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

  He shook his head looking down at the ground.

  "No. I killed Nora Alan earlier today. Trice, I haven't even slept. Count Lairdgren freed me less than four hours ago. Six now. Got there just in time to kill the Larval. They were planning to use my communications device to draw Tor in and then torture me. As bait. He never answered." There was a little bitterness in his words, he knew.

  It made sense that his brother wouldn't, since not being available to the Larval meant that his people were more protected than not, even if he lost a few to begin with. It was a hard game, but one that had to be played. It still felt like a betrayal. Tor was supposed to help him, not just the other way around. That's what family meant.

  "Anyway, I'm going to kill Rodriguez myself. If I wanted the Assassins Guild to do it I'd go and find a Sorvee, not you." The words slipped out, sounding a little angry, but Trice blinked.

  "You... Know about that?" She didn't ask who told him, but he rolled his eyes anyway.

  "Trice. Yes. I know about a lot of things. That part was funny, they didn't even think to ask me anything when they did it. They didn't think I'd know anything. They didn't even try to get my recipe for winter cakes. Their loss." It came out sounding almost like a joke. It was a good sign, he hoped.

  It took her a few minutes of pacing around still holding her left arm in her right hand, before she turned on him again frowning.

  "Why come to me? I mean, I'll do what I can, but if you aren't looking to have the work done for you, what do you think I can do?"

  He snorted at her derisively.

  "Oh, gee, let's see... Tell me if this sounds familiar to you. The King, after years of having his spy master, Kyle Hardgrove, owned by Count Lairdgren, decided to try and replace the man. Not using any kind of diabolical method, just by having a young replacement trained up and groomed for the position from near childhood. His own niece, so there's a nice bit of nepotism there that even the Count can't easily undo. So for years you've been being worked into place inside both of the main spy networks. Probably being tugged between the Count and the King too. That about right? I'm sure I'm missing a few things, like what they did with Tor and you, but..." He waited, his eyes feeling tired suddenly. Healed or not, he needed food and sleep.

  He did not look forward to either now. Any food he ate could be poisoned and sleep meant not being able to watch what was going on around him.

  The woman stood in front of him, her arms going to her sides in shock.

  "Fuck. Who told you all this? Lairdgren? I know that Tor doesn't know. I mean, he gets that I work for Uncle Richard, but not the rest of it."

  The funny thing was that she seemed serious about him divulging who it was that told him, as if anyone would have.

  "So, are you going to help or not? I need to know who he's likely to be working with. I can think of a hundred ways to kill the man, but..."

  "No." She tried to put a hand on his shoulder but the shield stopped the move, getting her to nod. "I mean, yes, of course I'll help, but you can't just kill the man. You need to find out what he knows. It's more dangerous, but if you can take him, get him to talk first, then make the body vanish... It's going to start problems, but the King will be a lot less angry about it if you know what the Count does first. You shouldn't go behind his back. Uncle Richard hates that."

  Who wouldn't. Of course going to him would probably mean the man telling him no.

  "I don't work for him. I don't work for anyone but myself. Not really."

  There was a few minutes of silence, an abstract look on her face. He spent the time not thinking at all himself, since it was easier that way to keep on living.

  "Timon, what you want to do is dangerous, but don't make an enemy out of Uncle Richard. He's a good man, and may not go along with you, but avenging Petra Ward isn't a good enough reason for you to start a war with an entire Kingdom."

  It was true enough. He gave her a nod, still knowing that the man was going to die, one way or the other.

  She smiled sweetly, the look more than a little sad.

  "Do you love her?"

  "What?"

  "Petra, do you love her? Normally people don't go and try to kill Counts for light reasons. It's far too dangerous. All those armies and angry heirs that will be worried that they're next if they don't fight. It's pretty much what keeps the peace."

  "No, I don't love her. I hardly know her at all. That isn't the point. I don't know how to explain it. I saw her, broken and bent, bleeding and covered in a half dozen kinds of filth. It's enough of a reason. It doesn't matter. It's what I'm going to do."

  She sighed mightily, for affect and then let her head come up just a little, as if a decision had been reached inside.

  "Fine. Think about it first though and give yourself enough time to plan and do it right. Go to the King and at least give him a chance to say no, or offer advice. You might be surprised what he's willing to try if you go in with a good plan."

  They made arrangements to stay in touch, since she liked the idea of having his fast transport services on tap.

  "I mean, I have my own Fast Carriage, but you know, having servants is always useful, for those times I don't want to bother with things myself." She winked at him, then realized that being playful might not be the most welcome thing at the moment. Sobering she shrugged. "I can't afford your rates though. Do I get a discount for being so cute?"

  He nodded.

  "Sure. But since you already can use your family discount that won't help you much."

  Smiling she started to reach out again, but stopped short, her face falling a bit.

  "That's sweet, but I don't know that being your brother's girlfriend should count."

  "It does. Still, Mark is working for me as a pilot, so that works too. I know that your parents are planning to use it... I kind of left them stuck the other day, I was supposed to get them to the palace, but... You know." He felt bad about it, which didn't make sense at all. He clenched his teeth, anger starting to run through him again at the thought. It didn't trigger a rage, because he dropped it after a few seconds and went totally blank.

  "What? My brother Mark? But he's..."

  Timon felt too tired to explain it all, so he just told her part of it.

  "No combat rage in other lands. He's doing most of the overseas stuff. So far it's working out pretty well. Anyway, I need to leave. I'll be in touch. Let me know if you need me for anything. I can't promise I'll be around all the time, since I have some things to do overseas too, but if I can, I'll be there for you."

  "We'll talk soon. Don't... Timon... Don't let this break you. I know that it seems like everything is over, but it isn't. You're strong and will come back from this."

  He nodded and turned to walk into the woods then, not saying goodbye. He wasn't sure that he really would come back from it at all, but that was the smallest part of things now. He had a goal and that was all he needed. Then, when that one was done, he'd find the next one and so on. It wasn't hope for a better life, but it would get him through the day.

  Or not.

  He didn't change his clothing, but did set up his craft and then changed it to be a dull cloud gray. It was subdued and boring, but matched his mood. Then he left, going home. To his place, outside the Capital, near the river. It was an hour and a half before he got there, not having pushed things overly. Then, once inside he barred and locked the door, closed all the shutters and laid on one of the four beds in the back, awake in the dark for hours. Not thinking at all.

  He didn't know if he slept, but if so it was one without memorable dreams. When he came out it was the next day, early. Not knowing what to do, he went to see Glaren and see if there was any food to be had, finding that all the servants were in the place and a full meal was being prepared. No one seemed to be treating him any differently, which was nice. He tried to smile and not let them know that he wasn't a real person anymore. Food was placed in front of him, and he ate with a will, knowing that he had to replace what had been taken
from him. It was all good, but it was hard to get enough food down, his interest going long before the food was done.

  Collette smiled at him, her hand going to his shoulder, not triggering his shield, thankfully. She settled in next to him, her face bright and happy looking.

  "There you are. No one knew where you'd gotten to for days. We have a lot of work lined up. For some reason everyone called here to do that. I set it up for you to pick people up starting later today, is that alright? I can call people back and..." She had a list in front of her. One with a map that showed the best route to get people. He looked at it and nodded.

  "I can do this. Sorry I was out of touch. We can cover why later. If we have to I mean. Right now I need to go and get Lyn and Dorgal... And I really need to find Marco Sorvee. He's supposed to stand for his cousin and I haven't even asked him yet. If I have to find someone else it's going to be a pain." He covered the slight feeling of being overwhelmed by taking a bite of honey soaked pancake. It bought him time to recover a little.

  Collette, being part goddess it seemed, located Marco in about fifteen minutes. He was in Thorgood, playing for the Countess, who was coming in later that day and seemed more than happy to bring him along. She ran a lot of the slow transport fleet after all. That wasn't a fair thing to call it really. It wasn't coast to coast in a few hours, but it was still less than a day for that distance.

  A lot of people were starting to use it, since it was a lot more economical than going by carriage even. The ones paying him for extra speed and comfort paid more, but they also got picked up at their own door, instead of meeting at only a few cities around the Kingdom. There were tradeoffs. Still, a moderately successful tradesman could afford the one gold it cost to fly with the Thorgood fleet. Less in a lot of cases. She'd gotten most of her gear for free, so it was pure profit for her. She also employed more people doing it her way.

  As Collette settled next to him again, she grabbed half a piece of toast. She was wearing a nice dress in light blue and tan, which covered her from neck to ankle, since it was early in the day and the woman was working, not trying to pick up potential mates or get information out of unsuspecting men. Or women. He focused on his own food for a while until he heard her say something that got his full attention.

  "Count Rodriguez is all the way down south, so I had to have him come in on a flight alone. He's bringing two of his people with him, but is paying full rate for them." Her words were almost absent in tone, as if it didn't matter at all, even though it was the most important thing he'd heard in a long time. "Morgan is scheduled for the pick-up, since we didn't know where you'd gotten to. Mark is doing the pick-ups from overseas. Lyn and Dorgal will be here later today, if all goes well." It took a while to make it all out, but if he could arrange for another pilot...

  "I'm going to get my sister Tiera in on this. She can do most of the east coast pick-ups for us. I'll do Rodriguez myself, later tonight." Now he had to convince the girl to do the work. She owed him, but that didn't mean a lot, did it? It was a lie that family came first. Tor hadn't even picked up the communications device.

  That wasn't fair though. Count Lairdgren had come for him, even though it might have started a war. It wasn't something he'd expected at all. Worse, for all his dark thoughts, he knew that Tor shouldn't have come for him. It wasn't fair and he started shaking a little, which got Collette to reach out and feel his forehead. It was exactly the right temperature of course, since he had a personal temperature control amulet on.

  "Have you been sick or..." She looked away and shook her head slowly. "I'm... not trying to judge, and it's natural for a boy away from home to experiment with new things, but too much drinking or doing drugs... it doesn't fit with your duties." There was no hint of actual disapproval in her words, just caution.

  He nodded, almost taking her offered way out. Lying about things wouldn't help him in the long run, he didn't think. Secrets made things worse. He'd seen that over and again in his travels. Most problems in the world seemed to be sixty-percent secrets and thirty percent drink. The rest was stupidity.

  "Sorry, no. I was... kidnapped and tortured. For three days. Healing amulet fixed the worst of it, but... my mind isn't right yet. I can't talk about it all right now. Can you get Mark to swing over and get Petra? Brown too. Tell him I want some of that pain inducing medicine the Larval used on me."

  There was silence for a long time, then the pretty blonde got up without speaking. Timon used the time to finish eating, not wanting to, hating each bite, wondering if it was tainted and would be the thing that made him fall asleep, leading to more torture.

  To distract himself he made a plan. First to the palace, then to Lairdgren school since he had two people there to see. His sister probably wasn't going to be glad to see him at all. Then... He needed to set up someplace where he wouldn't be found. He had a cottage left to use for it, which was almost too bright and cheery for the purpose he intended. He thought it would work at least. After a while the Baronetta came back, her face looking harder than he'd ever seen it.

  "I set what you wanted in motion. Mark will make the pick-up, as you asked, if people will come. We can't contact anyone in the other lands, but I'm sure that Petra will come. I won't ask what you intend, but do you need anything for it?"

  He nodded. "A truth amulet. Two if possible."

  One way or the other he needed to check and make certain it was all true, whatever he was told.

  "I can do that." She didn't move, selecting more toast, eating it dry, taking a large bite and chewing it with more bitterness than seemed possible. That was her looks controlling his thoughts about her he realized. It wasn't sane thinking, but normal enough. She was pretty and that meant good, didn't it? At least to his inner mind that controlled such decisions.

  When he finished his plate of food he stood, which caused her to reach around her own neck, removing several amulets. One healing, three Truth. She was carrying them all on separate strings and looked to have about forty different things on. It was hidden by her high collar and the way she'd arranged the clothing amulet. It was very clever and made her extremely well prepared. There were magic shops that didn't have that kind of inventory. All four things were pressed into his hand, her own wrapping around it firmly.

  "Be careful, and remember, it's only a crime if you get caught."

  The advice shocked him, since it wasn't what he'd been taught all his life at all. Timon made himself smile, knowing it didn't reach his eyes. He tried to make that happen too, not wanting to seem as damaged as he really was inside.

  "I don't know what you mean Collette. I'm just planning a party. An exclusive thing. That's all. To celebrate the coming wedding." It sounded like he really meant it, even as he knew for a fact that the woman standing next to him wouldn't buy it at all. He didn't intend her to, so that worked for him.

  It got a laugh anyway.

  "Well, good. It's important to remember to have fun." She moved in and hugged him, her lips by his ear reminding him too much of Nora doing the same thing. He half expected her to say something nasty or evil, but instead there was only two words.

  "Kill him."

  Then there was a soft kiss on the cheek that made him want to shudder. He didn't do it, just going a little stiff instead. That was enough to make her pull away.

  He needed to get to the palace. That took him about fifteen minutes, since he was questioned by the Royal Guard, who were working very hard to be circumspect, while cleverly asking if he was a traitor or meant to harm the Royal family. Finally he looked at the lead woman, glowing field still in place and shrugged.

  "I'm relatively loyal and not planning to harm the King, his wife, children or any friends of his that I know of. I personally wouldn't take the throne if it was offered and can't think of anyone else that I would put on it that could do better than Richard. If I find someone I'll go to him and let him know directly, so he can either step up his skills or get off the throne on his own. I think he actually might, if it
came to that. It has to be a horrible job." The words came out hard, which got the woman to look at him funny, but after a few seconds and some covert glances at the people around her she took the amulet back.

  "Good enough. We'll take you to see him and the Queen directly."

  Timon didn't really need to see Constance, but apparently he was going to, regardless. It wasn't that she couldn't know what he was doing, he just didn't want to beg in front of her. She was too tall and female for him to feel comfortable with that at the moment.

  When he got to the room they were meeting in, a small space with soft light colored furniture, both of the rulers jumped up and came at him like a wall of collapsing bodies. It was all he could do not to jump backwards away from them. As odd as it seemed the Queen spoke first, genuine concern in her voice.

  "Are you well? We heard... some of what happened to you. Count Lairdgren reported it to us, so that we can take the proper steps." Her voice went cold on the last words, surprisingly so.

  The King nodded and reached out, bending over to place a slow and gentle hand on his shoulder. It didn't make contact, since his shield had kicked on. For some reason the giant didn't even let shock show on his face over that.

  "What do you need from us? The military is ready to march on County Alan as we speak. The Countess is dead, I've been informed. Her heir was shocked when I explained the nature of her passing, but does not seem to be inclined to pursue war against Lairdgren. Or you. What are your intentions?" The words were carefully arranged, the pauses subtle but not natural at all. It was the kind of speech that the man had practiced over and again, no doubt.

  It was so clear that Timon didn't need for it to be translated for him. They wanted to know if he'd come to demand County Alan be removed from the face of the planet. He shook his head.

  "When it's me tortured and... abused, you offer your forces to go after innocent people that did nothing to me. When it was Petra you told her brother to hold his hand and sent her into hiding." He didn't wait for the answer, since it wasn't important. He knew the answer after all. Before, the King had been afraid of losing his throne and family, and thought of them first. It was the kind of thing he was ready for, plotting and intrigue on that level. Now he was afraid of losing his Kingdom to a force he didn't think he could beat.