Read Online The Lifesaving Power: Goldenfields and Stronghold by Jeffrey Quyle - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Jeffrey Quyle
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powerful steed walked over to where Alec was. With his horse’s lead in hand, Alec hurried the animal back through the darkening yard to the ship.
“ Can you help me sling some planks across here for my horse to board?” he asked a hand standing on the pier-side. Together they extended three boards that proved wide enough to coax the reluctant horse onto the deck of the Current Rider .
“ There are several men gathering outside the gate,” Alec said urgently to Parlton. “Are we ready to go?”
“ Loosen those lines,” Parlton boomed out in reply. Three members of the crew still on the dock side untied the moorings for the ship and leaped across the watery gap to the deck, as others heaved on long poles to push the ship away from the pier, out of its slip, and into the river channel.
“ Man the sweeps,” Parlton ordered to the depleted crew. “Give us some motion to get into the current.”
Alec was relieved to feel the Current Rider ’s speedy escape from the site of the death trap that had been set for the crew. But he also felt horror at the thought that he was leaving behind the single most important goal of his life – rescuing Noranda. To relieve his anxiety, Alec went below deck to where the wounded had been hastily placed for evacuation.
After sitting for a moment tst, Alec began walking among the wounded men, praying and dispensing small touches of healing powers as best he could without any herbs or supplements handy to help. When he reached the last man and felt he had done enough to ease the pain and preserve the health of the men, he went back on deck, secured Walnut in his spot, and fed the horse some of the fodder still tied to his back. And with that he curled up and fell asleep on the deck, oblivious to the hustle of the crew’s activities around him. And they in turn trod carefully past the place where slept the boy who had helped save them from a massacre in Stronghold.
Chapter 5 – Aristotle’s Words in Oyster Bay
When Bethany stepped onto the Millershome docks in Oyster Bay after several days of traveling, she found many surprises. Some she expected, like the shock of walking through the empty, depopulated paths of Ingenairii Hill. She had known many people were no longer on the Hill, but its emptiness still left her with a feeling of numbness.
Some surprises caught her completely unprepared. Tritos was one. She had only been back in her house among the water ingenairii for a few hours when a summons to the door brought a re-introduction to Tritos, a stone apprentice she had known before going away to Goldenfields. He had been one of the boys she had flirted with, on terms that she set, before Alec had captivated her. Tritos, like many of the stone ingenairii, had not fled to Goldenfields. Lanter, the head of the house, had not wanted to see the division of the ingenairii, and so had not countenanced the migration. But he had not approved of the actions of the coup leaders, and so had sent virtually every stone ingenairii and apprentice away from Oyster Bay, disseminating his charges throughout the Dominion to work on stone projects in every city other than Oyster Bay.
Upon the overthrow of the coup plotters, the stone ingenairii had returned to the Hill. Tritos had only arrived the day before, and had learned of Bethany’s return shortly before he climbed up the Hill to her house. With one look at her he was as enthralled as ever by her beauty. She had always been kind to him, if only intermittent in her encouragement of his attentions. Until the night of the swimming party at the quarry, he had believed that he might be impossibly lucky enough to capture the affections of the lovely girl. But after that night and Alec’s spectacular feat of healing Cassie, Tritos had known that Bethany had given her heart to the healer. Then the rift and mayhem on the Hill had separated them for many long months.
“ Tritos, I’m so happy to see one of our old
“ Can you help me sling some planks across here for my horse to board?” he asked a hand standing on the pier-side. Together they extended three boards that proved wide enough to coax the reluctant horse onto the deck of the Current Rider .
“ There are several men gathering outside the gate,” Alec said urgently to Parlton. “Are we ready to go?”
“ Loosen those lines,” Parlton boomed out in reply. Three members of the crew still on the dock side untied the moorings for the ship and leaped across the watery gap to the deck, as others heaved on long poles to push the ship away from the pier, out of its slip, and into the river channel.
“ Man the sweeps,” Parlton ordered to the depleted crew. “Give us some motion to get into the current.”
Alec was relieved to feel the Current Rider ’s speedy escape from the site of the death trap that had been set for the crew. But he also felt horror at the thought that he was leaving behind the single most important goal of his life – rescuing Noranda. To relieve his anxiety, Alec went below deck to where the wounded had been hastily placed for evacuation.
After sitting for a moment tst, Alec began walking among the wounded men, praying and dispensing small touches of healing powers as best he could without any herbs or supplements handy to help. When he reached the last man and felt he had done enough to ease the pain and preserve the health of the men, he went back on deck, secured Walnut in his spot, and fed the horse some of the fodder still tied to his back. And with that he curled up and fell asleep on the deck, oblivious to the hustle of the crew’s activities around him. And they in turn trod carefully past the place where slept the boy who had helped save them from a massacre in Stronghold.
Chapter 5 – Aristotle’s Words in Oyster Bay
When Bethany stepped onto the Millershome docks in Oyster Bay after several days of traveling, she found many surprises. Some she expected, like the shock of walking through the empty, depopulated paths of Ingenairii Hill. She had known many people were no longer on the Hill, but its emptiness still left her with a feeling of numbness.
Some surprises caught her completely unprepared. Tritos was one. She had only been back in her house among the water ingenairii for a few hours when a summons to the door brought a re-introduction to Tritos, a stone apprentice she had known before going away to Goldenfields. He had been one of the boys she had flirted with, on terms that she set, before Alec had captivated her. Tritos, like many of the stone ingenairii, had not fled to Goldenfields. Lanter, the head of the house, had not wanted to see the division of the ingenairii, and so had not countenanced the migration. But he had not approved of the actions of the coup leaders, and so had sent virtually every stone ingenairii and apprentice away from Oyster Bay, disseminating his charges throughout the Dominion to work on stone projects in every city other than Oyster Bay.
Upon the overthrow of the coup plotters, the stone ingenairii had returned to the Hill. Tritos had only arrived the day before, and had learned of Bethany’s return shortly before he climbed up the Hill to her house. With one look at her he was as enthralled as ever by her beauty. She had always been kind to him, if only intermittent in her encouragement of his attentions. Until the night of the swimming party at the quarry, he had believed that he might be impossibly lucky enough to capture the affections of the lovely girl. But after that night and Alec’s spectacular feat of healing Cassie, Tritos had known that Bethany had given her heart to the healer. Then the rift and mayhem on the Hill had separated them for many long months.
“ Tritos, I’m so happy to see one of our old
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