Against the Empire: The Dominion and Michian (48 page)

Within a week they were leaving Three Forks, and three days later they pulled into the Locksfort docks at Oyster Bay. They thanked the captain and crew of the ship, then disembarked onto the dock, bringing Walnut with them.

            “
Where do we go now Alec?  Ingenairii Hill or the Palace?” Bethany asked.  She hoped he would say the Palace, because a return to Ingenairii Hill would likely entail a meeting with Tritos.  It was something she had thought about a great deal on the trip down the river, and something she did not look forward to.  But it was necessary.  She had to tell Tritos that their relationship was done, both because she felt he wouldn’t fulfill her needs, and because she could not move forward with the renewed relationship with Alec until her prior relationship was ended.

            “
Let’s go to the Palace first,” Alec decided.  “We can start talking about getting the army on the move, and then go talk to the ingenairii after that.”

           
Bethany’s plans abruptly flip-flopped as she thought again.  “Why don’t you and Rief go to the Palace, and I’ll meet you there this afternoon.  I should do a few things up on the Hill first on my own,” she said, thinking that it would be better to see Tritos without Alec nearby than to wait until the crown protector’s return was widely known.

            “
Very well,” Alec agreed, already thinking about the need to move the army all the way to and through Bondell quickly.  “Let’s go to the palace Rief.  Don’t get into trouble and we’ll see you later,” he said to Bethany, climbing into Walnut’s saddle and pulling his friend up with him.  They cantered out of the dockyard and towards a bridge to cross to the north side of the river where the palace was located.

           
Bethany stood alone for a long moment of thought, then began walking in the same direction towards the bridge.  She paced through the city and over the bridge, then turned left and headed towards Ingenairii Hill, which rose above the city.

            “
Bethany, it’s a pleasure to see you return!” the guardsman at the gate told her as she arrived at the entrance to the Hill grounds.

            “
Thank you.  It’s good to be back,” she feigned pleasure, and entered the grounds, then headed to the Stone house first, before she went to report to her own superiors at the Water house.

            “
Is Tritos here?” she asked when she arrived at the door.

            “
For you, I’m sure he is,” a young apprentice replied, and left her waiting in a parlor while he went to find Bethany’s suitor.  She soon heard a set of steps approaching in the hallway rapidly, and then Tritos was at the door.

            “
Oh Bethany,” he said softly, and crossed the room to embrace her.  She hugged him back and they stood for a long time, them parted and sat.  “Where have you been?  Are you alright?” Tritos asked.

            “
I’m fine, nothing wrong at all,” she answered.  “How are you?”

            “
I’m much better now that I know you’re okay.  We’ve been worried sick about you for weeks now since you disappeared,” he responded.  “Where have you been?”

            “
Places I never thought I’d see,” she answered delicately, hesitant to actually speak Alec’s name, but knowing that she had to.  “In Frame I met a girl at the inn, and she turned out to be traveling with Alec, Alec the healer…”

            “
I knew which Alec you meant,” Tritos said in an indecipherable tone.

            “
Rief and Alec took me to the Cave Of John Mark in the Pale Mountains, and ever since then we’ve been traveling back here to Oyster Bay,” she told him.

            “
And now you’ll stay here, or go back to your duties as a water ingenaire?” Tritos asked.

            “
I don’t know,” Bethany reluctantly said.  “I haven’t talked to my House leader yet.  And I don’t know what Alec has in mind for me,” she added.

            “
He’s going to go off on another glorious adventure and disappear from you again.  That’s what he has in mind,” Tritos said sourly.  “He’s done it before and he’s going to do it again, don’t you think?”

            “
He already plans to move on to fight another battle,” Bethany agreed.

            “
And what?  Are you going to go with him?  Has he asked you to?” Tritos pushed.

            “
If he asks, I will go with him,” Bethany said evenly.  She knew she had to take the plunge and say her piece now.  “I will follow him, Tritos.   I think it is my fate to be his companion.

            “
You have been loving and loyal and faithful and good, but I feel destined to be with Alec,” she told him.  “No one could have been a better friend than you have been these past months, but my heart has healed and I have to follow it now.”

            “
As soon as I received your note from Frame, I knew this was going to happen,” Tritos told her as his knees seemed to wobble.  “I want what’s best for you, and I want you to be happy, but I don’t want you to build your hopes up and see them dashed again, your heart broken again!

            “
Where is he now?” Tritos asked.

            “
He’s gone to the Palace.  He’s back in Oyster Bay.  I’m going to go see him later this afternoon after I go to the Water house,” Bethany told Tritos.  She stood up; it was time for her to go.

            “
I’ll come see you again soon.  I promise,” she said giving him a hug that he limply returned.

            “
Bethany, don’t come by again,” Tritos told with great emotion.  “Let’s not try to pretend that you’re not dumping me.  I hope you will be happy,” he said.  Unable to say any more he brushed past her and left the room rapidly.

           
Bethany felt tears running down her cheeks, and she let herself out of the house, then walked slowly up the hill towards the Water house.   The pathway was virtually empty, and she was reminded anew about how many people had been lost in the fratricidal battles among the ingenairii, along with the loss of many of her younger peers who had chosen to remain in Goldenfields to fight on behalf of the Duke.

           
She reached her own house, and opened the door to let herself in.  Standing in the hallway, watching her enter, was Allisma.  The two girls cried and embraced, then sat down in a window seat in the parlor and began talking.

            “
Where have you been?” Allisma immediately asked.  “You took off on a mysterious adventure!  It had to be Alec!  Was it?” she questioned.

           
Bethany nodded.  “The same day I got your letter saying that he had proposed to Imelda, a girl I met in Frame introduced me to her companion; it was Alec!”

            “
He couldn’t have!  He was in a coma in his tent!  He was there, really?  He had a companion with him?” Allisma asked with a cocked eyebrow.

            “
She’s a pretty girl, with an exotic accent that makes every man look at her,” Bethany said playfully.  “Alec had traveled to a foreign land where they have slaves and demons, and Rief had been his personal slave there.  John Mark was moving him back and forth through time, so that he could be in Frame with me at the same time he was passed out at the battle.”

            “
You’re making this up!” Allisma sputtered indignantly.  “Tell me the truth!”

            “
Actually, it is all true, but it’s only a little part of the story,” Bethany said.

            “
Alec had some magic dust, and he used it to take Rief and me with him to travel instantly to the Pale Mountains, where we went to John Mark’s cave.  After we were there and spoke to the spirit of the prophet, we had to travel all the way back to the Dominion.  We stopped in Stronghold, where Alec talked with the Locksforts, and then came directly back here.

            “
Alec is raising an army to go fight another war, down in Bondell, against that foreign empire that he went to; he says they are invading the Dominion,” she rapidly explained.

            “
We just landed in Oyster Bay two hours ago, and I just broke up with Tritos ten minutes ago,” Bethany abruptly wrapped up her narrative. “And believe it or not, it’s all the absolute truth, as it could only be when Alec is involved!”

            “
So you find out Alec asks another woman to marry him, he shows up with a beautiful slave, he takes you past Stronghold, where his old girlfriend lives, if I remember correctly, and you react to it all by breaking up with Tritos?” Allisma reiterated.  “Am I missing anything here?”

            “
No, and yes,” Bethany answered.  “It’s been an incredible journey.  He is still the same: cute, shy, talented, busy, honorable to a fault.  We have an understanding I think.  He explained a lot when we were in Frame, and I understand some things he did, and I forgive some things he did, and I’ll forever be ready to blackmail him with some things he did!”  She grinned as she finished up.

            “
What exactly was going on between him and Imelda?” she asked curiously.

            “
I doubt that anyone knows exactly except him and her, and maybe Armilla and Kinsey,” Allisma answered.  “We were all isolated together out there, and they had obviously had some kind of emotional relationship together before – not all good, I heard.  And he may have just been lonely after you dumped him.”

           
Bethany rose to take the bait.  “I did not dump him!” she said insistently.

            “
I know sweetheart,” Allisma said.  “But at the end of the day, Imelda herself and several others all said that you were the right woman for him, and she rejected him.  Apparently he rebounded from his rebound, if he came looking for you in Frame.”

            “
He wasn’t actually looking for me.  He was shocked to see me, I could tell that.  We were both shocked.  He had been sent by John Mark to find someone in Frame, but he didn’t know who, and when he saw me, he decided it was me,” Bethany explained.

            “
Oh there is so much to tell, and so much I want to know, but I know I have to go see the House master.  Is he in?” she asked.

            “
Yes, as far as I know.  He’s over in the administrative house,” Allisma acknowledged.

            “
I’m going to go to the palace a little later.  Do you want to go with me?” Bethany asked suddenly, wanting her friend’s companionship.

            “
I’d love to.  But I don’t ever want to go on another war campaign,” her friend replied, remembering the wound she received from the lacertii and the horror of the battlefield.

            “
I’ll be back soon to pick you up,” Bethany promised, and she left to go visit the head of her house.

           
She apologized immediately to Hiron, the new master of the Water ingenairii, for leaving the Frame project before completion. Hiron was the oldest Water ingenaire left; he’d been on assignment with an irrigation project in Sturgeon when the coup had occurred in Oyster Bay, and he had contrived to remain there until the danger was over. When he got back to Oyster Bay, the coup leaders were dead at Alec’s hand, and few senior ingenairii were left, catapulting him to a position he’d never expected to have.

            “
What could have possibly caused you to abandon your duty?” he asked sternly.  “The council in Frame was only mildly upset, but they still felt compelled to comment.  It hurts our reputation.  You should know that, and know what is expected of you.”

            “
The crown protector appeared, and asked me to go with him,” Bethany said, careful to tell the truth, but not the whole truth.  “He and I have been traveling ever since and just returned to Oyster Bay today.  I’m supposed to meet him in the Palace later this afternoon.”

           
Hiron looked less certain about his position.  “Alec is back among us?  He came to you personally, and asked you to travel with him?” he repeated.

            “
Yes, exactly,” Bethany answered, smiling sweetly.  “He’s healthy and recovered, and back in Oyster Bay, up at the palace. Would you like for me to introduce you to him sometime? I’m sure he’ll be back here on the Hill in a day or two.”

“I’ve never met him before. It would be an honor, if you wouldn’t mind,” Hiron replied, deciding to take the easy way out.

“When he comes, you’ll meet him,” Bethany assured him. “I have to go now,” she said as she let herself out the door and returned to pick up Allisma on her way to the Palace.

“How long have you been wearing that outfit?” Allisma asked when Bethany rejoined her. “Why don’t you put on something nicer for the palace?”

Bethany had grown so used to the traveling outfit that she hadn’t thought about the opportunity to change outfits. She gleefully visited her closet and eventually selected new clothes, then bathed, luxuriating in the water and soap. When she emerged from the bath and dressed in her blue clothes, Allisma pronounced her fit to visit the palace.