Friends and Enemies (Gwen Farris Book 5)

by P. S. Power

  So it wasn't just that bothering him.

  "Oh? I think we can be back in four or five days then, if that will serve? We hadn't planned on coming back until fall, but we were given word of your return. I should have reached out to you before this, but I was rather afraid you'd be upset with us. Everything you had planned was ruined... Your engagement..." The older woman sounded worried as she said the words, like pointing it out now was going to be the first time Gwen had realized that.

  "Yeah. Still, it isn't the first time in my life that things didn't go the way I thought they should. You don't always get the win. When you don't, you stand back up and keep fighting, if you can. That's all. Besides, none of this was your fault. In the end it was mine. I should have... Well, there's plenty of blame to go around if you want some of it. You can have it on alternating weekends?" She giggled, which was a forced thing, since she had to fake it. She'd been a bit too somber for that when she was a girl and it would have been allowable to her way of thinking back then.

  "We'll be there, then. Five days? Is that all right?"

  It was, so she nodded, "perfect. Then we'll work out how to take back... Everything. Say, did anyone lock up Brenda Holmes yet? She was the one working with Katherine to have you killed."

  There was silence, and Gwen winced.

  "Ah, also, Katherine was the one that tried to have you killed. I don't know if you were told that part." She felt like a heel, suddenly. The whole thing was going to be harder than she thought.

  "I knew, of course. About my daughter. No one told me about Brenda. Are you certain? That beast has been trying to ruin us for years, socially and otherwise. She actually tried to have me assassinated?" A bit of spark came into her voice then. Real anger.

  It was better than the shy thing she had been doing.

  "Yep. Kate confessed to it, under telepathic reading. Beth did the work there, so you know the information is correct. I take it that Mrs. Holmes is still out and about, making trouble then? Well, we can fix that. Either by having her arrested or..." Gwen was going to suggest that killing her was on the table, but that wouldn't really fix anything. The woman had to be torn down, and publically, or else everything she said would carry even more weight. It would look like her enemies, the Vernors, had finally taken her down, if she just died or vanished.

  Besides, plotting murder on an open line, with people listening on both sides of it, was foolish. Gwen wasn't going to be that amateur hour if she could help it.

  Winslow didn't blink, even though he was smart enough to understand what the next words would have been if she'd said them.

  Then it hit her. Why he was worried. He had his boyfriend living there, in his room with him. In this place that was some kind of big deal. To her it just seemed like a good way to save on rent.

  Gwen shrugged, her right hand sticking out at shoulder height, balanced on her left foot. It was stable enough, though she'd get sore if it went on too long. Every part of her was out of shape now.

  "Well, we have some resources we can use. I've gotten Will Werner to come stay here, so I can push him around a bit. As my personal newsie. Can we get Agatha in on this, too? It will look better if we have more than one source to feed that way."

  There was a sudden intake of breath on the other end of the connection.

  "That Werner man is working for you? After that tear down piece he did last week Robert and I contemplated having him removed from the station." She sounded cold then.

  "Oh, yep, he's my buddy. What he put out wasn't pleasant, but it was the truth. Exactly as I told him to do. Now everyone hearing him on other matters regarding any of us will assume that he's just telling it as it is, which of course, he will be. Really, it will probably work best to have him seem a bit adversarial for a while. I'd heard that you and Robert took over WGN, so having one of your own people seem to have the freedom to speak out about you two without fearing removal... Well, that will make you look like you're very honest and freedom loving, won't it?"

  That wasn't a big thing in the Western Kingdom. No one had ever made a vast thing about being free, because they weren't, and knew it. The only people who did whatever they wanted were the nobles. Everyone else was pushed into ever smaller boxes, the further down the scale of power you went. Just like back home, except no one bothered to play pretend that it wasn't the case.

  Ethyl sounded very firm suddenly.

  "Five days then. Please let Winslow know to expect us?"

  "Will do, mom. I'll be here for the next few days, full time. I have a bit of a broken ankle, so I'm kind of housebound for the next month or so. It makes me easy to reach if nothing else!" Fake cheer counted. Gwen was nearly certain on that one.

  "Excellent, dear. I'm sorry to hear about you infirmity of course, but it's good to know that you still feel that Park Street is a safe place for you. We'll be there directly, I promise."

  Then the line dropped, which was normal enough Gwen didn't wonder too much if she'd said the wrong thing. Instead she smiled and turned to the butler.

  "Um, you might want to warn Will that he's in my pocket now, apparently. On the good side he can tell the truth, and I won't get too upset. I'll have to have him in for the casting couch stuff later. Or is that only done with actors?" She didn't think the man would understand that bit of interplay, but he snorted, so it was apparently a thing there too.

  "I'll let him know that, Miss. The first part at least. The rest is best pulled out as a surprise, I would imagine."

  She waved it away, because she'd never been great at the whole teasing thing people did like that. Especially when sex was involved.

  "Good enough, I guess. Now, if I can have the room, I guess I should get with Duke Aubrey and explain why I was gone for so long. I don't really need for you to hear all the names I'm going to be called." She was half joking, since Chris was way too polite for that kind of thing.

  The butler bowed, not bothering to correct her words. After all, it could go that way, as easily as not. It might even turn into a tear fest, on one end or the other, as far as he knew. It wouldn't, of course. Christophe Aubrey was very proper, and she was as hard as a walnut that way. She might get pissed, yell, scream, or a hundred other things, but crying was a thing that had rarely come up in the last ten or fifteen years.

  Life wasn't fair, and she knew it. Crying didn't happen a lot once you worked out that no one wanted to see you do it, and she really had.

  She used an old code to reach him, not knowing if he'd be there at all. It was late summer, and a lot of people that had the means tended to go on vacations and things like that. If that was the case, well, then it wasn't her fault she hadn't gotten in touch.

  So, naturally, the Duke answered himself.

  "Aubrey here. What's the situation?"

  She wanted to hesitate, since he sounded so mature, and in charge. Not like the slightly lost kid that she'd first met.

  "Hey Chris. Gwen Farris here. I, um, well, it's a long story, but the short version is that I was gone from the world for a few years, and now I'm back. Surprise?" She felt like an idiot, the moment the words came out, but there was a polite chuckle anyway.

  He was good that way.

  "Gwen! I've been briefed on the whole thing. Ferdinand did it himself, in person. He... Rather suggested that I divorce Millie, so that I can take up where we left off. Something about how our kingdom owes you too much to leave you in the lurch at the altar, which is how this must seem to you."

  "Oh? You told him to go soak his head, right? I can't for the life of me see how screwing up what Millie has going on for her would make me feel any better. Unless she sucks? Or, I mean, doesn't suck? I don't know how that works, but I mean, she's not horrible to you, right? If she is, then I can totally back that play, but-" She was floundering, but there was another polite laugh, easing things a bit.

  "Not at all. She's very sweet. I'm glad to hear that you're willing to back her claim in this. It will make it all so much simpler. She's pregnant, and de
posing her now would be hard to bear."

  Shock played through her, but she rallied.

  "Congratulations! I'm a bit jealous, I guess, and a little sad, but yeah, Millie gets my vote, if she has yours. So, we're good? I know that everything got screwed up, because I couldn't fight harder. I'm sorry for that. It would have been a lot different, if... Well, that's life all over, isn't it? If only? Still, you sound happy, and that makes me glad." She meant it, which was a bit of a surprise to her.

  Then, she'd never really loved Chris. That made it easier to let him go now. Gwen had loved the idea of being married though. Of having someone to actually call her own, finally. Still, she was used to not having that as an option. It never really had been one, after all.

  "Thank you, Gwen. Know this; I will always be here for you. No matter what you need. I should have waited to marry, but there are pressures on nobility to produce an heir, before all else. It probably seems like a small and shallow thing now. It's only been three years. I just didn't know that would be the case. I'd been told that you were probably unable to ever come back. To find that Katherine Vernor would one day sacrifice herself as she did... It's unexpected, to say the least." There was something near amazement in his tone.

  "Yeah, I know. I think it surprised her, too. I just hope it's enough for her. She wasn't a good woman, by anyone's standards, including her own, I think, but in the end she kind of pulled out the stops for me, didn't she?" It was true, but not really what she wanted to go on about. "So, tell me all about Millie?"

  There wasn't a whole lot of information to go on about there. She was the daughter of a baron, and while sweet, didn't have too much else going on for her. Reading between the lines it seemed that she wasn't the best looking woman in the world, and while she was able to do magic, it wasn't at some special level.

  After a bit Gwen realized that Christophe was making all of it up, so that she'd feel better about herself. She snorted at him when she got it.

  "So, she's nearly perfect? I get what you're doing. I'm so happy for you. I really am. Both of you. Now, I'm going to get off the line before you start singing to make me feel better. There are limits to what I can expect. Though I do hear you have a good voice." She actually had. From the king himself. He'd never stuttered while he sang, so had gotten good at it, when young.

  For her part she couldn't carry a tune in a bucket with a handle. She'd never learned how, her original voice being grating and piping at the same time.

  "Thank you, Gwen."

  She didn't know what to say to that. She couldn't say that he was welcome, when what he was doing was praising her for not destroying the life he'd built in her absence.

  "Be well, Chris." Then, taking a clue from everyone else in this place, she dropped her hand from the lead colored sphere in front of her. That cut the line totally.

  It was a bit sad, but that part was done now, and she felt better for having dealt with it so directly. It should have been her there, starting a family with a good man, not Millie.

  Then, like she'd explained to Ethyl, Gwen was used to being knocked down and battered. She even had a plan for it, which involved getting back up, and going on. Every freaking time.

  Feeling sorry for herself was too easy, and not something she was going to allow herself. It might not be her body, but Katherine had given her the use of a very nice one. It might not be her family coming to see her, but she called Ethyl mom, and meant it, and wasn't told to shut up. She had wealth to use, and friends that were willing to stick by her.

  Considering she was the biggest traitor in the world as far as most people went, that was kind of a big deal. Sure, they knew the truth about her, but it still had to mean they were good people, inside.

  Hell, she even still had a job. Gwen Farris was in the Special Service, and expected to go and guard the Queen, just as soon as she healed up enough. That was kind of big.

  She floated to the back yard, set up an old wooden target on a swivel, and started plinking at it with blasts of magical force from her fingers, until Beth came around the jogging trail. The woman used it as an excuse to be done for the day, ending her run about five feet from Gwen's side, with a cute little hop.

  "There you are! All the needed plans made?"

  There was a real warmth to the words, and Gwen nodded.

  "Yep. I called Ethyl, and she'll be here in five days. I, um, got in touch with Chris, too. He has a new wife, and a kid on the way. Apparently Ferdinand suggested that he divorce his wife so that we could get married. I hope that was a joke."

  Beth nodded, "it wasn't. I know that Martin has suggested that Ferdinand drop the Queen in your favor, on the air. Luckily that hasn't gotten too much traction. The others at Central keep teasing me over that however. My own husband, saying such things." She looked at Gwen as if she weren't dropping a big surprise on her.

  Then, was it really one? Gwen had been the one to suggest they get married. As a joke, mainly, but then both of them had been too polite to say otherwise. So here they were, the Westmorland super soldier, now married to a man that had once been one of the biggest detractors of the program.

  "Damn. I missed that wedding too? Plus, Cordell is a Newsie now? I thought he was going to go into shoemaking?"

  Bethany blushed a bit, but smiled.

  "He did that as well, using the designs you gave him. Along with James, your old driver? They rather invented a new shoe market, between them. We're all doing rather well, thanks to you. You know that, don't you? How very much this entire world owes you? Even if they don't realize it."

  Gwen didn't nod, her ego never being that large. Instead she smiled, just a bit sadly.

  "Hey. Glad I could be of some help."

  Chapter fifteen

  It was remarkably simple to take out Brenda Holmes. She was wealthy, powerful in a social way, and had tried to hire hit men to kill a rival. Even in the Western Kingdom that kind of thing didn't go over to well.

  The news broke a full month before Gwen and Beth had the first prototype rifting shield ready to unveil publically. That was done on purpose. So that everyone would have plenty of time to get used to the idea that the Vernors had been publically wronged by an evil witch. One that, upon closer inspection, had been in on the plan to help open the gates to the void, along with Erin Debussey and her crew.

  She'd actually gotten ill, the day of the big event, so had stayed home. That had probably saved her life, but once Katherine spoke out about her, there was very little she could do to protect herself. Beth hadn't even had to bribe her with extra reward time to get her to do it either.

  Though they did for the actual test.

  On the day of the big event, Katherine walked out into a field with not one, but six of the best rifters in the world, and stopped them all dead, at one time. Then she did it all at once, showing how well the field worked. Each was several miles away.

  Ferdinand had shown up for it and stood next to one of the rifters personally, so that everyone could see how confident he was in it working.

  It didn't seem like much at all, really, but it was enough to go on with. Three days later the basic training regime was given to every government in the world.

  That didn't end the war, but Europa pulled back after that, since their new found weapon wasn't exactly a threat anymore. It wouldn't be, soon enough, at any rate. They had a few people trained for it already, and would have more as time went on.

  What it did do was change the Westmorland program, since they weren't going to need nearly as many of them to blow up, after that. Not that they ever had, really.

  It was just as hard to learn to stop rifting as it was to learn to do it, but they could manage it without the pain now, making a lot of people feel more pleasant about the whole idea. Plus, the idea of people that stopped vast explosions wasn't nearly the PR headache that the other way around was.

  So, in a way, Gwen had done her part in things. She'd undone a lot of the war that Kate had started, and while it didn't bring
back the dead, it might just keep millions of people from dying in the next year or so. It was going to have to be enough.

  That was what she was thinking, as Bethany came to get her, the morning after the last of the papers had gone out in all those different languages.

  "Gwen! Ready to go? The driver should be here in a few minutes to take us to the airfield."

  "Right. I'm as ready as I can be, given everything." She shrugged, and tried not to think about how skinny and out of shape she still was. "I have my armor ready to go, and my weapons packed." Shirts and shoes, too, including some of the new running ones that James and Martin were putting out. They were nice quality. Sturdy, without being too heavy. That was the name of the company, James and Martin Quality Footwear.

  "Excellent! I'm so glad to have you back. I didn't know what to do with myself, without you."

  Gwen shook her head, since it wasn't really true.

  "You did fine, I'm sure. You always will, after I'm gone." She just spoke the words, the idea a newish one to her.

  "What?"

  "I was thinking. I know how to teletransport now. I'm strong, too. I can go home, I think. A one way trip, since there's no magic there, but... there really are things I miss there."

  Her friend was silent, for a long time. Finally she spoke, her voice thick with tears.

  "Oh. I was hoping you wouldn't figure that part out. I know this isn't your world, Gwen, but won't you stay with us? We, all of us, we're your friends."

  Which wasn't exactly true. A lot of people hated her now, thanks to Katherine. Some of them were coming around, due to the new shield tricks she'd help come up with. Count Goebbels had been good to his word, about using that to sway the masses, and for some of them, it was enough. For others, nothing ever could be.

  "I know. I'll miss you all, but... Everyone has moved on here. I was kind of out of place to start with, you know? I didn't have a great life there, but it was familiar to me. Normal. In this body, I could do a lot."