Read Online Slave Line (The Young Ancients) by P.S. Power - Free Book Online

so does Princess Karina. Old friends in fact. Honestly I'd get them to hang out with Sam for the week or two we'll all be gone, but I didn't think about it before. Where is everyone anyway? I know Alphonse was in here earlier, he was the one that asked for help, so we all came, did the Royal guard hustle everyone away? It would explain why there were so few of them in the room with you all."
    That, it turned out was exactly what had happened. They couldn't exactly run up and start beating up on Kedrin, and his men, though sworn to protect him first, were still Royal guards, so extremely dangerous. Moving to open combat would have meant death for someone. It had been close though, when Tor and the others came in. Sam blanched when he heard that but didn't say anything. Tor didn't blame him, since he didn't know these people at all. Royal guardsmen wouldn't hold a grudge for him having taken them down though, but how was he supposed to know that? It wasn't until the Prince was summoned back in with Karina that the boy said anything and that was only a whisper in Tor's ear.
    "Um, why is your roommate here Tor?" Sam made a small gesture with his head, noticing the clothing on Rolph, which was nice, but still just a clothing amulet, exactly like what he used at school. It was what they all used now, since Tor had handed them out to everyone to help cut costs for the year.
    "Oh... Right, well, since you're going to be around here a lot, I guess I should explain. Rolph is Prince Alphonse. You get the idea, a second identity for school, so that people won't try to kill him there? That or to keep the girls from wanting to date him too much. I've never really been certain which it was, but it works both ways."
    Sam just nodded.
    "Alright. I can see that." He stared at the Prince for a second and shook his head, then looked at the thin girl behind him and smiled, earning one back.
    "So you're his sister Kari then? I don't suppose you remember me from the one time we met?" He bowed to them both a bit, then nearly panicked did the same to the King and his brother. Tor hadn't bothered earlier, so he hadn't thought of it no doubt. Everyone bowed back, though Kedrin looked to be doing it ironically.
    "I do remember you Sam. Flirted with you fairly outrageously if I recall correctly, and here you are come to visit! If I didn't know better I'd think you actually liked me or something. No flowers though, so must be all business. Well, sigh oh put upon and heartbroken sigh." She giggled though and touched his arm, which really was pretty flirty considering everything that had just been going on.
    The boy blushed and fished in his pocket for a second, pulling out a bit of metal about the size of his finger. It was silver with black glowing bands around it. Tor had to admit it looked fine. With a small movement of his thumb he activated it, causing a full flower arrangement to pop into being, a delightful thing that looked just about real, but didn't have any scent as far as Tor could tell. It was good work though. Karina took the arrangement and went wide eyed.
    "Magical flowers? Did you make this yourself or..." She looked at Tor who shook his head and looked back at Sam.
    "Not mine, his I believe. Attaché Sam is good, and doing his own work now. Which is why he'll be around here while I'm gone. Will you two watch out for him? Make sure he doesn't use the wrong fork or eat at the out of turn?" He felt bad for having said it that way, but Sam smiled and nodded.
    "That would be most welcome. I've never been to proper meals before, except for what Tor has been feeding us, so I probably don't know all the rules. Any help I could get would be a godsend." It was a slightly odd way of saying it, but then the kid had mentioned being raised by the Sisters of Faith. They probably had a bunch of strange sayings like that.
    Anything you weren't familiar with was strange though, right?
    Karina didn't seem to mind, smiling at the younger boy agreeably. Good,