Slave Line (The Young Ancients) (31 page)

Tor shrugged, since it was a good enough habit to fall back on, one that was his as much as anything he ever did. He didn't want to turn into Cynthia with her lack of... anything.

"That's the plan. I'll take my shield and weapons off, in case it becomes needed. Here..." He struggled out of the amulets, except his clothing, and then remembered that he hadn't taken a weapon with him at all. It was a bad habit to get into over all, going unprotected, but for the moment he kind of had to, didn't he? Go unarmed into the world and risk death to protect the others around him.

The scan was painless, and made a picture of his brain that appeared before them all in the air, like it was floating. That part was fascinating, since it glowed lightly in multiple colors. Tor didn't understand it all, but it was kind of unique looking. Almost pretty in a way.

The craft was small, but the sides opened, turning it into a tiny building with only a little extra work. One with a silver roof on it. With the addition of some fibrous material on the sides it could be turned into something like a tent. They didn't bother with that though, since the weather was dry and warm enough for everyone.

Cynthia and Lyn looked at the image and nodded, pointing at things and speaking a language that Tor didn't know at all. Cordes didn't either, but the other Blues and Burks did. Denno looked at him and shrugged.

"I was never that into medicine past cloning. Mainly nano's to tell the truth. I like the simplicity of the field."

Tor waited for a while not knowing if he should expect a cutter to the back of the neck or not, since the conversation got excited at more than one point. That was a little nerve wracking, but he tried to breathe deeply and stay calm and relaxed. If he had to die it might as well be before he did any real damage to the world.

Finally Lyn spun and winked at him.

"We all agree that you should be fine. We don't know how much this will affect you from now on, but the Rhetistic pattern is identical to the one in Blue Cordes. That means that it only has the first five hundred years of his life. We were mainly discussing some differences in brain structure that none of us have seen before. You seem to have unusually dense connections between neurons. I was wondering if it had to do with all the deep state meditation and building you've done. We're going to run scans on everyone else to see if they have similar things too. Burks is up next. This is fascinating... But probably not that interesting to you, since you aren't familiar with the science yet." She turned back and started working to move Burks into place, which meant Tor had to stand up and get out of the way.

Head still attached to neck and everything.

Tor didn't get it though, the part about why Burkes needed a scan too, so finally left, wondering if they were actually going to feed people that day or not. It was pretty late.

"Anyone hungry?" He said it lightly as he started to leave, but there were some nods of agreement, so it wasn't just him. It might just be horse meat and local vegetables, but that was better than starving, wasn't it?

He popped his head into the kitchen to find Carlos and Ali running around, with Timon and Trice backing them up. Tiera was sitting off to one side shelling something that looked like peas next to their mother.

"Hey! You're all back. Wonderful. Is the Kingdom still there? I've been talking to the King, but he might be lying to keep me from running back to try and save things."

Tiera spoke first, sounding like she was giving a real report.

"Minor crises, but Builder Sam took care of it. Major fire in the north, so he ran one of your rivers through the area and set up pumps to actually fight the blaze. Worked really well. He's also setting something up like that in your Wildlands. Already has a small army of kids from orphanages up there camping out and planting seeds. Nothings sprouted yet, but then they wouldn't have. The King's brother is helping him. Staying at the Palace and dunning everyone past the rank of Baron for funds and materials to help out. It seems to be working too. I don't know the exact figures, but everyone kept trying to avoid the man, which has to be a good sign. He even got a gold out of me and Timon each. Probably would have been more, but we don't carry much. That's half a year's allowance after all. Speaking of which, can I borrow some coin if I need it later?" The girl dimpled at him sweetly.

"Hmmm. No. Make your own. We have a template set up, learn to make copies and sell what you make. That or do some deliveries. You can do both." She could too, he was certain of it.

Ali, moved carefully, holding a large focus stone tray with a deep side, hot pads wrapped over the side. It looked like roast meat, but more like lamb than horse. It smelled good either way. After she set it down on the smooth black counter that looked to be made of obsidian glass, she spoke, a proud look on her face.

"Yeah, building is easy, at least making copies. Lyn had me do one up this morning." She said it casually, like it wasn't a big deal, looking at the tray in her hands and not making eye contact with anyone.

Half the room rushed her, doling out hugs and pats on the back. Tor almost felt like crying. It was great, a wonderful thing that he hadn't really been certain she could do. He kissed her hard enough that his own mother cleared her throat. Prude. He pulled back though, so as not to embarrass her.

"That's enough in public. We don't want to set a bad precedent or make everyone think that the people of Noram have loose morals." She looked at Trice when she said it for some reason, which got a blush from the girl, even though that wasn't something she normally did at all.

It probably meant that Trice had slept with someone and got caught by his mother. Possibly someone inappropriate. Who that would be Tor didn't know. She wouldn't sleep with Timon, he was too young. Tiera too, though that was closing in on legal. It would be a little bad though, because his family wouldn't understand it at all. Besides, Tiera didn't really care for her that much. She didn't offer to fight the girl in the kitchen, but there was a physical distance between them even now as they worked, so it wouldn't be that.

It didn't make a lot of sense to Tor, since his mother wasn't really a prude, and short of doing something like that she wouldn't care what Trice did, would she? She'd been raised as a noble even, so would probably be a lot less concerned than Tor would. The nobles didn't get jealous very much at all as a group. He stared at Trice who looked away from him obviously and noticed that Carlos was... snickering. At him.

Ah.

"I see. You heard about the illusion I made to get Denno free?" He was about to get angry over someone having told, but didn't bother. It would come out eventually.

His mother chuckled at him darkly.

"Heard? I saw part of it. By accident. Scarred for life. Denno has a recording of it in his things. He did swear it wasn't really either of you, but said that you made it. It seemed rather... enthusiastic, didn't it? Not that I blame you, Denno is quite attractive." She was trying to be playful, which was almost better than scorn or ridicule, so Tor decided to just go with it. The odd thing was that everyone else seemed to know about it too. Well, not the kids, but Ali winked at him.

"How the heck did that work then? Was he just showing it to everyone on the ship for entertainment while I was working?"

Carlos made a noise, like a choked off laugh.

"At night too. That was how I saw it. Rather good quality video. Three dimensional. No wonder everyone is waiting for you to produce the next one. I can't wait myself. Maybe put a woman in it though? I'm not into men myself. Everyone has seen it at least once."

Timon shook his head.

"Not everyone. I refuse to take part in this, thank you. I want to remain pure of thought and untainted as long as possible." He looked at Tor solemnly.

"Besides, I know that this will bother Tor. You should all be ashamed of yourselves." Timon glared at the others, especially their ma, and grimaced a little.

"There are some things better left alone. He did it to save a family member in mortal danger, who was being held by a madman. Making fun of him with it is beyond wrong." It came out softly, a little kid voice, but everyone else looked down, as if ashamed.

He waited for Tiera to say she'd done the same thing, but the girl just sat shelling peas, finally she looked up and made a face at Laurie.

"It was gross. I didn't even know men could do that. Did it hurt? I mean, when he put his thing up your behind?" She said it innocently, too much so.

Tor sighed, feeling anger build in him, real anger, with a real cause. He kept it out of his voice though.

"It wasn't real, so I don't know if that would hurt or not. I imagine it would though. Now if everyone will excuse me, I need to let everyone know that dinner will be ready soon. About fifteen minutes Carlos?" Tor started walking toward the door, the Blue following him, her eyes slightly dilated. Wary, but of the others it seemed, not Tor.

Carlos called after him.

"Twenty-five, the dining room next to us here. Towards the back, not the front one we've been using, it's too small now."

"Got it!" He waved as he left, then jogged a little thinking as he did.

Denno was faster than he was, even at the best of times. Tor could outpace him using a Not-flyer though. The man didn't have a shield on, Tor didn't think, but could probably fight a lot better than he could, all things considered. You didn't live to be thousands of years old without knowing how to protect yourself. Tor decided not to give him a chance to do anything fancy.

At the open sided craft, everyone pointing at different things in the air, images that floated in place, slightly transparent, seeming to be in agreement about something. Denno was watching closely, but saw Tor and smiled. It seemed creepy now. Predatory.

Mean.

"Hey everyone, dinner is in about twenty-five minutes, Denno, could you help me with something?" Tor tried to sound innocent and not angry, but the man wasn't totally fooled at all. He was a master at reading people, body language and all that. Or at least good at reading people that seemed about ready for combat.

When he got to him, about twenty feet from the side of the craft, Tor sighed.

"Does anyone coming have allergies that you know of to any kind of foo..." Tor stopped, furrowed his brow and pointed with his left hand.

"What's that?"

Denno turned to look, and seemed almost surprised that there was something there, it looked like a

 stone block with four people on the top playing horns. It bounced a little in the air, as if riding a wave up and down. The thing was huge and gray, but Tor couldn't tell anything else about it yet. There was a low buzzing sound that got louder as it came closer.

"Oh... Julie!" The man's voice got suddenly excited.

That was when Tor hit him.

Right in the back of the head, as hard as he could. He wasn't a hundred percent as far as physical things went, so the Ancient didn't go down, but Tor didn't let that stop him from doing it again and then delivering a blow to the left kidney, followed by a stomp to the back of the knee.

He kept going, with blow following kick as fast as he could make himself move. It wasn't a blazing pace, and Denno managed to crawl away fast enough to start running and awkward thing on all fours. Tor rose into the air about four inches and followed, hitting the man with a boot to the behind as he caught him, sending him sprawling.

Denno crawled weakly then, which got him another couple of kicks. One of them to the head. It didn't take him out though. Sneak attack or not, the man was tough.

"Decided to make me a laughing stock, did you? Showed my fucking mother and little sister things to make me look bad in their eyes? Think your clever? How's this for clever you jerk." Tor kicked again as hard as he could, targeting the small firm hip instead of anything vital. He was going to aim for the head again, but two explosive weapons were being pointed at him.

Kara and George. They probably thought he'd lost it and were going to kill him. Great. He'd totally forgotten about that part of things in his anger.

"He... Showed my family fake dirty pictures of us having sex! I'm not crazy, I'm just kicking his ass. So stop acting like you're going to kill me and get me a stick so I can do this right." They didn't do that, but they did back up and lower the weapons. Hesitantly.

Kara spoke softly, but the words didn't help a lot.

"That was a good show though. I saw it at the palace before we left, when he showed the Queen. I especially liked the part where you..."

Tor kicked Denno several more times, making the man grunt loud enough to drown out whatever the Royal guard said.

"Kara, are you looking to have your turn next? I can do this all day you know." He kicked one last time, knowing it wasn't true. He didn't let himself pant of gasp for breath, but he was tired already. Stepping back he glared at Denno and spoke in a low growl.

"If you do anything like that ever again, I will hunt you down and make sure the worst thing you can imagine is played to every Austran home on a repeated loop. That's if I don't just drop you out of a Fast Carriage at five thousand feet. You knew that I was embarrassed by that thing. I should have never saved you." Tor walked away, knowing he seemed childish, but also knowing that it had been more than a dick move to show that to anyone. He should have had it destroyed, but instead Denno used it to humiliate him. Even showing it at the King's palace.