Light Bringer (The Young Ancients: Second Cycle Book 2) (55 page)

About that time hunger slapped at
his middle, and he looked around, rather desperately, for a food unit.
Thankfully, Timon being a wizard, the stone cave inside the moon had one,
recessed into the far wall. He jogged to it, and started processing the needed
instructions to make it work, about halfway there. Making it happen without
contact. That part was much easier now. Almost effortless, to be honest.

He wanted to focus, and most of
the rest of the world very nearly fell away, allowing it to happen. He set it
up for the cheese chips with thick white cream and spicy tomato that he'd had
at Marissa's. It felt like it took forever for the things to appear, but the
second it did, he removed the large platter that he'd created with the thing,
which got Timon to roll his eyes.

"That unit isn't designed to
make flatware. So, good work? I thought it might help out with magic. Probably
mathematics too, if it ever comes up? There are some real drawbacks with this
however. You won't need to sleep, but that means keeping yourself fed
regularly. If you don't eat for about a day then your body will slow down to
save itself from starving. As for the rest, you're pretty well set.
Intelligence, concentration and memory, all boosted by about four times. You
weren't doing badly before, so that's saying something. On the good side, you
won't notice it
that
much, I bet. Your speed is greater, and your
reflexes probably can't be calculated now. Strength is up, but not to the level
of your speed, since I cheated to get that to happen for you. If you have the
energy, you should heal nearly as fast as if you're using an amulet for it too.
Immortal, of course. Remember, I can change part or all of this, if you can't
handle it. It will be hard, but this
is
about what you asked for."

 Dare ate, and nodded, then did
it again, as slowly as he could manage, which seemed to be at about the right
speed. After he finished eating, Linda spoke, her voice playful seeming.

"I didn't know that
immortality was an option. I should have signed up for that." There was a
smile, which seemed happy enough. If very, very slow.

Timon nodded, taking his sweet
time about it, as Dareg looked across the room, and focused on the food machine
again, making a pitcher of protein shake. One that tasted like what he'd gotten
from the people at the restaurant that one time. Cold, thick and more filled
with fat than before. He wasn't that hungry at the moment, but it was clear he
would be soon. That would, he hoped, calm down. He could feel his body still
changing however. Very fast. It left him feeling hot, and tingly in several
places. Mainly through his stomach, and the front portion of his head.

There was a slot for any extra
food or waste to go into, next to the device on the left hand side, so he
returned the plate when he went for the pitcher. Timon got him a glass from a
cupboard near the thing. It was real seeming, and nice. Made of sturdy, but
clear and flawless, crystal.

It didn't even have bubbles in
it, and made almost no distortion to the light that came through it from the
magical lamps overhead.

Timon watched him doing all of
this, and spoke, looking at Linda directly.

"You already have that one.
Immortality. I added it in, since you're one of a very few people that we've
met that's taken out one of the Adversaries. You'll heal a lot faster, too. Not
like Dareg, but... It isn't fair, but we have to try what we can. If he can
survive this, then others might need to be made the same way. So, try to make
it work?" That was for him.

Moving quickly he drank a full
glass of the cool but thick, liquid, which felt funny to his mouth, and nodded.
The room smelled, too. Not horribly, but he could tell a lot more than he would
have been able to before that way. Like that Linda was a female now. He could
see that, so it wasn't some kind of big deal, but the scent was different from
his or Timon's. There were also currents in the air that held a faint shimmer
of color. Heat, coming from the warming unit along the back wall, and an even
fainter version from their bodies. More from him than the others, but he wasn't
feeling it yet.

Linda slowly settled into seeming
surprised, as Dare finished his beverage. He did feel full suddenly, so didn't
finish it all, just dumping the remainder. Then made himself slow down, so that
he could talk to everyone.

"You should eat as well,
Linda. I should have let you go first." He meant it, but no one seemed
upset at him over it. Even if he had been rude.

That part took so long that Dareg
nearly left, halfway through. Before the new woman had finished her meal, which
was a strange looking stew over what seemed to be rice, several other people
came in. Nearly half a day had passed, so it wasn't too shocking that Tor was
there, looking grim, as well as Tiera.

She moved in and hugged him,
pressing herself against his body. It was strange to him, but felt nice. It
also took so long that his body started to respond. Pushing her away wasn't an
option, so he focused and tried to get his body to calm down that way. It didn't
work perfectly, not having enough time he was willing to bet, but he wasn't
left with a tent in the front of his trousers, so it was good enough. By the
time she pulled away on her own, he'd learned two things.

The first was that she clearly
liked him well enough, since her nipples were erect and the room wasn't cold.
The other was that he probably wasn't going to be able to have sex any time
soon. That left him feeling a bit sad, since that kind of thing was fun. After
a few moments he came to understand that it was one of the things he had to
sacrifice for this new power. It wouldn't be the last thing either. There was
no way he could move with a normal woman and not harm her eventually if they
were that close.

Tor moved toward him, his face
blank. Inside he was feeling conflicted. That was an intensely sharp and
divided thing. Part of him simply doubted that Dareg was human, of course. The
rest knew the truth. They'd both been fooled. Possibly. There really was the
chance that Dareg had simply been wrong, and when they went to the graveyard
there would be the wasted and rotted body of his mother in her burial shroud.

It was horrible, but he kind of
hoped that would be the case. It was a thing that he simply couldn't speak of,
out loud.

"Dareg..." The word
felt sad.

Thankfully Timon started to speak
instantly, almost right on top of Tor.

"I made some changes to
Dareg. He's a lot faster now, so things will seem odd and slow to him for a
while. Like the whole world is in slow motion. Crawling, in fact. If you look
closely you'll see that his body is a bit different? His arms and legs are a
bit longer, and the tendons connect in different places. He can pass well
enough, I think, but just
talking
to you is going to be hard for him.
There are other things, but we can go into that later. How are you holding up
so far?" That was for him, he thought, so he nodded, taking a while to do
it, and spoke at the pace that they'd agreed upon in their practice session.

"Fine. This really does seem
wrong. On the good side you all
sound
right to me. I
feel
like I
could walk to Marissa's and back in the time that it takes you to finish a few
sentences, however." Dare smiled and held it, then went on, when it seemed
like everyone understood him. "I need to go and check on some things. Back
in Canton. I think the plan is for Timon and Smythe to go along with me? We'll
need a ship, unless you both have jump shields?"

Timon let his chin come up.

"Shields then. I won't have
the new craft for a bit and while we can catch a ride, it will be easier if we
can travel on our own. Linda, are you coming with us? You can stay here, if you
want. Harmony might be better for you, since it's closer to what you're used
to, even if different than Earth is. After that... I'd guess Austra? It's
easier to survive here. You have to work, but everything is free."

She looked at the tall man and
seemed a bit daunted by those ideas.

"Here would be good? I'd
like to avoid using that kind of shield again, if possible. At least for a few
days."

That got Tor to pat his neck, and
eventually pass over a regular shield, explaining the rules there. Everyone had
to have one on, all the time. It was the law.

 Timon helped Linda change
clothing, going to another room for that, and then passed a jump shield to Tor.
He also got some other things from his desk, but slipped them into his pocket.
There was no Smythe, but that wasn't needed for Dareg to be happy. He started
toward the door, walking slowly, and calling back.

"Come on then? We need a
personnel hatch, right?" That was what Claremont had told him, the first
time he'd come in from space, using a shield. Thinking of the woman caused a
vision of her to come up in front of him, forcing him to stop, since it was like
she was there with him, and no one else was, suddenly. After a moment that
faded, but it had really been different. Like the woman had simply stood in
front of him, warping the world away from the real. That would be a disaster,
if it happened while he did anything important, so he decided to be careful
that way. Also not to mention it to anyone else. They really didn't seem to
notice it happening, and they'd just worry about him.

Tor and Timon both
ran
at
him, clearly moving with good speed, from the way their bodies leaned forward.
It still looked rather slow, and it seemed like Timon was moving at nearly
twice the pace that Tor was. He just waited, since walking was fast enough. He
didn't need to force others to run for him. It might be a bit boring from
inside his own head, but it would be good practice, since he had a real life to
get back to.

Most of it would require him to
live at the pace others went. That just made sense, so when he turned, to head
out the door, he made a point of going slowly. It was like playing as a child,
pretending that the entire world was under water. Only more so. The others
still seemed to be moving with full, large strides, which he really wasn't.
That got him to slow down even more. Timon seemed to get it first, and nodded
at him, smiling.

"That's about the right
speed for walking in public. Try to memorize it. Use this when you go places,
even if it's a pain." There was some sense of understanding to what he was
saying. As if he had to do similar things all the time himself. That probably
had to do with conversation, not movement. The man was mentally agile enough
for most people to feel a little sluggish to him.

Dareg had never really noticed
that one too much,  himself, but it was clear,
now
, that he'd adapted to
his new world and surroundings a lot more quickly than most would have. It had
just about made it seem like he fit in, since he could manage to avoid a lot of
things that everyone else had to deal with, just understanding how the world
had to work. If he were four times as intelligent now, as Timon had stated
being the plan, he'd probably seem...

Annoying. To everyone, most of
the time. The best cure for that was to keep his mouth shut on most topics.
That would be what Timon had to deal with as well. Tor, too. Not as much as
Dare needed to do now, but enough that some of the Baker family might well
understand that part of his experience. Not that it mattered. He could keep his
lips closed enough that it wouldn't show all the time.

"We need to get Linda back
in with her people. She's the only one they have with any real life experience
fighting what's coming." He spoke the words out loud, but didn't explain
what he meant. Both of the men with him were more than bright enough to get the
general idea.

Tor sighed. That came out gusty
and incredibly slow, even though the sound portion still seemed right to him.
It was a complicated idea, but he could see it. The part of his mind that
processed incoming language simply wasn't operating like the rest of him was.
That
should
help him stay sane. If not, he could take up meditation, and
try working that way.

When his father spoke, the words
were a bit tense. It was held underneath his focus, but still there. It made
him sound just a bit more clipped and sharp. A thing he doubted he would have
picked up consciously before.

"How do we do that? We have
no power over them, and trying to push them around won't work well. It wouldn't
with me, and I'm decently easy going, I hear."

Dareg could see both of those
things, but managed to not be too rude when he answered.

"We need to find out more
about Forten law. We should get Linda together with Lenn, and possibly the
Ysidril, if they're allowed to speak to us now. One of you might have to do
that portion of things, so that they're not caught up in this. There has to be
some provision for the Forten to kill the enemy in time of war. They're a
warrior people by nature. At least some of them. That's clear from their love
of law." It made sense to him, but when he finished Timon gave him a strange
look. At first he was afraid he'd been speaking too fast to make sense.

"How does that follow? Noram
and Austra both have strict laws, and neither of us are truly warrior
cultures." That seemed definite, but wasn't really true.