“You’re right,” he admitted. “I’ll go slowly.” He led her out into the hall, drawing looks of surprise from the man tending the bar in the tavern, though Alec was oblivious to the stares, and walked straight out through the door and into the street.
He turned and started down the block and around the corner. “It’s not really the same,” he said to Andi, slowing down to stroll as she took his hand. The sun was still a good hour above the horizon, giving them plenty of light to see. “I don’t see anything so far that seems familiar,” he said, in a tone that conveyed sadness. “The next block over is where my shop used to be,” he told her.
A minute later they stopped and stared at the empty gap between the two adjoining buildings. “This is where it was. This is where they lived – Leah, Ellen, Bethany, Cassie, Appel.” He shook his head contemplatively, and Andi felt her own eyes welling up in tears of the sympathy she felt for his deep sense of loneliness and loss.
“You’re not alone, Alec,” she whispered in his ear.
“No, no,” he came out of his reverie, and smiled at her. “I’m not alone, not with you. Let’s go see what we can do to get that meal for you,” he placed his arm around her and led her away from the rubble-covered lot. Together they walked through the streets and into the vast Traders Square, where Alec recognized a stalwart bank building and the club where Natha had a membership. Across the square they came to the gateway to the bridge that led to the ducal palace, set on an island in the river.
“I would request permission to see the commander of the guard,” Alec told the man on duty at the gatehouse. The uniform was curious, Alec thought, but centuries brought changes, and he accepted that as the way it would be.
“What guard?” the man asked curiously.
“The Palace Guard, the Goldenfields Guard,” Alec stated the obvious.
“What are you, some kind of kook? Get out of here,” the man said to Alec, his eyes hardening.
“What about the Goldenfields Guard?” Alec asked. “They were famous as the best fighters in the Dominion once upon a time.”
“Fairy tales begin with once upon a time. There hasn’t been a guard like that since the duke capitulated to the ingenairii ten years ago. Now run along. We don’t need any batty people bothering us,” he told Alec sternly, waving his hand in a signal, so that another guard came out of the gatehouse to join him.
“You mean the ingenairii fought against the duke? Did the king command them? Was there a war between the king and the duke?” Alec persisted in asking questions as he tried to make sense of the unthinkable.
The second guard came up beside the first. “Who do you have here?” he asked his companion.
“Some crackpot who must have escaped from the nuthouse,” the original guard replied.
Andi sensed Alec’s utter bewilderment, his inability to comprehend the statements he was hearing. She decided to interrupt. “So the ingenairii are in charge now, and you work for them?” she asked.
“She’s not as stupid as the guy, and she’s a lot better looking,” the first guard said as his eyes shifted to examine her.
Andi held up her arm and pulled down her sleeve, revealing the Warrior mark she wore. “So if I’m an ingenaire, then you must obey me?”
Both guards’ eyes widened. “My lady, our apologies. We thought all the ingenairii entered on restorers. And we did not recognize you,” they both bowed their heads.
“You’ll allow us to enter immediately, and you’ll take us to see the duke,” Andi saw that she had the advantage and immediately reacted by acting as imperiously as she had witnessed her ingenaire captors behave, while Alec continued to silently contemplate the inexplicable circumstances that seemed to be the new reality of his former home.
“Yes, my lady,” the first guard answered, and nodded for the second guard to do as told.
Alec and Andi followed the man across the bridge and up the familiar steps into the grand entry of the palace. The sights of the building brought back a wash of memories for Alec, overlain by the shock of all that he was hearing.
“I see that someone else is here,” the guard said, trying to ingratiate himself with friendly chatter. He pointed down towards the end of the island where the Guard quarters had been, and Alec saw a restorer standing in the yard, contently eating from a bin of greens.
Inside the palace they took the route Alec knew so well to reach the great hall; the interior of the palace was neglected, and empty of the vitality Alec had taken for granted. There were few people in the halls, and the furnishings were minimal. Outside the doors of the hall they met a pair of guards wearing the same uniform as their escort from the gate, as well as a person who appeared to be a court functionary. “I believe Lord Camet is going to be finished soon; this was a routine visit to remind the duke of the levy he owes,” the functionary sniffed, standing in front of the door in a manner that indicated his sense of superiority and right to possess the space.
“We’ll be happy to enter and meet Lord Camet as well as the Duke,” Alec spoke authoritatively, enraged by condition he observed, and growing more enraged by the moment as he reflected on the damage to Goldenfields’s splendor and pride.
“You’ll be in in a cell for even thinking of interrupting the lesson that is being given to the duke,” the functionary said, and he motioned to the guards to seize Alec.
Before they could act, Alec seized his Air energy and lofted all three guards and the functionary up against the ceiling, causing them to shout in alarm.
“Alec, you’re going to cause a situation,” Andi warned him.
“I have a very bad feeling about what’s happening here,” Alec replied. “If I’m wrong, I’ll lower them to the floor gently and apologize, and there’s no harm done to them.”
“Other than their pride,” Andi replied. “I’m still mad at you for lifting me against the ceiling in Woven!” she said with warmth. “And men feel the loss of pride much more strongly than women.”
“I did that to you? I lifted you up to the ceiling?” Alec asked in surprise, not able to recollect the event as he looked upward at his captives.
“We’ll talk about it later,” Andi assured him. “Shall we go in and see your duke?”
Deliberately, Alec opened the door to the hall and allowed Andi to enter ahead of him. There were two figures at the other end of the room, and through a trick of the acoustics Alec heard their conversation before he even focused on their faces. “You’ll provide the fifty we expect, and you’ll send an extra barge of grain as tribute in payment for your tardiness,” an arrogant voice called.
“You!” Andi screamed so loudly, and with such venom that Alec jumped in surprise. She pulled her sword, the one given to her by Alec, from the scabbard on the belt he had also given her, as she ran headlong towards the two men at the other end of the room.
The two men looked up at the noise. One of them, an elderly man, looked at Andi’s approach in surprise, but the other man looked up first in annoyance, then in surprise and shock, and then with concern as he drew his own sword and prepared to face Andi.
Alec rushed down towards the pending confrontation, pulling a pair of knives from his bandolier. He split his powers, adding Spirit energy to the Air energy he was using to maintain the press of the men in the hallway against the ceiling, then finally added his Warrior energy as well, so that within three running strides he was ready to participate in whatever was about to break loose.
“How did you get here?” the man with the blade asked as Andi leapt at him. Their blades clashed repeatedly, first high, then low, then the man blocked a stabbing effort before he had to step back to protect himself as Andi fought with hatred that motivated her fury to an insurmountable level. She was winning, Alec could easily judge, carried not only by her ingenaire energy, but by some inner urge.
Suddenly Alec recognized the face of the man she was fighting. It was one of the Warrior ingenairii kidnappers they had chased across the entire continent; it was the very
man who had thrown Andi off the edge of the bridge in Boundary Lake before running away. Andi’s fury was understandable. Although she and Alec had not discussed the conditions of her captivity, his Healer vision had shown him the pain that had been inflicted upon her.
A stroke of Andi’s sword delivered a telling blow to the ingenaire’s arm, causing him to drop his sword; in an instant Andi poked her sword at him several times, piercing him with repeated jabs that inflicted pain upon the Warrior, her actions happening so rapidly that even Alec had a hard time following her actions. The man looked from Andi to Alec. “I seek to surrender,” he started to cry, but before he even finished the sentence Andi’s blade stabbed him in the stomach then sliced upward, making a foul and bloody mess of his carcass as she withdrew her blade and his body fell to the floor.
“My God! Oh my God!” the elderly man moaned. “Please my lady, have mercy on me. Kill me cleanly,” he begged.
Andi wiped her sword on the pants of the dead man, then sheathed her blade. “Is there some reason I should kill you?” she asked in a dangerous tone.
“Do you feel better?” Alec asked her.
“Yes, partly,” Andi replied. “It doesn’t change what happened, but it feels like revenge, and he won’t do anything to anyone else from now on.”
“Well, we better figure out what to do next,” Alec said. “There’s still one of them out there somewhere.”
“Did that ingenaire have a partner, another Warrior who he traveled with?” Alec asked the elderly man. “Are you the Duke of Goldenfields?” he belatedly asked.
“I am the Duke Remton of Goldenfields,” the man answered. “I,” he stopped, at a loss for words in the frightening situation, not sure what to say amidst such inexplicable circumstances.
“We mean you no harm,” Andi told him, starting to regain her composure, her blood lust fading.
“Who are you? Is there a war breaking out among the ingenairii?” the duke asked.
“Tell us first; is there another Warrior who is companion to the man who just died?” Alec asked again.
“He was a member of a group of about two dozen Warriors who were the elite members of the Ingenairii Rulers. He and about a dozen others disappeared months ago. Any one of them could be his particular companion,” the Duke answered. “There wasn’t reckoned to be any Warrior capable of beating any of them other than themselves. Today is the first time I’ve seen him in a year.
“Which begs the question, who are you?” the duke asked again.
Andi looked at Alec. “We are travelers from an eastern land. A group of Warriors came and carried out crimes in our lands, and we’ve been after them ever since, seeking justice. I lived in the Dominion a long time ago,” Alec began to explain further, then decided to stop.
“Are you the Duke of Goldenfields, or just the man who sits on the throne here, while the ingenairii rule?” Alec asked.
The duke stood straighter. “I am the Duke of Goldenfields. Within the ability the world gives me to stand up against ingenairii and demons, I try to rule the nation and protect its people as best I am able,” he spoke with dignity, and Alec regretted the tone of his question.
“Did the ingenaire arrive here on the restorer in the Guard courtyard?” Alec asked.
“Undoubtedly,” the duke replied. “That’s how they all arrive; all but the two of you, apparently.”
“And even we travel similarly, in a manner of speaking,” Andi said with a knowing look at Alec.
Alec only halfway heard her as he began to anticipate some of the ramifications of what had just occurred. “This Camet, this ingenaire, is dead. Will there be repercussions visited upon you and Goldenfields for his death?
“Shall we sit down?” Alec added, concerned about the length of time they were making the elderly man stand. He reached out and called upon his Healer powers in place of his Warrior powers, then delivered a boost of wholesome energy to the duke as he took the man’s arm.
“I think there will eventually be punishment for our city. At first no one will believe that Camet was bested in battle, and then when they do find out, there will be no mercy until they’re satisfied they’ve sent a message that cows all resistance,” the Duke replied. “Stronghold still hasn’t recovered from the demons they unleashed on the city after a rebellion years ago.”
“Do ingenairii rule the Dominion? And they have demons? From Michian?” Alec asked.
“The ingenairii rule all of the Dominion and Michian. They form a council with a few sorcerers and sorceresses, and they exact tribute from all the lands,” the Duke told Alec.
“Shortly before they attacked Stronghold, they seized power. Something had happened to them, and there were no new ingenairii being born. They stopped seeing new apprentices arrive,” the duke explained. “So they panicked, and wanted to search all the population to find potential ingenairii. That caused them to take control of both the nations – Dominion and Michian – and they teamed with some sorcerers to help control the people. They searched and tested all over the lands, but found no one who could be a new ingenaire. And then they just kept power for themselves and ruled the nations, doing things like you just walked in on – demanding that I supply them with people who will be sacrifices for the sorcerers.”
“And you have no guard of your own?” Andi asked.
“None that could stand up to Warrior ingenaire or demons,” the duke replied. “There’s not another Alec come back to protect us, or none that I’ve seen yet.
“After the ingenairii took control, they forced us to disband most of our army and palace guard,” he explained.
“Alright, let’s think this through,” Alec rubbed his forehead slowly. “The guards outside the door and at the gate to the palace – are they loyal to you or to the ingenairii?” he asked.
“The resident agent of the ingenairii,” the duke began to answer.
“Is he the man outside the door to the hall? A gray goatee and a burgundy robe?” Andi asked.
“Yes, that’s Karson,” Duke Remton agreed. “He controls the few guards we have here. He answers to the ingenairii.”
“Are there still holding cells down below the palace?” Alec asked.
“Yes, indeed. They’re full of prisoners Karson didn’t like,” the duke affirmed.
“The first thing we need to do is regain control of the palace,” Alec said. “No, the first thing we need to do is immobilize the restorer, so word of this doesn’t get out too quickly.
“Andi,” Alec turned to his companion. “You take the men in the hallway down to the palace cells and lock them away. See if there’s anyone down there now who you can rely on to let out. I’ll go immobilize the restorer and be back.
“Your grace,” Alec turned to Duke Remton, “would you ask your kitchen staff to prepare a hearty meal for Andi and I to enjoy in half an hour?” he asked, and they all went on their separate ways, as Alec released the men on the ceiling when they stepped out into the hall, turning them over to Andi.
Alec walked to the kitchen himself and took some herbs that he knew were forbidden to be fed to restorers because they disrupted the animals’ body chemistry and ability to travel. He took a generous handful of sugar lumps, and walked out to the yard that he had always known as the precincts of the Goldenfields Guards, where a single restorer stood, with a handler lounging nearby. “Do you know how much longer they’re going to be here?” the handler asked.
Alec mixed the sugar and the leaves together in his hand, then held his palm out to the animal, letting its snout nuzzle his fingers before it began to greedily eat the leaves that would disrupt its body chemistry, preventing it from traveling for several weeks. “Quite a while, I imagine,” Alec answered. “How many animals come here? How many know the way to come to Goldenfields?”
“There’s only two animals at Oyster Bay that come to Goldenfields, and none come here directly from Michian,” the keeper replied. “We only get visits a couple of times a month. There’s not much here that attract
s the great ones.”
“That may change,” Alec said softly. “You might as well take this restorer in to the stables and bed him down for the night,” Alec added as he started to walk back to the palace. “He’s not going anywhere for a while.”
Alec returned to the palace and went back to the hall where he and Andi had met the duke. He found them both there already, Andi sitting at a table ravenously eating a plate of food in front of her, and looking guiltily at Alec as she took another bite.
Alec sat down with them and picked up an apple. “Who will be your allies, your grace?” he asked before he bit into the fruit.
“Allies in what?” the duke replied.
“In this rebellion. You’re going to need body guards, palace guards, an army, and who knows what else, once we really start to fight,” Alec replied.
“I’m not leading a rebellion!” the duke replied. “My city will be destroyed if I do. I know that I will be personally flayed alive to pay for the death of Camet, and that frankly doesn’t upset me, though the death of my family will break my heart. I’ve lived a long life, and it’s worth it to know that butcher is dead. But I don’t want to cause further trouble that will bring a horde of ingenairii, sorcerers and demons into Goldenfields, laying waste to the city and massacring the people here.”
“That’s not likely to happen, at least not any time soon,” Alec replied. “You’ll have time to set your defenses up, above and beyond whatever Andi and I are able to do in the meantime.
“I’ve already disabled the restorer that’s here. It won’t be able to transport in or out of the city for weeks. Its handler told me there’s only one other restorer that knows how to come here, and we can disable it tomorrow. Then we just need to disable the herd at Oyster Bay, and maybe at Michian too, and the ingenairii and sorcerers will be isolated at their locations unless they want to travel like everyone else,” Alec explained. “Do the ingenairii have an army in the Dominion?”
The Journey Home: The Ingenairii Series: Beyond the Twenty Cities Page 21