Rescuing the Captive: The Ingenairii Series (36 page)

“
What are you doing?” Caitlen asked in the dark.

“
I’m opening the door,” he grunted as he wretched hard on the blade, and felt something in the door mechanism give. He put the sword away, and pulled the door open just a few inches, then looked out in the hallway. There was the nearly invisible promise of light from a torch somewhere on a far away floor.

“
Let’s get going,” Alec said as he pulled the door wide open. “I see some light.” As Caitlen emerged from the cell, Alec closed the door behind her.

“
How did you happen to be in that cell in the first place?” Caitlen asked Alec as they started to cautiously move down the hall.

“
When Abelard sent me on a mission to deliver that message to the Conglomerate, it turned out to be a trap,” he answered. “I don’t know why they wanted to trap Alin in particular.”

“
Abelard didn’t like him, or Bethany. After he found out Alin had scouted the lines he was furious,” Caitlen explained. “The only person he hates more is you, Alec.

“
The fact that you were able to successfully rescue me from the Conglomerate forces in the palace made him mad, and the fact that we evaded those soldiers in Valeriane I think made him even more angry,” she said.

“
Do you think he’s the one who sent the soldiers after us in Valeriane?” Alec asked.

“
I never thought that until now. Maybe,” she replied.

They began to descend the stairs, until they saw guards. “We’ll just bluff our way past. Play like we’re lovers,” Alec whispered. He grabbed her hand and held it as they reached the guards’ floor and started to pass them.

“
Hold on you two. Where have you been?” one of the guards asked.

“
It’s been my lady’s desire to visit every building’s roof in the spring time, so this evening we snuck up to yours,” Alec said cheerily. “You fellows ought to see it some time,” he told them, his arm wrapped tightly around her shoulders as they strolled past the leering guards.

“
Why did they let us pass?” Caitlen asked in amazement as they walked outside the building. “They saw me brought in not half an hour ago.”

“
They saw the silver-haired princess brought in; they saw the red-headed floozy walk out with her dashing young boyfriend,” Alec leaned down to speak quietly in her ear.

“
Floozy?” she swung a wild punch at Alec that missed. “Red-headed? You’re doing that again?”

“
I happen to like red-heads,” Alec told her. “And you look very fetching.”

Caitlen snorted in disgust as they continued to walk. “So what is your plan?”

“
Tonight we’ll go to the apartment I share with Rahm and Bethany and Isial, and I’ll hide you there, while I go try to find out what has been happening in your absence,” Alec planned aloud.

“
No, you won’t ‘hide’ me anywhere. You’ll take me back to our headquarters building so that I will be in charge,” Caitlen said emphatically. “Abelard was trying to use me as a puppet so he can have control, and I was too willing to let him have his way. I’m not going to let you go out and fight my battles for me while I hide somewhere.

“
Not that you’ve ever treated me the way he has,” she clarified. “I didn’t mean it to sound like that.”

“
Turn here,” Alec said, taking her by the arm and abruptly pulling her down an alley.

“
Listen,” he said coming to a stop in the dimly-lit alleyway, “you have to stay safe. I am here for one thing only, and that is to protect you and put you back on your throne.

“
Do you remember what happened in Eckerd?” he could see little of her face, but he could see her eyes shining in the darkness as she stared at him. “Do you remember the voice of God telling you that there are going to be things that happen between us? I am a tool to help you.”

“
What mission?” she asked in a whispered voice. “Alec, I want to retake the throne and rule wisely. That is all I want. I don’t want your God trying to tell me what to do.”

“
He is the great God of all Gods,” Alec told her. “I thought that all I wanted in life was to travel with a carnival, but God had greater plans than I did. Helping you is part of God’s plan for me. I don’t know what your mission is, but I will be right by your side to make sure you fulfill your duty, whether you want me there or not.

“
You’re not going to run away from me again,” he finished.

“
But I ran away to save you!” she shouted. “Remember your prophesy also said I would deny you, betray you. You don’t deserve that! I would never want to hurt you for any reason. And after all, your prophecy said you would kill me!”

“
It didn’t say kill you; it said drain your blood,” Alec replied.

“
Same thing!” Caitlen insisted.

“
Not necessarily,” he answered. “In this case, it must be something good for you.

“
But the point is, you’re not going to run away from me again,” Alec said backing Caitlen against the wall. “And we can argue about all of this, but our words aren’t going to matter if God has already allowed the prophecy to set these things in motion,” he said, and he thought back to the prophecies he had experienced in the war against the lacertii. The prophecies had foretold his trust in Rosebay, and had foretold his journey with Kinsey through time, and also foretold the cost of saving Imelda’s life. There was no preventing, or avoiding the power of such prophecies, he was sure.

He realized he needed to come to terms with the woman who was standing with her back against a cold stone wall, staring at him. She was breathing short, shallow breaths, and Alec realized what an emotion-charged night she was having – betrayal by Abelard, the discovery that Alec was with her, now this argument about her own future.

With a deep breath, he dropped to one knee. “Princess Esmere Caitlen Trelawney, I pledge that I will support you and listen to you and help you to regain your throne, and to fulfill God’s will,” he said with his head bowed. He looked up at her. “And if you want to go with me to find Abelard and straighten this out tonight or tomorrow, that is what we will do. But I will not allow you to part ways with me until I can believe you are safe without me to protect you.”

There was still a gleam of reflected light in Caitlen’s eyes, and now there was a track of sparkles down her cheeks, as she shed tears.

“
Stand up Alec, who I name the new Duke of Valeriane. I name you my champion and will rely on you as my first and last defender,” Caitlen said in a voice just as formal as Alec’s.

Alec rose. “Take me to your apartment,” Caitlen said. “Let’s both rest tonight, and start about our business tomorrow.”

Chapter 24
–Battle in Abelard’s Room

Alec knocked on the door, then opened it cautiously, his sword drawn, with Caitlen at his back. They entered the empty common room, and heard a door open, then Bethany stuck her head out and looked down the hall.

“
Alec!” she shouted loudly, and came running to him, giving him a hug that was long and fierce. “I am so happy to see you alive! What are you doing with the Princess here?” she bowed to the visiting royalty.

Rahm’s door opened, and he came into the room as well, a wide grin on his face. “Can you talk now?” he asked.

“
Of course he can talk,” Bethany said disdainfully. “You can talk can’t you?”

“
Is Isial here?” Alec asked, still holding his sword.

“
No, she’s spending the night at headquarters,” Bethany said in a flat voice. “Why are you two here? How did you end up together?”

“
We were both betrayed to the Conglomerate, and wound up in a cell together. The poor fools didn’t realize who they locked me up with!” Caitlen explained.

“
The Conglomerate had you prisoner!” Rahm asked in shock. “Who was guarding you; how did that happen?”

“
It was Abelard,” Caitlen said simply. “He betrayed me, and he betrayed Alec.”

“
He knew you were Alin?” Rahm asked.

“
What do you mean, Alec was Alin?” Bethany broke in.

“
Alec disguised himself,” Rahm began, and a long conversation ensued that brought all of them up to date on happenings.

“
We didn’t know any of that!” Bethany said. “I was just going to show up tomorrow for my regular guard shift.”

“
Tomorrow morning the four of us will go together to the headquarters building and take Abelard captive,” Alec said.

“
And then I want to meet with the leaders of our forces, the ones I trust to be loyal, and plan an immediate attack against the Conglomerate,” Caitlen added. “Now, let’s all get some sleep before the big day tomorrow.” They all rose. “Where will we sleep, Alec?” she asked.

“
Bethany, if you’ll get some fresh bedding, the Princess will sleep in my old room. I’ll stay out here tonight on watch, in case Isial decides to come back,” he said.

Hours later Caitlen emerged from her room and came to sit next to Alec. “I’ve had trouble sleeping tonight,” she said.

You’re a man of paradoxes,” she told him as she took a seat. “You are the greatest warrior ever known, but twice you’ve used guile to win battles without bloodshed – when we escaped capture in Valiance and again when we escaped from the prison tonight.

“
And then you kissed me in the prison cell as though we’d be lovers for the rest of our lives, but you haven’t touched me since then. Talk to me, Alec. Let me know what you feel.”

Alec paused, trying to sort out his confused and contradictory thoughts. “I don’t know who I am,” he said simply. “I don’t know if this is where I’ll spend the rest of my life, or if I’ll wake up some morning back in my own land, or somewhere else.

“
I know that I came to this land to serve you. And I know that since we met, I’ve fallen in love with you,” he fell silent, and Caitlen reached out to place a hand on his shoulder. “But there was a girl back in the Dominion, who I was engaged to marry, and someday maybe I’ll go back to her. I don’t know why I was taken away, and I don’t know if I’ll be taken back.

“
And you don’t need a foreigner being baggage that holds back your success. I don’t know the rules of your society, or your court; I only know one thing to do in Vincennes, and that’s how to fight. I don’t want to be a liability – giving your enemies an excuse to fight you because you have a stranger with a bad accent hanging on your arm.”

“
Stop Alec. Don’t make decisions about what your heart wants based on what you think is good for me,” Caitlen interrupted. “If you have reasons in your heart that tell you not to have a relationship with me, that you don’t care for me in that way, I respect that. I don’t want you to try to deceive me. But don’t try to protect me from you.”

“
The way you tried to protect me from you by running away in Eckerd?” Alec asked quietly, his back still turned to her.

“
Touché,” she said. “I don’t suppose it works for me to say that was different.”

“
Caitlen, right now I don’t know. I love you, and I began to fall in love with you long before I ever knew you were a princess. But I want to be fair to you. I can’t feel good if I lure you into a relationship that won’t last,” he felt his heart leap to its conclusion, forced to face the unacknowledged tension within it. “Just a few hours ago I pledged to help you regain your throne. I will leave it there. Until that is done, I am going to focus on you in that regard only.” He spoke with a tone of finality in his voice, though his spirit was still greatly unsettled.

“
That’s it?” Caitlen’s hand stopped rubbing across his back as she spoke. “You’ve decided to keep it professional until I’m on the throne again? You can turn your love on and off, just like that?”

Before she could say more, Bethany’s door opened, and she came out into the room. “Are you up early, or did you not get any sleep at all?” she asked.

“
It’s almost time to go,” Alec said. “We need to focus on one thing, and one thing only from now on. We’re going to capture Abelard, to end his treachery towards Princess Esmere, and then we’ll plan to retake control of the throne and the palace and the whole city.” His head turned as Rahm appeared, still buckling his sword belt.

“
If we’re ready, we ought to get moving. Abelard is an early riser,” Alec said. “Bethany, you lead the way.”

“
Before we go, I need to look like the reigning princess again,” Caitlen said. “Alec, please restore my hair to silver.”

Alec gave a sad half-grin, then placed his hand on her scalp and released his powers, causing the silver to rise from the roots and flow to the tips of Caitlen’s hair.

“
That is amazing to see,” Bethany said, staring dumb-founded.

They filed out of the door and towards the headquarters, where they cautiously entered the building. “Abelard’s rooms are on the top floor,” Caitlen said, as Bethany nodded agreement. They passed guards who stood at attention for the Princess and asked no questions. They climbed the stairs and reached the floor that Abelard had taken completely for himself. At the top of those stairs four guards wearing Abelard’s personal ruby red-trimmed livery blocked their progress.

“
Do you not recognize your sovereign?” Caitlen asked as she stood a step below those who blocked the way.

“
Lord Abelard ordered us to allow no one to enter this floor without his permission,” one guard said, uneasy at the situation.