by Power, P. S.
She hissed, under her breath.
"And they're giving you a new one? Being a Prince must be nice." Then she winced a bit and look apologetic.
He just nodded back.
"No doubt. It was needed at the time, so I don't think anyone is holding it against me all that much. Sam, my magics tutor, is insisting that I do my own ships up. That will be interesting, if I can. It's supposed to be one of the hardest things you can do with magic. I only did my first build yesterday."
She just nodded back, and then wrinkled her brow.
"Wait... You're a wizard, too? Fine. We're dating now. I'm decreeing it using my power as a nobody. I'd be an idiot not to catch hold of you, wouldn't I?" She blushed, but didn't take the words back.
Dareg blinked a few times, and then tilted his head.
"All right. That sounds fun, actually. I don't know if I ever get free time again, but we can make time. I do have a fiancé, but I think I'm expected to date, too, and not bother her too much. Princess Karina?"
Wendra laughed and shook her head.
"Really? That's... I'm not really anyone you know? Master Timon is paying for my schooling. I'm not even really certain if he knows that, given the other day. I'd be short and working in the city somewhere right now, if not for him. My mother is his house lady... So that's pretty humble." She seemed a bit sad about it, as if her mother having a good job was a bad thing.
"Oh? So you've been selected out for great things? Tim wouldn't bother if you weren't worth it, I bet. Trust me, not much gets by him. If he's paying for this, he's also getting weekly reports on you. Count on it." He knew no such thing. Relative or not, he barely knew the man. It sounded like a good thing to say, however. "Besides, I don't care about things like that. So, I'm busy for the next few days, call it four or five? After that... We should get together? Go someplace fun. You get days off here, right?" He knew that, but not when they happened. The girl smiled at him then.
"Three days a week. Two on, one off, two on, two off. We just had our long two day break. We could spend part of the next one together? That sound nice, actually. I don't really date a lot." She seemed embarrassed by that.
"Great! I'll plan something that I think is nice, that will probably be annoying and boring for you. That sounds good, doesn't it?"
That got a laugh, and a touch on his sticky and damp arm, which hurt a bit. Just inside, from all the work he'd done. It was enough to remind him to heal however. He did that as he flew up into space, resisting the urge to linger in space. It was quiet and no one expected anything up there. Except that the expectations didn't really end just because he got away. It was always there.
First though, he cleaned up, showering and getting a clean outfit. Then he cleverly accosted Sam at his own home, to borrow a focus stone making device, and a cutter, so he could produce tiles. He needed a lot of them, so the man didn't even make him create his own devices for it, just handing the things over, after a few minutes of talking about what was needed, and practically pushing him out the door, laughing and yelling at him.
"Three hours for a thousand! Bring them to me directly when they're done." He sounded cheery about it all. It kind of pissed Dare off, but he didn't turn around and tell the man to stuff it up his behind.
He was the Ancient of Noram, and his tutor. Even if Dare was mad, he owed a certain amount of respect there. The reason for the anger was that it was kind of clear that the whole thing was being set up to mock him. To show him that building was hard, as if he didn't get that already. It was hard, mind numbing and the idea that it actually worked still felt unreal to him. Holding concepts instead of words made his head hurt, too. Not physically, but in some indefinable mental way. It wasn't his normal practice, so it left him feeling wrong, after a fashion, when he was done.
That couldn't stop him. If he failed, he was probably going to die. Really, he'd die regardless, like everyone else, but doing it in the next weeks wasn't his favorite idea. On top of that, if he lived, he had to figure out how to navigate the whole spying thing that Count Lairdgren and the King wanted him to do. Against his own Aunt. A woman that he didn't even know.
Sighing, he used the low flying option on his shield to hurry back to his hut, and then went out into the dry lands beyond the small floating river. Not too far, but he found a nice patch of dirt, which was about half sand, and piled it up, then used the device that Sam had given him to concentrate it. That was kind of interesting, since it just sort of moved together, merging, and turning from sand and dirt into glassy tan stone. It had a milky color to it, which was just like the port itself, so he was used to that. Then after making four, rather long logs of the stuff he cut it into a thousand different parts. They weren't that equal, but they were all about half the size of a handheld, since being bigger than that would mean the things were too heavy to get back to his pod to work on.
He knew that he should have gotten more of them ready, but as it was he had to drag the heavy sack back to his pod. Sighing, he put it inside, and then shook his head. It was a lot of tiles for the tiny space.
Getting to work was harder than it should have been, since his mind tried to wander at strange times, instead of staying on task, like he needed it too. The first batch did come out, and the lights worked, but his handheld told him that it had taken him five hours. All of that was due to his brain messing with him, instead of working right.
"Get it together. Dare. Three hours. You can do this. Three hours."
The next one was faster, but just missed the mark. Three hours of intense focus, but two major breaks in his concentration messed him up, and he ended up having to try to hold things in place while using the restroom. Then he had to take a break, his mind numb and fuzzy.
He ate, chatted with Tam-Unit, and noticed that the sun had gone down. It was late, but he nearly had it, so decided to push on, and actually get it right.
It wasn't until the fourth batch that it really happened for him however. That time he surprised himself, feeling the field kind of click into place when it was done.
Looking at the clock, he nearly didn't believe it at first. He'd managed, somehow, to go from just over three hours, to two hours and ten minutes. His throat was parched, so he went outside with one of the units to test it, expecting it to either not work, or to be inferior somehow, but it was fine. He even made some statues, like Sam had done. They were just various people that he knew, and he did it from memory, setting up light figures outside his white and black pod house.
It took ten units to do them all, and he left them lightly glowing, to show they were magical, but it was nicely decorative. Looking up at the figures, since they were about twenty feet tall each, and in living color, more or less, he nodded.
Most of them were Ancients. Sam was there, having oversized ears, and an overdone goofy grin on his face. The other nine were more or less realistic, except for Hess, whose face was made to be holding a large, rather human, smile. He had four arms and scales, as well as a unique color, so making him also seem fierce was going to put some people off, until they got to know him.
He left those there, grabbed his floating chest, and took his gold out, transferring it to one of the sacks he had around. Dare was going to need more of the things, he knew, since they were useful. The trick there was that he needed to sleep, before the next day, and that wasn't going to happen. It was three in the morning, and he had to be in Printer in about four hours. With orders to run first. His eyes wanted to close now that there was nothing to do, except work at moving tiles around. Still orders were orders, so he hurried through the task, stacking things, and resizing the floating case twice, to make them all fit.
It made a nice stack of glowing colors, since the sigils were coded to be seen easily at night. Sun colored made the things turn on and off, blue was the size control, green the shape and pink the color. You just touched the things and thought about what you wanted. Easy. Not that intuitive for most however, he was willing to bet.
Flying, if i
n low mode, to Sam's didn't take nearly as long as trying to drag a sack would have. He knew that one first hand now. His shoulders ached from it a little bit, to tell the truth. This was the smarter way to go, but until a few minutes before he simply hadn't thought of the idea. At the door of the palace, he had to wait, for a long time, before Lyone came to let him in. She didn't seem upset to see him, even given the hour, so at least that was nice.
"Dareg! I heard there was another incident. My people were sent a copy of your testimony. Is there... A problem?" She looked past him, her right fist clenching, getting ready to fight, if needed. It didn't fit her look, but she wasn't a human, despite how she seemed. Which at present was like a rather polite serving woman. It was incredibly late to visit.
"Nothing like that. I had an assignment to make some lights. A thousand of them, in three hours. I made these in two-ten." He was kind of proud of that, but it had taken four tries, which he didn't mention. That was kind of bad.
She smiled however.
"Lights? The magic kind? That's wonderful. We could use them back home. How bright do they get? Enough for a garden? Our hydroponic gardens eat vast stores of energy. You know, we're too far from a sun for windows to work."
Instead of explaining, he yawned and shook his head, trying to get the cobwebs out.
"Here, let me..." Taking one out he set it up outside, making the world glow like it was mid-day. Then, he let the light rise into the air, and did a little show. First changing the shape, and then the colors as she snapped her fingers. That was a very strange thing, but not too annoying. It seemed to be her version of clapping in happiness.
Then he formed a glowing light statue, trying to make a giant version of her. It was all right, but not truly exact. The image in his head was a bit different than the woman next to him for some reason. It was close enough she giggled.
"That is amazing. One of these could grow a field rack of crops. Will it be possible to get some? Even a few of them would help." She sounded humble about it, as if she were begging for expensive things. Which she was.
"I can do that. I have three thousand more right now. The batches I didn't get done in time. I can part with... Call it two thousand of them? The rest will be needed for my ports, around the world. Not that I can get them to your people right now. Maybe Hess will come for them?" He yawned again, and then gave in and tapped the awakening device. It was cheating, and probably not healthy, since people needed sleep, but he suddenly felt much better.
Passing the chest to Lyone, he made his report.
"This batch was finished in two-hours and ten minutes. Please make sure the Ancient knows that? I'd love to get that case back..." It wasn't that he wanted to be greedy, just that it was handy, if only as a lock box. All he had to do was make the lid vanish and no one except a builder would be taking his stuff.
Lyone nodded, and took him inside, then stacked the things on the dining room table, so that they would surround where Sam would break his fast in a few hours. It was a nice display, really. Attractive and making a statement at the same time. As soon as that was done she waved him away, locking eyes with him at the same time.
"Two thousand lights? That wasn't a joke, or... I didn't misunderstand? Those are free?"
"Yep. In fact, we can pass those along today if you want. I'm going to be gone for the morning, being stabbed, I think. After that I need to sleep, but I can get up to hand some things over."
She gave him a troubled look, "are you having a medical procedure done? Being stabbed with needles?" Her right hand made a strange movement, which he guessed was what her people's version of that kind of thing might look like.
"Nope. Knife fighting practice. With real knives. At least that was what I was told. It could be just to scare me, but I don't know. I need to go and get to that. So, after noon, if that can be arranged? Or... Do you need me to call Hess? I should soon. I'm standing for his people and all that." It had just been said in passing, but that didn't mean someone shouldn't try to do it.
Lyone smiled sweetly then.
"I'll make arrangements. If you aren't there, do I just break in?"
He nodded, "bring Sam for that, he can get in. I should be there, but it's good to have a plan. Thanks. I could use the space. My place isn't that big. I have piles of the things now."
Then he left, floating away, at his best safe speed. Going faster than that would be foolish. Not everyone there would have a shield on all the time. Smacking into them could lead to death. For them. It was literally his job to not let that happen. That meant making sure he always set as good of an example as he could. Not that he knew why that was. Probably something that his mother had told him, that he simply didn't recall now.
The run was as fast as he could do it, and he had to lie on the ground heaving for a while, not even able to get sick, when the six miles were finished. Then he showered, having time, and worked out how to turn his clothing into protective armor, by making it thicker in the right places. Not all of them, but it was decent coverage that would protect his heart, neck and if he made a visor form, eyes, from a normal blade.
Then, dressed in his leather looking armor, he flew off to his morning practice.
Everyone stopped to look at him when he landed, but Petra clapped her hands and smiled at him.
"Brilliant idea! Not that you get that this time. Regular clothing. Live steel. You against Havar. You fight until one of you yields, or... Donner says you can stop. Got that Don?"
This man was very dark, and had tight curls on his head that were kept short and tidy. There was no smile on his face however, and he turned to look at the Instructor as Dare shifted his clever idea back to regular student brown. Baron Havar smiled, and walked to the practice rack, picking up the two knives on the far end. They looked old, and dull, except along the shining edge. Because of course those would be seen to regularly. If it wasn't a special treat just for him.
Donner looked at the two men, one a giant, the other a boy who, Dare had to admit to himself, probably didn't seem that over-matched. He wasn't a giant, but Havar was under seven feet, so less than a foot taller than him, and only about two hundred pounds heavier, at a guess. Maybe less than that. It was clear that he sized both of the fighters up, and then nodded.
"Fine. No blows to the face, head or neck. Avoid mid-section stabbing, but you can slash there. Second blood wins. Take your positions. Everyone else clear back. Live steel, in three, two.... Now!"
He really expected the fight to be brutal and short, with Havar running at him screaming. Instead the man held his left hand back and used his knife as his lead, exactly as Wendra had showed him the day before. A thing the man clearly knew. Dare took the same stance, ready to jump away, which was needed over and again. He did keep trying to slash or stab the man, but there was a problem. If he got close enough to do that, the other man would stab him. Luckily Havar seemed to notice that same problem.
Finally, the blade narrowly missing his face, as he jumped away, he forced himself to follow it back in, slashing as fast as he could at the man's arm. The Baron was good though, and simply moved it up, and then stabbed Dareg directly in the left shoulder.
That stung. Burning and bleeding followed that part.
"First blood, Havar." Donner's voice was a bit deadpanned, indicating focus, rather than boredom. "Continue."
It took nearly another twenty seconds for Havar to open a nice cut on his left forearm, which ended the bout handily.
"Second blood, match to Havar."
Dareg felt like an idiot, having not done very well, but Wendra and Rick both came over instantly, and slapped him on the back, as if he hadn't made a fool of himself.
Wendra didn't say anything at first, letting Rick go first.
"That was... Good. Most people freeze up the first time they go live like that. They forget everything and kind of flail around. I doubt I'd do much better." It probably wasn't true, but Petra came over about then, and patted his back a few times. Hard. So that everyone w
ould know they weren't sleeping together.
"True. I figured it would go about like this. Heal those up and work blade with Havar until ten. Then you can have the rest of the day off, since I'm so nice."
Everyone laughed, or at least the people that heard her. At least until he moved back to Havar, still holding the knife. Havar had his too, so Dare waved, and held his shield off, while letting the healing amulet work. The effort it took to do that, hold his shield down while afraid and being hurt, was just about enough to prevent a combat rage from taking place. It was hard to do two things at once, but better than being without a shield at all.
"Same rules?"
The Baron smiled at him, and nodded.
"Good. You can do better than that. You were a bit stiff. That slows you down. Your gift is in strength, speed and endurance for the time being. Use that." He did, and was still stabbed and cut up a lot. It hurt, and he couldn't like that part, but he did eventually manage to wear the other man down, finally stabbing him a few times. It was really clear that Havar would have killed him in a real fight though. At ten Petra came over.
"Annnd break! Good practice. Havar, you know where you need to work. Conditioning. Dareg, you made a bunch of basic errors. Let's go over those, and then you can leave for the day?" She started showing him what he needed to fix as he healed again, but he felt fine still. Not even all that tired.
"You kept neglecting to parry the arm with your blade. That does damage about sixty percent of the time, so it's too valuable a chance to miss. You also kept your feet a bit too close together. That leaves you higher, but also less stable. If the other person is larger than you, make them reach down to hit you. Focus on their legs and lower body. A score to the leg is as deadly as one to the arm. Not as crippling in a fight, but worth doing." There was more, which he tried to commit to memory. Finally, after about ten minutes, she looked at him closely.
"How are things going? Getting enough food? Sleep?" She seemed to be really asking, so he answered honestly, shaking his head.
