Lord of the Sky (The Young Ancients: Timon) (24 page)

He had to go outside to find a source of water, but had it set up soon enough, the lines flying in the air like they had at the beach. It was the main water source for the entire dwelling, but even when they used it, nothing would be wasted, and only what they drank would really be removed from the large tank.

That meant he was able to get a shower before most of the people woke up. Naturally, one of them, a sleepy looking woman, walked in as he was rinsing and watched him for a few seconds, alternating a smile with her clutching her head.

"Say there, have you seen somewhere I can throw-up?" She looked a bit more desperate with each passing second, so Timon just made a toilet and helped her over to it, holding her hair back for her as she emptied her stomach of all the mistakes she'd obviously made the night before. He was still wet from the shower, but put some clothing on anyway, with a bit of focus. It was just a workman's brown, but it soak up the water well enough, he figured, without taking a lot of extra work.

It was gross, listening to her retch, the splashing sounds of the liquid escaping and all that, but after a few minutes it was over and the woman moved to the shower herself and stripped her light colored dress off, then, without asking, handed it to him.

"I need to rise my mouth. It tastes like half a dozen sailors. I should have put them through the shower here first, eh?" There was a weak laugh, but she turned to washing herself, which he ignored, making a hook appear on the wall and hanging the garment up instead. Then he left. Most of the others were still sleeping, in one position or another. Most in chairs, or on the floor, but one person, an older looking man with an instrument case next to him, had figured out how to make a small bed. He'd run it along the wall in the main room, on the far side.

The people in Trice's bedroom had left, and he had a sneaking suspicion that the female part of that group was currently using his shower. That, plus her statement about sailors led him to believe that she was probably a local prostitute. Or, possibly she was just that easy at parties. One way or the other.

After a few minutes of looking around, she walked out into the hallway, her face looking far too worn for someone as young as she seemed to be otherwise. She had clothing on at least and smiled at him, her face not really managing to look happy really.

"Hey friend. Thank you for your help in there. Bad habit, losing my drink like that." She looked at him for a few seconds and then nodded, once. "I
know
you."

If so, he was at a loss as to where that would be from. Maybe the market place? He did business there regularly, but she wasn't anyone that jumped out at him.

She explained, her face looking happy suddenly.

"My older sister, Martya, she runs the ice manufactory? You've been there a few times, loading up with ice, for trips to strange lands. The flying man. Tim Baker?" She seemed pleased with her reasoning, which given the fact that she was at least still seventy percent drunk was actually kind of impressive.

"That's right. I don't know your name. Martya, of course, but..." It was kind of rude of him, if he'd forgotten. Luckily he didn't really care about things like that. It made his life a lot easier. Still, she was in front of him and still wet from his shower, so it made sense for him to ask.

"Deidre. I work in the family business here." She left it at that, but Timon was nearly certain that wasn't making ice, even if it would be a good thing here, given the heat, even in winter. There was no need to call her out on it, since he didn't really want her services at the moment.

After all, he had two willing women in his bed and a box that would transfer heat and make ice in the kitchen. That didn't mean the woman might not be useful anyway.

"I'm going to get into the city and see about buying some supplies. Want to come with me? There's the use of a healing amulet in it for you, if you'll help me carry some things back."

It probably seemed like he wanted something else from her, he realized, but then, really he did. Timon didn't feel like going alone overly and wanted someone to chat with. It was odd for him, but things had been unsettled for a while, and while Trice was a good person, she was part of the problem he was having. This woman, if nothing else, wasn't that much bigger than he was, maybe an inch taller, but even that might not be the case if she were wearing different shoes.

"If you'll do that for me, I'll be your slave. For the morning at least. I have to work later tonight of course, or I won't be able to pay my rent come the end of the month."

It didn't take long to get the healing amulet he had out, and while the woman moaned a bit in a pained fashion as the alcohol removed itself from her system, she smiled a few minutes later and handed the thing back.

"Are you the great Wizard Tor then? This magic ship of yours is as nice as your houses."

He nearly glared at the woman for making the mistake, but then just threw his hands out a bit. It was one place that Kedrin had been right, the day before. It was cold and dark in the shadow of his famous brother.

"I'm Timon. Remember? You just said you knew who I was? Tor's my brother."

The woman nodded, and didn't have the excuse of being drunk anymore, but didn't seem upset with herself or anything.

"Right! Did you make this ship then?"

Timon smiled, getting the general idea. Deidre wasn't trying to be mean, she just wasn't all that bright. Most of the time when he thought that about people it wasn't really true, it was just him being a jerk and calling names, if inside his own mind. With this girl that was different. She was honestly kind of simple. Enough so that it made him angry for a few seconds that anyone had put her to work as a prostitute. Still, that was a job that she seemed to be good enough at, having the basic equipment, and she was able to hold conversations and not sound overly slow, so he might still be being a bit snooty, he realized.

"I
did
make this ship, actually. Shall we go? I don't know if anything will be open this early or not." It was just past dawn after all.

The woman nodded.

"Some will be opening soon. I know people there, since this is about when I get off work most days. Especially when ships are in port. The sailors have to get things done when they can, if they don't want to do each other. I never understood why they don't just take turns more, sucking each other off, but it works out for me, since I get lots of business that way."

The woman might have been simple, in her own way, but she could talk and kept a steady stream of fairly pleasant banter going the whole time they walked into town.

"Is it fun to fly? I always wanted to try it. Especially without a craft like yours. The old way. Can you do that?"

"Sure. I used to work as a delivery agent for my family business. One of them at least. I've also worked as a baker, and transporting people. That's what I pretty much do now." Even if he'd been doing something totally different the day before.

"I'm going to get a flying rig someday. I don't know how, since they're so pricey, but I will. Then I'll learn to fly and go away from here. Someplace where I can be more than Deidre the whore, and can start over. Maybe find some man and be his wife." She looked at Tim as if considering something. "Say, you don't need a wife do you? I hear I'm good in bed, and I can cook, some."

She didn't even laugh about it, her words serious and somber.

"I just got married a few days ago. She's sleeping in the craft. If you don't want to be a whore, why not get an ice manufactory like your sister has? Then you can move someplace warm and do that. Someplace that doesn't have one, where no one will know you?"

The dark skinned woman might have been a bit less than perfectly brilliant, but she gave him a look that could have boiled paint from a wall.

"No one is just giving those away. I asked. Martya said that I was best off on my back for the next twenty years instead of bothering to try for something that hard to get." She didn't seem upset that her sister was clearly being mean to her, just that it was too hard to do.

"
Bull
. Tor will
give
you an ice manufactory if you ask him for one. He's a giant pushover that way. Most people split the earnings with him, so he has more coin than he can spend. I suggest you send him a letter and ask for one. That or find Morgan from the Fast Transport service here and get him to take you to Lairdgren school to see him. I'd run you up myself, but, you know, wedding vacation."

The girl, who was a woman in truth, being at least twenty, didn't say anything for a while after that. She let him lead to the market and helpfully pounded on a few shop stand doors to get people to let them in.

"Wendell! Come out and sell us some fruit!"

The man that came out then was old, but smiled, his teeth white and gleaming. He had all of them. It was a sign that Warden had been covered in the healing device spread. Even the most common shopkeepers seemed healthy.

"Wha's this now? Who've we here? Deidre? Ya'out early today, ain't ya?"

"Yeah, this is the flying man, Tim Baker. He needs to buy supplies for him and his wife. I brought him to you first, since you're a friend of mine." She said the words as if they meant something and they seemed to, since the man promptly offered to give him a ten percent discount.

Apparently it paid to hang around with prostitutes early in the morning.

The store was a real one, not just one of the produce stands that he normally went to in the area. Austra loved fresh foods, so taking some in with him each time really helped to open some doors there. This place had other things. Flour and milled oats, which were needed for any kind of baking and morning cereals. Canned goods as well, the good kind in glass jars that let you see what you were dealing with even. That left a lot that was needed but was a good start.

Timon paid the man and got a bit extra, so that it would be worth his while to bother answering the door the next time that he wanted to shop that early in the day. Given his irregular schedule that would almost certainly come up. They were just outside the door and headed to the next place when Timon noticed that several men were following them. At first they held back a good ways, so it wasn't that obvious. Yes, they were being watched, but that could have been about
anything
.

It could have been that they just wanted to rob them or something like that. Maybe they were rapists? It didn't seem like they were going to have that kind of luck, from the way that Deidre stiffened up when she finally noticed them. By that time it was far too late to avoid being seen. They could still run, of course, since he had his Fast Craft on him. That would get them both away, but not without letting the men know they were being avoided. He nearly did it anyway, but shook his head as they tried to close on them, walking faster to catch up.

"Gentlemen. I don't suppose you came to help us carry our purchases? So, how may we help you today?" That earned him an angry look from one of the men, a sailor by the look of his drab and well worn clothing and cork boots. Timon just waited, not knowing what else to say really. If they didn't want to talk, or fight, then he was at a total loss as to what to do with them.

"That whore gave me leaking member! I want my coin back." The lead fellow had a decently intense look to his eye, his face hairy and unshaved, but in a way that showed no care had been taken at all. He didn't look very clean and the odds that he'd know which whore had given him any specific disease was low, in Tim's estimation.

Plus, it literally couldn't have happened. Not in the last weeks at any rate, since everyone in Warden had clearly been exposed to healing devices to stop the plague.

He didn't bother to explain that, even as Deidre looked ready to run.

"No. You got the service you paid for. Here." He didn't ask, just pulling out his healing amulet and starting it, his hand taking the dirty arm of the man in front of him even as his friends gasped. They knew what magic was after all, even if it was pretty rare in their lives. The fellow yelped, which got one of his friends to try and hit Timon from behind, which made his shield kick in. They left the girl alone, so he stared at the man with the small wooden club and greasy hair and then gestured for him to step back.

"Do you want your friend healed or not? It's going to take a while for his teeth to grow back in. This is a bit of a waste of my time, so if you don't want to be bothered, I can get back to my day..."

"Fuck you." This came from a man that clearly hailed from somewhere else in the world. Vagus by the look of him. He was a bit further back, and had a very heavy accent. He also had a knife out.

It was a nice and glittering thing, made of fine steel, from the look of it. That meant it hadn't been purchased in his homeland at all, since that kind of thing didn't exist there.

Timon shifted into Cantonese, and grinned.

"No, thank you. Put the sharp thing away. I'm just helping your friends. Your Great Mother, Red, is my Aunt. If you trouble me, I'll deliver your corpse to her, so she'll know whose spirit to curse." For some reason the rather strange looking sailor just stood there for a bit, then did as he was told.

The lead man looked baffled. Scared too. He was bright enough to put his hand back out regardless, not wanting to miss out on the free magic.