The Caravan Road
Authors: Jeffrey Quyle
With great care, he scanned the slope down the hill until he found the path that led from the woods to the water, then examined its length for any traps or dangers. There was nothing in evidence, so he carefully crept out of the trees and descended the trail.
Cautiously, Alec crept down into the warmth, and he felt a light mist of rain falling upon him as snowflakes from above melted mid-air in the unusual temperatures that rose from the ponds on the valley floor. He sprinted across the level ground to the edge of the pool, where he tapped the closest person to him, Andi, on the shoulder. The girl was immersed in the water of the pool, her whole torso and extremities submerged, her clothes and coat still bundled around her body, strangely enough.
“Andi!” Alec called as he poked her. “Wake up,” he spoke again, but nothing roused the girl. He looked at her with his health vision, splitting his use of his powers, his thin, limited stream of powers, into three components – Light, Spirit, and Healer. The globe of light above shrank and dimmed as he decreased his flow of energy to it, but his Healer vision showed that Andi’s body was suffering some strange treatment. Then his Spirit energy made him snap his head up sharply, as he felt a siren’s call to join the girl in the water, to grow warm and comfortable and relaxed by soaking in the moist, liquid resting place that awaited him.
The siren that called was the same presence that had felt hostile before, or was it hungry, he wondered? He felt a longing to succumb to the lure, to let himself slide into the water, and he swung his feet around beneath him so that he could dip them into the pond’s faintly glowing blue moisture.
As his feet dropped into the pond, his Healer energies screamed at him that the water was a danger, a threat to health and life, and he jerked his legs upward. He watched in horror as streamers of water reached up from the pond’s surface, trying to follow and retain their hold on his feet, wanting to pull him into the thirsty water.
With horror, Alec backed away from the water, and watched as it splashed with inexplicable waves, reaching up onto the shore to try to reach him.
The Ingenairii Series
1.
Visions of Power
2.
At the Seat of Power: Goldenfields and the Dominion
3.
The Loss of Power: Goldenfields and Bondell
4.
The Lifesaving Power: Goldenfields and Stronghold
5.
Against the Empire
6.
Preserving the Ingenairii
7. Rescuing the Captive
8. Ajacii and Demons
9. The Caravan Road
10. The Journey Home
Also by Jeffrey Quyle
The Green Plague
For more information, visit the Ingenairii Series on Facebook,
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The C
aravan road
The
Ingenairii Series
Book 9
Jeffrey Quyle
Chapter 1
–
The Ridgeclimb Clinic
Page 1
Chapter 2
–
Kriste’s Farm
Page 7
Chapter 3
–
The
Merchant Visitors
Page 1
1
Chapter 4
–
Return to Valerian
e
Page 2
4
Chapter 5
–
Rescuing Carla
Page
28
Chapter 6 –
Alec’s Injury
Page 55
Chapter 7
–
Deposing the Duke
Page 69
Chapter 8 –
Visit With the Ajacii
Page 70
Chapter 9
–
The Palace at Vincennes
Page 86
Chapter 10
–
Friends in Warm Spring
s
Page
101
Chapter 11
–
Meeting the Grandasteuss
e
Page 107
Chapter 12 –
Assault at Ridgeclimb
Page 127
Chapter 13
–
Healing at the Clini
c
Page 132
Chapter 14
–
The
Journey on the Caravan Roa
d
Page 1
39
Chapter 15
–
The Warm Pools
Page 143
Chapter 16
–
Meeting Sale
m
Page 154
Chapter 17
–
Battle with the Miner
s
Page 175
Cha
pter 18 – Avoiding the Glide
Page 191
Chapter 19
–
Arrival at Woven
Page 195
Chapter 20
–
Andi’s Healing
Page 221
Chapter 21
–
A
ndi Saves Kan
e
Page 247
Chapter 22
–
The Roads among the Twenty Citie
s
Page 256
Chapter 23
–
Recovery for Alec
Page 274
Chapter 24
–
The Trip to Exbur
y
Page
286
Chapter 25 – Alec’s Healing
Page 301
List of Characters
Alec,
Duke of Valeriane
Carla, Valeriane tradesman’s daughter
Charls, Valeriane steward
Gallus, pretender Duke of Valeriane
Availlie, Leader of the Ajacii Select
Lugust, Emperor of the Avonellene Empire
Carl, brother of Lugust
Cathlin, Carl’s daughter
Bauer, former sorcerer, guest of the Lokasennii
Ailse,
Grandasteur of the lokasennii of Warm Springs
Hope, Grandesteusse of the lokasennii
Jasel, farm boy at Ridgeclimb
Kristie, farm girl at Ridgeclimb
Aethos, traveling merchant
Amos, Aethos’s merchant brother