The Lifesaving Power: Goldenfields and Stronghold

by Jeffrey Quyle

  “But Ari has told me to stick to my duty. I remember Ari,” Alec told his mentor.

  “I know you have. You’ve done very well these past several months. And now you tell us these are signs that the rightful heir of the throne will be revealed at some time not too far away,” Ari said, as he put his arm around Alec’s waist.

  “This is an age of miracles,” Rander said. “We’ve never seen the likes of this in Oyster Bay.”

  “You’re right, Rander,” Ari said. “This is a time of miracles.”

  Section 2

  Goldenfields and the River Giffey

  Chapter 26 – A Visit to Boston Palace

  As the time to leave Oyster Bay approached, Alec added more days of healing at the cathedral, and cut back on the dances at night. He had endured enough ceremony and empty lonely celebration, and wanted only to leave the city. Unmistakable signs of spring arrived as the temperatures warmed, and trees started to bud. At last the day came when the palace staff could no longer hold him back, and with a large contingent of his own army troops, Alec rode out of the city on Walnut, the first ruler to ride off to war in over five hundred years.

  Alec rode with several guests he had not expected or desired, however. Several prominent nobles chose not to go to war, but developed a traveling court that would accompany the king. Privately Alec complained to Rander and the others about allowing it to happen, but like them, he had no diplomatic means of stopping the coterie who led the effort, resulting in more than two dozen travelers with their own luggage and their attendants, who Alec suspected would provide additional headaches for the army.

  There was one surprising addition to his group, however. Allisma, a water ingenaire, received Aristotle’s permission to travel with Alec. They were acquaintances, though not close, and Alec wasn’t sure what to make of Allisma’s presence. She was good as a water ingenaire, but she was also an extremely close friend of Bethany’s. Alec was polite to her, but didn’t go out of his way to befriend her or become better friends, not yet ready to field any relationship that in any way related to Bethany.

  The road was a familiar one for Alec, as it retraced the journey he had traveled while on his way to Stronghold. An armada of boats traveled on the river, carrying supplies and material. Within days they arrived at Three Forks, and numerous contingents of armsmen joined together. Alec presided over the meetings of the commanding officers, who jockeyed for position, supplies, assignments, and every other aspect of an army on the move.

  The ruling council of Three Forks was honored to see the king arrive, and delighted to see the large army depart from its environs. There were over four thousand men and women marching together now, marching slowly in the slippery mud and puddles of spring. Alec rode with a small vanguard in these safe lands, as he preferred not to be mired in the torn and trampled road after the army had passed over it, and he wanted to remain in front of and apart from the courtiers.

  Two weeks later, they came to the border of Goldenfields, and entered the lands that belonged to Boston Palace, the estate the Duke of Goldenfields had given to Alec long ago, though Alec had never visited it before. Within a few days they spotted the estate manor sitting on a bluff above the river, and rode up the graveled way to the lawn in front of the house. Looking down they could see the long winding ribbon of men and material moving towards them, and the many ships in the river carrying the supplies for the army.

  “Let’s spend the night here; I’ve never spent an evening at this estate before,” Alec impetuously decided. “We can give the army a day to pull together so the laggards can catch up.”

  The staff of the manor expressed amazement at the arrival of a nobleman, and their direct owner at that, but were nonplussed by the arrival of an army. Alec learned that months earlier a force of the Goldenfields army had been stationed on the Boston estate to guard the river border. When it became clear that the troubles in Oyster Bay and with Stronghold had subsided, those troops had moved to the east to help in the battles with the lacertii.

  As the army arrived and spread out across the fields, Alec took a tour of the estate grounds, and learned that the nobles of the movable court expected some type of banquet that evening to compensate for the monotonous trip they’d endured since leaving Redwater.

  Alec let Armilla handle the unpleasant chores of setting up an impromptu banquet in a manor house they’d never visited before. He knew he’d face her wraith afterwards as she would be forced to deal with the egos of the nobles jockeying for positions.

  At dinner that night, Alec sat at a large round table, with Rander, Rubicon, Nathaniel, generals Hewlett and Tunce, and Count Wingler, Marchioness Julia, Countess Roubles, and the daughter of a wealthy merchant. Several other tables nearby held other military and social leaders, as well as the head of the local Goldenfields constabulary.

  After the meal, Rander rose to give the end of the meal toast. “To the crown protector,” he said, “who brings an army of friendship to help the Duke of Goldenfields.”

  The Goldenfields constable rose to return the toast. “To the lord of Boston Palace, returning to resume service to his Duke.”

  Most of the room paused, trying to figure out if an awkward accolade or a veiled insult had just been issued. Nathaniel wasn’t sure either, but knew that there was no point in allowing something so trivial to blow up out of proportion. “To His majesty, who fondly remembers his time serving the Duke before he came to his powers,” he declared, and the room let the tension pass.

  “Quite the diplomat, I see,” Alec said in a quiet voice to his friend. “Perhaps we should have let your clever ways stay back in Oyster Bay to guard the throne, instead of Moriah’s.” Splitting up the two lovers had been a difficult decision, but everyone other than Moriah had agreed that it was important to keep a strong warrior ingenaire member of Alec’s circle in Oyster Bay to safeguard his interests. Moriah had wanted desperately to remain with Nathaniel, and she had wanted to go to war, but had deferred to Aristotle, Rubicon, and Nathaniel eventualla veiled

  Following dinner and polite talks, came the nightly reports from the army commanders and the dispatches from Oyster Bay behind as well as Goldenfields ahead. Alec fell asleep as weary as ever from the unending demands for decisions and information that capped the day. Early the next morning, Alec thanked his staff for all their work in providing and preparing the impromptu banquet the previous night, and resumed the journey to Goldenfields.

  Three nights later the head of the army stopped for the night almost within sight of the city. They were on the east bank, and had seen increasing numbers of villages and homes, as well as boats on the river, since they left Boston. Alec was excited beyond description at the prospect of seeing the ducal palace and its many inhabitants that he knew so well. He slept little that night and was up early the next morning.

  As they ate breakfast, Rander and the others held Alec in check, reminding him that the Duke did not expect him to arrive before noon, and so Alec sat with nervous energy as the large army he was bringing to help Goldenfields moved past him and began the day’s march that would send many of the soldiers past the city and further towards the battlefront.

  Even as Alec’s tent was being struck in the cool midmorning of the early day, he watched Walnut being brought to him, and he eagerly climbed back into the saddle to ride towards the ceremonies and friends and memories that awaited him.

  Chapter 27 – Reunions in Goldenfields

  The streets through the eastern bank communities were lined with onlookers, and progress was very slow as the royal party entered the city of Goldenfields. They eventually crossed the bridge to the busier side of the river, and a chorus of cheers erupted as they entered the great Merchants Square. Alec looked at the banners and flags waving with the duke’s colors and his own, and he thought back to the day the revolt in the palace had been crushed, when a large crowd had cheered for Colonel Ryder and the rag tag collection of forces that had retaken control of the palace from the Duke’s us
urping sons.

  At the causeway leading to the island palace, the Duke stood awaiting the arrival of the leader of the new army. Alec dismounted, and handed the reins of his horse to a groom. He walked out in front of his entourage, and approached the Duke and his welcoming group. The Duke bowed at Alec’s arrival, as did everyone with him, and then everyone in the square appeared to ripple in a wave of movement showing similar respect to Alec’s new position.

  Alec was caught off-guard by the Duke’s gesture. He reached out with both hands and pulled the Duke up, then embraced him in a hug. “Your Grace, I’m more than happy to be back to serve you again,” he said.

  “Your majesty, I’m always more than happy to have you return! I just wish you didn’t have to keep leaving,” Duke Toulon said with genuine affection. “Let’s go into the palace and have a talk before this evening’s banquet.”

  Alec looked at the crowd surrounding the Duke and him, and saw face after face of friends. Colonel Ryder was present, and to Alec’s great delight, both Captain Lewis and his wife Inga, the guardsman. The Duke’s ingenaire, Merle, stood next to counselors Ratsall and Kelvin. There were many others Alec recognized in the palace group, mostly among the Guardsmen who he had practiced with.

  The Duke turned and walked back towards the palace, striding with his hand on Alec’s elbow. “I hear nothing but good things about your reign so far, your majesty,” he said.

  “Please just call me Alec, your grace,” Alec answered.

  “Then you must call me Guy,” the Duke replied.

  “That will be tough,” Alec said ruefully, and they both laughed. “I see that Lewis and Inga are here.”

  “They are taking a turn back here at the palace, while Imelda’s cavalry and several others are on the front for now,” the Duke said. “With your force here, we’ll be sending almost everyone out to the battles now to try to win this spring.”

  “But we can have a serious talk any time over the next few days,” the Duke politely changed the subject. “Your timing is just what I would expect from any other young man who is king. Tonight we’ll have a ball for you, and then tomorrow we start the three days of Transpassare. You’ll have many opportunities to dance with the young ladies,” the Duke added with a grin.

  “Will that include an opportunity to dance with your duchess?” Alec asked laughingly. He was pleased to enjoy the revelry of Transpassare, the holiday of the first new moon of spring. He had missed last years’ frivolity while he was in the desert cave of John Mark’s pool.

  “She is rather delicate these days, and won’t be dancing,” the Duke explained in reference to his wife from Bondell, then paused momentarily as some private reflection consumed his attention. “But we’ll have chances to talk with her many times.”

  They arrived at the palace doors and entered. “You still have your own room here of course, and we have suites set aside for your entire group,” the duke said at the foot of the stairs.

  “Is Ellison available this afternoon?” Alec asked unexpectedly as the desire to walk the familiar city streets rose up within him. “If he could take Armilla and I out the quiet way, I would be grateful to see the city again.”

  The Duke looked at him. “I understand. It must be hard for someone who was free all your life to have to adjust to the scrutiny of leadership. Ellison will arrive at your rooms to be at your service shortly.”

  Alec was in his suiteith Armilla in the early afternoon when his escort arrived. “Ellison, my friend, it is so good to see you again! Are you and Ellen married?” Alec asked as he hugged the man who had become an early friend in the Guard.

  “Ah, Alec,” Ellison said, stepping back to arms length to observe him. “You look so different. You’ve gone through a lot, I hear, and I know I don’t know the half of what you’ve done this past year. It’s good to see you!

  “Yes, we are married now, and live in your shop still, along with several of the young ingenairii,” Ellison continued. “And so you’re virtually a king! The Lord works in wonderful and mysterious ways, doesn’t he?

  “Now, where would you like to go?”

  “I’d like to go to the shop, and to see Annalea, and to Leah’s grave, for this afternoon, if there’s time,” Alec told Ellison. “I’ll bring Armilla along, if you don’t mind,” Alec indicated the armed woman who clearly stood out as a guard.

  “Of course you’ll bring her. You know that a ruler must obey his guard at all times,” Ellison gave Armilla a wink. “Do you have cloaks to wear in the streets?”

  The three of them were quickly on their way through the tunnel under the river. “We should have something like this at the Palace in Oyster Bay,” Armilla told Alec as they climbed up the exit into the city, to which he agreed, as he and Ellison discussed the many changes in their lives over the course of time since they last saw each other.

  They walked through the streets of the city with hoods drawn up, as Alec swiveled his head back and forth, looking at the small changes that had occurred in the everyday scenery of these streets he formerly walked daily. When they turned onto Bakers Street, Alec paused at the corner to give the ghosts of the past time to prepare for his arrival. “There, right there, Ellison, is where I caught Ellen and Hannah the first day we met, when they were leaving the shop,” Alec pointed for his friend like a tour guide.

  They walked to the door of the shop. “Are you ready for this?” Ellison asked with a grin, then opened the door and led the way in, where the after hours waiting room was empty. “We’re closed, please come back tomorrow,” a voice called down the hall, and then Cassie came into view. “Oh Ellison, sorry, I didn’t know you were coming,” she said as she registered who had arrived. “Oh my, oh my Lord! Alec! Alec! Alec’s here!” she said in ascending volume as her mind recognized the face whose hood was being drawn back. She rushed to him as best she could in her pregnant state and hugged him fiercely.

  Alec looked at her face, so familiar and yet grown different as her pregnancy subtly changed it, then he felt the girl’s body press up against him, and he smelled her familiar scent as her hair brushed against his face in a hug that lasted a long silent time. Footsteps sounded in the hallway and on the steps as people came flocking to the commotion, but Alec and Cassie continued to hold each other for a long time.

  “Oh Cassie, I’m so happy to see you,” Alec whispered in her ear at last, as they gently ended their embrace.

  “Most people thought you were dead in Bondell, but I never believed it,” Cassie said. “Appel, it’s Alec!” she said to the air ingenaire who was her companion. Appel broke the tableau across the room and led a group of young ingenairii that surged towards Alec and mobbed him with enthusiastic affection.

  Ellison stood against a wall with his arm around Ellen, watching the reunion. Confident that Alec was safe, Armilla maneuvered over next to them. “He must be lonelier than I realized. I’ve never seen him around many people his own age,” she said. “He never has a chance to be a boy now, and he doesn’t have many friends who can ever forget he’s the crown protector,” she observed to Ellison as the group of a dozen young ingenairii shouted and chatted and laughed around their long-lost friend.

  “Is he happy?” Ellen asked.

  “I doubt it, but I’m not sure,” Armilla answered. I don’t think he’s sure. He stays so busy trying to do everything people tell him to do to be the savior of the Dominion, he doesn’t have time to know what he’s missing any more. I think he’s happiest when he practices swords in the morning with the Palace Guard, or when he heals the public. He seems happier at those moments than any time I’ve seen him,” she added. “After that, it’s all kingly business.”

  “Does he have a lady love? Is Bethany still with him?” Ellen asked.

  Armilla judged the couple she was standing with and concluded that they were true friends of her ward who cared only for his welfare. “Do you mean the pretty blond ingenaire?” she asked, and Ellen nodded. “I watched them at a ball once. He watched her a great deal
, and she watched him a great deal as well, and they danced a long dance together. But I’ve not seen her since, and he’s not gone to look for her when he’s gone to Ingenairii Hill. He’s in love with her, and been hurt; she has another beau now. So he’s not looking for a girl right now, and what’s worse is that he’s being hunted by a pack of potential wives from the rich and the noble.”

  The group of ingenairii was moving down the hallway now towards the kitchen, where they sat around a table to talk. Alec was freed of most of the inhibitions of being a ruler, and told about his adventures in Bondell, Oyster Bay, and Stronghold, focusing on the aspects that touched on ingenairii powers and on military powers, topics of interest for this enclave of ingenairii who remained in Goldenfields to fight against the lacertii.

  Alec refused to speak any further after a time, and made the others speak, telling him about one another and the other ingenairii that had passed through Goldenfields, including some who were on active duty currently serving in action against the lacertii. “Most of us here will be traveling east with the army when you start moving that way. The forces from Slone and the Northern Borders went south about a month ago,” said Streed, a stone ingenaire. “That was the signal that the rest of the army is getting close to moving.”

  Eventually Alec looked up at Ellison and Armilla, who were still waiting patiently. “What time is it?” he asked.

  “It’s time to return to the palacehe’the banquet and dance this evening,” Ellison said bluntly.

  “I didn’t know the time would go so fast here. I wanted to do more,” Alec replied. He looked at Cassie and Appel, sitting next to one another, and smiled a gentle smile, then stood and bid farewell as Ellison led Armilla and him back out onto the street.

  No one spoke as they returned through the tunnel to the Guard quarters and re-entered the palace, but the flurry of activity in the rich corridors created a sense of urgency as Ellison left the other two to tend to his own activities. Alec found his advisors mystified by his disappearance and annoyed with him upon his return.