Kingdom of Stars (The Young Ancients: Timon Book Three) (27 page)

She didn't see him standing there either, which meant she
was being a bit less than discrete. Finally he let his eyebrows raise, and
cleared his throat.

"Are you ready to leave? I don't want to miss the
escape window."

At least the man wasn't Tor, which was clear, thanks to the
fact that this man was shorter than that, being about six-four or so. Short for
a noble. He spun faster than she did, and smiled charmingly.

"Oh! Sorry, I didn't see you there. I'm Ridley. Where
are we going? I didn't know that I was on tap, but it's not like I'm
busy
."

"Ridley Dens?" Timon knew the name, from stories,
and had seen the man before, but hadn't spoken to him really. He'd been at the
wedding though.

"Yes." He stopped and sighed. "Sorry Trice, I
guess duty calls. Finally. I've been cooling my heels here for months, trying
to find something to do. I'm probably off to scrub pots in the kitchen, but it
beats doing nothing. It's amazing, but dunning Smythe of Westend actually gets
almost nothing done."

Timon looked at the slightly foppish seeming fellow and
worked things out. He'd been kissing Trice, but there was no bulge in the front
of his pants. Since his wife was rather attractive, that meant something else
was going on. Since Trice was being groomed as the new spymaster for Noram, and
Ridley Dens who was a Baron First, meaning not all
that
highly placed,
was at the palace he was almost certainly a spy.

Timon shrugged.

"Well, he knows who's who, doesn't he? By virtue of
being around long enough, if Headmaster Hardgrove didn't tell him personally,
just to make things hard for you."

That got the man to stop suddenly and go still. He looked
scared.

Trice however, covered her mouth and laughed a bit.

"Ridley, this is Timon Baker, my husband?"

That got the man to stare for a bit and then shake his head
slowly. For a long time he didn't say anything at all. When he did it was
slightly teasing.

"Wonderful Trice, let's have your husband catch us in
the hallway.
That
won't end with me buried outside the city. Not at
all."He looked at her and rolled his eyes then hit his head with an empty
hand. "Oh, I know, why don't I go and make out with his sister too? Then
his
whole family
can come for me at once. It will be like a reunion! For
them I mean."

Tim snorted a bit, but managed a wink.

"Well, go check in then. We have something to do. I'll
let you know what it is en-route." He was looking at Ridley, since he had
sort of volunteered, if by mistake. Then Tim gave Trice a hug. "You too.
You might be needed." It was just true, but that got her eyes to go wide.

Ridley blinked and looked at Trice hard enough that it was
clear who he was supposed to check in with, at the Capital.

Trice giggled again and hit Timon on the arm lightly. It was
both playful seeming and a signal, even though it wasn't anything they'd ever
worked out together before.

"You and your famous jealousy, Tim." She turned to
Ridley and made a silly face. "He's just
teasing
. If you went he'd
probably fly us out over the ocean and threaten to dump us, but he's all bark.
Don't worry."

He was? She might want to ask Remy Seventeen about that. Or
any of the nearly million people that he'd let get the Gray plague and nearly
die of it, or the near hundred thousand who had for certain. Then, Trice knew
about all that and more, so she wasn't really trying to make him seem weak,
just get Ridley out of trouble? That or not let him go off mission.

"Bah, you know me too well. Come on anyway, I was just
going to introduce him to Smythe, and see if he has a place. You know, getting
coffee or sweeping up. Something important like that?"

Ridley hadn't been at the meeting, but that wasn't a big
shock. No one sane would have been in the room if they could help it. A third
of the Counts and Countesses in there were still technically in rebellion, he
was almost positive, unless that had changed while he was gone. Still, a big
enough threat had brought them together, hadn't it?

For some reason that got Ridley to seem far too happy.

"Really? You've met him before? I can't even get in to
see him."

"Yeah, but let's hurry, so I can keep my wife safe from
you, at least in public." He glared at Trice a little, but couldn't
actually be bothered to feel hurt. Yes, they were married, but it was still a
bit strange to him. They'd spent a lot more time apart than together, so of
course she was going to be off with her other friends doing things. It was what
nobles did anyway.

Timon didn't have a perfect memory, but he knew where to
find Smythe of Westend's rooms, which doubled as his office and if he hadn't,
Trice
did
. He was practically "Uncle William" after all. That
would explain why Ridley was trying to pass info to her in a public space too,
if he wanted an introduction for whatever reason.

Tapping on the door politely got the man to look up, blink
and wave them in.

"Lord Baker. Patricia. It's good to see you both. I
heard that you came in last night, Lord Baker. From space, without bothering to
use a ship? Countess Baker was rather boasting about it to me earlier, since
the new shields are all capable of it? We weren't informed, but it will no
doubt increase the value." He made a bit of a face, but bowed to them,
including Ridley.

They bowed back, all going lower than the older man did.

Timon still wasn't going to ask. Trice would know what the
Lord
Baker
thing was about, and no doubt it was going to end up being
embarrassing.

Gesturing to his left while looking straight at the Military
Counselor, Tim made the introduction.

"This man is Ridley Dens. Baron First. He's a spy, but
one of
ours
and he's supposed to be infiltrating your offices for some
reason. Ridley, if you need real answers from Smythe, slap a Truth amulet on
him. In private however. He knows things we don't need shared with the enemy.
Smythe, can you find something for him to do around here? Investigations, or
servicing Army personnel that don't have enough coin for their leave? Whatever comes
up." It was a tad mean, but Smythe looked at the younger man and simply
gave a single curt nod.

"I have some space. Can you take notes?"

Rather than hit Timon, which would have been what he
expected, Ridley nodded rapidly.

"Yes, Sir. I can write fifty words a minute using
script hand and have a Fast Craft as well as one of the new communications
devices. A class seven shield as well. Sir."

Timon didn't wait, just handing him one of the new ones, and
then dug in his pocket for the last of them he had on him and gave it to
Smythe, since they were friends, after a fashion.

Smythe looked at it hard and then gave a long and slightly
pained look as he jiggled the tile in his fingers.

"So, is this a bribe to place a spy in the
Palace?"

"
That
? Haven't you heard, I just gave away three
million of them not fifteen minutes ago. They're practically worthless now. I
might as well try to bribe you with a cup of coffee from the kitchens here. It
would be worth more, actually. And I'm not really certain that isn't just the
truth." It would save the man a walk to the hallway to call for it too.

The big silver haired man looked at him with deep brown eyes
and smiled.

"Well, in that case, thank you for thinking of us. So,
Ridley Dens. When can you begin?"

"Oh, just as soon as you pass an in depth truth scan, Sir.
We know where your loyalties lay, but perhaps we could cover who you've been in
contact with over the last few months? There are some questions. About the
loyalties of some that you may not think to question?"

That got another laugh, as Trice pushed him toward the door,
and then faked a chuckle as she pulled him outside. They left her little blue
Taman-Carriage, and he waited, expecting her to scream at him for being a pain
in the ass. He had been, so he could own it. She didn't say anything at all
though.

"Damn." It was a low and muttered thing that came
about five minutes into their ride home. "Ridley's been trying to get in
there for a month. Of course his value as a spy is compromised now, but he's in
place. Openly too, which means that Uncle William will be more likely to trust
him. Don't expose my people like that in the future though, please. Not
everyone is Smythe of Westend." She shook her long loose curls and looked
smug. "And it was closer to
two
million shields. Still, more than
the world has ever had before. Half the Counts and Countesses actually called
for Uncle Richard to step down, to put you in his place. That was why Aunt
Connie was so freaked out. If you'd asked right then, it probably would have
happened."

It made sense, really. If he could do that once, making all
those helpful items, then it made sense that he'd do it again. Especially if it
was for his own land.

"Nothing against Richard or Alphonse, but if you have a
choice, only a fool would take that job."

"I know. Trust me when I say that. Did you know about
the King thing then? It wasn't just a few voices you know. I wasn't going to
mention it, since, honestly I didn't really know which way you'd jump, know
that you can come back. If it weren't for this war with the Ancients I'd say we
should go on a vacation. Maybe to Soam? I hear it's really pretty there. We saw
so little of it when we went last time." She sounded wistful and genuine.
Almost so perfectly that Timon read her field to make sure she didn't know the
actual plan, which she didn't.

It was just happenstance.

So he shrugged.

"Let's go tonight? We can get a guard to go with us and
see about visiting with Julie White. I was a bit hard on her when we last left
each other, and should go and smooth that over anyway. Not that she'll hold a
grudge. That isn't her way. Still, we could take some gifts, and all that? I'll
try for a guard that isn't too tall, if you want to see about the other
things?'

She stopped the carriage in the middle of the street, which
had people looking at them. It was strange after all.

"I... We have to stay here though, don't we? Or go back
to space? If you are, I should go with you. I haven't been up there yet, and if
you're going to be the Ambassador for the new colony, well, I need to get my
space legs under me, don't I?" She looked at him sidelong, as if it were
supposed to be a huge revelation and grinned a bit, happily.

"Ah, hence the Lord Baker things. Is it a Counselor's
position? I wasn't aware that Ambassadors were called that."

There was a moment of silence, one that stretched out, since
they had a check point to get past first, but when they were moving again she
picked right back up.

"No. They just added the honorific as a ploy, in hopes
that you wouldn't notice that they were trying to reward you with a job that
doesn't exist yet, and that you're a major part of making happen in the first
place. I'm sure half of them feel very clever about it now."

Timon glanced out the shield window to see where they were,
which was by the South gate, near where Debbie Smalls used to have her bakery.
Before she was run out of the city, because her brother turned out to be an
insane killer. It wasn't burned out, and seemed to be a bakery again, someone
else having taken the space over.

"And the other half?" He wasn't trying to be
obscure, but she got what he meant, if half were feeling good about it, that
left another fifty percent, didn't it?

She actually hissed, and it didn't sound happy at all.

"The other half... They'll feel small now. Maybe
insulted by what you did. Not because it was bad, but because they were the
ones pulling for Uncle Richard, and here you didn't even make them beg or bribe
your good actions. Even
I
didn't have to. You could have asked for
anything
,
and they knew that they would have done it for you, and then you walked in and
gave it to them. It isn't like with Tor either, where a few of them realize he
didn't have a choice really. Now the smart ones are sitting there and wondering
if they didn't make a mistake. Maybe you
should
be King."

She shook her head, but Timon just sat and watched people
going by.

"No. Trice... I'm a horrible person. Terrible. The most
dangerous assassin that has ever lived picked me to kill it, because it thought
I might be a better killer than it was. That sounds great, on the surface, or
in a tavern if I ever need to impress a girl, but think about it for a bit. The
whole problem that we have right now is that a few Ancients have lost their
minds, over the course of time. We can barely hold them back from killing us
all. They've all lived this before. They've seen the great wars and know how to
best fight them. If we survive this, if I do, then eventually I'll become one
of
them
. If I'm this dangerous now, what will I be in a hundred years?
Or a thousand?" On the good side, no one without Rhetistics really made it
much past six hundred or so, but that didn't mean there was no danger to the
situation, did it? That was just the point where he'd have to decide to either
kill himself, or the whole of humanity. By that time he might even be able to
pull it off too.

He didn't want to admit it openly to anyone, but he could do
it in a few weeks time, already. What worked for the Ancients could be
reconfigured for everyone else, easily enough.

Trice didn't try to pretend she didn't get the idea. Timon
was dangerous, and she knew it. She just changed the subject.

"So, after Soam, what should we do then? The business
is running smoothly enough for us to take a few months off. We could go to
Austra. Not on a
vacation
, but they need help rebuilding. There are
complete towns that are just gone now. It would be good if we were represented
there, don't you think?"