Preserving the Ingenairii (2 page)

Chapter 36 –
Battle
With
Ingenairii
              
                             
Page 202

Chapter 37 – Alec Fights for Jeswyne
                                         
Page 208

Chapter 38 – The Return to Real Time
                                       
Page 211

Chapter 39 – Alec Enters the Palace
                                            
Page 212

Chapter 40 – Alec and Bethany
        
              
                             
Page 218

Chapter 41 – A Spiritual Crisis
         
                                            
Page 222

Chapter 42 – Taking the Palace
       
                                            
Page 225

Chapter 43 – From the Palace to the Battlefront
                     
Page 232

Chapter 44 – Jeswyne’s Departure
 
                                            
Page 251

Chapter 45 – The Search for New Power
                                   
Page 262

       
Chapter 46 – Rescuing the Emperor
                                           
Page 269

       
Chapter 47 – Back to the Tournament
         
                             
Page 275

       
Chapter 48 – The Demon’s Wounds
             
                             
Page 291

Chapter 49 – A Third Tea Ceremony
             
                             
Page 293

Chapter 50 – At the Promenade
      
                                            
Page 305

       
Chapter 51 – Wounded by Scarle
                                                 
Page 308

       
Chapter 52 – Planning a Wedding
                                               
Page 311

       
Chapter 53 – Ghosts of the Past
                                                    
Page 319

Chapter 54 – A Ceremony Sabotaged
                                         
Page 322

Chapter 55 – The End of the Battle
                                              
Page 327

Chapter 56 – The Wedding Completed
                                      
Page 330

Chapter 57 – Unchanged Time
                                                     
Page 335

Chapter 58 – Affairs of State
                                                          
Page 344

List of Characters

The Dominion

Colonel Dearborn Ryder, Goldenfields Guard

Inga, Goldenfields Guard officer

Lewis, Goldenfields Guard officer

Alec, crown protector, healer and warrior ingenaire

Berlisle, cavalry member

Rashrew, militia leader

Aristotle, powerful ingenaire

Rander, Oyster Bay Palace Steward

Tritos, a stone ingenaire apprentice

Brandeis, one of the young male Locksfort cousins at Stronghold

Delle, one of the young male Locksfort cousins at Stronghold

Armilla, personal bodyguard of the crown protector

Bethany, Queen of the Dominion

Parnell, healer ingenairii leader

Nestor, young healer

Constance, young healer

Stracha, young healer

Givens, Goldenfields Guard member

Danel, Goldenfields Guard member

Pryce, Goldenfields Guard member

Lewis, Goldenfields Guard officer

Moab, Oyster Bay bodyguard

Holbanks, Sturgeon army officer

Field Marshall Ulltar, Dominion army leader

The Michian Empire

Mikhail, emperor of Michian

Sergey, brother of the emperor, father of Jeswyne

Lady Jessandra, Sergey’s wife

Anatoli, commander of the Guard in the Palace

Lieutenant Geni
, of the Palace Guard

Eduard, Sergey’s son

Duchess Bogdana, sister of the emperor

Leonyd, Bogdana’s husband

Kirill, leader of the Scarle clan

General Bronson, Michian army leader

My heart is full of gratitude to all the wonderful members of my family who have encouraged and assisted my struggles to write the books in the Ingenairii Series.
 
They are the true heroes of these volumes.

Prologue

In volume I,
Visions of Power
, Alec, a sixteen year old orphan boy, has seen his traveling carnival ambushed by monsters, the lacertii, in the Pale Mountains. Alec’s friends and fellow survivors, Aristotle and Natalie, have been driven in different directions from him.
 
Alec discovers a hidden, sacred cave, where he is given great, mystical powers (the powers of the healer ingenairii).
 
His powers provide the ability to perform miraculous healing services for the sick and wounded.

Alec travels with another refugee, a lady named Leah, and they leave the wilderness on a long raft journey.
 
When they arrive in the bustling metropolis of Goldenfields, Alec uses his powers to heal the mortally wounded ruler, Duke Toulon.
 
The young healer is rewarded by the Duke and adopted by the Duke’s highly-trained military force, the Guard.
 
Alec comes to learn swordsmanship under the tutelage of the Duke’s Guards, the best fighting force in the Dominion.

Alec is called to leave Goldenfields on an emergency medical mission, traveling to a military camp out in the wilderness, where he attempts to use his powers to heal a mortally wounded officer.
 
While there, Alec takes a desperate gamble to utilize the powers of nearby ingenairii, turning their abilities into extraordinary medical energies that achieve a miraculous cure.
 
But using those powers is something Alec is not ready for, and he suffers grave consequences.

Fleeing back to Goldenfields, Alec and others come to the realization that he has other hidden ingenaire powers that can be tapped, and he begins the training in fundamental use of ingenairii energies.

Alec’s close friendship with Inga, a member of the Guard, leads to malicious gossip that combines with an explosive scene in Alec’s healing home, the consequences of which cause Alec and Inga to separately leave Goldenfields at the end of
Visions of Power
.

Alec then travels to the capital of the Dominion, Oyster Bay, in volume 2,
At the Seat of Power
.
 
While there, Alec is reunited with Aristotle, whom he
discovers
is leader of the Ingenairii.
 
Alec also learns that the carnival dancer Natalie’s real name is Noranda, who has presumed him to be dead, and is now engaged to the son of the Duke of Goldenfields.
 
Alec lives upon Ingenairii Hill, the center of the powerful organization of the people who wield great and special powers.
 
Upon the Hill, Alec receives training that uncorks the tremendous warrior energies bottled up within.
 
As Alec grows acquainted with the people of Ingenairii Hill and Oyster Bay, he meets many friends, including a young water ingenaire, Bethany.

Before Alec can grow accustomed to the Hill, he is sent on an urgent mission back to Goldenfields to serve as the Duke’s personal bodyguard.
 
The city has grown troubled because an army of lacertii has opened warfare upon the outlying regions of Goldenfields.
 
That is followed by the murder of the king of the Dominion back in Oyster Bay, and then a coup attempt against the Duke.

Alec’s tremendous abilities are the key to rescuing the Duke and winning back control of the Goldenfields palace.
 
In the process of fighting, Alec receives a wound that appears mortal, and at the end of
At the Seat of Power
, Alec manages to work with others to miraculously heal his wound.

In volume 3,
The Loss of Power
, Alec struggles to learn how to be a leader in Goldenfields as Duke Toulon faces hostile forces on all sides of his duchy.
 
When Oyster Bay rebels begin to take over Bondell, Goldenfields’ neighbor to the west, Alec teams up with the Guard’s new cavalry to deliver a surprise raid that rescues hostages and overturns Oyster Bay’s forces, but in the process Alec overuses his ingenaire powers -- crippling himself severely.

Desperate to be healed, Alec rides off in search of a mythical holy place, where he has mystical visitations; he is partially healed, but also given obligations to overthrow the usurpers in Oyster Bay as well as to complete his healing of Noranda.

As Alec returns to Bondell, he finds that Oyster Bay has re-invaded the city.
 
Alec and the local militia wage an unlikely battle and defeat the invaders so that the prince of Bondell can regain his throne and resume his alliance with Goldenfields.

Alec leaves Bondell in single-minded pursuit of his goals, and arrives in Oyster Bay, alone.
 
He battles the corrupt noble classes, persuades the uncertain army to help him,
then
dramatically confronts the coup leaders from Ingenairii Hill, absorbing their energies in an explosive ending that wipes out those powerful malefactors.

              
In volume 4,
The Lifesaving Power
, Alec sneaks out of Oyster Bay, and journeys up the river incognito, arriving in Stronghold as the member of the crew of a merchant ship.
 
When the ship crew is attacked, they flee the city, and Alec journeys alone back to the city.
 
On his way he meets a group of Locksfort family youth on a camping outing, and falls in with them as an unlikely friend.
 
Back in stronghold, Alec solidifies his role as a friend, but then finds himself deep under the Locksfort compound, and in another conversation with John Mark, who limits his use of his powers.
 
Alec moves back to the Locksfort compound, and heals Noranda.
 
At the same time, the unscrupulous leadership of the Locksfort family realizes who he is, captures and then tortures him.
 
Alec eventually escapes and helps overthrow the leadership of the Locksforts, then leaves to return to Oyster Bay.