The Lifesaving Power: Goldenfields and Stronghold (10 page)

Chapter 12 – Planning to Escape

Alec sat in the empty tomb after Noranda left. His torch has ceased to burn, and they had pushed the front of the crypt back into its approximate original position, so that no one would happen to see and realize the tomb had been opened.

It was dark and chilly and lonely, and Alec was thirsty and hungry and bitter and tired. He dozed on and off as his body slowly recovered from the large amount of energy it had used to heal Noranda.

He heard faint footsteps outside the tomb, which grew in volume. Alec realized that someone was approaching. The muffled sound grew louder until it stopped at its loudest point, and Alec realized that someone was standing directly outside this very tomb.

Was it Brandeis, coming to make his regular call, unaware that his beloved was even now setting in motion a reunion? Or might it be someone Johanna had sent to fetch him already?

He heard a scuffling sound, and then the stone at the front of the vault pitched forward, letting a stream of torch light in blinding his eyes.

“
Alec, come out, it’s me, Brandeis,” a voice called quietly. “Johanna sent me. I’ve got some clothes for you to wear.”

Alec unfolded his stiff legs and crawled out of the tomb, standing upright for the first time in several hours. He shielded his eyes from the torch’s glare.

“
Alec, you have performed a miracle, and that’s not hyperbole,” Brandeis said in a thick voice, and he circled Alec in his arms in a long embrace. “Here, put on this hooded cloak and this theatrical beard; I don’t know where Johanna came up with this, and I’m slightly suspicious of her reputation for being so upright, but for the moment it serves our purpose.”

Alec put on the cloak, and pulled the beard on too, waiting for Brandeis to tie the fine string that held it in place. Then with the hood pulled up to shadow his face, Alec followed Brandeis out of the tombs, and through the Locksfort maze of halls to reach a door, where they slipped quietly into a room without detection.

Inside Noranda sat on a divan with Durer and Johanna on either side, each holding one of her hands as they talked. All three looked up startled for a moment at the sudden entry of the other two, then they relaxed.

“
Oh Alec, I knew you weren’t all those terrible things they said about you,” Johanna said, rising and hugging the healer. “You as much as told me you could bring her back from the dead, but I didn’t quite believe. Until just hours ago, that is.”

“
Alec my friend, thank you,” Durer said quietly. “You’ve given us back something precious. Meeting you in the forest was no accident was it?” He glanced at Noranda, but his eyes took in Johanna too. “What do you propose we do next?”

“
I don’t know,” Alec admitted bluntly. He sat down on a chair. “Do you have anything to eat or drink?” he asked first.

“
There’s a servant on the way with a tray,” Brandeis told him.

“
What do you think we ought to do?” Alec asked Durer.

“
We have to get you out of here,” Durer said, “and we may need to send Noranda away someplace safe until we figure out what we can do. It won’t be easy to explain her return from the grave, especially to Johanna’s mother. She hates you Alec, and wants to have your blood for helping upset her plans. And she certainly isn’t happy that Noranda failed to be a pliable pawn in her schemes to build power.”

A knock on the door presaged the entrance of two maids with trays of food and drink. They silently placed the trays on a table and then discretely left the room.

“
If you send Noranda away, how will you ever know it is safe to let her return?” Alec asked. “Hiding her away may be the right thing to do, but it may also mean that the time to let her live in the open never arrives.”

“
I wish I had an answer, Alec,” Durer replied. “We’ve had just a few hours to adjust to the idea that she has returned from the dead, after nearly a year in her tomb, and that you are not the bloody assassin we’re told you are.”

“
If she leaves, I’m going with her,” Brandeis announced stoutly, walking over to stand behind the sofa with his hand on her shoulder. “I don’t want to ever be separated from her again.”

Alec paused in taking a drink of water, and looked into Noranda’s eyes. She stared back with tears forming. Alec happened to notice Johanna staring intently at him, and then turned from the tableau to grab a piece of bread off the table.

“
Can you get Brandeis, Noranda, and I out of here tonight?” Alec asked Durer.

“
Well, Brandeis can leave with no problem,” the leader of the young Locksforts replied, holding up one finger. “Perhaps Noranda could leave if we just told everyone it was Johanna, and they didn’t look too closely.”

“
We’ll need to work on smuggling you out, maybe mixed in a large group. Brandeis, who’s going out tonight and when are they leaving?” he asked.

“
Reuchlin, Circh, and the usual gang that follows in their wake,” Brandeis replied, “probably in about ninety minutes, after the night guard changes.”

“
Johanna, you go get some of your favorite clothes, and sme of your makeup, so that Noranda can pass as you. Brandeis, do you have any masks from the identity party last spring? Maybe the two of you could go out behind masks?” Durer suggested.

Brandeis gave him a withering look. “Alright, the mask idea was stupid,” Durer agreed.

“
The garbage cart,” Johanna spoke as she stood at the door. “Bury him under the load of the garbage cart.”

“
When will it leave?” Brandeis asked.

“
It comes well after midnight,” Durer replied. “I’m surprised your hours haven’t caused you to cross paths with it.”

Brandeis ignored the comment, and Johanna left the room. “We can stash him in the kitchen in a pantry, and then put him in the cart. Noranda and I could go out with the group and meet the cart after it leaves the city.”

“
Do we have to do this so fast?” Alec asked. He took a break from devouring food as he broke his long fast. “Could we wait a day or two and see if there’s a better plan to be figured out?”

“
Alec, the guards have been looking for you for weeks, and they haven’t let up. The sooner we get you away the better I’ll feel,” Durer told him. “All of us have been repeatedly questioned about every little thing we did with you, or since you left.”

Johanna returned with an armful of goods, and the two girls disappeared into another room. “Let me go scout out the way to the kitchen so we can get Alec to safety,” Brandeis said as he left the room.

“
Is there any way I can leave with my own horse, Walnut?” Alec asked Durer.

“
I think it would draw attention,” the other replied. “Maybe in another day or two we could get him out and send a rider to deliver him.”

“
You bring up a good point, though. We need to have horses. I’m going to go get three horses. Tell Brandeis I’ll leave them at the stables at the North Gate Tavern,” Durer said. He paused at the door. “Alec, good luck. I hope we can meet again soon. They tell me you’re going to be king of the Dominion. When you are, I’ll bring Stronghold back in line to support you.”

Alec gaped for a second, caught off guard by the sudden intrusion of the larger world into the immediate crisis. He started to protest that he was only the protector of the crown, not the king, but Durer left the room before he pulled his thoughts together.

Alec sat alone in the room, trying to digest everything that was happening. He didn’t know what to expect.

A door opened, and he jumped up, startled. It was Johanna, coming out of the other room.

“
Where is everyone?” she asked, walking over.

“
Brandeis went to the kitchen to scout out a hiding place, and Durer went to t the horses ready,” Alec replied.

Johanna sat next to him, and laid a hand on Alec’s wrist. “I’m not an ingenaire, but I saw how you and Noranda looked at one another just now.”

Alec felt a lump rise in his throat and his eyes watered again. “She and Brandeis are destined to be together. She is not meant for me. I have to remember that and understand that there is no changing it for my personal pleasure,” he said. “They love each other too, very much, I can tell,” he added, “and there is someone else out there I hope to convince to love me again”.

She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. “You’re a very good person, Alec. You’ll be a great king, I know.”

“
I’m not going to be king. Why does everyone say that?” he protested.

“
Aunt Mooreen told us that you murdered the leaders in Oyster Bay so that you could have the crown, and that you’ll make yourself king after you murder our family here in Stronghold,” Johanna explained.

“
That’s not the way it was,” Alec started to protest and explain, just as Noranda opened the door and stood in the doorframe. Alec looked at her, then back at Johanna sitting next to him. “Very effective,” he said, examining the enhanced resemblance between the two. “You’re going to succeed.”

“
Let’s go to my room and wait for Brandeis,” Johanna suggested standing up. “I’ll go first, and you follow in a few minutes.” She stood and walked to the door. “Good luck,” she said as she left the room.

“
Noranda, I want you to be happy, and I want you to be careful,” Alec said, standing as she walked over to him.

“
You’ve made a big impression on these folks in a short time, Alec,” she replied. “Johanna spoke about you a great deal in just a few minutes.”

“
I remember the night we spent hiding from the lacertii in Riverside, and you said you knew about those fancy foods because you’d been an entertainer at a feast here in Stronghold,” Alec said wistfully. “It’s probably time for you to go. I’ll see you soon.” He made no move towards her as she stood facing him.

“
I’ll see you soon, Alec,” she replied with averted eyes as she left the room.

Alec sat back down and exhaled noisily. The separation from Noranda had been more painful than he had expected. He sat quietly and waited, as minutes passed by.

He heard the door latch release, and watched the door open. Standing in the doorway were a number of guardsmen with swords drawn. Alec stood and backed into a corner, drawing his own sword as the men filed into the room. There were seven of them in the group, and they spread out. “Drop your sword and surrender,” the captain of the guards said to Alec.

“
Drop your own swords, and no one will get hurt,” Alec replied, feeling a reckless disregard. He grinned like a madman, his back to two walls. He remembered the promise of John Mark that he would be allowed three uses of his Warrior powers every month. No, he remembered, it was each full moon, and he’d not been outside to see what the moon was showing.

The guards came towards him, and he tried to engage his ingenaire energies. He felt nothing. They came two steps closer, and Alec reverted to the exercises he had learned on Rubicon’s porch, frantically searching for access to his powers. He was between the barriers, then through an opening, searching for the portal that granted access to that other dimension of power. There was no light, no energy, no evidence of anything but endless gray nothingness. Whatever his promise of powers was, it wasn’t to happen here or now.

Crestfallen, Alec carefully examined the guards’ spacing. He needed to act before they got much closer. There was a slight gap between two on the far right, so Alec attacked the innermost one with a flurry, surprising him, and isolating the outside guard against the wall. With a riposte and a roll, he wounded her, and dove and rolled away from the corner, moving to another corner of the room, with only five adversaries now.

They followed him to the corner, but hesitated to come close. Alec tried to figure what to do next. Sometime soon Brandeis would return, and Durer wouldn’t be far behind. It would probably be best for them not to become openly entangled in a battle where he was involved, not if they wanted to survive the politics of their house.

Alec decided to rush the group again, hoping to lessen the odds by picking off one or two more. He evaluated the readiness of the five remaining armed guards, flung his sword in the air momentarily to distract them, so that when it came down in his right hand, he immediately attacked the guard on the left, and again ducked and rolled through the opening. This time though he felt a sharp pain in his calf as he came away, and realized that he had been deeply stabbed in his leg muscle.

He felt the blood running down his leg as he settled into a third corner of the room. He was concerned that he wouldn’t be able to use the attack and charge tactic anymore, plus he might slip in his blood, and in a worse case, he might grow too weak from loss of blood. He reached down and crudely healed the wound.

The four remaining healthy guards approached him once again, and two of them closed in to press an attack. Alec fought them to a standstill, but could gain no ground. One of the laggards, hurled a knife at Alec, and despite his duck, the blade nipped his right shoulder, bringing a blossom of blood there too, he reached to heal it, but felt his healing powers growing weak; the energy and blood he had given Noranda had left his capabilities low, and he was suffering the effects now.

Alec knew then, for the first time, that he was at the losing end of a sword battle, and he felt a bleak sorrow at the thought. Just then a blade pinked him on the wrist, and Alec sensed the end of the battle coming. He gave a mighty surge of effort, and cut down one more, fatally this time with a stab to the chest. There was no way he could escape the corner though, and the remaining three traded small slices with him as his shirt grew torn and reddened.