Kindred (The Young Ancients: Second Cycle Book 3) Read online

  They either used everything they could, and hoped they got lucky, or ended up with a dead king and queen. That wasn’t a great plan, so he tried to stay pleasant about the entire thing, even as he was finally led inside, by the butler. The man was very polite to him, but walked so slowly that it took a meditative act of will for Dare to not run off ahead.

  That meant he wasn’t shocked when he got into the room where the others had set up. There was a large table, and almost everyone had writing implements of one kind or another. The Queen, who was at the head of the table, next to Ali, had a thick sheaf of paper, which looked heavy and rather fine, from a distance. It was a slightly golden color, instead of the tan that almost everyone else in the world used.

  Ali however, had a focus stone sheet, about as large as both of her hands. That and a stylus that appeared to be made of stone. Patricia was armed similarly, though Tor didn’t have anything out to write with at all. Neither did the King, or Karina, who actually smiled at him and waved for him to come over and sit by her.

  Her words were nearly relieved in tone.

  “Good! You can back me up. I’m nearly certain that neither of us needs three days of parades, or people singing our names en-mass for two weeks before the event. What do you think?”

  Dareg looked at the others, which showed a mixed reaction to what the Ancient of Mars was saying about their plans. Ali seemed to think it was funny, and Tor looked like he didn’t care, though Constance appeared ready to fight over the idea.

  “That wasn’t the plan, Dareg. I suggested a rather sedate procession through the city before we held the ceremony, that’s all. We could have her delivered to you by a team of eight white horses. It really isn’t too much to ask, is it?”

  It sounded a bit like that to him, but he nodded, since it wasn’t his day they were planning out. Dareg had never really considered getting married, after all, and certainly not in some grand fashion. That was for the bride to deal with. If either of them had ever had dreams toward that end, it would have been her, after all.

  “We should do what Karina wants. Though you would look nice that way.” There, it was a bit of support for everyone, which was, he had to guess, the last time that day it would be happening like that.

  His betrothed, and it was hard for him to consider her that way, clapped slowly a few times.

  “Well… If we’re going all out on it, why not hold the whole thing here, on the Moon and on Mars? At least the procession.”

  It would mean having a rather nicer transportation system for the day, and one big enough to take the horses, as well as a city on Mars for them to go to, but he nodded. He had four months to get that ready.

  “All right.” Then he turned to Ali, and smiled. “You have an amulet that makes cities? May I borrow that? I’ll have to make a special transportation network for the event. The little one I have so far won’t be big enough for the horses.”

  Apparently he was being weird, since everyone stared at him, except Alyssa, who worked at her neck, taking off a chain that held an amulet on it. It was etched, and not glowing, meaning it wasn’t Tor’s work, but rather her own. The stone was the white color that things from the Moon had when concentrated.

  “I’m not certain I know about that last bit. Transport system?”

  Patricia wrinkled her nose and nodded.

  “Yes. That. They’re these tiny houses, about half of one of Tam’s pods in size? Taller though. You walk in, press a sigil or two and walk out in a different land. Or world. I used one to get here from Harmony and back earlier, twice. It’s convenient for me, since one of them is set up on the main promenade, right next to my shop. I already got Dareg to promise to make one for me, and another for Queen Tiera. You should do one just for your friends too, Dare. Going from house to house? That way…”

  If she had more than that she didn’t get to add it, since Tor interrupted.

  “I… how do they work?”

  Dareg smiled then.

  “They’re actually really just stripped down jump ships. No life support or shape changing, so it wasn’t that hard to make. Combined with communication devices. I stole the interface flat out for that. The outer building forms a vacuum inside, and the inner space floats in it. Then jumps to the point selected. It doesn’t matter if one of them is moving, or goes to a different place, since they’re all really just one thing. The outer portion of it?” That was how the handhelds worked, really. They were on different stones, but there was only one magic that made them all. Just in a lot of different places.

  Tor tilted his head and nodded, after a bit.

  “I think I see. That’s a good idea. Are you going to use it for your goods shipping plan?”

  Dare lied, and nodded, as if that had been the point the entire time.

  “Of course. The things are a bit small so far, but that won’t really stop them from being useful. Things will just have to come in smaller batches. Each of the main ports has one so far. Even Tellerand, though they don’t know about it. I snuck it into place. I’m sure that means I’m a demon, so be careful if you use that one. What with the dark forces at work already? You can’t really trust things like that.” The words came out so dead panned that no one bothered to smile. Not even a little bit.

  Constance merely blinked and then started to write.

  “So a team of eight, which will make a circuit, going instantly from world to world?”

  It was Tor that shook his head then, smiling.

  “I doubt it? Not real horses anyway. There is no way they’d go into something like that. Not unless you created a complex larger than a barn at each end, Dareg? Instead, I think that we should work out an illusion of horses. I can do that part, unless you want to, Dare?”

  That got him to smile. After all, the words assumed that he could do that. It wasn’t really certain however, given that Dareg didn’t really know a lot about horses. They’d existed around him his entire life, but always at a distance. His mother had never owned one, for instance. Before she’d faked her death, abandoning him to be an orphan.

  It took an act of will for him to lock down how he felt, and Tor looked at him, his face going very still.

  “I… Didn’t mean that as an insult.”

  Dareg took a few deep breaths, and nodded. It was clear that he was about to go into a combat rage, if he wasn’t already blasting people with a disorientation aura. Instead of talking about it, he closed his eyes, and focused, forcing himself to relax. To him it felt like it took forever, but to the others in the room with him it was probably about ten to twenty seconds. A time they all observed in silence.

  “It wasn’t about that. Sorry. I started to think about my mother. We need to get that search system in place. I should get in touch with Taman on that?” It was an attempt to change the topic a bit, away from his own failure, slipping into a rage like he had, but no one questioned him in particular about what was going on. They’d picked up on the combat rage, and from the combined expressions also had worked out that Dareg had controlled the thing, without issue. That was decently rare, being able to do that.

  It was the King who spoke then, his deep voice not nearly as booming as it normally was. Trying not to set him off, no doubt.

  “I should check with her as well. It can be difficult at times to recall that such a youthful looking woman is not only one of the best wizards, but the Ancient of an entire land. I keep meaning to set up an expedition to Soam, to deliver what aid we can from here, but things keep getting in the way. Has anyone even been there in years?” The look was meant for Tor, who was more or less up on that kind of thing.

  Except that this time he wasn’t.

  “I know that Gerent and Abbey have been working on supplies for that region. Reworking plants and animals, so that the radiation from the bombs won’t destroy it all. I don’t know when the last time was that anyone worked down that way however.”

  Dareg took a breath and laid a single hand on the table, trying to keep himself steady
. He often shook a bit after a combat rage, and that would leave him seeming weak at the moment, so he hid it. His voice, thankfully, managed to sound normal.

  “I was at the port there earlier today? We have the new transportation system set up to that location now. In case you want to send people? It can be a day trip. Really, we should find out what they need and see they get it. Radiation shielding? Timon mentioned having some. I need to grab that up myself, for the new city on Mars.” He looked over at Karina, and stared for a bit.

  She did it back, smiling. Then, to him it felt like he was spending a minute locking eyes and for her it was probably closer to four or five seconds when he broke his gaze away. Not so long that it would seem hostile.

  “What are we going to call the first city?”

  Karina grinned at the words, as if it wasn’t her job to pick that kind of thing.

  “I don’t know? We’ll think of something. How long do you think it will take to get that put together? Can we actually have something before the wedding?”

  He didn’t really know. There was going to be a lot needed for it to work out, over all. It basically needed to be a huge space ship, only on a planet. It had to keep all the air and water in, making it even, while protecting them from radiation, and allowing people to come and go at will. At least if they wanted anyone to be willing to live there.

  “Can I get back to you on that? In a week or two? Until then I won’t really know the answer.”

  She nodded, as if that would be totally fine, and then they went back to talking about what they wanted for the wedding itself. Which for his part was almost nothing, but she had a lot of ideas about things, for all she’d been making fun of her mother earlier for doing exactly the same thing.

  “I was thinking that I’d ask Tiera to stand for me? I was going to ask Sara, but she stood for you, Trice, and making her do me as well might be a bit too much. Besides, I wasn’t really planning on cutting her out…” She stopped then, as most of the other people looked away.

  It was hugely indiscreet to say things like that out loud, especially without asking Dareg first. Not that anyone else there knew that. He was, he thought, within his rights to demand that his new wife not see her any longer, after that kind of public airing of their relationship. It was one of the loop holes in the nobles’ relationship rules. The partners were supposed to ignore the private relationships of their husband or wife, but it was on the other to make certain that no one ever felt that put out by the activities that were going on.

  Now Karina had just sort of placed him in a bind. While he liked Sara fairly well, at least as much as he did his betrothed, the situation with her was incredibly complicated. Especially in the room they were sitting in. The woman was Tor’s girlfriend, and Tor, as unlikely as it still felt, was his father. So it would be a bit strange if Dare was going to be seeing her as well.

  Not impossible to manage, but not a thing to scream out in front of everyone, either. Only Karina had pretty much just forced him to say something. Most of what he could do would be negative however. Even if he felt fine about things on the topic, which he mainly did.

  The trick would be in getting with the other woman and seeing what she wanted to do toward that end. Assuming anything would be too much, of course. Really, it was tempting to trigger a combat rage and storm out, since he was nearly in that state anyway. It would let him leave the room easily and then no one could try to bring up the topic again for a while. The only drawback would be that Sara would have to assume that him doing that meant they were on horrible footing, which would be stupid of him to allow to happen. The woman was the Ancient of the Martian Circle. Immortal, and someone that was going to be in his life for a long time, regardless of what he did.

  So he nodded, very slowly.

  “I was thinking that I’d ask Hess, for my side of things, but that might leave him feeling a bit too exposed. Maybe crewman Lenn would do it?” He was Forten, and might have to arrest him on sight, but asking wouldn’t hurt anything. Unless the man had to try and arrest him for his crimes, of course.

  Oddly enough, Karina relaxed then, and nodded.

  “That might work. We’ll have to make sure that Ambassador Hess knows that he’s welcome at the wedding however. Your friend Neesa as well. Unless… You two aren’t dating are you?”

  Dare stared for a bit, before he noticed the glint in her eye. It was simple teasing, with her probably trying to deflect from what she’d just stepped into herself. That got him to nod.

  “Not officially. Since we aren’t the same kind of being… You understand. I do have a nifty magical present for her however, which could be taken as being a courting gift.”

  No one asked what that was, but he really did have one. It was one of the things he’d made the day before. Of course, it wasn’t just for her.

  “Oh, um, we’re setting up an exchange program? Kids from here will go there part of the week and the other way around. We haven’t been planning it yet, since we needed to have the new jumps ships first. Even if we’re using the new transport system, that seems to be the time schedule. Which… We can talk about later. Sorry. Wedding? Queen Tiera and if possible, Lenn? If they want to do it, of course.”

  There was that, color schemes, how many attendants they were going to have, and who was making the cake. That last one should have been simple, since they could just get anyone to make that, just using a food device, or even skip it, but Tor didn’t think it was going to be all that simple.

  “You have at least ten people that might well argue about who gets to make that one. We could also have ten cakes, I suppose.” The man had a playful grin, but the sense coming off of him was half serious. After all the whole thing was going to be pretty big. They’d have people enough to eat the things, after all.

  Dare nodded, not truly getting it at all, but Karina made a happy enough sound over the whole thing.

  “We should hold a contest. Tor, you can set that one up? No fair not telling the others. Dare and I will be the judges. Let us know when we’re needed for it.”

  That seemed to work and they were finished, just before nine. Which didn’t mean that he was free for the rest of the night or anything. They all were expected to go off to the evening meal, which wasn’t huge, but had about forty people already in the room when they got there.

  All of them dressed more nicely than Dareg was. Not even bothering to think about it he’d been set up to mildly impress Wendra. Then he’d gone to the palace, and hadn’t considered the fact that being there at six meant being there at nine. Making a face, he sighed as Karina glanced at him, understanding his point without it needing to be spoken out loud.

  “Ah… Sorry, I should have mentioned it before. Oopse? No one meant it as an insult.” She sounded worried about it, which he understood. After all, he’d been triggered just by sitting and thinking. If he thought that everyone was out to get him now, it was probable that the meal was about to be ruined.

  “Well. Care to walk with me out of the room?” Running was an option, but not really needed. He wasn’t trapped forever in the dark clothing he had on. Magic was great for things like that, really. It would just be rude to alter them right there in front of everyone. At least Dare figured that to be the case. A little awkwardly Karina left with him however, her head held high. Even as her father looked upset and Constance seemed ready to cry.

  Which was a bit over the top, really.

  “All right, I think we can stop right outside the door here? The Royal Guard will get the idea, but going to a secret room wouldn’t change that, would it?” Then, not closing his eyes, he traded the black suit he had for a very deep green one, with a light blue stripe down the side. It wasn’t the best color combination in the world, but it was very true to the Harmony colors. Especially once he put in the glossy pearl like buttons on the front. The meal wasn’t a grand ball, so he didn’t pull out the stops or anything. In fact, that would be rude too. At a thing like this, part of his job as a guest would
be to make certain everyone higher ranking than him was better represented. Hence nice clothing, but in ugly colors that didn’t do that much for him, personally. It showed wealth enough, without making it seem like he was claiming to be better than anyone.

  Karina smiled at him suddenly, and let out a big gust of air.

  “Oh. That’s better than I thought. I figured we were storming out in protest.”

  Dareg had to like that one, for several reasons. First, even if he was being stupid, Karina was prepared to back him up. Even against her own parents, which was a big deal. Second, she didn’t think that his taste was so horrible that she started crying. It explained the looks he got from the King and Queen however.

  “Protesting my lack of fashion sense? Well, I could see that, but really, shouldn’t that be everyone else leaving, for it to really carry weight?”

  Karina nodded a few times, as they headed right back into the room.

  “Perfectly correct. Not that you’re doing poorly that way. This is really about right. The suit is tailored, and magical, which very few will miss, but you aren’t making yourself look that great, considering that you easily could have. The short hair helps a lot with that. You aren’t doing your hair in a pretty fashion to impress anyone. Almost everyone just accepts it as you being a fighter, so we don’t even have to explain it.”

  They stopped talking then, and no one made a big deal about them coming back. Tor smiled like it had been obvious as to what was going on, and Ali winked at him. It was the Queen who actually seemed relieved however, visibly relaxing as she got what Dare had been up to.

  It was a big enough meal that they had to stand, check each bite of food in case the King had secretly decided to hate them, and use their poison detectors. The first thing that came was just wine, and when he waved the small copper detector over the chalice, nothing much happened at all. Unlike Karina, who got a fairly impressive light show from hers. It was bright, and like daylight had entered the room. She wasn’t the only one getting special treatment that way. In fact, King Richard got a lovely and cheery glow as well. So did Ali, on the other side of the table.