Light Bringer (The Young Ancients: Second Cycle Book 2) (47 page)

"You kept neglecting to
parry the arm with your blade. That does damage about sixty percent of the
time, so it's too valuable a chance to miss. You also kept your feet a bit too
close together. That leaves you higher, but also less stable. If the other
person is larger than you, make them reach down to hit you. Focus on their legs
and lower body. A score to the leg is as deadly as one to the arm. Not as
crippling in a fight, but worth doing." There was more, which he tried to
commit to memory. Finally, after about ten minutes, she looked at him closely.

"How are things going?
Getting enough food? Sleep?" She seemed to be really asking, so he
answered honestly, shaking his head.

"Yes on the one, no on the
other. I was up most of the night making copies. Of the new lights I built? Sam
insisted that I do a batch of a thousand in three hours. It took me four tries.
If it wasn't for the fact that I apparently have the best stepmother in
creation, and she gave me a device to keep me awake, I'd be in real trouble
about now." Possibly cut to pieces given his day so far.

His aunt put a warm hand on his
shoulder.

"Make sure to tell her that?
I bet it will make her week. Now, get out of here, before everyone thinks I'm
giving you
all
the special treatment. They'll get jealous and think I
don't care about them." She managed to be a bit wry while saying that, but
seemed serious as well. "Get some rest. Even if it means skipping a day.
You aren't going to school here, yet, so it's not like you can get bad marks
for it."

Those words caused him to make a
face, though he tried to get it under control. She noticed it though, and
looked at him like she wanted to know what was going on. Sighing he shook his
head. Telling on a Count and a King were probably things you didn't do in
public, if at all. Especially since he didn't really know Petra that well. She
had been, well, kind wasn't the right word, but attentive to him, and not
totally unpleasant. Not that the practices with her weren't a horror show. Like
a group of traveling players that did things like stick pins in themselves, and
skewer their flesh, or hold hot coals in their bare hands.

Except that with his Aunt Petra,
he was the one supplying all the entertainment that way.

It was useful, but also hard to
really wrap his head around. He needed to be able to fight, and to win, but
even being good wasn't going to ever be enough. Not that there wasn't a plan in
place for all that. Yawning finally, he shrugged.

"I really should go, if I
can. Hess from the new fleet is coming in. Or, one of them anyway. I'm giving
them a few thousand of the new light units." Fighting it, and failing he
yawned once again. "Right now they're just taking up space in my tiny hut.
So, tomorrow? Or is that an off day here?"

Looking around she nodded.

"Oooh. Fair point. Most
people don't have to work
every
day, do they? I suppose we could try
something like that. As long as you plan to stay out of trouble? Still do your
running." She waved him away then, and went back to her real students.
There was a strange set to her shoulders, but when he stilled his mind and
focused on her, all she was thinking about was the person she was watching, and
how to improve their technique.

Thankfully the trip home wasn't a
long one. In fact, it actually only took about seven or eight minutes in all,
and he hadn't even tried to go fast. It would have taken less time, but there
were rules about flying from space into the port, so even if he didn't have a
ship, they had to be kept. On the interesting side, Hess's ship was there, in
the spot nearest his pod, being loaded by Lyone, Brice and Sam. A Ysidril too,
but this one wasn't Hess. In fact it wasn't even one of the other two that he'd
seen in passing. He could tell, since this one was smaller, by nearly a foot
and a half, and had a distinctly white tinge to some of the scales on their
back.

They had stopped working, and
stood looking at the light statues he'd left up. Clearly trying to force their
mouth into a human smile to match the one on the giant Hess. It wasn't working,
but did manage to look cute instead of like she was trying to eat someone, or
planning to. At first he didn't understand how he knew that about her, that she
was a girl, but she
was
. Younger, as well. There was a slope to the
shoulders that was different than Hess anyway, and a broader mouth. Plus, he
realized, he'd read her without meaning too. Which also meant she wasn't an
Adversary about to attack.

"Hello!" He smiled,
which got the girl to turn around, her alien form a little sluggish seeming
about it, even though there was a sense of surprise. Chagrin, too.

Nearly three seconds later she
finished the turn and stared at him, then shook her mainly purple and green
head at him.

"You startled me. Hello. I'm
Neesa. I'm not a danger to you, and am actually very kind and friendly. Please
do not harm me. Thank you." Then the girl stood very still, waiting for
whatever he planned to do. Ready to take it, without any action on her part,
even if it meant her death.

That part was interesting, but it
was what she was thinking, trying to ready herself, for anything.

"I'm Dare. I noticed Hess's
ship, is he around too? I need to get in touch with him soon. I've just been so
busy." It was probably rude to say all of that, to a person he didn't
know, but the alien just made a tiny bouncing motion, speaking softly. So as to
not scare him.

"Hess allowed me to make the
voyage alone. I'm being trained to operate as the... Liaison between this world
and the home ships. The one who will go and come, like this? This was a
surprise! I had been told that we likely would have very little contact with
the people here, because they would be afraid, like the other humans. You do
not seem to be." She smiled, showing all her teeth, mouth open. He could
see it as happy now, though at first that had been a bit intimidating.

"That would be because I'm
not
.
Not about kind people such as you and Hess. I should
probably
help get
your ship loaded then. Oh... Do you have a handheld? One of ours?"

That got the girl to stop moving
and then step back, about three inches.

"No. Those are very hard to
get. I think only the top people have them."

"Oh. You should get one,
too. Let me see if I can set that up? It might take a bit, since I don't have
any spares here. Which is a poor plan. Maybe the Ancient does?" He smiled,
human fashion, and waved to Sam, who walked over, glancing at the Hess statue,
and then staring at his.

"I guess it's being so big?
My ears look huge on that thing. My mouth is so... Goofy. Well, can't be
helped. I swear I don't look like that in the mirror. The rest looked right to
me, so it must be true."

Dareg snorted and rolled his
eyes, and then walked over and changed the image to really match the man.

"It was revenge.
I
was
up all night. Gah. So you get to look bad. That showed you, didn't it?" He
shook his right fist, just a little, which was a fine enough thing for the
streets of Canton, where people knew it wasn't a threat, but he didn't know if
Ancients would get that kind of thing.

Sam sighed, instead of becoming
upset however.

"I honestly didn't think
you'd even be able to do a hundred at one time, yet. It really is good to push
yourself though. One of the biggest hindrances to learning is thinking you
can't
do something. Do you have that list of new things to make?" He looked
around, but laughed when Dare tightened his mouth.

He'd totally forgotten about it.

"No. I really don't. Can I
turn that in tomorrow? I get the day off training with Petra, as a kindness
after your harsh treatment. All I had to do for her was fight Baron Havar with
a real knife. That went about as well as you would expect." To illustrate
he made slashing and stabbing motions, then patted several places on his body.
His clothing still showed the wound areas and the blood he realized, since he
hadn't cycled his clothing yet.

That got a pained expression from
Sam.

"Ouch. I've practiced with
Havar. It can be rough. In that case I'll be kind. You can get me that list
tomorrow. Early though. I want to go over your best idea for a build with you,
and walk through some ideas about how to do it that might not have occurred to
you yet. We won't do any building however. Now, you waved me over and I've done
most of the talking, what can I do for you?" There was a glance at Neesa
and a smile.

Dareg nodded.

"This is Neesa. You've
met?" That got nods so he went on. "She's going to be doing the runs
between here and the home ships, so I was thinking we needed to make certain
she was outfitted for it. A handheld and good shield. Anything else that she
might need. Survival gear in case she gets caught out, and that kind of thing?
I'd take her to Harmony for it, but..." A perfectly timed, and not totally
real yawn happened just then. He patted it with his right hand.
"Sorry."

"Not a difficulty. I have
some things that will work. Can you help load while I saunter to my place and
get them?" He was joking, and walked away at nearly a jogging pace, but it
really would take a while. Neesa however followed him as he went to help Lyone
and Brice. She moved slowly, so he waited for her.

"That is a lot to give a
stranger. You have commerce here, don't you? Selling and buying? Some of the
Forten do that. It isn't the Ysidril way, but we trade with them, if they have
work or goods we wish, to make them happy. Won't this harm that system? Giving
things to me, or... Am I to trade for it?"

"Nope. As long as you take the
stuff away, and it won't hurt your economic system. Then it's fine. The problem
comes with things coming
in
for free. That would make problems here.
Harmony doesn't do that. Everything is free there. You have to work, but people
want to, so it isn't a problem."

She got no response for a long
enough period that Dareg figured they were busy walking and it wasn't talking
time, but as they got to the door of his hut, words finally came.

"That is our way. Roughly.
We share, and do not think of things as being our own, as well. I can't carry
much here, the gravity is too much." It was a simple statement. Just
telling him why she wasn't working, instead of doing her part.

"I've got this. If Brice and
Lyone don't already." They really did have it almost all the way done. In
fact, they both walked back with a few lights in their hands.

Lyone waved hers, not carrying as
many of the brightly colored things. Four or so. They were stacked together so
it was hard to tell.

"Prince Dareg! We counted
and had a few more than two thousand. Can you go over how to use them with us?
Especially Neesa here. She'll need to go and show how to do that."

It wasn't that hard. Even things
like making light figures wasn't. The others weren't as good at it when they
tried, but could all get basic forms to come out. Pyramids and spheres, as well
as long snakes of very bright light that was hard to look at even during the
day.

Clasping her lower hands, which
had three fingers each and looked strong, Neesa smiled again.

"Your report understated
these items, Lyone. They are a..." Then she turned and looked at the
machine woman, and spoke in a strange, flowing tongue.

Lyone took a half breath.

"I agree. They are a marvel.
Do you really think they will make that big of a difference in power use?"

They started talking, using
Standard, but also going on in words that meant nothing to him, being without
context. Taking pity on him, Lyone finally explained.

"Neesa was suggesting that
we might be able to use the dim world for hydroponics, if we can have more of
these someday. One of the ship world's power cores is dying. We have enough
power to stop here, but not enough fuel left to take it with us when we move
on. We would need ten times this however, just to light a third of it. It's
small."

Dareg felt slightly sick at the
idea. Then realized that it might not be so bad, if he wasn't stupid about it.

"All right. It will take a
while. I'll try to work on that however. I mean, I made
twice
that last
night. I just have to repeat that fifteen times, and we can light the whole
thing. Most of it." That sounded right, but it was going to take
improving, a lot.

A thing he felt too tired for, at
the moment.

Again, Lyone snapped, showing she
was happy. That, or very impatient and she was ordering him to do it right
then.
That
wasn't happening however. Sleep was. First at any rate. Then
list writing. He had an assignment after all. The one thing he'd really taken
from school was that you had to get things done as well as you could, every
time.

Sam jogged back, after the rest
of them stood around talking for a while. A small crowd had come to watch them,
mainly city people who were alternating between staring at the light statues,
and them. Really, that was all for Neesa. It was covert however, and people
seemed more interested than scared of her. Finally one of them, a man in humble
enough seeming clothing, approached. Just as Sam was coming up, which meant the
new fellow opened with a low bow.