Light Bringer (The Young Ancients: Second Cycle Book 2) (44 page)

The statue thing had been
amazing, but Dareg didn't respond to it, even though he hadn't really known the
magic could do that. It was enough that it
worked
, in his book.

The Ancient of Noram looked at
the rock again and then handed it back. Leaving it activated.

"That's a decent start for a
first build. I want one thousand copies, in two days. Batches of one hundred
each, taking no more than an hour and a half for each one. If it does, then
start over. That's ten of a hundred, in that time, for it to count." His
voice was very serious, as if that was a normal thing for people to be doing.

Dareg snorted.

"I'll... Do my best. I have
lessons in there too... I suppose this is where I learn not to sleep so
much?"

Sam seemed to think that was about
the case, "I'll also accept a batch of a thousand
if
you do it in
less than three hours. You have the skill to do that, but most people aren't
brave enough to just jump into that kind of thing. Is the risk of failing worth
the lost time? That's your decision."

Karina made a face across the
table at him. It wasn't mean really, but it wasn't totally
proper
,
either.

"That's a steep learning
curve, isn't it? Even the Lairdgren group didn't move that fast."

Sam, his deeply tanned skin
perfect as far as lines and blemishes went, made a face back. It was different.
Darker, and a bit sinister.

"Ah, but you see,
we
were mainly a bunch of regular people. Dedicated and hard working, but not
special. Dareg can do more than that, so it's only fair that he push at the
same level. Natural talent can spoil anyone, if you aren't careful. There's a
level where people never try all that hard, because things are easy for them.
I'd be failing as a tutor if I let that happen. I hate failing, so you see the
dilemma?"

Count Ward, Marvin, nodded.

"There is wisdom in that.
We'll just have to hope that Dareg doesn't fail at the task set. That would be
embarrassing, it having been given in front of all of us." There was no
censure in the words, it really just seemed like an observation.

That got Sam to crinkle his eyes
in a way that forced him to smile a little.

"
Wouldn't
it? Why the
shame of it would make you blush for... Oh, whole
days
, don't you think,
Dareg? The way around that, of course, is to not fail." There was a
tone
to it, but it held playfulness inside of it.

Dareg sighed and looked down at
the table, trying to seem humble.

"You lose
one
single
multi-million gold jump ship, and suddenly everyone thinks you're incompetent.
Thankfully I'm getting a new one soon, so people won't keep asking me where
mine is."

Several of the people looked
troubled at that statement, as if he were putting himself down, but Sam nodded.

"Which wouldn't happen for
anyone else.
Loan
, however. I expect you to make your own ships, and
give that one back. We'll go over how to do that in about a month though. Focus
on this new project first, then we'll do some drills, so you can practice more
complex things. I have some in mind, if you can't come up with more...Which,
actually is a good idea. Turn in a list of ideas for new builds. You don't have
to know how to make them, just list them off. I want at least a hundred novel
things on it. In that
same
two days. You get extra marks if you double
both of them."

For some reason the interplay got
everyone to laugh, about then. Dareg didn't really understand that. It was some
kind of inside joke, it seemed. Even the giant Marvin smiled, his good looking
face not being too mean about it all.

It was Prince Alphonse who
changed the topic however, which was kind of him. The work level seemed to be
primed to keep growing as long as Sam Builder was speaking.

"I hear that Dorgal Sorvee
is holding a grand fete for his birthday this year. It's being held on a ship,
in orbit of the gas giant, Jupiter. That's impressive, if he can pull it off,
don't you think?"

Dare did, but Marvin actually
leaned forward seeming amazed.

"That would be! I know the
man, too. I'll have to press in a bit, and see if I can wrangle an
invitation."

That was a strange thing to say,
since the man, and his wife, had been part of the planning for it. It had been
clear to Dareg that they were expected to come, or it would hurt King Dorgal's
feelings.

Maria nodded however and went on
as if the idea was brand new.

"It sounds lovely. I do
enjoy travel. I've been to space, of course, but never that far away. It sounds
most fearsome."

Dareg nodded, getting it all
then. The mission to the new fleet was a secret, or at least could be. From who
he didn't know, but if they were supposed to pretend that was the case, he
could go along with it.

The food started to come shortly
after that, and all they did was talk about parties, gardens and the latest
season of racing horses. Apparently there were some very fast ones in the mix,
at least their genetic profiles were good for it.

Princess Abbey spoke with a nice
tenor, one that didn't fit her short stature, and had a lovely, very bright,
smile.

"Baron Liese had me do some
tinkering with his line. The latest birth seems to have taken very well. The
foal is still very young, only a few months, but I wouldn't bet against him in
a year. Thunder-Child. His markings look like clouds on black. You should all
visit to see him, while he is still so adorable."

The only people that raced horses
were the very wealthy. That meant high merchants and nobles, but these people
were all in that later group, so it made sense as a topic. For his part he'd
never seen such an event himself. It actually sounded horribly boring, watching
people ride around in a circle, but Dare was willing to give it a try, if it
ever came up.

Karina let her leg touch his
under the table her skirt only getting in the way a little.

"Exactly how much faster is
Thunder-Child than the other horses?" She looked shrewd, as if figuring
out that she could win a lot by betting on a sure thing.

Abbey got it too and laughed. It
was a rich thing that made it easy to see what Alphonse saw in her.

"Ah, that would be telling.
Not so much that anyone will cry foul, I think. That is possible, but not
needed for the line. Really, the biggest service there is in increasing the
intelligence. Horses are big and fast enough, but are hard to train in complex
tasks. As they learn to do more, they will be able to help their human partners
as they labor, or ride. It makes a bigger difference than mere speed."

That was an interesting theory.
He could kind of see it, when she described how they did farm work in Afrak,
which got a lot of help from, as she put it, their animal friends. As in, the
animals lived in such a way that they planted, tilled and fertilized the fields
cooperatively, by instinct. It was a lot different than how they did it in
Noram.

After finishing a bit of food, he
looked down the table, leaning forward and still not really seeing her, hidden
as she was by a princely giant.

"Princess Abbey, would it be
possible to set something like that up here? Around the port I mean? Possibly
on Harmony? That might be too hard."

"Oh, not
too
difficult.
I could have it set up in a few years time. Less for Earth based things. It
would be faster to plant by hand however. You have a project for that here, do
you not? With Gerent? He mentioned that to me the other day."

"That's right. We're going
to be starting soon on that. I have some new ideas. I just have to hire some
people and collect the needed gear. Pumps and that kind of thing. Special
ones."

Sam didn't even wait, just
speaking, softly. Enough so that not everyone would hear him, Dare bet.

"Put it on the list."

The man next to Sam, Count
Lairdgren, was silent through most of the meal, though he chuckled politely in
the right places, and did murmur gently in response to questions. Most of the
time he just focused on everyone else. That was familiar, since it was similar
to what Timon did all the time. Assessing reality, and grabbing bits and pieces
of things, for some purpose. No doubt that was similar too. This man was
working very hard to learn about the others.
Him
in particular. Which
was a tiny bit odd. He was, after a fashion, related to the man, Dareg guessed.
Not by
blood
, since this was the man the old Count, the Green Man, had
put in to replace him, when the others were locked from Earth for a decade.
Kyle Hardgrove.

That was enough to get Dareg to
pay attention to the fellow, trying to be a bit more covert about it than the
man himself was being. It was even clear, over dessert, that the man figured
out that he was doing it. That, or was reading him with magic. They hadn't
directly spoken yet however, so it was a bit strange, when the last plate was
taken from the table, that the man leaned forward and spoke to him directly.

"So, Prince Dareg. I hear
that you plan to go to school starting in the mid-winter term? Printer School?
I was going to suggest that we, at Lairdgren, had the superior building
program, but it seems you won't really need it. Would you be available for a
discussion about what courses you might wish to be taking?"

It was a question, and the words
weren't unfriendly seeming. Just a bit different than he'd expected. Which had
been for the topic to not really come up, or for Count Lairdgren to demand he
report to his school for classes the next day. It seemed that the actual goal
was different than that.

"Of course, Count Lairdgren.
When would be a good time for you?" He was going to be busy for the next
few days, it seemed, and then had to get to Austra, but before he could fill
that in, the man smiled at him.

"Oh, now will be fine.
Perhaps we could use a side room for it? Not that it's a secret, but I wouldn't
want to bore anyone with something like course schedules."

The King stood, and moved to the
only door that the room had.

"This way? I'll go with you,
if you don't mind, Kyle?"

The older man moved smoothly, on
standing. Artfully, really. It didn't fit his age or look. In fact he flowed
toward the door, speaking smoothly.

"That would be
fine
,
Sire." Nothing else came out.

Dareg stood up too, and set the
rock the light was fixed to on the table. Constance looked at him and smiled.

"We can have that brought to
you at the door?"

He looked at the place, the stone
room, which was, if nothing else hard to get into for an attack, and figured
that had been the point. The walls were thick and strong. There was only one
door, and no one could listen at holes in the walls.

"Why not keep it for in
here? It seems to fit well." Then he waved at Karina, not knowing if he
were going to get to see her again soon. They were engaged to be married, but
both busy enough that daily visits were totally out of the question.

She didn't speak, but did wave
back at him, her eyes shining.

The large monarch was easy to
see, being as big as he was. The hallway had lights, mainly magical ones. So
the lack of light hadn't been about that kind of thing, but rather what the
King had mentioned. It would have just taken too long to set them up in the
space they had been in. That meant the place wasn't used most of the time. It
was safe, but small, and dark.

Cool as well. The thick stone
keeping the temperature fairly steady.

That wasn't always bad, given the
oppressive heat of the region, but for whatever reason these people didn't use
that space on a regular basis.

They didn't go to a nice sitting
room however, heading several hallways over, to an unassuming door, that when
opened, led them to stairs. Those were actually well lit, if by plain lights on
tarnished copper. Some of them were starting to flicker, fading with age.
Neither man spoke, as they descended, going down sixty-six steps before the
steps ended at a rusting iron door. The King wrestled it open for them, and
gestured for them to both enter.

"We can speak freely
here."

His deep voice echoed a bit. When
they were all inside, the man turned, carefully, and pushed the thing closed,
barring the door. It made the place feel like a tomb. There was a coolness to
the place, and a damp feeling that permeated the air, even if there was no
standing water. The walls had a sheen of moisture however, that the lights in
the room showed as sparkles.

There were chairs, but they were
plain things, made of wood, but not adorned in any fashion. They seemed old,
and not that worn. People had used them over time, there were rub marks on
them, and scratches. Not much though, from that. The legs made noise on the
floor, as they were pulled from the table, the King gesturing for them to sit.

Dareg looked around, his head
feeling cold. That was just the lack of hair there, however.