Preserving the Ingenairii (30 page)

“He needs a supply of the water from Alec’s spring.
 
A barrel at least would help us treat his wounds,” Stracha told Captain Lewis as they stood over him.

“You think he’ll drink an entire barrel? Lewis asked.

“It’s not to drink; it’s for bathing,” Alec spoke up, opening his eyes.
 
“I need to be immersed in it to help me heal.
 
Have you seen the wounds I’ve got?” he asked.

“Seen them?
 
I helped push your guts back inside you, silly boy,” Lewis said with affection, then saw Alec’s eye’s dilate dramatically and grow teary.
 
“Is something wrong?” she asked.

“No,” Alec said after a pause.
 
“You just remind me of someone I used to care about.

“Would you have a seat, and talk to me?” Alec asked the officer.

Surprised, Lewis looked around awkwardly.
 
Stracha dragged a chair over next to the bier where Alec lay, and Lewis sat down.
 
“We’re deploying the Stronghold forces along the riverfront near Oyster Bay, and the Oyster Bay forces in exile are on the other side of the river,” Lewis began.
 
“Goldenfields is in the center of the line, and we’ve stretched the extended line nearly nine miles inland.”

Alec stretched out his hand to stop the battlefield analysis.
 
“Tell me about your parents,” Alec said as Lewis fell quiet.

“My parents?”
Lewis paused.
 
“I don’t understand.”

“Was Inga your mother, a member of the Duke’s personal bodyguard?” Alec prompted.

“She was,” Lewis agreed.

“Your father: what was he like?”Alec asked.

“He was a colonel, the leader of the Guard,” the captain said, her eyes softening slightly, as Stracha silently observed.
 
“He was someone everyone looked up to.”

So Captain Lewis had become Colonel Lewis, and succeeded Colonel Ryder as commander of the Guard.
 
“Who was the better swordsman?” Alec asked with a grin that Stracha saw but Lewis missed.

“Oh lord, that depended on who you asked!”
 
she
laughed.
 
“Mom always said she was best, and dad always said he was better.
 
They could fence with each other for hours, and it seemed like neither could get an advantage.
 
There weren’t many others who could match them; mom said there was one who matched her – Alec.
 
And she trained him when he started with the Guard; she thought he needed to know how to protect himself!” the woman laughed fondly with her memory of her mother.

Alec grinned as he listened.

“She said if he wasn’t left-handed he never would have been able to match her,” Lewis added, caught up in her memories.

“She would say that, but she’d be wrong,” Alec said with a quiet chuckle, unheard by Lewis.

“They took pride in their service to the old Duke, and then to his son when he succeeded to the throne.
 
I miss them, but in a way I’m glad they passed before the troubles got so bad,” she said.
 
“But I wish they could have seen you fight that demon!
 
That was something to behold!
 
When you flew up over that demon it was a trick I’ve never seen!”

“Your mother had a cousin, Imelda,” Alec probed.
 
“What do you know about her?”

“She died early in the war, early fighting to stop Michian when the invasion started to come in through the mountains,” the captain answered.
 
“I met her a few times when she and Rashrew came to visit from Bondell when I was growing up.
 
I remember she was very beautiful, in her own way.
 
Ma always said she was smart and pretty and a great warrior.”

“Was she happy with Rashrew, living in Bondell?” Alec asked, looking closely at Lewis.

“I suppose so,” the woman said, surprised further by the question, and the sense of intensity Alec expressed.
 
“Like I said, I was just a kid when I saw her.
 
I never would have known.
 
She wrote letters to mother, and I never overheard anything discussed by my folks that made me think there was anything wrong.

“They were both deeply hurt when they heard she was dead, and they urged the Duke to send as many men as possible to Bondell to help defeat the invaders.
 
That helped; we lost a lot of men, but we kept them bottled up in the mountains for years, even with their demons,” Lewis’s thoughts wandered.

“She was smart and pretty and a great warrior,” Alec agreed, closing his eyes.
 
“And she had great personal integrity,” he sighed.

 
“Tell me about the queen.” He changed subjects.

“The queen?”
Lewis repeated the question

“Bethany.
 
Tell me about Bethany.”

“She is the queen.
 
She always has been.
 
She has held us together during this war.
 
She was a great beauty once.
 
She is an ingenaire,” Lewis listed the widely known facts about Bethany.

“Is she married?” Alec asked, with a curious quaver in his voice.

“Married?
 
No, she hasn’t been married since she took the throne.
 
She’s waited all her life for,” Lewis faltered momentarily, “she’s waited for Alec to return.”

“Thank you captain.
 
I appreciate your time.
 
When you get that barrel of water here, I’ll be able to be healed, and return to the battlefield for you.”
 
His breathing grew steady and calm.
 
Lewis looked at Stracha, who nodded slightly, and the two of them walked to the doorway.

“That was strange,” Lewis said after standing quietly.
 
“What do you make of it?”

Stracha looked hesitantly at Alec, then at Lewis.
 
“It was just the illness talking.”

“He knew the right questions to ask.
 
Is he from Goldenfields?
 
How would he know about my family?”
 
the
puzzled captain asked.

“He’s an ingenaire, and a special one at that.
 
He has multiple powers.
 
Maybe something let him see your thoughts?” Stracha lamely tried to excuse Alec.

“Maybe, but that is creepy.
 
Not that it matters what I think about someone who has personally beaten two demons,” Lewis said.

“He appreciated listening to you.
 
It gave him contentment.
 
I know he’d enjoy talking with you again; will you be able to come back, after you get that barrel of spring water for him?” the healer reminded the officer of her need.

“Yes, I’ll be back.
 
Checking on your patient is the most important assignment I have, I’ve been told.
 
It appears to me that the field marshal and leadership may not want to start another all out assault without having the golden boy here available.
 
The troops will be a lot less reluctant to attack if they think there’s a demonslayer waiting to step in,” Lewis responded.
 
“Thank you for caring for him.
 
I can see he’s in good hands.
 
Givens tells me you never leave his side.”

“He’s a very special patient,” Stracha replied modestly.

“Yes, he is.
 
I’ll send that barrel to you as fast as I can find one,” Lewis said and then she was gone.

The next morning, Alec awoke to the sounds of men straining and grunting.
 
“Stracha, what’s happening?” he asked, unable to see the events behind him and aggravated by waking up once again to circumstances beyond his control.

“Your ship’s come in,” she said excitedly, “or at least your barrel has arrived.”

As soon as the barrel was placed next to Alec’s cot and the lid removed, Stracha prepared to give Alec a sponge bath with the refreshing water.
 
“Wait,” he objected.
 
“I want to be immersed in the water.
 
Find a tub big enough for me to lie
in,
and I’ll soak in the water there.
 
I don’t need a cloth swabbing all over me.”

“This will work just as well, and it will be easier than finding a tub and having to keep an eye on you to make sure you don’t fall asleep and drown,” Stracha answered reasonably, drawing the wet cloth across his forehead.

“I will heal faster and more thoroughly if I am soaked in the water,” Alec insisted.
 
“Just do it my way for me.”

The healer looked at her patient with an expression of exasperation, then deliberately dropped her sopping washcloth onto his face and walked away.

Minutes later three Guards carried a large tub down and placed it next to the barrel.
 
“Now, put him in it,” Stracha said curtly, as she pulled the cover off him.
 
Alec began a feeble protest, but she peremptorily cut him off and directed the placement of him in the long narrow vat.

“What is this?” he asked.

“It was a watering trough for the horses,” Stracha said.
 
“Now tip the barrel and fill the trough until I say stop.”

“Whoa
,ah,oh,ow
!” Alec screamed and moaned in anguish as the chilly water plunged directly onto him and splashed around into the tub.
 
The painful chill quickly turned to a tingling sensation that diffused all other senses.

“That’s enough,” Stracha ordered, and the men obediently righted the barrel.
 
Stracha looked inside the barrel, gauging the amount of water used and the amount left.
 
“We’ll need another barrel before the end of tomorrow.
 
Please tell Givens to ask Captain Lewis for more.
 
Thank you Danel,” she said kindly to one of the men as they started to walk away.
 
Alec sat up in shock from the water, and watched Stracha link her arm in the soldier’s as they walked to the doorway.
 
As the men in uniform climbed up the stairs, she turned around and walked back towards her patient, then realized Alec was watching her, and dissembled her grin into a straight face.

“He was nice to make the men do that for us!” she spoke before Alec could say anything.
 
“I know what you’re thinking; stop it.”

“How do you feel?” she asked as she pulled her stool over next to his tub.

Alec considered his answer.
 
“Cold.
 
And exposed.
 
And something else…something good,” he replied after a brief pause.
 
He closed his eyes and slid back down so that his chin sank to the water line.

“What mark is this?” the girl asked, touching his shoulder.

“It’s just a tattoo.
 
Never mind it,” Alec snapped.

“She wonders about you now,” Stracha said after a moment’s pause.

“What are you talking about?” Alec asked.

“Captain Lewis.
 
She wonders why and how you could ask those questions about her family.
 
They were all dead or near the end of their days before Gordon
was
born.

“I told her it was some ingenaire powers that let you guess so much about her, but she may be a little shy of you next time she comes down,” the healer finished, as she cupped her hand and dribbled a stream of water onto his hair, then repeated the gesture again and again.