Light Bringer (The Young Ancients: Second Cycle Book 2) (33 page)

She smiled at the handheld, a
thing that seemed to be of long practice.

"Hello? Dareg! I have your
monthly allowance ready. I was going to come and find you, in a few days.
I..." She looked away, and a bit of rose coloration came to her cheeks.
"Honestly, I don't know how well we're doing. I know I was rude to you,
but you haven't been in touch for so long..."

He wanted to shrug, knowing what
she meant. She'd kind of doubted that Tor was his father, and he'd taken
offense. Now he didn't care. Half of Austra figured him to be a con-man, which
was their way of calling him a liar. That had changed his set point for being
offended.

"I believe we, you and I,
are doing well? I was just recovering. You're up to speed on that? People have
been keeping silent, but that won't help anything."

She looked at him, and nodded.

"I had word, from my source
in the palace. About the main threat, and that we have some visitors
coming?"

"Oh! Right. Can we host a
party there in a month or so? At your house? I'd do it here, but..." He
moved the camera around for her, so that she could see that he lived in a tiny
home. "I'm planning to have some people from the new fleet come and visit.
Maybe stay for a while. I'll work that out, depending on who is coming."

There was a pause, and an excited
look of surprise.

"That's an option in the
works? How exciting. Yes, of course! Have you gotten with King Richard on
that?"

"Nope. I came to you first.
Well,
Petra
, since we're sending some of her school students the other
way, but yeah. I can get with him though. Your man in the palace? Will it be
faster for you to do it?"

She laughed then and shook her
head.

"I don't know what you mean.
It isn't
him
. Just a friend of mine."

One named Richard. It was so
clear that he didn't bother to call her on the lie. She looked shifty, until he
changed the topic.

"Tam-Unit was telling me
that I need to actually pay the people here? I have funds, but Tor mentioned
that he'd cover that part? Or is that wrong? I can-" He didn't get to
finish, being interrupted.

"I have that. Set up
already, I mean. With pay packets for everyone individually. You need to set up
a pay day for them, so they know when to come to you for that. Better, pick
someone you can trust, and I can pass it to
them
."

He nodded, thinking about it.

"That one? I'm not going to
be here a lot, and people shouldn't have to suffer if I can't make it back in
time. I'll... Find someone? You know, I wonder if I can get Brice or Lyone to
do it. Have you met them yet? They work for Sam Builder."

"I... The house boy and the
house matron?"

"Yes. They're actually machine
people from the void. Honest folk, though. Let me see if I can set that up with
one of them? Lyone by preference, just because she looks older. I don't know if
that's the case. I've never asked, actually. I'll head out and do that now. If
I can... Do you have time to come meet them, tonight? Or in the next few
days?"

"Tomorrow works for me. I
have a dinner here tonight. Marvin and Maria are in town. I know, why don't you
come? At nine, but we won't go too late, I promise."

He agreed, but wondered if it was
a bad idea.

Then he headed off, to find his
new machine friends.

Dareg felt like he was running as
he moved inside the large and clearly magical palace for dinner. He hadn't
known how to dress, so went with a stately gray outfit, that looked business
like and proper, without making it seem like he was planning to impress
everyone with a grand and gaudy display. The rules for that kind of thing were
a bit foreign to him, to be honest. He'd gone to a few fine meals, and even a
nice party, but each had been considered a different type of event.

Just as the door was opening, he
focused, leaving his eyes open, causing a faint copper sheen to move to the
surface of the magical cloth that covered him. It was a small effect, and he
hoped it would be considered tasteful, even if it turned out that the people
with him were in casual clothing. They were Counts and former kings, so it
probably wouldn't be that major of a problem. If it was a bigger, nicer, or at
least grander affair, then he could turn up the visibility of his jacket,
making it seem more special.

The people inside were all in a
side room, off to the left. Sitting, holding beverages that smelled of alcohol
and berries, and talking. Very seriously.

The tall Count Ward stood up when
he came in, and bowed. Lower than was probably needed just for him.

"Well met, Prince
Dareg."

He smiled, and returned the move,
then did the same with the others, though no one else stood up just for him.
Not even Countess Ward. No, she simply gave him a look that seemed to
promise... Something. The thing there was that he could feel that she wasn't
that interested in having sex at the moment. Her mind was instead furiously
trying to reconcile facts, figures, and secrets that she alone in the room
held. That he was able to pick all that up from her face was amazing, until he
realized that he'd
read
her. That was, picked up bits about what she was
thinking, using magical skill.

A thing that he'd always done,
now that he knew what it was to look out for.

Still, he bowed to the others,
moving his body to first the left then the right.

"Everybody! Nice to see you
all." They were in good, high quality, outfits, but not really so dressy
that he felt out of place. No one had shown up in workman's brown however, so
he'd gotten that much right.

The group was small at the
moment, being made up of Collette, her husband King Dorgal, and the Wards. The
giant Count settled into place again, as Dorgal smiled and swiped at his
mustache, as if trying to hide that he was doing it. The goal there, Dareg
understood, was to show he was happy, but not mocking Dare directly. Or Marvin,
who had miss-stepped a bit, bowing so low to a mere boy.

"Prince Dareg, would you
sit? I can call for refreshments? Some wine perhaps? Tea, or coffee?"

That took a moment's thought, and
he bowed as he settled on a large cream colored sofa, his limbs heavy from all
the work and goings on of the day.

"Would it be too plain to
ask for water? I need more of that. Aunt Petra has put me in real training as
far as fighting goes. There... It's needed, so I can't complain. Still, I got
busy, and running out of water inside won't help me get stronger." It was
a bit hard to speak about, so he didn't bother.

Dorgal hopped up, and actually
jogged to the door of the room, which was closed, and opened it quickly,
calling out.

"A tumbler of water please
Lindsey? Perhaps several, so if a pitcher could be arranged?" There was a
low mumble in the distance and a sound that had to be skirts rustling as
someone hurried to get what he needed.

"Thank you." It was a
bit more service than he would have expected, to be truthful. Especially from a
former king, and one that thought of him as a mere boy at that.

Then, it was clear that his age
wasn't truly being held against him there. The man had expectations of what a
fourteen year old would be like. That was all. That Dare hadn't really seemed
that way in the main had occurred to him, however.

That sense slid over him, as the
man looked on.

"Oh, think nothing of it.
Hydration is key to such physical endeavors. Happy to do our part."

Dare had ended up next to
Collette, who was in a nice dress that was pink and soft white, having a lot of
lace involved. Not that it was really there. Like him, and everyone in the
room, she was clothed in fine magic.

Count Ward sat back a bit, and
looked at him, very frankly.

"So, Prince Dareg. I've been
hearing your name wrapped in secrets of late." It was friendly, but a bit
blunt, and everyone else in the room winced. Maria actually clenched her jaw,
fearing that Dareg would go into a combat rage, since Collette had told her he
was prone to it.

Dorgal looked away, interested in
how things would play out.

For his part, Dareg just
shrugged.

"If so then it's only
because people are too used to that kind of thing. As far as
I
know I'm
not involved in anything I can't speak about openly. Unless someone is plotting
against me?
That
could be secret. In that case, please feel free to drop
hints to see if I know about it. I'll pretend I don't, if that helps?" He
grinned, and there was a noise at the door, which proved to be a small woman he
didn't know coming in, her face holding lines at the eyes. She looked like she
was of common stock, and about thirty to forty. It was hard to tell, to be
honest. She wasn't pretty, in particular, but seemed healthy enough, and had a
large glass for him, with a clear pitcher of water, on a tray.

That was settled on the low table
in front of him, which was made to look like gold covered wood, and enamel
paint. Dare thought that was what it was supposed to be, at any rate. His
exposure to that kind of thing hadn't been all that grand. No one spoke while
the servant, Lindsey, he was willing to bet, settled things, intuiting that the
new person would be the one that needed the water. Before anyone spoke, he
picked up the glass, and drank the whole thing down in one go, actually needing
it. Then he refilled the thing, and settled back, to sip.

Seeing that he wasn't going to be
upset by mere questions, Maria decided that testing him was in order. That
seemed to be the case, since she narrowed her eyes and stared at him very
directly.

"Well... We've been hearing
that a certain Prince has been off in space, and bringing in alien
monsters?" She leaned in a little, her fine crystal, long stemmed, glass
of red wine in her fingers.

He looked into her blue eyes and
shook his head.

"Monsters? Not at all. In
fact, you should all meet with some of them. The Ysidril look both pretty, and
fierce, but no more than a wild beast would. On top of that, they're
kind
.
From what I hear they don't do anything violent, ever. They also take their
duty to others very seriously. I heard from some of the others, the machine
people and the Forten... Both of those groups look human, like we do, more or
less. Anyway, I was told that in the last big food shortage they had, the
Ysidril let themselves starve, to make certain the others had enough to eat
each day. Over ten thousand of them
died
of it. So, yes, they look
funny, and scary... But monsters? Compared to us? I don't think so."

Maria looked at him, her face
troubled for a moment. Her blue eyes and blond hair were similar to Collette's,
but her nose was a bit larger, and while her skin was even, she just missed
being as lovely as her sister in some way. Not that she wasn't pretty. Really,
both women were distracting as far as that went. They'd started near the top,
and used tricks of magic and makeup to increase their powers. Not that the
woman was even pretending to flirt with him at the moment.

No, it was clear that she was
wondering if she should pretend to be insulted, since she'd been mildly taken
to task for using the wrong term. Instead she nodded subtly and took a sip from
her glass.

"So, not monsters? I'd heard
only the physical description. Amazing. I mean, beings from the void... Do we
know anything about them?" The Countess figured that she was being sly, it
was clear.

The bits of information she'd
been given had been about a meeting with King Richard, and that strangers had
come. That was all. There had been deaths, but no one really knew much about
that. Not even amongst the highest rulers of the land. They had bits of it.
That there was an enemy, and about the deaths, but to her mind the lack of data
just meant that she was being kept out of things on purpose.

"There are three different
space fleets, headed this way. They found out, hundreds of years ago now, that
an enemy was trying to take over, or more properly
going to
, working
from here, and then moving off to all known areas. Probably the unknown ones,
as well. We don't know
why
, but that part does seem real. You know about
the battle that took place..." That wasn't a question. They all did, just
not enough to make them happy.

Count Ward nodded however, trying
to make it seem like he was informed.

"Yes."

Dareg didn't play games with him,
nodding.

"The thing there is that you
all
have
to think that things are being hidden from you about it, but
they really aren't. No one that was there can remember much about it. The
enemy, I call them the Adversaries, they did something to time while they
fought. Tor figured that trick out, and pulled me into it with him, so we could
survive, but even with that I barely remember any of it. I think he, Timon and
possibly Taman, might know more than I do, but it's a confused and brutal blur
to me. I keep having flashes of it. Reliving it. So I might recall more of that
later." Not that he wanted too, which must have shown on his face, since
Count Ward went hard faced and looked away.

"Battle scars." He
nearly whispered the phrase, but it was about right.

Dare knew it. Being there had
damaged him in a lot of ways. Most weren't visible any longer, that was all.

"Yes. The point is, no one
is trying to keep this from you. As for the fleets, there are three of them and
they are... Really, together they have twelve times the population of Earth.
Maybe more than that with all the losses of the last decade here. They don't
have magic though. They use various technologies, like Austra uses? Only more
of it, and they can cause it to do different things, which are kind of magical.
Their planet ships are
impressive
. Queen Tiera gifted them a few, three,
unarmed jump ships. All of those went to the Ysidril, since I'm working with
them. Their protector, as far as our people go. Earth and the Moon, not just
Noram. Self styled, but you know, I have to try and get good things for them if
I can."

Only one person in the room did
anything then, and that was Count Ward, who smiled at him.

"They won't know what that
means, I would hazard. You standing for them like that. Few would understand
it. Now, you say they need food? County Ward doesn't have much to share at
present, but we can take up a collection. We won't let our new friends
starve."

Dorgal stood, and bowed to the
man, so Dareg did too, Collette managing it a little more slowly, given the big
dress she was wearing. It was the kind of thing that looked pretty, but had to
be
managed
. Really, she curtsied, which was
different
than a bow,
but meant the same thing.

Taking a second to think as he
stood, Dare scrambled to work out what might be needed, so the man's offer, and
his peoples honor, wouldn't be damaged or ignored. It was a very kind offer,
after all.

"Tor and Timon are making
food units for them, and they have food at the moment, but would you be
available to go and help teach them how to use things? They don't have magic,
and we might need to go and make certain they can use things. Soon, too. We got
them a few thousand devices yesterday, but no one even thought to make certain
they could use them. The Ysidril I worked with picked up how to do it, and they
aren't blind to magic, but they might not realize all that can be done, since
our ways and foods, are different."

Marvin stood up.

"We can do that now?"
There was a certainty to it, as if he truly meant it.

Dareg nodded, and pulled out his
handheld.

"We can see about arranging
that? I'll try for after the meal however, if that's all right?" He was
starving, but trying to pretend he didn't want to be rude to Collette. She
smiled at him.

"That would be good. The
staff has worked very hard on it."

He tabbed Hess, and held the
device away from him a bit, so that everyone could see the green and purple
being, who opened his mouth, in what Dare was starting to realize was his way
of smiling. Not the Ysidril getting ready to eat anyone's face.

"Dareg?"

"Sorry to bother you, Hess.
I have volunteers arranged, to come and teach people how to run the food units
you have? We sort of forgot to do that part. That's my fault, but I was
reminded of it by Count Ward. Could we set that up in... Call it four hours?
That will be late for us, but you and the mechanical people don't need to
sleep, and some Forten will be awake, won't they?"