Read The Lifesaving Power: Goldenfields and Stronghold Online
Authors: Jeffrey Quyle
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My heart knew then, I think, that you wouldn’t ever love me, but I kept hoping. And then you wrote to tell me you weren’t coming back, and you still didn’t say you loved me. And then you disappeared, and no one knew where you were. All our friends in Goldenfields tried to comfort me, to tell me you’d turn up; they knew I was distraught with hurt and worry. Then many months later, a letter comes out of the blue to the Duke, I heard, and one to Colonel Ryder, but not one to me, not until later.
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And Tritos has been a good friend, while everyone else has been so polite to my face, but I know they talk about me,” Bethany started to cry. “They talk about how you left me.”
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Shush, Beth, shush,” Alec said awkwardly, desperately, not wanting to see his friend in tears.
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And then you come back to Oyster Bay and magically take over the whole city. We meet, we talk, we part, and I think I can go on with life,” she was almost sobbing. “And then after all that, I suddenly get a letter you wrote sometime a long time ago.”
Bethany paused, and decided to drop the topic so that she wouldn’t have to reveal her pain any longer. “That girl from Stronghold you danced with, that was Noranda, the one you healed?” she asked.
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She’s a pretty girl. You seemed to enjoy your dance with her,” Bethany commented. “After you followed her across the Dominion and saved her life, it’s nice to see she’s come all the way back here to see you again.”
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She is engaged to Brandeis, her companion tonight. He had waited faithfully for her in Stronghold for years,” Alec swiftly countered, wanting to make a point. Bethany grew silent and said no more.
Alec held her closer, his eyes closed, even while feeling confused and upset. “Oh Bethany,” he paused. “Oh Bethany, the music has ended and we’re out here in the middle of the room all alone being watched by everyone. Can you make this look graceful?”
She stopped crying, and a moment later loosened the contact between them. “Walk me back to the other ingenairii and we’ll remember that a ruler is never able to have a private moment in front of hundreds of other people,” she said quietly. They walked across the floor self-consciously, Alec unable to make eye contact with anyone at the moment as he thought about all that Bethany had said. He released her hand, and she walked away. As she re-entered the group of ingenairii, she turned to look back over her shoulder at Alec with an inscrutable gaze, then turned back. Alec walked away, deeply saddened by the dashing of his dreams for an affectionate reunion.
By the time the last dance arrived, Alec was emotionally exhausted. “Armilla,” he called, “Who am I dancing with now?”
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No one, your majesty,” she replied.
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Come here then,” he asked her as he took a step out from his retinue.
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Yes, your majesty?” she said, then her voice raised in a tone of horror as Alec held his arm out. “No, I can’t. I can’t. I can’t.”
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You would deny the crown protector in front of all these people?” Alec asked her, holding out his other hand.
She dutifully approached him, and began the closing dance of the evening. “This will really have the wags gossiping more than before,” she said in a mock spiteful tone.
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More than before what?” Alec asked.
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Well, the last dance is usually who you hope to woo after the dance, but the gossip is that either you’ve already forced the blonde ingenaire to secretly join you tonight,” Armilla answered, “or the girl from Stronghold has come all this way to be with you. So now they won’t know where your devious heart lies – with one of them, or just with me, your faithful companion.”
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You’re mocking me, aren’t you?” Alec asked, but Armilla gave no answer.
As the dance came to an end, the crowd broke into applause, and Alec was thanked by many people as they walked towards the doorway where dozens of carriages jostled and waited. He responded cordially and accepted the comments, watching the social status of guests play out as larger carriages departed earliest. Sunrise was not many hours away, and Alec cringed at the thought of awakening early.
Chapter 25 – The Crown Protected
For days afterwards, Alec found the dance was the topic of conversation throughout the palace and the town. Even at the cathedral as he healed the sick he heard gossip about the dance. He listened to many patients chat about the event, and they likened it in all cases to the good old days when the king had ruled and the city had felt prosperous.
However, his main preoccupation immediately following the ball, was speaking with Brandeis and Noranda, and Nathaniel and Moriah. Late on the morning after the ball, Nathaniel and Moriah called on Alec, to apprise him of what had transpired in Stronghold.
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In principle, they acknowledge you as rightful protector, they pledge their support, and they agree to resume peaceful trading among the nations of the Dominion,” Moriah explained. Alec sat with his head propped on his hand, trying to rouse himself from the fog of the late night.
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As we have negotiated in the proposed treaty, you will give them a five year exclusive franchise to trade the waters from the cleaning fountain, but the people of Oyster Bay will still be allowed to fill their own jugs daily, as you wished,” she added. “And you will get half the profits.”
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They will provide an army regiment to fight the lacertii at your calling,” Nathaniel said. “You’ve got good friends there now.”
That same day a note arrived from the Duke of Goldenfields, two notes actually. A formal note accepted the offer of aid; alongside it was a personal note that was a lengthy message of pleasure and joy at Alec’s survival and ascension to power. Alec immediately sent the troops from Slone who wished to continue to battle, and promised that more troops would come in the spring. He also sent his road-building convicts to work on the eastern highway along the river in Goldenfields.
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Rander, prepare messages to go forth to all the provinces and states of the Dominion, calling for a grand army to rendezvous at Three Forks in three months time to join the effort against the lacertii, and start shipping supplies in advance so we’re ready when they arrive,” he instructed his steward.
Alec enjoyed the visit of Brandeis and Noranda, reliving the adventures they’d shared in Stronghold, and sharing stories about their actions since then. But when they left several days later, he felt relief. He had taken pains not to be alone with Noranda, wanting to neither stir rumors in the palace nor jealousy in Brandeis. He sensed no unease in Brandeis, and did not want to jeopardize his friendship in any way.
Alec escorted them to the pier, and watched their ship depart on its return to Stronghold, a thick sheaf of documents onboard to verify the new links between the Locksforts’ city and the crown of the Dominion. Included was the call to arms that Alec hoped would bring a host of warriors to Three Forks as part of the army he expected to lead in defense of Goldenfields.
Oyster Bay continued to regain its sense of normalcy; a ruler on the throne, a bountiful harvest, the return of the noble class, and a flow of funds out of the palace all combined to help people recover. Alec’s regular healings at the cathedral inspired people’s morale, and continued to let him hear the common people’s thoughts, both good and bad.
Amidst the good works taking place, Alec felt trapped. He could not leave the capital city because it still needed the calming assurance of his presence. He wanted to leave now and make his way to the front to fight the lacertii, but he knew the time was not yet right. Until the weather improved and the messages called his grand army together, Alec had no place to go. He threw his excess energy into healing the people, and training and building the Palace Guard and the army.
And still he felt uncomfortable in the city. He remembered meeting Noranda in the palace gardens, and seeing her at her uncle’s home. He remembered spending time with Bethany, especially on Ingenairii Hill, as well as in the shops and along the streets. He remembered bringing Cassie from her fishing village to Rubicon’s home, healing her legs, and restoring her life one night on a beach. Now he was disconnected from them all of those friends. Although he’d felt lonely while traveling across the Dominion, he felt more lonely now. Rubicon, Nathaniel and Moriah, the remaining warrior ingenairii, had returned to Ingenairii Hill. Alec had some friends in the palace, but they all looked upon him as the protector of the crown, and there was always some distance.
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Where is the crown?” Ari asked Alec one day.
Alec was befuddled by the question.
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You are the protector of the crown, right? So where is it?” Ari repeated. “I know you do not see yourself as the permanent ruler of the Dominion, but others will start to think of you that way, if you do not remind them that you are not. Go get the crown, and remind people that you are only a trustee for it. Hold some kind of ceremony to let the people view the crown as one thing, and you as something else.”
Alec pondered A’s advice, knowing that he would follow it eventually.
The days went by, with Alec seeking more and more duties to keep his days busy. Then at midwinter festival, the nobility returned to its habit of lavish parties and balls held at mansions through the city and the surrounding countryside, and Alec was invited to them all.
His advisors at the palace selected several for him to go to, and he found his evenings became as busy as his days. He was given the opportunity to meet many young ladies from the noble families. “You do need to think about securing an heir,” Marble must have spoken to Aristotle at some point, Alec realized when the senior advisor reminded him before he left for the fifth or sixth social event of the season. “You should flirt with several of them for a while to keep many families happy with you, but at some point we need to get you married and enjoying fatherhood, so we don’t fall back to where we were.”
Alec felt no affection for any of the young women he met, attractive and pleasant though many of them were. None of them had experienced any life other than their pampered homes. They didn’t know or speak of anything in their lives that matched the excitement Alec had found in his adventures with Noranda, Leah, Bethany and Cassie. Their discussions about drawing lessons and new carriages bored him to tears.
The young ruler debated inviting Bethany to go to a dance with him. She would be right at home in such surroundings, and if she tried she would be more than able to make him comfortable too. And that would lead to what, he wondered. Would he be willing to invite her away from Tritos? Would she be willing to come? Was he thinking of her so much because she mattered so much, or because she was so close by? Or would she come, and they would have another frosty exchange that left them both unhappier? He constantly thought of inviting her, but never did.
A month after the height of the midwinter festivities, replies began to arrive from the vassal states of the Dominion, bearing pledges of funds, as well as troops that would be sent to the rendezvous at Three Forks in just a few weeks’ time. “Either the princes and dukes and councilors are very determined to win the good graces of the new king, or they’re genuinely afraid of the threat of the lacertii,” Brannis suggested during a council meeting. “Check to see if the ones with eligible daughters have sent the most troops,” he added with a smile.
Alec didn’t know or even want to know the answer to that question, but he was grateful for the large number of troops that would make a mighty army. With a road-building crew already on the way, he felt confident that he was going to deliver needed support for the Duke of Goldenfields, to whom he owed so much.
Alec finally settled on the way to handle the crown. Two days were spent comically trying to locate where it physically resided, and Alec lost sleep one night imagining that he had lost it. When a clerk disclosed that it was in the palace vaults, Alec, Rander and others collectively sighed in relief.
Alec invited Aristotle and the Ingenairii Council, the Arch-prelate, cardinals and bishops, high members of the nobility, and army and Guard officers to a ceremony in the throne room. The room had sat vacant since Alec’s accession to power, other than for cleaning staf>
As he looked out at the crowd, he suddenly recognized the ghosts of Enguerrand and Gildevny standing in the front row clapping in approval, and John Mark standing beside them. He felt such shock that he fumbled the crown, and saw it flash in the air as it began to fall. He swiftly lowered his hands and caught it in mid-air, causing the gathering to first gasp then cheer.
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Place the crown on the throne,” John Mark told Alec, speaking clearly, even though no one else seemed to hear or see the specters.
Alec stepped sideways, extended his arms, and placed the crown on the seat of the throne. The room’s humorous twitters were silenced. As he took a step back, the crown seemed to brighten, then a flash of light momentarily blinded everyone who was looking at it. Alec stepped back in surprise.
When his vision cleared, he saw that the light had signaled an extraordinary exercise of power. The crown was encased in a translucent violet cube. The room was abuzz, as necks craned and people shuffled to see it better. Cautiously, Alec reached a hand towards it, and the room grew silent again. Alec’s fingers touched the cube; it was solid, slick, and impenetrable.
The air seemed to grow brighter again, and Alec stepped back yet again. There was a second flash, and when his vision returned, Alec was standing beside a second, yellow translucent box, one that encased the entire throne itself as well as the encased crown upon its seat. The room was full of talking, shouting, shuffling people, but Alec paid no attention to any of them. Instead he turned and looked at John Mark and the ghosts, who stood with solemn visages.
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The throne and crown are protected until the rightful heir is ready. The throne shall remain protected until the heir reaches his nineteenth birthday. On that day the cube shall dissolve, and the Dominion shall know that the time is approaching for the heir to be revealed,” John Mark explained. “The crown will remain protected until the day the heir enters this room after he reaches his age of majority.”
The saint and the two silent ghosts looked at Alec, gave him a salute, and dissolved into nothingness.
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Alec, Alec,” he heard his name being called. He raised his head and re-focused his eyes. Rander, Ari, and Rubicon had all stepped up towards the dais. “What have you done?” Ari asked.
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I did not do these things. This is the work of the prophet John Mark,” Alec answered, and his voice seemed to carry unnaturally well throughout the room. “The throne is protected until the day the rightful heir reaches his age of majority, nineteen. On that day the protection surrounding the throne shall disappear.
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The crown will remain protected in its cube until the day thereafter when the heir eoom. By these signs you will know that the crown and the throne and the Dominion have been reunited under the name of Tarnum.”
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What about you?” someone in the crowd asked loudly.
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I was instructed to cleanse the Dominion, protect the crown and revenge the old king,” Alec answered. “I was never told to be a ruler. “I will leave soon to go with the army to war on behalf of Goldenfields, and I hope that your rightful king shall be enthroned before I return.”
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All honor to you for your scruples, Alec. Another would have simply taken control of the power and the throne by now,” Rubicon said.
“It’s not scruples, Rubicon. I’m just tired,” Alec answered. He looked out over the crowd. “I thank you all for attending today. This ceremony is over now, and you all are free to return to your homes, businesses, or other significant places.
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I want an end to all the conflict, and I don’t want to know so much about how the world works,” he continued to his friends as he stepped down and started to walk out with them.
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But Ari has told me to stick to my duty. I remember Ari,” Alec told his mentor.
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I know you have. You’ve done very well these past several months. And now you tell us these are signs that the rightful heir of the throne will be revealed at some time not too far away,” Ari said, as he put his arm around Alec’s waist.
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This is an age of miracles,” Rander said. “We’ve never seen the likes of this in Oyster Bay.”
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You’re right, Rander,” Ari said. “This is a time of miracles.”
Section 2
Goldenfields and the River Giffey
Chapter 26 – A Visit to Boston Palace
As the time to leave Oyster Bay approached, Alec added more days of healing at the cathedral, and cut back on the dances at night. He had endured enough ceremony and empty lonely celebration, and wanted only to leave the city. Unmistakable signs of spring arrived as the temperatures warmed, and trees started to bud. At last the day came when the palace staff could no longer hold him back, and with a large contingent of his own army troops, Alec rode out of the city on Walnut, the first ruler to ride off to war in over five hundred years.
Alec rode with several guests he had not expected or desired, however. Several prominent nobles chose not to go to war, but developed a traveling court that would accompany the king. Privately Alec complained to Rander and the others about allowing it to happen, but like them, he had no diplomatic means of stopping the coterie who led the effort, resulting in more than two dozen travelers with their own luggage and their attendants, who Alec suspected would provide additional headaches for the army.
There was one surprising addition to his group, however. Allisma, a water ingenaire, received Aristotle’s permission to travel with Alec. They were acquaintances, though not close, and Alec wasn’t sure what to make of Allisma’s presence. She was good as a water ingenaire, but she was also an extremely close friend of Bethany’s. Alec was polite to her, but didn’t go out of his way to befriend her or become better friends, not yet ready to field any relationship that in any way related to Bethany.
The road was a familiar one for Alec, as it retraced the journey he had traveled while on his way to Stronghold. An armada of boats traveled on the river, carrying supplies and material. Within days they arrived at Three Forks, and numerous contingents of armsmen joined together. Alec presided over the meetings of the commanding officers, who jockeyed for position, supplies, assignments, and every other aspect of an army on the move.
The ruling council of Three Forks was honored to see the king arrive, and delighted to see the large army depart from its environs. There were over four thousand men and women marching together now, marching slowly in the slippery mud and puddles of spring. Alec rode with a small vanguard in these safe lands, as he preferred not to be mired in the torn and trampled road after the army had passed over it, and he wanted to remain in front of and apart from the courtiers.
Two weeks later, they came to the border of Goldenfields, and entered the lands that belonged to Boston Palace, the estate the Duke of Goldenfields had given to Alec long ago, though Alec had never visited it before. Within a few days they spotted the estate manor sitting on a bluff above the river, and rode up the graveled way to the lawn in front of the house. Looking down they could see the long winding ribbon of men and material moving towards them, and the many ships in the river carrying the supplies for the army.
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Let’s spend the night here; I’ve never spent an evening at this estate before,” Alec impetuously decided. “We can give the army a day to pull together so the laggards can catch up.”
The staff of the manor expressed amazement at the arrival of a nobleman, and their direct owner at that, but were nonplussed by the arrival of an army. Alec learned that months earlier a force of the Goldenfields army had been stationed on the Boston estate to guard the river border. When it became clear that the troubles in Oyster Bay and with Stronghold had subsided, those troops had moved to the east to help in the battles with the lacertii.
As the army arrived and spread out across the fields, Alec took a tour of the estate grounds, and learned that the nobles of the movable court expected some type of banquet that evening to compensate for the monotonous trip they’d endured since leaving Redwater.
Alec let Armilla handle the unpleasant chores of setting up an impromptu banquet in a manor house they’d never visited before. He knew he’d face her wraith afterwards as she would be forced to deal with the egos of the nobles jockeying for positions.
At dinner that night, Alec sat at a large round table, with Rander, Rubicon, Nathaniel, generals Hewlett and Tunce, and Count Wingler, Marchioness Julia, Countess Roubles, and the daughter of a wealthy merchant. Several other tables nearby held other military and social leaders, as well as the head of the local Goldenfields constabulary.
After the meal, Rander rose to give the end of the meal toast. “To the crown protector,” he said, “who brings an army of friendship to help the Duke of Goldenfields.”
The Goldenfields constable rose to return the toast. “To the lord of Boston Palace, returning to resume service to his Duke.”
Most of the room paused, trying to figure out if an awkward accolade or a veiled insult had just been issued. Nathaniel wasn’t sure either, but knew that there was no point in allowing something so trivial to blow up out of proportion. “To His majesty, who fondly remembers his time serving the Duke before he came to his powers,” he declared, and the room let the tension pass.
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Quite the diplomat, I see,” Alec said in a quiet voice to his friend. “Perhaps we should have let your clever ways stay back in Oyster Bay to guard the throne, instead of Moriah’s.” Splitting up the two lovers had been a difficult decision, but everyone other than Moriah had agreed that it was important to keep a strong warrior ingenaire member of Alec’s circle in Oyster Bay to safeguard his interests. Moriah had wanted desperately to remain with Nathaniel, and she had wanted to go to war, but had deferred to Aristotle, Rubicon, and Nathaniel eventualla veiled
Following dinner and polite talks, came the nightly reports from the army commanders and the dispatches from Oyster Bay behind as well as Goldenfields ahead. Alec fell asleep as weary as ever from the unending demands for decisions and information that capped the day. Early the next morning, Alec thanked his staff for all their work in providing and preparing the impromptu banquet the previous night, and resumed the journey to Goldenfields.
Three nights later the head of the army stopped for the night almost within sight of the city. They were on the east bank, and had seen increasing numbers of villages and homes, as well as boats on the river, since they left Boston. Alec was excited beyond description at the prospect of seeing the ducal palace and its many inhabitants that he knew so well. He slept little that night and was up early the next morning.
As they ate breakfast, Rander and the others held Alec in check, reminding him that the Duke did not expect him to arrive before noon, and so Alec sat with nervous energy as the large army he was bringing to help Goldenfields moved past him and began the day’s march that would send many of the soldiers past the city and further towards the battlefront.
Even as Alec’s tent was being struck in the cool midmorning of the early day, he watched Walnut being brought to him, and he eagerly climbed back into the saddle to ride towards the ceremonies and friends and memories that awaited him.
Chapter 27 – Reunions in Goldenfields
The streets through the eastern bank communities were lined with onlookers, and progress was very slow as the royal party entered the city of Goldenfields. They eventually crossed the bridge to the busier side of the river, and a chorus of cheers erupted as they entered the great Merchants Square. Alec looked at the banners and flags waving with the duke’s colors and his own, and he thought back to the day the revolt in the palace had been crushed, when a large crowd had cheered for Colonel Ryder and the rag tag collection of forces that had retaken control of the palace from the Duke’s usurping sons.
At the causeway leading to the island palace, the Duke stood awaiting the arrival of the leader of the new army. Alec dismounted, and handed the reins of his horse to a groom. He walked out in front of his entourage, and approached the Duke and his welcoming group. The Duke bowed at Alec’s arrival, as did everyone with him, and then everyone in the square appeared to ripple in a wave of movement showing similar respect to Alec’s new position.
Alec was caught off-guard by the Duke’s gesture. He reached out with both hands and pulled the Duke up, then embraced him in a hug. “Your Grace, I’m more than happy to be back to serve you again,” he said.
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Your majesty, I’m always more than happy to have you return! I just wish you didn’t have to keep leaving,” Duke Toulon said with genuine affection. “Let’s go into the palace and have a talk before this evening’s banquet.”
Alec looked at the crowd surrounding the Duke and him, and saw face after face of friends. Colonel Ryder was present, and to Alec’s great delight, both Captain Lewis and his wife Inga, the guardsman. The Duke’s ingenaire, Merle, stood next to counselors Ratsall and Kelvin. There were many others Alec recognized in the palace group, mostly among the Guardsmen who he had practiced with.
The Duke turned and walked back towards the palace, striding with his hand on Alec’s elbow. “I hear nothing but good things about your reign so far, your majesty,” he said.
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Please just call me Alec, your grace,” Alec answered.
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Then you must call me Guy,” the Duke replied.
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That will be tough,” Alec said ruefully, and they both laughed. “I see that Lewis and Inga are here.”
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They are taking a turn back here at the palace, while Imelda’s cavalry and several others are on the front for now,” the Duke said. “With your force here, we’ll be sending almost everyone out to the battles now to try to win this spring.”
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But we can have a serious talk any time over the next few days,” the Duke politely changed the subject. “Your timing is just what I would expect from any other young man who is king. Tonight we’ll have a ball for you, and then tomorrow we start the three days of Transpassare. You’ll have many opportunities to dance with the young ladies,” the Duke added with a grin.
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Will that include an opportunity to dance with your duchess?” Alec asked laughingly. He was pleased to enjoy the revelry of Transpassare, the holiday of the first new moon of spring. He had missed last years’ frivolity while he was in the desert cave of John Mark’s pool.
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She is rather delicate these days, and won’t be dancing,” the Duke explained in reference to his wife from Bondell, then paused momentarily as some private reflection consumed his attention. “But we’ll have chances to talk with her many times.”
They arrived at the palace doors and entered. “You still have your own room here of course, and we have suites set aside for your entire group,” the duke said at the foot of the stairs.
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Is Ellison available this afternoon?” Alec asked unexpectedly as the desire to walk the familiar city streets rose up within him. “If he could take Armilla and I out the quiet way, I would be grateful to see the city again.”
The Duke looked at him. “I understand. It must be hard for someone who was free all your life to have to adjust to the scrutiny of leadership. Ellison will arrive at your rooms to be at your service shortly.”
Alec was in his suiteith Armilla in the early afternoon when his escort arrived. “Ellison, my friend, it is so good to see you again! Are you and Ellen married?” Alec asked as he hugged the man who had become an early friend in the Guard.
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Ah, Alec,” Ellison said, stepping back to arms length to observe him. “You look so different. You’ve gone through a lot, I hear, and I know I don’t know the half of what you’ve done this past year. It’s good to see you!
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Yes, we are married now, and live in your shop still, along with several of the young ingenairii,” Ellison continued. “And so you’re virtually a king! The Lord works in wonderful and mysterious ways, doesn’t he?
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Now, where would you like to go?”
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I’d like to go to the shop, and to see Annalea, and to Leah’s grave, for this afternoon, if there’s time,” Alec told Ellison. “I’ll bring Armilla along, if you don’t mind,” Alec indicated the armed woman who clearly stood out as a guard.
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Of course you’ll bring her. You know that a ruler must obey his guard at all times,” Ellison gave Armilla a wink. “Do you have cloaks to wear in the streets?”
The three of them were quickly on their way through the tunnel under the river. “We should have something like this at the Palace in Oyster Bay,” Armilla told Alec as they climbed up the exit into the city, to which he agreed, as he and Ellison discussed the many changes in their lives over the course of time since they last saw each other.
They walked through the streets of the city with hoods drawn up, as Alec swiveled his head back and forth, looking at the small changes that had occurred in the everyday scenery of these streets he formerly walked daily. When they turned onto Bakers Street, Alec paused at the corner to give the ghosts of the past time to prepare for his arrival. “There, right there, Ellison, is where I caught Ellen and Hannah the first day we met, when they were leaving the shop,” Alec pointed for his friend like a tour guide.
They walked to the door of the shop. “Are you ready for this?” Ellison asked with a grin, then opened the door and led the way in, where the after hours waiting room was empty. “We’re closed, please come back tomorrow,” a voice called down the hall, and then Cassie came into view. “Oh Ellison, sorry, I didn’t know you were coming,” she said as she registered who had arrived. “Oh my, oh my Lord! Alec! Alec! Alec’s here!” she said in ascending volume as her mind recognized the face whose hood was being drawn back. She rushed to him as best she could in her pregnant state and hugged him fiercely.
Alec looked at her face, so familiar and yet grown different as her pregnancy subtly changed it, then he felt the girl’s body press up against him, and he smelled her familiar scent as her hair brushed against his face in a hug that lasted a long silent time. Footsteps sounded in the hallway and on the steps as people came flocking to the commotion, but Alec and Cassie continued to hold each other for a long time.
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Oh Cassie, I’m so happy to see you,” Alec whispered in her ear at last, as they gently ended their embrace.
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Most people thought you were dead in Bondell, but I never believed it,” Cassie said. “Appel, it’s Alec!” she said to the air ingenaire who was her companion. Appel broke the tableau across the room and led a group of young ingenairii that surged towards Alec and mobbed him with enthusiastic affection.
Ellison stood against a wall with his arm around Ellen, watching the reunion. Confident that Alec was safe, Armilla maneuvered over next to them. “He must be lonelier than I realized. I’ve never seen him around many people his own age,” she said. “He never has a chance to be a boy now, and he doesn’t have many friends who can ever forget he’s the crown protector,” she observed to Ellison as the group of a dozen young ingenairii shouted and chatted and laughed around their long-lost friend.
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Is he happy?” Ellen asked.
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I doubt it, but I’m not sure,” Armilla answered. I don’t think he’s sure. He stays so busy trying to do everything people tell him to do to be the savior of the Dominion, he doesn’t have time to know what he’s missing any more. I think he’s happiest when he practices swords in the morning with the Palace Guard, or when he heals the public. He seems happier at those moments than any time I’ve seen him,” she added. “After that, it’s all kingly business.”
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Does he have a lady love? Is Bethany still with him?” Ellen asked.
Armilla judged the couple she was standing with and concluded that they were true friends of her ward who cared only for his welfare. “Do you mean the pretty blond ingenaire?” she asked, and Ellen nodded. “I watched them at a ball once. He watched her a great deal, and she watched him a great deal as well, and they danced a long dance together. But I’ve not seen her since, and he’s not gone to look for her when he’s gone to Ingenairii Hill. He’s in love with her, and been hurt; she has another beau now. So he’s not looking for a girl right now, and what’s worse is that he’s being hunted by a pack of potential wives from the rich and the noble.”
The group of ingenairii was moving down the hallway now towards the kitchen, where they sat around a table to talk. Alec was freed of most of the inhibitions of being a ruler, and told about his adventures in Bondell, Oyster Bay, and Stronghold, focusing on the aspects that touched on ingenairii powers and on military powers, topics of interest for this enclave of ingenairii who remained in Goldenfields to fight against the lacertii.
Alec refused to speak any further after a time, and made the others speak, telling him about one another and the other ingenairii that had passed through Goldenfields, including some who were on active duty currently serving in action against the lacertii. “Most of us here will be traveling east with the army when you start moving that way. The forces from Slone and the Northern Borders went south about a month ago,” said Streed, a stone ingenaire. “That was the signal that the rest of the army is getting close to moving.”
Eventually Alec looked up at Ellison and Armilla, who were still waiting patiently. “What time is it?” he asked.
“
It’s time to return to the palacehe’the banquet and dance this evening,” Ellison said bluntly.
“
I didn’t know the time would go so fast here. I wanted to do more,” Alec replied. He looked at Cassie and Appel, sitting next to one another, and smiled a gentle smile, then stood and bid farewell as Ellison led Armilla and him back out onto the street.
No one spoke as they returned through the tunnel to the Guard quarters and re-entered the palace, but the flurry of activity in the rich corridors created a sense of urgency as Ellison left the other two to tend to his own activities. Alec found his advisors mystified by his disappearance and annoyed with him upon his return.
“
We should be preparing to enter the hall right now,” Rubicon told him, “and we didn’t have any idea where you had disappeared to.”
“
I had Armilla with me and a member of the Goldenfields Guard, and my own sword as well,” Alec said, pulling off his tunic and dressing in the robes that were awaiting him. “I’m sorry to have caused any problem, but there’s nothing more to be said,” he told the roomful of men, and promptly led the way out the door and down towards the great hall of the palace, using passageways and backstairs as shortcuts that left his whole entourage bewildered about the way they had traveled.
“
Your majesty is right on time,” Lord Kelvin said diplomatically as the king and his court burst through a service door into the antechamber of the great hall. “The Duke entered just moments ago.” Kelvin gave a subtle gesture, and a flourish of horns sounded in the main hall. “We had to check the protocol on how one handles a royal appearance in a ducal palace. No one remembers the last time we had a person of such high rank among us.” He gestured firmly with his hand towards the door. “The protector of the crown should enter now, and the others follow singly after an appropriate pause,” he directed.
The doors were opened by pages, and Alec strode forward, still feeling a rush of energy from leading the frenzied migration down from his chambers. He entered the room and stopped abruptly, looking at the large crowd that was watching him enter. The horns’ last notes died away, and there was a pregnant moment of silence, then applause blasted forth enthusiastically from all corners of the hall, as the elite of Goldenfields welcomed a ruler they considered to be one of their own.
Alec looked around at the waving, cheering crowd of smiling faces. He looked down at the bottom of the stairs, and saw the Duke with his young wife, Rhiann, a princess of Bondell, and an escort of Guardsmen, including Inga. Rhiann made eye contact for a moment, and Alec thought he saw a glint of recognition in her expression, then she covertly raised her hand to wave, and gestured to him to do the same.
For a moment Alec stood not comprehending, then realized the princess was cueing him to wave to the crowd. He raised his right hand and did so, increasing the volume of the satisfied crowds’ cheers. The princess smiled knowingly, and Alec waved again, then began to walk down the steps towards his host.
“
I’m worried that I may have to turn the duchy over to you, based on your popularity,” Duke Toulon said laughingly as Alec joined the group. “You’ve certainly got crowd’s affection.”
“
Tonight, anyway,” Inga said barely under her breath, and her lips twitched in a slight grin for a moment as she slightly relaxed the rigors of being on duty to acknowledge Alec.
He studied her face as she scanned the crowd, struck by the grave maturity that had settled into her features in the many months since he had last seen her. Their parting had been incomplete and unsatisfactory, but he did not sense any bitterness within her, and hoped for a moment to talk with her alone.
“
Thank you,” Alec said to Rhiann, turning to the princess. “You knew what to do.”
“
I was born to royalty; you’ve just had it dropped upon you. You’ll learn these things,” the dark-haired woman said. “Is your pretty consort with you?” she asked, looking up the stairs where the others were now descending as they were announced.
Without knowing why, Alec glanced involuntarily at Inga, who glanced at him at the same moment. “I have no consort at the moment,” he replied, remembering that the princess had seen him with Bethany at the beginning of her journey to Goldenfields. “Bethany is with another now, and remains on Ingenaire Hill.”
“
You’ve got a good memory,” he added to avoid any awkwardness. “We barely met in Bondell.”
“
I remember you. You still look young, except in the eyes,” she answered.
“
And do you still ride horses so well?” Alec asked, then realized abruptly that the voluminous robes were a sign of her advanced pregnancy. “My apologies,” he said, and looked at her intently with his health vision, studying her and her son who rested in her womb. “You and your child are both looking very well,” he continued.