Knight of the Realm tya-3

by P. S. Power

  When he got there a lady was sleeping on his doorstep, passed out drunk. It wasn't anyone he recognized either, not even from the party, but her top was half off and several men were walking around shiftily a ways off. Three of them. They stared at Tor, their looks far from friendly. Had they been trying to have their way with her, in this weakened condition? Tor glared back and walked past the woman protectively, which got them to move off fast. He didn't even have a shield on, having been working, so he quickly pulled the woman in and locked the door. Running out to play hero like that was stupid of him. Tor blamed the working state. His natural inclination was to protect people and common sense kind of faded when he went deep enough.

  What should he do? Nothing came to mind at all. Let her sleep it off, he guessed. With effort he moved her over to one of the beds, the one farthest away from the corner he took, and got her lying flat. Very carefully he fixed her white top, not touching her flesh at all, so she wouldn't wake up with her breasts hanging out in a strange place.

  Trance state or not, he knew that would be too weird to think a good thing.

  Then he went back to work, just hoping she wasn't an assassin cleverly using his known weaknesses to get to him. A frightened and helpless woman at his door would be let in, and anyone that knew him at all could figure that out, couldn't they? Since he was able to finish working and didn't have his throat cut at all, she probably wasn't. Still, when that was done he put his shield back on before he slept.

  He drifted off more easily than he thought he would, the woman’s light snores comforting in a way. Tor woke to find her just standing in the middle of the room, no lights had been turned on, but the shutters let a little in around the edges, so that they'd seem real.

  Tor slowly got up and opened them, one by one. It seemed less off-putting than just turning on the magical lights on the ceiling. If the lady with him wasn't a bit scared, she was made of sterner stuff than he was. That or insane. Either way, being polite seemed to make sense.

  “Hello.” He spoke softly, having learned that people that had been drinking normally felt sick the next day. That should be sign that it wasn't a good plan, but people did it anyway and always claimed they had a good time, no matter how bad things had gotten.

  The woman looked at him and smiled, wincing as she did.

  “Hey… Um, is there a restroom around here somewhere? Maybe a place to clean up too?” She didn't introduce herself, so Tor didn't either. He just pointed to the correct rooms and listed them off. He decided to make some copies of things, just in case they went over well enough, and was just finishing that when a knock came at his front door.

  A soft knock that he almost didn't hear at first.

  Tor made sure his shield was on, just in case it was the woman’s jealous boyfriend, but it turned out to be Petra, who'd brought him a tray of food, since everyone else was probably going to be sleeping late. She was obviously hung over too, but didn't whine about it like most people did. Tor set up the table with plates and gestured to the seat next to his then got a pitcher of water and chilled it in the freeze box for a minute, then had to break the ice on top up to drink it, the field working a little too well it seemed. When he came back out the woman who'd been taking a bath, from the sound of it, came padding out nude and sopping wet.

  “Do you have a towel or something? I… Petra? How are you!” The woman ran across the room, leaving a trail of water and grabbed his friend, obviously her friend too, who still sat, hugging her tightly. And damply, Petra's clothing got soaked instantly.

  “Martya? Oh!”

  Hugs continued. After a bit, when she straightened up, showing off dark nipples and pubic hair openly, making Tor stiffen a little more than was probably polite. Then she was the one walking around nude. He explained the drying system and how if she held her hand or any other body part, on the sigil built into the wall, she'd be hit by warm air, which would let her dry quickly. It wasn't a towel, but it worked well enough and could be built in.

  Petra and he ate in silence, but the girl kept smirking at him. Did she think he slept with Martya, who was obviously her old friend? Tor tried to look at the situation from her perspective. Naked girl running around his place, washing up and acting like she belonged there… Yep. That's what he would have thought first too. Tor wondered if he should ask to sleep with the woman now, just so when people talked about them it would be true.

  When she came back out she bowed to Tor, a low humble thing that looked genuine and had to make her head hurt, at least she grabbed at it like it did. At least she'd put her clothes back on. The stuff was nearly see through in the bright morning light, but it wasn't nude, making it possible to look at her without splitting the front of his pants open.

  “Oh, Pet. Last night was awful.” The woman started, her voice woeful. “Farrell and his friends caught me out drunk and alone, I mean really drunk, and were pulling me down, probably to have back-door sex, you know how they are, can't even be bothered to do it properly if your drunk enough? So I ran away and found this, door and then passed out. I don't know what happened after that, but my behind doesn't hurt and I haven't had sex at all that I can tell, so this fellow is obviously a better man than Farrell. Which isn't hard, but still… I… don't know where I am. One of the magic houses obviously…” She clumped into one of the chairs without waiting to be invited, since they were obviously all friends now. Tor smiled, wondering if things were really just that easy here, or if it was just Martya. She looked miserable, if clean enough, though in yesterdays clothing.

  He really needed a way to quickly launder clothing built in to the structures. He had water, and could heat it. That didn't give him soap, but he could make the water swirl or go back and forth rapidly to do the scrubbing for him, right? Then use the clothing dryer field… He'd have to work on it. Really though, could he clean the clothing without water? Just organize a field that would carry all the dirt and oil away from it? That… seemed really doable. It was just a variation of the earth moving field. It would just have to recognize fabric.

  Martya grabbed her head again and moaned softly. Petra didn't, but looked ready to throw up. Tor also needed to come up with a hangover cure. If he did he was going to charge a lot for it though, silly people should learn to just drink less, shouldn't they? He wondered for a second what would happen if the healing field was used. It should help with illness, was this like that, a sickness? Poisoning maybe.

  Chuckling, he went to his trunk and pulled one out. Without saying anything he activated it and handed it to Martya, who took it with a hesitant look. If it really hurt, or made her sick, he'd rather not ambush Petra with it. After all, she might sleep with him again sometime if he was careful enough about the whole thing. Maybe when he wasn't even in a trance? That could be fun. The girl closed her eyes and gripped the stone hard, her breath coming fast, panting shallowly for about a minute, then she smiled and set down the stone.

  “That… Petra, here, try it.”

  The large woman didn't wait, she didn't pant either. When she opened her eyes she looked… better, no dark circles, no hangover left. Grinning she kissed Tor and didn't stop for a long time.

  “I could feel the pain drain away, the headache and sick feeling. I feel good. Rested. We need to get some of these to the King’s palace and, um, some other places. Like inside the big house today. Normally I'd let them all suffer, especially Maria, but she went out of her way to apologize to me pretty sweetly, so I guess I should attempt to be nice in return, at least until it proves to be a trick or something. It can wait a few minutes while we eat and catch up though.”

  The two girls had a kind of short hand that he couldn't really follow, what he did get was that Martya was Petra's closest childhood friend, one of the reasons she always came to party with the Wards, it being old habit and her being popular. That, and it turning out that she'd gone into the family business after all, as everyone had always said she would, which meant that being a bit of a party girl didn't hurt in genera
l. Tor didn't think anything of it, since where he was from most people simply did that. He'd have been a baker if he hadn't gotten a King’s scholarship, and even then, if he didn't have ten siblings, each vying for their own place in the world, he probably wouldn't have gone. Not if his family had needed him.

  But Martya's family was in the prostitution trade. Apparently they didn't really need her for it at all either, and she wasn't wild about the work. Too many uncouth sailors that thought sticking it in and thrusting a few times should have her loving them abjectly. It was a silly idea, of course, but Tor could kind of credit it. After all, he'd liked Petra before, but didn't he feel a little more fond of her now? Like they were closer or something. Lovers. Did it count as that if they'd only done it one time? Probably not.

  The girl continued on about how there wasn't much else for her to do, since she didn't want to fish or farm for a living either. Too much work she admitted, for too little pay.

  “Um, Martya… Would you like a job?” Tor asked, feeling a little awkward about it.

  “Sure… Since you could have had me last night for free anyway. What do you want, a blowjob? Regular sex? I'll blow you for free, just for the rescue and do the rest for that hangover remedy…” Laughing she started to shimmy out of her dress.

  Petra crossed her arms and mock glared at her friend.

  “Hey, get off my boyfriend you!”

  Everyone laughed, even Tor, if not for the same reason.

  “No, I meant selling ice. The price will probably go down, around a silver for ten pounds, I'd guess, given the market here, maybe less, but if you sell enough, that should work out. I don't know how much you make now, but… Well, let me show you.” His voice showed his excitement, earning a strange look from the other two. He grabbed the right pendants, there were three of them to make up one manufactory, and went outside to set things up.

  He didn't whistle while he did it, but it took force of will not too. It was kind of exciting and happy all at once.

  It took about five minutes, because he had to patch into a water feed, just using the one going into his house for now, explaining how it worked as he went. Then, after moving everyone else well out of the way, he tapped the main sigil, which made a white and red hut, about forty foot on a side with what looked like a red tile roof, so it kind of fit into the area, just appear in front of them. The sigil amulet slid into the wall and started glowing a soft pink. He just liked the color and though it worked with the white and red pretty well.

  The water was going in not half a minute later. Then they had to wait. Not too long, but a good fifteen minutes.

  “There it is! Good, when the sigil turns green like that, then next to it, after about ten seconds, a blue one should show up… There.” Walking the four feet towards the end Tor looked at them dramatically.

  “Ready?”

  Petra nodded with a little smile, curious, but Martya looked amazed and a tiny bit scared. Why that should be he didn't know. After all, she'd spent the night in a magic house. So a magic shed shouldn't be that amazing, right? Just to get her past her fear Tor asked her to hit the sigil, which set several things into motion at once. Martya jumped back, but laughed as she did.

  “What is it doing?” She asked, eyes wide.

  Tor just pointed.

  The wall near the front vanished completely, leaving only a wall of ice about eight foot high. Then it slowly pushed forward until a foot of clearish white stuck out. A light blue light flashed inside the ice, to show where it was being cut, a crisscross of color, and then the wall reappeared, pushing the whole thing forward again about six inches. The wall of ice was cut into even one foot blocks, or close enough, meaning that there were two hundred and twenty-four one-foot square blocks. He wasn't certain, but guessed that it could do this faster than the blocks could be moved unless they had a large team of people working on it.

  “So. What do you say Martya? I mean it's something to try, since you won't actually lose your ability to ply your other trade if it doesn't work out, right? We can easily move it someplace else too, though right now I really think we should build an ice castle in the yard. Not one too high, because it will fall apart when it melts…” Who didn't like an ice castle on a hot day?

  Sure, he'd never heard of such a thing before and neither had either of them, but the materials were at hand, so why not? Actually, since they weren't hung over anymore, the girls seemed pretty enthused by the idea, and Petra had an plan, a structure fifty foot long and twenty foot wide… After all, if you wanted a spectacle you didn't go small. Plus the ice was free. For them anyway.

  Laughing they did just that, taking hours, and forming an almost solid mass of ice nearly as big as the ice producer itself. People came and started helping after a while, kids at first, but adults soon enough, with food and drink vendors an hour or two after that. Martya quickly realized the potential and started selling the blocks for a half silver each, which seemed a little high to Tor, but had people pulling up in horse draw carts to get it by the load within another two hours. It wasn't even noon and people were coming to see the ice castle, which was kept growing faster than it melted, even with all the sales.

  The ground got damp, but no one seemed to mind overly.

  People laughed and played, kids and even some of the young adults climbing up on it for as long as they could without freezing. Then they'd jump off, sliding down a ramp of melting ice that people built just for the purpose. He’d smoothed it with a cutter so it was very slick. It looked fun, if wet, so Tor jumped up the side of the castle, which was really a solid rectangle on the bottom and took a turn. It worked, but got him more than a little damp. No one cared though.

  At noon Trice, Maria and Marvin all came out with Collette and Ellen trailing by a few minutes. Tor kind of expected the Wards to yell at him for ruining their lawn, but that didn't seem to matter as much as the wealth of ice growing there and the fact that it had been put there as a free entertainment. That part, seemed to be the real selling point. That it was a gift to everyone.

  They all looked grumpy and tired, except Ellen who looked well rested and even happy enough, seeing all the smiling faces. Someone had gotten a band to come, which Martya cleverly paid instantly, making it worth their while to spend the day. They played happy tunes that matched the mood of the crowed.

  Petra ran up to them and started passing a healing device around which made everyone happier inside a minute or two.

  When it came around to Ellen she took it, but clearly didn't think much would happen, having been wise with the amount she drank the night before. Standing stiffly at first, her eyes closed, like almost everyone else had, her face relaxed after a bit and she smiled, a real genuine thing that took in her eyes as well as her mouth. She didn't let go of it for a long time, nearly ten minutes, even as people stared. A popping sound came from her lower back, which made her wince and cry out, but then she sighed.

  Eyes still shut she nodded slowly at first, getting faster as she went, “OK Tor… I'll let you have my virginity…” She murmured dreamily, making the crowd of watchers laugh. She smiled again and opened her eyes wide. The whites were a pure now, without the slight yellowish tint of age they'd had before, turning the amulet off she handed it back to Petra, then leaned in whispered something to her, which got a chuckle from the people around them, but a nod from her daughter. That made everyone smile, except Trice who looked suddenly angry. She glared at Petra, and then him, for some reason Tor didn't get.

  Did Ellen say something about her maybe? That didn't make sense. As far as Tor could tell they hardly knew each other. Well, Trice would tell him or not, or if it got bad enough, he'd ask. Then she wouldn't tell him, because “he knew what he'd done” or something like that probably. It was a favorite line of his mothers with the boys when she was particularly displeased over something that would have been too minor to anyone else to even notice. Luckily Trice didn't remind him that much of his mother at all.

  The ice festival, impromp
tu as it was, needed some games, which the Count and Countess got to come up with, that being the tradition in Ward. Tor offered some of his little devices as prizes for them. He got out some lights, Temperature equalizers, Not-flyers and cutters. For a grand prize he offered one of the houses complete with water pump, one of the purifying kind.

  The games were at once familiar, and disturbing to his country bred mind. The contests for the kids were unique, but made sense in a way. Like one were the competitors had to sit on blocks of ice, the one that lasted the longest won a Not-flyer. A basic idea that wasn't so much skill or luck based. Good for the young ones, or at least Tor thought so at first.

  It came down to a little boy of about five and a twelve year old girl, both in clear agony, who refused to let the other win. At an hour Tor went into his house and got one of the remaining devices in that set and brought it out, handing it off to the Count. The large man declared them both the winner, in a loud booming voice, and presented then each with a unit with a happy smile and congratulations.

  Petra suggested that they earmark both of those kids for military service later, because they'd already proved they were tough enough, hadn't they? Ward nodded, but with a somber sidelong glance at Tor as if wondering what he'd say about the idea.

  He just shrugged.

  “The girl will need to go to school in a few years regardless. Get with me when it's time and I'll cover her for that. The boy too, when it comes time. I have some connections in that area, or will at least, by then.”

  Marvin bowed. Honestly he looked more than a little happy about it. Like it was a gift for him personally or something. Then again, as the Count, any child given an education from his area was a good thing, right?

  If anything that made the rest of the competitors work even harder for some reason. There was a fruit eating contest, which was close enough to things Tor recognized really, even if the fruit was unique to him, bananas, followed by people eating raw fish.