“Where’s Parlton?” Alec asked during the quiet respite from the battle.
“I’m coming lad,” he heard the familiar voice boom out, and saw a hand wave high over a tall head on the deck of the ship.
Alec jogged over to the water’s edge and boarded the vessel. “I’m glad to see you,” he said somberly.
“I’m even gladder to see you,” the mate replied. “You may not have battled any pirates on the way here, but your work today more than made up,” he grinned with satisfaction.
“I’m told the captain’s dead?” Alec questioned abruptly.
Parlton’s face showed a mobility Alec hadn’t expected as it turned from joyful to somber. “Aye, Francis lured him to the gate and….”
“We don’t have time for explanations, Parlton,” Alec spoke quickly again, trying to direct the conversation.
“We won’t hold out long against a whole cs face think we need to get everyone on the ship and retreat downstream quickly,” Alec urged in a fast, low voice. “Lieutenant Inspir isn’t ready to take command in a situation like this; you’re the mate, so you’re in charge now. Gather up your wounded as fast as possible and get them on the ship so that we can sail before the next attack comes.”
“I suppose you’re right,” Parlton considered. “Even if they don’t attack again right away, they will attack again. If you’ll support me, the lieutenant will agree. We better get down river and warn the next ship not to come this way.”
“I’m going to go back and get Walnut and get him on board,” Alec gestured towards the far end of the dockyards. “You get some archers to guard the warehouse and get everyone else on the ship as fast as possible. We can still make it out before sunset and perhaps get some distance downstream under cover of night.”
“You be careful down there,” Parlton said, placing his hand on Alec’s shoulder. “I’ll get the lads rounded up and ready to go.”
Alec returned the friendly gesture, and the two stood together for a moment looking at one another. Alec broke his gaze away and ran back down the gangplank to go find his horse, hearing Parlton barking out orders as he ran.
Still feeling a strange atmosphere of tension, Alec sensed the presence of several men near the gate. Carefully working along the edges of buildings to avoid exposure, Alec reached a spot twenty yards from where Walnut was standing in the yard, pawing at some greenery along the foundation of one of the abandoned buildings. Alec called softly, and Walnut’s ears swiveled to catch his voice, then the powerful steed walked over to where Alec was. With his horse’s lead in hand, Alec hurried the animal back through the darkening yard to the ship.
“Can you help me sling some planks across here for my horse to board?” he asked a hand standing on the pier-side. Together they extended three boards that proved wide enough to coax the reluctant horse onto the deck of the Current Rider.
“There are several men gathering outside the gate,” Alec said urgently to Parlton. “Are we ready to go?”
“Loosen those lines,” Parlton boomed out in reply. Three members of the crew still on the dock side untied the moorings for the ship and leaped across the watery gap to the deck, as others heaved on long poles to push the ship away from the pier, out of its slip, and into the river channel.
“Man the sweeps,” Parlton ordered to the depleted crew. “Give us some motion to get into the current.”
Alec was relieved to feel the Current Rider’s speedy escape from the site of the death trap that had been set for the crew. But he also felt horror at the thought that he was leaving behind the single most important goal of his life – rescuing Noranda. To relieve his anxiety, Alec went below deck to where the wounded had been hastily placed for evacuation.
After sitting for a moment tst, Alec began walking among the wounded men, praying and dispensing small touches of healing powers as best he could without any herbs or supplements handy to help. When he reached the last man and felt he had done enough to ease the pain and preserve the health of the men, he went back on deck, secured Walnut in his spot, and fed the horse some of the fodder still tied to his back. And with that he curled up and fell asleep on the deck, oblivious to the hustle of the crew’s activities around him. And they in turn trod carefully past the place where slept the boy who had helped save them from a massacre in Stronghold.
Chapter 5 – Aristotle’s Words in Oyster Bay
When Bethany stepped onto the Millershome docks in Oyster Bay after several days of traveling, she found many surprises. Some she expected, like the shock of walking through the empty, depopulated paths of Ingenairii Hill. She had known many people were no longer on the Hill, but its emptiness still left her with a feeling of numbness.
Some surprises caught her completely unprepared. Tritos was one. She had only been back in her house among the water ingenairii for a few hours when a summons to the door brought a re-introduction to Tritos, a stone apprentice she had known before going away to Goldenfields. He had been one of the boys she had flirted with, on terms that she set, before Alec had captivated her. Tritos, like many of the stone ingenairii, had not fled to Goldenfields. Lanter, the head of the house, had not wanted to see the division of the ingenairii, and so had not countenanced the migration. But he had not approved of the actions of the coup leaders, and so had sent virtually every stone ingenairii and apprentice away from Oyster Bay, disseminating his charges throughout the Dominion to work on stone projects in every city other than Oyster Bay.
Upon the overthrow of the coup plotters, the stone ingenairii had returned to the Hill. Tritos had only arrived the day before, and had learned of Bethany’s return shortly before he climbed up the Hill to her house. With one look at her he was as enthralled as ever by her beauty. She had always been kind to him, if only intermittent in her encouragement of his attentions. Until the night of the swimming party at the quarry, he had believed that he might be impossibly lucky enough to capture the affections of the lovely girl. But after that night and Alec’s spectacular feat of healing Cassie, Tritos had known that Bethany had given her heart to the healer. Then the rift and mayhem on the Hill had separated them for many long months.
“Tritos, I’m so happy to see one of our old friends again,” Bethany said with genuine pleasure. The prospect of re-gaining friendships and companions and life on the Hill is had motivated her to leave the ghosts of her Goldenfields relationship with Alec behind. “You’re the very first person to come to visit.”
“Plenty more will come when they realize you’re back,” Tritos gallantly said. He held out his hand to shake, but Bethany hugged him instead. “Since the Hill isn’t used to having so many people so suddenly, I thought you might like to go to dinner in town tonight?” he asked shyly.
And then there were the surprises that should have been surprises, but weren’t. “Aristotle asked if you would visit him,” came another summons after Tritos had left and Bethany had returned to Allisma to chat about her pending dinner. With curiosity and apprehension, Bethany excused herself and walked over to the house where the head of the Ingenairii sat in his office.
“Bethany, child, thank you for coming,” Aristotle invited her in and motioned her into a comfortable chair. He looked at her intently for a few seconds, making her nervous. “You probably haven’t had much time for news since you arrived back here, have you?” he asked. She shook her head. “Well, I’ve just received a note a few days ago by way of Alec’s former cleaning lady, and then another note arrived today from Alec himself.
“He is alive,” Aristotle stated. “He’s off on his quest, and when he’ll be back, I cannot tell you. Did you have any idea, or had you received any word from him?” She shook her head again, numbly. She was not surprised to learn that Alec was still alive; she had not been convinced that he had died in the strange explosion he had created, but of course had no grounds for her uncertainty. Nothing Ari could have said about Alec would have surprised her now, after his disappearances, resurrections, long silences and inability to speak o
f love. Nor was she surprised that he was again writing letters, but none to her. She felt her heart pounding in her chest, sure that Aristotle could hear it in the silence of the room.
“Is that all, Ari?” she asked. Bethany didn’t want to reveal anything about how she felt towards Alec, confusing as those feeling were. Ari looked at her as if trying to decide what to say next.
“I’m not feeling well today. May I go back to rest now?” she asked, and stood.
“Yes, by all means child, make yourself comfortable. Come see me again when you feel better so we can talk some more, please,” Ari acquiesced, and watched with sadness as the girl walked out of his office. He had failed to handle Alec’s relationship with Noranda as well as possible, he knew now; he had not communicated to each what he knew about the other. He suspected that was best in the long run, but he hadn’t known it at the time. And now he was finding circumstances leading towards the same sad lack of facts and of feelings being exchanged between Alec and Bethany.
Aristotle worried for Alec, and worried specifically about what would become of the boy in the future. His young heart still had not really learned what love was, and Ari believed that it was going to learn the sharper side of love before it fully appreciated the gentler side.
In the meantime, he had to remain focused on the mundane and pragmatic issues. He had to continue his devotion to the re-organization of Ingenairii Hill, the maintenance of good relations with the Prelate and the church, and the provision of assistance and advice to Rander and the palace leadership. For the time being abou were no resources to offer to assist Goldenfields, while patrols were still needed to bring order to the streets of Oyster Bay, keeping the pretenders to the throne at bay.
Bethany returned to her house, and found Allisma and the other girls waiting for her return. “What did Aristotle say?”
“He told me that Alec is alive, and out in the wilderness on a quest somewhere,” Bethany replied, wishing that she didn’t have to talk about the topic.
“Let’s not talk about Alec any more, okay? I’ll let you know when I want to say something about him,” she told the small group. “I’m going to dinner with Tritos tonight. Did I tell you? What do you think I should wear?” And so she stunned and then cajoled her friends into closing off conversation about the healer ingenaire, and they talked about less painful topics.
Chapter 6 – A Rainy Road to Stronghold
Alec awoke in mid-morning, as the Current Rider continued to move downstream from Stronghold, its sails down, relying on the current and the rudder to direct its path back towards safety after an uneventful night of cautiously sailing in the dark.
“We’ve got some rations left to go around, sir,” Lieutenant Inspir said respectfully to Alec as he offered him some toasted bread and ham. “We’ll have fish before the hour is out as well,” he nodded towards the prow of the ship where three men were hanging lines in the water.
“Is Parlton available?” Alec asked.
“He’s catching some sleep himself, right now,” Inspir answered. “He was up until sunrise helping to maintain our course in the river channel. I’m taking the watch now while he rests.”
Were there only the two officers left, Alec wondered. He knew the captain had been killed, and two other lieutenants must have died back at the yard as well. Only Inspir and Parlton would be available to command the deck, making for long shifts for the two men. Of course there were regrettably few men left to oversee, and fortunately none of those who had sailed in the first place were troublemakers by the standards of river sailors. Two officers would be enough to take the crew back to safety, he was confident.
Alec realized that he wasn’t going to go back with them. He was going to get off the ship soon, and try to find some way to return to Noranda. He realized that even after all this time he didn’t know exactly who she was. He had thought of her as someone special during those long ago days in the carnival, but now ater so many months apart he didn’t really feel he knew her very well, and he knew she wouldn’t know anything about his life and trials.
He missed Ari. He missed having someone to tell him what to do. He would give anything in the world to have Ari make decisions and give advice and provide friendship and happiness.
Was he really supposed to be the protector of the crown? Was he supposed to have the knowledge to find, support or guide the rightful head of the Dominion? He didn’t even feel comfortable planning his own future, let alone making such grand plans for the whole nation. Alec began to laugh out loud at the remarkable twists his life had taken, and heads turned to see what amused him. He walked back to Inspir. “Tonight, could you drop me off on the bank with Walnut? I have unfinished business at Stronghold, and I’m not going to leave until I get it done.”
“Alec, the folks there aren’t going to welcome you back, do you think?” Inspir asked with a cocked eyebrow. “What do you want to do back there, anyway?” he asked with real curiosity.
“I took a ride on the Current Rider to get to Stronghold because I need to do something there,” he vaguely gestured back. “I always expected to leave the ship once we got to Stronghold,” he admitted.
“We’re lucky to have had you when we did,” Inspir replied after a long pause. “What is it you’ll do up there?” no longer questioning whether or not Alec would still return to the hostile city. “Is it something for Natha?”
“No, it’s not for Natha,” Alec replied without answering.
“Do you think they’ll recognize you? We could cut your hair for you,” Inspir suggested helpfully. “Would you like that?”
Alec thought about the long, unruly hair that got in his face and streamed over his shoulder. It had gone uncut since before he went to the Well of John Mark, many months ago. He hadn’t cut it so far, because he felt it was some symbol of his commitment to attend only to his mission in Stronghold. Perhaps he could cut it now, he thought to himself, and nodded agreement. Inspir gestured a short, wrinkled crewman over. “Chips, go get your barber tools for Alec.”
Half an hour later a circle of crewmen were rubbing their hands affectionately across the short stubble that remained atop Alec’s skull. “Be careful to wear a hat so you don’t burn your scalp,” one man advised.
By late afternoon Parlton was awake, and Alec found him in his cabin to inform him of his wish to leave the ship. “I can’t deny you any request after what you did for us, Alec, but I don’t like to lose you now,” the unofficial acting captain explained.
Although Alec felt bad in refusing the unspoken request to stay with the ship, he knew he could not stay away from his destined duty to revive Noranda. “Why don’t you put me and Walnut on the north shore of the river before nightfall?” he asked without making eye contact with Parlton.
“You look younger with your short hair,” Parlton replied. “No one who hasn’t seen you fight would believe what a battle you can give.” He paused, then pulled out a chart of the river’s course, and studied it for long seconds as his finger traced the lines on a page. “We’re about here, so the mouth of this tributary will be a good place for us to pull out of the current and get you close to shore. We should be there in less than an hour.”
“Do you have your things packed and ready?” he asked as he stood, stooped over in the short cabin beneath the deck. When Alec nodded affirmatively, Parlton led the way to the sunlight.
Up on deck he called to the forward lookout to watch for an inlet on the right shore and to direct the ship into it, then looked at Alec. “Is there anything we can do for you?”
“Just let Natha know that I tried to help, and take care of your crew,” Alec said.
Without a dock, Walnut was eventually put ashore only by pushing him into the river so that he swam to the swampy edge of the river and struggled up onto dry land. The late-summer weather made the swim in the river feel comfortable, and Alec turned to wave to the members of the Current Rider crew who lined the ship’s railing to watch him leave.
Walnut careful
ly picked his footing through the muck and weeds that separated the river from the land, as Alec walked in front leading the way. At last the ground rose up a bank and the way was solid enough for Alec to mount his horse and begin riding. He took his time, calculating that he’d need at least two full days of riding to retrace the distance covered by a night and a day of sailing with the current down the river.
The river flowed from east to west at this location, so Alec and Walnut rode with the sunset behind them in the west as they returned. The red glow from the western sky reflected off the trees in front of them, as Alec tried to intercept the road that he guessed probably ran parallel to the riverbank. The topography was gently rolling, and they crossed three valleys but did not find a road or track of any stature before near total darkness descended and Alec halted their journey for the night.
Walnut still carried the load of fodder Alec had bought in Stronghold, while Alec had brought little food for himself away from the ship. He fed and brushed Walnut in the darkness, talking to the horse about the way he was floundering back to Stronghold without a plan. “Why couldn’t I have heard a prophecy about the next few days?” he asked the horse as he finished up his activities. He rolled out his blankets and lay on the ground, falling asleep quickly.
Before dawn a hard rain started to fall and Alec woke up when a leaf dropped a small cupful of water onto the back of his neck. He rolled over and sat up in the dark, unable to see more than a vague outline of Walnut standing with his head down in the rain. Alec pulled his blankets about him, waiting for the dawn to give enough light to start moving. He felt hungry, and hoped that he’d come to a town early in the day to find some food in a tavern.
He dozed as he sat until he realized that he saw Walnut clearly, and the trees and bushes nearby as well. Grumbling, hrolled his sodden blankets and untied his horse to begin traveling. The clouds prevented him from seeing precisely where the sun rose, but he traveled in a generally northeast direction, hoping that the rising ground would take him up the side of the hills that rolled beyond the river valley; he was sure a road would hug those hills, and give him easy access to Stronghold.
The Lifesaving Power: Goldenfields and Stronghold Page 6