by P. S. Power
Trice looked at him, then his clothes, and nodded at Holly.
“Told you. Tip him over, he pops back up. Poison? Pop. Blind? Pop. Take away everything he owns? Boing.” She grinned and winked at him, “Come back next week, he'll have his own little whorehouse in the back staffed with tiny whores.”
Tor pretended to be shocked at her words. She was normally playful, or had been when they first met, it was good to see her trying again at least.
“Next week? Oohhh,” He said, looking down at the table, chagrined. Then shook his head slowly. “I kind of set you all up with appointments for later today… Yeah. Your tall boots are coming soon but won't be here for a few weeks, special order you know, so you'll just have to make it work for now, all right?” He winced a little and shook his head.
“Mainly sailors, but they were willing to deal, given the class of girl I have going on here, Princesses and Countesses. Kolb's going to have to be a bit flexible as to who he serves, but you know…”
He worked to make his voice sound genuine and apparently did a good enough job that at least Holly bought it, if only for a second. The laugher that came from the others shook the room at the look on her face. Tor went over to her, set down a piece of pie and gave her a hug. She was sitting, so his head was actually higher than hers for once. To his surprise she hugged him back as if it had meaning. Not the lusty sort of thing that Tor was just starting to understand was different than a simple embrace, but one with strength behind it that lingered. In Two Bends people didn't hug unless they were married, or at least betrothed, but the city people were different that way. They even kissed casually, but Tor avoided that. It was off-putting.
Pie all around, Tor offered water as well, since that was all he had at the moment. What he could do though, after filling the little stone cups, from the “tap” in the kitchen sink, was chill it in the cold box for a minute. It already had ice forming on the top when he walked it in, getting a murmur from everyone, except Varley, who'd had similar enough at the palace to not be amazed by it any more. She seemed a little subdued today, so Tor went and gave her a hug too. It got her to smile, but sadly.
Had he done something again? Probably. He'd have to get that book from Holly's house and start really reading it before he started a war or ended up married to a pig or something.
“Right, so I have work to do, but first I think we need to get with the Wards and let them in on what's happening, then contact the Capital with information. I take it that most of you are reporting regularly to the King?” He smiled, but got a head shake from the Countess.
Trice looked at his wide eyed and innocent, over playing it by a good margin.
“Me?” She said meekly.
“You in particular spy girl. Don't think for a second that I don't know about you. You and that Sara Debri too.” It came out as a growl. Tor was trying to play with her, but it sounded like he was pissed. She swallowed but didn't confirm or deny anything. Probably like she was trained to. It had taken almost a year, but Tor had finally come to realize that what he'd originally assumed was the kingdoms spy school, an adjunct to where he and Rolph had gone, just called “the special school”, really was.
More, that meant that two of his friends were probably spies for the King. Sara had even lived with him for months. Tor had figured that had been all about Rolph wanting to sleep with her, since he was there too, but now he wasn't so sure. His friend had told him once that the girl had joined the military to be near Tor, after they'd had a fight. How likely was that? Tor tried to be a nice guy, and failed at it as often as not, but wasn't “join the military to be near” incredible. That had only come after Tor had cut ties with Trice too… A replacement spy?
Now the Princess, well, if she wasn't writing home, they needed to leave immediately for the Capital. Taking off with her and not getting in touch, even for a week would probably have the Royal Guard after them. As it was he was a bit surprised he hadn't noticed any of them yet. They were around no doubt. The ones following them were probably just that good, he realized.
Varley smiled at him.
“Corresponding with mother almost daily. I… I'm not supposed to say anything, but there’s been some talk that I might have to marry Count Raul Peterson, since Karina won't. She's claiming that she loves someone else, but she won't say who, not to me at least. Mom's angry, but dad just keeps avoiding the topic with her, saying it will all work out.” She didn't mumble, or look down when she said it, but her face looked pretty sad.
Right, well, they were engaged, but he'd told her father that if she needed to be doing something better, he'd step aside. The King hadn't insisted, Tor just understood that a Princess was more important than he was. So was a Count of course. Peterson was a wild looking giant, but seemed to have a good heart if not the world’s sharpest mind. He ran the flight training school about fifty miles from Wilderness Station. Demanding and a little self-entitled, but that was royalty for you. Tor nodded to her, but didn't make a face.
“That's odd. Any guesses who Karina's going after?”
Nodding Varley glanced at Kolb, “Countier David Derring. I've seen them together a few times. It's a good match, at least on paper. Within the three steps, he's good looking and so is she. He won't inherit, but god willing, neither will Karina. They know some of the same people and all that, plus, I know for a fact they slept together already.” She made a face.
“Normally not a huge deal, Karina wanting to marry someone else like that, but Count Peterson is important. His family is so intertwined with the military that going against him is sure to cause an armed rebellion. Oh, I meant to ask earlier Holly, if that happens, can we count on your support? Between you and Thorgood, that would almost match the King’s army in advanced fighters… There's a chance that Peterson may not accept me as a substitute for my sister. He likes red hair and mines this odd brown color…”
Tor snorted.
“Well, I can't control your marriages or engagements, but if he tries to go to war with the kingdom over something that silly, I'll get Rolph and my brothers and we'll go tell him off for you. You’re one of the best looking women in the kingdom though, so I doubt he’d complain.” Seriously Tor shook his fist a little in the air to show he meant business. Oddly no one laughed, even if he did mean it as a joke.
Kolb glanced at him and nodded, which got Petra to do something similar.
“That would about do it, I think.” The large bald man said.
“If Tor and Alphonse both went, Peterson would have to listen, wouldn't he? I don't know if your brothers would add much, but I could be wrong on that. Peterson is a good man, but he does tend to favor powerful warriors and royalty as advisors… Maybe you and the Prince should visit with him soon? Smooth things over. After all, if he's going to steal your fiancee the least he could do is be gracious about it.”
This got a chuckle from everyone but Tor, who sighed. It looked like yet another engagement was going to fade on him. Oh well. If it did, he decided, he was going to start sleeping with a bunch of women, even if he had to hire them. This country idea of saving himself for marriage was getting old, and most likely making a laughing stock of him with the nobles, who all had more relationships than they did fingers. The idea made him blush furiously, but that didn't mean he wouldn't do it.
For now though, work.
“I need… Um, Petra I think. Trice too, having lately been down in Warden. Varley, you're probably needed back in the Capital and honestly, even if the Wards are totally genuine in their sentiments, I'm not taking one of the Noram royal family to people that were at war with us less than two weeks ago. Too tempting, plus… Marvin wants to sleep with you said? Not that I can blame him, but you already sent a go between to put him off for now, right? So it might be a little confusing if you turn up on his doorstep. Kind of an implied offer if you did, after being asked.” Bad enough Tor had to take Trice, since she'd probably been sleeping with the guy herself. It made sense, he was good looking. Incredibly so.
If Tor was a girl he probably would have considered it already himself too.
That left Kolb, Holly and her guards to protect the Princess on the way home, but it wouldn't be an instant thing. First Tor had a lot of work to do and wanted to rearm himself and his friends. Also, really, if he was going to fly off, possibly forever, with the clothes and gear Ethyl and Clark had given him, Tor wanted to leave them with enough things to keep them going for a while and to make their trust in him worth having given.
After the pie was eaten and plans made Trice and Petra walked with him to the store, so that he could deliver the shields for the merchants, knowing the old woman had to be feeling a little exposed after her trauma, being robbed like she had.
That was something he'd felt himself after attacks and it helped to know that people couldn't easily do it again. With a good shield, well, she could be robbed maybe, but no one would be hurting her, unless Smythe of Westend decided to come after her or something. Things could always be replaced if it came to that, goods or gold. It was the people that needed protecting.
The shop was busy when they walked in. Too busy it seemed to him, but Ethyl and Clark both smiled as they demonstrated how various things worked to the twenty or so well dressed adults and nearly as many kids, most of them looking a little shabby, if only by comparison to the well dressed grownups.
Money changed hands quickly, golds, silvers and a few coppers at times. Ethyl nodded, but didn't announce him to the room, thankfully. It was all he could do to not hit own shield and that mainly because it was already on. He simply handed her the amulet with its slight inner glow of blue and brighter glowing sigil in the same color, a dot inside a circle, and explained in a whisper what it was. She put it on instantly and relaxed, her face going from tight and pinched to calm almost instantly. Clark's face didn't change, except for the fact that his smile had gotten bigger when the saw the look on his wife's face.
No one paid much attention to him, most of the people that looked at all stopped on Petra who was the biggest person in the room, and pretty, as well as stylishly dressed in an off pink material from Afrak that she'd fashioned herself into an interesting looking dress that exposed her left shoulder. The rest looked at Trice, eyes lingering on the stub of her arm a little. She pretended not to notice them noticing her, flouncing her blond hair slightly. It was an odd fuzz, not the dark set of curls it naturally was, since he'd told her to change it after he made her stab him about a month or two back. Over two months now? Three? So much had happened it was hard to keep track. He wasn't even totally sure it was still spring to tell the truth, it could be early summer, the idea that he didn't know even that made him wince. Who didn't know what season it was?
Not being watched meant that Tor could look around, and actually see who was there. Most of the people looked like merchants, except the kids, who were probably locals, well, they were all from the area, but the kids probably lived within a short walk. One of the boys looked around covertly, a little obviously for a professional thief really, and slipped an amulet, a room light, into his pocket. Clark had seen him do it too, and descended on the boy instantly.
“Damn-it Swarley! This isn't some ten for a penny sweet! This is worth hundreds of golds. I'll have to report it to the guard…” Tor saw the man look at him guiltily, as if wanting to not do that at all, but he didn't get a chance to simply scold the boy, or even talk to Tor about what to do because a black clad man with a velvet cape and a black hat with a large green feather in it grabbed the boy on the other side.
“Got you! Thief! Thief!” That got the attention of the room fast. Most of them were merchants, and apparently, as Tor should have suspected, when he stopped to think about it, they didn't like thieves much at all.
Chapter seven
The name, face, and apparently sticky fingers, of Swarley Jones were well known in the area. He tried to break free and run when the guard came, getting a clout to the side of the head for his trouble from the velvet clad merchant who really didn't want him to get away. Almost as if it were personal. The guard, a man of about eighteen was one of the young men that had given them directions a few days before. He shook the boys arm roughly.
“Swarley! How many times… What did he grab this time, a pair of shoes or tub of toothpaste?” the guard glared at the boy menacingly.
Clark answered, subdued and as if he were ashamed of something.
“No Kyle… It's, well… a bit more serious than that this time, I'm afraid.” He honestly sounded worried too.
The story unfolded quickly, and most of the people around him knew it already. Swarley Jones was a local boy who's father died at sea in a squall, which Tor learned meant a sudden storm, and who's mother hadn't lasted a year past that. Dying of grief they said. Swarley allowed that the constant drinking hadn't helped either.
Since then, nearly six months past, the boy had lived how he could, stealing food and sundries, clothes and whatnot, when he couldn't convince some sailor to part with a few coppers for servicing them sexually. Tor almost blanched at that, but the boy was old enough, fourteen, and selling himself was considered honest work here. No one even blinked that he mainly serviced men. That's who the clients were after all.
After about ten minutes of talking about what to do, Kyle the guard, pulled the boy from the shop, less angry now and more sad. Tor followed, which got Petra and Trice to come out behind him while the shop keeps went back to work. They were making a lot suddenly after all and an attempted theft wouldn't keep them from working for long. So was Tor, he realized.
That was good, but this kind of event on their first day didn't bode well. It wasn't his business, except that the boy was probably off to jail for this, or a beating… or worse, depending on what the penalty was for such theft.
That was why Tor could never be a judge he knew, or a guardsman. He'd seen the kid steal with his own eyes, right in front of him, with no hint of doubt or mistake being possible, and still, standing here, he thought the penalties all sounded far too harsh, even when what was stolen took money from his own pocket. What the hell was he supposed to do?
It turned out that he didn't have to do much at all. The four guards stopped outside and started talking about the case amongst themselves. It was clear that they all had a soft spot for the boy, or at least didn't want to see him put to death for grand theft, hanging being the traditional penalty for such. Since it was so local, both the Captain of the guard and the Countess herself would be called upon. Normally that wouldn't happen, but they only had a few capital cases per year, so Holly had taken to reviewing them to assure true justice was done, and that the law didn't become blind.
The stone street looked a little uneven suddenly, dirtier than it had been before, darker in color. Was it just dusk? Or just his own foreboding due to the events? No… Clouds had come in suddenly, almost black and full of rain, off in the darkened sky over the ocean the world suddenly got light for a moment, lighting flashed and people scurried out of the shops to look at the sky. The baker closed his shutter and hurried out fast enough that Tor doubted everything was put away properly, it took time to close a bake shop well.
“Storm coming!” Petra, who was from a similar area, looked at the sky closely. “A big one. We need to get inside… I… You — guards — come with us and bring the boy.” She said suddenly, her voice commanding and firm. The men didn't even argue with her.
Tor nearly laughed, because if he told them he was there to save their lives and they should come along with him, they probably would have hit the strange little man or called him names at the very least.
It didn't hurt that they went right up to the side door of Holly's house, with the two obviously noble women leading. Petra didn't knock, just walked in and started hollering for Holly. The instant the Countess came into view, along with Kolb, fast, like they'd been waiting for them in the other room, the tall girl started saying there was a storm and an “issue”. The storm came first, meaning it was a bigger deal than anything Tor had e
ver experienced. A little rain, even a hard one, shouldn't get people that worked up. Lightning could mean fire, but a lot of stuff here was made of stone. The real worries seemed to be about flooding from the ocean and wind damage.
“Tor your new house!” Holly said, horrified suddenly. “It's right on the beach, it'll be destroyed or flooded…”
Tor shrugged.
“I'll go take it down then. Not a problem. That's what it's built to do after all. Be right back.”
It took longer than being “right back” but not much and that only because he had to make two trips to carry all his stuff. The stone pots and dishware made the heaviest run. Loaded in his trunk he was able to fly with everything in two small hops though. He was busy dragging everything into the main house for about ten minutes, and it wouldn't have taken half that if he'd had more trunks ready to go. As inappropriate as it was, an idea for floating trunks popped into his head. Ones made of magic, like the houses were. He set it aside thought, not having time at the moment.
Then they all ran room to room closing shutters, this was such a big deal that even the guards helped. Swarley offered, but no one wanted to give him the chance to escape.
Except Tor, but if this storm was that big a deal he didn't want to cast the kid out into it alone either. There were big wooden sheets to go over the outside of the windows too, but Holly feared they didn't have time. The wind was picking up, but they had flying gear to hit the upper levels he reminded her. Shields too, so it was even safe. They didn't need to dig out ladders or anything. It took an hour to get all sixteen of the large second and third level windows covered with the light brown wood, but it was finished just before the hard rain started.