Rescuing the Captive: The Ingenairii Series (9 page)

He imagined healing. Flesh wounds were repaired, illness was banished, infection was wiped away. He concentrated, and imagined he felt a warmth in his hands. He opened his eyes and lifted his fingers. The ragged gash was gone from the man’s torso, leaving only a vivid red scar.

“
What did you do?” The woman looked up from the man to Alec’s face, searching it closely. “What have you done? Is he alive? How did you do that? What are you?”

Questions rolled rapidly from her, and Alec held up a hand, feeling a sudden wave of weariness. “Lead us to this tunnel you spoke of. Are there candles?” He lifted the still unconscious man back over his shoulder, and groaned as he stood. Without his miraculous powers the burden of the man felt much heavier. Alec stooped and lowered the man back to the ground.

“
What is it?” the woman asked, seeing him stop.

“
You go get candles; I’m going to go collect my knives from those soldiers. I might need them later.” He crouched and ran up to the bodies, pulling knives from each of them and wiping the blades on the victims’ clothes before he resheathed them. When he returned from the pile of bodies he found the woman already there, holding a handful of candles and a flint.

“
My name is Alec. What’s your name?” he asked her. She had wrapped a black cape around herself, and draped a dark blanket over her husband’s unconscious form.

“
My name is Elena, and my husband is Kage,” the woman answered. “Thank you for saving us. Are you a friend of the princess – did she send you? I didn’t know she had any foreigners in her allegiance,” she commented on his accent.

“
No, I’ve never met the princess. The constables were after me because they thought I stole some money,” Alec answered, as he stooped and lifted the injured man again. “You lead the way Elena. We need to get out of sight before the soldiers grow courageous enough to come after us again.”

“
Follow me,” she acceded to his suggestion and went through a doorway. They passed through the rooms of an apartment to a small, dingy courtyard, where she opened a doorway and sank downward as she stepped down rickety wooden stairs that led to the basement.

“
Just a second,” she halted as she struck a spark with her knife and flint to light one of her candles, then continued to walk forward through the darkness until she found a trapdoor that she struggled with before she managed to pull the heavy wooden cover open. Broad steps led deep into an even darker subterranean tunnel, their expected escape route.

Waves of damp heat rose from the floor opening.

“
What’s down there?” Alec asked.

“
I don’t know. It wasn’t hot like this when we looked at it a couple of years ago,” Elena answered, stopped halfway down, peering at the darkness. Subtle rumbling noises could be heard.

“
Is there another way we could go?” Alec asked, concerned by the unknown conditions they were considering entering. Just then there was a distant sound in the hallway above, evidence that some of the soldiers had found the courage to re-enter the building. “I guess there’s no time,” he answered his own question. “Let’s go.” He passed Elena on the steps as he felt his way down into the steamy darkness.

Alec heard a loud thud behind him as Elena let the trap door slam shut above them.

“
Let’s stop so I can put Kage down to rest,” Alec suggested, his shoulder aching under the load.

“
Why does he need to rest?” Elena asked, standing and watching with her candle held high to illuminate the scene.

“
I’m the one who needs the rest,” Alec explained. He slumped gracelessly to the ground next to Kage’s inert body, and looked up at Elena. In the dim candle light she looked like a woman of great beauty, her high cheekbones appearing sharp and prominent among the wavering shadows. Her mouth was generously large, and it gave a wistful smile as she looked down on him. Beads of perspiration were beginning to run down her forehead already in the heat, and Alec felt his shirt sticking to his back.

“
Thank you for saving us,” she said again. “Where should we go now, when we get out of here?”

“
I do not know, my lady, I do not know,” Alec answered. “I’m not a native of the land, as you know. I need to find my sister and we shall plan to leave the city, if the police are after me,” he tried to figure out what to do. “We talked about going to Black Crag someday, so this may be that someday.”

“
Black Crag in the winter?” she looked at him sharply. “That’s not a trip I’d want to take, although the chill air does almost sound appealing in this heat.”

“
Will he awaken soon?” she asked, motioning towards her husband. “He’ll figure out a plan for us, and perhaps for you too. There’s certainly something better than Black Crag in the winter! Perhaps we’ll go to the southern cities along the shore. My cousin travelled to Thermore once.”

Alec was feeling better, though still worn out from his use of the special powers he possessed, and wanted to keep moving. He stood up. “Do you know how much longer we’ll be in this tunnel?” He stooped to lift Kage over his left shoulder this time.

“
I don’t know. I’ve never traveled this far before. We looked at the tunnel shortly after we bought the apartment a few years ago, but that’s all I know,” Elena answered. “Shall we go?” she began to walk forward, and Alec stood motionless for a moment admiring the dark outline of her lithe figure as she moved, then he began walking forward too.

There were large pipes attached to the ceiling on either side of the passageway, and the pipes were the source of the heat, the noise, and an occasional puddle of leaking water. Elena had no idea of what the pipes were for.

Minutes passed, and Alec saw a set of stairs leading up on the right side of the tunnel. “Let’s go up there,” he suggested. The darkness and the uncertainty of their location were making him anxious. He wanted to find Bethany as quickly as possible, and begin the journey with her and Rahm to leave the city ahead of persecution. He wanted the girl, his girl as he was truly coming to think of her, to have the freedom and autonomy in Black Crag that she wanted.

He placed Kage on the ground, and heard the man groan. “Kage? Are you okay Kage?” Elena asked, rushing over to kneel beside the man. She placed the candle on the floor, and held his head in both her hands.

“
Elena? Why is it so dark?” the man asked in a voice that rumbled in a deep baritone voice. “why is it so hot?”

“
Are you alright? How do you feel? We’re in the tunnel under the apartments, the old collier tunnel,” Elena spoke, helping Kage raise himself to a sitting position.

“
Who are you?” Kage asked, seeing Alec stand at the edge of the circle of candlelight.

“
He rescued us from the soldiers, dear. His name is Alec,” Elena answered first, placing her hand on his as she looked over at Alec.

“
Soldiers? The soldiers!” Kage exclaimed, suddenly flooded by a memory of his brutal attack. He looked down at the scar on his mid-section. “One of them stabbed me! I remember the pain. I thought I was dying, and I was so sad I wouldn’t be able to protect you.” He told his wife, looking up at her.

“
How am I alive?” he asked plaintively.

“
It was Alec. He healed you somehow,” his wife replied.

They both looked at Alec, who looked down in confusion. “I don’t understand it myself, but I have the power to heal with a touch, the way I can handle a sword so well. It just came to me,” he said.

“
After he fought the soldiers to save you, he fought soldiers to save me, then we ran away down into the old collier tunnels. That’s where we are now, except we don’t know why it’s so hot down here,” Elena answered as she wiped more sweat from her brow. “And I don’t know where we can go now, if the Conglomerate is seizing control of the throne,” she finished with a fearful tone.

Alec listened closely, hoping to learn something about what the future might hold, if he faced the prospect of trying to run from the police in the middle of a coup.

“
Thank you, Alec. The heat is from the district-heating pipes,” Kage told each of the other two.

“
But it wasn’t hot like that when we went in the tunnels the first time,” Elena protested.

“
It was summer time the first time we looked at the tunnel. The heating system wasn’t running,” Kage said gently, touching his wife’s cheek with his finger tips, as she blushed.

“
What is district-heating?” Alec asked, not recognizing the words.

Both of his accomplices looked at him. “Everyone in the city used to burn coal and wood in their fireplaces and their stoves to heat their homes in the winter, and the city air was so bad that people choked to death. So the king’s father put in a system of pipes that carry hot water throughout the whole city, and people now have to use the hot water to heat their buildings. No one can burn coal in the city now; the king built a giant furnace outside the city with a giant chimney, and the wind in the winter mostly blows it away from the city, so the air is cleaner,” Kage said in a didactic voice.

“
So these tunnels go everywhere in the city?” Alec asked.

“
I think there are parts of the city where there are just pipes, because no tunnels were ever put in to deliver coal, especially in the poor parts of the city,” Kage answered.

“
What is going on up there? Where are you going to go?” Alec asked.

“
I don’t know,” Kage admitted. “There was supposed to be a meeting tomorrow night of some of the princess’s advisors. If we can stay safe until then, I may be able to get a better idea.”

“
I know a place where you can stay safe,” Alec answered.

Elena looked up at him with hope in her eyes. “Where is it?” she asked.

“
It’s Delphi’s armory, in the southwest part of town,” Alec answered. “It’s where I teach swordsmanship to my sister and others.”

“
Do you think we can get there?” Elena asked.

“
I think so,” Alec fudged, “although I don’t know where we are right now. When we go up, if you can find your way to the main market square, I’ll find our way from there.”

Kage stood up. “Let’s see where this takes us.” He walked up the stairs, and pressed upward against the hatch. There was a scrapping sound, and the wooden hatch began to rise. Alec and Elena crowded up the stairs behind Kage, and Alec lifted a hand upward to help push the hatch off their exit. The room they were entering was dark, and Elena’s candle revealed several crates stacked throughout a large store room.

“
Do you know how to handle a sword?” Alec asked Kage, noticing that the man was unarmed.

“
Not as well as you, evidently, but I can defend myself,” Kage answered. Alec handed him the sword, then pulled a knife out of his bandolier.

“
Let Elena lead us out of here. If there aren’t soldiers or problems on the streets, you can take us straight to the market,” Alec directed.

“
What will we do if there are soldiers?” Elena asked.

“
We’ll hide in plain sight,” Alec answered enigmatically. “Don’t worry about that yet.”

Elena dutifully held her candle in front of her as they searched for the doorway out of the storage area. They found a door large enough to drive a wagon through, and Alec pushed it partially open, revealing a night-darkened street scene outside. A pair of soldiers was immediately outside the door, observing Alec’s exertions.

“
You’ll need to close that up and stay off the streets tonight,” one soldier said to Alec.

“
Have you seen this mess?” Alec asked, thinking quickly. “Look at what they left me.”

The unthinking soldiers curiously stepped inside to glance at Alec’s complaint.

Alec raised his knife and brought the handle down hard on the back of the neck of one soldier, who fell to the ground instantly.

“
I don’t see anything…hey!” the other guard said as Alec unleashed a roundhouse punch to his jaw. He spun around and then he too fell.

“
What now?” Elena asked in shock at the sudden violence.

“
Now your husband and I become soldiers who will accompany you to your destination,” Alec replied as he began to remove the jacket from one of the soldiers. After a moment’s hesitation Kage also began to undress a soldier.

Alec began to remove his own pants, then realized that Elena was staring at him with glazed eyes, revealing the shock that was beginning to set in as a result of the day’s violent events. He was feeling exhaustion beginning to overwhelm him as well. He hoped they wouldn’t face any challenges for the rest of the night.

The trip through town was uneventful. Alec took the lead when they arrived at the square, and led his companions to his own apartment, where Bethany and Rahm were waiting fearfully. “Where have you been?” Bethany asked, hugging Alec in relief when she saw him.

“
This is Kage and his wife, Elena,” Alec introduced the couple he had saved. “We were chased by the police together, and had to do this to make it back home,” he plucked at his uniform. “But how about you? Did you have any problems?”

“
We were at Delphi’s when someone said the Conglomerate had troops in the street, and they were shutting the city down,” Rahm answered. “So we thought we better get back here and wait for you.”

“
We’ll need to leave this apartment early tomorrow,” Alec told everyone. “The constables were at the bank when I went there, and they asked me about Krimshelm.” He looked at Bethany meaningfully. “I think it may be time for us to leave Vincennes to go to Black Crag,” he said.