Light Bringer (The Young Ancients: Second Cycle Book 2) (35 page)

She looked annoyed suddenly. At
first Dareg didn't get it, but she glanced at him, sharply.

"I need to connect with some
others as well, if we're taking a dangerous trip to a far off place such as
this. I..."

He got it and smiled.

"I should do something
similar, actually. I hadn't thought about it, but all this talk of family
reminded me of some obligations of my own."

That was enough for the woman to
take a deep breath and sigh.

"Ah? Very good. It's
incredibly rude of us to all jump up from the table and leave a guest like
this. If you need to work as well, then... At least we can spread the blame
around?" She sounded really worried about it, like he might have said what
he had simply to be polite.

Standing he nodded to her and
then Countess Ward.

"Good plan? I can bear my
part. Plus, I didn't even know that was a rule, so, as you might imagine, I'm
not going to be bothered by it. I need to call my... Sister."

The word felt strange to him, but
it was a real and probably good point.

Through some strange, unwholesome
and possibly illegal fashion, the fifty-odd year old Queen of Noram was his
half sister. Worse, she seemed to be taking that part of things as real. The
thing there, as he'd thought of at the meal, was that he didn't really know
what his part in things were supposed to be. She didn't seem to know what to do
either that way, or at least hadn't been reaching out to him every ten minutes
with tasks for him to perform.

Pulling his handheld Dareg moved
to an empty, but large room near the front door. It was possible to see him,
from there, he thought, as long as he sat in the second chair away from the
opening to the room. That way he wouldn't seem to be in hiding from everyone
else if they needed him.

He tapped the device into play,
and then waited, trying to make his face seem polite. It took a while for an
answer to come, though it was the Queen herself, looking youthful and pretty.
She had a disguise amulet on, since her age seemed to distress her, more than a
little.

"Dareg? Is there
something?" She was whispering, and looked around carefully. There were
manly voices in the background, and from the tone of the words one of them was
the King. The other was more distant, but seemed to be Count Ward. The speech
was slow and measured in pace, but he couldn't make out all that was said.
"There seems to be an event here... I don't wish to be rude to you."
Her voice became a little louder, and it was clear that she'd moved away from
where the King had sat, talking.

He let himself stare at her for a
bit, searching for some commonality between them. Some bit or part that was the
same, like family. The oddest thing was that there, in the nose and around the
eyes, it really
did
seem to exist.

"Hess is coming to sweep
Count Ward and about ten others away to the new fleet? They're going to show
them how to use the food units that Timon provided for them. We kind of forgot
to do that part. Not that they won't work it out, but it might be easier for
them if they're just shown. I helped set it up, then realized that I've been dodging
out on you, so thought I could use filling you in on it as an excuse to not be
a horrible little brother. That's a good plan, yeah?"

She lit up then and sighed.

"Ah? Is that the plan?
Marvin Ward is being a bit... Official with it all. I can see that, since there
have been troubles in the past with County Ward. You know of this however? Are
you going as well?" She seemed to be hinting that might be for the best.

Dare shook his head.

"Not the plan. I need to
sleep tonight. I started training, fighting and magic, so rest is important
now." Not that it hadn't been for him, but the words got her to light up
again, as if it were good to hear.

"Oh? How wonderful. I've
been working to get tutors for you. I hear from Countess Printer that you
intend to attend her school, past this winter season? You'll still need to
learn courtly graces, and social aspects of things. I can send someone for
that... Yes. I know just the man. He can cover Austran rules as well." She
looked away, but didn't move. From the direction of her gaze, and the concern
there, she was looking at what her king was doing.

The thought of the king got him
to recall the plans for Dorgal's birthday, in a month.

"Oh! Can you and King
Richard get free next month? I don't have a date for it yet, but Dorgal Sorvee
is having his birthday celebration in orbit around Jupiter, and wishes you both
to be there. We're asking all the ancients and the world leaders. Plus family,
and a group of scientists... You know we should get some builders and others in
too, just to keep it all in balance."

That was going to make things too
large, too fast, so he decided not to do that kind of random thing. Still, the
Queen looked impressed, the thin circlet on her head, on top of her slightly
red hair, glinting a bit as she moved back toward her husband.

"That sounds incredible,
Dareg. We'll need the date, but given who you plan to invite, I think we can at
least make an effort to be there as well. Jupiter... That sounds amazing. I
wouldn't even credit it as being real, if I hadn't seen the Saturn
mission." She looked up, and then back at him.

"I think I should go and
share this. Do you think we should send a representative?"

That one was baffling.

"We
are
. Everyone
going is a representative of Earth. I think that the people we have can handle
things. It won't take more than a few hours. Even if Hess doesn't want to bring
them back, I can do that in the morning. Not that he
won't
. He's a
wonderful being."

She bowed then.

"I'll pass your words along
then. Thank you Dareg. I've been... Not pushing at you on purpose. I don't
really know what I'm supposed to do in regards to you. I fear we're in
uncharted territory here, you and I."

He bowed back.

"I know! Well, I guess we
just do things and try not to annoy each other too much? You'll probably be
better at that than I am. I mean so far you haven't actually bugged
me
at all."

That got a polite chuckle instead
of a scowl, which was nice of her.

"Good. I need to go, I fear.
I can get with you on this? How late will you be taking calls?"

"For you, always. But the
real answer is that I want to be in bed inside three hours, if I can. Don't let
that stop you however, if you need me."

That got a nod, and the handheld
went dark suddenly as some voices started to rise in the background. Which was
interesting, since his sister normally took at least five minutes to say
goodbye. Hopefully something he'd said would smooth and explain. No one else
was walking around, except two of the servants, one of whom looked into the
room, then came in all the way, once Dare was noticed. It was the dapper man in
black, Stephen, the butler.

"Sir, would you like a
refreshment while you wait?"

Dareg thought about it but wasn't
hungry or thirsty any longer.

"No, thank you. If anyone
needs me, I'll be in here? I need to..." He had his handheld out, so
hefted it, not knowing what he was supposed to do.

The butler didn't make him lie
however.

"Very good, sir. I'll make
sure that is known. Please call if you need anything?"

"Thank you."

The man moved off with purpose. Looking
at the focus stone piece in his right hand, Dareg worked the massive list
there, and noticed that he settled on Jan, from the Austran media team. Then he
checked the time where she was, and found that it was actually nearing ten in
the morning there, so he tabbed her name, wondering if she actually kept the
device near her all the time like he did.

Less than ten seconds later, her
plain, un-made up face appeared. The tattoo that had been on her cheek, of
Saturn, was gone already, but her hair was streaked with purple and blue. She
tried
to be plain as a rule, which wasn't her land's way, or at least she used to do
that, months before.

Seeing his face, she let her chin
come up, and looked professional.

"Prince Dareg. How may I
help you today?"

He was almost at a loss, for
about five seconds, then shrugged.

"King Dorgal, the former
king of Vagus, is holding his birthday party in orbit, around Jupiter, next
month. I'm inviting most of the world's leaders and... Revered ones. Also some
aliens, from the incoming fleet. We're planning to get the word out about
that." He waited, and got a funny reaction from the woman.

"Um, sorry? Aliens?"

"Right. You haven't heard
about that one yet. It's a known thing, but hasn't really been announced.
They're friendly. Three fleets. Two of them left Earth about three thousand
years ago. One of them is really alien though. So we'll want you and your team
with us. All of you. I'll try to set up some meetings before then, with them?
So you can ask questions and get interviews."

She... Laughed.

"Are you kidding me?"

He shook his head, and nearly
suggested she get with Hess, but didn't want to bother the poor Ambassador more
than he was that day.

"It's real. Also not scary
or frightening. Not that part of it. There are other things... Can we meet to
talk about that? In a few days? Oh... I also need to find a man that's in
Austra. I don't have any contacts there though. Marco Sorvee? I can get you the
spelling on that." He was just a musician after all. One that wasn't
allowed to come and go on his own accord it seemed.

Instead of asking him to kindly
soak his head, the woman whistled. It was a single, but long, note.

"I'd ask if you were doing
drugs, but you
are
a Prince. He might come and play for you, and this
former king of yours. Vagus? That sounds exotic. Can we afford to hire
him?"

That shouldn't be a problem, but
he nodded.

"We can, but shouldn't need
to. Dorgal is his cousin and best friend. I don't know about his handlers, or
what kind of control they have over him? Slavery isn't really legal there is
it?"

There was a bit smile at the
words.

"Nope. Not even a bit. I
think he's under contract with one of the big three music companies here, but
they'll
want
to get people in place for this. We could probably charge
them for the honor. I can see about setting that up? At least with his people.
You might want to get with him, being famous yourself. I have to imagine he
wouldn't talk to me."

Dareg didn't know about that, but
nodded.

"I'll do that. Now,
actually. If he has one of these handhelds... Not everyone does, after
all."

Jan asked a few more questions
about the party portion of things, and who was going to be invited, then
gracefully, and politely, got on with her day.

Most people were hard to find on
the devices, he'd noticed, since the names they gave him day to day, were
different than what had been put in the devices originally. They'd have titles
or different last names due to marriages, and things like that.

Marco Sorvee was just under that
name. Not certain what to say, Dare got in touch with him, and while it took
longer for the device to pick up than with Jan, it happened after about half a
minute. It was a woman that did it, and she had bright pink hair that looked to
be shaved on one side. That entire portion of her head glittered in silvery
waves, which was interesting to see.

"Hiya." She looked to
be in her twenties or so, and had a thick Austran accent.

"Hello! I'm trying to
contact Marco Sorvee?" He was about to give his name and title, when the
woman started shouting.

"Marco! Some kid is on the
phone fer ya. Sounds foreign. Cute though. I like his fake beard." Her
accent was familiar, but thick enough that it took actual concentration to pick
up what she was saying.

Since that was a good enough
description, he smiled. Then he had to hold it while a man meandered over to
the device. It took so long that Dareg almost started calling out in case he'd
been forgotten, but just before that happened there was noise, and a shuffling
sound. Then a very tired man came into view. He had deep dark circles under his
eyes, a thin build, and a slightly pallid, complexion. The fellow wasn't
ancient, looking to be about thirty or so, but life had left an imprint on him.
Not a good one either.

"Sorvee here. What's
happening?" The disjointed way he spoke showed that he was possibly drunk,
and not just sleepy. Which might mean that he hadn't been woken up directly.

"Hello! I'm Dareg Canton? I
wanted to see if you'd come to Dorgal Sorvee's birthday party, next month? He
asked after you, by name." He waited, the man listing a bit, as the
handheld tilted. Just enough that he understood that the pink woman had been
holding it the entire time.

"Who's that?" Her voice
was just questioning, and friendly enough, but Marco, if that was who he was
talking to, seemed suddenly annoyed. It could have been his invitation, but it
seemed different than that.