Light Bringer (The Young Ancients: Second Cycle Book 2) (41 page)

It seemed like a plan to
him
,
but a small woman, his grandmother, if he had it right, who looked disturbingly
young for that, and like she could be his slightly older sister, slapped the
table.

"I don't think so! He nearly
died today! All of you did. We need to keep him safe. We should have him come
live here." She looked at him and seemed very worried, which was
interesting to see, given they'd only met twice before. "Just for a while.
Until it's safe."

Alice cleared her throat, and got
a scowl from the other woman. It wasn't just a warning not to contradict her, but
seemed to be filled with actual dislike. Which was strange, given that Alice
was a nice enough person, as far as he could tell.

"I must disagree. This boy
is one of the very few who has successfully fought against this new kind of
opponent. We need to study his tricks and make sure we all have them available.
That one, tossing them into the sun, worked rather well today. I have to guess
that it won't always be as easy to get them to go along for the ride, but it
could come up. Can we get more ships? Perhaps a way to call back the amulets
they're on before they go into the fire?"

That got several of the people to
start planning things right then, and there was no more talk about him moving
to Harmony. Which was fine with him. Because the real truth was that they were
all in danger. Everywhere they went. It seemed to be only happenstance that
Will had come to him, looking for a way into the place. He could have simply
walked into Sam's palace and done his thing.

Standing outside the King's
palace could have worked too, depending on what the effect was. How big and
powerful. Unless it did something else.

The only thing that they could
hope for would be that it didn't happen every time one of the more powerful
enemy was killed.

Otherwise, even if they won, they
lost.

The next day he woke up without
anyone waiting for him at the door. Then it was still dark out, so that would
have pretty much indicated an attack coming. To Dareg's mind, anyway. As with
the last big event, no one did anything about it, since there was nothing to
do. The plan was still to collect information and pass it to the people that
were supposed to be dealing with it.

Not some kid no one knew.

It had been William Smythe that
had suggested to him that
his
part would be in providing information
about what had happened, instead of being in on the planning. That was fair
enough to Dare. For some reasons the others, some of them, seemed to think he
was planning some kind of big...
Thing
. To fight all of the Adversaries
himself.

Proving that even brilliant
people could be fools at times.

They hadn't tried to order him
around though, so he woke up in his own bed, and cleaned up quickly, then went
running. The day might be hot, later, but before dawn the air was crisp. Almost
cold. That meant he had to run faster, to keep warm. Instead of doing one, or
even two trips back and forth to the Capital, he ran fast and did three. Then
he got some food from Tam-Unit, and moved straight off to the far coast. Flying
into space using his shield, jumping across the world carefully and landing
before anyone was out in the practice court.

Since it was a few hours earlier
back at his house, as far as the sun was concerned. That meant he hadn't slept
long at all. It was the fault of the nightmares, so that part wasn't something
he didn't get. Bill kept coming to his door, and trying to fight him. Most of
the time he managed to run away, but in some of the visions he just died.

Over and over. For hours, until
he got himself going for the day.

Thinking to what he'd done the
last time, he started working with the stones, doing twenty repetitions with
each one, and all the exercises he could recall having done. Then he worked on
the pell, as hard as he could, battering the fresh, very thick, upright log
until it was about half gone in the middle.

Other people came, eventually,
but not that many. Just three.

Baron Havar, Countier David
Derring, and some boy who was a bit pudgy and who seemed upset about something.
Angry, rather than sad or weepy.

"I missed a
class
.
Singular. It happens. I just didn't feel well." The kid, who was probably
older than Dare was, whined. Not a lot, but it was clear that Baron Havar was
annoyed. That was easy to see, since he sneered at the boy.

"That isn't an excuse. We
have healing amulets here. Being lazy also isn't an excuse. You miss a day, you
come in on your off days. Two for one." The large man, who had wrinkles by
his eyes and a hard looking form under his tan work clothing, smiled at Dareg.

"Dare! Come to damage our
pells? That one
was
fresh, yesterday. Good work." He gestured at
his head, and nodded firmly. "Good fighters cut. No one is pulling that.
David and I were going to beat Willet here. Taking turns. Full force."

The pudgy fellow winced, but didn't
speak again. It wasn't a fun thing to be beaten by anyone. Especially if they
were larger and stronger than you were. Stilling his mind, Dareg read all of
them, which took a good bit of work still. They were
there
, so that was
a good sign. Will hadn't been. Even Tor had said so. Timon too, though that was
later, after everyone was starting to leave. It was the name, Willet, which was
a common enough one, but too close to
Will
for him not to be certain of.

So far he'd checked everyone that
way, trying to get into the habit. It showed that his skills weren't totally up
to the task, since it took him way too long, or had so far. He might be able to
do it, after a rough fashion, and make copies, but even being in the same room
as Tor, Timon and Queen Tiera had showed him that he knew almost nothing that
way. It wasn't just about the power to do something, there was real skill
involved in creating things that worked
with
the world, and made things
happen.

He tried to smile, and bowed to
the Baron, who did it back, going just a bit deeper.

"Right. I'll work with
Willet here first, then we can decide how to best take you two on,
together?" It was a changeup, but Dare had worked with these men before,
and both had beaten him easily, and
hard
.

He had abilities too. Better than
average strength and speed, for instance. Willet didn't seem to. Really, he was
so heavy and soft looking that he clearly didn't practice anything physical too
often. Well, other than eating. It was impressive in a way. Dareg had seen a
couple of chubby people in the past, and a few who were actually fat, but never
this close up.

Willet, instead of taking his
offer up, sneered at him. That got Dare to grin. If he took off the amulet that
stopped his pheromones from assaulting the kid in front of him, he wouldn't
have done that kind of thing.

The boy, who had sandy colored
hair, managed a credible glare then.

"Do you know who I am?"

Dareg didn't, so bowed, going
low, just in case it was important. They normally didn't do a lot of that in
the fighting square, but he'd kind of started it.

"Forgive me, I don't. I beg
forgiveness if my offer to take part of the beating for you gave insult,
sir." He didn't hold the bow, since he really hadn't meant anything by it.

David laughed, and looked away.
It was fake, his aspect dark underneath the sound.

"You missed
that
,
didn't you Willet? Dare just tried to put himself in between you and a
thrashing, and you showed great disrespect. That's poor form. Even worse, you
asked if he knew who you were, but you don't know who he is either, do
you?"

There was an eye roll in response
to the words.

"What's to know? He's some
lucky merchant whose father bought him a place in a decent school. That, or he
licked the Countesses privates well enough to get in. He has the looks, though
the no hair thing is funny." He did stop glaring however, and managed a
snort. "I'm Duke Wessling. The
sitting
Duke."

There was a small undertone of
beat
that
to the words. As if being a Duke was going to keep the two large men
from thrashing him for missing classes. The fact that he was there, having
shown up for it, meant he intended to take his punishment, even if he
complained at the same time. Which meant that going after Dare made no sense.

He nodded then, instead of
bowing.

"I see. So... You don't want
to work with the likes of me? Understandable. I guess I'll just have to watch?
I really
do
need the work. I'm new to this kind of thing." That was
said to Havar, who seemed to be in charge that day. Why, he didn't know, but
the large man smiled.

"We'll get you a turn after
Willet goes? I'm sure he'll endeavor to tire us out for you?"

Then, with no ceremony at all,
David leaped in, and dumped the fat kid to the dirt below him, hard, picking
him up by both legs to do it. Then, he climbed his body carefully, ready for
blows to come, or some trick. That did happen, and Willet worked to toss him to
the side, but each time he tried, David was ready with a stabilizing leg or
hand.

The boy wasn't horrible at
fighting it seemed, and did several things that looked like they could work.
Some did, but David was better, and able to keep going longer. After a few
minutes, with only a few punches tossed, the boy on the bottom was gasping hard
for air.

It reminded Dareg of being in the
void, which apparently showed, since Havar remarked on it.

"Are you well? Willet isn't
being harmed, not more than he can bear."

"It's... Not that. I was
stuck out, in the void, with no air, yesterday. I did it to take out one of the
Adversaries." He didn't know if the Baron was in on that, but he went wide
eyed.

His voice, when it came was
hushed.

"Alone?"

"Yes. I can cover it later.
It cost me my ship. I have a jump shield, so I didn't die, but... It was
close
."
He was shaking a bit, which got the man to pound him on the top of his
shoulder.

"If you can fill Derring and
I in on that? Ward too, Petra, I mean. You recall her?"

He nodded, not explaining yet.
Instead he focused himself and tried to watch what was going on. It was really
clear that these men were taking it easy on the boy. That didn't mean no good
moves were being used, which he needed to learn. All of them, really.

Finally David stood up, and moved
back. Instead of hammering the gasping Duke, Baron Havar let him recover, which
took nearly seven minutes. Then they repeated the thing. There was a bit more
punching and kicking this time, but it still ended up on the ground, with the
heavy kid being on the bottom.

David didn't wait, trying the
same move with him, a two-legged take down, that he'd used on Willet. He got a
punch to the face, a low hook, for his trouble. They still ended up going down,
but David wasn't sitting on him. They ended up being more side-by side, so Dare
kicked out, hard, hitting the man in the middle.

Then they really went at it. In
the end, after about ten minutes, Havar stopped them, laughing.

"There. See that Willet?
That's what you have to be doing.
Every
fight, from now on. Right now
you're better, skill wise, than Dare is. Ask yourself though, do you think you
could win against him? I mean, in a dirty, no holds barred, fight to the death?
Take a close look first. He's not even breathing hard, and took twice the
beating you did. Working with just
one
man. Watch."

Then he had to fight again with
Havar. It was about as hard, but vastly longer, and in the end he actually
started to win. Not easily, but he was simply able to keep his speed up as the
other man flagged. Not that blood wasn't pouring out of his face. Finally
Havar, gasping himself this time, moved back, waving.

"There... Do you... See? If
you... Want to... Live..." He waved for them to wait, and walked away,
taking deep breaths.

David covered for him.

"If you want to live you
have to be ready for anything. You didn't recognize Dareg. Prince Dareg Canton,
of Harmony. Countier Baker,
and
Countier Lairdgren. So you understated
his position and mocked him. Luckily it's
Dare
. Anyone else would have
razed your duchy to the
ground
. Plus a third of the beating you got
today was due to you foolishly not throwing in with him when he offered to
help
.
In a real fight you can't afford to look down on anyone.
Anyone
. Trust
me, there will be times when having some merchant kid, or
even
the man
that licks the Countess's nethers, at your back might be the only thing between
you and death. Think about that. The next time this happens we won't be as soft
on you."

Instead of bowing, the bruised up
Duke sighed.

"Sorry. I was rude. I
shouldn't have been. Even if you weren't a noble. I thought you were mocking my
fighting skill. People do, because..." He waved at his body, instead of
saying the word fat. "It's
hard
for me to resist food. I really do
try, but I get so hungry." He seemed miserable about it, but didn't go on.
Or give a good apology.

Not that Dareg cared about that.

"I think I understand. So,
who's going to teach me how to do more than just flail around until people get
tired?"

That it turned out was everyone,
including Willet, who was better when people weren't sitting on him, it turned
out. Not as good as most of the other fighters had been, but he wasn't in the
morning class at all. Just the afternoon ones, which was when the kids that
mainly had fighting as a regular class took it. From what Havar told him it was
the same, just a bit easier and less intense.

After that, when Willet left, the
men both came over to him, to get the news. He told them all of it, not holding
back any details.

"So, that's where we stand
right now. I don't know what to think about it all. The thing with two
Bill's... They weren't the same however. I... Actually need to get going now. I
need to get to Austra and check in on the port there. Which probably means
calling ahead, to let them know that it's time to hide."

There were High Servants doing
the work, after all.

So that either meant it wasn't
happening, or that something was very different than it had been before.

A white and blond person flashed
onto the screen, his face a bit annoyed. At first. He got his face under
control as he looked up however, even before recognition passed into his eyes.

"High Servant Johan here.
How may I serve you today?"

"Hi Johan. Dareg Canton on
this end. Um, you mentioned that you've been working the ports with your
people? I was planning to finally get back to work and start in on Austra. How
do I set that up? There are protocols for landing right? To get around the
missile system."