The Lifesaving Power: Goldenfields and Stronghold

by Jeffrey Quyle

  “What? Why? What am I going to wear?” he answered in complete confusion.

  “Turn around and give me your shirt,” she told him in an authoritative voice. “Then give me your pants.”

  “What are you doing?” his voice rose slightly.

  “One of us needs to go out and find out what is happening and what we can do. I’m the obvious one to go; you need to stay here and take care of Brandeis and yourself,” she explained.

  “I don’t think that wearing my clothes is going to make you that indistinguishable,” he rebutted her plan as he pulled his shirt over his head.

  “You’re going to cut my hair off before I go,” Noranda explained fully revealing her plan with a sigh.

  Alec turned and stared into her eyes, oblivious to their respective states of dress. “Really?” he exclaimed.

  “Turn around. Yes, really,” she told him.

  Alec handed his shirt over and stood up. “You’re not looking are you?” he asked as he unbuckled his pants.

  “Trust me,” Noranda answered. Alec laughed long and loud. “It wasn’t that funny,” she told him as she felt his arm bump into her back.

  “I just remembered the first time I told you I had my healer vision and could see through people, and you covered yourself up,” he explained with a chuckle as she took his pants.

  “Well, I didn’t know what you meant,” the girl scolded him in a defensive tone. “Nice skivvies,” she added over the sound of rustling cloth.

  “Hey, what am I going to wear?C he reached his hand behind him and futilely smacked at empty space.

  “Get Brandeis’s pants, then cut my hair,” Noranda replied. Two minutes later the unconscious Brandeis was pantless, his pants were loosely pulled up around Alec’s waist, and Alec’s pants were just as loose around Noranda as he carefully sawed away long clumps of hair with his stolen sword blade.

  “Ouch!” she said repeatedly, among other things.

  Finally Alec had enough. “I didn’t take the sharpest blade back there in the dungeon. Just about three more cuts and you’ll be done,” he told her as he looked at the pile of tresses he had cut.

  “That’s it,” he said a minute later as he stepped away.

  “Well? How does it look?” Noranda said impatiently, staring at him as he stared at her.

  “Boys really don’t care how their hair looks,” he answered diplomatically. He hadn’t cut a straight line or even a level one anywhere.

  “Oh that’s just great!” she said in a slightly shrill tone.

  “Here,” Alec said, reaching for his belt and pulling a few coins from its hidden pockets. “Go to a barber shop and have it fixed while you’re out.

  “Can we go get some breakfast? I’m hungry,” he wanted to change the topic, and he was truly hungry.

  “What about Brandeis?” Noranda asked.

  “He didn’t wake up when up when I took his pants off him, so he should sleep a while more,” Alec said. He picked up Noranda’s blouse and looked at it momentarily, then pulled Brandeis’s dark shirt off him and slipped it over his own head, wishing it was cleaner.

  “Do you know what you’ll do?” he asked a few minutes later as they purchased rolls at a street stand a block away from the inn.

  “I’ll go by the compound, find a barber, get a haircut, then stand near the entry to see if I can catch someone I think I can trust,” she told him.

  “It sounds, like a good plan, but you’ll need to be careful, the guards will become suspicious if you loiter near the gate.” Alec cautioned.

  “Let me give you a shopping list of things we need,” Alec said, “you can visit the markets while you’re out as well.” He borrowed a slip of paper and a pencil from the vendor, and wrote down several herbs and ingredients he needed for Brandeis and himself, as well as some useful implements and tools he wanted to have.

  “Why do you want to have six throwing knives?” Noranda asked as she looked at the various items on the list.

  “For safety. Also, get a bandolier with those. Go to a pawn shop to get those and the extra swords. The res will be in the markets and food shops,” he answered.

  “Alec, I won’t be able to carry all this stuff. Plus it will take all day shopping, when I want to stay around the compound gate,” she protested. “And I’ll need more money.”

  Alec realized she was right. “That’s true. Don’t get the swords. You can wear the bandolier and the knives, and everything else is small,” he conceded. “Let’s go back to the room and I’ll give you money. You can pay the innkeeper for the next night’s room and pay the stables for the horses’ keep as well.”

  Alec bought some small snacks and fruit to take back to the room, gave Noranda her funds, and watched her leave. He lay back down on the floor, still drowsy, and fell asleep. He slept for several hours until he felt a nudge. Opening his eyes, he saw Brandeis sitting on the bed looking at him.

  “That must have been some wild night, last night Alec,” Brandeis said in a shaky voice. “But it couldn’t have been any wilder than the dream I had about Noranda coming to life, all of us going to prison, and being killed by a bunch of guards. So tell me what really happened, and why are you wearing my clothes?”

  Alec looked at Brandeis and tried to use his healing vision, without success. Before he could answer though the door opened abruptly, and Noranda walked in, wearing a bandolier over Alec’s clothes and carrying bags of supplies.

  “Who’s this?” Brandeis asked without recognition.

  “Who’s this?” Noranda replied as she placed the bags on the ground and handed the bandolier to Alec.

  “Noranda? What happened to your hair? I didn’t recognize you! But if you are alive, then we must have been in prison, and I must have been killed by the guards,” he rapidly tried to work through the inexplicable circumstances as he looked down and saw the dull red scar on his belly. He looked back up at Noranda, then at Alec.

  Alec handed him an apple. “Everything is pretty much as you think, except you didn’t die,” he said with a smile.

  “Your hair looks very nice, Noranda. Did you think to buy any clothes for any of us to wear?” Alec asked.

  “You didn’t ask. You wouldn’t believe what it’s like to be a boy. Well, you would, but it is so different!” she told him. She bent over and hugged Brandeis, who hesitated, then hugged back.

  Alec took pity on Brandeis. “I healed you after the ambush in the courtyard yesterday. Then Noranda led us through the streets of Stronghold and brought us here to this inn, where ever this is. This morning she cut her hair, took my clothes, and went out in disguise to do a number of things.”

  “I got a haircut after Alec butchered my hair, then I stood by the family gate at the compound. I saw Johanna go out, but she had three men with her I didn’t recognize. I followed them, but all she did was some shopping, and returned,” Noranda narrated. “Then it started to late, so I went to do the shopping Alec asked for, and came back here!”

  “Now that Brandeis is awake, I can see we’re going to need some clothes. Please go get some clothes for us; get something that will fit you, and get some extras for Brandeis and me,” Alec instructed. “Brandeis can stay here, and I’ll go down to the kitchen to see if the cook will let me mix some of this up for Brandeis.”

  “What’s in it?” Brandeis asked.

  “It’s all good, don’t worry. Let’s get going,” Alec said.

  He and Noranda left together, and parted on the ground floor. In the kitchen Alec found two cooks working busily. “May I boil some liver and herbs?” he asked one.

  “Isn’t our food good enough for you? You can pay to buy like everyone else,” she responded.

  “This is a recipe for weak blood for my friend. I’ll share some with you if you know anyone who needs it. Many women think it helps give them more energy,” Alec said. “I learned it from a healer.”

  “Stay over there, stay out of the way, clean your own pots,” the cook relented. “And go fill the water b
arrel from the pump in the yard,” she motioned to the buckets stacked by the water barrel.

  Alec started his water to boil, trudged back and forth to fill the barrel, then started chopping the liver and adding the chicory, sorrel, cucumber blossoms, rue seeds, and other ingredients, then boiled it down to a thick soup. He borrowed a bowl, thanked the cooks, and left the rest for them. When he got upstairs, he handed the warm bowl to Brandeis. “Hold your nose and drink this,” he recommended.

  Noranda entered the room as Brandeis held the bowl before his face. When he lowered it, his face screwed up in disgust, she burst out laughing. “What have you fed him, Alec?”

  “If I told you, your face would look like his,” Alec told her as he took the empty bowl. “I’m going to return this and clean up in the kitchen,” he said as he excused himself. Downstairs he casually took his time to clean up, and even fixed an extra remedy to treat the cook’s muscle aches, wanting to give Noranda and Brandeis time alone together.

  The lengthening shadows from the setting sun finally persuaded Alec to return to the room. “Alec, we’ve been waiting for you,” Noranda greeted him, though he sensed her words were false. They were both sitting on the bed, and Brandeis was dressed in new clothes. “We’re starved! Let’s go get some dinner.”

  They ate in the common room together, not discussing their situation within earshot of the other diners. While Brandeis and Noranda returned to the room, Alec went out to the stables to see the horses, then went to the kitchen to fix some broth for himself. He boiled it down, and went back up to the room.

  “Tomorrow, I’ll go back to the family gate and spend all day there to try to catch someone,” Noranda announced, absent-mindedly running her fingers ov the short hair on top of her head.

  “Can you talk to anyone if they all have guards?” Alec asked. “Could you pass a note to someone without being caught?”

  “We don’t want to take any chances with her,” Brandeis protested. “Maybe you and I could create a diversion to distract the guards?”

  Alec thought about it. “That could work, if we didn’t face too many at once. But if we’re recognized too early, it could be more trouble.”

  “Not the way you fight!” Brandeis responded.

  “I can’t do that all the time. John Mark put restrictions on how often I can use my abilities,” Alec told them.

  “Who’s John Mark?” Brandeis asked. “How can he restrict you?”

  “John Mark,” Alec replied simply.

  “He means ‘the John Mark,’ from the church. You know, the prophet,” Noranda prompted.

  “What do you really mean?” Brandeis answered. “You’re not telling me that mythical figures talk to Alec and control him, are you?”

  “He’s not mythical to me. I’ve been to his holy sites. He has guided me and talked to me and rescued me,” Alec said matter-of-factly. He has revealed many things to me, and I believe him.

  “For instance, he told me that Noranda is not meant to be my companion, but someone else’s,” Alec casually commented.

  “I know that you’re a healer, and I’ve seen you fight,” Brandeis began. “But this…”

  “Brandeis, accept this. I’ve seen Alec return from a holy place. I believe him. If you went to chapel more often, maybe you’d believe him too,” she added.

  Brandeis looked ready to debate further, but said nothing.

  “We’ll all leave tomorrow, and Brandeis and I can stay up the road from where you stand,” Alec decided, returning to the safer topic. “If someone comes out and comes our way, we can contrive something to block them from following whichever cousin Noranda speaks with.”

  After further discussion they decided to go to sleep. “Alec, you can take the bed tonight,” Brandeis offered. “We’ll take turns, since I slept in it last night.”

  Alec felt cheated somehow, but couldn’t refuse the offer.

  The next morning, they followed their plan, paying the innkeeper for their room again, then choosing pastries to eat as they walked down the street. Alec wore his bandolier, and stopped at a pawn shop to purchase swords for himself and Brandeis.

  “We’re almost there,” Brandeis said at one corner. “Let’s stop here and wait. Good luck,” He told Noranda, squeezing her hand.

  “Good luck,” Alec echoed, and on impulse he rubbed the short hair on top of her head. She scowled at him in mock anger, then walked down to her appointed location.

  For two hours they stood aimlessly, moving occasionally around the intersection to prevent blocking traffic and to avoid creating suspicion. At mid-morning though, they saw Noranda start to move away from them. “Let’s go. She must be following someone,” Brandeis said, grabbing Alec’s sleeve.

  They hurried down the road, turning their heads away from the street as they passed the compound gate, and catching up with Noranda as she turned a corner. “Who are we after?” Brandeis asked.

  “It’s Johanna again,” she replied. “Up there where the two men in green jackets are walking,” she pointed out. “They’re the guards.”

  “Let us try to get past them, and we can make a diversion when they pass, to separate the guards from her,” Alec suggested. “Then if you’re close behind, you can grab Johanna and pull her into a shop door so you can talk for a minute or two.”

  Brandeis and Alec walked forward quickly. “I’ll step around them, then trip in front of one and knock him down,” Alec suggested. “You be ready to stumble over the other one when he stops to help the first one up, so we can get them both tied down for a few seconds,”

  “That sounds good,” Brandeis agreed.

  “As soon as we get up, apologize and get out of their way, blocking the door Johanna is in. I’ll stand on their other side and try to keep them paying attention to me,” Alec finished.

  They walked quickly ahead, and began execution of their plan. Passing one guard who walked outside of Johanna, Alec contrived to fall spastically, flailing his arms so that he bumped the guard hard, and pulled him down.

  There was a shout, and the other guard cut over, just as Brandeis hoped. He shouted “Watch out!” as he bumped hard into the standing guard, and all four were in a heap.

  Alec heard a gasp, then began to apologize. “I’m sorry, I slipped on something on the street,” he said, trying to delay anyone from getting up.

  “Clumsy oaf! Both of you!” the second guard said. “Get off me!” he ordered.

  “My leg hurts. You stepped right in front of me. Why don’t you watch where you’re going?” Brandeis responded. He pushed downward on the guard to propel himself up, and turned away to look for Johanna or Noranda. Neither was in sight.

  “Hey!” the guard said as he stood up. The second guard also stood, and Alec rose to his knees. Both the guards were grabbing Brandeis. “He’s one of the ones we want,” one guard said.

  “Where’s the girl?” the other guard said, looking around. “You take this one to the alley over there, and I’ll try to find the girl.” Neither of them looked further at Alec, who rose to his feet and scuttled several steps away. Brandeis looked at him blankly, as the burly guard hauled him by the arm through the street traffic to the other side. Alec turned to watch the other guard walk forward rapidly up the street, looking for Johanna.

  Alec turned back and through breaks in the stream of traffic he saw that Brandeis’s escort was drawing his sword. Without hesitation, Alec seized his warrior powers, and, to his relief, felt them engage. He pulled one of the daggers out of his bandolier, jumped up onto a building scaffolding to get a clear view of Brandeis, and let the dagger fly as the guard’s sword arm reared back. Alec stepped back down to the street and ran across the road. He found Brandeis holding the slumping guard.

  Alec was seized with a sudden idea. “Get his jacket off him before it gets bloodstained!” he said. He pulled the dagger out of the man’s neck and yanked the jacket away from the bloody wound. He lifted the man from Brandeis’s grasp and pulled him deeper into the alley, behind a r
efuse pile, where he proceeded to strip the rest of the green uniform off the dead man. “Here, put this on,” he told Brandeis. “We might have a new plan.

  “Now go inside the shop where Noranda and Johanna are to see what they are doing. I’ll stay outside and snare the other guard when he comes back,” Alec said. He was trying to create a new scenario on the fly. “If this works out, we can get inside the compound and try to set things in motion.”

  They walked out to the street, and Alec saw the other guard walking rapidly back towards them, searching for both his companion and his charge. Brandeis scampered into the shop and Alec heard a muffled scream of delight. The remaining guard was staring in shop windows as he passed them on his approach towards Alec.

  “Hey! Your friend went in there,” Alec pointed to an alley next to the shop.

  The guard looked at him without commenting and swept past him, turned the corner, and disappeared from Alec’s sight. Alec knew his next task would be unpleasant, but took a deep breath and went around the corner. He pulled another dagger out and tossed it at the man, then ran forward to catch the body as it slumped. Alec rolled him over and saw a look of surprise on his victim’s face as he heard the rattle of the man’s last breath. Working rapidly, Alec changed into the green uniform, at least two sizes too large for him, and stepped into the shop.

  “There’s Alec!” Johanna shrieked, and she left Brandeis to hug Alec ferociously. “Are you going to help us?” she asked as she held him. “What happened to your face? What did they do to you?”

  “Your Aunt Mooreen held me captive,” he said simply as he gestured to the scar on his cheek. “What’s happening in the compound now?” Alec asked as the other two strolled over.

  “Mooreen has a whole squad of new guards that have confined all of us to the residential quarters. Until she catches the three of you, no one is allowed out except me, tdo shopping for personal items,” Johanna explained. “They’re interrogating people about you, and Durer is cut off from the rest of us.”

  “If we can get inside and give people weapons and isolate these new guards, would the cousins and the old guards fight against Mooreen?” Alec asked her.