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

by Power, P. S.

  As soon as they landed in the Wildlands, which were technically owned by Tor, for the next ninety-nine years or so at least, he flew off, with Trice and Kolb hard on his heels. Or at least behind him. Kolb had the old style flying rig still, so lagged, but Timon didn't need to go inside the Palace or even the Capital at all. He was just getting his sister, since he really wanted her to talk him out of confronting Tor.

  That was all emotion though, on his part. After all was done, Tor was going to have to be stopped. Probably that day, and honestly, Timon didn't know if he could do it. Even with Kolb's help. Trice... It would be best if she didn't go with them, he knew. She loved Tor so much that there was probably no way she could separate Cordes from him. Or he thought so anyway.

  When they landed outside the gate, Tiera was already waiting for them, a fast craft set up and glowing pink. It was a strange choice but it didn't matter and at least would be easy to see. Her colors were green and sky blue though. Then, this wasn't about that was it? They had to take Tor off guard, at least a bit.

  Patricia looked at them all and made a face.

  "You know where some of these people are, don't you? Our enemies. That's what this is about." Before Tim could explain at all, she went on. "That Cordes on the device, the clone, he mentioned visiting Tor. I know that he has one of those memory things in his head, a Rhetistical version of Cordes. Is... Tor with them?"

  Tiera looked puzzled, but Kolb nodded sharply.

  "Mitchell. He's been playing with us the whole time. He is Cordes, mind and body."

  Then her lips firmed, even if her mind was still locked down tight. "I see. Well, let's go and see about this then. Trice... yes. Tor is one of them, and has been. We've hidden that from you, since you can't protect your mind from him. It isn't him, our Tor, but the thing inside him that's doing it."

  Firming her stance, as if she were ready to fight it out with them right then, even going so far as to start reaching for weapons, Trice grimaced.

  "So take it out. You can do that Timon. You have magic."

  It was part of the plan to, but the fact of the moment was that no one had ever done it, and he really didn't know how at all. Honestly, he hadn't planned that part out very well, he realized. He'd hoped that there would be more time. Maybe a few hundred years to work on it?

  "I can't. I want to, but there's no way to do it. Not even old technology. We've all checked for months. I still... magic is the way, I can feel it, but we can't let him fall into their hands. Not with King Cordes in control of him. Trice... I-" Knew that she loved him. Maybe more than anyone else in the world.

  It was Kolb that spoke then, interrupting them.

  "We have to deny that resource to them, Ducharina Morgan. We may only get one shot at this. I know Tor, and how he fights better than anyone else in the world, and I'll tell you this; when he's the only one at risk, he'll run. I trained him to it. If Cordes takes over, we may stand a chance. He can do incredible things with combat rage, but he'll stand his ground, I think. It's sad to think, but the best hope we have is facing my brother. I have rarely feared any man, but in the right moment I would not want to be standing in front of Tor, if he decides fighting is the only thing left to do."

  Which was why, Tim was about to say, he should go alone. Or more exactly without Trice. Instead of letting him say that, she let herself shake and then...

  Contacted Prince Alphonse.

  Timon felt his stomach drop then. They really didn't need the Prince calling in the Army just then, especially since it would probably be to fight them, not his best friend. What his wife said next chilled him though, in the coldness of her delivery.

  "Alphonse... We have to do it now. Tor... He's with the other side. It's as we feared."

  "Oh." There was a lingering sense of time, but he spoke almost instantly, in a very royal accent. "You have to stop him then. I'm so sorry, Trice..." There were tears in his voice when he said the words.

  "Me too. If I fail..."

  Timon wondered what the Prince was going to do then, if they failed, but it was sort of clear a moment later.

  "Then I won't, I promise."

  "I know. Goodbye."

  "Goodbye, cousin."

  Then the connection broke and she climbed into the fast carriage at a gallop. On the good side, Tim wasn't the only one that felt baffled. He didn't ask what that was all about however, but Tiera did, some of her normal spirit coming back into her words.

  "You have a plan in place to kill my brother?"

  No one spoke until they were in the air, but after a while she looked at Tim and shrugged.

  "It's been my job for years. Ever since he proved to be as powerful as he is, back in school. Of course the plan has always been for me to get him into bed and stab him while we were in the throes of passion, but the orders are to use any means needed. I just never thought... Well, he was always so good. I really figured that I'd turn evil way before he did."

  There was that. He was nice and sweet and everyone that didn't hate him, loved the man. Timon didn't ask if it was her job to kill him if he went over the edge. It wouldn't be. They'd use someone else for that. It didn't take a long time to work it out either.

  "Sara Debri." It was spoken softly, but Trice moved her head sharply to look over at him.

  "It's scary when you do that, you do know that don't you? Just freaky. She should have been the last one you ever suspected. Literally. There are formulas for that kind of thing. It's why she kept putting off your marriage proposals. Of course you were supposed to get married to Collette, but I had to throw a rock into the works on that one. Sorry about that. I know how you like blondes."

  "On the good side I now know that when faced with almost certain catastrophe, you don't lose your sense of humor." He said it lightly, and Tiera nodded along.

  "That's true. You seem almost chipper really. Pleasant even. You know, for you." She said it with a straight face, but for once Trice just sighed and looked out the side of the craft. They were nearly there already. Ten minutes out, at the most.

  "So, if we fail here, and all die, or whatever, then what? No one can beat them if that happens, the rogue Ancients, can they? The world is going to die and they'll have won."

  Timon let that settle in for a moment, but then he reached over and took her right hand. The real one. Holding it gently, he looked into her eyes, her pretty blue meeting his rather standard brown.

  "No. I... made a device. If we're all going to die, the person holding it will release a group of self-replicating fields that will kill all the Ancients left on the planet. No one else, if they can survive. But the Ancients will all be gone. Anyone with the genes for it." He'd been really complete, though a few might make it. Any remaining Remy's would be all right for instance. None of the others, he didn't think.

  "You aren't just saying that? You put a weapon into someone's hands that could end this all, right now?" She sounded briefly hopeful about the idea. It was a thought.

  "Yes. All he'd have to do is sacrifice half my family, Kolb, Doris and the rest of the Ancients that didn't do this. It... Might be needed. Hopefully we can avoid that, since it's going to take a whole lot to save everyone that's left." The weight of the deaths from that day nearly crushed him, but he sat up a bit straighter and wouldn't let himself long for death. Not yet.

  There was still a little time, and some hope.

  His wife looked slightly petulant.

  "Who did you give it to? Smythe of Westend? No, you'd be dead right now if he had it. Um... Alphonse? Karina? No, you said him..." She was actually trying to work it out, as if there was more than one obvious answer. "Who is it?"

  Still looking out the window, Timon spoke gently.

  "The only person in the whole world I could count on absolutely to kill me at the right time if it came to it. The bravest and most courageous man in the world."

  Then she made the leap, being smart, after all.

  "Gerent?"

  "Yes."

  That got
a moment of shock from her at least, but Kolb took a deep breath and then smiled, looking back at them.

  "Good choice. I just feel sorry for you kids. Three thousand years is enough for anyone, and the heart of the problem here. Maybe they don't need us now? The people of this world? After the cataclysm we thought it was our job to save them all, but now, after this, a second cataclysm... "

  Tim spoke, but his voice didn't carry far.

  "It isn't one yet. We still can stop the worst of it. I think. If we work together."

  That got a chuckle at least, and Kolb seemed bemused, which was out of place for the moment.

  "Sorry, it's just the first time a lot of people said that too. The rest ignored them until it was so bad we nearly lost everything."

  "Then I'll make them pay attention. Somehow."

  It sounded like a good way to start a tyranny, didn't it? With high ideals, and a hope to save the world? It was a risk, no matter what they did.

  Tiera landed hot, right in front of Tor's bakery, which was about two blocks or so from the school, on the side by the weapons practice square. That meant they did some damage to the street, which had Tor running out of his place not ten seconds later.

  "What's wrong? Is everyone all right? I heard that there was an accident or another attack? It wasn't clear really."

  Timon nodded and then got out. They all did. It was a lot harder to look Tor in the face right then than it should have been, but he did it, hoping it just seemed slightly worried, instead of frightened out of his skull, which was the truth of the matter.

  "Half of Austra is gone. We saved... I don't know how many. More died. Nuclear weapons were used to cause giant waves in the ocean. Soam... I imagine they lost more, and so did Afrak. I haven't even checked to see what's going on in Vagus yet. I... Tor, a good chunk of the world's population is dead. Ten, maybe twenty percent of them." He waited, wondering what would happen, but Tor just went wide eyed and looked at the others.

  "No! What do you need me to do? I can... Make more healing amulets, or houses, people will need those, clean water too. I have some things, you can take them for me. Tim, we need to get to work. I'll, let's close down the shop, and just start. There-" No one else moved, so he stopped halfway to the door and did too.

  He was so big now, but thin. In a way it was like he wasn't really Tor at all anymore, wasn't it? Timon tried to tell himself that, but just sank into a deep trance, trying to get himself ready. After a moment he shook his head gently.

  "We know where one of the Cordes clones was. Here at the school. There might even be others, so we'll have to check. He said that he kept coming to you and claiming to be our brother Terek? Have you seen him around?"

  That at least got his brother to raise both eyebrows at him.

  "Um, sorry? Terek? I saw him a few days ago. But it's him. No one could fool me that easily. It feels like him and everything. The same as always. I checked, to make sure it wasn't that assassin that was after you." The way he said the words expressed that he was almost certain the problem was with Timon, but Tiera, who was back to being her calm and controlled self shook her head.

  "No, Tor... Do the numbers... There are eleven of us kids, list them all off... Think about it."

  Sticking his tongue out, Tor started on his left thumb. "Fine then; Teral, Terlee, me, Todd, Terek, Tiera, Timon, Terry, Tess, Tenent, Tara and Taman." Then after counting to twelve he smiled and looked at the two fingers sticking up and tried it again. The same thing happened.

  Then he shrugged.

  "That's nothing... I just counted myself as me and Tor, stupid, but understandable. There are so many similar names."

  Trice shook her head.

  "Tor, you don't have a brother Terek. You never had. I've been working on a list of your family members names for years and trust me, if you had a spare fifteen year old brother around, every noble woman in Noram would know about it. As it is every girl under the age of fourteen is already trying to figure out how to trap Terry into marriage one day."

  "That's... ridiculous. Of course we have a brother Terek. The one that likes woodworking?"

  Except that they didn't, not at all. It was like trying to argue that objects didn't tend to fall down normally, however. Tor knew what was, and in his mind Terek was real. Anyone saying otherwise was clearly delusional. No matter how many of them said it.

  Tiera tried a different path then, "Mitchell from the fighting section at the school admitted that he was a Cordes clone and has been tricking you. Probably with the help of the Cordes in your own head. You have to try and fight against it Tor. Cordes, all of the copies, including the one inside you, they're trying to kill us all. The whole world. You have to fight!"

  A brief flicker passed over Tor's face, but it didn't end with him being Cordes, just an annoyed older brother who was suddenly wondering if the earlier story was true at all. Timon could see that pass through his mind as clearly as if he were reading his field. Of course, he was, on some level, so that had to help.

  "Wait, are you just trying to get free things from me for your County Tiera? You could just ask. I mean, I know that I said you should do your own copy work, but that's just because I don't want you to get lazy, that's all. If you can't do it, or don't have the time, then I have some things. Lying about the world being in danger isn't the way to do it. I nearly had a heart attack!" He chuckled weakly though, and smoothed his short black hair with a hand.

  Timon finally checked his brother for weapons, and it was about what he'd figured. He was shielded, with a very nice and new version of what everyone had, but it wasn't as good as the ones that Tim had made. That surprised him a little, actually. He also had two force lances on him, and an explosive weapon.

  The only thing that Timon could really do was hold all of that off while they killed Tor. His own older brother. It was becoming clear they couldn't argue him into sanity. Though if they could turn the things off and take them from him, maybe they could move him to somewhere safe for a while? So they could try and work on him? Get him to really resist? It was a plan and probably wouldn't work at all, but it beat just killing him.

  Except that it wasn't as certain.

  Turn the shield off, and a single explosive blast would end the threat. He didn't let his mind chant it, but it came across strong enough that Tor seemed to feel it and suddenly became wary. That wasn't going to help matters at all.

  In the end it was Trice that acted first, using an explosive device made by Tor himself from the feel of it. It just stopped where it touched his shield, and then obviously did something to the weapon that was attacking him, since Trice threw it down with a yelp of intense pain.

  "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, Timo
n 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.