Lord of the Sky (The Young Ancients: Timon) (29 page)

He shrugged, a move copied from the man himself. If he noticed that bit of mimicry, his grandfather didn't let on.

"We noticed a few things on our travels and Trice wanted to share with her Uncle. They're close." After a second he blushed, realizing how that had to sound. "As in..."

After a moment he made a face and had to shake his head, actually caught out by his own words.

It was awkward.

"There's no way for me to finish that without making it sound like there's something inappropriate going on. That isn't the case, as you know." Looking around he noticed that Smythe narrowed his eyes a bit, questioning, but Count Peterson just watched them, as if the whole conversation was only what was on the surface.

Lairdgren stared at him, locking eyes. It would have been intimidating really, except that Timon was used to standing in front of giants. It had trained him not to flinch when people seemed hostile. It was a light thing, coming off of the man in one sudden burst that was shut down almost instantly, before too much information could be conveyed.

"No one would think there was anything inappropriate going on there, of course. Even if they were having sex, the blood lines would allow for it. I doubt that Patricia would do that on her honeymoon however. Not with her Uncle."

It made the whole thing feel strained and uncomfortable, even as the King came back, beaming at the Count and then Timon. Trice followed behind looking slightly smug, but she took his hand and stood next to his right side. She always took that position. It was so she could access her weapons with her right hand, of course, but that meant he'd have to pay twice as much attention in public, since it would take her longer to get to hers than it would him. There was a difference in raw speed that the girl, taller and better trained than he was, probably didn't understand yet.

The King settled after exchanging bows with Count Lairdgren, which meant that Timon had to bow as well, and after a shocked blink, had Trice doing the same. She was related to the Count now too, and that meant another set of obligations, at least in situations like this.

Richard smiled and looked around pretty happily.

"This should be safe enough to share with you all. Trice and Timon have been busy in the first days of their marriage and have managed to ensure that the Wards have a real chance to be accepted into the rebel forces. If I have it right, Timon here has managed to set himself into place to be their new
builder
. I hope that won't include weapons? Shields either, except a few to reassure them of your power."

The Count looked ready to step in, and scold the King, which got Count Peterson to stand, but he didn't face the other Count, but rather the King. There was a bit of wariness on his face and his beard moved as he tried to come up with a way of saying what he wanted without causing a fight.

"Sire... I can't like that. Countier Baker is a brave man, but a young one." He turned and held up both hands, ready to fend off blows after the insult he'd delivered. Mentioning Tim's age and all that, as if it would be a surprise to anyone. "Brave, and hardy, no one here can doubt, but perhaps it would be better if..." Then he stopped and finally just shook his head in an exaggerated fashion that made him seem unsure of what he wanted to express. "I don't know. We shouldn't let him go into danger. Not if it isn't needed. As it stands, the rebels can still harm us, but I don't think they can win. We aren't at a point where we need to press our..." Then he faltered and took a deep breath, his face holding a slightly imploring look, as he desperately tried not to call Timon, a married man now after all, with his own house and business, a child.

Timon just nodded back.

"I agree. I can provide some light aid, to the other side, but that's all. These people are my customers after all, and if they live I'll need them to fly with me in the future. If they win, then it will count for even more." It was a wicked idea to put into the room, but Smythe actually chuckled, his eyes twinkling a bit.

"A good enough point to hold many of them, I think. Perhaps if you were to openly be working both sides? It won't help your reputation much, perhaps, but it should get you into place more reliably than claiming some great hatred for the King, as you walk through our checks and magics here freely several times a week."

He abruptly looked at Peterson, rather than answer the Military Counselor directly.

"Have you been in touch with Tor about the new space craft? I've been planning to go see if he had some ready yet."

It was clear that Count Peterson hadn't done any such thing, and that he felt embarrassed about something.

"It... hasn't come up yet. Should I do that now? It's a bit of a long flight..."

It was, if you were using a flying rig and not a Fast Craft. Thinking it all through, Timon let his head rock side to side, to indicate he was thinking. It wasn't a subtle thing, but no one asked him what he was doing. It was a bit of a country mannerism, but apparently everyone understood it.

"I can do that. I need to talk to Tor anyway. Alone. It will probably still be a week before I have them for you, unless we happen to meet by accident. Since I fully intend to be on a beach somewhere out of the Kingdom tomorrow, or perhaps on a mountain range, that won't be happening."

That was good enough for the King, but it wasn't exactly a real chance to vanish, unless he left his communications devices at home. Since this wedding vacation was real, if a little spotty as to the details of what they were doing, it was tempting. Of course that wouldn't work if Trice brought hers along, would it? Since that was nearly as big an issue, he let it go and decided to just see what happened. So far they seemed happy enough with leaving it with Timon just being who he was and taking coin from anyone that had it to spare. They'd want more later, but if they weren't paying attention people might just find themselves being disappointed.

The King smiled and stood, clearly indicating that they were leaving by taking several steps toward the door.

"Will you be staying for dinner?" It was almost enough to get a laugh, only Timon nearly lost it. They were almost being pushed to go by the man, even as he spoke the words.

Timon took the hint and shook his head a little, which was too familiar, but didn't attract attention.

"No, thank you, Sire. We really should be going now. Kind of a tight schedule. Give our love to Aunt Constance... and Karina? I hear she tried to have someone killed for us? I'm sure that explaining things to her will be enough to put an end to that, thank her for me? Also, let poor Veren go. It wasn't like he really had a choice, was it?" Timon tried to just walk from the room then, but Trice grabbed him by the arm with her left hand, harder than was humanly possible. It would have broken something in his arm if his shield hadn't kicked on when it did. She didn't let go, but the vice like grip stopped increasing in force and then slowly was pushed back. Her hand was like the craft or one of the houses. It was visible, unlike a good shield, but was made of the same stuff. If it hurt her in any way she didn't let it show on her face.

He didn't either. It was only pain and he'd learned to deal with that the hard way. This was nothing, a mere annoyance that he could block out if he tried, which happened nearly as fast as the pressure being released did.

The men in the room all looked at him hard, except the King, who snorted once and waved them away.

"
Of course
you heard that already. I'll pass your words along and take your idea as far as Veren goes to heart, since I do agree with you. Karina however, not only knew better, but should have consulted with me before attempting such a thing. She said that she didn't want to risk me saying
no
. Sometimes I don't know what I'm going to do with that girl. Then I remember that I'm going to get old and dump the duty on her brother, which always makes me feel better, as petty as that sounds. Go away now and don't come back unless you really need to, for at least a week." There was a pause for a few seconds as the three of them moved toward the far door of the room. "I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't mention this to Tor, if possible? I'd rather not have the Palace laid to siege as he tries to rescue her from her onerous incarceration here."

That seemed relatively fair, so he nodded a few times and made himself not rub at the skin of his right arm, where a bruise was clearly going to be forming.

"It shouldn't come up."

The King sighed and looked a bit miserable for some reason.

"Good. As to the issue at hand, if you could refrain for now? It would be helpful." There was no more explanation given than that, but there didn't need to be really.

The man was asking him not to start a war with Gala, if it wasn't needed. It wasn't a thing that he could totally promise, since there were other people involved.

"See you in a few weeks. Happy New Year."

"You two as well. See you then."

The man shut the door himself as soon as they were in the hallway, Trice grabbing his arm hard again, trying to drag him along. He suffered it for the time being, struggling not to be afraid of her. A light shaking started within him, as the pain from the bruising was rubbed against by her unreal fingers. He didn't speak until he saw Kevin, who looked at him blankly enough, eyes darting to the grasp that his wife had on him, sliding away, clearly trying not to see the abuse. That was something that had to happen every now and then at the Palace, didn't it? People with unequal power in close quarters led to things like that.

"Veren should be out later today. Princess Karina got him to go and steal some underclothes from Tor. It isn't like he'd care, but the
Queen
took offense, so they both got in trouble, even if it is kind of funny. I doubt that Karina will get off as lightly. Poor thing. Aunt Constance can be very protective when it comes to my brother." It was a lie, of course, and Kevin clearly knew that too, but nodded anyway and didn't hand over a Truth amulet.

"Ah, well, that's better than a sex scandal. A prank gone wrong? I'll make sure to put the word out. I know that George will certainly feel better. Wensa as well."

Timon recognized the last name, but couldn't remember a face to go with it. Looking up at the man he tried to think it through.

"Large woman that beat me the other day?" It was all he had really.

"Exactly. She's the Heir's Royal Guardian. Just like Veren is assigned to Princess Karina and Kara is assigned to Tor. Really, she should move to the school again, if not his household, but no one has really told him about her job clearly yet. I don't think he'd take it badly, do you?"

There was an angry tugging at his elbow, which he ignored, hiding the irritation that he felt decently well.

"Probably not. The rule there is a simple one, I think. Just have her go and tell Tor that she's moving in and that it's her job, like it or not. He won't make her sleep in the yard."

"I'll pass that along. Thanks again for the help. No one has been able to get anything out of anyone yet."

Then, rather unceremoniously, Patricia pulled at him again, so he forced a laugh.

"I think this is wife for,
we need to go now dear
. Talk to you later. Tell everyone I said hello." It never hurt to fake politeness after all.

Trice didn't start screaming at him the instant the door of the craft was shut at least. She just threw herself into the passenger's seat and started playing with her dragon pendant. It moved on its own and seemed nearly alive, but held inside a glass disk. Someday, when she wasn't angry with him, he needed to examine it more closely. It was sophisticated, but if he could copy it, Mark Morgan might just be able to have a normal life, like his sister did.

"I take it that I'm piloting?" He let himself rub at his arm then, and made the sleeve vanish, showing a ring of already purple bruises there, causing her to wince and gasp.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't realize I was holding on that hard. I felt the shield kick in but-"

"Right. If you do that again, I'm leaving you. There won't be a second warning and I'll do it publicly enough that I'm certain that Baron Gala will mail out your new wedding announcements within the week. Now, explain why you're acting like a schoolyard bully that's gotten into her pa's hard cider."

It sounded angry, but he was, so that would fit the situation nicely.

For her part she went back to glaring and pouting at the same time.

"They told you what happened! No one told me, not even Uncle Richard. Something is very wrong there. Not that I'm saying you aren't important, but I work for him directly. You'd think I'd be told, wouldn't you?"

 Timon got the craft into the air slowly, not making it large yet, wanting to actually be in the back for that, so he could move the table that was pressing against the now broken coin chest in the back while he did it.

"Honestly? Princess Karina tried to have a Royal Guard kill Rico Gala. I'm almost certain that they all assume you put her up to it."

"What? They
said
that?"

He scoffed a bit and moved to head toward the South again, so that they could move out to sea and then come back to land in Printer in the dark. It was almost late enough now, but they had some flying ahead of them, if they wanted to do this right.

"
Said
? No. Don't be silly. I just worked it all out. It makes sense. After all, you
did
put her up to it, didn't you?"