Ancient Kings (The Young Ancients) (52 page)

"Go now and get back to work. If you want to complain and think that you won't be punished just for that, tell Commander...You know, I never got his name. Anyway, tell your Commander that he's welcome to come and correct me on the matter, if he wishes to discuss it." He looked down at his right hand, which throbbed a bit from having hit someone. He didn't really remember it. "I do mean discuss too, not fight.
He's
actually a reasonable person with half a brain. Now get."

A nice thing about the Elite Flyers-Corps, they didn't jeer or mock the beaten men at all, they just moved out of the way and readied themselves to fight covertly, weapons coming out to do that in case the men tried anything, but the guards just left, muttering imprecations about him, but they went.

Ali and Sara were out of the craft and ran to both Sam and Guide, Ali rooting through the box of things that was once again floating behind Tor and handing them clothing, then her own healing amulet.

"What happened?"

The story from their perspective was a lot different, involving a hard day's work removing large blocks of stone and a few walls, using various techniques, and the sudden ambush of yelling authority figures that hadn't even given them half a chance to explain who they were.

"I've half a mind to tell this whole fucking city to suck it, and leave." Guide said this with more than a little wrath to his voice. The surprise was that Sam nodded, standing behind him.

"I agree. I knew that it wasn't a friendly place, but I didn't think I'd ever be beaten just for helping after something like this."

Tor understood. He really did. Hence beating the men like he had. It wasn't about him showing off at all. No, it was about him taking a bit back from them for himself. Selfishly. These men hadn't gotten to do that though. They could probably chase them down, but that wasn't really the point was it. Too many here felt that way. If you were small and dark, you had to be a peasant, and that meant second class, no matter what title they held or how high they reached, trying to improve their lot in life. True, most weren't beaten for it, day to day, but he had been before, and others had too.

"Are you leaving the Lairdgren Group altogether, or just withholding your services to the Capital? I'd like to remind you both that you don't work for the King directly, and come to that, I doubt he'd order you to stay in a place you've been so mistreated. In fact, we'll remove the whole group. Get everyone packed up and ready to go. We'll need to see to getting some transports in." Tor was serious, and it showed, mainly in the wide eyes of the military men.

One started to laugh, a fellow near the back, not bothering to cover his mouth, which meant that his words carried in the sudden silence.

"Right, like they don't have to do what their told? They're only peasant scum. Who cares what they think?"

Tor didn't answer, just getting his communications device, which, with the rest of the things, was in the box. It was big enough that it rubbed when he walked, if he made a pouch for it.

The King answered immediately, himself.

He
didn't laugh after Tor explained what was going on. There was just silence for a long time.

"I'm... very sorry gentlemen. I'll try to take steps to see this doesn't happen again. I can't begin to show the true depth of my horror at these events." He went on for a bit, but he didn't ask them to
stay
. The King didn't expect them to.

Which was good. Tor might have been inclined to stay just for the sake of the people in the city, and may even be required to because he was a Knight of the Realm and the Magics Counselor, but he wouldn't let his friends be mistreated. His
people
. No more than he would have if they were his own family. Rich understood that without asking, it seemed, because despite what some might think of him, he was, at heart, an intelligent and good person.

The man in the back kept laughing and making jokes, most of which seemed to be about him personally, but someone walked over to the man and told him to shut his trap, using those exact words and a glare that would have made even a brave man wary.

It no doubt came as a shock to the fellow, since it was General Thorgas himself.

"Gentlemen, back to stations. If you have down time right now, make yourselves useful. Clean your gear, or help with other's work. We don't need for our entire unit to be injured right now." He didn't have to tell them twice, since men were already leaving and the inappropriately laughing man was being pulled away by the arm, his friend looking worried. If he was the fellow's buddy at all.

Tor wouldn't have been about then, but maybe there was a deeper story to why the jerk had been acting that way? No one went out of their way to be evil really, did they? They just were. At least in the eyes of others. The situation, in a very odd way, reminded him of something that had happened once, with Maria Ward. He'd asked her to go to a dance with him and she'd flipped out and screamed at him, calling him a lot of names... Which he'd believed about himself for a long time. Not all of them, since a lot of it was clearly false, but he'd thought others saw him that way, hadn't he? Was it that part of him that Burks and Richard had been trying to protect him from kicking in?

There was no way to know for certain, but the point was that years later he'd found out that Rolph had told the pretty girl that he loved her, and she was filled with dreams of someday being Queen. Then Tor, the Prince's own roommate had come up to her to see if she'd like to go to a party. To her mind it meant she was being put off by the Prince. Which, as it turned out, even though Tor hadn't known it, she was really.

For years he'd hated her for that, and still wasn't her biggest supporter, but it made sense now. She wasn't truly evil, it had simply
seemed
that way.

Maybe it was the same for the Elite soldier that was being beaten over by the edge of where the circle had been? It wasn't much of a thrashing, since the man still had his shield on, so no one told the men doing it to stop, even though Kolb had walked over to watch the whole thing.

"Fools." He didn't bother to lower his voice, and several of the men watching what was going on turned to glare at the bald man. "Wizards are in ascendancy now. The measure of a man soon won't be in how well they fight, or how pure their blood. It will be counted in what kind of magic they can get a hold on, and these men just insulted several of the best in the world. It's almost as if several of them missed that Master Tor just fought five men, armored in very high quality shields, and defeated them without being touched. Tor, turn that man's off for us, will you?" It sounded very casual, but before the slightly rough hand extended the single finger to point, Tor did it.

He was used to taking the man's orders after all. Plus, he realized, there was no way he wouldn't think of the man as being in charge of him, no matter what was said. It was just the way things worked.

The large black haired joker that thought beating up little peasants was funny found himself being thrashed for real, by several of his fellows. It was done in the open, and General Thorgas didn't stop it, even if the man was needed on duty later. Rolling his eyes Tor walked over.

"Enough." They didn't seem to hear him, so he bellowed at them and threw a few of them off. They were big, and heavy, but he managed it alright. "
Enough
I said. You, laughing boy, go beg some tiny Wizard for the use of a healing amulet, and get back to work. You aren't some stupid city guard that doesn't know better, I expect better of you. You, all of you... All the military flyers, are my people. It's
my
magic that lets you fly and shields you. The weapons you use too, as often as not. If you want to insult me personally, then make an appointment, but if you go after any of my people there will be problems."

It was a bit rambling, but there was enough venom in it that the man made a face and wiped at his bleeding mouth.

"Fucking trumped up runt. Without your magic what are you?"

Tor stared at the man, and then shook his head.

"A
person
, the same as you. What did you think I was?" A poor question, but the answer came anyway. It was almost as if the fellow couldn't help himself.

"A stupid little peasant that's only good for licking the Queens cunt, and sucking the cock of anyone that has a copper?" He laughed again.

It was after all, brilliant.

Tor didn't even feel angry at the man though. He was a severe example, but the truth was half the men around him clearly felt close to the same, they were just smart enough not to run their mouths about it. He couldn't blame them for their thoughts, though, could he? After a second he found himself dropping into a trance state again and starting to move forward, only to find Kolb holding him back. There was no rage within him, but it was enough of an insult that he pretty much had to do something about it, didn't he?

Except he didn't , because Tiera moved in like a flash and started to beat the hell out of the man. He tried to fight back, but, even though he was bigger and a better fighter than his little sister, she was so fast and strong that it very nearly didn't matter. Not after the light beating he'd already taken. About a minute later the man was on the ground, his right arm making a loud snapping noise.

"That's my brother you're insulting, you jerk!" She was on her back on the ground, holding his arm to her chest, the giant arm over her crossed right leg. That didn't last, since she rolled on top of him, and hit him in the face several times before standing up. The man didn't, but he was still breathing, that and groaning a bit. "He's worth a thousand of you! You can't even beat a little girl in a fight.
Moron
." She kicked him, but stepped back after that and started to glare at the men around her, expecting them to attack. They didn't move and Captain Peterson stepped in.

"Get Higgs cleaned up. Then take him to the Warden for a cell assignment. Three days. If this happens again Higgs, I'll have you cashiered. You
know
that the Wizard is a nobleman, and that..." The man stopped talking. "Just go. I won't lecture you now. If you give Countier Lairdgren any problems, I'll tie you to a post and lash you in front of the whole company. Now go."

The funny thing was that Tor could tell the man meant it, but also still kind of agreed with Higgs. He thought of Tor as being so inferior that it was hard for him to keep anything else in mind. To him the idea of the Wizard Tor was a giant, like him, with a gray beard and robes. Who wore robes though? The image was very clear anyway. The man was also embarrassed and angry. Part of that was at himself, for not getting his man under control in time at least. Mainly it was at Tor, and to a lesser extent Tiera and Kolb.

Without thinking, his voice hard, he turned to face Kolb and noticed that some of the others had come around to watch what was going on. There was a clear division in thoughts however, even with the people from Lairdgren. Almost all of them over six feet tall kind of agreed with the now absent Higgs, at least in spirit. Tor was just some tiny and worthless person, even if he was rich and powerful and more noble than most of them. The shorter people all looked down or away, getting the basic idea. Even the builders thought that way, except Mark and Farlo. That was almost a bit of a surprise, but those two only felt protective of their fellows and Mark turned to everyone else, his voice commanding.

"Get packed, we leave as soon as transport is available. If you have a Fast Craft, front and center, please. Fighters and Builders are out last, in case we have to fight. Homemakers and singers, you math people, you go first." It was bossy, and no one really listened to him, until Kolb bellowed at them.

"You heard him. Move it! Fighters section on me." People ran then, but the plan was what Mark had laid out. It was temping to take all the magics and gold he was providing back too, to really drive the point home, but it wouldn't make a difference really.

Even though the nobles had a kind of bigotry toward the lower classes, it was a thing that they had to fight. It was a part of them, built in... Which reminded him of what Doris had said, about the two class system. Cordes had done it. Tor didn't know how he knew that, but it was so clear it fairly buzzed along his skin.

That was part of the horror the man had created that had gotten him killed, wasn't it? That and killing or maiming a quarter of the people in Noram. No one would tell him why and the Cordes in his head was from an earlier time, so didn't hold the answer to that, but there was a soft tendril of thought then, coming from deep inside himself.

The Ancient King really thought that might be it.

It was time for Tor to have a talk with someone that wouldn't just run off when the questions got hard. That or be overly evasive. It was a harder thing to find than it sounded like. Burks was like a weasel when it came to things like that. Denno and he weren't all that close really. Friendly, but not so much that he could just stomp into Austra and demand answers. Besides that was where the Larval were all headed. At least in theory. He needed to talk to the man anyway. Soon. If Brown couldn't handle his creations, Tor would. He didn't want to brutally slaughter them all, but they were infected with the mind of a madman. The same version of Cordes that he had, driven insane by their shared mind and vast numbers.

That, he knew, couldn't be a coincidence. Someone had put that there and he doubted it was Doris, though he should have asked. Her frankness had just been so shocking to him. Who would talk to him though, that knew what had happened over two thousand years before?