Preserving the Ingenairii (71 page)

“The treaty terms are very flexible,” Alec assured him breezily.
 
“You promise to remove your army within six months from all territory claimed by the Dominion, we’ll promise not to slaughter any of your people unnecessarily during that time; we’ll both agree to establish embassies and normalize relationships; and Queen Jeswyne will remain entitled to return to visit the promenade every year.”

Jeswyne giggled out loud at the last condition.

“Well we did lose a lot of territory under Mikhail’s leadership, and we’re in an untenable spot now, I suppose, plus you are a demonslayer and you’ll be married to my daughter,” Sergey ticked items off on his fingers.

“You still haven’t dispatched troops to surround Mikhail’s castle,” Alec pointed out.
 
“Could you do that now, please?”

“Oh very well,” Sergey wrote a note that he handed to a servant.

“We need to establish a wedding date too,” Jeswyne pointed out.

“I have a certain commitment,” Alec decided to point out.
 
“In five days I must return to a holy site.
 
We will need to try to accomplish a great deal before then.”

“When will you come back, Alec?
 
Where is it?
 
Do you really have to go?” Jeswyne asked in alarm.

“I will be called to go to a holy site in the Pale Mountains, on the other side of the Dominion.” Alec said.
 
“It is not an obligation I can miss, nor do I want to.

“The journey there is instantaneous, while the return used to be a month or longer.
 
Now that I can translocate, it will be a shorter return.”

“It seems you’re making this all very complicated,” Sergey responded.
 
“When did this come up?”

“In the tournament, when the demon was standing over me, a saint called me away to his holy place.
 
It is a site of great sanctity and blessing.
 
He cured me of my injuries and returned me to the arena to fight the rest of the match.
 
I have great faith in him and in Christ, my savior,” Alec said, and he felt tears starting to well in his eyes.

“You are a follower of the slave’s religion?” Sergey asked, showing real astonishment for the first time.
 
“Why?”

“Because it is a true religion that worships the creator,” Alec said.
 
“And it requires no human sacrifices, nor does it call upon demons to perform awful acts.”

“But it hasn’t set the slaves free,” Sergey pointed out.

“Not their bodies, but their souls will not spend eternity in damnation,” Alec retorted.

“Is this the time to have this debate?” Jeswyne asked.

Alec looked at her.
 
“Any time is a good time to talk about Jesus, but we do need to make some other decisions for now,” he agreed.

“So in the next five days you want us to capture my brother, agree to a peace treaty and hold your wedding, correct?” Sergey asked.

“We can do that, can’t we?” Jeswyne said with a false brightness that Alec suspected was mocking them.
 
“Let’s have lunch in the meantime and you two can discuss this later.
 
We need to tell mother to have the wedding preparations started.

“She had so much fun planning Elyzaveta’s wedding,” Jeswyne commented.

“But she had eight months to do it,” Sergey pointed out.
 
Jeswyne was standing already and motioning to Alec.

“She knows what to do now.
 
Come along father,” Jeswyne commanded, and all three of them were soon seated in a dining room with a half dozen courtiers, who were suitably impressed by the presence of the demon slaying king of the Dominion as the fiancé of the emperor’s daughter.

“They think it is a brilliant diplomatic stroke for you to marry me off to the king of the Dominion,” Jeswyne told her father.
 
“You are so clever to persuade me to accept this!

“And I think they all admire my fortitude in sacrificing myself this way for the good of the empire,” she added.

“You’re just making things up now,” Alec said.

“Are you saying that people wouldn’t respect my fortitude?” Jeswyne asked
,
entering a teasing match Alec recognized from the many times the two had sparred with one another while stranded in the past.

“You two are going to make a fine married couple, based on the bickering you’re displaying, and I must say you seem quite practiced at it,” the emperor noted.
 
“But be that as it may, take it somewhere else away from my jangled nerves.
 
Go tell your mother about the wedding, and then I’d like his majesty to return for further negotiations.”

Minutes later the Empress Jessandra was in an uproar.
 
“Where shall we hold an imperial wedding?” she asked.
 
“What invitation list can we create that quickly?
 
Can’t you delay this trip of yours?” she asked Alec.

Alec discretely left Jeswyne to work with her mother, and returned to see the emperor.
 
A number of officers were with the emperor, including Anatoli, Alec was glad to see.
 
As Alec was introduced, there was a shuffling of feet and straining of necks as everyone stared at him, the adversary who had become an indispensible ally.

“Gentlemen, tomorrow, I am told, we will capture the renegade former emperor, if he is still trapped in the Poklonna Heights castle.
 
Is that correct Anatoli?” Sergey asked.

A dagger suddenly flew at Alec, who called upon his warrior powers and caught the dagger hilt in the air.

“Who threw that?” Sergey asked, standing.

Alec scanned the room using his spiritual powers, and detected strong emotions coming from a young lieutenant.
 
“That man,” Alec said, pointing.

“You killed my sister!” the man shouted.

“Where?
 
How do you know?” Alec asked.

“She was a sorceress in a battle in your land.
 
You killed her and you killed the demon she called.
 
Her soul will be tormented forever,” he snarled.

“The torment of her soul was her own decision; it was her doom from the time she began sorcery,” Alec challenged.
 
“As for killing her, if I did, it was because she committed an act of war against my nation, and I fought back.
 
Isn’t that something any of you would do?”

There
was
 
silence
.
 
“Take him away to the prison cells,” Sergey directed.

“How do you do that?
 
That’s twice I’ve seen you catch daggers,” Anatoli commented.
 
“And thank you for the Scarle leadership this morning.
 
You still expect to bring in Mikhail tomorrow?”

“If you have him trapped in the castle, we’ll be able to bring him in tomorrow,” Alec agreed.

“About the peace treaty, Alec,” Sergey switched topics.
 
“The general staff has agreed that we will honor the terms of the treaty you and I discussed this morning if you will additionally pledge not to assassinate our leadership with your powers.”

“When will we be able to sign that treaty?” Alec asked.

“Would the day after tomorrow be acceptable?” the emperor replied.

“Yes, that will fit in nicely between capturing Mikhail and holding the wedding,” Alec agreed with a grin.

Chapter 53 – Ghosts of the Past

That night at dinner, Alec and Jeswyne ate alone in his cottage.
 
“Mother is driving me crazy!” Jeswyne complained.

“We could just go home and get married in Oyster Bay,” Alec commented mildly.

“I thought we could hold a second ceremony there for the sake of your people,” Jeswyne replied, not knowing that she was being teased.
 
“But we have to have something here first, of course.”

She looked at him and saw the grin on his face.
 
“Oh you!” she screeched, and threw a dinner roll at him.
 
“You owe me now,” she added.

“What do I owe you?” he asked, worried.

“Another trip to the promenade.
 
Can we go back tonight?” Jeswyne asked.

“Really?” was all Alec asked.
 
“Stand up,” he told her as she nodded.

“Oh Alec, not right now!
Really?” she echoed.

He put his arms around her and hugged her tightly,
then
they returned to the spot in the bushes they had started in the night before.

“That minstrel will make fun of us again!” Jeswyne said.

“No, we’ll go to a different year,” Alec assured her, and they flew through time again, suddenly seeing and hearing and smelling the presence of the festivities of the promenade.

“Thank you!” Jeswyne said, and she kissed him soundly.

“Maybe we don’t need to go to the promenade,” he said suggestively.

“You’re not thinking clearly, silly boy,” Jeswyne admonished him, and she led him out onto the paved walkway.
 
They strolled past a juggler, then bought some juice to drink, and shuffled along in the thick press of bodies that were enjoying the promenade festival.

“These styles seem old-fashioned,” Jeswyne spoke in Alec’s ear.
 
“What year is this?
 
Why are we here?”

“It’s many years before you were born,” Alec replied.
 
“I want to see an old friend, someone who isn’t alive in our time,” he told her as they continued to walk.

Jeswyne convinced Alec to play a throwing game, where he won a small wooden ring that he gave to her, and they threw small change for a musician who strummed a guitar.

“Here,” Alec announced, as he saw someone approaching.
 
“Let’s step back here,” they edged up against the retaining wall.
 
“Keep an eye on that couple from Indige,” he pointed.

Jeswyne studied the couple, a lively girl leading a boy.
 
“He looks just like you!” she said in astonishment.

“That is me, the first time I was here, over fifty years ago,” he confirmed.

“And who is that girl?
 
She seems very familiar with you,” Jeswyne said in a disapproving voice.

“Her name is Rief.
 
She’s a slave for the clan, and she became my personal extension,” Alec answered.

Four men from Canare clan accosted the young couple, and one of them handled Rief unpleasantly.
 
“Don’t get yourself in trouble!” Rief said loudly to the younger Alec.
 
And then Alec grabbed the Canare assailant.

In a blur, Alec turned against the men behind him,
then
spun to catch a knife thrown at him.
 
He pegged two knives in Laver’s shoes and retrieved Rief, then sheltered her from another knife throw that landed in his shoulder.
 
In seconds the imperial patrol began to converge on the scene.