The Lifesaving Power: Goldenfields and Stronghold (18 page)
Read The Lifesaving Power: Goldenfields and Stronghold Online
Authors: Jeffrey Quyle
Aristotle stood to go. “Alec, you’re thinking, and that’s very good. You need to think, to try to find answers. There are a great many serious problems haunti the Dominion, and I know you want to solve them all. You need to do what we’ve just done here. You need to gather people around to hear your ideas and offer advice, suggestions, or even to point out potential problems.
“
Strangely enough, now that you have power, you’ll have to spend more time than ever sharing it and conceding it to others. At least you will if you’re a good ruler, and I think you’re going to be a very good protector of the crown,” Aristotle said as he walked to the door. “I’ll start working with the ingenairii to prepare them to act. You need to prepare a message for Duke Toulon, and you need to pay attention to your city here all around you, so that people come to trust you.”
After Ari left, Alec sat back and watched the sunset spread brilliant hues across the sky. Ari had just given him much to think about, at the very moment he thought he had figured so much out for himself. He noticed that Armilla was gone, and the other guards with him had changed unobtrusively while he spoke with Ari. “You changed shift very nicely,” he told the soldiers in the room with him. “Would one of you go find Rander and ask him to join me?”
He waited just a short time for his steward to arrive. “Are you staying busy now?” Alec asked.
“
Busier than ever,” Rander replied with a grin, “But having more fun than before. You’ve made a great impression on the palace staff with your visit, healing, and then the coins.”
“
Tomorrow, we’ll start the day with sword practice, then go to the cathedral to pray and to heal. After that, I’d like to visit our granaries, to see what shape they are in. I’d also like to meet members of the nobility and wealthy classes to assure them the city is calming down,” Alec told Rander, who had a scribe write items down.
“
We’ll prepare as much of that as we can; give us a little time to get things in shape, and we’ll have no problem meeting your wishes,” Rander answered. “Now, you’ve had Nathaniel and Moriah waiting quite a while to see you; you said you wanted to see them. Shall I send them in?”
“
Oh Lord,” Alec exclaimed in horror at the oversight. “Please send them in immediately.”
His two former fellow apprentices entered the room. “I’m sorry, very sorry. I didn’t know you were waiting to see me,” he explained.
“
There’s no apology needed, your majesty,” Nathaniel began.
“
Please don’t call me that. Tonight can I just be Alec with you two? Why don’t you stay and have dinner with me?” Alec said earnestly.
The two ingenairii looked at one another momentarily. “That sounds great, Alec,” Moriah said. “When will we eat?”
Alec looked at a guard. “Would you please go see if there’s any food available?”
A few minutes later the guard returned, and led them to a dining room near the kitchen.
“
I asked Aristotle if I could assign you two to lead a group to Stronghold,” Alec told his friends as soup was served. “But he pointed out that the ingenairii need to make decisions for themselves.”
“
What do you want us to do in Stronghold?” Nathaniel asked.
Alec briefly explained some of his own activities in the far-away city. “So I hope the change in leadership in the Locksfort family has remained in place. That’d be the best thing to happen there, and perhaps we could improve relations between the two cities and restore trade.”
“
You ought to offer to let the Locksforts trade your cleansing water, like you let Natha sell your healing water?” Moriah said brightly.
“
What cleansing water?” Alec asked.
“
You know, the fountain you created outside Ingenairii Hill when you blew up all the ingenairii usurpers,” Moriah explained. “The women in the city gather jugs of it and use it to clean their clothes, their homes, their children. It’s used to clean everything, and people swear by it. I think it would sell like pie at a carnival if someone put it in barrels and offered it to women in other cities.”
“
Popcorn,” Alec said absent-mindedly as he remembered working at Richard’s carnival and considered the implications of Moriah’s suggestion. “People at carnivals really buy popcorn more than anything else.”
A dish of sea food arrived for the main course.
They talked about Oyster Bay, and about rumors of war that came from Goldenfields. “The lacertii are apparently building up a large force at a base near where Goldenfields first encountered them. They have warriors out patrolling the river, but Goldenfields’ fort is still in the Duke’s hands.”
“
How many warrior ingenairii are left?” Alec asked.
“
There are only Rubicon and the two of us that we know of,” Nathaniel said, “And you. There was one other apprentice in Julian’s house who is unaccounted for, but nobody knows what happened to him. All the others have died.”
“
Ari said something about the need to look harder to find more ingenairii to start to fill up Ingenairii Hill again, but that didn’t mean as much to me as knowing there are only three Warriors left,” Alec said sadly.
“
Have you heard from Cassie?” he asked.
“
She stayed in Goldenfields, with Appel. They have become a couple,” Moriah replied. “We’ve heard about her from Bethany,” she faltered for just a fraction of a second, “they’ve exchanged a few letters. I know she’ll be very happy to hear you’re alive, and back among friends, and leader of the Dominion! She’s going to have a baby!”
“
It doesn’t seem possible does it?” Alec laughed for a moment. Then after a pause, he said, “I saw Bethany and Tritos together last night when I went to visit Aristotleont>
The dessert, a bittersweet pudding was served then.
Nathaniel and Moriah were quiet for a second, then Moriah said, “They were friends before you arrived on Ingenairii Hill, Alec. If you hadn’t swept Bethany off her feet, I think they would have become a couple eventually, when she stopped flirting about. She came back to Oyster Bay after you had removed the coup leaders, and they started to spend time together.”
“
Oh,” was all Alec could manage to say in response, and soon the dinner was over.
“
Thank you for being here as friends,” Alec told them as they prepared to go. “I don’t really know yet what all of this is going to be like, but a dinner like this with friends is the best part.”
“
Let us know if you want us to go to Stronghold for you,” Nathaniel said as they parted. “We’d love to be your strong-armed ambassadors!” he laughed.
Alec pondered the concept of letting the Locksforts have a franchise on the water from the fountain he had created. Would the irony of the Locksforts profiting from enhanced water be lost on others, he wondered? It had been Mooreen’s desire to control the healing water that had contributed to her involvement in the coup attempt against the Duke of Goldenfields.
The topic that really was stirring his mind came to the forefront insistently. He stood and began walking to the stables. “I want to go on a private errand, without bodyguards. May I?” he asked the two unfamiliar guards. “I want to visit someone, alone,” he admitted, hoping the men would understand.
“
It will be our heads if anything happens to you,” one of them said. “What if we accompany you part of the way through the streets?”
Alec thought about the position they were in, and remembered his own time serving as a bodyguard to the Duke of Goldenfields. The offer was more than fair to him. “It’s a deal,” he replied, and waited for them to saddle horses as he sat on Walnut.
They rode without speaking through the backstreets of Oyster Bay until they got to the back entrance of Ingenairii Hill. “I’ll be back. Wait here,” he said as he hopped down.
The sky was black now, and Alec took his time walking through the unkempt portion of the path until he approached the home of the water ingenairii. He stood, looking at a door of a the house for a long time, afraid to approach it. At last he stepped forward and knocked.
“
Is Bethany here?” he asked the girl who answered the door, a face that was familiar although her name escaped him.
“
Please wait in the parlor,” the girl said, without any hint she recognized him. “I’ll see if she’s returned.
Alec stood nervously as the girl left, and just seconds later he heard the front door open again. “Thank you Tritos. I had a wonderful time again. We’ll go to the show tomorrow, right?” in a voe that he knew very well. There was a moment of silence, then the door closed, then a woman’s profile appeared to cross the doorframe. She paused, and Alec felt his pulse start to race.
“
Alec? Oh my Lord,” Bethany’s face turned pale.
Chapter 22 – A Broken Heart
“
Alec,” Bethany repeated as Alec stepped towards her. He opened his arms and she approached him. They embraced in a fierce hug, both wrapping their arms around each other, and Alec was sure that their love must still be intact.
“
She isn’t back yet,” the messenger girl returned to inform Alec, but stopped mid-sentence in confusion and turned away when she saw the two together.
“
I have thought about you for a long time,” Alec whispered.
Bethany pulled back from his grasp and looked at him closely. “Look at your face! What happened?” she asked as she stared at the scar Mooreen had left on his face.
“
I was held in a prison, and tortured,” Alec said simply.
“
What about your warrior powers? Didn’t you use them?” Bethany probed.
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I don’t always have them now,” Alec said, wanting to talk about something else.
“
Let’s sit down,” she said. “I just heard about you this evening. We all did. None of us knew you were back in town, or even alive for that matter, and then suddenly the bells were ringing and the word spread that you were in charge of the whole Dominion!”
“
I’m not in charge, exactly,” Alec tried to explain. “I’m just protecting the crown until the heir can be found. When I came back from Stronghold, Ari put together this ceremony before I really even knew what was going on.
“
And it wasn’t as important to me as sitting here with you is,” he decided to admit, exposing his love for the girl. “I haven’t seen you since we parted in Bondell, and I’ve thought about you a long, long time since then. Did you get my letter?” he asked.
“
What letter?” Bethany answered. “I know you wrote letters to Duke Toulon, to Ari, even to Natha the trader. But there’s never been a letter for me.”
Alec sat back and paused. He had put so much of his heart on paper for this girl, and it turned out his anxiety had been in vain. She’s never even seen it.
“
The letter I wrote to you that said that‘I love you,’” he said simply.
Bethany caught her breathe. For months she had wanted to hear those words; for months they had been what she had lived for. “Alec, I’ve been seeing Tritos for weeks now; do you know him?”
Alec nodded his head without words.
“
You left me alone for a long time. Twice I thought you were dead, and when I thought you might be alive, I hoped to hear from you, but never did. Others heard from you, but I didn’t. I thought I wasn’t important to you,” she responded.
“
You have been doing great, great things. You saved the Duke in Goldenfields, restored peace in Bondell and ousted the usurpers from Oyster Bay. I don’t know what you did in Stronghold, other than see Noranda as you felt compelled, I’m sure, but I know you probably did something great there too,” Bethany rambled. “And before long, you’re going to do more great things here in Oyster Bay. You probably already have,” she added with a small smile. “But, it won’t be long before you’re obligated to leave again, and you’ll go someplace else to do great things and you’ll be gone again for a long, long time.
“
I’m not going to be happy trying to wait patiently for you to return someday without knowing where or why or how you travel, and not even knowing if you’re free to love me,” she rushed through the words. “Tritos is reliable and steady and always here.
“
After caring about you, I don’t want to chase around or flirt or lead boys on any more, Alec. You taught me a great deal about really loving someone,” she saw tears starting to well up in his eyes, and her own eyes began to mist. “But you weren’t available to share that love with me, and I’ve found someone who will.”
Alec stood up, agitated and fearful. “You are who I thought about,” he said. “When I was in Bondell, when I returned here, when I went to Stronghold and back, my heart was with you, Bethany.” He turned his back to her for a second, wiped his eyes, and turned around again. “I felt it all along, but I didn’t really understand it then and even though I wrote it in a letter, I know I never said it until tonight.”
He stepped towards the door and raised his hand. “Good luck, Beth,” he hesitated, couldn’t find anything else to say, and left the building.
Bethany stood in stunned, emotional shock. She waited for minutes, hoping that he would come back, and fearful of the same. At last she stepped into the hallway, and with her head bowed deeply, quickly made her way to her small room, where she shut the door and cried herself to sleep.
Alec walked slowly down the hill, thinking about the scene he had just experienced. He thought back to how he had been separated from Noranda, and lost her. Now virtually the same thing was happening again and he had lost Bethany. His heart ached as he thought about the things he should have said, and the things he should have done. He’d failed, and he felt pain permeate his whole soul at the thought of the lovely girl who had just rejected him. He’d hoped she would come running out of the house after him, and he’d stood there waiting for a few moments, but the door never opened andso he walked away. He returned to the waiting escort, silently mounted Walnut, and rode back to the palace.
Chapter 23 – Healing for All
Armilla shook Alec awake. “Do you wish to practice sword work?” she asked him when his eyes flew open. He nodded. “The sun will be up soon. Get dressed and we’ll go to the armory,” she advised him, then left the room again.
Alec pulled on the same clothes he had worn the day before, strapped on his sword, and stepped into the hallway, allowing Armilla to guide him to the armory. A light rain was falling as they crossed the palace grounds to the practice mats, and Alec observed a diffused gray along the eastern horizon, revealing the sun’s arrival.
Inside the armory, Brannis had half a dozen guards lightly fencing on the mats. Alec went to put on padding and choose a practice sword. There were no other people around, and Alec suspected that the palace machinery had not yet figured out that the crown protector was on the loose.
He was still reeling on the inside as he tried to come to terms with Bethany’s rejection. He’d awoken and cried twice during the night, but now felt ready to take out his anger, hurt, and frustration in sword practice.
The first member of the Guard stepped onto the mat with Alec, and they saluted formally, then Alec launched into action, working as aggressively as possible. The man he faced was good, but not able to withstand Alec’s rapid attack, and was quickly on the ground, his sword knocked from his hand in the process. Brannis raised his eyebrows, and signaled two to go at once against Alec. Alec’s foul mood was not sated in the least though, and he proceeded to whittle down those two just as fast.
More Guard members were showing up for practice, and Brannis motioned three over to face Alec. He took them on, requiring more time, but feeling satisfaction as he forced the blade of one to strike the blade of another, then finished off the match. He looked over at Armilla, who was tapping her foot in annoyance as she watched his sword continue to inflict punishment. She unsheathed her own sword and stepped onto the mat to face him.
“
What’s got your goat this morning?” she asked as they saluted.
“
I just want to work out,” he replied tersely, taking a jab that she blocked.
“
What exactly are you working out? I heard you visited Ingenairii Hill last night. What happened there?” she answered, slashing her blade low at his knees, and causing him to step back.
“
I want to know what the Guard is capable of,” he dissembled.
“
They’re capable of getting their heads handed to them, it looks like to me,” Armilla responded as they parried. “Just for the pleasurof serving you.”
Alec felt some of his anger dissipate. He knew it wasn’t fair to take out his frustrations on the Guard members who were here for practice and exercise. But he wasn’t ready to stop. He launched a barrage against Armilla, fighting with every trick he knew, using his speed and agility to balance her strength and size. She backed up to the end of the mat, a mad gleam in her eye.
“
Are you sure you don’t want to tell me what this is about?” she asked, then swung her own arm in a feint and a stab that caught Alec momentarily off-guard. He fell backwards and tried something he hadn’t done before – he let his backward momentum become a complete roll and sprang back to his feet, vaguely noting a smattering of hoots in the background. Armilla had begun running forward to apply the finishing stroke while Alec was on the ground, and his unexpectedly quick recovery was beyond her anticipation.
Alec secured his footing and took a position with his sword defensively extended before him, only to watch and feel horror as Armilla’s massive form crashed into his sword, striking so hard that the blunted point of the practice blade pierced her protective padding and impaled her, with a look of wonder, then shock, crossing her face.
Alec pulled the sword from her flesh then released the handle of the blade, letting it fall to the ground. He wrapped his arms around her as he heard shouts and screams from the other guards, and lowered her to the floor. He pulled out his knife and cut the ties on her padding to remove it more quickly them sliced open her blouse, which was red and wet with blood.
Armilla’s eyes were closed. Alec inspected the wound with his health vision, looking for scrapes of cloth or padding that might have been pressed into her flesh. He found a few threads and quickly pulled them out and threw them to the side, then placed both hands upon the hole in her stomach, applied pressure, and began to pray. “Medicor, insontis…vulnero,” he murmured as he released his healing powers upon her. For several seconds he moved his energy into her injury, then lifted his hands from her stomach.
Taking the corner of his own shirt, he wiped away much of the blood from her flesh, wanting to show the gathering circle of observers that she was healed. “She’s going to be fine. We need to take her someplace to rest and recuperate. Where are her quarters?” he asked, standing up.
“
How did you do that? How did you heal her?” a voice in the group asked.
“
I am a healer ingenaire,” he replied. “I have God’s gift to provide healing.”
Three guards offered to carry her to her quarters, and with Alec they placed her on a makeshift stretcher, then carried her through the halls to the wing where members of the Guard resided. They placed her on her bed. “She’s likely to sleep for a few hours,” he told them, judging how much energy her body would need to recover from its shock. “I want two guards to stay here at all times, to be available to bring her water or food or anything else.” He tried to recall where he was going to be today, so he could tell them where to find him if needed.
“
I will be at the cathedral this morning. I’ll be back this afternoon,” he told them as he remembered that he was ironically pledged to provide healing services to the public this morning. He took his leave and walked by the kitchen to grab a breakfast roll. After last night’s disappointment and the shock of stabbing Armilla, Alec was anxious to focus his energies on healing and decided against taking the time to return to his chamber to clean up and change. Instead he went straight to the stables to get Walnut and head for the cathedral. He knew he should have a Guard escort with him, and he suspected there would be deep consternation someplace in the palace when they realized no one was with him. He climbed up on Walnut and rode down the boulevard to the cathedral, then handed his reins to the stable hand there and went inside.
A modest crowd was waiting in the nave of the cathedral, and many priests were trying to organize them unsuccessfully. “Are these people here for healing?” Alec asked.
The priest he spoke to looked at Alec’s still bloody shirt tail. “Yes. Get in line and the protector will start helping folks when he arrives in half an hour.”
”
I am the protector. Let the first patient approach,” Alec ordered as he took up position at the end of a pew. The priest looked at Alec in confusion. “Yes, I’m early, and yes, I’m a mess, but I am a healer, and I am the protector of the crown of the Dominion, so let’s get started helping our people. Step up here,” he called to an elderly man who stood patiently.
Alec began to apply his energies regularly, healing many just with the use of his powers alone, at other times telling people what ingredients to acquire to make their own cures. People began to move through the line rapidly, and it shortened dramatically in length until the middle of the morning. By then word of Alec’s effectiveness was being spread through the quarters of the city closest to the cathedral, mostly an upper gentry neighborhood, and many additional people were starting to arrive to wait in line.
As noon arrived, the line was longer than ever, even though Alec had already cured and treated over one hundred visitors. He was feeling tired and worn, as a result of the combination of his heavy energy usage and his restless night. He looked up and saw Aristotle and Bishop Karst watching him from a balcony, and he realized that two guards from the palace had come to watch over him. “I need to stop to rest,” he told the priest who controlled the flow of patients. “I’m going to return to the palace briefly, and I’ll be back here later this afternoon. I can’t heal many more, so don’t let any additional folks in line, please,” he explained.
“
Let’s go back to the palace to check on Armilla,” he said to his guards. To a mixture of applause and pleas for help, the men left the cathedral and rode back to the palace. In her quarters, Armilla was loudly arguing with her attendants, a conversation that could be clearly heard many rooms away.
“
Tell these fools to let me out of here!” Armilla thundered at Alec when he appeared in her door frame. He motioned to the two men who had put up with considerable abuse at her hands, and turned them loose.
“
You’re determined to give me a bad name, aren’t you?” she said menacingly to Alec, not missing a beat. “Last time you gav me the slip and ran away when I was guarding you. This time you make me look incompetent as a swordsman. If you don’t want me as a bodyguard, just say so!”
Alec could tell that there was genuine annoyance in her heart, mostly covered by bluster and embarrassment and even gratitude that he had healed her so promptly after her accident in the armory. He realized he needed to bolster her in some fashion. “You two are relieved,” he said to the two guards who had escorted him back from the cathedral. “Armilla will take over now.”
“
I need to get back to the cathedral to heal the public. Are you ready to go?” he asked Armilla, who appeared confused by the sudden turn of events in her favor.
“
Yes,” she replied after a moment, as she quickly regained her mental balance. “Do you want a bite to eat on the way? You look like you need something?”
They stopped by the kitchen and grabbed food to eat in the saddle, then rode back to the cathedral. The large crowd remained waiting and gave a cheer when they saw Alec re-enter. He went directly back to healing, and by the late afternoon had managed to treat all who had waited. When the last person left, he sat down on the steps, exhausted by the effort.
On the ride back to the palace, Alec rode silently, content but tired after using so much energy. After a few minutes, Armilla cleared her throat. “Thank you for healing me, your grace.”
Alec looked up, startled by the formal title. “I was glad to do it, Armilla.” He paused for a second. “I’m sorry to have caused you the injury. I was in a foul mood this morning,” he admitted, and started to reflect again on Bethany, who he hadn’t thought of all day due to his busy activities; he wondered why she hadn’t received his letter mailed from Redwater so long ago.
“
I hadn’t noticed,” Armilla said drily. They grinned at each other and nothing further was said. Alec went directly to bed and slept soundly the whole night through.
The next morning Armilla awoke him and took him to the armory for practice. Alec was considerably less agitated than the morning before, though still heartbroken. Brannis had an officer suited up and waiting to spar with Alec. “I saw what you did to Armilla yesterday. Now go easy on Isaiah, here. You remember him don’t you?”
Alec did remember Isaiah, and gladly began practicing with the guardsman who had survived the many changes in the palace over the past year. “We need to develop a good strong corps of Palace Guardsmen that will make Oyster Bay proud to claim us,” Alec said conversationally as he held off Isaiah’s probes. “What do you think will accomplish that?”
“
Your Grace, while you stay here and protect the crown, you will be the magnet that draws the iron to the Palace,” Isaiah replied. “The best will come to join us if they have a chance to work for someone like you.”
“
He’s right,” Brannis added from behind Alec. “Wait a month or two and see if we don’t start getting recruits like we haven’t had in thirty years or better.”
Two guards replaced Armilla, and after a change of clothes, they led Alec to Rander and the two of them set off for the cathedral. He wasn’t due to return to the cathedral for healing until the following week, but the need for healing was so great, he’d agreed to return again today. “What should we do to make peace with the nobility?” Alec asked conversationally as he had seen Duke Toulon do at his Goldenfields court and remembering that conversations about finances and stability had both mentioned the need to involve the nobility.
“
I’ve tried to think of solutions,” Rander answered, indicating that Alec had asked a legitimate question. “Maybe this seems as ridiculous as it sounds, but I think you ought to hold a ball, and invite them all to come to the palace. The silly ones will come because they like to dance, and the smart ones will come to see what you’re like.”
“
Let me consider that,” Alec replied. He thought the idea had merit. It would also give him an excuse to see Bethany in the palace, along with many of his other ingenaire friends. They soon arrived at the cathedral and he was led inside to see the Arch prelate, Justinian. “Thank you for the use of your cathedral, and thank you to Bishop Karst,” Alec said. “I apologize for taking over the building these past two days.”
“
If what you’re doing isn’t the Lord’s work, I don’t know what is,” Justinian said. “You’re welcome to use the cathedral to do these good works as much as you need.”
The two of them strode to the center of the cathedral, and Alec began healing the people who had come for relief. A large throng of residents milled about the nave as a result of hearing about the previous day’s success, until the priests organized them in a line that circled back upon itself.
Alec again saw every person one at a time, listening to them, searching them with his health vision, laying his hands on them and praying with them and for them. The line moved at a steady pace, but would not diminish, as more people continued to drift into the lengthy queue. Alec directed many to get medications he knew should be readily available, and healed others directly, slowly sapping his energy, though he tried to conserve it after yesterday’s exhausting performance. At length he decided to call a halt to the effort, and directed the priests and guards to invite everyone to come back the following week.
“
That was nearly three hours effort, majesty,” Justinian told him as he left the public view and returned to the private offices. “You must have helped more than two hundred people in the past two days.”
“It was just a fraction of those who need help, and next week it will be even greater,” Alec said as he sat slumped in a chair. “But it felt good to help the ones we could. Next time I think I’ll o mix up some of the most common remedies in big batches, and bring them with me to disperse to for typical complaints; that would help move things along faster.”
He took his leave and he and Rander rode back to the palace to meet again with Armilla, for a bite of lunch and, Alec hoped, a chance to rest. “We’re scheduled to go see the granaries this afternoon, as you requested,” Rander told him as they approached the palace. “We’ll need to leave again shortly.”With a groan Alec was back on Walnut without having much of a chance to rest, and rode far up the riverbank to a collection of very large stone silos, where the produce of the fields was stored for consumption, sale and protection.
The royal party found the operators of the granary terminal, and questioned them closely about the state of the silos and the capacity to store the harvest that would soon be leaving the farm fields to come to market.
“
There’s not enough space here to hold what we usually see,” a worker told them as they rode among the structures. “I help work on a small farm, and the summer rains were very good this year, so we’re seeing a big harvest come in. Several of the silos haven’t had any maintenance work done in the past two years, and they aren’t ready to keep the grain from spoiling.”
Alec and the others thanked the man for his information, walked and rode about the silos some more, investigating the ones that seemed in worst shape, arranged to have repair crews sent out, then returned to the palace. “Rander, do you know how to contact the former close advisors to the king, folks like Marble or Ventin or Areley?”
“
Sire, we’re trying to find them. They were the smart ones, the ones who got out of town early, before the troubles became apparent to the rest of us,” Rander reported. “It’s not easy to locate them, because so many others have moved or passed away, leaving no one to talk to about them.”
“
Were you serious this morning about having a ball to bring the nobility back to the palace?” Alec asked as they dismounted from their horses at the stables.
“
Well, yes, mostly,” Rander stumbled to answer, his face turning red with embarrassment.
“
Is there a particular noble lady you hope to see attend?” Alec laughed, then when he saw the look on Rander’s face realized he had come close to the mark and he added, “Not that it matters, I think it may be a good idea. At least it will reward those who stayed behind if nothing else.” He secretly had his own lady he wanted to attend as well, heart-breaking though it might be to see her again.
The rest of the afternoon was a succession of meetings on small matters, after which Alec ate dinner alone and retired early, with Armilla at his door.
The next two days involved a series of introductions, meetings, and document signings, as the machinery of the palace began to revert to the operations of serving under an active leader. Alec managed to find time away from the duties to compose a letter to the Duke of Goldenfields. It was a task that required several false starts, as Alec tried to find the right voice between being a subject and being a ruler for a manreatly admired and looked up to. At last he felt he had found the right tone to strike, and wrote his note to be delivered to the Duke himself.
“
Your Grace,
Your duchy is the place where I first found refuge from the fears of our troubled world, due largely to your kindness, leadership, and good example. Goldenfields remains at the heart of the Dominion, and its strength and success spell a better life for everyone who resides between the ocean and the mountains. With your permission, I will begin sending troops to help you in your battle against the lacertii who invade you, and I will send other forms of assistance and aid, so that all your efforts can focus on fighting the troubles from beyond our common borders.
With sincere regards for your people,
Alec, Protector of the Crown
”
He wondered if the name he used was pretentious, but decided that it best explained who he was now, and signed it as such, then sealed the envelope, and asked for its speediest possible delivery to the Duke. He had listened to various people address him in a variety of ways with various titles, and knew that most were wrong, but wasn’t sure what was right.
Alec felt the urge that evening to visit the cathedral. He knew that he would return there in a few more days to heal the people again, but he felt drawn to the peaceful sanctuary it offered, a place to pray and experience the atmosphere of devotion. “Armilla, let’s take a little journey,” he said as he opened his door, feeling the sense of satisfaction that confirmed he was doing the right thing.
“
Majesty, where do you wish to go? I’ll alert the Guard to establish an escort for you,” the towering woman replied standing in a pose that spoke of some surprise, some hint of uncertainty generated by the unexpected announcement.
“
We don’t need an escort,” Alec replied, starting to walk towards the stables. “I feel called to go to the cathedral and pray. You and I can slip out of the palace and down to the cathedral unnoticed. It’s after sunset, and no one expects me to leave the palace, let alone go to chapel. Walnut will enjoy the ride, and I’ll benefit from the environment.”
Armilla sensed she would not win the argument, and decided to accept Alec’s judgment. Together they rode down the boulevard, hoods drawn to hide their faces. When they arrived, they tied their horses, and Alec led the way inside. He felt a need to find a certain place, but didn’t know what place it was. They climbed the flights of stairs to the chapels above the main sanctuary, and Alec paused as they passed the spot where he had fought and won the claim to protect the crown. He stopped there, thinking keenly about the warrior ingenaire powers he had possessed, and suddenly felt a sense of loss for having surrendered the greater portion of those powers.
I’m going to pray in here, if you’d please wait outside,” he told Armilla, putting his hand on the door to the chapel where so much had happened. In the evening no light shone through the large sunrise stained glass image that dominated the exterior, eastern side of the room.
Alec kneeled before the small altar, and tried to compose himself. He had seen the crown here, battled Julian here, traveled from and to this spot through time; he considered all the things that had transpired. He had done so much, pursuing goals that had been set for him, and he had lost the chance to reach the goal he had set for himself.
He clasped his hands more tightly together, and shook himself, trying to free himself from this melancholy. He fell into the comforting rhythm of the traditional prayers, words he had learned while a child in the orphanage. The melodic flow of the words drew his mind towards calmer waters, and he felt his pulse slow down and the clamminess dissipate from his palms.
Alec knelt for a long time, praying for peace and tranquility. He asked to be made comfortable with the fate he received. He held a significant amount of responsibility for the Dominion, more than he was certain he could handle. He had lost a great portion of his warrior powers, and that troubled him. He wanted to be able to engage his powers at any time to deal with any problem that might arise. And he continued to regret losing Bethany’s affections. Yet he had to believe there was a reason for these things to have happened. So many good things had happened especially for him, he couldn’t believe that God had let things happen by chance. As he felt the restorative contemplation of his logic, he heard a muffled sound outside the door. Rising to his feet, he walked to the door and opened it, to find Armilla speaking with a priest.
“
Armilla, we can leave,” Alec told his guard. “I feel better now. Have a good evening, brother,” he addressed the frocked individual who was with Armilla.
“
Majesty, this person doesn’t believe you are the crown protector, and demands that we leave right now,” Armilla said with indignation in her voice, dissatisfied with the disrespect she believed was being shown to her sovereign.
“
Since I’m ready to leave anyway, it’s nothing to bother about,” Alec said, not interested in protecting his dignity. “Please tell the Arch prelate I’ll see him again next week when I return to heal the population here,” Alec addressed the priest, and then he walked away, Armilla following him.
“
You have to stand up as protector and not let people disrespect you,” Armilla said to Alec in an insistent voice as they returned to their horses.
“
If you or I were that priest, we wouldn’t believe that the protector of the crown left the palace to sneak into a chapel to pray in the middle of the night either,” Alec answered.
“
You’ll be sure to mention this to the Prelate when you see him, right?” Armilla persisted, looking for some vindication.
Alec agreed, and they rode back to the palace without incident. Twice more that week Alec felt called to the cathedral in the evening for prayer; neither night brough any further problems, but gave Alec a sense of comfort as he kneeled in the chapel and contemplated the complex situation he found himself in, trying to find the logic and the balance that took away the pain and uncertainty he felt. Even as he mourned his loss of the ability to battle at any time, or to call upon Bethany as his own lover, he took pleasure in knowing that Noranda had revived, and was hopefully safe with Brandeis while Durer was now leading Stronghold to better times.
The evening after his third visit to the cathedral, Alec had a dream of remarkable clarity and realism.
“
Awaken, Alec,” John Mark said gently, sitting on the side of his bed.
“
Teacher, why are you here?” Alec asked, sitting up in bed, startled by the appearance of the prophet.
“
You are so troubled, Alec, and you shouldn’t be,” the small man replied. “You are doing the Lord’s work, just as much as the priests in the churches are.”
“
Thank you,” Alec said. “That is good to hear, but it’s not enough. I just feel so unhappy, now that I’ve lost Bethany. I’d come to rely on her to be waiting for me; thinking about her was something that kept me going during the past several months; expecting to love her was the goal I relied on in my everyday thinking.”
“
That pining away is not good for you Alec. You wanted Noranda, but you learned that God had other plans for her and you accepted that. You’ve since seen how they turned out; you know the joy that she and Brandeis have found in each other. And you know they will help make Stronghold a better place, thereby making the Dominion a better place. There is a plan for you too, Alec. You should trust God to always have a plan for your heart.