The Journey Home: The Ingenairii Series: Beyond the Twenty Cities (20 page)

“I want you to take this out of my head, Alec,” she said.  “You figure out how to do it.  We’ll have plenty of time on the journey to take these girls back to their homes.”

“I’m not going back,” he said quietly.  “I’ll count on you to take them home.”

“What the tarn do you mean, you’re not going back, for the love of heaven?” she asked incredulously.  “What else is there to do?  Stay here and watch this city die?”

“I’m going to go after them, the Warriors,” he said evenly.  “They shouldn’t be allowed to get away with what they did.”

“How will you find them?  They’ve gone Alec; there’s just the two of them to
track – they won’t leave such an easy-to-
follow trail as they did before,
without all the girls,
” Andi was standing again.

“I know where they’re going,” he said evenly.  “Either they’re going back to the Dominion or they’re going to Michian.”

Recognition dawned in Andi’s eyes, then they hardened.  “You can’t cou
nt on me to take the girls home;
you’ll have to let Amane do it; I’m going to go with you.  I want my revenge, Alec, and I won’t bother you and the tree while we’re traveling in return for the chance to even the score.”

“I don’t know if Aja will go with me or not.  She’s just been traveling with me up to now, but I don’t think she has any roots of her own.  She’s not my lover, and neither of us have that intention,” Alec replied.  “And I understand your desire for revenge, Andi.  I will grant you that right, but I want you to think about it, because you need to consider that I may never go back to Avonellene after this is over.  Do you want t
o
go all the way west and become an exile, the way I have been in the Avonellene Empire?”

“I’ll know how to get home when we’re done,” she objected
“whereas you didn’t know the way until now
. 

“
I know, the Dominion is your home, or it was centuries ago.  What kind of home would that be for you now though, Alec?” she asked.

“I’ll find out.  It’s not something that has to be decided at this moment,” he answered.  “But there’s nothing written on my heart that urges me to return to Valeriane or Vincennes or even Ridgeclimb when this is all over.”

She breathed deeply.  “We should go downstairs.  All the girls are there; they want to know how quickly they can be returned to their homes,” she warned him.  “As much as anything, they want to get out of this dying city.”

“They may have to wait a few days.  We can’t just send them out into the world without some preparation,” he said as he stood and went to the door of the room.

Together they went downstairs, listening to the sound of Aja singing a joyful song in the public room, as a boisterous crowd thumped tables and sang the chorus along with Aja.  Alec and Andi entered the back of the room, to be immediately recognized by Aja, who stopped her song mid-phrase, and announced, “here’s someone who really deserves applause – there’s our own hero, Alec!” she pointed to the back of the room, and all heads swiveled around to see him.  While the local people who were in the tavern for entertainment clapped politely, unaware of the day’s actions, the kidnapped girls all stood and cheered as they swarmed towards Alec and pressed him backwards into the hall with the crush of their attention and gratitude.

After shouts and cries of thanks, the calls began to turn to questions about leaving.

“We’ll work out details in the next day or two.  Just relax and enjoy your freedom tonight, everyone,” he told them repeatedly, and eventually persuaded them all but Kriste to go back to the tavern.

“Kriste,” he said, commandeering a private room for Kriste, Andi, and himself to sit in, “we will prepare you for the trip back home, but neither of us are going to go with you.  Do you think that your group of girls will be able to travel hundreds of miles together to return everyone to their homes?”

“Why won’t you come with us?” Kriste looked back and forth between the two.

“We’re going to go track down the kidnappers and get revenge,” Alec replied, and they carried on a conversation about the trip home and preparations needed.  After the conversation, Kriste left, and
as soon as she did,
Andi left the room immediately,
leaving Alec alone as she went
out of the inn to the square in the front.  Alec looked out the wind
ow and watched her stand in solitary isolation
in the square, looking up at the sky.

He heard another round of applause from the public room, and then a pushing of furniture and murmur of people moving about in the room.  Aja must have announced a break, he realized.

Andi came back into the building and returned to the room where Alec stood in the dark.   “I remember we had a new moon not long ago, and the moon is about three quarters now.  We should have a full moon in three days or so.  You can have your
dutiful kiss with me, then your
romantic kiss with Aja
,
and then we’ll be on our way.  Good night, Alec,” she said emotionlessly, and left him alone.  He stood in the room for a long time in the darkness, wishing that he knew what to do, then shrugged and went up to his bedroom, closed the door, and went to sleep.

When he awoke the next morning it was from Aja’s poke in his ribs.  “I’m sorry to wake you early, but I haven’t been able to talk to you for a day or so, especially after all your heroics!  I miss chatting with you,” she said as she settled onto his mattress, sitting cross-legged.  “I wasn’t sure you’d be in bed alone, from what Amane said about you and Andi.”

Alec sat up and rubbed his eyes.  “What could Amane have to say about Andi and I?” Alec asked, then wished he hadn’t.  It made no difference what Amane of all people said, he reminded himself.

“He said that the two of you used to be closer than bark on a tree, but after you had a head wound, you rejected her, while she still pines for you,” Aja answered.

“Let’s not talk about Andi and me,” Alec asked.  “How late did you sing last night?  Did you keep all those girls entertained?  Was it fun?” he asked.

“It was!  We have been up so late – some of the girls just went to bed a couple of hours ago.  We were talking and singing forever, even after the public room closed.  They all said such amazing things about how you rescued them Alec!  Of course I topped them all when I told them your blood had been in me – that story amazed them,” she smiled.

“Are you going to be ready to go back to the Twenty Cities?” he asked.

“I’m ready to go wherever you want me to go,” she said calmly.  “I trust no one more than you.”

Alec reached out and took her hand. 
I am not going back.  I am going on to pursue the vile kidnappers, and to serve justice on them.  I do not think you should travel with me any longer Aja, for your own safety.  I want you to travel with the girls who are returning to their homes, so that you can find a home in the Twenty Cities, at a safe place.

Tears formed in Aja’s eyes. 
I will never find a companion as wonderful as you to travel with, my lord.

You will find that there are great and good things out there in the world, waiting for you to discover,
Alec tried to comfort her.
 
And you will bring good cheer to everyone you meet.

When will we part ways?  Will you do one thing for me before we separate?
she asked.

I will do anything I can for you,
Alec pledged.

Will you share your blood with me again?  Will you make me a real person so that I can see the sunlight every day?
she pleaded.

Alec closed his eyes. 
I will share my blood with you all night tomorrow, and the night after that if we are still here together.  I cannot promise that it will be enough,
he pledged.

All I ask of you is that you try.  I know you will do your best,
Aja said gratefully.  She rose from the bed, bent and kissed him, then went to the corner and transformed into her arboreal form once again, leaving Alec
alone to
feel the weight of another debt promised for payment.

Awake and full of thought, Alec got dressed and went down to the kitchen of the inn.  A single girl was attempting to prepare the meal, and Alec could tell that she was slowed by the early stages of the plague, but continued at her job without complaint.  “Let me do something,” he offered as he stood in the doorway and watched her struggle to lift a heavy pail of water.

Alec took the pail from her, and carried it to the tub she wished to fill.  After he poured it for her he turned to the girl and took her hand, then released his energy, healing away the sores and infection and the malfunctions that were beginning to control her organs.

“Thank you, master,” the girl bowed to him on the spot.  “I heard that there was a great one like the old legends staying here, but I would not have believed it.  Your power is even greater
than
that
of
the lord at the hospital, using the honored pendant to heal the sick.”

“What pendant is that?” Alec asked.

“The city has a great treasure, a collection of ancient
pendants that
have been here since the very first days of the city.  One of them has the power to produce miraculous healing, and they are using it at the hospital to try to treat those they can,” the girl said.  “A kitchen girl like me would never be worthy among all the others they have to heal.  That’s why it is so wonderful for you to share your ability with me,” she finished.

“My pleasure,” Alec answered, distracted by her information.  “Which way is the hospital?” he asked.

She gave directions which Alec promptly followed, so that before the full disk of the sun had cleared the horizon, Alec had traveled along the dismal streets of the city to find the hospital, where large groups of people were camped and waiting, both those who were ill and those who had loved ones within.  There was no security, and Alec was able to walk in and move freely within the building, walking up and down hallways, finding few orderlies or nurses in evidence.

He eventually stopped a healthy looking person, and asked if there was someone with a pendant in the building.

“They’re keeping the pendant up on the fourth floor, where the guards are,” the other person replied, a nurse who appeared haggard and worn.  Alec
thanked him, then
reached out and left the astonished man with a boost of Healing energy that removed his fatigue.

At the top of the staircase leading to the fourth floor, Alec saw a quartet of guards.  A large group of supplicants were halfway up the stairs, begging for help, and being held back by the guards.  With a few moments
’
effort, Alec became invisible and then floated on air above the crowd and over the guards, to land on the floor several feet behind the ongoing confrontation.  He remained invisible as he walked about in the hall, and at last
discovered
a small team of people, a half dozen in number, traveling together from room to room in one corridor.

He entered a room just behind them to observe what they did.  One of the party was the person in charge, the person who walked up to the ill patient they had come to visit.  That person wore a golden pendant that Alec could
clearly
see hanging on his chest, as he reached for the hand of the patient, a middle-aged woman.  The pendant wearer, closed his eyes, and Alec saw that his lips moved soundlessly as he seemed to recite some words of meaning, while the entourage all stood and watched the woman in the bed.  Over a timeframe of close to five minutes Alec observed the condition of the patient improve, then one of the observers tapped the pendant-wearer on the shoulder.  His eyes opened, he looked down at the patient, then released the woman’s hand.

“Thank you, my lord,” the patient said with heartfelt tears of joy.  She looked much healthier tha
n
she had before the treatment, yet to Alec’s eye her healing appeared incomplete.  He examined her closely with his Healer vision as the group of healers began to leave the room, and discovered that she had been healed only to a point from which her body could pick up the effort to finish her recovery on her own over the course of another day or two.

It was an imperfect process, Alec thought, but perhaps the best the group could accomplish with whatever degree of Healing they were able to coax from the pendant.  It was certainly better than the alternative of having no pendant or healing capacity at all.  Yet the time it took meant that they could process people at a rate of no more than ten or a dozen patients in an hour, less than half the speed with which Alec could heal similar patients if his energies were at their fullest capacity.

He looked at the patient in the bed, now alone except for his own invisible presence.  He reached out a hand and touched her foot, then allowed a brief flow of his energies to complete her healing.  The woman’s head jerked up in startlement, and she looked at her foot, then around the room, then up at the ceiling, and closed her eyes again.  He thought about the plight of the city – the squalling children, the fleeing refugees, the dead bodies.  The pendant was better than
nothing at all, but would make
n
o
discernable difference in the fate of the people, he knew with sickening certainty.