Light Bringer (The Young Ancients: Second Cycle Book 2)

by Power, P. S.

  There was a pause, and then a nod.

  "Understood. Can you contain him there?"

  Dareg figured that she was asking if he could capture or kill the thing outside. If it was a real person, that was possible, but otherwise doing either of those things wasn't going to work.

  "No. I might... Be able to distract him for a bit. Offer that job and walk him slowly over to Sam Builder's Palace. Can you set something up?"

  "Yes. Good luck. I'll have something in place in... Call it twenty minutes. I have the location. Remember, if you have to, run."

  That was a real point. Even if the thing was faster than him, flying away without warning might work. It definitely would if he was just a commoner. In which case he could just hire the man. It would be hard, seeing Bill each day, but he'd live. That was the good option, so he was hoping for that.

  "If that doesn't work, then... Well, don't let them win."

  She looked at him, no doubt seeing the near terror in his eyes. Instead of mocking him, she nodded a few times and smiled. It was a hard thing, not her normal one.

  "That's the spirit. Twenty minutes, starting... Now."

  The screen turned back to focus stone, with nothing more being said.

  Dare still didn't want to go back outside, but he took a few deep breaths, and then did it, just moving. A smile was pasted onto his face, as a very humble looking commoner turned again, and looked down. Pretending to be a real person of his social class. Which, of course, he might be.

  "Thanks for waiting. Sorry about that. All right. The job is in management, if you want to take it. It only starts at five silvers a month, but after two months, if you want to stay on and are doing a good job, it moves to a gold a week." That was too much for gardening, so he waved his hands around a bit. "There are six Earth side ports like this. All of them need a green-belt around them. Here and Austra might be hard, but we have water and the entire area around the Capital is eventually going to be managed land. You'll be in charge of all of that. Well, the ports. The rest of the area around here is up to the king to handle. Him, or Gerent Lairdgren."

  The man locked eyes with him and looked scared for a few seconds. It was a lot more like what a person like him should have been doing than Bill had ever really managed. That would be a perfect way to set him at ease in order to throw him off. For all he knew, this could be Bill, just having learned to do a better job.

  "I couldn't. Not... Work with high folk like that, ser."

  He nodded.

  "You won't have to, for the most part. Just underlings of theirs. The work itself won't be that hard. Farming and gardening, but done on a large scale. Don't worry, you get to have other people doing most of the work. You don't mind travel, do you? It's part of the position, so you don't have to pay for it."

  They started to walk toward Tam-Unit, since she wasn't that far away from his front door. Near the mouth of the port itself. When he was nearly there, her picture flashed up on her window, the screen that showed her face, which Will didn't react to in particular. He looked, but seemed to think it was fine that a magical woman had appeared there in front of him.

  "Dareg! You have a friend with you too? This is..." The words were a question, but it was clear that she stopped on purpose. Like a person freezing in place.

  "This is Will Farmer. He's come to take Bill's old position. You should make sure that he can get what he needs from you." Part of him wanted to yell that they needed a scan, and to pass that to Taman, just in case it wasn't some commoner that merely had been used as a model once upon a time.

  "You should scan him, so that you'll know him, later. He might be all over the world, so it's a good idea." The trick was sounding a little bit bored when he said it. Dare wasn't totally certain he'd managed that exactly, however.

  Tam-Unit came back to life, and smiled at them. It seemed like her normal self.

  "Of course. Do you need anything to eat, gentlemen? I can make a few hundred items. Chicken, beef, and vegetable sandwiches, or egg wraps? Those are a favorite around here in the mornings."

  It was impossible to tell if she were trying to buy time or not, but his stomach growled loudly enough at the mention of food that Dare realized that was a fair thing to stop and do.

  "That would be great, actually. Thanks Tam-Unit. Can I get four of those wraps? That and a large glass of protein drink?" Then he turned to Will, and waved. "You should get something. You'll be working with Tam-Unit almost every day. She can make food, water, and other things. Tools and clothing? Right now I have to eat, so if you can make yourself, you should as well. We can sit on my front stoop for that?" There was no way he was going to be trapped inside with the man. Not if he could help it.

  "Thank you, ser. Is that all right? I don't have no coin."

  He smiled then, and nodded.

  "This is always free, for anyone, even if you don't have anything to pay with. For all the ports in the world. I'll get with Taman Baker and ask if she'll part with another pod house. Like mine? That way you'll be able to take it with you when you travel."

  The food started coming, so he moved in to collect it, then stood back as the common seeming man asked if it was possible to have some bread and a single egg. It was, and it came out on a plate, rather than the small tray that Dare had gotten. That, and the large glass tumbler were due to the raw amount of food he'd gotten. He honestly was that hungry, but also didn't know if eating was the best plan. If he had to fight, that might not be the world's best plan.

  Then, dying with a full stomach wasn't any worse than dying without eating.

  They sat companionably, with the smaller fellow acting a bit nervous. It fit the act he was presenting. Commoners were often shy around powerful or wealthy people. It was practically a stereotype it was so normal for them. Just like nobles were thought of as kind of brash and ridiculously overdone all the time. It was, more or less, true, so no one would feel that bothered about it being pointed out.

  Holding his platter on his legs, sitting with them crossed, he started to eat. Slowly. There was no reason to bolt his food after all. Not that he could enjoy it. The egg wrap, which was egg, sausage and a spicy sauce in a flat bread, was good. Probably better than most of the food that he'd eaten in his entire life. In his fourteen years, he'd gone from being a well cared for boy, to being among the poorest people in the entire world, and then up to the heights of where a person could go.

  Really, it had been a good life, as hard as it was in parts. Good enough that if he had to die that day, he didn't think he needed to feel bad about anything.

  After a few bites Will started to eat as well, seeming to appreciate it after the first bite.

  "This is very good. Thank you, ser."

  He nodded, his own mouth full. When he swallowed, Dareg tried to think of something to say that wouldn't sound stupid, or like he was stalling.

  "Dareg. Canton, if it comes up. If we're working together we both need to know that kind of thing. All the names and that. As soon as we're done here I'll take you over to meet Sam. I can show you where we want the green belt here as we walk."

  The other man nodded, and looked down at his plate.

  "I'll do it. If you want me too? The job, I mean. I think that I can. It's a very kind offer."

  "Sure." He ate then, a bit faster, since even going slow, Will was going to finish before he was. That would be rude of him, letting that happen. Thankfully the meal still took about fifteen minutes, and then he had them dump their plates and glasses into Tam-Unit's side. Dusting his hands off on each other, which meant they were slightly greasy, he started to walk.

  As he did, not one, but three craft settled to the Earth, coming in all at one time, and landing in front of Sam Builder's palace. Two of them were orange, though made small enough that no more than twenty or thirty people could be in each one. The last was bigger, and green. Gerent's craft, from the size and shape. Part of him dreaded that. He liked both Gerent and Petra. Really, if a massive fight came again, there would
be more deaths.

  People that he knew now, and hadn't just met a few days before. It would hurt to lose them. Any of them. It had a bit with Kolb and Karen. High Servant Erid, too.

  The thought hit him, hard enough that he recalled being trapped again. In the storm, with the body of his mother next to him for all those days. The water rising around him at first. Then the fear of being trapped there, under the heavy stones, until he died. People had come for him, but the only person that he'd had in the whole world was gone.

  Now he had more. A family even. Sure, that was a new thing, and not exactly as close. He was going to really feel the loss however, if he failed and let this man, or being, kill them all. On the good side there was only one of him there at the moment. Still, with none of their magic working on him, if he didn't want it to, a fight could, and probably would, end up being lethal.

  That being the case, they needed to go carefully. Last time the fight had started because Straughan had been called out too well. Not as being an agent of darkness, just for him having broken some rules and maybe a law or two. So his decision had been to kill them all, and probably make it seem like he'd never been there. It wouldn't have worked, but he could have escaped then.

  Which got Dareg to put a few things together, his mind working frantically to find out a way to protect everyone. The first thing that hit him was that reusing Bill, or even his face, was a huge risk. People knew him now. At the very least the evil Adversaries should at least know that two of their scouts were gone. If that was the case, then sending Will here to look for them was still a poor plan.

  The second thing was that, if they knew somehow that it was the case, that Bill and Kevin were dead, then sending in Will would mean something very different. Like he was there to try and kill them all. For real. Not as an assassin would, since sneaking in would be the way to do that. Dareg might not be well educated, but he'd heard enough stories to get that part down. Waving a banner and shouting that you were there was a bad idea, if you were just trying to kill one specific individual. Spying was out for the same reason.

  Now, that did hinge on the idea that the bad side knew what had happened, but it was a thing to watch for. If so, then this creature, if he wasn't just some back woods farmer for real, could be far more dangerous than the other two had been.

  The man, who wasn't very large, being several inches shorter than Dareg was, followed along quickly however. He was still looking down and acting humble, but that got Dare to look at his boots. They were... Nice.

  The rest of the clothing was as well. Real, and the sort of gray color that was all over the place, even in the Capital. Dyed, but in a way that showed you weren't putting on airs. Not too much. A farmer in the city might have been wearing those. They'd have been his best set of clothing, but that wasn't unheard of if you were going to seek a job. Those boots however, bothered Dareg. He had to force his eyes away, and a smile onto his face.

  "Sam is nice. Kind of tall, but don't let that fool you. A good man. You might be staying with him, until we can get you a room. That place up there?" He managed to point, his arm feeling lighter than normal. There was a small tremble in his fingers, so he dropped his hand quickly, and didn't mention it.

  If the man next to him didn't get that he was nervous about something, then he wasn't human. Though, in fairness Dare realized, it could be that he wasn't paying that much attention to him in particular. Instead he looked at the far off place, which had people moving in and out of it, and swallowed.

  "That's too fine a place, ser. I wouldn't fit. I don't even own the right clothes to go to the door."

  Dareg kept walking, and nodded. It was about what the fellow should be saying. Better, he even knew what his part should be, so he played the role, and said what was polite.

  "Oh, don't worry there. Sam won't be bothered by a farmer that looks like a farmer. Really, he probably won't even think of it at all. You're dressed correctly for this." Even to his too fine boots. They weren't decorated just... Very well made. The stitching on the leather was almost perfect, for instance. Like a thing of magic, except that when he tried to touch them with his mind, which took a lot of work, given the walking and fear trying to coil up in his belly, there was nothing there.

  The man himself wasn't.

  Which, if he wasn't just wrong, due to his own fear or lack of skill, meant that he wasn't a real person. Not even a mechanical man, or Forten. He could feel them.

  "Anyway, over here, outside of the river? We want trees and bushes. Possibly with a path in the middle for people to walk? I'd like fruit and nut trees, and berry bushes, if possible. If we're doing the work, we might as well get all we can from it. Still, you'll be in charge of all that."

  Will looked that way, and nodded, asking sensible questions.

  "How deep should we go, ser? The trees will work best with space, but if we plant in groves, they'll be able to cross pollinate, if'n we do it correct like. Some trees that have fruit need other kinds around to make more. How wide should the path be? Do we want stone for it? That will take a lot more work than dirt. This place is huge."

  There was a glance his way, and Dare looked out, trying to visualize it all in his mind. It wasn't too hard, really. The shape of it would be directed by the river that floated there, and the roundness of the port itself.

  "Hundreds of feet at least. For the plantings. The path... We might want focus stone for that. I'll have to borrow some magics for it, devices, but they're easy to use, I hear. We should be able to get that finished in a day, even working alone."

  They walked while they spoke, and the plans made, even if not real, weren't bad, really. Will, for instance, asked if they could put in fountains and some ponds in places, using the water from the river. He even suggested where to put them, and how to use planters to get some greenery into the port as well, the ground there being too hard to plant anything.

  The trick for it would be running lines of water to keep them all moist.

  "I don't know, but I might be able to do that soon? It would be original work, which I haven't done, but, well, if I fail, I fail. We can get the others to help on it. That's part of this project. If you need anything from Harmony, or anywhere else, they'll give it to you." He grinned and turned his head to the man, who looked pensive, rather than shy. Which again, was about right for a real commoner man discussing work.

  "I can just get you to call on them for me? That don't seem right, do it? You being the boss and all."

  "Why not? They all want this done. Most of them. Really, they'd be fine with you talking to them directly. Except Queen Tiera, of course." That was an offhand comment, which should have gotten a serious nod and wide eyes, but got a soft, pleasant chuckle, instead.

  "Ya. I'm not anyone grand enough fer Queens and that type. That lot would as soon spit on me as speak, right?" He looked away, but if it was to hide a smile, Dareg couldn't tell.

  He shook his head anyway.

  "It really isn't that. Tiera is nice enough, and not stuck on herself from what I've seen. A bit bossy, but... She's the Queen of the Moon. Really that has to be pretty much her job. She's just really busy. She won't have time to talk gardens, unless you can catch her at a meal or something." An idea came into his head then, and he nodded. "Which given everything, we need to do, as soon as we can. Harmony only has two real resources. Moon dust, which is pretty much just ground rock, and magic. The thing there is that they have a lot of both. Some trees and plants, but those are all grown indoors, under magical lights. Still, I bet we can exchange some ideas and get help with the tools and devices that we'll need, if we can hit her up for it correctly."

  The man didn't respond, which made perfect sense. After all, there were fifteen people standing there, waiting for them to arrive, looking fierce and edgy. It was clear that Will was getting ready to fight too, since he slowed a bit, and looked at them all, his face suddenly a bit fierce as well.

  "I see we have friends?" That was an odd thing for him to say.
>
  Dareg took half a breath, and let it out slowly, not wanting everyone there to simply attack. Not that Will Farmer wasn't one of the Adversaries, because he was. This wasn't just the original coming to look for honest work. Unfortunately. He didn't have anyone to head that project yet, after all. Worse, his ideas had been good. Maybe better than just that, showing actual understanding that Dareg kind of lacked so far about what the port could really be.

  Most, but not all, of the people arrayed in front of them were very familiar. Tor, Timon, Taman, and Terry Baker were all there, dressed casually, as if for a day's labor. They had on a variety of colors even, and weren't holding weapons. Alice Orange had on combat armor however, which was shiny and black, though very different than the pictures he'd seen of it before. It wasn't that form fitting, or at least didn't make her figure look like it normally did.

  Then, she was a fighter first, and this wasn't a parade to show her costume off.

  Behind her were six people, half men, half women, dressed the same. They all had weapons on as well. The other four were made up of Petra, Gerent, and for some reason Count Ward and Dorgal Sorvee.

  People that he knew, and even liked. Ready to die fighting, if it was needed. Each of them was probably better at it than he was, too.

  Hints of time distortion came from the man next to him, but they were faint. Light things that might have been his own fear slamming into his brain. Scrambling and trying to do something that he wouldn't have expected of himself at all. Protect these powerful, intimidating people from the single commoner next to him.

  The risk was far too great however. Will simply wasn't reacting like a person about to die. Not even a commoner about to be thrashed for being in the wrong place.

  So barely understanding his own action, Dare waved, and made himself smile.

  "Everybody! Hey! I was just coming to find you all. This is Will Farmer. I just hired him to do the garden around the ports. Setting up orchards, fountains, ponds and walking paths. Really, I was going to see if Sam could host him for a few days, and try to beg a second pod house from you, Aunt Taman? I also kind of hinted to him that Queen Tiera might have some work for him in Harmony. If nothing else it's an excuse to go there and look around a bit more. Say, can you get us in for a meal with her?" He looked directly at Tenet, not anyone else. Trying to signal that it was important by doing that.