Ajacii and Demons: The Ingenairii Series (18 page)

The other guards jumped in startlement, and one rushed forward, swinging his sword viciously at Alec’s midriff.  With a quick and deep backward bow, Alec avoided being slashed by the blade, then pulled the man’s torso forward rapidly, allowing him to head-butt his attacker, leaving the man also on the floor, also unconscious.

The two remaining guards spread apart to come at Alec from each side, as more guards began to move to the front of the room. Alec dropped low and stretched his legs out to sweep away the legs of the guard on his left, then stood and faced the other one, and quickly stepped in too close for the man to use his sword.  Alec swung a fist that caused the man to fall unconscious as well.  Stooping, Alec picked up the three remaining swords of his fallen opponents and began to juggle them.

You’re just showing off
, Caitlen mentally laughed as she tried to chastise him.

Alec flashed a toothy grin at her, then sent all three swords to hang from the ceiling above.

“
Would you like to put a stop to this senseless violence Alec is inflicting on your men?”  Caitlen asked.  “If you don’t agree that I am free to leave when I choose, there will be consequences.”

“
You are in no position to negotiate,” the trim youngish nobleman at the table spoke, as the six remaining guards in the room prepared to converge on Alec.  One of them, equipped with a bow, fired an arrow that Alec caught in midair and snapped into two pieces.  Alec pulled a knife from his bandolier and threw it at the archer, planting the blade in the man’s shoulder.

Alec unsheathed his own sword, and rushed at two men on one side of him, disarming one and slashing the forearm of the other, then turned with a graceful spin and defended himself successfully from the others who had rushed at his back, wounding all of them.

“
You gentlemen have no guards left in the room, it seems,” Caitlen spoke calmly, inwardly marveling at Alec’s abilities.  “Do you want to concede that I am the reigning monarch in Vincennes, or do you wish to become my hostages?”

Two noblemen pushed their seats back from the table.  “You are a woman, and you do not have the ability to govern the nation,” one man began to protest, until one of Alec’s knives flew across the room and struck him in the chest.  The man’s eye’s rolled back and he collapsed.

“
No Alec!  We don’t have to kill them yet!” Caitlen shouted.  “Can you heal him?”

Growing exasperated, Alec stared at the Princess for several seconds, then walked around the table, as the men at the table scrambled out of his way. 
Do you really want me to revive him?
He sent a message to Caitlen.

“
Yes,” she spoke aloud, as Alec crouched.  He pulled the knife from his victim, then applied his healing energy to knit the wound.

“
Get up, weak man,” Alec said contemptuously.  He was about to say more, when the doors from the hallway burst open, and Bethany, Rahm, three others wearing Caitlen’s colors, and a half dozen other guards who had apparently switched to support Caitlen came storming into the room.

“
Half of you round up the noblemen and put them all in that corner,” Alec said aloud to the new allies who entered, “and the rest of you take their guards and shove them out into the hall.  Caitlen, would you like to write a loyalty pledge or a peace treaty for these fine lords to sign to acknowledge your sovereignty?”  He reached down and pulled up the man he had wounded and healed, then pushed the man towards a corner.

Caitlen, what do we do now?
He silently asked.

I don’t know!  I didn’t know it would be this easy to capture the Council!  What do you suggest?
She asked.

Alec thought about the practices the clans had been forced to use in Michian during Jeswyne’s rein, as she had worked to tamp down their violent feuds. 
We should go back to Vincennes now.  Take some Council members as hostages, and make the others send relatives to your court as hostages as well. Don’t threaten anything; just let them know that their sons and daughters are in your court, under your control.  And make them give you some arms men
.

Alec!  Do you have no scruples?
She asked, shocked.

Not when it comes to protecting you, my love. This is what they did in Michian, and it worked
, he replied, and he grinned at her.

It will be a long journey down the river, around the coast, and back up to Vincennes.  Can we hold them that long while we travel?
She asked.

All other activity in the room had ceased, as Alec and Caitlen stood silent, staring at each other.  “What’s happening?” one of Caitlen’s new supporters asked.

“
We’re talking,” Alec and Caitlen both said simultaneously, and then laughed.

“
I came in across the mountains; we can take them back that way,” he said aloud. 
I’ll tell my guide not to leave yet,
he added silently.

The mountain route would avoid all the trouble of keeping them under control in some of their own cities
, Caitlen agreed. 
But it’s such a rough journey.  I don’t know anyone else who’s made it, especially this late in the year.
 She looked at their dejected captives. 
Some of them won’t survive it.

We won’t take the old ones,
Alec agreed.  Once we get moving,
the others will be too isolated in the wilderness to resist the journey.

Chandler, this is Alec, speaking to you.  Do not leave Dana yet.  I want you to guide a group of us back to Vincennes.  We’ll come to see you this evening and we’ll leave right away.  Go get as many supplies as you can for a group of twenty.  We’ll repay you plus more,
he sent his directions to the guide, hoping that the unusual communications would not be too upsetting.

         
Three hours later, as night was falling, Alec, Caitlen, their guards and five hostages were mounting on horses to start the ride into the mountains.  All the captive nobles had signed a pledge of loyalty, and those who weren’t personally taken as hostages had promised to send family members to the court in Vincennes without delay, under threat of a visit from Alec to their estates.

         
Chandler and Ephraim, though unsettled by the extraordinary delivery of Alec’s message, had been prepared and waiting at the inn when the unwieldy party arrived, and the group began their journey, riding at night the first night just to get out of Dana and up into the mountains, where Alec felt safer.

The trip to Jagine took eight days.  It was a grueling one for everyone, but especially for Alec, who repeatedly used his healing powers to maintain the health of the traveling party, as well as used his Warrior abilities to serve multiple turns on watch duty, hunt for game, and maintain order.

The whole party stopped in Jagine for two days, and lost two guards who decided to try their luck as blue-skinned lovers.  They then set off on a new route to Vincennes, a route that was easier, less rugged, than the journey from Eckerd had been, and arrived at the capital on their ninth day out of Jagine.

Caitlen led the entourage into the palace grounds, then arranged for guards to be assigned to all the hostages, met with her astonished advisors to discuss a number of topics, and finally was left alone with Alec in the residential rooms of the palace.

“
That trip will be remembered for a long time,” she told Alec as she struggled out of her clothing and prepared to take a hot bath.

“
I doubt that many of the male rulers of the nation ever did anything like it,” Alec agreed languidly, lying down on the bed. “What do we do now?” he asked.

“
You mean after my bath?” Caitlen asked. “We go to the great hall for a brief ceremony, and then have the evening to ourselves finally.”

“
Do we start planning the next campaign?” Alec asked.

“
Don’t worry about that so soon,” Caitlen admonished him. “Come scrub my back instead. Do you remember when we were in Valeriane, and I scrubbed your back while you were in the tub there, right before the troops came into the room?” she asked, suddenly nostalgic. “I remember your reactions when they pounded on the door, and the way you got us out of that trap by disguising us! Now that it’s past, it seems like that was such a fun journey, just the two of us traveling through the countryside.”

Alec obediently knelt and scrubbed her back as she relaxed in the warm waters. He sensed a rising level of excitement in her as she sat in the tub. “Go fetch a robe for me please,” she asked him, “and ask for a maid to come help me get dressed.”

Alec left her and did as instructed, then discovered a set of clean clothes provided for him as well, and changed his own wardrobe.

“
We’re dressed awfully formally, aren’t we?” Alec asked as they left the residence to travel to her appointment.

She didn’t answer, as they passed the guards in the hallway outside the formal audience hall, and entered to find a very large crowd gathered.
Welcome to your wedding, dear,
Caitlen silently told him, then laughed as she saw the amazement on his face.
This could have happened much sooner if you hadn’t kept leaving me to search for the women of your past
, her tone conveyed both humor and a trace of wistfulness.

“
I don’t understand,” Alec spoke aloud, astonished by the unexpected event.

“
Alec, foreign-born king of the far off Dominion, now Duke of Valeriane, I ask you to marry me, to stand always by my side as my consort,” Caitlen spoke loudly.
Don’t laugh,
she warned. “I expect you to be subservient to my wishes, and to acknowledge my right to rule the nation, and to direct your actions.”

Go down on your knees and say that you accept my proposal
, Caitlen instructed him.

Really?
Alec asked.

Alec!
Her mental voice rose an octave,
Let’s not worry over these silly words. Just adhere to the tradition
.

With a roll of his eyes, Alec knelt in front of Caitlen, as the whole room watched. “Oh most awful Princes Esmere, ruler of the whole world, all that is known and unknown, I gladly submit to the glorious reign I know you will impose upon me for all the years that we both shall live,” he said in an exaggerated tone of piety.

Was that groveling enough?
Alec asked.

Catilen laughed aloud, raising her hand to cover her mouth.
Alec, this is just the proposal. We haven’t even started the wedding ceremony yet.

Alec raised his eyebrows.

“
Given your acknowledgement of my rightful sovereignty, I will accept you as my first consort, and command you to accompany me to the altar to be joined in marriage,” Caitlen said solemnly.

What does first consort mean?
Alec asked.
There’s no second consort who would survive.

I know. It’s just a phrase,
Caitlen replied. “I choose now as the best time for our wedding to take place. And I choose this palace as the place we will unite our two lives.”

“
We should proceed to the altar,” she said, gesturing to a large open area in the front of the room, where three men in robes stood waiting for them. The engagement ceremony ended, and the wedding ceremony immediately began.

Or we could elope
, Alec said wryly.

He felt Caitlen’s elbow dig into his side as they walked along the open aisle among the throng of people who were gathered, and he realized the gravity of the ceremony they were about to perform.
You know I love you,
he silently told Caitlen, and she glanced at him with a dazzling smile.

“
The groom shall approach the priest of atonement,” the man in the center of the cluster of men in the front of the room spoke, and he gestured towards the man on his left. Alec moved away from Caitlen to face the man.

“
A man who wishes to enter a marriage must begin his new relationship with a clean slate, devoid of the mistakes and problems he found in his prior life. Your marriage must begin without the burden of past errors,” the priest intoned loudly. He raised a cup high above his head. “With this water you are cleansed of your past troubles,” he dribbled a small amount of water on Alec’s head. “You may journey now to the priest of the union,” he gestured towards where Caitlen stood before a priest on the other side of the dais.

“
Esmere and Alec, you are here to become a single entity, a couple who,” he paused for just a fraction of a second, “will unite physically and spiritually, throughout all the days of your lives, tending to each other.