Knight Esquire ya-2 Page 14

  Tor didn’t care much himself.

  Everything just felt like it lacked color. It was like he did things, but they didn’t have meaning at all for some reason he couldn’t explain or even understand. Not that it mattered. All he had was work, right? So he did it and refused to stop.

  For once even Kolb wanted to see what he’d done and asked him out to the range with him for a demonstration. Tor didn’t wait to explain, he just started firming up the back berm wall with the new device. It took about an hour and the berm lost about fifty percent of its size from front to back, but nothing they had would scratch it when it was finished. If it wasn’t as hard as stone, it was because it was harder, Tor figured.

  “Still, Tor, don’t neglect your own improvement in fighting. As far as I can tell you haven’t even run in months and you’ve been losing weight. Your muscle tone is crap, and let’s face it, you didn’t have that much to begin with. Even if you don’t want to practice fighting any more, you need to exercise for health reasons…”

  The tone of voice surprised Tor a lot. He sounded worried.

  Sure, Tor had spent a lot of time working, which was low on exercise, at least the way he did it. But it hadn’t been that long since he’d worked out, a little over two weeks. He chuckled and promised the giant bald man that he’d start working with Karen again, at least between work projects.

  “If, you know, she’s willing to still work with me. I mean, I don’t want to get her in trouble with the King or anything.”

  Kolb asked for an explanation saying he hadn’t heard of anything that would be a problem that way. After Tor told him what had happened the man grunted.

  “Oh, that sort of situation? Well, I wish I could tell you it was nothing, but that kind of thing can mean anything from a few paperwork errors to utter disdain and hate. I’ll… see if I can find anything out about it for you. Until we hear something, it probably really is best for you to keep your head down a bit. You’re right to be worried about Karen and your other friends though. No need to get them mixed in something they can’t do anything about. Wars have been started over lesser things.” Kolb put a large hand on Tor’s back and patted it a few times.

  “For now try not to worry too much. I’ll look into it; I have a few contacts left in the Capital after all.” The giant smiled and didn’t say anything else on the matter.

  Just to be health conscious, and make the weapons instructor happy Tor jogged back to his room instead of flying, it was only about three miles, then hit the bath before going to bed. He’d already rigged all the tubs with heaters, so at least he didn’t have to try and wash in cool water this time. It wasn’t to the point where the water from the roof mounted tanks would go freezing, but when it did, at least the poor kids like him would be able to have a warm soak too, not just the rich ones that could afford the luxury of fire warmed baths in town. More, on the schools tubs you could control the temperature to your liking now. Try that using a fire while you boiled in a big ceramic pot, he thought with a dry chuckle.

  He skipped dinner, choosing an extra long soak instead, and went to bed early, sleep suddenly feeling more valuable than eating. He woke a little bit when Rolph came in, but didn’t say anything. What could he say? If his parents didn’t like Tor, his friend would either be forbidden from talking to him at all, or have to try and lie and claim that everything was all right.

  If it really was just a small error somewhere along the way though, then why had the same thing essentially happened twice?

  It sucked, but Rolph had to pick his parents, even if it meant not liking him anymore. It’s just what you did, sticking with family over strangers.

  Not that he’d thought of himself as a stranger. It all would have felt easier if he knew who was mad at him and why. Then he could at least apologize for whatever he’d done, right? Even if they still hated him, he could know that he’d done his bit to make things right.

  The next day, after breakfast and classes, he made himself run to the next town over and back twice. It hurt. A lot really. By the time he got back to the room he felt his legs and lower back stiffening up already. Another warm bath helped, but Tor knew that he’d be paying for it the next day. Kolb had been right it seemed. He really needed to keep up with the exercise, at least every few days. Especially running, now that his left ankle had healed up some, because who knew when he’d need to run away screaming in a panic?

  Kolb had taught him his “battle cry” on purpose after all.

  “Run away.” If only he could.

  Instead of sleeping he worked out the moisture removal system for that ladies home, whoever she was, feeling a little bad that it had gotten left so long. At least he’d warned her about that. Still, it felt lazy and slow, like he was cheating her, and leaving an innocent person to suffer.

  It was easy enough once he started. There were two plates. One told water vapor in the air to leave a given region in space and collect at the site of the second plate. It would corrode eventually, being damp most of the time, but the field would last for a few years at least, even with that being the case. He’d have to figure out where the woman’s house was and take it to her himself, because he didn’t have the money to mail it any more. No huge thing, he could do it on his next off day and it would get to her faster anyway. Mail would take weeks. Better, he could set it up for her so that she and her people wouldn’t have to struggle to figure it all out. It was new after all, which could make working with it harder.

  That basic pattern kept going for a while, about two weeks, broken up only by exercising every few days on his own and not really eating enough. Tor got to classes and worked, but that was about it. He just didn’t have the time when the meal hall was serving food most days and still didn’t have anything coming in from Debri. Torrance kind of wondered if he ever would. After all, if the military was run by the King and the ruler was snubbing him personally for some reason, would they ever see any money for the devices at all? Even if they got paid, would he ever get anything from it? Even Sara had pointed out several times that most merchants would rob you blind if they got a chance and he hadn’t exactly been tough with Debri house about it or anything. Maybe he should pay them a visit and check on things soon?

  If he was allowed back in the Capital at all.

  Early in the morning of his off days, before it was really even light, he took off for the woman’s house. It turned out, once he read the paper she’d sent for him with instructions as to where she lived, that she was a Countess, or had been until her husband had died, leaving her to live in the dowager property when her oldest son inherited.

  Ellen Ward was her name.

  Ah. Well.

  At first Tor almost backed out. Ward. Those people gave him the creeps. Then he realized that the woman, the Counts mother, had seemed polite and kind at the party, even after the whole Ursala thing. He couldn’t blame her for having a son that wasn’t… bright. The word moronic came to mind, and Tor smiled a bit as he packed things up, but then chided himself. Who was he to even think about such things? Ward hadn’t done anything to him after all. Well, he’d hit him about two hundred times, but that was only because Tor had been getting in his way, right?

  County Ward was very nearly on the other side of the kingdom, about three thousand miles away, so he started off early and tried to fly as close to straight through as his bladder would allow. It only took about nine hours and that long only because his stomach finally forced him to stop in a small village and try to get some food.

  He smelled out a little bakery, about the size of the one his parents held in Two Bends, but with a fresh coat of paint on the outside of it and a sign that had a loaf of bread and a small man standing behind it with a bread paddle. There was no name on the place, but that wasn’t too uncommon. Even in the Capital names were rare on shops. Everything there was designated by the type of place and location. Debbie’s was called “the bakery by the south wall and the Cartwright’s.” for instance. Here it was probably ju
st “the bakery”. Why give it a more complicated name than it needed?

  Tor didn’t have any money at all, not even a few pennies left for supplies. If Debri stopped sending him stuff, he’d have to go back to using wood and cheap paint, or even trying to collect stuff out of the woods. Rocks and branches. It would work, but was hardly professional looking. He took a deep breath and steeled himself as he walked through the door. The old man behind the counter smiled at him.

  “Welcome! What can we do for you today?”

  “Um, well, probably not much,” Tor began, keeping his voice humble. “I don’t really have any coin with me, but I have some things that I could trade, if you’re interested? Just some stuff I made, magical devices…”

  The man didn’t frown at him, but his eyes fell a little dark. Sympathetic enough at least, Tor realized.

  “Well then, let’s have a look, and see if there’s anything that we can trade for?” The man’s voice was pleasant and gentle, kind of like the way you’d speak to a lost child. That made sense when the royals did it, but this guy wasn’t any taller than he was. Not even an inch. Tor opened the luggage he had with him and laid a few things on the counter. The man’s eyes went wide.

  “Well now! Even if they don’t do much I can trade you what you want for even one of these! All on copper right? They even look like Tor’s! People would wear one just to impress their friends you know. Well, you probably do know, if you made them yourself. Good plan that. Do any of them really do anything?”

  “Oh sure… Here.” He showed the man how everything worked, one by one, at the end of it the man stood silent.

  “What did you say your name was again?” He asked, staring at the devices on the counter.

  “Oh…sorry, I didn’t, Torrence Baker. Call me Tor. Pleased to meet you.” Belatedly he stuck out his hand to shake with the man, leaning in from a good ways away as was proper back home when meeting someone new. The older fellow snorted slightly and shook his head.

  “You’re shorter than I thought you’d be, and look younger too. Is that magic? Looking so young I mean?” He said bluntly but with good humor.

  Tor shrugged, “Just the way I look. But… you think we can do business?”

  The man finally traded three loaves of bread and some sweet rolls to him for a room temperature plate. The man offered a lot more, but Tor knew he wouldn’t be able to finish it all that day, and having baked goods a lot longer than that meant eating them stale or trying to make them into a pudding or something, which he didn’t really have the time or equipment for. Or the eggs. If there was a way of making a decent bread pudding without eggs, he didn’t know it.

  He’d be back at school by then anyway. He thanked the old guy and started eating part of one of the wheat loaves as he walked out the front door, it was decent. His parents made better bread, but not that much better. Really it was a matter of taste and Tor simply preferred what he’d grown up with, most likely, rather than the fellow here lacking skill at all. Repacking everything he took off for County Ward again.

  The dowager estate was nice enough, from a distance at least, a huge white house, that, while it had seen better days still looked like a wealthy person lived there. Tor could understand the moisture problem here now that he saw it, since the whole place seemed to be sitting on high ground in the middle of what was essentially a swamp. The humidity left him soaked clear through, since his body was cooler than the air around him.

  Poor woman, being kept out here like this. He assumed it was her place at least, since there was nothing else even near it for miles and the compound had about twenty buildings scattered about it. No poor farmer would have that kind of set up, right? He’d only brought one of the house driers… Well, he’d just have to send her more, or bring them himself; now that he knew where to find her for sure. If, this was, he reminded himself, the right place.

  He knocked on the door of the largest house, hoping that it would at least lead him in the right direction if he’d missed his mark. To his surprise the woman, Dowager Ward, answered the door herself, wearing a light looking tannish-gray skirt and a faded blue top, things that his own mother would have worn in the bakery. It made him feel better about her instantly. Royal or not, this wasn’t a woman that bothered to put on airs, not at home at least.

  She stared at him for a few seconds before her face lit up.

  “Oh! Master Tor! I didn’t expect to see you here… To what do I owe the pleasure?” Her voice sounded a little nervous, but then if she lived off in the middle of nowhere like this, having a sudden guest might throw her off. He struggled to put her at ease.

  “I came to install that gift I promised you at the party? The one to help dry your house out? It really won’t take but a few moments and then I can get out of your hair. I’m really sorry to drop in unannounced like this, but given my typically thoughtless style I didn’t think of writing ahead until after you opened the door. Kind of makes it hard to get a letter out in a timely fashion. I can go and write one now, if I could borrow some paper and a pen? Seems a bit of a waste though… ” He smiled up at her, she was, now that he saw her standing, very tall for a woman. Even one of the royals. She must have been pushing nearly seven foot. Then, Count Ward was tall too, so that kind of made sense. She had that same kind of smooth looking dark skin the Count had and retty light brown eyes, if a little yellow around the edges with age.

  She invited him in and immediately started to apologize for the state of the house. It looked clean to Tor, at least as nice as he and Rolph kept their room at school and Rolph was picky about things like that, constantly suggesting that they go over the room and never leave anything sitting out if they weren’t actively using it. The furniture looked old and worn, but the constant moisture probably ate at everything, aging it faster than it normally would have. The wood seemed to fare better than the fabric, which was something that he tried to make a note of. Eventually, if all went well, he’d have his own house and want to put things in it. Wood over soft things for durability. Check. Probably stone over wood if he had to live someplace damp like this then? Something to keep in mind.

  The room did smell of mildew, strongly enough to be slightly off-putting, but then, that’s why he’d come, to help fix that. Tor set to work rapidly, finding a nice central location for the interior plate and then going outside with the Dowager Countess, which caused an elderly man to come running up carrying weapon. A spear with a corroded metal head on it. He didn’t point the weapon at Tor at least, just stood by panting while the older woman explained.

  “We’ve an alligator problem in the swamp here. Originally a wall had been planned around the whole complex, but my Howard died before we got it finished. So, when I go outside, Georges here has to come and protect me, just in case… I’m sorry.” The woman looked saddened by the state of affairs which made Tor feel a little down himself.

  Why didn’t Ward take better care of his mother?

  It wasn’t like he didn’t have the money, his being the third richest of the counties according to what Rolph had told him. Tor hooked up the plate to a big, very rooty, tree that he was assured wouldn’t be hurt by water, or the nails he used, and went inside to turn the house drier on. The air dried after about fifteen seconds, the field not taking anything off the surfaces inside directly, but once the air dried, so did everything else in short order. That took about half an hour. The house warmed up as the moisture left, something Tor had been ready for, so he put up a half dozen of the temperature control plates around the dwelling and showed Ellen how to use them.

  She went white.

  “I… can’t afford to pay for those right now. A slight… difficulty in funds, temporary I’m sure, but…” Her head hung a little as she said it, looking ashamed for some reason. Tor just winked at her, waved his hand a little and grinned, trying to put her at ease.

  “Pay? Friends don’t pay, Ellen. You know that.” He tried to give her a confident look as if they’d known each other for years, not just me
t casually once at a party. Still, it was true enough wasn’t it? You didn’t fly across a kingdom to give things to someone not a pal. Practically what friend meant, someone you went out of your way for, right?

  “Anyway, I’ll try to get back soon and see about that wall for you, and some other things… Sorry it took so long the first time, I’ll work on doing better… Hey!”

  The idea was probably a horrible one, but made him happy to think about anyway. He went to his case and pulled out two full sets of flying gear and shields. He had more, but he’d only seen two people here so far. He presented them with a small smile.

  “I didn’t see a lot around here, so traveling places must be tough, right? Learn to use these and it will help a lot with that. Plus, with the shields no giant lizards should hassle you overly, I don’t think. Just remember to use them when you go out. Here…” He showed her how to use it all, going over everything a few times and then working with her until she had it all down. It took a lot longer than he’d planned on spending with her, but she seemed so happy to have the company that he pushed things. If need be he could camp out for the night somewhere, right? It was worth it to see her eyes light up as she lofted about in the air.

  “Of course you’ll need to wear trousers when you fly places, or figure something else out. Otherwise you risk flashing the whole world underneath you. Which might serve to make you popular, but won’t earn you much respect.” The words popped out easily, almost teasing, his mother having said them over and over again to his sisters as they’d grown up and she tried to teach them to control where their skirts went. He froze though, realizing that telling a Countess, even an ex-Countess, that, might be considered rude.

  She laughed and flitted down to the ground, smoothing her skirt with her hand, “Right you are! I think I have some old things that will do. Thank you I…” Again she looked embarrassed, but happily so this time.

  He waved it away again. “Not a problem. I’ll be back in, well, as soon as I can. I don’t know how long it will take to build a proper wall. I actually have the gear with me right now, but it all needs to go to Galasia, so they can rebuild their sewer system.”