The Dark Half of the Sun (The Young Ancients: Timon) (34 page)

Collette coached him to do it.

"The rule for anything over ten gold is to slightly overpay. That way no one can claim mistake or fraud. Not without just lying at least. That doesn't happen very often, but knowing for a fact that you gave extra also tends to assure everyone that dealing with you is a safe bet. It shows you aren't worried about every penny. Even if you are."

Perception was important after all. He got the idea.

Then he made himself get up, feeling sluggish still, and get to work. He headed to the Morgans first, since he owed the debt there and found the Duke standing outside, beaming as he looked at a new little cottage that looked exactly like his own. Timon strained a bit with the gold, since it weighed about thirteen pounds.

"Duke Morgan? Here you go. Two hundred gold, for the work done aiding Count Breen with his food wagons. I don't know if there will be more effort needed there, but if there is, can we make a similar deal?"

The man looked seriously puzzled and then slapped him on the back, as if he'd totally missed the fact that a decently large craft was sitting not five feet behind him.

"Countier Baker! I didn't think to see you yet at all. Promptly paying your debts? In full too? That's a wonder. A pleasant one. Mark put the house you lent him up. He's in the library, looking at old maps of the world. I want to thank you for that. We've been very worried about him for some time. It isn't a good thing, what we've been doing, keeping him locked up here, like a prisoner." There was no justification of it at all, just the raw statement.

Timon nodded, "it's a difficult thing all around. Oh, hey, while I have you, do you know anything about a Count Wend? His name came up the other day and I have to admit, I know nothing of him at all."

Duke Morgan nodded at that, as if agreeing whole heartedly.

"No one really does, do they? Secretive one Wend. Rumor has it he's mentally defective. Constant combat rage episodes I hear. No one knows for certain, he might just be shy or have some other flaw that keeps him out of the way. He never shows up for the Council of Counts, even though it's required. Sends a man to sit his position and vote for him. Richard never mentioned why he allows it. I also haven't asked. Probably just a kindness."

The man started examining the cottage closely shaking his head.

"The world is changing Timon. Why, when I was a boy if you wanted a new house you had to build one. Now you can just tap a piece of metal and call one into being. It makes me feel old."

Timon looked at the man and then smiled a little actually understanding him after a fashion.

"I remember that from when I was a boy too. Since it was only a few years ago, I don't think you have to feel too elderly yet. Anyway, I have an appointment in a war zone.
Delivery
. Saying it that way makes it sound like I'm planning to go fight or something. Thank you for your services. Say, do you and the Duchess need a ride over to the palace soon?"

The man nodded slowly his face shrewd.

"We could use one actually, tomorrow night? We were planning to fly ourselves, but the weather hasn't been that good lately. It's the time of year and nothing to be done about it. How much does that cost?" He asked it as if his son wasn't working for Timon now.

"Free for you. Within reason. Of course that's just for family members and for the most part you have to be willing to wait until someone is actually headed the direction you want to go. Mark is handling the overseas traffic and deliveries, so I imagine you'll be able to vacation almost anywhere in the world you want. I'll do the in Kingdom things. Or Morgan, though he's busy right now. Working for Duchess Keene directly this week."

After the initial shock the man asked if they could be picked up the next morning. As a special favor, since they were requested by the King directly. That way they could work an extra day that week.

As he flew toward Breen he noticed how hungry he was. It was a sharp pain, but he kept going, since it wouldn't take long. Sure, he wouldn't eat up the food for the fighters, but even if it took a few hours to find something he'd live.

When he landed behind the line of dug in people, a berm set up for protection, he made a point of taking his craft down and putting the necklace on, instead of tempting someone to steal it too easily. It would be hard to do anything like that through his shield. At least he figured it would trigger, since that would be considered a threat by his subconscious mind. Maybe not though, so it was tucked inside his shirt carefully. One scare was enough to teach him a good lesson that way.

He had a sack with the ten carved stones in it and was noticed coming in. The Count didn't run out to see him personally, sending a young woman in a leather fighting outfit that looked decently new. She was about seventeen and a little plump for a warrior, though that would likely change if she was in the field long. Her hands looked soft too, but there were some blisters on the right one, showing that she was making up for lost time now.

"This way sir. They're all in the command tent." She was trying very hard to seem official. It was a little too much really, so he smiled, but only a bit, not trying to mock her or anything. She was doing her job, and trying to do it well wasn't a thing to make fun of.

"Thank you." He didn't really need to go in for anything at the moment, just hand the man his bag of things. When he got in the cream colored tent there was bowing, not only from the Count, but the others arrayed around the giant work table that had been set up. There were chairs too and about half the people sat.

"Countier Timon Baker. Very useful man to have around." This was said to the room as a whole, even as Dan looked at him tiredly. "Do you have news?"

He shook his head and pulled the small carved stone from the bag.

"Better, healing devices from Vagus. They're based on Tor's work and pretty well done. Harder to copy than shields are even." He didn't go into the deal they had, because it would be rude, he thought, instead he handed the single stone to the man who frowned, then activated it. He twitched and yelped with a smile as he slapped at his leg with the hand that didn't have a rock in it. After a few minutes he hit the top of it again to turn it off and nodded.

"A ton of cured and preserved meat per, wasn't it?"

From across the table Tovey, who was standing next to Countess Alan, gave him a very quizzical look. Shrugging he explained to everyone what the situation was, since they were all potential clients. Well, possibly not the military men, but even they might be at some point.

It never hurt to make a good impression.

"Vagus doesn't use gold, so we agreed to trade goods for goods. The mages there are very practical and austere in how they live." Well, he didn't know that, but they certainly weren't greedy. They hadn't even asked for
payment
. "They know meat, hides and fur, as well as wood working. They can't, by treaty, have metal. Fish would probably work as well. Things that they can use. Maybe ceramics or things made of focus stone. I'll have to ask about that."

For some reason, rather than laugh at him, two of the people started talking at once. The first was Duchess Keene, the other Count Richland. The Duchess asked if he could arrange for more shields for the same price that Breen had gotten, while the man asked if Vagus would be interested in focus stone wagon parts.

They both chuckled, and he shrugged, answering both quickly.

"Wagons... maybe. As long as they aren't metal, I think that might just work. They have horses. More than we do in fact. If I can get a sample I'll take them to Lyn Red, their leader. That isn't really a fair description, she's basically both the queen there
and
their Ancient. As for more shields... I can ask. I don't know if the Lairdgren group will part with them all for the same price. If you want I can run over after this and see if anyone has some and might be willing to deal." It wouldn't hurt really. He had enough gold for school finally. For that matter it was early enough in the term that Countess Printer might even still let him in...

A few days. That wasn't so much and he was smart enough to catch up. Probably in a few hours.

Except that he still couldn't do it. Well, he could go and pay for the next year and explain why he'd been late. He was being rude not getting in touch already, Timon decided.

"Oh, would you please? I'll buy up to one hundred thousand gold worth of shields. Try to get me a deal if possible however. That's half my war budget for weapons."

Which just showed how important the devices were to a person in danger. He nodded, noticing that Countess Alan was smiling at him a bit more warmly than made sense. She didn't say anything to him, but did keep looking over every few minutes. The whole thing felt a bit out of place, but he wrote it off as her simply realizing that he might be a good source of magic in the future. He waved to Tovey, who walked over to the front opening where he was standing and clapped him on the shoulder.

"Tamerlane would like to see you, if you get a chance. Come to dinner soon? I'm going to be here for a few weeks it looks like, unless Count Holder decides to attack before all of our forces get into place. As it is just our well armed troops should be able to take him. Stroke of luck that you thought to get those wagons in by air with food for the troops."

Count Breen rubbed at his mustache then, taking the mention as a hint no doubt.

"Speaking of which, how much do I owe you for that? I didn't know to ask before." No one looked at him, as if it were something shameful on his part, not having paid yet.

Timon shook his head. "Present for the troops from Two Bends. Just remind your people to think of us if we ever have a similar situation." It was diplomatic enough and made it seem more generous, coming from a small backwater town.

Nora Alan clapped like a girl and looked happy suddenly, "how noble of them! Well, we
have
to win now, or the story they write about it later will come out all wrong."

That made sense, in a silly kind of way. Then again, battles were often won because of reputations, most not actually fought at all, because one side was thought to be too powerful for the other, even if they weren't. On that thought he stepped out, after begging his leave. They all seemed pleased enough to let him go, since he had work to do that might just benefit some of them, and they all wanted the others to be kept happy.

Before he got ten steps from the mouth of the tent a large hand took his shoulder gently.

"Timon, wait." Turning he saw that it was Countess Alan, who was dressed horribly as far as a war went. A blue and white pattern dress, the flowers very small, with stern looking black boots that had metal brackets for laces up the front. She smelled like lavender and roses, which he knew because she'd moved very close to him.

"I know that you're young for much fun, but you can come to a meal with me, can't you?" She wasn't so bold as to bump into him really, but her dress touched his legs. Anyone watching would get the general idea. She seemed to have something else in mind though really. At least that's what her face held under the obvious flirting that she didn't really mean.

She wanted him for something else, which probably meant business, since what else did he have to give? Possibly information, if she was clever enough to realize he might know things.

"I think I can, do you have a way home? I could take you." He was just being polite, but there was a soft shaking of the head.

"I have that handled. Your Morgan is making a circuit to drop us all back in our places at seven. Just show up at nine. Rack of lamb to your liking?" There was something about the way she said it that sounded a little off. It made him feel uncomfortable and not in a way that seemed like it might be fun to explore.

"I guess. I'll eat most things, not overly picky that way." He knew he sounded a little suspicious, but there was something much larger going on than a dinner party.

"Perfect. I'll see you then. I look forward to it."

She bent over from her great height to hug him, making certain he got a face full of her chest. It wasn't the most awful thing ever. Not at all. It just didn't seem right. No this woman definitely had something else in mind.

The trip to Lairdgren was fruitful at least, since it was the first off day for most of the kids, meaning that they were meeting at Ali's house off campus. It also meant that they were cooking, or at least her roommate was, being that homemaking was her field of study. They were on school time too, so it meant they were having their dinner meal early.

It wasn't a huge group, since most of the builders were off actually working, which seemed to be their main hobby as a rule. Sandra Morris was there however and she smiled at him when he joined them at the table, her eyes glinting a bit.

"So, Timon... My father wanted me to ask if I have any close ties to you. Mainly so I can get a good deal for mother on the trip to Soam. The one Countess Ward is putting together? I told him I'd ask, but since it's clear that Todd is going to marry Countess Thorgood I can't use that for leverage. He also suggested that I could send my younger sister around to seduce you. She's twelve. I told him that if I tried you'd never do business with either of us again. I think he was just saying that as a joke, but..." She gave him a flat look that said a lot about her own childhood with the man.

After all, it took a special kind of man to sell the virtue of a twelve year old girl just to get a discount on a pleasure trip. Timon didn't comment on it, and the other two girls looked away as if the whole idea was something they didn't want to notice.

"I don't know, is your mother easy to get along with?" It was a rude thing to ask, but if she was alright with the man selling his children, Tim didn't want to spend a lot of time with her.

Sandra smiled, her dark skin smooth, contrasting with her bright white teeth nicely.

"Mother? Oh, she's sweet. You'll like her. Everyone does. Father, not so much, but he won't be on the trip, if that's the question."

There was a moment of silence in his mind, watching her, wondering what Todd had been thinking. Countess Thorgood was a fine person and not homely or anything, but Sandra was a better catch in the long run. She was a builder in her own right and in some ways, even though young, one of the top ones in the world. Tor was right up there too, and better than the rest of the Lairdgren group still, but one day the woman in front of him would be a Countess as well. When that happened Timon didn't doubt that County Morris would end up one of the strongest and richest places in Noram.

Well, maybe his brother just liked Thorgood better? The woman was nice enough after all.

"Tell him that I'll give him half price, if he lets your sister go as well. Tell
her
that she won't have to lend herself to any deals. I just think it will be a good thing if the people of Soam see some kids are along. In fact, as long as they have an adult with them, we'll let kids go for free." It would be a hassle if too many came, but Soam didn't seem to mind children, at least he'd seen them on the street, looking happy and smiling.

Then he managed to get Sandra to make a similar deal to the one Sam had made with him. Five hundred Shield amulets, for a hundred and fifty gold each. It meant his percentage would be lower, but all he had to do was take them over so it was a good profit margin for him. After they finished and Ali's roommate, a tall tan colored girl with a shy smile, cleared the dishes, Ali sighed at him and shook her head.

"Tiera... She's falling in with the wrong crowd I think. The mean girls. I'd have Torrance talk to her about it, but... yes. Anyway, will you? Or do you think we should at all? It really isn't my business, but I can't say I like it. There have been troubles from her actions already." There was a hesitation to her voice, the kind of thing that said there might be a larger problem than it seemed.

After a few seconds he nodded.

If Ali didn't want to talk about it, then it was something darker than normal indeed. As a rule the girl in front of him held to very open noble rules as far as sex, which they'd talked about before, a couple of times, so it wasn't that. If Tiera wasn't related to Tor, Ali would have probably slept with her, if she could. Timon had told her that would cause problems with Tor and that seemed to have gotten through to her pretty well. She'd never tried to get anyone in the family to have sex with her after that, as far as he knew.

As far as Ali had told him, school itself was a place for rich kids to make friends and contacts, not actually learn a trade. Oh, they studied their legers and numbers, some history and that, or music, but most of the kids were just marking time, waiting for a parent to die so they could move up in the world. A few were more serious, but the vast majority were there to play and have fun, not really work. The scholarship kids were, he'd been informed, more serious and the builders were considered no fun at all, even the ones that were just playing at becoming mighty wizards as a lark.

So if Tiera wanted to try drugs or having complicated relationships that would be fine. The only things that Ali would care about would be if she were hurting people or playing with their emotions. While his sister had a temper, she didn't hit people, but that last one seemed right in her house, didn't it?

"I
understand
. I'll see if I can look her up soon then. Not tonight, I have a meeting with Countess Alan about something. She's pretending that she wants to break a few laws as far as the age of consent, but I'm not buying it. My guess would be she wants me to run a meaningless errand for her or something and doesn't want to pay. Trying to use my hormones against me most likely."

Sheri, who was taking her role as housemother pretty seriously it seemed, offered him first an after dinner brandy, then, when he refused, some coffee, which he took, just to be polite. It wouldn't hurt for him to be a bit more alert later in the evening. Something really wasn't right about the whole Countess Alan thing. It was bothering him and for some reason he just couldn't figure out why he thought that in particular. There wasn't any information that he could see that would warn him off.

It was probably just that the woman had been laying the sex appeal on a little thick and he wasn't used to it yet. There was certainly a bit of temptation to see how far she might take that, wasn't there? He grinned a little at he took the focus stone cup from the tall girl and sipped it. The brew was flavored with something. Cinnamon.

"This is very good. The whole meal was. Thank you Sheri." The girl blushed and bowed a little, then left the room.

Sandra was back a few minutes later, not out of breath at all, which probably meant she'd used magic to get to her room across town and back. She wasn't a student anymore, so had rented a space to work out of while she was running the Lairdgren group for the King.

"Here you go, they were done by a lot of different people, so they don't all look the same, but the fields are all nice and strong." She reached out and touched the front of his shirt, her fingers finding the amulets underneath. After a few seconds she nodded at him. "Is this a new shield? The work is stronger than your old one. You've been keeping up with your building then?"

"Only a bit. Useful things, mainly copying. I had a stockpile, but that turned out to be more useful somewhere else." He was going to leave it at that, but just as Sheri walked back in the room Ali beamed at him and glanced at her roommate, before addressing Sandra directly.

"He gave them all away so that we could sell them and use the funds to pay for educating the orphans. We've raised ten thousand gold and have five teachers hired on year long contracts already. Slates, chalk and primary readers too. These kids aren't just going to leave knowing how to make things from focus stone, they're going to be prepared for the world." There was a soft pride to her voice, which got Sandra to smile a little, shaking her head.

"You gave away ten thousand gold worth of stuff? Maybe I should quit and have you put in as the head of the group. You're certainly a better person than I am." There was a long, direct look then, as if she might be serious.

Timon shook his head, trying to smile back. It wasn't easy.

"No, thank you. For one thing I'm too young, and for another that would put me in direct competition with my brother. I already hear 'Oh, the wizard Tor's brother? Amazing man that Tor..' half the places I go. Including Austra. They worship him over there practically, and most of
them
think that magic is fake. Not such a problem in Afrak, but grandmother Gray
hates
me. From what I've heard she only dislikes him. I can't say I'm wild about her either." He felt bad for saying it, since you weren't supposed to talk badly about your elders, but suddenly that felt like a rule made up by old people.

Sheri, obviously well schooled, changed the topic.

"I'd love to go away on a big vacation sometime. Austra sounds fascinating, but I'd be too afraid. What if they hated me, because I'm from Noram?"

It was a fair enough thing to ask, since he'd wondered about that himself, more than once, but so far it hadn't been a real issue.

"You'd think, but... really not so much. They're different and
very
nosey, but most of them seem pretty nice as far as I've met. Remember to wear a shield and it's probably safer than walking down the street here. They'll all watch you and use special devices to make pictures of you..." He reached into his right jacket pocket and pulled the compact out, took a single picture of her and then one of Ali and Sandra each. Then he showed them the result by turning it around.

Ali clapped.

"That's incredible! Everyone there has such things?"

"Pretty much. They're like the communications device at the palace too. Like this one." He showed that one too, which was larger than what the Austrans used by two times, but wasn't too big to carry around with him. "Except it does a lot more. It doesn't work here though. Our version has a much greater range. I think you have to be on Austra itself, or at least very near it, for it to work. It will also run out of power, so I need to turn it off." He smiled and took it back from Sandra, who'd looked at it last.

"Why do you have one if it doesn't work here?" She was just making small talk it seemed, managing to make her voice interested enough anyway.

"I'm going to be there fairly often and this way I can get in touch with people when I am. Denno Brown and my friend Kincaid Rue. Speaking of which, Ali," he shifted easily and smiled at her, trying to look hopeful, since he was about to beg for something. "Kincaid is a player and she and her company are doing a production in pictures, ones that move and talk, which is something we should all see... Anyway, she and her people want to come and visit here, because they're doing a play about how you and Princess Karina saved Austra from the evil dictator there. Would it be alright if they stayed at your Capital house while they're here? I was going to rent them rooms in an inn, but your place will be nicer. Plus, it sounds like her troop is huge, if they all come." He didn't want to undermine his chance of having the use of the place, but he had to tell the truth, didn't he?

Ali just agreed without hearing any more.

"If they're friends of yours Tim, then they're welcome. If it's going to be that many, we need to put in some extra staff. I'll handle it, when are they planning to come?"

He had to think about that, and tried to be as exacting as he could, not really knowing how things were going to work out.

"First a small group, coming in about a week, I think. No more than twenty and it might only be a few. Then later, when they do the whole thing there could be hundreds. If they choose to do it here. They might not."

"Oh? In time for the special wedding then? I can't wait myself, since I know both of them. Dorgal Sorvee is marrying Lyn Red. I got the invitation yesterday. The King is going to do the ceremony himself, which has never happened. Constance sent a note saying that it would be very large, and asked to use my house there too. It might be... No, if that's a problem we'll set up a second house for it. I keep forgetting how convenient magic is sometimes."

Both of the others looked interested and sad at the same time, Sandra shaking her head a little.

"Conserina's don't seem to rate I guess. I knew I should have made something special for the Queen. Things are still a little tense between Karina and I, so it might be that. At least I haven't gotten my invitation yet." She made a face, but the others laughed a little, Ali patting her leg, which took reaching.

"I'm sure it will come."

Timon shook his head, "no, it won't. Sandra, you aren't invited to attend, because Lyn wants you to stand as her ladies maid. She asked for you personally. It wasn't said, but I think she assumes you're going to say yes, because she didn't give me a second option at all. I'm kind of assuming that the whole Lairdgren group is showing up to stand as her family. I'll see if that's alright, but they should be there, if only to show that Lyn has ties here. That's kind of the idea. A whole friendship and bonding thing. They already got married in Vagus. Jumped over a fire holding hands while people chanted. It's pretty efficient." He waited, hoping she'd say yes, since otherwise he was going to be going back to Vagus and interrupting the marriage vacation.

All of the girls shrieked, Sandra jumping to her feet, as if it was a present. The dark woman actually clapped, like Ali always did, looking like a child for a few seconds. It was really cute, but not what Tim had seen from her before. She was normally kind of quiet. After a few seconds she composed herself however, folding her hand in front of her nice blue dress and bowed to him.