The Lifesaving Power: Goldenfields and Stronghold (32 page)

“
Let’s go around the hills instead of back up them this time. Nathaniel you cover the end of the forces, and I’ll lead,” Imelda said, glad to be back in charge of her force after weeks of being subservient to Alec’s leadership. She pulled her horse around and began the trip back to the Dominion.

Hours later, after the sun had set, Imelda pulled her horse up at the bottom of a shallow swale in the prairie. “We’ll spend the night here,” she announced. She detailed two men to set up a picket line for the horses, and assigned others to preparing the fire, setting up tents, and starting food.

Alec walked among the soldiers, offering a healing touch to those who needed it, and exchanging small pleasantries about the excitement of finally returning to the Dominion. As he completed his circuit of the squadron, the smell of cooking food wafted through the air. A column of smoke rose visibly in the darkening sky, the first time the soldiers had been incircumspect enough to allow smoke to show, now that they no longer needed to maintain the secrecy of their ambush location.

Imelda watched Alec among the soldiers, and thought about her conversations with Armilla and Kinsey. He looked comfortable and assured, hardly like the uncertain boy the two women had portrayed. But traveling with a small band here on the plains was far from the complications of being the crown protector amongst the complexities of palace intrigues. She realized with a startling insight that was perhaps why he had wanted to come out here; he had taken this mission to have a simple task without the complexities and politics of being surrounded by advisors and a court and sycophants all seeking something from him.

Bethany could be a comforter and an advisor for him. Would she do it, Imelda wondered?

And what about her own future, she wondered. The words of affection from Alec made her pause and reflect. Maybe men would see her as a suitable mate after all, she hoped. No other man had made any overtures in a long time. And she wasn’t sure how to respond. After all, she was a girl who’d been sheltered from the world herself by a houseful of intimidating brothers. And ultimately, she still didn’t know if she wanted to give up her own freedom to take a mate just yet.

“
Hey, Alec,” she called across the camp. He looked up at her. She gestured for him to come over. “Let’s go check the sentries, shall we?” she suggested. Alec grinned and nodded yes.

“
Who’d you ride with today?” she asked him as they walked in the dusk. “What did you talk about?”

“
I was with Sudhalter and Gould,” Alec replied. “We talked about horse trading. Sudhalter’s father is a trader, and he judges horse flesh constantly. He liked Walnut a lot,” Alec said proudly. His pride in his horse momentarily rose above his pleasure in a tête-à-tête with the cavalry girl.

“
Who wouldn’t like the ruler’s horse?” Imelda replied with a grin.

“
And what did you talk about, with our friends Armilla and Kinsey?” he riposted.

“
We talked about you,” she said simply with another grin that brooked no more questions on the matter.

“
What will we do when we get back and the fighting is over?” Imelda asked, trying to subtly leave open the question of whether she would be with him after the battle.

Alec immediately grasped the implication of the question. He paused, then tried to play into it with humor. “I know what I’d like to do,” he answered.

“
Should I slap you now or slap you then?” she responded in the same light mood. They were both growing giddy as they verbally jousted with one another while making the rounds. For Alec, it reminded him of the kind of engaged conversation that he had enjoyed with Bethany, an exchange and interplay of humor and insinuation.

“
Bethany always threatened to dump a bucket of water on my head, and there wasn’t anything I could do about that,” he explained.

“
Whereas I’d just embarrass you on the practice floor,” Imelda said sympathetically.

Much later they completed their visits to the guards around the perimeter and returned to the center of the camp. The fire had burned down low, and Armilla, Kinsey and Nathaniel were sitting beside the embers, watching the couple return.

“
Did you get lost in the crowd out there?” Armilla asked with irony.

“
We had a lot to discuss,” Alec said loftily. “Strategy and tactics and plans and things. If you’ll excuse me now, I think I’ll go to bed. Good night everyone,” he added.

“
Before you go, Alec tell everyone about the time Bethany dumped water on you?” Imelda requested, looking at Kinsey meaningfully, hoping she got the hint to use her powers to analyze Alec’s feelings for Bethany as he relayed the tale.

Alec looked puzzled momentarily, but dutifully told the story. “Was that the time you cut away the back of her skirt? Her nickname was “Blue” for a month after that because everyone saw what color underwear she wore!” Nathaniel laughed.

“
She slugged me when I confessed I was the one who did that to her,” Alec laughed too, remembering the night on the beach, though he looked slightly embarrassed, then he left to crawl into his tent to sleep.

“
I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” Imelda said to Kinsey, then walked out to her own sleeping place.

Kinsey grinned. “Good night you two warriors,” she nodded to the two remaining by the fire, and she headed to her sleeping spot.

“
What will your lady love say when you return home finally?” Armilla asked Nathaniel, as the two of them remained by the fire pit.

“
I’ll be so glad to see her. Moriah will be flaming mad that I got to have such adventures. Then she’ll be happy that I’m back. Then she’ll be a little jealous that I spent so much time with Alec while we were out here. I think she had a mothering crush on him when he first showed up because he seems so innocent and helpless, yet had such amazing powers. But with a baby on the way she’ll have plenty to keep her occupied and she’ll be too busy to dwell on the past,” Nathaniel answered.

“
What do you expect we’ll find when we get back to the Dominion?” Armilla asked Nathaniel.

“
I think we’ll find a whopping big battlefield that will be dangerous and confusing. There’s still a large lacertii army left out there in front of us, and we only have a handful of soldiers now,” Nathaniel replied. “I’m surprised Alec showed such good sense about not joining the battle among the lacertii yesterday. I don’t know how hard it will be to persuade him to stay away again,” he added.

The two guardians of the young ruler sat and talked a while longer, then likewise settled in, and the camp was quiet until the next morning.

The troops arose early, and rode hard that day, making good progress. Kinsey and Imelda rode together as they left the camp site. “What does he think?” Imelda immediately asked.

“
And good morning to you, too,” Kinsey said.

“
What have you two been plotting?” Shaiss asked as he rode up next to them.

“
Who’s plotting?” Imelda asked.

Shaiss looked at her skeptically. He didn’t know her very well. Instead he spoke directly to Kinsey. “Alder saw you talk to Armilla, and Armilla talk to Allisma. I saw Armilla talk to you,” he motioned to Imelda, “then you,” he motioned back to Kinsey, “spoke to Allisma.

“
So we want to know what the four of you are planning. It’s something to do with Alec, clearly, because one of you is always hovering around him, especially you, captain,” he asserted.

Imelda gave him a steely-eyed, flat stare.

“
We care about Alec,” Kinsey said. She judged the feelings she was receiving from Shaiss, and concluded he could be trusted. “You were in the House,” Kinsey said, referring to Alec’s healing shop in Goldenfields where many young ingenairii had lived together during the months they were removed from Oyster Bay. She too had lived there, and shared the sense of camaraderie that joined all the residents together during their exile.

“
Did you have any doubt that Bethany and Alec would be a couple together forever?” she asked.

“
No, I thought they’d be married someday,” the light ingenaire agreed. “So what are you plotting?”

“
We think Alec needs someone to give him an anchor, some stability. Bethany is the perfect person to do that Kinsewe’re talking about it,” Kinsey said.

“
And what are you plotting?” Shaiss probed.

“
Nothing yet. Will you help if the time comes?” Kinsey told him.

“
Let me know what we can do,” Shaiss answered, pulling his reins and falling back to ride with Alder.

“
What can he do? Will he tell Alec?” Imelda asked as soon as he was gone.

“
He sincerely believes that Bethany would be good for Alec, and vice versa,” Kinsey answered. “And we may find something for him to do when the time comes.”

“
Back to the beginning. What was Alec thinking when he talked about Bethany?” Imelda repeated her earlier question.

“
He felt fondness when he told the story,” Kinsey answered. “He still feels very positively towards her. I think he would be happy to see her again.”

Imelda called Allisma back to join them. “Is there a way to get Bethany out here to meet with Alec? You say she still cares for Alec, and Kinsey says he still cares for her,” Imelda asked.

“
I think it’s better that they meet away from Oyster Bay, maybe back in Goldenfields,” Allisma suggested. “When will we get back to the army? Will we go back to Goldenfields right away?”

“
We’re about eight days away from rejoining the army, if it’s still where we left it,” Imelda said. “Given the news about the changing battlefront, it could take us longer to return, and there’s no predicting when we’ll get back to the city.”

“
When we get back and have some certainty, I’ll write to Merle and Aristotle, and see if they can dispatch Bethany to Goldenfields. In the meantime, I’ll think up a reason we need her to be sent here,” Allisma decided.

They made good time crossing the open prairies until the seventh day of travel, when they were preparing to turn their course to the east. “What is that cloud of dust?” Alec asked Imelda as they rode out in front of the command.

Imelda studied it as their horses walked briskly. “It must be cavalry, but I don’t know why anyone would be out here,” she answered as she continued to watch the other group on a course that appeared destined to converge with theirs before too long. She left the formation to take a closer look at their neighbors.

Several minutes later she returned and told Alec to move to the center of their soldiers. “Whoever that is, they aren’t riding in any of our formations,” Imelda announced with concern to Armilla and Nathaniel. The other group was considerably larger than their own, and still unidentified. “We’ll leave Alec back here and send a couple of scouts out to discern just who is riding out here in the middle of nowhere.”

Alec accepted his required safekeeping, remembering his own time as a member of the Goldenfields Guar and how carefully he had tended to the safety of the Duke. They continued to ride along warily as the scouts left them to gather knowledge about the other contingent.

Within two hours the scouts returned. “They are from Bondell, they say,” came the report.

“
Ask them to send an officer over to explain what they are doing all the way out here,” Imelda told the scout. The trip back was much more direct and a small delegation of riders arrived an hour later.

“
Why are you riding out here?” Imelda asked, as Alec remained discretely in the background. “This isn’t on the way from Bondell to the battlefront, or anywhere else for that matter. And weren’t you supposed to have arrived at the front a long time ago?”

An officer unfamiliar to Alec answered. “We sent a contingent to the front a while ago, but the rest of us were delayed because a plague struck the city. We needed to overcome the epidemic and tend to its aftermath before we were strong enough to ride. Then we found that we don’t have very good maps, and so this journey has already taken much longer than it should have,” he explained. “Do you have any extra water with you, by any chance?” he asked. “We’ve been on half rations for four days now and don’t have much left.”

Imelda answered. “We are going to be at the river tonight, and you can have all the water you need. You’re going to be behind the lines you know,” she added, a thought starting to form.

“
Who is your commander?” Alec asked, jostling up to the front. “Is the prince’s chamberlain with you?” he probed; he believed their story, but still wanted to confirm some facts that would prove their veracity.

“
Our commander is Rashrew, and the prince’s chamberlain is not with us. He is back in the castle where he belongs, I expect,” the man answered.

Alec remembered Rashrew, a man from a local village militia who had fought with Alec to help Prince Mahogan when he was besieged by Oyster Bay. “Tell Rashrew I remember when we fought together at Saltcrust, and I hope he remembers Renda from that battle. I’d like to hear what happened to her.”

The officer from Bondell was puzzled by Alec’s familiarity with the names of officers from his nation.

“
Perhaps you can meet him and speak when we arrive at the river tonight?” Bondell’s officer replied. “May I tell him what acquaintance you are?”

“
Let him know it’s Alec the healer,” Alec answered. “Return to your companions, and we’ll see you at the river.”