The Journey Home: The Ingenairii Series: Beyond the Twenty Cities (8 page)

“We are sorry your majesty, we did not know that you were born of true royal blood,” Celty told Alec, kneeling in front of him.  “The purple smoke at the end told us that we could not judge you, for you are above us.

“And
the testimony of
all yo
ur witnesses only make me regret
  what we have put you through,” she said.

The fire suddenly roared, and crackled, and the flames turned black.

“What is happening?” one of the other women asked fearfully.  “Is this your doing, my lord?  Are you punishing us for the trial we put you through?”

The flames grew hotter
as they burned with an unhealthy deep black energy
, and began to jump outside the stone pit, forcing everyone to back up.   The sparks circled again, spinning faster, then taking a form that was small before it was suddenly huge, and it sucked up all the energy of the dark flames into itself, extinguishing the fire as it became a demon.

Chapter 5
– Saving the Village

“Everyone run!” Alec screamed, trembling in fear at the unexpected arrival of the monster from Hell.  He reached down and yanked Celty to her feet.

He sought for his powers, but the smoke of the persimmele tree still inhibited his ability to grasp the energy.  The demon charged at him and swung its paw wildly, hitting him with the full force of its efforts.  Fortunately for Alec the demon’s reach was over-extended, and it hit him with the palm of its paw, rather than its claws, so that it did not rake through his flesh, but only knocked him bodily through the air, cracking ribs with its impact.

He hit the floor of the hut next to the doorway, stunned.  He looked up, expecting to see the monster pounce upon him, but instead saw it grab one of the unfortunate women still in the hut, who it proceeded to savagely dismember with its claws.

Alec
saw his belongings piled next to the door, dropped where they had been removed from him while he was unconscious.  He dove at them to grab his sword, as he
rolled out of the doorway into the fresh air, and rose to his knees, then his feet.  He breathed deeply, then spotted a collection of cooking knives next to a water jug and a sharpening stone.  He ran to the knives, and took another deep breath
of the fresh air
as he gathered them up.  He tried to grasp his powers again, and felt them at last come within his grasp.

Women were running everywhere around the village, screaming in terror at the sight of the demon
;
the monster ignored everything around it but Alec, stalking directly towards him, as he stumbled away, seeking an open spot where he would have room to maneuver.

When they reached a spot he felt was suitable, Alec grasped his Warrior powers and took up the knives, three in each hand as he dropped his sword, and he threw the knives at the monster’s eyes.  Before the knives even reached the demon Alec had his sword back in his hand and he ran towards the creature, then jumped into the air, and simultaneously grasped his Spirit and Air energies, along with his Warrior energy.

Knives landed in each eye of the demon, and Alec used his Air abilities to slow his progress through the space in front of him, so that the blind demon mistimed its first swat at him.

He swung his sword at the demon’s neck as mightily as he could, making contact just as he saw the demon flail its arm unexpectedly upwards towards him
again
.  His sword strike was true, and he beheaded the monster just as its claws raked across his chest, and a fountain of its blood spattered drops of viscous black liquid upon his torso as well.

Alec was knocked immediately unconscious, and his body flew several yards through the air before it hit the ground hard and bounced in the dirt, at a distance safely away from where the demon’s body crumbled into small pieces
of flesh
that became bats, then turned into an oily blaze in the center of the village.

Chapter 6
– Meeting Aja

Ten days after his battle with the demon, Alec awoke.   It hurt to breathe, and when he tried to reach for his healer energy, he wasn’t able to grasp it.

Celty sat with him, and a younger woman as well
, whose short hair was thick, blond and tousled
.

“We are pleased to see you alive, my lord,” Celty told him.  “This is Kendra.  She and I have been with you every hour since your battle, and we will stay with you until you are healed.”

“I hurt,” Alec said simply, taking shallow breaths.  “Can you dull the pain?”

In response, Kendra placed a straw to his lips, and let him sip a syrupy concoction.

He took several long draws, the
n
turned his head away and fell back to sleep.

When he awoke again it was night, and a small fire cast a glow nearby, as a gentle lullaby droned somewhere nearby in the village.  His pain was lessened, and his body felt stronger.  He reached for his Healer energy,
acquired it,
and applied his power to himself, repairing the ribs that were so painful, and the internal bruises that had not yet healed.  He could not fully heal the scars from the burns on his chest where the demon’s blood had splattered on him, and he knew he never would.

A hand reached out to touch him, catching him by surprise.  He raised up on one elbow and turned to see Kendra, lying on blankets stretched on the floor next to
his pallet.  She had risen
to see him, and she clutched the neck of her nightgown modestly.

“Is everything okay, my lord?” she asked.

“It’s better,” Alec answered.  “How is your village?”

“We are shaken and contrite, my lord,” Kendra answered.

“Just call me Alec,” he instructed.

“What day is it?  How long has it been since you took me hostage?”  he asked.

“You came to our village ten days ago,” she answered.

“My friends, are they okay?” Alec wanted to know.

“They left nine days ago, my lord, Alec,” the woman answered.

“They left the forest?  Did they fight the kidnappers?” he sat up, and his voice betrayed the importance of the question.

“My lord, we determined that the men you pursued, the ones who you say took the girls, passed through the forest the day before we confronted you.  So no, your friends did not fight them, at least not in Birnam woods,” she replied.

“Nine days ago, ten days ago, eleven days ago,” Alec muttered
, restless to arise
.  He swung his legs over the side of his bed, feeling their weakness.  “Which way did my companions go?  Did they pursue the kidnappers, or did they return to their homes?”

“Two of them, a man and a women, went on in
apparent
pursuit of their quarry, while the others went back
the way they came
.  We did not stop them or interfere with them in any way,” she added the last part quickly.

Andi had gone on.  And if Andi had gone on, then Amane had gone with her.  As long as they didn’t catch the ingenairii, it would be a wonderful trip for the Old One, spending all his time mooning after the Black Crag guard.  If they were to catch up with the kidnappers though, it would end in death for the hapless Amane,
who Alec
knew
had no talent for battle
.

And Alec now was going to chase after both g
roups, the ingenairii and Andi
, in a race against a prophecy of Andi’s own spirit, a warning that he had to recover his lost memories somehow and reunite with Andi within three months, or she would suffer death.

“Can you restore my lost memories?” Alec asked intently.

“We will provide you with the means.  Tomorrow morning we will give you what you need.  We will give you supplies for your journey, and we will set you on your path.  Rest now for the evening, and save your strength,” Kendra replied.

“I can’t rest,” Alec answered.  “I can’t wait.  I have been chasing after Kriste for three months now.  And now there’s this warning from Andi’s spirit that I will have to save her.

“If you can help me, do it now,” he insisted.

“I could explain to you how to restore your memories, but the sisters have not yet gathered together supplies and goods for you to travel with,” the girl replied.

“I don’t need supplies.  I’ll take care of myself on the road,” Alec told her.

“You are weak and injured; you fought that horrible monster, and you’ve lain here for ten nights – you’re body isn’t ready to go out on a quest.  Won’t you stay at least through the morning to rest?” she maintained her reluctance to let him go.

“Because your hospitality has been so warm so far?” Alec asked sarcastically.  He stood up and began to pace.

“My lord, you must understand our village.  We are a haven for women from throughout the Twenty Cities.  Women who are destitute, or beaten, or enslaved – they come to us as a refuge from life’s brutality.  Most of them only stay for a few months, and then go out to pursue a new life,” she told him.  “And a few settle here permanently, either because they have been so bruised and harmed by the world that they cannot ever return to its stresses, or because they decide to devote their lives to support and ensure the maintenance of this village for others to enjoy.

“Most of our residents – almost all of our residents – blame men for their woes.  That is why it has become our way to assume the worst of men and to see them, and treat them, all as enemies.  We’ve never had someone like you show up to prove our assumptions wrong.

“Why are you, a hidden king, roaming through the land like this on such an ill-prepared quest?” she turned her answer to him into a question.

“Kendra, I am happier to not sit on a throne than to sit on one.  I’ve lived many roles in my life, including monarch, and being king is not my first choice,” Alec said simply.  “Before I started out on the road a few months ago, I lived happily for many years, creating a place not unlike your village, a clinic and a peaceful haven in the mountains, where the caravans could stop, and the mountain residents could be safe, where we healed the sick and chased away the bandits.  That is a better role for me than being a monarch.”

“I would make a deal with you,” Kendra told him.  “I will give you items and instructions you need to recover your memory, if you will take a member of our community with you.”

“Why do I need one of your women to recover my memory?” Alec asked
, startled by the unexpected request
.

“You do not need her,” Kendra placed her emphasis on the word ‘need’.  “In fact, in this case it is more of an instance that she is a woman who needs you as a protector and champion.  And I trust you in that role.”

“What are you talking about?” Alec asked.

“We have a woman, a very unique woman, who came to us with a broken heart and several broken bones many months ago.  She has healed while with us, but she is a restless spirit, and will not stay here.  If she is going to go back into the world, I would trust you to take her along with you until she finds a safe place to follow a new life.”

“Is she a plea
sant person?” Alec asked, suspect
ing that he was going to have to submit to Kendra’s wishes
if he wished to leave the village on easy terms
.  “And is she capable of traveling quickly?  I want to catch Andi, and the Warriors ahead of her, and all of them will be traveling at a high speed.”

“She will not slow you down,” Kendra told him.

“That is not an enlightening answer, and you didn’t say whether she was pleasant,” he noted.

“She is pleasant, but,” Kendra paused.

“Kendra, what are you doing here?  What are you trying to do to my goal?” Alec asked bluntly.

“She is blind, which is not a problem, but,” Kendra grasped for words.  “She is like an Old One, but she is not from one of the Five Cities.  She is much like you in that regard,” Kendra spoke with sudden realization.

Alec looked at her in the dim interior of the hut, waiting for a further explanation.

“She is a changeling.  During the night she is a woman, but during the day, she is a tree,” Kendra told him, looking away, and not seeing his mouth gaping in astonishment.

“A tree?” was all Alec could say.

“She says she comes from a race of people in a small village in the mountains west of here.  They all have the same condition; human form after sunset, but trees for the most part during the daylight,” Kendra told him.

“Shouldn’t she be happy here, in this village, surrounded by a forest?” Alec asked.

“She is not.  She enjoys people greatly.  She would wish to be human all the time if she could.  She left her village and fell in love with a man of the mortal race, but he was not good to her, and when he tired of playing with her, he left her,” Kendra explained.

“I can’t carry a tree across the countryside with me,” Alec said.  “I can cure her blindness, but I can’t imagine that I would make good time if I had to sit beside a tree from sunrise to sunset waiting for her to become mobile.”