Read The Lifesaving Power: Goldenfields and Stronghold Online
Authors: Jeffrey Quyle
After a few minutes Alec turned a corner towards where he believed the Millershome docks were, and walked towards the landside gate. As the sky deepened during his approach, Alec heard noises of conflict, and realized belatedly the sounds were coming from the docks he was heading towards. Alec felt his heart start racing, a feeling that he had not experienced in many weeks. The surge that enveloped him reminded him of the exuberance he had felt when he first learned to control his ingenaire powers; the astonishing feeling of invincibility was as alluring as it had felt in those early days. He longed to be able to use those powers now, and reminded himself to be careful in what he attempted.
Alec concentrated on the mundane aspects of entering a battlefield, as he had learned from the Guardsmen at Goldenfields. He slouched down and hung on the side of Walnut, then spurred the horse towards the gateway, observing the location of combatants inside the yards.
Walnut carried him inside the yard, and he dropped off the horse, looking about for someone he recognized. He spotted Francis and a group of four others surrounding three opponents who were backed against a wall. Yelling loudly, Alec raced over to help his fellow crew members from the
Current Rider
. Francis and his supporters all wore blue ribbons on their arms, identifying one side in the fracas.
“
Francis, I’m here. I’ll help fight them!” Alec shouted wildly as he stopped next to Francis. The man on Alec’s right, wearing a blue ribbon, swung his sword directly at Alec, and the healer moved swiftly to block the blow.
“
Tell your men I’m with you!” Alec shouted excitedly in response to the attack.
“
Son, the truth of the matter is that you’re not with me,” Francis said calmly, bringing his own sword swiftly around to attack Alec.
Alec ducked and rolled away from Francis towards the small knot of men who were trapped by the blue-ribboned swordsmen. He rose to his feet and noted that the men he was now with were crewmen he had ridden with on the
Current Rider
. Confused, but certain now that he was with the right forces, Alec launched his attack on the invaders, running his sword through the man who had first attacked him.
With the odds now swung in favor of the sailors, Alec urged his companions to attack, and he led them to engage, picking Francis for his own attention. He swung his sword with his left hand, going high, then, low, as his opponent managed to block his sword work.
“
You really are a swordsman, aren’t you?” Francis asked, as they fenced vigorously, with Alec trying to maintain his momentum. “I thought the crew had you figured right when they said you were a fake.” Alec stepped back, flipped his sword to his right hand and attacked again, wounding Francis in both legs so that he would be incapacitated and unable to escape.
Alec turned to help his companions as they struggled in battle. With a small man he recognized as the cook on the
Current Rider
, Alec helped defeat a third Stronghold fighter, and then watched his companions wound one of the others and disarm the last of the attackers in the immediate struggle.
“
Where’s the captain? Where’s Parlton?” Alec asked the sailors with him.
“
The captain’s dead. Francis killed him first thing when he let the Locksforts’ men in. Parlton and some others were retreating towards the ship last we saw, but we’ve been fighting and moving around trying to stay alive,” Inspir, a junior lieutenant told Alec.
“
Let’s secure Francis as a captive and get him inside this building,” Alec said indicating the doorway of the building at their backs, as he saw a group of more attackers approaching them. “I’ll go find Parlton and let him know we’ve got men here.”
Alec waited for the band of blue ribbons attackers to arrive as Inspir and the others dragged the protesting Francis with them into the building. “Who’s in charge of your men?” Alec asked the men with drawn swords.
Two didn’t bother to answer but immediately launched their attacks. With the wall to his back to provide security behind him, Alec fended them off until Inspir came out to join him. Together, they overcame the two men out front, and stared at the rest of their attackers. Those others paused at the quick defeat of their allies, and circled warily.
“
Who’s in charge of your men?” Alec asked again, swinging and deeply slicing the forearm of one of his attackers. He sensed that the scattering of dead and wounded men around him was giving them concern. Alec lunged at one of them experimentally, and the man jumped back hurriedly. None of his companions looked at his cowardice in disgust. “If you tell me who is in charge, I’ll let you leave the dockyard alive immediately. If you don’t cooperate, my blade will touch you all.”
“
Over there,” one of the men spoke up immediately. Alec realized that they hadn’t been prepared to meet any effective resistance with Francis leading them in this ambush of the Millershome forces. “The blond one with a scar on his face,” added another.
“
Run, now,” Alec urged them, gesturing towards the entrance, and the survivors broke towards the gate Alec had entered just minutes before. “Stay here and keep Francis under control, watch for me, and be ready to move swiftly, if needed,” Alec ordered Inspir as he followed the retreating fighters to make sure they were really leaving the yard, then stopped and looked for Walnut, who had wandered towards the stable that was his current home. Alec ran to the horse and mounted him, then sat for a moment to catch his breath and look around. Activity was evident around two buildings at the far end of the yard, near where the
Current Rider
was docked.
Alec spurred Walnut forward towards the remaining trouble at the site, and dismounted when he was within easy hailing range. He stopped to sniff the air momentarily, uneasy at some indefinable scentle scent stepped closer to where the attackers from Stronghold were besieging groups of sailors in the warehouse and office close by. “Parlton!” Alec bellowed loudly, trying to locate his friend. “Parlton!” he repeated twice more.
The men in blue ribbons turned at the shouts, and a small group left the assault on the warehouse to deal with the noisy newcomer. Alec stood his ground with his sword in his hand, waiting for their arrival, as they spread out.
The first to arrive attacked without any preliminaries, a large man driving forward in the expectation that his weight and size would carry him to quick victory. Instead he died a quick and quiet death, his face showing surprise only briefly as the length of metal penetrated his chest. Alec quickly attacked the man on his left, leaving only the two on his right. “Drop your swords!” he shouted at them. They complied instantly, leaving Alec with the dilemma of what to do with his newest conquests.
“
Now, get out of here as fast as you can. Don’t stop running until you’ve left the dockyards, and don’t come back,” he said lamely, just wanting to get rid of them. He stood for a moment to watch them head through the open yard towards the gate.
Alec returned to his small band of fellow
Current Rider
crew members. “Inspir, leave one man here to guard Francis, and you and the other come with me,” he pre-emptorily ordered. Beset by the extraordinary circumstances, the young officer acceded to Alec’s self-appointed command, and followed Alec around the grounds of the dock. “We’re going to gather up as many men as we can find, and work our way down to the warehouse to lift the siege there and join forces with the rest of Natha’s men,” Alec explained.
Inspir nodded, and they began working their way past the various outbuildings, looking for other survivors as they passed doorways and windows. In that manner they located and gathered together several others who had scattered and hidden when the invasion burst onto the dockyards.
“
Look now,” Alec pointed around a corner. His group of sailors all craned their necks in the direction he gestured towards. “We’re going to charge that group with the blue ribbons. Remain quiet until you’re a step away, then scream as you swing at them. We should be able to take that lot out and free our friends in the warehouse.”
“
Who’s in there? How many are there?” two men asked.
“
I don’t know,” Alec admitted. “Lieutenant Inspir said the captain’s dead, so we’ll hope to find Parlton and get all our folks together,” he added, not knowing what would come next.
Alec led his small band across the open courtyard, but they were spotted by one of the Locksfort invaders, who raised a shout and turned toward Alec and the crew. Others turned as well, as Alec’s planned surprise was thwarted. “Spread out! Spread wide,” he ordered as he raised his own sword and charged at the middle of the group of over a dozen men with blue badges.
Mindful that he was without his warrior ingenaire abilities, Alec began hacking and dodging, switching hands and trying to inspire thesailors, as well as distract their opponents. Two tall men with breast shields engaged him together, forcing Alec to slow and maneuver among the chaotic conditions. A man on his left swung at him, and Alec dipped, but still felt the point of the sword scratch his shoulder.
He dove and rolled to the right, stabbing his sword up under the protective shield of one man, causing the man to double over while Alec stopped and stood behind the other man. Alec swung his sword high at that man’s scalp, opening a gash that sent blood streaming into his eyes, then Alec stabbed fiercely at his opponent’s knee, which buckled in disabling pain.
Alec turned and helped another of Natha’s men battle one of the Stronghold minions, then saw with excitement that a group of the trapped sailors were bursting out of their safe harbor in the warehouse to fall upon their tormenters.
The tide had turned against the Stronghold invaders, Alec could tell. A small knot of them were surrounded by the sailors, as Alec called loudly, “Let them surrender! Let them lay down their weapons!”
His men hesitated, as another group of Stronghold warriors approached from where they had been fighting a cluster of sailors who were protecting the
Current Rider
.
“
Quickly now, herd these captives into the warehouse, or kill them,” Alec shouted loudly enough to be heard by the small knot of captive men with blue ribbons. “Move along you!” he emphasized to the men. “Drop your weapons here and go into the building now or you’re dead.”
They chose to take his threat seriously, and as Inspir prodded them into the warehouse, Alec led others out to engage the new combatants. Two of them dropped suddenly as they approached, and Alec saw with joy that the men on the ship were firing arrows into the former besiegers. Within minutes, more were dead, and those remaining were added to the captives in the warehouse.
“
Where’s Parlton?” Alec asked during the quiet respite from the battle.
“
I’m coming lad,” he heard the familiar voice boom out, and saw a hand wave high over a tall head on the deck of the ship.
Alec jogged over to the water’s edge and boarded the vessel. “I’m glad to see you,” he said somberly.
“
I’m even gladder to see you,” the mate replied. “You may not have battled any pirates on the way here, but your work today more than made up,” he grinned with satisfaction.
“
I’m told the captain’s dead?” Alec questioned abruptly.
Parlton’s face showed a mobility Alec hadn’t expected as it turned from joyful to somber. “Aye, Francis lured him to the gate and….”
“
We don’t have time for explanations, Parlton,” Alec spoke quickly again, trying to direct the conversation.
“
We won’t hold out long against a whole cs face think we need to get everyone on the ship and retreat downstream quickly,” Alec urged in a fast, low voice. “Lieutenant Inspir isn’t ready to take command in a situation like this; you’re the mate, so you’re in charge now. Gather up your wounded as fast as possible and get them on the ship so that we can sail before the next attack comes.”
“
I suppose you’re right,” Parlton considered. “Even if they don’t attack again right away, they will attack again. If you’ll support me, the lieutenant will agree. We better get down river and warn the next ship not to come this way.”
“
I’m going to go back and get Walnut and get him on board,” Alec gestured towards the far end of the dockyards. “You get some archers to guard the warehouse and get everyone else on the ship as fast as possible. We can still make it out before sunset and perhaps get some distance downstream under cover of night.”
“
You be careful down there,” Parlton said, placing his hand on Alec’s shoulder. “I’ll get the lads rounded up and ready to go.”
Alec returned the friendly gesture, and the two stood together for a moment looking at one another. Alec broke his gaze away and ran back down the gangplank to go find his horse, hearing Parlton barking out orders as he ran.
Still feeling a strange atmosphere of tension, Alec sensed the presence of several men near the gate. Carefully working along the edges of buildings to avoid exposure, Alec reached a spot twenty yards from where Walnut was standing in the yard, pawing at some greenery along the foundation of one of the abandoned buildings. Alec called softly, and Walnut’s ears swiveled to catch his voice, then the powerful steed walked over to where Alec was. With his horse’s lead in hand, Alec hurried the animal back through the darkening yard to the ship.
“
Can you help me sling some planks across here for my horse to board?” he asked a hand standing on the pier-side. Together they extended three boards that proved wide enough to coax the reluctant horse onto the deck of the
Current Rider
.
“
There are several men gathering outside the gate,” Alec said urgently to Parlton. “Are we ready to go?”
“
Loosen those lines,” Parlton boomed out in reply. Three members of the crew still on the dock side untied the moorings for the ship and leaped across the watery gap to the deck, as others heaved on long poles to push the ship away from the pier, out of its slip, and into the river channel.
“
Man the sweeps,” Parlton ordered to the depleted crew. “Give us some motion to get into the current.”
Alec was relieved to feel the
Current Rider
’s speedy escape from the site of the death trap that had been set for the crew. But he also felt horror at the thought that he was leaving behind the single most important goal of his life – rescuing Noranda. To relieve his anxiety, Alec went below deck to where the wounded had been hastily placed for evacuation.
After sitting for a moment tst, Alec began walking among the wounded men, praying and dispensing small touches of healing powers as best he could without any herbs or supplements handy to help. When he reached the last man and felt he had done enough to ease the pain and preserve the health of the men, he went back on deck, secured Walnut in his spot, and fed the horse some of the fodder still tied to his back. And with that he curled up and fell asleep on the deck, oblivious to the hustle of the crew’s activities around him. And they in turn trod carefully past the place where slept the boy who had helped save them from a massacre in Stronghold.
Chapter 5 – Aristotle’s Words in Oyster Bay
When Bethany stepped onto the Millershome docks in Oyster Bay after several days of traveling, she found many surprises. Some she expected, like the shock of walking through the empty, depopulated paths of Ingenairii Hill. She had known many people were no longer on the Hill, but its emptiness still left her with a feeling of numbness.
Some surprises caught her completely unprepared. Tritos was one. She had only been back in her house among the water ingenairii for a few hours when a summons to the door brought a re-introduction to Tritos, a stone apprentice she had known before going away to Goldenfields. He had been one of the boys she had flirted with, on terms that she set, before Alec had captivated her. Tritos, like many of the stone ingenairii, had not fled to Goldenfields. Lanter, the head of the house, had not wanted to see the division of the ingenairii, and so had not countenanced the migration. But he had not approved of the actions of the coup leaders, and so had sent virtually every stone ingenairii and apprentice away from Oyster Bay, disseminating his charges throughout the Dominion to work on stone projects in every city other than Oyster Bay.
Upon the overthrow of the coup plotters, the stone ingenairii had returned to the Hill. Tritos had only arrived the day before, and had learned of Bethany’s return shortly before he climbed up the Hill to her house. With one look at her he was as enthralled as ever by her beauty. She had always been kind to him, if only intermittent in her encouragement of his attentions. Until the night of the swimming party at the quarry, he had believed that he might be impossibly lucky enough to capture the affections of the lovely girl. But after that night and Alec’s spectacular feat of healing Cassie, Tritos had known that Bethany had given her heart to the healer. Then the rift and mayhem on the Hill had separated them for many long months.
“
Tritos, I’m so happy to see one of our old friends again,” Bethany said with genuine pleasure. The prospect of re-gaining friendships and companions and life on the Hill is had motivated her to leave the ghosts of her Goldenfields relationship with Alec behind. “You’re the very first person to come to visit.”
“
Plenty more will come when they realize you’re back,” Tritos gallantly said. He held out his hand to shake, but Bethany hugged him instead. “Since the Hill isn’t used to having so many people so suddenly, I thought you might like to go to dinner in town tonight?” he asked shyly.
And then there were the surprises that should have been surprises, but weren’t. “Aristotle asked if you would visit him,” came another summons after Tritos had left and Bethany had returned to Allisma to chat about her pending dinner. With curiosity and apprehension, Bethany excused herself and walked over to the house where the head of the Ingenairii sat in his office.
“
Bethany, child, thank you for coming,” Aristotle invited her in and motioned her into a comfortable chair. He looked at her intently for a few seconds, making her nervous. “You probably haven’t had much time for news since you arrived back here, have you?” he asked. She shook her head. “Well, I’ve just received a note a few days ago by way of Alec’s former cleaning lady, and then another note arrived today from Alec himself.
“
He is alive,” Aristotle stated. “He’s off on his quest, and when he’ll be back, I cannot tell you. Did you have any idea, or had you received any word from him?” She shook her head again, numbly. She was not surprised to learn that Alec was still alive; she had not been convinced that he had died in the strange explosion he had created, but of course had no grounds for her uncertainty. Nothing Ari could have said about Alec would have surprised her now, after his disappearances, resurrections, long silences and inability to speak of love. Nor was she surprised that he was again writing letters, but none to her. She felt her heart pounding in her chest, sure that Aristotle could hear it in the silence of the room.
“
Is that all, Ari?” she asked. Bethany didn’t want to reveal anything about how she felt towards Alec, confusing as those feeling were. Ari looked at her as if trying to decide what to say next.
“
I’m not feeling well today. May I go back to rest now?” she asked, and stood.
“
Yes, by all means child, make yourself comfortable. Come see me again when you feel better so we can talk some more, please,” Ari acquiesced, and watched with sadness as the girl walked out of his office. He had failed to handle Alec’s relationship with Noranda as well as possible, he knew now; he had not communicated to each what he knew about the other. He suspected that was best in the long run, but he hadn’t known it at the time. And now he was finding circumstances leading towards the same sad lack of facts and of feelings being exchanged between Alec and Bethany.
Aristotle worried for Alec, and worried specifically about what would become of the boy in the future. His young heart still had not really learned what love was, and Ari believed that it was going to learn the sharper side of love before it fully appreciated the gentler side.
In the meantime, he had to remain focused on the mundane and pragmatic issues. He had to continue his devotion to the re-organization of Ingenairii Hill, the maintenance of good relations with the Prelate and the church, and the provision of assistance and advice to Rander and the palace leadership. For the time being abou were no resources to offer to assist Goldenfields, while patrols were still needed to bring order to the streets of Oyster Bay, keeping the pretenders to the throne at bay.
Bethany returned to her house, and found Allisma and the other girls waiting for her return. “What did Aristotle say?”
“
He told me that Alec is alive, and out in the wilderness on a quest somewhere,” Bethany replied, wishing that she didn’t have to talk about the topic.
“
Let’s not talk about Alec any more, okay? I’ll let you know when I want to say something about him,” she told the small group. “I’m going to dinner with Tritos tonight. Did I tell you? What do you think I should wear?” And so she stunned and then cajoled her friends into closing off conversation about the healer ingenaire, and they talked about less painful topics.
Chapter 6 – A Rainy Road to Stronghold
Alec awoke in mid-morning, as the
Current Rider
continued to move downstream from Stronghold, its sails down, relying on the current and the rudder to direct its path back towards safety after an uneventful night of cautiously sailing in the dark.
“
We’ve got some rations left to go around, sir,” Lieutenant Inspir said respectfully to Alec as he offered him some toasted bread and ham. “We’ll have fish before the hour is out as well,” he nodded towards the prow of the ship where three men were hanging lines in the water.
“
Is Parlton available?” Alec asked.
“
He’s catching some sleep himself, right now,” Inspir answered. “He was up until sunrise helping to maintain our course in the river channel. I’m taking the watch now while he rests.”
Were there only the two officers left, Alec wondered. He knew the captain had been killed, and two other lieutenants must have died back at the yard as well. Only Inspir and Parlton would be available to command the deck, making for long shifts for the two men. Of course there were regrettably few men left to oversee, and fortunately none of those who had sailed in the first place were troublemakers by the standards of river sailors. Two officers would be enough to take the crew back to safety, he was confident.
Alec realized that he wasn’t going to go back with them. He was going to get off the ship soon, and try to find some way to return to Noranda. He realized that even after all this time he didn’t know exactly who she was. He had thought of her as someone special during those long ago days in the carnival, but now ater so many months apart he didn’t really feel he knew her very well, and he knew she wouldn’t know anything about his life and trials.
He missed Ari. He missed having someone to tell him what to do. He would give anything in the world to have Ari make decisions and give advice and provide friendship and happiness.
Was he really supposed to be the protector of the crown? Was he supposed to have the knowledge to find, support or guide the rightful head of the Dominion? He didn’t even feel comfortable planning his own future, let alone making such grand plans for the whole nation. Alec began to laugh out loud at the remarkable twists his life had taken, and heads turned to see what amused him. He walked back to Inspir. “Tonight, could you drop me off on the bank with Walnut? I have unfinished business at Stronghold, and I’m not going to leave until I get it done.”
“
Alec, the folks there aren’t going to welcome you back, do you think?” Inspir asked with a cocked eyebrow. “What do you want to do back there, anyway?” he asked with real curiosity.
“
I took a ride on the
Current Rider
to get to Stronghold because I need to do something there,” he vaguely gestured back. “I always expected to leave the ship once we got to Stronghold,” he admitted.
“
We’re lucky to have had you when we did,” Inspir replied after a long pause. “What is it you’ll do up there?” no longer questioning whether or not Alec would still return to the hostile city. “Is it something for Natha?”
“
No, it’s not for Natha,” Alec replied without answering.
“
Do you think they’ll recognize you? We could cut your hair for you,” Inspir suggested helpfully. “Would you like that?”
Alec thought about the long, unruly hair that got in his face and streamed over his shoulder. It had gone uncut since before he went to the Well of John Mark, many months ago. He hadn’t cut it so far, because he felt it was some symbol of his commitment to attend only to his mission in Stronghold. Perhaps he could cut it now, he thought to himself, and nodded agreement. Inspir gestured a short, wrinkled crewman over. “Chips, go get your barber tools for Alec.”
Half an hour later a circle of crewmen were rubbing their hands affectionately across the short stubble that remained atop Alec’s skull. “Be careful to wear a hat so you don’t burn your scalp,” one man advised.
By late afternoon Parlton was awake, and Alec found him in his cabin to inform him of his wish to leave the ship. “I can’t deny you any request after what you did for us, Alec, but I don’t like to lose you now,” the unofficial acting captain explained.
Although Alec felt bad in refusing the unspoken request to stay with the ship, he knew he could not stay away from his destined duty to revive Noranda. “Why don’t you put me and Walnut on the north shore of the river before nightfall?” he asked without making eye contact with Parlton.
“
You look younger with your short hair,” Parlton replied. “No one who hasn’t seen you fight would believe what a battle you can give.” He paused, then pulled out a chart of the river’s course, and studied it for long seconds as his finger traced the lines on a page. “We’re about here, so the mouth of this tributary will be a good place for us to pull out of the current and get you close to shore. We should be there in less than an hour.”
“
Do you have your things packed and ready?” he asked as he stood, stooped over in the short cabin beneath the deck. When Alec nodded affirmatively, Parlton led the way to the sunlight.
Up on deck he called to the forward lookout to watch for an inlet on the right shore and to direct the ship into it, then looked at Alec. “Is there anything we can do for you?”
“
Just let Natha know that I tried to help, and take care of your crew,” Alec said.
Without a dock, Walnut was eventually put ashore only by pushing him into the river so that he swam to the swampy edge of the river and struggled up onto dry land. The late-summer weather made the swim in the river feel comfortable, and Alec turned to wave to the members of the
Current Rider
crew who lined the ship’s railing to watch him leave.
Walnut carefully picked his footing through the muck and weeds that separated the river from the land, as Alec walked in front leading the way. At last the ground rose up a bank and the way was solid enough for Alec to mount his horse and begin riding. He took his time, calculating that he’d need at least two full days of riding to retrace the distance covered by a night and a day of sailing with the current down the river.
The river flowed from east to west at this location, so Alec and Walnut rode with the sunset behind them in the west as they returned. The red glow from the western sky reflected off the trees in front of them, as Alec tried to intercept the road that he guessed probably ran parallel to the riverbank. The topography was gently rolling, and they crossed three valleys but did not find a road or track of any stature before near total darkness descended and Alec halted their journey for the night.
Walnut still carried the load of fodder Alec had bought in Stronghold, while Alec had brought little food for himself away from the ship. He fed and brushed Walnut in the darkness, talking to the horse about the way he was floundering back to Stronghold without a plan. “Why couldn’t I have heard a prophecy about the next few days?” he asked the horse as he finished up his activities. He rolled out his blankets and lay on the ground, falling asleep quickly.
Before dawn a hard rain started to fall and Alec woke up when a leaf dropped a small cupful of water onto the back of his neck. He rolled over and sat up in the dark, unable to see more than a vague outline of Walnut standing with his head down in the rain. Alec pulled his blankets about him, waiting for the dawn to give enough light to start moving. He felt hungry, and hoped that he’d come to a town early in the day to find some food in a tavern.
He dozed as he sat until he realized that he saw Walnut clearly, and the trees and bushes nearby as well. Grumbling, hrolled his sodden blankets and untied his horse to begin traveling. The clouds prevented him from seeing precisely where the sun rose, but he traveled in a generally northeast direction, hoping that the rising ground would take him up the side of the hills that rolled beyond the river valley; he was sure a road would hug those hills, and give him easy access to Stronghold.
Eventually Alec smugly discovered a trail just where he expected it to run along the southern slope of the hills, and his pace picked up as Walnut carried him through the light mist that still fell. The track was not wide, but had been leveled and cared for.
Throughout the day Alec rode through the forested lands, without seeing another soul or sign of habitation. He began to grow suspicious that he was headed in the wrong direction, for surely there had to be outlying communities along the approach to Stronghold.
By late afternoon he calculated that he should be less than a day’s ride from Stronghold, if he was heading in the right direction. The clouds remained thick, the rain fell sporadically, and he continued to guess that the road must be headed in the right direction, despite the evidence to the contrary. His stomach growled with hunger, and he turned his attention to scavenging for food. He got off Walnut and walked along with his head down, looking for edible plants. He found a few stringy weeds to chew on, and as he did so he remembered the many times he and Leah had eaten river plants and fish, and it brought a smile to his face.
Those few mouthfuls of bitter weeds were all he found before the sky darkened and he could no long see clearly. He led Walnut off the road into the trees to care for him and prepare for another lonely night, thankful that at least the rain had stopped. As he brushed the horse and softly talked to him, he stopped in midstroke. He heard a noise, a faint music.
Alec listened intently, swiveling his head to try to locate the sound and to see any visible evidence of its source. Far off, through the murky air, flickers of light reflected off tree trunks, showing that a fire had been started by someone.
Alec fumbled about repacking his equipment on Walnut, then walked the horse carefully back out to the road, and headed cautiously towards the light. He wasn’t sure how to approach, or if to approach, whoever was ahead. In the deserted forest, most travelers would be likely to be wary of strangers showing up, and he would be wary of trying to enter a large group of strangers when trapped by the darkness.
As he got closer he heard more distinctly the sounds of the music. It was a lively tune with jovial lyrics, one that Alec had heard played in the carnival many times. Treena had played it, sometimes on three instruments at once, and Noranda had enjoyed it, singing it to herself at times when she was distracted.
Alec slipped down off the saddle as he rode close enough to see the tree trunks around the circle where two wagons boxed in one half of a campsite. Several men and a handful of women were sitting around the fire, one with a fiddle and one that pumped a small organ to carry the tune. They were beginning the second verse of the song, and clearly no one knew the words, because their chorus was faltering.
Alec had a sudden recollection of Ari in Walnut Creek, when he had manufactured a tale of being a lost prospector. A bold thought came to Alec. Perhaps he could just as brazenly make up a story and join this group for the evening, so that he’d get directions from them in the morning and perhaps a bite of food, the prospect that most motivated him in these circumstances. With two wagons to carry supplies, they were likely to have much, and there were no obvious guards posted, something that surprised him.
He walked into the open roadside fringe of the circle of campfire light, and began singing the second verse loudly, knowing that he wouldn’t win points for the quality of his singing voice. All heads jerked quickly to look at him, and three men rose rapidly from their seats. The organ player stopped, but the fiddle player kept on playing the tune, picking up the pace to match Alec.
Alec looked at her, directly in her eyes, and faltered for a long moment. “Don’t you know the words after all?” she challenged him. He responded by concentrating on the words of the verse, then waved his hands to motion to all the others to chime in with him as the rowdy chorus came to a climax.
As the song ended, Alec tried to prepare himself for the conversation he knew was about to ensue. No amount of preparation could settle his rattled nerves completely however, after seeing the face of the fiddle player. The girl looked like Noranda’s identical twin. He felt the blood drain from his face, as he turned pale with emotion.
Chapter 7 – The Wayward Letters
The longshoreman at the docks in Oyster Bay looked at the leather bag that was hidden behind a stack of crates. “This says it was supposed to be delivered to the bank in Goldenfields more than a month ago,” he called up to his foreman. He handed over the pouch full of letters, including Alec’s, and went on about his business.
The foreman knew that the bank rarely sent its internal messages astray. The discovery of this misplaced pouch would be trouble for someone. The bank’s accounts needed regular communication to keep their funds in balance. Although this pouch showed it had only come from Redwater, a smallish branch of the bank, it still meant money was at stake. He didn’t know that some of Alec’s letters, including the love letter for Bethany, were also astray within the bag.
Bethany by this time had actually been in Oyster Bay for almost three weeks, and was starting to look forward to the regular visits Tritos paid her. She was just a couple of miles away from where the heart-revealing letter sat - the letter that was meant to give her assurance of Alec’s love.
The foreman knew that the bank’s next ship to Goldenfields would not leave for another four days, and then be a week to ten days in transit up the rivers towards Goldenfields. It would pass right by its origins in Redwater before it got to the destination it should have reached five weeks earlier.
And so it happened that several days later the Pierpont Bank branch in the impressive building facing the traders market received two pouches on a day when it expected only one. The bank branch manager opened the regularly scheduled pouch and sorted out the reports to deal with them as expected. He then opened the tardy bag and pulled out the first report to examine it. The date on the report showed its age. The manager had already asked for and received a replacement report two weeks earlier, so he left the rest of the contents inside the bag and placed it at the back of his shelf.
The following week he sorted through the bag, and found the bundle of letters contained within. The letter to the Duke he gave to a courier to take to the palace, and the letter addressed to Bethany he put into the city’s mail system to be carried to the address on Bakers street. Two days later, Ellen received the letter meant for the girl who had departed several weeks before, and puzzled over what to do with it. A few days later she remembered to mention it to Ellison, who took it back to the palace and delivered it to Merle.
Several days later, Merle put the letter in a pouch, and sent it on a boat down river to Oyster Bay.
Chapter 8 – Meeting The Locksfort Youth
“
Who are you, and how did you come to be on these private lands?” the man closest to Alec said as he and another walked up close to him. Neither had weapons displayed, which Alec took as a hopeful sign.
“
I am a traveler on my way to Stronghold,” Alec explained, turning his eyes from the hauntingly familiar face of the girl in front if him. “I’ve not seen another person for a long time, so when I saw your fire I thought I’d come see if I could join you. I wasn’t aware this was private land. I’m not from around here.”
“
This is a private estate, so you’ll need to move on and leave us,” one of the men still sitting by the fire said.
Alec looked at him, then looked at the men who had approached him, then seyed the others in the group, again making eye contact with the fiddle player for a long moment. They were not much more than his own age, he realized. They were a group of youths, perhaps just out in the woods for a pleasant outing, not travelers on the road, as he had expected.
“
I’m sorry. I thought I had just caught up to other travelers on the road this evening,” Alec replied. “I didn’t mean to interrupt your party.”
“
You might as well sit by the fire and warm up a little; we owe you for teaching us the second verse of the rooster song,” the fiddle player said, in a voice that was huskier than Noranda’s. She had the same pert chin as Noranda, giving her face the same elfin, triangular appearance that Noranda had, although Alec realized that this girl’s eyes were set a trifle wider than the girl he remembered.
“
He’s a stranger on our lands. I personally don’t think we should reward him for trespassing,” interjected the boy who had spoken before.
“
Let the boy warm up, Reuchlin. Maybe he’ll teach us some other songs,” replied another boy, and other heads nodded. Alec had a sense that they agreed mostly because they wanted to undermine Reuchlin, more than they cared whether he got warm or not.
Alec tied Walnut to a tree and moved into the warm inner circle near the fire. “Thank you,” he said to the group in general. “My name is Alec, and it’s been a long, wet day in the saddle. Your fire feels good.”
“
Do you know ‘Your Picture Is A Dog’?” he asked the two instrumentalists, looking at each girl.
The fiddler smiled, and the organist chimed in, “Yes, of course,” and the two introduced the first notes of the chorus, then led the whole group in the singing of the nonsensical tale about the man who hired a painter to produce a portrait of the girl who had rejected his advances, while she made various household pets pose for the portrait in succeeding verses of the song.
A round of laughter and clapping followed the end of the song. “Wimpeling, would you get the food out and let’s get dinner started?” the organist said to one of the boys. Several stood up and began to work, while the girls put their instruments down. One of the boys who had approached Alec at his entrance came over.
“
My name is Durer,” he introduced himself. “Hello, Alec. What brings you to Stronghold?”
Alec had collected his wits during the singing of the song, and proceeded to tell the tale he had concocted before entering the camp. “I was with a traveling carnival, working as a healer. With all the troubles in the cities out west, the carnival ran out of money and fell apart, and I got the horse as my payment. I decided to leave all the problems and come to Stronghold, because I heard there wasn’t as much unrest up here.”
“
No, we’ve managed to avoid the troubles the rest of the Dominion has had this past year,” Durer agreed.
“
That’s because we don’t let strangers come and stir up trouble,” Reuchlin added frohe periphery of the group around Alec.
Durer gave a pained look at the thin malcontent, whose voice subsided.
“
We’ll be returning to the city tomorrow. You’re welcome to stay with us tonight and ride along tomorrow if you like,” Durer offered.
“
Thank you, that’s kind,” Alec said, holding out his hand to thank the other. Durer had thick, curly dark hair above a thin face that smiled easily, and he shook hands with Alec. “I appreciate the offer. I knew I must be lost, since I haven’t seen a village or people, so I could use some guidance to find my way to the city.”
“
The river road is several miles farther inland. It travels away from the river to go around our estate. You must have somehow wandered off the road and then stumbled along,” a girl’s voice said, and Alec turned to see the fiddler standing behind him.
“
My name is Johanna,” she said. “Did I hear you say you were in a carnival?” Alec nodded, his mouth unconsciously opening slightly as he intently studied the face of the girl.
“
Do we know each other?” she asked in response to his scrutiny.
Alec blushed. “No. No, not that I’m aware of,” he replied.
“
We learned those songs from my cousin, Durer’s sister, when we visited her in Oyster Bay almost a year ago, last autumn. She used to be in a carnival too,” the girl explained, then said no more as her face paled at the memory.
“
Does your family own all these lands?” Alec asked, sensing the discomfort the others were feeling.
“
This estate has been in our family for a long time. Everyone’s moved into the city though, so we never come out here. We thought we’d come to take a summer holiday for a couple of days and do some hunting, but the rain made us all decide to head back home,” Durer explained. People were drifting away, stoking the fire, preparing food, and setting canopies over sleeping blankets. “You can put your blankets under one of the wagons to stay out of the rain if you’d like,” he offered to Alec. “I need to go help,” he explained, and walked over to the fire.
Alec went back to Walnut and got his bedding off the back of the saddle, then spread it on the ground near the fire to warm up and dry out a little.
He walked over to where Johanna was setting out food on a table extending from the wagon-side. “Can I help do anything?” he asked, drawn to the girl’s haunting familiarity.
“
Here, spread these out,” she said quietly. They worked in silence for a minute or two as Alec surreptitiously studied the girl, his mind trying to draw all the comparisons with Noranda. “What is it?” She asked finally, aware of the scrutiny. “Why are you looking at me?”
Alec hesitated. “You remind me of someone, very much. When I look at you I see a girl I haven’t seen in a very long time. I’m sorry to stae so rudely,” he added.
“
I was always told that I looked like Noranda, Durer’s sister, the one who taught us the carnival songs,” Johanna said. “Were you with her in the same carnival?”
“
No,” Alec responded hastily. “There’s more than one carnival traveling around the Dominion, you know,” he added lamely.
“
You’re awfully young to have already left a carnival and be traveling across country on your own,” Johanna commented.
“
I was an orphan in Frame, and then joined the carnival,” Alec said. “After the carnival, I didn’t have any place to go.”
“
I almost feel like an orphan, sometimes,” Johanna said in an absent voice. “I rarely see my parents. My father travels on business, so I only see him if we ship out to visit him, or he comes home to us. We’re going to see him soon, though. He’s on his way home from Oyster Bay.”
“
Things have been troubled down there, and there’s no point in him staying in such a troubled town,” another boy said as he walked up to the table with a stack of plates. “I’ll be glad to see Uncle Lapine. He’s got the best personality of any of the uncles or aunts.”
“
Rembran, watch your manners!” Johanna said sternly.
“
Don’t worry, Durer’s across the camp,” Rembran said.
“
Everything’s ready! Come and eat,” Johanna called loudly. “Go ahead and lead the way as our guest, Alec,” she added.
“
I learned enough manners to know that ladies should go first,” Alec replied. Despite the little food he’d had in the past day, he had little appetite at the moment. The chance that he would fall in with a group of Locksfort cousins by happenstance was unnerving. He stood back a few steps and let the others line up ahead of him, then fixed his own plate after everyone else had gone.
Wimperling pulled an armful of wineskins from the other wagon and began passing them around. Alec offered his to the boy who sat next to him, and drank water from his own canteen instead. As the others finished their food and the wine flowed freely, the atmosphere grew boisterous. Some sang loudly, while the crowd diminished as a few couples retreated to the shadows away from the rest of the group.
Alec grew tired, and began gathering the dirty dishes, piling them all together on the table. He saw no one else bothering with cleaning up the camp, nor did he see anything to clean with, so he left them stacked up, picked up his warmed blankets, and picked a spot under a wagon near Walnut to spend the night. The campfire crowd was silent now, the fire had burned down to untended embers, and Alec closed his eyes and fell asleep among the crowd of Locksfort youths.
&nbhe had>
Chapter 9 – Joining the Locksforts
Alec was the first to awaken the next morning. The clouds had left the sky and the sun came up bright on the eastern horizon. Alec rolled his blankets and put them away, then brushed Walnut quietly while waiting for the rest of the camp to awaken. Durer was first up; he saw Alec and gave a friendly wave, then walked off into the woods. Soon others started to arise, and Durer returned, to make a loud announcement that everyone needed to arise and prepare to make the trip back to Stronghold.
A few groaned, and Alec guessed that they were suffering the aftereffects of too much wine the night before. With a sudden impulsive thought, Alec looked through the medical supplies he had stored in his saddlebags, and found enough to mix some doses that would relieve the headaches and upset stomachs that came from overdrinking.
“
Durer, I’ve got a few doses of medicine to sooth the hangovers of some of your friends,” he said, walking over to Noranda’s brother.
“
Reuchlin, Brandeis, come here,” Durer said after a quick visual survey of the campsite. The two groaned and slowly meandered over to their cousin. “Alec has fixed a hangover cure; he said he was a medic, remember? You two need this the most, so take it quickly and then get your things put away.”
Without comment, the two held their hands out and took Alec’s proffered cure. “Anyone else who wants a hangover remedy come see Alec,” Durer said loudly to the group in general.
“
That’s awfully nice of you, Alec,” he added. “Do you really believe it works?” Alec nodded. “That’s too bad, after a fashion. I always enjoyed knowing those two had to suffer for their degeneracy. Now you’ve taken away even that; there’s no telling how awful they’ll be in the future if they can just visit you and get a cure.”
Four others walked up in rapid succession, and Alec served them all, then put his goods away, and joined the others for a bite of dried fruit for breakfast. He sat apart for several minutes, trying to interpret a strange sensation of joy and melancholy he had experienced when he had given away the hangover cures. The feelings made no sense. The joy was an original feeling, but the melancholy had been deeply pressed into the spirit of one of his patients, he intuited.
“
Durer said you were the one who stacked the dishes last night,” Johanna said, appearing suddenly beside Alec for the first time that morning. “Thank you,” she added.
“
I’d have cleaned them, but I didn’t know where the tub and water were,” he replied. He wondered where she had slept, but didn’t ask.
“
Here, we can just place them in this tub since we’re going home today, and the servants will take care of them for us,” Johanna said casually. “We won’t need them again for anything.” Alec lifted the heavy tub into the wagon for the girl. “Most of the boys here can’t lift that themselves,” she said appreciatively. “Thank you for your help.”
In just a few more minutes the campsite was empty as people climbed on horse and wagons and began moving east towards their home in Stronghold. Alec fell in next to Brandeis, who had taken a dose of his cure earlier. “Alec, thank you ever so much,” the slightly foppish boy said gratefully. “I already feel like I didn’t drink a drop last night, which is an unusual experience for me, except for church holidays with my mother,” he said lightly.
The two fell into an easy conversation as they rode along, Brandeis carrying the vast majority of the conversation as he spoke whatever witticism came to his mind during the ride. Alec learned a great deal about the others in the traveling group as he lagged in the back with his happy-go-lucky companion. “Why are you back here with me when you could be up front wooing the beautiful Johanna?” Brandeis asked suddenly. “She came looking for you last night, but you were already asleep. She stood by you for several minutes, until Reuchlin came and talked her back to the fireside. You could’ve had her – she’s pretty, rich, nice, even bright – what more does a wandering minstrel need?” he laughed.
“
What more, indeed?” Alec asked. “Now we just need to go find a minstrel. You heard my voice last night, didn’t you?” he laughed.
“
Point taken,” Brandeis agreed with a grin.
“
How long will it take us to reach the city?” Alec asked.
“
So you want to change the subject,” Brandeis observed. “So be it. We can come back to your love life some other time.
“
Durer will let us stop for a bite of midday food, and then we’ll be back at the city walls two hours later and back in the family palace an hour after that,” Brandeis explained. “Where are you going to stay?” he asked as an afterthought. “Do you have a place to spend the night?”
“
Well, no,” Alec admitted, suddenly hoping that something improbably fortunate was about to happen.
“
Then you must come to the Locksfort palace and while away your life in indulgent luxury,” Brandeis proposed. “They’ve let me do nothing for years; I’m sure you’ll be good for several months, at least. If you hand out that hangover cure judicially, you may never have to leave!”
“
Durer! Durer!” Brandeis shouted. “I’ve just had a brain storm. It’s absolutely brilliant!”
“
Let’s stop for midday,” Durer shouted back from the front of the group. “I need to be standing on solid ground if I’m going to hear brilliance from our resident cousinly jester.”
The group stopped and dismounted. “What stroke of genius have you had?” Durer asked as he walked back to where Brandeis and Alec were watering their horses.
“
Let’s have >