Against the Empire: The Dominion and Michian (19 page)

When their turn came, Rief got out before Alec. He understood that she would be his companion, presumably his own servant for the night’s adventure, and he motioned with a sweep of his arm for her to lead the way. She promptly stepped forward through the crowd, and Alec followed, shouldering and jostling to keep up in the swarm of brightly clothed people who were milling in all directions. They quickly caught up with a large knot of other Indige clan members, and Rief discretely maneuvered Alec in front of her and into the clan group that was walking as a unit along a paved riverside roadway.

Bright torches illuminated the entire area, and food vendors and other merchants had tables and tents set up haphazardly along the side of the route. The air was heavy with scents – cooking food, scented oil from torches, cooking fires, and the perfumes of ladies. Alec felt overwhelmed by all the sensory overload he was experiencing, and he stayed as close to Rief as possible.

“Krayo,” Reast said as a large group in red appeared, “may I introduce our new clan healer?” he pulled Alec up front beside him. “The boy is a natural talent. Had two healings the first hour we selected him! And he’s a mute. Can’t say a word; doesn’t have a tongue. Good to see you. All hail the emperor,” Alec’s leader finished his quick monologue, and they proceeded to move along.

Time and again, Reast repeated the demonstration, exhibiting Alec as a shield against any other topic being raised. After an hour’s time they had walked nearly a mile, and came to a large, golden tent, rising from a foundation on the river bank above them, where several people were sitting on a balcony overlooking the festival. Abruptly, everyone on Alec’s group knelt in homage to someone on the balcony, and Alec clumsily imitated them, staying down on his knee until he heard others start to rise.

“Sharlan was right there on the emperor’s patio!” someone said indignantly to Reast.

“He put on a stupendous show today,” Reast said calmly. “We have to acknowledge that and move on.”

A few minutes later, they came to the end of the brightly lit promenade. “Thank you for remaining with the clan,” Reast said. “You all may go now to pursue your own pleasures. The carriages will depart as they fill up, and the last wagon will leave at midnight, whether it’s full, empty, or anything else. How you get home after that is your own matter!” he laughed, reached out and tousled Cander’s hair affectionately, and watched as people started walking away.

Rief took Alec by the hand, and led him to Reast. She bowed slightly. “Clan leader, our new healer is without coin, I believe. May he have some tokens to purchase food and drink?”

“And he’s claimed you for the night already, eh?” Reast said. “Well, that’s good. I wouldn’t want Troona or Rewas getting their claws into him too soon. Here,” he dropped several coins in her hand, “Take him around and let him enjoy the promenade. By the by, healer, I tried your tea, and my throat feels better already!” he gave a warm smile, and turned to talk to someone else waiting on him.

Together Rief and Alec walked slowly along the promenade. “Here, try this,” Rief said, exchanging a coin for two small pies from a vendor. Alec bit into the warm flaky crust, and tasted a sweet, juicy berry filling, with a flavor he enjoyed but did not know. He found that the absence of a tongue made it surprisingly difficult to eat, so that he had to tilt his head at times to position the food. He smiled in appreciation, then ate the rest of the pie.

He pulled Rief behind him hurriedly moments later as he saw two lion-sized cats approach. Rief spun around, saw the animals and laughed. “Look,” she pointed at the thin leashes Alec had not noticed, as the animals were walking ahead of four men in robes with blue and green waves.

Alec grinned, and they started walking again. He saw a vendor selling clothing for ladies, including dainty pairs of gloves. Thinking of his hand, he walked over and picked up a pair.

“
They’re not your size, healer, and lace doesn’t look right on a man,” Rief told him. “Do you have gloves for men?” she asked the vendor. He gave a puzzled look, then found a pair of work gloves. Rief looked at Alec, who nodded his head, eager for something to cover his strangely altered left hand. Rief arranged a price, paid it, and watched Alec pull the left glove on. He was relieved to have a way to hide the scars and to prevent the hand from jolting him with frequent exposure to the character of the people he touched. Rief gave a shrug. “I hope that helps,” she said, and they started walking again, until she stopped and bought two skins to drink. It was wine, Alec realized with a sputter as he tasted it and started coughing.

“Want something else?” Rief asked with a laugh. Alec nodded. “Beer? Whiskey? Berry juice?” she listed options until Alec nodded yes, and she purchased a new skin for him.

She continued to drink her own wine, and grew more garrulous as they walked. “You’re so easy to talk to; you never interrupt!” she giggled as she described growing up as the daughter of a slave. “I was sold to the Indige clan when I turned 16, three years ago. They’ve treated me well; better than most slaves get treated, I know.

“They’ve certainly taken to you! Timing is everything, my mother told me. You certainly showed up at the parade at the right time, and helping the clan leader’s son was the right thing to do.

Oh heavens! That man over there, the one with the yellow turban – no! Don’t stare. He was the first boy to kiss me,” she blurted out. “Hello, Laver,” she said as he stepped across the road to intersect her and Alec. He appeared to be slightly older than she was, and three other yellow-clad men followed.

“Rief, you must be so upset to have been sold from Canare to Indige,” Laver said to the girl, ignoring Alec. “Give me a kiss and I’ll arrange for you to be bought back.”

Alec looked at Rief, trying to figure out what dynamics were underway. He suddenly had a sense of unease, and another of confidence, and another of hostility, feelings that he realized he was detecting in the people around him through the normal spiritual ingenaire way, not through his extraordinary hand. He placed a hand on Rief’s elbow, and the uneasiness became much stronger.

“Don’t try anything foolish, son,” Laver told him immediately. “I’m just having a friendly conversation.

“Come up here with me, Rief, so we can talk,” Laver said. He grabbed her other arm, and began to pull her away from Alec, towards a grove of trees and underbrush on the riverbank, as she looked back over her shoulder at Alec with a look of panic on her face. Alec knew he wasn’t going to let the poor girl suffer. He remembered John Mark’s admonition to do good and to do better, and he knew he had to take action to prevent this violence.

Alec stepped forward and grabbed Laver’s arm, causing the man to look in astonishment at him. “Healer, don’t! Don’t get yourself in any trouble,” Rief said, her voice unnaturally high-pitched and her face pale.

I’ll count to two, and you better not be in sight,” Laver said through gritted teeth. He looked significantly at his companions. “One, two,” he counted quickly.

Alec heard a footstep behind him. He released his hold on Laver and turned around, his warrior energies coming to full capacity. One of the three attackers, the heaviest one, swung a heavy fist at Alec’s head as he turned to face the assailants. Alec dodged the fist, grabbed it and pulled it forward, raised his knee into the man’s midsection, then chopped his free hand down hard on the back of his neck, driving the man into the ground.

All around them, people instantly moved away, opening a wide circle of spectators to the confrontation. The other two men looked at their companion, suddenly on the ground, then looked at each other. They spread apart, and both pulled out knives. Alec looked over his shoulder at Rief and Laver, who hadn’t moved, then looked back at his opponents. He rushed at one in a feint that made the man jump back, then slid into the feet of the other, knocking him to the ground as Alec popped back up. But then he immediately fell with his knee jammed hard into the stomach of the assailant, wretched his knife away from him, and jumped back.

He faced the third man now. “Healer!” Rief screamed, and Alec turned to see Laver throwing a knife at him. Alec focused all his attention on the knife, bending away from it and catching the haft as it spun in the air past him.

With one knife in each hand, he threw them both at Laver’s feet, pinning the blades through the leather shoes to plant each foot immovably in place. He stamped a foot at the remaining assailant, who jumped, turned and ran at his movement.

The three thugs disposed of, Alec walked towards Laver, who still held Rief by the arm. Alec stopped when just five feet away and pointed at her. Laver snarled and released her roughly, shoving Rief towards Alec, who caught her in his arms and absorbed the force of her movement. Laver’s hand reached into his waistband and grabbed another knife, which he flicked forward from that level.

From such a short distance, Alec had no time to try to avoid the weapon. Instead, he twisted his body and Rief’s so that instead of plunging into the girl, the blade sank into his own shoulder.

He howled a guttural, inarticulate howl, and fell to his knees. “Oh healer!” Rief cried. A red stain began to bloom around the wound. Alec reached over and pulled the knife out. He was ready to murder Laver.

“What’s the trouble here?” a voice cried out.

“It’s the emperor’s patrol,” Rief told him. Alec understood from her tone that he wouldn’t be able to do anything to Laver now. He dropped the bloody blade he held, reached over and began to heal the depths of the wound, intending to allow the skin to remain visibly injured, but his healing powers abruptly quit working for him. He was startled by the sudden end to his healing, without warning, as if his access to his ingenaire energy had been cut off. Fortunately the shoulder was sufficiently repaired to be less painful, and he left the issue for the moment to deal with the events unfolding around him.

Several men in golden clothes began to arrive at the scene. “What’s the trouble here?” each repeated as they arrived at various parties – the injured men on the ground, witnesses in the crowd, Laver, and Alec and Rief.

“The emperor will be most displeased to hear of bad blood at his promenade,” one of them said loudly.

“It was the Canare that started it,” a voice in the crowd called out. “They took on the Indige lad and his lass four to one, and they were losing to the boy!”

“Is there a problem here?” a voice called from the crowd, and the witnesses instantly grew silent. A tall, imposing man in yellow stepped up to the apparent leader of the patrol.

“This boy started it!” Laver yelled. “Believe me Sharlan, there would have been no trouble but for him!”

“Patrol, shouldn’t you file a report, and help these men recover?” Sharlan asked. “There must be several Indige ruffians who ran away after beating these innocent men, and they need to face justice. The emperor needs to know that his festivity was so crudely interrupted.”

“Begging your pardon, clan leader, but the witnesses all clearly state that there was only this one Indige boy involved. We can go to the emperor immediately and let him know that one Indige beat four Canare, if you wish the report filed. Otherwise, I’d suggest everyone just get up, go your own ways, and don’t let it happen again,” the patrol leader said, clearly not planning to be intimidated. “Son,” he said to Alec, “will you be okay? Do we need to help you get to your clan healer?” he asked as a thundercloud of anger grew on Sharlan’s face.

“He’s just the healer,” Rief replied immediately. “Lucky for Laver and Canare we didn’t have any of our guards, or things might have gotten worse,” she taunted.

“Miss, why don’t you take the healer off a ways now,” the patrol leader said, not wanting any more trouble to erupt. “I’ll talk to the Canare for a few minutes while you walk away – promptly.”

Alec pushed Rief, and the two of them began to push through the crowd. “Way to go!” a person in green told him as he pressed by. “Indige rules!” another person called, and Rief waved her hand high over her head to the bystanders as they passed. Once they got through the crowd, she grabbed Alec’s hand and started running fast, dragging him along for two minutes until they were both out of breath and far from the scene of the fight. He awkwardly reached across his chest and tried to further heal the wound. His energies flowed unimpeded once more, allowing him to reduce the damage to the muscles. The strange interruption of power, inexplicable as it was, was over.