Strange Land (The Young Ancients Book 15) (36 page)

There were a few murmurs saying of course, but everyone looked away from her, too. That was polite, what with them trying not to notice her acting like a dock worker.

She blamed her time in the military for that though, it had given her a tendency to use coarse language like that. Normally she did better at hiding it in polite company however. She used to.

Standing she sighed and shook her head, getting the attention of the room back. Gemma did the same, and so did the giant Count and his wife, who wasn't exactly short anymore.

"We need to be going. I guess if I'm being rude,
I
should lead us in fleeing the table too? If that's not a hardship? I know that the staff will curse my name for it, and rightfully so, but..." She might as well take the blame, since it was really her fault.

The King stood as well.

"Thank you, Sara. When do you plan to return?" The man seemed relaxed, but also a bit excited. It looked nice on him, she realized. So often he just seemed blank. Hiding whatever was really going on inside.

"Gemma will land at six, if that's enough time for the staff to get things ready? We'll have three food units set up, and a full kitchen, that they can change however they need. That should be a start at least. I'll be back with the Ambassador at eight, so that we can aid in setting things up if needed. I know that he'll want to help. He's..." She shrugged, and then shook her head a bit. "
Different
. Not bad though. It's clear that he's working to do his best to understand us and our people. Given where he comes from and what he's faced, that's saying something special, even if it might be hard to see at first. I'll remind him not to pray at anyone too much." She wasn't joking, but everyone smiled, even as most of the room started toward the door, led by the Princess.

Sara bowed to the King, her eyes locking with his for a bit. He looked pleased, she thought, looking back at her. A girl that he'd known for almost half his life. Hopefully he felt proud of her? That might be too much to ask for, she knew, but he didn't seem upset to be losing a spy.

Then, he had a lot of those. How many Ancients did he have in his pocket though?

Four or five? It was more than she'd ever really considered before, honestly.

He bowed back to her, and the Queen smiled at her as well, and gave a friendly little wave after they all stood.

"We'll have everyone ready on our end. Thank you... Sara." She spoke the name as if she didn't have the right to use it yet, but honestly, if they were faking a stronger connection than what was really there, Karina and her, what else would her new... Girlfriend's mother call her?

"And you... Mother?" She meant it to be funny, but the woman actually softened at the use of the word, as if it was welcome and not her just teasing a bit.

Then she managed to get out of the Palace, being led at a sturdy walk by Veronica, who had nice long legs for that kind of thing, it turned out. She kept up easily though. They all did.

It took grabbing some dirt from outside the city and reconfiguring the ship quickly, but they were in space not ten minutes later, with Squire Gemma at the controls. She looked a bit nervous, but with only a little coaching, she lined up the Moon for the jump and dropped her right hand under the floating metallic looking control hand piece. Karina had showed her how to make a jump, but this was the first time that she'd really gotten a chance to do it.

So it took six tries, and three actual jumps through space to get close enough to the Moon to orbit. Then the girl had to be coached through landing and getting into the hangar. No matter what Sara had said, it was more like an hour later when they were able to offload the Princess and Count Peterson, dumping them on the waiting Queen.

Gemma moved to get off too, seeming relieved.

Sara laughed at her.

"Silly goose!
We
need to get back into space. You and I have work to do. Oh... Wait though!"

Running nearly full speed, which was a lot faster than she'd thought she could go, Sara tore down the ramp, and nearly threw the new amulet to Tiera. A gentle toss, but the girl snagged it from the air without hesitation.

"It makes air, set it up outside, and run the flow into a hole, by thinking of a line. It holds up to vacuum, so it should work here. You can make copies?"

"Got it. If it works right, I'll set Tenet and Taman on that. Some of the mages too, if they have time. I don't know who else is going to be free." She stopped, and looked at the thing for a bit, then nodded. "I get the pattern. Nice, Sara. See you later?"

She nodded, but ran back, not bothering to speak. She hadn't expected hugs and cuddles or even pats on the back for making magic. Not from the Queen of Harmony. Tiera was too used to that kind of thing for it to really be special to her anymore, most likely. It didn't even matter, Sara understood. No matter who made something, the important part was all about if it worked or not. This
would
.

She made Captain Gemma guide her own ship out, and then ran her through fifty back to back jumps, to Earth and back to the Moon, not orbiting, just turning the ship every time. By the end of it, the girl looked ready to collapse, but she didn't get to yet, needing to be solid for her evenings work. Then they went into orbit and practiced holding a stationary position for a while. It wasn't hard, but did take attention to detail.

When she was satisfied that the girl wasn't going to kill the royal family at their evening repast, she let the girl land, outside the city, next to her ship. It was just past six, she knew, but only a few minutes. Roget was already back at the ship, but hadn't been able to go in, since she'd cleverly hidden all the doors. Instead the man knelt in the dirt, and seemed to be praying.

She ran out, ready to apologize, since the man looked more than a bit upset. At first she thought it was her own tardiness that was doing it, but when she jogged over, he finished his prayer and stood. Then bowed to her.

"I have dark news, I fear. A thing that... I can hardly credit it. It shames me, to even know of such a thing. Would it be proper for us to speak of this? Later, perhaps when there are others around to guard your virtue?" The man looked down, ashamed for some reason.

She shook her head.

"We can do it now, Ambassador. Remember we're in Noram. Plus, I'm almost certain that I don't have any of that, by your people's standards. No one here will think anything of us being alone together. In fact, we'll need to be, so I can help you change for the evening meal. We're doing that in space, then going to Harmony. Is... Come on, let's go inside and talk there. I'm almost willing to bet that no matter what happened today,
I
won't think of you as being shameful."

She touched the side of her ship, the Pain Maiden, and let a nice tall door appear. It wasn't made huge, but that was fine really. At its current size they could land at the Palace in it. Unfortunately that meant she'd have to dump her reserve of working material, so she could tuck it away and take it with her for the evening. That was a bit of a pain, but not impossible to recover from. She could refill on Harmony, after all.

Roget was subdued, and seemed almost shy. Ashamed of something. When they got inside, he actually reached out, touching her arm. It was as close to personal contact as the man had ever made an effort toward with her. So whatever it was probably wasn't sexual trauma. That was good. Him having been abused by some noble man would be hard to deal with. She'd probably have to make it right with an assassination, which would cause other problems.
Especially
if the attacker was highly placed. You didn't just
kill
Counts for instance.

Paying attention she noticed that the man was walking all right, so he hadn't been used too harshly that way. It left a mark on the stance and movement of a person, when things like that happened

He spoke, his voice stilted.

"I... In this vast city, I was taken to meet with several that believe in the One God. The All High. It... They told me that they, with some from my own land, and the land of Austra, far away, have been working to kill the unbelievers that work with the devil. Your friend, Timon, the secret leader of Austra, and seek also to destroy Sam, the Builder. They blame them for the changes to this world, and seek to make things correct with the All High, by removing them. That is abomination! He does not seek death! He wishes us all to fight for life. They dishonor Him, acting in such a fashion, but I managed to hold my words to pleasantness, and not give my intention to stop them in too clear a manner. They wish me to throw in with their evil cause, but I cannot. I would but spit in His eye, were I to do such a thing!"

He looked down, ashamed for these others, and it
was
a bit shocking, Sara had to admit. Also a much easier resolution to her own investigation than she'd expected. Nearly too easy. Pulling a Truth amulet, she handed it to him.

"Say that all again?"

The man did, scowling at her a little. There
were
some lies in there, but they were small things really. For instance, at first he'd kind of liked the idea, himself. Until he realized that it might cause a war with Harmony, against the people of his land and others. A thing that he knew, first hand, no one could win, if it took place. His shame over admitting that was real, however.

It was a conflicted mess, but she nodded when her questions were done, and took the amulet back, turning it off.

"Well! I can see it, even if the whole thing is insane. They all have reason to dislike magic though, don't they? And people are being helped by it so much now that many are probably starting to see it as a sign that there is no All High. Though..." She shook her head a little and grinned at the man. "Even if it was all made up, magic existing doesn't
prove
that there is no god. Or gods for that matter. The All High is actually just as valid, or more, with magic existing. The rule against it came from the Black Ancient, from a time before anyone could use it at all. It was just meant to be another thing to control people with. Still, who's to say that the All High didn't plan that out and give the idea to him? Maybe so that people could learn to get along with others now, in their time of greatest need?" She could see it, as a possibility. It was probably not the truth, but the small man in front of her seemed relieved, hearing her say that.

"That sounds of the way! I shall inform those of our land that you have said thus.
My
land, forgive my misspeaking. They will be gladdened that others can see such, so clearly. What can we do now? I fear that there is naught but war to be had here now. Once the blow that brings death was started, how may any forgive those of my kind? They come from all lands, or many, at any chance... What should I do? Go and throw myself on the mercy of those wronged, as sacrifice for those that know not what they do?"

She thought she got the idea of the words. He was offering to beg mercy and give his own life, instead of those of his people, if it would be allowed. Unfortunately he didn't have that kind of power. Not yet. If he were to die, those that had been attacking would simply keep on doing it. Hopefully they'd keep failing at the same time.

She shook her head though.

"Not this time. We just need to find the right people and ask them some questions. Or more to the point, have that done. Luckily, you can start that process tonight, after dining with the King here. He can have people picked up and questioned. Then..." Normally they'd be put to death, for almost starting a war, but she could see other ways were possible. Maybe even something that could lead to something better than what they had before?

She pulled her communications device though.

After a few moments, a cute, and very young looking, Sam Builder was on the screen.

They'd met, but weren't all that close.

"Sam? This is Sara. Debri. I just got word that you're probably one of the targets, along with Tim. You should get out of there for a bit while I run things down. It could be a few weeks. Can you do that? I can arrange to have you picked up and taken somewhere safe..." The boy didn't even bother to shake his head, his eyes were a bit soft and dreamy looking, showing he was in a trance state.

"Not needed. I'll be gone from here within the hour. Keep me up to date? I don't want to lose any work time on the new city here. How long do you think it will take to have this handled? I'll work better knowing I'm not about to be killed. I'm a bit sensitive that way."

She nodded at the words, but smiled.

"Aren't we all? Anyway... My guess is about two weeks to a month. Less than that if the whole thing isn't too big. It's the One God believers, and the followers of the All High." Roget made a small, hurt, sound, so she amended her words. "Not all of them. A paltry few, only. They reached out to Ambassador Smithson, here in the Noram Capital. He isn't in on it and told me at the earliest chance, so you can trust him. More or less. I'll bring him by after this is done and you can make a contact there? He's a good man."

There was a single nod.

"Let's do that? I should meet with him really, if he's the Ambassador to Noram. That's my area. I'd go to him, of course, but right now..."

"Understood. Head out now. I'll contact you daily, or sooner if I have news." She let him go after only a minutes worth of goodbyes, but at least he was willing to do it. There was a bit of time left, she understood, before they needed to be at the Palace, so she made more calls. It would strain things a bit that evening, but needed to be done. Just in case someone managed to kill her and Roget before they could report to enough people. The man was helpful however, and gave what names he'd been given earlier, to the King directly. The man wasn't displeased, even though part of the plot had started inside his boundaries.

At least he was willing to have people picked up and spoken to.
Harshly
, if needed. Considering it functionally wasn't his problem at all, that was probably good enough. They just needed a chance to find a lead or two. Then, no matter what the people had said to the Ambassador, it was also possible that they'd been lying to him, in order to... Sara had nothing past that thought, but knew it was always possible. Half the time or more, any new story was going to be a lie. No spy ever took anything at face value. Hence her asking to have some folks picked up, and checked out.