Light Bringer (The Young Ancients: Second Cycle Book 2) (34 page)

The being sounded happy when he
spoke.

"That is kindness! It will
be mid-day here in four of your hours. This will allow me to use one of the
jump craft. May I land at your port?"

Dareg had figured he'd be the one
to do that part, but nodded.

"You may. Always. Make the craft
not too large, and come in from the east, about ten miles, then slowly at a few
hundred miles per hour, move over the port. Land in the green section? There
are lights, and it will be dark here. Go slowly, and make the craft glow
brightly enough you can see the ground?"

It occurred to him that the being
wouldn't use miles, just like they didn't use hours.

Thankfully, Hess was brilliant.

"I do what you did, on the
last landing?"

"
Exactly
. We'll
have..." He looked at the others, and King Dorgal tilted his head up,
looked at the others, and nodded.

"Ten?"

"Ten people will be waiting
for you. I'll
be
there, but then have to get to bed, so won't be going
along, myself. Unless you need me? These are all good people."

That was for Hess, who just
accepted that, probably without it being spoken of out loud.

"I understand. Sleep must be
most inconvenient."

Dare laughed at that one, and
bowed toward his own hand.

"It really is at times.
Thank you for your aid in this, Hess. This man here is Count Marvin Ward. Um, I
don't know how hard it is for you to tell humans apart... We all probably look
the same. He's about nine feet tall... Which is a bit over half my size added
to how tall I am, if that makes sense? Very large. I'll get him to wear
something to mark him."

That got a bow, which was done
just a bit stiffly.

"Thank you! I pride myself
on learning the shape of my friends, but it would be an aid in identification.
Perhaps a large blue circle could be arranged?"

The Count closed his eyes, and
caused one to form on his middle, taking up most of it.

"Would this serve?"

Hess opened his mouth, showing
hundreds of sharp looking teeth.

"That is perfect! I will be
there in four hours. Thank you all."

They made several rounds of
goodbyes, and he was able to put his handheld away just in time for a servant,
this time a medium sized man in black, to come and stand at the door.

"Sir? The meal is
ready." He was very proper and nearly stiff seeming, but Dorgal stood, and
waved at the door with a closed hand.

"Ah! Thank you, Stephen.
Shall we? I hear that we're having lamb tonight."

Dareg went last, being the
youngest one there, even though he ended up with Marvin right in front of him.
The blue dot vanished, since it wasn't needed for the meal. His black clothing
remained the same otherwise. It was a fine cut, and distinctive, having a mixed
pattern to it that was very refined and only noticeable at a few feet away.

The man didn't speak, until they
were at the table, and he was sitting near Collette, who was at the head of the
table. At the
top
, leaving a place for him, at Dorgal's right hand.

Collette cleared her throat, and
spoke with good humor.

"This should signal that the
only person in danger is Maria?"

The woman across the table and
down one rolled her eyes.

"That's
always
the
case with you around. Don't think I don't check every bite.
Twice
."

It seems an odd thing to say,
since killing people with poison was a real fear for a lot of nobles. Even when
sitting with the King everyone checked their plates. He tried to do it, but the
truth was he didn't know what to look for. He did figure out how to use the
poison detectors at the palace meals, but when it came time to poke through
what he was eating, Dareg just made gestures, and figured that it was probably
fine, since no one would care about murdering him, yet.

So he changed the topic,
scrambling a bit for something that wouldn't be about work, which had to
include the fleet coming in for him. That was a thing, he thought. No one else
did it anyway. One of the green clad servants came and poured a golden wine
into the metal chalice in front of him. It was copper and silver in color, and
probably real. It had small lines scratched into it, at any rate.

"I wonder what the next
holiday is." It was silly of him not to know, but he really had lost
track.

Dorgal smiled at him, and nodded.

"I think the next one would
be my birthday. We
do
celebrate that as a holiday now, don't we?"
It was meant to be funny, and got a polite, if soft, chuckle.

Dareg shook his head.

"Not officially that I've
heard. We should
do
something for that however. When is that?"

It turned out that it was a month
away, and would take place during the Jupiter trip. That was a thing they
all
seemed to know about. They'd watched parts of the last trip on their handhelds.
All you had to do was go to the channel that you wanted to monitor, and tab in.
Then you could see Austran feeds in real time. It was a thing that he'd
encountered a few times, he realized, but hadn't done a lot of that so far. It
might be a way to learn however, if it showed interesting things, like trips to
other planets, that he couldn't be at.

That could be useful, and it
seemed to have been for the people at the table. They knew things that no one
had told them about directly, for instance.

Maria looked over at him, and
smiled.

"I know, you can hold the
party in... Orbit? Of Jupiter I mean? No one has ever done that before, so it
would be special." She grinned then, like it was putting him on the spot.

The truth was that it would be
little harder to do than than to have it on Harmony, or even the next town or
city over from the Capital, where they lived. To that end he started to nod,
even as Collette looked at her sister, annoyed.

"It's a
bit
much to
ask, isn't it Maria?" There was a real coldness to the words, and it was
clear, to Dare, that these two ladies, while family didn't always get along
perfectly.

Yet there they were, sharing a
meal, instead of avoiding each other. There was probably a lesson about that
kind of thing that he needed to take from the situation. About being there for
your relations, even if you weren't close. It was the kind of thing that he'd
never really thought about before, not having had people in his life like that
to bother, personally. Except that now he really did, it seemed.

Maria waved the concern away.

"Oh, I'm merely joking, Col.
Dareg knows that, right Prince Dareg?" It was an odd way to use his name.
Personally first, like they were friends, then with his title, as if reminding
others of who he was.

 He smiled back at her, and then
looked at Collette and shrugged.

"I was actually thinking
that it wouldn't be hard to set up, actually. Is that something that would be
fun for you, King Dorgal? We can invite your friends, and the other world
leaders for a day or two. Maybe people from the new fleet too, if you get on
with them? Hess and his team? It would be a good excuse to get people together,
and we can let people know that, you know, the world is a bit different than
they thought? Not that we shouldn't just announce that we have friends."

Dareg fought off a desire to
shake his head, since there were difficulties in such a grand plan, but the
idea got a nod from Count Ward, who seemed very serious about it. He glanced at
his wife, but then locked eyes with Dorgal.

"That... Isn't a bad plan,
to be honest. If it can be managed safely. Would that be allowable with you,
Dorgal? It's your birthday we're talking about potentially overshadowing here."

The man at the head of the table
covered a tight smile with his left hand, pretending to rub at his mustache.
His smooth skin crinkled just a bit at the eyes.

"Why not? It would be a
treat, just for the location. So, who should we ask to attend? I was thinking
of having Marco in, but..."
That
got a look around the table.

Everyone looked away, as if not
wanting to talk about the issue, which meant that Dareg had no clue what it was
all about. Even trying to clear his mind, all he got was that this person, Marco,
was a slight problem.

Rather than make him ask about
it, Maria actually seemed to work out that Dare wouldn't know the topic or
problem with it, and explained. Subtly enough that he didn't have to feel too
badly about her doing it.

"Marco Sorvee is a famous
musician, but he mainly works and lives in Austra. There's always a problem
with transportation for such things. We can hire the Fast Travel Service, but
he lives away from the main port there, so it's difficult to arrange pickup. It
can take days for him to travel to the right point by ground car, and he's
actually busy enough that sitting in a coach, or their version of it, isn't a
good use of his time according to his handlers there. Not that Marco isn't
willing. He loves his cousin. They were best friends, growing up."

There was enough there for him to
work things out he decided. This Marco was important to Dorgal, and he wouldn't
want to leave him out, since that would be rude on several levels. At the same
time there were some small issues with getting him around, because the slavers
that held him wanted non-stop work from him. Which, if you were going to have
someone like that, made sense. A pet musician would only have value if he was
there to play and sing for you, after all.

"Let me see if I can set
something up? If nothing else, we can get his people to send him along to play
music in the void, can't we? Then let the people of Austra see his concert?
That will mean having his whole group with him, no doubt, but it isn't like the
space will be too hard to come by." The ship could be made incredibly vast
after all.

Dorgal nodded, which got the rest
of them too as well.

"That might work. If it
isn't too much to ask? I suddenly feel like my offhand comment is making work
for you, and we've only met a few times, even if we are family."

That got him to blink, in real
shock, trying to work that relationship out. Collette and Tor dated, he
thought. They were close enough that the woman, and her husband, lived full
time at one of Tor's palaces. So much so that they were able to take the head
of the table without it being out of place. Still, that wouldn't make them
family.

So he asked, hoping that being
foolish wouldn't be that bad of a social miss-step at the moment.

"I missed that one? We're
related?"

Dorgal smiled then, openly.

"Second cousins? Douglas
Baker changed his name, but was originally a Sorvee. He's my uncle, as it turns
out. In fact, I should contact him soon, just to make certain we hold to strong
bonds. People get lost if you don't find them occasionally." Those words
got agreement from everyone, which was also a point, Dare decided. A thing to
learn, even if not meant as a direct lesson for him.

"Oh? Well, that's
interesting then! Here I thought I was just pushing my way into your special
celebration for my own ends. Family though... I don't know how to really do
that part of things. That gives me a good enough reason to liberate Marco
however, doesn't it?" If he was enslaved, or under a contract of
indenture, Tor would probably be willing to help. Buy out the payment needed
for freedom, or whatever.

If not, then he could steal the
man away, if he were clever enough about it.

Collette dimpled at him, as if he
were being charming. It was lightly flirtatious, but probably in that way that
the noble women seemed to use to set up their plans with people, rather than a
real attempt to get him to do anything with her directly.

"That does sound right. I
can get you an introduction to him, in a few days?"

They chatted for a bit, and when
the food came he mainly took his time eating. It was a lot, but his middle
didn't pain him when it was done. There were ten courses of food, but the
plates had been made up to have more of it for him, and Count Ward, than for
the others. Since they were using the food manufacturing magics, that had to
have been on purpose and he knew that no one would be stinted so he could have
extra.

At the end of the meal, feeling
full, but not stuffed, he was surprised by the sudden change in demeanor coming
from everyone there. Marvin stood up almost immediately.

"I need to contact some
people, and inform them of this trip. King Richard, if he'll take my message
this late."

Dorgal did much the same.

"I need my crew mates.
If
anyone is around at this hour." They both hurried off, as Maria and
Collette stood as well.

Maria smiled, though it seemed
dark inside, somehow.

"For my portion, I need to
see to a few things. Prince Dareg... I'd invite you to come with me, but I fear
it won't be thrilling at this point. Collette?"