Ajacii and Demons: The Ingenairii Series (27 page)

“
What’s your name?” Alec asked.

“
Bauer,” the boy told him. “What’s your name?”

“
I’m called Alec,” he replied.

Bauer gave a snicker. “That’s an unlucky name! Didn’t your parents want to have kids?”

Alec rounded a corner and saw the rest of his squad waiting around the arms depot they had selected as their meeting place, the last one they had to pass to get out of the camp and back to their horses. “What do you have there?” Adelmo asked.

“
No time for questions or answers,” Alec said curtly. “Let’s move out and we can talk once we’re back on horses and riding away.”

“
Where are we going?” Bauer asked as Alec lowered him to his feet, a note of suspicion in his voice.

“
Questions later. We’re almost to safety,” Alec evaded that question as well. He took the boy by the hand and started to lead the group away, only to have him promptly trip over the unwieldy pant legs. “Here, hop on my back,” Alec turned and hoisted the lad piggyback before he resumed marching.

“
How did you heal me back there?” Bauer asked as he walked, his mouth next to Alec’s ear.

“
I have the ability to heal with a touch; it’s a gift from God,” Alec explained.

“
Which God are you a follower of?” Buaer asked. “That is a great gift to receive.”

“
I am a follower of the One God, the Creator, the father of Jesus Christ,” Alec replied.

“
Halt!” a commanding voice spoke from behind them. “Stop in your tracks. Who are you and where are you going?”

“
You’re the enemy, aren’t you? You are a follower of the old land’s conqueror. Help me!” Bauer spoke in a voice of ascending volume.

Alec and the rest of his squad turned to see a squad of equal size just a few yards behind them. Alec gently lowered his passenger to the ground, keeping his right arm awkwardly wrapped behind his back to maintain a firm grasp on the boy. With his left hand he began a rapid series of knife tosses, pulling the daggers from his bandolier to fling at the people who were trying to stop his force. In less than twenty seconds the entire squad that was truly from the rebel army was on the ground, killed or injured by Alec’s tosses.

“
Who is he?” Adelmo asked Alec as he swung Bauer around over his shoulder and resumed the journey away from the camp.

At the same time, Bauer also questioned Alec, as he squirmed and struggled in his new position. “You’re not human, are you? You’re one of the ingenairii, the ones who our people fought in the ancient times! We never thought we’d be persecuted by your kind again!”

“
This is a young sorcerer,” Alec answered Adelmo, not seeing the rolling eyes the rest of the squad exchanged with each other. “He was injured in the melee in the tent, and I took pity on him.”

“
Why? What will you do with it now?” Adelmo questioned.

“
I don’t know,” Alec admitted. “He spoke in my old language, and I saw him; he called for his mother and I took pity on him.”

“
Are you going to kill me?” Bauer asked in his language, ceasing his attempts to escape Alec’s grip.

“
I am not going to kill you,” Alec said in the same language, as his mind flipped between the different tongues, not admitting that he didn’t know what he was going to do with the boy.

“
You speak his language?” Adelmo asked, stating the obvious.

With another mental wrench, Alec switched back to the language of Vincennes. “I do. I’ll question him when we’re safe and we have time, and try to understand the sorcerers better.”

“
What is there to understand? They bring demons into the world; who wants to be part of that?” Adelmo pressed Alec.

“
Let’s find the horses and get out of here,” Alec replied. The woody copse was not far ahead.

“
Here, climb on the horse,” Alec told Bauer when they reached their waiting companions. “I’ll explain later,” he switched languages to tell Claudia and Ofelia. He rode silently in the lead of the squad, Bauer plumped in the saddle in front of him, his arms encircling the scrawny boy, as he tried to analyze what he had done, and what to do next.

He had rescued the boy, Bauer, solely because he had spoken the language Alec had grown up with. He was a sorcerer, and Alec would have left him to die in the tent with the others if he hadn’t heard him speak; it was cruel but true. Now that he was responsible for the young boy’s life, he couldn’t let him ever again call a demon forth, but had no idea what he could do to stop him, other than prevent him from making human sacrifices for the time being. He was ignorant about what else he could do to stop the evocation of the evil entities; in all his time living with Jeswyne in Michian, he had never learned anything about the sorcerers – he had only fought them.

After brooding for a long time, Alec realized that his captive had fallen asleep, laying back against him. The other members of the squad were undoubtedly tired as well. “Let’s spend the night in there,” Alec suggested to Adelmo as they came upon a empty barn near a crossroads.

He awoke Bauer and led him into the barn, suggesting he take a spot in the hayloft that Alec could watch from his guard post by the door. As they unsaddled the horses and tied them in the empty stalls, Claudia lit a lantern and came over to talk to him.

“
Why are you shirtless, and who is the boy? How did the raid go?” asked Ofelia, usually the quietest member of the squad, who came over to join him as Claudia arrived.

“
The boy is wearing my shirt; he didn’t have one when we started to leave,” Alec began to explain, glancing up to see eyes staring down at him.

“
What did you do, go to the nursery to pick up a kid?” Ofelia interrupted.

“
No,” Alec took a deep breath, “he was in the sorcerers’ tent; he had on one of their black robes. He is a sorcerer,” he admitted, as all eyes from the rest of the squad turned from him to the boy up in the loft.

“
What? You saved one of them and brought him with you?” Claudia practically shrieked.

“
I heard him moaning in pain in the tent as we were carrying out our raid. The boy was talking in the same language I used to speak in my homeland. It caught my attention, and I picked him up, healed him, and brought him along,” Alec explained. “I had no plan, no intention. I just heard a voice, and it was like a voice from the past, and I saved him.”

“
What are you going to do now?” Hector questioned.

“
I’m going to stand watch, while all of you get some sleep,” he replied, with nothing else to add at the moment. “I just told them everyone needs to go to sleep, and that includes you,” Alec looked up at the loft and spoke in the old language. “We’ll start out again tomorrow morning and be safe. Then you and I can talk.”

“
And you say you do not plan to kill me?” Bauer spoke for the first time since entering the barn. “You are not saving me for a sacrifice?”

“
I will not kill you; we do not carry out human sacrifices,” Alec affirmed. “I don’t know what I will do with you, but I will not harm you or kill you. Now get some sleep.”

The boy rolled out of sight, and Alec extinguished the lantern, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness as he engaged his ingenaire abilities as a low level.

There was a whispered conversation, one that his acute hearing found perfectly audible.

“
What if he calls one of those demons down on us?” Huena prodded Hector. “I don’t think it’s safe to have him around.”

“
Trust the Demonslayer,” Hector replied calmly.

“
I’m sleeping with one eye open,” Huena answered, but said no more.

Alec sat silently and thought more. It was a mistake; he had made a mistake. Now he would have to figure out what to do. He would have to figure the boy out; whether he was a threat, whether he could call a demon. He would have to use his Spiritual energy to try to understand the new member of his squad, and to hopefully expose himself to Bauer in a way that would be positive. The boy was young, and hopefully not completely enmeshed in the most evil practices of the sorcery world.

The breathing of the others grew calm and regular, and Alec knew he was the only one awake. He remained awake through the short remainder of the night, and let the others sleep as the sky became gray, then pink. They had about two days ride to get to Cearche, he calculated, and he could spend that time communicating with Bauer during the ride.

Alec awoke Adelmo. “I’m going to go gather some breakfast,” he said gently. “I should be back in half an hour. Don’t let him,” he motioned upward to the loft, “go anywhere until I get back.” He took his bandolier of knives and went out into the dawn, crouching through the fields until he saw a wild sow near a brook, rooting among the debris along the stream bank. He tossed three knives and soon had the body hanging from a nearby tree to drain, then he carried it back to the barn, struggling under the weight of his catch.

When he returned to the barn, the tension in the building was palpable. Everyone jumped as he entered the doorway behind them, and he saw all eyes were focused on Huena, who held a knife to the throat of a very frightened-looking Bauer. Both had scratches on their arms, and Bauer’s’ shirt was torn at the shoulder, evidence of a scuffle.

Huena, drop the knife
, he sent a mental message to the soldier.
Step away from him. I will deal with him personally; leave this to me, and no harm will come.

“
How can I trust you?” Huena replied. “How do I know he hasn’t pulled some trick on you? Maybe he has you leading us all to our deaths right now.”

“
I don’t fall for demon tricks; I fight and kill demons,” Alec said aloud. “If you don’t trust me, then you are free to leave us all right now and go out on your own. But I think I deserve your trust.”

Huena continued to stare at Alec, his eyes bulging in fear. “I trust you, but I don’t trust these circumstances.”

Alec reached out with his Spiritual powers again, and this time he sent not only a message,
you can trust me. He will not hurt any of us
, but he also sent powerful memories of the demon that had been dragged away from the world by the power of Christ, and thrown back down into Hell.
That is the power behind me; that is the power my faith rests on,
Alec told Huena.
Now, release him to me,
he added in a commanding tone.

With that Huena, threw down the knife, and released the boy, then bowed to Alec. “Forgive me, please forgive me. I will trust and follow you forever.”

As the soldier spoke Bauer flew away from him, straight to Alec and into his arms, clutching him. “Thank you for saving me,” he whispered. “I know you used some great power to control him.”

Alec pulled his hands free and raised them to frame the boy’s face, tilting it up to look at him. “I showed him the truth about the love of my God.”
I will show you as well, once we are in the saddle
, he added silently. “Now, let’s all have a bite of breakfast,” he said aloud. “Claudia, take the horses out and keep an eye on them while they graze down by the brook. I saw a little pasture down there. The rest of us will start the fire and butcher the hog.”

There was a rush of activity as everyone felt released from the tense drama of just moments before, and two hours later they were fed and ready to leave. Alec directed Adelmo to lead, with Claudia bringing up the rear, while he and Bauer rode in the middle. He knew that he would be absorbed for some time to come as he tried to create full, open channels of communications between the two of them.

Lean back against me, little one
, he gently directed him.
This will be painful momentarily, but the pain will pass, and we will be able to fully understand one another. Will you trust me to do this?
He questioned.

“
I will trust you. What are you going to do? What will be painful?” he asked.

“
I am going to cut your arm deeply, and cut my own as well, then put them together so that your blood will flow in me, and mine will flow in you,” he said.
Our minds will speak to one another like this, only ten times more fully.

“
Go ahead and do what you want to. I am your captive. I am your slave now,” Bauer said without emotion.

No. You are not a slave
, Alec firmly corrected him. He took a knife from the bandolier and slit his arm, giving a slight tremor as his did so, then sliced Bauer’s arm, making him cry aloud as Alec twined his fingers in the lad’s and held tight, the two wounds lining up against one another and then he created the familiar flash of healing power that sealed the flesh to flesh, making them a single living body in a sense.