Preserving the Ingenairii (27 page)

                Without protest, Alec fell into step with the rest of the soldiers, a unit from Goldenfields that had transferred from ships to marching on land and wasn’t happy about it.  Alec listened to their grumbling banter as they marched for miles, until sometime in mid-morning they came to a halt for a brief breakfast respite, and then were on the march again.  By the middle of the next day they had reached the front.  Alec had kept quiet and marched without resistance, quelling some of the suspicions that he was about to desert. Trust in Alec rose further when he volunteered to join a squad that was sent to the left flank of the battle lines to scout for a way around the corner of the Michian line that defended the outskirts of Frame.

                As the clouds finally cleared and the sun shone brightly, Alec watched the sergeant who was studying the map of the Frame district.  “You stay with me lad,” Givens, one of his large overseers, said without rancor.  “This situation could get hot.  Look at the way the sun is glinting off the swale over there.  That’s a lot of Michian soldiery tucked away up here for some reason.”

           
Alec saw the subdued yellow flashes that gleamed with every roll or twist or scratch by a Michian soldier who was lying on his stomach.
 
“Those are from the Canare clan,” he said half aloud, recognizing the clan from his few days spent in Michian.

“You know something about them?” Givens asked.
 
“Sergeant, our rookie says he knows what Michian clan we’ve got on the other side.
 
Are they any good?” he asked Alec.

“I think they’ll fight pretty well.
 
Michian has several major clans, and the Canare are usually one of the leaders,” Alec said cautiously.
 
“They’re men just like we are, and they’ll fight just like we do or they’ll run…just like we won’t,” he finished with a grin.

“What’s your name, boy?” the sergeant asked.

“I’m Al…Gordon,” Alec stumbled.

“What?” the sergeant looked at him sharply.

“Gordon.
 
My name is Gordon,” Alec firmly answered.

“Givens, you and Gordon take three more with you and see how far north we have to stretch to get around the end of the line,” the sergeant ordered.
 
“You two go back to headquarters and report that we’ve got at least three Michian companies trying to look like the background up here.
 
It must mean something,” he told two others, who promptly scrambled away.

Givens nodded at Alec and tapped others as he passed them and they headed around a clump of bushes to start probing the enemy lines.
 
They moved stealthily for half an hour,
then
cut back to the west, following a ditch that brought them back towards the front.
 
“Stay put.
 
I’m going to go look,” Givens told the others as he crawled up out of the mucky ditch bottom and disappeared.

Ten minutes later he returned.
 
“There’s a big knot of yellow and black up
here,
and nothing beyond that,” Givens gasped as he dropped down.
 
“We’ve found the end of the line.”

“What do you mean by yellow and black?” Alec asked as his stomach heaved.
 
He turned and vomited for several seconds.

“Are you alright?
 
Scared?” Givens asked as Alec wiped off his mouth.

“Were there people there dressed all in black, or were there just uniforms that had yellow and black mixed?” Alec rephrased his question.
 
He stuck his hand in his pocket and took comfort in the solid feel of his piece of the Cross.

“There were three people wearing all black.
 
The rest were wearing yellow,” Givens responded without concern.

“The black means they are sorcerers.
 
They’re the ones who call the demons,” Alec hissed.

The eyes of the other men grew suddenly wide, and Alec knew he had their attention.
 
“Were there any prisoners tied up anywhere?
 
They have to make a human sacrifice to call the demon to our world.”

“I didn’t notice, but I wasn’t looking,” Givens said.

“Send one man back now to let the sergeant know we’ve got sorcerers up here,” Alec suggested.
 
“Let’s go take a look to see what’s happening.”

Givens sent a soldier back to their main force, then led Alec and two others out of the ditch and towards the enemy lines.
 
Several hundred yards later they came to a tree line along an uncultivated field, and slunk along it to a point Givens picked.
 
“There they are,” he gestured at the two dozen men and women standing in the middle of a muddy field.

On the ground Alec saw three people trussed and tied in a way that left no doubt they were going to be sacrifices for a demonic ritual.
 
“We’ve got to kill those three before they call the demon,” Alec whispered.

“That’ll be suicide.
  
There are only four of us and twenty of them,” another soldier whispered.

“Not necessarily,” Alec hissed.
  
“Listen to me,” he urged as he laid out a hasty plan.

“Look Gordon, you’re a kid, not a soldier,” Givens responded.
  
“All you’ll do is
get
yourself killed instantly and us killed later.
 
We’re going back now.”

Alec pulled out a knife.
 
“Give me your bow,” he told one of the soldiers.
 
“I’m going to do this.
 
You can stay or go as you wish.”
 
The man hesitated, and Alec engaged his warrior powers to strike a shallow stab in the soldier’s arm faster than the others could follow, then grabbed the bow and quiver of arrows and began scurrying down the tree line further north.
 
When he was sufficiently clear of his companions he stopped and looked back, unable to see them through the brush.
 
He hoped they had stayed in place.

Taking the bow, he laid out the arrows on the ground beside him, took aim at a sorcerer,
then
let fly, shooting off a half dozen arrows within seconds.
 
He watched the three sorcerers tumble to the ground dead, along with an officer and two soldiers.
 
All the remaining Canare heads snapped up and began
swiveling,
and Alec began shooting more arrows at a slower rate, letting the Canare forces identify the direction he threatened from.
 
More soldiers died as they began to spread out and approach him.

Alec began to retreat.
 
His goal was to draw the Michian soldiers from the sacrificial hostages, and hope that Givens had stayed nearby to rescue the three trussed people, giving them a new lease on life.
 
Alec came to the end of the tree line, and realized he had only three arrows left for the ten people chasing him.
 
Arrows were notched and flying towards him.
 
A distant movement revealed that Givens and his companions were approaching the sacrifices, but the distraction cost Alec as he failed to dodge an arrow that pierced his upper right arm.

With the injury he could no longer use his bow to kill the rapidly approaching Michian squad.
 
He threw several of his knives left-handed, then pulled his sword and held it in his left-hand as the last members of the Canare squad cautiously surrounded him.

“Go back,” Alec told them.
 
“I will do you no more harm if you leave me alone.”
 
He swung his sword effectively, keeping them at bay.
 
“I know the Canare clan is honorable.
 
Don’t try to fight like this. Take your energy back and serve the emperor by battling Scarle or Indige.”

“What do you know about honor?
 
Shooting a bow and running?
 
Is that honor?” a leading swordsman sneered as he stabbed at Alec’s right side.

“It has more
honor
that hiding behind a demon, doesn’t it?” Alec said angrily as he swung a wide scything motion to protect himself.
 
His body was losing energy as the blood ran from his wound and the pain dulled his abilities.
 
Focusing closely, he managed to stab one man in the leg and rolled to a new position, and as he did so, only two Michian soldiers followed him.
 
With odds that he felt he could handle, Alec went on the offensive, striking down one man,
then
realizing that Givens had joined the battle, and the battle was over.

Alec slumped to the ground and dropped his sword.

“Good Lord!
 
Who are you?” Givens said, kneeling down beside him.
 
“You fought better with an arrow in your arm than anyone else would have fought without.

“Are you going to be okay?
 
What can I do to help?” he asked.

“Are the sacrifices okay?” Alec asked.
 
“Good,” he said when Givens nodded affirmatively.
 
“Break the arrow in my arm, and pull the pieces out,” he directed.

“Are you sure?” Givens asked.
 
“This will probably hurt,” he warned as he cracked the arrow shaft, jarring Alec’s arm painfully.
 
“I warned you,” Givens said defensively as Alec drew a sharp breath.

“Thank you,” Alec said.
 
He applied enough of his healing power to repair the muscles,
then
stopped in order to preserve his ingenaire strength.
 
Standing up, he walked over to a Michian corpse and tore off a piece of cloth to use as a bandage, then walked among the bodies, gathering up his knifes and collecting arrows.
 
At length he and the silent Givens met up with the other Dominion soldiers and the hostages.

“We should get back to the officers and let them know this threat is over,” Givens suggested, looking at Alec for confirmation.
 
Alec nodded agreement.

“The hostages are local folks,” one soldier said, gesturing towards them three who were huddled together.
 
“They say there were others who went with other black-robed sorcerers to another location.”

“That means there’s going to still be a demon among us soon,” Alec said with anguish.
 
“Let’s get going to warn the rest.”

Hurriedly they began moving back to the ditch and towards the Dominion forces they had left behind.
 
Running hurriedly, they kept low and eventually arrived back at the point they had started from; there was no one there.
 
“Where have they gone?” Alec asked Givens.

Givens looked at Alec,
then
looked around.
 
“We sent a messenger back telling them a demon was going to come from this end.
 
They probably began to evacuate to avoid the slaughter,” he said.

“Only now it turns out there’s another demon out there somewhere,” Alec said wearily.
 
“Do you know where the others were being taken?” he asked the hostages.
 
“They took my sister,” a boy answered as tears started to flow.

Alec blanched as he realized the implication of his question.
 
“We’ll see if we can save her,” he said lamely.
 
“Givens, take these people to a safe place behind the lines.
 
“I’ll go see if we can save the army from running into that demon.”

“Ask for Captain Lewis,” Givens told Alec.

“Lewis?
 
Captain Lewis from Goldenfields?”
Alec asked with an irrational spark of hope.

“Yes.
 
She’s a good officer.
 
Tell her I sent you and tell her what’s happening,” Givens said.
 
“And Gordon,” he added as Alec looked back at him.
 
“You were tremendous this afternoon; I’ll vouch for a commendation for you when this is settled.”

They split apart as Alec began running south, looking at companies and battalions as he passed them, hoping to find a Goldenfields uniform or standard.
 
There was no sign of a demon running amok among the Dominion forces yet, although the sounds of conflict were evident in several areas Alec passed.
 
“Do you know where Captain Lewis is?” Alec asked the first Goldenfields unit he found after nearly a half hour of searching.