Preserving the Ingenairii Read online

  Alec is desperate to save the ingenairii race, and he’s willing to stoop to any measure to find the weapons he needs to succeed…

  “Is everything alright down there?” Armilla’s voice called.

  “I think so,” Alec responded after a moment’s pause. He looked down at his sword blade. To open this coffin would be to receive a fifty year curse. What was fifty years of a curse likely to be? Pain? Disease? Hatred by everyone around him? Most of his remaining life time? Was it worth giving up fifty years to save Bethany? Would John Mark be able to protect him from a curse?

  Knowing that he had no choice, Alec deliberately twisted the blade and pulled it towards him, watching its keen edge slowly slice through the ribbon, which fluttered off the top of the casket. Re-sheathing his sword, Alec grunted as he placed his fingertips beneath the coffin lid and heaved upwards on the heavy load. It was lighter than he expected, and Alec realized that the gold must be only a veneer of gold leaf covering a wooden lid.

  As it rose high up into the air, Alec coughed at the stench of decay that rose and enveloped him. He stepped back and coughed, while the lid fell to the ground. Inside he found a skeleton, with tattered remnants of cloth stuck among the bones, and the glint of rich jewels adorning every conceivable spot. Alec’s eyes were drawn to the skull, which still wore a golden crown, and the dark openings of the eyes, whose nothingness Alec imagined was scrutinizing him, preparing to spring its curse upon him.

  From the empty sockets his gaze moved to the empty chest cavity, where he saw a round, jeweled amulet resting within the bony confines of the rib cage. Alec carefully reached his hand between the bones to pick up the object, and to make a hasty escape from the eerie crypt.

  Suddenly Alec gave a shout of panic, as the skull rose swiftly, and the jaws clamped their ivory teeth painfully on his forearm. Alec’s hand clamped around the amulet, and at the same moment he held it in his grasp, the dead teeth pierced his skin, biting into his flesh right through the badge of his Spiritual ingenaire powers.

  Alec’s mind was suddenly awhirl with strange thoughts and a mystifying confusion and fear. He jerked his hand upward, ripping the amulet’s chain through the brittle bones that connected the skull to the bony torso, and sending the skull spinning away to rattle around the inside of the casket. The sight of the spinning skull coming to rest was the last thing Alec remembered.

  The Ingenairii Series

  1. Visions of Power

  2. At the Seat of Power: Goldenfields and the Dominion

  3. The Loss of Power: Goldenfields and Bondell

  4. The Lifesaving Power: Goldenfields and Stronghold

  5. Against the Empire

  6. Preserving the Ingenairii

  For further information, visit patiamolebooks.com

  Preserving the Ingenairii:

  The World and The Energy Realm

  Book 6

  Jeffrey Quyle

  Index

  Section 1 The Life Before

  Chapter 1 – John Mark’s Cave Page 1

  Chapter 2 – Going Home Page 3

  Chapter 3 – At Goldenfields Palace Page 5

  Chapter 4 – The Ingenairii Illness Page 7

  Chapter 5 – Oyster Bay Arrival Page 19

  Chapter 6 – Ingenairii Hill Page 22

  Chapter 7 – The Journey Begins Page 24

  Chapter 8 – The Visit to Stronghold Page 31

  Chapter 9 – Reaching the Pale Mountains Page 36

  Chapter 10 – At the Ruins Page 39

  Chapter 11 – Descent to the Crypt Page 48

  Chapter 12 – To Trust the Lacertii Page 54

  Chapter 13 – Abandoning the World Page 68

  Chapter 14 – Caught in the Demon’s Grasp Page 74

  Chapter 15 – The Ingenairii Revived Page 78

  Section 2 Michian

  Chapter 16 – The End of the Curse Page 83

  Chapter 17 – Becoming Gordon Page 87

  Chapter 18 – The Return to the World Page 90

  Chapter 19 – The First Battle Page 98

  Chapter 20 – The Identity Debate Page 106

  Chapter 21 – Teaching Stracha Page 108

  Chapter 22 – The Battle for Frame Page 112

  Chapter 23 – The Demonslayer Reborn Page 122

  Chapter 24 – His Identity Acknowledged Page 134

  Chapter 25 – Journey to Oyster Bay Page 140

  Chapter 26 – Bethany Approaches Page 144

  Chapter 27 – Within the Enemy’s Camp Page 146

  Chapter 28 – Revenge on the Sorcerers Page 154

  Chapter 29 – Problem at the Palace Page 160

  Chapter 30 – A Plan Falls Apart Page 162

  (Index, continued)

  Chapter 31 – The Return of the Queen Page 167

  Chapter 32 – Stranded Without Rescue Page 169

  Chapter 33 – Alec Without Powers Page 178

  Chapter 34 – Jeswyne’s Tea Ceremony Page 190

  Chapter 35 – A Desperate Effort to Heal Page 196

  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, Serg
ey’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.

  From Oyster Bay Alec leads an army to help the Duke of Goldenfields battle the lacertian invasion. Alec joins a squad that fights behind the lines, cutting off the supply lines for the lacertii invaders. The ambushers are then confronted by lacertii forces, and flee towards their own army forces. In the process, they become ensnared in the climactic battle, and Alec calls upon an extraordinary exercise of his powers to save his friends and himself, sacrificing his powers to keep them alive.

  Against the Empire, the fifth volume of the Ingenairii Series, finds Alec awakening after the lacertii battle, stripped of his powers, alone and despondent. Determined to regain his ingenairii energies, he travels alone to the Cave of John Mark, where he is healed, but then unexpectedly thrown to the far-off land of Michian, an empire whose culture is alien to him, but which is initiating an invasion of the Dominion. Alec participates in the great tournament, then is betrayed and fights a demon to escape back to John Mark’s cave.

  Alec journeys from the cave, and is reunited in Frame with Bethany. They resolve their relationship, and return to Oyster Bay, where Alec begins the process of reforming the army that will now be needed to fight the Michian invasion. Imelda has meanwhile gone on her own with the forces of Bondell to settle frontier skirmishes, and with Rashrew, she faces the daunting task of trying to slow down the Michian army they unexpectedly confront in the mountains.

  Before he leaves Oyster Bay to fight in Bondell, Alec travels with Bethany and Aristotle to the northern lands of Oyster Bay’s control, where he meets an elderly man who knew his mother, and who placed Alec in the orphanage as an infant. The man confirms that Alec’s father was the heir to the throne, and Alec now realizes he is the rightful claimant to the Dominion throne, if he wants to be.

  Uncertain about the crown, Alec nonetheless continues as the leader of the Dominion’s forces, and sails to southern Bondell, then marches with a small force deep into the mountains of Bondell, where he confronts the Michian invaders. He battles them so effectively they call upon a demon to fight on their behalf, and Alec is only able to defeat the deadly foe by taking it with him back to John Mark’s cave, where the monster is defeated by the holy power of the cave, and the Dominion is consequently saved from the invasion.

  Section 1

  The Life before

  Chapter 1 – John Mark’s Cave

  Alec o
pened his eyes. He was looking out at a bright morning on a midsummer day. He saw trees off in the distance, their limbs covered with green leaves. He sat up abruptly, and realized that he was in the upper chamber of the Cave of John Mark, looking out over the Pale Mountains.

  His body felt stiff and sore, and his leg had been healed of the demon-inflicted injuries, but suffered residual pain. His mind though, was both scarred by the contact with the demonic force and calmed by the soul-saving salvation he had been offered, allowing him to escape from Hell.

  “Welcome back, my son,” he heard, and he turned to see John Mark standing by the open doorway.

  “What has happened?” Alec asked.

  “You have scored a great victory. You have given your Lord great pride and hope and joy,” John Mark said. “You accepted the burden and carried a demon back to Hell, from whence it will no longer trouble your world.”

  “What has happened in the war?” Alec asked. “Did we win?

  “Are Rubicon and Nathaniel and Moriah alright?”

  “Your friend Rubicon did not live after his encounter, but the other two warrior ingenairii have survived, and your nation is now mostly at peace. A much smaller remnant of your army remains in Bondell dispatching scattered fragments of the invading army and protecting against any further arrival of restorers,” John Mark assured him.

  “I didn’t know what I was doing,” Alec said, turning to stare back out the window. “I never would have done that if I had known what the demon would do to me,” he shuddered. He thought about the loss of Rubicon, who always was able to use good humor to pass along advice or to defuse a tense situation. Alec felt a sense of loss and pain.