The Dark Half of the Sun (The Young Ancients: Timon) (39 page)

"I'm going to get my sister Tiera in on this. She can do most of the east coast pick-ups for us. I'll do Rodriguez myself, later tonight." Now he had to convince the girl to do the work. She owed him, but that didn't mean a lot, did it? It was a lie that family came first. Tor hadn't even picked up the communications device.

That wasn't fair though. Count Lairdgren
had
come for him, even though it might have started a war. It wasn't something he'd expected at all. Worse, for all his dark thoughts, he knew that Tor shouldn't have come for him. It wasn't fair and he started shaking a little, which got Collette to reach out and feel his forehead. It was exactly the right temperature of course, since he had a personal temperature control amulet on.

"Have you been sick or..." She looked away and shook her head slowly. "I'm... not trying to judge, and it's natural for a boy away from home to experiment with new things, but too much drinking or doing drugs... it doesn't fit with your duties." There was no hint of actual disapproval in her words, just caution.

He nodded, almost taking her offered way out. Lying about things wouldn't help him in the long run, he didn't think. Secrets made things worse. He'd seen that over and again in his travels. Most problems in the world seemed to be sixty-percent secrets and thirty percent drink. The rest was stupidity.

"Sorry, no. I was... kidnapped and tortured. For three days. Healing amulet fixed the worst of it, but... my mind isn't right yet. I can't talk about it all right now. Can you get Mark to swing over and get Petra? Brown too. Tell him I want some of that pain inducing medicine the Larval used on me."

There was silence for a long time, then the pretty blonde got up without speaking. Timon used the time to finish eating, not wanting to, hating each bite, wondering if it was tainted and would be the thing that made him fall asleep, leading to more torture.

To distract himself he made a plan. First to the palace, then to Lairdgren school since he had two people there to see. His sister probably wasn't going to be glad to see him at all. Then... He needed to set up someplace where he wouldn't be found. He had a cottage left to use for it, which was almost too bright and cheery for the purpose he intended. He thought it would work at least. After a while the Baronetta came back, her face looking harder than he'd ever seen it.

"I set what you wanted in motion. Mark will make the pick-up, as you asked, if people will come. We can't contact anyone in the other lands, but I'm sure that Petra will come. I won't ask what you intend, but do you need anything for it?"

He nodded. "A truth amulet. Two if possible."

One way or the other he needed to check and make certain it was all true, whatever he was told.

"I can do that." She didn't move, selecting more toast, eating it dry, taking a large bite and chewing it with more bitterness than seemed possible. That was her looks controlling his thoughts about her he realized. It wasn't sane thinking, but normal enough. She was pretty and that meant good, didn't it? At least to his inner mind that controlled such decisions.

When he finished his plate of food he stood, which caused her to reach around her own neck, removing several amulets. One healing, three Truth. She was carrying them all on separate strings and looked to have about forty different things on. It was hidden by her high collar and the way she'd arranged the clothing amulet. It was very clever and made her extremely well prepared. There were magic shops that didn't have that kind of inventory. All four things were pressed into his hand, her own wrapping around it firmly.

"Be careful, and remember, it's only a crime if you get caught."

The advice shocked him, since it wasn't what he'd been taught all his life at all. Timon made himself smile, knowing it didn't reach his eyes. He tried to make that happen too, not wanting to seem as damaged as he really was inside.

"I don't know what you mean Collette. I'm just planning a party. An exclusive thing. That's all. To celebrate the coming wedding." It sounded like he really meant it, even as he knew for a fact that the woman standing next to him wouldn't buy it at all. He didn't intend her to, so that worked for him.

It got a laugh anyway.

"Well, good. It's important to remember to have fun." She moved in and hugged him, her lips by his ear reminding him too much of Nora doing the same thing. He half expected her to say something nasty or evil, but instead there was only two words.

"Kill him."

Then there was a soft kiss on the cheek that made him want to shudder. He didn't do it, just going a little stiff instead. That was enough to make her pull away.

He needed to get to the palace. That took him about fifteen minutes, since he was questioned by the Royal Guard, who were working very hard to be circumspect, while cleverly asking if he was a traitor or meant to harm the Royal family. Finally he looked at the lead woman, glowing field still in place and shrugged.

"I'm relatively loyal and not planning to harm the King, his wife, children or any friends of his that I know of. I personally wouldn't take the throne if it was offered and can't think of anyone else that I would put on it that could do better than Richard. If I find someone I'll go to him and let him know directly, so he can either step up his skills or get off the throne on his own. I think he actually might, if it came to that. It has to be a horrible job." The words came out hard, which got the woman to look at him funny, but after a few seconds and some covert glances at the people around her she took the amulet back.

"Good enough. We'll take you to see him and the Queen directly."

Timon didn't really need to see Constance, but apparently he was going to, regardless. It wasn't that she couldn't know what he was doing, he just didn't want to beg in front of her. She was too tall and female for him to feel comfortable with that at the moment.

When he got to the room they were meeting in, a small space with soft light colored furniture, both of the rulers jumped up and came at him like a wall of collapsing bodies. It was all he could do not to jump backwards away from them. As odd as it seemed the Queen spoke first, genuine concern in her voice.

"Are you well? We heard... some of what happened to you. Count Lairdgren reported it to us, so that we can take the proper steps." Her voice went cold on the last words, surprisingly so.

The King nodded and reached out, bending over to place a slow and gentle hand on his shoulder. It didn't make contact, since his shield had kicked on. For some reason the giant didn't even let shock show on his face over that.

"What do you need from us? The military is ready to march on County Alan as we speak. The Countess is dead, I've been informed. Her heir was shocked when I explained the nature of her passing, but does not seem to be inclined to pursue war against Lairdgren. Or you. What are your intentions?" The words were carefully arranged, the pauses subtle but not natural at all. It was the kind of speech that the man had practiced over and again, no doubt.

It was so clear that Timon didn't need for it to be translated for him. They wanted to know if he'd come to demand County Alan be removed from the face of the planet. He shook his head.

"When it's
me
tortured and... abused, you offer your forces to go after innocent people that did
nothing
to me. When it was Petra you told her brother to hold his hand and sent her into hiding." He didn't wait for the answer, since it wasn't important. He knew the answer after all. Before, the King had been afraid of losing his throne and family, and thought of them first. It was the kind of thing he was ready for, plotting and intrigue on that level. Now he was afraid of losing his Kingdom to a force he didn't think he could beat.

Timon.

It was a very strange idea, since he was still only twelve, but that wouldn't last forever and an Ancient, even a young one, wasn't a person to try and cause problems with, were they?

"It doesn't matter. I'm going to kidnap Count Rodriguez tonight. Then I'm going to get information out of him. When that's done, I'll either deliver him here for execution or do it myself. Either way, no matter what, he doesn't survive this. No matter what we promise him, or tell him, to get him to speak, he's going to die. I've arranged for Petra to come back for it. We may be out of touch for a while."

The two giants in front of him looked shocked.

Why that was slipped right past him. Did they think he was too young to do it? Or that he was afraid of going to war with a county? He didn't care if he died doing this after all. He'd be careful and no one would know it was him that had it done. There was a gap in the plan, which was why the man might end up going back to the Capital for execution. If he was hung as a traitor, no one would go to war over it at all. If he wasn't in on the plot, then he'd end up in the ocean. Timon would admit to killing him and move to Austra. There would be no war over it. The Guild might come for him someday, but that was all.

He was about to tell them this, when the King nodded.

"Alright. You understand, I can't condone this officially? The man has been a problem for years. We need to know who's with him in this. It seems clear that the Larval are working with them, though I can't see exactly why. Do they wish to overthrow my rule for a specific reason?" It wasn't meant to be answered, but Timon shook his head anyway.

"No. This is all about Tor for them I think. They believe he's The Great Unknown Factor. That's a mathematical possibility that no one has accounted for, and not a specific thing. The funny thing there is that it doesn't have to be bad. No one counted on a person like him showing up, but he clearly isn't a bad thing for the world. It seemed to me that the Larval that... tortured me, had a plan, but it was
all
about Tor. They just happened to be using the nobles for their own ends and the same on the other side. It isn't about you at all from that direction. Not as far as I can tell. That means they're a factor, but not one you should fear overly, I don't think." Of course, they were also clearly insane. So who knew what they'd end up doing?

"Very well. Keep us apprised. If this goes wrong..."

"I was tortured and lost my mind, then lashed out in a combat rage. Being so young, you would have to have me exiled, or at least hidden away on a country estate." It made sense to him, but the two in front of him looked half panicked at the words.

It wasn't that, Tim realized after a few seconds, they were just amazed that he understood what would be required.

He bowed once, having forgotten to do it earlier, and left, organizing his mind as tightly as he could, trying not to dwell on what had happened, or even dream of what he was going to do. That would probably make him break down or pull back at the last second. That knowledge wasn't something he was comfortable with, so avoiding that was suddenly very important to him.

He landed his craft in the central courtyard of the school, getting out and taking the thing down almost instantly, putting the amulet under his shirt, feeling exposed as everyone stared at him. Timon stood for a few seconds and finally approached a large girl that was pushing seven feet tall. She was plain looking and reminded him a little of Nora. It was hard to do, since she made him feel very afraid, even though she personally hadn't harmed him. A part of him was waiting for it to happen, as he spoke.

"Excuse me miss, could you help me find the Headmaster's office? More to the point, could you walk me there, so that it looks like I don't know where it is?" He was trying to act like he wanted her company, which got the large girl to blush a bit.

"Oh, sure, y'all just come with me. I'm Judith, what's your name?" She started walking instantly, not staring at him overly, playing it cool. She seemed nice enough, but he couldn't really trust it yet. Countess Alan had seemed nice enough too.

"Timon Baker. I've come to see about my sister, Tiera." It was as good an excuse as any, especially since he wanted to steal her away for several days.

Next to him the large girl came to a sudden stop and froze in place. Then she stared at him and blushed a very furious red. After a few seconds he could see it wasn't blushing at all, but the start of a combat rage. He just looked back at her.

"Crap. What did she do? Ali asked me to talk to her a few days ago, but something came up, so I'm late. If she wronged you, I apologize." He didn't bow, since it could be anything in the world that caused the girl to react, but she started breathing hard and walked again for a few feet, then stopped as soon as they got around the corner of the nearest building. Her hands turned into fists as she turned on him, making him take a step back, his shield triggering instantly.

The giant didn't attack. Not even with words. Not him at least.

"That bitch of a Doretta was rude to Henry. Turn him down flat, telling him he was too poor and ugly for her. Then she went around telling everyone what a joke he was, laughing with her rotten friends about him all over school. He nearly quit. I would have beat her in the commons, but she always wears a shield, on account of her brother being Tor. So I called her names instead. I don't care if they kick me out for it, she can't get away with that." The girl looked ready to fight him on the point, right then and there and seemed shocked when he just nodded at her.

"That... Well, she has no call to go and call
anyone
here poor. She was raised the child of a small town baker and worked as a delivery person for years herself. As for ugly... Well, who cares? That's no reason for her to be unkind to anyone. I don't care who it is. I'll talk to her about it. If she doesn't listen..." He shrugged, what could he really do?