Lord of the Sky (The Young Ancients: Timon) (3 page)

"I see. Is she still alive? Close questioning of a Countess is a risky business..."

Timon looked up at the woman and made himself roll his eyes, as if trying to be playful. With his looks that would work, more or less.

"I
didn't
torture her, I'm trading valuable baking and cleaning services for it. She took the amulet
herself
to prove her good will, like I just said. Oh..." He paused and looked up at the woman, his eyes dead and probably glassy looking. Then he shrugged, deciding to be a pain in the rear for no particular reason. "I also offered her healing amulets for her people if she promised to step out of the rebellion, since things are pretty bad here. She doesn't have much of a force left for combat anyway. Can you run that by the King for us? I'll want her left alive, naturally, and whole, with her position intact, if that's acceptable. I can add her to my collection of intimidating tall women." The words flowed out, and he didn't mean them, but there was only a single, rather hard word in reply.

"
Wait
." Then the Prince obviously moved with some quickness, the rustling of his clothing sounding real, as did the fall of his foot on the stone floor he was on, which probably meant he was already in the throne room.

The Countess was glaring at him, but didn't say anything at all. She was grinding her teeth however, and seemed ready to hit him. Tim couldn't like that at all.

"Countier Baker? Can you repeat the offer you made?" This came from Richard, a voice that he recognized now, without needing to be informed who it was. Apparently the Countess could as well, from the pained look on her face.

Timon, for his part, just lied.

"Healing amulets for her people, a promise of no retaliation against her
or
them, and some aid, by way of food and funds, in return for her stepping out of the rebellion and reaffirming her fealty to you. She's good for it. Mistakes were made, and she'll have to humble herself to you and knock her head against the floor a thousand times, but that should be enough. She seems a good enough sort really and her people need to be out of this, I doubt they can take a lot more." As if he could tell that from the situation? There was a long pause and then low murmuring form the device in his hand, the woman's lips going white, she was pursing them so hard.

Finally the King came back on his voice marginally happy sounding.

"Well, that would be a wonderful Noram Day present. Can she be trusted to keep her part of it? It could be a trap."

Timon just held out the Truth amulet again, in his left hand this time and waited. She'd take it or not. He really expected her to try and knock if from his hand, or call for a guard, but after swallowing hard several times, she held out her own hand. He laid the device in her palm carefully.

"She's under Truth verification now. Ask what you want to know."

"She's there? Heather?"

"I'm here Richard and like the Countier said, I'm holding an activated Truth amulet. I suppose I can do what he said. I don't know if I like the idea of being
collected
, whatever that means, but my people can't take any more of your death scourge. You win. What do I have to do?"

That, it turned out, involved her going to the Palace, which meant Timon taking her, since they didn't want the whole thing to take forever. The King gave his word that she wouldn't be harmed or taken prisoner. For her part the woman just seemed resigned and went to change, coming back alone, instead of with the five guards that she was allowed by tradition.

She was wearing a simple white dress of flimsy material that was too cold for the day really, meaning that a long and heavy quilted jacket was needed to go over it. They flew from her home half an hour later, the woman silent for a long time.

"So... The King sends small boys at his enemies now? That doesn't really sound like him, to be truthful. He's normally more honorable than that." There was an abstract and quiet tone to her words, as if she were fighting to figure out what to say, rather than really trying to insult anyone.

Timon nearly snapped at her anyway, but held his tongue long enough to get control of himself. It was harder than it should have been, but the woman couldn't help it if she was too tall, could she?

"It wouldn't be fair to say that
he
sent me really. Not at all. This is about the best deal that you can expect for now, so you might want to practice being contrite, or at least faking it. Mean what you say and don't blow this. The Gray Plague kills and kills, so if you wait too long all of your people will choke to death on their own fluids. If you have to get on your knees and beg to save them, isn't that your sacred duty? You'll need to mean what you say too. Or at least not lie. Better to seem a little less than perfect and be seen to mean it than flowery and lying." It was about all the advice he had for her.

After all, it wasn't like he'd actually planned this all out or anything.

Really, it had, he realized in hindsight, probably given the lie to his claim of not trying to kill himself. Walking to the front door of an enemy and announcing yourself a spy was pretty much suicide, in most situations. It wasn't a good thing to realize about himself, but it rang of truth. Timon was so far gone he really didn't care if he lived or died anymore.

The woman shifted uneasily.

"I... don't do groveling well. It's not my way. For one thing, I don't think that I was wrong. Richard, the whole system that we have, is bad for Noram. There are people that are better suited to rule."

He nodded. That had to be what they were thinking, didn't it? That the other farmers would slaughter the pigs better, or have fatter cows, if only they were given a chance? There was no perfect rule. History had shown that a thousand times or more. In fact, the best people could manage was probably a polite indifference from their leaders that allowed them to function without interference too often.

Most of the time that wasn't what happened, was it? No, people tried to make things perfect for
themselves,
and in doing so made the world a worse place for everyone else. It was the human way.

"That isn't what you need to be thinking about right now. You need to go in, lay on your belly and beg for the King to forgive you. Beg for your people, and
cry
. Don't forget to do that. Don't hold to your dignity now. He promised not to harm you, but if you don't sell this, he can still refuse to aid your people. We don't want that. What we
want
is for him to realize that you're well and truly out of the game and that you're placing yourself under my protection."

The woman glared at him a bit and then shook her head firmly.

"The protection of a little boy?" She laid her right hand on the wall of the craft and glanced at it then refocused on him. "A
magical
boy, but still, it's my job to protect
you
isn't it? Or are you a man?"

That she might be a little confused was fair enough. Technically he was a child, but he acted older, and had his own home, a business and responsibilities. In two years, he'd be a man in truth, and while he looked younger than his years, it would be hard for a royal to tell that really, since their prejudices would prevent that from happening. She was trying to see past that, in case he was older than she believed. That made him feel a bit better about her, since, if nothing else, she was attempting not to insult him. That had to be a good sign.

"That won't matter today. Just tell Richard and Constance that I'm standing for you and your people, and mean it and it will be enough, I think. It will take them off guard if nothing else." It almost had to. It was just so unexpected.

There was silence then, as they moved through the air at thousands of miles per hour. It didn't feel like they moved at all, but it was just turning to twilight as they approached the Capital. The glowing purple river that surrounded the place lit the way from about twenty miles off, and the Palace had exterior lights, as well as a group of about fifty people waiting for them to land.

"Right, so, as soon as we get out, you need to lay on the ground. It's a bit of a dirt patch here, but if you don't the Royal Guard will go all...
guardly
on us and make threats and push a Truth amulet on you. Do it yourself first, and you'll look better. Affirm that you mean no harm and start in on your apologies, if the King is there. I think I see him. He's hard to miss." That was just the truth, since he was the biggest person there practically. There was one that was larger, but Timon wasn't certain who it was, the light not being good enough for that from the angle they were coming in from, even as the people looked up.

The Countess took a deep breath and straightened as they slowly floated to the ground. It was how people signaled they were friendly, coming in slow like that.

"Right. Time to kneel and deliver then."

Timon smiled, knowing that he probably wasn't supposed to get the reference at all. It was a tame way of saying it, for a noble woman.

"Suck hard, and make sure to swallow it all. You need to make a good impression." The reply actually got the woman next to him to blink and then smile a bit.

"If only that was all that was needed. It would be less humiliating."

She stepped from the craft, and held up the Truth amulet carefully, activating it slowly enough that the guards would know it wasn't a weapon. Then, carefully, she put it around her neck and laid on her stomach the side of her face on the bare dirt, the King and Queen moving forward carefully from behind a human shield wall of purple and black clad bodies as soon as she did it.

Then, just as Timon had suggested, she begged. Hard. Tears flowing nearly the whole time. She swore fealty not once, but three times, adding in her support of the Prince and the Princesses and her admiration of the Kingdom's Counselors as well for good measure. The others standing around were mainly other fairly well placed and loyal nobles, but no one mocked her, or laughed as she mumbled her surrender.

That was when Timon stepped in however.

"Actually, this
isn't
a surrender at all. It's a declaration of peace between you. Just to clarify the arrangement." Looking at the Military Counselor, Smythe of Westend, he smiled. Of all the people there he was the one that Tim liked best. It was a close tie, since Prince Alphonse was there too. Karina wasn't, for some reason, which was a shame. She was a nice girl, and cute. True, that was a problem for him now, since any hint of sexual interest reminded him of horrid pain, but that just had to be faced, if it wasn't going to cripple him in the long run. The idea of dealing with that scared him, so he didn't think about it at the moment, or at least tried not to.

The King actually smiled and gave him a small half bow. The kind that one would give to an equal, even that was a bit out of keeping given the situation.

"I do believe that you're correct, Countier Baker. Come, Heather, rise and let's be friends again. I think that all are satisfied here?" The words were exactly correct. Perfect in fact, and said with a gentleness that was probably part of the woman's original problem with the man. He was, really, too kind for a lot of people. She didn't complain at the moment however, Timon noticed.

That would be insane after all.

The man had to stoop, but moved to help Heather up carefully, which was a sign that he, at least, was ready to call the situation ended. There would be real treaties to sign of course, and documents to read, but this was the first of the important tests. Countess Montblanc had passed too, with flying colors.

The Queen smiled at her gently.

"We were just about to ready for dinner, would you join us Heather? As a friend?" It was a kind and polite gesture, considering that all of the nobles present had to be feeling more than a little put off by the idea. The Countess looked confused too. Normally she
would
have been invited to the meal, it was true, since Noram Day was the largest celebration of the year and everyone wanted to be invited to the King's Palace for it. The meal was also part of the ten day celebration that they did in the Capital, which meant that it was an actual event, not just a regular dinner. The woman didn't have the right clothing for it, which would be a humiliation, but on the other hand, only real friends were invited to these things.

It was a contradiction.

"I'd love too." She tried not to rub at her simple white gown or heavy jacket, both now very dirty on the front.

Timon got the plan, which was both meant to endear the woman to them and punish her slightly, for her mistakes, but shook his head. That wouldn't help after all. Heather had already sworn to the King and given up. Besides, she was there under
his
protection. If he let her be humiliated beyond what was needed, that would be him failing. Timon hated to fail. It made people think less of him.

"We'd love to, of course. Might we have a place to ready ourselves? I know that space is at a premium here right now, with all the visitors..." Most of the listeners didn't get what he was really saying at all, but the Queen did. Timon could tell by the way she glared at him for stealing the moment away from her and her King. He would have told her to suck on it, but she was his Aunt and that would be both morally wrong, and terrifying for him. Instead he just nodded to her, which, for some reason, got her face to soften.