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

immortality to all his friends. The real ones that didn't treat him like something to be scraped from the bottom of a shoe. It was a bit of a loss for her, but she could accept it. Most people weren't going to live for hundreds or thousands of years either, were they?
    Shaking her head, she went into her own ship, and pulled her Maker from around her neck. Using water from the sea below her, she came up with a large pile of gold coins. Technically no one was supposed to have one of those on the surface, but Tiera had given one to her, figuring that she'd be smart enough not to ruin the world's economy, or anything that stupid.
    Ten minutes later, all the men still standing there, waiting on her, she came back with a floating chest.
    "A hundred gold for each of you! Put in a few good years with us here and you'll all be wealthy men." They all seemed pleased, except the two men from Vagus, who seemed to be faking their smiles.
    That made sense. In that land they didn't use metal at all. Even now that the old treaty of the Ancients had been broken and a new one was taking its place. They were allowed magic however, and outside of that land there was no reason that they couldn't have whatever they wanted. Even there it should be all right. It was just a tradition now.
    "You can use that in most ports to pay for whatever you need, or want. Afrak is actually going to be more interested in plants and animals however. You should get some here and take them for trade."
    That got people moving and if the men from Vagus didn't see the value of the yellow metal, they didn't dump their share over the side either. That was probably due to the fact that the others all seemed so very happy about the bonus they'd gotten.
    They made plans for all that, but she reminded them of the storm that Roget had gotten word of, and took off with the man, going alone into orbit, not half an hour later. No one else needed to go to the moon. Not that it would be her first stop. She really needed a bath, and some sleep first.
    "I'm thinking that we should head to my mother's house. It's in the Noram Capital city. We can sleep there tonight, and visit with King Richard in the morning. Or I can. You might want to get extra rest, or see if my mother has any work for you to do?" She didn't suggest the man pray with her at least. That would be funny, and Heather would actually do it, but it wasn't her way. Still, Roget was a man from a foreign land that also lived in the newest and hardest to reach place, Harmony. Just being who he was could be turned to making profit. At least for someone clever and willing to think outside of the normal cage that minds were kept in.
    "You... want me to meet your mother?" Roget said the words as if they should have special meaning or perhaps held some for him.
    Sara shrugged.
    "She may not be there. Don't worry, you can have your own room. It isn't King's week or anything. If it was... Well, you could always stay at Tor's. I'm sure that Collette and Gerent would put you up there. Still, compared to the side of the road, a bed in my mother's house will seem like a luxury." Which was just true. She stretched, forcing her hands up, above her head and trying to arch her back. It was a mistake, even after all the healing. She was so stiff that it actually hurt to try and do.
    Then, her life hadn't had a lot of proper exercise for a while, had it? Plenty of walking, and she hadn't gotten fat. If anything she'd lost a good chunk of weight over the last months. They'd had food, thanks to the devices with them, but it was the tradition that you only ate what others could give you on a march like that. People did give what they could, even before understanding that their lot had changed that way, but rations had often been pretty light, since they kept moving away from all the new devices.
    Not everyone had taken them, either. That part had really shocked her. Even when most had agreed to it, some claimed to know the will of their god