Ancient Kings (The Young Ancients) (71 page)

It was hard seeing Denno's misshapen face staring at him in shock, but again, it made it easier in a way than her actual appearance would have.

For some reason no one spoke. Death, any death, was a dark business, but this one had to be done.

"She was dead the moment she admitted to setting the plague on us. It was the judgment of all her peers. I stand by the act." He sounded strange, but it was him, not Cordes speaking. Trice walked over to him and hugged him for a long time, but didn't speak. Then Karina did, getting her blood on him, since it hadn't all dried yet. Then, for some reason she hugged Timon too. She stayed there, her hand in his. It was a strange place to seek comfort, but the boy didn't turn her away or act offended.

Tiera moved toward the form of the dead woman that looked like a boy, and then turned to the King.

 "We should hide the body. Don't let anyone know about this. Afrak is a whole land, and someone might take offense at us killing their ruler here. We should sneak in and bury her there."

They discussed plans then, but Tor moved toward the door. He didn't feel much at all. A little remorse, since that happened when you killed, and a sadness that there wasn't another way, but it wasn't even as hard as killing the Larval had been in battle. Maybe because, ultimately, Lara Gray deserved it more? The Larval had been her tool all along, as had Brown, even though he hadn't known it. Green too most likely, but it was done now.
He
was done.

All that was left was the funeral and getting on with his life, which, for the first time, he thought might actually be his.

Yes, there might be a plot left to uncover, but he didn't think it would amount to much without Lara. It took a special kind of crazy to try and kill a whole world just to replace everyone with copies later. And sure, he had some work to do, building space worthy craft. That was just a thing though, another task for another day. One that might not even be needed now. Then he'd start making those changes to himself and his family. If they wanted.

After all, he couldn't change the whole world, or even all the nobles of Noram, but if he changed himself enough, and the others, maybe together they could eventually help the nobles too? If nothing else it would be easier to protect the commoners that way.

It was a good enough place to start from, Tor thought.

Then he went outside, tried to set up his Fast Carriage and realized that Ali had it.

Laughing he got to his communications device and got in touch with her. She seemed scared still, but he wasn't, so he explained it all, even as Kevin and his lady friend the Royal Guard yelled at him for a situation report.

"I can see you've been healed. Everything here is... fine. We won. It's over. It's all finally over."

Then he had to fly home, since everyone else was busy and that was where his life was now.

It was insane, no doubt, but Tor could just leave the rest of this to others, unless they really needed him. Tim was strong enough all on his own, and the rest of his family would get along. His mother worried him a bit, but if Lara hadn't done the work herself, giving him the Cordes Rhetistics, then even her thoughts had been a lot more controlled than he thought even an Ancient could manage after a fight like that.

Chuckling as he flew, feeling happy, even after killing someone, Torrance Baker headed off into the night.

Tor stood behind the counter of the little bake shop, wearing a white apron that looked clean and tidy, with a nice, but understated, set of clothing underneath. Nobles didn't make your pies, and real people wouldn't trust them if it happened. The place had good light, and smelled of yeast and spices, as well as warm fruit. It was a festival day, of a sort, school was out and most of the kids had gone home for Noram Day, which was the biggest celebration of the year. It wouldn't be for two weeks, sure, but it was a long held tradition to get a month off for it. Some had stayed, either not having families of note, or because the war, or plague, made travel unadvisable.

It wasn't the best time of the year to open a shop, of course, but it wasn't as if they needed the coin. It looked good inside at least, since he'd remodeled a lot after he got the space, and, well, he was a
builder
. The inside of the place was magical enough that people had been coming in just to see what he'd added already and a few had asked him to make things for them. Not just pies either. He actually sold enough magical items in the first three days to buy the place sixty times over. He also sold some bread in that time.

He worked, making a lot of variety, intending to just give things away to people, since it made him happy to do it. Some of them didn't trust him yet, the old proprietor having been in the little town next to Lairdgren School for nearly two decades. It was a stroke of luck for him that the man, a widower with no minor children, had been offered a position teaching orphans to bake at Wildlands Station the same day that Tor made his offer for the shop.

It was a very good deal really, since he was making more working for Tor than could be made baking for a few hundred people and some school kids. The man hadn't been fooled at all, and actually tested Tor on his baking skills before he agreed to sell to him. Even though he was taking the Wildlands offer anyway and was smart enough to see the clear connection. In the end he got the place, after passing a rigorous examination that actually pushed the limits of what he knew, for fifty-three gold and a promise to treat the place well.

So far it hadn't been hard. He had time for it now.

At about two-thirty in the afternoon, according to the large, and very nice, clock along the wall, the first one that Hobart had made him, a bunch of people came in all at once. The first body through the door nearly blocked out the sun, being so large.

"Alphonse! You brought people too, welcome everyone! Make yourself at home, grab a chair." He had tables for people to eat at. Almost no one had yet, but sometimes an old man from down the street would come in and talk about the world and the wars that he'd seen. He was a nice fellow, but had to struggle to make it, not having any relatives to care for him. Tor made sure he went home with bread and extra cakes. The trick was in pointing out how much he had left, and how few customers. The man had his pride after all. It was cold out now though, and fuel cost coin. His shop was warm. It made sense.

The words got the others to smother him with hugs. Trice kissed him, and tried not to be too pushy about it. They'd taken things slowly over the last weeks, since the scene with Lara and the fight, but she'd been around every two or three days, and even stayed the night twice. Tor was pretty certain that Ali loved her. It wasn't a bad thing though. They were both good people and both loved
him
, so why not? Sara was around more though. She actually lived at the Capital house now, since Karen had made the High Servants actually go to where people needed them to help. They were all trying their best now though, and that had to count for something.

Karina took a turn giving him a hug, but didn't try to kiss him, even on the cheek. She'd been different lately, or seemed that way to him. It was hard to tell what she was thinking, but it wasn't anything bad. She wasn't suicidal, and while she was practicing fighting daily and went at it hard, she didn't seem hung up on the fact that Lara had almost killed her either. No, she was worried that he'd be angry with her about Timon.

She wasn't sleeping with him though, so the truth was, Tor didn't care. Almost as if she were the one reading fields, she blurted something out on the very topic.

"I talked to mother, and we're not giving up the marriage proposal for your brother. I know that it seems close to you, but the rules clearly state that first cousins are allowable for marriage as long as there are no other crossings within three generations and there aren't. In fact, technically we still aren't related at all, because Green isn't your mother's father. Not as far as blood goes, she's Gray." She seemed defiant suddenly and worried about starting a fight.

"Alright. That makes sense, I suppose. Congratulations?" There was a bigger hug then and Alphonse came around the counter to give him one too, and then stole a sweet roll.

After taking a giant bite he stopped, and looked guilty.

"I have a tab here, right?"

Taking pity, Tor got the rest of them some treats too. It made it look busy, but no one would walk in, not with all those Royal Guard standing around our front. Wensa was inside though, and just looked at him with a flat face when he asked if she and the others would like some.

"For free? Of course we would."Then she smiled and winked at him, her face seeming almost fresh and young that day, thanks to her disguise amulet.

In the end he was wrong though, and a
lot
of people came. Sara first, then a bit later, Ali along with Sherri and four school kids that he could swear he'd never met before. The old man came to the door and almost turned back, but Tor waved him in.

"Come in, come in... Make some space for my friend here. I have some hot cider." Tor didn't ask, since he'd been keeping a pot of it handy lately. Not just for the old guy, but himself as well. It was hard to keep enough calories in his body, growing as fast as he was. No one had noticed yet, but in a little over two weeks he'd grown an inch and a half. It meant he was uncomfortable all the time, but it would be worth it in the end, he thought.

As the evening wore on people passed him presents, and he had some to go out to them too. Even the kids he didn't know, and the old man. Thom. It was a Noram Day tradition. You gave people things that you made. Family on the day itself, but your friends in the weeks prior. There were rules to the whole thing too. The more work that you did on something, the more it meant, but simply giving a gift at all was a sign of very high regard.

Alphonse gave him a nice handmade ledger, with a real leather cover. It had his initials on the inside, pressed carefully into the leather.

"This is incredible. You must have been working on it all year." Given his daily schedule it might even have been longer than that.

Thom handed him a package wrapped in dingy cotton. Inside was a wood framed drawing in charcoal of his shop, complete with the his sign. It was very good, and without waiting Tor found a nail and hung it on the wall.

His gifts were mainly carvings. Little things in focus stone. They were... alright. It was a new thing for him though, and while a little stylized, he'd flown to near Wildlands Station to use the soil there for it, so they had a nice black shine to them. It wasn't hard to do, using a cutter.

One of the kids, thinking it was a joke, pretended to tap the little bird sitting on the table before him, only to find it glowing in different colors that shifted and changed freely. All of them did something different. For instance the bear that Thom had radiated heat. Enough to warm a room if left on for a bit. Thankfully he tried it out, and realized what it was before he left, so Tor didn't have to explain it.

Trice's played a song. Just one, but it was a lovely thing that had come to him in a dream about her.

Everyone liked the various gifts and even with the new people, he felt like he was with family. Things weren't perfect in the world, but he was doing what he wanted, and it was
enough
, finally.

He actually felt like he could rest, and the world wouldn't fall in around his ears.

When evening came, everyone left, back to their own places, some to the Capital, some back to their rooms. That left him with Sara, Trice and Ali, all of whom helped him clean up for the night. He'd sent goodies away with people, so there wasn't a lot of waste left at the end.

Then they went home themselves. As they walked, snow started to fall. It made a lovely curtain of lace before them, sticking to the hard stone of the street easily.

Trice spun in a circle, her arms out and hair flying.

"I love snow." She fell against him and Ali, then kissed each of them on the cheek. "Oh, Tor, not to bother you with details, but Aunt Connie wants me to remind you to come for the Noram dinner at the Palace. All of us actually. Just that night, so you can spend the day with your family."

Tor nodded, "I'm with my family right now. But I know what she means.
Yes
, I'll remember."

Then they went home.

All of them together.