Slave Line (The Young Ancients) (2 page)

Tor sighed and wondered what he was supposed to do again, and how he should get it done. Before he could face the pain of moving enough to leave for the day people started to walk into the room, a group of nearly twenty people in a large cluster. Austran spies led in by Denno Brown as if it was a secret mission or something. Well... Tor knew that not all of them were spies. Thirteen of them were real spies and two more had been sent by Austra as an emergency measure when the war had started, but they didn't have complete training so had mainly just hung around trying to get a feel for public opinion. The rest were family of the others. One of them a girl about ten years old, with brown hair cut shoulder length and Noram style dress in city tan.

She looked scared, and he couldn't blame her for that at all. It turned out both her mother and father were spies and kind of had to leave the Kingdom as fast as reasonably possible now that they'd been found out. That made sense, Noram couldn't just leave them hanging about to do more spying, could they? The unfair part was that the kid had never even heard of Austra as more than a place her Kingdom was fighting with, that it was filled with evil, warlike people that wanted her dead and now she was going to have to go live there for the rest of her life.

It wasn't kind or good, but what else could they do? Her parents just couldn't stay and being who they were didn't have other relatives the girl could go and stay with or anything like that. If she'd been a few years older he would have offered to foot the bill for her to go to one of the schools in Noram, so things wouldn't be too strange for her.

That would mean having to ferry her to her parents on breaks and things though. It could be done, if she wanted it. She looked pretty bright, eyes not dull, and attentive to her surroundings at least.

Denno smiled at him his hands going out as if he were going to deliver a hug, though thankfully he stopped almost five feet away.

"Tor. I assured everyone that they could just come down for food, rather than staying in their rooms the whole time. Is that alright?" His voice was silky and persuasive, as if it were something he might have to wheedle out of his brother.

"Of course it is. You all have the run of the house here and can even go into town if you want. I don't recommend that for most of you, since people may not be all that happy about having been spied on, but you aren't prisoners here. If you need anything, please feel free to ask. If you really need to go outside, please wear a shield and take guards with you. I'll have a box of things put back out by the front door. I... don't have guards. We can get some of the Lairdgren group to go though." It was the deal made, that they wouldn't be abused and would be treated like guests, not prisoners. Tor thought for a second, but couldn't really think of anything else he needed to provide for them.

Maybe some music or light entertainments? Cards for games or something? Possibly some books to read? That could be done.

The whole group went very still then, except Brown who closed the distance between them and took his shoulder gently.

"Thank you Purple. That's very kind of you. Do you know when we're leaving?" It was said loudly enough for the whole group to hear, even though they kind of huddled together for protection for some reason. They'd earned the right to be afraid though, but it was wasted. If anyone tried to harm them before he got them home he and his friends would protect them. Even at the cost of their own lives. It was the agreement the King had made with Brown... that Tor himself would see to their safety and well being. Unless they turned out to be murderers, which no one here had at all.

Tor nodded, having been thinking about it already, it was based mainly on the soonest possible departure time. The faster they got out of the Capital the better off they'd all be. He hadn't been kidding when he said that some people might hold a grudge. Oddly enough those would likely be the regular people, not nobles, who were so used to being spied on they took it all as a matter of course and even applauded the Austrans on their good placements.

"As soon as we have the goods ready for the ship, which is being put together in Warden as we speak. I have to ship some gold in for that, but we should have it all ready by early tomorrow morning. We'll fly from here in Fast Carriages, which should take about an hour and a half or so to get there, maybe less, if no one has to stop to use the facilities. Then we leave directly. It should take about five days to get to Austra or so. We could make it faster if we just flew the whole way, but that kind of lacks the feeling of luxury we want. The King doesn't want it to look like we just loaded you all up as cargo and shipped you off without ceremony. Unfortunately we don't have time to put together a real crew. You get to eat my cooking for the trip I'm afraid." That and be waited on by a group of young builders. It probably wasn't the best idea ever, but they just didn't have time to get a full staff on board. Not without stringing things out far too long.

"I can help with that, if you want?" This came from a man that used to work in the royal kitchen as a baker. He was good, of course, or he couldn't have kept a position there. Tor hadn't planned on making them work at all, but shrugged.

"Honestly I could use the help. We don't have that many people going, about fifty I think, but that might grow pretty quickly. We should be set on bakers then, since several of my family are going to be with us. Can you cook too?" He might not be able to, Tor knew, if he'd specialized.

The man nodded though, smiling a bit.

"I can. I was a four star chef before I enlisted. It was why I was groomed for this position." He looked down, a bit embarrassed for some reason, but didn't explain why. It sounded like he was proud of the stars he had. Maybe it was a military thing? Like a rank?

"Good, um... Carlos. You can be in charge of the kitchen then and I'll do the baking. We may not even starve at this rate. Can I get with you later as to supplies? We'll want a list. Feel free to call it in to Warden if I'm not around. Ask for Petra Ward if she's there, if not just leave a message for her. She'll get it done."

Everyone stood around staring at them both like they'd lost their minds, except Brown, who gestured toward the table.

"Erin, why don't you come sit by me? Your parents too. I don't know what they have for breakfast today, but I bet we can work out some kind of sweets for you." He addressed this to the little girl, who looked more than a little scared of the man, even if he was just about the best looking person in the world. For men at least. Julie White, the leader of Soam, was probably the best looking person over all.

The girl didn't move and her parents looked at her uneasily, as if she might start crying at the man or something. She looked pretty upset, like it was just possible she could.

"Alright." She walked over to the ancient of Austra, eyes down the whole time, wiping her hands on the sides of her tan dress as she did. When she got to the table the good looking fellow pulled out a chair for her easily, as if they were old friends, not someone that had met her the day before. He was good that way, easy with people all the time.

Not like Tor, who always felt just a little shy around people he didn't know well.

He waved at the table, knowing it lacked grace, but not wanting anyone to feel awkward. Not more than they already were.

"Let's see what we have today. I had oatmeal myself, but I imagine the kitchen is up to a lot less boring things if you want them. I'll duck in and check." It was his job after all. Literally. That didn't mean he had to wait on them himself or anything, but he could at least make certain they didn't have to search out crumbs of food or beg at the kitchen door.

It took about three minutes for him to get to the right place and find Glaren, who was busily talking to her daughter Colette while her older daughter Bonita looked on. Glaren was divorced from their father, but both girls were still Baronettas for all that. That kind of thing didn't go away just because the mother changed part way through, for some reason.

"Mother..." Collette saw him and waved, which functionally told everyone to stop talking about whatever they were plotting. It wasn't against him, Tor was nearly certain of that, but it was suspicious anyway, since it hinted at trouble of some sort. That was probably just because of his mood, he knew, taking little things too seriously, but still... It bugged him.

"Hey all. Glaren? We have people looking for breakfast and more should be down soon. About thirty, I think. I said I'd see what was possible. I don't know what we have."

She clapped, which got six large people, all dressed in identical green uniforms, to grab large platters. They were covered, but Glaren didn't make him guess what it all was.

"Egg toast, fresh fruit, sweet rolls and fried ham. I know it might not seem that elegant, but we can also make whatever people want to order, if they don't mind waiting?" She grinned, because it sounded like a feast and the kitchen boss knew it.

She was good at her job.

"Sounds perfect. I'll just hobble back and make sure everyone has enough. I... need to talk to all of you, before I leave. Tonight would be good. Your father too? And Nita, if you see him before I do, get Burks in for it? This is important. Don't invite Carol. Please, I mean. Not to this." It was rude to not invite someone, of course, especially their step-mother, but the woman had kind of promised to kill him, which was a good enough reason , socially speaking. Not that he was worried. Death would be a bit of a relief at the moment, to tell the truth.

No one asked why it was he didn't want Carol, though Glaren looked baffled as to why she'd been included. She shouldn't though. Tor liked her. Besides it was about her daughter, so of course she needed to be there. Family first and last, after all.

"OK, so, here I go... Walking out now and leaving the room as fast as possible... Seriously, going now..." He really did hobble, since everything hurt. Two days before he'd been in a fight. With a giant. The man hadn't touched him, but just delivering the beating had damaged him, as weak as he was at the moment. It felt like his whole body was sprained and that might not be too far from the truth. He couldn't use magic at the time, so he'd cheated in a different way, using mental tricks to make it seem like time had slowed, and pushing his body to the limits of what was possible for him. Now he was paying for it.

In more ways than one.

The food got set on the table and dished out to each person as they indicated what they wanted, the servers doing a good job of the whole thing. It took a few seconds for it all to click into place, but he recognized several of them. They weren't friends. Not even people that worked for him, or regular servers from the palace, though they dressed like they were.

No, they were Royal guards. There to keep an eye on things no doubt.

It would have been nice if someone had mentioned it to him, but Tor decided not to make a big deal about it. It was likely that the King had ordered it and just figured that he'd pick up on it all instantly, so saying anything would be wasted effort. Then, the Royal guards might have just snuck over to do it on their own, if the actual command to do it had been forgotten. They weren't supposed to do things like that without being told too, but they weren't all that shy about taking advantage of Tor when it came up. Possibly other people too, but he knew they did it to him.

Brown nodded at the food.

"This is marvelous. Thank you Tor." He beamed as if serving them breakfast was special or something.

"Don't thank me, thank Collette and Glaren for putting it all together. I just live here." Tor grinned.

"Thank the nice Royal guards for serving it to you too. They volunteered to help out, since, you understand, the King wants to make sure nothing happens to anyone before we get you home and you aren't our responsibility anymore. Obviously it isn't meant as anything else, since they aren't using disguises and half of you probably know them all on sight." He raised his eyebrows but several of the Royal guards just nodded as if that was literally the truth.

One of them, an older man that Tor didn't know by name, but who'd helped him out with things a few times spoke, his voice gentle and calm.

"Exactly, my Lord Baker. Her majesty suggested that we send some people over, and we volunteered. We were supposed to blend in, but we aren't here to act as guards, so no disguises, as you mentioned. We couldn't expect to get past Quavel or Kenner here at all without them." He got a roll set up on Erin's plate and smiled at the young lady, who looked at him wide eyed. After all, if you lived in Noram, you learned to fear the Royal guard, by reputation if nothing else.

"Would you like honey on your egg toast? Or perhaps maple syrup? We have both." He waited for the girl to decide, even as her parents both indicated they wanted the maple.

"Honey please."

Tor nodded. Everyone in Noram had honey on their egg toast or pancakes. Maple syrup was eaten, but mainly on cakes. Most of the Austrans seemed to prefer it, but Erin and the others from Noram ate honey as was proper. Because they were of the land they were in. The one they all had to leave for whatever reason. It made him think hard for a few moments, being distracted only when the Lairdgren group came in to join them.

They all looked a little shy about it, except Lyn, who took the chair directly next to Brown, and Tor's own brother Timon. He wanted to be called Weasel still, so Tor made the mental adjustment again so he wouldn't insult the boy by mistake. He was only eleven going on twelve in a few weeks, but a full Builder already, even without having gone to school for it. His mother and sister Tiera had gone to stay at the Thomson estate in town, since Count and Countess Thomson were there for another two weeks to see to matters of state after Postern.