Slave Line (The Young Ancients) (18 page)

He gave her a tired smile back.

"Not against you. Some plotting going on though. Um, I know this is a little rude, but could I have your ear for a few moments? There's some news from the Capital that you should be aware of. It's about your fathers lady, Nan?" Tor had botched the delivery of the words a bit, since she wasn't a lady, but a servant, but calling her that was a little rude. At least to him. He'd never been all that comfortable with the idea of servants.

Maria seemed half panicked, her eyes starting to water.

"I see. In private?"

Tor nodded, but smiled warmly.

"Denno, could you get set up in my Carriage? I'll be there directly, ten minutes tops." Tor held out Debbie's bag to the man who took it without hesitation.

They all left, including a sound from the wall behind him that he assumed was someone listening in. There could still be listeners though, so he got out his amulets, then searched for the right sigil, hitting it firmly.

"Alright, no one can hear us now. I have to ask you to not get angry over this, or it will look bad. Or laugh. Take a second to keep yourself under control..." He smiled a little bigger, making his eyes light up.

Maria swallowed hard, looking a bit shaky.

"OK. I think. Is she alive? She must be or you wouldn't be smiling like that. You aren't a monster. What's wrong?"

Tor tilted his head to the right and waited for a second trying to think of the best way to phrase it exactly.

"Well, it turns out that your mother was the one that hired all those people to play those cruel games with Nita. I found out... and she's being punished." Tor took a breath and let it out fully, then did it a few more times, giving the Countess time to work it all out for herself.

"That... bitch?" It was a question, so Tor agreed.

"Yeah, sort of. So Burks made a disguise amulet that's incredibly tiny, and set it so it will look like Nan. Everyone knows about it, in your family at least, but it really does look like poor Nan has lost it and thinks she's Carol. The idea is to show her that it isn't a good idea to do things like that to other people."

Wide eyed and fighting a smile from her face Maria choked out a reply.

"That's...Marvelous. Normally I'd be mortified, I mean if it had happened to anyone else, but mother really deserves it and more. What's my part in this?"

"Don't know, check with Nita on it? This is about her after all. That was pretty much it. Just thought you should know in case one of the Nan's shows up on your doorstep begging aid. They'll have to send the real one somewhere out of the way. Get her a disguise of her own maybe? Collette should have extras. Suggest it to her if no one else has thought about it yet."

The Countess clapped like a little girl for a few seconds, but then schooled her face and posture. Tor took that as a signal to return sound to the room.

"Thank you for the sad news Lord Baker. I do hope that Nan can recover. Such a horrible affliction, thinking that she's my mother. I wouldn't wish that on anyone." It was a bit harsh, but heartfelt.

Tor had only taken about five minutes and got them to the ship all at once, Trice doing the actual flying. She hadn't gone in to visit Maria, which saved time, but was a little odd. He didn't ask about it, but hoped they hadn't had a falling out. They were close after all, and it was important to have good friends.

Especially since if they did have an issue he'd have to butt in and try to fix it, if he could. That was part of his job as a friend to them both. You didn't let a person close to you suffer, did you? Not if you could do anything about it.

The docks at Warden were real ones, but not big enough for the ship he had. It was five hundred feet long and about two hundred wide. Something like that. He'd never measured it, just guessed how big it was when he was making it. Everything in it was slightly oversized, since it was supposed to have giants as passengers originally. They got on board by simply landing the craft they were in on the empty expanse of the black deck and off loading, then putting them away. It was pretty fast and meant that they didn't have to use a smaller boat to get out to the one they were on.

Petra wore an actual Captains uniform like she was in the Navy, except that the colors were in royal purple and gold with the King's livery instead of a Navy patch on the front. It looked pretty impressive to Tor. Ali waved at her getting a small smile in return, but nothing more. She stood waiting for them to come to her. It was a ship thing. Maybe a boat one. On their ship, the Captain was King. She'd have waited even if Richard himself had come on board. The only time that didn't work was on an actual Navy ship. In that case there would have been a huge ceremony. Really, there should probably be one now, but no one had thought about it. Well, too late. He started to walk toward her, waiting for the Ambassador and waving Quavel over. As an afterthought he gestured to the Ancients and his family, everyone except the Lairdgren group, who were the crew after all.

It made an interesting cluster as they approached.

Without being informed as to what was needed Sandra gestured for her people to go and stand behind Petra. It wasn't planned and didn't look military, but as they walked all of their outfits shifted to match the captains, only without the bars on the shoulders. The hats matched though. Tor wasn't certain, but he thought that meant they were all in officers dress. He just hoped they realized they were still washing all the dishes.

It was mildly impressive. More, the Royal guard all followed, eight of them in all, their clothing turning green, except for the two in front, Kara and George.

Tor was glad to see the familiar faces. Those two went into regular Royal guard uniforms, signaling that they were there to actually protect someone. Tor took it that way at least.

It didn't all match, but it looked like they actually had a real crew. Uniforms were good for things like that.

"Welcome friends, and dignitaries all. I'm Petra Ward, Captain of the Royal Palm. Our trip is expected to take five days, provided we don't hit harsh weather. If we do, we're capable of running against the wind in any direction at best speed, indefinitely. There should be no need for evacuation, but if such a need is required this vessel has over twenty craft capable of taking the passengers to safety. We have entertainers, musicians, singers and dancers provided by Lord Baker and Count Ward, as well as more adult entertainment upon request. If you have any questions or need anything, please don't hesitate to ask myself..." She looked over her shoulder and made a face that Tor nearly misread as annoyance, but realized, when she turned around, to be her version of restrained glee.

"Or our crew here. If you'll follow me we have all the rooms pre-assigned for efficiency. This way please?" She gestured, a strong thing that seemed more military than she normally did. She changed when she was in charge, Tor realized, becoming more adult somehow. More in control.

There were four rooms on the top deck, one of which was given to the Ambassador, the others to Count Lairdgren and Denno. They were the nice rooms, bigger than the others and with slightly better furnishings. It made sense that the Ancients would be given those rooms, but that left out Lyn, who probably didn't care at all. Petra didn't know about her yet though or... No, she did. She'd been there for the whole story. It baffled Tor for a minute, until they went below decks.

"Ancient Red of Austra? Master Tor had ceded his person room to you for the voyage. We regret we don't have accommodation fitting a person of your stature, I could give up my own quarters if you need more?" She looked mildly embarrassed, but held the door open.

"Oh, not a problem at all, this will do wonderfully. It's huge. Honestly I don't think I've seen a room like this on an ocean vessel in two thousand odd years. Are all of them like this?"

They were, which she knew, since she'd made her own copy. On the good side it meant they had a back up ship if something came up, one capable of carrying them all. Maybe more than one. Tor answered anyway, since it was clear she was pointing out how equitable everything was for a reason.

"Almost exactly like this, except for the position. There are restrooms in each compartment, but the baths are at the back of the ship. The dining room too. That's on this level. There are two levels of course, the baths and showers below."

His room, it turned out was right next to Lyn's, with his family in two rooms next to it, meaning that Weasel had to share with someone. Looking around it was obvious that there was only one person that fit the bill there. Tor raised his hand and waved toward the spies.

"Kenner? Mind putting up with my little brother for the trip? He'll have to work, but you're both right up front here, so if there's a problem everyone can come to you two and not have to bother the rest of us."

It didn't sound like an attractive offer put that way but the boy smiled anyway. All the Austrans did.

"Sure. I don't snore or anything." This was said to Weasel who grimaced.

"I hear I do. Sorry in advance."

Everyone chuckled pleasantly.

There were no problems with the rooms, since everyone was willing to share and most didn't have too many in their space with them. Ali had the extra beds ready to go, in case some people didn't want to share with a stranger. Not all the Austrans knew each other it turned out. That was so they couldn't have said who else was around if they got caught. Kenner hadn't known about Quavel for instance, or the other way around. This even with the fact that they'd seen each other almost daily for over a year. It was just good spycraft.

The first problem happened after Carlos came to get him to start working on the mid-day meal. A few of the other people came too, an Austran woman named Teresa and her husband who was one of the Noram citizens that had decided to go with their love, even if it would be hard, named David. They weren't professional cooks or anything, but were willing to work just to be useful.

They also got Denno, who promised he could cook, which was probably an understatement given who he was, and Tor's mom, who was a professional baker by trade and had been for over two decades. This arrangement of bodies flustered the Austrans more than a little bit. Of course Brown was their Ancient, so it kind of made sense. A bit like how people back home would respond if the King came to help them raise a barn or something. Though that would actually be useful, since the man was so tall and was pretty strong for all that he sat for a living.

No, the problem wasn't with them, or not having enough help. They actually had several more volunteers, including Debbie and Quavel. They were taking the dinner shift though. Along with Weasel and Tiera. Lyn didn't volunteer to cook, because she was busy making copies of things to give away as gifts once they got to the meeting in Vagus. Burks was just absent for some reason. That was fine though, since they had plenty of people. They wouldn't even have to scramble to find someone to wash up after for them.

It was the Ambassador that had a problem with it. She actually came into the kitchen as they worked, having found a nice rhythm with each other quickly, and stood looking horrified for some reason. She looked pretty bad, pale and a bit damp again, even though she had her amulet on for the heat. Tor walked over to her slowly, trying not to scare her, treating her in much the same way he had "Nan" earlier in the day.

"Is everything alright Ambassador? Do you... Need something to eat or drink? I think we have some juice in the cool room. Or water? Is it sea sickness?" They had wine too, but she looked sick, not injured. Everyone knew you gave water for illness, not alcohol.

"I..." She stammered gently, her voice low. Scared rather than angry. Perhaps she feared that the Austrans would poison them all? That wouldn't happen for a half dozen reasons, but maybe she couldn't trust that yet?

It wasn't that though at all. It was just them doing the cooking.

All of them. Each and every person in the room.

"This is a diplomatic mission to deliver people back to their homes... and we're making them act as our servants? We have their Ancient slaving away as well. If there's a bigger insult I can't think of what it is. Plus... You, Lord Baker, are one of the top cabinet officials of Noram and your own mother is here, a Conserina. I... this is a disaster. It may well restart the war. I'm... mortified." She sounded it too, which got chuckles from David and Denno. The Ancient spoke from his position at the stove, not wanting to leave the sauce he was working on.

"Don't worry yourself dear. It's all well in hand. Carlos here is in charge of the kitchen, which he volunteered for, to show how much he appreciates the kind and gentle treatment your people have shown him and his. Besides, the fact that you have Tor and his mother here should more than serve to offset any idea that this is something other than an honor. We're going to make Green play servant for dinner. It will all even out, don't worry." For some reason, even though he was his normal relaxed and happy seeming self the woman wasn't reassured at all.

She ranted a little bit, turning red in the face, which got Tor to get her a glass of cold water and a chair. She could yell at them sitting down just as well as standing. Carlos clapped several times to get everyone's attention, a pleasant enough look on his face as he did.

"Back to work everyone. We have just enough time to have everything served at two. Then I want the baking to be done for the evening meal as quickly as possible. The ovens here seem good enough for it. Better than what the palace has to be perfectly honest. We have three people that can bake on board?" It was a question that was put not to Tor, but to his mother, who shook her head firmly, mouth a tight line.