by P. S. Power
The man went wide eyed.
"I understand. That won't leave this room. It would be best if I didn't hear it at all. Maybe we should just run with what you told me? It would round things out to have the rest of the story, but I don't want to risk learning things I shouldn't know."
Gwen was about to agree, since she was kind of bored with the whole thing, but Katherine came out then, and winked at the thin man. "I won't tell you any of the secret things, William. Let me start at the beginning? People might as well know why I did it all."
They all went silent, since Charles had walked back in, carrying a tray that held a single plate on it. It was under a silver dome, and the fact that Will wasn't being fed had a bit to do with how upset his boyfriend was, she didn't doubt. It was pure snubery, done in a high class fashion. He'd even put on gray color gloves first, and changed his shirt, making it seem like a proper meal.
It was lunch however, so it was a light salad with a coleslaw style dressing, instead of something small and sweet to drink. There was enough for her to have three bites of it, the way she used to eat, or, in this place, with the ultra tiny fork she was given, about ten.
No one had invented stuffing vast quantities of food into your face here, for some reason. You could try to use the spoons and forks for that kind of thing, but most of them were smaller than the tip of her finger, making it really hard to manage.
She ate in silence, with Katherine becoming chatty between the courses.
It took a while to get it all out, since it didn't start with a kiss from Bethany like it had the night before, but with the girl getting a tutor for magic. When she was fifteen. It took a while to work out that she'd started to experiment with the slightly older college woman within weeks, and after a year had moved on to vamping a full professor at Western University. Erin Debussey, of course.
"It was... Thrilling, to say the least. She was horribly beneath me, socially speaking, but so intelligent. Charismatic, really. It was hard not to do what she wanted. It was her mesmerism, but I didn't know that at the time. So, after a while, when she hit upon her plan to take over the world, to make it a better place using the knowledge of the most ancient gods, it was easy to be swept along." There was no giggling with the words, which was the only thing that left them sounding remotely sane.
Another course came then, which was a nice bit of chicken, that seemed to be thigh meat that had been deboned, smothered with a savory white sauce. That meant it was bland, and reminded her a bit of the pudding crap that she'd been eating, but probably without the drugs. On that score it would come down to how upset the new cook was with her. Magda, the main cook, wouldn't have poisoned her, but she didn't really know the woman that was there now.
She ate the food anyway. Either it was good, or not. She couldn't afford to get paranoid now. For one thing she was way too hungry not to have something.
Katherine kept talking, and Will Werner kept on writing away, scribbling page after page with his pencil. At about one thirty, just as she was finishing the last bit of food on her plate, he stood up, looking slightly panicked.
"I'm going to be late. There's a meeting, this being mid-week. I'm afraid I got caught up in the tale. I can just make it, if I run now. I'm due to be on at four, that being my current time slot. Forgive me for rushing away like this. May we speak again?"
Gwen waved at him, "go. You can come and talk to me whenever you want. Just, you know, try to tell the story the way I told it to you?" It was hard, asking him not to lie, but the man got what she meant. A lot of this world's news was a bit spotty, as far as the facts went. In fact, it was a lot like their news was mainly filtered through conservative talk stations, in the main.
"I will, Miss Farris. You have my word." There was a bow, then the fellow hoofed it out the door at the side of the room at a trot.
Her plate, which held a small bowl, was empty. It had been an apple and plum compote, which had been good. Sweet enough to count as a real dessert, even to her ruined American palate. There was a bit of tang to the dish, which she tried to savor, as she sat there alone.
Waiting for the next thing, whatever came.
Nothing did, for a long time. No one came in, except Winslow, who took her plate setting away, leaving her to sit there, doing nothing. He actually had work to get to setting things up properly, he informed her, since there was someone living there now. That being Gwen.
After a time, she decided to float to the telesar room, to sit on a soft sofa, and listen to what was on. At first she'd intended to listen to some nice music. Just a popular station that played instrumentals that reminded her of big band music, or perhaps ragtime. Annoyingly enough, they broke in after a while, with Will Werner's voice, talking about her.
That meant she needed to turn the thing off, since she doubted she'd enjoy hearing anything they had to say after that, for quite a while. On the good side, it seemed that all the stations had Will on, which was a coup for him, she bet. Sighing, she rose in the air, and floated toward the back door, not even thinking about it. No one stopped her, even though the guard, which was a man she didn't recognize, nodded to her when she moved out toward the jogging trail in the back. It was a bit overgrown, but she was flying the rout this time, so it didn't matter nearly as much. She did it fast, without stopping, going on longer than would have been possible for her before.
That wasn't due to her getting stronger, just being willing to die, if it came to it. Gasping for air, Gwen was finally driven to the ground, where she sat, not wanting to land on her injured ankle.
It was there, sitting on the fine green lawn of the back yard, that Ferdinand found her, led out by Winslow. Several other men were with him. Adam Westmorland, Count Goebbels, and, to her utter shock, Billy.
As strange as it sounded, he was her brother. Not Kate's, but hers. From her own world. She'd met him there and everything, as children.
It was possible that they were actually from similar, but slightly different worlds, it was true, but their stories matched up perfectly, as far as she could determine. None of the men were armed, that she could see. That wasn't enough to be certain of anything, however. Gwen didn't see any guards either, but they'd be there. Somewhere. Probably around the edge of the building, so they could protect the king, but not be seen hovering. It was too far away, which would be about not spooking her, she bet.
After all, she was the new font of darkness and death for the world. She wouldn't have gone to a meeting with her unarmed.
"Hey, everyone. I'd stand, but I have a broken ankle. So, come to take me out?" It probably wasn't that, but it could be. She let her voice be bright and cheery about it all, even if she wasn't certain she was about to die. There were only so many options left them, and none of them were very good.
The king was a bit weird that way, insisting on doing some of the hard things himself as a matter of honor. Goebbels was poured from the same mold, and Billy might not blink about offing her, just to fix things. His sister was involved in the biggest betrayal anyone had ever heard of. Killing her to make that right could be the plan.
Gwen didn't get up. It wouldn't help anyway. She was nearly certain that Billy was probably one of the best fighters in the world, armed or unarmed. Yes, she was decent that way, but short of running away, she wasn't going to live through that battle anyway.
The king looked a bit baffled. He normally managed to seem pretty intelligent, so she let him speak, in order to explain.
"I wasn't planning on dining out. Perhaps this evening? Or Mariana and I could have you over to dinner with us? I'm certain she'd love to meet you. We've spoken about you at length." His words where polished and smooth, and while he didn't sound happy to be there, his words lacked venom. Like he met with traitorous scum and invited them to diner every day. Then, he really was smart enough to understand that the betrayal hadn't been hers. Still, there was no scorn at all.
That should have been there. She felt it, even toward herself. How Ferdinand managed not to, sh
e didn't know. She'd ruined everything, almost all by herself. She should have managed things better, so that Kate would have never felt the need to run to the enemy with her magic tricks.
Billy, his cheeks and forehead covered with circular scars the size of quarters, took a step forward. His face was a bit dark and glowering.
"Different meanings to the words there. She was asking if we'd come to kill her. The answer to that is no. Not that I can't see it. This is a clusterfuck, Gwen. It's probably the right thing to do." He moved back, as Count Goebbels tried to hit him. It was a bit halfhearted, but wouldn't have landed anyway. The man was older, and a bit out of shape.
Billy wasn't. It made a difference, when you also had the skills to back it up.
King Ferdinand glared at her brother, but smiled a bit when he turned back to look down at her. Then, nice clothing or not, he sat on the grass next to her.
"There is some truth to that, poor language choices aside. What do you think we should do with you, Miss Farris? I was met with the news of your return, as I woke this morning, and ever since I've wracked my mind, trying to find a way to deal with this situation." He leaned back on his hands the other two men standing back a bit, not having been invited to sit yet. She waved at them to do it, since they had plenty of space for it.
While they did, Goebbels moving a bit stiffly, Billy practically flowing to the Earth, Ferdinand sighed.
"On the one portion, what Miss Vernor did was reprehensible, and might cost the lives of millions, over time. The other part is the hard one however. As a people, as a world even, we owe you our lives. Worse, you too are a wronged party in all of this. To allow you to be punished for the crimes of another... You know, this is the second time the same issue has come up. We cannot punish you, but allowing Katherine Vernor to have at us again would be insane. I asked Adam to work up a plan, using the Westmorland protocols, to force the villain to the back, allowing you to remain in control at all times. He informed me that it might not work." He looked grim for a second before continuing. "His words, in truth, were that it wouldn't work. He holds little hope of it."
Gwen clenched her jaw hard enough her teeth squeaked.
"Agreed. She can hide, when she wants. You'd end up torturing me, not her. Even then, I doubt it would work. She'd let me take the brunt of it, and then dump me into the front or back of her head as she pleases. Right now she can't go anyplace without help, and I won't do that, but eventually that won't work. At the very least you should lock us away in a place she can't get away from." There was a sense of anger coming from inside, but Gwen let her own displeasure be known, too. It wasn't her fault, after all. "Really, the best, the safest, plan is to kill her. I don't want to die, but I won't let her hurt innocent people either. I don't want to be mean, but she's gotten herself into a place I don't think either of us can ever come back from. It's a pain in the rump, but there you have it. The best I can do is tell you to kill me. That, or do it myself."
Gwen was ready. She had been, from before she'd ever come to this world. After having had a taste of a real life, a good one even, going back to that didn't seem like a fun idea. So, if the choice was prison or death, she kind of thought that the second one might be the way to go.
Ferdinand looked away, as if trying not to let her see his reaction, even though he was right there, and it wasn't going to work.
"If only it were that simple. We must find a better way to repay you than with loss of freedom or life, Miss Farris. People here live in terror of magic being used to steal their lives, as was done to you, a true innocent, who made the best of what had been done to her. Yet when you moved to save us all, regardless of what had happened to you, and make the best of the situation, even that was stolen away. At every turn great unfairness has been heaped upon your shoulders. There must be a way!" He nearly yelled the last bit, which got several armed and armored men to come around the corner at a jog.
People. She didn't know how she could tell, but two of the individuals were women. Westmorlands, all of them, since they had plain, lead gray colored armor. Unless the rolls had been expanded, that meant it was Bethany and Heather. Something was off there, however. Derrick had mentioned needing a new woman for the queen's guard, which meant that they should both be busy.
That reminded her.
"Right, you got married! Congratulations. I'll send a gift soon. What do you need? A toaster?" She blinked, since as far as she knew that wasn't even a thing here. It was totally doable though, people just didn't eat toast that often, and when they did it was grilled. She snapped her fingers then. "I'll get you one. I'll probably have to build it, but it can be done. Good to have a project to work on."
Everyone else looked a bit confused, but Billy tilted his head, unsmiling.
"That will work. It doesn't get the rest of this repaired. What's your plan?"
She took a big breath, and then looked him dead in the eye.
"If I teletransport straight up a few thousand feet, she can't stop our fall. I tried to kill myself, years ago now, before she ran off. I'd thought I'd been clever about it all, but she took over, and convinced me that she couldn't rift. As it turns out, she didn't need to, in order to make a mess. Knowing what she had all along had been enough, in the end. If we run it in two parts, one with an armed person on the ground, to kill me if she takes over, and with me doing the second part, I don't think she can stop it."
One of the metal mobile armor suits walked over then, making a clanking sound the whole time. It was a smaller outfit, so probably a woman inside. The four foot long combat lance came up, and was pointed at her directly, right at her head.
"Go, Miss Farris. I'll back you in what you want to do." The girl speaking wasn't very familiar, but that didn't mean much. It had been years since she'd seen most of the Westmorlands, so she might even know who this was, if the helmet was taken off.
Gwen smiled.
"There we go. This won't take long then, after all." She let herself float upright, wanting to meet her death on her feet. At least to start that way. She'd end up a puddle, either way.
No one said anything, as she started to summon the will to move, until the last moment.
Then, her own mouth spoke, sounding hard and not like her in the slightest.
"Oh, I don't think so, Miss Farris. Because I still know things that could help the war effort. If you kill me now, I can't tell anyone, and then what will happen? Then the Western Kingdom will lose the war, that's what. So, kill us if you wish, but know that you may be dooming all these people, if you do!"
Chapter thirteen
"Bull." Gwen didn't even bother saying the rest of what she was thinking. It had to be clear to everyone there, and true enough, after less than two deep breaths, Count Goebbels caught on to the same idea.
"I can't see the Europans telling you much of use to us, Miss Vernor. That would be tactically unsound, since you may at some point be back under our power, and, as they no doubt realized, you are rather prone to being a traitor." He sounded a bit mean about it, but it was true.
No one would tell Katherine shit. Not if they were smart.
"Oh? You'd be surprised then, sir, wouldn't you? For instance, I know how many rifters they have in training, do you?"
King Ferdinand looked at her, still sitting on the green grass that covered the back lawn of Park Street.
"A training program of several hundred, with somewhere around twenty to forty of them being successful thus far. We've seen that they had a successful test already, so it won't be long before they have much more than that. Thanks to your tutelage."
Gwen smiled, and took back over.
"I've never heard tutelage used as a dirty word before. The point is, she doesn't have anything we need. So, you... Sorry, I don't know which one you are?" She was standing, looking at the smaller armored form. The lead colored one that was still holding a lethal force lance pointed at her head.
"It's Erica. I was your aid for about a week once? I don't know if you remembe
r me."
Gwen did. The girl had been about fourteen and had gone in to fight the people that were planning to destroy reality. As a rifter. She'd been ready to sacrifice her life to save them all. That was probably why she was willing to kill Gwen now. Katherine at any rate. There was a difference.
"I do remember you! You're Special Service now? Awesome. Anyway, let's get this done. I'll try to land... Over there, away from everyone. Make sure I don't live through it." She closed her eyes, and focused on the space above her. It was a bit of an odd place to go, but she'd done it before. The hard part, honestly, would be in not catching herself.
This time it wasn't Kat that tried to stop her, but the King. She felt a hand on her leg, as the man knelt, not getting up from his knees. It looked ridiculous. Like he was going to beg or something.
"Please, Gwen, don't do this. Not yet. It would... Well, I can't promise that it won't be the eventual outcome, but the very fact that you're willing to give your life to protect us all, once again, is a sign that we should do everything in our power to save you from that fate. I must insist you give us yet another chance to save you."
Before she could answer, planning to be a bit stubborn about it, Katherine grabbed their mouth.
"Yes! I have to agree. I know that no one will trust me at this point, even though it should be clear that your own actions were what forced me to do what I did... The fact is, as I stated, that Miss Farris is both innocent of my wrong doing, and is a person worthy of saving. Even if you have to kill me, somehow." It sounded almost noble, as if her real plan wasn't all about saving her own ass.
Gwen snorted, but Billy stood up, and looked her dead in the eyes.
"One way or the other, we need to deal with this. So, how do we make certain Katherine here doesn't end up doing anything against us again? Death is certain, but imprisonment can work, if we do it right. Not much of a life for Gwen, but..."