Slave Line (The Young Ancients) (28 page)

Lyn didn't let them catch their breath either, holding out the House amulet, which had a glowing sigil, for everyone to get a good look at. That got a bit of a happy sound, since some of the people seemed to think it was pretty and obviously something different based on the color alone. Plus when the only light you saw was the sun or a fire, glowing things were kind of neat.

"Behold the future of our land!"

Then she hit the amulet with a single black talon and a small house appeared. Tor thought people were going to pass out from shock at first, but Lyn started to make it grow, expanding fast, reshaping itself to look first like a version of the mud huts everyone seemed to live in here, so that they'd know what it was, then to a shimmering dome of shining reddish metal. It was impressive looking and huge, clearly pushing the limits of the thing. Tor knew for a fact that the amulet was one that he'd made, but that shape wasn't something he'd directly created. He'd never even thought of it before. Lyn had found a way to get the tool he made to do what she wanted, even though he didn't know how she managed.

That was Interesting.

Then she made it start to glow, which was truly and easily within the normal specs for the device. Without waiting to hook up water she led them all inside, calling out for everyone to come with her, to see what wonders would await. The inside was just empty though. Oh, it had a nice big space, with a smooth white and blue marble floor that shone with light reflected from the glowing ceiling above.

When everyone got inside she started to decorate and make rooms. A central pillar appeared, thick and sturdy looking, nearly a hundred feet in diameter, with three circles coming out of it, with about twenty feet between each. On these platforms tiny houses grew, making the entire thing look like a tree with two dozen forts in it. Nice ones though, that glimmered as if encrusted with jewels, even though they looked to be made of wood. Then she closed her eyes and really focused, mouth set in a tight white line. The sides on the bottom of the dome grew rounded sections that were clearly rooms for functions. They were all long and narrow looking, but plenty big enough for everyone to be in at once.

She pointed to the one on the far left.

"That's the kitchen We'll need to hook up water though. The river is out back. Tor would you do the honors?" She said this in Noram standard, walking toward the door. The purpose then was to show that it didn't take
her
to use the great magics? That made sense.

Tor floated a little higher, taking the lead. The pump could be placed anywhere on the outside, being built in as it was. Tor set it up to siphon a thick stream of clean water from the brown and muddy river, returning it constantly so twin streams of perfectly clear water flowed in large arches in the air. It worked better with the red and shining dome than straight lines would have, he thought. He made the wall of the house glow an intense red that would carry down both streams when it got dark. You could just barely see the effect in the daylight though.

Then the people started to sing and dance, as if joyful. There was one thing Tor didn't get though and he asked Lyn right then instead of waiting, like he normally would have before.

"So, why weren't they impressed by the flying device coming in, or us floating around, but freaked out when there was a house?" Maybe homes had special significance or something? The thing was certainly big enough now and looked grand, but they'd gasped in awe when it had been just a tiny hut too.

Lyn shifted to a form that wasn't as young as he was used to seeing, but was definitely human, a woman that looked about forty or so, with fine lines around the eyes. She didn't look pretty... Except of course that Cordes knew she was. She wasn't funny looking, just of a different race than Tor was used to seeing. Asian. All the villagers were. He looked around and finally saw it. They looked different, more gold than tan, with different bone structures, but Lyn was probably better looking than average and they weren't a homely people at all.

No, Tor was just a small minded country hick from the backwoods of Noram that hadn't seen enough of the world yet to grow that much. The thought was an eye opener. It wasn't that he was being bad, thinking Lyn wasn't great looking, but that he was being unfair to a whole people, just because he wasn't used to seeing them. He'd always thought of his new sister as homely, but she wasn't at all. He felt bad for a few seconds and then decided to work on it. Maybe he could learn to see these people for what they really were, if he tried hard enough?

She smiled at him, which was pretty, he realized, now that he got the idea of her peoples shape.

"Those devices are something they haven't seen before, obviously a great thing, but not theirs, not made by one of them. I'd announced that my brother had the ways of magic, so they didn't let themselves hope it had anything to do with them. This structure was something they watched me create in front of them. Their own Great Mother. It shows that we have magic too now and that we won't have to live in filth forever. We don't have to be people of the stone age any longer, with nature slaying us at the smallest change and flicker. Now we can be safe and keep our children and grandchildren protected from things that the rest of the world barely remembers most days. Now we can learn and struggle out of the muck to become the people of magic."

Oh. That made sense then. He wouldn't have wanted to live without even basic metals or tools either. No wonder she was so set on learning to build. It didn't even break the Ancients rules for her land, being that it was a thing they could learn to do using nothing more than their own thoughts.

Brilliant.

She clapped, gesturing people inside, which got a group of children, some with smudged faces and not very old at all to follow them. They didn't beg or do anything but watch closely, though one girl of about fifteen walked over and touched Ali's face. They were about the same skin tone, but different colors even so. Timon was approached by several kids who poked at him a little, but smiled while they did it.

"Does he talk do you think?" One said to another, her voice soft. She looked to be about ten and talked to a slightly older girl, who seemed about Tim's actual age. They all had black hair.

"He does, but not your words yet. Would you teach him? He is... a maker of things magic, already." Tor knew he had a thick accent but the girls eyes went open wide anyway, clearly understanding what he meant.

"But he's so young... Can we learn to do this too? Is it hard? Is it a think allowed to those like us?" This came from the older of the two girls who stood back a step when Tor spoke, as if nervous about it now that the words had been blurted out. He could have seen it with the others, but he was shorter than the giants with them. These people were regular sized, like his family and friends back home. It was comforting. Still, he'd been seen flying around and might just have been taken as being the brother that Red had been speaking of.

Tor nodded.

"You have to have the talent for it, but if you do, it is a skill that can be learned. Anyone has enough talent to learn to make copies of magics and that's the first thing to try. It can take years to learn and more time to become very good at it, but if you're willing to do what's needed, you can. Come back in three days, with anyone that wants to see if they can gain the skills and we will see. Anyone who tries and does so successfully will earn an object of magic to keep." Which was literally true, since they'd have to make a copy that showed they could do it, from a template. They didn't have to do it well of course, just enough to prove they could. The rest was all in the teaching and their own hard work.

He needed a something easy for the testing though.

"Tim, I'm going to walk you through making a basic template for a cutter, so that you know how." He stopped and looked at Lyn who was smiling at him.

"Is that safe do you think? They don't know what cutters are. Useful, but some of them are just kids." He spoke in his language, so he wouldn't insult anyone, but Lyn nodded.

"I'll explain it to them all. If they lose a limb it will teach the others to be more careful. It's our way here. Each person is responsible for their own actions. We'll warn them though, it shouldn't be an issue, even with the youngest."

That gave them something to do while they waited for the others to arrive at least. Tim could make a cutter on his own and would have to, in order to make the template. It was far easier to make a copy from one of those, but it took more work on the original builders part to make. It was only his brothers second build, but then Tor had built a full template on his first and made something far more complex than this. Sure, he'd had years of schooling by that point and lessons in it, but Tim was probably better at building than he was, or would be with practice. Tor couldn't have done an original build at eleven after all. That showed real promise. Maybe more than anyone had ever shown before.

He wasn't telling Timon that though. The boy would end up with a swelled head.

They found a room, one of the little huts on the top level, to work in. It was decently spacious and had a restroom in it, with a private shower and bath, like his house at the Capital in Noram did. It wasn't his room though, since he wasn't sharing with his little brother. It would make having his wife and possibly girlfriend in with him too nerve wracking, even if they were good and didn't do anything. Which would be the case if anyone else was in the room.

Tim worked for hours without a break and kept going through the night. Tor stayed with him, daring to check on his progress and once, even though he really shouldn't have stressed his field that much yet, making one tiny correction in the field. His brother picked up on it instantly and kept working without pause. Lyn and Ali came by with food, and gestured him out of the room after the feeding was done, to chat. The kid wasn't so deep he couldn't eat after all. It was important to keep a builders strength up. Without food and water they could die, just like anyone else.

Once the door was closed they spoke freely. It was pretty close to sound proof after all.

Ali hugged him to her and held on for a long time.

"Tor, husband, I was wondering, could I try to learn building too? I don't know if I can do it, but making copies is useful too, if I can figure it out. Lyn said I could try, but I know I need your permission first." She looked happy about the idea though, if a little too nervous. It was only building after all, what was he going to do, say no? For one thing she didn't really need his permission at all. She was a Noram noble woman. They had a tendency to just do what they wanted anyway, unless it was forbidden them. Kind of their thing as a class.

"That's a marvelous idea honey. We should get Tiera to try it as well and probably my mother, if she's willing to listen to an idea that starts with me yet. After all, I'm thinking of quitting after we're done here. Maybe just work on the space projects for a while. We have enough gold, but someone has to keep the family name good while I lark about and play merrily. I can work with those orphans in the Wildlands fixing that while you do all the building work for us. That sounds fair, doesn't it?" He smiled and so did Ali, but Lyn didn't.

She just looked suddenly serious and nodded, a big and obvious gesture of agreement.

"That actually seems about right, to be honest. The space craft alone might take years, even for Tor to design. Plus we need space stations and all the builders we can get. Ones that can work together maybe? You mentioned that to me once Tor, but no one has tried it yet, we're all waiting for you to show us how." She gave Ali a single nod, one that seemed almost military for some reason, which got one back that was almost identical.

Adult. Not something he was really used to noticing on either one of them, but it was always there, wasn't it? That sense of ancient presence in Lyn and at least age beyond her years for his wife. Enough hardship would do that to a person.

It took two full days for Timon to finish the build and three more corrections, but by the testing day they had a template for everyone to work with. Looking out the front door Tor had to smile when he saw the turn out though. Sixty people stood ready to give it a shot, half of them with woven carry packs on their backs and horses tied up in the distance, showing they'd traveled for the chance. Lyn did the actual work though, putting them all through their paces. She, rather wisely, had made ten copies of the template itself, so that eleven people could try it at once. It was an advanced skill making a true template copy. Most people could only get devices out of them. Tor knew he could do it, and thought that all the Lairdgren group could, in theory, but it was good to know that Lyn had the ability for certain, since she was going to have to kind of prop up her new industry for a few years, the way things looked.

It gave Tor an idea.

"Say, Lyn, would you mind if I started a school here? For training? Get some people from Noram in, I'll train them and all that, maybe have each of the King's builders take a stint doing it or something? You know, Sandra and Mark to start with. They could take turns. We could use this house here for that once the summit is over, unless you want it somewhere else?" He said it casually, since it wasn't his land at all and he had no responsibility for it. Plus he'd have to actually exist to see it done, but it made no sense to assume he wouldn't be around.

So far Cordes was being a good boy and had even learned to keep his memories to himself for the most part. Some things got passed forward, but it was almost like they were being filtered, so Tor wouldn't be overwhelmed.