Asunder (The Infected: Ripped to Shreds Book 3)

by P. S. Power

  Will thought for a second, then listed a few others off. Most of whom she knew off the top of her head, now that she was in the same reality they were.

  “Tor, Prince Alphonse, Timon Baker, Aunt Taman. Those will work as a start.”

  She nodded, checking each of them, including the people in the room. They were roughly who they seemed to be. None of them were creepy imposters from other worlds, at any rate. She just sat there, working, with the boys taking notes on what she was saying. Will got up and left after a while, heading off to Soam, since he had work to do, if he weren’t needed there at the moment.

  That lasted until the evening meal. At that point, Tamerlane stood up and smiled at her.

  “We should repair to the meal? I… My manners! I should have let you refresh yourself already. Not leaving you sit here with your bags by your feet as we make you use your magics like a slave.” She actually felt bad about that part of things.

  Cin shook her head a bit, honestly feeling hungry, now that it was mentioned.

  “That’s why I’m here. To work.”

  Dumas stood up, his little kid face polite seeming. The mind behind it working fast.

  “Still, I should have mentioned something. I fear I got carried away by the magic you possess, not seeing to your comfort first.” He bowed, going extra low, which got his brother to do the same thing. “I can but beg forgiveness.”

  She winked at him, since he was ready to go on with the whole thing, begging for forgiveness, so that his mother wouldn’t have to. Even if she would have done it without question if Cindy needed that kind of thing to feel better about the situation.

  “No need for that kind of thing between friends.” She used Standard, so was a bit awkward, but they all smiled about it, standing up quickly after she spoke. It was the right thing to say for Terlee at least. The boys were a little uncertain, but to the Countess, proclaiming them to be friends like that was kind of a big deal. That had to do with her upbringing.

  The kids had come from a different place though, being born nobles. Tamerlane Baker had lived a humble life in the country for her first eighteen years. It made a difference. Enough so that simply proclaiming her a personal friend, even having just met, would carry real weight with her. As in she’d give Cindy everything she owned if it became needed. The words over the other lady’s head told her that it wasn’t a one way street, but the Countess didn’t really need Cin for her things at the moment. Then again, Cindy had traveled from another world to help them in their fight. That really was the kind of thing that a friend might do for them. So to her it simply seemed real.

  Though, given the story so far, the Countess actually figured that Cindy was Tor’s friend first. It made sense, given they’d been in battle together.

  The next bit of trouble was that Cindy wasn’t actually dressed for a proper meal there. Not one like what the woman had planned. It was simple enough for them to provide magical clothing, but doing so might be seen as an insult. Doing that to a person who’d done nothing but help them so far would be horrible. The big issue though was that asking Cin about it, could be rude as well. She was from another culture, so anything they did might be the wrong thing. Even if the lady had seemed remarkably calm so far, even when slighted by the rules of Noram. Terlee simply didn’t know what to do, given that.

  Interestingly, it was Clemance, the thirteen-year-old, who had a simple answer for that. He simply left the room, then jogged back in, several minutes later. Carrying magical devices in a nice box which floated behind him. Instead of giving them over as a loan, the good-looking kid bowed, and spoke in English.

  “I offer these tokens as a gift.” The amulet for the box was given over with both hands, making it a real present. One that refusing, or even hinting at not wanting, would be seen as an insult. Then, the way it was given pretty much meant the guy was at least suggesting they sleep together. Which she didn’t have to do just then, because he was too young by a year there. After that she was probably a bit trapped by their rules, since what he’d gone to the Moon to get her was worth about what a jet plane would have cost in her world.

  Or a Jump Craft.

  Not that she still had the space ship she’d gotten. That had vanished the first day, being loaded onto a truck and driven off when she wasn’t watching. There wasn’t one inside the box either. It did have a good shield though, which would allow her to fly, among other things.

  “Thank you! This is lovely.” She paused, and read what she was supposed to actually do, since Dumas was thinking about it. On purpose, in case she needed the help that way. Not that she did, but the thought was really kind of the kid. “It’s most welcome. Are you single, by any chance?”

  She was being a bit heavy handed, but by addressing that flat out, the boy could claim that he was betrothed, which was real enough, at the moment. Tamerlane covered her mouth, so that her smile didn’t show up as easily. To her it was a bit cute of her to ask that.

  As if she weren’t serious. Anyone getting her that much swag was going to at least have her attention.

  The boy nodded.

  “I’m unmarried. Just turning to an adult in six months. I could contact you then, perhaps?” It was polite of him, and he meant it the way it sounded. As in he was willing to date her when he was old enough. That was a bit kinky for her, given the age, but she smiled at him and winked.

  “That could be fun. We should talk about that then? Thanks by the way. I get the other parts of this. Dumas filled me in just now. My powers, you know?”

  That was honest enough, but also meant that the kid knew that she wasn’t going to make a mistake and hit on him too hard. Even there it had happened to him a few times. Adult noble women didn’t always play by the correct social rules. The men were as bad, but so far they hadn’t wanted him that way in particular. Which was just as well, given that he wasn’t that wild about the idea of having sex with other men. Not that he figured that as normal or anything. Most of the adult men around him were prone to do that kind of thing at least on occasion.

  That meant that he was the strange one, as far as things like that went.

  It was an interesting thing to read about, given that it was pretty different from what Cindy was used to seeing at home. Most of the time men could barely put up with the gay ones around them, even if they weren’t going to be mean about it to their faces. Clem felt like he was the odd man out for his own rules.

  She grinned, then bowed back to everyone in the room again.

  “I should go and change? Is there a place for that?” She didn’t need much really. The bathroom would work well enough. Instead of that, Terlee hopped up, seeming almost scared for some reason. From her words, which were suddenly yellow with anxiety, it had to do with the fact that they hadn’t let Cin get to her room yet.

  Working her like a servant instead. One who they weren’t even paying.

  Even if that wasn’t at all the fact of what had happened. Still, the right thing to do was just follow the woman, who took her up the stairs herself. That was a sign that the Countess really wanted her to feel at home. After all, she had servants for that kind of thing. Kids too, but sending either of the boys to do it just then would be sort of suggesting Cindy have sex with them. With Clemance, given the gift that had just been given, it might even be a suggestion that they approach the topic of marriage.

  Taking her to the room herself was an honor, however. Not that Tamerlane was thinking that. She was just worried that she might have started a war with another world, being rude like she had been. Which wasn’t true at all.

  The other woman, who was adorably pretty, bowed, once Cindy was inside the nice room. It was done up in blues and greens, but had fresh paint on the walls as well as clean bedding. It wasn’t the nicest room in the whole place, however. They had other guests coming in that evening, so Tamerlane had been forced to apportion things out based on who was more important. Except, now she wasn’t certain that Cindy didn’t outrank any other ancients that we
re coming in, given that she was one herself.

  Those words were interesting, but not something that she’d come across before that point.

  When the woman left her alone, the door shut nervously, Cin decided to look it up on her own. Interestingly enough, the very first person she tried to find that from, Tim Baker, knew all about that part of things. Even in regards to her.

  “Nifty…” She spoke out loud, running the tub and working out how to set the heat on it. Again, Tim set her up as to how to do that, using the ceramic plate on the side to warm the water on the deep thing. She showered first, then scrubbed hard while she read about the world she was in.

  Ancient just meant that a person was immortal, really. Which was a functional thing, meaning long lived and un-aging. Everyone died eventually. Still, she had a copy of Marcia Turner’s power set. If not as powerfully. She wasn’t as strong or fast, but healed up pretty well and the Director certainly didn’t seem to be aging. Apparently, Tam Baker had built that into her as well when she’d made the changes to her.

  Then mentioned it to her family pretty openly.

  It wasn’t an insult or anything, but in the world she was bathing in, that kind of a thing, being immortal, was only given out to certain people. Ones that were either born that way, or just as rarely, to people that were good friends of Tim Baker’s.

  That part, when she checked, was still in play.

  Taman had lied to her own people about who had done that work. That was a thing that was still in effect however, though it had been the very same lady that had told Terlee about her. Which meant that Tamerlane had easily worked out who had really done the work on her. She didn’t read minds, but she was so smart that she could guess accurately about a lot of things in life and tended to be right.

  Smiling, Cindy nodded to herself, climbing out of the warm tub, drying off then letting the water out, since that was how things were done there. Even if the thing was the size of a hot tub. Then she cleaned the thing, though it wasn’t all that dirty, since she’d showered first to prevent that.

  She had to research in order to find out what kind of clothing she needed to be wearing to the meal, however. Given everything she needed to be in a dress, which she didn’t hate all the time. Interestingly, though she could have faked up an outfit that would have fit in there, people would be more impressed with a strange style from her world, being new. As long as it seemed grand enough. Which wasn’t that hard to come up with, since it was just a dinner party. A nice one, but nothing that would require her to be a decoration in particular. There was no need to glow or add a computer display to the thing for instance. Not for a simple meal like they were going to be having there.

  She copied a dress that she’d seen online about a month before. It took a bit to get it all right, but the gold cloth shimmered as she moved, looking a bit like tiny scales. The shoes seemed a bit like metal though, but were comfortable flats, instead of the three-inch heels that had been in the pictures. Things could happen there after all, so being able to move at least a little just made sense to her.

  When she went down the stairs, her hair held back fairly simply, with no makeup on, she was met by a very tall man. He had blond hair and blue eyes, but a tan that left him seeming nearly Hispanic, even with the lighter coloration going on otherwise.

  “Miss Mableton?” It was a question, though she recognized him. It was clear that he barely understood who she was however. Mainly because she was too short. It was taking real work for the man to even focus enough to guess who she had to be.

  Worse, he could barely recognize Taman Baker for herself each time they met. His own wife he could recognize now, but it had honestly taken him months to get that part. Inside, he had a set of blocks that made it hard for him to see their faces as being individual. A thing that he knew about, but didn't have control over. It was a genetic condition that a lot of the nobles had. If you were under six feet tall, they almost had face blindness.

  Even if they fought against it and were smart enough to see that some short persons were brilliant, powerful and important.

  “That’s me! Count Thomson?” She knew that it was him, but by asking a question it would make him feel a bit better about not having gotten who she was instantly. They were speaking in standard, not English, but she was cheating enough to make it work pretty well.

  To that end the large fellow smiled at her. Relieved that she wasn’t going to be offended by his lack of information about her so far. It could happen, given she was technically a noble.

  “Indeed! I believe that some of the others are arriving. I was just going to go and see to finding you. Tamerlane wished me to ask you to attend.” He didn’t know what to say. His wife had been very polite about the whole thing, but to him Cindy was both important and hard to pin down that way.

  A worker, come to aid a research project on the one hand. Also an Ancient, who might be around for a very long time, which meant that they needed to be careful with her.

  More importantly, if the rumors were true, she’d aided Tor in a small matter. What that was, he didn't really know, but the man was a friend of hers and had named her as that openly. Certainly she was pretty enough to be interesting to the man. To Tovey as well, he allowed.

  Still, he wasn’t going to ask her to bed yet. Terlee had suggested it might be stepping on Clem’s toes if he did. She’d been joking, but also not totally, which was confusing as well as interesting.

  Worse, as far as the Count was concerned, he didn’t know the whole thing that Tor had going on with the woman. The other man was happily married, but it could be they were close in that way. Being one of his oldest friends meant that the Count didn’t want to insult the woman due to that. Plus, she was from a far-off land, meaning anything he did or said might give insult. Or what he didn’t.

  That was nerve wracking for him.

  He smiled, trying to seem pleased and bright.

  Cindy did it back, getting the basic idea.

  “Tor and I fought and killed a version of him from another world. In my land?” She had to speak slowly, working out how to do that from Will’s head. He made a great translator, but it wasn’t perfect really. “The rules for where I’m from… Well, they’re different. I can’t date you… Since that would offend Tamerlane? She’s my friend, but that would be the reason there. Not you… Does that… I might not be making sense.”

  The man nodded at her, his eyes going wide.

  “Ah! I see. I didn’t know about the matter with Tor. He is a mighty fighter. Would you be allowed by your rules to attend the dinner with us? I won’t press in, if your friendship with my wife precludes that, naturally.”

  It was meant in a kindly fashion, but he was clearly thinking that she’d meant things as being far closer than working away for a few hours to find people. As in that they’d taken time to become lovers already. She nearly refuted that, then shrugged.

  After all, she could fix that later and even there, in Noram, speaking to a noble, the words didn’t only mean what he’d taken them to. Friend could mean more than that, but it also meant buddy or pal. It had been his choice to leap to that line of thought about his own wife. Then again, to him that wasn’t a horrible thing. Just her wisely making friends with powerful people from other worlds right off the bat. That Clemance was also making inroads there was brilliant of the boy. He was a bit young, for that to be legal, but it kind of made sense to the Count at the same time.

  Especially since Toverland hadn’t asked or suggested that either of them do that kind of thing. Some Counts did things like that with their families and people, but he’d always tried to not be one of that sort in life. Still, if Clem was that forward thinking, it made sense to him to aid in the effort, however he might. Even if it meant not making that kind of move for himself.

  So she walked with the man, who put a hand on her back as they did it. That was a bit patronizing, the way he meant it, but was also him trying to show the room that they were entering that anyon
e having a problem with her was having one with him. As in harming her would mean that they were fighting to the death with the giant. Not that anyone there was going to be doing that.

  Willum moved toward her rapidly, his hair black and eyes a deep brown at the moment. She was used to seeing him with purple hair and eyes, so it was kind of different.

  “Cindy! Sorry about abandoning you like that. I had to check in with Aunt Taman, who sent me to Pine Creek, to set up the visits for our IPB friends? This man here is Hess. The High Leader of Mars? He has offered to host up to fifty of our friends at a time, if that’s allowed?” He moved a bit, showing a four armed, scaled purple and green individual.

  Clearly a Ysidril, who held very still as he was introduced. In part he was worried that his fangs might be frightening to her. So he was a bit shocked when she moved in and hugged him. That got the alien to go still, for about five seconds, before he did it back.

  When he let go, his mouth dropped open. From the screen over his head, she read about what that meant. Complete with diagrams showing how different levels of his mouth being opened meant different things. It was basically a smile, but the smaller the amount it was open, the greater the merriment. In this case it was fairly wide, which did look a bit freaky to her.

  Still, she smiled back.

  “That’s very kind of you. I know that I’d love to go. I mean, Mars? That’s amazing!”

  The being bobbed in place, which was roughly a sign of agreement.

  “Yes. We have several inns, good restaurants and even amusements for visitors. Tours of the surface as well. We are Earth shaping it… That is not the term… Sorry, my English isn’t that good yet.”

  She snorted at him.

  “Your English is almost perfect. I think you’re trying to say Terra forming though?”

  “Ah! That. Indeed. Would any of your friends be interested in seeing such things?”