Ancient Kings (The Young Ancients) (35 page)

The strange thing was that, from the reaction she had inside, she really did.

Burks spoke calmly, as if discussing the coming weather.

"After you killed those Larval Assassins in a duel, starting out naked and unarmed, people simply started to assume that you could do anything. They didn't pick up on the part where you nearly died, and only the heroic action of others saved you. Then when you dealt with Baron Rochester... Well, I wasn't there for that myself, but I hear it was something to see."

Alyssa took a deep breath and swallowed, not certain if she should speak. She was, Tor could tell, still pretty uncertain about Burks. She didn't
hate
him, but he was a Count and that meant dangerous. Worse, Tor understood that she was at least a bit afraid of
him
too. Not in a big way, but it was there, when he bothered to notice it.

"I saw it. Tor killed him." She sounded so young and sweetly innocent for a few seconds, then, surprisingly, something inside her mind firmed and she hardened a bit, her resolve stiffening. "That makes it sound wrong. To anyone watching it seemed like simple murder. If you didn't know how hard Tor tried to get out of it, how he'd done almost everything to avoid the fight, short of making the kingdom look bad... It seemed like he set the Baron up to die, if you didn't know all that. The man never even got close to touching him at all, even after he pulled that knife and started slashing at the air full speed." She shuddered a bit, but then made herself stop. "I can see it, why some people think it means something other than what it did. That plus his being so good looking and wealthy, of course people hate him a bit. Most of the time they say that just before they mention wanting to get him into bed."

"Really? That seems a bit off, doesn't it?" Tor just responded, feeling a bit baffled by the whole thing.

"Oh, sure it is. Incredibly so. People do it though. Normally before asking if
I'd
like to have sex with them, taking your place, to make the connection. It's part of why I keep telling everyone that you're a prude, so that they'll back off a bit. More people want to bed you than the King I think. They assume that you can do more for them than he can. That you
will,
too. Your friends tend to do rather well, don't they?" She grinned at him, and patted his arm a bit. At first he assumed it was because she was thinking of him as a small dog to be placated and comforted, but it wasn't that at all. She was simply afraid that he might get mad and go into a combat rage over the new information.

That wasn't fair at all though, since he almost never did that. Even when he did it had almost always been used to help someone. Not
all
the time, but nearly.

Next to him the Green Man stood and looked at both him and Ali as if they were infants. He felt that way, and it carried across strongly enough that it couldn't be missed. Not only did he think of them as very young, but also... cute. Like puppies.

"Indeed Tor. I know that to you it seems that you've only tried to do good things, but the fact of the matter is that most can't see it that way. You see it as saving a County from a flood, or fire, a thing that many others helped with. They see it as a never ending debt that can't be repaid. You pass them gold so that they can proceed on a project as a kindness, because you can't spend things even a portion of as fast as is needed, and they see you as flashing coin around in what seems to be an attempt to buy them. Not everyone, but enough people view it that way that it influences your reputation. You don't even see it for the most part." The words were almost grudging, which Tor suddenly perceived the reason for. It wasn't that he was being judged either, this was totally Green's doing. It always had been.

"Because you, and King Richard, have worked very hard to hide all of it from me, haven't you? I've only met about a third of all the Counts and Countesses for instance, even though we've been at the same parties and events. Out of all the Dukes and Duchesses I've met... what, two? There are six or seven right? I know that I've been around more than that, but we
always
miss each other for some reason." There were hundreds of Barons and Baronesses, so he'd met more of those, but even at that, the percentage was low. He stared at his grandfather who didn't even bother to look embarrassed by being called out like he was.

Instead he nodded slowly, looking stately and regal suddenly as he did it.

"Correct. Richard and I... We've been managing your world more than you think. From well before the time you left Two Bends as a matter of fact. I handpicked the Mayor for instance, as being a man of good heart and great intelligence. We felt that you might do better if you weren't exposed to some of the rougher elements of life too early. There are some things that you haven't been told about directly. Perhaps this isn't the time or place for that discussion however?" Looking around it was pretty clear that several other people were lingering in the giant front room in order to listen to the conversation. Reading them it was clear that, while no one was a spy in a direct manner, several of them had contacts that would regularly purchase information. Several were tallying how much they might make at that very moment, just knowing that Tor had been sheltered like he had been.

He glared a bit, not knowing if he really should be or not. Was it that wrong to keep him from seeing the worst parts of the world at too young an age? It was his parents job, not the
King's
but ... should he let himself get all worked up over it?

Probably. Otherwise they'd think they could keep doing it.

"Alright, let's go into the sitting room then. Ali can come along. Collette too." He gestured at the very well dressed and pretty blonde woman from across the room where she was listening just as hard as the others. She wasn't planning to sell the information at least. Not herself. Just pass it to her father , so
he
could trade it. It wasn't better really, but at least Tor knew it was going to happen. He'd need to be on his best behavior then, or word about him being a silly bumpkin would cross the land by morning.

He marched over to the room where the Ancients had all met a few days before, standing in the golden colored door, noticing that the space inside had been redecorated again, so that it looked like the inside of a tent, hung with rich silks and satins, done in a half dozen colors, mainly bronze and copper looking things. It had a very soft metallic theme. Rather than chairs, there were vast pillows for sitting on. They didn't have backs to them at all. In the center of the room was a communications device, on a low table that was covered with more material. Satin it looked like.

As soon as everyone was in, all three of the others, Tor shut the door. Firmly, but without slamming it. There was even fabric on the back of it, hanging loosely, completing the illusion.

"So, what's been kept from me? I can work out the how later, but going through the world without the proper information is about as horrible as anything that could have been done to me. At least as far as my education went. I'm not claiming that it's the same as torture or anything like that." He knew about
that
after all, so what else could there be that was worse?

No one spoke for a bit, and Ali settled on a pillow to wait, not feeling all that anxious, since Tor wasn't angry at all. Not really. Interested and a bit pissy, sure, but that wasn't the same thing. Collette however let out a big breath of air that Tor hadn't realized she'd been holding.

"I'd... suspected that something like this was coming. I didn't know about it, I swear." She was staring at Burks though, and the feeling coming from her was telling. That man hadn't included her in whatever was going on, but she thought he
should
have for some reason.

Count Lairdgren bought some time by sitting down, his dark green suit jacket looking a bit uncomfortable as he made the move. Gesturing politely he waited for Collette to do the same thing before speaking.

"What was hidden from you? Well, in the main, it isn't what was kept from your knowledge as much as how much of it exists. Alyssa here knows firsthand how dark some with power can be, and you do too, by association. What we kept from you there was that it isn't just one or two isolated cases. Many of the higher nobles do such things in their own areas of power. Given your looks and lack of understanding of how the world works, introducing you to the wrong ones would have been about the same as throwing raw meat to hungry lions or dogs. Worse, even though you don't see it in yourself, you have a biological predisposition to do what those in power tell you to. It's a hard fact that you're nearly the perfect slave, and can't do much about it at this stage of your life." The Ancient stopped as Collette gasped softly and Ali nodded, as if it only made sense.

He didn't get it at all. Tor went against what others said all the time, didn't he?

"Because of the Rhetistics?" That might be it. His had been broken, so maybe he was free of that now?

"In part. You're designed to do it however. The feeling is more of simple agreement with those in command though, from the inside, so you don't notice yourself doing it all the time. Here... you were planning to take a break for a few months and see to some other projects, weren't you?" The older man waited for him to agree with that, which he did, since it really was what he was going to do. "Unfortunately I need you to work on some things for me instead. It will be both boring and hard at the same time. You'll need to drop all your other plans and do that instead however. Can you come do that in the morning, in Grenwyn?"

Everyone looked at him then, expectantly.

"I suppose. What is it that you need done?" It just made sense that the Ancient would have a lot of things to take care of. The girls both let their eyes go wide, but Tor didn't get why. The Count was his Grandfather after all, plus, a Count. Tor
had
to do it...

He froze and let his mouth fall open.

The Count gestured at him with a flick of his fingers.

"Exactly like that. You don't question what is asked of you highly at all, so the King and I have sought to prevent letting you be around too many that would abuse you, or use your efforts to their own ends. It was even worse before, when you had the full Rhetistic set. Remember when young Patricia Morgan asked you to marry her? I'll bet you worked yourself into convolutions to make that happen. She inadvertently turned it into an order from someone that you viewed as being in command at that moment. It was one of the reasons that I had Ricky order her to break things off with you. I admit, the method she chose for that was a bit more robust than I would have asked for, but that was the reason behind it. I wanted you to have a choice in the matter."

Tor took a deep breath and then made a face. He felt like hitting the man, but didn't bother trying, since they both had shields on, and it would do nothing at all to make him feel better. It would be different if the guy attacked
him
, since he had on the special shield that would attack if an Ancient came for him, but Burks didn't. Of course there was no way the man would do that, was there? Instead Tor dipped into a deep mental state and read all the fields around him as intently as possible.

It was something to do after all.

Green had gone very silent, mentally, waiting for something to happen. For Tor to blow up or to accuse him of being a bad person for trying to protect him from reality. Collette was nearly as ready for something to happen, but her mind was awkward and buzzing, even compared to Ali, who felt afraid. Of him. The Count too. She had a lot of fear inside of her still.

Tor made himself calm through raw force of will and locked onto Burks intently.

"That... was
not
well done. I trust that in the future you'll simply share information with me and we can make a plan to face whatever will come? I know that may not seem the easiest way to do things, but I'm responsible for me, so do try to let me be." He sounded so stiff and formal that he wondered if people were going to laugh at him for it. To tell the truth he sounded like Connie always did when she was doing her very best '
I am the Queen and not best pleased!
' voice. Hard and brittle, with just a hint of disdain.

No one so much as cracked a smile. Burks did manage a small bow toward him however. The kind of thing that spoke of them being equals, even though that wasn't true by any measure. Except possibly in how much wealth they each had. Tor was close enough on that score at any rate. Everything else was most likely geared toward the older man though, unsurprisingly. He was even better builder in some ways, no doubt. That craft of his was better, or at least more complete, than what Tor had come up with so far. True it was easier to work from a good starting point, but that didn't mean there wasn't real skill involved.

"Alright Tor. I did it for your own good, but the effort had already started to fail anyway. Soon enough you'll be on your own. Just don't be shocked that others might try to use you, and remember, as far as this kingdom goes, you're technically the fourth or fifth highest nobleman right now. At least so far as politics is concerned. It will help you better protect yourself from unreasonable demands. Not much however. Do remember that Richard and Constance wouldn't like you doing anything to harm the land or its people however." There was a tight look then and a sigh as Collette made a face at the man. "And yes, I am using Tor's biological propensities to influence him in this. It's a far more delicate situation than it might seem at first."