The Cloud of Darkness (The Ingenairii Series Book 11)

by Jeffrey Quyle

  Alec looked at the leader, then looked at Kecil's family as they nervously shuffled their feet. "I have your word that these others will be treated appropriately as royal guests?" he asked.

  "They certainly will," the officer said reassuringly. "Your young friend is much desired as a visitor."

  "And there is some reason you wish to take me apart?" Alec wasn't quite ready to accede to the demand that they separate.

  "We too have fought this black cloud you have spoken of, and our high command will have great interest in discussing the matter with you, if you truly fought it, and if you're truly the western human king."

  "I'll see you again soon," Alec told Kecil. "If there is any problem, there will be severe consequences," Alec warned his officer escort. "I am one of the ingenairii we just discussed."

  The guards around them grew suddenly tense at the revelation.

  Alec immediately engaged his Warrior energy at a low level in anticipation of potential trouble.

  "As I said earlier, your young friend is much sought after by some elements of the palace establishment. There will be no ill will directed towards her," the officer said smoothly.

  Alec nodded his head in acknowledgment. "Then lead on, by all means," he replied.

  The groups parted ways, and Alec soon found himself strolling through a clearly military area on the palace grounds, drawing startled stares from every lacerta they encountered.

  "Ask the senior staff to convene for a briefing with our guest," Alec's escort directed one low-ranking warrior they encountered.

  Half an hour later, Alec found himself in the front of a room as more than two dozen lacertii officers hurried in on the strength of the strange rumor that a human was present.

  At length, a senior officer stood before Alec and addressed the gathering.

  "Colonel Gracloroan has taken it upon himself to call this unexpected meeting," the leader spoke. "Colonel, would you like to explain?"

  "My lord," Alec's escort stood at attention and replied. "This human came to the palace in the coterie accompanying Bungacantik, and spun a most unusual tale. I chose to believe him because he and his companion described something that they couldn't have known unless they had seen our northern adversary," the colonel explained.

  The audience's attention grew more profound, Alec observed. Gracloroan had correctly guessed that the leaders would want to hear about the black cloud.

  "We'll hear your human's tale and decide whether it's of interest or not," the senior officer looked at Gracloroan and Alec.

  "In the Dominion, our human kingdom to your west, we lost a great many people to a terrible black cloud that flowed across the land and made our people disappear," Alec began, understanding that Gracloroan had pulled him aside for the purpose of speaking to the lacertii army leadership about the deadly cloud in the north. The crowd of officers had instantly become riveted by the middle of Alec's opening sentence.

  "You know what I speak of?" he asked the collective group.

  Heads immediately nodded.

  "Many good soldiers went to their deaths trying to fight it," Alec reported, and he saw the nods again. The lacertii had suffered the losses as well.

  "But how does a sword or a spear or an arrow fight a cloud?

  "That's why we turned to our ingenairii to try to fight it a different way," he explained.

  "And it was still a terrible battle. I'm not sure how we won," he told them.

  "What did your ingenairii do?" a member of the audience asked.

  "We used light," Alec answered. "We made light as bright and hot as possible. We collected sunlight and focused it, to burn the cloud away.

  "About a month ago we used all the ingenairii we have and fought together against it."

  "There was a day when we were afraid we were going to lose more territory and fighters to the cloud in our northern. But we saw a flash in the western sky in the middle of the day, and we felt the ground shake. And we haven't seen the cloud since then," a lacerta soldier spoke up, standing and addressing the group. He looked battleworn, like a soldier who had lived with combat, not just a palace-based advisor.

  Alec felt an immediate respect for the officer.

  "I hope you won't see it again either," Alec addressed him.

  "What was it? Where did it come from? Will there be others?" questions flew from the crowd.

  "We don't know," Alec shook his head. "I wish we had those answers.

  "We'll I'm bloody glad you fought it your way and won," the grizzled veteran spoke up. "We had no way to fight it."

  "Let us know if you face it again in the future," Alec offered. "We will fight it again if it becomes a threat once more."

  "So why is this human here? Did we bring him solely to lecture us on fighting the cloud?" the warrior asked.

  "He came with Bungacantik to visit the palace today, but I redirected him here to speak to you all about the cloud," Gracloroan replied.

  "If Bungacantik has come to the palace, we should allow him to rejoin his company. I wouldn't mind seeing the reunion myself," said the commanding officer who had spoken at the beginning of the conference. "Gracloroan, take him back to his friends."

  And so it was that Alec was present a half hour later when Kecil and family were ushered into an audience chamber with the royal family.

  Alec tried to watch the royals and guess which had made Kecil the object of his affection, but he couldn't read the faces of the lacertii well enough to know until he engaged his Spiritual energy and found the prince who quivered with excitement at the presence of Kecil once again.

  The attention of the other members of the royal family was torn by the competing attractions of Kecil and Alec, two very different, very interesting visitors, and Alec was soon introduced to them all.

  "My story is simply that I have been guardian to this young woman, and I'm pleased to see her safely returned to the land where her heart belongs," Alec said, seeking to minimize the attention he attracted so that Kecil and the prince might remain the focus.

  After an hour of pleasantries, Kecil's family took their leave, with a mutual agreement that they would return the following day. On the journey back to their home, they all beamed with delight at the successful reintroduction.

  And so a pattern developed of daily trips to the palace. Word within the palace spread regarding Alec's report to the military about the end of the black cloud enemy, and he became a guest honored almost as much as Kecil. Within days the trips to the palace came to be only the two travelers who had covered so much of the world together and who were warmly welcomed.

  Alec began to spend his time sparring in the palace armory with the lacertii officers, while Kecil accompanied the princes and princesses on activities and outings.

  "He proposed today!" Kecil squealed enthusiastically to Alec a month later. "I have to tell my family so that we can return our answer. "

  "And what will your answer be?" Alec kiddingly asked.

  "Yes, of course!" Kecil answered. "I'm ready this time. I've seen enough of the world to know that I want to live my life here where I know my surroundings and obligations."

  Alec stayed in Chanradala for the following month to attend the wedding, accepted by the palace society as a member of their circle, though still a wonder to the many everyday lacertii who visited the wedding festivities.

  And when he returned in the carriage with Kecil's family to their home, very late in the evening, he thought that his duty to the lacerta girl he had rescued was complete, and he was ready to return to the Dominion. He would rejoin Olivia in the governance of the land and reinsert himself into the activities of the ingenairii on the Hill, and he would finally be able to adapt to life going on without Andi in his mind and soul.

  The next morning though, all that changed.

  He awoke to find a note tacked to his door, and when he opened it he gasped as he read the contents.

  Alec,

  I'm writing to you for the final time, as plainly as I can. Y
ou've ignored my other notes, cryptic as they were. I'm begging you to come to my rescue before I am killed. Come back through time to save me from the Michian invasion of Ingenairii Hill. Please my friend, know that your life and mine both depend on this task – if you save me, we will battle the black cloud together. With faith and love, Kinsey

  He sat on his bed reading the note over and over, trying to fathom any meaning except the plainly written one.

  Kinsey. He had thought of the Spiritual ingenaire girl recently, more than once. She had been a part of his youth, and the two of them had grown close during the Goldenfields-lacertii war, ironically, he thought now. They'd been part of a squad that had operated far behind enemy lines. And Kinsey had shared the experience of traveling through time when they'd sought to rescue Imelda and many others during a heated battle.

  Kinsey held some inexplicably close bond with Alec. Without having shared blood or body or spirit, Kinsey had been able to sense Alec's presence with uncanny accuracy. And he had felt a comfortable trust in her character to be of the highest caliber.

  But it was beyond belief that she would in some fashion be able to transmit a note - or apparent series of notes - forward through time. Such a delivery would only be possible if he himself was part of the delivery.

  He shook his head unconsciously as he tried to untangle the mysteries woven around the note in his hand. He unfolded it and looked at it again, then made a decision.

  He would go back. To Oyster Bay, at least.

  He would go back to his capital and do research. If he was going to truly go back to the time of the Michian invasion, he wanted to try to understand what had happened during that devastating time, and when and where.

  He had been absent from the world in those days, trapped for decades in the energy realm. He'd only learned of the fall of his capitol when he'd finally reentered the physical world.

  There were likely to be some archives or records that would provide clues to the details of how Michian had invaded and attacked Oyster Bay, and they might give him some clue to Kinsey's whereabouts at a time when he could travel back and...

  Rescue her.

  Would that be all he would do? Would he find himself placed in a situation where he could fight the Michian invasion, defeat the clans and sorcerers and demons? Could he go back to the days when Bethany had been young and powerful and on the throne?

  He was sweating, he realized. His heart was racing and he felt flushed. It was a powerful vision, a dream.

  He'd never tried it before. In prior years, John Mark had made clear that he could not alter the course of history, unless prophecy specifically dictated that it happen.

  And yet, here was the note he held.

  He left his room and went to the parlor where he found Kecil's parents reliving the glories of their extraordinary daughter's wedding. He thanked them for their extended hospitality, then announced his intention to depart.

  And moments later, he was gone, on his way to study the past and ponder his next move.