The capital was much as he left it, Tor noted, no new attacks or Major remodeling when he was gone. They'd even left the purple glowing river along the top of the city wall for some reason. People could, Tor supposed, use it for water, if they could reach it, but really it was too high to be anything but a decoration for most people. He could rig water pumps to carry the fresh water to cisterns for people if he got a chance. Fresh water never really hurt as long as nothing flooded.
If they were clever about it they could shunt the water off and use it for massive growing projects…
His house was smaller, now that it didn't have to hold four hundred and sixty odd extra people, the Wards having returned home nearly a month before, the day after the rest of them went off to Printer. The events had all been taken down, even the waterfall mountain, which was a shame, since it really broke up the otherwise empty skyline. Tor thought so at least. What did he know though? The wide open sky was pretty too, but a little plain, dressed only in its blue or gray.
Petra didn't go with everyone else from Kolb's group when they left for Wilderness Station, getting permission to stay with him, to help work on his fighting skills. Since he still wasn't working on anything building wise yet she'd decided to take advantage of it and push him to a new level.
By killing him over and over again apparently. She followed the old pattern, him running a lot farther than he wanted too, followed by lifting heavy stones until he couldn't lift even the little ten pound ones. Then, she, Karen and Davie would take turns beating him, or at times, they'd go after him all at once. Even with all that, paying more attention now and actually trying to improve, rather than letting the others beat him into it like at school, Tor slowly got better. That or the others were being nice to him for some reason. It was possible he knew.
Karen didn't tell anyone that he'd had her father killed, he'd checked with her just to make sure, but the man suddenly dying like he had earned some attention. Even the King raised an eyebrow when they talked about how coincidental it was. Tor had a problem with the man and left for a month, then, like magic, the man suddenly died… Tor shrugged, something far too casual for a King to see, but so automatic he couldn't help it really.
“People do pass away like that though. He was flying and crashed. No one saw it, but I've told people for a long time that you need to both have a shield and use it if you want to be safe. It's a little odd, but people can mess up. I've done it myself a few times, hitting my shield to turn it on, but really turning it off instead. It's one of the reasons for the new shields I made.”
It wasn't lying if Richard never asked, was it? And the monarch was so very careful not to. Maybe it didn't occur to him, since Tor and three of the man's own children had been either in Afrak or coming and going. Everyone agreed that they couldn't have done anything from there, could they? Rich really seemed suspicious though. Like he knew something.
Maybe he did. After all, his own spy, Trice, had set the whole thing up. She might have simply reported it. If so, then the King was backing his play, at least in private. If not Tor couldn't tell him, or the man would have to take action.
It was a law after all.
The chair Tor sat in was soft enough, and had nice wood working on the arms, smooth and hard. That was a good thing, because the Queen was asking him about his marriage pointedly. Her words a bit sharper than normal. It gave him something to grab on to while he tried to not react outwardly.
“So, now that the girls safe and sound, when will you be getting an annulment? Even if you consummated it so publicly the King can still end it for you, especially since you were responding to a known and intractable threat. You had to do it, of course, but now, well… No one expects you to stay married in a case like this.” Her tone implied that Tor had better be planning to dump the girl, or else they were going to have problems.
They were going to have problems then. He took a breath.
“Ali's going to Lairdgren next month and I decided to go back myself. I'll take lessons during the day and do my building work in the evenings and on break days. The enrollment should be going back up with the scholarships and hopefully, if we can get the proper letters to the Denno Brown, the Austrans will give up on killing me personally. Then we just need to figure out why they're at war with us at all and see if we can't smooth that over. That or destroy them well enough they don't come back for a few generations.”
Connie stared at him with real anger in her eyes. Rage, her breath coming in short pants, the King blinked at her.
“Dear? Are you all right?” He asked calmly.
She started shaking a little, her hands mostly, anger running through her, growing with each passing moment.
“Damn him,” Her breath caught half way through the him. “Damn him to the void!”
Him who, Tor wondered. Him Tor? What had he done? Help a girl not have horrible things happen. Check. Got lawfully married, also taken care of. Going back to school? Tor probably didn't really have to. He was making gold, more than he could spend, but that was why he needed to go back, to figure out economics and all the other thousands of things he just didn't understands yet and probably wasn't smart enough to ask. A class on social behavior in noble society would be good for instance. If there even was such a thing. If not, he'd need private tutoring from someone that would actually explain things clearly.
Connie wasn't done though, so he didn't speak.
“No, I won't let him do this… and we can't stop him.” She sighed loudly, tears forming in her pretty eyes. She stared at Tor and shook her head.
“The marriage is over and that's final. We'll have a meeting tonight, here at seven. I'll see the proper people are informed. Bring your wife Tor, this needs to be done in the open, not behind closed doors.” Then as if she hadn't left the whole thing hanging she stopped speaking.
“Um, I… don't get it. I'm married, as far as I know there's nothing wrong with that. Is this, I don't know anything in particular? I guess I could use some information.”
“Don't worry Tor, we'll protect you.” She said. The King nodded then as if finally getting something.
From what? Marriage? OK, So Ali wasn't who he would have chosen for himself, but she was a fine wife and was trying really hard to learn skills that no one had ever bothered to even show her before. She certainly didn't need for Tor to compound the problems she'd had for as long as she could remember by disappearing now or letting anyone make their marriage not real. What the hell was this about?
No one would tell him, just asking him back at seven.
Great, so now he had four hours to go back and tell his new wife that they might not be married the next day, and oh, by the way, no one will tell us why. The other option was to let her walk into it without knowing, but that wouldn't go well at all. A slow anger burned in his gut, it wanted to rip out, to tear the world in half, but he controlled it, damped it down, focused his will and flew back after Not-flying to the south gate.
He found Nita and Ali sitting on the front porch in a screened room that made it hard to see them from the outside, but fairly easy for them to see out, he had to go in and walk back to reach them, through a doorway in the front wall that hadn't been there earlier. The cold marble floor felt harder than normal for some reason. That or his feet were heavier. Maybe it was just his soul weighing him down. How was he supposed to tell her this? When he stopped in front of her he looked her in the eye and told her what was said and his own reaction, then waited.
She just nodded.
“Oh… Well, Karen and David said that would probably happen, or something like it. You're too important to be married to someone like me. I hope we can still be friends though and maybe sleep together? Your very good at it. Do I still get to go to school do you think? I'll have to ask Heidi, but she may not want to pay for it. She didn't go to school, dad kept her at home. She may want that for me too. I don't know.”
Tor hugged her. Why was she taking this all so calmly? Tor wasn't. In fact he was half considering showing up armed to the teeth and carrying several weapons just in case. That wouldn't help though. No one was trying to steal her away, just say they weren't married.
But they were! You couldn't just make that go away with the waive of a royal hand could you?
Connie seemed to think so.
Tor didn't.
The conflict there was obvious, but what could he really do? He was a Knight and subject of Noram and if the King said jump, he had to. But until it was ordered, Tor could argue the point with the best of them.
Was it Connie? Why wouldn't she want him married? Even if the Queen secretly wanted him to be her lover or something like that, and even to Tor that she did wasn't that big of a secret, by the rules of their society, her station in it at least, that was fine. Expected even. Was it them going away? Tor planned to be in town every few weeks to check on Debbie and her store anyway and there were festivals and birthdays. It just didn't make sense that way. If anything he'd probably see her more now than before. Being married he'd have an excuse to slow down with all these other women too, which was a bit of a relief.
Oh, the sex was wonderful. That part was grand really. The attention was good too, who didn't like attention? But it felt like he needed to slow down now and pay most of his to Ali. It was only right. Still, Alissa wouldn't care if he met with Connie a few times a month. He might feel guilty about it, but it was tempting. The Queen was about the prettiest woman Tor knew and had always been nice to him personally. Before this at least. The whole married to the King thing was off putting to his bumpkin mind set, but he'd adapt.
So it couldn't be that, right?
What else was there though? Had Burks demanded it be ended? That… made even less sense to Tor. Why would the man bother with that at all, unless he had some other marriage in mind for him? But then why tell him to marry Ali to protect her from the evil Count?
That sounded like some kind of story book tale, the kind his sisters always liked. Some man, normally good looking and dashing, sweeping in and rescue the beautiful Princess from her evil father, who was actually a monster.
Close enough. He couldn't match the looks, but the dad was worse than he'd ever heard mentioned in any of those stories. By so much Tor couldn't bring himself to think about the specifics.
They got ready in silence, Ali not scared or worried at all, just a little sad. Before they left she pulled him onto the bed and kissed him, then snuggled her head, light brown hair back in a complicated twist, onto his chest.
“I… no matter what happens I want you to know that I won't forget what you did for me Tor. You saved me when no one else could even try. The King and Queen themselves didn't have the power to help me, and you stood for me anyway. For all of us. I know that you'd stay with me still, which means so much.” Her face looked miserable for a moment but then she forces a rueful smile.
“Still, I claim right of place and am bumping all the other women as your mistress. I mean you can keep them too, I just get to be the most important one now. That seems only fair.” She nodded firmly and stood up, offering him her hand. Because man and wife helped each other and they were that, for now.
Tor made sure she had a shield on and that it was working before they left. Then gave her a second one to hide under her clothes just in case the first was taken somehow. She did it but didn't think it would ever be needed.
“It's the palace, that's got to be one of the safest places in the world.”She said innocently.
“You'd think. People have tried to kill me there, two… no three times now. Shields are your friend. I'd go in armed to the teeth too, but I'm afraid I'd use a weapon if I had it. I'm so angry about this…”
At the front gate they were met by the Prince and both princesses, who had apparently been standing by and just waiting for them to arrive. That was telling and a bit ominous Tor decided.
“Tor, Ali, welcome.” Rolph didn't seem happy to see them, and Varley wouldn't even make eye contact. Karina at least took the girls hand, but avoided him as well. Had he done something wrong? It wasn't reflecting on his wife at least, thank god. That would be too much to bear, if somehow being with him had stained her.
A horrible thought came to him then, as Karina started leading Ali away by the hand. Had they found out that he'd had Derring killed? The very thought made the dead smell come back, but Tor didn't let his reaction to the possibility show, even if he wanted to retch at the moment.
“Well,” Tor said, walking beside Rolph, his friend not looking at him.
“Any clue as to what I'm facing in there? I didn't come armed, should I have?” He made his voice playful, it was also his way of letting the Royal Guards know that they didn't have to come in force to get him. He functionally couldn't fight them, unless they wanted to punch it out and in that case it would just be them beating him most likely. All of them were better at it and bigger than he was.
“No… it's, I'm not allowed to say, but I can assure you that nothing you or Ali did caused this. You just have to pay for it. But no, this isn't the time to fight, not physically. Get your words and mind ready though. I'll try to help, but may not be allowed to.” The tone was as serious as he'd ever heard from the giant red-head. Not dark, but there was nothing light left in it at all either.
Tor let his mind calm and focused as they moved, his attention moving inward as much as possible while still walking, concentration becoming sharper with each step, until he was truly in an altered state when they got into the dining room. One of those “eat dinner first, then fight” meetings that they liked so much.
He moved to take Alissa's arm and smiled at her sadly. He was so stupid and bad at life he couldn't even keep a gentle and sweet wife for a week? If they took her from him… Tor decided not to marry again. Not while Ali still lived at least. They could make him be alone, but they couldn't make him marry against his will. Not now that he was an adult. Even the King couldn't do that.
The “appropriate” people for this turned out to be Smythe, Burks, the royal family and the Dowager Countess Derring. Ali ran to her, forgetting decorum all together. Tor smiled though, they hadn't seen each other in years, so it made sense she'd want to see her immediately. Connie looked at him briefly, shook her head and looked away, as if he was supposed to understand that? Her eyes were red from crying, so whatever had been going on it wasn't a good thing.
Tor didn't bow to anyone, but when Ali, Gretchen he supposed it was now that she didn't have to hide any more, came running back. She bowed, as was normal and appropriate, Tor couldn't see the point at the moment. The only thing stopping him from yelling at people was that he wasn't sure who to fight with yet. He barely heard the pleasantries, keeping his mind deep and sharp as he could.
There was food, but it was just food. All his attention was on the people. Richard looked at him, but he didn't let his gaze linger, as if guilty, but trying not to be. Connie misted up looking at him several times and Karina looked pissed. She didn't glare at anyone in particular though, not even him, so she was mad at a situation that couldn't be helped or someone out of the room? Rolph looked at him and sighed a lot, making grim faces. Varley looked down at her plate the whole time, not even lifting her eyes while standing.
Burks focused on him with nearly the same attention Tor was putting on everyone else though. That made sense. As had been pointed out, they were basically the same person and that person was different on a basic level compared from everyone else. The only ones even close were the other ancients. Tor didn't fool himself into thinking that an eighteen year old him was the equal of a three thousand year old one though.
That would have just been stupid. Worse than he normally was. Both he and Burks tilted their heads to the right when they looked at each other, but neither smiled over it. Next to him Countess Derring seemed… happy. Content.
The first, and only, time they'd met before she'd seemed strained and a little worn. Now Tor had an inkling why. Her hair was a short and sandy blond, frame huge for a woman, nearly six-ten or so at least and well muscled, her face a little plain, but the whole package looked nice, like she was a kind person that wanted to be that way, one fresh out of a bad circumstance.
After the strawberries, liberally sugared and served with heavy sweetened cream were finished and the table cleared, The King stood and gestured to Burks, a small movement of the hand that looked slightly reluctant. The Count moved to a small table off to one side, messed with five small black boxes on it and got three of the green garbed male servers to help him move it to the far end of the table, about fifteen feet away from Tor. When it was all done, hand hovering over a small central box, the only one without a glass lens poking from the front, shining slightly. He looked at the King.
“Ready?”
Richard looked around and sighed.
“Go.”
The instant the button was depressed two men appeared in the room. If it wasn't for the fact that all of them were now used to things suddenly appearing, thanks to the new houses, boats and carriages, people probably would have panicked. As it was everyone just assumed, correctly Tor noted after feeling the pattern of the men, that no one was really there. He could feel the effect, how the devices in the back put out intense light that bounced around to draw the pictures of men in the air. The room started to cool and Dowager Derring suddenly seemed cold. Everyone else had a temperature equalizer, but the device stole heat from the room to power it. Poorly designed in all, Tor thought. Burning energy like that. It wasn't even a solid field, just a seeming. Sloppy.
The man on the right was tall, not royal tall, but a good six-two or three. He had on a funny three cornered hat in blue, trimmed with red and a highly over decorated jacket with similar colors and dozens of points of shine. There were also ribbons on his chest as well as gold colored shoulder patches that looked a bit too much like someone had dumped scrambled eggs on the man to take seriously. The pants were a lighter blue with a brighter red stripe down the outside of each leg.
His face was pretty average, lighter than most people in Noram, but darker than Tor by several shades. It was a bit long and a little horsey, but didn't seem bad over all, except for the eyes. The eyes weren't sane. They glared violently and darted around the room, looking at the King and Queen, the royal children and finally stared first at Burks and then Tor, where they stayed the longest.
The other person smiled gently and was perhaps the loveliest man Tor had ever seen.
The brightly clad fellow looked to be about ten years older than him, but Tor got that the short one had to be Denno Brown. His clothing was a simple tunic and loose trousers in pale blue. If Count Ward had been made twenty again, shrunk and somehow improved by about thirty percent, he'd be this man.
It was the smaller man who spoke first, his voice smooth and fluid, washing over them like a silk cover being pulled up on a bed. The warmth and friendliness was so apparent that Tor had to wonder why they were having a war with these people at all. They could have talked out any problems and if they let this man speak for them it would probably go to Austra's advantage easily.
“Your majesties, respected worthies, Green and…” The man locked eye's with Tor and then suddenly smiled happily.
“A new brother? Burks… you did it? It worked? Amazing!”
Burks nodded.
“Denno. Yes, Tor is as you see, as we are. He and I are, with but minor changes, less than one would expect from a clone even, the same being. The differences are all in the Cordes line. This is Torrance Baker. Born of my daughter Laurali. You'd recognize her too. Lara.”
The gorgeous man… winced. Hard.
“Ah. Couldn't have worked with one of the other girls? White perhaps? Even Red? I suppose the genetic knowledge was important for the procedure and your own… techniques… magic?” He nodded, figuring it out for himself, without needing to be told, even though Tor struggled to follow a bit.
“Both are needed to form such perfect beings then?” He winked at Tor and smiled grandly.
“Don't let that perfect part go to your head little brother, I just mean that you're a very good replication. Well, the world could do worse than to have another green man in it. Perhaps we could meet to discuss your future someday? That would be very nice indeed. I think the rest of us have forgotten what we originally were over time. It happens. Time that is.”
Burks laughed, but Tor didn't get the joke yet. Maybe after he'd lived as long as they had?
The other man growled softly, pushing the idea that he wasn't all that well balanced as far as Tor could tell.
“Silence! Enough foolishness. I've given my demands, now, tell me what you've decided to do and let me know if I get to push buttons tonight or if I have to spend yet another tedious evening suffering your collective existences.” This was directed at the King who looked back at him as if bored.
“Everyone, this is Glost Serge. Somehow that I don't understand, he's become the Prime Minister of Austra. The polite man next to him is his… advisor, Dennorian Brown. For lack of faster explanations he's Count Lairdgren and Master Tor’s brother. Don't let the details bog you down, it's a headache, the truth though.”
“Enough I said Ricky! What have you and your bitch Queen decided to do, buckle under like good little dogs or die? I'm hoping for “die” myself, but it's up to you. Pick.” Glost grinned his teeth showing in a feral look that would have terrified Tor if he could just work out what he was supposed to be afraid of. As it was he kind of just wanted the man to shut up.
He was really annoying.
When Connie tried to speak, her own voice calm, the Austran leader interrupted her. Then again, demanding they choose immediately. It got to Tor, so he finally raised his hand like he used to in school. The mad eyes man's image stopped fuming and interrupting people and he pointed to Tor.
“At last, one polite person in your whole damned kingdom. Go ahead young man.” He sounded suddenly prim, but calm, as if actually taking a question in a school room.
“Sorry, not to show how dense I am, but I'm not really certain what’s going on, could you fill me in?”
The man blinked, started around the room as everyone looked at the table except for Burks and Ali, then laughed an insane and lilting belly laugh that sounded both false and deranged.
“No one told you? Not anything? Too cowardly Ricky? Can't tell a little boy that the big bad Austran is making him leave his wife and marry my Daria? Haven't told him why he can't say no either, have you? Brilliant, oh, let me then, oh yes, this will be fun. Listen close everybody. Once upon a time…”
Glost Serge spoke well, perfect Noram even, if slightly accented at times, the effect coming and going, but he was a lousy story teller, at least in the moment. That could be stress, or homicidal rage, messing with his timing and delivery. Tor couldn't tell which exactly yet.
“I had thirty-five nuclear devices built and pointed at all of Noram's Major cities. Then I told the King, the evil bully known as Ricky Cordes and his little bitch wife that if you didn't marry my daughter and return her to me safe and sound, I'd send the missiles flying and kill you all. An eighty kiloton bomb for each Count and Countess and two for Ricky and his brood of dullards. That's you by the way kids, I don't want you to get confused. Just in case it's too hard for you, “dullard” means someone that isn't very bright… Oh, probably bright enough from what I've heard, but your education system there is a joke. Science isn't taught at all and you actually practice magic… How quaint and superstitious. I suppose I'll have to be ready for you to chant some curses at me now, won't I? I'm really so very frightened… So now, either give over the money and the boy along with my daughter, who has best not been harmed and I'll let you live, for now at least, or refuse and take your due. Pick.”
It took Tor a moment to process the whole thing, looking at Burks, hoping the old man would get his personal shorthand.
“Bomb… big? Can we defeat them? Shield or weapons?” Tor tilted his head as Burks shrugged.
“Weapons yes, the one you made. For the rest, big and spread poison. Land killers. Cities gone and the rest poisoned. Probably can't shield, too big.”
“Oh.”
So they could fight on fair ground, but couldn't stop the madman by just blocking him. It would take a real fight and probably destroy both lands. Tor looked at the crazy man and wondered if he was nearly as gone as he seemed or if it was all an act for some reason.
The whole thing was a bit out there as far as complicated and unpleasant plots, but he got why the man wanted him to marry his daughter and go there, because then his work wouldn't be of use here. He could be killed at leisure or maybe exploited. Glost didn't seem to have a high regard for magic though, so maybe it wouldn't be that one. Just killed then? Probably.
Tor was nearly willing. Sacrificing his own life to stop the murder of millions was a good trade. No one could doubt that. Even evil people would have done it. It was just too obvious to go against. What caused him to balk was when Daria Serge was brought in. Wearing irons.
Lillith Degray.
It made a convoluted and sneaky kind of sense once he heard it. Smythe had investigated further and found that she didn't have a history, not in Noram. She wouldn't answer questions, so they didn't get the whole story from her, but the old counselor did put together that she'd come several years before simply to try and corrupt one of the royal children. Daria looked up and smiled at Karina when this was said, her shirt dirty, smeared with filth and covered with food stains, hair wild and one tooth missing in front. The wound was fresh and still bled freely. She'd fought when they came for her it seemed. That or someone knew she was about to get off for free and wanted a little payment first.
“Don't worry Kari, I won't tell everyone how I made you, their darling little Princess lick my asshole every night for a month.” She grinned viciously.
“Oops, too late. Sorry about that.”
The scary part was that she suddenly really did sound sorry. It was freaky, she'd gone from snarky and bitchy to sweet and compassionate, even contrite, sounding in the same breath.
Yep, that was sane. Good wife material too no doubt, Tor thought, wondering if he could take these devices out at a distance somehow. If they were in Austra the easiest way would be to locate them and destroy them totally. Could he make a device that would search out something like that? He needed to know a lot more about them first. Hopefully Burks knew something that could help. It had worked with the tiny devices, the nanos. Maybe it was something like that?
Karina smiled at her.
“Who cares? Trust me, that you're a murdering bitch is a much bigger deal than me doing what you wanted in bed. It's your kink anyway, not mine. By the rules here I was just being a good friend. If I'd asked my parents first, they would have told me to do it just so you could have more fun. And that's with both of them never actually liking you.”
Connie gave a single short nod, but didn't let anything else show on her face.
It made Tor wince a bit. People did that? Eewww. He didn't want to judge, but… Eewww!
Lilli drooped a little. Sad her barb hadn't hit home? What did she expect from a noble of Noram? Tor shrugged himself, thinking that the girl was confused and deranged, so maybe she wasn't really thinking anything, just responding to what was put in front of her. She hadn't even tried to speak to her father yet. She raised a chained hand to wave a little, but then kept her mouth shut.
Tor sat back and listened, because, obviously the words of someone like him meant very little to the Austrans, though Denno seemed all right. Really it didn't make sense for him to be backing Serge like he was. That seemed to cross Burks mind too, and he stared at the illusion of his brother, their brother? Which looked serene and relaxed.
“Den, a bit against the treaty isn't it? Nuke's? Forbidden technology in fact. Also terrorism isn't allowed between us. We haven't even been invited to the parley table in this. Do you have an explanation that might shed some light?” The tone was interested and polite, not demanding. Then you didn't need to be demanding with someone that actually wanted to tell you something did you?
The Austran Ancient spread his hands eyes going heavy lidded in a way that meant something that Tor couldn't understand. He got it was a code, but lacked the key. Something very old then? Burks responded in nearly the same fashion a beat later. Oh. That was the signal to start then? Tor focused on what they did and said as closely as he could.
“Well, I've been a little out of the loop for a while, about seven years. Hard to tell down here. I agree that I've personally been remiss in this, Thirty-five nuclear devices?” He rubbed his nose with the side of one index finger a cute move, but not one that fit his stature. Something about the devices?
“Really Burks, you should bring the kids here when they marry, nothing would please me more than to see what our new little brother brings to the game.” Long hair brushed back, a feminine gesture, out of keeping with even a few moments before, on the word nothing. Tor thought he was starting to get it, it was about the devices, the claim of thirty-five was nothing? Did that mean there were a lot more hidden away or none at all?
Burks nodded his face still serious.
“We haven't established that Tor is marrying Daria yet. Even if we agree to the terms, we need a time, a place and assurances that Tor will be safe in Austra. Naturally this all depends on him. We can't ask him to give up his life just to amuse Glost, can we? Hardly seems like something he'd do.”
Tor almost missed the meaning there all together, it came so fast, Burks thrumming his fingers on the dark cherry wood table, in time with the words, going just a tiny bit faster on the key points. It worked out to something like “Time, place, Tor. Naturally this all depends on him. Ask him. Seems like something he'd do.”
Right. Some kind of stupid rescue mission?
That did seem like something he'd do, didn't it? Suppressing a nod Tor dug his heals in then. After all, if it seemed easy no one would believe it.
“No way. I love Ali, she's my wife. Any kind of annulment would just be a sham. Lillith, Daria here, killed Yardley. I only met her once, but really… you can't make me marry her! Even the King can't order that.” Well he could order it, but Tor didn't really have to do it. Not by tradition. Of course that wasn't the real message he just passed.
What he tried to communicate, attempting to be subtle about it was “I sham, make me marry her. King order.” It needed a question mark at the end, but he had to hope that one of these two would get the idea. Really, it would have to be Burks, since the fellow off in a foreign land in a prison cell couldn't order anyone to do much of anything. Then rubbing his own nose he finished the message.
“I'll fight you on it if you try!”
Then he did. They did a decent job of it too. Glost Serge stood back and laughed at them as they all cried, pleaded and screamed at him to save them, he played the insane spoiled brat with too much power, a thing he'd done before, for real, but didn't threaten to destroy Austra if Serge didn't back off. It would be one thing if the man had the weapons, but the longer they went on the more his crazy eyes shone with triumph above the glittering buttons and too loud coat below. Everyone argued against him except Ali, who resolutely held his hand in support and said nothing, which was perfect. Her face twisted a little so he squeezed her hand, the white, slightly iridescent dress she wore looked like foam around her shoulders to him suddenly and he had a strong urge to kiss her, but it didn't fit the scene. Instead he told Burks Lairdgren, his own grandfather, to go fuck himself. Everyone went quiet then, even the Austrans.
“That is it young man! I'm both your grandfather and your Count. You may not have to marry on the King’s command but you do on mine! The issue is settled, your marriage is annulled and you'll wed Daria Serge in three months, in their capital city. That's my final word on it!” His posture turned aggressive like he wanted to fight, squared off and stiff, fists clenched tight, knuckles going white.
It didn't really worry Tor, because he'd seen the man fight once. It was a relaxed and fluid thing even in a battle to the death. If he came at him to pat him on the back it would have been scarier. Tor crossed his arms and stood up, just as aggressive, but more passive. After all, you couldn't fight like that, not well.
“Oh?” Tor didn't raise his voice now, instead he let himself seem very, very angry and barley in control.
“What are you going to do if I don't? Kill me? That won't help your little plan at all will it? Daria do you take this corps to be your husband for all eternity? She'd probably like that though, no back talk!” He laughed hollowly, and looked to Rolph as if for support. It couldn't come, his friend still thought their kingdom faced destruction if Tor didn't go along with all this.
“Come on, he only wants to get me down there so he can kill me, or at very best lock me up and forget about me!” That, Tor guessed was the real plan, that and getting his daughter back alive.
Burks told him to shut up, the King suggested that Knight should put the kingdom before himself and Connie wept openly. Rolph got more and more grim the whole time and Varley clutched her arms across her middle as if it hurt physically. Karina kept staring at Lilli and Tor was pretty sure that if she could figure out a way to do it, the girl was going to die before Tor was taken. Possibly before she left the room.
Ali stayed very still, as if trying not to be noticed and so did her mom. A conditioned response to potential violence most likely. If Karen had been that conditioned for sex, what else had that freak of a father been doing to them?
Slowly, over the course of an hour the plan was set. Finally he sat, breathing hard, defeated and probably doomed. When they walked Daria out she smiled, turned to him and spoke loudly enough for the room to hear.
“When I have you back home I'm going to have you castrated and sell your ass on the street to all comers for our wedding night. If you don't bleed out the first time, I'll let you alternate between doing that and sucking cock from then on. We can use your magic clothes to dress you in pretty lacy under things and put you in those fancy whore boots they like here. Doesn't that sound fun? Maybe I won't even sell you, I'll just let people take turns. Yes, that sounds much more like you doesn't it? Just giving your ass away?”
She said it in her serious, crazy voice, not teasing, not threatening, a plan to be followed pure and simple. Tor stared at her. There was nothing to say to that. Crazy just didn't play by the same rules as sane. Most of the time it barley played by rules at all. He shook slightly instead. For once in his life he was actually faking it. The girl didn't scare him at all.
The room was cleared of everyone but the participants in the little talk and Burks carefully packed up the communications device, a science thing that Tor wasn't supposed to understand, but could take some hints from anyway. It was doable by magic too, though talking at a distance was really enough, why did he need to see people all the time? It took too much space for one thing and for him to do it would waste work if not energy.
Once they were alone, and they actually were for once, no spies watched from the walls as far as Tor could tell, Burks grinned at him.
“Not bad. Little sloppy at first, but you picked up the idea soon enough. So did you get the whole thing?” Everyone else stared at the Count but Tor nodded.
“ I think. There are no nuclear weapons, he tried to build some but people in his own system sabotaged them. He's insane, but still has a firm grip on Austra somehow. Denno Brown is being held captive and has been for somewhere between seven and ten years, he isn't sure, what he does know is that he's being kept in the basement of Serges palace.” Tor frowned and looked at the Ancient hard. The man had regressed in age and now looked virtually like Tor did, but a little too tall and wearing green instead of black. The hair was too short, but they had three months to make it match.
“That was a little vague. It would be best if we could narrow that down. Um, then we set the time, three months from now. Now all I have to do is figure out how to go in, free him and get out without the Austrans catching us. I guess, when I start working again that's what I'm doing, figuring out how to get us out.”
Everyone else stared at him now. Rolph was the one that spoke.
“Huh? Um, Tor, the plan is for you to go get married isn't it? And then apparently be turned into a girl and made a whore? Well, not really, they get paid. I'm not sure I know where the rest came from there…”
Burks sat and smiled, their looks matching so closely that first Ali gasped and pointed and then everyone else gasped too, except the King who just nodded.
“I see, so this isn't a marriage at all, it's a rescue mission?”
The Count looked around and nodded, his mind clearly elsewhere.
“Right, Tor and I go and get our brother. That's not too hard to understand, is it?”
Copying what she'd seen Tor do with the obviously insane man earlier, and most likely not to certain everyone hadn't caught the crazy bug, Ali raised her hand. Burks nodded to her gently.
“Yes dear?”
“Um, if the marriage to Lilli isn't real, then are Tor and I still married or not?” She sounded half scared as if the answer depended on her asking the right way.
Burks shrugged.
“Oh, you're still married. You'll stay that way too, Tor can even help get you set up at school and get back to classes. I think the Prince can too, resume school, for now at least. Even Serge won't want to mess things up now. Sorry about all the dramatics, but it would have looked a little strange if Tor got on one knee and begged Daria for her hand, given everything.”
Everyone was happier then, if wrung out by the events of the last hours. Karina ran over and hugged Ali and him, Tor didn't let go of his wife’s hand. He'd managed, somehow, to not lose her yet. He really didn't want her to somehow wonder off. Rolph came and gave them both hugs too, but the rest of the royal family stayed back as if wary or not wanting to intrude. But they were all friends, weren't they?
Why were they acting so… the word that came to mind was guilty, but that couldn't have been right. Tor walked over, nudging everyone else with him, until they stood in front of Varley. When it came to getting information, she was a good place to start.
“What?” He asked, waving his hands gently at the three of them who mainly weren't looking at him.
She got it. Of course she did, she was brilliant after all.
“Tor… we were all willing to trade your life to a madman just to buy time to save our people, the kingdom. Aren't you mad at us? We just sold you to them. I heard what that… thing said! They plan to torture you if not kill you outright. Probably both. I don't think you should go. The Brown man is responsible for Austra and didn't do his job, now they have a monster for a leader. Why should you help him? You don't know him and he isn't really your brother. He was born thousands of years ago!”
She had a point. Still, what else could they have done? If there really were bombs pointed at them like that, he would have had to go anyway. True, then he'd have outfitted as many fighters as possible with the best weapons he could come up with first and destroyed the bombs and their delivery devices, but they would have had to say roughly the same things. Tor knew that.
“Well, you know, later, when I'm trading you lot to the monsters to buy the rest of us time I just expect you all to not get pissy about it, that's all. Plus it worked out well enough this time.” He put his arm over her shoulder, reaching up to do that now, unlike when they'd met and been about the same size, oh those precious weeks. She might be showing he decided, trying not to stare. It was hard to tell with her being clothed and all, this early on.
He really considered asking her to take it off sometime soon, just to look, but realized that his wife was hovering at his elbow. Married, he reminded himself with a happy lift to his spirit at the thought. With all that entailed. Most of it at least. They still hadn't talked about children. That would be a delicate and possibly painful subject. Well, soon he'd do it, but not today. Not that soon. They both deserved a real rest. Not that he was going to get one.
“Burks… we need to get together and actually make a plan. My house tomorrow morning?” It was secure and more, it was home, for now at least.
Burks nodded.
“Indeed.”
Tor nodded back. It looked to him like it was finally approaching time to finally deal with Austra. There was just so much to do. He needed to set up with Ali at school, try to get back into classes himself and then save Denno Brown from his own people.
For a second he felt amazed that he’d gotten himself into all of this. But thinking about it, he realized something.
He hadn’t.
At almost every turn, the situation seemed to have been set in motion by an Ancient.
Tor decided that was going to need some thought as well, if he ever had the time.
Then, really, he did.
Possibly all the time in the world.