Rescuing the Captive: The Ingenairii Series (31 page)

Alec lay for hours, focusing his energy, mending the damage bit by bit, until he could feel his toes, chilly in a slight breeze that had crept under his cover. He heard the doctor enter the room and talk to the attendant, but Alec made no move to acknowledge he was awake, and soon the doctor left. Alec paused to rest, finding the effort to focus his energy, without the ability to channel it through his hand, made his progress slower. Somehow, he thought, somehow he had managed to heal himself from within when he had been shot at the restaurant in Eckerd. He had laid with his head cradled in Caitlen’s lap, and John Mark had told him to use his Spiritual powers, which in turn, and in a roundabout fashion, had ignited a powerful blaze of his Healing power.

He had touched Caitlen with his Spiritual power, and God had delivered a message to Caitlen, a message that Alec believed meant that they were going to be together for some time pursuing a mission she was destined to complete. That knowledge had caused Alec’s Healing power to blaze through him with extraordinary power. Alec thought about the need Caitlen would have for him, fighting a war for her princess. And she had told him she needed him, in a different way. Although then she had left him, out of fear of the prophesized harm they might do to each other.

Alec’s thoughts focused on Caitlen. She would need him. Even though he knew she was going to harm him, he knew that God expected him to help Caitlen and to serve her princess. She needed him, and God had promised him to her.

With a blast of Healing energy, Alec completed the healing of his injury, leaving only a thin white scar on his back. He opened his eyes, and saw no one in his field of vision. “Guard?” he called.

“
Here, sir,” a voice replied.

“
Are my clothes in the room?” Alec asked.

“
I’m not sure, sir,” the guard told him, not indicating any intention of checking.

Alec raised his arms to his chest and pulled away the blocks that were intended to immobilize him.

“
Sir! What are you doing sir?” the guard’s voice rose.

Alec rose to a sitting position, and looked around the room, his cover wrapped around his body. He was in a small room, apparently part of a hospital. His pack of supplies sat in the corner. He slid off the table and walked to the bag, crouching as he sorted through it pulling out clothes.

“
You can go tell the doctor I’m ready to be discharged,” Alec said over his shoulder. “Can you tell me where Rahm has gone? I need to go clear up the misunderstanding about his arrest.

He heard the door open behind him, and then the guard was gone. By the time Alec was dressed and had his pack ready to go, the doctor and another man were in the room.

“
How in the name of the sun and the moon is this possible?” the doctor said out loud.

“
Rahm gave me the medicine I needed, and, at my command, he removed the arrow from my back, allowing me to heal as I needed,” Alec said. He pulled his pack over his shoulder. “Can you tell me how to go find Rahm. I’d like to make sure he’s free. I think I’ve learned all I need from Black Crag, so I’ll be going.”

“
But this is impossible!” the doctor started to argue, only to be cut off by a new arrival.

“
You may not have learned everything you need,” Reese said in response to Alec, as he stood in the doorway. “If the doctor releases you to leave the infirmary, I’d like for you to come with me to my office for a few minutes.”

“
Will Rahm be released and sent back to his unit?” Alec asked. “He did nothing wrong.”

“
He will be released,” Reese agreed. “Come with me and he will be sent to meet us in my office.”

Alec followed the officer out of the infirmary, leaving the stupefied doctor at a loss. Reese and Alec were soon seated in the command center. “As you may recollect, I was going to have to carry out some proofs of your ability to verify who you are, but given what has happened last night and this morning – young Rahm’s statements, your display in the armory, and now this miracle in the infirmary – there is no question that you are who you say you are.

“
I’d like to tell you the story of what your friends did here at Black Crag,” Reese told Alec.

“
We received a band of young refugees from Vincennes several weeks ago, and they were all surprisingly good with a blade. In fact several are already in our own ranks being trained in our ways. They all credited their skill to a particular teacher, Alec, a man with a strange accent, marks on his arms, and tremendous ability. They expected you to come behind them, bringing the Princess of Vincennes, rescued from imprisonment.

“
A couple of weeks went by, longer than expected, but they were hopeful, because they thought you were unbeatable. Then a caravan arrives, and lo and behold, the Princess Esmere steps out, seeking not sanctuary, but an army to fight for her to regain control of Vincennes.”

“
You mean the Lady Caitlen steps out, seeking support for Princess Esmere,” Alec corrected his host.

“
There was a short girl with silver hair, prematurely silver, that was curly,” Reese explained, as Alec nodded. “She told a story of a man with a foreign accent and marks on his arms, and scars on his face and back in particular, who had skills that were beyond comprehension. Her name is the Princess Esmere Caitlen Trelawney, and she is the deposed ruler of the nation. She told us that you never knew her real identity, that she had tricked you into believing she was a lady of the court, while a real lady of the court was sent elsewhere as if she were the princess.”

“
Why would she do that?” Alec asked in astonishment.

Reese replied. “I may not be privy to all of her motivations, but I am told she said that she felt the need to come to Black Crag, and she felt there was no one who could protect her better than you. But early in the trip she wasn’t prepared to tell you who she was. I don’t know any more than that, except that she too expected you to arrive, and she seemed to be waiting for your arrival. She waited for close to a month here, waiting perhaps for you, perhaps waiting for Black Craig’s Administrative Council to decide what to do for her, perhaps just waiting for the weather to make her journey easier going back through the mountains.”

Reese studied Alec’s face. “Two weeks ago she left Black Crag, with a number of our guard members in support, and a battalion of our guards to support her. She chose your sister Bethany to be her personal bodyguard, if that makes you feel any comfort.”

Alec gave a sad smile. “I spent a lot of time with Bethany, teaching her how to wield a blade, and she does well. I just didn’t expect it to take her towards a battle situation so quickly. We imagined that she could have freedom in Black Crag, where women have chances to do things they cannot do elsewhere. My own homeland treats men and women almost equally, as Black Crag does.

“
But she no longer arrives here than she goes back out. I’m glad for her and Caitlen both that they will be with one another,” Alec continued. “I expect I had better prepare to go after them.”

“
May I come with you?” Rahm asked from the door.

Alec turned in his seat to see the released prisoner.

“
Don’t you have an assignment with your unit here?” he asked.

“
I’m just waiting until we are told to join the rest of the battalion in Vincennes,” Rahm answered. “If I go with you, I’d just be getting there sooner.”

Alec looked at Reese, who gave a nearly imperceptible nod of his head. “I’d like for you to come with me,” Alec said aloud. “Go get your things ready, and meet me back here.”

“
You’ll turn him over to the appropriate Black Crag commanders when you arrive in Vincennes, or wherever you catch up with the battalion,” Reese commented.

“
So Caitlen is really the Princess Esmere?” Alec asked again, trying to calm the spinning emotions that were distracting his thought processes.

“
She doesn’t have the limp the Princess was reputed to have, and her hair has changed color, but yes, she is known to some people here, and she is the Princess,” Reese confirmed again. “That must have been quite a journey the two of you made together, her hiding her status, you treating her as someone less than the royalty she was.”

“
I didn’t know who she was. She did a very good job of hiding any royal expectations,” Alec said, thinking of the rigors of the travel. Caitlen had held her tongue after they had spatted during the first day or two of companionship.

“
What else do I need to do here?” Alec asked. “Am I free to leave?”

“
Yes, you may. There’s a trader’s caravan that is going to leave tomorrow morning. I know they’d pay you well to act as part of their security, to protect them from bandits,” Reese answered.

“
I’d rather not wait to leave, and they won’t really need to worry about the bandits anyway,” Alec responded flatly, not interested in delaying his departure.

He stood to leave. “I have one last question.” Reese looked at him attentively. “Who shot me in the back? Will that be addressed?”

“
It already has been resolved. You’ll learn more when you leave,” the officer said, cutting the topic short.

Upon Rahm’s arrival, the two of them proceeded through the town to the gate. “I’d like to come back here sometime when I could really visit Black Crag and learn about it,” Alec told his guide as they maneuvered through the narrow streets, stopping to acquire some basic travel supplies.

“
It is a tough place, but fair,” Rahm answered. Lieutenant Collons was at the gate overseeing the flow of traffic into the fortifications, and she saluted the two travelers as they walked out. She silently pointed to her right, and their eyes followed the direction to see a new body hanging from the gibbet.

“
It was that fellow you beat at the gate yesterday,” Rahm told him, looking at the body that swayed in the brisk breeze.

Alec pulled his cloak tighter around his neck, and lowered his head. “We don’t have much sunlight left today. We’d better start moving.” They followed the road away from the sun, and finally stopped well after nightfall, without a fire, then left again at first light.

Three days later they passed an intersecting valley during mid-afternoon. “This is where the bandits used to ambush travelers,” he explained to Rahm.
Blessings to you
, he silently broadcast a greeting to Bernadina.

And blessings to you, too,
he heard the calm reply.
Journey safely
.

The journey away from Black Crag was a quicker journey than the trip to reach the mountaintop fortress. The downward slope of the land, the warming weather and the growing amount of sunlight allowed Alec and Rahm to reach Eckerd and then travel on to Valeriane in less than a month. “We’re only two days away from Vincennes,” Alec told Rahm as Valeriane came into sight in midmorning, in a valley where greening trees and bushes and small blooming flowers announced the arrival of spring in the lower elevations.

Their arrival in Vincennes took longer than two days to achieve.

Valeriane was occupied by a number of the Black Crag forces, who were organizing an impressive collection of volunteers from Eckerd and Valeriane and the other cities and countryside along the foot of the mountain range. The Black Crag forces and their allies were being held together by Abelard Cordolla, the fair-haired man Alec had seen hugging Caitlen during their brief passage through Valeriane. Rahm was peremptorily ordered to wait outside, while Alec was given a meeting with Abelard.

“
I’m told you were formerly the Jagine companion of the Princess, who I briefly met during the winter,” Abelard spoke formally. “The Princess has moved on towards Vincennes to try to negotiate a peaceful surrender with the Conglomerate, while we are marshalling her forces here to begin preparations for battle,” he told Alec. “Assuming you are the man who was the Jagine, but who has changed colors, I must give you this message directly from the Princess.” He pulled a piece of paper out of a coat pocket.

“
Do I understand that you cannot read?” Abelard asked, and Alec nodded his head, unable to decipher the written language of the land.

“
Alec,” the courtier read, “if you have reached my trusted friend Abelard, I thank you again with all my heart for the security you provided during my escape from Vincennes. Your support was invaluable. The professional forces of Black Crag have proven to be a great weapon for my restoration to the crown. With their support and the legitimacy they bring, our success is secure. You need not put yourself in any further danger on my behalf, now that we have such strong allies as Black Crag, and such loyal nobles as Abelard,” the reader looked up at Alec momentarily. “You are therefore gratefully dismissed from service to me, and I hope to hear of a successful and prosperous future for you. Signed this day, Esmere Caitlen Trelawney, Princess of Vincennes.”

“
As you heard, Caitlen has released you from any further service to her. Informally, I believe that your strange accent is likely to be a liability to the Princess, making people question whether she is being manipulated by foreign elements,” Abelard told Alec. “Here,” he tossed a bag of gold coins to the ground in front of Alec, “Is my personal expression of appreciation for the work you did on behalf of the Princess during her delivery from Vincennes.”

Alec stood, stunned by the message, wondering if Abelard had read the words that were truly Caitlen’s. There was a whiff of jealousy in the air, his Spirit powers told him. Yet Caitlen had abandoned him in Eckerd, and had apparently left a mixed message behind at Black Crag. Alec looked down at the bag at his feet.