The Journey Home: The Ingenairii Series: Beyond the Twenty Cities by Jeffrey Quyle Read Free Book Online Page B

cover of the inky blackness he ran to a new location, then caused a flare of light to illuminate and stun the women below.
    “Enough of the battle!” he shouted, growing angrier with each moment.  “I came here only to stop the evil that attacked my companions, but if these assaults continue, you will suffer my attack on you!  Stop this now!” he screamed so loudly he felt his face turn red, and he strained his control of his Spiritual powers with his rapidly growing anger.  He abruptly checked himself as he realized that the result of weakening of his Spiritual energies in order to allow the use of his other energies was also allowing the hateful energy around him to affect his feelings and judgment.
    “Forgive me John Mark,” he muttered a quick, quiet prayer of regret.  “I do not want to kill them.  I only want to rescue the girls.”
    He felt the energy that surrounded him abruptly vanish.
    He turned his head, looking in all directions for the next calamity to descend upon him.  There was none in view in any direction, and he looked back down at the women in the village.  Other women were coming out of the largest hut of the village, increasing the size of the group that faced him.  It grew into a mob as he stood engaged in a silent stare down.
    “What did you mean about rescuing girls?” the crone who appeared to be the leader of the village of women asked.
    Alec stopped and considered the question, confused by the interest the woman showed in his one short prayer after his earlier pleas and threats had accomplished nothing.  “A girl I know, and many other girls, were kidnapped, by a gang of men – Warrior ingenairii, if you know what that means.
    “I’ve been chasing them for weeks trying to set the girls free,” he explained.  “My companions are with me on this quest.”
    “Do you speak the truth?” the old woman asked.
    “I speak the truth,” he replied.
    “Anyone can claim they speak the truth,” some other voice protested from the crowd.
    “He is a man.  No man is to be trusted,” another voice shouted.
    “Why hasn’t he caught these kidnapers and freed the girls already?  He is a mighty warlock,” yet another doubter called from the crowd.
    “I am not a warlock!” Alec denied emphatically.  “I understand how you create the powers you use; I do not use that means of accomplishing my goals.  Your way is a painful one for the spirits you rely on.”
    “He is a seer,” a different voice called.  “He knows what we do, he rescues girls.  He is trustworthy.”
    “Never trust a man,” came a bitter rejoinder from somewhere in the crowd.
    “Enough!” the leader called out, bringing order back to the mob of her followers, just before it careened out of control.
    “Do you speak the truth?” the woman asked again.
    “I do,” Alec replied.  “My soul grows troubled when I say falsehoods, and I do not wish to carry that burden.  I am telling the truth.”
    “The whole truth?” the leader prodded him.
    He stopped and reflected.  H e wondered h ow much of his story was pertinent to this confrontation, a confrontation he did not even understand yet.  He only knew that it had descended to mere ly verbal jousting instead of physical battle, and he was glad for that.
    “I have told all the truth that I think you care about,” he answered, and listened as his words provoked a murmur of distrust.
    “If we could believe you,” she paused dramatically, “we might let your friends go in peace.   We might even let you go in peace.
    “We might even assist you,” she said at last, a statement that drew another ripple of murmurs from her followers.
    “Come down here, so that we may weigh your truth,” she said.  She held her hand up to him in a gesture of offering to help.
    “Why would I trust you?” Alec asked, and at last he recognized the dilemma of his situation.
    He was not going to be able to defeat this group unless he slaughtered them, and he could not