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

  That got a laugh, which sounded happy.

  "I can be flying inside the hour. Where do you want me?"

  "At the port facility. The Capital one, just so you won't get confused. We're helping to build them all finally. With support from Harmony. Space fleet, too, so we're actually getting something done for once. What I really need is to track down Straughan and Filby, the High Servants that should be here right now. First to make sure they're alive, and then to slap them around for a bit if they don't have a good reason for being absent from their post. You'll help with that?" He was speaking to Kolb, who nodded.

  "If it's needed. We can get Dareg and Karen Derring in on that. She'll have to come in early, but that can't be helped. It will let her get a jump on things." Then he shook his head. "Johan, can you be here in about half an hour?"

  There was a sound, one that indicated movement. The fast kind.

  "Leaving now, the streets are a bit crowded. It's the first day of King's week tomorrow, which means that it will really start tonight. I should be able to make that time. I wish I could just fly over. Then it would take about a minute."

  Kolb grinned.

  "And if anyone tries they'll provide an early fireworks show, when the rockets take them out. This is pressing, but not an emergency. Not yet."

  The line broke after a moment, though there was muttering about how people needed to get out of the way. It sounded a bit violent, to tell the truth.

  At noon they went into the different magical buildings, to see if anything was being worked on. In each case it was. The free inn had four people working there, who were all city folk. They seemed to have picked up on the idea that the beds made themselves, and that they could move things around with a bit of focus. In short, it was a very easy job to have for a silver a week, plus room and board.

  The bawdy house didn't have any guests yet, but they didn't seem concerned about that either.

  The woman that spoke to them looked to be just rising for the day, after all.

  "Things will pick up at night. We have two hundred sailors in, and word been put out that we'll have entertainers out here eventually. The proper kind. That will get things going soon enough. In the mean, we can have good food for free from them boxes. The girl in it even gave us all birth control, so's we don't fall with child. Darned nice of her."

  She seemed to really mean it, so Dare nodded.

  "Yeah, you should all go out of your way to make friends with Tam-unit." The woman looked at the floating case behind him, her eyes a bit greedy, as if she guessed what was in there, but nothing was said. There was no way he was leaving it anyplace though. Not that he couldn't lock up.

  Erid however looked around the place and smiled.

  "You should have a sign out front. I can do that for you? The places on Harmony have them."

  The woman smiled at him, like he might be a potential costumer, and nodded.

  "That would be right helpful. I don't know as we can pay you for it, but we could... Work something out?"

  That got him to laugh, instead of blush or seem bashful.

  "We can do that. It isn't hard, it just takes a bit of focus. Here, let me show you?"

  It really didn't take long, and after that, once the idea was out there, Dare set up a sign for each place, along with a small picture in case people couldn't read standard.

  The restaurant, to his surprise was actually serving luncheon when they got there, and while the food might not have been what was served at the palace, it was better than most places he'd eaten.

  Kolb and Erid came in for the meal too, since it wasn't lazy to keep yourself fed, it didn't seem. Not that they took too long, since the workers would need food worse than they did, Erid assured them. The nice thing was that the meal didn't cost too much. Three coppers for three people. He covered that, out of the chest, making sure to use his own funds, in the blue bag. When he opened it, he nearly froze.

  "Problem Dare?" Kolb said this lightly, but glanced over his shoulder as he spilled some of the large bag into his hand, counting quickly he blinked.

  "Nooo. I... I don't know, Collette said this was my monthly stipend. I think she must have given me too much." He didn't want to sound stupid, or poor, but given the size of the gold coins there, and how few silver or copper there was, it seemed to be about fifty gold.

  That was more than a lot of well to do people made in a year.

  Erid looked at it as he opened the top, and nodded.

  "Right. Because your father is Tor. That makes some sense. It's a good amount, so you should be able to get by on it. Even give some out to the poor. Though my understanding is that if you'll do that, Tor will probably let you have all you want for it."

  That got him to pull three coppers, and after a second, his breath not wanting to come, a silver. As a tip for the server. Then they left, before he could change his mind and take it back. It hurt a bit, doing that, but it made sense, if he had the funds.

  Just like hoarding some of it did as well.

  They'd hurried through the meal, and High Servant Johan, who was about a head taller than the other men, and bigger across the shoulders by far, got there a little late, so they were able to meet him near the front, dodging around the few people that were making their way toward the spaceport.

  His face was annoyed when he stopped in front of Erid, bowing.

  "Sorry about the delay. Kolb! I thought that voice was you. So, this is getting pretty serious then. If you're here that means Karen will be soon. I kind of hope that Filby and Straughan are just off somewhere getting drunk. At least then we can find them and knock them around ourselves. This fellow here looks likely for that. Johan Tarth. Baron First. High Servant."

  That had him going over the whole litany of who he was now again. Oddly ending this time with Kolb slapping him on the back.

  "He's had two combat lessons so far. We're doing the first full force work in the morning. If we can catch these two, do you think that sounds fair?"

  Johan smiled then, and nodded.

  "Not at all. If he's only had two lessons, then he should sneak up on them. Armed with a stick, one at a time. Straughan isn't too bad in a fight after all. Filby is about worthless that way, so that one might work."

  Kolb got a communication then, and it was about William Smythe's investigation, but it wasn't from Will. Not even from Commander Derring.

  No, it was from Queen Tiera.

  She was not happy. It rang from her voice, even as she fought to keep things quiet.

  "Kolb? Will was just here. He... Women and men, commoners mainly, have been being abused, in return for their passage here. They didn't report it, because they were commoners, but I can't let this stand. They're Noram High Servants, and I don't want a war, but-"

  Dareg spoke, even if it wasn't his turn or place.

  "The High Servants are already on this. We didn't know it was near that bad, and they were already planning how to beat the men. We're going to need their Commander. Can that be arranged? She can stay at Sam Builder's Capital home."

  Instead of asking him about that, or why he was giving away places in Sam's house, she just nodded.

  "Thank you, Dareg. Gentlemen. I should have known that you would have things in hand already. I'm afraid I was letting my anger lead me down the wrong hallway. I'll talk to Karen, and get her there."

  It did not take long for that part to happen.

  Chapter seven

  The craft that showed up, less than an hour later was small, silver, longer than it was wide and rounded at the front and back. It had little projections on the bottom that looked like balls that had been glued on. In all the thing was adorable, for all that it slammed into the focus stone ground hard enough to leave divots.

  Dare winced, but didn't comment. The thing was small enough that they could fix the damage pretty quickly with the earth moving and focusing devices they had for making the buildings. It was still light out, so he had a pretty good view of the gorgeous woman that ran ou
t of the thing, about two minutes later. The most distinctive thing about her, at the moment, wasn't her looks, which were really high end. No, it was how very armed she seemed to be.

  At least Dareg took the white and glassy piece of rock in her hand as being that. Little glimpses of different colored glowing sigils showed as she moved, on the top of the thing. It was how tightly she was holding it that gave the intent away. Her fingers were red and white from the stress. So much so he could see it from a distance.

  Erid, looking a little less than perfectly happy, bowed as she got about ten feet away from the little group. Not wanting to give offense, and die from it, Dareg went lower than that. He should have been the person in their collective there that went lowest, he thought, but two of the Dirt Children saw them bow, so did it too. A boy and a girl, both who couldn't have been older than ten. They had on nearly clean brown outfits, like the ones the Tam-units could provide, which was a great idea, actually. That made them look like they belonged there, holding their buckets.

  The woman stopped then, her face fierce, but she still returned the movement, oddly enough matching Erid.

  When she stepped forward she took a very deep breath, and spoke first.

  "Situation report." It wasn't screamed, but Johan winced, and Erid froze for some reason. Which might have been the weapon being casually pointed their way.

  That was probably fine, if she were just going to threaten her own people, or even Kolb and him, but the kids there didn't have shields on. That got Dareg to move forward, between the angry woman and them, then turn and wave at them.

  "Thanks. You two can leave now, I think? Unless you have some trash to get rid of, ma'am?"

  The woman, good looking as she was, dressed all in white, with gold trim, looked down at her weapon, and held it up toward the sky instantly, getting the idea. Then, without missing a beat, she bowed to the children.

  "I don't, right now. Thank you for your service." It got a cute, if awkward return bow, and the kids, not getting that anything was potentially wrong at all, wandered off, collecting bits of things as they did, to fill their buckets.

  No one else was speaking yet, so Dare took a breath and jumped in.

  "We don't know much yet. Two High Servants, Straughan and Filby, have been working out of here for about a year. According to what we've heard from Harmony, after we asked for an investigation, since the men are missing, they've been forcing men and women to have sex with them in return for passage. Considering they were supposed to just be writing names on a list, the trips being free, that is a bit of a problem. Technically it's legal here, since they only went after commoners, and are both at least merchant class, if not nobles." He gave the woman a very hard look then, feeling a bit like she did now that he had a chance to think about it. "I'm in charge here now, so it won't happen again, but Queen Tiera is not happy. We, us here, were planning to find these men and beat them up, but that was before we knew the rest of this. When we just thought they might be hiding from work, in violation of their sworn oaths. Now we'll probably have to kill them for it."

  That would take making the bodies vanish, since, if they were nobles, they were pretty safe from execution. The real crime there would be all about their failure to perform their duties however, not abusing the common people. He figured that was the case, but Commander Derring gave him a tight smile, then did the same with the others.

  "Good plan. Can we track them? Does anyone know where they were staying? Here in one of the palaces?"

  High Servant Erid found his voice, adding it to a rather somber head shake.

  "No. They were, and possibly are, staying in town. We don't have a specific location. For all we know they're actually still there, avoiding work. It wouldn't be the first time a High Servant has done that. Though from all reports, they really were showing up here most days."

  The large woman gave the man in all white a tight nod.

  "So, we should ask around? I'd love to get the city guard in on this. It will probably work better than us having only three pairs of eyes on it. Unless you're in too, Kolb?"

  The man, who was dressed in the same, rather plain looking, tan that he had been earlier, if a clean version, smirked a bit.

  "Why not? I know that you've been having some issues with your own people for the better part of a decade. Really, we should see if we can track them on the satellite system. Dareg, do you know when the last time they were here was?"

  He tried to focus on that for a bit, and spoke when he had things down, not knowing what the man was talking about with satellites.

  "I last saw them five or six days ago. Prince Gerent and I were just getting the river here put in place. Right in front of the gate. That was... Straughan? The taller one."

  The Commander smiled then and gave a nod.

  "We can find that in the records. Good work..." Then she glanced at Johan and Erid, questioning them with their eyes.

  Johan, big and powerfully built, moved in and slapped Dareg on the arm, heartily and like they were old friends.

  "Dareg Canton. Prince of Harmony, Countier for both Lairdgren and Baker. He runs this place now. If I understand it right he came in about a week ago and just started pushing everyone around, until he got his way." There was no derision in the words. In fact the man seemed proud of the idea.

  Dare shook his head a bit, and smiled.

  "Closer to say I was able to use the Tam-units and that led everyone to thinking that I was in charge. With only a bit of laying claims to things without permission." It was honest enough, and instead of glaring at him, the attractive, almost unreal looking and perfectly formed woman tossed off a quarter bow.

  He returned it, instantly.

  The woman snapped her fingers and ran away then, into her ship, which was probably one of the new jump ones. He didn't see weapons ports on the outside anywhere at least. It was smooth and rounded, which gave it a cute and wholesome sense about it.

  A few minutes later she stalked back, holding something that looked like a large communications device in her left hand, tapping on it with her right. When she got to them she moved directly next to him, so he could see the screen. It was the spaceport. With no river, so she did something, making the image move. It was from above, so it was kind of difficult to see much exactly, but there wasn't a lot of activity back then, so after a moment Dare put his hand out.

  "Stop. Can you go back?"

  That happened with a few small gestures, and with only a few tries they had the right scene.

  "That man in white right there? I don't know which of them he is, for certain, but that's one of the two I met."

  Johan moved in, practically rubbing up against his commander, even though he didn't seem to notice himself doing it, and pointed.

  "High Servant Straughan. I worked with him a few years ago, up in the Wildlands, when Prince Gerent requested help planting. Can we track him from that point?"

  That seemed to be the case, and Commander Derring looked at the thing closely for a while, just standing there, in the middle of the port. Her little ship wasn't in the way yet, but it occurred to him that it would be better to tuck it off to the side, near where she was staying.

  "Could we move your craft over that way? By Sam Builder's palace?" He tried for deferential sounding, but the woman just nodded, and looked at the hand held, not being too distracted by his words.

  "Yes. I... Can go move that in a bit? I don't want to lose him. Is it an emergency?"

  "No, we should do it before nightfall, in case anyone else comes. Or take it down, if you don't need it for now?"

  The woman didn't ask a lot of questions, or suggest that she was important enough to need the center of the spaceport all for her own service. Instead she walked, slowly, holding the device in her hands. At the door of her ship, she used her head to indicate that they should all go in.

  Then, instead of turning off the little hand window, the Commander looked at Erid.

  "Can you do this for me? I know that
you have some skills. It's new, but the controls are standard. Timon made them."

  Then she slid into the right hand seat in the front, the back being filled with six other chairs. Erid didn't need to be told how to do things though, just using the hand control to slowly move up, about fifty feet, and floating over to where Dareg had suggested. It seemed pretty straightforward. There was a single hand device, which looked like a little lump of silver. It was round and seemed like it would fit into a person's hand pretty well. The craft moved in the direction you moved the control. Easy.

  When that was done, Erid moved, but Commander Derring sat in place, working. Her focus was intense. Really, no one even spoke to her for a long time. When someone did, it was the lady in white.

  "All right. I have him. It looks like a large building in town. As far as I can tell he's still there. That doesn't mean he couldn't have disguised himself. How do we do this? Go in and grab him, or..."

  Kolb nodded, and so did Johan. Those three looked a bit bloody minded really.

  Erid seemed uneasy about it all, at least.

  "We... Maybe we shouldn't do it that way? Could we send someone that isn't..."

  Dareg thought he understood. If those three went, the odds of the men being left alive for some kind of trial was pretty low. Erid was, in the end, a good man, who didn't want blood on the level that these others seemed to. Dareg could see that. They knew what had been said about what had happened, but not the specifics.

  Not that the people from Harmony were lying, but there could be more to it than what they'd heard.

  "Got it. Erid and I will go and handle this first part. We have shields. It should be fine. We can just go in and talk to the men. If they won't come, then we can move to the next level? I mean, if Erid tells him they have to come along, then they do, legally, right? High Servant duty, and all that?" He looked at the Commander, who didn't respond at first.

  After a bit she nodded.

  "Is that... Safe?" Then almost panicked seeming, she went wide eyed. "Not that you two can't take down these men on your own. I just don't want to risk innocent people... I mean, I..." There was worried floundering, as she tried not to insult them, saying they weren't capable of something she didn't think they were going to be able to handle.