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

by Power, P. S.

  "Fine. This really does seem wrong. On the good side you all sound right to me. I feel like I could walk to Marissa's and back in the time that it takes you to finish a few sentences, however." Dare smiled and held it, then went on, when it seemed like everyone understood him. "I need to go and check on some things. Back in Canton. I think the plan is for Timon and Smythe to go along with me? We'll need a ship, unless you both have jump shields?"

  Timon let his chin come up.

  "Shields then. I won't have the new craft for a bit and while we can catch a ride, it will be easier if we can travel on our own. Linda, are you coming with us? You can stay here, if you want. Harmony might be better for you, since it's closer to what you're used to, even if different than Earth is. After that... I'd guess Austra? It's easier to survive here. You have to work, but everything is free."

  She looked at the tall man and seemed a bit daunted by those ideas.

  "Here would be good? I'd like to avoid using that kind of shield again, if possible. At least for a few days."

  That got Tor to pat his neck, and eventually pass over a regular shield, explaining the rules there. Everyone had to have one on, all the time. It was the law.

  Timon helped Linda change clothing, going to another room for that, and then passed a jump shield to Tor. He also got some other things from his desk, but slipped them into his pocket. There was no Smythe, but that wasn't needed for Dareg to be happy. He started toward the door, walking slowly, and calling back.

  "Come on then? We need a personnel hatch, right?" That was what Claremont had told him, the first time he'd come in from space, using a shield. Thinking of the woman caused a vision of her to come up in front of him, forcing him to stop, since it was like she was there with him, and no one else was, suddenly. After a moment that faded, but it had really been different. Like the woman had simply stood in front of him, warping the world away from the real. That would be a disaster, if it happened while he did anything important, so he decided to be careful that way. Also not to mention it to anyone else. They really didn't seem to notice it happening, and they'd just worry about him.

  Tor and Timon both ran at him, clearly moving with good speed, from the way their bodies leaned forward. It still looked rather slow, and it seemed like Timon was moving at nearly twice the pace that Tor was. He just waited, since walking was fast enough. He didn't need to force others to run for him. It might be a bit boring from inside his own head, but it would be good practice, since he had a real life to get back to.

  Most of it would require him to live at the pace others went. That just made sense, so when he turned, to head out the door, he made a point of going slowly. It was like playing as a child, pretending that the entire world was under water. Only more so. The others still seemed to be moving with full, large strides, which he really wasn't. That got him to slow down even more. Timon seemed to get it first, and nodded at him, smiling.

  "That's about the right speed for walking in public. Try to memorize it. Use this when you go places, even if it's a pain." There was some sense of understanding to what he was saying. As if he had to do similar things all the time himself. That probably had to do with conversation, not movement. The man was mentally agile enough for most people to feel a little sluggish to him.

  Dareg had never really noticed that one too much, himself, but it was clear, now, that he'd adapted to his new world and surroundings a lot more quickly than most would have. It had just about made it seem like he fit in, since he could manage to avoid a lot of things that everyone else had to deal with, just understanding how the world had to work. If he were four times as intelligent now, as Timon had stated being the plan, he'd probably seem...

  Annoying. To everyone, most of the time. The best cure for that was to keep his mouth shut on most topics. That would be what Timon had to deal with as well. Tor, too. Not as much as Dare needed to do now, but enough that some of the Baker family might well understand that part of his experience. Not that it mattered. He could keep his lips closed enough that it wouldn't show all the time.

  "We need to get Linda back in with her people. She's the only one they have with any real life experience fighting what's coming." He spoke the words out loud, but didn't explain what he meant. Both of the men with him were more than bright enough to get the general idea.

  Tor sighed. That came out gusty and incredibly slow, even though the sound portion still seemed right to him. It was a complicated idea, but he could see it. The part of his mind that processed incoming language simply wasn't operating like the rest of him was. That should help him stay sane. If not, he could take up meditation, and try working that way.

  When his father spoke, the words were a bit tense. It was held underneath his focus, but still there. It made him sound just a bit more clipped and sharp. A thing he doubted he would have picked up consciously before.

  "How do we do that? We have no power over them, and trying to push them around won't work well. It wouldn't with me, and I'm decently easy going, I hear."

  Dareg could see both of those things, but managed to not be too rude when he answered.

  "We need to find out more about Forten law. We should get Linda together with Lenn, and possibly the Ysidril, if they're allowed to speak to us now. One of you might have to do that portion of things, so that they're not caught up in this. There has to be some provision for the Forten to kill the enemy in time of war. They're a warrior people by nature. At least some of them. That's clear from their love of law." It made sense to him, but when he finished Timon gave him a strange look. At first he was afraid he'd been speaking too fast to make sense.

  "How does that follow? Noram and Austra both have strict laws, and neither of us are truly warrior cultures." That seemed definite, but wasn't really true.

  "Aren't we? On Earth there are only two cultures that war with any kind of regularity. Even the Tellerand are peaceful, if a bit hard to deal with at times. Noram is built on the idea that the mighty control things. Austra is less warlike, but their system is still built on the idea of a strong defense. That's why it took so long to get them to allow ships to land at the port there. Before that they'd hit anyone trying with rockets, or so I'd heard." It was possible that had been a bluff, all along, but if so, that still showed the kind of cunning that warriors would have used.

  Tor just grunted, softly.

  "True. That might help us understand the Forten a bit better then. We shouldn't make guesses though. Getting with people that have real information is going to be key. Later though. I... This could be hard for you, Dareg. Digging up your mother? Maybe you should stay here."

  It was clearly meant to protect him, but there was a real reason that he had to go. If he didn't, then he wouldn't know for certain that his mother was in her grave, the way she should be. Not that her being absent from there would mean she was an agent of the darkness. There could be many reasons for a body not to be in the ground. Grave robbers, people that loved the dead coming to steal away with her in the night... Medical doctors taking bodies to practice their craft on...

  None of those were likely however, or felt right. She would either be in her place, in the ground, or not. If it was the later, then, well, everything would change. For the second or third time Dareg hoped beyond all that was that they'd find her there.

  "I have to do this. If I'm wrong, I need to know that. Sending you to do it for me would always leave me wondering if you lied to me, either way. Not that I have anything against you, but I can see that as a possibility, so it would affect me, even if neither of you would ever do that." His voice was soft, as they got to the door that would let them into an airlock. It was different than the ones on the port, being made of stone and softer materials, rather than magic.

  Which made sense. Magic faded, eventually.

  Timon seeming darkly amused shook his head then.

  "Well, that was my plan. To lie to you, so you could sleep easy at night. I guess we have to do this the hard way, then?"

 
; Dareg watched him move to the hatch and work the large wheel that would open it.

  "Almost always." He spoke the word slowly, but so softly he didn't know if anyone else could hear him. Then they went back to Earth.

  Back to Canton, the city of his birth. If he'd been born. At the moment he really couldn't be certain of that one at all.

  Chapter fifteen

  Canton was nearly identical to when he'd left, which had only been about six months before. The wharf was still there, and everything still looked well enough maintained. The trip in from space had taken twice as long as it should have, since he managed to lose both of the wizards on the jump. He'd come in right over the city, if in space, and they both moved in like they were in ships. From a long way off, instead of doing it the faster way.

  When they landed he had time to survey the whole city, though he landed in the graveyard perfectly. In fact, he managed to settle no more than ten feet from the spot his mother was buried in. Where the grave had been put. It had been two and a half years, but he could still see the mound of it. That was fading however. The others were still behind him, though he'd flown back toward the Earth normally. Except of course that it really wasn't. It had to have seemed like he was flying full speed at the ground, or nearly so, the entire time, only pulling up a bit at the end. His shield had taken the brunt of it, but there was a divot under him as he stood there, waiting.

  "Sorry, mother. I don't want to disturb your rest. I have to know, though. I have to." It would be all right, he decided. Even seeing her body again, rotting and moldering, or just the bones that were left in her shroud. That would be enough. Not to prove it was her really, but he could accept that, even if it were just an imaginary thing.

  The dirt was solid there, holding a lot of clay in that area. It made digging harder, but sealed things in well enough. That was the idea, or so he'd been told as a boy. By his mother, oddly enough. He stood, for a long time, waiting and lost in thoughts about her. Recalling what she was like. Her shining eyes and how she always kept her hair back. How she seemed to live her life the way she wanted, rather than doing what anyone else expected of her. In the time it took for Tor and Timon to get there, following him, Dare relived most of the life he'd had with her. It hadn't been perfect, not having a father, when all the other children did, but she'd always been there for him. Day in, and out. Until finally she just stopped moving.

  That part troubled him when he recalled it. He ignored the fear, the knowledge that he was going to die there with her, but other things came to mind. Her body had moved, several times. At the time he'd figured she was simply being pushed at by the rising water, but now, seeing it again, that seemed wrong. If anything, it held the look of a person trying to get more comfortable. Just doing so incredibly slowly.

  It was, he thought, the opposite of what he'd been seeing before from the dark beings. A similar power of time warping however. She had been trapped. So had he. His body had been in a small gap, but hers hadn't been. Only this time, from his current perspective, he could see that the heavy part of the structure hadn't really touched her at all. It should have, but there was a gap above her. One that looking at it now, got smaller over the course of days.

  As the building collapsed on her. Slowly. Never touching her even as the men from the city came and used stout pieces of wood to free them. He felt a hand on his shoulder, and turned, half expecting it to be her, but it was Tor. He looked grim.

  "We don't have to do this."

  Dare took a slow breath, and spoke when his lungs were full.

  "Yes. We do. I do. Shall we?"

  He was willing to do the work himself, but Timon moved in and used an earth moving device, which was attached to the back of both his hands. The work had been done in leather and focus stone, and had glowing brown sigils on it. Once started it created a stream of dirt that flew through the air, making a pile where his right hand pointed. The whole thing moved at a snail's pace, but after a while, which felt like hours, a dirty brown bit of material showed.

  Dare almost wept with relief as it was uncovered. Right until he realized that it wasn't a body wrapped within. Tim kept going, uncovering it. Showing it to be a log, wrapped up in cloth. One that would displace just about the correct amount of dirt. It was pine, but well preserved by the lack of oxygen or things to eat it.

  No one spoke for a long while. When someone finally did, it was Tim, and his voice was flat. Emotionless.

  "Well. That's unexpected. I'm not certain where we go from here. I just don't know."

  Dareg let himself breathe for a while, as the others looked at him, filled with obvious concern.

  "I do." He really did, too. "We go and try to set things right with the Forten. Then we get Tam-Comps for every ship, every city, hamlet and hidden island. We'll search every person in known space and find who the doubles are. After that... Well, we find them, and kill them all, one by one, without warning." It had worked once, and might again.

  "We can start with my mother."

  That had to sound cold, but it was needed. She'd abandoned him after all. Tricked the world into thinking she was dead, and left him to fend for himself. That meant she wasn't who he'd thought she was. She never had been, most likely. His entire life had been a lie.

  They were going to need help however, and even if the Forten wouldn't work with a killer like him, they clearly had people in their midst that didn't belong. All the groups might, including the Ysidril. That was the first thing he really needed to do. The second, actually, he realized.

  The first thing was to finish crying. He hadn't realized that he had been, but the tears were running off his face. Making slow, damp tracks, as he stood over the empty grave.

  He nearly asked the men with him how he was supposed to go on, knowing what he did now. That his mother hadn't even been human. Then he didn't. Tor patted him on the shoulder, and Timon looked at the log in the hole, either in shock or collecting information that might help them later.

  Either way, the answer to his unasked question was clear. What he had to do then, was keep going. Nothing in his world had changed after all. Except that now he knew about it. It made all the difference, but also meant nothing at all.

  Not that counted.

  "I need to get back now. I... Really, I need to get to my fighting lessons. I'm going to be late."

  No one told him not to go, or that it was too dangerous, with his new speed. It wasn't really. Not even for the others. He could control himself well enough to move slowly for them. If not, he'd learn.

  Then without saying anything else, he lifted up, and flew south.

  He had things to do, and not much time to do it in.

  That much was clear.

  So at least one thing was.

  To find out more about what's going on in the fast paced world of P.S. Power please go to" pspowerbooks.com (Also, come joint the forum! It will be fun.)

  Other books by P.S. Power that you might like.

  (All books are in the suggested reading order by series.)

  Young Ancients: (The First Cycle)

  The Builder (Tor's first book)

  Knight Esquire (Tor)

  Knight of the Realm (Tor)

  Ambassador (Tor)

  Counselor (Tor)

  Slave Line (Tor)

  The Dark Half of the Sun (This is the first book with Timon as a main character)

  A Simple Darkness (This one has Tiera)

  Ancient Kings (Tor)

  Lord of the Sky (Timon)

  The Silence Within (Tiera)

  Kingdom of Stars (Timon)

  Goddess of the Moon (Tiera)

  Envoy to Earth (Gerent)

  Strange Land (Sara)

  Young Ancients (The Second Cycle)

  Lineage (Dareg Canton)

  Light Bringer (Dareg Canton)

  The Infected: (The super-hero stories)

  (The Beginning Arc)

  Proxy (Brian)

  Gabriel (Denis)

  Cast Iro
n (Marcia)

  Proxy: Reunions (Brian)

  Cellophane (Penny)

  Goblin (Tobin)

  Reunions (Brian)

  Ghost Girl (Becky and Scott)

  Impulse: A Whole New Day (Bridgette)

  War Day (Brian)

  Dead End: (Zombies, people with powers and the end of the world. Everything Jake!)

  A Very Good Man

  A Very Good Neighbor

  A Very Good Thing

  A Very Dark Place

  Dead End: Stories from the End of the World the Definitive Collection (This has all of the above books, plus a load of short stories from other perspectives.)

  Gwen Farris: (The story of a woman who wakes up in a magical steampunk world. Into a better life than she ever dreamed of. Which is still pretty darned dark and gritty.)

  Abominations

  Monsters

  Strangers and Lies

  Tremble in the Dark

  Friends and Enemies

  Keeley Thomson: (The Greater Demon Universe, in suggested reading order. There are several sub series, marked in bold below)

  Demon Girl

  Keelzebub

  Mistress of Souls

  Demon Trap

  Demon Bait

  Related works:

  Christmas of the Vampire

  Friendzoned (Becky Hoader. This book takes place in the Greater Demon Universe, but isn't supernatural, and is instead a coming of age novel. You'll recognize a lot of other names however! Also there are some things that will be very different once you know what's going on...)

  Other Places: (Zack Hartley)

  Shortcuts

  Road Blocks

  Detours

  Alternate Places: (Zack Hartley, but a totally different one! These were the first three books written by P.S. Power. Then everything changed.)