by P. S. Power
"Say, are you working with the Lairdgren Group or..."
The man smiled, suddenly looking a bit sad and shook his head.
"Unfortunately not. I'm in with the first year students. We've had the first of them recently become a full builder though, if you can imagine that. She's only fifteen. Over in homemaking last term. Of course her husband is the Wizard Tor, so it shouldn't really surprise anyone too much. I'm sure her ability weighed into his selection of her, and not just her good looks. Very bright girl though. Dedicated student too. Alyssa Baker, have you met her? I have to say, if you get a chance you should. She's going places." He was looking at the back of the room, where there were a lot of heavy looking boxes. Mainly filled with books, though there were others things in there too. Chalk and glass vials for some reason. He could see that when the man opened a few. "I don't suppose you'd give me a hand with these too?"
"Sure, not a problem." They were just moving the things outside, though they'd have to get them over to the other storage facility two buildings over anyway. After a bit he just shrugged and started working, since it was for the school and helping out wasn't a bad idea at all. When they were about halfway done, hours later, someone else grabbed a box and moved to help.
"Where do these go?" Sam's hair was a bit longer than Tor remembered, but he looked about the same otherwise. Dressed in brown canvas like he was. Guide and Mark waved from a bit away and scurried over to help too.
Instructor Roberts just waved at them, clearly not recognizing them directly. He'd said he was new though, and worked with the first year kids mainly.
"Hello! These are going to the other storage facility. This is going to be the new building and copying room. Thank you all for helping like this. I was dreading taking several days to get it done. Dean Hardgrove will be most pleased when I tell him how helpful everyone here has been." He really seemed happy about it, but the others just grabbed a box and started working. Just as Sam and Guide had to leave to get to class, some of the fighting students jogged over. Johan and Judith, along with Tiera, who wasn't really with them, but noticed the work and came over anyway. She wasn't a lazy person after all. Not by nature. None of them were.
"We'll need brooms soon. Should I run and get some?" She spoke to Tor, who nodded.
"Good plan. We also need some cushions for the people working." Looking around he saw Mark coming out of the other space down the way and waved him over. "Would you copy some pads for people to sit on? I'd guess twenty would be more than enough."
"Sure. I can have those for you by tomorrow. Or later tonight, if there's a rush on it?"
Instructor Roberts heard the words and stopped, his brows furrowing a bit.
"I... didn't realize you were from my section. Were the others too?" He seemed nearly confused about it, but the tall boy nodded.
"Well, not these giants here, or Conserina Lairdgren, but Sam and Guide are. Tor is too, I guess. I mean, he's a builder at least. I'd make fun of him for being lazy and not doing his own copy work, but after he just made nearly a million copies in a week I can't say much can I? Way to set the bar there, Tor." He made a slightly disgusted face, but broke into a grin.
The Instructor just looked at them all for a bit and then turned back to Tor.
"So... I should tell Millis the head cook to expect you later?"
Then he laughed, as if someone had told a joke.
Chapter nine
Rather than find himself with a whole bunch of new responsibilities as Tor kind of thought was going to happen, things were pretty quiet, and easily managed instead. The cook did need helpers, but the delivery of a Truth amulet meant that the first year students could be put back on the job, knowing that they'd be caught if they misbehaved or put anything in the food that didn't belong there. It took Tor one whole trip to the place to see that would work better as a solution than his own labor would.
As for helping people with baking, that turned out to be a lot less needed than he'd thought. Demis and her sorry first batch of rolls aside. The girls in that course only did any cooking or baking a few times a week and while practice was always a good thing, the Instructor was actually good at her job. Her problem child was Demis, and that had gone away the day before, with a little bit of help from Tor and Tiera. Sherri came back in the afternoon, at about three, and brought Demis along, to report on the good results, but they both left shortly after that, having classes they needed to study for. Sewing and household management courses.
Darn them.
Tor laughed at himself for thinking that and felt a little relieved that Demis hadn't asked him to do anything sexual with her. Not that she wasn't cute, in a slightly fuzzy haired and thin way, she was really, it was just that he'd kind of been hoping to actually do something. Important work. Helping someone or something.
Tiera showed up after the other had left, looking a little amused by the lack of bodies, but not actually needling him on the topic.
"There was no one at practice either, hardly. They're all off saving the world without us. I don't want to be petulant and cry about how bored I am, but I don't even have a book to read right now. I hadn't realized how much I was relying on Havar and Karen to keep me busy. What we should do is dig up Orange and get her to go over the specifications for her space fleet. I think it's too late in the day for that though. I also have no clue where she is." She plopped down in the front room, which had been changed a bit while Tor had waited for her. The floor was a cream colored shaggy rug that took up almost all the space, with pale white furniture on it. The feet and arm rests were wood, or looked like it, but the rest was all just material.
Knocking on the arm rest of his own chair, Tor sat up a bit straighter.
"Normally I'd find some kind of work to do in a case like this. What do real people do, when they find themselves at loose ends like this? Throw parties? I just had one though. It seems a bit soon for another."
"Truly. Well, you should probably get in touch with the King and see if you're needed for any Counselor type duties. Not that much fun, but it seems reasonable to at least check."
It took a bit for him to retrieve his communications device, since it was still upstairs on his bed table, but once he hit the sigil it didn't take long at all for someone to answer.
"This is the Palace. Alphonse Cordes here. What may I do for you this fine day?" The Prince actually sounded chipper and everything. Like he wanted to talk to whoever had Tor's communication device.
"Hi Alphonse. I have some questions, which I bet you can help me with. The first is pretty practical though; am I supposed to be doing anything as the kingdom's Counselor of Magic? Attend the council meetings and all that?"
There was a moment of silence, but after a brief murmur that sounded like Smythe of Westend in the background, the man himself spoke in a louder tone.
"Not under most circumstances, unless called to the duty on a specific day. However, I think it would be most welcome if you, and say your lieutenants were to come and pay a visit? The more of them that can make it, the better. It will show that this most recent... difficulty, the one with the Morris clan, has not prevented the single most effective group of builders in the land from working on the side of right and good." It was darned flowery for the man, which probably meant others were around to listen, not all of them friendly. Or that was at least a possibility.
Tor made his own voice a bit deeper than normal. If they had an audience he wanted to sound like an adult at least.
"They stand ready to serve at a moment's notice. Would we be welcome at dinner this evening, or perhaps we could arrange an audience within the hour?" That would be hard, but they could probably pull it off. A few builds might be lost, or some copies, but if a show of force was needed, they could make it happen.
There was a deep rumble from further away in the room that he could just hear. It sounded like Marvin Ward.
"A bunch of school children? Is that supposed to impress us? I know it makes me want to curl up and quiver."
The mocking tone wasn't his normal one, and not what he used when really mad either. It got a chuckle from a few people in the space, which, Tor got suddenly, was probably the Council chamber itself.
There was an answering one from Richard then.
"Oh? I suppose they might be a bit intimidating at that. Tor, would you all join us then? As soon as you can manage?" There was no tension to the voice, but he got the underlying message. They needed to get themselves there as fast as possible.
Crud. It was either an emergency, or they were supposed to be the threat.
"Be there shortly. I look forward to visiting with you all." He stood before the device could trigger off, ready to run out the door. Then, thinking about it, he activated his Not-flyer, since that would make him about five times faster. Not that he could go full speed on campus. That would be asking for some inattentive student to die.
The King laughed a bit, sounding mellow and in control.
"No need to hurry, we'll be in session here for another two hours or so..." Then he broke the line.
Not waiting he headed out the door at just about the best speed he could manage, Tiera ran next to him, keeping pace, even as he sped up a good bit. He was moving at about sixty-miles an hour he realized, with her running right next to him.
"Wow. That is so unfair. My top speed is maybe a third of this on foot."
She didn't answer or even try, but they were near the student dorms about twenty seconds later, with her sucking air like it was a rare commodity indeed.
"OK... I have no clue how to find them all. Do you know where they stay?" It didn't seem likely, but she ran toward one of the buildings and started pounding on a door. It was just before meal time, so when the door opened, Guide was there, looking a bit perplexed at the rather rude amount of noise. Tor was a good way back, so just yelled at him.
"The Lairdgren Group is needed at the Palace for a meeting. Now. Get everyone! Anyone that you can." It came out sounding like an order and other people heard it, which got more than a few to scurry off, all in different directions.
That meant that no more than five minutes later, they had twelve people standing in the courtyard ready to go. Tiera rolled her eyes and put her Fast Carriage up, making it match Tor's, a large purple rectangle.
"I'm not going in though. If I see Count Morris, I will kill him. I can wait at your place, right? After I drop half this lot off?"
"That's a good plan." He looked at the people that came and nodded, since two of the new ones made sense to him.
Ali and Instructor Fines. Instructor Roberts was there too, but Tor didn't know anything about the man. Not even that he was a decent builder. Reading his field he noticed that the guy seemed generally kind enough, a bit attracted to his wife, and that he was a social climber. Not a spy though and that had to count for something.
"Good, the uniform is black velvet with a purple stripe on the leg. Tiera, let's put a gold stripe on the craft? Right down the center, match mine..." He showed what he meant by example and she matched it pretty well, almost instantly. It wasn't refined looking, but it did announce their allegiance, Tor thought. Those were the royal colors. The only thing that would work better was plastering a picture of Rich on the bottom of the things. He didn't have time for that though, and it seemed like it might be a little tacky.
"Instructor Fines?" He smiled at the old and slightly stooped man, who changed his clothing without closing his eyes. Most of the others did it that way too. It was a sign of high level concentration and familiarity with magic. "Put some shiny gold on the shoulders or something. You're the new head of this lot. When we get there.... Instructor Roberts will act as your assistant." He looked at the others and shrugged. "We look a bit youthful as a group, so this might help a bit. Farlo, will you and Mark watch these others?" He gestured to the five students he didn't know, wondering if they were even builders. Three looked old enough to be, but two of them seemed like first years caught up in the rush. If that was the case he hoped someone would mention it, so he wouldn't have to be rude, asking if they actually belonged there.
The tall girl, dressed like everyone else was, nodded.
"Certainly. I wasn't aware that all the builders at the school were instantly in the Lairdgren Group though." She sounded just a bit snooty about it, like the title meant something other than being used for free labor. He didn't roll his eyes though, they didn't have time for that.
"New recruits. They'll live up to the standards." He smiled at the new people though, four of whom were girls. "For today though, try to stand in the back and not say much. We're mainly a display piece I think. Everyone get in a craft, we need to be landing in about twenty minutes. Run!" He did then, jogging to his own craft and climbing in the driver's seat. Ali climbed in next to him, and he had Instructor Fines in the back with most of the regulars. Tiera had the new kids and Farlo.
There was no speaking at first, since he actually focused on trying to make the craft move as quickly as possible. It didn't make it fly much faster, but he was able to actually aim for the Capital pretty well and only had to make gentle corrections in the air. When they were almost there he cleared his throat to get everyone's attention.
"This could be anything from a show, like I said, to us being kept for the evening. If so everyone will be staying at my place. I can arrange for cleaning supplies, I think." He smiled, but Guide just chuckled.
"I have those. Here..." He handed something forward, which went to Ali, who activated the metal square. It looked like iron at a glance. When she hit the etch symbol, and toothbrush fell into her lap. It had what seemed to be a clear glass handle with a delicate pattern etched into it and perfect bristles. He could tell because Ali ran them over his arm.
"That... is so cool. I want one of those. Good work Guide."
"It is nice work, but it's Sam's. I brought the cleaning paste and soap though." That got passed to the front too, which caused a small white tub of vaguely cream colored paste to appear. It smelled like pears. Tor didn't taste it, but nodded. In theory it would work, if it was created right.
"Nice. Bring it all with you. We may have to show off and I don't have anything new on me." No one called him on that lack though, which was nice.
It took longer than twenty minutes, but they were, it seemed, expected, so instead of taking a full ten minutes to land, Tor did it in one, with Tiera matching him perfectly. They got out in a bit of a cluster, but Farlo had her section in a single line, which got Fines to wave for the others to do the same, standing next to them on the left, with Instructor Roberts right behind him.
One of the Guards, Kara in fact, who he knew pretty well, walked up quickly and handed him a Truth amulet.
"Name and intent?"
"Torrance Baker. Here to chat with some people. My intentions are peaceful." Not even a hint of black showed in the cream and goldenrod glow around him, so he was able to hand the amulet off without saying more. It took about ten seconds for each person, longer for a few that actually had titles they thought sounded impressive, like Farlo. Tiera was handed the thing last, but just shrugged.
"Tiera Baker and I'm not planning to stay, since if I do there will probably be violence with Count Morris." She didn't say anything else, but Kara blinked, as if the admission was a big shock or something.
What did they think she would do? Or was the shock over her not planning to stay and make the attempt right then?
He waved to her.
"We'll meet at my house later. Tomorrow is an off day from school, right?" It was a bad question in general, since they were supposed to look like a threat, not little kids, but Instructor Fines nodded calmly about it.
"That's correct." He bowed toward Tor a bit after speaking, as if it were official or something.
He smiled and bowed back, holding exactly the same angle. They weren't in the military, so saluting would seem wrong, but they were all builders, so that had to count for something, or else why would they be there?
"Kara, would you
be so kind as to lead us in and arrange for the King to know that we're here at his pleasure?" He wasn't trying to rush her overly and thought he sounded pretty smooth, to tell the truth, but she actually waved at two of the younger men, who ran off as if something were on fire.
"It will be done, Counselor Baker. If you would all be so good as to follow me?"
The hallways were just as twisty and convoluted as he remembered them, but they were going to the main audience chamber it seemed, which was one of three or four places Tor was almost certain he could have found on his own in the place. His house was as big, most of the time, but not designed to hide things, which he was nearly certain this place had been. Probably in case of attack.
So of course having all their enemies in to visit regularly made great sense, given that. It was tradition though, so it had to be done. That was the rule at least.
He expected to be left waiting for an hour and a half, but the doors opened instantly and they were all asked to enter, walking in a double line, looking almost professional and like they'd planned it all. There were no marching feet sounds or music, but they hadn't had long enough to work that out. On the good side their lack of plan meant the new volunteers didn't seem out of place at all.
The room was lined with large chairs, ones that seemed almost like miniature thrones. At the front of the room, on the far side, down a large deep red carpet, sat the King, with Alphonse directly to his right. It looked a little off, since Rich was on a pedestal, making him very easy to see. It would have looked pretty intimidating if Tor hadn't seen most of the people before in different places.
Rich actually lounged though, as if they were just expected. One thing was pretty different, in that Smythe of Westend sat off to his left and behind him just a bit. He was dressed in all black, like a military man. Tor wasn't all that different, to tell the truth, though his outfit looked to be made of velvet instead of canvas. His trousers didn't get a stripe either. He wasn't in the Lairdgren Group after all.