Knight Esquire ya-2 Read online

  “I guess I shouldn’t keep giving everything away for free. It makes me feel good to help people though and, you know, as desperate as it sounds, I want everyone to like me. So I give them some of the junk I make. So far it hasn’t really been working too well as far as making friends, but I’m sure it will kick in any day now.” Tor made a face that said he was joking around, or at least he tried for that. How well it worked he didn’t know. Honestly he could just barely care enough to try and seem engaging at all. So far so good though, right? It was probably just the poison taking its toll and it would take time to bounce back. Then, he hadn’t felt like things had much spark even before that, had he?

  Rolph laughed and clapped him on the shoulder. “You’re doing fine. And, by the way, people do like you. A lot really. You just intimidate them is all. You can’t help it. I mean it’s the kind of building you do and how smart you are mainly. Plus your looks. There are other people that put out things as high quality as what you’ve been doing, one or two may even be better, or at least more complex in what they’re doing. Maris and Ent both come to mind. But you do more of it, faster, and with high quality than anyone. People are starting to notice that. Plus the other stuff you’re doing. Drought relief? Helping cities escape a plague? Do you know how many of the top builders help out each year with disaster relief? Or Countiers doing the same for that matter? Other than you I mean? None. Not one. So, yeah. You’re… cool.” Rolph grinned at the use of the term.

  Tor got it, because as far as he knew, he’d invented it. At least in that usage. It meant, “alright or good”, now that the Prince was using it, maybe it would catch on?

  They talked a little more on the subject while they walked to the restaurant, which while not far, still took several minutes, because Tor wasn’t up to running the whole way, which is what he normally did when he walked with the long legged behemoth beside him. Rolph slowed down this time. Probably to lull him into a false sense of security. It was a crawl for his friend, he knew, so this kindness wouldn’t last too long. He really needed to get back in shape fast. Even thinking about it was exhausting, but it had to be done. Especially if people wanted to kill him.

  That part just didn’t mesh with his reality.

  When he’d thought it was Wensa, well, she just didn’t think highly of him and had thought he was a possible threat once. But who else would hate him so much? No one really came to mind. It bothered him though. A lot. You didn’t poison a person like that by accident.

  Well, unless it had really been intended for Rolph?

  Eek. Tor hadn’t even considered that before. I was addressed to him, so he just figured… But anyone that knew him would have guessed that he’d share, right? Possibly even if he was really angry still. That made a lot more sense. His friend was actually important and everything.

  Tor was breathing a little hard when they got to the place, so he asked if they could stand outside for a minute while he caught it. Mainly gesturing this need. He didn’t want to be embarrassing inside the shop or whatever it was. He’d never been in a real restaurant before, so a good retulsion was important. Rolph was paying though, it wouldn’t cost him anything personally, which was good or he wouldn’t be going.

  They didn’t see the girls immediately, though they both glanced around covertly, trying not to stare at anyone. Rolph got them a table out in the open so that they could wait and easily be seen when they came in. That was the idea at least, or so Tor guessed. They didn’t talk about much, being so exposed.

  Rolph ordered wine before the meal, which came in a clear glass with a stem, but Tor stuck with water, which he checked covertly for poison before he drank. His giant friend checked his wine too though, so he didn’t feel too awkward about doing it himself. The place was… odd. People talked at other tables, some of which were hidden behind screens, but open on one side. The dividers were dark wood frames covered with nicely woven white and cream material. It looked like silk, but probably wasn’t. The place looked nice, but it was a kind of surface finery that he’d learned to recognize over the last few months, not the deep kind that the palace had in places. Still, it was the most attractive business establishment Tor had ever been in.

  They weren’t there five minutes when Tor noticed the noise coming from one of the tables with divider screens, about three back. The voices were familiar, being the girls they’d come looking for. There were a few male voices mixed in as well though, which made Tor catch his breath.

  Right.

  Well, it was very possible that Trice had a boyfriend or, by the rules of royal society, maybe a half-dozen? If she was here with one of them then… what was he supposed to do? Ignore it? Leave? Rolph didn’t seem to think anything of it at least, so maybe it was just a regular crowd of friends he didn’t know yet? Either way he tried to ready himself so that he wouldn’t look like a fool. It wasn’t like it was a real engagement or anything and it probably wouldn’t even be a sham one for much longer the way things had been going. It was a little sad — for him — but that didn’t mean she shouldn’t have a real life while she waited for Count “way to old” Lockland or Overland, whatever his name was, to forget about her or pick a new girl to try for.

  For that matter, maybe he already had? The guy was a Count after all. Even if he was eighty or whatever, a lot of girls would be willing to marry him, just to be a Countess for a while.

  After a minute of increasingly loud conversation, it became clear that they were talking about him, which surprised Tor to no end. People talked about him when he wasn’t there? Rolph sat up suddenly as the conversation turned a little. Pointedly so.

  “What about Tor? You think I want to be married to a midget? He kisses like a dog. Well… OK he’s not that bad, but even hugging him feels like I’m trying to make a move on a little boy.”

  One of the men said something that he didn’t pick up, but then the woman, clearly Trice, continued, getting even louder, making it easy to hear all over the room. “He has the personality of a doorstop. I could probably have sex with both of you in front of him, taking one in each hole while saying that he was never going to get any off of me and he’d still agree to marry me, just because he’s that desperate. It makes sense, what woman would ever want him? He knows it too. He told me once that he figured his best bet was to try and make enough money that his parents could bribe some naive country girl into thinking he was worth something.” A loud and sloppy snort followed.

  “But I doubt even country girls would fall for it. They want a real man, not a lap dog.”

  Ah. Well, Tor thought letting his body go still and dropping into the deepest trance state he could on short notice, he hadn’t realized that she’d felt exactly that way. He’d really thought they were at least friends.

  It seemed not.

  A different voice, male and deep spoke next. He sounded a little pissed.

  “I don’t know… he hooked us all up with those poison detectors, and gave me ones to pass to my parents, didn’t even blink about it. Could have charge six thousand gold for it, I was ready to pay, but then he gave them to us even knowing that, just because we needed them. Then he made and gave out over four hundred of them? That’s what, eight hundred thousand gold? That doesn’t sound like a doorstop to me, more like a hero. He doesn’t know me from a hole in the wall, but when he heard I needed his help, he was there. Didn’t even hesitate or hint that I owed him anything. I do, but he’s never come to suggest it, has he? Look what he did for Galasia… they’d all be dead if not for him.”

  That got Trice laughing long and loud. Her voice was a little slurred so Tor assumed drunk, at least to some extent.

  “Yeah, sure, he saved Galasia… you know what they think of him in Galasia? They think he’s an evil troll! They’re not far wrong are they? Well, he’s not evil… Just stupid. He doesn’t even realize that we’ve pocketed all the money from those devices of his we’ve sold here at school. Too dumb to even ask what happened to all those thousands of golds. Who’s that
slow on the uptake?”

  A female voice, softer and much more gentle, spoke then.

  “I have his money Trice. Just because he’s not greedy about it that doesn’t mean we’re going to steal it from him. I’m just holding it for him in case he demands a large payment suddenly; it was my mother’s idea. We really are strapped for ready cash right now with the retooling and all that, and will be for another few months.”

  Patricia cackled.

  “Right! Admit it, you’re all just taking advantage of him too. He was enough of a sap that he almost married Ursala Thorgood when she popped pregnant with Count Wards’ kid. If he wasn’t such a genius at making things, I’d wonder if he was actually retarded. Well, I say we milk him for all we can get now. Even a moron like him won’t let it go on forever. If Rolph catches on to us, the deals up. He at least has a spine. Bit of a doof, but at least when he’s dicking you Sara, you don’t have to worry about him making puppy eyes. Not that Tor’s even ever tried to get me into bed. Maybe he really does like little boys like Maria said? That would explain so much…”

  Trance state or not, the blood left his face and head in a rush. He slapped the shield amulet on and stood carefully. He couldn’t afford a fight right now, he was too weak. Not a physical one at least. Digging into the inner pocket of his trousers he pulled out the small tube that carried the force lance field and took a deep calming breath.

  “OK… you heard all that, right? I’m not imagining it or, I don’t know, they aren’t talking about someone else and I’m just being egotistical about this, and thinking it means me, not some other guy name Tor that she doesn’t want to marry and saved Galasia, right?”

  The Prince looked about as white as Tor felt.

  Well, it was instructive at least, coming to this restaurant, even though he couldn’t really recommend the experience to anyone. Rolph stood up too, even more slowly than he had. Tor made himself shrug. No big thing. He’d already known that women didn’t like him. He’d just thought…

  Tor didn’t know what he’d thought, not any more.

  Trice, apparently however, wasn’t done yet.

  “You know what I hate about him most though? He drinks half a glass full of cyanide and pops right back up like one of those little toy dolls. Push him over, he comes back up, push him over he comes back up! He didn’t even have the common decency to die like a normal person. I was in his room with Rolph and you, Sara, crying, because I just wished I didn’t have to deal with him anymore. Then he turns around and is nice to my parents! They probably had him poisoned! And he’s all “How are things going in the County Ford relief program going.” He deserves for Debri house to be robbing him blind.”

  Probably. Tor knew he wasn’t that good with money. He’d never had any to be good with and didn’t know the upper crust rules for making collections. It was time for him to learn it seemed. Well, he could do that. Tor would make a point of starting right then in fact.

  He walked over to the divider and rounded the corner quickly. Rolph followed right behind him, standing just a little to the side as if to stop anyone from running away. Nice of him if it came to it. All Tor had in mind was talk though. For now.

  He grinned. It must have looked half mad, because everyone at the table went wide eyed at seeing him, even Trice. He stared at her directly. She started out by smirking at him. It didn’t help at all.

  “So… obviously the weddings off. By the way, I knew it wasn’t real the whole time, I was just trying to help you out so you wouldn’t have to marry Count Overland. You’re welcome by the way. I’ll be sure to send him a note letting him know that you’re free again. You,” He pointed at Sara with the force lance in his hand. “Please inform your mother that thanks to this… informative little meal, she has one week to pay in full everything that’s owed. One penny less and I’ll come collect it myself. I do not think she wants that.” His voice popped and crackled still and he sounded formal and cold. Harsh.

  “Oh! Patricia, please tell your parents that I want the gear I gave them back, as well as everything you’ve gotten from me. False pretense invalidates all claims of them being gifts, don’t you think? If you’d just broken up with me I would have let you keep it all, so thank god we came tonight, so I could find out what you really are. You have twenty-four hours for that. Just give it to Rolph, since I never want to see you again. Either of you. I’m sure we can find a better home for that junk. Some pigs might want it for instance? Or I can throw it in a trash heap.”

  He turned and left then, Rolph stayed, but what he said didn’t concern Tor at all. It took everything he had not to kill them all as they sat at the table. This, even when he knew that most of them had nothing to do with anything. One guy had even sounded favorable about Tor. Defended him. That fact didn’t help anything. They were robbing him on purpose? Trice hated him and thought he was sub-human? How had he been so wrong about them for so long? Maybe he really was just that stupid? Well, he’d have to stop that now. He may not be loved, or even liked, but he could be feared.

  Damn straight he could.

  If he applied himself, he could probably do that really well. Couldn’t he?

  It took an act of will to force himself into a trance state deep enough to stay out of a full combat rage. He couldn’t spare the time right now. He had things he needed to get ready, and little time to do it in. He tucked his rage and sense of betrayal down, deep inside. His trust for anyone in the whole world evaporated a little more with each step.

  They’d all lied to him. Everyone, over and over again.

  Fine.

  They wouldn’t get that chance again.

  Towards the bottom of the chest in his room he found it. The single, totally blank, piece of copper that he owned. It was cut into a small, notched rectangle, just like all the poison detectors were. That would work well enough. The field he put on it was just like the explosive he’d made before, except about ten times stronger, maybe a lot more than that, A hundred times? A thousand? He wasn’t really certain. The field was strong, from his rage. It took extra effort and nearly fifteen hours, but the focus that he’d needed to cut the stone earlier served him well. The work left him cold inside, without much emotion.

  That suited him; he had the personality of a doorstop, didn’t he? He’d never known how angry and rage filled doorstops were before. It made sense, with everyone constantly bashing them in the head with doors like that.

  Rolph didn’t come back to the room, at least not that Tor noticed. He wasn’t there in the morning either.

  Probably off with his girlfriend counting Tor’s money and laughing about him with his cousin. Maybe not. She’d called the Prince a doof after all. To him that was probably the same as being called a moronic child abuser, wasn’t it? As the heir he probably didn’t have people mocking him like that to his face very often. Tor was just about to go out and see about getting the coin and gear from them when Rolph came back. He had a chest nearly as big as the one Tor used for clothes. It had a float plate on it, one of the flying kind, not a follow along. After a few seconds he understood what he was looking at, it was the trunk that he’d been tied to when he’d gone into that cesspit for those two kids. It even had rope marks on it from the day, strong as it was.

  “Look, Tor, she was drunk and trying to act big for her friends, she didn’t mean-” The giant redhead looked at him and stopped speaking all together.

  “She didn’t mean it? Funny, you get drunk all the time, but you never accuse me of liking little boys, do you? You don’t say a fraction of the things she did, and when you do say anything, you make sure I know it’s just a friendly joke. And that’s on the rare occasion that you can hardly walk on your own, not just being a little tipsy. I should have known better than to trust a woman. I won’t make that mistake again. What’s in the box?” His voice sounded flat and angry still. Oh, well.

  Tor pointed with the little copper piece.

  “Oh, this is the gold and gear you requested last night. Sara as
ks that you take it, but hold off on going after Debri. She’s afraid that if you do, you’ll bankrupt them. I get that you’re mad right now, but that won’t help things, not really.”

  Tor didn’t move as a wave of anger washed over him so deep, so bitter, that he wondered for a second if he’d ever liked or trusted anyone really. It took nearly a minute to pass totally. It didn’t leave him feeling any better, just more tired.

  “I should trust her… why? She’d been keeping gold from me and helping Trice do… I don’t even know what she’s been doing. Using me? Well, that ends now. She’d better tell them to have everything ready, because I’m coming for what’s owed, and if they don’t have it, I won’t just be putting them into bankruptcy.” He tapped the side of the little rectangle with a half smile.

  Rolph’s eyes went cold. “Shit. Is that one of those explosives that shouldn’t be allowed to exist?”

  “Not even close. It’s so much more powerful that I don’t think I can really describe what it will do. Except destroy, I mean, duh, kind of the point, no?”

  Tor laughed hard.

  “Don’t worry, now that I have this stuff, I’ll have more soon. A lot more. Devices that will do things that no one should have ever bothered thinking of. Trice thinks I’m too soft and sappy? To stupid and that it would be better if I were dead? Well, I’m sure she’ll get her wish, but you know what I’m wondering right now?”

  Rolph sat down on his over sized bed hard.

  “No… No, Tor, I really don’t know what you’re thinking about at all.”

  Tor grinned wildly.

  “How many of the bastards can I take with me?”

  Chapter seven

  The Prince stared hard at Tor for about half a minute, then looked away, staring at the wall for a while. After a bit the much smaller man shrugged and went to the chest that had just been brought in. Popping the top of it he noticed that it wasn’t, as he’d imagined, filled with gold coins or even with amulets like in some kind of fairy story. It was filled, instead, with various kinds of cloth bags.