The Lifesaving Power: Goldenfields and Stronghold

by Jeffrey Quyle

  “If we find a watering spot soon, we can stop and water the horses and eat,” Alec said. He was doubtful they would find water at this distance from the river, unless they came upon one of the infrequ streams that flowed year-round across the surface out here.

  They rode on for another half hour before Alec gave up the search for water. “Let’s stop here and share a water skin with the horses; I’ll use my shirt as a bucket they can drink from,” Alec explained, recalling a common trick from his carnival days. While Kinsey dug around in her pack for food, Alec stripped off his shirt and knotted the sleeves, then shared the water with the thirsty animals.

  “Alec, we have company,” Kinsey said while he was tending the horses.

  “What company? Where?” he asked quickly looking around, and spotting a score of cavalry riders less than two hundred yards away.

  The soldiers rode quickly towards them and surrounded them. The Goldenfields uniforms they wore gave Alec a feeling of assurance, since he couldn’t imagine anyone other than friendly soldiers riding out in these empty lands. Alec walked over and stood next to Kinsey, waiting for the motion around them to stop.

  “Shouldn’t you put your shirt back on, lover boy?” one cavalryman asked. Alec shot a wicked look at the man, surprised to be addressed so rudely.

  “He was using his shirt to water his horses, Clerr,” another rider responded in Alec’s defense. “He knows more about horses that you do, halfwit.”

  Alec looked at his defender momentarily, then looked around, trying to find the officer in charge. “Who commands here?” he asked loudly when he failed to identify anyone.

  “I do son,” a heavyset rider answered as he dismounted. “Who are you, and what in the name of the great hills are you doing out here in the middle of nowhere?”

  “I am Alec, and this is Kinsey. She’s a Spiritual Ingenaire. We were with a division that was assigned to work behind the lines, and we’re on our way back. This morning most of our comrades went in towards the center of the battle lines to find combat with the lacertii, but we were assigned to ride around the end of the lines and meet them after battle,” Alec explained.

  “Why would the two of you be assigned to leave your company before battle?” asked Clerr. “You’re more likely to be cowards that snuck away. I think there’s likely to be some discipline due here,” he added.

  “Alec,” Kinsey said softly. He bent down to hear her. “This feels very bad. These soldiers don’t have feelings like regular soldiers. There’s no control here.”

  “Why is your platoon out here?” Alec looked at their uniforms to identify who they were, and realized there were at least three different units mixed together here.

  “We’re making sure no lacertii come sweeping out here. The big push is on, and the lacertii are all being squeezed together in the middle. We’re going to make sure none curl around the end of the lines,” the man said. Alec thought his words seemed too glib.

  We’ll be on our way then, and let you move on,” Alec said. He turned and took Kinsey by the arm to lead her to their horses, hoping they could get away quickly. “We left the river about five hours ago, so you’ve still got some riding ahead of you.”

  “Not so fast,” the commander said, “I’d like to learn a little more about your activities before we let you wander off. You two check the packs on the horses, and you two take the young man over there to question him. I’ll talk to the lady to get her story,” the man said pointing among his men as he dismounted.

  Alec realized he did not have his sword on his hip. He and Kinsey were too far from the horses to beat the soldiers to them. “We’ll stay together,” he said, as he felt Kinsey’s hand tighten on his arm. Several other men were out of the saddle now, walking awkwardly like men not used to long riding.

  “Just listen and do what we tell you and this will be fine,” the commander said, holding his sword just three steps away from the two unarmed captives.

  Alec felt his Warrior ingenaire powers ignite. He stepped towards the man with the sword, kicked him hard in the knee with a movement that was just a blur, then punched hard at this face. The commander fell to the ground writhing in pain, and Alec grabbed the sword that now lay in the dirt. Grabbing Kinsey’s hand he turned and ran toward their horses, pulling the girl behind him. A great anger was coalescing within him, anger at the predatory ways of this gang of men. He let go of Kinsey and attacked one of the soldiers pawing through the saddlebags. As the man looked up at the sudden commotion, Alec swung the sword with all his might, nearly severing the man’s arm at the shoulder, then he rolled under Kinsey’s horse and ran the blade through the man who was with Walnut.

  “Get on your horse, Kinsey,” he hissed loudly. He grabbed the reins of Walnut and stepped over to where Kinsey was mounting. Alec took her mount’s reigns and speedily led both animals towards a small cluster of soldiers, who were startled by the sudden turn of events.

  “Move aside or you will die now,” he shouted at them, feeling more anger grow. He reached down to the ground, picked up a stone, and chucked it mightily at the face of Clerr, who had spoken out before. The stone struck the man in the nose, splitting it open and causing blood to flow profusely. Alec then jumped on Walnut and led Kinsey’s horse on a dash that sent men scattering as the two rode through the ring the new arrivals had formed.

  They rode hard for just two minutes, before Alec abruptly stopped. Kinsey began to sob. “Oh Alec, that was awful. Those men had nothing good in their hearts. Thank you for saving me.” Her body was wracked with emotion.

  Alec leaned over and placed an arm around her shoulders. “You stay here and wait for me. If any of them start riding towards you, shout and let me know. I’m going to go back and find out what is going on.”

  “Alec, don’t let your anger drive you too far,” Kinsey warned him. “I can tell you’re very upset, but be careful.”

  Alec listened gravely to her, then turned Walnut again, and bgan walking the horse back towards the cluster of men and horses, where disorder and panic had overcome all. The pockets of the two dead bodies were being rifled by their former comrades, and the injured commander was defending his authority against a challenger.

  When Alec’s approach was noticed, a number of the soldiers began to flee in various directions, while several others tried to find safety in numbers and clustered together. One man began firing arrows, which Alec dodged easily. “If you promise not to attack the two of us, and if you answer my questions, I will let you live,” Alec shouted.

  A knife came flying out of the pack at him. Alec held up his sword and blocked the twirling blade, which clattered to the ground harmlessly. Dismounting, Alec picked up the knife and threw it back, landing the point deep in a man’s shoulder.

  “You, come out here and talk to me,” Alec pointed at a man. The man looked down, then slowly walked out from his companions.

  “You’re not soldiers, are you?” Alec asked. The man shook his head. “Who are you?” Alec asked.

  “We’re convicts,” the man replied. “We were building the road. When the lacertii broke through the lines and started moving among the army, we didn’t have many guards watching over us, so we knocked them off, stole the horses and the uniforms, and set off to find plunder.”

  “Why are you riding out here?” Alec asked.

  “The army is pushing the lacertii towards the center now, and they will be squeezed together in the middle. We figured we’d wait out of the way until it was over, then there would be lots of goods that we could haul out of the battlefield,” he explained.

  “Tell your friends they have five minutes to run, then I’m going to come after any that I can still see,” Alec said, dismissing the man.

  He stood still and watched the group of men atomize into a loose collection of individuals who began to flee in all directions away from him. Alec turned to make sure no one was approaching Kinsey, then mounted his horse and continued to survey the landscape and watch the criminals running for s
afety. Satisfied that they were not going to be a coherent force, he turned and rode back to Kinsey.

  “What happened?” she asked him.

  “The one I spoke to said that they were convicts who broke free from the army and were out here looking for goods to loot. That tells you something about how ignorant the criminal mind is!” Alec explained. He continued, “They said our army is pushing the lacertii from the two wings, trying to squeeze them together in the middle.”

  “Weren’t our forces going to go towards the middle?” Kinsey asked. “What will that do to them? I thought they were just going to cause grief along the rear of the lacertii?”

  “Well,” Alec began to answer, considering what was happening. “I don’t think they expected a full engagement. Like you said, I thhey just planned to harry the rear and disrupt supplies. If they get caught up in the whole lacertii army, I don’t think it would be good, especially with the soldiers from Bondell not having a lot of battle experience.”

  He looked at Kinsey, and she knew what he was about to say. “Do you think we should go back? They might need help.”

  “Alec! If Imelda or Armilla found you alive on the battlefield, they’d kill you themselves!” Kinsey exclaimed loudly. “You don’t think they’d be in real trouble, do you?” she asked less certainly.

  “I don’t know,” Alec replied, a sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach.

  “Let’s hurry to get to the Dominion side of the lines, and then find out where everyone is,” Kinsey suggested.

  Alec looked at the slight ingenaire speculatively for a moment. He wondered if he could send her on her way to safety while he turned around and rode back to the battle. Given the marauders they had just encountered, he knew he couldn’t leave her alone. But he had a strong sense of foreboding about how his companions were coping on the battlefield, and felt torn with indecision.

  “I think we have to go back,” Alec said. “I just feel it.”

  “I can’t stop you Alec, but are you sure you’re not just feeling upset by those criminals we just ran into?” Kinsey asked. She sensed that Alec was feeling some compulsion from a deeper, unfathomable source, but still felt compelled to ask the question.

  “This isn’t just jitters,” Alec said calmly. “I need to be there. Things aren’t going to go as Imelda planned, and they’re going to need me. I can feel it.

  “If we start now, we’ll be back where we started before nightfall, and we can find out what the battlefield looks like,” Alec concluded. “Let’s head back, and keep your eyes open for any of those convicts on the loose.”

  They rode steadily, stopping to water their horses twice, and letting the animals graze as the day began to cool. Alec felt guilty about the neglect of the animals during the long trip. He imagined a forthcoming day when he could treat them to apples and other special foods, brushing them and bedding them in comfortable stalls. “Out there, Alec, what’s that?” Kinsey asked, breaking his daydream. He responded by looking across the increasingly undulating plain, where he saw the far off patterns of movement.

  “It may be the lacertii in retreat, Kins,” he replied as he stood in his stirrups. “Let’s ride closer to check, and if it is a retreat, we’ll start riding up river to meet the Dominion forces.”

  They climbed aboard the tired horses and started riding again, heading north and west until Alec called a halt to their movement. “Those are lacertii without a doubt,” he said, and Kinsey nodded in agreement. They dutifully turned full on to the west, moving further from the stream of the withdrawing forces, which grew stronger and wider as they moved opposite each other. They drifted further west as the noises cated that they had moved into a zone where active battle was still taking place.

  “What are we going to do?” Kinsey asked as they watched and listened to disorganized combat take place on all sides of them.

  “We’ll stick together, and we’ll look for cavalry,” Alec answered. “When we find cavalry, hopefully it will be some of our own, and we can find Imelda and the rest.”

  “If it’s not ours, hopefully it will be Goldenfields cavalry that will know that Imelda is back, and where she is,” he continued. “Whatever happens, you stay close to me, as close as possible.”

  Kinsey nodded. “I’ll stay very close to you; I think something is coming. Alec, I don’t have the gift of prophecy, but I can feel I need to stay with you. I think we’re about to experience something that has been preordained for us,” she said, and gave a small shudder.

  Since the memorable night when she had witnessed Alec’s resuscitation of Cassie, she had felt called to follow him, even though she hadn’t known him. When the young ingenairii had abandoned Oyster Bay and fled to Goldenfields, she had joined them as much to be closer to Alec as to be away from the chaos on Ingenairii Hill. Then she had maneuvered to be one of the ingenairii who moved into his home, but nothing had come of it for months and months as he was there and left, then disappeared. When he eventually reappeared in Goldenfields, she had attached herself to his group. Now her sense of fate seemed to her to be arriving at a point of realization, and she was frightened by the implications of such a violent environment.

  Alec reflexively shuddered as well. Kinsey’s comment made him remember the words of John Mark and the prophecies he made about him and his powers. It left him with a sense of being manipulated as he thought that he might be in a situation where he could do nothing to change the course of events that were about to occur.

  They rode on warily now within Dominion-held territory, as they saw men in uniforms fighting the lacertii who were fleeing; the further north they went, the further they went from the current battle front, the safer they felt and the closer they came to the starting point of the day’s fighting. Numerous Dominion troops were in the field, and Alec walked cautiously through them. It was a sign of the degree of fighting that had occurred all day long, perhaps for several days, that there were no formal lines now, only soldiers who moved forward with their own companies. There were no longer any living lacertii in sight.

  Alec stopped at last to speak to a small band of soldiers. The weary infantry looked through glazed eyes at the two people on horses. “Have you seen any cavalry fighting in the field, especially any from Bondell?” Alec asked a muddy figure who he thought might be a sergeant.

  “What’s the difference between Bondell cavalry and all the others?” the soldier asked.

  “The riders from Bondell wear bright green coats,” Alec explained. “They stand out.”

  “We’ve been on our feet since day break,” the man told Alec, “and haven’t seen anything like that. Have you seen the rest of our unit? We’re from Slone.”

  Alec regretted that he couldn’t help, and they moved on. A little while later they asked another group, and had no better luck. A third group had a junior officer, but no better information. “Let’s move closer to the river,” Kinsey suggested. “There aren’t any more lacertii to avoid, and I thought our friends were going to generally follow the river into the lines.”

  Alec agreed with her advice, and kicked himself for not thinking of it himself. They shifted their course as the sun began to move closer to the western horizon. After a journey that involved moving around more and more infantry, they began to see large numbers of dead bodies on the ground. Both humans and lacertii had died in large numbers. Now the bodies were being picked over by looters, or checked more mercifully by medics searching for the living.

  “Have you seen any cavalry riders from Bondell?” Alec asked a medic. The man was dressed as a priest, and showed little sign of success in finding wounded soldiers to tend among the bodies across the field.

  “Which ones are they?” the man asked as he stooped over another soldier, saying a quick prayer.

  Alec dismounted from Walnut and offered the medic a hand as he found a grievously wounded man. Alec slipped some of his powers into the injured man, and relieved some of the cleric’s weariness as he placed his hand on the man’s shou
lder. “The Bondell riders wore green jackets,” he said succinctly.

  “Oh, there are many, many of them back down the river a ways more. They got caught pretty badly by the lacertii. Those had wounds on all sides of their bodies, and they were piled up thick. It must have been the bloodiest fight of the day that I’ve seen, Lord have mercy,” the medic told Alec, who had a sinking feeling in his stomach.

  “How far back?” Alec asked. “Were there many survivors?”

  “I passed them two hours ago,” the field medic answered. “There wasn’t anyone alive.”

  Alec thanked the man, and remounted Walnut. “Let’s hurry along,” he said urgently, hoping to find the Bondell field before the sun set. Alec knew that if Imelda had been engaged in a fierce battle, she would have refused to run for safety unless she could help others escape with her.

  “Don’t fret too soon, Alec,” Kinsey tried to comfort him. “We don’t know if it’s really them, or just a small part that got separated from the rest, or some other possibility.”

  “I keep telling myself that, but I keep feeling something else,” Alec said quietly. He stood in his stirrups to look ahead, then increased the pace to move faster.

  Half an hour later the sun was close to setting, its red rays reflecting off the bottoms of western clouds, reflecting scarlet brilliance across the field, with long shadows stretching to the east of every protuberance.

  “Oh Alec!” Kinsey screamed. Alec ran over to her, and found her standing over a dead woman, one not wearing the colors of Bondell. It was Yula, who had been stabbed repeatedly in the torso and bled profusely. Her eyes were open, and Alec knelt down to close the lids, remembering for some reason the time he had fallen in her lap at the tavern in Goldenfields.

  “Stay here,” Alec said in a choked tone. “I’m going to look around here. I think they all would have stayed together,” he said with a sinking heart. He walked away, and within twenty yards found Allisma, her body next to Shaiss’s, and Alder was trapped beneath another horse carcass close by. Alec grew increasingly upset, as his fears of the worst were being realized. The plan to ride and strike glancing blows at the rear of the lacertii had clearly gone dramatically wrong. His friends laid about him dead, and he feared that worse was yet to come. He next found a large body, headless. There was a tattoo on the upper arm that he recognized as Armilla’s and he started to sob at the loss of his motherly protector. Then the tears started to flow more profusely as he prepared himself to find Imelda.