The Dark Half of the Sun (The Young Ancients: Timon) (20 page)

They were invited inside the place, which was filled with plants and gardens in pots that lined every hallway, vegetables and fruit growing in them as well as flowers of different kinds. The lights from above where part of the building and a fine mist of water fell on the plants at different times.

"We don't have any true builders yet, but we have fifty-seven people that have learned to make copies from templates. Each student here is a member of our Mage corps, which means that they've agreed to work directly for me for their entire life, in exchange for power. They may marry, but this is the first wedding that any of us have had. It's a great example, since their spouses can hold riches, even though they may not." She touched the Merchants arm and looked up into his face then, her eyes going slightly large. Right now they looked blue, but Tim had seen them be green and brown at different times.

"Dorgal, I'm the leader of this land, it's true. I don't have a mountain of gold, or slaves however. My people do what I ask, because they love me. I don't ask much of them, except things that will aid them, because I love them. If you thought that there would be great wealth from this union..."

Timon held his head and snorted.

"Don't be ridiculous Lyn. Just taking a percentage of profits from whatever you two sell in Noram, magic wise, will make you both rich. Are your Mages going to get part of that? If so, I suggest you work out a system of trade. Real goods instead of useless gold. Maybe work out some bargains with some of the top builders back home, until your people are doing your own work. I don't know. Sorry..." He held his head, which was smarting pretty well now. "Combat rage episode. I think I might have started a war with Gray. She was asking for it. I know, she's my grandmother... I should be kind, and contrite."

Lyn tilted her head and smiled a little.

"Did she survive it? I don't think she's capable of seeing a man as a real threat, certainly not one as small as you still are. It's a flaw in her thinking and always has been. She can't help it. She was created by a group of women that hated men. The problem there is that humans need both genders to survive. It's why she didn't do away with men altogether in Afrak. Women can't survive on their own. Men can't either. Even if the baby problem is addressed, which Gray can do, it just doesn't work. People tried. It was a mistake."

He shook his head and then wished he hadn't, forcing a pained smile.

"They should all be fine. The combat aura took them down and I managed to grab Dorgal up and run. It's... Not good."

Lyn patted his arm gently then stood back and yelled, calling out in her own language, which got not one, but three red robes Mages ran forth, all of them holding small gray stones out, one of which was handed to Red instantly by a girl that looked vaguely familiar.

Then it was passed to him, the sigil on it familiar. It was hand carved, a smooth etching, but the design was clear. It was one of Tor's healing amulets. Hitting the design his head flared with sudden pain, which was a sign it was working. A moment later, no more than fifteen seconds, he felt fine again. Tapping it a second time, the small stone held in his right palm he smiled.

"Excellent work! I haven't even tried to make one of these yet. It's pretty complicated. Is this one of yours?"

The leader of Vagus shook her head and smiled proudly.

"We have ten here that can make these already. I had to create a template for it, but they did the work. All our creations are in stone, since metal working is forbidden us by the treaty. Most of our work so far is making cutters, which have been spread through the land. Those are the most needed thing. It's a simple tool, but one that has more uses than anyone in Noram has seemed to realize. These are next, then water purification and new houses superior to the old. We don't have a lot of excess for sale yet, but it will come. I do have some things that I made, personally. Tanneries and such. Will that do for trade do you think? As a start? I'm no Tor. I have a few hundred things however."

Dorgal looked greedy for a second and then... stopped.

"I... If we're to be married, then your people are mine. I can't just think of myself, can I? We'll... It
is
enough to start with. We'll make sure that all of Vagus benefits from it." The words sounded right, if not like what Timon would have suspected from the man.

Feeling better, if a little hungry, he watched the Mages walk away without a word, and handed the healing stone back to Lyn. It didn't have a hole for wearing after all. Looking into his eyes she suddenly held him again for a moment.

"Don't worry about Gray. She won't take a personal issue and make it into something that might harm her people. The worst that will happen there is that she won't like you personally. It's not a wonderful thing. It also isn't something for you to fear. She'll yell and try to make you feel bad, but ultimately that's all she can really do to you. If she keeps doing it, well then she'll earn what she gets. You aren't responsible for her, family or not."

For some reason that really did make him feel better, even if he didn't really understand why. Then he got it. Lyn was
doing
something to him. Some kind of influence was coming off of her, leaving him feeling calm and better about the whole thing. It wasn't unwelcome at all. It probably should have been, since he didn't want to have his mind influenced like that as a rule.

The rest of the day was pretty relaxed, with red robed people scurrying to do work on various things while he pretended not to be bored. In the end he helped Dorgal make a new outfit, that was nice enough the King himself would have been pleased to be seen in it he was sure. Then he had to go and find Lyn, who was just going to use her red colored robe for the ceremony. It really was pretty, but that would have made Dorgal look over dressed, so she relented with a happy look and made it a bit more frilly and slightly glowing in places. It wasn't Noram style at all, while still being flashy enough to make Timon happy.

Her Mages too, it seemed.

It really didn't take long at all for the whole thing to take place. They all stood in a circle and chanted while Dorgal and Lyn clasped hands, then as she'd mentioned, they jumped over a fire. It wasn't a big thing, made of grass and horse dung in fact. It was the tradition, even with the larger magical Guide fire in the center of the cooking area for their feast preparation.

That was mainly vegetables and horse meat, though there was some pig as well. It was plain... and still ten times more filling and tasty than the Austran food from that morning. That didn't get mentioned, because no one spoke to him, or did more than offer him food, barely making eye contact at all. It wasn't hostile really, in fact one of the girls, who he recognized from his last visit, touched his arm lightly, then pulled back shyly and stepped away.

Lyn saw it and waved to him, then took Dorgal by the hand and walked carefully, a basket of food being handed over to them as they moved toward Timon.

"We're off then for the night. Most of the day tomorrow. Are you staying?" Her tone kind of suggested that it might not be a perfect idea. She didn't hint as to why however.

"No, I'll be off at first light. I could use a little food for that and some water. Oh, I have messages from my grandfather and Brown. Letters. Let me give you those now, or at least place them somewhere you can find them later." They were in the craft, in his case, with the other ones. Which meant getting up, carefully not dropping the warm food in his hand. They didn't use plates here, or bowls.

That had to make eating whatever they used for potage interesting.

He moved over, away from the light of the fire and opened the side of his vehicle. The letters took a few seconds to get and he had to wipe his greasy left hand on his pant leg, juggling a small pile of food in the right as he did, before handing the papers over.

"I'll be back in... Call it two weeks? I can take return messages then, or grab you two up for the Noram ceremony. I guess that I have to pay for that, don't I? If so don't count on anything too grand. I'm already going into debt trying to make sure Austra doesn't starve." He didn't explain and Dorgal chuckled softly, which got Red's attention.

Her words were pleasant however.

"Thank you for the offer brother. Tor has already been roped into it however, by his lady Collette? I trust it will be suitably grand?" She giggled like a girl then.

"Maybe you can rent the palace for it? Get the King to officiate? I want Sandra Morris to be my maid in waiting... Dorgal, who do you want as your defender to the claim?"

He thought for a second and grinned after a bit.

"My cousin Marco. Will you ask him Tim?"

Why not, he nodded and shook the man's hand, then hugged Lyn and realized that he'd picked up yet another task. He needed to start writing down all he had to do, or things were going to end up being forgotten. He didn't have any paper and Vagus didn't either, so it would have to wait until he got back to Noram.

Lyn called out instructions and then, in a rather dramatic fashion pulled out an amulet and created a tiny stone cottage off to one side. Then she went inside with her new husband, the door being shut firmly behind them.

The people danced and occasionally looked at him, without approaching or interacting with him at all. That was probably just due to his being unfamiliar and new. When he got tired, about an hour later, Timon got up and went to his craft, changing the seats inside, so that one would be very large and lay all the way back into a sleeping platform. There was no blanket, though a pillow was built in that worked well for the purpose. At first he didn't think he'd sleep very easily, until his eye closed. When they cracked open there was light outside the front viewing window.

He had to go outside to find a bush and nearly tripped over a pile of things outside his door. Cooked meat, wrapped in large leaves, vegetables and two animal bladders with stoppers that held water. It wasn't a full shower, but it let him have something to drink and some breakfast before he left, as well as a decent tooth brushing. He nearly felt human as the craft lifted into the air. He had one more stop to make, in Soam, but then he could get back to familiar ground.

As hard as it was to admit, he felt a little home sick.

Not for Two Bends exactly, or even his family, just for his land. It was, right or wrong, what he knew.

That proved to be no small fact as the day drew on, since even though he made a run lengthwise over the whole continent, he wasn't really certain where he was supposed to find Julie at all. It was a bit of an oversight on his part, since any of the other Ancients would have probably have known where to find the woman, meaning he should have asked. Finally he just landed in what he figured might be the capital. It was the largest city or whatever they were called here. It looked different, but it had vast stone buildings and well paved streets, wide things that each could have been used at the square of a large town in width. He went to the middle and settled in one of them, hoping it wasn't against the rules, or if it was, that their habit would be to simply tell him that, instead of attacking or throwing him into a cell for the mistake.

Instead he was simply observed for a long time, well over an hour, no one coming close enough to him for speech. Just as he was about to climb back into his craft and go home, a large block of stone, larger than his own craft was at the moment, settled next to him out of the air. There were five people on the top of it, and stone hand holds carved into the gray side of it. They all wore white, but it was the one in the middle, who came down last, that he was interested in.

Julie White.

The woman was exotic and unique in all the world as far as he knew. Her skin wasn't simply pale, it was the color of pearl, slightly iridescent with just a hint of glitter to it as the sun hit her flesh. She didn't move across the distance between them, which was nearly eight feet, she
danced
, a thing that should have seemed strange and bizarre. For her it worked, the whole city stopping to watch her do it. The world itself almost seemed to focus on her for a moment, until she bowed in front of him.

Timon touched his shirt front and activated his shield, which gained an instant relief from the energy she was giving off. The woman was still alluring, which she probably couldn't help, it being her nature. He'd been warned about it and had dealt with the effect before, so was ready for it.

"I have messages for you, White. Is this the right place to land?" He looked around and while he didn't seem to be in the way people were watching them.

The woman laughed, a sound that was having an unfair influence on him he realized. He
really
wanted to please her suddenly. It was all he could do not to touch her. The people near her didn't refrain totally, reaching out every now and again, then pulling away as the others intercepted them. Julie though was focused only on him. It was more intense than he really liked.

"It is a good place for it. This is my home, for now. So good to have a visitor. Will you stay for a time, Timon? We have much to discuss, you and I." It was tempting to stay and forget his responsibilities, which was the danger that she presented. Her land was a reflection of her in green that way. It all called to him on a deep level, making him want to stay with her.

To be her lover.

Since he was a bit too young for that he pulled back for a second, into the craft, and came out with the letters for her.