Visions of Power

by Jeffrey Quyle

  “Natha, why does he think you and the Duke don’t get along?” Alec asked, rattled by the conversation.

  “It all goes back to this Walnut Creek nonsense we were talking about last week. The army takes it all as a real threat, and wants the Duke to raise taxes on the traders to pay for more men and weapons to fight this lacertii threat reported in the mountains,” Natha explained, holding up a hand to prevent DR from jumping in. “I’ve made clear that the traders don’t have the money to throw at the soldiers so they can indulge their wishes.”

  “The army isn’t just jumping at ghosts,” DR burst in. “It was a trader who reported to us everything that happened in the mountains. You could have spoken to her yourself if your friend the doctor hadn’t spirited her away to the ingenairii at the King’s court so quickly. You can go speak to the Duke’s ingenaire here in the palace. He’ll tell you just how serious the threat is to our land.”

  Alec pondered whether to break his silence and tell them all he knew about Walnut Creek, and perhaps even about Riverside before that. It was clearly important that the story be told, but he feared that he’d be spirited off to the ingenairii himself, and never see the light of day for a long time thereafter. His musings were interrupted by a deep new voice that came from behind his back.

  “An interesting discussion Colonel, trader,” the voice said. “I’ve heard a great deal that interests me.”

  Alec turned to see the Duke, eyes open, watching the three at the table.

  Chapter 17 – The Awakening

  My Duke, it is a pleasure to hear your voice again!” Colonel Ryder replied, rising to stand.

  “I feel the same way – I’m delighted to hear my voice as well,” the Duke replied with a chuckle. “I woke up and heard several interesting items in your discussion just now, but before we pursue those, I’d like to know where I am and what happened. I remember being ambushed at the river porch, but nothing beyond a great deal of blood and pain.”

  DR looked at Alec, “Is it permissible to talk with the Duke for a while?” he asked.

  Alec stood and walked over to the Duke’s bed, examining him carefully. His health continued to improve. “He needs to lie flat and don’t take more than half an hour,” Alec prescribed.

  “If I’ve only got half an hour, my most pressing question is who is this boy and why is he in charge of my care?” the Duke asked, baffled by the turn of events.

  “My name is Alec, and I am the healer brought by the trader Natha to tend to your wounds yesterday,” Alec replied.

  “That is correct, and only the beginning of the story, sir,” DR added. “You were attacked yesterday morning, and your physicians all declared you beyond hope of recovery. Last night Alec showed up, courtesy of the trader, and proceeded to work throughout the night, a miracle with much labor, and saved you. He then came here to our regiment’s infirmary and worked further to save your surviving guard, Inga, who had been wounded as badly as you. He has done heroic work and I place credit for your recovery entirely in his hands,” the colonel finished.

  The duke held out a hand and held Alec’s arm, pulling him closer into his field of vision to study. “How could one who is so young possibly perform such works?” he asked.

  “I’ve been given a gift,” Alec said, using the reply he decided best avoided saying anything without lying.

  “He did the same thing last week when my daughter Annie was on her deathbed, sir. That’s how I knew to bring him to you,” Natha added.

  “If I’ve only got half an hour I won’t waste it for now thanking you. That will come later,” he said to Alec. “Colonel, report on everything that’s happened.”

  For the next twenty minutes Ryder recounted the events of the past day. Alec watched the Duke listen intently, and saw him wearing out from the effort. “Sir, it is time for you to receive medication and then sleep for the evening,” he said as deferentially as he could.

  The Duke looked at him. “Will I be well enough to receive visitors tomorrow?” he asked. “Or let me put it this way, I expect to be able to receive visitors tomorrow.”

  Feeling pressure, Alec pulled on his chin as he thought about it. “If we do it around mid-morning, after I’ve confirmed you’re healing as fast as it seems, and we get you spruced up a little, I think some visitors for an hour or so would be fine.” He left to go get the preparations ready in the back room.

  When he came out he found that Inga too had awakened, and was receiving the second telling of the story.

  As Alec fed and dosed the Duke, DR questioned the guard carefully on how the Duke had been attacked.

  “We were down on the small riverside porch, where the Duke was looking over some papers, when I realized someone had climbed up the wall from the river and was behind us on the porch, with another person lifting a leg over as I watched. It alarmed me and I shouted to Matson, but then we saw they were wearing our own regiment’s uniform, so I wondered if it was some type of exercise,” she explained. “When the third one came up I still didn’t recognize any of them and grew alarmed. I started shouting, and Matson did too. Two more came up before the ones who were on the porch rushed us. We protected the Duke, and maneuvered around to the rope they were climbing up and cut it. I saw two boats below and more ready to climb up. We kept shouting, then Matson went down, after two of them had, but the Duke and I had both started to lose blood by then. They got cut up pretty bad too, though.

  “Finally, more of our guards came down from the palace, and the only surviving assassin at that point dove back into the river. I don’t remember anything else after that.”

  The Duke was fighting to stay awake as Alec’s sedative ushered him to sleep. “That’s how I remember it too,” he said, and nodded off.

  “So you’re the one responsible for making me feel so sore?” Inga turned to Alec. “If you’re going to perform a miraculous healing, couldn’t you at least make it pain-free?” she asked, trying to flex her stitched up limbs.

  Alec placed a hand on her arm and gently forced it back to the bed. “That’s not a good thing to do right now,” he softly admonished her. Behind him, he heard the door open.

  “There you go again, pawing after my wife,” the voice of Captain Lewis spoke, sounding like he had a large lump in his throat. “The lech had you undressed and was ready to do unmentionable things to your body last night, or was it this morning?” he said, his eyes, ringed with dark bags, shining brightly as he approached his wife.

  “He seems a little young to qualify as a lech yet,” she replied gently looking back at her husband.

  “Let’s step outside for a moment, shall we?” Colonel Ryder suggested as they looked on in embarrassed silence at the couple’s reunion.

  Alec followed the others out of the building. Although the sun was starting to set, it was his first look around at the palace grounds in daylight.

  Above him rose the yellow limestone walls of the palace, without a single window facing his direction, across a courtyard of a hundred yards. Lining the courtyard on both sides were buildings, which DR pointed out as stables, barracks, weapons storage, officers quarters, the kitchens, and other necessary activity spaces.

  “Since we’re already out here, I may as well take my leave of you colonel,” Natha said. “I hope you understand that I am a patriot and a supporter of the Duke under all circumstances. I think we need to talk more about the circumstances of the past day, but now is not the time.

  “Alec, I will send word to Leah that you are well and let her know that you may be home in a few days perhaps. Is there anything else I can do?”

  Alec thought, then reached into his pocket, pulling out some silver and copper coins. “Would you give her these please? I’m afraid the way I ran out I left her without any money, and she’s going to need some.”

  “I’ll make sure she’s taken care of,” Natha said gently, using both his hands to close Alec’s with the coins still in his palm. “It’s the least I can do. Colonel, can you provide me with an
escort?” He turned and walked away, accompanied by a guard.

  “Let’s return now, so you can finish dosing your patient,” Colonel Ryder said, leading Alec back into the infirmary. The married couple was holding hands, not saying anything as the others re-entered, accompanied by the guards.

  “Now my dear, comes the treat I’ve awaited. The good doctor is going to serve you the things you need to help you get better,” the tired looking captain said as he stepped back out of Alec’s way.

  Inga looked quizzically at Alec. “What do you have that has made him so happy? Some love potion to make me his unquestioning slave?”

  “No, that comes after you’re healthier,” her husband chimed in.

  She reacted vehemently when told that she needed to eat a liver concoction to help her body recover. “If you’d only make him serve it to me I could spit it our all over his laughing face,” the angry patient said, looking towards her husband. Despite her protests though, she accepted Alec’s ministrations, and soon nodded off to sleep.

  “I’d suggest we all get a good night’s sleep tonight,” Alec said, looking at the two officers. “I don’t think you need anyone to care for the patients. They should sleep through the night, and I’ll be right here with them. If the guards notice anything they can wake me up.”

  They all agreed and parted ways. As soon as the others were gone, Alec was quickly asleep, his body ready for the rest.

  Chapter 18 – Recovery in the Palace

  Although his body craved rest, Alec’s mind was active. Dreams throughout the night formed and reformed around various plots of lacertii, assassins, guards, traders, Leah, and conspicuously, Natalie and Ari.

  The next morning Alec awakened when Colonel Ryder returned to the infirmary with two civilians. “Our apologies for the early start to the day,” the colonel said. “We felt it was important that we start planning this morning’s event, and we need your advice about how to prepare. May we step outside to talk?”

  Alec got of bed and quickly pulled on clothes, unaccustomed to such military abruptness.

  “Doctor, these are two of the Duke’s ministers, Lord Kelvin and Noah Rastall, who we know we can trust. They agreed that presenting the Duke to the court, or at least some of the court, this morning is critical to stop all the wild rumors that have the city so unsettled. We need to know how well you think the Duke is and how much he can do?” Ryder explained.

  “I haven’t examined him this morning yet to know exactly how he’s doing. How much do you have in mind?” Alec responded, thinking about the strain the Duke was likely to withstand.

  “Can he go to the Receiving Chambers to speak to a large audience?” Lord Kelvin, a tall, intelligent-looking man asked.

  “I don’t think he should try to climb any stairs,” Alec considered. “Depending on how he seems, he might be able to sit upright for a half hour or so and speak for part of that time.” Alec could sense how strongly the advisors wanted to make a grand appearance for the Duke, and felt overwhelmed by the notion that powerful leaders were relying on his judgment.

  The three considered those limitations with perplexed looks. “Could we carry him on a cot to the room and carry him to a seat just before the presentation, and then carry him back down here?” Noah Rastall, who seemed to have no title, but appeared young, asked. Alec remembered that Natha had named Rastall as the person who had authorized his entry into the palace, and he tried to surreptitiously examine the powerful advisor.

  “Perhaps so,” Alec said. “Let me go examine him now, and I can give you a better answer. Wait here and I’ll be back momentarily.” When he entered the room Alec found both patients awake and staring at his return.

  “What do those rascals want?” the Duke asked affectionately, indicating the group that was visible through the window.

  Alec decided not to answer but instead tended to his examination. He looked at the Duke intently, raising his gown to examine each wound, and using his health sense to gauge how much energy the ruler possessed two days after being knifed and poisoned.

  He turned to go back outside. “What, am I so unworthy or so ugly that you don’t even want to look at me?” Inga called out in a mock plaintive voice.

  “I’m always careful about how I treat a woman whose husband is trained to kill,” Alec said demurely, causing the Duke to roar out his approval

  “That’s sound wisdom for one so young! Too many men older than you never seem to learn that lesson except the hard way,” the Duke laughed as Alec went back outside.

  “Is it so important that the Duke do this today?” Alec asked, wanting confirmation of what he knew he’d be told.

  “Yes Alec, we think it needs to be done quickly. The Prince is spreading rumors that his father is dead, and is trying to set the table so he can seize control,” Ryder replied, judging that to be the argument that would be most persuasive to Alec. “We’ve been talking about how to arrange things, and we think that we can give reports to the Duke while he passively sits and listens, so that we don’t require much effort from him.”

  “And if you could give him something to stimulate him for a short time, perhaps?” Rastall began to suggest, before Alec’s stubborn face made clear he’d reached the limit of what he’d agree to.

  “I will dose and feed and clean the Duke,” Alec agreed. “If you can have the gurney ready in an hour to take him to his room, and keep him away from here for no more than half an hour, I will accept this plan.”

  “I will go alert the court and make sure the audience is assembled outside the Receiving Chambers, so that as soon as he is settled in his seat they can come in,” Noah said.

  “I’m going to go take care of the patients now. Will you please send some fruit juice, some bread, and something more for me? And a barber to shave the Duke?” he asked the colonel as he went back in the infirmary.

  “Well, what is it to be?” the Duke jumped Alec with the question as soon as he was through the door.

  “This morning you are to have a brief audience for the benefit of the court, my lord,” Alec said. “I need to get you ready.”

  He stopped at Inga’s bed to examine her. “What are you wasting time on me for?” she thundered. “Take care of the Duke first. Your duty is to him. I’ll come afterward.”

  Alec raised her gown discreetly and quickly looked at her wounds. None seemed infected. He planned to examine her further afterward and lowered the material.

  “I knew you’d need a quick peek at my body. They say that a knife fight makes a girl irresistible,” she murmured, pleased to have been noticed.

  Alec shook his head, convinced that he’d never understand how women thought, and went back to his medicine room to prepare his treatments. He fixed doses for strengthening the blood for both, and more lotion to help their wounds heal, then returned to find the breakfast tray had been delivered and the barber was waiting, complete with a set of clean robes for the Duke to wear, though the Duke complained about their formality.

  Alec did everything for the Duke first, fed him and watched the barber shave him. A stretcher carried by six guardsmen came in the door right on cue, and the Duke was transferred, unhappy about the stretcher for transportation.

  “I’ll stay here and tend to guardsman Inga,” Alec told Colonel Ryder. He felt shy about appearing in the noble assemblage.

  “I was going to suggest that we keep you out of sight as much as possible for the time being,” the colonel responded.

  “But I expect you to be here today, and especially tonight,” said the Duke, who overheard them. “Colonel, I want to have a privy council meeting tonight to hear what is going on and what is being done. We need to assert control of the situation, whatever it is, before circumstance start to control us,” he continued, looking at Alec, his eye holding Alec’s unwavering attention. “That’s an order, not a request to my doctor. I need to know what is happening.”

  Alec, cowed by the power of the Duke’s gaze, nodded his head, and the Duke’s entour
age left the building. The boy stood there, wondering how it was possible for his life to be so caught up in events beyond his experience. His mind wandered to thoughts about Natalie, and he realized he had not considered his need to search for her since the drama in the palace had begun.

  “It’s a bit overwhelming, I suppose, isn’t it?” Inga said with the most sympathetic tone he’d yet heard come from the brassy soldier.

  He moved to her bedside and began to dose and feed her. “I feel like I’m in a story but I didn’t even hear the beginning of the tale, and things are happening so fast I just have to try to hold on to the horse while it’s galloping,” he admitted as he gently slathered more of the skin cream on her facial stitches.

  “You’re not more than a boy, are you?” Inga asked. “How old are you Alec?”

  “I’m about sixteen. I don’t know my birthday, but that seems to be about right,” he replied.

  “In some ways you don’t even look that old, although you’re certainly large enough,” Inga said examining him just as clinically as he was examining her at the moment. “And yet here you are saving lives and making decisions that affect the state of the Duchy, maybe the entire Dominion. And none of us even knows anything about you other than your name and your ability to save lives beyond saving, ouch!” she interjected as Alec touched the sore, torn stomach muscle he’d put the most stitches in.

  “Tell me your story,” she said a moment later as Alec turned from her.

  He looked at her. She was a person sincerely interested in learning about him as a person, he sensed, although he suspected she was serving her Duke even in asking questions of his physician.

  “How old are you Inga?” he responded with a question.

  “I’m almost twenty, and at your age I was just getting ready to enter the Duke’s Guard for preliminary training, when they weed out the recruits from the wannabes.”