Light Bringer (The Young Ancients: Second Cycle Book 2) (46 page)

He knew that he should have
gotten more of them ready, but as it was he had to
drag
the heavy sack
back to his pod. Sighing, he put it inside, and then shook his head. It was a
lot of tiles for the tiny space.

Getting to work was harder than
it should have been, since his mind tried to wander at strange times, instead
of staying on task, like he needed it too. The first batch did come out, and
the lights
worked
, but his handheld told him that it had taken him
five
hours. All of that was due to his brain messing with him, instead of working
right.

"Get it together. Dare.
Three hours. You can do this. Three hours."

The next one was faster, but just
missed the mark. Three hours of intense focus, but two major breaks in his
concentration messed him up, and he ended up having to try to hold things in
place while using the restroom. Then he had to take a break, his mind numb and
fuzzy.

He ate, chatted with Tam-Unit,
and noticed that the sun had gone down. It was late, but he nearly had it, so
decided to push on, and actually get it
right
.

It wasn't until the fourth batch
that it really happened for him however. That time he surprised himself,
feeling the field kind of click into place when it was done.

Looking at the clock, he nearly
didn't believe it at first. He'd managed, somehow, to go from just over three
hours, to two hours and ten minutes. His throat was parched, so he went outside
with one of the units to test it, expecting it to either not work, or to be
inferior somehow, but it was
fine
. He even made some statues, like Sam
had done. They were just various people that he knew, and he did it from
memory, setting up light figures outside his white and black pod house.

It took ten units to do them all,
and he left them lightly glowing, to show they were magical, but it was nicely
decorative. Looking up at the figures, since they were about twenty feet tall
each, and in living color, more or less, he nodded.

Most of them were Ancients. Sam
was there, having oversized ears, and an overdone goofy grin on his face. The
other nine were more or less realistic, except for Hess, whose face was made to
be holding a large, rather human, smile. He had four arms and scales, as
well
as a unique color, so making him also seem fierce was going to put some people
off, until they got to know him.

He left those there, grabbed his
floating chest, and took his gold out, transferring it to one of the sacks he
had around. Dare was going to need more of the things, he knew, since they were
useful. The trick there was that he needed to sleep, before the next day, and
that wasn't going to happen. It was three in the morning, and he had to be in
Printer in about four hours. With orders to run
first
. His eyes wanted
to close now that there was nothing to do, except work at moving tiles around.
Still orders were orders, so he hurried through the task, stacking things, and
resizing the floating case twice, to make them all fit.

It made a nice stack of glowing
colors, since the sigils were coded to be seen easily at night. Sun colored
made the things turn on and off, blue was the size control, green the shape and
pink the color. You just touched the things and thought about what you wanted.
Easy. Not that intuitive for most however, he was willing to bet.

Flying, if in low mode, to Sam's
didn't take nearly as long as trying to drag a sack would have. He knew that
one first hand now. His shoulders ached from it a little bit, to tell the
truth. This was the smarter way to go, but until a few minutes before he simply
hadn't thought of the idea. At the door of the palace, he had to wait, for a
long time, before Lyone came to let him in. She didn't seem upset to see him,
even given the hour, so at least that was nice.

"Dareg! I heard there was
another incident. My people were sent a copy of your testimony. Is there... A
problem?" She looked past him, her right fist clenching, getting ready to
fight, if needed. It didn't fit her look, but she wasn't a human, despite how
she seemed. Which at present was like a rather polite serving woman. It was
incredibly late to visit.

"Nothing like that. I had an
assignment to make some lights. A thousand of them, in three hours. I made
these in two-ten." He was kind of proud of that, but it had taken four
tries, which he didn't mention. That was kind of bad.

She smiled however.

"Lights? The magic kind?
That's wonderful. We could use them back home. How bright do they get? Enough
for a garden? Our hydroponic gardens eat vast stores of energy. You know, we're
too far from a sun for windows to work."

Instead of explaining, he yawned
and shook his head, trying to get the cobwebs out.

"Here, let me..." Taking
one out he set it up outside, making the world glow like it was mid-day. Then,
he let the light rise into the air, and did a little show. First changing the
shape, and then the colors as she snapped her fingers. That was a very strange
thing, but not too annoying. It seemed to be her version of clapping in
happiness.

Then he formed a glowing light
statue, trying to make a giant version of her. It was all right, but not truly
exact. The image in his head was a bit different than the woman next to him for
some reason. It was close enough she giggled.

"That is amazing. One of
these could grow a field rack of crops. Will it be possible to get some? Even a
few of them would help." She sounded humble about it, as if she were
begging for expensive things. Which she was.

"I can do that. I have three
thousand more right now. The batches I didn't get done in time. I can part
with... Call it two thousand of them? The rest will be needed for my ports,
around the world. Not that I can get them to your people right now. Maybe Hess
will come for them?" He yawned again, and then gave in and tapped the
awakening device. It was cheating, and probably not healthy, since people
needed sleep, but he suddenly felt
much
better.

Passing the chest to Lyone, he
made his report.

"This batch was finished in
two-hours and ten minutes. Please make sure the Ancient knows that? I'd love to
get that case back..." It wasn't that he wanted to be greedy, just that it
was handy, if only as a lock box. All he had to do was make the lid vanish and
no one except a builder would be taking his stuff.

Lyone nodded, and took him
inside, then stacked the things on the dining room table, so that they would
surround where Sam would break his fast in a few hours. It was a nice display,
really. Attractive and making a statement at the same time. As soon as that was
done she waved him away, locking eyes with him at the same time.

"Two thousand lights? That
wasn't a joke, or... I didn't misunderstand? Those are free?"

"Yep. In fact, we can pass
those along today if you want. I'm going to be gone for the morning, being
stabbed, I think. After that I need to sleep, but I can get up to hand some
things over."

She gave him a troubled look,
"are you having a medical procedure done? Being stabbed with
needles?" Her right hand made a strange movement, which he guessed was
what her people's version of that kind of thing might look like.

"Nope. Knife fighting
practice. With real knives. At least that was what I was told. It could be just
to scare me, but I don't know. I need to go and get to that. So, after noon, if
that can be arranged? Or... Do you need me to call Hess? I should
soon
.
I'm standing for his people and all that." It had just been said in
passing, but that didn't mean someone shouldn't try to do it.

Lyone smiled sweetly then.

"I'll make arrangements. If
you aren't there, do I just break in?"

He nodded, "bring Sam for
that, he can get in. I should be there, but it's good to have a plan. Thanks. I
could use the space. My place isn't that big. I have piles of the things
now."

Then he left, floating away, at
his best safe speed. Going faster than that would be foolish. Not everyone
there would have a shield on all the time. Smacking into them could lead to
death. For
them
. It was literally his job to not let that happen. That
meant making sure he always set as good of an example as he could. Not that he
knew why that was. Probably something that his mother had told him, that he
simply didn't recall now.

The run was as fast as he could do
it, and he had to lie on the ground heaving for a while, not even able to get
sick, when the six miles were finished. Then he showered, having time, and
worked out how to turn his clothing into protective armor, by making it thicker
in the right places. Not all of them, but it was decent coverage that would
protect his heart, neck and if he made a visor form, eyes, from a normal blade.

Then, dressed in his leather
looking armor, he flew off to his morning practice.

Everyone stopped to look at him
when he landed, but Petra clapped her hands and smiled at him.

"Brilliant idea! Not that
you get that this time. Regular clothing. Live steel. You against Havar. You
fight until one of you yields, or...
Donner
says you can stop. Got that
Don?"

This man was very dark, and had
tight curls on his head that were kept short and tidy. There was no smile on
his face however, and he turned to look at the Instructor as Dare shifted his
clever idea back to regular student brown. Baron Havar smiled, and walked to
the practice rack, picking up the two knives on the far end. They looked old,
and dull, except along the shining edge. Because of course those would be seen
to regularly. If it wasn't a special treat just for him.

Donner looked at the two men, one
a giant, the other a boy who, Dare had to admit to himself, probably didn't
seem
that
over-matched. He wasn't a giant, but Havar was under seven
feet, so less than a foot taller than him, and only about two hundred pounds
heavier, at a guess. Maybe less than that. It was clear that he sized both of the
fighters up, and then nodded.

"Fine. No blows to the face,
head or neck. Avoid mid-section stabbing, but you can slash there. Second blood
wins. Take your positions. Everyone else clear back. Live steel, in three,
two.... Now!"

He really expected the fight to
be brutal and short, with Havar running at him screaming. Instead the man held
his left hand back and used his knife as his lead, exactly as Wendra had showed
him the day before. A thing the man clearly knew. Dare took the same stance,
ready to jump away, which was needed over and again. He did keep trying to
slash or stab the man, but there was a problem. If he got close enough to do
that, the other man would stab him. Luckily Havar seemed to notice that same
problem.

Finally, the blade narrowly missing
his face, as he jumped away, he forced himself to follow it back in, slashing
as fast as he could at the man's arm. The Baron was good though, and simply
moved it up, and then stabbed Dareg directly in the left shoulder.

That stung. Burning and bleeding
followed that part.

"First blood, Havar."
Donner's voice was a bit deadpanned, indicating focus, rather than boredom.
"Continue."

It took nearly another twenty
seconds for Havar to open a nice cut on his left forearm, which ended the bout
handily.

"Second blood, match to
Havar."

Dareg felt like an idiot, having
not done very well, but Wendra and Rick both came over instantly, and slapped
him on the back, as if he
hadn't
made a fool of himself.

Wendra didn't say anything at
first, letting Rick go first.

"That was...
Good
.
Most people freeze up the first time they go live like that. They forget
everything and kind of flail around. I doubt I'd do much better." It
probably wasn't true, but Petra came over about then, and patted his back a few
times. Hard. So that everyone would know they weren't sleeping together.

"True. I figured it would go
about like this. Heal those up and work blade with Havar until ten. Then you
can have the rest of the day off, since I'm so nice."

Everyone laughed, or at least the
people that heard her. At least until he moved back to Havar, still holding the
knife. Havar had his too, so Dare waved, and held his shield off, while letting
the healing amulet work. The effort it took to do that, hold his shield down
while afraid and being hurt, was just about enough to prevent a combat rage
from taking place. It was hard to do two things at once, but better than being
without a shield at all.

"Same rules?"

The Baron smiled at him, and
nodded.

"Good. You can do better
than that. You were a bit stiff. That slows you down. Your gift is in strength,
speed and endurance for the time being. Use that." He did, and was still
stabbed and cut up a lot. It hurt, and he couldn't like that part, but he did
eventually manage to wear the other man down, finally stabbing him a few times.
It was really clear that Havar would have killed him in a real fight though. At
ten Petra came over.

"
Annnd
break! Good
practice. Havar, you know where you need to work. Conditioning. Dareg, you made
a bunch of basic errors. Let's go over those, and then you can leave for the
day?" She started showing him what he needed to fix as he healed again,
but he felt fine still. Not even all that tired.