Light Bringer (The Young Ancients: Second Cycle Book 2) (38 page)

Now, that did hinge on the idea
that the bad side knew what had happened, but it was a thing to watch for. If
so, then this creature, if he wasn't just some back woods farmer for real,
could be far more dangerous than the other two had been.

The man, who wasn't very large,
being several inches shorter than Dareg was, followed along quickly however. He
was still looking down and acting humble, but that got Dare to look at his
boots. They were... Nice.

The rest of the clothing was as
well. Real, and the sort of gray color that was all over the place, even in the
Capital. Dyed, but in a way that showed you weren't putting on airs. Not too
much. A farmer in the city might have been wearing those. They'd have been his
best set of clothing, but that wasn't unheard of if you were going to seek a
job. Those boots however, bothered Dareg. He had to force his eyes away, and a
smile onto his face.

"Sam is nice. Kind of tall,
but don't let that fool you. A good man. You might be staying with him, until
we can get you a room. That place up there?" He managed to point, his arm
feeling lighter than normal. There was a small tremble in his fingers, so he
dropped his hand quickly, and didn't mention it.

If the man next to him didn't get
that he was nervous about something, then he wasn't human. Though, in fairness
Dare realized, it could be that he wasn't paying that much attention to him in
particular. Instead he looked at the far off place, which had people moving in
and out of it, and swallowed.

"That's too fine a place,
ser. I wouldn't fit. I don't even own the right clothes to go to the
door."

Dareg kept walking, and nodded.
It was about what the fellow should be saying. Better, he even knew what his
part should be, so he played the role, and said what was polite.

"Oh, don't worry there. Sam
won't be bothered by a farmer that looks like a farmer. Really, he probably
won't even think of it at all. You're dressed correctly for this." Even to
his too fine boots. They weren't decorated just...
Very
well made. The
stitching on the leather was almost perfect, for instance. Like a thing of
magic, except that when he tried to touch them with his mind, which took a lot
of work, given the walking and fear trying to coil up in his belly, there was
nothing there.

The man himself wasn't.

Which, if he wasn't just wrong,
due to his own fear or lack of skill, meant that he wasn't a real person. Not
even a mechanical man, or Forten. He could
feel
them.

"Anyway, over here, outside
of the river? We want trees and bushes. Possibly with a path in the middle for
people to walk? I'd like fruit and nut trees, and berry bushes, if possible. If
we're doing the work, we might as well get all we can from it. Still, you'll be
in charge of all that."

Will looked that way, and nodded,
asking sensible questions.

"How deep should we go, ser?
The trees will work best with space, but if we plant in groves, they'll be able
to cross pollinate, if'n we do it correct like. Some trees that have fruit need
other kinds around to make more. How wide should the path be? Do we want stone
for it? That will take a lot more work than dirt. This place is huge."

There was a glance his way, and
Dare looked out, trying to visualize it all in his mind. It wasn't too hard,
really. The shape of it would be directed by the river that floated there, and
the roundness of the port itself.

"Hundreds of feet at least.
For the plantings. The path... We might want focus stone for that. I'll have to
borrow some magics for it, devices, but they're easy to use, I hear. We should
be able to get that finished in a day, even working alone."

They walked while they spoke, and
the plans made, even if not real, weren't bad, really. Will, for instance,
asked if they could put in fountains and some ponds in places, using the water
from the river. He even suggested where to put them, and how to use planters to
get some greenery
into
the port as well, the ground there being too hard
to plant anything.

The trick for it would be running
lines of water to keep them all moist.

"I don't know, but I might
be able to do that soon? It would be original work, which I haven't done, but,
well, if I fail, I fail. We can get the others to help on it. That's part of
this project. If you need anything from Harmony, or anywhere else, they'll give
it to you." He grinned and turned his head to the man, who looked pensive,
rather than shy. Which again, was about right for a real commoner man
discussing work.

"I can just get you to call
on them for me? That don't seem right, do it? You being the boss and all."

"Why not? They all want this
done. Most of them. Really, they'd be fine with you talking to them directly.
Except Queen Tiera, of course." That was an offhand comment, which should
have gotten a serious nod and wide eyes, but got a soft, pleasant chuckle,
instead.

"Ya. I'm not anyone grand
enough fer Queens and that type. That lot would as soon spit on me as speak,
right?" He looked away, but if it was to hide a smile, Dareg couldn't
tell.

He shook his head anyway.

"It really isn't that. Tiera
is nice enough, and not stuck on herself from what I've seen. A bit bossy,
but... She's the Queen of the Moon. Really that has to be pretty much her job.
She's just
really
busy. She won't have time to talk gardens, unless you
can catch her at a meal or something." An idea came into his head then,
and he nodded. "Which given everything, we need to do, as soon as we can.
Harmony only has two real resources. Moon dust, which is pretty much just
ground rock, and
magic
. The thing there is that they have a lot of both.
Some trees and plants, but those are all grown indoors, under magical lights.
Still, I bet we can exchange some ideas and get help with the tools and devices
that we'll need, if we can hit her up for it correctly."

The man didn't respond, which
made perfect sense. After all, there were fifteen people standing there,
waiting for them to arrive, looking fierce and edgy. It was clear that Will was
getting ready to fight too, since he slowed a bit, and looked at them all, his
face suddenly a bit fierce as well.

"I see we have
friends?"
That
was an odd thing for him to say.

Dareg took half a breath, and let
it out slowly, not wanting everyone there to simply attack. Not that Will
Farmer wasn't one of the Adversaries, because he
was
. This wasn't just
the original coming to look for honest work. Unfortunately. He didn't have
anyone to head that project yet, after all. Worse, his ideas had been
good
.
Maybe better than just that, showing actual understanding that Dareg kind of
lacked so far about what the port could really be.

Most, but not all, of the people
arrayed in front of them were very familiar. Tor, Timon, Taman, and Terry Baker
were all there, dressed casually, as if for a day's labor. They had on a
variety of colors even, and weren't holding weapons. Alice Orange had on combat
armor however, which was shiny and black, though very different than the
pictures he'd seen of it before. It wasn't that form fitting, or at least didn't
make her figure look like it normally did.

Then, she was a fighter first,
and this wasn't a parade to show her costume off.

Behind her were six people, half
men, half women, dressed the same. They all had weapons on as well. The other
four were made up of Petra, Gerent, and for some reason Count Ward and Dorgal
Sorvee.

People that he knew, and even
liked. Ready to die fighting, if it was needed. Each of them was probably
better at it than he was, too.

Hints of time distortion came
from the man next to him, but they were faint. Light things that might have
been his own fear slamming into his brain. Scrambling and trying to do
something that he wouldn't have expected of himself at all. Protect these
powerful, intimidating people from the single commoner next to him.

The risk was far too great
however. Will simply wasn't reacting like a person about to die. Not even a
commoner about to be thrashed for being in the wrong place.

So barely understanding his own
action, Dare waved, and made himself smile.

"Everybody! Hey! I was just
coming to find you all. This is Will Farmer. I just hired him to do the garden
around the ports. Setting up orchards, fountains, ponds and walking paths.
Really, I was going to see if Sam could host him for a few days, and try to beg
a second pod house from you, Aunt Taman? I
also
kind of hinted to him
that Queen Tiera might have some work for him in Harmony. If nothing else it's
an excuse to go there and look around a bit more. Say, can you get us in for a
meal with her?" He looked directly at Tenet, not anyone else. Trying to
signal that it was important by doing that.

He laughed. It wasn't clear if he
understood the whole thing or not, but he shook his head a bit and snorted.

"Right then. I'll just get
her on the handheld and suggest that she dine with us ragamuffins? Actually, I
should
try
if nothing else. You're currently her second favorite nephew
after all." He deadpanned that part, and explained dryly. "Dumas has
the key to her heart, after all. Your cousin? I don't know if you've met
yet?"

It was delivered exactly how it
should be. Like they were
really
just talking. He nodded, since he had
bumped into the kid. Twice in fact.

"Countier Second Thompson.
We
have
met, in fact. I need to set up a visit with him soon. His
brother, as well."

No one seemed all that easy or
relaxed other than Tenet and himself. Not at first, but after a bit, the others
either caught on, or figured that he'd determined there was no threat. Timon
went first, and got his own communications device out, and hit a sigil. Nothing
happened for a bit, until a woman answered.

Queen Tiera, from the voice.

"Hey, Tim. What's up?"

"Dareg and his newly hired
facilities man are coming to visit for dinner, to discuss improving the lunar
gardens? Alice was just talking to me about putting some better grow facilities
on her ships, so we should drag her along for this. You in? We'll be there
in... Call it half an hour?"

If there was a secret code in the
words, he didn't hear it. In fact, the response was three individual claps, and
a bit of laughter.

"
Heh
! Finally, one of
you willing to actually help me? I can be there... Actually, call it forty
minutes? At Marissa's? That, or we could try the new place? The Southern Coast.
Carlos and Ken set it up. It sounds nice. They're focusing on seafood dishes,
since that's popular right now."

Timon looked around and then
crossed his eyes when no one indicated a preference.

"Carlos' place then? I think
I can find it. See you in forty then."

When he hung up, he smiled.

"Some people you just have
to be pushy with. Now, I think you can all fit in my craft?" He waved,
indicating Gerent's ship, for some reason.

One which everyone got, except
Will. It wasn't his jump ship, which meant that he was faking things. Hopefully
not about the new restaurant, since it sounded promising. Good sea food was
hard to find in the Capital for some reason. Possibly due to his lack of
shopping or fishing, but it had been a while since he'd had any.

Dareg shrugged, like he didn't
care at all. Will still wasn't all that calm seeming. Well, that wasn't right.
He seemed all right, from his appearance, but still, there was something off.
Possibly in the time distortions around him that the others weren't feeling,
standing ten feet away like they were. More in some cases.

"Nah. Let's all take our own
ships. The landing ports there need to practice having multiple ships in at
once, and we have time. Oh... We need to chat, Taman. About getting some Tam-Comps
for everyone?" He meant that, and people, slowly just started walking
away.

Except of course Tor, Petra,
Count Ward and Dorgal. The rest seemed to get that he had a plan, or again,
that there was no threat. Tor nodded at him, which wasn't about there not being
a threat, it was clear. He could feel the time distortions around the smaller
man.

"Can I catch a ride with
you? I should use my own, but I've been lazy that way."

As he spoke, the waves from Will
got stronger. Enough so that the others all looked at Will suddenly, even if
they didn't know what was taking place.

"Sure... Or, you know why
don't you set up, too? You can get these people there directly, and I'll go
with Will. I mean, dumping you lot on top of him all at once is a bit mean.
You're all a little...
Large
. You know? Some people find that
intimidating. Not Will, obviously, but I mean... Come on, why push him?"
If anyone insisted after that...

Then they'd have to die along
with him. Even doing that much had to be giving their hand away. The only thing
would be if Will thought that the chance of killing Queen Tiera and all the
others at once was worth more than taking them out right there. Short of
spelling that part out however, there wasn't a lot he could do about it.