The Journey Home: The Ingenairii Series: Beyond the Twenty Cities (17 page)

Amane sat up and looked around.  “Must we leave so early?  I didn’t get much sleep last night, after that delightful girl came down and visited me.”

“Aja came to see you?” Alec asked, surprised.

“She did; she said she couldn’t sleep.  She sang some songs – what a lovely voice, and she told me about traveling with you.  You’ve made quite an impression on her.  Is she ready to go?” Amane asked.

“She is ready.  We’re just waiting on you,” Alec said as he turned to dig a few coins out of the pouch of money he and Aja had traveled with.  He placed the money on a table in the room to repay Sparrow’s hospitality, then picked up Aja.  “I’ll see you outside,” he told Amane, and went out the door and around to the hiding place where the pendant awaited recovery.

By the time he came around the corner of the house again, Amane was outside, looking around.  “Where’s Aja?” he asked.

Alec stepped out onto the road and began walking, forcing Amane to hurry after him.  “See this tree I have on my back?” he asked.  “That is Aja during sun light,” he told Amane.

The Old One stopped and stared.  Alec stopped and turned.  “Let’s keep walking,” he told Amane.  “We can talk on the way.

“She comes from a race I know very little about, but they are trees by day and people by night.  She’s only seen the world by daylight one time ever, and that was two days ago when I was treating her to help her recover from injuries,” he explained.  “We’ll see her again tonight as soon as sunset occurs.”

“How did you find her?” Amane asked.

“When we were in Birnam Forest, where the Rangers were attacked, I found a village of women, which included her.  She was ready to leave the village, and I agreed to be her protector,” Alec said.  “We’ve been together since.”

“Andi thought you were dead in Birnam Forest,” Amane told Alec.  “We were just recovering from everyone going crazy and attacking each other, when Andi screamed.  She said you were fighting something terrible, awful.  Then she couldn’t feel you at all, and we thought you had died.  She couldn’t believe you had, but the rest of
us
thought that must be the case.  We were all anxious to leave the forest, so we split up; the Rangers carried the dead back to Exbury, and Andi and I went on.

“Then one day Andi raised her head up.  ‘He’s alive,’ she said, talking about you.  She could feel you following us, getting closer, she thought, but we kept going.  We caught sight of the kidnappers, and stayed behind them, waiting for the right moment to attack, but they ended up ambushing us, and the next thing I knew you were there, ready to help me set Andi free,” he concluded.

Alec rolled his eyes.  “Since we’re two days behind the kidnappers, we need to move faster,” Alec told Amane, noting how high the sun had risen above the horizon already.  “I can go much faster, but you wouldn’t be able to keep up,” he said.

“I can carry you on a disk of air, that will allow you to rest and save your strength, while traveling faster than usual,” he explained.  “But I will have to make you invisible, so that others don’t see you floating in the air, and you will need to stay silent while we travel,” Alec explained.  Without waiting for comment from Amane, he called upon his powers, then lifted Amane off the road surface and enveloped him in a cloak of reflective light, making the Old One invisible.

“How can this be?” Amane shrieked.

“Be silent now,” Alec told him.  “Just lie back and rest today, so that your body can recover from its injuries.”  He began to run, switching his Light energy to Warrior energy so that he could pick up speed.  Through long years of practice, Alec had discovered that he was able to only hold a maximum of three powers comfortably simultaneously, provided Spirit was one of the energies he used.  With his Air abilities constantly carrying Amane, that left him with the quandary of using Light energy to hid
e
Amane as he floated above the road, or using Warrior energy to speed up the pace of travel.  He settled on using his Warrior abilities for the most part, allowing Amane to remain visible as he laid upon his floating platform, but when they approached other travelers, Alec would switch to his Light energy to maintain the invisibility around Amane.  They ate from the meager travel rations Alec carried, despite Amane’s suggestion about stopping in a village tavern for a meal.

The switching of powers back and forth steadily drained Alec, and by mid-afternoon the amount of traffic around them had increased to the level to make it impractical to continue.  “You’re coming down, Amane,” Alec warned, then lowered the Air platform and made Amane begin to walk with him again.

They engaged in little further conversation.  Amane tried to converse about Andi, but Alec only set a faster pace, and soon Amane was too out-of-breath to talk and walk at the same time.  They had climbed a considerable ways above the Twenty Cities, and Alec felt
the impact of
the thinner air in his own body as the day began to close.  The pair of walkers came around a bend in the road amidst a heavy stream of other travelers heading in the opposite direction, and suddenly saw a shallow valley below them, in w
hich many lights twinkled in
the shadows of the surrounding mountains.

“Is that Boundary Lake?” Alec asked a traveler headed away from the city.

“It is, and if you’ll take my advice, you’ll turn around and head away from the accursed place,” the woman leading a mule replied.

“Is something wrong there?” Alec asked her.

“The city is infected with plague, and the lacertii army is not far off now.  Another week or less and the snakes will be slaughtering and enslaving everyone left there.  You’d be better off coming along with me; I can make your journey comfortable and worth your while,” she replied.

Alec stepped back from the woman.  “You go on and travel in peace,” he told her, then watched her as she continued on her way.

“Let’s step over this way,” Alec told Amane, grabbing his arm and pulling him off the road.  Alec knelt and unloaded his cargo.

“Are we going to turn around and give up?” Amane asked, unsure of what Alec was doing.

As he asked there was a sudden motion, and Aja stood between them, stretching her arms high above her lithe body.  At last she lowered her arms and opened her eyes.

“Hello, friend, it’s good to see you again,” she told Amane, who she happened to be facing first as she returned to human form.  “Has the daylight shown you many wonders today?”

“None so great as what the sunset has just shared,” he valiantly said.  “We’ve had a long and arduous journey today,” Amane answered.  “It’s so good to see you again.”

“Alec, I missed you so,” Aja turned to him, then rubbed her body up against his as she fluidly wrapped him in a hug, and began to kiss him passionately.

“Aja, stop,” Alec pushed her to arm’s length. 
Can you hear these thoughts?
he projected his thoughts into her mind.

“I can!” she replied in amazement.

Reply with your mind only.  Now, tell me again, can you hear the thoughts I send to you?
he communicated again.

Is this the way to do it, Alec?
she stumbled through the process of extending her thoughts to him.

Yes!  You did so well!
  he encouraged her. 
Now listen, I have the pendant in my pocket, and that is making you lust for me.  You must control your desire; it is not real,
he told her
.

We’ll go into the city and I’ll place the pendant someplace safe, so that you no longer are so affected by it.  Will you keep your desire in check for me, Aja?
he asked.

I will try, my lord,
she responded.

“What’s happening here?  Are you two having some lovers’ spat?” Amane asked.  “I may have misunderstood your relationship.”

“This is complicated, but we are not lovers,” Alec answered promptly.  He pulled his pack back over his shoulder.  “Amane, you walk in the middle; Aja, you stay on his right side,” Alec told them.  “We’ll go into the city and try to find an inn where we can spend the night.  Maybe a place that needs a singer,” he smiled at Aja.

“You are too kind, my lord,” she replied demurely, and with that they descended along the road that led to Boundary Lake, a journey that was akin to fish swimming upstream as they pushed their way through the
many
refugees who were fleeing from the city.

They reached the city gates, where a cursory guard stood alone, watching his fellow city residents flee.

“We’re newcomers to the city,” Alec told the man.  “We have been following a large group – over a dozen men, guarding two dozen women – all on horseback.  Have they arrived in the city recently?”

“They did, a day and a half ago.  They’re as crazy as you to be coming to Boundary Lake now,” the guard replied.  He was tired and morose, Alec could tell.  Alec grasped his Healer and Spirit powers, and placed his hand on the guard’s shoulder, trying to infuse some energy and hopefulness into the man.

“Have they left the city already?” Alec asked.

“I’ve heard that they’re still here, up in the northern quarter of the city.  The situation is so chaotic there’s no telling
what the case is really
,” the man looked at Alec more attentively than before.

“Is there an inn in the city we can find a place to stay for the evening?” Alec asked.

“You’ll have your pick; just go to the square in the center of town.  There are no other visitors coming in.  Everyone’s dying or leaving,” the guard answered.

Alec thanked the man.  “Better days will come.  Just stay true to your cause,” Alec encouraged the guard, then led his two companions into the dying city.

There were dead bodies lying unclaimed on the streets, and some doors stood open, evidence of abandonment or thievery, along the way into town.  Alec had never seen a city hit by such a virulent strain of the plague, and he felt overwhelmed as he considered ways he might help to alleviate the deadly results.

In the center of the town was a vast square, surrounded by buildings on all sides.   In the dim darkness of the city evening, Alec could see few details, but he had the impression that some of the buildings were enormous in size.

“You two go in that inn,” he pointed to a building with a sign of a bright red horse hanging over the door.  “See if you can get two rooms for us, and find out if Aja can sing to the crowd tonight,” Alec directed his two companions.  He went around the corner of the building and placed the pendant beneath a loose cobblestone, then joined the others inside.

The inn had a melancholy air, unmistakable the moment he walked into the front hall.  Aja and Amane were standing there waiting for him.  “They’ve told us to take our pick of rooms,” Amane reported to Alec.

The three went upstairs to the third floor, and selected two rooms side-by-side.  “Aja and I will be in this one,” Alec decided.  “You take that one,” he pointed Amane into the adjacent chamber.  They all unloaded their packs, then the three went downstairs to the public room.

The room was full of people, mostly local people it seemed to Alec, folks who desperately wanted to cling to some semblance of normalcy in the midst of the chaos that was overtaking their lives.  “Sing cheery songs for them,” Alec whispered to Aja.

“Of course,” she replied with exasperation, as the three settled into a corner.

“Once I get started, clap a beat for me,” she directed Amane, then began to sing a cheery tune about the arrival of spring, then sang another song about two drunks at a tavern, and followed with the song about the apprentice named Alec, pointing at her companion and working the crowd into a festive mood.

A waiter arrived with a plate of food, unsolicited, allowing Alec and Amane to eat while Aja continued to sing to the crowd.  She switched to a love song, then a battle song, then back to tavern songs, and continued for a dozen more songs, until Alec discretely signaled it was time to end.

“You’re an extraordinary performer!” Amane gushed as they three of them climbed the stairs soon after that.

“Alec lets me sing almost every night, don’t you Alec?” she told the new addition to their travels.

“He should!  If you were my companion, I’d let you sing every night as well, for a long as you wanted,” Amane said emphatically.

“Good night Amane,” Alec said as they arrived at their respective doors.  “You can sleep in tomorrow.  We’ll stay here while we try to find out if the kidnappers are still in the city or if they’ve moved on.”

“Are we going to search the city tomorrow?” Amane asked.

“I’m going to search the city; you’re going to stay here and keep an eye on Aja while she’s a tree in my room, to make sure that nothing happens to her.  It’s an important task since I won’t carry her with me,” Alec emphasized, then shut the door of his room, shutting Amane out for the night.

“Do you think you’ll find the girls you want tomorrow?” Aja asked as Alec sat on the end of the plush mattress and pulled his boots off,
then
laid them on the floor next to his sack of supplies.  He took off his shirt, then laid backwards, letting his body relax and luxuriate in the comfort
of a soft bed
.

“Will you lie down here next to me?” he asked Aja after a long moment.