by P. S. Power
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.”