Crystal Core

by P. S. Power

  Sometimes the whole thing would alter. On occasion, a person that had been alive would be dead, or the other way around. To the greater reality, these things were probably at about the same level of ease when it came to merging things. People imagined themselves to be major factors, but in raw mass and energy, they simply weren’t that at all.

  There was no noise coming from inside the tower that day. Not as far as he could tell. The door on the front was closed firmly. Being made of shield material, you needed a hole being left someplace in order for sound to carry at all. These types of houses had ventilation, but that was always in the roof. The air was forced down, and warmed or cooled before it hit the bottom level, then the pressure ejected it from the top again. That way people wouldn’t die from bad air.

  The trick to it wasn’t that hard of one to see at all. Willum had picked it up almost subconsciously. The third or fourth time he’d made major changes to the place. The walls had to be thicker in certain areas and you couldn’t actually get rid of them. Which made sense.

  Willum, personally, loved to breathe. It was probably one of his favorite things, once he thought about it.

  Around him the world smelled of late fall. The air was cool enough that the waves of heat from his body were distorting it as it rose from his arms. On a level that no one else he knew would have gotten, most likely. Not in his own world. He thought that his friend Bridget might do that kind of thing as a matter of course. A few of the other IPB world people as well. They were incredible, as to the variety of their abilities, after all.

  There was no real sense of chill for him, however, even wearing rather scant clothing. Thinking for a bit, he focused, and caused that to change. The goal was for something that was a bit more in keeping with his station. His real one, even if that felt like a lie to him still.

  Countier Lairdgren. The fourth in line for the duty of being Count Lairdgren. All it would take to get the job would be for the current count to die, then a grandmother that he barely knew, his own father and his older brother Carl going down or abdicating the position. A thing that he didn’t really need or want.

  Truly, so far, he even liked the others in line for things well enough. He didn’t know his grandmother Laurie well at all, but the Count was all right. Mainly. Not knowing his grandmother was probably a mistake, given that the woman was also an Ancient. One born that way, not made into being such by magic, like he and his little sister Diana had been.

  Part of him wanted to put all of that out of his mind, but he didn’t, after a few moments. It was his responsibility to see to his sister, after all. His parents were good people, but not worldly. His older brother, Carl, was a decent baker, but would have a hard time going out into Noram to defend anyone himself. It was a thing that he hadn’t been doing well at all, in the last months. A lot of that had been the simple fear that anyone seeming to close too him could be used as a hostage, in an attempt to work him around for death. That it wouldn’t have worked that well in most cases didn’t mean that no one would try.

  That it was the good ones, the people on his side, that had been bothering to do it at all was annoying to him. On a level that left him feeling edgy when the idea came up at all. Mainly in that he couldn’t see a single reason for them to be doing it that way. Not even one. Willum didn’t want to die, particularly, but if it was needed in order to stop the war, he could do it. It was his job and duty to act as a spy, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t protect everyone else, to the best of his ability.

  Worse, no one from up the food chain in the war had bothered to get in touch with him. If that kind of thing was going on, no one had mentioned it where he could find out about the plan. Which either meant they were all really low on the pole as far as things went that way…

  Or that there wasn’t so much a war going on, as a bunch of factions flailing about that had similar goals, all moving in different directions. Like counties that weren’t allies, all fighting their own battles against another group of people that had the same thing going on.

  All of that was speculation, and, he realized with a bit of a start, that he’d been standing out in the open, near a transport hut, not moving for about ten minutes. Just thinking and ignoring the world around him. No one had snuck up on him, thankfully. If they had, well, he probably would have been dead by then. That or at least would know all about it. The explosions would have given things away, no doubt.

  Mounting the steps, feeling foolish for his lapse, the second in as many days, Will really didn’t have a clue as to what he was going to do in his time off. Delivering things to the IPB was part of that, but no one would make him count that as part of his holiday. Visiting people came to mind. Really, he was nearly certain that had even been mentioned to him. Getting in touch with people. Seeing friends.

  Automatically, he reached for his communications device as he opened the door to the front of the place. It was probably a good thing, even if it meant his right hand was full when he got in the door. The inside of his tower, now a castle, was actually very busy. If he hadn’t been slightly distracted, he probably would have started fighting, first thing. Instead of looking around.

  Thankfully, pausing prevented that, giving him a chance to scan the room. To understand he wasn’t being ambushed. That had, he reflected, saved some lives.

  Tiny ones.

  There were at least six people there, on the bottom floor. All of them looked young. That didn’t mean a lot, since many very old people had that going on in his world now. The invaders were in common looking dress, being mainly brown and gray tunics with brown trousers and either sandals or bare feet. A large wooden table, one that seemed rough and poorly constructed, had been made to appear in the middle of the space. That had been left open in the front, so most of the round room was clearly being used for sitting, as well as eating. As he watched, a young lady, clearly no older than ten, walked from the kitchen, carrying a large wooden platter, filled with food.

  Strange cakes, little pies and what seemed to be candies attached to sticks. She didn’t have any dishes with her, for service, however. Unlike on the space station, you had to have a magical device for that in his home. Several were hanging up in the kitchen, if they hadn’t made the walls change so much the hooks vanished. That lack was probably down to the girl not realizing that’s what they were for. One amulet could look a lot like another, if you didn’t know what they were for first.

  The others, a mix of clearly poor boys and girls, were all chatting merrily enough, and cheered when they saw the food coming.

  “Dat looks good, Elly! Tanks fer getting it fer us.” The boy that spoke reached forward, his grubby hands stained with dust and grime. He aimed for a tiny round pie too, which was going to get all over the place, if he did it. Sure, they could clean up later, but they had the resources to do better, if it were suggested.

  Willum stood there, watching the scene, not being noticed yet. That meant he had time to examine the youthful seeming people there. All of them.

  Clearing his mind, scanning each in turn, he did that, going from one to the next. Carefully. Five of the six were as they seemed, being small human children. Ones who spoke Standard, if with city accents that showed them to be from the poorer sections of the place, if not literally living on the streets.

  The last one, naturally, was Elly. She was drinking the world in around herself, like Greater Demons did in some realities. The energy flow was different enough that it kind of stung along his mind when he touched it. She didn’t even glance up at him, dedicated to her act of the moment.

  At least she was familiar, which was telling him a lot about what was going on. The sense of her rang out to the world, as long as he bothered to notice it.

  Willum clapped a few times, to get everyone’s attention.

  “Wait! We need to wash up first. Come on everyone, over toward the wall. I’ll make a station for cleaning up. Come on now. Elly, you as well. Can you get the plates and forks from the kitchen, first? Those ar
e the amulets just inside the door, on the right. Second hook. The sigil is a circle and a fork, so not hard to understand.” Most people would have needed to know more than that to get the right ones, but Elly here was clearly smarter than that. Not totally familiar with their kind of magic, if that part hadn’t been an act, but daring enough to have tested it all out, Willum didn’t doubt.

  After all, no one kept massive weapons in the kitchen, so it would indicate it being fairly safe. At least if he were sane. If not, then she probably would have worked that part out already.

  The other five froze, not realizing they were being used by their new friend Elly as human shields. That they were there to literally get Willum to pause before attacking her. The thing there was that Elsa, the name that she’d given him before, hadn’t actually done anything to rate instant death, or even yelling. Maybe a frown, but that one was just him being sour.

  Sure, she was with the enemy, but so far her only real action, other than some light spying, had been saving his life. Helping with that, anyway. Meaning, even if they weren’t exactly best friends, they weren’t on bad terms, he didn’t think.

  The children all sat there, contemplating running, until Elly waved at him.

  “Willum! I brought some friends to take this place over. It was just sitting empty, so you know, pirate rules.”

  She looked, now that he had a chance to actually examine her, like a younger version of the human form that he’d seen her in before. About ten, so with no hips or bustline, but the hair and even the face were the same. Brown and curly up top, with a heart shape that made her look cute, but a little funny for a child. Like an adult in the wrong body. Some children did that, so he didn’t make an issue of it in his head.

  He laughed then.

  “Nope. This is an embassy, so you can’t have it. Not this easily, at least. We can eat though. Come on everyone. Over here. Wash your hands and face. I’ll make an air drier. Those are kind of fun to play with.” It took several steps to get to the far wall, which looked like black stone, and an obvious touch so that everyone would understand what was going on. He could have done it from the door, but that might scare the children too much.

  It wasn’t truly their fault that Elsa had led them astray, after all. So he tried to keep his words and actions gentle seeming. Part of being an embassy meant that strangers were, at times, going to come and visit. Not all of them would be dignitaries all the time, either. That made it good practice for him.

  Making a low sink appear, with two mirrors over it and a blowing air vent on each side, he washed first, showing what he wanted done. Not that he didn’t need it himself. There was no soap, unless he wanted to go to his room and get some from his stock of magics. That hadn’t been looted yet, he didn’t think. If it had, then these children would have left, being young or not.

  After all, poor people stealing were hung, as often as not. Even if they were small children and the value wasn’t very high. It varied from area to area, but at the very least there would be jail for that kind of thing and a beating. Possibly several.

  Really, there normally would be for just coming in and helping themselves to his things, but the truth was, he didn’t care about that. It would be annoying to have it all stolen, certainly. When he reflected on it, it didn’t make him angry though. Nothing he had couldn’t be replaced in a few days. By himself, working alone.

  “After you scrub your hands and face, you can use the air to dry off. It’s warm, so don’t be shocked by that part.” He showed that function off, which actually had one of the little boys, who was probably about eight or so, giving the whole thing a shot.

  “Oooh. The water is warm, too! Come on, look at this.” The call to the others worked well enough, meaning that everyone there started to wash up, as Elsa, or Elly if that was the game, ran out and put things on the table for them. Then she scampered over to use the sink as well.

  There was a bit of jockeying for position at the air vents, which got him to smile. That really was the fun part. The warm air had enough force to push hands away from it, after all. It was nearly like magic. Or, more truly, it was magic, but kids like these didn’t get to play with that sort of thing much, at a guess. He had a bit, growing up in Pine Creek, but those had all been tools and useful things that you didn’t wave your hands around under. Not if you wanted to keep them. In a way, compared to those that lived around him, his family had been rich. Not in gold, but when they needed magical tools, the things showed up, with his father suddenly holding them for the village.

  A thing that he’d barely considered as odd, growing up.

  Once they were all relatively tidier, if not truly clean, Willum moved to the table with them. Then, as they all started to use their hands for the food, he chuckled. Probably because he was a giant meany.

  “Nope. Here, I’ll… No one touch anything for a minute.” He dashed into the kitchen and got proper food first. It was enough for his guests, but took several trips to get and ran the food unit out of working material. Instead of going to get more directly, he just brought out what he had. It was all similar fare for each plate, but everyone was delivered one.

  The dishes were fine white ceramic looking things with gold inlay on them. All made of magic though. He didn’t have any wine, or given the crowd, juice for them, which meant moving away for a bit, leaving them sitting there, while he worked for fifteen minutes. Collecting dirt from outside to use to make the food, or in this case, the drink. Then he had to wash up again and get the crystal seeming goblets on the table. The juice was all soft cider, since he didn’t want the kids getting drunk at his house. He didn’t know where to return them, so it would be a hassle if they did, for one thing.

  When he sat down, he found that no one had started to eat without him. In fact, everyone looked a bit afraid to, for some reason. As if Elly hadn’t invited them over for a snack.

  Then he got it. The truth was these kids didn’t simply know proper dining rules and didn’t want to mess up.

  “First, make sure you don’t spit at the table. Don’t talk with your mouth full of food, either. This is a very family style meal, since we don’t have the servants in today. That means you can select your own silver to use while eating. At a more formal meal, that will come with each course. We’ll go over that next time. There are other rules, if you’re dealing with nobles and people like that, but being polite and calm will do a lot in a situation like this. Remember, when in doubt, watch what your host or hostess is doing and copy that.”

  Then he had to explain what all the words meant, but after a few minutes, they were all eating merrily enough. He had to remind several of them about not talking with their mouth full, but they took it in good humor.

  One of the kids, the boy that had thanked Elly for providing the dessert, finally looked at him.

  “Sorry der, ser. I’m Lith Tanner. I shouldsa done dis earlier like. Make my name known.”

  That was true. They all should have done that, including him. It was kind of a big breach of etiquette.

  “Nice to meet you Lith. I’m Will Baker. Would you introduce your other friends as well?”

  The names flowed by, though he did Elly as well, assuming that Will was just playing along with knowing the girl. After all, they were clearly, according the the boy’s inner sense of things, being given a last meal before being hung for their crimes. He was a bit nervous about that part, but didn’t try to run or make a scene. It wouldn’t do any good, and might make things worse, if others tried to help hide them or even spoke in their defense.

  The other kids all had that going on as well, more or less. A few didn’t think anything too bad would happen, being they were just kids. Maybe a switch to the backsides over the invasion plan. Elly simply nodded when her name was given. Just the single one, being that her family, obviously, wasn’t rich enough for a last name. Not like Lith, whose family owned a tannery.

  Willum got up and cleared the plates from the main course himself. The servants reall
y didn’t seem to be in at the moment. That was a bit odd, since Prince Benjamin had hired people for the job. There were no ambassadors in at all, it was clear, so it could be that. It wasn’t until Lith helpfully explained that Willum got the idea.

  “Everyone be off for Postern today. There’s ta be events and the like down by the big palace. That of the big wizard, Tor. That’s a long walk, ifn we’re goin.” The boy didn’t really think they would be.

  They had all that hanging to do and all, to his mind. Still, he didn’t seem glum about it, having enjoyed the chicken and gravy, along with the sliced and roasted potatoes.

  The payment seemed a bit cheap for a life, even if it had turned out pretty well.

  Giving them all fresh plates, to settle their dessert on, he nodded.

  “It’s Postern? I missed that one. I travel a lot, which makes it hard to keep up with things. I need to get in touch with some people then. Family and all that. Let me see what the plans are and I can get you all over to the events. Really, you can use the transport hut outside for that. Isn’t that how you brought them all in, Elly?”

  The woman, and there was no doubt that she was herself, not some clever kid from the city, smiled at him. She had cute little kid dimples, which were a bit too deep, to be honest.

  “I did at that. There’s no transport hut on the river side of the city though, so if we want to go see things there, we have to walk. Like Lith said.”

  Shrugging, he took a small piece of cake, using a serving paddle, as it came around to him. One of the girls, Tavra, had started for them. It wasn’t strictly the way it should have been done, but he wanted to focus on the no spitting policy first, rather than the order to things.

  Everyone had a single piece of something leaving the tray more than half full of treats. A lot of them were clearly not normal food items. The cakes were covered with icing, for instance, and the pie was all very small and had perfect crusts. Tender and flaky looking, at the same time.