Strange Land (The Young Ancients Book 15)

by P. S. Power

  "That's better than I thought! Nothing really hurts either, so far. I wonder why that is? Do I just not feel pain?"

  Tim stood up and jogged over to her, taking Sara into his arms.

  "No, I think it's just that your new form is simply that hard to hurt. Let's do the first test, before doing anything else? If I botched that..."

  It turned out that what he needed to do would take about an hour. She didn't mind waiting, but there was almost nothing to do on the ship, she realized. They hadn't brought hobbies or entertainments with them, other than each other.

  For a young man who admitted to having some problems in bed, he'd done very well. Almost as if he'd been tutored in the subject. Since Trice was his wife, that had probably happened, after a fashion. She was good in bed too. They'd had the same instructors in bedroom play at school after all.

  Not all the Lairdgren School kids had those courses, but all the special school kids did. True, half of those lessons had been about how to entice a person into bed, and most of the other half about how to bear whatever was being done to you while seeming like you were happy about it. Tim had some of that in his actions. Sara could see the signs of it. Oh, he also seemed to genuinely want to be there and like he'd had pleasure from it, but there were things inside him that crept out while they'd played that showed just how much damage had been done to him by Nora Allan and that Larval Assassin.

  For a person as controlled as Timon Baker to let anything like that be seen, it had to have been horrible. She didn't know how bad, and really didn't want to, now that she thought about it. There would be no way to understand it, without experiencing it yourself. She could do without that kind of thing, really. Everyone probably could.

  So she put on clothing, being a proper woman like she was, and went to make sure their heading was correct. It was a minor thing, but she made a tiny course correction which would take them to where the Earth would be, more or less, knowing that the space stations were all in an evenly matched high orbit. There were three of them so far, and while they were hard to miss if you bothered to look for them, they also were impossible to tell apart. From this far out, at any rate.

  She sat and watched the Earth from above, seeing it slowly grow as they neared it. That was a thing she would have missed before, she knew. That level of change was too small for a regular person to see. The whole world seemed different to her now. Brighter, all the time, and louder, but also more filled with life and activity. For instance, she was able to find a single insect on the ship, which was too big to have survived on its own. Not without something to eat. It was nearly the size of her little finger in length, and looked like a grasshopper from Noram. That it was in the food prep room, with the magical box, got her to smile.

  "Have you been feeding this little guy?" Sara held it up, not knowing if the yellow and pink box could see at all. It answered anyway.

  "Yes. It wanted food, so I made some for it, and managed to push it on to the ground. It's your pet?"

  Sara started to deny it, but a single grasshopper probably wasn't a threat to the health and safety of the crew.

  "Nope, he's a stowaway. I suppose we should feed him though. Or her. I have no idea how to check. Can I get a tiny dish of food for it? Water too? I don't know that they drink, but just in case?"

  That took about half a minute, and Sara set up a tiny raised platform for her new little friend to sit on while he ate. Yes, she was bored, but there was also a bit of charm to the idea of having a pet, even if it was going to die in a few days.

  Before she left she made a little cage for it, one that was shaped like a minute palace, or rather got the box to do it. Then she met Tim in the hallway, since he was looking for her, and there were only so many places to go. Reaching out he stopped her and smiled. He had a really nice smile, she noticed. Even and with very white teeth.

  "Here we go. Let's see..." Tapping a sigil, the device in his hand on a piece of focus stone, started a sudden cascade of brilliant red over his body that lasted for about half a minute. Reaching out however, Sara noticed that it was only around him. His shield didn't seem to trigger because of it.

  "There we go. It recognizes me as an Ancient, but not you. That's the basic pattern of the device on Earth that's keeping the rest of us away. So you'll be safe. In more ways than one. I was a bit worried about sending you off to investigate this like you were. Now you have an edge that no one can take away, and that they don't know about."

  She leaned in and kissed him, since they had that kind of relationship now. It was cozy already, since they'd known each other, more or less, for years.

  "You only care because you love me." It was teasing, and she expected him to blush, or even deny it.

  He didn't, exactly.

  "I love you more than I've ever loved anyone, Sara. I just don't know if that's the same thing that everyone else feels. Actually, I know it isn't. I'm a builder. I can tell. It isn't like what you feel for Tor, or even what he feels for you. I wish it was." There was a slight hint of pain on his face, but only for a second, then he shrugged. "The state of how lacking I am aside, we should make some plans."

  For a moment she thought he meant relationship wise, but then understood the change of topic. It had made him uneasy, admitting what he had to her, and it was probably true as well. Whatever had made him who and what he was had left him not feeling a lot of things as keenly as others got to. Like that guilt he'd mentioned Tor putting into him. That his brother had managed that, but hadn't thought to add love seemed like a major oversight.

  She kissed him on the lips, warmly, distracting him a bit with her body.

  "What do you want to do?"

  There was a moment of clear longing, then Timon smiled.

  "You need to get with King Richard first, and make sure we're right about him, then check the rebellion, and Austra to eliminate those possibilities. After that? I don't know yet. Going from land to land is a bit broad, if we're looking for something in particular. That gives us a place to start, and possibly some help in looking. You'll need some amulets. I can see to that part."

  It was about what she'd been thinking of doing, and in a similar order. In hers King Richard came last, but that had mainly been about fear. Now, she realized, that was gone. Focusing on how she felt, she realized that the rest was there still. Love, compassion, and joy. When she tried to think of things that scared her, she felt nothing.

  Rather than mention it, she just looked at her friend and then moved in, holding him.

  "All right. We need to get to the Farming Complex first. That should be in about five and a half days, I think. So, I should learn to make those copies?"

  That seemed to be a good plan to Tim too, so he set her up with a template, which was just a magical device constructed to be very simple to make a copy from.

  "It really isn't that hard to do. Anyone that can turn an amulet on should be able to do it really. The trick is that you need to be able to direct where the field goes by focusing on the correct target. The more strongly you hold your attention on what you are doing, the faster it will happen. Honestly, it's more of a test of how badly you want to do it than anything else. If you try hard enough, long enough, it will make a copy."

  Handing it over, he passed five small focus stone rectangles at the same time, they all had arrows on them, pointing in a single direction.

  "These will be cutters when you finish them. I figure it will take you about two hours this first time. When you have those done, and tested, come get me and I'll show you how to do it without a template. That's only a bit harder. I know, everyone always acts like it's some huge thing, but that's because most people really don't want to bother doing the work. You already know how to focus, and that's the hard part."

  Also, if what he said was really true, that they didn't know all of that. Sara had grown up in a manufacturing household, and she'd never heard things put quite that way before about magic, had she? That could also be Tim just trying to build up her confidence
. Still, she was an Ancient now, wasn't she? That should make it easier.

  Following the directions carefully, she focused on both the template and the little rectangles holding those in her left hand and the bigger piece in her right. Her eyes closed, she could still make out the stone pieces, and even feel the light tickle of energy from the field she was shifting.

  It looked like a faint bluish silver to her, but wasn't hard to work with. Oh, her attention did try to split off and go its own way, about three or four times a minute, but eventually she thought she actually had it. Possibly not though. Shrugging she walked into the food prep area and asked for a single plate, so that she'd have something real to try cutting up.

  "It either works or it doesn't, right?" She said this to the box as she got the plate, but there was just a pause, then a single word.

  "Sorry?'

  "Never mind. Here, there's no use in waiting to find out I failed, is there?"

  That got another sorry, as if the thing didn't understand her, but like it had told her, it didn't think or understand much.

  Setting the plate on the deck, making sure she was well away from the tiny cricket palace she'd had built, Sara activated one of the tiles with its etched arrow on it. Holding it carefully, since she didn't know if she could re-grow little things like a hand, or her head. Probably not, so it was best not to risk it. Cutters were incredibly dangerous, since you couldn't see or feel them, until something separated. Then it was generally too late.

  "If this works at all, which, face it, isn't too likely."

  Then she cut the plate into two perfectly smooth edged pieces. The deck under it was fine, being made of shield material, more or less. The next five cuts were all just as easy to make. That meant getting more plates and testing the other units. It didn't take long, so feeling a bit triumphant, she headed off to find her new tutor and show off the work... That he'd already pointed out was pretty simple to do. Feeling a bit chagrinned, she kept walking, carrying a few plates with her, since they made for a good demonstration.

  He was in their room, sitting on the bed, with his eyes closed. Sara had to wait, but not for long, since five minutes later he opened his eyes and set the piece in his hand on the low table near the head of the bed. It looked like stone had been carved to make it.

  "Good, you should get something to eat. We both should."

  Sara held up the plates. "But... It's showing off time! I made magic. Sort of! Where are my accolades and the party I was promised?"

  There had never been a promise of that, but she did get a big hug.

  "We'll have cake with luncheon, how's that? Frozen cream, too. We might as well cut those up near the Taman-... You know, I don't think she ever named those things? Kind of annoying, how they speak like that, and learn to make your favorite dishes from description. I mean really, I should have thought of it first. She even has a version that speaks each of the major languages. For an eight year old she's not doing too badly, so far. I can hardly believe she turns nine in a few weeks." He grinned and looked at her little handful of Cutters.

  She got it, without needing to be told. It was good that she'd managed it, but his world was a million times more advanced, so it didn't seem half as special as it would have if she'd managed it at fourteen and taken the courses back in Noram. Even if she'd done it now, on Earth, her family would have held a real party in her honor.

  Except Kurt. Kristine probably wasn't going to be her best friend anymore. Not that he ever had been.

  Hopefully it would help though, and her brother would learn not to be like he was before. If nothing else he had three wives to take care of now. That was going to be fun, telling her mother about it all. For some reason that idea didn't bother her as much now as it had before. It was probably the whole lack of fear thing.

  "Well, I'm probably a few months away from doing anything really impressive. Still, cake sounds good. I haven't had any for a while now." It took a bit of juggling, but she managed to carry everything in her left hand, so that her right could take Tim's

  Together they walked to the little room and first cut some things up, then got way too much food and took it to the dining room to eat.

  Smiling, just as she finished her meal, eating the last of the delicate frosting from a slice of spice cake, since that was her favorite, she made eye contact.

  "So, what's next? Making lights?"

  Timon gave her a funny look, then nodded, a bit more firmly than she'd expected him to.

  "Good plan. Light is actually really easy to make. It's already a field, so all you have to do is get a sense of it, and then place it on the object you want it attached to. Just like holding your attention using a template. You'll need to make some controls for it, and we'll want some different colors, but those aren't too hard."

  There was a bit of a class on the topic then, and after they'd cleaned up the dining room, he waved her away, pretending to be high handed about it.

  "There. You can make a copy of that in a few hours. Get to it and we can do something fun before bedtime."

  There was no attempt to leer at her or anything, her friend just looking at her as if that were a good plan. Get the boring stuff done, then do something more entertaining.

  "Sure. I'll see about this part, then meet you in the bathing chamber in say, three hours?" Not having a clue how hard the work would really be made her bold, but Tim cleared his throat.

  "Six. I'll be waiting though."

  It was really hard to hold the thing together in her mind, but she beat the time projection by forty minutes, and when she tested the little device, it made a nice bright light, that could be turned on and off. The colors were a little off, which she didn't understand, until she went to find the bathing chamber and tossed it to Timon.

  He knew the answer almost instantly.

  "Ah. It looks right to me. I bet it's that your eyes have changed, but you still think of colors being how they used to be for you. It's a good build for a first one. Simple, but not a copy really. Almost, I mean, little kids can do this, but you know, not bad, Builder Sara."

  That bit caught her off guard, since she hadn't really been thinking of it that way.

  "I built something? I... Does that count though? It's just a light."

  "Sure it does. Most first builds aren't this impressive even. My first was an air lance. True, I came up with the concept with only a little theft from Tor's ideas, but the actual thing was no harder to make than this. It means that we can dump part of the work on you now though, which is the real point. Trice can't do it at all. Kolb can't either, so it isn't just about being smart, really. You probably always would have been good at it, if you'd gotten the correct instruction. My bet is that Count Lairdgren didn't want that for you. No, you were too well placed as a spy for that kind of thing. After all, he had all the magic he'd ever need. Good spies are always in demand however. Probably because they tend to die young, as a group. Anyway, now we can have a real party. Or... Well, that might be claiming my abilities are a bit above what they are, but we can do some of that fun stuff I hinted at earlier?"

  She nodded, and tapped her clothing amulet off. The room was warm, and humid. The large tub already had a cute boy in it, and there were worse places to start an evening of pleasure.

  That took up most of the evening, and they cuddled in bed after that, dozing for a while and taking turns getting up to get food, and make sure the new device Timon had built was keeping them on course and that they weren't about to hit anything.

  They were headed the right direction, and Sara had rarely gotten close enough to anything to hit, and never on accident. The next day Timon walked her through a slightly more complex build idea then suggested she do that while he watched the ship.

  "I can meditate, so it won't be too boring for me."

  It was better than trying to do the same thing herself, so she sat on the bed and built a simple device that would do nothing but change rock or dust into air. It had been on her mind that having some
thing like that might have helped when Harmony had lost their air. The idea was a simple enough one, and she tried to be careful, making sure it could transfer air from where it was created, by the amulet, and then be carried, even through a vacuum, to where it was needed, only flowing one way, so that an open hatch or door wouldn't just let all the air back out.

  It sounded simple to her, compared to making a ship or even a shield, but when she woke up, her throat was nearly closed with dryness and she couldn't speak. Some water really did help with that, but she had no idea how long she'd been there. Working. Like Tor used to.

  That meant someone had been taking her to the toilet and making sure she was staying clean after that. For half a moment she felt ashamed, then let that go. Timon had seen those bits already, and if he hadn't used them all yet, that was just because he was polite. So there was nothing to really be worried about. She'd never felt that way when doing the same for Tor, had she? No, she'd always just gotten her portion done, and then set him back to work. Timon wouldn't have done anything other than that, she didn't think. Not that she was worried about him having had sex with her. It was seeing her in that kind of state that was the problem. It was a very vulnerable thing.

  There was none of the stumbling that Tor and the other builders did after long work sessions, which might be due to her new pattern, she thought. She wasn't sore or tense at all, and felt strong, really. Ready to fight, or run, if she had to. So after getting some food and water, she walked to the bridge, only to find that they were inside a large hangar. It was similar to the ones on Harmony, but the smoothness of it told her the entire thing was made out of magic. She could feel that part.

  It was odd, but she didn't hesitate to walk to the door that had appeared in the front of the ship. There was a glowing red tube to it, after all, which was a thing she knew how to deal with. So, a few moments later she was jogging down the ramp, into the space station. There was no one to be seen at first, but after a bit she saw someone who looked a bit familiar to her. They'd met before, a few times.