by Power, P. S.
Recording the interaction.
It was fast, and meant that the being had worked out how to use the thing in very short order. Then, none of these people seemed to be stupid, in particular. Oh, they didn't all seem to get along perfectly, but that was, as far as he could tell, about bickering, not open warfare.
Hess and the other Ysidril spoke easily with Tiera, then Dareg suggested the being get in touch with King Richard. Surprisingly the man picked up, himself, and acted like the scaled green and purple being was expected. That was due to Alphonse having just been in touch with him, Dare was willing to bet. Or more to the point, the device in his hand was held out casually to pick up what was going on.
So it wasn't a shock to him in the slightest.
"Greetings." The giant man bowed, and smiled politely.
Hess did it back.
"I greet you as well. From the Ysidril, and the combined fleets. Several of your people have come to us, and it was suggested we meet?"
The King smiled a bit more realistically then.
"We should. Can you come to a meal here? Any time, day or night, of course. We can cater to your schedule."
That caused demurring, and a subtle suggestion that any time would work for them, since the Ysidril didn't sleep. It was an interesting bit of news to Dare. Finally after about ten minutes of people out politing the others, he cleared his throat.
"I need to get a jump ship for Hess here, and give some lessons. Then you can visit whenever you both like? I'll see to that as soon as we work out who wants to trust us that much?"
As it turned out, everyone there was fine with putting their lives in his hands.
It sped things up considerably.
Chapter eight
Dareg felt ragged by the end of the day. It lasted so long that by the time he could reflect on it all, it was a whole twenty four hours later, and he was waking up in his own bed. At the Noram Capital port, sitting up and half falling out of his bed.
With a snort he flailed wildly and answered the strange ringing. It was his handheld, and of course, was in his pocket, on the right hand side. Where it lived now. That was, clearly, a major mistake. If he wanted good sleep, the thing was going to have to move back to its little box. Except of course, that if he did that, then no one would be able to reach him, if there was an emergency. Why anyone would need him for one of those...
Well, that was easy. He had a ship, and had volunteered to help people out, in order to keep himself on the list of people that were needed.
So he pulled the smooth focus stone and hoped that whoever wanted him was going to at least be interesting. Hess came to mind, since the being had been polite and gentle, despite the way it had looked.
Instead it was a woman's face in his hand in the dark space, when he answered. Looking up, at the wall of the pod, it cleared under his regard, showing him the outside world. It was still dark out, which meant this call was coming in very early.
Looking at it, his brain slowly waking, the thing came into focus.
"Petra? Do you need me? Where are you? Should I collect people?" His words were a little mumbled, Dare's lips feeling thick and his tongue trying to stick to the inside of his mouth.
Annoyingly there was a smile.
"You need to get to Printer for morning lessons. Fighting. I thought I'd give you a few hours head start."
"Ah?" It was tempting to ignore her and go back to sleep, but he really did need to practice. Fighting was, now, a distinct possibility in his world. That he'd survived the one real battle he'd been in was nearly a mistake. Others had carried him, as hard as he'd tried.
If it wasn't for Kolb sacrificing his life to save him, Dareg would have died. So, he nodded, knowing the truth. School term or not, he had to be ready.
"I'll run first, here. That will take about an hour?"
That got a laugh, but Petra didn't say no.
"Come directly after that, we're three hours ahead of you, and I see the sun trying to peek over the horizon already. Talk to you soon."
He did brush his teeth first, and showered, even if he were running right after, because he hadn't for nearly two days. Then he drank some protein drink that Tam-Unit made him, and threw himself into the six mile run. He'd done it before, but this time he didn't hold back, trying to push into a dead on, full sprint, for as long as he could keep it up. It was less than the whole thing, but a lot sooner than he would have figured possible, his lungs burning, he gasped his way back to the port, and set his ship up. Still panting. Then he got in and sat for a few moments, made the ship very small, with only one seat, and waited until he didn't feel like he was going to throw up any longer.
Then he carefully lifted and flew the exit pattern from the port facility, glowing brightly, so that anyone coming or going would be able to see his tiny craft. Then, moving fast he went straight up, got out of the atmosphere, and set up a jump to the eastern coast. The big trick was that he didn't exactly know how to find Printer. That meant he ended up over Canton, where he was from. Still in space he steered toward the south, along the coast, lowering into the world, trying to find something that looked like the right spot.
There was a large city that way, which was probably close to the correct location, being about three quarters of the way down the coast. There was even a place that had magical lights, so he moved in on that, carefully. Then he got his handheld back out, and searched for Petra Lairdgren's name. She was under Petra Ward, he recalled, so tabbed that, and got a response after a few moments.
"Is the sun-like glow you?" There was a bit of strain to the words, but Petra did indeed see him.
"That's me. So I'm close?"
"You are! Dim that for us? If anyone notices it they'll be frightened. We've had air attacks here before."
"Ah? Dimming now. Can you still see me?" He didn't just dim the craft, but made it a soft blue color that would, he hoped, be friendly seeming.
"Yes. Facing west you need to move to the right about three miles. Then float inland until I tell you to stop..."
It was a bit more complex than that, but she talked him in, and Dareg was able to land in a square made of focus stone, that only held two people so far. Then, it was just becoming daylight, and for all he knew it was an off day from school.
The other person was lifting heavy stones with handles on them. The lanky fellow stopped for a moment, and waved at him when he got out and put his ship away.
"Dareg!" There was a bit of bass to the the whole thing, since the man was a giant.
"David!" They'd met a few times after all, so it made sense for him to be polite and call him by name.
His sister, Karen had died in the fight against Bill and Straughan. Thinking of that reminded him of blood and a head being thrown around. In vivid, real life full color. He froze, reliving it, but no one asked him what was happening. Petra smiled at him, in fact.
"Good, you know each other. You've already run?"
"Six miles, faster than I have before. It's less fun than it sounds like."
She nodded then.
"Stones and pells then. Then we'll review what you know, and work until you can't stand any longer. Sound good?" She was being mean, on purpose. At least, she was trying to seem that way.
Dareg took a deep breath and nodded.
"No time for anything else. Let's go."
It was hard, through the first bit, since the skin on his hands blistered and broke open, while doing both the stones and pells. That last was just hitting a post with a heavy stick however. An iron bar, really. They had him heal his hands with an amulet, which left his muscles feeling better, then he got to go over everything he knew, and was shown twenty new moves, all with regards with stick fighting, and had to fight with both Petra and David, beating each other until he literally couldn't stand. Possibly not have children any longer either, since he'd been blasted half a dozen times in the groin by Petra.
Gasping, blood coming from his lips and face, he crawled toward her, trying to hit h
er in the legs, which he managed a few times, making loud slaps against her skin. The sun had come up, and others walked into the practice court. Only three or four of them just started working however, some stopping to watch what was going on.
Jumping back after a while, Petra grinned.
"Work! Unless one of you wants to jump in and work with Dareg? Warning, that's full force, and he's stronger than he looks. Faster than any of you, too."
Oddly enough, there was a taker on that one. A boy that wasn't all that large, either, compared to David or Petra. Clearly noble however, being at least three or four inches taller than he was, and had very light blond hair.
"Ma'am? I'll have a go, if you think I can manage it?" He was very gentle sounding, and polite.
Dareg forced himself to his feet, using the end of his stick to help him stand. As soon as Petra nodded, the boy threw himself at Dare, unarmed.
It was almost fair, until the tool in his hand was pried away. Then Dareg was just beaten, until he couldn't see any longer. He didn't go down however, but his face was so swollen and bloody that there was nothing he could do but lash out blindly.
Except that wasn't true. He might not have been the god of building, but he had the ability to feel things, and people, at a distance. It meant he had to still his thoughts, which was hard to do while being hit every few seconds, but he managed well enough to gain a rough sense of his new partner. Even what he was doing, which was very vague but allowed him to get his right arm in the way of the fist that came in. Slowly. That was being done on purpose, too. The other boy trying to give him something approaching a chance.
"No." He shook his head, his words half mush. "I can't risk that. Full speed. Faster than that."
The request produced a sense of surprise, but was answered with a series of moves that would have seemed fast to him, if he hadn't been beaten by Bill that one time.
In the end he was on the ground, unable to keep defending himself.
Petra's voice came then.
"Healing amulet. Three minutes, Dare. Then we go again." That got a gasp from the other kids, which seemed right to him, given that it was clear what the plan was. A full force fight against almost everyone there.
Dareg got that, and over the course of the next hour, so did almost everyone else. Except one girl, who ran away, or started to. She was laughing, and Petra called her back, before she got to the wall. She was taller than Dare, but thin.
"All right, Wendra. That actually isn't a bad plan for you. Kolt, you're up next. I suggest you cheat. Dareg is smaller than you are, but about three or four times stronger, and at least twice as fast. Maybe more. He's tired, but that isn't as big of a deal for him as it is you. He's capable of combat rage, but has been holding that in very well. Right now he's functionally blind." She stopped suddenly, looking puzzled, and turned toward him. He could feel her regard coming at him. "Some kind of field reading?"
"Yes. I haven't been able to see since that first boy."
"Kent. Kolt's brother. Younger brother, so no pressure on you, Kolt. The point is, there's magic in play, and a being that isn't strictly human. How are you going to play this?"
There was a pause, then a soft, almost kind voice spoke.
"With as many people as I can get, and weapons?"
"Go then. Don't wait long."
Dareg got that the rules were about to change, and tried to think fast. It was hard, holding his mind as still as he was, not even trying to open his eyes, since that wasn't happening at the moment.
"Um... Countier Derring? How about we form an alliance?" He didn't know if that was going to be allowed, but Petra didn't countermand it, so he pushed his luck, and called out again. "Wendra? Kent?"
Kent actually howled, and ran to his side, holding something. It was a weapon, which was a short club, which got handed to Dare, pressed into his hands. A lot more slowly, Wendra, the scared girl that didn't want to fight him, moved in behind, holding something longer.
David moved in, too.
In front of them there was a gang of eight people, but his side had more size. The battle was either very brutal, or comical, which was a thing that he couldn't determine. In the end his side lost, but it was close. Technically Petra called it, before he was beaten to death.
She said as much, but he shook his head.
"Nah. If I was that close my shield would trigger. It would, if I ever felt threatened. I can't hold it off that well." That was the rule after all. They did that automatically. He just knew that he was safe there.
Petra and David both laughed. It was strained however.
Dave cleared his throat.
"I see. We should get you healed up again, Prince Dareg." Something small and smooth was pressed against his arm shortly after. It caused blistering pain to run through him, but he only had to gasp in pain twice. After about five minutes he could see again, and smiling didn't hurt. Through all of it he hadn't even broken a bone or lost any teeth. That was a surprise, actually.
When it was done, Petra moved over to him, her large tan hand slapping him on the shoulder.
"You did not do well, skill wise. This is what, your fifth lesson?" She looked at the people around her, without expression. A few of them winced, hearing that.
He sucked in a lung full of air and nodded, feeling slightly glum.
"That's about right. Fourth really, I think. Close enough." Fifth if they were counting a fight that should have ended in his death.
Petra looked at everyone else there, still holding his shoulder.
"Get that? I won't put most of the students through this, but you, here, the core of the fighting section, need to do better. There are things afoot, that... Frankly, I don't think any of us are ready to face. I don't know what I can tell you about it..." She looked at him then, like he would know more.
He shook his head.
"No one has even suggested we can't tell people everything. I think it's mainly just that... Well, there doesn't seem to be a lot that we can do yet. Get ready, and learn, but..." He sighed and looked at everyone else.
Then he stopped, and shook his head again.
"Okay. We're facing a very dangerous enemy, that comes from someplace else. There was an attack, about a month ago, against two unarmed beings. They'd infiltrated almost perfectly. When we fought..." He didn't know what to say then, but David stepped forward, his voice dark and brooding when he spoke.
"It was, in the end, six or seven on two. Two Ancients died in that fight. One of them was probably the greatest fighter that has ever lived. The other was my sister, Karen. She was at least as good as Petra. From what I heard, she had... Her head ripped off, in the first moments of the fight."
The man couldn't keep going, so Dare did, trying to describe it as well as he could. Before he could barely remember it, but now huge pieces of it came back. He shook as it did.
"Tor fought with High Servant Straughan. Kevin. We were in the study of Sam Builder's Palace. It was... Brutal. Tor was just being beaten, punches and kicks coming out of nowhere, thousands at once. He had a healing amulet, so just turned it on, nearly dying even with that." He looked at the others, who seemed baffled.
"I... Was just frozen at first. Sitting on a sofa, as Karen died. Kolb was tossed across the room, and High servant Johan moved in to fight. Against Straughan. High Servant Erid, he wasn't a fighter, he froze too, for a bit, then tackled the man. He wasn't really Human. Erid was knocked back... By..." He glanced at David and shook his head. "You don't need to hear this." His voice was low and sad.
Petra looked horrible for a bit, but went on.
"Bill, the Squire, who looked like a commoner, threw Karen's head at Erid so hard he was blasted backward. Probably hard enough to kill him, if he hadn't been wearing an active healing amulet. Go on Dare."
"Yeah. So, Bill and I started to fight. It was... Everything happened at once. Not like it was fast, I... It was being hit hundreds of times, at once. Tor worked out how to do that too, to stand sideways to time it
self. None of our magic was working against them. No shields, no weapons. Or, they worked, but not on Bill or Kevin. I had a shield on and it did nothing to stop, or slow, Bill. So we fought. I was healing the whole time, but it wasn't enough. In... I don't know... a minute or two, it seemed like hours, I went from fine, to exhausted of all resources. I mean, I had to turn the healing amulet off, or it would have killed me."
No one spoke. They stared at him, but didn't even shift around too much.
"That's a bit out of order, it's really hard to recall now. I've been getting bits of it back. Anyway, Kolb, he was pulled into that sideways time thing by the Wizard Taman Baker. Timon Baker was there, and he helped Tor kill Kevin Straughan. Kolb managed to end Bill. I tried to help with Straughan, but he'd seen what Kolb had done, and blocked me when I tried to copy it. That... Again, it's out of order."
He looked down, tears in his eyes.
"Then... People died. Some were dead, and others didn't make it. Even with amulets on, and wizards trying to hold them to this world. We tried. It just didn't work. High Servant Johan, he lived. Erid didn't. He wasn't even a fighter. He should have run away."
Petra looked at the other then, and nodded.
"You understand? A room filled with fighters, builders, and immortals, many of them far more than human in a battle... And they died. We're working out how to fight, but these two were just scouts, they said. We have to assume that the fights to come will be more intense. So we start with basic skill. Then we need to get everyone we can trained to do that time warping thing. You're going to be learning that, Dareg? Can you get lessons for the rest of us?"
He nodded, not knowing if that was even possible.
"Yes. There's more. We have allies. They call themselves... The Allies, so it isn't hard to remember or anything. Three groups of peoples from the void of space. The Mechanical people, The Forten, and the Ysidril. The first two originally came from here. About three thousand years ago. The Ysidril are from far away. Real Aliens. They're the best, however. Very kind and polite beings. Different and they look really fierce, but they aren't fighters. The Forten are a warrior people, and the Mech people can be impressive that way. They've come to tell us about these things. The darkness they call them, or the Adversaries. Their fleet is about seven years away though, at the speeds they can travel. They don't have jump craft yet." He tilted his head. "Well, they have three now, from Queen Tiera. They just got them, yesterday."
