The Journey Home: The Ingenairii Series: Beyond the Twenty Cities (32 page)

“Let’s make this interesting now,” he said, and they teleported to the palace in Oyster Bay.

Chapter 18
– The First Visit to Oyster Bay

After their moments of nothingness in transit, Alec and Andi landed in a pitch black, warm enclosure that was redolent with organic odors.

“Oh Alec, where are we?” Andi placed her hand over her nose.

In response, a circle of small white lights began to dance overhead, revealing stables full of horses.  “We’re going to find the restorers and put them out of commission,” Alec said.

He began to lead Andi through the stables, discovering that the pens and stalls and aisles felt remarkably familiar even after centuries of absence.  They inspected one barn without finding any signs of restorers, then crossed an empty yard to a second building.  As soon as he opened the door and smelled the spicy atmosphere, Alec knew he had discovered his targets.  “Here we are Andi,” he said.

“Alec, wait,” Andi told him as he stood at the threshold.  “Look up there,” she gestured upward.

Alec looked at the full moon that hung overhead.  “Andi!  It’ll be tonight!” he said excitedly.  She reached for his hand and squeezed it tightly.

I’m so ready, Alec
, her spirit told his. 
I’ve waited so long
; I want to feel whole again, reunited with you
.

He smiled warmly, wondering what it would be like to feel the intimate knowledge of her that she held of him.  He released her hand.  “Let’s get these things done quickly,” he replied, and they entered the stables.

“Take a handful of this mix and give it to every restorer in the stalls on the left; I’ll treat the ones on the right,” he told his companion as he held the bag of herbs and sugar open.  He reached in and took a handful of the feed while a single dim bulb of light floated above them, providing a subtle, blue glow, and
they began their
task of giving each animal the treat that was greedily licked
up
.

There were a dozen and a half restorers in occupied stalls, and one empty stall.  “That must be for the one in Goldenfields,” Alec said.  “So if there’s only one empty stall, we’ve hopefully disabled the entire herd of restorers in the Dominion.”

“Won’t there be some that come here from Michian?” Andi asked.

“There will be sooner or later.  We probably have some time to get Goldenfields organized before anyone realizes there’s something happening here, and in the meantime we can go to Michian and give treats to all the restorers there,” Alec replied.  “Now, we ought to go to the palace and find Tonshire and Pegot, and take them home to Goldenfields.”  He led the way out of the barn, extinguished his lights, and cloaked them in invisibility.

They entered the palace throug
h a side door, and walked until
Alec stopped in the hallway.  “I know a shortcut to get to the residential wing,” he told Andi.  “We can go this way,” and he began to walk to the right, then went around a corner and stopped.  They had reached a large and busy kitchen area.  “I don’t remember this being here,” he said sheepishly.

“Things can change after nine hundred years,” Andi said with a twinkle in her eye.

“I haven’t been alive for nine hundred years!” Alec protested, then saw the grin on Andi’s face.

“Is there someone back there?” one of the k
itchen helpers asked, looking in
their location.

Alec nodded his head, turned around and went back the other direction.  They entered a main hall that appeared to lead through official drawing rooms, formal and well-tended.  Where their path intersected with a grand hall, they saw a pair of guards, as well as a maid carrying a tray of food.

“Why don’t we ask the maid how to get to the residential wing?” Andi asked softly.

“We don’t need to ask.  I lived here for a hundred years,” Alec replied.

“Is that why we were just in the kitchen?” Andi asked.

“Alright,” Alec snapped.  “We’ll follow the maid and ask her.”   He made good on the plan, and as soon as they were alone in a hallway with the maid, he released his Light energy and made them visible.

“Excuse me,” Andi called loudly, catching the maid’s attention.

“Yes, my lady,” the young girl replied, dropping a curtsy as she turned.

“Can you help us?  We’re lost, and this palace is so big!  We’re trying to find the Lady Tonshire and her daughter,” Andi explained.

“You’re as far as possible from where you should be!  How did you get here?” the maid asked.  “I can’t even give you directions.

“I’ll lead you there myself as soon as I deliver this tray to the viceroy,” the girl told them.  “If you’ll wait here I’ll be right back.”

They agreed and waited patiently for the girl to return, standing discreetly against the wall.  “I don’t know where we are,” Alec muttered more than once.  “How could they have messed up the palace so badly?”

Andi listened indulgently, and when the maid came they fell into step with her.  They received no challenges from the set of guards they had already seen at the first hallway intersection, but minutes later, after a pair of turns that Alec recognized and a pair that he didn’t recognize, a quartet of guards stopped them.

“No guests are permitted after sundown,” the lead guard spoke woodenly.

Andi raised the sleeve of her new red shirt and showed her ingenaire mark.  “No one?” she asked.

“My apologies, my lady,” the guard leader’s tone changed dramatically.  “I apologize for not recognizing you.  Please proceed,” he said as he instructed another guard to open the door for them.

“My lady,” the maid added as soon as they were through the door.  “I’m sorry I didn’t recognize you either.  I thought I knew all the Warrior ingenairii.  I should have taken you to see the viceroy.  My apologies, my lady,” she paid no attention to Alec, not having seen him display any ingenaire marks, as she was sure any ingenairii would do.

“We appreciate your help,” Andi said kindly.  “You’re doing just what we asked.  Lead on to Lady Tonshire, please.”

“You’re so much nicer than the other ingenairii,” the girl said, then stopped herself with a hand placed in front of her mouth, “no offense intended, ma’am.”

“None taken.  I’ve met many ingenairii I didn’t like, and some I really enjoy,” she slipped her hand into Alec’s as they began walking again.

Five minutes later they came to a small ballroom, from which many hallways dispersed.  “The lady guests are kept down that way,” the maid pointed down the hall to the left.  “I can’t tell you which door is hers, I’m afraid.”

“You can go now, my friend.  We’ll find her from here,” Andi replied as she dismissed the girl.  “Thank you for your help.”

“Let’s go knock on doors,” Alec said as soon as the girl was out of sight. They strolled down the hallway, one that was strangely decrepit in appearance, in contrast to everything else they had seen in the palace.  Paint was faded, the edges of the carpets were frayed, and faint shadowy residue of candle smoke remained above the wall-mounted sconces.

At random they knocked on a door, for all the doors along the hallway were closed.  “This could almost be the quarters where I used to live,” Alec said suddenly, just as there was a rattle at the door, and a girl opened it to greet them.

“May I help you?” the girl asked.  She appeared to be about Andi’s own age, in her early twenties.  Her complexion was fair, perhaps even pale.

Alec craned his neck to peer into the chamber, looking past the girl at the room beyond her, as Andi addressed her.  “We are trying to find the Lady Tonshire of Goldenfields, and her daughter Pegot.”

“Who are you?  Why do you want them?” the girl asked, then caught a glimpse of the mark on Andi’s arm, and her eyes grew large.

“We have done nothing wrong, my lady,” the girl told Andi earnestly, her voice rising in panic.  “We have remained obedient and calm.”

“Open the door and let us enter,” Andi told her.  “We are here with good news.”

A tear began to fall down the girl’s cheek in disbelief that there was any good likely to come from a visit by an ingenaire, but she opened the door wide and beckoned them in.

“Who was it Pegot?” a querulous voice asked from the inner room.

“We have visitors, mother,” the girl replied.  “It’s,” she hesitated, “an ingenaire and a man are here to see us.”  There was a soft moan from the other room.

“Can your mother join us here?” Alec asked.  He was convinced now that the room felt so familiar because he was in fact standing in his own former room from his long-ago days in the Dominion.

“Her health is failing,” Pegot replied.  “She has great difficulty moving.”

“You know, this used to be the king’s own room,” Alec said at last.  “You’re staying in a royal apartment.”

“That’s why we’re here.  It’s supposed to be bad luck.  The ingenairii and their viceroy will not take care of this wing of the palace.  They hope it will collapse someday, and do away with another reminder of Alec,” Pegot replied.  “Would you like to sit down?” she had regained her composure in the course of the small talk.

“No, I’d like to go see your mother instead,” Alec answered, taking a step past Pegot towards the bedroom.

She put a hand out to hold his shoulder momentarily.  “Please sir, let her be,” then she hastily jerked her hand away as she realized what she had done.  She went down on her knees.  “I apologize profoundly.”

Alec stopped, and extended his Spirit energy.  The girl was nervous, worried, full of pain and fear and sadness.  He reached a hand down to take hers, and helped her rise to her feet again.  “Do not fear or fret.  The Lord has sent you a friend tonight, and all your worries will be eased,” he said gently, looking into her eyes and projecting his sense of Spiritual comfort to her as he squeezed her hands.

“Now, let us go see your mother,” he suggested, then walked on past her and into the bedroom.

He stopped as he approached the bed.  The room stank of illness and disease.  An elderly woman lay in the bed, her face ravaged with a disease that appeared to be causing her flesh to decay while she was still alive.  “Oh Lord, help her,” Alec said softly.  He heard Andi gag from the stench when she entered the room behind him, while he took a step towards the ill woman and gently placed his hand on hers.

Tonshire’s eyes had been closed, but they flinched, then opened at Alec’s touch.  “Sshhh,” Alec gently hissed at her as he released his Healer energy into her body, a strong and steady stream of power that coursed through her body, treating the failing organs, as well as the multiple sores and wounds that festered.  He rid her of the infection, and strengthened her immune system, then as he finished the last medically necessary cures, he added gentle cosmetic touches by removing the gray from her hair and smoothing the worry lines from her skin.

“Come Pegot,” he called as he released Tonshire’s hand, “take your mother to the bathing tub and help her get cleaned up and dressed.  We’ve got a big night planned.”

“Pegot,” her mother said softly.  Tonshire raised her hands before her face, then flipped the filthy covers off her bed and hung her legs over the side.  “Pegot, I’m alive again!”  she said.  She looked up at Alec with tears in her eyes.  “My lord, what miracle have you brought?”

“Open that window, Andi, and we’ll freshen the place up,” Alec told his companion.  “I am honored to be at your service, my lady,” he told Tonshire.  “We have come to make your life better, and this is just the first step.  Please take your time and get cleaned up, and then we’re going to help you escape this place.”

“My lord,” Pegot spoke up quickly.  “Thank you for this miracle you’ve performed on my mother.  We are thankful beyond words.  But we cannot leave this place.  Our home in Goldenfields will suffer if we do not stay here as hostages.”

“If I told you that Goldenfields will be protected, that all the Dominion will be protected, would you agree to go with us?” Alec asked.

Tonshire stood up.  “I must go bathe and get this filth off.  Please let us talk and we will give you an answer,” the woman said.  She walked steadily around the bed and hugged her daughter in an emotional moment before the two walked into the bathing area together.

Andi stepped over to the window and opened the sash.  As soon as she did, Alec commenced to make a steady breeze of fresh air blow into the room and sweep away the fetid smell of Tonshire’s illness.

“That was an amazing healing, Alec,” Andi said.  “As soon as I saw her I started sensing all the things that were wrong, and I felt overwhelmed with all the different remedies that were going to be needed to try to treat her.  And then you just channel the energy in such a perfect manner.  I learned something just by watching.”

At that moment there was a pounding on the door.  “Open up!  Open up in the name of the viceroy,” a masculine voice commanded.

“Go see what they want,” Alec urged Andi, as he rendered himself invisible.

“We’re here to see Tonshire and Pegot.  They are reported to have an unauthorized guest,” a member of a small squad spoke commandingly as he inspected Andi upon her opening of the door.  “You’ll come with us now,” he said, reaching casually to grab her arm, only to start gagging and falling to the ground as a knife suddenly flew over Andi’s shoulder and landed in his windpipe.  Three other knives flew just as quickly and snuffed the lives of the other jailers.