Light Bringer (The Young Ancients: Second Cycle Book 2) (28 page)

"I greet you, for my
people." Then he smiled a bit, and stepped backward again.

Without hesitation, since it was
clear that Lyone didn't know the name, the brown haired woman moved forward and
bowed.

"I don't think I'm known
here? I'm Leslie Camp. Local leader of the Forten."

Alphonse bowed back, getting
everyone to do the same.

Then one of the Ysidril, staring
at the floor, moved in the same fashion, bowing low.

"I'm called Hess. We, the
Ysidril, rule as a collective body, but I have your language best. Are we not
introducing everyone?"

Lyone winced, but Leslie smiled
and shook her head. It wasn't an unkind thing.

"Honestly, I don't think we
should. These new people represent a possible alliance, but also a potential
threat. Best we leaders take the brunt of their ire, if it comes. Three deaths
will be forgiven more easily than ten. We all knew when we came here today that
death might be our reward."

Alphonse looked a bit worried for
a moment, but Tor smiled and bowed again.

"Because, when meeting new
and different beings you can't understand how they might respond? The way they
say hello could be, I don't know, ripping off your arms or something along
those lines?" He watched Leslie, who spread her hands slightly at the
words.

"A bit like that. You don't
do that, do you?"

"Not at all. We do have
food. I think we can all eat it? I'm Tor, by the way, and this man is Prince
Alphonse Cordes. He's the emissary to your people from Noram, on Earth. Sam
Builder is their Ancient, and Sara is here representing Mars, being the Ancient
of the Martian Circle."

Each one was indicated as they
were announced, and Lyone smiled a bit, and then gestured to Tor himself.

"This one is Torrance Baker.
The Ancient of Vagus. That's... Really, it's the designation of the power
behind the rulers of each land. So we have about a quarter of their ruling
structure right here. Tor is the one that used his magic to fight the
Adversaries that attacked. Did you receive the report on that yet? I don't
think the hyper relay..."

There was a dead silence in the
room, and finally Hess spoke, he, or she if that was the case, seeming stilted
now.

"There was a battle against
the darkness, and a being lived to tell of it?"

Lenn nodded, and waved toward
Dare for some reason.

"Tor is a great wizard,
which means maker of powerful magics. He worked out a way to bend time, that
allowed him and Captain Dareg to take the battle to the enemy directly. Then
others came to aid them. Over half of the original combatants died, to take out
two of the enemy. Thankfully the Captain here had the presence of mind to write
down what had happened before it faded completely. We have that written
account. I have a copy with me. Let me..." He dug into his bag, and
retrieved a focus stone tablet. Then he passed it to Leslie.

After a few moments, about three
minutes, with her people reading over her shoulder, the thing was passed to the
mechanical people, who did the same. One of them toward the back shook his
head. He looked older, and like he should have been in charge, based on that.

"Is this verifiable?"

Lyone winced, and glared at the
fellow a bit.

"I was there to see the
aftermath. Within seconds of it happening. So was Brice. Tor and Dareg nearly
died. As it stood, Dare was nearly a month healing and is still feeling the
effects of it all. We shouldn't doubt their word." There was nothing
sinister in what she was saying, but it was clear she was trying to get people
not to give offense.

Which was a good plan. It was
annoying being called a liar, even if Dareg kind of understood what was
happening. It was certain that these people had rarely, if ever, won against
the darkness, as they called their enemy. So looking at him, or even the very
handsome Tor, it was easiest for them to simply think they were telling tales
to make themselves look good, rather than that something new and different had
taken place.

Alphonse bowed to the collected
people there.

"Most of our magic didn't
work at all against these beings. The men, if they were that, were fitting in
seamlessly, until one of them was called out. He should have simply accepted
any punishment that he might have had for it, since we didn't know he was,
well, what he was, until he started fighting. Given their powers escaping
justice would have worked as well. Then, they probably expected to win, and
walk from the room anyway, so I guess I can see that as a plan. The other one,
Bill, as we knew him, had won a position as a squire, and could have used that to
walk into the halls of power, if that event hadn't taken place. So we won more
than once that way. At grave cost. I lost three friends in that battle."

Tor looked sad, and so did the
others there. The Ysidril bowed as one. It wasn't the wrong move, really. They
weren't perfect at it, but the prince did it back, along with the others.

"Thank you. Now, I
understand that we have a demonstration of magic for you and some gifts? Food
as well." He gestured with a closed hand toward the table where things
were arrayed. No one moved however.

That one hadn't been planned out
at all. They had the things, but no way to demonstrate them, or indicate that
it was all good and wholesome as far as the refreshments went.

"Brice, would it be all
right if you did that part? So that everyone knows none of these are weapons,
or meant to do harm?"

The small, youthful seeming
machine just moved toward the side of the table with all the white ceramic
bowls on them.

"The magic of Earth is most
often placed on objects to carry it around. Amulets, and small carried devices,
unless the thing is meant to be more permanent. For instance they can carry
large amounts of liquid water through the air, while inside a gravity well, in
an interesting manner. The solid component of those systems are a bit bigger, I
hear."

Picking up one of the bowls, this
one with several pink glowing lines on the outside, he tapped it without
warning.

"You have to
want
to
turn it on." The thing began to glow then, brightly, like the sun. The
light came into being about a foot from the bowl itself, and Brice chuckled as
he turned it off. "Now I have spots in front of my eyes! If left on it
will run, at that level, until the field fails in about..." He glanced at
Sam Builder, who stepped in and touched the side of the thing.

"This one, in particular? I
think it should be good for ten years or so. That's pretty good work, actually.
Dareg made these last night." He didn't go on, but Sara did, smiling a
little.

"Most lights like that,
would be on metal plates and last three to five years. The greater the skill
and power of the one making the copy, the longer it can last. Do the soap next.
Then the plates. I always enjoy those."

Brice had to be guided to the
right one, but the people were suitably impressed when things started to
appear. It was harder to show off the earth moving devices there, or the water
pumps, but no one seemed too upset. Then without asking, since it was the plan,
Brice handed the dishes out to everyone so they could try it themselves. That
part was interesting, since all of them, machine, alien or Forten, had no real
problems working the magical devices.

That had been a bit of a worry
for him, particularly with the Ysidril.

Before anyone could ask any
questions, Brice moved to the wall, where there was an inset box-like hole.
Touching the glowing sigils next to it, he created a few more dishes. There was
more variety this time, and he started with soup, that came with a bowl and
ended with a dish that looked like glistening yams.

"This kind of device takes
water, rocks, dust even, and turns it into food on command. It doesn't even
take energy to
use
. There's no reactor core on this vessel. It's all
made of magic. Everything." He looked a bit awed then, and so did the
people watching. Except the Ysidril, who looked around and then made a strange
sound that was a bit like a squeak and a hiss combined.

It was creepy, but didn't seem
angry or anything somehow.

Hess touched Dareg on the arm,
gently.

"You can make such things?
The food creation devices?"

"Not yet. I'm just learning
how and those are really hard to do. Like the jump ships are. We only have a
small handful of people that can make either of them."

That got Hess to close his eyes,
still holding Dareg by the arm. Suddenly it opened them, and stared at its
hand, removed it quickly and stepped back.

"Forgive me! I mean no
invasion of your person." The tone carried fear then. Not at seeing new
magics that probably didn't make sense, but forgetting itself and touching him
had caused it to a great degree.

So Dareg bowed.

"There
was
no invasion."
Then he looked over at Tor, and the still active handheld.

"We should pass out the
communications devices. They'll let you talk to people on Earth, or the Moon.
Other places as well. Timon? You're on Harmony right now?"

There was a bit of a stir then
when Tor's hand started speaking. Not because they didn't understand the idea,
but due to the claim of distance.

"For the moment. In about
ten hours I'm going to Austra. Go figure, they expect their Revered One to actually
work. Or, more to the point, they have things they need help with, and haven't
mentioned that I move my lazy behind at all, but it still needs to be done.
Don't sit on the food devices though." There was no hint of rebuke in the
words, just a sense of a person trying to get things underway.

Dareg rolled his eyes, and then
smiled.

"We have a few thousand food
units ready to go. They're much larger than the ones here, and don't make the
same variety of food, but working full time they can feed about ten, maybe
twenty, thousand people. Tor and Timon have agreed to make enough for all your
people, but it will take them a while, since they have their jobs to see to as
well. A few months?" He looked at Tor, who shrugged back.

It was a big thing that made his
black tunic shift, showing some muscle underneath it.

"Call it six months? We can
go a bit faster, if you need it? We won't let our friends, even new ones,
starve or suffer from lack, if we can help it." Then he moved to the bag
behind him, and started pulling focus stone items.

"I brought a hundred
handhelds. We should break into groups and play with those for a bit?"

Dareg smiled, and moved in,
grabbing a few of them, then moving back to his people. The scaled Ysidril. The
others were all right, but it was clear that these people were the nice ones.

"These can
only
contact other handhelds in their own system. Once we set these up... here, I'll
do one for you Hess? Let's see..." It took a few seconds to get that into
place, and then Dare moved in shoulder to shoulder with the being. It had
several thick arms and went still when he did it, but didn't move away or act
like Dareg was trying to get the thing into bed. A hint of cinnamon scented
warm breath came from its mouth. That was a bit moist, but only like a horse or
donkey might have been. "Let's see... Here, I know, let's get in touch
with Queen Tiera?" It was probably mid-night on the Moon, but of the
people he could have aliens simply get in touch with, who wouldn't freak out on
seeing them, she was probably near the top of the list.

Passing the unit over, he let the
being use its own thick finger to tab the name.

After a few moments Tiera
appeared on the screen. She looked at Hess, and jumped a bit, then smiled.

"Hello?"

Dare stuck his head into the
shot, nearly lying it on one of the Ysidril's lower arms to be seen.

"Queen Tiera, of the Moon,
this noble being is Hess, of the Ysidril. They don't really have leaders, I
guess? So Hess has volunteered to work with us, so we won't frighten the rest
of the Ysidril, being abrupt and annoying like we are." He smiled and
shook his head. "Those are
my
words, not theirs. They are
most
polite. So are the other groups here. I've been going around being pushy and
highly undiplomatic and no one has beaten me yet, or anything. I'm supposed to
go and pick up some food units that Timon has? Can I bring Hess and his friends
along? Any of the others that want to come too? Oh... Do you have a jump ship
they can have? Hess, I mean? I'm sure they'll want to study them." If they
just shared, then it would be harder for these beings to feel they were hiding
things from them.

Tiera bowed toward his just
enough for it to be real.

"I can spare a few. They
don't have weapons, being the new Timon build. Like yours? You'll be responsible
for teaching them how to use them?"

Dareg got what she was doing, and
sighed.

"Sure. I have a lot to do,
but we need to be here for our friends. Even if it does mean I end up not
getting to sleep for half a year. I can do it."