Kindred (The Young Ancients: Second Cycle Book 3)

by P. S. Power

  The truth was, if he could learn to put that outside of himself and wrap others in it, then he might be able to stop the signals from the implants from going out. Not just to protect his mother, either. If those signals didn’t go out, if it could be stopped, then their side would be able to treat the Adversaries as just being regular people, in a fight. Tor had taken him into that kind of thing, at a distance, so it was possible that he could do it as well. Maybe. If he were careful and learned well enough.

  Waving, he walked back into the pod, and left without saying anything more. It felt odd, leaving the girls behind like that, but they were smart, and would, he figured, just go back to Mars if they didn’t have any place to stay for the night.

  It didn’t take a lot of thought to figure out where to go next. The Capital. There were a lot of people there that he needed to be in touch with, and soon. One of those would be his cousin, who had a real job to get to, and might need some aid getting started. Probably gold as well. Hopefully he’d be willing to accept magic in exchange for the work he was doing, since Dareg was still pretty poor, having given all the coin that he’d had back to Tor.

  Helpfully there was a second entry under the Capital now. One that said Thomson Residence, instead of Port. That was a bit open, to his way of thinking, but really would be handy, if you liked having random visitors at all hours.

  It truly was almost like walking in and then out of a box, finding himself in a different place totally. The effect was interesting, if becoming familiar to him already.

  The Thomson Capital house was large, and a gray-blue, but had the feeling of being a home, instead of a palace, like he’d expected the first time he’d seen the thing. There was a wall around it, but it wasn’t that high, only being about six feet tall. That was made of true stone, and held a feeling of real character and age.

  There was no guard on the iron gate however, which was odd. It was still daytime out, so he let himself in, which caused a small bell to ring, and two fellows to dash around the edge of the building. Slowly.

  They were in brown and silver uniforms, and seemed half panicked that they’d been off doing whatever it was they were instead of attending their post. Given that there were potentially lethal enemies around, that level of concern kind of made sense to him.

  So he froze in place, not forcing them to call for him to halt, and closed the heavy metal thing behind himself, his case already inside the wall. Then Dare waited as the men rushed at him. It was a bit boring, so he counted the footsteps of one of them, which came out as being eighty-three by the time the two got all the way over to him.

  At the same time he checked for Adversary implants, and time manipulation, but didn’t find anything. They were just men, as their appearances suggested. Slightly worried ones, who had both been off flirting with one of the kitchen ladies. Both hoping that she might pick them to be her special friend. She was human as well, and checked out to not have an implant. Everyone in the building clear, as far as being an Adversary went. There were a few spies, and a single immortal, but that wasn’t his business in particular.

  The main footman, or butler, whichever he was called, worked for King Richard, for instance. There was a woman that tended rooms who had a solid connection to Countess Ward, and a third person, a boy who was only about ten, who actually was being trained to be a spy by Tamerlane herself, and was set to watching the other two, as a lesson. The immortal felt female, but that was all Dareg was really getting from her at the moment.

  “Um… Halt!”

  Dareg nodded, doing it slowly, and smiled. Really, the men should have gone off to visit one at a time, but he got the reasoning there without asking about it. If they stood the duty and allowed the other to go first, alone, then the pretty kitchen lady might lose interest in whoever was second. So it was a bit of a dilemma for them. Of course the job was about choosing duty first, and not pretty women, but hormones were a thing, and one that probably would be difficult to beat for some people.

  “Hello! I’m Prince Dareg Canton, of Harmony. I’ve come to visit the Thomsons?” That was a normal enough thing to say, and he even had a floating chest behind him, which could have housed enough clothing and toiletries for him to be planning to stay for a while. A month or two at least. That was, or so he’d been told, the normal time frame for such visits. It came from back when visiting anyone meant months of travel in a carriage or on a horse, so staying for a while sort of made sense, once you got there.

  One of the men bowed, going low, the other standing there in some small shock, not doing it until he was tugged into place by the other. Then they both stood, going a bit stiff.

  “I can call for the butler, Prince Canton? If that is your will?” He seemed uneasy, and it wasn’t totally about having been caught allowing his post to go unmanned.

  Reading the fellow tightly, it seemed it was about him not wanting to seem rude to a Prince. Especially one of the strange people from Harmony, since these men didn’t know what the correct protocols were at all for that sort. Hence wanting to fob it off on the butler. It was his job to know that kind of thing after all.

  “Please, call me Dareg. Or Dare? That sounds fine though. Calling for the butler. Do you have a Truth amulet?” It was an odd, and slightly pushy question, but one of the men nodded, seriously, and dashed to the side, coming back with a tan tile that had a pink glowing T on it. The thing was held out, rather tentatively, since they weren’t at the King’s palace and it was probably risky asking regular people that were just coming to visit to prove themselves that way.

  He took the thing and explained why he was there, showing that he was telling the truth the whole time. As he did that, he had to fight a wince, realizing that it would be no harder to hold this particular field in place showing that he was being honest while lying, than it was to hold his shield off while practicing in the weapons square. Which meant that, for a certain kind of person the things were close to useless.

  That type being wizards, of course.

  When he handed the thing back, barely having been aware of what he’d been saying, the men both seemed a bit more relaxed.

  Then one of them, the more youthful of the two, who seemed to be around twenty give or take a few years, walked to the main house quickly, and called out, returning a few moments later with a nicely dressed older man, who had gray gloves on.

  That man was familiar at least, and while he looked about forty, it was in a healthy way that showed his life wasn’t all that hard. He was a bit thin of hair on top, but only had a few lines around his eyes, and even if recognition took a few moments the man smiled at him, in what seemed to be real pleasure.

  “Prince Dareg! So good of you to come and visit us. Are you staying? Countess Thomson mentioned planning to invite you to come for a while. Actually, I believe she said permanently? She was most firm about it, but the Count seems to think that you have other arrangements?”

  He nodded, and smiled at the man, who had been helpful to him the last time they’d met.

  “I live on Mars now. Which, you should come and see for yourself, if you get a few hours? Use the box out front for it and you can come and go at will, in a few moments. We don’t have a real population yet, but it’s interesting anyway. It would be rude to steal you away from the Count’s household like this, but if you have friends looking for adventure they might want to give it a look? There’s real work to be done there, and making a living won’t be hard for anyone that’s willing to try a bit.” It would be easier than that, really, but he didn’t want to invite the lazy ones to come and live off of himself and Karina.

  Instead of seeming scared, the man nodded back, and seemed happy to hear the great news.

  “Wonderful, sir!”

  Dareg looked around, and then up at the house and smiled.

  “I can’t stay long this time. I need to pass out some presents, and then be off to a few different places, if I can manage it. I came here first, of course.”

  “Very good. I
can ask for the Count and Countess to attend you?”

  “If they want to be bothered? If not I can leave things with you, or one of my cousins? I’m showing up unannounced after all.”

  The man walked with him, moving quickly for a regular person, but taking him directly to the front door of the place, and clearly trying to leave him for a moment at the front door. Dare just stopped, as the man scrambled for a polite way to suggest they not go directly to the main sitting room, since the Countess had a guest at the moment, and he wasn’t certain how things were to be handled.

  “I’ll wait here? If that’s all right, I mean?”

  “I’ll be but a moment, I assure you, sir.” The man bustled a bit as he moved, though not enough to be distracting or make him seem like a lady. It was due to the fact that he was walking as quickly as a person could without turning it into a jog, Dare thought.

  It just seemed different, seeing it in slow motion like he was. A lot of things were like that. It also felt like about an hour by the time the man returned, his right hand waving toward himself a bit. It was a subtle thing that he might have missed before, though the words were clear enough that even Dareg understood the meaning.

  “This way, if you please? The Countess has a guest, in the sitting room?” There was no hint as to who the person was, but Dareg felt ahead and worked out who was sitting there with Tamerlane, sipping tea.

  There were only so many short, immortal girls in the world, and this one was vaguely familiar, but not Taman Baker. Inside the room, which was large but not vast as far as such things went, he could see that his guess was correct.

  “Aunt Tamerlane! You’re looking lovely, as always.” He glanced at her, and found that he was simply correct. The woman was small, like a commoner, but as pale as he was, and lovely enough that only the women in her own family really gave her a run for being best looking at any given time. The girl next to her was pretty as well, and honestly was a bit better looking than the Countess, however that one had worked out. Technically, though darker skinned than he was, this person was as closely related to him as anyone in all of existence. Except maybe Ben.

  That one was uncertain for him.

  “Princess Allison! Cousin. Or… I’m not certain how I should refer to you as far as that goes. I think…” He counted things up, and sighed. “I’m your great-uncle, uncle, grandfather, and possibly brother, depending on how we call this one? Your cousin, as well.” He shook his head a bit as if that was a sad thing for him. It wasn’t actually, but he was just reminding them all that some of them were far to related to flirt with. Even if they were attractive.

  The girl wrinkled her nose cutely at him.

  “I know. That’s wild, isn’t it? Luckily you’re getting married to Aunt Karina, so no one will be tempted to force us together. I was just here subtly trying to see if Clemance is looking to marry soon. I hear there’s some competition for noble men these days?” She glanced at Tamerlane, who smiled a bit and put her hand in front of her mouth.

  “He’s a trifle young for that, isn’t he?” Her brown eyes seemed to search Allison’s face, as if trying to see if she were joking or not.

  It was really clear that she simply wasn’t.

  Dareg nodded at them both, bowed a bit and stood instantly so they wouldn’t have to do it back.

  “Sorry about interfering then. That sounds like a good match to me. He’s a solid fellow. Polite and good under pressure, which is a rare combination. I brought some presents?” He tried to sound happy about it, but Allison winced a bit and looked away. Probably suspecting that she was getting in the way of his play for Tamerlane. Which wasn’t an awful idea, if confusing to him mentally. If Allison was hyper related to him, Tamerlane Thomson wasn’t. Not biologically speaking. Tor was her brother, born of the same mother, but not actually related to her, since he’d been a clone of an old immortal who had died. His aunt’s mother was a clone of a different woman, and that meant they weren’t close that way at all.

  She was darling enough looking and had been nice to him, but Dare wasn’t certain that he should go to that place with her. That she wasn’t immortal yet was only because one of her brothers hadn’t bothered to tackle her and get the work done yet. Petra and Gerent were now, and so was he. Allison had been born that way.

  The girl smiled a bit, looked troubled and glanced at him meaningfully.

  “I could step out of the room?” She was trying to be friendly and delicate about the whole matter, and Tamerlane smiled, as if she were actually interested in seeing what he was going for. That one was interesting to see, to be honest. The woman was trying to be polite to him, and would, he thought, actually be kind about an overture, following the rules. What was particularly interesting to see was that she didn’t know if she was planning to put him off or not.

  Part of her thought she should, since it might harm Tor if she slept with his son, particularly if it became a regular thing. Another portion of her was intrigued by him. Only a bit, since he was very young and probably not that interesting, but it was a genuine feeling that was far kinder than he would have figured her being.

  Dareg smiled then.

  “Actually, that won’t be needed. I have some presents in here for you as well. Bet you didn’t expect that, did you? Really, I have things for a lot of people. None of it is all that much fun, either. Well, some might be. Have you heard about Samantha and Eva?” He was trying to keep his voice light, but both women smiled at him, lit up and smiled.

  Tamerlane clapped a few times even, if softly.

  “Oh! Yes. News of them is all over the court here. I’ve even met one of them. Samantha? She was very kind and friendly. A truly nice young lady. I should invite her and Eva to come here for a while. I hate to seem small, but I get bored, I’m afraid. Reading helps, but I could use more visitors.”

  He nodded at her, and moved to the chest, getting one of each of them out, since it fit his personal plan. The girls were all connected, and could alert the rest of them if problems popped up anywhere they were. They made great guards too, or at least that was the plan.

  “That sounds great. Here, let’s ask?” The girls came into being and after about half a second smiled and looked around, seeming like they had earlier, when they first came into being.

  Eva bowed to the women, getting who was who first, probably from their dress, which was fine for both ladies.

  She didn’t speak, glancing at him with a gleam in her eye instead. Samantha seemed a bit more demure about it all.

  Her voice was soft and polite.

  “Countess Thomson? Princess Allison?”

  Dareg nodded.

  “Right. Um… Basically your Great Aunt Tamerlane, and second cousin Allison? Tamerlane just invited you and Eva to come stay here for a while? Is that something you’d like?”

  Eva smiled then, and it seemed real, her hands coming together in front of her cutely. She wasn’t as nice looking as the other women, but was similar after a fashion. The blonde Samantha was the plain one for the room, even if she was cute enough for the real world.

  “That sounds wonderful! I’d love that, Great Aunt Tamerlane. Would it be polite to call you something else? You seem far too young to be a Great Aunt.” The dark haired magical seeming managed to be polite about it, but it was a bit cheeky as far as things to say. You were supposed to wait for people to suggest what they liked to be called, Dare thought.

  His Aunt was gracious anyway, and stood up, moving to give the girl a hug.

  “Terlee. Everyone in the family calls me that.” She eyed him then her face going a bit shrewd. “Except for you, Dareg. Why is that exactly?” There was a hint of shyness in the interaction, but it was covered on the surface, and nearly seemed like she was being bold about it all.

  It was heavy enough that Allison chuckled a bit, and looked at the door, just in time for several people to come in. One of them, the man in front, was the Count himself. Toverland Thomson. The man was over seven and a half feet tall, like To
r, but held more muscle, which left him seeming powerful and commanding. He had blond hair, and so did Clemance, though the younger boy, who was in the back, was darker that way. Not brown, black or blond, but a rather tan color of hair that was different than what most had. Light, but bland. He made up with it by having clever eyes however. Those were a deep blue. He was probably about nine or so, being a few years behind his older brother. Maybe ten. It was hard to tell, to be honest.

  The larger man made a sound that was welcoming enough, and spread his arms a bit to include both himself and the Princess, then bowed to the room, baffled at there being more people than he’d thought there would be.

  Tamerlane explained to them however.

  “These two young ladies are Samantha and Eva. They’re magical. As in made from the stuff. I invited them to stay with us for a time, and they said yes, isn’t that wonderful?” There was no hint that it wouldn’t be at all, and Clemance bowed toward them all. Dumas did as well, but stopped, to examine all of them, intensely. Like Taman, or Tim did at times.

  The small boy, who was dressed in a nice plum colored outfit that looked real, but was a magical amulet, stood up and took a few steps forward.

  “That sound fun. Are they here to spy on us, or to act as guards?” The words were blunt and aimed directly at Dareg, not anyone else in the room.

  It meant his mother went wide eyed, the Count seemed ready to swat him forcefully, and Princess Allison… Nodded. She’d picked up on that part herself, it seemed.

  Looking at the boy, he shrugged a bit.

  “A little of both? They’re designed to be able to fight the Adversaries. Have you been updated on that?” He glanced around the room, but it was clear that not even one of the younger people really had been. Allison had more of it, having been present at an attack once already, and Clemance was acting like he didn’t know much, even though he’d gotten one of the actions on his handheld…