Visions of Power

by Jeffrey Quyle

  “Alright, now we need the stone ingenaire to replace the fire ingenaire,” Alec directed. With his two unwilling aides in place, he touched the locations on the skull he wanted to heal. “Now,” he directed, and the new feeling of stone replaced that of fire. Alec felt the difference, and felt his body react differently, but he mastered the needed actions and began to knit the bones, tracing the probe back and forth over the fractures to knit them together.

  He used another tool to pry up part of the depressed skull bone so that it no longer pressed against the brain beneath. “Now,” he said, and began to fix that portion of bone back in its intended location.

  “Stop,” he told the two ingenairii. “Thank you for your help; you’ve done all that I hoped for. You can also rest, brother. Thank you for the power of your healing prayers,” he said.

  Alec knew that he was not going to enjoy the after-effects of this surgery. He felt the excess ingenaire power he had buffered still coursing within his own body, leaving him almost nauseous. He ignored that to stitch the scalp back in place, administering liberal amounts of medication to the area as he did so.

  “Alright, now let’s roll him on his side,” Alec asked the priest. They gingerly moved Lewis’s still limp body. “Now, hold his head, carefully, so that I may drip this medicine into his mouth,” which he slowly did. “Gently place his head down on his pillow, and we can leave him.”

  The whole group moved out of the tent into the camp. The ingenairii looked at Alec with inscrutable glances. “Will you need us further?” the water ingenaire asked.

  “No, I just want to say thank you for your assistance. You’ve done what I needed to try to save a man’s life.”

  “I’m not sure what we’ve done, and whether we should have allowed it,” the stone ingenaire said. The three of them turned and walked away.

  “Would you like to come rest in my tent, Alec?” Major Abraham asked kindly.

  Alec focused suddenly on how dark the sky was turning. He had been in the tent for hours working to bring Lewis back to life. He felt exhausted, hungry, and intensely disturbed by the unwanted power that was in his body. “Yes, I need to rest now,” Alec answered the Major.

  They sat in the tent, Abraham and Alec, with the aide watching Alec like some of the patrons at the carnivals had watched the sideshows when Alec and Ari had worked there so long ago.

  “We’ll have some food here in a minute, and we’ll make arrangements for you to have a tent to sleep in,” Abraham said, motioning for the aide to go have food delivered. “Are you alright?” he asked quietly after they were alone. “You don’t look well, my friend.”

  “I’m just exhausted,” Alec said with partial truth, not willing to admit the impact the ingenaire power was having on him. “That was the most difficult thing I’ve ever done. I don’t think I could do it again.”

  “Thank you for directing the ingenairii to participate,” Alec added.

  “You shook them up. They were sure that this wouldn’t possibly work in the first place, and that you would die in the process of proving that,” Abraham said with a smile. “I’ll bet there will be dispatches sent by pigeon back to Merle tonight.”

  Alec sat back and thought about that. Had he violated the physical rules of ingenaire power by channeling the power, or was his infraction just a social rule against letting those outside the council feel the power, he wondered.

  He closed his eyes and rested. He heard the aide come back, and opened them again. The aide had brought the priest with him. “Thank you for your help, brother…,” Alec realized he did not know the name of the chaplain.

  “I am Brother Antonio,” the priest responded. “You’re welcome, but really, I want to thank you for allowing me to participate in a miracle. I thank you for recognizing the power of prayer. You perhaps recognize it better than I did myself. I felt wonderful sensations at times as we did that operation, as though I could feel the prayers melding with your healing powers,” he added. “But you look like you need to rest. Come to me anytime if I can be of service.”

  Alec had a sudden premonition. “Brother Antonio, if for some reason I cannot serve Captain Lewis tomorrow, please do something for me. Use the small green bowl to mix medicine for him to take, just as we did this evening, about four parts water to dry ingredients. Once in the morning and once in the evening. And say a payer for me.”

  Brother Antonio rose to leave, wearing a concerned look. “I’m sure no such works on my part will be needed, but I’ll remember what you said. Goodnight healer. Goodnight Major,” he said as he left the tent.

  Alec sat back and rested his eyes again. He sat up a few moments later. “Let’s eat that bite of food, and then I’ll be out of your way for the evening.” Though hungry, Alec only picked at the food on the tray brought in by the aide, and asked questions about how the expedition was going.

  “We have several objectives on this trip, as you know,” Abraham began. “We are helping to calm society in Goldenfields by removing some of the criminals. Some of them seem to have seen the errors of their ways and are on their way to being good citizens. Some of those folks continue being troublesome, obnoxious and unpleasant. And many of them have died or been killed either through accidents, fights, or executions. All in all, we’re doing that job pretty well.

  “We’re also supposed to develop this road to open up new lands to be annexed into the duchy. That’s going well. We did not start building the road as close to the city as I expected to. It seemed best to get as far from the city as we could with the ruffians we had. I plan to do road building on the return trip, or in a worst case, with another group. We’re moving along nicely now though, and these lands around here will join the Duchy fifteen or twenty years sooner than they would have otherwise. As we go farther that will increase, as well as providing the way for trade, settlers, and of course, access to the canal and the forts we are to build.

  “I think the ingenairii are working together on this more than they have before. It took them three days to determine the best way to form the road in the bed our men prepare, but they’ve got a good system now. Our workers dig the bed as deep and wide as the engineers ordain, and then haul up stone and sand from the river to fill the bed. The stone and fire ingenairii alternately apply their powers to the loose fill and it melts into a smooth, flat stone surface. Then the water ingenaire brings a dousing from the river up to quench it, and the road is set. We’ll probably slow down as we lose more workers, but we’ll keep going. It will take at least twice as long as I expected, but the engineers say that it’s a marvel to see us going as fast as we are creating the quality of road we have.

  “I don’t think the ingenairii ever had to do so much work before, and certainly not together, but it’s probably good for them,” he added with a smile.

  “Finally, we’re supposed to scout for lacertii and establish forts. There’s not a sign of lacertii, but we will build the forts. And now that we know what the ingenairii can do, the engineers are drawing up big plans for the forts, and the canal locks as well.

  “I think we’re doing well, and this road-building may be a new duty for the Duke to consider making a permanent service, if not for the usual army, for someone. As it is, I’ve decided that when we get to the sand bars, I’m going to rotate one regiment of soldiers back to regular duty in the duchy, and have their replacements bring whatever new criminals or hooligans we can use for the next batch of labor to help build the canal and forts. It’ll help keep down the costs of running the prisons, if nothing else.

  “But, I think that’s all you need to know tonight,” Abraham concluded, watching Alec nod off. “Guard, take the healer to the tent I directed, and post a guard on it for him. Make sure he is awakened at two hours past dawn.

  “Good night, miracle worker,” he softly spoke as Alec was gently escorted out. “I’ll send my report about you to Colonel Ryder immediately. Merle won’t be the only one to know of this back home.”

  Chapter 26 – An Unheal
thy Sleep

  Alec’s escort put him to bed in a cot and left him soundly asleep. He slumbered throughout the night, his sleep disturbed by nightmares involving Lewis, ingenaire powers, lacertii, and Natalie in peril. The next morning he had a sense of someone trying to awaken him, but his spirit could not rise to consciousness. He had a continuing dreamlike sense of someone, and then several people attempting to rouse him, unsuccessfully.

  Alec knew he needed to awaken. His eyes would not open. His muscles would not respond to his wishes. As he struggled to arise, he felt his thoughts reach a barrier before they could turn to action. The barrier seemed to be a force of energy that moved like a fluid around his consciousness. Alec felt as though his spirit was trapped underwater, unable to rise to the surface to breathe. He grew panicked at the sensation of being cut off from the world, but despite his mental thrashing, he couldn’t find any way to make the normal activities of life occur.

  At noon, he sensed another person enter the tent. He resumed the futile struggle to rise above the lethargy that blanketed him. Brother Antonio knelt beside his cot, placed his hands on Alec, and began to pray, having already dosed Captain Lewis as Alec had prescribed. As the words of the prayer and the supplication for healing flowed around him, Alec felt a barrier break in front of his spirit, and he struggled up through the opening, only to find another barrier. As the prayers continued, that insubstantial film was also rent, and he came further, closer to consciousness. Only one more barrier remained, he believed for some reason.

  With decreasing patience he waited for the last barrier to break while the words of the prayer continued. Finally, a small crack developed. He sent his spirit into it, pushing hard to escape and grasp a breath of consciousness, but could not rise all the way through. The stony barrier was too strong for him to fully breach.

  Still, he managed to briefly open his eyes. “Antonio,” he whispered, “Bring the ingenairii. Their power has trapped me.” With that message delivered he closed his eyes again, his spirit submerging, exhausted from the effort of speaking. He wasn’t sure what had caused him to diagnose his coma-like slumber as due to the ingenaire powers that were in his body, but he felt confident that it was the right conclusion.

  Brother Antonio sat in surprise at the barely heard words Alec had murmured. He sat back and considered his options, then went to see Major Abraham, who immediately allowed him to enter the command tent. Antonio reported Alec’s cryptic comment and relapse.

  Abraham, for the second day in a row, sent guards out to bring the ingenairii in from road duty. When they arrived at Alec’s tent, he had Antonio repeat the description of what had happened.

  “We did nothing except what the healer told us to do,” the water ingenaire, Leslie, first responded. “We didn’t do anything to try to hurt him or trap him.”

  “No we didn’t, and we did try to warn him that what he was doing was dangerous,” interjected the stone ingenaire, Benjamin.

  “Although the danger, whatever it is, turns out not to be what we expected,” Leslie agreed.

  “None of that matters; what can you do to help him?” Abraham asked.

  “We don’t know what’s wrong with him. How can we help?” Ryan, the third ingenaire asked.

  “Why don’t you go examine him to figure out what’s wrong? Guards, provide these three with an escort to the healer’s tent,” Abraham peremptorily ordered.

  When they all arrived at the tent, the three ingenairii examined Alec closely. After several minutes, they conversed among themselves, getting into a heated exchange. At last they turned to the major. “Yesterday,” Leslie began, “the healer asked us to channel power through him into the wounds he wanted to heal. None of us had ever heard of such a thing being done. We expected that the moment we sent power into him he would be killed by our powers. We warned him not to try.

  “Instead, he accepted our power and handled it as if he was one of us. In fact,” she explained, “he handled it better than any of us, in the sense of taking different types of powers and handling them. I could feel him changing the power I gave him, and he was mixing it with the power from the others to make it do things I never thought of. So just handling power doesn’t seem to be what has harmed him.”

  “What we think right now is that he still has some of our power in him. We’re not sure about much more than that. I remember yesterday he said we were feeding too much power for what he needed. Whether he stored some in himself, I don’t know. Why having power would be dangerous for him I don’t exactly know, although we are all taught not to call power unless we are prepared to release it. He was able to release it yesterday into the patient through his instrument, so I don’t know why he isn’t releasing this power he’s holding now,” she said thoughtfully. “We can see something that shouldn’t be happening,” she concluded. “But whether that is really the problem, and how to fix it, we cannot tell you.

  “If you have pigeons left, my suggestion is that we send a note to Merle right away, and ask for his advice.”

  “Thank you. Please go finish up some more roadwork until the usual end of the day. I’ll send a pigeon right away,” Abraham said. “Brother, have you taken care of the other patient as requested?”

  “Yes, I did dose the captain this morning, and I’ll do so tonight, and tomorrow morning again as well, if needed,” the priest responded. “There’s an adequate supply of the medicine ready. In the meantime, I’ll say more prayers, to see if that has any further beneficial value.” He stayed in the tent and kneeled to pray again, while the others took their leave, Major Abraham going to write a note and the ingenairii returning to their assignment of road building.

  The next morning broke with no change in Alec’s status, although Captain Lewis was reported to look much more healthy, and to be breathing much more deeply and regularly. Brother Antonio dosed him again, and noted that the patient’s swallowing reflex was much more active.

  Though it wasn’t sent by pigeon, Brother Antonio also wrote a report on the events that had transpired at the camp, and sent them by rider, going with a convoy that was returning to Goldenfields after having delivered supplies. His comments were addressed to Bishop Theodore at the cathedral.

  As Antonio again began praying that morning, Alec brought his spirit back up to the third barrier, the final one that had trapped him in this trance, and awaited any potential break that might occur. He was growing weaker, after having tried strenuously on several occasions to break through the barrier or to find a way around it. As the prayers resounded around the tent, he sensed another break in the barrier and thrust his spirit into the breach, coming up to the surface.

  “Antonio, what news?” he gasped, not using his small supply of energy to open his eyes. Before the brother could answer, Alec added his request, “Pray ‘fide, non armis’,” he murmured, and then was back down below the surface, unable to hold himself above the restraining barrier.

  Antonio considered the brief utterance from the once-again comatose healer. The phrase he had uttered sounded like a part of an ancient prayer. He decided to go back to his tent and consult his small traveling library in hopes of finding the reference.

  On the way he stopped in to the medical tent to see how Captain Lewis was doing. The wounded patient’s color was better, his heartbeat was stronger, and his breathing continuing to improve. Antonio prepared and administered another dose of the medicine, then went on to his own tent. His wonder at Lewis’s miraculous improvement would have been all he could think of under normal circumstances, but his worry for Alec left little room for Lewis’s recovery to hold his attention.

  While Antonio studied texts in his tent, Alec’s spirit was struggling to remain close to the surface. He sensed a growing coldness below him, and it seemed as if he was slipping ever so slightly towards the edge of falling back down below the second barrier he had come through. He began to grow fearful of not gaining consciousness again.

  He racked his memories, trying to find another solution to h
is entrapment. He hoped that Brother Antonio understood the only possible answer he had been able to conceive so far, a clue to another ancient prayer, although Alec suspected he had not gotten it quite right. He worried that Antonio might not have training or access to materials about the types of prayers Alec was trying to refer to in his last moment at the surface.

  He tried to imagine a solution to his deadly problem. In desperation, he imagined himself back in the Pale Mountains, in the cave where his adventure had taken such a tremendous step into the unexpected.

  The memory of the cave was unexpectedly brilliant. He felt as though he was physically there. The image appeared in his mind like a safe harbor, and he pulled himself more and more into the memory, feeling again the stunning water that fell on him, seeing the extraordinary etchings on the walls, gaining strength for his spirit in greater measure from the remembrance of the holy place. He surrendered to the peaceful sense of rapture that enveloped him as he stepped into the Cave of the Window, the place where a powerful saint had actually stood centuries ago. In that sense of complete rapture he felt comforted.

  He looked at the window before him in his vision, the window through which he had received his extraordinary powers. It symbolized the vision of salvation through sacrifice, as his Savior had given him salvation through sacrifice, he realized. Compelled without explanation, he stepped up to the window, through the paneless opening, onto the ledge, and stepped out into the space that was hundreds of feet above the valley floor below. As he passed through the window’s visionary threshold, he felt as though he had renewed his vision. He realized he could see the answer to escape from his entrapment by the ingenairii’s powers, then he felt himself falling back into unconsciousness, and everything became black.

  Chapter 27 – The Healing Power

  Antonio slumped over in despair. He had studied his meager collection of texts for hours; the day was far past its midpoint, and he could not find the prayer the healer had asked for. He felt in his heart that the right prayer was here, but nothing he had glanced at triggered any recognition. Something about Faith was surely right, he couldn’t help but believe that. But the rest of Alec’s reference, force of arms, didn’t make any sense, strangely enough in the midst of an army camp.