Visions of Power

by Jeffrey Quyle

  He also thought about his growing conviction that he should avoid the ingenairii, something Leah was recommending without knowing about his religious experience in the sacred cave. Ari’s reaction to that information led him to suspect that the Ingenaire’s Council might really want to hold him captive to learn more from him. Yet that fear conflicted with his deeper questions and desire about whether he could become an ingenaire himself. He still spent quiet moments wondering if his entrance into the cave showed that he held the potential to harbor powers such as Ari and the others used to change the world.

  “I think your plan sounds like a good one to start with,” Alec said as he arrived at a conclusion. “If something comes up that we need to change after we get there, we’ll be able to do so,” he agreed, and with that settled, they proceeded to travel uneventfully towards their destination.

  On the third morning after they left the sand bars, they were delighted to see scattered patches of cultivated fields above the river banks, which grew more common as they floated along. One day, shortly after noon, they saw a small village on the south bank, and for the first time in weeks they saw other people. Still they floated on as they had decided, so that they might land close to the city of Goldenfields. As night fell and they ate some of the delicious preserved food they had salvaged, lights sporadically twinkled on the land beyond the bank, showing a lantern lit well past dark. They floated past another town, a larger one, then past the hour when lights were no longer lit in the countryside.

  Late that night the sound of ripples gave a brief warning before they gently slid to a stop on another pebble beach. That decided for them where they’d spend the night, and they slept on until morning.

  Alec awoke the next morning to a sound he’d almost forgotten: the voices of strangers. As dawn commenced he raised his head and saw three children on the beach just a few feet away looking at him.

  “They are alive. See, at least that one is,” a small girl who appeared to be about seven told her friends.

  “So that means we don't get to take their things, right?” asked a slightly younger boy with disappointment in his voice at the thought the children wouldn’t collect any salvage.

  “No Miguel, we wouldn’t take things from living people, would we?” responded the oldest one, a tall, thin girl of 11 or 12 years of age. “That would be like stealing, and then we’d go to jail.”

  Alec’s foot kicked Leah, while he sat up and pulled a shirt over his head. Leah's eyes opened and she looked at him. “We've got visitors,” he told her. “You should get dressed before anyone else comes. Kids, would you all turn around for a minute and not look while we put our clothes on?” he asked in a louder voice.

  The three obediently swiveled around. “They sleep with no pajamas on!” one voice marveled. “What would momma say about that?” and all three tittered.

  As soon as she had scrambled into some of the finer clothing they carried, Leah said to the children, “Thank you for your good manners. Everyone, you can turn again. Would any of you like to have some jam for breakfast?”

  The two younger ones simultaneously answered, “Oh yes!” while the older girl would have made her parents proud by adding “please” to her assent. As they all sat on driftwood logs along the beach eating jam and crackers, Alec and Leah asked many questions while avoiding answering the youngsters’ queries.

  The two sisters, Angelina and young Maria, and their cousin Miguel, lived in a large house, perhaps a manor, visible on a bluff overlooking the river a mile away. About four times a year, they thought, their parents took them into the great city of Goldenfields for festivities or shopping or business trips. Their plantation grew cotton and corn and sheep and cattle and fruit trees, and had the only mill around, on a stream near the manor house, which they called Miller's home. After talking with the children, Alec and Leah had learned a fair amount, and were ready to leave; as they pulled the raft off the beach and into the river's current, they saw the children waving goodbye enthusiastically.

  “Those were children of the gentry, judging by what they said and the nice clothes they wore,” Leah said. “We must be close to the city if their parents take them there so often.”

  In fact they were close to the city. By midday they passed under a large bridge with much traffic, and they saw continual buildings along the banks. “Let's go to shore and leave the river,” Leah said. “We can walk through the city, learn what we need to know, and then decide whether to stay in the city or move out to a village.”

  They poled over to a dilapidated wooden wharf, one that looked abandoned in comparison to the busy stone quays they had already passed earlier along the city’s river banks. With the expertise that weeks on the river had developed, Alec directed them to a gentle bump and stop on the upriver side of the wharf, ending their river adventure as they arrived in Goldenfields.

  Section 2

  Finding The Power –

  Goldenfields

  Chapter 11 – Annalea in Goldenfields

  Although he expected to celebrate their successful arrival after weeks of travel, as he and Leah unloaded their belongings from the raft onto the wharf Alec realized that though the two of them had fled Walnut Creek with no possessions, they had plundered the goods on the sandbar with too much glee. They had far more belongings than they could possibly carry with them. By the bemused look in Leah's eyes he could tell that she felt the same sheepish realization of their greed. After a quick talk, they decided to place their belongings back on the raft and tie it in the shadows beneath the wharf. Abandoned as the jetty appeared to be, they might be able to return in a few days and retrieve their plunder after they found a place.

  An hour later the raft was reloaded and pulled to the foot of the wharf, where Alec pushed it between piers and tied it securely, then moved some debris to hide the view. When he climbed up to the top of the wharf where Leah was waiting he saw unhappiness written in her frowning face.

  “Why do you look like that?” he asked, unable to imagine a reason to be dissatisfied.

  “There’s someone in that old warehouse up the road who's been watching everything you just did. As soon as we leave, all these things will be gone,” she replied.

  “Let’s go see what we can do,” Alec replied impulsively. A couple of minutes quick walk along the river bank brought them to a brick warehouse that appeared securely shut except for one window, and carried an air of abandonment.

  Trying to display confidence he didn’t feel, Alec pounded against the door and responded to the silence by shouting, “We know you're in there. Come out and talk. We mean you no harm.”

  After a few moments of silence he added, “I have a bargain to propose that I think you'll agree to.”

  “What bargain?” a querulous voice finally responded, from the open window above their heads.

  “We know you've been watching us. We'd like to offer a deal if you'll help us protect our things,” Alec responded.

  “Alec what do you have in mind?” Leah softly asked.

  “What do you have in mind?” echoed the observer’s voice, sounding slightly curious and slightly smug.

  “Let me see you,” Alec replied. “I mean you no harm,” he stepped back from the building and looked at the window above, as the face and chest of a man appeared a moment later at the window. “What do you think you have to offer to me?” the man's voice asked.

  “I am a doctor. I have medicines with me to treat rotten teeth and a tight chest,” Alec replied after observing the man as best as he could from the distance between them. “I can make you feel better if you'll help protect our goods for a few days,” Alec suggested. Even at the distance, his vision of the man's health had revealed a number of illnesses and aches Alec felt sure he would be able to treat.

  “How do I know I can trust you?” asked the wary watchman.

  “I am a healer,” repeated Alec. “This bag contains my medical supplies. I can see that you have some medical problems -- that swollen jaw, for e
xample. If you come down here I’ll treat those teeth. If you help protect our goods, when I come back in a few days I’ll treat you again so that you don't feel further pain. Some of your problems I think I can cure completely.”

  The watchman studied him intently for several seconds then disappeared from sight. Moments went by. Alec and Leah looked at one another. “Where are you?” asked Alec after a longer wait without any action in the warehouse.

  At that moment the sound of a bolt being thrown came from the door in front of them.

  As the door swung open, Alec confirmed many of the maladies he had detected at a distance. A visibly swollen jaw and bad breath confirmed the obvious inflammation and infection he detected around two teeth; a dull aura around the chest was indicative of congested lungs. To those he added the apparent ache in a shoulder that had been badly injured and never properly treated many years in the past, and several open sores on one leg.

  "Sit down on this stone and let me see what I can do for you," he instructed the watchman as he swung his medical bag off his shoulder. Leah took the man’s arm and guided him over to a bench.

  Alec put the man through a number of simple steps to determine his health while talking to him to try to judge how trustworthy he would be. "What's your name?" Alec asked as his patient demonstrated the mobility of his arms and breathed for Alec to listen to him.

  "I'm called Gim," the old man replied. Alec now realized that the man wasn't as old as he appeared, but a life of hard living had aged him substantially.

  "What did you do to that shoulder?" he asked Gim.

  "Years ago I was a river sailor. On one voyage we had a collision with another barge late at night -- their captain was drunk and they didn't have any lanterns out, so we didn't see them moored as we went down river. We were in a hurry because we had the first shipments of Goldenfields casks of wine and there was a premium if we could get them to the King in time for the Autumn Festival.”

  "The mast from the other ship broke off and came down square on top of me. After we untangled, we took right off again - -we weren’t too much damaged. They didn't have any doctor for me, so they just kept me drunk for three days on some of the wine. It was awfully good wine; better than anything a commoner like me will ever taste again.” He paused for a minute with the memory, “We delivered it in time to make the King happy. I never saw a good doctor, and have had this ache ever since...probably twenty years now."

  Alec was mixing ingredients as he listened to Gim. Then he took a long careful look inside Gim's mouth at the teeth, after he first promised he wouldn't touch any of them. He saw such a painful mess he understood why Gim didn't want them touched, and why Gim was so skinny. With sore teeth like that nobody could eat solid food. The surprising thing was how pleasant Gim was, given the pain his teeth must be producing.

  "Gim, can we trust you to stick to our bargain if I take care of you?" he asked the old man.

  "If you can take care of half my problems I'll be your man for whatever's left of my life," Gim responded, looking him directly in the eye.

  "All right. Here's what I think would be best for you. For those teeth, we're going to have to pull two of them out." Gim flinched involuntarily at the prognosis. "But right now they're in too bad of shape for me to do that. First I want you to keep this wad of herbs pressed against them for the next three days. It'll kill some of the infection and reduce the swelling so we can take care of the problem, which is that you've got two rotten teeth that have to come out before they kill you. This will help reduce the pain considerably by tomorrow morning if you keep it pressed against those sore pegs. Here's a second wad you can use tomorrow night.

  “Next, here is some powdered bark. When you feel the pain in that shoulder starting to get bad, steep a big pinch in a cup of hot water for about five minutes then drink it all down. It'll help with the pain. I can't fix that, but we can make it feel better.

  ”I'm going to put this salve on these sores on your legs right now. In this leaf is more salve. Put it on each morning for the next four days. Go light on how much you rub on; it doesn't have to be thick, just make sure you stretch it out to last four days.

  ”The last one is this collection of dried leaves. Before you go to bed, crumble some of these over a small burning coal, and breathe in the fumes. Hold your breath and keep them as deep down in your lungs as you can for as long as you can. That'll clear out that congestion you've got in your chest.

  ”Now, repeat back to me what you have to do," Alec ordered. Gim obediently and correctly parroted back his instructions.

  "Okay. If you do all this, when we get back in a few days you'll feel much better. I'll give you more to complete the treatments, because you need more of each of these. I'll also get those rotten teeth out of your mouth, and that'll leave you in a lot better shape." Alec continued. "You promise you will keep us and our supplies secret from everyone so that we can find a place to be healers in the city?" Alec anxiously repeated his question. Gim nodded yes.

  "Gim, please do this for us. We want a chance to live our life here. We don't want to lose all that we own before we can even start," Leah begged him earnestly as she sat on the stone bench next to him.

  "What you're doing for old Gim is more than anyone's done since I was a boy," he replied. "Your secret is safe. What kind of place are you looking for? Maybe I can give you some ideas," he suggested.

  Alec hadn't thought of asking for directions from Gim; he had just wanted to hush the old man up so that their belongings wouldn't be stolen. The obvious opportunity to learn something about the city suddenly smacked him in the face. He looked at Leah. "What would you tell Gim we're looking for?"

  After a moment's thought she began, "Alec is a healer. We want to find a section of town that the gentry will come to for healing; tradesmen, craftsmen, folks with money are who we need to collect from if we want to feed ourselves, but we'd like to be in a place that common folks can get to easily, because we can help them, too. We want to find a shop we can rent for taking care of folks. If it has a front room and one or two back rooms, and rooms upstairs we can live in, that would be just the thing. Where do you think we should start looking?"

  Gim thought about her question, and his head turned left and right as he seemed to be looking for the best parts of the city. Finally he responded. "Just a little way down river are wharves where the rich merchants like Natha dock their ships, and on the bluff above that is the market where they trade the best cloth and finest products that the nobility like to have. So anywhere within two hundred yards of the Great Riverfront Square are craftsmen who make their goods to sell at the market or to the market's customers. And to the north of there is the district where lots of those people live. It sounds like what you want would be north or west of the square, maybe around the Jewelers street or the Bakers street."

  Leah nodded her head. "You understand perfectly what we want. Is there an inn we could afford a room in for two or three nights?"

  Gim replied, "The Golden Loom is nice, but it’s going to be a little pricey. You might want to save some money and go to The Green Dragon or the Coopers Stave. I know the lady who runs the Cooper, and if you tell her you know Gim she'll treat you fair."

  After getting directions from Gim, Alec and Leah shouldered their bags and began walking up the rickety stairs to the top of the bank and away from the wharf, hopefully towards a new place to stay. Finally, after all their time at the wharf and at the warehouse, Leah and Alec entered the main course of the city late in the afternoon.

  "We might as well go to the Cooper and talk to Mistress Welgon first," Leah suggested. “That’ll give us a place to stay.”

  “How will we go about looking for Natalie?” Alec asked.

  “If we can get a room at the Cooper’s Stave, then we can go to the Golden Loom. It sounds like the kind of place where the wealthier travelers from Walnut Creek might have gone after landing here. We can ask about your friend, and maybe we can even pick up some information about lik
ely places to practice medicine,” Leah suggested. “If we don't like what we hear about Walnut Creek or about places to practice medicine, we can leave Goldenfields and go to a smaller city or town in the area to set up."

  For Alec, walking through the crowded streets was a reminder of Frame, the crowded city he’d lived in before the circus. The crowds, the buildings, the hustle and bustle all were not only familiar, but after a minute or two, enjoyable entertainment. For Leah however, Goldenfields was different from anything in her experience in the sparsely populated wilderness of Walnut Creek. The confidence she had felt about her ability to maneuver was overwhelmed by the activity that teamed around her. She took Alec's hand as much for comfort as to remain with him on the crowded street.

  “Let's leave the Duke’s Road. If we walk a block or two parallel to this road, the crowds won’t be so packed,” Alec said, recognizing Leah's discomfort.

  They edged across the road, dodging wagons and carriages and foul piles in the street, and found an alley that led to the next road running towards the great market. Less crowded, the new way was lined with paper makers, scribners, printers and comfortable homes. As they walked along with eyes looking in windows and at people in their path, a high-pitched scream, followed by ragged sobs, came from an open doorway they were passing. Leah jumped, startled by the painful cry.

  Alec stopped, and his hold on Leah's hand jerked her to a stop like an anchor catching a drifting ship. He looked into the doorway, feeling compelled to help, but uncertain about just walking in. After moments of indecision, another loud moan concluded his internal debate, and Alec stepped across the threshold.

  In the dim interior of the house a woman came down the hallway. “May I help you?” she asked.

  “I am a healer, and heard someone in pain here. I couldn't bear the sound, and wanted to help,” Alec replied.