Ancient Kings (The Young Ancients)

by P. S. Power

  The new butler bowed again.

  "Very good sir! I'm terribly sorry about my presumption earlier. I'll go and tender my resignation at once. Please, come this way." He was perfectly calm as they walked into the house, and the man had them sit in a front room that hadn't been there the night before. That was the great thing about the magical houses. If you got tired of them, they'd change with a few thoughts and some concentration. On the negative side you could wake up in your own home and find that Collette had changed the floor plan and the bathrooms had all vanished on you.

  True, that one hadn't actually happened yet, but it was coming. Tor could feel it.

  Gerent sat on a light green colored sofa next to him, his eyes a little wide as they darted around and he jumped when Lauralie came into the room. He even stood and bowed, which was cute. It also forced his mother to bow back, looking confused. It was a good trick. Not one that would work for him, but it certainly changed the mood in the room with his mother, who was often a bit short with him, and who might have chosen to be that way with Gerent, just for being unfamiliar.

  Instead she was suddenly having to use noble rules, which meant treating the unknown man with politeness. Tor waved at her and stood himself.

  "Gerent, this is my mother Lauralie Baker. Conserina first Lairdgren. Mother, this gentleman is your adopted brother, Gerent Lairdgren. I don't know if you heard about that, but it's real." Tor waited, trying not to tense up, even though there might be questions.

  Once again his mother decided to surprise him, swooping in and giving Gerent a hug, just as if they'd known each other forever.

  "I have heard! Though technically Gerent is your brother, Tor. Tiera and Timon set the boundaries of that one, so we're going with that line, if anyone asks. Is this what you wanted to talk to me about Tor? I have to say, it's a bit better than the dressing down I expected. I am sorry for that little... difficulty I caused in Vagus. Can you forgive me? I was prepared to scream and fight, but if we can avoid that I'll look better in front of our new family member." She looked at Gerent and seemed more than a bit happy to see him. Using him as a shield against Tor.

  Clever. A Gerent Shield. It even had a nice ring to it.

  "Oh, we'll be talking about that later, I'm certain. But we don't need to do it right now. To answer your question however, no. I came to bring some fields that Taman can practice copying." He stopped for a second and then shrugged. "Also... She's immortal. I didn't mention it to her, so that you and da can decide how to handle it. I just thought you should know."

  There was no speaking for a long time and the only response from Laurie was a tensing of the mouth that didn't look happy at all. Almost upset, to tell the truth. She sat down across from them and didn't say anything at all. Not even after most people would have. It was getting well into stress inducing by the time that a woman came in with a silver tray that held an assortment of baked goods. She was followed by a younger girl that had one with tea on it. As if he drank tea? His mother seldom did either, being too busy working for things like that most of the time.

  He didn't comment.

  When those two left, smiling professionally the whole time, Gerent furrowed his brow at the woman who was, Tor realized, nearly forty. Counting it up the number kept coming up as even older than that. Forty-four at least. She never said, even on her birthday. She looked nineteen at the moment and was very good looking, which kind of creeped him out, since good looking relatives were apparently a problem for him. He wasn't having thoughts about her, but just being there left him feeling dirty, as if he might at some point. Icky. Also not a real threat, since he could control his mind, but that was the kind of thing he'd have to watch for, from then on. Just in case.

  His new...brother, wrinkled his whole face, thinking deeply and then just shook a bit.

  "Is that a bad thing? I thought living forever would be nice. Did... Is this that Ancient thing Patty told me about? The Green Man and the others?"

  Tor was about to answer when his mother sighed and nodded.

  "Yes. I'll explain more if you want. The problem is that too many of my children are turning out that way. I shouldn't have had even one, but four... It means that someone has tampered with things. I don't know how, so... It's worrying."

  The words Gerent spoke next were soft and muttered, but Tor heard him, even if Laurie didn't.

  "Let me know if I can help."

  Tor covered for the words, taking the amulets out of his right hand pocket and passed them to her with a grin.

  "For Taman. I'll be by to show her some things too. The others as well, if they want. You should try it too. There's that thing coming. If it is." Because, seriously, a fleet of boats from outer space was hard to believe. That three of them would come at once was pushing the bounds of what was possible. Gerent should have asked about it, but he just didn't, which meant talking about it wasn't going to work very well. It would seem like he was trying to spread the information.

  The conversation drifted into what Gerent had planned for the future, which, if Tor had it right, seemed to be staying with Timon until he was kicked out and then trying to find a troop of low players that would take him on as a performer. A clown or jester of some sort. He'd done that kind of work before, he admitted glumly, as if they'd judge him for it or something.

  "It's not a good life, but it's enough."

  Tor shrugged.

  "If you want. Or you can start your own group. Or, I don't know, start a business, or work for Tim. What do you really want for yourself though? What's important to you? When you dream of a better life, what comes to mind?" It was harder than it sounded like, getting a person to plan a future when they clearly weren't used to that kind of thing.

  Gerent looked away, toward the outside wall, even though there was no window there. He didn't say anything for a bit and when he answered it was so soft that it couldn't be heard.

  "Sorry, missed that." Tor leaned in and Gerent did his part too, speaking up a little.

  "I... Always wanted a garden. I had a pot once, with a plant in it. I don't know what it was, but the stable master's son where I was staying at the time picked it and said it was just a weed. Then he broke the pot and pushed me into a pile of dung." The red color crept above his collar, and Tor had an idea why that was.

  His biggest dream was to have a garden? That was awful. He should dream of palaces in the sky, or being the best tradesmen ever, or something like that. Being wealthy and having women to bathe him daily and powder his manhood. Of course he wouldn't say that last part in front of Laurie, being polite and all that, but the rest of it should be bigger, shouldn't it? How beaten down had he been his entire life that just having a plot of ground and some plants was the best thing he could imagine for himself?

  Tor nearly cried, his eyes actually starting to water a bit. He could steer his new brother a bit maybe...

  Lauralie smiled and gave a firm nod.

  "That would be an excellent occupation for a Countier of your standing. You might throw in some charity work, and see if father or Torrance will lend you some property for it. We need to see to getting you a stipend as well. It won't be a lot, since your thirteenth in line and not up for the position of Count personally, but a few gold per month at least. Tor, would you see to that? Count Lairdgren should, of course, but you seem to have taken over as far as getting Gerent settled. You and Timon. I'll leave it to you. If funds are needed from Douglas or I, please let me know." She settled back a bit, as if it were all settled or something.

  "Really? I can have a garden? What would I grow? I... would anyone really let me?" It was so painfully eager and unbelieving that Tor had to turn away and wipe at his face. Then, after dropping into a rather clear mental state, he turned back. It only took a second, but his mother was watching him, having picked up on it all, he was certain.

  "I have some seeds from Afrak that need to go into the ground. Most of them are being used in the planting project for the Wildlands, but some of those should be
available. Plus you can collect them from different places if you want. I don't know a lot about growing plants personally. You'll probably want to research that."

  Laurie beamed then and let a slow smile come across her face.

  "There. I'm almost positive that Tor will handle the rest for you, the property and that. How much should the stipend be, do you think?" There was a bit of blatant manipulation involved there, since, clearly, she wanted him to pay for it. That was still more than a little strange, since he was happy to, so it was probably a simple reflex on her part. Trying to get people to do what she wanted with guile, instead of simply asking. Even though she already had.

  "I don't know. What would you like Gerent? I was thinking that I'd just open my vault to you and you could get what you wanted, but I can see that having some that you knew was yours alone might be good too." The members of the Kings Secret Army got two gold a week and many of them were nobles, but that was pay, not a family stipend. His mother had said that it wouldn't be much already, so there was that to consider too.

  The man looked scared then and held his arms across his chest, like he suddenly felt cold.

  "I'm sure I don't need anything. Everyone has been so kind already..."

  Tor rolled his eyes then and laughed once.

  "Right. If we don't give you anything Trice will raid the vault for it anyway. She really doesn't have a great sense of what's hers or not. No reason you shouldn't get it directly from me though. Call it ten a month? Then you can come in and get anything more you need. Just don't take to gambling and it should be fine. I'd rather you just gave funds away, rather than lose it like that. I'll arrange that with Collette, so that it will always be available."

  Gerent stood then and shuffled his feet, looking half ready to run out of the room. It was a strange reaction to people trying to give you things. No one should have to be that uncomfortable though.

  Tor covered by standing up himself.

  "Right, good thinking Gerent, we should be up to the school soon. Picking Tiera up for a trip down to the Capital this evening. I already mentioned that, didn't I? Just a visit. Then I really need to get a bit of work done. Oh... I'm having a bit of a get together at the Capital house in three days. You're all invited. It's mainly to meet the Austrans that Timon brought in. Something about players? I'm sure it will be interesting. I'm going to ask Denno, if he'll come. It will give me a chance to grovel some more if nothing else." That was a bit of a dig at the woman in front of them, who stood herself, and made a displeased face that said she got his intent completely.

  Good. It had been her fault, at least in part, that Tor had beaten Denno in the first place. Most of it was his, for overreacting, but it wasn't his fault that he didn't know how to handle unrestrained anger was it? Most people got years of practice doing that and he'd had what... maybe a month or two at that time? Sure, no one would have thought he would have done what he did, nearly killing a man like that, but it had started with her trying to be mean to him. If she'd been his mother, instead of a bossy immortal, it never would have happened.

  Tor grinned though, to soften the blow. It was, like it or not, in the past. They just had to fix what they could now. It wasn't like Denno would make it too hard on him. The man was forgiving to a fault. A real one at times. So was Burks, come to that.

  He used to be but was working up to holding a grudge or two, now that he could. Just for the experience of it.

  "I believe it will be at nine. I'll see if Tiera will come and get you all. Should we expect you?"

  There was a real look of consideration at least, and finally she nodded.

  "If you don't mind having the kids? We can bring a servant or two to watch them, if you like. Not that they'll misbehave. I think your father and I have managed to get this parenting thing down well enough finally, given all the practice."

  "We'd love to have them in. They have an off day after that? From school I mean?" He tried to count the days up, but didn't really know the date at all. His mother nodded though, so he didn't ask. No one liked to look stupid all the time, and an important part of seeming intelligent was not spreading your errors all about. Especially not to people that would judge you for them. "Great. You can all spend the night then. It will save a night flight back."

  Then Tor warned her that the new butler might try to resign, but allowed that he hadn't been insulted at all, which got Gerent to nod along. He might not know all the proper social rules, but he understood that agreeing with people that seemed friendly was a good idea. It had taken Tor nearly a year to work that one out for himself.

  Then he had to give his mother a hug, which left him feeling unsettled and awkward, though Gerent seemed at least as nonplussed when it was his turn, pulling away more quickly than was perfectly polite. Laurie didn't act like she minded though and let him go easily.

  "Now, I expect you to visit regularly. If you don't decide to stay with us I mean, Gerent. You can have a room here at any time. I can tell you don't believe it yet, but you truly have a family here. We don't abandon our own." She gave the man a look that seemed almost a bit worried then. "Make sure to abuse Tor's good will and spend all his coin for him, will you? He has a remarkable amount and does almost nothing but support new business endeavors. At least that's considered a fairly noble activity. It's what most of us do you know. Own things and collect land taxes."

  That and make up stupidly petty intrigues, Tor knew. After the final set of goodbyes they managed to work their way down the new path to the newly resurfaced village main street and set up the Fast Carriage again, this time gesturing for Gerent to climb into the driver's seat. The man froze in place though, as if not wanting to try it.

  "Are you certain? I... What if I crash?"

  "Then it will leave a big mess on the ground. You won't though. It isn't hard, just new. Go very slowly and if you aren't certain what to do, let go of the control and the whole thing will stop where it is."

  The man wasn't great at first, and Tor had him fly to a few different places, then spend about half an hour taking off and landing. Terry had done a bit better his first time, but he'd gotten a chance to practice before in a slower carriage, which was driven almost exactly the same way. He also had his own flying rig and was accomplished at that. It wasn't that similar, but it was all guiding yourself through the air, which was a big part of the task.

  By the time they settled in the commons at the school Gerent had it all down well enough. It would take a bit of polish to really be good, say if he wanted to take passengers professionally, but it was enough that Tor decided to set him up with his own, as soon as the new ones were ready. In the meantime he had to have an older style model around. They weren't as fast, but you could still travel the width of the continent in a day. It was faster than walking by a good bit.

  "Lairdgren School. It isn't just called that, the Count actually owns it. We should take the craft with us I think. We don't want someone to take it up without permission. They'd probably do some damage if they tried." Landings had to be done carefully, or else you'd end up going into the ground. Hitting a building here wouldn't go over very well either, since people might die from it.

  School kids were, by definition, sometimes dumb.

  Which, after Gerent took down the Craft and handed it to him, had Tor thinking about his younger sister. It was about two in the afternoon already, since sitting and talking ate up time faster than it seemed and that meant he was a bit hungry. There were a few restaurants in town, so if the others could eat, he'd head over to one of those and see to that. It was late for it at the school, but they could get a late luncheon no doubt. He should have enough coin on him for that, without even stopping at the house to pick up more.

  "Tiera's room is this way..." They didn't get ten steps before a giant wall of familiar girl was in the way, flanked by several other giants. They were all in fighting leathers and looked mean, but one by one they stopped and smiled at him.

  "Master Tor!" Judith was in front, and
had managed to get even taller than the last time he'd seen her, half a year before or so. She was easily over seven feet tall now, and looked to be getting ready to add another one or two to that, if it was possible. She was a woman, so that might help prevent it, but her body was rail thin now, which gave her a far more graceful appearance than she'd had the last time their paths crossed.

  She rushed him and bent down to give him a warm but quick hug.

  "I heard you were about. We were just headed into town for a meal, you want to come? You can bring your friend?" She looked at Gerent and bowed, which he returned, right until Tiera managed to work her way to the front of the group and grab him into a hug of her own.

  "Gerent! So good to see you!" She spun to the group her face suddenly hard, as if waiting for someone to challenge her on what she said. "Everyone, this is Gerent. My brother."

  No mention was made of him being adopted even, which was totally correct. Karen moved to the front and hugged the little man as well, then turned a much warmer one on him. She didn't say anything however since a few others clearly wanted to either take a turn trying to crack his ribs or slap him on the shoulder hard enough to set his shield off. It was hard to tell at first, since it was kind of a huge wall of flesh, but there were only five of them in all. Baron Havar and David Derring were there too, pulling up the rear of the group.

  Gerent stepped away from them, which was both sensible and a bit funny. After all, they were so clearly nobles that a small person like him had to feel intimidated. Tor would have, except that he knew them all.

  "Well, that works for me then. I was planning on grabbing Tiera and Karen up for a late luncheon in town. My treat. For everyone." That was a bit over the top in general, since it could be seen as him playing the big man, but in a way he was, trying to show Gerent that he wasn't hurting for coin at all. Otherwise he'd probably try to give it all back or something and that would be awkward.