At the Seat of Power: Goldenfields and the Dominion Read online

  With no assignments to fill his empty hands while the crew sailed the ship, Alec looked for ways to occupy himself, other than moping and ruminating on the unfairness of the Goldenfields rumors that had driven him away. He spent hours practicing his sword work, but was still at a loss for things to do. The day after leaving Three Forks though an idea came to him as he watched a mate closely consult a chart of the river bottom. Thereafter Alec used his idle time to write down every medical memory he could call to mind. He hoped to create a reference book to pass along to Leah in their shop, as well as to the medics for the Duke’s Guard and army. If he could organize the vast number of remedies and cures that he knew, he felt certain that Natha’s son-in-law, Rand, could print the books that might help to save lives and improve care for patients.

  At times Alec took a break from his sword work and his medical writing to engage himself in a more frivolous way, one that left the crew of the Sophie shaking their heads furtively as he dove into the river and swam alongside the ship, practicing his awkward but effective stroke. He’d learned to swim in the headwaters of the Giffey, taught by Leah while they’d floated to their new life following the lacertii destruction of the mountain settlements. The Carmen was a mightier stream than the Giffey had been, and Alec stroked hard to keep up with the ship, while dodging the debris that the river carried from the ends of its wide basin.

  Three days after leaving Three Forks they had not yet raised their sails because the breeze had remained constantly out of the west, and they arrived in Frame half a day behind the sailing schedule.

  Alec looked forward to the stop at Frame with great anticipation. He’d been raised there, living first in an orphanage, then working for a short time in a tannery before running away to join the circus that had taken him along the river for more than a year until the disaster at Riverside.

  Frame had been scheduled for a full day’s stay, but the ship arrived half a day late in mid-afternoon, and the captain announced his plan to leave before dawn. Alec felt great disappointment well up, because he had looked forward to a visit to sites throughout the city. Instead, he decided to take his medical kit and go to his old orphanage to see if he could offer any care for the children there, since he remembered there was always a great need for such attention.

  As soon as the ship docked, Alec was on the shore and walking rapidly through the streets towards the cathedral of the city. Once in that quarter, he turned down a street adjoining the wall of the cathedral grounds and came to the nunnery that operated the orphanage.

  Alec rang the bell and waited for an answer at the door. “May I help you?” a girl’s voice came through the small transom that opened to view him.

  “I am a healer, and wish to offer charity work to the children of this orphanage. May I enter and serve you?” he asked.

  There was a moment of silence on the other side of the door, and then the girl’s voice replied. “Let me go ask a sister,” the response Alec had anticipated, and he was left to wait.

  Two minutes later a woman’s voice asked again if he needed help. “I am a healer. I wish to offer charity work to your children who reside here, tending their wounds and aches. I can only stay for a few hours this evening, if you will let me,” he explained.

  The door opened, and he faced the woman who had run the orphanage for the past ten years, a stern but fair nun, Sister Agnes. “Your charity is commendable, sir. We have several children who will appreciate your help, I’m sure. Please follow this child to the chapel, and we’ll send the children in to see you. You can start with young Mary here once you arrive at the chapel, as a matter of fact.” There was no hint of recognition in her face, which disappointed Alec. But as he reflected on the number of orphans who passed through the venerable institution, he could well imagine how difficult it would be to remember so many.

  Alec knew the way to the chapel, but patiently slowed his pace to Mary’s shorter steps. When they arrived, Alec stopped the girl and glanced at her with his health vision. She appeared completely healthy, other than a loose tooth about to come out. Alec asked her how she felt, thanked her for leading him to the chapel, and gave her a copper coin in appreciation, knowing how rare coins were in the orphanage. Her broad smile showed that he had correctly understood the treat he had given her, and won her gratitude for his generosity.

  Five minutes later, as Alec spread his materials across a pair of pews for easy access, a sister he didn’t recognize arrived with a dozen children. Alec looked at them and tried to gauge how often he should use common examination steps, and how often he should use his health vision to check the children, knowing that it would drain his energy if he overused the gift.

  Among the first group of children he treated he found a sprained ankle and an infected eye. He treated the ankle quickly and dismissed the rest of the children, keeping the boy with the problem eye for treatment. While the nun took the other children away and another group arrived, Alec prepared an ointment for the eye, placed some on it with a patch, and instructed the boy and the nun in how to treat it again tomorrow.

  The next group of children included one coughing girl, a cheerful nine year old with freckles, who Alec looked at with sorrow after he used his health vision to examine her. Only a lengthy treatment would heal her lungs well enough for her to live through the winter. He gave her some powder to inhale to provide temporary relief from her cough, and sent her back to the other children, vowing silently to himself to come back to heal her.

  Two hundred children came through the chapel, taking more than six hours. Alec began to run out of some supplies. When the last group was done, Alec began to pack his supplies, and reflected that some of the older children he had treated had been children he recognized from his time there two years ago. But no one had recognized him as a former resident of the orphanage. He wondered if that illustrated how much he had changed in the recent months, or if he was just an easily forgettable child. He felt tempted to tell the young patients who he was, but was too shy for the words to leave his mouth

  Alec was thinking about the things he didn’t get to see in his visit to the orphanage, the dorm room he had slept in, the attic that he and others had hid in to play games, the yards from where they had seen children out on the streets with their parents. Abruptly he heard the door to the orphanage open and saw in the dim lantern light that it was the head nun in charge of the facility. “Thank you sir for your great, great kindness. Each sister had reported that you have dealt with the children kindly and very effectively, and I have heard of many good works you performed. Your charity is remarkable. I would like to say a prayer for you, if you would share your name with me,” she requested.

  “My name is Alec,” he told her as they walked towards the gate. “I appreciate your prayers very much.”

  Alec placed the final items back in his bag, picked it up and the lantern he was using, and walked to the nun. “Please show me the way out now. I am only passing through town on a river ship, and we’re due to leave before dawn.

  “Will your journeys bring you back this way?” she asked as they reached the gate.

  “If they do and I have a chance to stop here in Frame, I will come back to check on the children again. Thank you for caring for them,” he gave her a gold piece. “Use this to treat them to something special some evening.” He hesitated for a moment, struck by the realization that Natha’s sale of the fountain water was supposed to make him a wealthy man, and that he would be able to put some of that money to use to improve the lives of the children at the orphanage. He gave a slow smile to the nun, and then turned to leave.

  “If I may ask, have you been here before?” the nun’s voice reached his ears as he was about to step outside. “You look familiar. We seldom receive such kind charity for the children, so you should stand out in my memory, though as young as you are I’m sure you haven’t been practicing medicine for very long.”

  “Yes, I’ve been here before, but it was nearly two years ago, Mother,” Alec adm
itted. “My name is Alec, and I am a former resident of this place.”

  The nun stared at him intently. “Really? You astonish me sir. In whose bunkroom did you live?” she asked.

  Alec placed his bags on the ground and began discussing his history in the orphanage, describing so many details that there was no doubt of his veracity. The nun called for them to be joined by Sister Mary Agnes, the elderly nun who had cared for Alec’s group of children at the orphanage. Alec had hoped to see the sister, who had been kind even while administering firm discipline to her wards. With prompting she recognized him, and they reminisced about many of his peers who had since departed from the orphanage, the rule of making room for younger wards being evenly enforced on all residents of the home.

  “Your favorite playmate, Bartholomew, left shortly after you, and works for a sail maker down by the wharves. We still see him from time to time,” Sister Mary told him. “Why is it that we never saw you again?”

  Alec told the two nuns about the conditions at the tannery and his decision to run away, and his life on the move since then.

  “We had no idea the tannery was so bad,” the head nun proclaimed in dismay, and Sister Mary agreed that no more of their orphans would be placed in the factory again.

  “Alec,” Sister Mary said with a quizzical tone in her voice, “One of the older sisters, Sister Magdaline, occasionally mentioned that we had to keep an eye on you for special reasons. I never knew what those reasons were, but obviously she was right. Look at you serving as a healer at such a young age, and having traveled so much already! And you’ve grown so much these past months; you look young, but not like the child I’d expect you to be! We hope you will come again. Perhaps, Sister Magdaline would be able to meet you and see how you’ve grown. She’s living a life of elderly contemplation now, but she could come back if we knew when your next visit will be.”

  “I’ll try to let you know in advance of my return,” Alec promised. He was pleased at his reception from his former home, and glad that he had been able to serve. “Take care of the children until then,” he said, and after receiving the sisters’ blessing, he went through the gate and back to the docks, ready to head towards Oyster Bay.

  Chapter 2 – Arrival in Oyster Bay

  Two mornings later, after Alec had spent many hours on the river contemplating the familiar and the differences he had witnessed at his childhood orphanage, the Sophie pulled up to Natha’s dockyards on the eastern end of Oyster Bay, and Alec prepared to disembark. He took time to thank the crew and officers for the passage. Once he was unloaded on shore Alec looked with great eagerness for Aristotle, but did not see him immediately, so he impatiently walked towards the gates of the yard, awkwardly hauling his bags with him.

  Alec passed through the gates into a square beyond, jostled along the way by the streams of people and commerce that merged and interchanged on the city docks , then set his bags down in an out-of-the-way corner. He still did not see Aristotle, though he sat and waited for ten minutes. While he waited he tried to establish his bearings in the busy capital city.

  He looked beyond the colorful crowds of waterfront denizens, and quickly located the hill with the campus of white buildings, the probable home of the ingenairii, which appeared to be at the far end of Oyster Bay. Alec judged that it was on the seaward side of the city, and that many of the buildings would have views of the seafront.

  Alec finally saw a white-headed man with a beard approaching the dockyard gates, wearing a dark blue robe. He felt his pulse quicken with excitement at the sight of the man he’d not seen since a lunch in a shop in a distant mountain settlement that was now only ashes and ruin. Although he’d never seen Ari in a robe before, Alec recognized the face of his ingenaire friend. “Ari!” he shouted. “Aristotle!” twice more he called, and the man heard him. Ari stopped to look around, and Alec waved his hand over his head, shouting again.

  Alec noticed that as Ari approached, several men followed him. They arrived, and Alec gave Aristotle, greatest of the ingenairii in the land, a long, loving, rib-crushing hug. “Ari, it has been so long since I’ve seen you! I am so glad you’re alive. This is wonderful; it’s one of my dreams come true!” he said with unfeigned enthusiasm as he thought of the long months he had endured without Ari to rely on. The young man was overcome with emotion, stronger feelings than he had expected, as he felt relief to finally be with Aristotle again.

  Aristotle held him back at arm’s length and looked at him closely, looking at him up and down and then staring warmly into his eyes for a long moment. “Alec, you’re hardly the same boy I last saw just a few weeks ago. I feel like someone’s great-aunt saying ‘look at how you’ve grown,’ but you’ve grown more than I would have thought possible. In many ways, from what Merle tells me,” he added. “It’s good to see you again, boy,” he said affectionately.

  “Let’s return to Ingenaire Hill and get you settled in. Alec, I’d like you to meet my companions this morning. This,” he indicated the short man closest to him, wearing a lighter blue robe, “is Willis, the secretary/aide of the head ingenaire. These three are apprentice ingenairii who I lured out of lessons so they could help visit the docks, and incidentally carry your baggage for you. Here are Appel, an air apprentice, Shaiss, a light apprentice, and Chester, a spirit apprentice. Gentlemen, if each of you will take a bag we’ll proceed to see the city.”

  They walked west along the river front road, Alec observing that all ports seemed to have certain consistent patterns of development, with a recognizable collection of docks, warehouses, and unpleasant industries such as slaughterhouses located near the river. As they left the riverside to move through town, Alec saw that the ingenairii compound was one of three significant structures that were aligned along the axis of the city. They first passed a huge palace complex, which Aristotle and the others explained was the king’s palace and seat of government. Later they passed a cathedral larger than the others Alec had seen on his journey. Finally, walking along the broad boulevard that connected the three together, they came to the tall white walls around the foot of the hill claimed by the ingenairii.

  “Gentlemen,” Aristotle said as the group passed the watchmen at the gate, “place Alec’s bags at Rubicon’s quarters, and then you are free to return to your usual duties of the day. Alec, come with me for a bit, and then Willis will show you around.”

  Alec watched his bags depart with the other apprentices, who all were slightly older than Alec. There was a strange pressure in the air, something he felt all over but not on his skin in a fashion. He followed as Aristotle turned to the right and strode along a path that gently rose as it climbed a quarter of the way up the hillside.

  “This creates a wonderful image, the ingenairii on the hill looking down on the city below, but all these up and down climbs are an absolute nuisance,” Ari told him with a smile as they followed the path to a building with three stories and a large covered porch. Meanwhile Alec noticed that the strange sensation had not gone away, but seemed to be even more noticeable.

  A guard at the door let them enter, and the three of them went upstairs to a suite of offices on the second floor. Alec looked out the window, admiring the view with the cathedral centered in the middle and the palace further away behind it. “It’s a beautiful view isn’t it? At sunset the red sunlight strikes the towers of the cathedral and makes them positively glow in a way that words can’t describe.

  “That door there goes to Willis’s office, right next to mine,” Ari told Alec as they took seats around a table. Ari offered fresh fruit from a bowl, and a beaker of water.

  “Willis, Alec and I traveled together last year and part of this year while I was with the caravan that entered the Pale Mountains. We became separated in the turmoil at Walnut Creek, and I grieved because I thought a good boy had been lost. Now I find that a good boy was lost only in the sense that he’s developing into a good man. I think having him here with us learning to be an ingenaire will be good for him,” Aristotle exp
lained.

  “Would you go inform Rubicon that I would like for him to join us here so that I can introduce these two?” Aristotle asked his assistant, who promptly left to carry out the task.

  “Willis is a good man, Alec, but he repeats more than I would want him to. That’s why Fallon and his allies put him here, so that they can hear more direct gossip about me,” Ari told Alec looking straight at him. “Remember that if you have something you want to keep secret, don’t let Willis know; and the flip side is that if you want to spread some information around, let Willis hear. He’s got a good heart, and a clever mind, just not much common sense.”

  Alec looked at Ari and judged the kindly man he had remembered against the man he was sitting with now. Ari had always been a leader; Alec had known that. In the caravan Ari didn’t try to lead often, but when he did, he always knew just what to suggest and how to suggest it to achieve what he wanted. Here though Ari seemed to have everything completely at his disposal, and was confident in what he controlled, it seemed.

  A new sensation virtually popped inside his head, and he jumped, twirling around to look behind him. “What is it?” Aristotle asked, quite undisturbed by Alec’s secret awareness.

  “It’s a feeling,” he mumbled, trying to remember why it seemed distantly familiar. Aristotle only looked at him, as if expecting more explanation.

  “Oh!” the elder ingenaire chuckled a moment later. “Is it stronger now? He asked as another pop seemed to occur.

  “Yes! Do you feel it too?” Alec asked with relief. He wasn’t imagining things after all.

  “It’s the power,” Ari said simply. “As an ingenaire, you can sense the use of the energy when it’s somewhere near you. In this case, it’s all around you, constantly while you’re here on the Hill.”