Slave Line (The Young Ancients)

by Power, P. S.

  It had been a while, but he'd fought the Larval before, and while he'd won, it had cost him to do it. A lot. He nearly died flat out and would have if Trice hadn't come in with a healing device almost instantly as the fight ended. All of the Larval had survived too. If he'd been alone they would have won the day most likely.

  Of course he'd been naked at the time and done it to free a hostage. They had even more now. Of everything. Hostages, assassins and the home ground advantage. The only trick was that he wasn't who he'd been back then. It didn't sit easy, but to save thousands of lives he could sacrifice one now if he had to, and not just himself either. The assassins probably weren't up to date on that fact. It could, possibly, give him a small edge. This time he wasn't giving up his weapons either, or his shield. It might help him survive. Even the seven he'd fought before had refused to meet him with weapons, saying that they'd die if they did. Hopefully that would turn out to be the truth.

  They knew their job well, so he'd have to trust they knew their own limits too.

  He needed to see a map of where they were going, which was brought up on a screen in the room after Denno poked his fingers in the air and spoke to the air for a while. The location wasn't that hard to find in the real world it seemed, he could mainly follow the coast line, then turn right at the second river.

  "OK. We'll see you in seven hours? Try not to be late. I don't know if I can sing and dance much longer than that." As he and Orange left Trice tried to follow him, a grim look on her face.

  She'd lost her left arm due to the Larval. The idea of facing them again had to be freaking her out. But she came along anyway, or did until Burks grabbed her arm.

  "Patricia? We'll need you for the second team going in. Probably a few more individuals as well if it can be managed."

  He didn't say more, just running after Denno, holding her by the hand. Tor understood, he thought.

  There were fifty Larval on site. Maybe a lot more. As a force they were possibly one of the most dangerous groups on the planet. It was why Denno had them all built like he had, in case they needed ground troops to fight off an invasion. If that alien stuff was even real. Tor had seen the data, but it could all be faked, couldn't it? Just little lights dancing in the air after all. Even if real it didn't mean that they'd be fighting on the ground, but Denno hadn't known that they might be able to get a fleet up in time. It was still going to be close, but maybe they could do something?

  The point though, Tor understood, was that as scared as he was, Trice was more afraid. As small and weak as he was, Tor had better reflexes than she did under pressure and better combat skills. Plus the Larval hated him for some reason. Maybe it was Burks they really didn't like, but it was him, personally, they'd gone after all those times. Calling him the "Unknown Factor" if he remembered right. Whatever that was.

  So Tor had a chance to get them to come after him. If they did it right it could take long enough. They needed to start slowly though, to buy time. Lots and lots of it.

  Ideally without ever closing the distance between them at all.

  "I need to talk to the one in charge at the hostage scene. The Larval I mean." Tor spoke in a low tone, not knowing if anyone would bother paying attention to him. Orange looked and didn't do anything, but the Prime Minister pulled his little black square out and handed it to him without asking why he wanted it. Tor looked at it and was tempted to start poking at it randomly, but didn't want to waste the time. He looked at the man and sighed, giving a rueful look in his direction.

  "I don't know how to use this. Our magic is different than yours. Do I hit a sigil or something? I don't know how to..." He looked at it and saw it did have a blue glowing mark on it, which he pushed, automatically using intent to cause it to work. The front lit brightly, making a little chime as it did. He expected something, so didn't jump or anything, but couldn't make sense of most of the pictures it displayed. It was a good idea, the way it organized things, but it took knowledge of what the secret signs meant to make work. Foley took it back and hit one of the pictures, which were all in color and looked pretty realistic, but not perfectly so.

  "Here, this will connect with them. Sorry, I should have remembered that part of things. The whole different... magic. Yes." He looked almost angry about something, but Tor didn't have time to figure it all out, since a familiar and evil sounding voice was on the line.

  "Prime Minister? I hope you have our Ancient ready for us. Trussed like a goose, ready to eat? We grow impatient. It would be a mistake to try and send in any of your military or police you know. We control their com bands right now and any attempt to do anything will cause us to kill all these little civilians and move to the next location. We're prepared for this to go on for a good long while. We have nothing but time, but these innocent people here don't." The voice had a strange and eerie quality to it, almost a singsong lilt under the Austran accent.

  It was a Larval all right. Tor wouldn't forget the voice if he lived for ten thousand years. They were creepy as all get out. Sure, he was biased, but that didn't mean he was wrong. Just trying to kill him all those times was enough to cause him to be a little angry at them. That and scared, but they wanted him to be afraid, didn't they? That's what they were doing, threatening innocent people.

  "Put Cordes on the line. Now." Tor didn't sound frightened this time. He sounded... Mean. Hard even. Like someone that actually knew what he was doing. He'd always thought he couldn't act, but this seemed to show differently.

  There was a silence that seemed to radiate from the device as if a physical chill was coming off of the black. It only hit his soul though, nothing else. The voice that spoke was deeper, but clearly the same person, only the accent changing.

  "Cordes here. I take it this is one of my brothers? Who is it? Brown? Tesco? Or... could it be you Green? After all this time? You always were my favorite. So easily led and controlled. Of course you eventually helped them kill me didn't you? I don't remember it, but I put it all together over time. Shame on you. Shame. I bet it took you a while to get over having done that, didn't it little brother. Did you see me in your dreams? Do you still? Haunting you and asking why you did it?" The voice had gone into a happy and playful tone, not dark or menacing at all.

  It was a trick, no doubt.

  "Nope, this is Torrance Baker. Call me Tor. You tried to kill me a few times I believe? Care to explain yourself? I can't remember ever doing anything wrong to you in particular. Not yet I mean." He was playing too, but for time, figuring that the Larval might vaguely remember him as a target that got away, or as an annoyance. Maybe not even that. Still, they'd sent some of their number after him, so it might be in the collective memory somewhere at the back, hidden under all the meals eaten or some other trivial day to day occurrence.

  There was silence again on the device in front of him. Tor said nothing, just waiting, hoping it was an effective enough trick to keep him busy. If all the Larval were this one man it might work, right?

  "Are you indeed? Well... that changes things doesn't it? I was going to settle for Brown today, just to set things in motion, but you... Ah... I don't suppose you'd be willing to trade yourself for some Austrans would you? We have so many of them here. More than three thousand of them in fact. All unhurt and shiny. Come and deal with me yourself and I'll let them go. I'll even throw in some cars if you want. Loose women and cash. I don't have any gold here, but you get the general idea. We need to talk. Come to an accord of some kind."

  Tor looked at the device in his hand and then at Orange. He ignored the Prime Minister, who looked way too hopeful about the idea of him going in Browns place. That wasn't happening anyway, except to spring the trap, even if all the hostages died. It was something coming from Cordes, but Tor had to agree. He wasn't giving over his brother to assassins. Not without a fight. Even if it meant thousands possibly dying.

  "Fine, you and I can talk. No one gets hurt and we meet alone. If you try to kill me... then all deals are over and we fight to the death. O
f your kind. If you harm even one hostage or act in less than good faith, we fight and I swear I'll end you all. I think you might want to know that a few things have changed since last we met. Like the fact that I'm not half the pushover I was back then." Waiting was hard, especially after the device went dead. For a second Tor wondered if the "technology" had failed, but Foley grimaced.

  "Hung up on us. How rude. Then hostage takers have never been known for their wonderful social skills, have they? Larval either, so I suppose we should expect things like this. I guess we wait now?" They did.

  Orange wanted to go and try to kill them all, but admitted that going in fighting could endanger innocent lives if the Larval had half a brain between them. No one had ever claimed they weren't good at their jobs.

  Evil, amoral and creepy, but if they wanted people dead it was hard to beat them.

  Tor had done it, once, but didn't doubt that they'd learned from the experience. So had he though. The question would be who'd learned the most since then.

  The device chimed again, and Tor hit the glowing sigil out of habit since it was how he'd have answered his own communications device. Shockingly it worked and the Larval spoke to him again, still sounding like Cordes.

  Sort of.

  The voice wasn't as deep as the memories in his head. Not at all. Then the larval were maybe six-four fully grown and Cordes had been about nine foot something or other. It made a difference.

  The voice didn't try to explain anything, just taking up the conversation where it left off.

  "Agreed. Do you have a location in mind? I can meet you there. If I'm killed, the hostages all die and we'll scatter. If you don't show up or try to capture me... You know, I'm sure you get the idea. Name your place and time."

  Tor had to look at the map again and picked a place at random, a town that was just a dot on the map until Foley tapped the screen showing that it had a main street with shops on it. It was a very good map. Tor wondered if he could use the general idea for a magical one? It was clever and he wasn't above borrowing an idea like that. He saw something then, a shop that had a large brightly colored sign, a stand really, that was advertising ice-cream cones. He'd never heard of those, but Cordes, the one whose memories he had, suggested that one of those would be nice. Especially if they had soft serve.

  "Morton's Ice cream stand in Halifax. Meet me there in..." Tor wanted to be clever, but he could make it inside and hour even if he got lost. He was just about to try and pad that out to two when Cordes laughed.

  "That will take at least three hours to reach. I suppose you'll want ten or something to try and get a military squad in place?"

  "There is no squad coming at all. This is just you and me... and our agreements. I believe you know that I keep my word, don't you? No matter what?" Tor didn't know that at all, but it sounded better than him saying the other man probably couldn't trust him. to save lives he'd lie, cheat or steal without batting an eyelash. Slave Rhetistics or not, that had always been the case.

  "I believe I can. Three hours then. Halifax, Morton's ice cream stand. The one on Main street or the one off Olive?"

  "Main." There were two of them? Tor blinked a little. It must have been a destination worth going to then.

  The device in his hand went dark again, so Tor handed it back to Foley and gestured to Orange.

  "Do you have any clue what Ice cream is?"

  "Of course I do. You'll like it. Well, if it isn't the cheep stuff. Shall we go? I'd like to set up a perimeter, just in case it's a trap. It had better be, or I'll lose all faith in Cordes and the assassins."

  Foley held up a hand and ducked out of the office, coming back with a small handheld device that he gave to Tor, and a similar one that he gave Orange.

  "You can keep in touch with us on these. They don't call out except to us here, but they can be used for credit transactions so you can get some food. Do you have a plan?"

  Tor nodded.

  "Sure do. We're the diversion, so we divert. If loading this man up on sweets and flattery will keep him busy at all, we'll do it. If that doesn't work I'll let him take me prisoner and see if he'll take me back to the others so I can kill them." It sounded tough enough to him, but the man shook his head.

  "Don't underestimate them. These are Larval, the deadliest killers that the world has ever known. Some of them at least. If it looks like they're going to escape we have to end this. That means calling in an airstrike." The man looked pretty damned hard himself as the words came out, his eyes deadly and still. Whatever his old job had been, Tor doubted it was Junior Prime Minister or anything fun like that.

  Tor made a little pocket on the left side of his tunic and stuck the little communications device in it, the man's eyes going wide at the sight.

  "Well, not to sound all tough or anything but the last time I fought with Larval there were seven of them against the one of me, armed with knives. I was unarmed and naked at the time. They ended up with no arms or legs and still live in a prison somewhere in Noram. This time I think the odds are slightly better for me. I get clothes for one thing." Except that they had way more people to kill if Tor messed up. That part would be really hard to beat.

  Maybe impossible. Still, it gave the people of the town that had been taken over a better chance than bombs did. If they were going to do that they might as well have already.

  As they exited the building Orange looked at him for a bit, her eyes warmer than he'd noticed them being before. A small smile touched her lips as the sunlight hit her light blond hair.

  "Tor, may I ask you a question? If it isn't rude I mean. I don't know the rules of the land you come from, not the most recent ones, I'm certain, so I mean no offense."

  "Sure." Why not? what was the worst thing she could ask? If he liked men or if the scene with him the Denno was real? Maybe she'd question his sanity, which would be both fair and something he couldn't honestly reassure her about. A major change in personality and a different persons memories in his brain could shake a guy up a bit, couldn't they? In fact, in a very real way he was probably insane.

  "How old are you?"

  Tor kept walking, just looking for a clear area to set up his Fast Carriage. There was a little park off in the distance that might work, so he headed in that direction, moving quickly, just in case it really was a trap and getting there early actually helped.

  "Nineteen, how old did you think I was?" A lot of people guessed younger, about fourteen, except the nobles in Noram, who often guessed him at about twelve. He needed to grow a beard again.

  The attractive woman spoke softly her voice fighting a chuckle and losing.

  "I figured you for being about three hundred or so. Maybe keeping to the youthful Green look so we could tell you apart? Nineteen. I don't even remember being that age. I'm not certain I could remember anything from my first few hundred years. Things fade over time. I remember Ice cream though. I just had some about ninety years ago. In Tellerand. They make really good stuff there."

  Setting up the Fast Carriage got about fifty people to stop and stare, with the whole thing being recorded by about half of them so fast Tor had to wonder at their reflexes. They seemed almost a bit beyond normal, didn't they? If he saw something strange and new he'd look at it for a while before doing anything else. Then he might just run.

  They took off quickly, going straight up for several thousand feet and flying off as fast as possible, not making a sound. It was one of the ways that his craft were better than the Austran ones. Those were really noisy.

  Tor landed in the street in front of the ice cream stand, calling up what it looked like from the map in his head. Morton's. It was the right place, having four little round tables with matching hard metal chairs. It looked nice enough, the tables a bright orange that got some attention from the Ancient with him, though the chairs were white.

  He didn't know what to do, but she did.

  "You stay here and wait, eat some ice cream and keep an eye out for Larval. If more than one of th
em comes, leave as quickly as possible. You can do that trick, flying without a vehicle? You have your devices for it I mean?" Her accent was a little thicker than normal, but he understood her anyway.

  "Yes. Let me..." He slipped the hand control on and held it up, showing her the back of his left hand. The little bird wing sign on the back glowed a merry gold color. It was a good point, the Larval had fought with him while he used a Not-flyer before, but never flying. They were fast and strong, but still probably couldn't catch him in the air. Not without the right craft.

  She walked away, around the edge of the stand and vanished totally. It was a good trick. One that Tor probably needed to master if people were constantly going to be trying to kill him. That or learn the trick of moving someplace no one knew he was at. Both most likely.

  He made his way up to the counter, deciding not to bother trying to hide who he was. He didn't have a disguise on and several people were taking pictures of him already, a few pointing covertly, so he smiled, figuring it would let the Larval know he was dealing in good faith at least. Or he would be, as long as they did.

  Until he couldn't anymore. Then it was likely to be a bit less than honorable.

  "Excuse me, ma'am?" The girl at the counter didn't seem that much older than him, and looked decently cute in her little white jumpsuit and white paper hat. Both had a cool blue trim on it, just a bit darker than the sky.

  "What can I get you today?" The words were out before she turned all the way around as Tor held out the black thing in his hand.

  "I'd like a small vanilla Ice cream. Soft-serve if possible. I don't know what that is, but was told to get one. I also have no clue how to use this thing rather than coin, but the Prime Minister assured me it would serve to get some food?" It wasn't paper funds, which he knew they used in Austra and could be a joke, but if so the Prime Minster was being a complete jackass.

  The girls looked at him, light glinting off of the piece of metal in her nose just looked strange, but not horrible, just different than what he was used to. It was a single silver stud on the left side. She was probably better than average looking for this place even. Her hair was just brown though and she had no visible tattoos. The only thing different about her being the nose. Maybe that was her statement? That she was special enough not to need anything to mark her as different?