The Dark Half of the Sun (The Young Ancients: Timon)

by P. S. Power

  She had enough sense to go quiet, but not enough to stay that way.

  "I was within my rights to tell those boys that they weren't good enough for me. I'm special. I'm a Conserina and an Ancient. Why should I waste myself on ugly or poor boys?" She tried to make herself sound reasonable. It didn't work. It came out kind of bitchy, with an undertone of entitled.

  There was about a two second time period when Tim considered just making the craft around them vanish at full speed. It was only that he didn't know if Judith would survive it that stopped him. He didn't care for himself or Tiera in the moment.

  "What part of shut up don't you get? You deserve to be kicked out of school and beaten for that. I didn't know that it was 'boys' plural or I'd be taking you home right now in disgrace. Dean Hardgrove is about to kick you out and the only thing stopping that right now is that I promised that you'd fix yourself. Today." She tried to interrupt with a sound of outrage so he spoke over her. "If you think that the Green man is going to let you grow up to be a bitch that he has to put up with for thousands of years, think again. Mother told you about 'The Rules', she explained them to all of us. You think that doesn't apply to you? How's this for special, if you don't fix this I'm taking away all your amulets and leaving you naked in the middle of Two Bends, after Judith here beats you. Several times."

  That got a snort from the back seat, and when he turned to glance at her she had her arms crossed and was glaring at him.

  "You can't do that. You don't have the right. Plus you can't. I have a shield on dummy." There was a tone to her voice that sounded very certain of that part of things.

  Timon let his voice come out as a growl, jaw clenched.

  "Oh, do you really? I'm a builder. I'm not Tor, but I can turn off your amulets at a close range and you can't stop me." He focused, using the rage and new focus he'd been holding to do just that, without turning around. His sister squeaked and started making slapping sounds, which would be her trying to get her clothing back on. As soon as she did it, he triggered them off again. This went on for about half a minute before he relented, since making his sister sit naked, even when he wasn't looking, felt wrong and reminded him of being that way on that table... In pain. He shuddered.

  "As for the rest of it, rank and all that crap, I don't care right now. I probably won't ever again." It felt weak, but tears came to his eyes and he sobbed once. He didn't explain though. Judith saw it and gave him a blank look, swallowing once. She didn't speak or give him away.

  Tiera was never one to pick up on subtle threats though was she? Timon waited for the outburst to come.

  "How dare you! I'm telling mother about this!" There was shaking in the tone, embarrassment and a little fear.

  "How dare I? I'll tell you how, it's simple, you're my sister and acting like a god. You aren't. You're a humble little delivery girl from a backwater that's so small it barely kept our family together when da and ma ran the bakery. You're the same girl that started working to help keep us all fed at six years old. Tiera Baker isn't special in some hoity way, she's a good person that doesn't treat her fellows like trash to abuse based on fictions like rank! I'm her brother and if you think I won't have you beaten and kicked out of school to help you remember who you really are, then you're sadly mistaken. It's my job as your brother. You know that."

  As they passed over Two Bends she made a sound, one that was confused and still angry.

  "We aren't going home?"

  Timon looked straight ahead, "no. I need you to pick up some clients from the other coast. I have a route for you. I'd be doing it, but I have to do something else..." He nearly kept it secret, but she needed to be warned of the danger, Judith too. Sighing he brought the craft to a full stop, hovering in the air at about five thousand feet.

  "I was taken four days ago... By Countess Alan and a Larval Assassin. I was... Tortured in ways that I won't talk about. Abused sexually by the Countess while in horrible pain that I can't even remember clearly, it was so bad. I begged for death, more times than I can count, I remember that. Count Lairdgren and some of his people came to free me. I'd managed to make a cutter. I freed my hands, and killed the Countess. I couldn't reach the chains on my legs. I cut off my own legs just before they came for me. I was ready to die, and just didn't want to do it a prisoner. Not locked in place. The Count, or maybe one of his people, had a healing amulet. That's the only reason I'm alive."

  It was still hard to tell the story, but he got the words out, which was something, he figured. He didn't look at either of the others, not wanting to see the pity in their eyes.

  "Countess Alan was working with the Larval as part of a bigger plot to overthrow the King. The assassin just wanted me to scream when Tor triggered his communications device, since they thought that he'd rescued Petra Ward from Count Rodriguez a few weeks ago. He'd been torturing her too. For weeks. He's clearly in on the takeover plan."

  It was Judith that spoke then, her voice far more incensed than Timon would have figured.

  "Petra? She's a friend of mine, she helped to teach me last year. Really tough. Is she... well?"

  Tim shrugged.

  "Who knows? She seems strong outwardly, but inside? It's a horrible thing, torture. I hope she's alright. She was in hiding, but she might be coming back tonight."

  There was nodding from the giantess next to him then, but no talking for a long time, there was a soft sob from the back seat, but Tim didn't turn around at all.

  "Alright," Judith stared at the side of his head. "What are we going to do about it?"

  "Well, Tiera is going to take over my route for the next few days. Then you and I are going to kidnap a Count and two of his men, then torture them, until they tell us everything they know about this conspiracy. If they know anything and are guilty, we take them to the King for trial."

  It sounded fair enough, except for the torture part of things. From behind him there was a soft voice.

  "What if they aren't part of the plot?" His sister actually sounded worried about it.

  "Then we kill them. They still tortured Petra."

  Then without waiting he started flying again, not asking if his sister planned to help him or not. Judith looked ready to avenge her friend right then, which was a good sign as far as Timon was concerned. It had been just possible that she might have gotten scared and pulled back. What they were going to do was dangerous, so he couldn't blame her for it if she wanted no part of it all.

  Then, just so she'd know, he explained about the special drug that had been created to get around the poison detector. Tiera didn't react, but she was smart enough to get what it all meant. If he was a target, then she was too. If anything Tor liked her better than he did the rest of them, despite what the Larval had said. Well, Terlee, but she had her Count to keep her safe. They still needed to be warned, since County Thomson was in the thick of things up north.

  He landed in front of his two little cottages, headed inside and found the little magical case where he'd put some gold and the remaining Fast Craft amulets. He handed one to his sister as well as the pick-up list that Collette had made up for him. It was very efficient he noticed and had everyone picked up inside six trips, over three days. Morgan was doing similar work, and Mark was due in at about midnight according to what was written, but that could vary, Timon didn't doubt. It was all subject to how quickly the passengers moved.

  His sister was puffy eyed and sad looking as he explained it all to her, his eyes searching for pity from her. Instead there was only fear. She didn't say why, but then there were so many reasons for it. So very many.

  "Alright, you need to leave within the hour sis. Wear your shield and stay alert. Don't eat anything you don't buy yourself from a random location and don't take any water either. Here's some coin for that." He passed over five gold and five silver, then gave the same to Judith. "You shouldn't need that for expenses, but it isn't your pay, use it if you have to."

  Then he went and paid for several large baskets of food from
Glaren, explaining all of that part of things as he went to his sister. It sounded so boring and mundane. He paid for all of his pilots to get baskets for the passengers and waved to Judith so that Glaren would get the idea.

  "Her too, if she comes in. She's a new trainee. If it works out she'll be around a lot." He didn't give her name, but it was just an oversight, not that he was trying to hide it from anyone.

  They were just a Transport company after all.

  After that there was a wait while Timon set everything up in his head, trying to figure out everything that could go wrong with his plan. Extra guards being brought at the last moment, an ambush when they set down... That was the biggest danger. He looked at Judith and asked if she had a shield on, not knowing if she would at all. The giantess smiled a little.

  "Sleep in it. Flying gear too, as well as my weapons. I even has... have, one of those Tor-shoes. The extra fast kind. Given to me by Tor hisself. Himself. He also taught me how to speak all fancy like. You should have heard me affore." The woman grinned, making a joke by speaking with a bit of her natural accent.

  Timon nodded, "S'truth a'n y'sh'eared as'n we'talk a'hom."

  The girl gave him a funny look that seemed a little hurt and suspicious until he explained.

  "I said, It's the truth that you should hear the way we talk at home. You aren't the only one that had to learn to talk fancy."

  She wanted to go over a complicated plan, which made sense, for part of it. The most dangerous part was going to be the first bit, after the pick-up of the Count and his men. They couldn't reasonably control them physically and didn't have any drugs to make them docile. It was Judith that came up with the plan for that, eyeing the craft as she did.

  "Can we close off the back and leave them with no air? Just so's they can't stay awake?"

  Timon didn't answer, just focusing, his left hand on the shelf in front of him, making a partition appear between the front and the back. Then just to make certain it would work, he cut the air vent as well. That would take a while though. They'd choke slowly that way, their breath fouling the space until they couldn't survive.

  With another thought he turned on the venting system, making sure it only removed the air. It had two parts automatically, so it was hard to make that happen, but with enough focus the craft complied.

  "Like that? They should go out in a minute or two. I don't know what kind of weapons they'll have, so we need to take them out fast, then go in and make sure they don't have anything that can hurt us."

  They also needed chains. That was harder to come up with, but they found a blacksmith in town that seemed to think they wanted to use them for kinky sex. Timon didn't blink at the mention of that, just paying the man the single gold he required for three sets of heavy iron chains with key locks, and another two silvers for his silence. He nodded, and didn't speak after that at all, since he'd been paid not to.

  Then they went north, to the place he intended to set up the cottage he was going to use for the purpose, in County Alan. It seemed fitting, and less dangerous, than using Rodriguez's own lands.

  "Ready?" He looked at Judith, who nodded grimly.

  "If they try to escape, what do you want done?"

  He didn't hesitate at all then. "Use your cutter to take their legs. We have a healing amulet. We can use it if we need to. If they try it more than once we'll heal them with their legs off and leave them crippled forever."

  Even to his own ears it sounded too hard to be believed, but the girl wasn't a soft delivery person like he used to be, or a child. She was learning to kill and that seemed to make a difference in how you thought about things. She just rearranged her weapons, building a little special pocket for her cutter, so that she could bring it to bear first, if needed.

  It really wasn't.

  When they landed at the Count's house, not far outside his door the man stepped out, his soldiers behind him, carrying heavy looking chests. Three of them, stacked so two men could share the load. One of the men Timon realized was actually a hard looking giant woman that was at least a head taller than Judith and had that heavy boned structure that made some of the noble women look like men if they weren't in a dress. Her breasts gave her away. The other guard was a man, and shorter, but looked to be hard enough to make that not be all that important. He was still big, most of it muscle and scar tissue it seemed.

  The Count was huge too, nearly the size of the woman, but larger across the shoulders. The others were in guard uniforms, black and gold. The noble was in gold, trimmed with fur. It was real clothing for all of them, not magical, unless they were masters of disguise at least. While fine, it all had that appearance of being used and not something meant to impress, as much as travel in. That made sense, but was a poor plan, since they'd be landing in the Capital in a lot less time than they thought.

  Or they would have been.

  Timon bowed, Judith doing the same automatically. The Count managed a credible bow back and eyed the girl in a way that was more than a little telling. Slightly plain or not, he liked what he saw there.

  "Well met, Count Rodriguez. This trip you and your people will be the only passengers, so you'll get a direct flight to your destination. That will take about an hour and a half, more or less. We'll be able to see the Capital at night from the air. It's impressive." That part was true enough. The glowing purple river wasn't exactly something you could see anywhere else.

  "Wonderful!

  "We can just set our baggage inside?" He sounded nicely polite, so Timon ran and opened the hatch at the back for that, nodding.

  "Certainly. There's a special compartment in the back. Normally I'd load those for you, but I think that your people might be better suited for that right now." He gestured upward at them, which got a pleasant grunt from the woman.

  "Some advantages to being tall." Her glance went to Judith who made a face that said she understood the hardships too. Timon didn't get it personally, but they almost had to be there. There were benefits and drawbacks at all extremes.

  The guards were efficient and had the trunks loaded in seconds, the Count getting in, his face happy, about the accommodations it seemed.

  "Very nice. The Wizard Tor made this, didn't he?" The man looked around and nodded. "A very mighty person in many ways. I foolishly challenged him to a duel once. He helped me make a great fool of myself. Then he invited me to the Postern event, to stay in one of his homes. We'd parted friends after the duel, but I figured those were simply words. It turned out that words from him mean something."

  The man seemed almost pleased by the whole thing and the idea that Tor had proclaimed him a friend nearly got Timon to call the whole thing off. Until he remembered that the man had been Petra's fiancée and still had her tortured. If you were going to be a real friend you couldn't hurt and kill the friends or family of those that you were supposed to be close to. It was so basic it wasn't even a rule. It just was.

  Tim forced a smile.

  "My brother. Shall we go? There's a basket of snacks and drinks for you, I think there's enough for you all." He waited for the last guard to settle in, shut the door for them and then took off at full speed. He wanted to get out of sight of anyone on the ground before landing, so got Judith to pour some cups of a fine golden wine, each taking one. No one drank, so he smiled and suggested that Judith have some too. After she drank half a red-black focus stone cup of the stuff the others smiled and followed suit. They ate after she did too.

  As if that would protect them from him?

  As soon as she was sitting next to him, munching a delicate looking sandwich with a tangy scented cream sauce, Timon slammed the walls up with a thought and drained the air as fast as it would go. The whole thing was made of shield, but the three in the back managed to pound hard enough that the whole thing reverberated with the shock of it. After four minutes the sound stopped. After another two he landed the craft, hoped out and got ready to jump back after he opened the door.

  "OK, I'll do the search, if they
start to come around, use your force lance. It shouldn't affect me. Not through this shield."

  The giantess nodded once, pulling the lance and setting herself in a ready stance. "Set."

  He moved fast, stripping the three of all tools, amulets and blades as fast as he could move. They were all starting to wake as he finished with the giant woman, doing her last, since she scared him more than the others. From the way her fists where smashed he figured that it had been her doing most of the banging. The others looked almost peaceful and undamaged.

  He locked the door down into place before anyone could do more than crawl toward him feebly. They didn't speak, hurrying toward County Alan then, moving fast and hard. The trip was tense and Timon had second and third thoughts, certainly, but he didn't voice them and decided that his plan was clear.

  It wasn't so much that he thought hurting people was a good thing. It was clearly a horror. It was just that he was more pro-revenge than anti-torture, as it turned out.

  Before they landed in front of the house he'd set up earlier, the chains ready to go inside, he cut the air to the back again. There was more pounding, but it was a lot softer this time. Then they had to work fast, taking the others one at a time. First the Count, closing the others inside as they struggled to move the huge man in. Then the rest, taking the vast woman last. He had to knock them out by taking away the air each time, which couldn't have been good for them.

  Then they waited for the others to awaken. Rodriguez came to first, growling angrily at them.

  "I'll have you both killed for this! There won't be a rock big enough to hide from me, no pit deep enough!" He kept on in that vein for a while, the guards joining in after a time, though the poor giant lady seemed a little worse for the wear.