Ancient Kings (The Young Ancients) (5 page)

That just got Timon to roll his eyes as they walked out, not even saying what he was thinking about. It clearly wasn't anything overly nice.

It was just as clearly directed at Tor.

It took a while to get everything set up and while Terry was a smart boy, he also wasn't an experienced Fast Carriage driver, so that meant Tor needed to call ahead to the Palace to set things up. It would have been a bigger deal, but Connie chuckled slightly as she informed him about what was already going on.

"Princess Abbie and Countess Thorgood left hours ago, in one of the Countess' standard transports. I believe they intend to arrive at about seven? Please wish them all the best for Richard and I? We would have attended ourselves, of course, but with everything else going on... I hope that your family will understand?" She sounded worried about it, as if anyone actually
wouldn't
get it?

Timon cleared his throat and smiled weakly, looking at the white focus stone device in Tor's hand.

"I think they will. Todd really won't expect the King and Queen to show up for his engagement party after all. Now the
wedding
is a different story. I don't know where that will be held, but I'll be available to hire out for transportation services for it. Probably up in Thorgood. You, the King, all those Royal Guards... You'll want to book ahead."

There was a pause then and finally Connie inhaled, a sound that didn't sound as relaxed as it might have. Tor wondered when he'd developed the ability to tell how a person was doing based on their breathing, but he thought it was right anyway. She was tense.

He sighed himself and shook his head.

"Tim, you forgot her family discount." His words had a slightly bitter tone to them, and Tor noticed his hand shaking a little, making the device wobble. There was sheen of sweat on the palm that held it, cool and uncomfortable. That was probably his imagination, since his temperature control amulet would keep him in good stead, but it was there, however it happened.

His brother just looked up at the Prince and nodded.

"That's right. Darn. Well, I guess you do get to fly for free then, don't you?"

For her part Connie didn't make any noise, as if she wasn't certain what to do about anything at all. Tor got that one, he wasn't either. In a very real way he loved her. It wasn't the way he should feel about an aunt or daughter either. Thinking about it left him feeling slightly ill, so he didn't for a bit, making his mind go blank.

"I think we can manage without abusing your goodwill Timon. Not too much at any rate."

It was strange and awkward, but thankfully she was the Queen, which meant she could lay claim to being busy without having to actually lie about it too much, meaning they were off the communications device three minutes later. The only one a little disappointed about that was Terry. He wasn't going to get to solo to the Capital in a Fast Carriage after all.

"So much for that then? It was worth a chance, I suppose." There was a sense of that little kid misery that happened when a prize fell between their fingers, and Tor really couldn't stand seeing it right then. He set up his own Fast Carriage, a purple teardrop shape and smiled.

"You can fly us to the school. If you can do it without crashing too much we might let you do the return trip too. Remember to go easy on the controls. It's a lot more sensitive than a regular flying carriage. About four times so. Better to go way too slow than to plow into the earth. It makes a mess after all." The dialogue of instructions kept coming as they loaded up, but the fact was that it wasn't all that hard to do, if you paid attention at all and didn't let yourself get nervous.

Terry wasn't perfect at it, his hand shaking a little on the take off as Tor gave him instructions and Timon sat next to Alphonse in the back, neither one interrupting at all. It was a good excuse not to talk about uncomfortable things and it seemed that his life was going to be filled with them for the time being. He focused on his younger brother for the duration of the flight, which was a little slow, covering the whole trip in about forty minutes. Terry was nicely accurate however and got them to the school up north with only a few corrections in course. He even landed well, settling in front of Ali's house gently, like a leaf falling to the earth.

"There. Now do it again on the trip back and I'll have to start a new batch of these so I can give you one. I'm kind of surprised you haven't made any yet Tim. I know that you've been busy, but it isn't that hard." Tor turned in time to get another dark look from the boy.

"So says the master builder. No one has done it yet. I didn't even know until a few days ago that they had to be grown. Count Lairdgren mentioned it to Tiera and she let that drop to me, since she isn't talking to any of the building group at school.
That
needs to be fixed fast. If any of them throw in with Sandra... I don't think they'll survive it. You need to get with them and take control as soon as possible I think."

Alphonse climbed out, his huge legs making the whole thing just a bit awkward, since Tor hadn't really resized the thing for people that large. It was a bit of an oversight, but his friend hadn't complained about it. For a Prince he was good about things like that, not expecting the whole world to always reform around him or anything.

Tor nodded to himself, but addressed the far more comfortable topic of building first. It was a bit cowardly of him, but the feeling of being overwhelmed was still on him, hovering just behind his eyes. Giving it too much attention wouldn't help, would it?

"Yes. It's based on the growth patterns of a plant. I'll show you what it looks like. I spent about an hour a day for a month working on these. Really, once you get the idea it's a lot easier than standard building. The whole thing is a bit fiddly in that you have to remember what you did the day before perfectly, but it's not that big of a deal. We can't do that now though, unfortunately." He smiled and took the carriage down, letting it vanish, leaving only a focus stone tile and a hemp string showing. Tor slipped that to Terry, gesturing for him to put it on. After all, he was the driver for the evening.

They went to find Ali first, since it was a school night and that meant she'd be in the student housing area. It was just about five in the afternoon, which, if he remembered properly, would mean that his wife finished with classes. That could be a little awkward, since she liked to
entertain
in the afternoons. At least she had before he left.

It was still an issue for him, the way she freely had sex with almost anyone. Tor hoped that didn't include his own family, or Alphonse, but he hadn't asked. Given everything he wasn't going to that day either. Instead he knocked on the door rather properly, ready to wait and suffer the laughing and scrambling that would normally take place. Nothing did though. In fact no one answered at all.

Shrugging he turned to look at the others, but no one had a clue what might be going on.

"So... we should try Tiera's room then?" He really didn't want to, but she was his sister and even if she hated him at the moment, they couldn't change that. You
had
to be there for family, and it was his duty at the moment, so he didn't wait for anyone to agree with him and just started walking.

There was a bit of a surprise there, since Tiera was in her room, and so was Sherri, Ali's roommate. Tor had to scramble to remember the protocols, because she was a Baronetta, but the girl didn't make him hold to that, opening the door herself and standing out of the way as soon as she saw who it was.

 "Come in. I was just sitting with Tiera for a while. It's good of you all to come see her." There was a somberness to the girl and she was wearing plain student browns, with a light blue arm band around her left arm. Tiera had the same thing on, and looked horrible, but she didn't glare at him, which was better than he expected. She just looked flat, her mind going blank even as he stood there.

"Tiera?" It was hard, but he didn't know what to tell her. Luckily, he didn't have to.

Tim stepped forward and patted her right shoulder.

"It's Todd and Ursula's engagement party tonight. We had to promise mother to come and get you for it. Otherwise she was planning on leaving it to Terlee and flying off to stay with you herself. She just heard about Regina a few hours ago."

Tor half expected a fight, possibly a physical attack when she realized he was there, but the girl just nodded, her body stretching to her full five feet as she stood, looking up at them. Then, moving around him carefully, she gave Terry a small hug.

"So, you came to guilt me into going back with you?" Her face suddenly looked a little sad, but not as if the whole thing was crippling her.

"No.
I'm
piloting. Tor lent me his Fast Craft. Just for the night, so I can learn to use it. See?" He got the amulet from around his neck to show her. The field on it was stronger than when it had been made, Tor noticed, that being slightly easier to pay attention to now that it wasn't around his own neck all the time. You had to ignore fields like that when you wore them and he almost never really thought to check his personal amulets for field strength.

"Alright. I'll need a few minutes to get ready. We should get Karen to come too. She's sort of watching me for Sir Kolbrin. To make certain I don't fly off and kill Sandra Morris or her family, I suppose."

That she was planning to do it anyway literally poured off of her, if only for a few moments. Even Timon went a little wide eyed at it, though Tor managed to keep his own face schooled. It wasn't exactly a shock, was it? There was no reason to hide what you were thinking all the time unless you were up to something you didn't want others to know about. His little sister was clearly planning to do some bad things, given how hard she was working to hide information from him.

"I... The King is having her tried. She... Sandra was tested under Truth amulet and I checked her myself to make sure she hasn't found a way around it, so she wasn't lying..." He paused, knowing that what he was about to say could set the girl off, but also knowing that Tiera had a right to know. "She was just trying to hit the ground at your feet and missed. It really was an accident. Not that she won't be punished for it. I don't know what the Council of Counts will do..." It sounded like he was making it up, at least to his own ears. As if they'd do nothing, which was about what she seemed to think too.

"Let her go, with hugs and cuddles all around, no doubt. Why should they go against her father at all?"

Tor didn't know, and guessed that she was right in her assessment, so got ready to try and at least get the girl to give them the few weeks they needed, hoping she might cool down a bit. Alphonse moved forward and hugged her though, holding her for a few moments, then let go and started talking.

"Honestly... I think they'll have Sandra put to death for it. There isn't a lot else they
can
do. Morris signed a compact you know, when he surrendered to you. His heir is bound by it and using a weapon of war isn't a prank, no matter her intent at that moment. She attacked a Conserina in her own county, and killed a Baronetta. A protected student of this school. Even knowing that she truly didn't intend to won't help her much. Plus there's all the other stuff." He stopped there, not going into detail, as if they were supposed to already know what he meant.

Tor didn't though, which was a bit of a pain. Did he mean the obvious fact that some Ancient was messing with their lives on a very intimate scale?

It was Terry that asked for clarification though, so Tor didn't have to confess that he didn't understand it either. It was kind of handy, having the kid around. They didn't really know each other very well, even if they were family. He'd been three when Tor had left for school after all. They'd only met about a dozen times since then. It was even worse with the younger kids. Little Taman was practically a stranger to him for instance.

The Prince didn't talk down to the boy, just making it sound like he was explaining something to a person that hadn't been around for a while.

"Sandra attacked Tiera and all that, but there are the other connections to be concerned about as well. Timon flat out told my father that if anyone tried to have her harmed they were going to war with
him
as well. We all know that Tor would be in on that too. No one really wants to take your family on in a fight right now. For one thing about a third of all the nobles would probably side with you automatically. That's going to have an influence on how the others judge her. Count Morris isn't exactly popular either. I mean, he has his friends, but most of them are the fair weather type. No one is willing to back him in a war against you." He hugged Tiera again and looked kind of tired suddenly. "So, like I said, I don't think that this will go well for Sandra. Even if it does, everyone will just assume that Tiera will go after them. It's a political nightmare."

That led to a discussion about what the King was going through, and while it was pretty clear that Tiera wasn't exactly happy with the man she didn't directly blame him out loud either.

Tor smirked a bit, but made sure he got that under control. Tiera was a bit of a hot head, and bossy as all get out, but she wasn't a bad sort. They could get past things, he thought. Feeling daring he moved in and tried to give her a hug, half expecting her to throw him off. She didn't though, patting his back a bit after a few seconds.

"We have to watch that here. People will think that we're sickos or something." Her voice was a bit rough, but not cold as she moved back.