The Dark Half of the Sun (The Young Ancients: Timon) (38 page)

"This isn't what it seems." She was tense and staring at him as if he'd made an accusation.

"You mean you
aren'
t using some hapless man who's never had anything worth having before, that lucked into a few left over amulets and has a bit of a big mouth, to try and draw out Larval assassins so you can kill them before they find Tor? What are you really doing then?" He stopped and shook his head, but the woman sighed.

"Alright, I
am
doing that. I meant that I wasn't trying to steal Tor's life. He told me to help Gerent, before he left. He really is a good person. He fought a gang of bandits to get back a little girl stolen from a pig farmer. By himself. Then he sold some of the stuff he found to make sure she'd be taken care of well. You have to admit, it's exactly like what Tor would have done in the same situation. Well, he'd probably have done a better job of fighting, but we can leave the comedic parts out of the story. The point is it was damned selfless and heroic."

Tim nodded.

"Fine, I'll back Gerent's story then, if anyone asks. There's a plot to overthrow the Royal family, the Larval are aiding the nobles doing it. Petra Ward was taken and tortured by Count Rodriguez. We got her back and hid her. The King has asked that Count Ward not go to war yet, to hide the fact that she's alive. I need to have information about him. I'm going to kill him." He didn't have to explain which one he was going to kill at least.

"But the King said..." She looked away, arms crossed in the chill air.

"The King can go and fuck himself. If you take my friends, and try to kill my brother, I'm going to take your life. These nobles are escalating, the Larvals helping them. Countess Alan... She and a Larval..." It was too hard to say the words, too embarrassing and scary. He had to though. He needed information and he couldn't afford to let those two make him weak. "Trice, they took me. The Countess invited me to dinner, then used a special drug to get past the poison detector. Not that I even used mine, moron that I am. I was told that later. They tortured me for three days. I nearly died." He sobbed a bit, but didn't cry. He couldn't.

"Oh Timon!" She moved to hold him, to make it better somehow, but his shield kicked on, his subconscious mind viewing the approach as a possible attack. It stung her enough she moved back and gasped, eyes going wide.

"It wasn't just name calling that they did. I can't talk about it yet, but I can find that bastard Rodriguez and make him pay. Will you help me or not?" There was a coldness to his words that hadn't been there before. He didn't want to seem demanding, but there wasn't time to play around. If they didn't send a message soon, more people would be taken.

"Why Rodriguez? Shouldn't you go after Countess Alan? It will be expensive to have it done, but I... might be able to have them killed."

He shook his head looking down at the ground.

"No. I killed Nora Alan earlier today. Trice, I haven't even slept. Count Lairdgren freed me less than four hours ago. Six now. Got there just in time to kill the Larval. They were planning to use my communications device to draw Tor in and then torture me. As bait. He never answered." There was a little bitterness in his words, he knew.

It made sense that his brother wouldn't, since not being available to the Larval meant that his people were more protected than not, even if he lost a few to begin with. It was a hard game, but one that had to be played. It still felt like a betrayal. Tor was
supposed
to help him, not just the other way around. That's what family meant.

"Anyway, I'm going to kill Rodriguez myself. If I wanted the Assassins Guild to do it I'd go and find a Sorvee, not you." The words slipped out, sounding a little angry, but Trice blinked.

"You... Know about that?" She didn't ask who told him, but he rolled his eyes anyway.

"Trice. Yes. I know about a lot of things. That part was funny, they didn't even think to ask me anything when they did it. They didn't think I'd know anything. They didn't even try to get my recipe for winter cakes. Their loss." It came out sounding almost like a joke. It was a good sign, he hoped.

It took her a few minutes of pacing around still holding her left arm in her right hand, before she turned on him again frowning.

"Why come to me? I mean, I'll do what I can, but if you aren't looking to have the work done for you, what do you think I can do?"

He snorted at her derisively.

"Oh, gee, let's see... Tell me if this sounds familiar to you. The King, after years of having his spy master, Kyle Hardgrove, owned by Count Lairdgren, decided to try and replace the man. Not using any kind of diabolical method, just by having a young replacement trained up and groomed for the position from near childhood. His own niece, so there's a nice bit of nepotism there that even the Count can't easily undo. So for years you've been being worked into place inside both of the main spy networks. Probably being tugged between the Count and the King too. That about right? I'm sure I'm missing a few things, like what they did with Tor and you, but..." He waited, his eyes feeling tired suddenly. Healed or not, he needed food and sleep.

He did not look forward to either now. Any food he ate could be poisoned and sleep meant not being able to watch what was going on around him.

The woman stood in front of him, her arms going to her sides in shock.

"
Fuck
. Who told you all this? Lairdgren? I know that Tor doesn't know. I mean, he gets that I work for Uncle Richard, but not the rest of it."

The funny thing was that she seemed serious about him divulging who it was that told him, as if anyone would have.

"So, are you going to help or not? I need to know who he's likely to be working with. I can think of a hundred ways to kill the man, but..."

"No." She tried to put a hand on his shoulder but the shield stopped the move, getting her to nod. "I mean, yes, of course I'll help, but you can't just kill the man. You need to find out what he knows. It's more dangerous, but if you can take him, get him to talk first, then make the body vanish... It's going to start problems, but the King will be a lot less angry about it if you know what the Count does first. You shouldn't go behind his back. Uncle Richard hates that."

Who wouldn't. Of course going to him would probably mean the man telling him no.

"I don't work for him. I don't work for anyone but myself. Not really."

There was a few minutes of silence, an abstract look on her face. He spent the time not thinking at all himself, since it was easier that way to keep on living.

"Timon, what you want to do is dangerous, but don't make an enemy out of Uncle Richard. He's a good man, and may not go along with you, but avenging Petra Ward isn't a good enough reason for you to start a war with an entire Kingdom."

It was true enough. He gave her a nod, still knowing that the man was going to die, one way or the other.

She smiled sweetly, the look more than a little sad.

"Do you love her?"

"What?"

"Petra, do you love her? Normally people don't go and try to kill Counts for light reasons. It's far too dangerous. All those armies and angry heirs that will be worried that they're next if they don't fight. It's pretty much what keeps the peace."

"No, I don't love her. I hardly know her at all. That isn't the point. I don't know how to explain it. I saw her, broken and bent, bleeding and covered in a half dozen kinds of filth. It's enough of a reason. It doesn't matter. It's what I'm going to do."

She sighed mightily, for affect and then let her head come up just a little, as if a decision had been reached inside.

"Fine. Think about it first though and give yourself enough time to plan and do it right. Go to the King and at least give him a chance to say no, or offer advice. You might be surprised what he's willing to try if you go in with a good plan."

They made arrangements to stay in touch, since she liked the idea of having his fast transport services on tap.

"I mean, I have my own Fast Carriage, but you know, having servants is always useful, for those times I don't want to bother with things myself." She winked at him, then realized that being playful might not be the most welcome thing at the moment. Sobering she shrugged. "I can't afford your rates though. Do I get a discount for being so cute?"

He nodded.

"Sure. But since you already can use your family discount that won't help you much."

Smiling she started to reach out again, but stopped short, her face falling a bit.

"That's sweet, but I don't know that being your brother's girlfriend should count."

"It does. Still, Mark is working for me as a pilot, so that works too. I know that your parents are planning to use it... I kind of left them stuck the other day, I was supposed to get them to the palace, but... You know." He felt bad about it, which didn't make sense at all. He clenched his teeth, anger starting to run through him again at the thought. It didn't trigger a rage, because he dropped it after a few seconds and went totally blank.

"What? My brother Mark? But he's..."

Timon felt too tired to explain it all, so he just told her part of it.

"No combat rage in other lands. He's doing most of the overseas stuff. So far it's working out pretty well. Anyway, I need to leave. I'll be in touch. Let me know if you need me for anything. I can't promise I'll be around all the time, since I have some things to do overseas too, but if I can, I'll be there for you."

"We'll talk soon. Don't... Timon... Don't let this break you. I know that it seems like everything is over, but it isn't. You're strong and will come back from this."

He nodded and turned to walk into the woods then, not saying goodbye. He wasn't sure that he really would come back from it at all, but that was the smallest part of things now. He had a goal and that was all he needed. Then, when that one was done, he'd find the next one and so on. It wasn't hope for a better life, but it would get him through the day.

Or not.

He didn't change his clothing, but did set up his craft and then changed it to be a dull cloud gray. It was subdued and boring, but matched his mood. Then he left, going home. To his place, outside the Capital, near the river. It was an hour and a half before he got there, not having pushed things overly. Then, once inside he barred and locked the door, closed all the shutters and laid on one of the four beds in the back, awake in the dark for hours. Not thinking at all.

He didn't know if he slept, but if so it was one without memorable dreams. When he came out it was the next day, early. Not knowing what to do, he went to see Glaren and see if there was any food to be had, finding that all the servants were in the place and a full meal was being prepared. No one seemed to be treating him any differently, which was nice. He tried to smile and not let them know that he wasn't a real person anymore. Food was placed in front of him, and he ate with a will, knowing that he had to replace what had been taken from him. It was all good, but it was hard to get enough food down, his interest going long before the food was done.

Collette smiled at him, her hand going to his shoulder, not triggering his shield, thankfully. She settled in next to him, her face bright and happy looking.

"There you are. No one knew where you'd gotten to for days. We have a lot of work lined up. For some reason everyone called here to do that. I set it up for you to pick people up starting later today, is that alright? I can call people back and..." She had a list in front of her. One with a map that showed the best route to get people. He looked at it and nodded.

"I can do this. Sorry I was out of touch. We can cover why later. If we have to I mean. Right now I need to go and get Lyn and Dorgal... And I really need to find Marco Sorvee. He's supposed to stand for his cousin and I haven't even asked him yet. If I have to find someone else it's going to be a pain." He covered the slight feeling of being overwhelmed by taking a bite of honey soaked pancake. It bought him time to recover a little.

Collette, being part goddess it seemed, located Marco in about fifteen minutes. He was in Thorgood, playing for the Countess, who was coming in later that day and seemed more than happy to bring him along. She ran a lot of the slow transport fleet after all. That wasn't a fair thing to call it really. It wasn't coast to coast in a few hours, but it was still less than a day for that distance.

A lot of people were starting to use it, since it was a lot more economical than going by carriage even. The ones paying him for extra speed and comfort paid more, but they also got picked up at their own door, instead of meeting at only a few cities around the Kingdom. There were tradeoffs. Still, a moderately successful tradesman could afford the one gold it cost to fly with the Thorgood fleet. Less in a lot of cases. She'd gotten most of her gear for free, so it was pure profit for her. She also employed more people doing it her way.

As Collette settled next to him again, she grabbed half a piece of toast. She was wearing a nice dress in light blue and tan, which covered her from neck to ankle, since it was early in the day and the woman was working, not trying to pick up potential mates or get information out of unsuspecting men. Or women. He focused on his own food for a while until he heard her say something that got his full attention.

"Count Rodriguez is all the way down south, so I had to have him come in on a flight alone. He's bringing two of his people with him, but is paying full rate for them." Her words were almost absent in tone, as if it didn't matter at all, even though it was the most important thing he'd heard in a long time. "Morgan is scheduled for the pick-up, since we didn't know where you'd gotten to. Mark is doing the pick-ups from overseas. Lyn and Dorgal will be here later today, if all goes well." It took a while to make it all out, but if he could arrange for another pilot...