The Dark Half of the Sun (The Young Ancients: Timon) (40 page)

"Then I'll drop her in Vagus and strand her there for a year. They won't put up with things like that there, I don't think."

"What?" The girl stared then, as if confused. He could see that, so he nodded.

"She's immortal, like Tor. Or more exactly, really long lived. My sister too, and we get along alright, but I can't let her get away with things like that. It's my duty to make sure she behaves, or at least has a good reason to be acting up if she is. I have my moments too, so, you know, it's not like I'm saying she has to be perfect all the time, just.. That's kind of an important social thing and no one here can really call her on it right now, with Tor gone. Let's get with the Headmaster and see to that now."

The girl, Judith, seemed far happier suddenly for some reason. In fact she hurried her steps as if she thought he might change his mind. He probably wouldn't abandon his sister in a foreign land. Not for a full year. Lyn would watch her and he had no doubt that the Ancient builder could get around a shield if she wanted to spank the girl. Really, he could too, most likely.

There was a woman sitting at a secretary's desk outside a closed door when they got to the right place. It was a functional thing, largely made of plain, but clean wood, stained a dull brown.

"May I help you?" She took in Timon second, since he was wearing the clothing style he'd gone into the palace with, his normal black velvet. Judith was in plain student browns, looking like canvas rather than silk or a richer fabric. From her hard form she was probably some kind of combat student. The clothing looked new and perfect, which was a giveaway that it was magical in nature. Like his own probably.

"Here to see Dean Hardgrove. Please. I need to liberate some students for a few days. King's orders." It was illegal to claim that if it wasn't true, so hopefully Richard would back him on it. If not, this was going to get embarrassing. The woman looked pretty skeptical already. Timon shrugged, looking bored. "Tell the Dean that Timon is here from the fast transport concern and that King Richard asked that the school aid in the upcoming wedding of two of its former students, Lyn Red, the leader of Vagus and Dorgal Sorvee, of the merchant house."

That didn't seem to help much, but the woman brushed her ash colored hair off of her horsey face and stood efficiently, knocking on the door firmly, poking her head in without waiting for a response. Ten seconds later she pulled back, looking amused.

"This way please." She didn't apologize for doubting him, but she did seem at least a bit more relaxed. He started in and waved for Judith to follow. He had an idea.

The Dean was behind his desk, looking stately and tidy enough, in a nice black and green velvet tunic with a funny black soft hat. His beard was still the most impressive thing about him, as far as Tim was concerned. The spy master thing was right up there, but anyone could do that. Growing that masterful and manly a face full of hair took something special. He smiled at the thought.

The man gestured for the giant girl to close the door, which she did, looking a bit odd. It was hard to figure out the mix of emotions. A bit of intimidation, a bit of admiration for the man in front of her and a little bit for Timon for some reason. She almost seemed shy suddenly.

"Now, what can I do for you, and the Kingdom, today, Countier Baker."

He gestured at Judith first.

"Is she a good fighter?" It was a blunt thing to ask, and made the girl look down at the ground as if ashamed of something, but the Dean smiled and nodded instantly.

"One of the top second year students. She's been acting as one of our first year instructors, while we try to get things together in that department. Doing a very good job as well. Why do you ask? This isn't about that incident with your sister is it? A duel isn't the way to solve minor problems, besides, I'm not certain Tiera was in the right in this case. In fact I have to rather rule against her. She seems to have gotten the idea that being the Count's granddaughter makes her immune to punishment here." That got a stern look from the man. "If you seek to have Judith here removed..."

Timon shook his head hard.

"Far from it. My parents won't put up with Tiera pulling things like that
or
flouting your authority. I'll talk to her today and set this right. If I can't, well, I'll bring my parents up, and if they won't do anything, I'll bring in the Count himself, who
will
. I'm just want to see if I can hire Judith here as a bodyguard for the rest of the week. I'll pay her a gold a day and teach her how to fly a Fast Craft, if she doesn't know already." He turned to her and bowed low. "If you want to. I've had some trouble lately that having another body around might have helped. It's real work and... There are some secrets involved, if you want to take it. Plus it will tick off Tiera, if that's something you want to bother with."

She looked suspicious for a few seconds, until the Dean started nodding. Then she looked at Timon again.

"This ain't nor a trick to get back at me for wanting to beat your kin, is it? I mean..." Her accent nearly dropped away in the next breath, sounding like a fairly cultured merchant. "This isn't a trick?"

He pulled out a Truth amulet and started it with a flick of one finger, holding it in his other hand.

"Not in any way. It's a real job offer. If you do a good job it could lead to work as a pilot too, since it would be good to have a woman on staff that can go to Afrak and not set my grandmother off." That thought reminded him of the note she'd sent him, if it was from her. Look at Count Wend. He still didn't have a real clue what it was supposed to mean, other than the fact that a man of that name existed.

Maybe Count Rodriguez could help him out with the information?

"I can't promise you that it won't be dangerous. I
can
say that as long as you're loyal to the Kingdom and to me, I won't let anything happen to you, if it's within my power to stop it." It probably wouldn't help her to feel good about the whole thing, but the slim girl bowed back.

"Why sure then, if I can get the time? That's up to the Dean, but I could use the golds sir."

The Dean smiled, making his great beard move a bit.

"I think it's a wonderful idea. Will you be taking your sister as well?" The implication was a bit dark, even if the words were polite enough.

He was asking if Timon intended to use the combat trained girl to beat her. It was an idea, but Tiera wasn't a monster, even if she had been messing up a lot. They'd discuss things for a while and she'd see reason. It was nice to have a backup plan however.

"Not like that. I need her to do some pick-ups on the east coast, since Judith and I will be busy. It isn't a punishment, she just owes me a favor."

"Very well. Do talk to the girl however. If she keeps on the path she's taken, I fear that I'll have to request her removal."

It made him wonder what the hell his sister had been up to. It had only been a little over a week, and already people hated her enough to want her gone. She was a little strong willed at times, but this didn't sound like her at all.

"I will sir."

Then they had to go and find her, Judith altering her clothing to look like his, only huge. She looked better in black than brown he noticed, which sent a chill down his spine. It was too close to sex for him to consider. He made himself stare at her, smiling as they walked toward the student housing area. She was different than Nora. He tried to think about all the ways that was true. Her hair was a bit lighter, her skin slightly darker and her face was a bit more square. She had blue eyes, which was a noble trait, but she wasn't so high placed that she thought she could beat Tiera and get away with it, so probably not from a titled family.

The girl noticed his looking at her and ducked her head a bit. "Am I supposed to wear something different?"

"No. That's the right uniform. Do you have any weapons?" It was a fair question, since kids generally didn't. Not even huge ones that studied fighting. She surprised him by nodding.

"Cutter with a five foot sweep. Military grade force lance, the kind that don't quit, and an air lance, which is good for light combat. You know, if you don't really want to hurt no one too bad. At school it's the go to weapon now. It works pretty well and no one can have you charged for using a lethal weapon, if you get in a fight. Ali gave me mine. Copied it herself for me." She looked a little defensive about it, as if it might be a problem. Technically only the builder of the item was supposed to be able to gift them to people that weren't nobles like that, not the copiers. Timon didn't care. He'd been going around handing out shields that he'd made for instance. They weren't his original work either.

"Good. Probably won't need that tonight, but the other things you might.
That
kind of work. Is that something you can do?" How did he ask her if she was a hardened killer? Or at least willing to be. Most people never killed anyone at all. He had now, but it hadn't sunk in yet.

"That's the job." She didn't go into her philosophy on the matter and he didn't ask. Instead she knocked on a door and waited. It was a plain thing, identical to all the others, except for a black ribbon on the outside, tied in a neat bow.

It was Ali's roommate Sheri who answered, her face happy enough to see them both.

"Hello! Ali isn't here right now. I think she's in the copying space, working on something. She said it might take all night. Would you like to come in? I was just doing some class work. Memorizing recipes."

Timon shook his head a little.

"I'm actually trying to find my sister, Tiera? I don't know if you've met..." From the look on the girl's face they had. It didn't seem to have gone well either.

"Top of the stairs, second door to the right. The idea was that she'd be close to Ali, since they're family. I... Well." Her tone went prim and disapproving. He decided to tentatively put her in the camp that would approve of a beating.

"Thank you. When you see Ali, please let her know that I'm doing what I can to see to that situation."

There was a single stiff nod, but the door didn't close until he'd stepped back a polite distance. Then it was a very careful thing, clearly meant to show her anger wasn't about him.

He moved up the stairs then, Judith shadowing him, looking more than ready to fight if the need appeared. He found the second door over on the fourth floor and knocked firmly four times, waiting. There was noise from inside, but no one came for several minutes. He knocked again, hearing giggling.

"Oh, one moment!" The voice wasn't Tiera's at all, and he figured that he might just have gotten the wrong room. That was until the person speaking opened the door. She was a tall girl, but only about five-eleven, not a real giant. She had nice long red hair and eyes that were nearly orange, instead of a real brown. When she saw him she smiled, then noticed the person behind him, earning them both a low huff.

"What do
you
want?" The look was directed toward Judith at least.

After a few seconds Tiera came to the door to see who was there, her face hard and disapproving, until she took in the scene for herself.

"Oh. Timon." She swallowed and pretended to not notice Judith at all."Is everything alright?"

"No. Grab what you need, we're leaving right now." He didn't explain even as the other girl looked shocked. Really, he didn't intend to. He didn't have time to explain it all and this whole thing seemed so stupid he was about ready to just drop Tiera in Two Bends and tell the Counts that had sent gold they could have it back.

There had to be limits after all. Timon decided that when it came to stupid things he was about at his.

 They rode toward the Capital in silence, his older sister glaring at the back of Judith's head so obviously Tim didn't even have to turn around to know it was happening. Finally, most of the way to Two Bends she started speaking, her voice low, almost hissing in anger.

"You have no right to do this. I'm older than you. I outrank you! The others said that means that I'm more important than you are. I'll go to the King and then you'll see..."

"Shut up." Tim didn't bother to hide the scorn in his voice. "If we went to the King with something as moronic as your little school troubles right now he'd probably have both of us locked up for the rest of the week, just to keep us out of the way. We don't have time for this. You
know
better. I don't even know what the hell you've gotten up to, but I spoke to a grand total of four people about you in the last week and
all
of them want me to do something about you. That isn't good Tiera. You're better than that."

She had enough sense to go quiet, but not enough to stay that way.

"I was within my rights to tell those boys that they weren't good enough for me. I'm special. I'm a Conserina
and
an Ancient. Why should I waste myself on ugly or poor boys?" She tried to make herself sound reasonable. It didn't work. It came out kind of bitchy, with an undertone of entitled.

There was about a two second time period when Tim considered just making the craft around them vanish at full speed. It was only that he didn't know if Judith would survive it that stopped him. He didn't care for himself or Tiera in the moment.

"What part of
shut up
don't you get? You deserve to be kicked out of school
and
beaten for that. I didn't know that it was 'boys' plural or I'd be taking you home right now in disgrace. Dean Hardgrove is about to kick you out and the
only
thing stopping that right now is that I promised that you'd fix yourself. Today." She tried to interrupt with a sound of outrage so he spoke over her. "If you think that the Green man is going to let you grow up to be a bitch that he has to put up with for thousands of years, think again. Mother told you about 'The Rules', she explained them to all of us. You think that doesn't apply to you? How's this for special, if you don't fix this I'm taking away all your amulets and leaving you naked in the middle of Two Bends,
after
Judith here beats you. Several times."

That got a snort from the back seat, and when he turned to glance at her she had her arms crossed and was glaring at him.

"You can't do that. You don't have the right. Plus you
can't
. I have a shield on dummy." There was a tone to her voice that sounded very certain of that part of things.

Timon let his voice come out as a growl, jaw clenched.

"Oh, do you really? I'm a
builder
. I'm not Tor, but I can turn off your amulets at a close range and you can't stop me." He focused, using the rage and new focus he'd been holding to do just that, without turning around. His sister squeaked and started making slapping sounds, which would be her trying to get her clothing back on. As soon as she did it, he triggered them off again. This went on for about half a minute before he relented, since making his sister sit naked, even when he wasn't looking, felt wrong and reminded him of being that way on that table... In pain. He shuddered.

"As for the rest of it, rank and all that crap, I don't care right now. I probably won't ever again." It felt weak, but tears came to his eyes and he sobbed once. He didn't explain though. Judith saw it and gave him a blank look, swallowing once. She didn't speak or give him away.

Tiera was never one to pick up on subtle threats though was she? Timon waited for the outburst to come.

"How dare you! I'm telling mother about this!" There was shaking in the tone, embarrassment and a little fear.

"How dare I? I'll tell you how, it's simple, you're my sister and acting like a god. You
aren't
. You're a humble little delivery girl from a backwater that's so small it barely kept our family together when da and ma ran the bakery. You're the same girl that started working to help keep us all fed at six years old. Tiera Baker isn't
special
in some hoity way, she's a good person that doesn't treat her fellows like trash to abuse based on fictions like
rank
! I'm her brother and if you think I won't have you beaten and kicked out of school to help you remember who you really are, then you're sadly mistaken. It's my job as your
brother
. You know that."

As they passed over Two Bends she made a sound, one that was confused and still angry.

"We aren't going home?"

Timon looked straight ahead, "no. I need you to pick up some clients from the other coast. I have a route for you. I'd be doing it, but I have to do something else..." He nearly kept it secret, but she needed to be warned of the danger, Judith too. Sighing he brought the craft to a full stop, hovering in the air at about five thousand feet.

"I was taken four days ago... By Countess Alan and a Larval Assassin. I was... Tortured in ways that I won't talk about. Abused sexually by the Countess while in horrible pain that I can't even remember clearly, it was so bad. I begged for death, more times than I can count, I remember that. Count Lairdgren and some of his people came to free me. I'd managed to make a cutter. I freed my hands, and killed the Countess. I couldn't reach the chains on my legs. I cut off my own legs just before they came for me. I was ready to die, and just didn't want to do it a prisoner. Not locked in place. The Count, or maybe one of his people, had a healing amulet. That's the only reason I'm alive."

It was still hard to tell the story, but he got the words out, which was
something
, he figured. He didn't look at either of the others, not wanting to see the pity in their eyes.

"Countess Alan was working with the Larval as part of a bigger plot to overthrow the King. The assassin just wanted me to scream when Tor triggered his communications device, since they thought that he'd rescued Petra Ward from Count Rodriguez a few weeks ago. He'd been torturing her too. For weeks. He's clearly in on the takeover plan."

It was Judith that spoke then, her voice far more incensed than Timon would have figured.

"Petra? She's a friend of mine, she helped to teach me last year. Really tough. Is she... well?"

Tim shrugged.

"Who knows? She seems strong outwardly, but inside? It's a horrible thing, torture. I hope she's alright. She was in hiding, but she might be coming back tonight."

There was nodding from the giantess next to him then, but no talking for a long time, there was a soft sob from the back seat, but Tim didn't turn around at all.

"Alright," Judith stared at the side of his head. "What are we going to do about it?"

"Well, Tiera is going to take over my route for the next few days. Then you and I are going to kidnap a Count and two of his men, then torture them, until they tell us everything they know about this conspiracy. If they know anything and are guilty, we take them to the King for trial."

It sounded fair enough, except for the torture part of things. From behind him there was a soft voice.

"What if they aren't part of the plot?" His sister actually sounded worried about it.

"Then we kill them. They still tortured Petra."

Then without waiting he started flying again, not asking if his sister planned to help him or not. Judith looked ready to avenge her friend right then, which was a good sign as far as Timon was concerned. It had been just possible that she might have gotten scared and pulled back. What they were going to do was dangerous, so he couldn't blame her for it if she wanted no part of it all.

Then, just so she'd know, he explained about the special drug that had been created to get around the poison detector. Tiera didn't react, but she was smart enough to get what it all meant. If he was a target, then she was too. If anything Tor liked her better than he did the rest of them, despite what the Larval had said. Well, Terlee, but she had her Count to keep her safe. They still needed to be warned, since County Thomson was in the thick of things up north.

He landed in front of his two little cottages, headed inside and found the little magical case where he'd put some gold and the remaining Fast Craft amulets. He handed one to his sister as well as the pick-up list that Collette had made up for him. It was very efficient he noticed and had everyone picked up inside six trips, over three days. Morgan was doing similar work, and Mark was due in at about midnight according to what was written, but that could vary, Timon didn't doubt. It was all subject to how quickly the passengers moved.

His sister was puffy eyed and sad looking as he explained it all to her, his eyes searching for pity from her. Instead there was only fear. She didn't say why, but then there were so many reasons for it. So very many.

"Alright, you need to leave within the hour sis. Wear your shield and stay alert. Don't eat anything you don't buy yourself from a random location and don't take any water either. Here's some coin for that." He passed over five gold and five silver, then gave the same to Judith. "You shouldn't need that for expenses, but it isn't your pay, use it if you have to."

Then he went and paid for several large baskets of food from Glaren, explaining all of that part of things as he went to his sister. It sounded so boring and mundane. He paid for all of his pilots to get baskets for the passengers and waved to Judith so that Glaren would get the idea.

"Her too, if she comes in. She's a new trainee. If it works out she'll be around a lot." He didn't give her name, but it was just an oversight, not that he was trying to hide it from anyone.

They were just a Transport company after all.

After that there was a wait while Timon set everything up in his head, trying to figure out everything that could go wrong with his plan. Extra guards being brought at the last moment, an ambush when they set down... That was the biggest danger. He looked at Judith and asked if she had a shield on, not knowing if she would at all. The giantess smiled a little.

"Sleep in it. Flying gear too, as well as my weapons. I even has... have, one of those Tor-shoes. The extra fast kind. Given to me by Tor hisself.
Himself
. He also taught me how to speak all fancy like. You should have heard me affore." The woman grinned, making a joke by speaking with a bit of her natural accent.

Timon nodded, "S'truth a'n y'sh'eared as'n we'talk a'hom."

The girl gave him a funny look that seemed a little hurt and suspicious until he explained.

"I said, It's the truth that you should hear the way we talk at home. You aren't the only one that had to learn to talk fancy."

She wanted to go over a complicated plan, which made sense, for part of it. The most dangerous part was going to be the first bit, after the pick-up of the Count and his men. They couldn't reasonably control them physically and didn't have any drugs to make them docile. It was Judith that came up with the plan for that, eyeing the craft as she did.

"Can we close off the back and leave them with no air? Just so's they can't stay awake?"

Timon didn't answer, just focusing, his left hand on the shelf in front of him, making a partition appear between the front and the back. Then just to make certain it would work, he cut the air vent as well. That would take a while though. They'd choke slowly that way, their breath fouling the space until they couldn't survive.

With another thought he turned on the venting system, making sure it only removed the air. It had two parts automatically, so it was hard to make that happen, but with enough focus the craft complied.

"Like that? They should go out in a minute or two. I don't know what kind of weapons they'll have, so we need to take them out fast, then go in and make sure they don't have anything that can hurt us."

They also needed chains. That was harder to come up with, but they found a blacksmith in town that seemed to think they wanted to use them for kinky sex. Timon didn't blink at the mention of that, just paying the man the single gold he required for three sets of heavy iron chains with key locks, and another two silvers for his silence. He nodded, and didn't speak after that at all, since he'd been paid not to.

Then they went north, to the place he intended to set up the cottage he was going to use for the purpose, in County Alan. It seemed fitting, and less dangerous, than using Rodriguez's own lands.

"Ready?" He looked at Judith, who nodded grimly.

"If they try to escape, what do you want done?"

He didn't hesitate at all then. "Use your cutter to take their legs. We have a healing amulet. We can use it if we need to. If they try it more than once we'll heal them with their legs off and leave them crippled forever."

Even to his own ears it sounded too hard to be believed, but the girl wasn't a soft delivery person like he used to be, or a child. She was learning to kill and that seemed to make a difference in how you thought about things. She just rearranged her weapons, building a little special pocket for her cutter, so that she could bring it to bear first, if needed.