Ancient Kings (The Young Ancients) (58 page)

On the good side they were all able to be out of his home by midnight and Ali went straight to bed. Sara sat up with him, not having school the next day, being an adult and free for the moment to set her own schedule.

"Is everything alright Tor?"

It wasn't. Worse, no matter what he did, it wouldn't be. Oh, he'd wake in the morning, or after he slept at least, and be fine with it, no doubt. Something inside would remind him that nothing new had happened, and that he was the same as he'd always been. A little puppet that didn't even need strings, just a few happy suggestions from the right people.

Tor couldn't even run away from it, because no matter where he went, he'd always end up taking himself along for the ride. For about ten seconds he looked at the cute blonde in front of him, and then smiled, actually meaning it.

After all, he loved her now. The fact that her desire for him to feel that way had probably made it happen was a factor, but short of running from the whole world, what could he do?

"Tor?" There was a small tremble to the word and she started to mist over.

That got him to remember that if he were a normal, regular person, he'd probably have been angry at her for getting Trice to say all those horrible things about him. He couldn't even manage that though, could he? Not with someone he loved.

"Let's make love. Just you and I." He didn't ask if she wanted to, she wasn't him. She could just say no if she felt like it, right? That must be nice. Of course Tor couldn't complain that much, since most of the sex that he'd had was
nice
.

It probably would be, right until some giant demanded he take it in the rear and bend over... and his own biology
made
him do it. It hadn't happened yet, thankfully, but eventually it would. There was something that Brown had said to him once, that Green had never had sex with him, even after thousands of years of suggesting it. That made him feel better for a few seconds, but Cordes, being a complete bastard no doubt, pointed out that he'd done that with Burks. A lot. For hundreds of years.

The only way around it them would be to protect himself somehow. Some kind of...

That part was going to be hard. A mental field that would keep him from just doing what everyone wanted? Or something that made it seem like he was in charge of everything? Some combination of the two maybe? He could get lost in the idea, he knew, but Sara blushed and hugged him.

They did it right there in the front room and weren't quiet about it. It was loud enough that Ali came down the stairs and stopped, looking at them for a long time as Sara cried out, an orgasm rocking her.

"Oh, good! I thought we were under attack again. I'd join in, but..." As if planned, a real yawn hit her, her slightly disarrayed hair making her look years younger than she did most of the time. She could pass for twenty in most non-noble places. In a year or so even that would probably work for her. She already looked years older than he did. "Sorry, tomorrow? I don't know what we're doing... and right now isn't the time to ask. Go ahead and finish up."

He did then, hard enough that he nearly lost consciousness, even though he'd been holding still, but inside Sara. Neither girl noticed what had happened, but Tor did. It was...

Pulling out he started to explain, making sure to hold Sara, since she liked that after sex. Ali finished coming down the steps and moved closer to the sofa they were on, sitting on the edge and gently running her hands over his side. It felt nice but he wasn't going to get aroused again that fast, he didn't think.

To distract her he went over the whole plan, including the work he needed to do first and then sent them both of to bed. There was a lot to do and going into a deep state would keep his mind off of the new things he had to consider.

Before anyone else woke in the morning he cleaned up, and then headed across the country to County Printer, to see if Ethyl and Clark, the shopkeepers there, wanted any of his stuff. Tor knew they were working with the Lairdgren Group too, so he'd made some new things for them. Things the others hadn't come up with yet. He had four big cases full of things for them, but when he walked in, the store already having three customers, the shopkeeper practically ran at him, yelling.

"Deliveries come in the back! The
back
!" It wasn't all that friendly, but he also didn't recognize the man at all. Still, he really was making a delivery, so he backed out of the shop and walked around, to find the door there. He knocked, but no one answered. Finally he went to the place next door. It was in a connected building, but there was smoke coming from the forge chimney, which meant someone was working, or getting ready to at least.

This time he at least recognized the face.

"Master Tor?" Clark looked good, his clothing bright and cheerful, but just nice, not putting on airs. Considering it was magical, a Farlo Ross copy of his own work by the feel of it, that meant the man was socially very aware. That or someone else was and they'd mentioned it to him. Tor was just dressed in a brown workman's outfit. That was probably because he was feeling bad about the whole slave thing, strangely enough. It was as if he wanted people to see past that. Clark just
had
, too. Of course the man wasn't a noble. That made a difference.

"Morning Clark! I have some things, new stuff mainly, for the shop next door, but the man there told me to go around back, then wouldn't answer the door. That showed
me
, of course, so I left, with four floating cases of goodies. Would you like to look at them? I can see you're getting set up, but I can't afford a lot of time today either. I need to get down to Ward and check on a friend, and then back to the Capital." It was probably more information than what was needed, but the man just nodded.

"We'll take it. Same deal as before? We have some funds for you too... Hold on here, let me get some help. I ain't as fast as I used to be. Ethyl neither, so we hired a boy for things like that. Nephew of mine, sorry to say." Letting his voice go gruff the older man wiped at his already damp balding head and opened the door between the two spaces.

Then he cleared his throat loudly and waited for the man to look up.

"Yes, Uncle Clark?" He had an accent, but it was pretty subdued. Like Clark's was. Then, this was the Printer County capital, so that only made sense. The Countess herself lived less than a half mile away, so people here learned to talk properly.

"We have a delivery. From Master Tor, the
Wizard
? Now, I need you to run and ask Ethyl to bring the wagon down with his payment." He turned to Tor and harrumphed. "Might take a bit. It's built up a little."

Tor just turned and got out a floating trunk, then showed the man, who was at least in his thirties, how it worked. The man sighed and looked put upon.

"Thanks. I have customers though. Shouldn't someone else go?"

Clark had to look away then, going red in a way that meant Nephew Clark wasn't long for his job if he didn't change his ways.

"Why, certain sure, Cory! We'll just send Master Tor here off to the house for breakfast, shall we? Don't be a fool. Go, I'll watch the stores. Hurry though, he has to be all over the Kingdom today and doesn't have time to chat with us."

After the man left he swallowed a bit, and made a sour face that increased the amount of wrinkles near his mouth two fold. He wasn't that old, but in his late fifties or so. It was starting to mark him.

"Forgive Cory. He heard how well we were doing and figured it would be easier than selling flour to millers wives. Which it
is
, but it's gone to his head and now he thinks he's too good for the day to day work. We sell flour too. Two handful for a copper candies for the kids. along with clothing for the workmen and fisher folk here in town. Turns his nose up at half our customers, but they were the ones that kept us in our house and fed for over thirty years. I won't see them neglected now that we have a bit extra."

They chatted for a bit, Tor being given a low stool to sit on, which was hardly dignified, but it meant he wasn't standing. They had some time it seemed, about half an hour, if Cory hurried, which was far from certain, so they moved some metal pieces around to make up a display of his work. His were cheerier, but the others weren't just copies of things he'd made. A good ten of the things were novel works. Including a copy in pure silver of Ali's build. The shopkeeper noticed him looking, and kept working.

"We had us a good stroke of fortune there. Just about ran out of your work. Heard you were missing, or killed, but a boy came in and told us that he had some things for sale. Your brother? Titmouse?"

Tor grinned.

"Timon. He used to go by Weasel, but that was years ago. So, does he own your store yet?"

That got a snort and a chuckle as the man pointed at an amulet and asked what it did.

"Excavates dirt and compresses the walls to make different shapes of underground spaces. Basically dwellings and basements to put a house over. Thick walls too, but with air vents that will go all the way to the surface." It might not sell, but the man just set it out with the other things, asking more questions as he went. Finally the bell over the door showed a familiar face, a gray lady in a nice violet colored dress who marched quickly enough.

A large box floated behind her, but she didn't stop until she got to him, handing over the amulet.

"It's not all there. We invested like you said, but kept on doing it. I held back half. This is about three thousand gold. I can do more, much more, if you wait until the end of the quarter when the payments come in?" Her field felt... guilty.

Why that was took a bit of staring and a raised eyebrow, which convinced the woman that the little Wizard was truly reading her mind.

"Which I
am
, Ethyl." That got the woman to go pale. She was normally gray faced, but now she looked ready to pass out.

She positively gibbered.

"I... We invested some of the funds with my sister and her family, they... ran off with it. Five thousand gold coin. We're going to repay it, I swear, it's why we don't have more of the coin on hand." Fear poured off her, so thick in the air that Tor could actually smell it. He kept looking at the woman and she folded in on herself, without him saying a word.

"It might have been closer to seven thousand... three hundred and twelve. They didn't actually... It's her husband you see, I'm sure of it. They claimed to be working for us, and used our codes at the vault. The people there had to give it to them. The rotten pieces of waste cleaned us out. We had some coin hidden under the house for emergencies, but... We don't know how they got the sheet of paper we had the information written on."

Clark clenched his jaw and looked ready to be yelled at, or, more accurately, arrested, but they were innocent, as far as Tor could tell. Cory on the other hand was guilty as sin. It rippled off of him.

Tor pulled out his Truth amulet and handed it to the man.

"Cory, did you steal the codes for these people?"

"What? No, no. I don't even talk to that side of the family." The black stripe that tore across the white and goldenrod glow showed differently. It was a little odd, but everyone in the place knew what that meant. Including the lying man. They sold the things after all.

There was some yelling then. Enough that the customers stood and stared, instead of leaving. When Cory tried to run out the front door a wealthy looking man, and a woman that seemed slightly familiar grabbed him. Before he could fight enough to hurt anyone, Tor walked up and hit the man in the back of the head. It was kind of useful that he wasn't that much bigger than Tor was. Half a head at most. Cory folded and dropped like a bag of sand.

Clark looked miserable, but he walked to the door and started calling for a guardsman. He got four.

They ran over the question again, and the men added a few, including what kind of a moron Cory was, and if he preferred to be hung or have a cutter taken to his neck. It was a bit over the top but the man panted and then started crying. It made Tor feel sorry for him, but he fought against that feeling. The man had a good job, and could have made as much gold as he needed without robbing his own relatives. Clark and Ethyl were both very afraid they were going to be blamed too, but they were innocent. With the exception of trying to cover it up, to protect their family long enough to get it all back. Except they couldn't even find anyone at all. Cory had probably stayed to do the same thing himself, since he'd been left behind when the others had left and no one had thought to leave him anything extra at all it seemed.

The Guards took him away in shackles, about half an hour later. On the way out the man in front of the green clad guardsmen looked down at Tor, "sir, will you be in town to testify in this matter?"

"No. Please tell Countess Printer that I can be reached at any time however, and make arrangements to be back within a few hours, unless I'm working. Then I might be out of touch. Holly knows about that though."

 The man didn't look happy about it, but he also didn't want to start a fight with a Wizard. If that's what Tor really was. Rolling his eyes he walked outside with the men and waved to Clark and Ethyl.

"If you two need to get in touch with me, ask Holly to give me a call, or get in touch with Tim, my brother. He runs the Fast Transport Service." They looked at him like he was insane, of course, since he was suggesting they walk over to the Countesses Castle and ask to use her communications device. They really needed more of those things.