Rescuing the Captive: The Ingenairii Series (47 page)

Mulvane, I’ll be in front of the headquarters in two minutes, if you can join me
, Alec sent a silent message.

“
You want me to go to pick up your clothing for you?” Alec asked out loud.

“
You do want me to look like a ruler, don’t you?” Caitlen pleaded.

“
Of course,” Alec calmly agreed. He stood up, and before the women understood how quickly he would leave, he was gone.

Alec went first to the armory, where he belted on a bandolier of throwing knives, then he slowly walked downstairs and outside, constantly stopping to shake hands and greet comrades, assuring them that the Princess was safe and would return shortly. He reached the front of the headquarters building five minutes later to find Mulvane awaiting him, breathing hard.

“
You told me two minutes!” she scolded him. “I busted my butt to get over here fast!”

“
I’m glad to see you,” Alec told her, slapping her shoulder. “I need your help for a simple little project. Let’s go to the princess’s quarters,” he said, and they returned to the building. “Are you ready?” Alec asked minutes later.

Mulvane had a wicked grin, as she raised a large bag to show Alec what she had prepared. “Thank you,” he told her. “I’ll be back soon, I’m sure.” They both laughed, and then Alec was gone.

“
That is so surprising!” Caitlen spoke as she jumped in surprise from Alec’s abrupt arrival.

“
I brought your outfit,” Alec handed her the bag he had brought, which Caitlen carried into the bedroom.

“
Alec!” she shouted seconds later. She emerged from bedroom holding the set of black leather armor he had brought. “This is not what I wanted!”

Alec burst into laughter, and disappeared. Thirty seconds later he was back with a different bag, which he silently handed to her, as Bethany sat, watched, and laughed.

After some time Caitlen came out, wearing a regal blue gown with a silver belt, an outfit that gave her a look of authority and grace. The three of them left the apartment and began walking towards the center of Caitlen’s domain within Vincennes, drawing a growing stream of followers as they passed through the streets and she was recognized.

By the time they reached the headquarters a sizeable crowd was waiting for her and a sizeable crowd was following her. Caitlen mounted the steps to the building, then turned at the top and looked out over the crowd. “The enemy has tried to end our fight through treachery,” she spoke loudly. “But I am back among you, and ready to continue the battle. We will not stop until all of Vincennes is ours, and then we will only pause to prepare to take the battle further, so that we will win a complete victory and restore peace and prosperity to the whole empire.

“
Prepare yourselves for battle, because it is coming soon, and we will need and use all of you to help us win back a just and honest government!” She stood and listened to the cheers, then waved vigorously at the crowd before she went through the doors and into the building. Bethany and Alec followed her inside, and they entered the large room that served as the throne room.

“
Bring in all the commanders of the forces from Black Crag and Valeriane,” Caitlen ordered as soon as she sat down. “We need to stop putting such a strain on the Crown Protector,” she smiled as she spoke to the small group of retainers in the room. “So we will plan an immediate attack to knock the Conglomerate forces down so far they can’t get up.”

Alec stood in the back of the room and watched as numerous people came forward to welcome her return. He had automatically put himself into bodyguard mode, and every little movement in the room caught his attention as he scanned the crowd. At length Princess Esmere received a report that the leaders of her forces were assembled.

“
Alec, you go work with them to develop a plan. Bethany will remain as my guard,” Caitlen dismissed him from the room, and a page led him to a less regal room where more than a dozen men and women awaited him. Together they worked the rest of the day to plan an attack that would use Alec’s abilities to lead a small group of fighters to disable the Conglomerate military headquarters. Once the headquarters could no longer provide leadership, they would send forces through the tunnels under the city to emerge behind the lines of the Conglomerate, and then a third stage would send forces through the streets to confront the soldiers.

Alec accompanied the leaders of the Valeriane forces and the Black Crag forces that evening as they went to Caitlen’s private chambers to report their plans. Rahm was present as one of the bodyguards in the room, as Alec stood in the rear of the room and listened to the leaders propose the attack. “We have to rely on your Protector to find a way to move our archers over Vincennes to be at the east side headquarters, and that concerns me,” the Valeriane leader said. “But if that works, everything else is set up to work as well.”

“
Can you carry it out tomorrow?” Caitlen asked the man.

“
That seems too fast for our troops to be ready,” the man answered.

“
Our troops can do it tomorrow,” the Black Crag leader countered.

“
Then so can ours,” the Valeriane leader countered.

“
Make it happen tomorrow,” Caitlen told them. “Alec, you will be at their disposal?” she asked.

“
Yes, your majesty,” Alec replied.

“
Your pet foreigner better live up to your affection,” Marshal Stocker, the Valeriane leader grumbled, reflecting the distrust and hostility Alec had faced throughout the military leadership’s meeting.

“
The Protector will exceed the abilities of any other fighter we rely on tomorrow, and he will succeed,” Caitlen said in an ominous voice to which the army leader did not respond. She dismissed them and waited for the next report to begin.

“
I’ll be ready to begin as planned,” Alec assured the two leaders. “I’ll meet my forces after breakfast to move into position. Now if you’ll excuse me,” he broke away to return to the audience hall.

Caitlen’s treasurer was just finishing a dire report as Alec re-entered the hall. She thanked the man and rose from her seat, an end to her first day back in charge, while Alec fell in with her bodyguards as they left the room and climbed upstairs to her chambers. “Maintain the usual guard rotation,” Alec told Rahm and the other guard. “I’ll be leaving soon.”

“
Would you have dinner sent up to my rooms?” Caitlen asked her steward. “For two please,” she added as she saw Alec enter the room. “Here’s my favorite pet foreigner,” she said affectionately reaching out a hand towards him.

“
It’s not good to hear words like that coming from one of your own commanders,” Alec warned.

“
He won’t complain about you after tomorrow,” she said confidently as he took her hand.

He will. He is the type that always wants to complain. Watch out for him
, Alec told her mentally.

Don’t let any of that trouble you. Will you spend the night here?
She asked.

I’ll leave through the door, and come back the other way later. I will need to get a change of clothes,
he replied.
Save some dinner for me.

Alec left her and left the room, then began walking through the streets of the city back to his apartment.
Mulvane, please have our squad assembled tomorrow morning before breakfast. I’ll meet you in the armory. We’re going to start having fun,
he teased her
.

With that he decided to carry out reconnaissance for his plan, and translocated himself around the eastern suburbs of Vincennes for the next half hour, then went to his apartment, packed a bag, and translocated back to Caitlen’s suite.

They ate dinner together, then Alec re-engaged his Spiritual powers as he worked at establishing more of a Spiritual core within her soul, one that he could then activate as an Ingenaire foundation within her; it was a greater challenge than he had expected.

Afterwards, Caitlen questioned him. “You don’t think you can give me your powers, do you?” she asked gently as they lay side by side. “I saw your memories of your friend Merle, claiming that the powers cannot be transferred to others.”

Alec had indeed thought of that comment from Merle. “I did hear that,” Alec agreed, “and then I made two other people ingenairii. But those were traumatic situations, and I hoped I could make it gentler for you. I don’t want you to have to go through what Cassie and Imelda went through. We’ll work on it again soon,” he promised.

Caitlen slept in her bed as Alec insisted on sleeping on the floor, telling her what she understood herself, that within the boundaries of her headquarters they had to maintain as much propriety as possible.

Alec awoke early, and silently translocated to the armory, where he grabbed a mace and an extra sword. Then he waited for Mulvane and the special squad of Black Crag guards to arrive. They were all women who had the spirits of true warriors, eager to wreak havoc in battle, and today he wanted to take advantage of their hunger for combat to turn them into an elite set of fighters.

When the six fighters arrived, Alec held up a bucket he had procured the day before. “You are going to scare a lot of men today,” he told them as they trooped into the equipment room. “Let’s have them fearing for their blood from the moment they see us.” He dipped his hand into the bucket and pulled it out covered in red paint, which he smeared across his face. He dipped it again, and smeared more on his face, then put the bucket on the floor and began to paint his arms as well.

The Black Crag guards eagerly crowded around the bucket and began to smear paint on themselves and one another. “You are going to be the nightmare the Conglomerate soldiers will never forget. Are you ready to start taking positions?” he asked.

Moving in pairs, Alec transported the crimson guards to the roof of the Conglomerate headquarters. “I’ll transport archers to the roof of that building and that one,” Alec pointed to the buildings he had visited the night before, “then I’ll return here and we’ll go downstairs to kill and capture as many as we can, and drive the rest of them out the doors to be picked off by the archers,” he explained, then disappeared.

He spent the next hour carrying pairs of guards to the designated rooftops, then traveling back to his painted companions.
Bethany, Rahm, we’re going to start now
, he sent a message.
Caitlen, we’re going to start bringing your revenge
, he sent a last message to the princess, then he climbed down the ladder to the third floor and began to lead the rout of the Conglomerate military leadership in Vincennes. He was worn out by the strain of so much translocating, and recognized that he would be limited in how much more energy he could use in battle.

Alec threw knives to kill the guards outside office doors along the first hall they came to, then sent pairs of red-faced guards into each office to kill or capture the occupants. The sounds of shouts and clashes began to emanate from the rooms on the floor, and Alec turned the corner with his sword drawn in his right hand and the mace hanging loose from his left. A handful of Conglomerate guards were complacently walking down the hallway towards him to investigate the noises, and at his sudden appearance they froze in place, stunned by the bloody red appearance of the armed man before them.

With a war scream Alec charged towards them swinging the mace in a head-level lethal orbit and slicing his sword down low at their legs. He destroyed the small squad that was squeezed together in the narrow hall as doors opened and closed with the noise of combat, then Alec waited for his squad to catch up. They appeared with no captives, and searched his hall, leaving each office empty of survivors.

“
We would benefit from a couple of captives downstairs, officers who could give us information about the Conglomerate plans and forces,” he hinted strongly. “You and you,” he picked out two of the guards at random, “each have to give me an officer when we’re done with this place.”

There were boots stomping up the stairs towards them, and Alec lead the charge toward the staircase, where they fought their way downstairs against an increasing tide of resistance from Conglomerate forces. The whole building had obviously become aware of the battle raging within, and Alec was determined to overcome the opposition so that he could emerge with captives and knowledge about the Conglomerate leadership.

Mulvane, take three guards and go right down the hallway. I’ll keep the rest of this rabble tied down at the staircase
, Alec sent a mental message. He re-engaged his Warrior powers and began to swing the mace with lethal effectiveness, knocking numerous men to the ground as he heard Mulvane and her followers start rampaging into the offices of the second floor. The landing above the stairs from the first floor was wide enough for the two remaining Black Crag guards to join Alec in battle, increasing the number of fatalities the Conglomerate forces absorbed. At the bottom of the stairs Alec saw some soldiers starting to back away, and he knew that the archers he had placed outside would be busy within moments if they hadn’t already started firing their arrows.

There would be no mercy shown, Alec knew, remembering the many angry comments he had heard about the Conglomerate violation of the Spring Festival truce, when a number of Caitlen’s guards had been treacherously killed. As he swung the mace back and forth the defending troops at the top of the steps began to try to flee backwards, and the whole mass of men collapsed downward, their panic and gravity combining to sweep the top half of the staircase clear. Alec plunged downwards with his two red-faced companions, and those who were able to flee from him did so, only to join a screaming mob of injured and dying men outside as a rain of arrows descended on all who tried to escape.