The Journey Home: The Ingenairii Series: Beyond the Twenty Cities Read online

  Oh Alec, you’ve forgotten everything about us, he heard her voice within his head as they hugged one another tightly.

  He pulled away from her in shock, and held her at arm’s length. “How did you do that?” he asked. “Are you a lokasenna?”

  Andi shook her head negatively, just as there was a knock at the door. They both turned their head to look at the door, and a second later a maid opened the door. “Pardon me, but Master Amane thought you would want to move back down here with your paramour. He told me to bring your things here, Miss Andi,” the elderly maid said, and she paid no attention to the two people wrapped in the blanket on the floor as she neatly piled Andi’s possessions near the door and then left the room, pulling the door firmly shut behind her.

  Alec looked at Andi in astonishment, causing her to try to explain. “You and I Alec, we are more than lovers. I was killed in a fight in Woven, and you saved me. You saved me by pulling my spirit into your own body to stay alive and live with you for a day, while our bodies shared your blood to keep my body alive.

  “Don’t you remember?” she cried in anguish. “Our blood, our minds, our very souls mingled with one another!

  “Alec, I have some of your memories. You have some of mine. Our spirits can talk to each other at any distance. We can’t stand to be separated; we have to be close to each other; we can find each other just by feeling where we are,” she wailed, then whispered. “Don’t you remember, Alec?”

  “What happened?” he asked stunned by the impossible relationship she was describing. “How could I forget something like that?”

  “We fought the ingenairii,” Andi began.

  “We caught them?” Alec asked.

  “You found them, and you started to fight them. I came running to help you, but as I approached you,” she paused, and her voice dropped lower, “one of them shot an arrow through your head.”

  Alec stared at her, transfixed by the story. “What happened then?”

  “I called out to your spirit, and you came back to me, and you used my hands to administer your healing power; you took my powers, and the powers in Amane, and you turned them into healing power that brought your body back to life. That was three weeks ago, and you’ve just woken up this morning for the first time. Oh Alec! I can’t live without you,” she wailed, and she held her arms out to him, pleading for some sign.

  He reached forward and took her in his arms, stunned by the story she had spun, trying to reconcile what he had been told with what he felt. He’d thought of Andi as a good companion to have on the trip, a tireless worker, a Black Crag guard, and a pretty girl, but he never would have imagined her as his soul mate; she’d paid extra attention to him and he’d watched out for her with wariness at times. Yet he could not doubt the sincerity of her pain as she cried on his shoulder.

  Alec, you have made me so much more than I was. Your love makes me feel whole, she told him as he embraced her.

  Look at what you did for me! Do you remember the training we were working on? Andi asked him. She pulled back, then swung her arm down to show him the sword of the Warrior ingenaire mark that shone brightly in her forearm, delivering another shock to him. “You taught me how to go to the place between the barriers,” she told him, “and how to find the power. We were just starting to work on bringing the power back to our world.

  “Oh Alec, where are your memories?” she wailed. She stared into his eyes intently. “When will they come back?”

  “I don’t know,” he said slowly. “I may never get them back, or they may return in five minutes.” He sat back from her, and closed his eyes. What was he to do, he wondered. “Andi, listen, until we get this straightened out, I don’t know if it’s a good idea to sleep together like this,” he told her, gesturing towards the belongings that had just been delivered, as he tried to grope his way through the inexplicable and conflicting realities he was trying to reconcile.

  “Alec, please, please don’t say that. If you could remember, if you could feel our bond again, you’d know how much I want to be with you; I have to be as close as possible to you, now that you’re awake again,” she told him, almost pleading.

  “Where are we Andi?” he asked, at a loss, desperate for a safe topic.

  “We’re in the city of Exbury. Do you remember the stories about the Five Cities? Exbury is a part of the Twenty Cities,” she told him.

  His hands moved towards her right arm, holding it gently as his attention wandered and his fingers traced over the Warrior mark that was embedded in her flesh. “How did you get this?” he asked.

  “We were riding our horses – you and Jody, and Kane and I – in a street in Woven, on the way to the palace, when an assassin shot an arrow at the boy. I rose up out of my saddle and caught the arrow before it reached him,” she said. “And then I passed out, and had headaches and felt weak for days after that. You felt badly with me. Don’t you remember?” her cry was repeated again.

  “The second time I used my powers was when I saw that arrow strike you in the battle here; then I killed three of the Warrior ingenairii with a bow and arrow,” she told him.

  She raised her hands to his face. Gently, both of them with open eyes, she placed her lips against his, kissing the lower lip and then the upper lip, feeling the reluctance in his reaction. She stopped, and hugged him again as she sobbed at the horrible truth of his imperfect awakening, so different from the dreams she had harbored during the weeks of his invalidcy.

  What can we do for you? Andi asked. How can I help you to be whole?

  I can’t tell you. Maybe the memories will return quickly, as my mind awakens further, he tried to offer a hopeful response.

  She pulled away from him and looked at him. “Oh Alec,” she moaned the words, but with a note of resignation now in her voice. “Here, get back in bed, and let me tend to you. We need to see how the rest of you is recovering.” They stood and Alec sat on the side of the bed.

  “I feel weak,” he admitted to her, trusting that regardless of anything else that might stun him, he could rely on this girl who seemed so devoted to him.

  “Of course; it’s like that time in the lacertii war, when you woke up after two weeks, and you could hardly walk across the camp,” Andi agreed.

  “Part of that was my complete loss of powers,” Alec affirmed. He paused, then asked, “How did you know that?”

  “It’s part of our memories; we shared so many memories when our spirits mingled while you kept me alive inside yourself. You know so many things about me. You teased me about the first boy I kissed,” she told him emotionally.

  “I don’t mean to upset you Andi,” he replied, concerned about the quaver in her voice.

  “Let’s see how well I can walk. Can we go find something to eat?” he asked.

  “Of course, of course,” she answered.

  “Let’s get you dressed,” she picked up a pair of pants, then pulled the sheet away from him.

  “You’ve, seen me, I suppose,” he said uncomfortably, pausing between words.

  “We’re lovers Alec, spiritually and very physically. Our bodies have done everything together. I’ve seen every inch of your body, and you’ve touched me places in ways I never imagined,” she smiled a sad smile. “You’re so passionate,” she added.

  “Here,” she pulled the pants up his legs, then let him stand and finish the pants as she retrieved a shirt for him to wear.

  “We’re in the home of a family of Old Ones,” she said as he stood ready to leave his room. “They’re like ingenarii, sort of,” she said in answer to his questioning glance, “This city has Old Ones, people with special powers to grow plants, so there are plants and gardens everywhere – everywhere, believe me,” she gave a wry smile, a smile that charmed Alec. “The boy who was in here when you awoke, he’s Amane, a member of the family.

  “You used Amane’s energy to help heal yourself, through me, because you said that Plant ingenaire energies where so close to Healer energies in some way,” she explained.r />
  “That reminds me of,” Alec began.

  “Yula. I know,” Andi answered.

  He looked at her.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “I just know.”

  “I’ll try to remember not to do that,” she added.

  “No, Andi, it wasn’t bad, it was just,” he paused, at a loss for the right word.

  “Creepy?” she suggested helpfully.

  “Yes,” Alec chuckled.

  “I’m sorry, again,” she said.

  “Here,” he held out his hand, offering it to her, and they left the room and walked down the hall hand-in-hand, both of them trying to adjust to the altered state of their relationship.

  When they reached the informal dining room, a smaller room adjacent to the kitchen, they took seats at the table and asked the servant for breakfast food, as Andi began to try to recount the adventures they had endured in the period of his missing memories.

  “I lifted the entire group in the air and we flew over a city? Really?” he asked.

  “You thought it saved us about three days of travel time, and we really did catch up with the ingenaire kidnappers. But I’m not sure we really flew – I think it was more of a controlled fall,” Andi told him.

  Amane and Tarry and their sister Casse came into the room at that point, full of enthusiastic greetings for Alec, who stammered in embarrassment momentarily, until Andi mediated. “Alec is awake, but he doesn’t have his most recent memories,” she explained. “For now, he doesn’t remember the last two months of his life, almost. We’re trying to go over it all so that he understands.”

  “He couldn’t have a better fiancé to awaken to,” Tarry said kindly.

  “Fiancé?” Alec asked Andi.

  “We weren’t pledged to marriage,” Andi said, blushing.

  “I’m sorry, I just assumed,” Tarry said.

  Amane looked at each of their faces, grasping some intuitive comprehension of their awkward relationship. “Are you no longer a couple?” he asked.

  There was a confused silence. “We are growing reacquainted,” Alec said at last. “I remember Andi. I just don’t remember everything, yet.”

  “Will you be able to go with the Rangers tomorrow?” Casse asked. “No, of course not, you’ve just gotten out of bed,” she answered her own question.

  “What are the Rangers?” Alec asked.

  “The Prince wants the girls who were kidnapped here to be rescued and returned,” Tarry answered. “We have an expedition of a dozen men set to leave tomorrow.”

  “They’re chasing the Warriors?” Alec asked Andi. She nodded agreement.

  “Regular men, chasing Warriors,” he asked again, a note of scorn creeping into his voice.

  Alec looked at Andi and nodded his head at the budding Ranger. She reached her hand over and placed it on his. His name is Tarry, she reminded him. He is a good man, well-meaning.

  Thank you, Alec shared his thought with her.

  “Tarry,” he said aloud, “it’s foolish for regular men to go after Warrior ingenairii. None of you will come back alive if you catch up to them.”

  “It may seem foolish to you, but it is unthinkable for the Prince to let a group of young girls be kidnapped from his city and left to suffer whatever happens to them,” Tarry answered with dignity. “Better to make the effort and hope for the best than to let them be made into victims like that.”

  Alec nodded his head. “I understand the need to follow, to settle justice. I’ve come all the way from the other side of the mountains to find one girl. I’ll come with your group to help fight the battle that’s ahead.”

  “And I’ll be with Alec,” Andi said aloud. Are you ready to go on a journey like this?

  I traveled from the battlefield to John Mark’s cave after I woke up from the lacertii war, he replied.

  “And I’ll go along too,” Amane spoke up, carefully not looking at Andi.

  Tarry looked around the table in surprise.

  “Amane, you can’t just go!” Casse cried. “Our house will be so lonely with you and Tarry both gone.”

  “I can fight, but even if they wouldn’t take me as a fighter, I’ll go as Alec’s squire, if nothing else,” Amane said, red-faced.

  “This is the Prince’s Ranger squad,” Tarry protested. “You all can hardly invite yourselves to join.”

  “He’s right,” Alec admitted, as a clap of thunder outside startled them all, and heavy rain began to fall. “The Rangers have their mission. We may just happen to ride on the same route for the same purpose.”

  Andi looked at the expression of shock on Tarry’s face, and the intense interest on Amane’s. Don’t push it any further for now, she silently suggested.

  Alec squeezed her hand in agreement.

  “Ah, thank goodness for the blessed rain,” Casse spoke up, trying to be a peacemaker and steer the conversation to a different, safer topic. “The gardens will be nice and fresh when we visit them this afternoon,” she spoke to Andi. “Speaking of which, I’m going to go get ready. Are you still coming? Deirdre and Drake were so looking forward to meeting you.”

  Alec looked at Andi. I’m supposed to go on a garden tour this afternoon. It’s how I’ve filled my time while you’ve been unconscious, she silently explained.

  “Would you two stop doing that? We feel left out of your conversations!” Casse said with exasperation.

  Alec pulled his hand from Andi’s. “Forgive us,” he said. “I’m just overwhelmed by all that I’m learning today. Of course you should feel free to go on your tour today,” he said to Andi. “I won’t perish if you leave me alone for a few hours,” he told Andi.

  “I can watch over Alec for you, if you want,” Amane told Andi.

  “That won’t be necessary,” both Alec and Andi said at the same time.

  “I’d feel better if someone were with him, especially since he just woke up after three weeks. And if he has any questions about the Rangers or the trail the ingenairii took from Exbury, I can give him information,” Amane insisted.

  Alec shrugged. “Come along for a while if you want. We can go to an armory somewhere and practice sword work.”

  “We’ve got an armory right here in our home!” Amane said brightly.

  Andi stood to go, not pleased by the idea of Amane spending time with Alec, but not sure why. She and Casse went to their chambers to get dressed, leaving Tarry and Amane and Alec alone at the table.

  “I’ll go to the prince’s stable and make arrangements for the additional members of the party,” Tarry told the other two as he stood.

  “Do you think it will be a problem?” Amane asked.

  “Not when they find out it’s the two who have been hunting the kidnappers all the way across the world. And they’ll take you too,” he kidded his younger brother with a tousling of his hair, and then was gone from the room.

  Amane led Alec to the armory, and they put on padding, picked up the wooden practice blades, and began engaging in their motions. “Andi is an extraordinary woman!” Amane said after a few moments of wordless practice, as they cautiously moved about on the pads, swinging their weapons. Alec was restraining his efforts as it became evident that he far outmatched the young Old One.

  “I have enjoyed having her here with us while she’s waited for you to recover. She is an accomplished fighter as well as an attractive woman,” he said.

  “She’s from Black Crag, trained as a guard there. They’re the best fighters in the Empire,” Alec replied. “They’re as good as the Goldenfields Guard, for that matter.”

  “She’s kind and thoughtful too,” Amane went on. “She keeps receiving invitations to go on tours of gardens. Casse’s friends are the ones asking, but really their brothers ask them to, so that the brothers can get to meet Andi that way. Even though she knows what she’s being asked to do, she won’t risk seeming rude by saying no to Casse’s friends, so she gets dragged out over and over again.

  “I can’t imagine that anyone would ever toy with her,”
Amane said. “For one thing, she’d cut them up with her sword!” he gave a nervous smile. “But I’d hate to see someone toy with her affections if they don’t have honorable intentions towards her.”

  “I agree completely,” Alec said, still holding back his sword work against Amane.

  “I took the liberty of moving her belongings into your room when we found out you had recovered,” Amane continued. “If you’d like, if it would make you more comfortable, we can simply have the maids transfer them back to her own room; it would only be for tonight, anyway, since we’ll start our journey tomorrow.”

  Alec stepped back from Amane, and lowered his sword. He’d had enough of the unproductive fencing. And now that he knew that the practice session was only a ruse the young man had sprung in order to verbally fence over Andi, he was done. He stood silently, making Amane nervous, and began to untie his pads, then walked to the storage racks without speaking and put his things away.

  “You can have her things moved out,” Alec said as he headed for the door. “If she wants them moved in, she’ll ask for it herself. I’m going to go for a walk around the city,” he told Amane, and then he was out the door.

  Amane went immediately into the manor house, where he found a maid, and cheerfully told her that Alec had asked for Andi’s items to be moved back to her room in the east wing.

  Alec meanwhile, walked through the streets of the city, absently noting some of the wonders of the plants that were the fundamental character of the city’s feature, but mostly he let his mind churn unceasingly through the multiple issues that faced him.

  He had apparently come tantalizingly close to capturing the renegade Warrior ingenairii. He wondered what the battlefield had been like, what feature had betrayed him, to cause him to lose. He’d defeated other ingenairii in his old life time, and he’d beaten the Ajacii in this one. He knew what his capabilities were; if he had beaten all the demons he had fought, it seemed disappointing to him that he had failed to defeat these opponents.