Against the Empire: The Dominion and Michian Read online

  Alec has been sent to a strange new land, where vicious new opponents will show no mercy towards him…

  “You’re not an easy mark, are you?” Canare called. He approached Alec with more caution now, and Alec stared at him closely, judging how to respond. Suddenly Alec realized the Scarle warrior was entering the fray as he heard the faint scuffle of feet in the sand. Engaging his powers now, Alec fell flat on the ground, feeling Scarle’s sword scratch his shoulder and neck. Rolling three times, Alec moved to a new location, sprang up, and raced at Scarle, swinging high, low, high, and then thrusting at the man’s thigh. He felt light pain from the scratch in his back as he moved, but ignored it as he slid his blade into his opponent’s flesh. He pulled it immediately away after only piercing the skin a couple of inches, and stepped back to see what would happen.

  The Scarle warrior looked down in astonishment. “You think I’ll be the first one to leave with just a slice? Think again,” and he charged, just as Canare came around at Alec from his right. Swinging his sword in a figure eight, Alec engaged both his opponents in one motion, then rolled forward in a somersault between them, lancing out with his blade to slice Scarle’s ribs as he went. Abruptly, he felt his ingenaire powers flicker away, and he was back to fighting on the basis of his own skills, without time to ponder the loss of energy.

  Alec rose to his feet, took another stab at Scarle, pinking him in the right shoulder, then stepped back. The man dropped his sword in pain, then looked at Alec. He raised his hand in salute, and as he did, the Canare swordsman unexpectedly swung hard, aiming at the Scarle’s unprotected ribcage. Seeing the foul play, Alec dove forward, blocking Canare’s deadly thrust, but feeling his own sword shudder painfully as he did. Alec redirected the cheap thrust into the ground, but as he did so, his own sword snapped off just a foot above the hilt. Astonished, Alec stepped back and stared at the sword.

  The Scarle swordsman took advantage of his rescue to concede and limp rapidly away from the battle ring, and Alec stood with his stump of a sword, facing the highly confident Canare champion. “You may actually be the best of the three of us, Indige, but without a weapon you’re doomed to lose. And it’s not going to be a ceremonial cut to the foot this time either,” the man said viciously, his blood full of battle rage.

  Alec calmly stood still, realizing that he was going to have to take a chance and let the Canare swordsman very close to him in order to have a chance of defeating him.

  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 (forthcoming)

  For further information, visit patiamolebooks.com

  Against the Empire:

  The Dominion and Michian

  Book 5

  Jeffrey Quyle

  Index

  Section 1 The Pale Mountains

  Chapter 1 – Awakening in Camp Page 1

  Chapter 2 – Imelda’s Note Page 12

  Chapter 3 – Alec at the Chapel Page 19

  Chapter 4 – Bethany’s Duty Page 26

  Chapter 5 – Goldenfields Questions Page 30

  Chapter 6 – Alec in the Wilderness Page 33

  Chapter 7 – Companions in Pursuit Page 35

  Chapter 8 – At the Ruined City Page 39

  Chapter 9 – First Encounter Page 42

  Chapter 10 – Setting the Ambush Page 56

  Chapter 11 – The Price of Success Page 58

  Chapter 12 – Reunion with Friends Page 65

  Chapter 13 – Abandoned in the Mountains Page 67

  Chapter 14 – Return to the Cave Page 70

  Chapter 15 – A Change at the Cave Page 73

  Chapter 16 – The Pain of Perdition Page 76

  Chapter 17 – John Mark’s Mission Page 78

  Section 2 Michian

  Chapter 18 – Arrival in the Empire Page 83

  Chapter 19 – The Demon Exposed Page 88

  Chapter 20 – At the Promenade Page 95

  Chapter 21 – A Personal Slave Page 103

  Chapter 22 – Caring for Rief Page 105

  Chapter 23 – The Emperor’s Palace Page 109

  Chapter 24 – Honor for the Clan Page 119

  Chapter 25 – Rescuing Rief Page 123

  Chapter 26 – The Tournament Begins Page 127

  Chapter 27 – Battling in the Arena Page 133

  Chapter 28 – Confrontation in the Baths Page 143

  Chapter 29 – Parting with Rief Page 153

  Chapter 30 – The Unwinnable Fight Page 162

  Section 3 The Dominion

  Chapter 31 – John Mark Explains Page 168

  Chapter 32 – A Visit with Friends Page 171

  Chapter 33 – Rief the Healer Page 177

  Chapter 34 – Arrival in Frame Page 184

  Chapter 35 – Rief Makes a Friend Page 187

  Chapter 36 – An Unexpected Meeting Page 196

  Chapter 37 – A Story is Told Page 201

  Chapter 38 – The Decision to Depart Page 209

  Chapter 39 – Return to the Cave Page 216

  Chapter 40 – Leaving the Mountains Page 218

  Chapter 41 – A Life Preserved Page 233

  Chapter 42 – Return to Stronghold Page 237

  Chapter 43 – Back in Oyster Bay Page 247

  Chapter 44 – Life in the Palace Page 253

  Chapter 45 – The Journey North Page 261

  Chapter 46 – A Case of Hiccups Page 266

  Chapter 47 – A Delaying Campaign Page 277

  Chapter 48 – Flight from the Demon Page 289

  Chapter 49 – Taking a Last Stand Page 297

  Chapter 50 – The Demon’s Attack Page 302

  Chapter 51 – The Demon Plunges Page 307

  Epilogue – Bondell Page 309

  Epilogue – Pale Mountains Page 311

  List of Characters

  The Dominion

  Colonel Dearborn Ryder, Goldenfields Guard

  Inga, Goldenfields cavalry officer

  Alec, crown protector, healer and warrior ingenaire

  Kinsey, spirit apprentice

  Shaiss, a light apprentice

  Alder, a light apprentice

  Pember, cavalry second in command

  Berlisle, cavalry member

  Allisma, a water ingenaire apprentice

  Yula, a plant ingenaire

  Prince Mahogan, ruler of Bondell

  Faldor, Bondell court chamberlain

  Rashrew, militia leader

  Aristotle, powerful ingenaire

  Rubicon, warrior ingenaire

  Moriah, Rubicon’s apprentice

  Nathaniel, Rubicon’s apprentice

  Bannis, Oyster Bay palace master armsman

  Rander, Oyster Bay Palace Steward

  Tritos, a stone ingenaire apprentice

  Noranda, Locksfort cousin and former carnival companion of Alec

  Brandeis, one of the young male Locksfort cousins at Stronghold

  Johanna, one of the young female Locksfort cousins at Stronghold

  Durer, brother of Noranda in Stronghold

  Mooreen, exiled matriarch leader of the Locksfort clan

  Delle, one of the young male Locksfort cousins at Stronghold

  Armilla, personal bodyguard of the crown protector

  The Michian Empire

  Rief, a slave of the Indige clan

  Marjet, aide to the Indige clan leader

  Cander, son of the Indige c
lan leader

  Reast, clan leader of Indige clan

  Lady Waines, niece of the Michian emperor

  Emperor Alexander, ruler of the Michian empire

  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 uses 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 cure. But Alec is not ready to use such powers, and he suffers gravely.

  Fleeing to Goldenfields, Alec come to the realization that he has other ingenaire powers that can be tapped, and he begins training in the 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 both Alec and Inga to leave Goldenfields at the end of Visions of Power.

  Alec then travels to the capital of the Dominion, Oyster Bay, in volume II, At the Seat of Power. While there, Alec is reunited with Aristotle, and also with Natalie, 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 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 III, 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-taken the city. Alec and the local militia 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 army to support 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 IV, 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 Imelda’s squad that fights behind the lines, cutting off the supplies for the lacertii invaders. The ambushers are then confronted by lacertii, and flee towards their own army. 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.

  Section 1

  The Dominion

  Chapter 1 – Awakening in Camp

  Imelda awoke with shafts of late-morning sunlight shining into her eyes, filtered through the fabric ceiling of a tent. She’d slept several additional hours since she first awoke, she knew. The cavalry leader for Goldenfields sat up and turned to her left, checking to see that her companion was still on the next cot over. He was, and he looked gray, drawn and worn. Conversely, he also looked different in a manner beyond fatigue, she noted. His face was younger, with fewer creases, softer angles. The diffuse light caught no wrinkles or crags or other evidence of his age. The light flowed shyly around the curves of his features and fell softly away from his skin, yet the warmth that was evident where the light illuminated the rest of the interior of the tent was chilled by the weariness that veiled Alec so heavily.

  She felt surprisingly refreshed, by contrast, and stood up so that she might leave the tent to find a place to relieve herself and to discover whatever awaited her. There was news out there that she wanted to know.

  As she pulled the tent opening ajar, a soldier stepped across her field of vision, and called out clearly, “Let the colonel know they’ve woken up!”

  “You mean to say, ‘She’s woken up,’” Imelda corrected the young infantryman. “I’m the only one awake,” she told the thick-bodied boy, who was probably nearly her own age, despite her classification of him as a youth, a differentiation she felt entitled to make after her experiences throughout the campaigns of the war.

  “Sorry, ma’am,” he apologized.

  “Not a problem. Where are the latrine tents?” she asked promptly, and walked where directed.

  After her quick return to her tent, she found Colonel Ryder awaiting her at the entrance. “Cavalry Captain Imelda, reporting for duty sir,” she said in a light-hearted effort to cover the emotions she felt upon seeing her commanding officer. She’d not seen him for weeks, maybe months, and for much of the day yesterday she hadn’t expected to ever see him again. Regardless of the circumstances, she looked upon him with the highest respect, and seeing him was a reminder of the best things in life she was still able to enjoy.

  A lump gathered in her throat momentarily, until she swallowed it down. Ryder was a leader who held the Goldenfields Guard together seemingly through sheer personality. That seemed true, although Imelda knew it was false, for she’d seen the mountains of paperwork he filled out and the hours of observing he logged at the Guard section of the Palace –
the work he devoted to truly run the organization.

  He returned the salute, then held out his hand, and enclosed hers in a warm clasp between both of his. “Shall we talk?” Ryder asked. “Should we go awake his majesty?”

  Imelda mentally paused at hearing the title used so easily. Alec was Alec for her, a simple name for a complex relationship, but after weeks out in the wilderness with him, she had forgotten the impact of his title when used with respect, especially when used by someone she respected.

  “He probably needs to sleep, but you might put someone in the tent with him. When he overused his ingenaire powers back in Bondell last year, I think he slept for two or three days before he woke up,” Imelda warned, remembering the hours she had sat with Bethany, watching him lie inside a tent, recuperating from overuse of his extraordinary abilities.

  Ryder raised an eyebrow. “Why don’t you come with me then, and give a report on what you’ve done and how you got here?” he ordered in a tone that sounded like a polite request. He began to walk away, and Imelda fell in step beside him.

  “I’ve heard some of the ingenairii tell stories about what happened to your command. I’d like to hear what you can add to it all,” Ryder opened the conversation as they sat down.