Slave Line (The Young Ancients) (37 page)

Tor wondered if the color preferences that the Ancients had were actually built in. He liked purple, but it wasn't the only color he used on purpose. His houses weren't all that color for instance. Green wore green almost all the time and Brown did the same. Lyn didn't, but she'd been in a situation where she was hiding herself the whole time Tor had known her, mainly at least. Now she wasn't and her color was suddenly everywhere. It was an interesting idea to pursue.

The girls didn't make eye contact with him after that for a long time, just puttering around the room for a bit. Trice finally went out and came back about ten minutes later with some powder in a paper envelope and a cup of wine.

"Not water this time. Wine. The alcohol helps the drugs absorb into your system and you aren't building anything right now. It won't even hurt your combat reflexes if this is all you have. Well, the wine won't. The drug will throw you off balance. If you can't move you can't fight though, so it won't hurt to have the pain dulled a bit. It will let you sleep a little, until it wears off, in about six hours. You can have more then, if you want." She poured the white grains into the tan focus stone cup and mixed it with a swirling motion.

"Drink it all in one go." She smiled as she said it, so Tor figured it would be pretty horrible.

It was, but that was just the wine. He hated the stuff. It tasted bad and robbed people of their free will. He hadn't thought of it that way before, but felt it acutely in the moment.

Cordes thought the stuff was tasty, if a bit dry. Luckily they weren't giving him a choice as to what was on the menu most days. Drinking just wasn't his thing. Tor had to follow it with a cup of water to wear the taste out of his mouth, a cool drink he got from the tap in the restroom. He didn't test it for poison, but then he hadn't tested the drink Trice had given him either. He just figured that the powder, whatever it was, would register that way automatically making it a worthless thing to do.

He sat on the foot of the bed, trying not to move too much, since both his face and arm ached pretty badly. If the drink didn't work he'd have to sink into a meditative state just to rest, but that wasn't really sleep at all. He got ready to do it anyway, knowing that even if the stuff worked on him, it would probably fade in a lot less than six hours. His body was built to throw off toxins after all.

"Life is pretty messed up sometimes, isn't it?" It wasn't a deep insight, but it fit his situation perfectly. On paper he had everything anyone could want, but it came at a price so steep he wasn't sure it was worth it. Not all of it.

He had gold, but didn't need it really, since he could make whatever he wanted. He had a pretty wife
and
a girlfriend, but he wasn't really doing either of those things well, barely managing to be halfway decent to them most of the time. His family was filled with good people, but the situation with his mother was probably going to mean that was about done. Hard to tell the others that she couldn't be around on Noram day if he was going to be there, which meant not going home for the holiday. Not that he had in years.

Plus it seemed like a bunch of people wanted him dead for some reason that probably didn't make sense at all. Why even bother killing him? Or any of them? Of course a crazy Cordes might see it differently, since some of the others had ganged up on him and destroyed him like they had. The best idea for all of them would be to run off and hide while they sent people to killing off the Larvals.

Well armed warriors with good shields and explosive weapons.

That reminded him to take a chance that Cordes wouldn't be trying to take over, having gotten a clean reading from Cynthia and arm himself again. Kara had his weapon though. She was on the bottom section of the three floored thing, near the middle. Everyone coming in was visible to her if she opened her door. George was right next to her, since they had a lot of extra rooms, even with the extra people White had brought. Tor decided to do it then, using the Not-flyer to stand, hovering a little higher than normal for some reason. About two feet up. It was, he decided, probably the drugs. He settled again, sitting firmly, not wanting to have a weapon if he couldn't even control his locomotion correctly.

Trice sat next to him, a little ways away, speaking in a low tone that sounded a little far away. That part had to be him though, he decided, since she looked just fine.

"I know that you're mad at your mother, but I don't think she meant it to be as hurtful as it was to you. If it had just been me doing it, or Ali, I don't think you would have done more than blushed. It was kind of funny, in a mean way. When do you think you'll apologize and smooth things over? I don't think she can. Not from what Burks said to me about it earlier, something about her gens? It isn't a rule for her, but it kind of means that thinking she's right is kind of in her blood." She wavered a bit, a ripple passing over her in the air that had to be Tor's eyes playing tricks.

"Genes, probably, rather than gens, unless that's something different I don't know about, which is very possible. As to my mother... I'm not going to apologize. She can when she's ready, or she can forget about it. The thing there is, before... I
had
to apologize and feel bad when people did bad things to me. I had to let it go and forgive them, no matter what. Now I don't have to. I don' t have to crawl back to her and feel inferior any more. I'm not trying to humble her, but if she insists I humble myself, she can forget it. You're right though, if it had just been you two, I probably wouldn't have reacted like I did, but it's done now and I can't take it back. Or... I mean, I could, but I won't. I don't have to and I don't think I should. I'm not a slave to be pushed around anymore." Yawing he tried to shift some pillows around so that he could sleep mainly sitting up. Ali moved to the wall and caused a new chair to appear, which was wide enough for three of him and as soft as anything he could imagine. It let him choose how upright he was just by thinking about it. It was useful for the moment.

As his eyes drifted shut he noticed that the two girls had gone silent, so he tried to wave at them. Ali smiled a little. He thought she did at least.

Two hours later he was awake again, a shooting pain in the middle of his face, since he'd managed to roll over onto his nose. The help he'd gotten from the drugs was, as he predicted, gone. With a bit of focus he dropped into as deep a state as possible. Then he went deeper, like he did when working. There was nothing around him at all, so he picked a small project to try. One that wouldn't take anything from his pattern at all. A simple focus on what it was like to feel healthy and well. He did nothing else, thought of nothing else, until hours later, when someone poked him in the chest.

Many times... he thought.

Opening his eyes he found Lyn standing with Denno, Burks and Ali. All looking mildly concerned. Lyn was the one doing the stabbing. She had bony little fingers well suited to the task.

"Tor? Are you in there yet? Black is here. Along with some of his people. I know that you were working on something and it made you a lot stronger, but it's been four days, so I think you can get up for a bit before you undo the good you've done, don't you?"

He laughed. Four days was a bit longer than he'd intended.

"OK. Not trying to sleep the whole summit away." Rubbing his face the stubble rasped across the skin of his hand. His right hand. The arm didn't hurt anymore. Focusing he felt his pattern which was... not exactly fixed yet. Still worn and a little frayed, but about ten times better than it had been before. It was about where he would have thought to be in three more months if he didn't get hurt or have to do something stupid as far as building went.

Then he rubbed his nose which also seemed to be much better. He stood from the chair carefully and stretched up, the splint off his arm already, he looked at it and Burks pointed with two finger, gesturing to where the break was.

"It seems to be better. I wouldn't try lifting any heavy weights with it for a few weeks, but definitely non-magical accelerated healing. I'll have to get you to teach me how to do that sometime."

Tor nodded and stretched again, decided he was almost fine again, at least physically. Probably weak and out of shape, but months without real exercise would do that.

"I need to clean up. I'll be down in about half an hour? Tell Black I'm sorry about being so slow."

They all cleared out except Ali, who stood by nervously, following him around as if he might fall over at any moment.

"You said you couldn't do any building... and then you did this. I'd thought you died at first, laying there like that. Lyn kept saying you were fine and on the second day your nose mainly healed, so we figured it out, but... if it pleases you husband, could you not do things like this without mentioning it first? If possible I mean. I know it may not always be, due to circumstances I don't understand, but the rest of the time? It's really scary." There was no eye contact, so Tor hugged her too him, worried that he probably didn't smell all that nice, even as she nestled in to his arms closely, not seeming to mind.

"I'll try to do that. Rude of me to forget this time. Forgive me? It did seem to help a lot. I should try to do it again soon, if I get a chance. I'll schedule that with you though first." Maybe after he got her some flowers? They had to have some in Vagus. He just hadn't gone out looking for them yet. He probably wouldn't get a chance to either.

The shower was too short, but got him clean, and the shaving took too long, but made him look presentable. At nearly the half hour he'd asked for, Ali and himself, both dressed in black velvet descended the central staircase. No one could see them do it, and weren't anywhere to be seen in the front area by the door. Tor closed his eyes and felt for the familiar pattern of ancients, and found that they were mainly in the dining room.

He hoped for a snack, but when they got into place it turned out that there were half a dozen men, mainly short, pale and with dark brown or black hair, kneeling on the floor, praying. All of them wore Black. Tor took Ali's hand and waited for them to finish.

And waited.

Fifteen minutes later the men rose as one, without a signal being given and looked across the space at the other Ancients, totally ignoring him and his wife.

"We give thanks to the most high, most powerful, for what we are about to receive." The one in front intoned. It wasn't Black, who was third over on the right. He stood, towering above the other men at about six foot tall or so. If Tor made his clothing a little plainer he could have fit right in. The Black Ancient tilted his head to the one who had spoken.

"Thank you day leader." Then they sat and started to eat without hesitation.

White's people just smiled and nodded to everyone, taking only bread and vegetables, as she did. Tor just walked down the table and sat at the far end, near Trice who looked nearly bored to tears. She had a poison detector out and used it with each course as if expecting trouble. His mother wasn't at the table, but came in carrying things frequently. Tor didn't look at her, even when she put a basket of rolls in front of him.

"Thank you." Ali murmured shyly, which got his mother to speak, full voiced in a fairly quiet room.

"At least one of you is polite enough to give thanks when someone brings you food." Then she spun and left, everyone looking at her as she did.

Cordes suggested something, which got Tor to tilt his head out of habit, even if he didn't have the programing for it anymore. It was still his long time pattern. What the Ancient in his mind suggest... it was kind of mean, but why not? He could play ill timed pranks too, couldn't he?

Tor stood suddenly and knelt by the table, bowing his head, hands clasped meekly before him.

"She's correct. I give praise to the All High for the bounty before me. Blessed may the all high be." He said it with complete sincerity. After all, even if the religion was fake, made up by Black himself, it didn't mean that it wasn't as worthy as anything else. Tradition was both a means to an end and the end itself in most cases.

"Blessed may the All High be." The men, including Black said in response without hesitation, looking shocked, or as if they might have been being mocked. Tor didn't mean it that way at all however. He took it very seriously in fact, explaining as he retook his seat next to Ali.

"Please forgive me for my lack of manners, I should have been with you earlier, but I was lost in a... communion for four days. I... Had to see to cleanliness before I could join you. You understand?" The Tellerand men did, since he was using their language, more or less. The words provided by Cordes for him. That part was handy, since the Ancient knew a lot of different languages Tor hadn't even heard before. This one used to be called French.

"My mother... She thinks that she is responsible for bringing the food to the table, but that is a conceit, don't you think? All is a gift from above. How could it be otherwise?"

Then he bowed his head again and ate slowly, mimicking the behavior of the men around him. Black smiled at him and nodded, still looking young and fresh faced even though half the other men wore beards and had some gray in them.

No one spoke of business during the meal, since anyone in the room might be a spy at that point. It meant that as his mother came in for the final time the men dressed in their sober clothing rose as one and descended on her.

"It is best to seek the Most High in all things, in all tasks. You should pray with us sister." The Noram was broken, but understandable. The other men chimed in, all looking earnest and peaceable enough that just yelling at them to leave her alone would be rude. It was one reason no one liked the Tellerand much. They were so darn nice about telling you that you needed to change or would burn in a fiery pit for all eternity. They didn't stop once they started either. Not even in the face of violence. They'd just pray at you and beseech you to see the light as you beat them. Running could work, Tor had heard, if you were fleet of foot and had good endurance. His mother it seemed, was simply stuck.

At least until Black asked if they would leave the room so that a discussion could take place, some twenty minutes later. Then, before Laurie could say anything Burks looked at Denno and spoke, clearly for both of them.

"It's been decided by vote, we need to visit Austra and see what the situation is there. At the same time we have not one, but two programs to get too for the incoming fleets welcome. Tor, you and Lyn are to work on the ships we'll need, along with Blue Four. I'll be working with you on that as well, of course. Denno is with Cynthia blue on the other half of the project, which is weapons related. Black and White are working oversight on the rest of us to make sure we aren't overstepping the treaty in unneeded ways. Orange is..." He stopped as if not having anything for her to do at all.

Tor shrugged.

"We could use the help in Austra. Then in training ships crews for space. She has to know more about it than I do for instance. Trice and Petra Ward can work with her on that? We have water ships and air vessels we can use as practice vehicles. If needed we can make them to your specifications in a few days, months at most." It was a real enough job, if she'd take it.

She stared at him so hard he thought she might be insulted for a few seconds.

"What?" Her accent had thickened to a point it sounded strange and strangled, but then she smiled, looking around the table.

"Finally, after all this time, I get my own fleet? Amazing. Here I thought it would never happen and I'd forever be reduced to floating bits of bark in puddles for entertainment."

Black smiled too and nodded along.

"Yes, plus you can bath regularly and stop living like a pig in your own filth. I imagine that's part and parcel to the job, not smelling too much in the close quarters of a vessel like that." He was being rude just to be that way and the words got more of a rise from the woman than they should have. Black started to say more, but Tor held out his right hand and said a single word.

"No." It actually got the man to pause.

"I don't know what the normal pattern here is Black, but you don't get to tease her into attacking you. We don't have time for it now, which I think that a few seconds of reflection will show you clearly. Especially since if you do it, everyone wearing a shield in the room will suddenly take part in beating you down, even if they don't mean to. It's an automated defense function. I have mine on at least." He did too, and if the man attacked him that would actually work, the things had defensive attacks that worked against Ancients. Tor could have made it so they would work against anyone, but he hadn't had a chance to perfect that yet. He might not for a long time, he realized. The current project sounded huge.

Black wouldn't be hit by it unless he attacked the wearer, but Tor was betting he didn't really know exactly how they worked yet.

The man just made a face and shook his head.

"You are simply not very much fun
Green boy
." It was another goad, but one he'd had heard before, and meant to be funny, not hurtful.

Tor just laughed. There was nothing else left to do after all.

Chapter ten

He still didn't feel up to building, though it would probably have been alright for him to make a few copies if he had to. The fact was though Tor didn't. Right there with them they had four people that could make copies of things, three of which didn't need a template at all. True, only Burks could manage to make a multi-weapon yet, but they didn't need a lot of them, just enough for everyone going. It didn't take long for everyone on the Austra mission to be armed properly, and given a shield.

That was the only part that really bothered Tor, the shields. Oh, they'd work against the Larval if they attacked, at least they had in the past, but those missiles had managed to do a number on him anyway. It meant there were gaps in the system and he had no way to really know what they were until something like that happened. Worse he hadn't even found a fix for that one yet, much less done the work to correct it. The idea ate at him, but he knew that trying it at the moment would still be foolish. More, waiting to get data on the Larval was just giving them more time to set up and get in place. It would make everything a lot more dangerous than not.

Denno had a plan, one that as a Knight of Noram Tor didn't really love, though he could see where the man was coming from. He wanted for them to go and collect information on the clones and then arm the protection force of Austra with Noram style shields and weapons, since the newest ones were far more powerful than what the Austrans had. Especially if they all had multis on them. Armed like that a regular soldier was at least the equal of one of the assassins. The problem was just that Tor wasn't absolutely certain he could trust Denno yet. Or anyone. Not in something like this.

Trice wanted to go, which made him uneasy, since he loved her. Ali tried to suggest she could do it as well, since she knew how to use a shield and weapon, but her heart at least, very sensibly, wasn't in it. Thank goodness.

"No dear, we can't afford to risk you. If the force going doesn't make it for some reason I need for you to finish my work. You'll need to go and get with the King and make him understand what might be coming and that we need to build space going craft as quickly as possible. You may have to learn to build a lot faster than is reasonable to get that done, but use the Lairdgren group if it comes to that, don't try to do it all on your own. Not that I intend for that to be needed. This is just about getting information right now and if anything happens we're all running as fast as possible." He grinned, but got solid nods from everyone else at the breakfast table, including all the ancients except Orange, who didn't suggest otherwise, but probably couldn't back away from a fight at all. It just wasn't an option for her if what Cordes passed to him from his memories was right.