Strange Land (The Young Ancients Book 15) Page 4

  Apparently her personal suffering was a big part of why everything was working. It didn't make sense to her, given that she wasn't even from their land, and the word had gone out that she wasn't a very good follower of their faith. That had to do with Laroque having said that she and her people didn't pray enough, on the first day. That part had spread. As well as her apparently being of dubious virtue, having offered herself to all comers, at least in Tellerand terms.

  Sara did notice that no one took her up on the idea. That was probably because she was starting to smell more than a little. All of the marchers were. Bathing wasn't unheard of in this strange land or anything like that, but those moving from place to place didn't get a lot of chance to do that sort of thing.

  So, three full months later, reeking and with infected sores all over her legs, Roget announced that it was time for them to all go home, and see to the safety and feeding of their people. As the All High demanded of them.

  "We must needs go to our own places and do what duty is demanded of us by Him. Everyone here has food to eat, the cleanest of water, and what protection can be afforded to guard against the coming storms. One is coming now, and we should all be inside, since to do otherwise will be courting death, and flouting the gift of life that has been provided us all."

  Everyone got that one, thankfully.

  The new storms were just that bad. Even being inside a building would be a risk. Sara was planning to hide in her Jump Ship. Possibly in orbit. Sleeping for the next six days, after healing for as long as her body could take. That and soaking in a tub for long enough to really take off the layers of dirt, grime, and for some reason oil that had collected over her entire body.

  First though, she knelt, and prayed. It was what you did at every step here, it turned out.

  "Praise the All High for His good works. We thank Him, and ask Him to bless those that need his aid."

  That got everyone else to do it, but thankfully it didn't take twenty minutes this time. She had to credit the wear and tear on everyone there, as well as the promise of death by storm winds if they didn't get under cover soon.

  Barely able to walk, she headed off into the woods alone. Roget came too, but was several hundred feet behind her, looking suspicious the whole time. Like they were sneaking off to break some religious rules and test her virtue. As if she had any of that? Not by the standards that these people held.

  Still, Roget wasn't getting any off of her. He was fine enough looking, but he was so... conflicted all the time that it was kind of a turn off. If he wanted to be with her, all he had to do was ask, of course. That, or suggest they go for a meal. Maybe he could tell her she had pretty eyes? It wasn't like she made it hard to get close to her.

  The small pale man had watched her closely for the entire time they'd been together, and she didn't blame him for not wanting her at the moment, since she was pretty gross, but he could have said a few kind words. None of the men here had though. Not even the ones that were obviously interested in her. It was down to their religion no doubt, but it made her wonder how anyone ever got together.

  Brushing her matted blonde hair from her face, she waited as everyone that was going with her worked, slowly into the depth of the woods.

  "I suppose we should all pray again?" She smiled, and set up her ship. No one jumped back, even though the men that had come with her hadn't seen it happen before. It was a tan rectangle, with lots of windows, and light strips that were almost cream colored along the edges. The door was darker, but still in the brown range. To her, and probably Roget, it was clear what it was.

  The two Vagus men, Sam and Geggy, both acted like it was just expected. They'd grown used to seeing food units come out into the world, and to them it was just another magic from the Great Brother. Though this one was actually from Queen Tiera. A thing that had been given to Sara by her own hand. The girl had made it herself too, which made it very special.

  If it hadn't been for how she felt at the moment, Sara would have suspected that the other girl was trying to court her into a relationship. Not that a Queen had to work that hard to get attention. Really, if Tiera had only been a merchant she wouldn't have had to try very hard. Sara normally didn't have to, and Tiera was twice as good looking as she was. Probably more. It should have made her feel jealous.

  The thing there was that Tiera, all the women in her family, were so attractive that they almost didn't look real. Great beauties that didn't need makeup, or fancy clothing, to bring out what was already there. Unlike her. She was good enough, she guessed.

  Men seemed to like her, though that attention did go up a lot when she wasn't dressed in a sack with holes in it and covered in literal filth.

  Roget, being who he was, and a true believer, actually knelt. She wanted to roll her eyes and sigh, but sank down instead, and mimicked the words that he spoke at the right time. When in Tellerand, after all. Then, finally, she was able to get up and load her people on the ship.

  After the months of walking, and barely getting anywhere, it was a relief to settle into the soft leather seat of the magical vehicle. The whole thing had been set up as she left it, a single small room with seats in it. The front area had two seats next to each other, but none of the others sat near her. The Vagus men sat behind her, ready to cut anyone that tried to move too close to her, and Roget and the other two fellows from Tellerand sat behind them, looking around uneasily. Even though one of them was from the Moon, as in he actually lived there, and had been inside magical vessels before.

  "I have some things to get done. I guess the first thing is..." She nearly said that a shower would be the first thing, but relented, since it was clear that after taking so very long Sara needed to get in touch with people again. It had been hard to do for a while, since she was never alone.

  Really, the first person she needed to get in contact with was King Richard, but taking these men with her there would be a bit out of step with what they needed.

  "To get back to the ship. The sailing vessel. We need to make sure it isn't in the storm zone."

  It was actually just off the coast, almost where they'd left it. When she realized that, Sara felt a bit guilty. After all, they could have given the Day Leader from the first hamlet a ride back and saved him a month's walk on sore feet. That reminded her to use her healing amulet though.

  It hurt as the wounds and sores corrected themselves, and her stomach growled before it was done, her body using so much energy to do it that she was left feeling a little bit starved. She'd had worse pain in her life though, and this was just unpleasant, not burning pain that couldn't be escaped.

  Without waiting to be asked she got up and passed the small coin sized amulet with its green glowing silhouette of Tor on it back to Roget. Saint or not, he looked uneasy about using it. Now, free from scrutiny, she made a face at him. It was meant to be funny, but he didn't so much as glance at her face directly.

  "The All High wouldn't have provided Tor with the ability to make these if He didn't want you to use it. We had to suffer before, but now it's just..." She realized that she was speaking in Tellerand, which had become her habit over the last months. Before she could go on, the man reached out and took the device, his hand carefully not making any contact with hers.

  She was still pretty disgusting, but so was he. It almost hurt, being treated like that.

  The man nodded and bowed a bit, holding it, even though he was seated.

  "Praise the All High."

  That got a chorus from the rest of them, because it was what you said in situations like that. The others took the amulet more easily when it was their turn, thankfully, and they managed to settle at nearly deck level next to the water ship. They were met by seven men, all of them armed with heavy sticks.

  Laroque smiled when he saw her though.

  "Captain! About time you an yers, get back to proper doings. This lot was about to mutiny and take off for Afrak to find some dark skinned women to play with." That part seemed to be a joke, sin
ce the man smiled and no one seemed to be dead or moaning in horrible pain.

  She nodded though.

  "That sounds like a good plan. I have to go and see what the King of Noram and the Queen of the Moon have for me to do now. This mission was a complete success, by the way. You all get a bonus for that. First..." She glanced around and realized that she didn't really need the ship they were on anymore. It worked like a regular sailing vessel, and would last a good ten to twenty more years. That was a prize, if you didn't live in space most of the time. "Captain Laroque, will you please select a First Mate?"

  That got a gasp from everyone, except Roget, who nodded at the man and smiled.

  "Praised be."

  Laroque whooped, his voice going loud, and he moved in to hug Sara. She did it back, since the small and blocky man didn't seem to mean anything more than that he was happy by the move. The rest of the men looked scandalized, but he backed off, smiling, seconds later.

  "You're certain sure on this? A ship like this one is a true prize."

  "You have the Captaincy, Laroque. The ship itself belongs to Terrance Baker, so keep that in mind. He's in charge of Tellerand, so may have some work for you to do. On the good side, you'll all be paid well enough, and have food to eat all the time. For now though, I think you all really should go off to Afrak and see about what might be needed there. Put in at the southern port and make sure they have everything they need. I'll leave you with a communications device, so you can get in touch with their Ancient, if they need anything." That was, she thought, Farlo Ross. Now at least.

  She was just a school girl, but immortal now. Timon had made her that way, along with a lot of his friends. The only person left out had been her. She wanted to claim it wasn't fair, but that wasn't really the case. For years the boy, a true child back then, had tried to suggest they marry some day. He'd even done it right, sending letters to her mother, hinting at things without being too heavy handed.

  Then she turned around and treated him like an inappropriate butcher asking for sexual favors in exchange for pork loin. She'd never been as cold to anyone that was interested in her. Not even those that were a lot more crude and forceful about the idea. There were rules after all, for that kind of thing. Even with a young man that was under the age of consent she should have been kinder about it all. Playing back a little. Perhaps actually considering the proposal. He'd been a Countier back then, after all. A young one, but it was clear that he was intelligent and well bred, if a trifle short.

  King Richard, and more to the point, Queen Constance, had felt that he'd be better off without her however. They hadn't told her what they had in mind, because that wasn't needed in their world, but the King had suggested to her that she put the boy off. Mainly so that she wouldn't be too close to him later, if he needed to be killed.

  That job was given to her early, before Tim had proven to be anything but a young boy with the ability to build magics.

  Well before he started handing out immortality to all his friends. The real ones that didn't treat him like something to be scraped from the bottom of a shoe. It was a bit of a loss for her, but she could accept it. Most people weren't going to live for hundreds or thousands of years either, were they?

  Shaking her head, she went into her own ship, and pulled her Maker from around her neck. Using water from the sea below her, she came up with a large pile of gold coins. Technically no one was supposed to have one of those on the surface, but Tiera had given one to her, figuring that she'd be smart enough not to ruin the world's economy, or anything that stupid.

  Ten minutes later, all the men still standing there, waiting on her, she came back with a floating chest.

  "A hundred gold for each of you! Put in a few good years with us here and you'll all be wealthy men." They all seemed pleased, except the two men from Vagus, who seemed to be faking their smiles.

  That made sense. In that land they didn't use metal at all. Even now that the old treaty of the Ancients had been broken and a new one was taking its place. They were allowed magic however, and outside of that land there was no reason that they couldn't have whatever they wanted. Even there it should be all right. It was just a tradition now.

  "You can use that in most ports to pay for whatever you need, or want. Afrak is actually going to be more interested in plants and animals however. You should get some here and take them for trade."

  That got people moving and if the men from Vagus didn't see the value of the yellow metal, they didn't dump their share over the side either. That was probably due to the fact that the others all seemed so very happy about the bonus they'd gotten.

  They made plans for all that, but she reminded them of the storm that Roget had gotten word of, and took off with the man, going alone into orbit, not half an hour later. No one else needed to go to the moon. Not that it would be her first stop. She really needed a bath, and some sleep first.

  "I'm thinking that we should head to my mother's house. It's in the Noram Capital city. We can sleep there tonight, and visit with King Richard in the morning. Or I can. You might want to get extra rest, or see if my mother has any work for you to do?" She didn't suggest the man pray with her at least. That would be funny, and Heather would actually do it, but it wasn't her way. Still, Roget was a man from a foreign land that also lived in the newest and hardest to reach place, Harmony. Just being who he was could be turned to making profit. At least for someone clever and willing to think outside of the normal cage that minds were kept in.

  "You... want me to meet your mother?" Roget said the words as if they should have special meaning or perhaps held some for him.

  Sara shrugged.

  "She may not be there. Don't worry, you can have your own room. It isn't King's week or anything. If it was... Well, you could always stay at Tor's. I'm sure that Collette and Gerent would put you up there. Still, compared to the side of the road, a bed in my mother's house will seem like a luxury." Which was just true. She stretched, forcing her hands up, above her head and trying to arch her back. It was a mistake, even after all the healing. She was so stiff that it actually hurt to try and do.

  Then, her life hadn't had a lot of proper exercise for a while, had it? Plenty of walking, and she hadn't gotten fat. If anything she'd lost a good chunk of weight over the last months. They'd had food, thanks to the devices with them, but it was the tradition that you only ate what others could give you on a march like that. People did give what they could, even before understanding that their lot had changed that way, but rations had often been pretty light, since they kept moving away from all the new devices.

  Not everyone had taken them, either. That part had really shocked her. Even when most had agreed to it, some claimed to know the will of their god better than the others, and refused all help or aid from them. Waiting for divine intervention to come. Even the other Tellerand people had seen through that one though. What more help could be expected than for food to literally appear to them, coming from the sky itself? That part had been sad, since there were children in each of those places too. There wouldn't be for a lot longer, she feared.

  Most had taken the help, hunger pushing them to it, no matter who they were or what they believed.

  Roget, for his part, settled in the same seat that he'd been in before, and didn't speak. To be exact, he muttered something that seemed like more prayers, but Sara finally got to ignore the man for a bit, and didn't do the same, focusing on her own task.

  Her hand rested gently on the pitted brass stone that was the main control for the entire ship. Rather than try to fly the other way, she rounded the edge of the world below her, the blue and white showing that there was a large storm over Soam. Not one of the land destroying ones, but big enough that it was a swirl of fast moving clouds. Hopefully everyone there would be all right. They were good people, but for some reason they'd been particularly hammered by the wicked and insane Ancients that had tried to kill them all.

  The whole thing was pretty from space though.
>
  Making the readjustments she needed, and slowing the tan craft above the capital, Sara drifted downward. It seemed slow and peaceful, but was actually taking place at thousands of miles per hour. She could have pushed it to do more, but didn't bother. It was early in the day, and if she got in too quickly King Richard might want her to report immediately. She at least wanted a bath first. Going to the palace dressed as she was might have been a great joke, for someone else, but no one would go in reeking like she was, if they could help it.

  By the rules she had to get in touch as soon as she safely could, but no one had ever mentioned that doing so by communications device was off limits. Technically she also needed to have a good reason to visit, being a spy and all that sort of thing. She used to have a handy Prince she could visit for that sort of thing there. Alphonse. He was living on Harmony now though, so that was out. She tried to think of a good reason to go and visit, but nothing came to mind really.

  Finally, landing on the north side of the city, since it was closer to the main Debri house, Sara decided to just call in and report, pretending that Terry had asked her to. That would make her a kind of emissary, she supposed, but... wasn't she? She'd been doing all that work at his request, so he could at least back her up on this one, couldn't he? Grinning tiredly, she decided that would work well enough.

  If it didn't she could always offer to have sex with the King. He'd never done that with her, and it was reaching way above her station to just show up for that kind of thing, but she really didn't have anything else to go on for the moment. She'd been out of the loop for a quarter of a year. Who knew what was going on at the moment?

  It took a bit of focus on her part to get the craft to shrink down without crushing Roget. The man was fine, really, but part of her kind of wanted to. He was just too cold and indifferent to her all the time. As if he were better than she was. He didn't even look at her in more than passing, almost as if he were trying to be rude. No one in Noram would have acted like that with her. Not while they were working together for months at least. Some of the commoners were shy like that, but it wouldn't have lasted once they knew she was trustworthy and trying to help their people.