The Journey Home: The Ingenairii Series: Beyond the Twenty Cities (22 page)

“It’s another day you need to rest,” Andi spoke gently.  He opened his eyes in a dim room, his room at the Red Horse Inn.

“Did it work?” he asked her, turning his head, then wincing at the pain from the motion, as a searing headache tore through his skull.  He saw her wince as well.

“Don’t move anymore, please,” she told him.  “Yes, it worked.  You created a fountain with miraculous waters that heal.  Everyone in the city is drinking the water and dipping cups of it to take home.  The city is saved, at least from the plague.

“You are the demigod hero you want to be, my dear,” she said pleasantly, though even in his pain Alec could sense the hurt she felt from him.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

She paused momentarily, surprised by the question.  “I am fine,” she said flatly.

Alec closed his eyes and breathed deeply.  “Could you bring enough of the fountain water up here for me to bathe in?”

“The staff of the hotel will be only too happy to do that for you.  I’ll go ask them to start right now,” she said and she started to stand.

“Andi,” he said, and his hand slowly lifted from the mattress seeking hers.

She hesitated, then reached her own hand towards his, clasping it tightly.

He squeezed it for a moment. 
I didn’t mean to hurt you when I pushed you Andi.  I was trying to protect you from the explosion.  I didn’t want you to get hurt,
he weakly sent the message to her spirit.

I realized that, when I woke up two days later,
she told him, a combination of forgiveness, shyness, and anger in her tone.

“I’ll go get your bath started,” she said, releasing his hand and leaving the room.

Within minutes, men were carrying pails of water to the room and three burly workers carried a large trough into the room, placing it in the corner where Aja had stood as a tree.  Only then did Alec realize the room was empty of her leafy presence.  Bucket after bucket was hurriedly poured into the trough, as the men stole covert glances at Alec in their passage through the room, until Andi told them the water level was satisfactory.

“It’s going to hurt to carry you over to the water,” she warned, once the room was empty and the door closed.  She stooped down next to him and pulled away the covers.  He slowly glanced down briefly and saw the welter of cuts and scrapes that covered his body, then nearly passed out in pain as she slipped her arms beneath him and lifted him.  He gasped repeatedly, until she lowered him cautiously into the water, and then rose from her crouch, leaving him deposited within the trough.

The water was a relief.  It felt energetic and soothing.  He closed his eyes and relaxed, then cautiously raised his hand for Andi, and grasped her fingers when she touched him. 
I remember the first time I bathed in the water from the fountain, he told her,
dreamy from his weariness and pain
.  It healed everything but the demon scars.

Is that what those new marks are on your chest?
she asked.

He thought for a moment, recollecting the events of the recent past. 
Yes, in the village in Birnam Forest, a demon came forth without warning, and we fought.

That was what made you feel so frightened in the forest, the demon?  I felt your soul shake when something awful happened, and then you shut down completely, for days.  That’s when I thought you had died and I took Amane with me to go in pursuit of the girls,
she explained.

If you travel with me, you may see one yourself
,
Andi
, he warned. 
Those ingenairii who threw you off the bridge, they used the name of one of the Michian gods who relied on demon worship in the past.

You’d be better off in that regard going back to the Twenty Cities, protecting the girls on their way home,
he advised.

You’ll have to wait a little longer to be rid of me Alec.  That road is no longer an option.  I sent the girls on their way home three days ago.  The head of the city here is so grateful for your fountain, he provided a
squad of
guards to protect them, and of course they have the mighty Amane with them,
she said. 
And your tree love went with them as well, I’m sorry to tell you.

Her tone did not convey sincere regret about passing along the news of Aja’s departure, he thought.

“I told her she should not go any further with me, and she accepted that,” he said calmly, speaking out loud.  “But I was going to share my blood with her, to see if we could alter her nature, and make her human at all hours of the day.”

Andi released his hand.  “She bathed in your fountain water, and drank it, and she did not become a tree thereafter.  She took several casks of the water with her.

“She said to tell you good bye,” Andi added.  A long moment of silence followed.  “She’s gone; I might as say it all.  She said to tell you she loved you.”

“I love her too, Andi, but not for her body.  We never had any physical relationship,” he stopped, deciding that he didn’t need to explain any further to the Black Crag guard.  They had conversed closely and warmly for a while, but suddenly the walls between them were up again.

“How many days have I been unconscious?” he asked, his eyes closed again as he rested his head on the lip of the tub.  He was feeling stronger already, absorbing the energy from the bath water, and healing.

“Five days,” she said shortly, leaving Alec to quickly calculate in silence.

“So the full moon has come and gone?” he asked for confirmation.

“Gone for another twenty four days,” she agreed.

“I’ll be ready to leave tomorrow,” he told her.  “Will you be ready to go?”

“I’ll be right there with you, if you really think you’ll be able to travel that soon,” she answered.  “I think I’ll go get some fresh air.  You’ll be alright here by yourself for a little while?” she asked, seeming suddenly eager to leave the room.

“Go on,” he answered.  “Go enjoy yourself.  I appreciate you watching over me.”

“Lord knows I don’t have any choice,” she muttered as she closed the door behind her, and then she was gone.

Alec laid his head back and closed his eyes, frustrated once again by the relationship he had with the prickly girl.   It was an issue he would have to deal with for several more days, but, he decided, he didn’t need to worry about it any further that evening – all he needed to do was let his body heal.   He took a deep breath, forced himself to relax, and quickly fell asleep.

When he awoke in the morning, his body felt completely different.  Someone, Andi, he suspected, had changed his bath water in the course of the night while he slept soundly in the tub.  The buckets of extra water that had sat by his trough were empty, while other buckets full of water stood by the door.

The water had done its trick; he pressed himself upward out of the tub with his arms, and felt no more than a few small, lingering aches, the rest of the damage to his body having been soaked away by the magnificent waters of the fountain.  It was his fountain, and in a sense it was his own energies being brought back to heal his own body.  Alec pulled his pants on, then opened the door to the hallway, and left his room, walking to the end of the hall where a window looked out over the great square that was at the heart of the city.  He had given the square a new heart of its own, the fountain, and he desired to see it flowing with life.

The square held a great number of people, residents who stood in a long, snaking line that coursed about the paved space, the crowd held in place by strategically located guards who kept order.  Every one of the hundreds of people he saw held a container to take a portion of the water from the square, buckets and pails, skins, jars, even bowls – all were to be put to work to collect the fluid that Alec saw glinting in the sunlight as it gushed up from the fountain.  There was no evidence that enough of the water escaped capture to constitute a steady flow of water out of the square.

“My lord,” a voice behind him startled Alec, and he turned to see a servant down on his knees awaiting him.

“My lord,” the man repeated, “the master of the house asks if there is anything at all you desire.  You have only to name it and we will provide it for you.”

“I desire that no one kneel before me,” Alec answered.  “I’ll be downstairs soon for breakfast.  Can you tell me where the woman is who cared for me?”

“Milady Andi is already at the breakfast table,” the servant answered.

“Thank you.  I’ll be right down,” Alec answered, and he went back to his room to pull on a shirt and boots.  Dressed, he went downstairs, realizing that he felt a tremendous hunger, the result of his five-day fast.  He stepped into the public room, where he saw Andi sitting at a table, enjoying the companionship of two men dressed in uniforms, surrounded by many other tables that were crowded with people enjoying meals.

“That’s him,” he heard a whisper, and a pair of hands began to clap, then suddenly everyone in the room was on their feet applauding him.

Embarrassed, Alec waved his hand over his head, and motioned for everyone to sit down, then walked over to Andi’s table.  The two guardsmen stood hurriedly.  “Our apologies, my lord, we didn’t mean to trespass upon your lady’s space,” one of them said with sincere remorse.

“You meant no harm, and none was taken.   Andi is my companion, but not my lady, and is entitled to any company she wishes to share her table with,” he politely answered.

“Have a seat, Alec,” Andi told him.  “Order your breakfast.  These men were just telling me about the road the two escaped kidnappers took out of town.  They rode their horses right through the Boundary Lake lines of defense and into the lacertii lines, apparently fighting their way through both.”

“So you know what road we should follow?” Alec asked her.  A waiter came to the table, and offered to bring bread and lamb chops and fresh fruit for Alec’s breakfast, all of which Alec agreed to.

“I can go out early with the officers here and look over the road, if you want to come out later, after you eat your breakfast,” she told him.  “I’ve already eaten.”  She stood, drawing puzzled stares from the officers.

“Wouldn’t you rather stay with his lordship?” one of them asked in a low voice.

“I’m sure I’ll enjoy your comp
any for now;
I’ll have enough of him later,” Andi replied in a friendly tone.  “What direction should Alec come to find us?” she asked him.

“You should follow the western road to the first branching, then go south,” the officer said deferentially to Alec.  Both the officers saluted him and then were hastily gone, pressed along by Andi, so that Alec sat alone at his table as his breakfast was delivered.  He ate his food a bite or two at a time, constantly interrupted by some grateful person who came to tell him about a life that had been saved through the creation of the fountain.

After graciously accepting all the thanks and finishing his meal, Alec was told by the waiter that there was no charge for the meal, and he left to return to his room to pack.  He pulled his meager collection of belongings together, made sure he had the two containers of salve for his now-delayed moonlight kiss with Andi, then saw the water pendant on the table beside his bed.

He’d forgotten it; and he felt that he had to return it.  There was the other pendant as well, he realized, the lustful one he had hidden.  He could return them both to their proper place, and then be on his way.  He pulled his bandolier of knives over his shoulder, pulled his pack on, then went down the back stairs and snuck out of the inn, not wanting any further attention.  He stepped into the alleyway where he retrieved the other pendant from its hiding place, then walked in a wide circle around the edge of the square, skittering away from other people, especially women, while he held the lust pendant.

At the bottom of the stairs to the city hall building, he saw the same woman guard he had seen on duty twice before.  He cloaked himself in invisibility, drawing startled oaths from some of the people nearby, then dashed up the stairs past the unsuspecting guard.  Within the building be became visible once more, and climbed upwards towards the room where the great marble stand held the shiny metal tray.  He reached the tray and stood before it, studying it as he held the pendants above it, ready to place them in the indentations designed to hold them.

It was a marvelous tool, he realized, and a generous one, a way that some race of great ancients had discovered to extend their power to anyone.  He lowered the two pendants in their places, then turned and left the hall.  He went downstairs and outside, looked up at the sun to get his bearing, then headed west out of the square, following a road that took him to the western city gate and out into the land beyond the city, a wide plateau that provided the farm lands that fed the city, and that was bordered at some distance by tall mountains, peaks so tall that they still sported snowy caps.

He was no more than a couple of hours behind Andi, and nearly a week behind the kidnapping Warrior ingenairii who were his ultimate goal.  The sun was shining and the day promised to be a good one weather wise.  He and Andi would march through the lines of Boundary Lakes, then penetrate the lines of the lacertii, by one of two ways.  Either Alec would cloak them in invisibility, which would require a constant use of his powers, but not an unsustainable use, or he could use his Healer energy to change his appearance and Andi’s to make them each appear to be lacertii.  He’d studied the lacertii physiology once before, a long time ago, and he remembered that despite the great difference in appearance, there was very little difference in the make-up of their bodies.