Light Bringer (The Young Ancients: Second Cycle Book 2) (23 page)

Queen Constance smiled then, her
lips a bit crooked, and mean seeming.

"Done. I didn't enjoy him
much either. Perhaps we can invite your friends to visit soon? I don't know how
else to show disapproval for this Bugler. If you think of anything Karina,
you'll let me know?" She looked at her daughter, who returned a smile that
held nearly the same level, if not slightly more, malice.

"I bet we can work some
things out."

Dareg looked at the Queen, and
bowed a bit. Going about halfway down, since she was sitting.

"So, I take it I shouldn't
show up for the meal? That's fine. We should get together soon however, and
chat. Just to make sure you don't hate me or anything. I'm going to be going
off to fix the ports soon, or oversee that anyway, but I can get back whenever
you want." He yawned and shook his head. "If
I'm
not sleeping.
That has gotten better. I'm only sleeping away half the day at a time now. I
should be back to normal soon."

Sara cleared her throat.

"I doubt that? You're nearly
two inches taller now than when we met, a month ago. That shows heavy growth
happening. It's work, even if you don't know it. Which means we both need to
get going then. If we're seeing to this latest situation. I'll be back."

She tugged on his arm, then
walked quickly toward the landing area. It was a bit of effort to keep up with,
but he managed it. Barely. In fact he was nearly certain she was slowing down
so he didn't have to actually run the whole time. She didn't say anything, until
they were out of the wonderful palace, and sealed in his jump ship.

"Right. There's a secret
meeting going on later. They'd let you in, but the gist of it is that people
are starting to become aware that things are happening, their spies talking
about all the deaths from the attack. No one bothered to hide it, but it
doesn't scan for most. I mean, a soft High Servant and a Squire that hadn't
even had two training sessions taking on, and killing, a room full of knights,
builders, and fighters? That makes no sense at all, so people are coming up
with ten thousand tales to try and make the world fit back together. I think
the best bet is to just tell them the truth, but the fact is, there's almost
nothing that we can do about it. Not yet."

That got him to nod, having been
thinking the same thing himself, more or less.

"Agreed. I've been trying to
put together a way to test people, but we only have two of the Adversaries to
go from. Any similarities between them
could
be down to happenstance.
Though we might be able to check their DNA, or magical fields. Or... Well, they
were both kind of unglued from time, or could make themselves that way. I
wonder if there's a way to check for that?" He shook his head, not knowing
at all if that would work. If any of it would.

Sara started to nod as he moved
them around the city, took them up a bit, and came back from the east. When he
started to land it was in the spot closest to Sam Builder's palace there. One
of two magical dwellings left, the others having been replaced by nice looking
tan focus stone places.

It wasn't that late, and the sun
was still up in the sky, even if it was pushing toward evening.

"Those are actually all
worth looking into. We'll need Tor and Tim in on the time portion of things.
Can you set that up with them? I'll do the part on field reading. That will...
Well, I did run into Bill a few times. Maybe I can tell something from that, if
I go deep enough. I don't know who to get for the genetics portion of things.
Do we have any samples to work from? Hair or something? They both vanished into
smoke when they died."

He didn't know, but he did still
have a hairbrush the squire had used. He had to, but there could be hair on it
that wasn't his. It wasn't like he'd cleaned the thing out. Then, he hadn't used
that one either, since things had happened.

"I might?
If
it
didn't go away on his death. Hairbrush. We've both used it. Who do I get it to?"

"Me? I'll pass it to Abbey.
She can do the tests, and more to the point, will, even if it means doing ten
thousand hair strands individually. She isn't the sort to cut corners."

That was a person that he'd never
truly met, himself. She'd been in the background at a few events he'd attended,
but that was it. So what he knew of her was that she was small, had nearly black
skin, bright blue eyes and incredibly red hair. That was short and stood up
from her head, he thought. Other than that, he had no clue about her. Well,
only what everyone in the kingdom knew. She was from Afrak, and a doctor. The
medical kind. Also, she and the Heir had a child. A boy called Benjamin. That,
or Daniel. He didn't really know that one, to be honest.

Given that these were people that
he might casually run into now, and
had
, it made sense for him to learn
that pretty soon. Something that hadn't really come up for him hit then.

Blinking he just spoke the words
out loud.

"I'm going to need a lot of
Noram Day gifts this year, aren't I?" The rule for that was the daunting
part. You were supposed to make that kind of thing for people you liked. With
your own hands. The problem there was that he didn't have a hobby or skill that
would count that way. "Oh... Is that what you and the others were doing?
Making your presents? I was wondering why the Queen or a Countess would be
sewing like that. You do beadwork?"

"Right. Very good. That
isn't really wrong on your part. I suggest you learn to build for that,
actually. You can't just do copy work that way, since each gift needs to be
special, but magic is impressive to most people, so simple things, like unique
lights, or things that make sounds, songs and that kind of thing, go over very
well. I... Really, I can give you a light and tell you how to copy it today.
You can get some sleep tonight and do that in the morning, then I'll cover how
to do more." She sounded really certain that it would just be done.

"
If
I can do that. Is
it the normal way of learning?"

"Nope. But you kind of come
with the basic skills inside of you. Tor did that. I'm kind of surprised you
haven't figured it out on your own. I'd claim you were slow, but
that
isn't the problem. It's more to do with the fact that no one ever expected you
to do much that way, so far. They don't with kids. It's probably a mistake, but
I didn't realize that until about a year ago."

Settling, they climbed out, Sara
fighting a smile.

"We should get in here
first. I bet Sam will have something for you to copy. It just occurred to me
that I don't have anything suitable with me. Really..."

She walked off directly, but Dare
took his craft down, since he could walk back to his pod quickly enough, once
he was done there. It probably shouldn't take too long to get with the head
servant after all.

Sara knocked on the door, which
shield or not, had someone there opening it less than a minute later. It was a
very tiny, common looking man that seemed to be about sixteen or so. He was a
good five-four, actually, unless he'd shrunk.

Realizing that took him aback for
a moment. The last time he'd seen the man he'd been a lot closer to him in
size. Sara had mentioned him growing, but it was closer to three inches, rather
than two. That was a lot for five or six weeks. No wonder he was sleeping all
the time. His body had gone crazy, trying to stretch up to the clouds.

The man, who still looked older
than him, gave a single nod, then bowed toward them both.

"Welcome! I believe Lord
Builder is in, may I tell him that you are here?"

He was about to say no, thank
you, when Sara bowed a bit, nearly matching the man, and spoke while Dare did
the same, going slightly lower. It kind of seemed right, since this man wasn't
just there to answer doors. He was also a machine man from the void.

"That would be good, thank
you. Is Lyone also available?"

Dareg figured that would work.

"You as well. Anyone else
from your, um... Team? We need to check on someone that claims to be from the
Forten."

If Sara was shocked at the
inclusion it barely showed on her face. There was more response from the
doorman, who looked worried. At least his brow furrowed like he was.

"Who?"

That was probably a stupid question,
since names were the easiest of things to change, but Dareg also could see that
some names might not need to be changed really.

"Lenn?" He held a hand
up to show the height, which was about the same as the man at the door.

Who nodded.

"Lots of muscle? Silver hair
and eyes?"

"That's the one. Unless they
all look that way?"

"No, not all. About a fifth
of them. Their warrior class is silver like that. Brown for leadership, and
green for their medical branch. That means more for them. Bio manipulation and
such, not just patching up wounds. Come, I'll get a picture of the Lenn I know,
so we can verify it." Then he waved for them to move in, and took them to
what seemed to be an office. There was a desk, and a young looking blond man,
who was over seven feet tall, sitting behind it. In age he looked just a bit
older than Dare himself did, and
that
was due to a disguise amulet, or
at least something that was close to that. His face didn't move enough when he
smiled. It was a bit of a giveaway.

Not that the man wasn't a good
ten years older than Dare was, at the very least.

"Sara!" He stood up,
showing how tall he was, and came from behind his large wooden desk. It was
probably magical, given that it shone brightly, and didn't have any signs of
wear and tear. That or brand new, but in a magical palace that could make that
kind of thing with a thought, it didn't seem worth bringing in a real one like
this. "Prince Dareg. Have you come to stay? I think we can dig up some
room around here."

For some reason he seemed a bit
awkward and stiff, though it was directed toward Dare, not Sara, and as such
made no rational sense. After all, as far as Dare knew they were both good, in
regards to the other. They'd met twice before, and had both been polite as far
as he knew.

Oddly, the Ancient of Noram bowed
to him, going a lot lower than was needed, given their relative positions in
life.

"I should have visited with
you regularly, and kept up with it. I let myself get busy... That isn't a very
good excuse. Not enough to avoid my duty to an ailing friend. Please forgive
me." It was genuine and humble sounding, like he
meant
it.

Dareg waved him up, since he was
a good ten feet away.

"No need. I just
slept
most of the time anyway. Besides, I can't say that I expect people that have
met me twice to be that concerned with my well being. Even if they
are
a
family friend."

Standing up, the man took a deep
breath.

"Ah? Good. I was concerned
that I'd be crawling around for hours. Though I really should have been there
for you. Being the Ancient of a land is a lot more work once you're in it than
I figured it would be. All the work of leadership, without any of the credit,
practically. I've watched a lot of the Saturn mission, the Austran news casts
are all very interested in the Jupiter project, that and the Saturn creatures.
That was my favorite part, personally."

Dareg smiled then, meaning it.

"Mine, too. Anyway, we came
to check with you, Lyone and some others here, about a man of the Forten that
we met. Just to make certain it's actually him? My guess is that he is, since
the description is right,
and
fits someone known to the people here. If
not, then he'll be gone, since we left him on Harmony, and that place is big
enough to vanish from, if you have to."

Sam Builder nodded at that, and
looked at the door as two beings, both nearly silent, came in. His door
answering pal from a few moments ago, and Lyone.

She was in a dress, which looked
to be magical in nature, like what the rest of them probably had. It was interesting,
since it meant that Sam had furnished his people with expensive magics, just to
make things easier for them. They really did work that way, being far easier to
care for than not.

Lyone had long, honey blonde,
hair that moved down the center of her back in a single braid. Her eyes were a
nice color of blue, and her face was symmetrical and unblemished. In all she
was
cute
, and seemed unconcerned with being more than that.

"Hello! Brice said that you
ran into Lenn? Is this him?" She gestured, and the small man handed over a
device that was about two inches by three, and had a picture of Crewman Lenn
right on the upper surface. It was very light weight, though felt solid to the
touch.

"That does seem to be him.
Here, I can call him." It took a bit to find the right name, and a
suggestion that he put in
Lennard
, instead of just Lenn, for the correct
name to be found. When he tapped the sigil, the man did appear, after a bit.
He'd clearly been sleeping, and there was a woman in the bed with him. From her
pale skin she was either one of the Baker family, or from Tellerand. The face
didn't come into the picture, so it could have been either of those options.
There was just a flash of arm.