Tor didn’t want to be mean, but the crying was starting to get on his nerves. It either was the case that the Morgans, or at least one of them, had poisoned him, or, and he tried to be very clear when he wrote this last bit out, someone else wanted him to think that. It was actually far more likely to be the second one he pointed out while Trice cried. That or her parents were morons that wanted to be caught.
How likely was that?
Not very.
Tor had talked to both of them at length and not only had they seemed like good people, they seemed intelligent to him. Even if they were secretly evil poisoners, that would have taken a lot of acting talent to pull off, and they would have had to know to set the ground work by trying way back then. That turned out to be too hard to convey with his nearly illegible handwriting at the moment. Darned shaky hands. The tremors seemed worse now than they had been when he’d started writing as if all the stress was making it even harder. Of course, for some reason as he wrote and the shaking got worse Trice cried harder and Sara started in too.
At least the tall blond did it quietly.
Across the room Rolph prowled, looking alternately angry and guilty, finally, Tor wrote down one word on the note pad, then underlined it and held it out for his tall friend to read.
What?
Sara and Patricia didn’t get it, but Rolph certainly did. They’d just known each other too well for too long for him not to. The Prince sighed and sat down with a thump on his own bed, which got the girls attention, even if it wasn’t enough to stop the crying.
“Well… both my parents have sworn to me that they weren’t behind this in any way, and that they’ll lay down their own lives to catch whoever did this to you. Even if it was the Morgans…” This pronouncement got a panicked wail from the normally emotionally solid girl. “However… They could both be lying about it. I mean, you were snubbed at the palace gates not once, but twice. That doesn’t happen by accident, at least not that I’ve ever heard. Sure, mom cried about it for days and even locked herself in her room over it, but dad just got kind of flat like he does. It’s the same if he’s angry, sad… I don’t know what all, because it’s just so expressionless, right? I thought he was upset about it at the time, but what… what if he was just mad at Tor?”
That got everyone’s attention and except for the occasional sob, much lighter than before, everyone focused on Rolph. Maddeningly the Prince didn’t say anything else. He scribbled at first, then realized that he couldn’t make out the words he’d just written, so Tor started over and tried for clarity. It still looked like a seven year old had written it.
‘Why would he be mad at me?’
It seemed a trifle excessive if it was all about him calling the King “Rich”, wasn’t it? Oh, sure, having him turned away from the palace, that would be fair enough. If someone ticked you off regularly, there was no reason you had to invite them into your home. Or invite them to your birthday party. But having him killed? Plus, would the King’s assassins have failed? The idea didn’t add up right. If the guy didn’t like how Tor spoke to him, he could just order him to fix it, right? Or even just suggested it in passing.
His tall red-haired friend raised his eyebrows as if Tor was being purposefully dense.
If he was, it wasn’t on purpose. He held his hands up and shrugged, asking for an explanation. It was still shaky, but easier than writing it all out.
“Well, let’s see, sleeping with his wife, and her being far less than subtle about it in public? He really shouldn’t blame you, since you were always trying to play it right, but mom, well, let’s just say she could have done a better job of being discrete. It wouldn’t be a huge issue normally, he’s not the jealous type, but clearly you have a larger impact on mom than most of her “friends” do.”
No one else in the room looked at him, which meant he had to wave the pad around to get their attention when he finished writing.
What? Never slept with Queen! Who said?
Sara looked at the note and then him. Then frowned, and did both again.
“Everyone is saying it Tor. It’s all over the Capital. I even heard it from my own mother, who normally doesn’t like to gossip, but felt I should know, in case it impacted business with you. We’ve kind of tied our horse to your pack train, so mom’s working to keep tabs on you, probably a lot more closely than you think.” She took a deep breath and continued, soldiering on, or so it felt to Tor.
“It could have been you seeing Collette Coltress too. You were good enough about it that no one knew, until you were both turned away from the gate like that. The Queen might have felt slighted that you were seeing someone younger and even prettier than she is.”
It felt like it took forever before he got the message written, it took a page and a half of the notebook, because he had to write big in order for the words to make sense. He explained that Collette was going just as a friend, mainly so that her half sister, Maria Ward, wouldn’t make fun of her for not being invited. Maria’s name got underlined several times.
The bitch probably had fun with the whole being turned away at the gate thing, Tor bet. It was part of why he’d given all that stuff to Collette, as poor as his little trinkets were, he felt like something had to be done to boost up her spirits if an onslaught was coming from that quarter.
He drank more water, checking it for poison first. His friends all looked at him, a little hurt, but he shook his head. From now on, anything that he ate or drank got checked out. Period. It just looked too stupid, him being laid up from having been poisoned like that. He wrote that all out for them, which got a tired laugh from all three.
On the third day he got out of bed and went to class in the morning, not waiting for permission. He felt sick still, weak and shaky, but lying in bed wasn’t helping him anymore, it didn’t seem. His voice was cracked, sounded broken and strained, but that could be lived with. No one really wanted to listen to him anyway, did they? In the afternoon he couldn’t go to weapons practice or exercise on his own, so he sat in his room making copies instead. He tried for six hours of copy work but had to stop at five. His control just failed after that. Basically, he just couldn’t pay attention any more.
Thoughts of who might have come after him plagued his mind day and night. He had dreams of Rolph strangling him in his bed, only to wake up and find his friend soundly sleeping. Other dreams about the Morgans coming in and stabbing him or once Davie Derring just hacking him apart in practice. It was hard for him to focus, but he made a point of doing it anyway. Six hours a day until he could do it without needing a break. Tor tried to look at it like exercise. Slack off and you lost what you had.
It took almost two weeks for people to start showing up to “visit” him. His mother and father made sense; they were just worried about him. He didn’t mention that the juice that had been tainted was a gift from the Morgans. If there was something to it, then it would be hard enough for his mother to handle later, when it had been proven. If there wasn’t, then making a big issue of it would just color their friendship in a negative way. They’d all just gotten that back and it felt wrong to damage it now.
A lot of the others made much less sense.
Dorgal Sorvee came and knocked on his door one evening, which got Rolph to let him in, along with his friend Marco. Rolph stood by warily, ready to intervene if need be. To fight. Dorgal and Marco didn’t get it, but Tor did. His giant friend had a force lance clutched in his right hand ready to go at a moment’s notice. One of Tor’s too, so that it could stay hidden, since they were smaller than average. Neither man had a shield on that Tor could sense, so if they attacked it would probably be about the last thing they did. He remembered how Wensa had gone through the wall, which had been repaired really fast, now that he thought about it. Almost scary fast to tell the truth. Benefits of having the Prince sharing his room? Probably.
Dorgal managed to sound almost like a real person when he spoke, rather than someone planning to take advantage of Tor’s weakness.
“My father wanted me to check on you and see if your unhappy working with Debri House yet. I mean, they could at least pay you something, after all, you’ve pretty much handed them the military as nearly sole provider for shields, and given them total control of the flight market. All of that is your work and no one else has even managed a knock off of either one yet, meaning you have total domination of those fields. But what have they given you so far? Your own mansion in the Capital? Large tracks of land along the ocean?” He smiled. The speech sounded practiced and like he hadn’t written the words himself at all. For one thing, Dorgal never called him a moron for letting Debri fleece him, or referred to Tor as “little baker boy”. Big signs right there.
“No? What’s that you say? They haven’t given you anything but a few supplies to work with? Sorvee house may not be able to give you as much per unit, but we’ll actually pay what we owe and won’t over reach capacity. Yes, Debri is a reputable house and will eventually give you what they promise; no one doubts that, still-”
Tor staggered to his feet, making the room go silent, and walked to the chest at the foot of his bed. He pulled out the template for the earth moving field. He didn’t need it anymore he’d found, after making a few hundred of the devices already. Tor explained, softly, what it was and how it worked.
Then he handed the template over to the jerk in front of him. Yes, he was a bully, but still, his family didn’t deserve to go downhill because of Tor, did they?
“Ten percent recopy fee to me. Charge what you want, make how many you want, give them away if it suits you, but don’t cheat me. If you do, I won’t do business with you anymore. If you act fairly, then we’ll see. I have a few more things ready to go right now that no one holds even a verbal contract on. Goodbye.”
He didn’t let the men say any more or ask questions, Rolph, laughing, kicked them out of the room with big waves of his hands. After they left the Prince didn’t let his gaze waiver at all from the door.
“That was… odd. My understanding was that you didn’t trust or like him at all. He’s kind of earned your dislike over the years you know.”
Tor nodded thoughtfully, “Yeah, but consider this enough rope for him and his family to hang themselves if they prove that they’re as bad as I think they are. If they deal fairly, I gain from it, and maybe make new friends. If they don’t, I learn from it and take back the template. Works either way. Besides, this way I could kick him out of our room without seeming too mean. “Here, take a present and get the hell out” just doesn’t sound nearly as evil as all that, does it?”
Rolph didn’t even laugh at the idea.
“That’s the noble tradition.” He said, eyeing Tor with something approaching respect.
The next set of visitors was nicer, even if Tor didn’t understand why exactly they came. It was Karen, along with Davie, and Petra the combat giant. For a second Tor wondered if they were planning on beating him for missing class with them, but they all started hugging him instead. Even Davie gave him a hug, oddly enough. Petra even sat on his bed with him for a while and kept patting him on the arm and back, looking concerned. This got a small smile from Davie, and earned the boy a covert elbow from his sister, but really, Tor didn’t mind it. Petra was good sized and strong from all the weapons work, but kind of good looking anyway. She had a really nice, straight nose and pretty brown eyes to go with her short dark brown hair and silky looking dark tan skin. Her look was kind of like Ellen Wards he decided. Or Count Wards. But then no one in the world had ever denied the guy was good looking, and it worked for Petra too.
She made a point of being the last one out the door about twenty minutes later, and turned quickly to give him another hug before she left, which was really sweet of her at least. It seemed like she really wanted him back to weapons practice soon from what she said. The other targets must not be challenging enough, Tor thought, very nearly breaking out in a grin. Before she left he reached out suddenly and touched her arm. The others had left already, so they were alone, though the door was still open a crack, so no one would think he was trying to take advantage of her, Tor didn’t think.
Like he could make her do anything she didn’t want too right now? He almost laughed again. Ever. He couldn’t have taken advantage of her ever. He knew for a fact she could break him in half with one hand. Actually she’d almost done that to him once if he remembered correctly. By accident. In practice. His spine twinged a little at the thought.
“Oh! Um, do you have your own flying gear and shield yet?” He asked gently, voice rasping and grating through his throat.
“Huh? Oh, no… those are hard to get and even if they weren’t, I wouldn’t be able too, money’s a little tight at home since my dad died.” She shrugged a little, but didn’t look away from him. “My brother’s wife kind of hates me and my mom, so she’s gotten my brother to nearly cut us off. Mom has to scrimp just to hold my place here. I mean, she never complains about it, but it’s been hard. It was better when dad was alive.” The last words were just a little sad. Not pure grief, but enough that Tor could tell she missed the man.
“Sorry to hear about that. My condolences. Um, you know, if you ever need to talk about it, I’m here, OK?” Tor looked down for a moment and just prayed he’d said the right thing, he never knew what to say when people died, but his mom had always told the kids that almost anything, no matter how awkward sounding, was better than saying nothing. He shuffled over to the chest and pulled out some amulets and plates for her.
“Here, flying rig, shield, temperature control amulet and, um, some lights for your room? If you want or need anything else, just come and knock on the door, yeah? I’ve got loads of everything now. Too much actually.” Blinking he stopped and pulled a water heater for her. If she was having to scrape by, she might not have funds to go to the bathhouse in town. Tor hadn’t put any of the devices in the girls’ baths, for obvious reasons.
Duh.
He handed her ten of them.
“Could you, would you I mean, set these up in the girls section?” He looked down then, hoping it wasn’t too much to expect of her. She was always nice though, so maybe it wouldn’t be a problem?
This, unexpectedly, earned him a kiss, one that probably would have made even Rolph blush if he’d been there to see it. Well. Apparently it was worth it, giving this tall girl stuff. He’d have to keep that in mind for when Trice dumped him. He had a lot to give away after all. She left shortly after that, but kissed him several more times first.
Definitely worth it.
Two days later, his voice finally starting to work almost normally again, a knock came at the door, a sound he was starting to dread more than a little. Not that anything bad had happened so far, but people kept coming and having difficult conversations with him. Wanting to know how he felt about almost dying and things like that.
It was annoying.
This one he quickly realized probably wouldn’t be any better, since Trice stood in front of the door with her parents, all of them looking nervous as hell. Tor couldn’t blame them really. He gave Trice a hug and then Mercy, who flinched like he was going to strangle her or something, as if she couldn’t snap him like a twig. Eric got a hearty handshake, or what Tor could manage towards that as best he could at the moment.
“Hey!” Voice rasping and popping, not as bad by half as it had been, but still sounding like he’d taken up broken glass gargling as a hobby. “Come in. Not a lot of places to sit…”
They settled uneasily, looking at each other and then the bed as if it might be booby trapped. That… He stopped for a second and thought.
Yeah, it wouldn’t be easy, but he could do that. Set a trap that wouldn’t go off until a single, or in this case two, targets got in range. That he wouldn’t, not just because they might have had something to do with someone trying to poison him at least, hopefully would be enough for them. Eventually.
“So, has anything gone forward with the County Ford relief effort?” Tor knew he was casting around for a topic other than “hey, did you have me poisoned by chance?” but the fact that they’d show up was a good enough sign that they hadn’t. As good a one as he was going to get. It wasn’t like they’d admit to doing it if they had, right?
The relief effort had gone forward, in fact they’d even expanded the project, offering the loan of food driers and shipping in return for half the difference in what would have been lost otherwise. The same deal Tor had made with them. That left the accounting to the honesty of the farmer or his lord, of course, but so far the returns were pretty good. If anything, Eric told him gently, people were erring on the side of giving too much, not less.
“They know that it’s not greed on our part, but a humanitarian effort, I think. Given they still gain from it, most want to do what they can to help.”
It had to be scheduled carefully, because there was a limited number of food driers, and they were using half their shipping containers to turn a profit at any one time, ferrying goods cross the kingdom, but it was coming together well enough that Count Ford was nearly certain that no one would starve when winter came.
Slowly, like an old man, Tor got up and opened his trunk. Buried under the clothing he had about fifty more of the food driers, which he matched with cargo hauling plates, shields and flying rigs. It came to just slightly less than that number for each, because he saved a few back for use specifically in Two Bends. The farmers in that area could use them to preserve a few more things than they’d manage otherwise. Plus, a few of the neighbor kids had apparently expressed interest in working for Two Bends delivery, but needed the gear for it. Why not? It cost him only a tiny bit and would help out his old friends. If need be he’d make rigs for the whole town. Oddly, not everyone wanted to try flying though.
Mercy started crying.
Not little tears or just quiet sobs, but big wracking things that, almost unbelievably, put Trice to shame. The girl looked to be tearing up herself, so Tor tried to head that off.
“Well, I see which side of the family you got that crying from. Oh… wait.” He pulled out a set of ten lights that he’d made and turned one of them on. It matched the one that Rolph had hung on the wall. It made a glow that wasn’t as bright as sunlight, about half that really, which still almost blinded you if you looked at it for too long. There was a nimbus of light around the device that made an aura up to about a foot away. Holding up a finger he showed them how, by tapping the difference sigils on it, they could control how bright the light was. It was new, he told them, but not all that difficult to make.
“But…” Mercy sobbed loudly, a hiccup in the middle of the word. “Don’t you think we tried to kill you?”
Did he? Tor shook his head slowly.
“Not really. Why would you? To get your daughter out of an unsuitable marriage? If that’s all you wanted you’d send a go between or just come and tell me “no thank you” yourselves, not send a barrel of tasty poison. It really was good by the way, until the horrible pain part, then it kind of sucked. Anyway, back to the question. Honestly? I don’t know. How could I? I can’t see a good reason for it, but then I can’t ever see a reason for that kind of thing, so maybe I’m just too stupid to get it? As for this,” he gestured at the pile of stuff in front of him. “Either you’re perfectly innocent and someone wants me to think you’re guilty, which this should thwart pretty well, showing I won’t be swayed that easily, or you’re secretly criminal masterminds, in which case, please consider this a bribe towards my continuing survival. I’ll send more if you want. Really. Much more profitable by far to keep me alive. Yep. Definitely worth doing. I’ll kiss you all too, if that will help?” He’d liked it well enough when Petra had done it.
He smiled at them, chin coming up in a nod that was almost a tick, but wondered if the smile reached his eyes. It didn’t feel like it, but then he was only partly kidding.
“For that matter if you see them, please tell the King and Queen that whatever I’ve done to anger them, if anything, I’m sorry and won’t bother them anymore. Honest.”
They solemnly said that they’d see the message delivered if they could. It seemed that they didn’t think their own reception in the Capital would be all that warm either. Well, Tor told them, at least if they got turned away from the palace they had their own place to go to there. Stopping them before they left, he asked if they could deliver something for them, if they were going that way anyway.
“These lights are for Debbie, who runs the bakery by the south wall near the Cartwright. Please tell her that I’m sorry for leaving half way through the festival like that. Thanks. Oh… um, if you’re willing to play delivery people for me?” Tor gave then a nervous smile, but the Morgans both nodded a bit, looking nervous.
Tor made up a large sack of devices for Debbie on a whim. It got rid of some of the things and cleared space up, so why not? Hopefully she’d be able to give it away or something. It was a lot more than she needed just for herself. Maybe she could sell some of it? If nothing else it was on copper and that had some value.
Trice gave him a little hug on the way out.
It wasn’t lost on him that she’d almost stopped touching him since everything had happened. Probably getting ready to cut ties, but not wanting to do it while the whole poisoning thing hung over her family’s heads like it did. That plus the fact that he still looked like crud. His face, not normally meaty anyway, looked even thinner and more pale than he’d ever been before. If this kept up he’d end up a walking skeleton. Not that it mattered overly. It wasn’t like his looks had ever gotten him women before.
He did manage to finally get back to work and make a new, decently complex, device that didn’t have any use he could think of, but that still got him a good mark in his novel build class. He needed to get back to working on useful things though. A device like the one he just made, that did nothing but listen to a sound and then regenerate it when the plate was activated properly, probably wouldn’t have any purpose at all. It was a fun toy, allowing people to talk and then repeat things perfectly later, but that wouldn’t help a real person, would it?
After lunch, about three weeks later, he decided that it was time to at least make a showing at the weapons practice sessions, even if he wasn’t up to working yet. The truth was that he’d run out of copper for templates a few days before and couldn’t make copies of anything. That had been about his only recreation for a while, so he really missed having something useful to do when it suddenly ended. Plus, the room was filled with enough devices at the moment that he could very possibly open up his own little store if he wanted.
Sara had laughed at him when he mentioned that.
“You’re kidding right? You have more inventory than most device shops in the entire kingdom here. Plus it’s all Tor stuff, so you know its quality. All you need is a shop front…” Her look went calculating, but she’d stopped talking. So if she had an idea, Tor didn’t know about it. It was an idea though, if he got stuck for money, he could always open his own little shop and sell his junk to unsuspecting people.
That’s what he was thinking about when he walked into the training square. No one was retuleing, instead they were all trying to shift around a half dozen stone squares that must have weighed about five tons each, easy. Kolb saw him and smiled, waving him over.
“Tor! Just the man I need. We’re finally paving the upper right corner here, but we have to get these stones cut into one inch thick slabs. Apparently thanks to your new cargo plates, it was cheaper to ship these uncut, but right now, we can’t move them, and none of our cutters have a long enough sweep to do the job, miss by about a foot and a double cut never works with those things. If you’re off at all the stones come out uneven or break. I’m going to go to the Dean and complain about this right now, but we still have to do something about it. Can you take care of it? Don’t just build a cutter, and definitely don’t try to move the stones yourself! I don’t have to be a doctor to see you’re still not a hundred percent.”
Cut the stones without a cutter? Could he do that?
It was, he knew, technically possible. Tor had even generated a few fields that were strong enough to do things on occasion, on the fly so to speak, unanchored things. They’d fade though and this was a lot of cuts if he had to build a new field for it each time…
Well, that was the assignment, so he’d try at least. Kolb wouldn’t set him the task if it wasn’t part of training, even if it did seem unlikely. The man was hard, but he’d gotten Tor to come up with those shields, and the flying stuff, hadn’t he? So far Kolb was right about what he could do if he really tried, no matter how insane what he asked had sounded. Sighing Tor nodded.
“Alright. I can do it.”
That got a slap on the shoulder before Kolb stalked off.
Someone had already set up a cutting guide, just two boards about an inch thick that normally you’d run a cutter down with it activated, so all the slices would be straight and true. Cool. Now all he had to do was get it in place, and get a few of the giant weapons brutes to grab the stones when they came off, so that they wouldn’t fall each time. That part was the most difficult for him, which Kolb undoubtedly knew. It was probably why he’d been told to do it that way instead of just using floats from his room.
“Um, excuse me please?” Tor looked around as about half the people stared at him.
“Kolb ask me to see to these stones, but I’m not allowed to use a cutter, or move them myself. So if I get these into slabs, can you all help get them into place?”
No one said anything, but Karen walked over grinning and patted him on the back and Petra smiled at him gently. Right, he’d been out for a while and had been spotty before that. Tor was just glad they hadn’t decided that a sound thrashing was in order to help him remember to come. Yet at least. They were probably waiting for him to recover a little more. Well, that was polite of them. Also it gave him time to come up with a way to avoid the punishment.
It took a lot more concentration than he was used to using in order to get the first field up. He could feel it but it was tentative and weak. He went slow and made sure that the cut was as perfect as he could manage. It wasn’t good enough, the cut didn’t show, if it had happened at all and the stone stayed intact.
Alright.
He squared his shoulders, took a deep breath, and made another one, not starting the cut until the field was strong enough this time, so it took a full minute before he could even move and four more before he started the cut. This time the slab came free.
He didn’t want to let the field go, but had to, in order to not accidentally hack anyone’s limbs off as he repositioned the cutting guide and his hand. That, he knew, wouldn’t make anyone happy. For one thing it would make a mess. He let the field go and stepped back while one of the smaller giants reset the cutting guide for him, which was handy. Then he did it again, and again. It took nearly three hours to get all the slabs cut and down on the ground, longer than it should have, because as he got tired near the end his concentration flagged a bit, making a few of the cuts not work right. They lost two slabs that way, breaking off near the bottom, still attached in a narrow strip as the cutting field failed, but they didn’t need them all for the space, so maybe it would be all right.
They were cut stone though. He hadn’t used a cutter, but he may as well have as far as how polished and slick the pieces all looked. They’d need to make them rougher unless being slick was part of the point, to make them harder to stand on when fighting? No one knew, so they just waited for Kolb to come back. Karen got to him first and asked, but that didn’t deter Kolb from walking directly over to Tor first.
“I thought I said not to just build a cutter for it. I have to admit it looks good, but…” Large bald head tilting to the right, Kolb stared at him. Hard and a little angrily.
Karen came to his rescue. Smiling proudly even.
“All direct effect, no cutter involved at all. It was kind of neat really. There must be what, three people in the kingdom that could manage that? He wasn’t even in combat rage or anything. That could be dead handy in a fight, once he practices up with it a bit. So far it was a little slow… But do we rough it up or leave it smooth?”
Rough it up was the answer. Tor was half way through the design of a complicated device that would make small and irregular pits in the surface of the material when one of the guys he didn’t know grabbed a few handfuls of sand and started scuffing it around with his boots. It didn’t make deep marks, but the lines were enough. Chuckling at how simple the solution had been, Tor grabbed a handful of sand and started on his own square.
Not everything needed magic after all.
The practice square looked sharp by the time Tor felt tired enough to leave, dragging just a little from the light work of scuffing his feet like that. It was really kind of pitiful. Worse, he knew for a fact that both Kolb and Karen noticed. They didn’t say anything about it at least. He’d have to start running again soon, he decided.
Or maybe walking? Slowly?
Yeah, that sounded a lot more reasonable.
The next set of visitors he got kind of surprised him, because he wouldn’t have expected them to come and visit him in a million years. They arrived with a full retinue and headed straight to the headmasters offices. Tor learned all this when he was summoned and Rolph had to take him over, because Tor didn’t know where that actually was.
Karina and Varley sat in well padded chairs waiting for him.
“Tor!” Varley jumped up and nearly tackled him with a hug. The move made him stagger more than a little bit because the girl outweighed him now. Not by a lot, but with her growth and his weight loss, they seemed to have traded places. Sigh. Now everyone he knew away from home was bigger than he was. She had her hair up in the back and looked older suddenly, a lot like her mom.
“Varley, Karina. How are you two doing and most importantly, what are you doing here? Come to visit your brother? He’s just outside…”
Karina spoke first, standing far more regally; she walked to Tor and bowed.
“Don’t be silly. We’re here to invite you to the palace. Here,” she held out and envelope to him that he’d missed in his bafflement at seeing not one, but two Princesses in the room upon entering. “This is an invitation for you, and a guest, to the royal dinner party next Tuesday evening. Please come at seven. Father and mother will also be at the main gate personally to make sure that nothing goes wrong.”
She looked cute in the silk and leather flying clothes she wore, the blouse was a rich purple. Varley wore an identical outfit, which made the whole scene even more interesting, though he didn’t mention it. Cute identically dressed Princesses could easily spark a fantasy that would force Rolph to thrash him if he wasn’t careful. If his friend found out about it at least. Tor wasn’t sure if Connie could read minds, and Varley had her moments of insight, but Rolph never seemed to do anything like that at all, so maybe Tor could survive having such thoughts.
Varley chimed in then. “It isn’t a summons, just an invitation. Given everything I wouldn’t blame you if you decided to skip it, but I do know that no one has really figured out what happened, and trust me, no one wants to alienate you at all. I mean no one too. Half the palace staff threatened to quit after the birthday party incident you know and only a solemn promise that this would be handled efficiently and quickly has gotten them to stay.”
The younger girl hugged him again, and then again as they all walked to the door.
“We’re just delivering messages this week. Dad has us flying all over the kingdom. Still, we’re getting massive flying practice in, aren’t we? Please come? It’ll be nice having someone there that I can actually talk too. Please?” She attempted a Karina worthy wheedle, but he stuck his tongue out at her, getting a laugh from the Dean and at least one of the Royal Guard, dressed almost identically to the girls. Ah, camouflage. It should work too. From a distance they’d all look about alike, especially if everyone had their hair up under a flying cap. He didn’t own one, but they were all the rage in some circles he’d heard. Those circles being amongst people with money to waste on funny looking leather caps made to size for the wearer.
“Honestly? I don’t know. I’m a little tired still and wondering around the city looking for a place to stay all night might be a bit much for me right now, you know? It would be nice to see everyone, if they want to see me, that is. I’m just not really certain they do…” Tor relented a little and told her that he’d think about it, because she’d asked so nicely.
The idea of trying to walk around the Capital all night right now really did kind of seem like too much. But still, maybe in a week? Five days. He had to count them out but… It was so hard to know.
Torrance collected more hugs on the way out, which was more than he’d gotten altogether since he’d been not let in the palace the first time. Huh. Well, if they let him in at all, it would be a big deal. He wasn’t going to go without another place to stay first, and some coin this time. If they did leave him stuck he’d be able to get some food and maybe pay for a place to stay. That, he guessed, would be the big thing then. Could he get enough money in time?
Probably not.
Later that night he asked Rolph about what things cost there and, lifelong resident that he was, he had almost no clue. How would he know the price of an inn when he lived at the palace? His suggestion was that they go find Sara and ask. Not so much because she’d know either, but because she might know who would, merchants had friends that traveled and that meant they might stay at an inn and would need recommendations as to which ones to frequent. It neared dinner time, and while the girls weren’t going to be eating in their dining hall, Rolph did know what restaurant in town they liked.
That the little town had eating establishments Tor knew. What they were like inside? Not a clue. Going in had always been a bit of a bad idea for him. Oh, it would have been possible for him to do it when Rolph paid him for the clothes driers for the Queen, but since then he’d spent most of his money on materials to make stuff.
“I guess I shouldn’t keep giving everything away for free. It makes me feel good to help people though and, you know, as desperate as it sounds, I want everyone to like me. So I give them some of the junk I make. So far it hasn’t really been working too well as far as making friends, but I’m sure it will kick in any day now.” Tor made a face that said he was joking around, or at least he tried for that. How well it worked he didn’t know. Honestly he could just barely care enough to try and seem engaging at all. So far so good though, right? It was probably just the poison taking its toll and it would take time to bounce back. Then, he hadn’t felt like things had much spark even before that, had he?
Rolph laughed and clapped him on the shoulder. “You’re doing fine. And, by the way, people do like you. A lot really. You just intimidate them is all. You can’t help it. I mean it’s the kind of building you do and how smart you are mainly. Plus your looks. There are other people that put out things as high quality as what you’ve been doing, one or two may even be better, or at least more complex in what they’re doing. Maris and Ent both come to mind. But you do more of it, faster, and with high quality than anyone. People are starting to notice that. Plus the other stuff you’re doing. Drought relief? Helping cities escape a plague? Do you know how many of the top builders help out each year with disaster relief? Or Countiers doing the same for that matter? Other than you I mean? None. Not one. So, yeah. You’re… cool.” Rolph grinned at the use of the term.
Tor got it, because as far as he knew, he’d invented it. At least in that usage. It meant, “alright or good”, now that the Prince was using it, maybe it would catch on?
They talked a little more on the subject while they walked to the restaurant, which while not far, still took several minutes, because Tor wasn’t up to running the whole way, which is what he normally did when he walked with the long legged behemoth beside him. Rolph slowed down this time. Probably to lull him into a false sense of security. It was a crawl for his friend, he knew, so this kindness wouldn’t last too long. He really needed to get back in shape fast. Even thinking about it was exhausting, but it had to be done. Especially if people wanted to kill him.
That part just didn’t mesh with his reality.
When he’d thought it was Wensa, well, she just didn’t think highly of him and had thought he was a possible threat once. But who else would hate him so much? No one really came to mind. It bothered him though. A lot. You didn’t poison a person like that by accident.
Well, unless it had really been intended for Rolph?
Eek. Tor hadn’t even considered that before. I was addressed to him, so he just figured… But anyone that knew him would have guessed that he’d share, right? Possibly even if he was really angry still. That made a lot more sense. His friend was actually important and everything.
Tor was breathing a little hard when they got to the place, so he asked if they could stand outside for a minute while he caught it. Mainly gesturing this need. He didn’t want to be embarrassing inside the shop or whatever it was. He’d never been in a real restaurant before, so a good retulsion was important. Rolph was paying though, it wouldn’t cost him anything personally, which was good or he wouldn’t be going.
They didn’t see the girls immediately, though they both glanced around covertly, trying not to stare at anyone. Rolph got them a table out in the open so that they could wait and easily be seen when they came in. That was the idea at least, or so Tor guessed. They didn’t talk about much, being so exposed.
Rolph ordered wine before the meal, which came in a clear glass with a stem, but Tor stuck with water, which he checked covertly for poison before he drank. His giant friend checked his wine too though, so he didn’t feel too awkward about doing it himself. The place was… odd. People talked at other tables, some of which were hidden behind screens, but open on one side. The dividers were dark wood frames covered with nicely woven white and cream material. It looked like silk, but probably wasn’t. The place looked nice, but it was a kind of surface finery that he’d learned to recognize over the last few months, not the deep kind that the palace had in places. Still, it was the most attractive business establishment Tor had ever been in.
They weren’t there five minutes when Tor noticed the noise coming from one of the tables with divider screens, about three back. The voices were familiar, being the girls they’d come looking for. There were a few male voices mixed in as well though, which made Tor catch his breath.
Right.
Well, it was very possible that Trice had a boyfriend or, by the rules of royal society, maybe a half-dozen? If she was here with one of them then… what was he supposed to do? Ignore it? Leave? Rolph didn’t seem to think anything of it at least, so maybe it was just a regular crowd of friends he didn’t know yet? Either way he tried to ready himself so that he wouldn’t look like a fool. It wasn’t like it was a real engagement or anything and it probably wouldn’t even be a sham one for much longer the way things had been going. It was a little sad — for him — but that didn’t mean she shouldn’t have a real life while she waited for Count “way to old” Lockland or Overland, whatever his name was, to forget about her or pick a new girl to try for.
For that matter, maybe he already had? The guy was a Count after all. Even if he was eighty or whatever, a lot of girls would be willing to marry him, just to be a Countess for a while.
After a minute of increasingly loud conversation, it became clear that they were talking about him, which surprised Tor to no end. People talked about him when he wasn’t there? Rolph sat up suddenly as the conversation turned a little. Pointedly so.
“What about Tor? You think I want to be married to a midget? He kisses like a dog. Well… OK he’s not that bad, but even hugging him feels like I’m trying to make a move on a little boy.”
One of the men said something that he didn’t pick up, but then the woman, clearly Trice, continued, getting even louder, making it easy to hear all over the room. “He has the personality of a doorstop. I could probably have sex with both of you in front of him, taking one in each hole while saying that he was never going to get any off of me and he’d still agree to marry me, just because he’s that desperate. It makes sense, what woman would ever want him? He knows it too. He told me once that he figured his best bet was to try and make enough money that his parents could bribe some naive country girl into thinking he was worth something.” A loud and sloppy snort followed.
“But I doubt even country girls would fall for it. They want a real man, not a lap dog.”
Ah. Well, Tor thought letting his body go still and dropping into the deepest trance state he could on short notice, he hadn’t realized that she’d felt exactly that way. He’d really thought they were at least friends.
It seemed not.
A different voice, male and deep spoke next. He sounded a little pissed.
“I don’t know… he hooked us all up with those poison detectors, and gave me ones to pass to my parents, didn’t even blink about it. Could have charge six thousand gold for it, I was ready to pay, but then he gave them to us even knowing that, just because we needed them. Then he made and gave out over four hundred of them? That’s what, eight hundred thousand gold? That doesn’t sound like a doorstop to me, more like a hero. He doesn’t know me from a hole in the wall, but when he heard I needed his help, he was there. Didn’t even hesitate or hint that I owed him anything. I do, but he’s never come to suggest it, has he? Look what he did for Galasia… they’d all be dead if not for him.”
That got Trice laughing long and loud. Her voice was a little slurred so Tor assumed drunk, at least to some extent.
“Yeah, sure, he saved Galasia… you know what they think of him in Galasia? They think he’s an evil troll! They’re not far wrong are they? Well, he’s not evil… Just stupid. He doesn’t even realize that we’ve pocketed all the money from those devices of his we’ve sold here at school. Too dumb to even ask what happened to all those thousands of golds. Who’s that slow on the uptake?”
A female voice, softer and much more gentle, spoke then.
“I have his money Trice. Just because he’s not greedy about it that doesn’t mean we’re going to steal it from him. I’m just holding it for him in case he demands a large payment suddenly; it was my mother’s idea. We really are strapped for ready cash right now with the retooling and all that, and will be for another few months.”
Patricia cackled.
“Right! Admit it, you’re all just taking advantage of him too. He was enough of a sap that he almost married Ursala Thorgood when she popped pregnant with Count Wards’ kid. If he wasn’t such a genius at making things, I’d wonder if he was actually retarded. Well, I say we milk him for all we can get now. Even a moron like him won’t let it go on forever. If Rolph catches on to us, the deals up. He at least has a spine. Bit of a doof, but at least when he’s dicking you Sara, you don’t have to worry about him making puppy eyes. Not that Tor’s even ever tried to get me into bed. Maybe he really does like little boys like Maria said? That would explain so much…”
Trance state or not, the blood left his face and head in a rush. He slapped the shield amulet on and stood carefully. He couldn’t afford a fight right now, he was too weak. Not a physical one at least. Digging into the inner pocket of his trousers he pulled out the small tube that carried the force lance field and took a deep calming breath.
“OK… you heard all that, right? I’m not imagining it or, I don’t know, they aren’t talking about someone else and I’m just being egotistical about this, and thinking it means me, not some other guy name Tor that she doesn’t want to marry and saved Galasia, right?”
The Prince looked about as white as Tor felt.
Well, it was instructive at least, coming to this restaurant, even though he couldn’t really recommend the experience to anyone. Rolph stood up too, even more slowly than he had. Tor made himself shrug. No big thing. He’d already known that women didn’t like him. He’d just thought…
Tor didn’t know what he’d thought, not any more.
Trice, apparently however, wasn’t done yet.
“You know what I hate about him most though? He drinks half a glass full of cyanide and pops right back up like one of those little toy dolls. Push him over, he comes back up, push him over he comes back up! He didn’t even have the common decency to die like a normal person. I was in his room with Rolph and you, Sara, crying, because I just wished I didn’t have to deal with him anymore. Then he turns around and is nice to my parents! They probably had him poisoned! And he’s all “How are things going in the County Ford relief program going.” He deserves for Debri house to be robbing him blind.”
Probably. Tor knew he wasn’t that good with money. He’d never had any to be good with and didn’t know the upper crust rules for making collections. It was time for him to learn it seemed. Well, he could do that. Tor would make a point of starting right then in fact.
He walked over to the divider and rounded the corner quickly. Rolph followed right behind him, standing just a little to the side as if to stop anyone from running away. Nice of him if it came to it. All Tor had in mind was talk though. For now.
He grinned. It must have looked half mad, because everyone at the table went wide eyed at seeing him, even Trice. He stared at her directly. She started out by smirking at him. It didn’t help at all.
“So… obviously the weddings off. By the way, I knew it wasn’t real the whole time, I was just trying to help you out so you wouldn’t have to marry Count Overland. You’re welcome by the way. I’ll be sure to send him a note letting him know that you’re free again. You,” He pointed at Sara with the force lance in his hand. “Please inform your mother that thanks to this… informative little meal, she has one week to pay in full everything that’s owed. One penny less and I’ll come collect it myself. I do not think she wants that.” His voice popped and crackled still and he sounded formal and cold. Harsh.
“Oh! Patricia, please tell your parents that I want the gear I gave them back, as well as everything you’ve gotten from me. False pretense invalidates all claims of them being gifts, don’t you think? If you’d just broken up with me I would have let you keep it all, so thank god we came tonight, so I could find out what you really are. You have twenty-four hours for that. Just give it to Rolph, since I never want to see you again. Either of you. I’m sure we can find a better home for that junk. Some pigs might want it for instance? Or I can throw it in a trash heap.”
He turned and left then, Rolph stayed, but what he said didn’t concern Tor at all. It took everything he had not to kill them all as they sat at the table. This, even when he knew that most of them had nothing to do with anything. One guy had even sounded favorable about Tor. Defended him. That fact didn’t help anything. They were robbing him on purpose? Trice hated him and thought he was sub-human? How had he been so wrong about them for so long? Maybe he really was just that stupid? Well, he’d have to stop that now. He may not be loved, or even liked, but he could be feared.
Damn straight he could.
If he applied himself, he could probably do that really well. Couldn’t he?
It took an act of will to force himself into a trance state deep enough to stay out of a full combat rage. He couldn’t spare the time right now. He had things he needed to get ready, and little time to do it in. He tucked his rage and sense of betrayal down, deep inside. His trust for anyone in the whole world evaporated a little more with each step.
They’d all lied to him. Everyone, over and over again.
Fine.
They wouldn’t get that chance again.
Towards the bottom of the chest in his room he found it. The single, totally blank, piece of copper that he owned. It was cut into a small, notched rectangle, just like all the poison detectors were. That would work well enough. The field he put on it was just like the explosive he’d made before, except about ten times stronger, maybe a lot more than that, A hundred times? A thousand? He wasn’t really certain. The field was strong, from his rage. It took extra effort and nearly fifteen hours, but the focus that he’d needed to cut the stone earlier served him well. The work left him cold inside, without much emotion.
That suited him; he had the personality of a doorstop, didn’t he? He’d never known how angry and rage filled doorstops were before. It made sense, with everyone constantly bashing them in the head with doors like that.
Rolph didn’t come back to the room, at least not that Tor noticed. He wasn’t there in the morning either.
Probably off with his girlfriend counting Tor’s money and laughing about him with his cousin. Maybe not. She’d called the Prince a doof after all. To him that was probably the same as being called a moronic child abuser, wasn’t it? As the heir he probably didn’t have people mocking him like that to his face very often. Tor was just about to go out and see about getting the coin and gear from them when Rolph came back. He had a chest nearly as big as the one Tor used for clothes. It had a float plate on it, one of the flying kind, not a follow along. After a few seconds he understood what he was looking at, it was the trunk that he’d been tied to when he’d gone into that cesspit for those two kids. It even had rope marks on it from the day, strong as it was.
“Look, Tor, she was drunk and trying to act big for her friends, she didn’t mean-” The giant redhead looked at him and stopped speaking all together.
“She didn’t mean it? Funny, you get drunk all the time, but you never accuse me of liking little boys, do you? You don’t say a fraction of the things she did, and when you do say anything, you make sure I know it’s just a friendly joke. And that’s on the rare occasion that you can hardly walk on your own, not just being a little tipsy. I should have known better than to trust a woman. I won’t make that mistake again. What’s in the box?” His voice sounded flat and angry still. Oh, well.
Tor pointed with the little copper piece.
“Oh, this is the gold and gear you requested last night. Sara asks that you take it, but hold off on going after Debri. She’s afraid that if you do, you’ll bankrupt them. I get that you’re mad right now, but that won’t help things, not really.”
Tor didn’t move as a wave of anger washed over him so deep, so bitter, that he wondered for a second if he’d ever liked or trusted anyone really. It took nearly a minute to pass totally. It didn’t leave him feeling any better, just more tired.
“I should trust her… why? She’d been keeping gold from me and helping Trice do… I don’t even know what she’s been doing. Using me? Well, that ends now. She’d better tell them to have everything ready, because I’m coming for what’s owed, and if they don’t have it, I won’t just be putting them into bankruptcy.” He tapped the side of the little rectangle with a half smile.
Rolph’s eyes went cold. “Shit. Is that one of those explosives that shouldn’t be allowed to exist?”
“Not even close. It’s so much more powerful that I don’t think I can really describe what it will do. Except destroy, I mean, duh, kind of the point, no?”
Tor laughed hard.
“Don’t worry, now that I have this stuff, I’ll have more soon. A lot more. Devices that will do things that no one should have ever bothered thinking of. Trice thinks I’m too soft and sappy? To stupid and that it would be better if I were dead? Well, I’m sure she’ll get her wish, but you know what I’m wondering right now?”
Rolph sat down on his over sized bed hard.
“No… No, Tor, I really don’t know what you’re thinking about at all.”
Tor grinned wildly.
“How many of the bastards can I take with me?”