Kingdom of Stars (The Young Ancients: Timon Book Three) (24 page)

At least that's the way he'd always taken it when the King
had done that at the Palace.

Here at least no one seemed all that bothered by the idea.
Gerent actually stood up, and Trice sat, as if she weren't planning on leaving
at all. Timon smiled at that and rolled his eyes at her.

"Good thinking, you stay here with the others. Gerent,
mother, if you'd join me in the other room?"

That shocked almost everyone it seemed, especially Laurie.
They'd had some tension between them after all. Fighting over her treatment of
Tor, to be exact. The others seemed nicely baffled, but he didn't think it
would take long. He hoped not, since the food cart was in the other room now,
and the tiny, comparatively at least, space they were in was totally bereft of
one of those. It was a huge oversight in room planning, he thought.

They all sat, though Gerent looked like Timon had made a
mistake. He really hadn't though. These were the right people for the job.
Maybe the only ones that could really do it at all.

Timon pulled two things out of his pocket. Small devices,
both of which looked solid, but were made of carbon nano-dust that was being
held together. The first one went to his mother.

"If the Remy kills me, tap that sigil. Not until then,
since this will kill them all, like I said. Eventually. If I can't win against
it armed like I am right now, then no one else can either. Unless we hear they
aren't working with the others, do it. If this is just a fight between me and a
single one of their kind, then... Well, everyone eventually dies. No need to
take it out on innocent beings."

She looked at it, clearly ready to try and save him by
tapping it right then. It was why she had it. If he died, she'd
do
it.
No questions asked.

The other piece, which was very similar, but had a glowing
purple sigil on it, went to Gerent, who frowned.

"I... don't know if I could kill an entire race of
people like that, Tim. I don't want to let you down, but that's kind of
evil."

Timon winked at his mother, who positively glared at the
midget. The
former
midget, Timon noted. He was a good five-four now.
Also Tor's work. A lot of the strangeness had left him too, and he was a good
bit thinner and more normal looking already. It was a good thing. Too much of
his life had been left crippled by his infirmity.

That being how others saw him, of course, not his build.

"I know. That's why you're the one getting this one.
It's not for the Remy. If we start to lose too badly, if nothing else will
work, then this will allow you to kill all the Ancients on the planet. Well,
except
the Remy and any that are too different, but most of us. Don't do it lightly,
because that means the ones that are your family too. Me and ma, Tor, Tiera and
Taman. Count Lairdgren and Denno."

Narrowing her eyes, Laurie stared at Gerent hard, but didn't
scold him at all.

"Your Alice too, Gerent. Think carefully about using
that thing."

That was news to Tim, but he nodded. Gerent was a good man,
and still a bit homely and funny looking. Perfect for Aunt Orange. She wasn't
that keen on great looking men.

Then he stood and helped the others to do the same, though
only as a joke with Gerent, who slipped the amulet around his neck. He
seemed... proud. As if this trust was an honor, not a huge burden being dumped
on him. Laurie just seemed to be considering the death of all Remy. Hopefully
she'd hold her hand until he had a chance to do what he was going to try.

"Let's head back?"

That they actually all got up and rejoined the others
without a word almost jolted Timon. He really expected his mother to make a
scene, or possibly hit her amulet right then, or threaten to at least, claiming
it was to save her child. That didn't happen and her posture wasn't even all
that tense as they moved back, her small hand going to his back. When they were
in the room with the others she did something that he really hadn't figured on
and hugged him with one arm.

Then she whispered into his ear.

"I'm very proud of you Timon. I know that things
haven't been fair to you, but you've shown more strength than anyone would have
expected."

He had? Tim didn't ask for an explanation, since everyone
else was watching now as Terlee handed him a plate of food. Tiera was already
eating hers. It seemed to be the remains of what they'd had for dinner, but it
was good. A nice meat dish with smashed tubers on the side. There was bread and
fresh butter too. The ship's food hadn't been awful, but a lot of it had come
from cans, and some was Austran, which meant sort of bad, since they were
masters at ruining food, as a people. This was actually very good, even if a
bit cool.

It was rude to eat while others weren't but he was willing
to suffer the indignity, in order to get at the food. Tiera was doing it too,
so at least they could claim that as a common bond, if called on it. He was
even allowed to get halfway through his meal before Tovey started in on him
about the cost of the new shields.

"King Richard is
most
concerned. I don't think
he actually expected you to take him so literally when he requested millions of
them. That they contain flight fields as well and resist so much... We can't
pay you for them all. It's really as simple as that. He's willing to try,
but..." There was a pained expression on his face. "But that's him
suffering from too much honor. The truth really is that if Noram even tries to
do that, the Kingdom will fail. When we called the Minister of Finance in to
ask about it in the special session, he suggested that we all become your sex
slaves, for the duration, as a way to help off-set the cost. When we started to
laugh he
yelled
at us. The complete Council of Counts. Then he told us
he wasn't joking, and we'd best bring our own lubricants, because asking you to
do it might incur more debt."

Everyone looked away, since it was clearly a story that
they'd heard before, and knew to be true.

Tim took another big bite of bread.

"I'm not really interested. Besides, I thought Tiera
had already handled that for us?" It was a bigger problem than he'd ever
thought it might be, now that it was his. Timon had always kind of thought that
Tor was just being a bit whiny when he complained about having too many riches
before. Now that it was his problem too, he suddenly had a different
perspective.

Tovey smiled and looked at Tiera like she might hold the
answer that they all needed for the problem.

That got her to smile back, very prettily. Tovey noticed,
but for some reason didn't seem to feel flattered.

"I suggested that we don't pay Tim at all, and beat him
instead, for being so slow. No one took that last part seriously. I still think
that we can do the first bit. Some things are just too big to sell."

Trice, out of all of them, nodded. He would have figured
that she would be the one to hold back longest and try to get golds out of it,
but there it was, her going right along with it.

"Make it a gift to the Kingdom. That way no coin will
have to trade, hands and rather than have a crisis you'll have millions of
friends suddenly. There are worse things to deal with. This reminds me of
something I heard once, about Tor." She glanced at him, worried for a few
seconds, but then she soldiered on. She wasn't a wimp after all.

She did pick up a cup, one that held wine and took a large
sip.

"It was a few years ago, after Tor had built this hand for
me, the newest one that can feel." She wiggled the fingers of her left
hand, which they all knew to be fake, though without checking through field
reading, it was almost impossible to tell. "Heather Debri had just
assessed the value of it at somewhere around the net worth of the entire
Kingdom of Noram. A thing that no one could ever afford to buy. Perhaps the
King, for titles and a daughter or two, but no one else. Her point was that it
was a very valuable gift, but Tor just shrugged and suggested that they'd have
to give them away then, to those that need them. As far as I know it's the only
item in the Debri catalog that's ever truly given away for no coin at all.
Anyone with a missing limb can walk in to any of their locations and order one
and bakery owner or not, Tor has delivered each time."

It might have had a lot of meaning to her, but Timon didn't
think it was that big of a deal. Mainly because Tor had obviously done a lot of
work on the first arm, the one that she had, and
that
was the hard part.
The rest was no bigger a deal to him than making Not-flyers would be for Tim.
She wasn't including it in her tale, but the fact that he'd made that first one
just for her... Was a sign that he really loved her.

That wasn't the kind of thing that a man wanted to hear
about his brother, in regards to his wife. Even if he sort of knew it to be the
case all along.

That he managed to seem bland instead of irritated was due
mainly to the last year of his life and the hardships he'd had.

"We'll take care of that in the morning. Before I
leave. Now, I need to get to bed. Unless there's something else I'm needed
for?" He nearly made a comment about him having to build something for
them, but this group of people barely thought of him like that at all, did
they? Yes, the shields had his name on them and there were a lot of them, but
that was it. He'd made about fifty different things in the last six months
though. Mainly by copying other's work and changing it to suit the needs of the
moment. Deshi had made less, but
he
was actually managing to woo Wistra
at the same time, and was
still
doing a good job. All Tim did was work.

He was planning to head off to bed alone, but everyone
turned in then, since they were used to saving on lights when they could now,
to do their part for the war. The one against a faceless enemy that kept
hammering the entire world with horrid attacks from unexpected directions.

Stupid Ancients, being so smart and evil all the time.

Timon smiled as Trice moved beside him, taking his hand, to
lead him to their room, which was in a different place now, further down the
hallway. Without needing to be told, he got the idea. It was an interior space,
with no windows, so they could have lights inside without being obvious to
anyone looking from the outside. The whole place could have been made solid,
but that would announce to anyone with a brain that they had a well lit and
rich interior. Not that it would be unexpected, because the whole thing was
made of magic, but even most of the nobles didn't have that kind of thing, so
rubbing it in would be bad of them.

"Do you need to go to sleep right away?" Trice
made herself sound like she didn't care, one way or the other, but she was
asking him to have sex with her. It was legal, since they were married, and it
wasn't like she was ugly or anything. Actually, she was rather pretty, he
realized, feeling himself respond more than he ever had with her and not have a
torture flashback.

"Not instantly. No." Then he took her by the hand
and across the room, leaving the lights on as he pushed her back onto the bed
and kissed her.

They actually managed to do a lot. Enough that their
marriage was consummated even, which was a first for him. She seemed a little
surprised and very pleased by his efforts, but didn't comment on them. Not
until it was all done.

"Well, someone has been working on that. You didn't
have visions or fears?"

"No. I haven't been though. Working on it. Not at all.
Not even alone, or in my head. I wasn't kidding about the work load. The most
fun I've had in months was sending a man onto a work detail."

"Ohhh! I heard about that! Count Peterson told me how
you saved his life, fighting with a hundred powerful men and women, so that he
wouldn't be put to death instantly. I take it that the reality was a bit
different? Raul can sure tell a story though. Unless it really was that?"
She grinned knowing the answer already at least.

"Of course it was. Who am I to suggest otherwise?"
He laughed a bit, meaning it, if only for a moment, then he laid his head on
Trice's naked breast and sighed. It was dark enough that he didn't think she
could really see him, but he could her. That was just how he was made though.
"I think that everyone was just glad to send a message to the High
Servants that they couldn't ignore. The King is trying to start something new
there, and a few of them were still acting like the Lord of the Mighty. It was
close though. I think the other High Servants were about to chuck the loud
mouth outside by the end of it, which is saying something. At least most of
them are coming around now, and willing to work."

That got his wife to smile and she shook her head, just a
bit.

"Well, that's good. And this, settles an old argument I
have with Alphonse." They'd pretty much been raised together, the Prince
and his wife, so he moved a bit so that she'd keep speaking.

"What's that, how wonderful I am in bed? I know I need
practice. First time, who knew."

"Heh, no, not that at all. You did splendidly. No,
whether or not I'm a pervert. I had entirely too much fun with you for this not
to count. It was my lawful duty, but... Well, you know."

"Oh, yeah. I can see that. Totally a pervert. Well,
I'll give you a year to fix that, does that sound fair?"

She had to do the math on it, but smiled again.

"That would make you nearly fourteen, wouldn't it? A
year and what, two months?"

"A year and three. I'm expecting you to relapse a few
times. You're only human after all."

They chuckled about that for a while and cuddled and then he
had to move away from her a bit, so that he could fall asleep. After all, he
wasn't used to being in anyone's arms at night and never had been.