The Dark Half of the Sun (The Young Ancients: Timon) Read online

  There was an intake of breath from the wall where it didn't belong. He stared at it hard, seeing the mere slit in the woodwork the watcher used to spy on them. He didn't know what was going to happen next, but he activated his shield just in case. The rest of them followed suit automatically, even if they didn't really need to.

  "No, you hide behind the Kings and Queens of history, teaching them and being a part of their lives, so that when they rule they feel special and like it's an honor to have your special counsel." He stood, since there was a scraping from the wall, a slow thing that he nearly didn't notice at all, except the wall was moving just a bit. "I don't know, I guess that's as good a plan as any, but anyone trying to take the throne would have to take out the Green man first, wouldn't they? Or they might as well not even try to do anything at all. There's a list of people to put on the throne longer than both of my arms I bet. It's all the same, as long as you live. Why even if someone organized a coup, I doubt that they'd manage to put anyone on the throne for long that wasn't approved by you..." He chuckled a little as the panel of fine woodwork burst open and a Royal Guard he didn't recognize burst out, a silver weapon in his right hand, an immolator. That was fine when it was pointed at the Count but made the rest of the room suddenly burn when it missed the shield.

  Timon didn't know what to do, but he had a good shield and that meant he could fight, even if he was hopelessly outmatched by the large and powerful looking man in front of him. He went with a low tackle, trying to grab the giant around the ankles, missing an entire leg, since it was too far away for him to reach. He tried to pick it up, but the man barely moved at all. It was slippery and all that happened was that the immolator was turned on Timon instead of Count Lairdgren. I didn't take long for the room to fill with Royal Guards, who stood back for a second as the Ancient quickly disarmed the man and knocked him out with three or four fast blows to the head that rang out in a pattern that reminded Timon of tapping four fingers on a table.

  George stared at the man and Kara glanced at him, and then at an older woman that held a weapon of some kind, a copper tube that looked like Tor's early work, pointed at the man on the floor.

  "Grail. He's one of us. I've known him since he was five, in the training program. I was one of his teachers." She looked upset by the idea, which made sense. If you knew a person that long, they were your family, regardless of what blood said.

  It was slightly odd, but that got the King to order them all out, quickly, through the back door of the room. Hardgrove got them outside and Timon got them away, flying away so fast that he doubted anyone not looking for it could have seen. He didn't talk until they were most of the way to Lairdgren school.

  "If they have some of the Royal Guard... the King and Queen aren't safe. I can get the Prince and Princess out, like I was asked, and we can hide them, but I don't know what to do for the rest of them. They have to stay, don't they? The King can't rule from hiding, not if people are trying to take his throne. That would be about the same as just giving up." It wasn't his problem, but he'd been there and that meant it was now, in a strange way. He didn't want to be part of it, but there it was. Some things had to be dealt with once noticed, and a Royal Guard trying to kill his grandfather was a thing that was hard to miss.

  The Count was sitting beside him as they flew, not moving much at all, as if thinking so hard there just wasn't room left for anything else. For all Tim knew that was just the truth. Who knew what was going on inside his Ancient and complex mind. It was hard enough to figure out what was going on in his own most days.

  "Alright. If you could safeguard the children for us, I'll see to the King. The Queen as well, though she isn't as important to the continuity of power as the two men are." He looked at Timon, but the words were clearly meant to affect the man sitting behind them. "That has to be our first priority. This plot has a strange character to it. My guess is that it will end up being the normal plotters and schemers, but it's odd for it to happen this close to the end of a highly successful war. No one can easily doubt that Noram won this one. We didn't even take a single casualty, while forcing our opponents to yield with ease. It didn't even cost that much in the long run."

  Timon didn't bother offering any thoughts on the matter, since he didn't have anything new. It wasn't a great situation, but the fact of the matter simply was that he didn't know anything of value and trying to make plans only on old information wasn't the best idea ever. That was just so clear that it was surprising that everyone in the world didn't know it already. They probably did on some level, but that was the trick to wisdom, knowing when to apply it. In his case it wasn't true wisdom really, lacking experience, but knowing that meant he could at least try not to walk dead on into problems, didn't it?

  For all the good that would do him. It was just as clear that in an emergency it was more important to act than carefully plan most of the time. Sitting back and deciding how to fight the fire in your house wouldn't put it out. Of course doing the wrong thing would make it worse, but the net result of getting things wrong and inaction were about the same. You lost everything. This felt like that, after a fashion.

  Hardgrove took a deep breath and then sighed.

  "So, Burks, do you think this will affect my students? Should I send them home? After the attack there before Postern a lot of families have been worried."

  "No. I don't think so, not at this point. Most of the kids will be safer being there than almost anyplace else. Increase the protections for the students. Get the group there to make certain everyone has good shields and flying gear. Have you found instructors for that? I wish I knew where Tor's people were." As if trying to explain the obvious he clarified, looking over at Timon. "The Secret Army. They got word of a threat and scattered, probably infiltrating places, rather than hiding. It's a solid organization with very dedicated people. If you see any of them, or figure out who they must be, don't give them away."

  It was said absently, the man drifting back into thought again.

  "Oh, and also, I need you to do some work for me. You might have to put your business on hold for a few months." He didn't explain what he wanted, but Timon shook his head slowly, which was unnoticed the man staring out the window at the blackness outside.

  "I don't think so." That got a reaction, which was mainly a look of surprise, instead of anger. At least Timon thought so. It was so hard to tell with the man beside him. "I have to see to my own upkeep, and I have commitments already. As a family member I'll do what I can to help you, but not at the level of costing me my livelihood or customer base. That would be taking things too far. I don't actually know you after all. I appreciate you talking to my mother for me, but in the main you haven't really been a grandfather at all, to any of us kids. I get that there were reasons not to before, but the only one you've spent any effort on at all is Tor."

  There was silence for a while, as the man looked at him, baffled. That had to be fake, since no one could be that dense and survive as long as he had. After a few seconds he expanded on it.

  "I mean, yes, you got Tor into school, but you own a school... That can't have been hard. What about Terlee or Todd? Maybe you couldn't have done much for Teral, but Tamerlane is smart, easily intelligent enough to go to your school just because of that. Todd... He's not exactly a moron either. But for them, nothing."

  The Count sighed and rolled his eyes a bit, as if not wanting to deal with this at the moment, which was sensible. They had larger issues. After a bit he nodded anyway.

  "That's true. I should be there for all my family, not just the one like me. I'll try to do better in the future. I guess it is a bit too much to ask you to jump to my word without any reason. A part of the school issue was that your mother didn't want her children to leave. She still doesn't. I had to threaten to have Torrance kidnapped and whisked off into an education and she only allowed it because he's my duplicate. Tiera... She's close to Laurie. I don't think she'd be going anywhere if Tor hadn't put his foot down. As for you, well
, you went around her nicely and then made it clear you weren't going to be pushed around pretty quickly. You can't spank a child into submission when they're prone to combat rage. One way or the other that leads to death. Even trying to hold on to you might have done that."

  He fell silent again, but Hardgrove resumed talking about his own concerns, which had a lot more bearing on the situation at hand.

  The gray bearded man pointed to the lights of the school, which weren't all that bright at all. There were six of them and they were magical, with a little light coming from various windows still. It would be hard to find in the dark without help, if they shut those off.

  "Here we are. I do have to like the speed of travel. May I call on you for travel in the future? I can't afford to pay much, but there are benefits to it, I can certainly see that." The tone sounded humble, and most likely was.

  Timon smiled, but didn't turn, letting the tone carry his mood for him.

  "That makes sense. A headmaster of a school likely doesn't earn expensive extravagance and even if you were paid more, for other work, you couldn't spend it, or else it would show to the whole world nearly as well as hanging a sign on your officer door saying 'Spy Master, enquire within.' Your sigil on the communications devices is..." He had to think about it, since most of the names were Counts and Countesses. There were a half dozen little marks that didn't have names and the last one, so far, was his. That would have showed up on all the devices, no matter where they were. Tor probably assigned the first two, or three, leaving three it might be. The man was important to the King, so it would be the third or fourth one He thought. "The yellow triangle?" It was a fifty-fifty guess, but the man laughed heartily, as Lairdgren let his eyebrows raise.

  "That's the one. Are you sure you aren't using magic on me?"

  "He isn't Kyle. Not a bit. I was trying to read him as he worked that out. All mental deduction. Very good."

  The landing was a little rough on the trees, but by going slow he didn't make too much noise, he hoped. Hardgrove got out without a word and vanished into the brush as Timon waited in place for a few minutes. Neither of them spoke, but the man next to him finally cleared his throat, some ten minutes later.

  "I'm sorry that you don't trust me. I hope that isn't something we can't work out. It's almost certain that we'll both be around for a long time, so I wouldn't want hard feelings between us."

  There wasn't a lot to say about it, so Tim lifted off, moving south again for a bit.

  "Where are you going?"

  "Back to the Capital, but if you could drop me by the western gate that might be for the best. I need to enter unseen, so a ways away will suffice." He didn't seem to be bothering with a disguise.

  Not while Timon watched. It was a bit more careful than he had to be. Then again, he had just told the man he didn't really trust him, hadn't he? Hardly endearing. Nothing else was said for the rest of the trip, at a little past midnight they set down in the desert, about ten miles away from the glowing river that ringed the Capital's wall.

  "I hope we can be friends too, someday." It wasn't the best peace offering ever, and the Count didn't say anything about it. There was a tiny smile on his face as he started running toward the city at a decent clip.

  Timon took off going straight into the air, then finding his own dark little house, looking like stone and tile. It was poor looking next to the palace to the right, but it was home and warm inside. He didn't bother with lights, just heading to bed, not waiting for anything else to happen, since that would probably mean getting no sleep at all.

  It was well and truly light out when he woke, but still cool and early. Timon really wanted to stay between the covers, which were soft and warm. That wasn't going to happen at all, so he forced himself up again and had just managed to shower when a pounding came on his front door. It was loud and a little rude, being that most of the city probably wasn't up yet. He dressed as he walked, still damp all over, not having had a chance to dry yet.

  "One moment." He muttered, knowing that it wouldn't be loud enough. When he opened the door there were five people standing there, all of them huge compared to him. None of them familiar, but they wore brightly colored clothing that made them look like a team of players. Noble ones at that. He gestured for them to enter without hesitation.

  "There you are! The restaurant in Austra will be expecting you. Adding entertainment to the menu should liven things up a bit." Once they were in he examined them all, looking for clues to their real identities. No troop of actors was honestly made up of nobles or even high merchants. Their clothing was also perfect and pristine. The Dean had explained that one the night before pretty well.

  That meant these people wore magic. Very few could afford that. Certainly no one that worked for tips and a silver a week at a play house. Two were very large, the rest were merely big, but all were over six-four. The tallest was Prince Alphonse, he thought, the disguise good, but not perfect. He couldn't hide his size and while he'd made himself heavier, his frame was the same. Princess Karina had done a better job, making herself look chubby and busty, also not nearly as cute as she normally was. That was nearly brilliant. Few people would look at her and think she was the same girl.

  The others were harder. One of them was George, he thought, again by noticing his gait when he moved, his bones betraying him. The others weren't people he knew at all, or if he'd seen them he couldn't guess at it yet.

  "Please, have a seat. If I may borrow your Truth Amulet again Prince Alphonse?" Tim held his hand out to the correct one, who sighed and made a face. Then he worked at his neck and pulled the device out, which Timon put in George's hand first.

  "George, do you swear that you are a faithful member of the Royal Guard and mean no one here harm, if they are honestly doing the same, unless they offer you or the Royal family violence?" He didn't think it left a lot of loopholes.

  The man spoke calmly, as if he'd had to do it before. More than once. Probably in the last few hours. "I do so swear." The cream and yellow aura didn't show a lie at all.

  The other guards answered the same way, the decently young looking woman with light brown hair smiling after they were all cleared.

  "Good. I was afraid you were a little too young to trust with something like this. This is a good place to start."

  He stared at her, his face blank.

  "I'm not done yet." He pressed the amulet to the Prince's arm. "Alphonse, are you plotting to overthrow the King in any way except waiting for your day to come?" The question was blunt and everyone looked shocked at it.

  "No! I swear I'm not. I'm loyal to the King and my family. I'm not part of any plot." There was a light black streak, which got the strange looking big eared black haired man to wince and explain. "Not part of any plots harmful to my family or the kingdom in any way that I can see." Then the thing stayed steady.

  Then it was Karina's turn. She snagged the thing and avoided letting anyone ask her any questions by simply stating that she loved the King and her brother and meant them no harm in any way that would displace them. She did allow that she might want to slap her brother around at times, but even that wasn't meant to hurt him overly. Past some bruises. For his own good.

  Timon nodded, "good enough. I'll needle you on whatever it is you're obviously hiding some other time. Here," taking the amulet back he did much the same thing the Princess had. "Loyal to the King, at least within reason. Not plotting against him. Hold no grudge against any of you yet. I can't think of anything else. I guess that I'm not knowingly working with anyone that's plotting against you or the King, but I can't say that I'm not for certain. People rarely share that kind of thing for some reason." Not with him, at least so far.

  Redheaded George who looked about thirty instead of his normal fifty plus stood then and smiled.

  "That you saw through our seeming so easily isn't good. Is it anything we can fix?"

  "Sure. Your clothing looks new and it all matches. Perfectly. Cause some scuffs and stains. Some fa
bric colors that don't match that well, darker red for one, near pink for someone else. The women could also be in skirts or dresses. That or Alphonse could. That would be hilarious. I'd say you should all be smaller too, but once we get to Austra that won't matter nearly as much. Do you have an act? If not you should get one. I'll get you work, if you aren't horrible. Everyone there has to earn their keep in general. Except little children. I'll see if Kincaid has something for you all to do." That didn't mean much to most of them. They all started to alter a bit then, clothing first.

  Then he went over their faces, which he changed himself, making them look nice, but not as balanced through the face, except Karina, who was already about perfect.

  "We have to move fast. I need to get some ice first, then cream, butter and produce, as well as fresh meat. I have about thirty gold set aside for it, so when we go to the market in Warden, don't over spend if you can help it. Can anyone here fly a Carriage?"

  The woman he didn't know smiled again, her look just a bit saucy, like a female player her age would in the same situation.

  "We all can. I believe Alphonse and Karina have both controlled the faster ones as well..." She looked at them and Karina nodded, though her brother shook his head.

  "Not me. Karina can do it."

  That got him to pull out one of his remaining three devices of that type and hand it to her.

  "Just to use for now, unless you can do a good job and want to sign on as a pilot? In that case you can keep using it. I can send you off to Afrak to deal with Gray. Ever met her?"

  "I have. It was less than fun, but she was nice enough to me. Nearly started a war with Noram however. Twice. It was one of the very few times I actually saw Tor get angry at someone that wasn't actively trying to hurt someone else."

  They moved out and set up, the five riding together over to the ice manufactory. They helped him reconfigure the back of their craft to hold bins of ice and then load five large blocks into place. It looked like a giant gold rectangle with pink on the very front by the time they were done, Karina getting bored.