Kingdom of Stars (The Young Ancients: Timon Book Three) (32 page)

"Argh!" She stood back holding her right hand in
her left, gasping and looking pale from whatever had happened.

Tiera and Kolb were on him then, bending his arms back as
Tiera shut his shield off, causing an elbow to break with a nice crunchy sound.

For his part Tor ignored that and did something that Timon
wasn't even sure was physically possible. In fact, it was clear it wasn't
physical at all. He surged a bit, the world blurring around his body just a
bit, moving upward from the stone walkway, catching both the others under the
chin lifting them into the air, and pulled mightily, as he caused their
shields, both the new Timon model, to shut down with a soft popping noise. Their
heads cracked on the paving stones loud enough that had they been human, it was
clear they would have died.

That then, Timon realized, was that.

He couldn't beat Tor in a fight. Not hand to hand or
whatever they called it. Not even if he were armed and Tor wasn't. Not if he
could use direct effect like he just had, without even being in a combat rage.
With magical weapons they were roughly equal, but all he could do was turn his
brother's things off, which would last right up until the moment Tor knocked
him out. Since both of the two unconscious people were a whole lot better at
fighting than almost anyone else in the world, which was an actual fact for
Kolb, if a bit of an overstatement for his sister, Timon just didn't have a
chance.

Even trying to die fighting wasn't going to work. It would
just waste time and end with Tor being taken over by Cordes completely, after
what seemed like a huge betrayal.

Instead, Timon shrugged and kicked a still reeling Trice in
the side, awkwardly, pushing her into the large front window of the bakery,
which broke with a loud and splintered crashing sound. There was a whole lot of
blood, and Timon ran to her, yelling the whole time.

"Tor, they're under some kind of... It
isn't
mind control, but don't hurt them anymore. I can explain, though it might not
make sense to you. We need to run. I have a craft on me." It wasn't his
normal one, but it would do, in a pinch. "Help me get that out and ready,
here, heal them. Like I said, they don't really know what they're doing, or,
well they
do
, but it isn't what you're thinking. Have you noticed how
weird Tiera has been lately?"

Tor took the tossed healing amulet and worked on the
bleeding woman first, but then the others, as Timon actually got the craft out
and left the bakery side totally open. He'd made it small, but it was enough
for the two of them. That was all they needed, after all.

Once healed, even just most of the way, the others started
to rally fast.

"Tor get
in
, we need the head start! I have a
plan."

His brother actually, for some strange and unknown reason,
trusted him and tossed himself bodily into the craft, just before Timon lifted
off, with Kolb and Tiera using force lances to try and hit them through the
door. It was a relief, but one that he didn't let show at all. They'd gotten
what he was doing, at least in part. If they hadn't at least one of them would
have used an explosive weapon, to try and kill them.

Timon let his breath sound shaky, which didn't take a lot of
acting skill at all, given everything. Tor made his way to the front passenger
seat as they flew to the West. Vagus was that way, but they had to go
somewhere
.
There was no talking for a long time, but finally his brother shook his head
forlornly.

"What the heck Tim? Are they all insane?"

There were two ways to play that one and Timon opted for the
riskier option. It just
felt
right, so he ran with it. What was the
point of being a wizard if you weren't going to trust in the magic? That being
the case, he turned South suddenly, and headed that way at full speed. It would
mean an hour's worth of travel, maybe an hour and a half, before they could see
anything.

"Yes and no. The complete answer is that I doubt anyone
is really thinking clearly right now, but they weren't wrong. Most of what they
told you is true. I know you can't believe it, but it really is. There's only
one flaw in what they're thinking right now. I was making the same mistake too."
He wasn't in a hurry, so he made a point of looking behind them, making the
back section invisible for a while. No one was following them, not that he
could lay eyes on, but his sudden turn would have thrown that off, for a while.

"What do you mean?" Tor was still a bit white and
seemed in shock as if he were just attacked by his best friends, and they'd
meant to kill him or something.

"Well, the attack earlier was real. It's huge. I'm
headed to the South to prove it to you, since that last bit was confusing to
you. Kolb and Doris figure it as being a second
cataclysm
. That isn't
the kind of word they bring out at parties, in case you haven't noticed?"

"No, it isn't."

They flew as fast as the craft would go and Timon waved at
the world in front of them.

"As for the rest, the stuff with Terek, again, I know
you don't believe it, but it's
true
. I need you to trust me now Tor. I
know things have been hard between us, because Cordes got you to change me like
he did. That's part of this. Can you do that Tor? Will you trust me, over what
you believe to be real? I understand that it will be hard, but if you can't do
that, then... Well the world is dead, isn't it? I can't stop you, and with your
power under his control, Cordes can't be stopped either."

There was silence for a long time, but finally Tor spoke and
still sounded like himself, which Tim hadn't counted on at all.

"Let's say, just for a bit, that I agree to do what you
want, which I can do, if I try hard enough. I still don't understand what that
is. Am I supposed to kill myself or-" There was nothing after that, just
breathing.

"No. I need you to really do what Trice said, and to
fight the Cordes inside you. Hard and constantly. You're Tor.
The
freaking
Builder
. The greatest wizard that has ever lived, and probably
ever will. Except Taman, naturally."

Tor grinned, it was charming, but had hints of the Ancient
King in it. Tim knew he didn't have a lot of time left then. If his brother
wouldn't really try, then it was over. That was all.

"Naturally. The girl will be better than the rest of us
put together."

"Agreed, but for now, you're it and no one can match
you in the field of the mind. Cordes is old and powerful, and used to getting
his own way, but if you fight, and refuse to stop, I think you can do it.
Honestly, I doubt that anyone in the world can stop you, if you realize that
it's needed to save everyone else."
Now
he was just stalling, but
Tor had to be ready, or it wouldn't work at all, would it?

Tor didn't let that one slide for a minute just looking at
him from the other seat, his eyes slightly narrowed. Another Cordes expression?
It wasn't normal Tor at least, was it?

"I want you to go away, and beat Cordes. Hold him back
and master him. Then I need you to find the Others, the enemies and make them
believe that you're on their side. In the mean time, I'll try to figure out a
way to remove him from your head."

"No one has ever done that. It's probably not possible
really. The best you could do might be suppressing it. Holding the Rhetistics
static, or binding them. The trick would be in not taking too much of my thoughts
with it. There's some overlap now, between Cordes and me. Already, after just
about two years. What would happen with ten? Or more?"

He didn't blink, staring at Timon as the craft flew on.
Shaking his head, Tim thought about what he'd said and realized that Tor had
already been working on how to remove or control the Rhetistics himself, and
come up with more than he had. They were good ideas. It would take a huge
amount of skill to make it work, but Timon already thought he knew how to do
it. Sort of. At least once he heard that Tor had thought of it first.

"I... came up with a way to kill a Remy, that might
work to do that. Bind the Rhetistics. It will need a different mechanism, and
frankly, I'm not good enough yet to do it. It's going to be delicate. Give me
half a year, and I'll be ready. Can you do that? I know it's a lot to ask. You
have to fight. You have to beat Cordes and keep in control and do whatever you
have to in order to find the Others and win their trust. And... Tor, you have
to do this on faith. Leave your home and go do this, right now. Today. I can't even
convince you it's real, only ask you to believe me."

He was repeating himself, as if saying the same thing enough
times would do the trick. That could work, if they had those six months, a
locked room and enough wine to dull Tor's senses. They didn't have any of that
however. What they did have, coming up in front of them, was the broken and
soaked remnants of Soam. Timon pointed.

"Right there, where the waves hit? That's where Julie
White was supposed to have been hiding. If she was there, then she's probably
dead. Everyone that lived in the forest for hundreds of miles inland is dead.
Most of the animals are gone too. This was a radiation bomb, which means that
anything living here for the next, I don't know, several hundred years at
least, will get diseases and die. It isn't just here. Afrak and Austra were hit
like this too. This is a war to the death of everything, and it all hinges on
you trusting your little brother." Timon smiled, which he hoped looked as
scared as he felt. It might be the only thing that Tor would respond to. He
always protected people. It was an innate part of him. "So, that's not too
much to ask."

They hovered and finally his older brother looked away, his
face a mask of concentration. It seemed to take forever, but eventually he
spoke, his field so unified and whole that it didn't ripple at all. There was
no sense of him even being there, except for the light bouncing off of him. Not
even sound escaped.

Until he wanted it to.

"I'll do it. I'll listen to you and fight, even if I
don't believe you can be right. I'll try to do what you said. Tell Ali that I'm
sorry." He sounded so soft and flat that Tim nearly couldn't tell he was
talking. It all just sort of ran together. "Oh, and don't sleep with her.
That would be creepy."

Tim shrugged.

"Fine, as long as you keep fighting, I'll agree to
that. Until this is over. Oh, in case it comes up, later. If we start to lose,
and everyone is going to die, the Ancients all die too. We have thirty devices
set up that they can't beat. It's
actually
only seven, but don't tell
them I said that. Let it be a surprise." Then, for some reason Tor just
sat.

After a bit, Timon got it, he didn't have a flying-rig on,
having been at work in a bakery. No fast craft either. Sighing Timon made a
hole in the wall to his left, which let a warm wind in. His shield kicked on,
which was probably to protect him against the radiation. He would have warned
Tor, but the truth was, they were both immune to the stuff anyway, for the most
part.

"Six months Tor. Stall them, throw them off guard,
threaten them if you have to. Whatever it takes to buy that time. Then come
find me. I'll go to Lairdgren for that. Do you understand?"

"I do." It was simple and bland, but he seemed to
mean it. At least Tim hoped that was the case. It felt right, and he didn't
think that Cordes could hold himself like that. It was nearly perfect, and felt
totally like Tor.

Good.

"Don't ruin this vehicle, I want it back." Then
without any expression at all, Timon rolled out the hole, heading toward the
blue water beneath him.

Not that he kept falling. After a few seconds he turned his
shield on and used mental commands to fly away, headed North for a bit, toward
the Capital. He realized that his wife might not like the fact that he'd kicked
her into a window. Except of course that neither he or Tor were holding her
shield off for it. Meaning
she
had been. That was quick thinking and had
lent a lot of credibility to the moment, hadn't it? It was brilliant, really.
Faster than he would have managed in the same moment.

Timon smiled, realizing that he'd been feeling pretty clever
for having done it in the first place. Still, he didn't doubt she'd make him
pay for it all. He had work to do though, so maybe she'd cut him a little
slack? There would probably be cutting at any rate, if only with words.

It took the same amount of time to get back as to go, so he
called in as he flew working out that it would be about twice as long really,
since he wasn't moving half as fast through the air as he did in space. That
meant stopping too, he knew, if he wanted to hear anything. Being careful so he
wouldn't drop anything, he called Trice first, which had her breathing hard at
him, since she seemed to have been crying.

"Yes?" Her tone was so wary it was hard to listen
to.

"Hey honey, I'm alive."

"Is Tor?"

"Yes, but... I'll explain on the ground. He has my Fast
Craft, so this will take a while. Can Ali put us up there for a bit?"

That wasn't a known thing, since, as far as they all knew,
Tim had killed Tor and was simply lying about it. Ali might have a problem with
that, if it were the case. It didn't matter though. He could rent something if
he had to, or stay at the Space Training Center, which made at least as much
sense. He was going to be working in space anyway, he decided. It was safer by
far.

The flying wasn't going to do itself, so he got off the
communications device after reassuring his wife that things weren't all lost
and hurried home, so that he could arrange things in person. It wasn't a smooth
trip, since he got bored and had to stop to use the restroom twice, and another
time to talk to someone that was making his right shirt pocket flash blue. It
wasn't great timing at all. It could have been almost anyone in the world, at
least that had a device for it, or knew someone who did, but it turned out to
be Cordes.