Against the Empire: The Dominion and Michian (47 page)

“May I come in?” a voice called from the doorway, and Alec turned to see Brandeis strolling into the room.

The two friends thumped each other on the back and shoulder as they grinned at one another.

“How the devil did you get here?” Brandeis asked. “We just got a note that you’re lying unconscious in an army camp out in the middle of nowhere. Now, it turns out you’re right here back in your old stomping grounds. We don’t need to go down to the wharfside taverns to beat up more ruffians, do we?”

Alec laughed at the memory. “If we don’t do any fighting this time, I’ll call it a good visit to Stronghold,” he laughed. “It got a little bloody last time, didn’t it?

“Oh Brandeis!” he suddenly recollected. “I saw Mooreen a few weeks ago!”

“You did?!” Brandeis asked. “Where? Did you let her live?”

“It was far away. I’ll tell you all about it when we all get together,” Alec said.

“Speaking of which, I’m here to escort you to a meeting with Durer and Johanna. Norrie is bringing your lady friends,” Brandeis said as he stood and led Alec out the door, “Speaking of which, I thought you had good tastes when you were wooing Johanna…”

“I was not wooing Johanna,” Alec quickly replied.

“Am I not worthy of your royal attention?” Johanna asked, emerging into the hallway from an adjoining room.

Alec blushed, and hugged the lovely girl who was now married to the leader of the Locksfort clan. “How could I ever be worthy of the love of someone as pure and kind as you?” Alec asked in the same teasing tone, and he walked into the meeting room with an arm around each of his friends. At a rich, wooden table in the comfortable room, speaking politely with Bethany and Rief, sat Durer, now the head of the Locksfort clan after an uprising that Alec had fought in to displace Mooreen’s corrupt rule.

Durer came to greet him and Johanna, and the three of them embraced in a warm and emotional reunion. “Alec, it’s so good to see you back here!” Durer roared with delight. “I don’t know how or why you’re here, but I’m glad.”

“If Delle were here we’d have the whole gang together!” Noranda laughed.

“I think Alec’s made a good trade of those two for Delle,” Brandeis said with a laugh.

“That’s because you haven’t spent the time with them that I have,” Alec said with mock scornfulness, drawing hoots from around the table.

Johanna and Durer and Alec were seated, and Noranda rose to go stand by her husband, Brandeis, watching the happy threesome. “I didn’t know he could show such friendship and joy,” Rief said quietly to Bethany.

The blond observed him for another moment. “Back in Goldenfields, for a time, he had a lot of friends his own age and he wasn’t quite as exalted as he is now. And when he came home to the shop, he could be just one of us, able to laugh and play games and enjoy himself. And it looks like he found a group of friends here too, but he doesn’t experience this very often at all, I’m afraid.”

“You’ll have to make sure he does,” Rief said gently, placing her hand on Bethany’s.

“Alec, why are you wearing that glove?” Johanna asked as they all disengaged and sat down around the table.

Alec’s eyes met Bethany’s for a moment before he answered. “I’ve injured my hand, and I wear this for protection.”

“But you’re a healer!” Johanna replied.

“And so are Bethany and Rief now,” Alec added. “But this is more than just a physical matter, and I need to keep it covered.

“Why don’t I start somewhere closer to the beginning of the story, and leave some parts of it out, but tell you enough to explain why I’m going to ask for more of your army to help me immediately fight against the greatest danger the Dominion has faced in generations.”

“First,” Durer said, “feel free to take as much time as you need. And second, we hope you will accept these gifts we found and wish to restore to you.” He reached under the table and pulled out a sword, which he presented hilt-first to Alec.

He accepted the gift and looked at it with a smile, then stood and held it in his gloved left hand, enjoying the perfect balance it provided as he gripped it. “This is wonderful! Where did you find it?”

Johanna came forward, and raised her arms over Alec’s head, then carefully lowered a chain around his neck. On the necklace was a bejeweled letter “T.”

The jewels in the bauble seemed to throw off extra sparkles as they rested on his chest. “These were found wrapped in rags down in the dungeons,” Durer explained. “Whether it was the jailers or Mooreen, or someone else, your sword and pendant were secured away, and we wanted to return them.”

“Oh, it’s a T for Tarnum!” Rief exclaimed, as others looked in startled surprise at her. “In Michian he was given a new name – Tarnum, and that’s what I’ve called him since we arrived here.”

“It’s the king’s name,” Durer said quietly. “Tarnum was the family name of the last dynasty of kings here in the Dominion.”

“This was a gift that the orphanage had for me,” Alec clarified. “It belonged to my mother, as a gift to her from my father. It is the only thing I have to connect me to my parents, so whatever the T means is not as important to me as the thought of whose hands it rested in once upon a time.

“Let me tell you what has happened,” Alec changed topics. “A far-away land, Michian, has invaded the Dominion and means to conquer all our lands. They have had the help of Mooreen in knowing about the Dominion.

“They have already landed a large invasion force in Bondell, and we need to send every soldier we can find in the Dominion to fight this battle.”

“How is Mooreen involved?” Brandeis asked.

“When we defeated her, she fled by riding away on an animal called a restorer,” Alec explained. “The restorer is a magical animal that can transport itself instantly from one spot to another. Mooreen had been given a restorer that she kept here in that room in the south apartments where no one was allowed to go. You’ve probably all seen the papers she left behind, talking about putting a puppet on the throne,” several heads nodded. “When she couldn’t do it that way, they must have decided to do it this other way, the brutal and direct way.”

“We will help you, of course,” Durer said. “Those men who have fought against the lacertii have been returning here, so we will send the others who have not gone off to battle yet. We can have them ready for departure in a matter of days.”

“I would like for you to also seek the addition of forces from Growerston, Sandyforks, and Sturgeon, to try to persuade them to submit forces as well,” Alec replied to him. “I have sent messengers to Goldenfields to mobilize their forces, even though they’ve been at war for months already. Next I’ll go down river to Oyster Bay to begin the dispatch of all the forces we have available there.”

“We’ll do everything we can,” Durer assured him. “That all seems reasonable. How many will we face?”

“I think there are thousands from Michian already in our land. They were using transporters to move their forces into the remote mountains of Bondell’s south. Before Rief and I left Michian, we disabled the transporters, so there will be no more troops arriving for several months, and there will not be any supplies either. So they will be on the move to forage for themselves, once they realize their predicament,” Alec explained.

“What was the start of connection between this Michian and Mooreen?” Brandeis asked.

“John Mark told me that it was through trading. Mooreen learned about Michian through the traders who bring goods across the barrier,” Alec answered.

John Mark the prophet?” Brandeis asked. “I know you said you spoke with him before, when you were here the first time. Do you talk to him regularly?”

Alec looked at Rief. “It seemed like a regular gabfest for a while! He was the one who sent me to Michian, where I learned so much about this threat. They are a different culture, completely different and foreign to us. They believe in different gods, they use demons, they possess slaves. Their victory would be a complete desolation for the life we know in the Dominion.”

“How did Mooreen get one of those animals, the restorers, into our home?” Johanna asked.

“I don’t really know,” Alec said. “I guess she must have had it brought by boat all the way from Michian, and then smuggled into the compound. Have you checked the room she used to make sure she hasn’t been back?”

“We do check the room from time to time, and twice we found fresh droppings on the floor, but there hasn’t been anything new in weeks now,” Durer answered.

“To change the subject, why don’t we all go have dinner?” he suggested, and they all trooped down to a dining room for a feast that filled them all as they talked about subjects both serious and commonplace.

“May we have your fastest boat tomorrow morning to take us to Goldenfields?” Alec asked as they sat around the table after the last plates were removed.

“You’re going to leave that soon?” Noranda asked. “It’s hardly a visit!”

“I have to move as fast as possible,” Alec answered. “Michian will show no mercy to any part of the Dominion it occupies. We have to fight and defeat them as fast as possible to prevent more suffering, and to make sure we prevent them from bringing more troops into the Dominion.

“When I was in Michian with Rief, I fed their restorer animals some feed that made them temporarily unable to move through space, but it will wear off in a few months, and when it does, we have to make sure they don’t have a safe place in our land to unload more troops,” Alec explained.

Later, they all rose from the table and departed for the night. As Alec walked with Rief and Bethany to their rooms, Bethany asked about his sword. “Is that the sword you had in Oyster Bay, the one you wore at the Apprentice’s Ball?”

“It is,” Alec confirmed. “The Duke bought it for me as a gift after I healed him. It’s specially made for left-handed use, and weighted and lengthened for me.”

You’re glad to have it back, aren’t you?” she added.

“I am,” Alec admitted. “It’s special. It’s good to use, but it’s special because it reminds me of the friends I had at Goldenfields.”

“You’ve got friends everywhere, Alec,” Bethany told him as they arrived at the guest quarters she shared with Rief.

“Good night, Alec,” the Michian girl said as she slipped through the door into her quarters, leaving Alec and Bethany alone in the empty hall.

“Rief and I both enjoyed seeing you with your friends tonight,” Bethany told him. “You need to have a chance to be a person once in a while instead of a ruler or ingenaire or mystical figure. Try to remember to not be so caught up in responsibilities all the time,” she finished, then gave him a peck on the cheek and left him alone in the hall.

Alec thought about her words as he walked to his own room, and he fell asleep to dreams of enjoying carefree times with friends from throughout the Dominion.

Chapter 43 – Back in Oyster Bay

The next morning the three travelers were escorted by Noranda and Brandeis to the Locksfort docks, where they exchanged vows to see one another soon. “You two take good care of him,” Noranda told the two girls.

“Alec needs so much care,” Bethany said. “He’s very high maintenance!” she smiled.

The ship sailed with a light load and only one stop scheduled at Three Forks on its way to Oyster Bay. During the first two days of the trip the crew of a dozen sailors found themselves the subject of considerable medical care as Rief and Bethany practiced their healer skills under Alec’s tutelage. After that Bethany turned her attention to helping direct the river currents to press the ship forward with maximum effectiveness, and they sped down river quickly.