by P. S. Power
The decent looking strawberry blonde had her hair pulled back, and just enough make-up on to look like she gave a damn. Gwen didn't. Well, she'd put a bit on the day before, but if it hadn't come off on the floor of the shed, she'd be surprised. No Westmorland cared about how she looked at the moment though. She was given a light hug, but a metal wand, a thing made of flat silver, was tapped against the back of her hand.
"You won't get long to catch your breath. Mona said that she's pulling out the stops, given what you intended to do. No one told me what that was." There was some curiosity there, but no real question.
Then, Heather was this world's version of her, and if she couldn't be considered trustworthy, then no one was, right? That might be the case, but if so, then she was wasting her time and the whole world deserved to die off. Hopefully that wasn't the situation, because she was still reeling from the pain of all that had happened in the last day.
"Learning to rift, so that I can make devices that will do it, like Teletransport spheres, so we won't have to use people anymore. I should be able to put in a time delay even. It's dangerous."
That got Heather to agree with her instantly.
"Yes, it is. You could die, learning to Teletransport like you are. You're old for it too, so your mind might rebel at some point. Or you could end up back in your world, which might not be that bad for you, since you'd go in that body, but I'd miss you." There was a soft sweetness to the words, as if she really meant them all.
Gwen let the warmth of friendship wash over her, but then sighed.
"Yeah, I didn't mean me. I might die, but I meant the devices. Right now the world is held in check by the idea that each Westmorland that rifts is special, and rare. With devices like this, well, it will be possible to have ten, maybe a hundred, times as many of them, and in a short period of time. It's a lot easier to train one person to make things than convince them to blow themselves up for the King, I bet." She shrugged, and felt a slight ach in her middle again, meaning she had to leave. Back to the shed, she thought. "That's the danger. It's the price of getting you and Beth free. Sort of. It's mainly for the kids. The ones that haven't been put in the program yet. I need to go."
That got a piece of paper waved in her face, with a new location on it. Another target to find. This one was Heidi Westmorland, who was going to be harder to find indeed, since Gwen only vaguely remembered her.
"Crap." She was well into screaming by the time that one worked out, and didn't really remember how the girl was found at all. She earned another tap, with a wand, and almost instantly had to find Peter, who'd been taken off somewhere she'd never seen before, just to screw with her.
Then she was shown a picture of a person that she'd never even, met and made to find them. It didn't work. When she passed out from the pain, she fell down, only to have the whole thing start over again, the same picture being shown to her. Six repeats of that later, she worked out where the man was, and got to him. He was just a caretaker for a Westmorland out in the field. No one special at all. Except that he had one of the miracle wands that saved her. That and some tea, as well as a chair, that he let her use.
"This way dear, this way. I hear that you're being put through a real gauntlet? I have to say I was rather shocked to find myself being called on like this. Normally I just act as a footman for Wallace Westmorland. He's one of the Detectives. I'm afraid I didn't get your name?"
Gwen looked at the man and then sighed. That sounded like the kind of thing that Adam would think of, didn't it? Secrecy, even if it didn't make a difference. Then again, maybe he was right? Her brain hurt too much to work it out, so she backed the play and took a deep breath, then sucked down a whole cup of tea, not knowing when her next mini-mission would start.
"Yes. Thank you for the drink and place to sit. Did they give you a name or picture?"
The man nodded. Then held out a piece of paper that simply said "Park Street" on it.
"This place. I can't say that I've ever heard of it." The man looked curious, and Gwen handed him a cup to reward his generosity. It was all she had, after all.
Then, without too much work, she made it back to the shed, and sat down on the ground, looking up at the old woman. Mona, she was willing to bet, and waited, panting slightly.
The lady was alone, but moved in with a new little device, and tapped the coin shaped thing on the back of Gwen's hand, causing it to pop off.
"Very good. That's the first part of this. The second will begin in a week. You need to rest and avoid doing anything using magic during that time. Do you understand? You can do other work, but no magic, unless an emergency comes up. I'm given to understand that's fairly common for you?" She didn't sound happy about it, or pissy, she was just making a comment.
"Fuck you." Gwen smiled at her though, and resisted the urge to hit the older lady. It wasn't out of respect as much as that she was standing too far away, and getting up was going to take work. She really figured that lying there, on the ground, might be a good thing to do for a while. Say that week that had been mentioned? "What are we going to do for the second part then? I think I pretty much have this down, don't I?"
Mona flipped her palms up.
"Do you? You can Teletransport, but you need a lot of practice and then I was given to understand you need to learn both rifting and how to make radiative transfers? It will be a while to get all of that down. Several years, even using our methods, if it works at all. Next week we'll work on practice of what you've learned however. More intense drills. Until then." The woman walked out, not even trying to help Gwen stand up.
She was clearly a very bright woman, since Gwen would have hurt her, if she could have. She hated that bitch, after all. She'd thought she hated Manly, but now she realized that what she felt for him was closer to mild fear. Mona was her worst nightmare. Well, nearly. There were still those tentacle things, but other than that, it was all creepy and mean old lady now, inside her head.
It took about half an hour for her to recover enough to stand and slowly shuffle inside. No one came to help her, but Beth and Peter both met her on the back porch, waiting for her to get there under her own power.
Because, that was the important part here, no doubt, leaving her that little bit of dignity, or whatever the idea was. She doubted it was about her well being, though it might be a Westmorland thing, or even a test to see if she was still willing to try and fight, after what she'd been through. It wasn't like either of them were simply too lazy to help, so it wasn't that.
"Hey." She sounded like someone had tortured her for over a day and made her run the whole time, for some insane and horrible reason.
Peter acted like he barely noticed at all.
"Manly is still here, waiting for you inside. So that you two can come up with the new training protocols for me?" He seemed less than thrilled about it all, now that she was in a mood to pay attention to him.
"Right. The new and incredibly fun and exciting protocols that won't be like what they did to me at all. Hopefully. We should be able to start in the morning, if the devices we need for it are available. It's going to be pretty basic stuff. First you get to actually learn some basic movements. I'd go over that right now, but... no."
No one helped her, though Bethany stayed right by her, ready to lend assistance if it was needed. That kind of confirmed that the hands off thing was part of the protocol then. After a bit she thought she got it, and muttered the words to the others.
"So, no touching, in case I go off and start fighting, after all that?"
Peter nodded, standing out of her easy arm's reach, she noticed. Beth was closer however, nearly in contact with her.
"That's it. We've all taken a swing at people right after training sessions, so everyone learns to stay back for a bit, just in case. It's worse with you, because you aren't one of us, and are a better fighter. I guess, if your training works, then I'll have to be treated that way too, won't I?" Again, he didn't seem all that happy about it all.
Gwen thought about it, still making her way down the nicely carpeted hallway. It was rich looking, she noticed. That was a strange thing to think about, but this was one of the back areas, where not spending money wouldn't have mattered much. Here it was though, ready to impress the servants and any trespassers that got lost. She winced, realizing that she'd totally lost her train of thought, and couldn't even remember what she'd been about to say. That happened, but right now, she didn't really care, so changed the topic.
"I need to get in touch with Christophe. I haven't been doing that, and if we're going to be getting married it seems, I don't know, like a thing to do. How do people do things like that? Aren't they always too busy doing something else?"
Beth took a risk and patted her arm gently, clearly ready to duck away. Gwen wasn't mad at her though, not being the source of pain at all.
"Well, there are courting rules. Really however, you should try to be in touch with the Duke at least once a day. Not for too long, mind, but keeping in touch is important. Visiting too. You can do that now, when you recover a bit. That's one of the very handy things about personal Teletransport."
There was a grunt from the kid next to her, that sounded like he was impressed with the idea.
"That and assassinations. We don't do a lot of that, since sphere's work pretty well. For transport, I mean, not killing. I wouldn't know about anything like that, after all." He was so clearly lying that Gwen rolled her eyes.
Then she kept shuffling forward.
"So that's how it's done? Someone Teletransport's in and does the deed?" She mimed stabbing someone in the neck, but Beth looked away, not answering. At first.
About ten steps later, she stopped and took a single, very deep breath.
"I wouldn't know either, specifically, but if I have it right, if something like that were to be done, it would work best the other way around. A part of the target, say their heart, or brain, could be removed, at a distance. Then the person would just die and no one would be the wiser."
Gwen thought about it for a moment, and realized that it made sense. Not that she knew how to move objects to her from a distance. It could be handy though, couldn't it? Especially if she could learn to do it without all that pain.
Chapter eighteen
When she finally got herself around to going inside and using the Telestator, she was ambushed with calls. None of them were for her however, but were rather from people in Ferdinand's offices and directed at Ethyl. The problem there was that Gwen was trying to be a good fiancé, and actually get in touch with Christophe. Bethany had rather been beating her that way, doing the job of potentially getting married eventually far more actively and attentively than really seemed natural, given everything.
The first call that came in was from the King's party and social planner. Or so Gwen thought. It turned out that the woman in charge of that, a rather sour and angry sounding woman, considering her job description was literally to party all the time, was just one of three people. Because the best way to get anything done was always a committee.
Gwen was just standing there, waiting during the first call, but the instant it ended, before Ethyl could even take a step back, the next planner, this one a young man, was on for Mrs. Vernor. On the good side, they weren't trying to tell her how to have a party, just giving suggestions as to what kinds of things might be done, or not done, that would make the Marduk happy. Really, the man didn't seem all that picky. There was no demand of dancing girls, or that women not attend the party with him at all, or anything strange like that.
He liked chocolates and dates, seemed to favor spicy foods, which didn't mean that much really, since the Western Kingdom had a collective idea about spices that seemed to suggest that some being in a jar, in another room, was just a tad on the strong side. Pepper was considered a blistering condiment, and not used by most people. It wasn't an actual physical thing either, since Gwen still liked her food a lot more spicy than anyone here did and her body was, well, from there. So it was just habit.
"We could bring in some hot peppers from the south, and I can taste things for the cook." She spoke out loud, mainly due to tiredness, but hadn't been exposed to the current man for some reason yet. Probably because she wasn't on the King's party list, or something like that. Still, he was coming to one she was at, so it probably wasn't pure hatred, just that he was too busy for that kind of thing. "I can see if we can have some brought in by air."
"That would be most helpful." The man actually sounded like he really meant it even. "Can you tolerate such foods? I tried some about three years ago, and I swear I still tear up, when I think about it."
"Not a problem. Um, Gwen Farris here. I wasn't trying to eavesdrop, I'm just waiting to try and get a call in to Christophe Aubry. I just got back in the other day, from a field assignment." Well, she really should have done that the first day. Beth had. She was... Well, being busy wasn't a real answer, was it? You made time for things like that, or they didn't get done. Ethyl had mentioned that to her, when Gwen hadn't left the room earlier.
The man sounded very, very happy then.
"I heard about that! It's wonderful news that the new Duke has found someone that's willing to marry him, even given his weak health and infirmities." That was his stutter and low magical ability. This was from someone that was trying to be polite about the whole thing too, she bet.
She nearly snapped at the fellow anyway, but Ethyl waved her left hand in the air, seeming to know that, so Gwen just locked everything down, and took a bit of silence instead, letting her "mom" do that part for her.
"We're all very excited. We'll have a large assortment of spicy and rich foods, as well as some for the rest of us to eat as well. You say that as far as colors go he favors brown and green? The King likes brown and blue. That would seem to give a common color theme at least."
The voice seemed happy with that, and agreed instantly, but Gwen rolled her eyes.
"You know, and I mean this with love and concern for everyone involved, but both of them are adult men. You probably don't have to color code your party for them. Not that I have anything against brown, given it's a summer party, but it's outside already. We have trees, dirt and the sky, as well as grass and all that. They'll have all their favorite colors, I'm sure. I'd go with white and pink given that, so it doesn't look like you're sucking up to them. They both hate that." She didn't know that about either of them, having met the King only a handful of times, and the Marduk once.
What she knew about them, really, was that they both had been a lot more concerned with shutting the gate that had started to open, than about their own lives. True, neither of them had really helped a lot, but they didn't run from the room screaming either. She'd been there, and that meant she knew, perhaps more than anyone else would ever get, exactly how brave that meant the two men really were. They probably weren't the type to get pissy because the party wasn't done up in their favorite color.
"Besides, they'd both look best with a lot of red around. It fits their skin and hair tones best." Again, she was just talking and words came out, but she didn't know where the words were coming from. It wasn't psychic in nature...
She stiffened. Gwen didn't know things like that at all, having never bothered to learn it for herself, which meant avoiding the idea all together. Back home that had made sense to her. Katherine however knew things like that, since her mother, Ethyl, had taught her, no doubt.
At least she nodded now.
"True. Still, that would be best served for them as individuals. What they pick for clothing on the day. Perhaps we should go with brown, just to be safe? It's a little drab, but I can see not wanting to make anyone feel out of place."
Gwen smiled and didn't offer anything else, since clearly, the rule of the week was going to be all about doing whatever people here always did in that kind of situation, which seemed to involve talking to Ferdinand's people. That reminded her to get in touch with the airfield, as soon as she could. Spices and invitations to go
out, if they hadn't already. Duke Morten would need one, even if no one else wanted to come.
Finally, after an hour of listening to the others chat about things that she couldn't imagine being important at all, they got off the Telestator, and Gwen jumped in on it so quickly that Mrs. Vernor snickered at her lightly.
"It isn't as if you couldn't have used one of the other Telestators dear. We have five of them." She spoke as if Gwen might have honestly forgotten, which earned her a funny, half choked off, snort.
"You're assuming that my rushing to do this is about you having been taking it up all morning, when it's actually more about my nerves. I don't know what to say or anything. I should have written something down. I've never called a man before. Well, not as a man, really. For business, and that sort of thing, but not, for this kind of... ordeal." She wanted to take the last word back, but didn't have a better one to replace it with.
"Ah, luckily, as the young lady, it will be up to him to find suitable topics. I'm sure he's had training in it. Unlike your poor friend Bethany. She has to carry on conversations with Martin Cordell each day. They have nothing in common. I see the political use of the engagement and even the marriage, but it's like taking people from two lands that have been at war for a long time and telling them that they, with their own flesh, must fix all the damage." Those words got Gwen glared at a bit.
Since, naturally, someone had mentioned her setting the whole thing up, not realizing that it had all been her just trying to tease them a bit. Poorly, as it turned out.
"I know. I'm surprised they both haven't taken turns beating me for suggesting it yet. It's coming, no doubt. Well, here goes. Wish me luck." She didn't wait for that, but the woman smiled.
"I wish you the greatest luck in all you do, or wish to, Gwen." There was a soft tingle of power behind it, which, even if it didn't do much, meant that the lady really meant it, which was nice.
"Thanks." She gave the Aubry code from memory, and had a newly minted and rather youthful Duke on the line inside ten minutes. She was stuck just standing there and waiting for him, but he clearly had hurried to reach it, at least he sounded out of breath when he got there.