Free Strange Land (The Young Ancients Book 15) by P. S. Power Page A

toward that end? Or perhaps the evening meal?" It was a test, of course. To see if she needed to rush information to him quickly or not. Ideally, she'd take up the later time, meaning that things weren't secretly dire.
    "Would the earlier meeting serve? I made a date with your Squire Gemma for eight. I also need to check in with The Tellerand Ancient, and let him know what his new Ambassador is getting up to. Mid-afternoon would be perfect, to be honest." It was harder than it sounded like, staying relaxed and conversational in the face of power like this. Not that the King was ever mean to her. Anything but, really.
    "Good then. I'll have a place set for you. Will you be bringing guests?"
    "Not this time. I do have the Ancient's Attaché Roget Smithson here with me, but I'm attempting to hide him from the nobility for the time being. I promised that I wouldn't let him get into a position to have to pleasure too many large men on this trip. He's a bit shy that way."
    Rather than scorn, that got a soft very deep chuckle.
    "Very well. Still, we can arrange to have the word passed that no one should approach him for that reason. I await our meeting with great anticipation Ambassador. Also, it pleases me greatly to find a young lady that I've known for so long doing so very well in the world. Have you been to see Alphonse lately? I know that you two are friends."
    "Not in the last several months. I was rather out of contact with most of the world. I'll tell that whole story to you if you wish, at the meal? Being given the idea, it seems that I should get in touch with him. I have many people that might have noticed that I've been gone." She hoped so at least.
    The King did something new then, and started making a very long speech about how wonderful it was to have heard from her and how very much he wanted to meet with her later. It wasn't what he normally did, which was give a few short pleasantries and hang up.
    That was her fault however, since she'd named herself an important person like she had. Hopefully Terry would back her up on that one, until she could report in. Then it didn't really matter. Really, Roget was the one that should have the job. Especially if he could learn to navigate Noram without too much trouble. He was actually from Tellerand after all.
    "Good day, King Richard. I look forward to seeing you as well."
    Only after she said that did the line break, leaving her feeling odd and a bit like she was overstepping her place by giant leaps and bounds.
    Her next call should have been to Tor, she knew. They were lovers, and she really missed him. Duty had to come first, so she called Terry next, hoping that he wasn't going to be in school again.
    This time the line picked up almost instantly.
    "Terry here." He seemed different. It was still a youthful sounding voice, but there was tension in it. Wariness that hadn't been there before.
    "Sara Debri. We've gotten food units into most of Tellerand, and I'm going to go and hit up King Richard for more help in a few hours. People mainly. Ones that we can sell as being true believers in the One God. There are some of those around, so we should at least ask if they'd be willing to go and help their fellows out. Oh, I also named myself the Tellerand Ambassador, for the time being. That was just to get into the palace, but if you agree with that, it would be good. Truth amulets, and all that."
    There was a pause, and then the boy answered, almost curtly.
    "Fine. That will last for forty-eight hours. Then you need to get here, if you can't do it faster. Things are... They aren't going well. Family things. Your brother? Kurt?"
    She winced, getting the idea without asking.
    "He... raped somebody? How ? They all have shields."
    There was no answer for a long time.
    "It wasn't like that, exactly. He's alive, but what the others have planned for him isn't going over well with everyone. You should come. I won't let them do anything, if I can help it. I may not be able to. Get