Lineage (The Young Ancients: Second Cycle Book 1) Read online

  Which, after a fashion, it just might.

  Harmony, if he'd been told about it correctly, just gave you whatever you needed. That was part of why he'd wanted to come in the first place. Not that he was averse to work. Even the hard kind didn't seem to bother him as much as a lot of people. It just seemed like a good place to get started in life, if you didn't have a lot going for you, family wise. There had been no one to help him start a business, and no farm for him to work on, so he needed what edges he could get.

  The woman, who now that he noticed it had a name above her left breast pocket, was called Claremont. It was a useful thing really, even though that had the sound of a last or family name, rather than her first. It would give him a way to recognize her later however.

  She walked away, down the red tunnel. It was rounded at the top, and flat on the bottom, with the whole thing glowing just enough to be special, and kind of annoying at the same time. Once out into the main area, which took going through another little room that the woman made out of the red walls, a bit like he had earlier, the world changed.

  Harmony, at least this portion of it, was huge inside. The ceiling was about forty feet above him, and the entire world seemed to be made of slightly pearl colored glass. Focus stone, but different than the tan and green colored stuff from Canton, or the plain tan of the Capital. Above him, nearly overhead, were huge green gems that produced light. The floor was smooth, and very clean. A lot more so than the spaceport was, even after all the work he'd done on it. There were bins set up every few hundred feet or so, that, much like his Tam-unit friends now had, said trash on them. It seemed that here at least, that worked.

  The woman waved him over to a door that said 'men' on it, and a few other words as well. The letters were similar to the ones he knew, so his best guess was that it repeated the single word in other languages. Above that were several words that probably meant restroom, since one of them said that.

  The lady grinned a bit. It was still a hard looking thing.

  "Here you go. I need to get back to work. It sounded to me like people were coming for you here, so don't take too long, or they'll miss you. If they do, just use your compact again. I know that can be hard to remember for a lot of you Noramites. Afrakers, too. It's a lot easier than wandering around for three days going door to door."

  It was kind of clear she expected him to be a moron, but Dareg wanted a toilet a lot more than to stay and prove his personal worth to this woman. So, waving a bit, he got himself inside. It was all done in stone, but the walls had a lot of colors in places. Blue and green tile, by the look of it. There was also a huge set of mirrors along one wall, and wash stations. They had faucets anyway, and basins to catch water, from the look of it. There were also nicely carved stone stalls and well made stone personal facilities. The set-up was really nice, as in the best of its kind he'd ever gotten to see, much yet use, but was similar to what he was used to. You still sat when you used them, and while the water that shot up to wash him clean after, as well as the warm air to dry him left him ready to jump away at first, it seemed to work well enough.

  The little pod house did that too, if not with as much force, so he'd encountered the idea before. This set up was far more decorative however. Then he dumped the piss jug, washed it with water from the basin, and dumped it again in the toilet. It hadn't taken long, he didn't think, so he scrubbed up as best he could using the sink, got his little comb and redid his hair, then headed out, to wait for people he didn't know to show up.

  For a while no one did. It had been about that fifteen minutes, but he was from Noram, and knew the score there. If you were told fifteen, you had to be ready to wait for an hour, sometimes longer. If someone said they'd be there at noon, to meet you, that could be as much as a two hour wait. Most people didn't have clocks or watches, so it was a rough thing that way.

  So he stood, not wanting to risk sitting, because it would be really easy for him to fall asleep just then. At about a half hour he was getting tempted though. The nice clean floor was pretty inviting. To pass the time he changed his clothing, just standing alone in the large hallway. Instead of the blue loose robe-like tunic and copper boots, he dressed up like he had for the dinner with the Thomsons, then made the whole thing gray, like it had originally been. He was visiting and these were important people, but he didn't want to come at them like he was pretending to be a lot more than he really was. He did add a metallic copper trim to the sleeves, just because he was bored.

  At about fifty minutes, if he was going to guess at the time, a group of people finally turned up. Walking toward him with a will. At first he didn't think they were the ones for him, since they were mainly tall. Giants, which for some reason he hadn't thought would be the case. There were too many of them, too. More than he would have thought would bother with him.

  One of them was Gerent however, so at least he recognized someone. Next to him was Petra too, who he'd talked to for a while. The others were a bit baffling however, kind of.

  Some he'd seen before, but two of them had been in his school lessons, being the Heir to the throne of Noram, and the first Princess. Not being a fool, he bowed to them, going low, then as an afterthought included the whole group. That got them to stop about ten feet away as he held the move, and do it back. All of them did, going to various depths which told him a lot of things about their stations there.

  One of the women, who was very tall, and pretty enough that Dare decided to have sex with her even if they were related, barely moved at all. The Prince of Noram matched him though, and the Princess was just above him in angle. There as a man that looked about twenty, who was tall, but not too much for the group, who smiled warmly at him, and moved forward before anyone else did. He had on robes. Ones that were white, with a broad yellow stripe down the middle.

  "Prince Dareg? So nice to meet you. I'm William Smythe. Would you be comfortable with me doing the introductions?" He seemed willing to let someone else do it, but also like he was a pretty friendly person.

  That was probably a trick. People tended to be nice when they wanted things from you, and seldom at any other time, in his experience. Then, Gerent had been all right so far, so maybe this man would be too?

  "That works for me. Thanks."

  The man beamed at him, as if he'd invented bread or something even better than that.

  "Excellent." He gestured at the great looking tall woman, who didn't seem very old at all, and bowed a bit. "This is Queen Tiera, your aunt I believe?"

  Then he moved on, as if that was all that needed to be said on the matter.

  "Next to her is Sherrilyn Bonner, who runs one of the space stations. The main farming complex. As their Ancient." That woman was nice looking too, in a slightly horsey way. It wasn't a horrible look though, and she had a friendly smile for him, which was better than a stick being pulled out.

  "You know Prince Gerent, and his wife already? So that leaves Timon Baker, your uncle, Patricia Baker, his wife, Alyssa Baker, your stepmother, and of course, Torrance Baker. Your father."

  That last bit came as a shock, since the man, who didn't look old enough to be his sire, was a freaking giant. At least seven and a half feet tall. That was kind of telling, but it had been mentioned that he used to be smaller, like Dare was. If he hadn't heard that, he would have moved directly into the guy just not being related to him. There was some similarity through the face, but it was also true that he looked a good bit more like Tim than not.

  As a group these people seemed to be at least ten, if not fifteen, years younger than they should have. He bowed again, trying to buy time to put that all together. It was the Ancient portion of things. That meant, in the main, immortal, or at least very long lived. There was no real reason they had to be wrinkled and wizened for that however.

  "Pleased to meet you. All of you." Then he yawned, hugely, and shook his head. "Sorry there, it was a long trip. I'd make a joke about my arms being tired, but they really kind of are. Along with everything else."
Those words, which sounded decently charming, got a few polite smiles, and the tall blonde woman, Alyssa, to move toward him, after digging something out of a pocket.

  "Here, use this. It will just wake you up."

  She smiled, so he gave the amulet a try. That probably showed how gullible he was, he realized, since the evil step-mother was a classic idea that probably came from somewhere. Still, when he tapped the sigil, holding the device, which was on pale and glassy stone, with this finger, the world shifted. It steadied, and he simply felt normal. Not like he'd been drugged, but like the reeling he'd been kind of fighting was just gone.

  "Nice! I feel ready to go back now." He moved to hand the thing to the woman, but she shook her head at him, and smiled.

  "Keep it, for your trip? We should find a ship going back for you, since that will be faster. This way you can spend more time with us here. You can stay with Tor and I?" She looked at the tall man, his father, who hadn't spoken yet.

  He smiled and gave a single nod.

  "I'd like that? I've really been looking forward to meeting you. I know this could be stressful for you, so, if you want, we can do something else. Go to Marissa's, or the bakery? You must be hungry, after a trip like that. Which, by the way, was insane. Just so you understand that part. I don't know what Tim was thinking, telling you to do that. You either, Gerent." He mock glared at the men, neither of whom seemed to think they should bother feeling ashamed about it.

  Timon even laughed, moved forward, and clapped Dareg on the shoulder.

  "I was thinking that he isn't a tiny schoolgirl, like certain wizards we know? We should get him that food. Marissa's by preference. Nothing against the bakery, but it's lunch time, and I don't feel like eating only bread today."

  That got nods all the way around, and they started to walk away. Oddly enough, while he was surrounded from all sides, it was the one with the curly dark hair that spoke to him. She moved in right along his side, and moved close enough that she bumped into him casually as they traveled along the glass walkway.

  "So, Dareg Canton." Then, as if his name where some kind of sign or signal, she stopped talking, for about twenty seconds. It was a long time, but he didn't know what to say either. It was a bit of a different kind of situation. At least for him.

  Finally she went on.

  "Timon has a device. It will tell if we can safely go back to Earth or not now. Can we get you to take that for us? Run the test?" It was pushy, asking things of him like that. Really, if they wanted stuff, they should have gotten with that Alyssa lady to pressure him, since she'd already given him a present. A really excellent one.

  "That sounds likely. What do I need to do with it?" The words got Tim to go then, even though Tor, the wizard, was watching him very closely.

  That was a thing that Dare could understand. The idea that he had people at all was so different that it didn't seem real to him. That one of them had asked for him to do things, well, as odd as it was, that also made him feel better. They wanted to get him to do work for them. Probably for free, or at least in trade for magic. That could be understood easily enough.

  Timon, his tall and rather wiry uncle, who really did look a lot like he did, smiled.

  "Just carry it and go into a low orbit. Make a few passes with it? If it starts to glow and spark bright red, then it isn't safe. Otherwise let us know, and we can come back. I'll go first, but after the test, if it doesn't do that, we should all be fine. It probably is already. We've been gone for nearly eleven years, but I set the plague for ten. I just wanted to make sure I didn't mess the timing up too much before risking everyone." He smiled, and spread his hands as they walked along. There was no more mention of it however, and they traveled quietly for a bit.

  Petra finally went, her face holding a grin.

  "Not that I couldn't have done it. I guess they want to make sure they can keep tabs on you? Still, there are worse ways of making friends than getting people to do things for you. Speaking of which, Gerent mentioned that you were taking over the Capital spaceport? How is that project going? You have a small river up for water already?"

  He was interrupted in his answer, since it seemed like they were at their restaurant. At least there was a sign that said Marissa's on it. When they went inside, they were met by an all black woman, who smiled at him. Dare did it back, because she was lovely, but also incredibly exotic.

  Like a statue made from black stone. Her skin was like the night sky, a thing he was well acquainted with now, after his trip, but so was everything about her. That included her eyes, which didn't have whites or color, her teeth and her tongue. The only difference there was that her mouth had a slight moist sheen inside that her skin lacked otherwise.

  "Welcome! Twelve today?"

  Tor moved forward and gave the lady a little hug, which was returned.

  "That's right. Unless you want to join us? Um, this man, Dareg, he's my son."

  That got the woman to smile, and hug him, which was unexpected. She smelled nice though, and her skin, where it touched him, was soft, like anyone else would be.

  "Oh! How wonderful! I'd love to join you, but I have to work this shift. You'll be here for a while? We can talk?"

  Dareg shook his head, but smiled.

  "I'd love to spend time with you, but I think I need to get back to Earth and make sure the Ancients can go back? After the meal though, if that's all right?" He didn't have any way to pay for it, so was planning to soak his new father if it came up. That, or his beloved Uncle Tim.

  The all ebony woman smiled at him, and nodded.

  "That's very important. I'd like to go and visit, if I can. Come this way. We have menus for you. If you don't see what you want, please let me know? We can make almost anything here."

  They were taken to a big table, which was by a nicely carved sculpture of a woman who, while all in white stone, disturbingly resembled like his fine looking aunt, the Queen of the Moon.

  Instead of teasing her like he had Tamerlane, he held his lips closed. Making an enemy of his father the first time they met was probably poor form. Instead he waited for everyone else to sit, only to find himself being pulled down next to Alphonse, the man doing that himself. On the other side William slid into place, bracketing him. That was fine, given that Tor, Alyssa and Tiera all took the seats across from them.

  That way they could rake him over the coals no doubt, and find out all his dark secrets.

  Smiling he looked at them and cleared his throat, before they could read his mind. Wizards did that, he'd heard.

  "I used to steal. Food mainly, from the other people in town. Otherwise I just got scraps. It was illegal anyway. Currently I managed to con my way into a loose control of the spaceport, mainly by pretending to be important. The Tam-units helped with that, since they only turned on for me. Other than some sex stuff, most of it probably pretty tame, I don't have anything really dark or hidden. Fights, but that's about it. Even at that, most of the time it just turned out to be a mistake, and not that important." If that was too much for them, he could just leave. It was the truth though, and the wizards were probably going to figure that out anyway.

  From down the table, Timon spoke, laughing a little under his breath.

  "See, that's what you get for being a creep and reading his field like that, Tiera. Tor wasn't, if you noticed? That isn't too bad though, really, Dareg. I'd done a lot worse by your age. Stealing food that people should have been sharing with you isn't even a crime in my book. After all, it was a gift. From me, so I should get to judge that one." Then he looked at the paper thing in front of him, which Dare had one of too. "Oh, fried shrimp. I love that."

  As if that was enough to change the conversation, everyone started to make suggestions to him, about what kind of things they liked there. A whole lot of it was strange to him, but after a bit he looked down and picked the fifth thing on the list.

  "I think I'll try the hamburger? That sounds interesting." It did, after a fashion, not that he was focused on i
t much.

  Without trying to be too obvious about it, Dare kept looking at the people across from him. It was a hard thing to do, really. He wanted to examine Tor, but that would be a bit too much for the moment, so he ended up making eye contact with Tiera. She really was lovely, he decided. Related to him, but Timon had mentioned that wasn't a biological thing. Nobles had pretty loose rules that way too, and if he was one of them, that had to count for him.

  She smiled, and after they all gave their orders to Marissa, who waited on them herself, the Queen finally cleared her throat a little bit.

  "Yes?"

  He had been staring, so that was probably fair of her to ask.

  Instead of suggesting they sneak away, he nodded a few times and made something up.

  "I'd like to start daily trips into the spaceport at the Capital in Noram. Once the others are up and going well, the other ports, I want them included, too. We should have things in from Mars at least once a week as well. Carriages between the different ports, maybe?" It was an idea that he'd had, if expanded a little, and he wasn't really asking her to do that, it was just a thing to say other than that she had really delicate lips.

  Rather than pretend that his words were interesting, she looked away for a bit, and after a few seconds started to nod.

  "I... Can see that. It's a good plan. Tim, you have your new ships ready, right? Jump craft, but with no weapons. What will it cost to get you to part with, oh, say, twenty of them?"

  Dare smiled, knowing that it was going to be more than he could afford, personally, but the man surprised him a bit. More than a little, to be honest.

  "If we run it from the Harmony side, we can do it for free. That means our people piloting, or Space Fleet. That might work better, actually. We probably don't want to rub in the fact that we sort of own space. Not if we're going to go and visit soon. I can get you those, Dareg, and you can set that up with Alice Orange. Not that she won't think you're trying to trick her. It's just a thing she has with some men."