The Lifesaving Power: Goldenfields and Stronghold Read online

  Alec has been sent to Stronghold on a mission of mercy, to heal Noranda. But his adversaries in Stronghold will show no mercy towards him…

  Alec heard and saw his door open. The two guards entered the room, followed by three more, and then Mooreen. The guards formed a line between Alec and Mooreen, who stood silently, appraising Alec’s condition. “You’ve been kind to him apparently,” she spoke to the guards. “There’s not a bruise or mark to be seen on him anywhere.”

  “No milady, we taught him some discipline just yesterday,” the head guard said insistently. “We came in twice to visit him, as a matter of fact.”

  “That’s fine. You run things here as you think best,” Mooreen responded, her oily tone and her satisfied words not matching. “I would think it important to maintain control, but you probably know another way to run a prison. Others would probably beat a prisoner senseless a time or two and then have no problems from then on.”

  The guards had caught the clear meaning of Mooreen’s comments, and moved towards Alec to comply with her wish to see him beaten. Alec idly speculated about somehow evading them and turning the tables by taking Mooreen hostage, but within seconds the guards had outnumbered and overwhelmed him. They started punching and kicking relentlessly, as Alec avoided any fighting in return. He focused simply on protecting himself, but the odds were too great, and he began to stagger about, finally falling to the ground.

  “Enough. Pick him up. I want to see his face,” Mooreen ordered. Three of the guards lifted Alec, one yanking his hair to hold his head up.

  Through bleary eyes Alec watched Mooreen take a knife from a guard, and placed it against his face, just below his eye socket. “We’ve sent a letter to your palace at Oyster Bay, offering to return you to them for a sufficient ransom.”

  As she spoke, Alec sensed another presence, an aura of jealousy, envy and greed. It felt familiar yet different. With the steel point of the knife pressing hard into his face though, he didn’t dare to move or try to look around for anyone new in the cell.

  “They’ll pay for you, and they won’t care if you’re returned to them in less than prime condition,” she said, and she slashed the knife downward with a fierce jerk.

  Alec suffered burning pain as a gash opened down his cheek and he wailed in anguish. “Let him go for now,” Mooreen odered. The guards obeyed, and Alec’s hands flew to his face as he dropped to the ground.

  The Ingenairii Series

  Visions of Power

  At the Seat of Power: Goldenfields and the Dominion

  The Loss of Power: Goldenfields and Bondell

  The Lifesaving Power: Goldenfields and Stronghold

  Preserving the Ingenairii (forthcoming)

  For further information, visit patiamolebooks.com

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  The LifeSaving Power:

  Goldenfields and Stronghold

  Book 4

  Jeffrey Quyle

  Index

  Section 1 Stronghold and Oyster Bay

  Chapter 1 – Hinges’ Home Page 1

  Chapter 2 – Returning to the River Page 5

  Chapter 3 – Messages Page 19

  Chapter 4 – Arrival at Stronghold Page 23

  Chapter 5 – Aristotle’s Words in Oyster Bay Page 34

  Chapter 6 – A Rainy Road>

  Chapter 7 – The Wayward Letters Page 42

  Chapter 8 - Meeting the Locksfort Youth Page 44

  Chapter 9 – Defending the Locksforts Page 48

  Chapter 10 – Finding the Balance Page 61

  Chapter 11 – The Great Awakening Page 74

  Chapter 12 – Planning to Escape Page 80

  Chapter 13 – In Mooreen’s Prison Page 86

  Chapter 14 – A Haircut for Noranda Page 97

  Chapter 15 – A Struggle Begins in Stronghold Page 108

  Chapter 16 – The Unknown Animal Page 118

  Chapter 17 – The Change in Power Page 122

  Chapter 18 – Departure from Friends Page 125

  Chapter 19 – The Return to Oyster Bay Page 128

  Chapter 20 – A Meeting with Ari Page 135

  Chapter 21 – The Ceremony at the Cathedral Page 140

  Chapter 22 – A Broken Heart Page 154

  Chapter 23 – Healing for All Page 157

  Chapter 24 – A Dance at the Palace Page 172

  Chapter 25 – The Crown Protected Page 180

  Section 2 Goldenfields and the River Giffey

  Chapter 26 – A Visit to Boston Palace Page 185

  Chapter 27 – Reunions in Goldenfields Page 188

  Chapter 28 – Healing in Goldenfields Page 200

  Chapter 29 – In the Army Camp Page 214

  Chapter 30 – Bethany at Oyster Bay Page 219

  Chapter 31 – The Place for an Ambush Page 221

  Chapter 32 – Encounters Along the River Page 232

  Chapter 32 – Rosebay’s Battle Page 264

  Chapter 34 – Riding the Plains Page 270">

  > Chapter 35 – Return to the Battlefield Page 284

  Chapter 36 – The Greatest Use of Power Page 295

  List of Characters

  Goldenfields

  Colonel Dearborn Ryder, Goldenfields Guard

  Inga, Goldenfields cavalry officer

  Lewis, Goldenfields cavalry officer

  Imelda, Goldenfields cavalry officer

  Alec, healer and warrior ingenaire

  Cassie, healer ingenaire apprentice

  Ellen, Goldenfields woman, housekeeper for medic shop

  Hannah, Ellen’s young daughter

  Duke Toulon, ruler of Goldenfields

  Princess Rhian, Mahogan’s daughter, now duchess of Goldenfields

  Ellison, special assignments member of the Guard

  Noah Rastall, political advisor to the Duke

  Lord Kelvin, advisor to the Duke

  Kinsey, spirit apprentice

  Shaiss, a light apprentice

  Alder, a light apprentice

  Pember, cavalry second in command

  Berlisle, cavalry member

  Allisma, a water ingenaire apprentice

  Natha, leading trader in the Dominion

  Annalea, Natha’s daughter, married to Rand

  Helen, Natha’s wife

  Merle, Goldenfields court ingenaire

  Yula, one of Merle’s apprentice ingenairii, a plant ingenaire

  Drawr, one of Natha’s sons

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  Tarkas, one of Natha’s sons

  Bondell

  Prince Mahogan, ruler of Bondell

  Marne, cavalry member

  Faldor, Bondell court chamberlain

  Rashrew, militia leader

  Renda, Bondell Guard

  List of Characters (cont.)

  Oyster Bay

  Aristotle, powerful ingenaire

  Rubicon, warrior ingenaire

  Moriah, Rubicon’s apprentice

  Nathaniel, Rubicon’s apprentice

  Bannis, Oyster Bay palace master armsman

  Rander, Oyster Bay Palace Guard officer

  Hinges, Healer House housekeeper

  Irene, Hinges’s daughter

  Tritos, a stone ingenaire apprentice

  Poltaire, Natha’s factor in Oyster Bay

  Marley, one of Natha’s shipping officers

  Aerley, Oyster Bay court physician

  Marble, Oyster Bay palace minister

  Ventin, Oyster Bay palace minister

  Oakley, Oyster Bay banker

  General Hewlett, Oyster Bay army leader

  Commander Tunce, Oyster Bay army leader

  Marshall Grein, mil
itary leader of Slone

  Stronghold

  Consum, Millershome factor at Redwater docks

  Parlton, mate aboard the Millershome ship, Current Rider

  Francis, hired mercenary aboard the Current Rider

  Inspir, junior officer aboard the Current Rider

  Reuchlin, one of the young male Locksfort cousins at Stronghold

  Circh, one of the young female Locksfort cousins at Stronghold

  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, matriarch leader of the Locksfort clan

  Delle, one of the young male Locksfort cousins at Stronghold

  Helma, family cook for the Locksforts

  Elcome, Traitorous Goldenfields Guard quartermaster

  Prologue

  In volumes I and II, Visions of Power and At the Seat 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 ingenairii). His powers provide the ability to perform miraculous healing services for the sick and wounded.

  Alec travels with another refugee, a pregnant 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, and also learns that he has other hidden ingenaire powers that can be tapped.

  Alec’s close friendship with Inga, a member of the Guard, leads to malicious gossip that causes both Alec and Inga to leave Goldenfields at the end of Visions of Power.

  Alec then travels to the capital city of the Dominion, Oyster Bay. While there, Alec is reunited with Aristotle, and also with Natalie, who has presumed Alec to be dead, and become engaged to the soof 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 unleashes the tremendous warrior energies bottled up within him. As Alec grows acquainted with the people of Ingenairii Hill and Oyster Bay, he makes many friends, including a water ingenaire apprentice, Bethany.

  Before Alec can grow accustomed to life in Oyster Bay, 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. More turmoil ensues when usurpers murder the king of the Dominion back in Oyster Bay, take control of Oyster Bay, and their allies stage 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 self-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-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.

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  Section 1

  Stronghold and Oyster Bay

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  Chapter 1 – Hinges’ Home

  Alec slowly walked the uneven paving stones of a shadowy street, stumbling towards a house he was sure would be safe.

  Just minutes earlier he had allowed himself to absorb and then virtually explode with power collected from a large number of other ingenairii. He survived the detonation because a fraction of a second before the energetic explosion he had called upon his unpredictable ability to jump through time, and had escaped as the inferno had initiated; the talent to transpose time was usually unpredictable, but in this case he had known the time-jump would occur, thanks to the predestination that the spirit of Noranda had imprinted upon him the night before. The explosion and the time-jump had occurred so nearly simultaneously that to an outside observer there was no evidence that Alec had not been consumed by the explosion.

  Now, as a result of that movement through time, he had landed in a night that was two weeks later than the explosion. He had moved from a bright mid-day to a dark hour past midnight, and had landed in a plaza still strewn with debris. Repairing the plaza had apparently not been a high priority compared with all the other work needed since he had disappeared.

  Alec felt drained of energy and initiative. He only had one goal now, to find the quiet home of Hinges, his former housekeeper, and to fall asleep there so that he could rest and prepare to leave the city on his personal pilgrimage to Stronghold. He knew the general location of Hinges’s home; he’d visited it twice in the week before his jump through time.

  Already in this dark evening he had visited one location he had expected to be his destination in Oyster Bay, from which he had expected to proceed with his journey up the Carmen River. Upon gathering his bearings from the travel through time, Alec had skulked through the streets of the city to the gate of the Millershome dockyards. But the gate was locked and the dockyards empty, evidence that in recent months Natha the trader had decided to pull out of the dangerous Oyster Bay market.

  At that point, after sitting slumped in exhaustion at Natha’s gate, Alec had decided to walk towards Hinges’s home. It was the only other place he could think of in Oyster Bay where he could receive the discreet help he needed to recover and get started.

  In time he came to the street where he thought Hinges and her daughter Irena lived. So far he had escaped notice on the empty streets, not drawing any attention to the regal robes he continued to wear. With sunrise due soon, Alec wanted to be off the street quickly, out of sight from the public. Midway down the street he found the door he recognized, and gently tried the latch. Of course it was locked, and Alec felt it was too early to awaken the neighborhood by pounding on the door, so he sat down, leaned against the door and waited for morning.

  Gradually the sky lined, and Alec observed random movements along the street as workers began to move about. A noise behind him caught him off-guard when the door latch rattled just briefly before the door swung open, causing him to tumble backwards into the house.

  Irena gave a startled gasp at finding a person on her doorstep, followed by a piercing shriek of recognition. “Momma, it’s him! Momma, it’s Alec, it’s the protector! He’s alive!” the wiry girl screamed in startlement.

  “No, no, quiet, please,” Alec begged, rising to his feet and whipping one hand behind her head, his fingers twining through the thick short curls of her dark hair, while he clamped his left hand over her mouth, desperate to muffle her sc
reams.

  Irena looked in his eyes for a long moment, then seemed to gain control of herself. Alec could hear doors opening along the street, and quickly grabbed the door behind him to swing it shut.

  Seeing the calm look in Irena’s face, Alec removed his hand from her mouth. “I’m sorry to do that, but you were telling the whole street I was here,” he apologized.

  “What are you doing here? I’m sorry I screamed. Where have you been?” Irena spat out quickly.

  There came a thumping on the door. “Are you alright in there?” a man’s voice asked.

  “Go out and tell him everything is alright,” Alec urged, worried that his efforts to be circumspect had proven futile.

  The girl nodded and slipped out the door. Alec heard the voices speaking. “Yes, we’re all right. It was only my boyfriend; we’d had a fight and he was waiting on the doorstep to make up. I was just startled, really. Thank you,” Irena’s explanation seemed to satisfy the inquisitive neighbor, and soon the girl re-entered the house, just as her mother came into the room from the hall.

  “Master Alec! Good lord, you’re like a king now, and you’ve been missing for days. The city is in an uproar,” Hinges said with a sob and ran over to hug Alec tightly. “I’m so glad to see you!”

  “Thank you Hinges, it’s good to see you too,” he said sincerely as he held her in a hug. “And it’s good to see Irena too, I might add, since I haven’t mentioned that yet in our start to the day.”