their city made him suspect he’d have a hard time getting information from local gossip.
As he stood there beside his horse, lost in thought, a jostling by a passing group of stevedores made him realize that he still needed to purchase goods and return to the compound. “Do you have your papers?” a voice asked.
Alec realized a man in a black and yellow striped tunic was speaking to him. “Son, I’d like to see your papers,” the heavyset man repeated.
“What papers do you mean?” Alec asked.
“Where are you from?” the officer, as Alec imagined him to be, responded.
After only a moment’s hesitation, Alec replied, “Oyster Bay. I’m from Oyster Bay.”
“Well, here in Stronghold, the north bank is for residents of the city only. If you don’t have the papers to prove you belong here, I need for you to cross the river. Tell me first though, why have you been studying the Locksfort compound for so long, and then tell me why you’ve come here from Oyster Bay,” the man asked in a businesslike tone of voice. He wasn’t too upset by Alec’s presence it seemed, just doing his duty.
Alec was completely unprepared for such a line of questioning and worried that the wrong answer on his part might bring trouble. He stammered and stuttered momentarily. “I met a member of the Locksforts in Oyster Bay, and that made me curious to see the home of such a great family. I didn’t realize I was staring so long; there were other things on my mind, I suppose.”
“And why are you here now? Why did you leave Oyster Bay?” the officer responded.
“Well, things are changing in Oyster Bay, and it didn’t seem like a good place for me to plan my future,” Alec said as vaguely as possible.
“So you made a career decision to move on? Is this your stopping place or are you just passing through?”
“I don’t expect to stay here very long,” Alec said truthfully, feeling very nervous about the length of the interrogation.
“Well, move along then and don’t let me catch you over here again,” the officer dismissed him.
Alec led his horse directly down the steep descent, astonished at the notion that citizens in Stronghold had to carry papers to justify their presence in the city. Was it something of longstanding tradition he wondered, or had it just begun in response to the war in the Dominion? Such security posed an even greater challenge to his need to search for Noranda in the Locksfort catacombs.
He returned to the ferry and crossed the river again. The ferryman gave him direct ano a market, where he purchased the items Parlton had requested and placed a large bundle of fodder for Walnut upon the horse’s back. Alec had been gone for hours now, wandering the city, and the sun was setting as he headed towards the reddened sky to his west, squinting as he faced the bright horizon.
After a few minutes Alec turned a corner towards where he believed the Millershome docks were, and walked towards the landside gate. As the sky deepened during his approach, Alec heard noises of conflict, and realized belatedly the sounds were coming from the docks he was heading towards. Alec felt his heart start racing, a feeling that he had not experienced
in many weeks. The surge that enveloped him reminded him of the exuberance he had felt when he first learned to control his ingenaire powers; the astonishing feeling of invincibility was as alluring as it had felt in those early days. He longed to be able to use those powers now, and reminded himself to be careful in what he attempted.
Alec concentrated on the mundane aspects of entering a battlefield, as he had learned from the Guardsmen at Goldenfields. He slouched down and hung on the side of Walnut, then spurred the horse towards the gateway, observing the location of combatants inside the yards.
Walnut carried him inside the yard, and he dropped off the horse, looking about for someone he recognized. He spotted Francis and a group of four others surrounding three opponents who were backed against a wall. Yelling loudly, Alec raced over to help his fellow crew members from the Current Rider. Francis and his supporters all wore blue ribbons on their arms, identifying one side in the fracas.
“Francis, I’m here. I’ll help fight them!” Alec shouted wildly as he stopped next to Francis. The man on Alec’s right, wearing a blue ribbon, swung his sword directly at Alec, and the healer moved swiftly to block the blow.
“Tell your men I’m with you!” Alec shouted excitedly in response to the attack.
“Son, the truth of the matter is that you’re not with me,” Francis said calmly, bringing his own sword swiftly around to attack Alec.
Alec ducked and rolled away from Francis towards the small knot of men who were trapped by the blue-ribboned swordsmen. He rose to his feet and noted that the men he was now with were crewmen he had ridden with on the Current Rider. Confused, but certain now that he was with the right forces, Alec launched his attack on the invaders, running his sword through the man who had first attacked him.
With the odds now swung in favor of the sailors, Alec urged his companions to attack, and he led them to engage, picking Francis for his own attention. He swung his sword with his left hand, going high, then, low, as his opponent managed to block his sword work.
“You really are a swordsman, aren’t you?” Francis asked, as they fenced vigorously, with Alec trying to maintain his momentum. “I thought the crew had you figured right when they said you were a fake.” Alec stepped back, flipped his sword to his right hand and attacked again, wounding Francis in both legs so that he would be incapacitated and unable to escape.
Alec turned to help his companions as they struggled in battle. With a small man he recognized as the cook on the Current Rider, Alec helped defeat a third Stronghold fighter, and then watched his companions wound one of the others and disarm the last of the attackers in the immediate struggle.
“Where’s the captain? Where’s Parlton?” Alec asked the sailors with him.
“The captain’s dead. Francis killed him first thing when he let the Locksforts’ men in. Parlton and some others were retreating towards the ship last we saw, but we’ve been fighting and moving around trying to stay alive,” Inspir, a junior lieutenant told Alec.
“Let’s secure Francis as a captive and get him inside this building,” Alec said indicating the doorway of the building at their backs, as he saw a group of more attackers approaching them. “I’ll go find Parlton and let him know we’ve got men here.”
Alec waited for the band of blue ribbons attackers to arrive as Inspir and the others dragged the protesting Francis with them into the building. “Who’s in charge of your men?” Alec asked the men with drawn swords.
Two didn’t bother to answer but immediately launched their attacks. With the wall to his back to provide security behind him, Alec fended them off until Inspir came out to join him. Together, they overcame the two men out front, and stared at the rest of their attackers. Those others paused at the quick defeat of their allies, and circled warily.
“Who’s in charge of your men?” Alec asked again, swinging and deeply slicing the forearm of one of his attackers. He sensed that the scattering of dead and wounded men around him was giving them concern. Alec lunged at one of them experimentally, and the man jumped back hurriedly. None of his companions looked at his cowardice in disgust. “If you tell me who is in charge, I’ll let you leave the dockyard alive immediately. If you don’t cooperate, my blade will touch you all.”
“Over there,” one of the men spoke up immediately. Alec realized that they hadn’t been prepared to meet any effective resistance with Francis leading them in this ambush of the Millershome forces. “The blond one with a scar on his face,” added another.
“Run, now,” Alec urged them, gesturing towards the entrance, and the survivors broke towards the gate Alec had entered just minutes before. “Stay here and keep Francis under control, watch for me, and be ready to move swiftly, if needed,” Alec ordered Inspir as he followed the retreating fighters to make sure they were really leaving the yard, then stopped and looked for Walnut, who had wandered towards the stable that was his current home. Alec ran to the horse and mounted him, then sat for a moment to catch his breath and look around. Activity was evident around two buildings at the far end of the yard, near where the Current Rider was docked.
Alec spurred Walnut forward towards the remaining trouble at the site, and dismounted when he was within easy hailing range. He stopped to sniff the air momentarily, uneasy at some indefinable scentle scent stepped closer to where the attackers from Stronghold were besieging groups of sailors in the warehouse and office close by. “Parlton!” Alec bellowed loudly, trying to locate his friend. “Parlton!” he repeated twice more.
The men in blue ribbons turned at the shouts, and a small group left the assault on the warehouse to deal with the noisy newcomer. Alec stood his ground with his sword in his hand, waiting for their arrival, as they spread out.
The first to arrive attacked without any preliminaries, a large man driving forward in the expectation that his weight and size would carry him to quick victory. Instead he died a quick and quiet death, his face showing surprise only briefly as the length of metal penetrated his chest. Alec quickly attacked the man on his left, leaving only the two on his right. “Drop your swords!” he shouted at them. They complied instantly, leaving Alec with the dilemma of what to do with his newest conquests.
“Now, get out of here as fast as you can. Don’t stop running until you’ve left the dockyards, and don’t come back,” he said lamely, just wanting to get rid of them. He stood for a moment to watch them head through the open yard towards the gate.
Alec returned to his small band of fellow Current Rider crew members. “Inspir, leave one man here to guard Francis, and you and the other come with me,” he pre-emptorily ordered. Beset by the extraordinary circumstances, the young officer acceded to Alec’s self-appointed command, and followed Alec around the grounds of the dock. “We’re going to gather up as many men as we can find, and work our way down to the warehouse to lift the siege there and join forces with the rest of Natha’s men,” Alec explained.
Inspir nodded, and they began working their way past the various outbuildings, looking for other survivors as they passed doorways and windows. In that manner they located and gathered together several others who had scattered and hidden when the invasion burst onto the dockyards.
“Look now,” Alec pointed around a corner. His group of sailors all craned their necks in the direction he gestured towards. “We’re going to charge that group with the blue ribbons. Remain quiet until you’re a step away, then scream as you swing at them. We should be able to take that lot out and free our friends in the warehouse.”
“Who’s in there? How many are there?” two men asked.
“I don’t know,” Alec admitted. “Lieutenant Inspir said the captain’s dead, so we’ll hope to find Parlton and get all our folks together,” he added, not knowing what would come next.
Alec led his small band across the open courtyard, but they were spotted by one of the Locksfort invaders, who raised a shout and turned toward Alec and the crew. Others turned as well, as Alec’s planned surprise was thwarted. “Spread out! Spr
ead wide,” he ordered as he raised his own sword and charged at the middle of the group of over a dozen men with blue badges.
Mindful that he was without his warrior ingenaire abilities, Alec began hacking and dodging, switching hands and trying to inspire thesailors, as well as distract their opponents. Two tall men with breast shields engaged him together, forcing Alec to slow and maneuver among the chaotic conditions. A man on his left swung at him, and Alec dipped, but still felt the point of the sword scratch his shoulder.
He dove and rolled to the right, stabbing his sword up under the protective shield of one man, causing the man to double over while Alec stopped and stood behind the other man. Alec swung his sword high at that man’s scalp, opening a gash that sent blood streaming into his eyes, then Alec stabbed fiercely at his opponent’s knee, which buckled in disabling pain.
Alec turned and helped another of Natha’s men battle one of the Stronghold minions, then saw with excitement that a group of the trapped sailors were bursting out of their safe harbor in the warehouse to fall upon their tormenters.
The tide had turned against the Stronghold invaders, Alec could tell. A small knot of them were surrounded by the sailors, as Alec called loudly, “Let them surrender! Let them lay down their weapons!”
His men hesitated, as another group of Stronghold warriors approached from where they had been fighting a cluster of sailors who were protecting the Current Rider.
“Quickly now, herd these captives into the warehouse, or kill them,” Alec shouted loudly enough to be heard by the small knot of captive men with blue ribbons. “Move along you!” he emphasized to the men. “Drop your weapons here and go into the building now or you’re dead.”
They chose to take his threat seriously, and as Inspir prodded them into the warehouse, Alec led others out to engage the new combatants. Two of them dropped suddenly as they approached, and Alec saw with joy that the men on the ship were firing arrows into the former besiegers. Within minutes, more were dead, and those remaining were added to the captives in the warehouse.
The Lifesaving Power: Goldenfields and Stronghold Page 5