Light Bringer (The Young Ancients: Second Cycle Book 2) (43 page)

He didn't really, but his mouth
moved, and sounds came out, surprising him a bit. That kind of thing happened, but
it was almost always a poor plan to let it. That was when you said stupid
things that ended up with you being in trouble.

"Just some copy work. I need
to practice, and Austra needs lights. For the port there? I should be able to
get a single batch done in that time. Sam wants me to do that kind of thing
without using a template, so it will take longer. Not that he wants to waste my
time. It's just training."

There was a sound, which was
probably clapping.

"Amazing! You haven't even
gone off to school yet. Well, don't be late, if you can help it. I look forward
to seeing you, little brother." That was a new thing, her calling him
that. It kind of shocked him, but he went with it, trying to pretend it was
real.

"Me too, sis. See you
soon." With that the device in his pocket shifted a little, the energy
coming off of it dying. He could feel it happening, since there wasn't a lot
else to concentrate on at the moment.

It took him a bit to get back to
the port, and to examine one of the lights they were using to ring the landing
areas. They worked, but it should be possible for him to do a bit better than
that, without completing an entirely new build. Even with his low skill level.

It was all right there for him,
he realized. The basic sense of light, then the directions which told it what
to do, changing the feeling of the thing when a given sigil was touched. That
point of contact was all that was really needed. The intent to do it really,
was enough. So the device had to turn on, produce light, and that was it. The
rest of the field was dedicated to how to manage the light. There was no reason
that a person couldn't add mental controls like some of the food units had
however, which would allow the field the light was on to stretch and change
shape, brightness and color. Or, and this one made sense to him, turn itself on
and off, when it was hit by a bright enough light.

It was a bit more complex, but
doable. Still, he needed things to work on, and using bowls from Tam-Unit might
not be all that sensible really. Instead, not wanting to waste a lot of time
trying to find focus stone making magics, then borrowing the things, he moved
away from the city, and collected a sack of rough stones from the ground. The
thing was heavy, when he brought it back, but it wasn't like he was walking. He
used the low flying feature on his shield, which was much faster.

Then he had to recall everything
he'd been told to do.

The effort it took was a lot more
than he'd figured on, but a mere eight hours later, he had ten of the things.
It was a bit small for a batch, but there were more rocks, and now that the
pattern was established, it would probably be easier for him. They each had
glowing sigils on them, the locations slightly different for each rock. Taking
the smallest one, he put it in his pocket, and got himself ready for dinner.
Hopefully Constance had been doing some sisterly teasing and Count Lairdgren
wasn't really all that angry at him for not going to his school.

If there was a beating for it,
perhaps the man would let him put that off for a while. Not that he felt that
bad at the moment. A bit low in energy, but nothing like he had been before. It
was just that Dareg needed to be healthy most of the time, from then on. That
and he needed to figure out how to hunt down and dispose of their enemies
before something too big took place.

 The trip into the city was slow,
taking nearly half an hour, since he floated along using his shield. Flying
wasn't allowed, but you
could
use Not-flyers, which meant that no one
cared if he were moving along at a reasonable speed a few inches from the earth
below him. It was faster than walking, but slower than he could sprint. On the
good side he wouldn't be left dripping with sweat at the end of it. His
clothing was a bit plain, being a regular outfit that looked almost military,
but in deep green, with opal trim and a sky blue strip on the side of the legs
on the outside. It wasn't an inspired color choice, but looked like he belonged
when he walked up to the front gate of the palace.

The man there wasn't known to
him, and Dareg could hear that there were two others, standing back, on the
inside of the gate. Yet another was stationed in a small stone hut about ten
feet to the right. The gate itself was impressively tall, being about ten feet,
and seemed to be constructed of heavy black iron.

"Name and business, My
Lord?" That came with a bow from the purple and black clothed man. He was
bigger than Dareg, by about five inches, and held more muscle to his form.

It was probably intimidating.

"Prince Dareg Canton, of
Harmony. Invited to dinner?" He really didn't have more than that to say,
and the man stood, looking placid.

"Very well, Prince Dareg. We
need to call that in to check on the master list. It will be a moment."
Then, for some reason the man leaned in. "New procedure. This way we can
get more eyes on whoever comes to the gate. Even that is just an extra step. No
one knows if the Truth amulets will work on the new foes."

He didn't either. They clearly
could use magic when they wanted. Bill had dressed himself in it, once he had
the right amulet, and could turn it on and off. Things like the ships held them
and transported them like anyone else. When they started to fight, then things
went away. That might have been why no one had responded to Bill, even though
someone had to have read him using magic, but Tor and he both got that Will
wasn't right. Will had been doing that time thing, then, if lightly.

"I can't say, myself. My
best guess for the moment is that they can probably use them when they want to.
If it would catch them lying?" He spread his hands a little, and moved a
bit, his right foot making a scratching sound on the cut stone beneath him.

The Royal Guard made a tiny head
movement, which was nearly just a nod.

"That's the thought here. So
you aren't going to scream and try to have us all tortured on the rack for
this? That's refreshing. Half the people through here in the last day have
suggested things along those lines."

The man moved back, as Dare
smiled. It wasn't his job to tell them how to guard the King. Not unless he had
a better way to do it. As had been mentioned with him, it seemed like the
Adversaries could be everywhere they wanted to be. Not so much because of what
had happened there, which was pretty normal. Bill and Straughan had
infiltrated
places, like any spy might have.

No, the real danger was with the
incoming fleets. They'd had people infiltrate there,
while
hurling
through space. He needed to learn more about that, Dare decided. They were
superstitious about things, thinking that light might protect them from the
darkness. Taking the metaphor a bit too literally. Lyone had told them that her
entire people, all of them, lived in the light all the time. Even when they
slept.

The thing with that was simple.
He didn't know enough to assume his people were the ones that were wrong. It
had seemed that way to him, but maybe they knew something he didn't. In that
case, the job of fixing that was his own. No one else would deliver that kind
of information to him. They wouldn't even know to do it.

It was only a few minutes, and
while he did feel a bit out of place standing there, no one made fun of his
lack of hair. What happened was that he was handed a Truth amulet anyway, and
asked to state his particulars again, then led in.

It made perfect sense. After all,
if
the things worked on the Adversaries, then not using them would be
foolish. If they didn't, they lost nothing by trying. His eyes moved carefully,
scanning the world like he was expecting attack, and trying not to jump as they
were followed, once they got inside. He'd heard them before, the people in the
walls, but this time it was harder to take. Like a real threat was about to
rush out at him. It wasn't hard to understand that it was just more guards
there for safety, but that didn't mean his nerves were resting easy as they
shuffled along, trying to be silent.

Watching him.

Like he was their primary target
in the world. He understood why, and didn't take it all that personally, but
Dare really could see how some people might. It was like these people were
accusing him of being a threat, when all he'd done was innocently walked in,
like he was
asked
to. Yes, the royal family had to be protected, but the
scrutiny was maddening, in its own way.

Worse, he didn't really know if
it would be enough to protect anyone. What if one of the kitchen staff showed
up one day, but wasn't themselves. Or if the King was replaced with a double
that was identical to him. The odds that all of the enemy would look like Bill
and Kevin was too much to hope for. That, if it was the case, would work in
their favor. It would be nice if something finally would.

The guards walked him about
halfway to the main dining room, and passed him off to the butler, who bowed to
him, going low.

"Prince Dareg. So good to
see you again. Things are set up in the small dining room this evening. This
way?" Dareg bowed back, going halfway down, since the man was clearly
important. His eyes widened a bit at it, but he smiled, pleased by the respect
it seemed.

The trip was longer, actually,
and went through several hallways that doubled back on each other. In the end
they did end up in a room that was small for the palace, but lined with cool
seeming polished stone. It was black and streaked with veins of white. The
interior space was about ten feet by twenty however, which was the smallest space
he'd seen inside there. There were no windows and the room was dim, holding
only a few lanterns. The real kind that had oil reservoirs and flame, though
very nice versions that had delicate etched glass for the light to be seen
through.

Inside there were as promised,
not too many people. And it looked like that would hold. There was only one
seat left. It was next to Karina, who was sitting beside her brother. He was a
place down, with a tiny woman being directly next to the King. She was so dark
that he would have missed seeing her if not for her bright red hair. It stood
nearly straight up, but was only a few inches long. Her eyes were light enough
that he could see them, even in the dim space.

Across from them sat Count Ward
and his Countess, and an older man, who was upright, but seemed to be alone.
Beside him was Sam Builder, who looked over at him and waved a bit, then
winked.

"There he is. Queen
Constance told us that you might be a bit late. Doing building work." He
smiled, like it was a joke. Until Dareg pulled the stone from his pocket. It
was nearly as big as a handheld, and had several different glowing designs on
it, each holding a specific purpose. Not that he'd tried it out yet.

Sam held out his hand and took
the thing from across the table, and then closed his eyes, going so still that
his single point of attention tried to draw Dareg along with it. Everything he
had was just sensing what the magical device in his hand was. If it worked.
Instead of speaking he just opened his eyes, and shook his head.

"It's the
entire
freaking family, isn't it? Here, let me see if I can do this as well as it
deserves." He touched the rock, with a single finger, and caused a ball of
light to form. It started bright, like sunlight, and dimmed just a bit for
comfort, as people laughed and covered their eyes, then the ball floated to the
wall behind the tall blond wizard, and spread out, making a six inch thick line
that ringed the room. Glowing enough that he had to dim it again.

The King looked at them and bowed
his head a tiny bit.

"Very useful! I was told
that the only way for us to get a magical light in here involved ladders, and
half an hour of work, hence the lanterns. This is new, isn't it? Something from
Harmony?" The King was looking at him, but Sam answered, as he changed the
color of the lights, smoothly going through hundreds of different shades.

"I'd sigh and hang my head
being shown up like this, but no, Prince Dareg built it. It has a full mental
interface. I... Let me see..." He closed his eyes then and the light from
the ceiling moved down, and after a few moments, formed the shape of a person.
One that glowed at first, but then dimmed until the statue seeming thing was
shown only by the lamp light. It was of a woman, who looked a lot like Laurie
Baker, being that small. With wings that glowed a tiny bit. They were held
back, and a light bluish white. Then he returned the light to where it had
been, making the room bright.

"You could make anything
with this, if you wanted. Well, a seeming of it. In real time." Sam seemed
impressed at least, which was good.

Karina leaned in her shoulder
warm next to him.

"Not bad. Is this for shows?
Entertainments?"

Dare leaned back a bit, since he
was a little tired and jumpy, not stupid or dead. The woman was nice looking,
and they'd done enough on the Saturn trip to show that she wasn't just playing
with him that way. Not that anyone ever really had, Queen Tiera aside.

"Lights for the Austran
port, and the new fleets coming in? They live in light, so I figured it might
be useful to them. It should be able to get a lot bigger and brighter than
this. That could be useful for growing things on Mars, since we're starting
underground there. If enough light
not
made by the unit hits the rock
the whole thing will turn off. That way we won't light things without need
during the day. I didn't know if that would help so that feature can be turned
on and off."