Ancient Kings (The Young Ancients) (18 page)

"Would you join us as well? To answer the question Kincaid, it's
worse
than it sounds like. Even with this effort, odds are a large portion of the world is simply going to die. We haven't even mentioned Tellerand yet. The Antarctic will be fine, since all the Blues are immune and there is almost no chance it's been spread there anyway. Why would anyone bother? Afrak is... Well, their population is very small already. I haven't looked, but I doubt my sister would have done anything to harm her own people. We need to check, just in case, but I truly doubt anything will come of it. We need to get in touch with Black and Julie White. Soam... Gray has never approved of Julie."

The problem there was that they were running out of people to send places, weren't they? He was almost stuck for a moment, but then turned to Kolb.

"How do you get along with Black? Can you go and explain all this to him, or will that cause a fight?"

That got the scarred man to smile at least.

"Oh, we fight almost instantly each time we meet. One reason I don't bother with the summits. I can tolerate Julie though. I'm not wild about having my free will stolen, but..."

Timon waved at him.

"I think I can handle Black. I'm not all that threatening after all. White is easier to get past if you activate your shield and don't let her get too close to you... I wasn't aware you were Immortal however. I probably should have seen it. There were clues." He shook his head. "That's what I get for making assumptions, like people would just tell me if someone was a relative."

Tor already knew that part, so didn't boggle at it, but the rest of them did a bit, except Brown, who shrugged and held a hand out to Petra to help her stand.

"Leave people some of their secrets, will you Tim? Anyway, that sounds like a plan. Kolb can take Soam and Timon will get in to Tellerand if he can and inform them of what's going to be needed. Tor, since you've taken the lead on this I trust it will be handled well. I must say, I'm very much relieved. I figured it would take weeks to prove it was coming at all, the words coming from Austra as they are. Ambassador, I think that should be pointed out back home. How the people of Noram moved to protect us all without hesitation. We should be about things now. Ladies?" There was only a slight sense of urgency from the man on the surface, but deep down he was mainly feeling relief. It was a sense that Tor knew well. As if one more thing would cause the world to fall in on you, and you were watching a wave come down on your head.

He stood, wondering what would be the best thing for him to do next.

Magic of course, but that really would have to wait, at least on the active side of things.

"Gerent, would you come with me? I think I need to dig through some trunks. You need gear."

They walked quickly to his room, up the grand staircase, and in the last chest he checked, under a pile of blank focus stone tiles, he found what was probably the very last of the Fast Carriages that he hadn't passed out already.

"Here. Now..." He started pulling things out, naming them off as he did, just handing the man one of everything he had left. Even the ones that didn't really make sense. A survival hut, a sound copying device, water pump and even a noise suppression amulet. A regular magical carriage and Not-flyers.

"Those are much faster than even the military grade ones. They use mental commands, but you just need to think about where you want to go and how high. It isn't really flying, but will leave your hands free. I'm not giving you weapons right now, so if you come under attack, run away. Use the Fast Carriage, and no one will be able to easily catch you. Sorry that I won't be able to teach you how to use all this. Here... Earth moving equipment and compressors. They can come in handy. If you need anything new made..." He froze. He'd do it if he had time, but would he? The Lairdgren Group might, or they wouldn't... "Get with Ali, my wife. She'll see to it."

Speaking of her reminded him that he wanted to have that party for her, which didn't seem that likely now, did it? Maybe he could get her some nice flowers instead? He nodded to himself and decided to pick some up as soon as possible, since she should be around and moving soon. That was fine, since he could go in the morning. He probably wasn't going to get a lot of sleep, given everything. That's really what crisis meant though, wasn't it? No sleep, too little food and if you stopped moving people would die. It was always like that, at least in his experience.

"I... don't worry. I'll manage. Should I go and inform the people tonight?" Gerent sounded less nervous now, but Tor was reading him and realized the man was secretly
terrified
. He was acting brave though, which would be enough, if he could keep doing it.

"No. Get some rest if you can, so that you'll be fresh in the morning. I'll be up all night. Can I find you at your house when it's time to leave?" He might have wanted to stay with everyone else, but someone had to be alert the next day. Staying up just to fret over what would have to be done later wouldn't help anyone at all. One moron doing that would be enough.

He got a small bag for all the amulets and loaded them in except for the shield, which he strung on a cord and placed around the man's neck directly.

"You need to keep these on you as you travel. Having a survival hut back here in the Capital while you're in the middle of Vagus isn't going to help anyone. Sorry to lecture you on it, but this whole thing is a bit of a rush. Oh... crud. Come with me." It was abrupt and a bit pushy, but Tor spun and marched off, looking for Collette. He hadn't seen her that evening at all, which was kind of rude of him, since they were so close as to practically be married. What kind of boyfriend was he, forgetting her like that?

Jerk. He smiled about it and half jogged back down the stairs, Gerent following gamely enough, if not as fast, his eyes a bit wide when Tor looked back at him. He found Collette neatly sitting in a side room, the one with the communications device the house had, next to Trice who was speaking in low and calm tones to the King.

"I don't know... Tor's here, along with Gerent." She gestured to them to walk over, her face set and a bit hard looking, though it softened after a few seconds. "Tor, do you know the current plan? I ran out before it was all set." He scooted over a bit, still standing next to the device, so that Tor had to move close to her in order to speak. Collette was looking a bit worried, but sat away from them on a small love seat, gesturing silently for Gerent to take the place next to her. It looked like a polished wood frame with soft cream colored cushions, but it wasn't really even there at all. It just looked like it. Tor was pretty sure he'd seen the same design in the guest house at the King's palace a few times. It was nice.

He gave a run down without even saying as much as hello, not stopping until the King asked a very practical question.

"How do we pay for all this? I know that many will gladly volunteer their time and effort, given the severity of the situation, but if we're to take people from their normal employment, they'll need at least a bit to keep themselves and their families fed and under a roof." It was a good point and a thing that Tor hadn't considered at all. Even his own family would need to be paid, so that the effort wouldn't bankrupt them while they sent people out to do their delivery work.

"Is there anything left in my accounts with the Treasury?" It could, he knew, all be gone. After all that was what he'd asked happen to it. That it be spent on parties and festivals. Alphonse was in charge of that part of things.

The King scoffed a bit, which wasn't a pleasant sound.

"Anything left? It's
growing
still. Trying to pry your coin from my son's fingers is a much harder task than I figured it would be at first. Are you suggesting that we use some of that for the project?"

"All of it, at need. I'll get with Rolph... Alphonse on that score. Also... Collette, what do we have in the vault here? Anything?"

The very attractive blonde sat straighter and spoke in a low voice, her cornflower blue eyes looking at him very directly.

"About one point two million gold. I've had to enlarge the space six times already." She smiled about it, as if it were a joke, but Tor knew it wasn't. The horrible thing was that, with the gold in there, it meant it wasn't out in the world helping out regular people at all.

He nodded a bit.

"Let's use that too. Collette and Gerent will handle those funds. They can spend it on anything they like anyway. I was actually just looking for Collette to make sure she knew that. Oh, also, make sure Gerent takes at least ten gold a month for a stipend. That's just a token though. He can use whatever he needs. Give it away, or whatever he wants." It made sense to him, but Trice went wide eyed suddenly and then turned away dabbing at her face.

She didn't say anything at all though.

The King did.

"Excellent. Gerent, will you be available to speak about matters soon? Perhaps over diner tomorrow evening? If you can make it..."

"Ah..." The little man looked like someone had drained the blood from him suddenly. There was nearly convulsive swallowing and he started to shake a little. Then his voice firmed and sounded almost noble. It wasn't exactly right, and was pure faking, but Tor had to feel impressed. From the way his new family member felt it was as if he was being invited to stick his hand in a fire and leave it there, and he
did
it, even though he was afraid. "Certainly sire. I don't know that I'm ready for such a thing, but I'll be there to make a fool of myself anyway."

Tor nodded, understanding that one himself. At least he'd grown up using the same table manners that the nobility used, trained that way by his mother. Poor Gerent didn't even have that.

"You have a Fast Carriage and should be able to get to Lairdgren and back before noon. Collette, would you see if Glaren would cover manners for him before he leaves? I know that I'd have loved that before I went to something like that the first time. Don't worry Gerent. They don't really bite, and will understand if you don't know something yet. They're all good people. If a little too into intrigue at times. Watch for that. Especially from the King. He's so good at hiding what he's doing that he thinks we don't know about it at all. We all do though. We all do." He was playing, and it came out in his voice, but that was on purpose, to help set Gerent at his ease. After all, to him, a person that had lived his entire life as not just a commoner, but very nearly the lowest of even that group, just thinking about a meal with the King had to be a vast and terrible thing.

Richard didn't even have to have that part explained to him. No matter what anyone thought, the man really was a decent person first. Sometimes it was hard to see, like with Tiera and Sandra, since his hands were tied like they were, but that didn't mean he didn't want what was best for everyone. It was pretty much
all
he wanted, as far as Tor could tell. He already had gold and power. What was left, except to do his job well?

"There
is
that. The meal will be at nine. Patricia, will you be attending with him?"

That got another smile from Trice, and a soft look for Gerent. It was a thing that Tor had seen directed his way more than once as well. It was telling. Reaching out he felt what she was and while it might not be
love
, it was certainly a lot warmer than just having used the man for her own ends. She felt close to him. After the first slight flare of jealousy, Tor decided it was a good thing and let it go. If he was going to spy on peoples thoughts, he couldn't let it all get to him. Gerent was worthy of kind thoughts anyway, and feelings. So was Trice.

"Sure. I'll be there. That way we can talk too." She stopped there and no one looked at her funny. Why wouldn't she want to chat with her Uncle the King?

"Very good. I look forward to it. Now, there's the matter of the Austran Ambassador? I hadn't been informed that he was in the city, officially. I should have a meeting with him. We need to get Samantha Callings in as well. Would Timon be available for that, or one of his people? We can pay for the service."

Tor took down the information, using a writing pad and pencil that Collette kept by the communications device and went to set that up, Gerent following behind him. Timon was watching Kincaid, Petra, and Brown stand in front of the Austran devices in the front hall, the backdrop having changed to something far plainer than what was normally there. It was a golden colored wall now, with just a bit of irregular texturing. They'd all changed clothing, Petra standing behind the others, since she towered over them.

They looked similar, all in very official looking brown jumpsuits with nametags on the front, which were all magical clothing devices in actuality. They also looked well made up, which, Tor realized, meant they were using disguise devices for it. Except Denno. He just looked like that.

The words were coming from Brown, which made sense, him being basically the real ruler of Austra.

"There is no need to panic at this point. We'll have an announcement when it's time for that. It
is
important that you report to the local medical center as soon as possible at the first sign of any breathing difficulty. We have a treatment for this disease, provided by our friends in Noram. The most important thing to remember is to be aware of your health and to seek treatment as rapidly as possible. Secondary treatment facilities will be coming to an area near you soon. Please use them, even if you feel well at the moment. It's possible to carry and spread this disease even while feeling perfectly fine."