The Journey Home: The Ingenairii Series: Beyond the Twenty Cities

by Jeffrey Quyle

  Good night, he wistfully sent a wish to Andi that evening as he settled in to sleep. I wish we were together.

  I wish the same, and more, she replied.

  You seem apprehensive about your plans. What has you worried? she asked.

  Tomorrow I plan to overcome two sorceresses and two Warriors, Alec told her, glad to unburden his thoughts. When I was younger, I would have thought nothing of slitting their throats, but now I wonder if I could disable them without killing them. Is there a way to salvage them and find value in them? he mused.

  Do you have time to rehabilitate individuals while you are trying to conquer an entire nation? Andi asked.

  I don’t know, he softly admitted. But I’ll let you know what I discover.

  When he awoke in the morning he knew that he was going to be pragmatic and murderous in pursuit of a quick resolution of the potential battle in Stronghold.

  “Are the sorceresses and ingenairii together?” he asked the seedy-looking boy who awaited him as his designated guide for the morning.

  “Nah. Nobody hangs out with the sorceresses; they give everyone the creeps, even the ingenairii,” the boy feigned disinterest, but secretly examined Alec closely as they prepared to go.

  “Take me to the sorceresses,” Alec commanded, and they walked through a tangle of narrow streets until they came to an abrupt break in the dense urban pattern.

  An entire neighborhood of the city was missing, torn down and left in heaps of rubble. “This is where the demons came to attack the city,” Alec’s guide explained as they strayed among the ruins. “And that is where the sorceresses live,” he pointed to a fortress-like structure built in the middle of the rubble.

  “Thank you. You run off now to someplace safe. I’ll have Balter contact you when I need you again,” Alec told his guide, and he watched the boy scurry out of sight to safety.

  His energies were not completely restored from the previous day’s over-use, but he felt certain that he would be able to carry out his intended mission for the day. He accessed three ingenaire energies – Light, Spirit, and Warrior, which together felt like a heavy burden, already, early in the day, which was not a good sign – then cloaked himself in invisibility and approached the building cautiously. It was built to be highly defensible; there were no hidden nooks or corners or bushes, trees, or other obstructions he could hide behind.

  Alec stood in front of the building, examining it for any easy entrance. There was only a balcony positioned at a third floor window, which he judged to be the easiest means of entry. He exchanged his Warrior energy for Air abilities, and lifted himself to the balcony. The door was not locked, and Alec was quickly within the Stronghold fastness of the sorceresses who helped to keep the city cowed. He stood within a room that was brighter than he expected, with light streaming in the balcony window behind him and light coming in as well through a transom over the interior door.

  Alec quietly opened that door, and saw that there was a balcony hallway that faced an interior courtyard, bringing a plentitude of light into nearly every room of the fortress. Alec’s Spiritual energy alerted him to a great deal of discomfort nearby, on the ground level of the courtyard he faced. He peered down over the balcony rail and saw two women, dressed completely in black, with a quartet of servants, and a man who was stripped and tied down to a table that was surrounded by all the others.

  It was the beginning of the ritual sacrifice each sorcerer and sorceress made each day, Alec realized in horror.

  He unslung his bow and arrow and loosed the first arrow as one of the sorceresses raised her knife above her head. The arrow pierced her neck, yet even with the death blow delivered her body remained upright and her head turned to look at Alec, who stood frozen in astonishment. She grinned an evil grin at him, one that gave him chills, and then her body crumpled to the ground, long after it should have.

  An arrow was flying upward towards him, Alec realized, and he hastily threw a curtain of air before him, as bedlam began to unfold beneath him in the garden. The guards were firing arrows, or running to climb the stairs towards him, while the remaining sorceress stood below, seemingly frozen in fear, inexplicably receiving no protection from the guards in the courtyard.

  With a leap, Alec jumped over the banister and floated down to the ground, his descend facilitated by a disk of air. He unsheathed his sword and swung rapidly and wildly at the guards around the sacrificial site, until there were suddenly none left alive. Alec flicked his blade and severed the ropes that tied the frightened human sacrifice to the table, then turned to slay the remaining sorceress.

  An arrow flew down towards Alec from the balcony above, where guards had reached the spot he had vacated. Alec swept his blade upwards and caught the arrow on the metal, deflecting it away from himself and the sacrifice, so that it struck the sorceress in the chest. A series of expressions of surprise, then satisfaction, then pain closed the woman’s face, before she crumpled to the ground.

  Save her, a voice spoke in his mind. Save her – you must, or all my plans will be in vain.

  Alec was stunned by the command. He looked around and saw only the sacrifice nearby, and then an arrow pierced the man’s heart, depriving him of the life Alec had hoped to save. Alec stepped over, stooped, and picked up the sorceress, holding her body awkwardly as he seized his Traveler powers and transported himself and his new patient back to Balter’s hideout for them.

  There was only one sure way to ensure the survival of the wounded sorceress, Alec concluded with ambivalence. He realized there were others in the room as he placed the woman on the floor and tore open her robes, to see the arrow protruding from her body. He pulled a knife from his bandolier and edged it down along the shaft, digging into her flesh to help him spread the ribs that the arrow was lodged between.

  “Alec! What are you doing?” Tonshire asked, and he heard other voices around him as he focused on trying to repair the injury to the sorceress’s body. He managed to slip the knife far enough to lodge a section of blade where he needed within the woman’s ribcage, then he clenched his jaw as he concentrated on turning the blade at an angle, forcing the ribs to open, so that he could withdraw the arrow. With the gap between the bones widened, the shaft came free after just one energetic tug, and blood welled up immediately behind it, pooling upon the sorceress’s chest and then running downward in multiple small rivulets that ran in multiple directions across her chest.

  He dropped the knife and the arrow and placed both hands over the wound, then called upon his Healer energy, barely aware of the sounds of horror around him as others reacted to the scene that had erupted before their eyes.

  The wound was healed, and the heart fluttered, then beat unsteadily. Alec picked up the knife again, to slit the sorceress’s arm, and then his own. This was the part he dreaded; he remembered the pain that had coursed through his body when he had shared blood with Bauer, an apprentice sorcerer; the malign evil of sorcery that Bauer’s blood had been tainted with had entered Alec’s own body and infected him. It had poisoned him with a burning pain throughout his body as it had dispersed, and he had suffered horribly before he had gained mastery of the situation and been able to cleanse it all.

  Now, he would do it again, he knew as he placed his flesh upon the sorceress’s and sealed the two together. He took a deep breath, and before he could even exhale, the pain began, both physical and spiritual pain. He felt burning liquid coursing through his arm, growing more devastatingly painful as it entered his torso and began to corrode his organs. He opened his mouth in a soundless scream, but no sound came out, as his voice was stilled by the evil and black darkness that crept into his soul from the sorceress and tried to overwhelm his faith in God. Horrific scenes of death and depravity filled his mind, as he pictured the things the sorceress did.

  He thought his body tumbled to the floor, as he no longer could control anything about himself. He focused only on holding on to his faith in God as the evil energy of the sorceress assailed him.

/>   I love you Alec. Hold on – hold on to your faith! Oh Alec, the pain, he distantly was aware of Andi screaming to him, and he sensed she was falling to the ground, suffering from the same intense evil he was. He wanted to save her; more than he even wanted to save himself from the unbearable pain that was assailing him, he wanted to prevent her from feeling the evil that was spreading throughout his body, and throughout his soul, traveling through the complex spiritual union that he shared with Andi to infect her as well.

  His hand flailed at his chest, blindly grasping until it found the haft of one of the knives in his bandolier. He yanked the knife free and slashed without success at his other arm, slicing, then slicing again until he hit the flesh that united him to the sorceress. He felt the connection sever, and the spiritual pain began to instantly subside, even though his body still suffered as it battled to overcome the contamination within him.

  He pressed himself up off the floor, sitting up to look down at the sorceress. Her neck turned, and as he clamped his hand over the open wound in his arm, her eyes sprang open, and the same evil smile the other sorceress had given crept upon her face.

  “You’ve given me what I needed; you’re mine now,” a deep raspy voice uttered forth from her mouth, a voice that couldn’t possibly be her own natural voice, and it penetrated deeply into Alec, sinking into his spirit and also traveling through him and even along the lines of the mystical union he shared until it reached Andi, as though Alec was only a way station for the evil energy as it traveled on to another destination.

  Alec grabbed his knife from off the floor and plunged it into the heart of the sorceress, in the very spot where the arrow had been before. There was a flash of red light, then an explosion that hurled Alec backward. He heard Andi scream inside his soul, and then he shook his head and looked to see a thick column of red smoke rise from the body and drift out the window, leaving only a pile of dark red ashes where the sorceress had been.

  Alec looked down at the open wound on his arm, where blood was flowing out of him. His life was dripping away; he had not healed the wound, and now he felt no connection with his energies, no strength to heal himself. He grabbed at the cut, trying to apply pressure to stop the flow of blood from draining from his flesh. And then he passed out.

  Chapter 22 – The Battle in Stronghold

  When Alec awoke, Linnear and Tonshire were looking down upon him. He instantly remembered everything that had happened.

  Andi, are you alright? he called to his mate in Goldenfields, as he raised his arm and examined the wound.

  He sensed Andi, but there was no answer.

  His arm was tightly bandaged in a white cloth.

  “My lord, are you alright?” Linnear asked.

  “I’m not at my best right now, but I’ll be better,” Alec acknowledged. “Is everyone else okay? How long have I been unconscious?”

  “The children have stopped crying, and no one is harmed,” Tonshire answered. “You were unconscious for most of the afternoon.”

  “The city is in an uproar. The Warrior ingenairii, not to mention guards, are patrolling throughout the city, trying to understand what happened to their sorceresses,” Linnear added.

  “Thank you to whoever wrapped by arm,” Alec said, starting to unwrap the white binding.

  “Gwendolyne did that for you,” Linnear explained.

  Alec took the last layer of cloth away and looked at a disturbing sight. His arm was not healed; he could not remember having tried to heal it, so that did not bother him. But the edges of the cut flesh were blackened, looking foul.

  Alec placed his free hand over the wound and called upon his Healer power. He said a quick prayer of thanks as he felt the energy surge through his hand into the sliced flesh, but when he pulled the hand away he was disturbed by the results. The flesh was knit together, but an ugly dark scar occupied the spot, flesh that would not heal, even under the control of his powers.

  Andi, are you awake? He called again.

  Alec? her voice replied, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

  Are you alright? he asked.

  I don’t feel well at all. Someone must have put me in bed after I passed out. What did you do? What happened? she replied.

  I went to kill the sorceresses here in Stronghold, and a voice told me to save one of them, he explained. When I connected our arms, her blood flowed into my body, and that’s when the evil started to spread.

  I cut us apart and stabbed her in the heart. Her body exploded and I can’t heal the cut on my arm properly, he finished his tale.

  Who told you to save her? Andi asked.

  I thought it was John Mark, or God, Alec explained. But it couldn’t have been. I don’t know.

  Well, you’re the only one who I take seriously when they say they thought their God was talking to them, Andi replied, lightening the conversation. Are you okay?

  I feel good. I was able to use my powers to heal my arm, except for the terrible scar, he answered. What is wrong with you?

  My memories are strange. I remember things over and over again. I’ve been thinking about the battle you fought against Hellmann, dreaming about it, she told him.

  Well, since I won, I’m glad you’re focused on that, Alec told her with a laugh.

  You didn’t win by much! Andi’s protest was strong, heartfelt with a vehemence Alec couldn’t understand. Would you do anything differently if you fought him again?

  Alec pondered the question. I couldn’t do anything any differently; that battle took everything I had – everything. I couldn’t give any more.

  But I’m just glad I’m alive, he lost, and life has gone on, he said.

  When will you come home? Andi asked. I need to see you.

  I want to rest here for a couple of hours, and continue to fight the battle for Stronghold, and then I’ll be back, he told her. Back to you, he emphasized, today or tomorrow.

  I’ll be waiting, waiting and training, Andi said grudgingly.

  “My lord, we need to go, my lord,” Balter told him.

  I must go, my love, Alec told Andi.

  I’ll love you always, Alec, she replied.

  Alec stood; he felt sluggish, but not as damaged as he feared.

  “Where are we going?” Alec asked.

  “We need to move from this apartment. The ingenairii are searching this section of the city this afternoon. We’ll circle around them to settle into a place they’ve already been,” Balter replied. “And then we need to figure out what to do.”

  “Lead on, Balter. Kinset, would you please walk with me?” Alec asked as the others from the small party of refugees gathered together. The children looked at Alec with some apprehension as the group gathered together and began to go down the stairs to seek their next home.

  “Kinset, what did you feel when that sorceress was here?” Alec asked the Spiritual ingenaire.

  “The Spirit House split, just as the Warrior House split, several years ago, when there ceased to be any new ingenairii discovered. Those who thought we must solve the problem by any means possible left Ingenairii Hill and moved down to Michian, where they allied with a small, secret remnant of the sorcery culture you had fought against,” Kinset began to spin a tale.

  “There was one Prophet among the Spirit ingenairii who went, who told that there was a new power rising that would be the answer to the problem, a great new power, stronger than anything we had ever seen or heard about. He said that the only way to reach this new power was through sorcery, until the day came that the power would be ready to rise up and be given control of the entire world,” Kinset continued. “And the ingenairii would again multiply and grow and take their place as the chief agents of the power, with dominion and glory.

  “That was no true human, that sorceress you grappled with today. That was the husk of a human body that was completely occupied by the great new power; I felt it today for the first time,” Kinset warned.

  “You survived an assault by something more powerful than just a sor
ceress, but much less that the full strength of this evil new entity that is going to emerge to conquer humanity,” he finished.

  “You are the only hope humanity has to defeat it.” He solemnly looked at Alec as they walked upon the street Balter was leading them along. Alec was so engrossed in the story that he paid no attention to the activity in the city around them, until he heard a shouting ruckus nearby. He looked up and saw a squad of soldiers just a block away to their right, and another even closer to their left.

  “Those are the ingenairii,” Balter blanched as he spoke, attracting Alec’s sharper scrutiny.

  Alec looked at the squad that was closest, the one on the left, and recognized the cocky arrogance of the leader of the squad as an indication of the ingenairii assurance of invincibility, the same attitude he had faced from the Ajacii in the battles within the Avonellene Empire. They were supposed to be related, Alec randomly recollected the stories Bernadina had told him so long ago, stories that claimed that the Warrior ingenairii were descendants of the Ajacii’s forefathers who had left the Avonellene mountains.

  Alec cleared his mind of his fascination with Kinset’s story, then drew his sword and advanced towards the Warrior, glad for the encounter, a straightforward physical battle in which he could anticipate and control the clash and contact, unlike the unnerving event he had just had with the sorceress. “Put down your weapon, and place your hands behind your back,” the ingenaire told Alec. “It is futile to attempt to do battle.”

  “Futile for one of us,” Alec shouted in response, then ran forward, his energies engaged, and swung his sword at the Warrior, who blocked and riposted, only to find that Alec anticipated the move and was ready to press the attack again.

  “That was luck, eh?” the Warrior said, riposting his attack, only to find Alec ready to defend and then go on the offensive again. Alec began to circle the man as they engaged, forcing the Warrior to move in response to the action that Alec was directing. “Who are you?” the Warrior asked in shock. “A new ingenaire?”