Ancient Kings (The Young Ancients)

by P. S. Power

  Which was nice to notice, given that the woman really wasn't a relative of his, as it turned out.

  "Really? I have to let you know then, this idea isn't really mine. Timon came up with it. I... don't want to lead him on though. Is it alright for me to take his help, even if I'm not planning to marry him?"

  It was a bit of an emotional concern for her, it seemed and that poured off of her in a flood of information that didn't even totally end as Tiera spoke, standing behind Tor by a few feet, near the doorway.

  "Yes. He isn't doing it to get you into bed even Sara. He thinks of you as a friend too, and that means he has to help you, if he can. Be nice to him though, or I'll..." There was a glare but after a few seconds she made a slightly choked sound and looked away, smiling. "What I'll do is; nothing at all. You couldn't pay me in silver and gold to cross him. He's sensible and tries hard, but... Anyway, you can take his help. Give him a fair percentage for shipping or something, and it will be fine."

  There was a moment of concern from Sara over the words, and Trice seemed to think she understood things on a deeper level somehow. As if she knew things about Tim that Tor and the others just didn't. She was also feeling pretty secure, having both him and Tiera there. Gerent just felt a bit uneasy and the Count and Countess Ross were standing back a bit, as if to try and avoid him. It was a bit noticeable. At least they didn't seem to really mean anything by it. In fact the Countess was very worried that Tor would take real offense at the political move.

  "Well, Sara, why not come up to the school and we can talk about it all? If you have time that is. I know that putting together a new concern can take a lot." He nearly added that she could get out of it if she wanted, but she didn't give him a chance at all.

  Ali moved in and hugged her suddenly.

  "What a great idea. We have a house there. Not as grand as this one, but there's enough room for a few guests. Would you be available soon?" It was very proper sounding and Tor knew that it was genuine too. Just like he could tell that Sara wasn't sure it was, and didn't know if she was supposed to dodge out or not.

  "I'd love to, of course. I... am free for the time being. That sounds too grasping doesn't it?" There was subtle deflection in the words, and some cringing in the pretty woman's soul.

  Tor's wife just smiled and shook her head.

  "Not at all. You're my friend too, and I know that Tor wants you to come. Would you be available in a few days? We could take you now, but I don't want it to seem like we kidnapped you. Perhaps if we picked you up tomorrow sometime?"

  It went faster than seemed normal, but within two minutes it was worked out that she'd come for three days, starting just after luncheon the next day. Then Tiera giggled and took Tor by the hand, dragging him off, holding Ali's on the other side. It got a funny look from Countess Ross, but no one seemed to think it had anything to do with Tiera sleeping with him at least.

  No, the older woman suspected it had to do with intrigue and the timing of events. Things that she suspected Tiera was in charge of, not Tor.

  Whatever the heck that was about. He hadn't known that his little sister and the Countess had ever even met. It made some sense, possibly, given that the woman was staying at his Capital house. He knew for a fact that Tiera had been there at least once, in order to have that stupid duel of hers with Count Morris. It didn't matter that much though, not at the moment. He was feeling oddly tired suddenly. Probably because, once again, he was realizing that his life wasn't what he thought it was at all.

  Almost no one liked him? That was... hard to take. Sure, he wasn't exactly the best being ever to walk the world, but he tried to be polite and friendly, didn't he? Everything he did was to help someone else practically. No one even seemed to care about that. They all just wanted to believe in whatever fantasy about him that they'd pick out. He was either some kind of monster, or, if they thought he did at least a few things right, he was some kind of rich jerk that came in and made himself look good all the time, rather than just helping out where it was needed. Was that true though? He was just...Tor. Not anyone special really.

  Except, he was.

  Not perfectly so, but he knew that he had a lot of things that most people didn't really. It was more essential than having a lot of gold and a big house too. He was nice looking. He could see that now. Smart too. Sure, not as high level as Tim, but he was doing well that way. No one really doubted that either. What he did with magic was, nearly at least, as good as anyone in the world.

  Not better. But at least as good and he could make a lot of things too.

  That alone would be enough to do it.

  Plus the King had heaped honors on him over the years. He was a Knight, and then the Counselor of Magics, which hadn't even been a real thing before. A thing made up for him alone. Just because he was so special to the Royal family. Well, that and they'd figured he was dying at the time. But how many people knew that?

  No, to most people that would have seemed like he was begging them for more power and improvement to his station. Some probably figured that he was only with Connie because of that. To get things from her. Like he'd ever cared about titles? Honestly, thinking about it all now, in that light, Tor had to wonder if it would be better for everyone if he didn't have those things at all. The idea actually left him feeling happy, which was a slightly rare thing for him, over all. He could go back to being himself again, not the fiction that everyone else wanted.

  It was hard to take, but, as someone had told him once in regards to something much different, he wasn't a different person for knowing what really was. No, it was just the same old Tor, only a little better off, because at least now he knew what was real. Trice had said that, he thought.

  It sounded like her at any rate.

  There was a half moment when he lost focus then, thinking of his life, of everything that surrounded him, and he could feel it all. The house, the people, the thoughts that they held in their heads... It was a feeling of being one with everything, the world itself. He shook himself and started walking to the front of the place, where they'd set up. The Lairdgren Group was outside already, waiting for them.

  Ali set up his Fast Carriage and drove home, with everyone else chattering about things that were important to them. Little things though. Guide wanted to see if he could make a Fast Carriage and wanted Tor to help him with it. That got Instructor Fines to shake his head and smile a little.

  "No. You need to feel the field and do the work yourself. The information is all right there. You just need to find it." It was his standard line, or at least that's what Tor remembered. It wasn't really true though, was it? You couldn't easily tell what you were looking at without a bit of information. Or could you? He let his thoughts find the craft itself and it wasn't hard to tell it was growing still, if much slower than before. The organization of space that made it so fast was still increasing. Not nearly enough for space travel though.

  It took a bit to come back to normal.

  "Um..." It wasn't that he was drugged or anything, just too focused on the deeper portions of reality, the faint traces of information that made everything what it was. "Sorry. The field grows. That's a bit subtle to get from the amulet itself. Examine some trees and plants, you should be able to get a feel for the right kind of pattern. Then it takes a month or so. Not constant work. That would kill you. You set up the growth and let it go, just making it so that the pattern holds from one day to the next. About an hour or so."

  It was Sam that answered, his voice a bit awed.

  "No wonder I couldn't get it. I was sitting there for nearly two weeks trying to force things in the regular way. It really did nearly kill me. I don't know how you do those really long work sessions, Tor. No one else can manage it."

  Almost by reflex he started to say it was just practice and that anyone could do it, but that wasn't true, was it? Not really.

  "I have the Ancient pattern. It means that, at least for me, my endurance is a lot greater than most people's. I don't know
for certain, but I think it's let me survive some things that other people might not. That just means that you need to use other techniques, like how you'll grow the new carriages. I need to do the same. Working for weeks on end isn't very smart. It works, but I think that's what the Green Man meant when he said I needed to use more finesse and less brute force. I've been pushing my field far too much, for way too long. The same has to hold true for the rest of you, even if you are all smart enough not to get yourselves killed. Not like me." He sounded pretty abstract, a bit like he was drunk, but no one asked him anything else in particular. Ali seemed a bit worried about him though, which had to do with the fact that she was the one flying, as strange as that seemed. She liked being in control, but it wasn't what she was used to. It made a difference.

  There was an efficiency to how she moved though, landing in the central commons, next to Tiera, who'd led the whole way, their craft matching with a faint purple glow. It was late. He didn't know what time it was, but doubted that there would be many hours left before it got light again.

  "Thanks everyone. We should get together soon. Have a picnic or something." Tor knew that it wouldn't sound right, but no one seemed upset at him at least. Their patterns were a bit tired, but also excited. Especially the new people. He hadn't bothered to really learn their names yet. It was an oversight, since he'd named two of them that day, but he wasn't in charge of them. Fines was now. The man was good though. Not just someone that knew how to build at a high level, but an educator. A person that knew how to mold young minds and that sort of thing, instead of just having one himself.

  It was better this way. Sandra had been a mistake. She was too young for the responsibility that she'd held. Too untried. Given the position mainly because she'd been at the right place and was someone the King knew by name. There had been too much just handed to her. For things to have value, they had to be earned, didn't they?

  They all moved to walk back to their own places. Ali going with him, since it was an off-day now and that meant she was allowed to sleep in her house, not just her school room.

  She moved close to him, even though it wasn't a dangerous place at all. They all had shields on too, so it wasn't about that kind of comfort. Her shoulder bumped his arm as they walked, every third step, but she didn't move away.

  "I...I'm really sorry that I yelled at your grandfather. You aren't mad at me, are you?" She sounded like a little girl, young and worried that he'd blame her for protecting him.

  Like that was going to happen? He wasn't blaming the King or Burks overly, so why would Tor blame her?

  "Not at all. I thought it was pretty well timed, to tell the truth." He reached out and took Ali's right hand. It was warm and soft, though everything felt that way. He had a temperature equalizing amulet on. So did she. That didn't stop him from feeling her. Even the emotions, which were calmer now that they were getting closer to home. It wasn't a long walk, only a few minutes, even in the very dim light afforded by the few lamps left burning in different places. Ali's house had magical lights, but everything was off, since they hadn't planned on being back that night. Tor focused and turned one on from a distance, about three hundred feet off. It was just a matter of concentration and right now he could feel it all. That meant he could act on it too, he realized.

  They walked in together, but only needed enough of a glow to get them safely off to bed, which was the first door on the right, up the stairs. There was no one else in the dwelling at all, but there was a strange scent in the air. Almost like something had been burnt and then left to sit on the counter instead of thrown out immediately. How that had happened while he was gone, he didn't know. He could guess, but blaming anyone for it wouldn't help. Besides, it wasn't like the house could burn down.

  He was so sleepy and out of sorts that he didn't do more than change for bed and brush his teeth. Ali did the same, but then climbed in next to him, holding him close enough that everything she was thinking practically raced through his own mind as well.

  "Tor?"

  "Yes?" He needed something to call her. Sweetie or Honey maybe. So far he didn't have anything like that.

  "I, um, bought some stuff and didn't tell you about it." They were between the sheets, in a pitch black room, so only the feel of the smooth fabric, slick to the touch, and the weight of the covering held his attention, other than his wife.

  "Oh? Alright. What did you get?" That was hard to tell, but he was pretty certain it wasn't anything too small. There were flashes of an image, which was huge and brown.

  "A few things. It's that... you weren't here and I was afraid it was too much to spend. I stopped right after I did it and hardly got anything at all though. I haven't wanted to tell you, since I don't want you to yell at me."

  "Like I yell? What did you get? That farm land in County Bonner?" It kind of fit at least.

  "You know? When? I didn't say anything about it. I..." She was almost terrified suddenly. Tor had to wonder why that would be. She was his wife after all. It wasn't like she couldn't get things if she wanted them and from what he'd heard it was seeing decent use, housing bunches of orphans and helping them survive.

  "It was mentioned earlier in that council meeting. By the way, how is the project at Wildlands Station going? Are the kids learning to make useful things out of focus stone?" It was something he'd need to see to himself, since all the kids needed to have compressor units when they graduated. It was his present to them.

  "What? Oh, yes, that's going well. We should go and see it soon. You need to look into your house there too, or everyone will forget who owns it. Both houses. The women there would love to see you, I'm sure." There was none of the normal lilt of teasing in the words, which sounded a bit breathless. "It's... Tor, I spent a lot of our gold on the land. I know that you'll be mad at me when you hear... I still can't believe that I did it." Ali pulled away from him then, but he could feel her tense, ready to flee it seemed.

  That was strange, because even if she'd spent all of their funds, he could get more. If they were in debt, well that wouldn't be good, but they'd live, he thought. That wasn't her point though. No, she wanted him to ask how much, so she could let the sum out in a rush and have it done with. They were married though, which meant partners. He had to do his part too.

  "How much?" The words sounded light and unconcerned in the darkness. Maybe a little sleepy too.

  "Fifty-three thousand gold." She was back to sounding like a tiny child again. It was cute, but misplaced.

  Why, that only left them with millions of golds sitting around in various places. Hardly a threat to survival.

  "Good. Well, let me know if they need anything in particular to make their jobs easier. Is there more?" That didn't seem likely, from her sudden bafflement.

  "Tor... I just said that I spent fifty-three thousand gold for some land. It's good land and there's a lot of it, but that's a vast sum. I thought that you'd beat me or..." Her mind locked down and didn't tell him what the or was.

  Given her past, he was thankful for that.

  "It's yours too. If you want land, then we get land. If you want to hire every orphan in the kingdom, then we give it a shot. We don't really need coin you know. We never really have."

  She moved back into him with a hug, which was very nice, and comfortable. They didn't move for several minutes, until they saw the flash from outside. It was like lightening had struck, but was a strange white color, with no hint of blue at all, and lasted for several seconds. Then a deep rumble came that just didn't end for a long time, even as they both flew out of bed and ran to the window.

  Whatever it was came from the sky.

  And it was huge.

  Chapter twelve

  Tor had three simultaneous, and very different reactions to the thing he was watching out of the window. The first was to stand there staring at it like a moron, with his mouth hanging open. For about three seconds he did that pretty well, so he moved to his second action, which was to move in front of his wife, using
his body, and the shield he'd worn to bed to protect her.

  Tiera's friend Regina popped into his head then, since his sister done almost exactly the same thing, when an explosive weapon was used. It hadn't worked. Then again, the girl hadn't had a shield on herself. That was a mistake of course. One that he'd made. All the way around.

  Her death was, in many very real ways, his fault.

  He'd trusted Sandra Morris to act like a reasonable person and not go around blasting people with weapons of war in the commons of a school. It was also his failure in that he hadn't made certain that the girl, so connected to his own family, had a shield of her own. True there was a lot of blame to go around on that one, but it hurt suddenly, even as he should have been standing there in awe and slightly gibbering as the sky stopped glowing finally.

  The third thing that occurred to him was that he knew what the thing in front of him was. Or at least Cordes recognized it.

  "That's an EMP. An Electro-Magnetic Pulse. A very large one." Tor moved back from the window and took his wife's hand gently. "It... really it isn't a threat to us, as scary as it looks and sounds. It's meant to take out technology, like what they use in Austra and the Antarctic? My guess is that Orange and my Uncle Dan did it to keep Gray from running away. Or something like that. Notice how it's off to the south and east? She was probably running from Two Bends, or... given the location a spot closer to us than that by a few hundred miles." It made sense, but he turned the light in the room on, not even walking to the touch sigil by the door. A bit of focus and extended concentration did the trick, the world suddenly becoming brighter then.

  Ali just stood, her body slightly stiff and a bit of fear trickling out of her, which was probably a good sign for what other people would be feeling too, not knowing what the strange thing was. They'd probably blame him for it. After all, it seemed like magic, didn't it? That or one of the Lairdgren Group. They were the ones with new magic in the area after all.