Light Bringer (The Young Ancients: Second Cycle Book 2) (5 page)

A lot of the traits he held,
supposedly, were kind of special. He didn't really see it, but it was clear he
did all right, in a lot of ways. He was strong for his size, and quick enough.
Supposedly his endurance was special too, though he hadn't noticed that one in
particular. His mind was fairly decent, though no one had ever claimed he was
brilliant or anything like that.

It was kind of clear that he was,
but no one in the world really had any reason to see that part yet, other than
him. Smiling, he realized that he also had probably gotten a good bit of high
self-esteem in the mix that made him as well. It wasn't false however, and he
could work things out, even if he hadn't had a lot of book learning. Given his
age, he could still go and do that as well, and no one would think twice about
it. He'd had a tutor, for fighting, that his Aunt Petra had arranged for him.
Until Kolb died.

He watched the Wizard Timon walk
in, a large floating case behind him. It was nice looking, in a plain sort of
way. Really it looked like polished pine. Some kind of light colored wood, at
any rate. It was really magic, of course, like most things in Harmony that
weren't made of stone.

The man sized up the whole thing,
and pasted a smile on his lips. He didn't seem all that old, looking about
sixteen or maybe a bit older than that to Dare. Eighteen at the outside.

"Mr. Albright. So nice to
see you. Were you talking to Dareg about the new project?" It was so clear
that Timon understood what had happened that the man actually managed to turn a
bit red.

"Well, that... And his
relationship to The Tor. They were both just saying that he couldn't have faked
the testing. Do you think that's correct, Revered One?" The man seemed
wary suddenly, and glanced at his palm, only to drop his right hand instantly,
placing the device there away. Nervously.

Timon nodded, as the camera came
around to put him in its single eyed gaze. The thing wasn't really that
however, since there was a blue glow where the lens should have been. Still, if
it worked, then he wasn't going to worry about how the job was done.

"That's right. Dareg was on a
different world when most of it was done. I did some of it myself. I'd be
shocked if there were two or three people that could have managed it all. Well,
short of bribing all of us to claim it was true when it wasn't, but Tor doesn't
really
need
anything, making that one kind of difficult." He smiled
about the words, turning on a kind of charm that seemed a bit obvious to Dareg,
but which the man questioning them seemed to almost melt into.

Patricia didn't, though she did
smile at her husband.

After a few minutes, reassuring
all of Austra that there was no good, easy, or
even
nearly impossible
way for Dareg to have faked being who he was. The man, Albright, left. He
clearly didn't want to, but Timon passed the focus stone box amulet over, and
started talking about how the probes and cameras would work in boring, but
needed, detail.

Dareg found it fascinating.

Tim smiled, covering it all
again, as soon as the man left.

"So, you get the idea, you
have four hundred probes to be dropped. They'll act like satellites, and have
their own control system. They only take pictures and maneuver, but it's a
starting place. There are also ten smaller inside cameras, kind of like what
Albright was using, except the sound is built in, and not a separate unit. It
isn't as good that way, since with the other units you can get closer for the
sound, but they aren't meant to spy on people, just record what they're saying
from inside ten feet away. Any questions?"

He did have one, and shrugged
about it.

"Sure. Can I get forty jump
ships from you? Taman is building comps for them, to organize things, and I
want to have everyplace, each port in the system, having at least one ship
coming and going each day. I need to get with Alice Orange, about training.
If
we can get those, I mean. I
know
that it's an insane thing to ask for.
Actually, each part of it is. The Comps, the Ships and the pilots. I'm hoping
that if I go big enough everyone will see that it's their duty to help out."

He smiled, and to his surprise,
Tim nodded.

"I already have those. I ran
up a hundred, but forty is probably about right. The rest are slated for Tiera.
Are you running that directly, or planning to shuffle it off on space
fleet?"

He stopped, since he didn't know.
Rather than admit being stupid, he smiled.

"That's up to Alice. I'll
get with her in a bit. Oh... Um, there
is
one more thing? If I'm going
around asking for vast things anyway?" Because asking for free jump ships
wasn't enough, as anyone could easily tell.

Timon gave him a slightly
strained look. It was a bit silly seeming however, rather than angry.

"Yes?"

Taking a deep breath, he nodded,
trying to set a positive mood for the whole thing.

"That time trick you and Tor
used? Can you teach me how to do that?"

The man went silent for a bit,
but then locked eyes with Dareg. His face slipped into being suddenly serious.

"I can. More to the point,
you can learn it. That won't be easy. Then, you didn't ask for
that
, did
you?"

It had never even occurred to him
that it wouldn't be nearly impossible. Just that it had been the only thing
that kept him alive. That, and a sacrifice of lives in exchange for his own.

They worked out that Dare needed
to get the new crew of pilots, and find some kind of real training for them,
before he took possession of the jump ships. Not that Timon refused to give
them to him, but carrying them all around in his pocket wasn't that brilliant
of an idea, all things considered. That would make them subject to loss, or
theft, so it made sense to him. If the price of one of them wasn't about the
same as buying a county in Noram, then it was greater.

It would be much better to lose
the things one at a time, with someone else being responsible for it happening,
to his mind. That meant he was able to get out of the shop a bit faster than he'd
thought would happen, after being pounded on the back by Tim, and felt up a bit
by Patricia, who wasn't that subtle about it. Luckily her husband just
snickered at the move and helped Dareg get to the door, being followed by the
equipment case, which navigated the door very well. Almost as if it knew the
thing was there, and what it had to do in order to not bump into anything.

That meant he was over an hour
early for his luncheon with Taman. Rather than waste time, he started walking
that general direction, which was back the way he'd come from, and started to
call up Alice Orange. Just as he was about to tap the sigil he recalled that he
was wearing his own face at the moment. That was far too good looking for the
Ancient. She had some kind of mental issue that made her dislike, or at least
not trust, attractive men. Not women, or good looking people in general, just
men that were too fine. It was a powerful effect, and highly conditional.
Thankfully, he had a disguise for that, and the amulet on him, being part of
his normal gear now. It would hide his beard, but that was fine.

As he tapped it into play he felt
sad for a moment. The lumpy and rather asymmetrical features that laid over his
own were just shy of comical, at least if you knew what he normally looked
like. That wasn't a problem however, since it was kind of nice, not being the
center of attention all the time. It was that Kolb had done the work on it. In
a way, his face, at least his false one, was a creation of the man. One of the
last things he'd ever done.

That hit him harder than he would
have expected it to. So Dare found a wall and leaned against it for a bit,
breathing a bit harder than normal. He must have looked pretty miserable, since
a rather tall lady, clearly a noble, wearing a very nice red and black velvet
dress, stopped as she walked past and held out her left hand.

"Sorry if this is out of
place, but are you well? A healing device could be found for you?" Her
eyes scanned him, then the case which had moved in alongside of him. The blond
wood looking thing was steady, and attractive. He was dressed in plain brown,
like a school student, which was probably why the lady had said anything. It
was kind of her anyway, since he might have been having troubles.

"No... I... A friend of mine
died recently. I..." He waved at his face. "This disguise. He made it
for me."

The lady, who was youthful, and
made up, took a step closer to him. There was no hint of shock over him wearing
a disguise, which was interesting.

"Oh... That's horrible. That
your friend died. Do you want to come in?" She pointed at the door nearest
him, then explained. "It's the whore house, but we also make a nice cup of
tea?"

He glanced at the door, which
boldly said what the place was right above it, and shook his head.

"Thank you. I can't. I need
to get with someone. The space fleet commander? Hence the disguise. It just hit
me. I'll be fine in a second." Then he bowed, assuming that it was the
right thing to do. This woman was special at least, even if she worked as a
whore.

"Sorry. I'm Dareg
Canton." He went about halfway down, which was probably too far, but he
didn't care at the moment. This woman had bothered to be nice to him, and there
wasn't anyone stopping to look at them or anything.

She bowed back, and went deeper
than he had, but not too much.

"Sherrilyn Bonner. Madam of
this place, and Ancient of the prime farm space station. You left out that
you're a prince, which is kind of a big deal in some places. I'm a friend of
Tiera's?" She winked at him, and reached out to touch his shoulder. It had
to look cozy, being he was pinned against the wall. She was taller than he was,
by ten inches or so, but seemed gentle enough, so it wasn't overwhelming.

"Who did the disguise for
you?"

"Sir Kolbrin. I don't know
if you knew him."

She stopped, her face going sad
in response to the words.

"I did. We weren't close,
but he was around for a long time. Are you sure you're all right? I could take
some time off and talk? They don't really need me here. I just like to pretend
I'm important by coming in randomly, and supporting my people here."

He shook his head, and pushed off
the wall. Her hand was still on his shoulder but she moved back then, dropping
it.

"I'm good. I'll be fine.
There was a thing. An attack, and... You heard about that? You're an
Ancient?" That meant immortal, or at least very long lived. What he didn't
know is if the farming head, or the madam, was going to be included in
everything. Even though it made sense to him.

"Tiera got me up to speed on
all of that. The Adversaries and what we know of them. It isn't much. You were
there right? For the fight, where everyone..." She avoided saying that so
many had died in it.

"Yeah. I nearly died. This
is my first day out of bed really. I'm about to go off to see Taman. She's my
Aunt." He realized that had to sound silly, but there was no laughing at
him over it, just a nod.

"Oh? Well, she's very sweet,
isn't she? Smart, too. Are you thinking about marriage? I think the bloodlines
would work out that way, if I have it right."

He smiled then and wrinkled his
nose. It didn't work right with the disguise on.

"I'm engaged. Karina Cordes?
Speaking of which I need to get with her today, too. After Alice. I'm trying to
set up regular ships to... Pretty much everywhere. We have the jump ships for
it, but I need to get the pilots trained first. We're adding your space station
to the list, right?"

She clapped, happily enough.

"Good. We don't get a lot of
visitors there. That might help. The science and magic stations, too?"

He just nodded, and only felt a
bit surprised when the kind woman gave him a hug.

"Yay. Great. Well, feel free
to call me? I'll get in to work then, and bother my people here, but we should
get together? We know people in common. That makes sense, right?"

"It does. Thank you, for
stopping? Not everyone would have. I don't even look that good right now.
Normally I look different than this. So I'll probably have to reintroduce
myself, when we meet next?" It wouldn't have been hard for him to take the
disguise off, but the woman just patted him again, in a friendly fashion, and
moved off.

"I look forward to it?"
Then she went inside her place of work. Her movements were quick, and graceful,
unlike his own as he turned and hit the sigil to see if Alice was around at
all. That could run hot or cold, and she might even be sleeping. Whatever time
schedule fleet kept, he didn't know.

This time however she came right
up, her face looking a bit tense, but not angry. Her gem like green eyes shone
a bit, as she glanced at him from his palm.

"Orange, go."

"Dareg Canton, here. Can I
get you to train up forty or so jump pilots? I managed to get ships for them,
if they can be trained. To do the daily runs to all the ports and bases? You
can run that, if you want? We also have Tam-Comps coming for them, to organize
it all?"

Rather than say no, or even yes,
the woman leaned in. Her skin was perfect, but pale. Tan, but lightly so, in
the golden range. Really she was just a bit darker than he was, which was on
the lower end of how light people got.

"Tam-Comps? Explain
this." Her accent was a bit thicker for some reason, as she waited for him
to go into it. So he just spoke, walking very slowly as he did it. When he got
to the end, the woman smiled.

"We get guidance and ship
based A.I.? I hadn't thought to see that coming any time soon. Excellent. You
say a month for that? If we run it through fleet, which we should, that being
part of our job, I can have that up inside a week. The Tam-Comps can come
later. It isn't that hard to do. We have many more pilots than we do ships, or
we would have set that up already."

That was a surprise, but he
nodded, not letting it show.

"Good. I'll get those to
you. Timon has them, if you want to pick them up directly? Or... I can do it.
Either way."

"Ya. You get on that for us?
The sooner we get that done, the faster things can be set to going. I'm on the
Ranford right now. We're in O-seventeen, which... You don't know of, being an
amateur pilot. Um... Get with the training school, and they'll be able to make
the delivery for you. When can we expect that?"

He didn't really know, but
shrugged, and made something up, that sounded real enough.

"Soon? Tim has them, I just didn't
pick them up, since carrying them around for a month would be asking for them
to be stolen. I can get them after luncheon? I'm meeting Taman for that in
about forty minutes. Then I need to stuff food in my face, until I can't any
longer. Pick those up, catch a nap for a while... Call it six hours?"

It probably wouldn't take that
long, but he really did feel like having a lie down, if possible. Doing that
could come after the delivery, however.

Instead of seeming impressed,
there was just a grunt.

"Do it. I'll set up the
schedule on this end. Do you have all the ports ready?"

"Nope. I think you can land
at them, but most of them aren't improved yet. That whole nearly dead thing set
me back by a few weeks. This is my first day back." He looked around, but
while there were people passing, looking better dressed than he was for the
most part, even if they were just in black Tellerand dresses, like some of the
women were, no one seemed to care he was there at all.

So he held the stone device a
little closer to his face.

"I set up training for that
time trick that Tor and the others used. With Tim? I need to learn to fight
better, too. You mentioned some trainer at Lairdgren?" The name escaped
him just then, but it had been mentioned right after the attack.

"Remy? He might be a someone
for you to look into that with. Not human, regardless of how he looks. They're
pretty much the best killers humanity has ever created. Good plan. Get with him
and explain it all. He might not help, or he might. That will depend on how you
present it to him." She looked at him, and then smirked a bit. "At
least one of us is actually trying to come up with a plan. I can arrange armor
for you, too. Like mine? We can't use magic directly on this new foe, so we
need to work around that. Keep that in mind. As soon as you have that set up,
we need a real program for it. One fighter isn't enough. We need one in ten or
so able to do all of that, and more. You first though. To make sure this isn't
a dead end. Six hours on those ships. Keep in touch."

The device went dead, so he
called Timon.

That went more smoothly. The
instant the device picked up, Tim smiled.

"Alice told you she has
pilots, so you need the ships?"

He managed a tired smile for the
man, who did that kind of thing.

"Yeah. I still have
luncheon. I can run get those now though, since I have some time still."

That got a laugh, and a gentle
suggestion he head back to the magic shop, since they were there, in the back.
It killed some time, but not that much, and they just loaded them into the
blond wood case, so he didn't have to carry anything in his own hands.

Then he had to stop and chat
again, since it would be rude otherwise, until Tim pushed him out the door, so
he wouldn't be late. He had to change as he walked, his clothing not being
appropriate for a nice place like Marisa's. It was free, and anyone was allowed
to eat there, but it was still a special event. Even at that, there was a bit
of a line when he got there. He was met by a nice looking older man, not the
owner of the place like he had been the last time.

"Table for one? Or are you
being joined by others?" The man seemed fine with both of those options.
Interested, but only to the level that it affected his job.

Dare smiled.

"I'm meeting someone? Taman
Baker?" He was about to describe her, but the man smiled, and nodded.

"Princess Taman is already
here. May I tell her who has come to meet her?" The idea was clear. Just
saying he was
supposed
to be there with her wasn't enough to get him
taken to a princess. Even if he could get a seat all on his own.

"Dareg. Canton. She's
expecting me." He smiled, his face feeling a bit stiff thanks to his
disguise. That got him to tap it off, to let his skin breathe. The man stepped
back a bit, staring, but he knew what had happened, or figured it out fast
enough.