Ancient Kings (The Young Ancients) (17 page)

The place was lit up on the outside, a nice shade of purple, with gold trim glowing in places. Technically that would make it in the royal colors, but it matched the floating river that ran around the Capital walls very nicely, so he doubted anyone would mind. His house colors were green, but purple was his favorite, if given a choice.

When they got in there was a bit of bustling about, with people not seeming all that busy, mainly talking to one another, with about half of them doing something with boxes that had glass lenses on the front. He'd seen that kind of thing before, a few times. They made pictures that could be shown later. No one paid much attention to him, but looking down he realized that he wasn't dressed for company which was kind of rude. He shifted his clothing into a nice black silk outfit that looked to have laces up the back, even though they weren't real. His doing that got the others to change clothing too, the girls in wonderful dresses and Kolb in a nice outfit of very deep blue.

Only Gerent just stood there, his eyes wide.

"I... what am I supposed to do? I can make the clothes thing change, but what should I..."

Tor fixed that, touching his arm and making a rather stately suit in deep green velvet and silk appear. The boots were black, and the buttons were a shining silver, but it looked good enough for this kind of non-official visit.

When he looked up it was clear that they were the subject of whatever the Austrans were doing suddenly, three boxes pointing at them and a machine making a good bit of noise in the background. That part was new. When he'd gone to that land nothing like that had been around at all.

Kolb smiled.

"We're on camera. Look pleasant and try not to make any death threats, since half of their land will likely see this."

Then he simply moved away, trying to seem happy about it all, as if it had been his plan all along to be caught changing for the event. The rest followed and after a few minutes they were able to find the main group in a new sitting room at the left front of the house, about where the old small dining room used to be. Poking his head in he noticed that there was clearly a clutch of people that were probably the guests of honor, since Timon was sitting with them and so was Petra Ward and Trice. There were three others as well. An interestingly cute girl that looked about fifteen or so, and had piercings through her face on the left side. Two of them, looking silver and shiny. There was also a woman that looked a bit older, perhaps in her thirties, though it was hard to tell, since she was all purple. Hair, skin and nails. Only her teeth were the normal color, a nice and shining white that contrasted with the rest of her.

She was next to a vaguely familiar older man too, but Tor
recognized
the purple one. After all, they'd met, and she was in his favorite color. It made her memorable.

People saw them and a slightly strange thing happened, since the ones that ran at them were a slightly mixed bunch.

"It's The Tor!" This was called out by the purple woman, who didn't touch him at all, but seemed slightly bright eyed suddenly. She just stood in front of him as if waiting for him to do something interesting.

He bowed.

"Fornia Stergis! I didn't know that you'd be here. Did you get the present I sent along with the things for Denno? We talked about something like that... I don't know if it's what you wanted, but I had a few days while I was in hiding, so threw it together."

"I
did
see it! We set it up in the capital and it's currently the most popular entertainment in Austra. A three dimensional reenactment of the battle you engaged in with the Larval... Not much of a plot, but we can work on that. I have some people here that you should meet." She took his arm and half drug him to the older man.

"Our Ambassador. You've met before? It was a bit of a hectic day..."

Tor nodded.

"Ambassador Hallis, so good to see you. Have you been in to see King Richard yet?" The older man had a sincere and friendly face, and while he was a little heavy, he wasn't fat, just looking like someone that was used to eating well. Of course that was an illusion, since no one forced to eat a steady diet of Austran food could be doing that. His hair was gray, perhaps a bit more than the one time they'd met before, but he was wearing a very sharp brown suit, instead of the normal jumpsuits that about half the people in the other room had on.

"I haven't had that honor yet. I believe that this is supposed to be a rather low key visit? It would be a privilege to meet him, I'm certain. I should also meet with my counterpart here, if at all possible, to see about several programs that are developing. Trade and so forth. We truly live in most amazing times, there hasn't been open trade between our lands in nearly a thousand years, I checked. Now each day brings us closer to that state." He sounded smooth and like he said things like that for a living, which was true, in part, but the man couldn't be that busy, if being the Noram Ambassador was his full time position. As far as Tor knew this was his first visit.

"I'll see what I can arrange for that? Oddly enough I'll probably have to go through Richard to get that done, but we should be able to set up something useful." He held out his hand, since they did that in Austra and the man responded so easily it was almost like being at home.

Trice moved in and hugged Gerent, then took Tor's free arm, since Fornia hadn't let go of the other. She hugged it to her body, tightly enough that her breast pushed against his shoulder, which got him to move away slightly, making his friend go tense. Her face fell and she looked ready to cry, which was definitely not what he wanted in a room full of guests.

 "Um, Trice? You
might
be a relative." He murmured the words and while she didn't seem happy to have that pointed out, she forced a smile and got control of her face. She also didn't let go of his arm. It felt nice, but suddenly wrong, as if he was going to have sex with his sister or something.

Thankfully Tim noticed this and gestured for the younger woman to come over, a large smile on her rather pretty face. There was a trim cuteness to her, and she had red hair, but it seemed off, as if it wasn't her real color. The eyes were blue, which kind of worked. After a few seconds he got it, she reminded him a little of a very short Karina.

"This is my friend, Kincaid Rue. She's a player. It's a bigger thing there. My guess would be that she's closer to being a noble for their land than not. About Baronetta level? I'm just floating that now, in case we ever get married. You know, stop the scandal early." He smiled and cast a smirk at the girl who looked at him in about the same fashion. It was amusing.

"Good idea. No need to let things get out of hand after all." He held out a hand to the young lady too, receiving a very professional grip from her. The field behind it was older than her appearance, which was a thing he'd noticed before, in an Austran spy. A treatment to keep a body looking young for a while. At a guess the woman was pushing thirty, but that didn't really matter, if Tim liked her. It was a bit odd, but at least she'd keep looking right for a while, since she'd clearly already finished growing. It was kind of clever, to tell the truth. Kenner had been stopped when he was only ten, so that he could get a job as a wash boy in the King's palace. It meant that as he grew, a thing that would be stunted and slightly misshapen, he'd be funny looking. Not horrible, but probably a bit like Gerent was.

Kolb had mentioned that there was no way to make him grow, in Noram. The words seemed a little odd though, as if he might actually have an idea about something like that somewhere else. If it existed... Well, for all Tor knew the man was happy with his size. It didn't seem like it, but that didn't mean he'd want to change at this point in his life. It wouldn't be good to force him into anything.

Trice leaned into him again, pressing up against him, on purpose he realized. She was feeling... that he wouldn't want her now, after those men had used her as they had. Like that made any sense at all? He was angry at them, that was true, and sort of wanted to go find them and make certain they didn't live through the night, but why would he think less of
Trice
over it? She was the same person that he'd loved after all. If being a little clingy at the moment.

Their needs came to cross purposes then, since he was both attracted to her and felt dirty letting her hold on to him, and she desperately needed him to show her that he didn't think she was unclean now. It took dropping into a much deeper state of mind, but after a few seconds he cuddled into her a bit, getting a sense of relief back from her.

It was... possibly shameful, but honestly, he'd already slept with her, and if she turned out to be someone that he couldn't do that with ever again, that didn't change his feelings about
her
at all. He'd just have to work out what he was supposed to feel later.

On the good side he didn't throw up on her. That was an improvement over his reaction to the news that he'd gotten first. Poor Connie. He'd retched, and then ran out like he hated her or something. He should at least visit and make sure she was handling it alright. That would probably just be the case, since she was born a noble and they had rules for this kind of thing, but it wouldn't serve to just let it hang in the air.

Maybe he could take Ali along with him? That would... be so cowardly he nearly laughed out loud. No, it was a thing he needed to deal with alone.

Farlo had assured him that his wife would be returned the next day, though when exactly she couldn't tell. It was a nice solid build from the feel of it, he'd been told, so the chances of success were high. He hadn't asked what she was attempting, since she wanted it to be a surprise, but the fact that it might well work was wonderful. He'd have to have some kind of party for her or something.

Tor had gotten lost in a bit of a trance reverie, thinking about all there was to do, only to be pulled out of it by something Tim said. He missed it the first time, so had to ask what he meant, which got it roughly repeated.

"In the last two days I've had seven different fares in Noram, all of them just wanting me to come visit with my healing amulet. I don't charge anyone to borrow it, but I have been for coming out, since it's literally been all over the place. They all have the same thing, at first I thought it was pneumonia, but now I'm not sure. It just seems odd. I've seen it before too, in the last month or so."

There was a perfectly timed voice from the door. One that got Tor to tilt his head when he heard it. Familiar and unexpected at the same time.

"Austra too. It's new, a virus that passes from simple breathing, and that stays dormant for almost three months before it turns into a very dangerous pneumonia, as Timon mentioned. I'd thought I'd come and see who else it was affecting." The man was as smooth and brown as always. His clothing was a simple jumpsuit in brown, his eyes were a slightly darker shade of it and his hair black and decently short.

Denno Brown. The Ancient of Austra.

There was no overt drama to the voice, which was saying something, because Denno Brown loved his showmanship like most people enjoyed breathing. It poured out of him so regularly and naturally that he probably didn't even notice he was doing it most of the time. It gave him a lively and poised air as a matter of course, that if not exactly genuine seeming at every turn, was at least interesting to watch.

Now he just seemed worried.

That didn't leave Tor feeling good at all, since he'd only seen him do that once before, go all serious and grim like he was. That was when the man had been sharing the fact that something was coming from space for them. It was bad then, or at least Brown thought so. If that was the case...

"Alright, can we do anything about it? Does everyone seem to die from it, if left untreated?" Tor wanted to leave it all to someone else, but if people did that, then nothing would ever get done, would it?

Timon turned to look at the other Ancient and spoke to him, not Tor at all. The rest of the room was already looking that way, so it seemed right, even if he hadn't spoken last.

"The healing amulets work. Those are hard to make though, even as copies. I think I can work up a few hundred of them, all told. Maybe more if the builders in Vagus are willing to help. Only Lyn and Tor can make them yet though, I think." The boy went still then, watching the Ancient in front of him so closely it had to be uncomfortable for Brown.

There was a soft intake of breath from across the room where Tiera had settled next to Karen. They hadn't hopped up to hug anyone after all and had time to arrange themselves while he spoke to Fornia and the Ambassador. Taking their lead, he gestured for everyone else to do the same, since standing wouldn't make the planning go much faster.

"Guide can do it too. I think someone mentioned that some of the others have the trick of it as well now. Mark, I think, Sorenson. I don't know who else."

It wasn't really a problem for him now, Tor knew. It would take a few days, but he could turnout as many of the things as they could find objects to put them on. It wasn't something he really wanted to admit to the room, since it would be thought insane. Plus, that many healing amulets would change the face of the world in a few years time, wouldn't they?

He couldn't let millions die, but if it was what nature demanded, then should he interfere? It wasn't like he was responsible for the whole world. Even if he did feel like that at the moment.

Sitting himself, Denno sank into a well padded chair and looked at Timon darkly for a bit. It was a little strange, but then, maybe it wasn't? They'd clearly spent more time together than any of the rest of them, and as far as Tor knew his younger brother had never tried to kill the man. It had to make a difference in how close people got to one another.

"It's a start. We need to move them around rapidly as well. Can we count on your services?"

The boy nodded.

"Of course. Tor said he was going to run up another batch of the Fast Craft, but that it will take a month or so. We'll need pilots for them, but that can be arranged. It will play merry havoc with my new business, when everyone in the world is left with one of the devices, but I'll live." There wasn't a lot of cheer in his voice, but the easy way around that was for him to hire the people driving directly. Tor could put in some funds, but they'd need to get the devices around. It would be faster to make the healing amulets first.

Something occurred to him, which, oddly enough, Timon spoke about first.

"We have outbreaks on two continents... Did my new service spread this then? When I've noticed sick people I've handed off an amulet, that would have taken care of it so it wouldn't spread, right?"

Brown shrugged, looking a bit like Burks did for a few seconds, if only in body language.

"I doubt it? This was clearly engineered. It's a Gray design, or someone trying to make it look like one. She has a small molecular complex she leaves behind to mark her work. A bit of vanity, but harmless enough in most cases. This virus has it though. That isn't to say that you might not have carried infected properties along with you, but that would be hard to pull off. Almost everything you have is... built of potential energy. When you turn it off, even the ability to carry a single virus should vanish." It was a thing with Brown that he simply couldn't believe in magic. It was built into his Rhetistics, so he didn't get an honest say in the matter. No amount of proof could change his mind either. It was just what he had to do. Still, if he wanted to call it potential energy instead, Tor could live with that. The man wasn't stupid or blind after all, he knew that things were happening, he simply had to believe it was all about technology, rather than the mind forming and shaping the world around him.

Timon looked so sour suddenly it was nearly funny, except for the subject matter. He started pacing a bit, and on his second circuit he just sort of growled.

"Gray did mention a desire to kill most of the world's population at the summit. I take it that reasoning is due to her Rhetistics? That or she's gone insane."

Denno rubbed his face with his right hand, managing to make it look elegant even as worried as he was, then he was silent for a bit, looking around at the other people present rather than answering. Timon kept his eyes locked on the man, searching for something, scraping his being for information. Tor took a clue from that, and started reading Brown's field, trying to pluck information from him as well. He wasn't bothering to try and hide anything, he just seemed tired, as if the current situation was just too much. It was pretty clear that he thought that something was really wrong too, but it wasn't clear as to what that actually was.

"I think it might be both. She's always sought to control the number of people in the world. I have similar programing as well. Rhetistics I mean. So does Green. The others, Black and Red don't really, but there's a level of common sense involved. We all lived through the Cataclysm. I know that seems a minor thing now, thousands of years later, but it was caused by there being too many people. We nearly destroyed the planet because of that. Gray has always been the most severe that way however. Her Rhetistics were put in place by zealots though. The rest of us had more mild things put in place by people who, thankfully, didn't care nearly as much about a specific cause as all that." There was no sense of the weariness he really felt in the words, and he looked merely concerned, not like he was about to just break down and hide.

Tor stood again, not knowing what he was going to say at all. It was pretty clear that he couldn't leave it to his older brother alone though, or the man was going to break under the pressure.

"Alright, we have the people here to start this effort then. Ambassador Hallis, if we can work up a cure for this, can you see to getting your government to distribute it? Normally that would be a problem, but the treaty of the Ancients is currently suspended, so as long as I actually own the devices sent along, I think that's allowable. If not... well, we pretend it is for now. The others can chastise me later for it, at the next summit meeting." He winked at Brown who gave a small smile at the move. "Timon will oversee the transportation portion of things right now. Unless you have a different plan?"

There was a head shake, but no answer from the boy, which Tor decided meant he didn't object. He was on his own now, which, as young as he was, meant he didn't have to take orders from his brother directly. Or parents. He really was almost the only one that could get the work done though, wasn't he?

After a second Tim turned to Kolb and spoke, his gaze taking in Karen and Petra after a second.

"I'm going to need to co-opt some of your people for it. You too Tiera. Everyone that has a Fast Craft. Mark will have to take the duty for Austra specifically, since he's best in the overseas portion of things. Denno, I'll assign him to you for now, is that workable?"

The man nodded gently and touched his mouth with a single finger, as if thinking.

"Certainly. Good man for the job. I have some other tasks to work on however, so I may need him to work with the Prime Minister directly. I don't want to change your chain of command however."

There was a strained look on the Ambassador's face, which, with a half second of invasive reading Tor understood. He felt he was going to be left out, and Noram was, literally, his job.

It was a bit petty, so the man didn't speak, but he felt it anyway.

"Ambassador, how about
you
work with Mark instead? The Prime Minister has his own job and Mark is a Noram citizen, which makes him your responsibility anyway. If you have the time I mean?"

That got the man to come to life again a bit and sit up straighter.

"I stand ready."

"Thanks. We need someone to run back and forth with the Lairdgren Group and anyone else that can do the needed magic too. I..." He looked around at the people present and realized, reading them all one by one, that the best people for the job were already going to be busy doing other things. He was going to be building for at least a week straight, and Trice...

That part took him by surprise when he picked it up.

She was going to be busy... Setting up a spy network and trying to infiltrate the rebels. It was a dangerous task and she really wasn't certain she'd live through it at all.

"Gerent, will you do that part? It will mean going to Vagus as well, I think. I'll lend you my Fast Carriage until we have more, if I can't dig one up. I think there might be one or two in storage somewhere. For the time being I'm going to have to put Instructor Fines in charge of the group. Tiera..." What he was about to say next made perfect sense to him, but he doubted it would fly very well at all with his sister, emergency situation or not. Especially since, if it happened at all, Sandra would probably be given some kind of clemency or something by the Council of Counts. They wouldn't want to kill a hero after all, would they? Tor nearly couldn't say the words at all.

"If... We need all the builders we can get on this. If Sandra Morris can learn to make the healing devices, would you allow her to?" He didn't mention the rest, but Timon shook his head.

"No. Tor, the amount of things she could make might help, but she killed Regina. It might have been an accident, but it was
also
an act of war in the first place, aside from the death. Tiera's been nice about it in the last week, but we can't let her go. If this is going to end she has to stand trial for her actions. Don't ask this. If you do, it will end badly. Possibly worse than you can imagine." The brown eyes locked with his own, and after a few seconds of consideration Tor shrugged.

"I... don't really see that at all. I'll drop that for now though, since we don't have time for strife between us. Forget I mentioned it."

His sister looked so dark and angry he thought she was going to start yelling at him anyway, but she managed to hold her tongue, which was rare for her. It was probably a sign that she was growing up, wasn't it? The hard way too. Pushed into being something different by death and disaster. It wasn't fair or good, but it was what they had to work with.

"So, anyway, Gerent, will you help?" It wasn't like he could order the man about.

"Um... yes? I don't know that anyone will listen to me. I'll try. I can carry messages and all that. I think." The shyness there was huge and almost overwhelming for a few seconds, but it was still an acceptance of the role and that got Trice to smile.

"You can do it. The Group will listen to you. They're good kids, and more to the point there,
kids
. We need to get with Uncle Richard on this too. I'll start that now." She ran from the room without asking if it was really the right thing to do over all. It was what needed to happen, so it would. That was all.

Tor looked around and finally nodded.

"We can spread the word here, in Noram, using Two Bends Fast delivery and the air transport service. For that matter we can send most of the amulets to the Mayors and headmen of towns and villages along with messages, which will work to distribute things pretty well. We can't do that as easily in Austra can we?" Denno shook his head and looked ready to shoulder the burden, a thing that again, felt like too much for him to manage. Tor gestured with a closed right hand at Fornia and then Kincaid. "You two can spread the word though, can't you? The communications network there is far more impressive than ours here. Trusting in Noram might be a bit much to ask for right now. Will you help?" They were private people and could say no after all. He half expected it from the player, but Kincaid just nodded at him, her eyes tearing up a little.

Her accent was a lot more Austran then, which was, he realized her actual voice. Before she'd sounded almost like a Noram noble. The skill involved was sort of impressive.

"I'm in. The net will play the message if it comes from me. Revered One, would you be willing to say a few words? It won't take long, we can shoot that tonight and, if Tim will help us, have it back home by tomorrow, or... well, we might get live coverage if you're in it too. Is this really that bad though? We have very good medical care back home."

Denno smiled at the girl and stood, gesturing for her to stand as well and, almost as an afterthought, gestured to Fornia and,
very
strangely, Petra.