Light Bringer (The Young Ancients: Second Cycle Book 2) (39 page)

Tor...

Nodded, but looked sad. The real
kind, not over some imagined slight.

"I remember being smaller
myself. I..." He glanced at Dareg, which looked casual and held a wave of
sent information.

It was like a wall, it was so
solid. Telling Dareg that he knew his plan. That he agreed, and didn't have a
better one. That he feared Dareg was going to die.

Which was the likely outcome, so
he smiled.

"Yep. The meal will be hard
enough. I need to go over the dining rules, which you all know, so, go. We'll
be right there." He tried to look charming, instead of rude, and got a
laugh and a small smile from Count Ward.

"Ah, I recall being your
age. When the world was new and freedom called to me. We'll see you both soon
then. Prince Dareg." He gave a half bow, which was polite of him, being the
bow between equals.

Doing it back, he noticed that
Will tried to copy it, going less far than they had. It looked uncertain,
rather than rude, so everyone ignored it. Only, of course, they
didn't
.

"Call me Dare, Count Ward.
Everyone else do that, too. I'm not used to having a title yet. So, let's head
out? Use good take off protocols! Up and west ten miles. Every time. It saves
lives. We'll go last. Big ships first after all. Come on Will, let's get this
set up."

It didn't take long, since he
didn't need water or anything for this trip. Not where they were going. Not
even if the plan had been to really go to the Moon.

The real destination was very
different.

Dareg needed to talk though, and
make things seem real, so he started lying. A little.

"Tor... He's my father. I
just found that out about two months ago. He... Really he's
trying
hard,
and means well. I just... Before that I was just some kid, you know?" He
waited in the craft for the others to take off and get underway. Going too soon
would help nothing.

Will seeming far more relaxed
again, nodded.

"That must be hard."

"Yes. I came here, a lot
like you, I guess. Looking for work. Tam-Unit recognized me, a bit, and got in
touch with some of the others. I had nothing before that. An old shirt that my
mother had made for me, before she died. Falling apart shoes and trousers that
wouldn't have lasted even to now, since I think I started growing finally. The
thing is, everything I have now is thanks to that. I guess I worked for a bit
of it, but... I wouldn't have this ship for cleaning up the ports. Even if they
paid me full wages. Tim Baker
gave
this to me. Just handed it
over." He snapped his fingers and smiled. "Like that. It wasn't even
a thing to him. A month before that, I had to beg for a spot in people's barns,
so I wouldn't be out all night in the rain."

That got a nod, as if this being
had shared that kind of experience. Which was possible. Dareg didn't know his
life, after all.

"So, it's hard, having Tor
around all the time. The others, too. Did you see that group they had there?
That's the third or fourth time they've done that to me. Tor keeps trying to
put guards with me. I mean
all
the time. I keep telling him no, so he's
gotten clever, trying to get Orange to set that up. She's... Not really related
to me. Kind of cute, out of that outfit of hers. The latest trick is that she's
supposed to 'tutor' me in fighting. So she asked me to join fleet. Only, I know
it won't be real. They just want to keep me under the thumb."

The speech probably wouldn't make
any sense to a commoner. Will nodded along, which
could
be a sign of
that however. He didn't speak or give advice however, just sitting and watching
the other craft move into the air. The orange Space Fleet ship went last, the
others getting things close enough to correct to leave him feeling happy about
it. The fleet vessel did it perfectly, but that was the job.

"Here we go."

Will didn't act like he was
afraid. Really, he barely even acted like flying wasn't normal. Instead he
turned a bit toward Dare, and watched him. Not the interesting world moving and
getting smaller under him. Dareg was still amazed by the view, and was watching
it more than Will was at the moment. There was no fear on the commoner's dark
tan face when he looked over, either.

He was just looking at him.
Examining him. When they got into orbit, the small man, who was still young, in
appearance, chuckled. This time it was a bit more menacing in tone.

"You don't really think that
you're fooling anyone, do you?"

Dareg could feel the sense of
time distortion then, hitting him a lot more solidly than it had a few minutes
before.

"No. Not really. They
all
know that I'm not one of them. I try, but I can't be part of their world. You
know what that's like, don't you? Like no matter how hard you fight, or work,
or struggle, you're always going to be the outsider. Not good enough. I mean,
you're here to do what? Kill us all?"

He slid his hand under the
control bobble and jumped instantly. The man next to him did look out the
window then, the scene being very different. It was both sudden and shocking,
since the world was blinding now. They were, after all, diving full speed into
the Sun. The trick there would be to convince the vessel to keep going when he
let go of the control unit. His shield darkened under the brilliant white light,
but Will didn't have one of those, so instead of a half bubble of dimness in
the air, he just seemed to be normal.

Burning, slightly, but not enough
to make him scream. The flesh got red however.

"Well,
this
is a
change. What gave me away?"

Dareg wasn't finished yet, having
more to his plan, since a bit of burning might not do the trick.

"Oh... A lot. Your boots
first. No farmer could afford those, even if he were rich for that sort. The
stitching on them is perfect. Even the King's boots would have some errors.
Then, you know, you don't show up to magic. There were some other things. I
mean, you're wearing the face of the man that nearly beat me to death last
month. The time distortions are kind of obvious as well."

The man half stood, and started
to blur, as Dare shoved his body backward, desperately trying to tell his craft
to keep moving, hoping they were close enough for gravity to catch them as it
suddenly stopped moving anyway. This time he didn't stand and try to fight, and
the man didn't follow him at super speeds, showing that it probably hurt for
him to do that trick. Just like it had him, and the others.

The thing, unlike the other Bill,
shifted form as they fought. Warping, and spreading in the air. He yelled as
Dareg hit the wall of his ship, small at the moment, with his shield. Then,
focusing, he tried to make it vanish.

Which didn't work. Not from
inside his shield.

"You will all serve! Serve
the masters and die!" Then, the blurry and distorted being came for him.
Touching him easily, as if the shield wasn't there at all.

Choking him. Which he was at
least capable of fighting against now. A bit, at any rate. Not that it
mattered. He wasn't winning a fight with this being.

There was no air to breathe for
him anyway, so he smiled, and nodded a tiny bit. Punches were also coming in,
nearly unseen, battering him from all sides. That part was familiar.

Dare turned the shield off, and
tried to feel the wall, moving back to touch it.

Will laughed at him, thousands of
voices merging into one.

"You can't run from
me!"

That wasn't the point, of course.
Not that Bill was letting him move that far back. No more than a few feet, but
it might as well have been miles. His feet however, were on the floor, and that
was good enough. Using that contact, and feeling about to go down for good,
blacking out, he turned the ship off. That caused his shield to kick on, but
didn't push Will away, which it
should
have. That meant all the air
flooded out, and both of them were gasping.

Also falling into the sun. So at
least that part had worked. He'd been worried about that portion of his plan.

Dare's shield protected him, but
the other fellow wasn't that lucky, and actually stopped battering him, the
lack of air and the burning pain distracting him into letting go.

With a thought, Dare flew
backward, blacking out still. His shield, being whole now, tried to make air,
which, given that he had nothing on him except stone and magic, meant his body
was going to be used to make it. He could feel his beard dissolving first, then
hair, and the outer layer of his body. That gave him enough air to catch his
breath, gasping from the abuse. His lungs burned, and his eyes felt a bit like
they'd been being sucked out of his head, but he was still able to see.

He waited there, for a long time,
to make certain Will was dead. His ship had been diving toward the giant orb of
fire and were close enough for gravity to do the rest, so both Will, and the
amulet his ship had been on, kept diving toward the thing, moving faster and
faster. He waited until it was really clear that the being wasn't coming back,
or managing some kind of trick to use against him.

It actually had one, it seemed,
since a vast wave of utter darkness came at him somehow, visible as it drank
the light around it. He didn't know what it was going to do to him, but he set
up a jump, fast, and moved off to Harmony directly. Dareg
was
hurt, from
the void and the beating, but he felt loads better than after the last fight.
Using thought directly, not able to reach the amulet, he activated his healing
device, hoping the strain wouldn't leave him too depleted again. It probably
would, but it was better than healing the old way, and he really didn't
think
it would kill him.

The healing did hurt though.
Badly enough that he nearly turned the amulet off to end it, as he floated
above the Moon. Stopping himself took effort, and he nearly did it several
times. After about ten minutes, nothing seemed to be happening anymore, so he
turned the thing off with another thought. Then, feeling tired, like his life
had been used up in the battle behind him, he got himself to the outer
personnel hatch, and let himself inside.

That took a while, given the
layers of airlocks required, but five minutes later he was able to walk into
the main hallway, the air cool on his now bald head, and naked face. The skin
on his hands felt soft and looked nearly pink, the outer layers having been
removed for him, to make air. Even the fluff on his arms was gone. Reaching up
Dareg could feel that he had eyebrows and eyelashes however, but kind of
thought that the rest of his body hair had been used up.

His head was naked now. His black
hair had been thick, black and long enough he needed to tie it back. Now that
simply wasn't the case. Which was fine, Dare guessed.

"Now, where is
everyone?" That part took him actual seconds to work out, his mind foggy
from exhaustion. He was starving, too. Enough that it felt like pain to him,
which came in waves.

Pulling out his handheld, he let
out a shuddering breath. Parts of the event were fading he realized. He
remembered most of it this time, since the fight itself had lasted only about a
minute. If he had to talk about
that
, he was going to fail. The rest was
as clear as anything, as far as he could tell.

This time he got with Tor
directly, since he might be slightly worried about him. Almost as much as the
jump ship that had been lost.

"Dare! You're alive! Where
is..." The giant man was with other people. Parts of them were visible on
the screen.

"Dead. I lost my ship. I had
to fly it into the Sun. He... Wasn't like the others." Before he could
explain, Tor, the wizard went pale.

"He was just a person? I
couldn't feel him at all when I tried to check on a deep level. How..." He
looked away, trying to figure that part out.

"Not that one. He was
way
stronger, and more powerful. When he died... I think that he did something
that, if he were in a city would have killed everyone. I got away from it.
Where is everyone?" It seemed a reasonable question to him.

Tor acted like it was some huge
thing.

"We staged by the port,
figuring that you'd both be coming here. I picked up what you intended... Gods,
Dareg... I just found you. Be more careful than that!" He sounded a bit
worked up, but Alice moved in and pushed her face in front of the device, being
much smaller than the man behind her.

"Canton. Get over
here." She stared at him and lit up a bit. "I love the new look. Much
better. Now, come." She backed off and he shook his head.

"Can we meet at Marissa's?
That's halfway from where I am, but I need food pretty bad. I had to heal, and
it was a lot."

They all agreed, since it wasn't
that far, and he walked quickly, but used his feet, since it was too crowded to
use his shield to fly. Even the low flying feature that was allowable there was
a bit too risky for politeness. It was safe to do it, but bashing into people
by mistake was still rude, even if they were required by law to wear a shield
at all times. That was in case the air left, but it worked for rowdy
individuals doing stupid things as well.