The Mask of Omegon (Gwen Farris Book 6) Read online

  So she waited, wondering if she could just let him murder her, not responding at all.

  Instead… the man flipped a single palm over. The left one that didn’t have the bit of blue stocking mask in it.

  “No one knew if it was to punish us for letting those people harm her. Gwen. You, I mean. Letting Kat Vernor steal you from your life and kill your body. Then we were told that you were back. I heard you, or… Her? Vernor? Talking on the telesar. Admitting to everything and letting us know that it was just another wrong that she’d done. I…” The boy let his head drop a bit. “Is that why you’re here? To punish me for the pain you’ve suffered?”

  She started to shake her head, but before she could the boy, shaking a bit, took a deep breath.

  “I… Understand. Of course. I stand ready. Proceed.” The tone was firmer than his slightly pale face seemed to indicate he was feeling. It was hard to know if he were still playing a game or not.

  For once, feeling exhausted by life, she didn’t even pretend not to get the idea. He was expecting her to kill, or even torture, some random person. Because bad things had happened to her. That was true, but two wrongs wouldn’t improve the situation. Besides, he didn’t seem to get that she was actually her yet. So it would probably be a bit much for her to start slapping him around or anything like that. Rude, if nothing else.

  “All right. Walk me through what you’ve been doing? All of it. If you’re actually a bad guy and not just a good person helping trees, tell me now. We can just fight about it and call it a day? I just can’t take any more lies right now. My cup is too full of those already.” Not that a person that had committed great crimes would just admit it. Except that it had worked for her before, in that world. Just asking for the truth like that.

  He nodded.

  “I haven’t been doing much else. A little bit? For real, I mean, not pretending like we’re doing. There’s a man in town. A shopkeeper that keeps cursing people if they don’t buy enough. I traced the spells back to him, but can’t prove it under the law… So I rather cursed him in return. Not a death curse! Just to make it hard for him to think when he tried to do magic against anyone else. I’m stronger than he is and willing to put the time in with the solo ceremony needed. That’s… Not just helping plants.” He seemed almost ashamed. As if he were being honest with her. Which was what she’d asked for. It didn’t fit the game though, if he were still doing that.

  Then, the power raising had been real, and magic wasn’t normally raised for no reason.

  Gwen just waited, not really certain they weren’t about to trade blows. That didn’t happen however. The guy stood there instead, since it was clearly her turn to add to the scene they were playing out.

  “Take me past everything you’ve been doing and demonstrate it to me?”

  That took about an hour. Her hand lamp had plenty of power left by the time he was done. As far as she could tell, other than a bit of fairly tame vigilante work, having fought others who were using their powers to hurt people, if from a distance, the boy really hadn’t done much of anything. Except things that she might have done herself, if she’d thought of them.

  They even walked out into the night, under the stars, to inspect some of the formerly afflicted trees. They had scars on them, but seemed to be healing now. Not all of them, but he hadn’t claimed the job was done. There were traces of power there however. Energy that she could feel pressing on her mind as she focused on the plants. Almost like they were crystal packs. Weak ones that pushed at her mind, telling her of how they were healing.

  What there wasn’t, she realized, was any hint of her about to be attacked. Normally, if that kind of thing were going to take place she’d feel a bit of pressure on the right side of her head. Feeling nothing probably meant she was decently safe. Unless he wanted to ask her out, of course. Then she’d be in trouble. If that happened there wouldn’t be any warning and she wouldn’t know what to do about it. Saying yes crossed her mind on the matter though. She was too old to be constantly alone. Everyone was, probably. Really, if she were smart she’d probably ask him out. Or hint that he needed to ask her. That was the way things were done in that place, she knew.

  The thought got her to grin a bit. That kind of thing wasn’t going to be all that likely. Not unless he really thought she was named Bethy and just playing girl investigator. Though, that the idea was even a thing there was interesting.

  “I think that what you’ve been up to is… fine? I mean… You’ve been breaking a few laws, but I can’t actually be bothered with that. You’ve tried to help people, which is more important.” She smiled at the boy and winked. That was probably a mistake, since it was kind of flirting with him. “Not that you don’t need to hide that kind of thing better. You’ve been raising enough power that the neighbors were catching on and reported it. That means you’ve been leaking all over the place, which is sloppy. Meditation might help you increase your focus? I’m not the constabulary however, so it isn’t my business. Not as long as you aren’t actually sacrificing anyone. It wouldn’t be even if you’d been committing crimes out here. Though…” She looked at him, turning so that she could see him in the edge of her hand-lamp light. He’d stopped walking when she did, seeming nervous.

  Which she didn’t get. After all, she’d just said that he was free and clear. Even if he were guilty of a lot more than had been admitted to, she couldn’t see him being more worried at that point. She was really about to just let him go home. Even back to his work, helping trees and preventing evil shop keepers from ruining lives. It sounded kind of noble even, as long as it wasn’t more than that.

  Still, he moved toward her, so she readied herself. Waiting for the blows to rain down on her. To punish her for sharing a body with the most evil woman in history. The one that had brought the possibility of a rift war down on everyone. Even if it were hard to take, she decided to let him do it. Even if it killed her. That… might have been a blessing, at that point. An end to the suffering that each day had become for her. If nothing else, it would at least be real punishment for it. A thing that she deserved, for failing to stop Katherine.

  Which made no sense, given that the man was clearly humoring her. Thinking she was just out playing in the woods. Alone.

  Instead, he kissed her.

  It was just a peck, though on the lips. He didn’t even try for a hug first, or to go along with it. Not that she was a great expert on sex, or even what people did on long walks in the woods. Standing up straighter after it was done, Tomas went wide eyed. Like he’d surprised himself, being so forward.

  “Um… Forgive me! I shouldn’t take such liberties. That was…” He seemed embarrassed. The real kind, unless he was a much better actor than he’d shown her so far.

  Gwen didn’t know what to feel at all. She was older than he was, both in mind and body. It was kind of clear that he was interested in her however, or he wouldn’t have bothered with even a quick kiss. In her life that had rarely happened.

  Never when she was alone with a man at all. Part of her wanted to freak out. To run, or even fly away. That wouldn’t change anything in her life though, so she simply nodded, and decided to pretend to be an adult. She was, when it came right down to it, so very tired of things. Especially being alone.

  “How old are you, Tomas?” She waited, for him to say he was younger than he looked. She was a horrible judge of that kind of thing after all. It made a certain kind of sense for him to be fourteen. In which case being alone like they were, was probably hugely confusing to him. It kind of was to her, so she understood the basic idea.

  “Twenty-two. Old enough to know better. Forgive me…” He seemed truly ashamed now. Like he’d done something worse than steal an innocent kiss.

  Which he probably had. It had given her ideas, after all, which was almost never a great plan. Really, it was a thing to avoid, if at all possible. It almost never was, however.

  “Oh. All right then.” Leaning in, she put her arms around him and kisse
d him back. Probably poorly, but they worked out what to do more or less after that.

  Hopefully he wasn’t actually evil. If so, then some of the things she was planning on doing with him would be a bit hard to explain later, in the reports. Still, he didn’t seem all that experienced. Also he wasn’t demanding of her. It was clear that he would have left off at any point in what they were doing if she’d even hinted at anything except her rather nervous eagerness.

  It wasn’t until she was doing things on him with her mouth, kneeling carefully in the forest at night, that Katherine even bothered to pop her head out. Probably because she was perverted that way.

  ~Try using your hand on the shaft. That way you won’t gag if you go down too far. Men seem to like that well enough. Like that.~ By their rules the other woman wasn’t actually allowed out at all any longer. Not if she wanted her ten minutes of pleasure per night. The thing there was that Gwen had kind of kept her waiting for that, since she was traveling. The device that produced the incredible sensations wasn’t allowed to be in Gwen’s control now. By her own orders.

  It would be far too tempting to use it. As it was, Katherine had to be conditioned to hide her away while it happened, so that they both weren’t addicted to it. It very nearly wasn’t the truth. She would have fought for the right to use that machine, after having one ten second dose of it, years before.

  As the man, who certainly wasn’t a boy, started to moan a bit and stiffen, the other woman took over the body. That was good, most likely, since she swallowed what came out of him. Gwen would have too, if she’d known when to and had heard of things like that. After all, she’d seen it all done on the internet, a few thousand times. She hadn’t been dead below the waist. Just ugly enough that doing things like she’d just done hadn’t ever been likely to happen. Which didn’t mean she wouldn’t have probably botched it her first time if not for the help.

  Then, interestingly, Kat pulled all the way back. Not even commenting on her odd behavior.

  It was like the embarrassment Olympics then, with each of them barely able to stammer out a word or two. Except that they were adults and had both wanted to do what they had. As long as Tomas wasn’t married it wasn’t that big of a deal. In the press, certainly, but not between them.

  Being a bit mean, rallying a little, she grinned at the fellow, as he buttoned his fly back up. It seemed like the most awkward possible moment.

  “You do know that we’re dating now, right? Next time expect at least flowers. Dinner and possibly a show first. Plus, you’re doing me, too. So look up how to do that? I mean with your mouth, so don’t be shocked to find out that’s a thing.” That seemed fair enough to her. Really, she kind of figured that he was going to sprint away then, having gotten what he wanted. That was what she’d always heard about men, after all. They only desired the one thing and would take off if they had it. It was her first time though, so she waited to see what was going to take place in real life.

  Instead of a foot race, she was embraced. Gently. It was nice and less embarrassed suddenly than even a moment before.

  “That would be… Lovely, actually. I understand if you can’t. I’m not famous, or even particularly good looking. That… I’ve never done that sort of thing before. Might we do it sometime again, do you think?” He sounded unsure and rather earnest about the whole thing.

  “I think we might! I just have to be careful about getting pregnant. That would be a bit hard to explain back home. So… Tell me about yourself. Do you work? Or attend school? You seem to have high level talent, magic wise… That work on the trees was impressive.”

  That normally meant that a person was pushed, possibly with a bit of social force applied, into doing important work. Especially if he were from a poor family. Schooling would have been mandated if he were from a wealthy one. Regardless of his talent level.

  There was a slow nod, followed by a sigh.

  “I clerk, for the local Baron? Baron Harrison. He seems to be a good man. We don’t meet often, naturally. I won’t claim it’s a high position, but I did attend university. I studied art?” He pulled the mask from his pocket and shook his head. Blushing even more than when she’d had him in her mouth. “This… Omegon? It’s a character that I invented. For a graphic novel…”

  Tomas stopped then, staring at her.

  “I… Honestly, I don’t know if I can explain that kind of thing to you? Not if you’re still Gwen after all this. Illustrated stories. Normally for children, but they’ve become more popular in these late years with older people as well. Omegon is… Well… A hero? He uses his magic to help people and fight injustice.” He stood straighter then, seeming proud for a few moments.

  She licked her lips. The inside of her mouth still tasted like him, which wasn’t a horrible thing, but was highly unusual for her. Honestly, part of her fought to keep from realizing that she’d actually done what she had.

  Except that, finally, something had taken place with a man. One that seemed to actually like her. Or at least Katherine. Possibly still thinking she was someone called Beth. That was a coincidence if true, since her best friend was named that.

  “We have those in my world. Graphic novels? Ones with heroes in them as well. Neat. Well, when you add in Gwen Farris being in yours, leave out the suck job? That’s what you call that here, right? It’s blowjob, where I come from. Though there’s no actual blowing, so… That might be just a bit racier than my family here would like to hear about.” She smiled, as he went slightly wide eyed.

  “Of course. I’d be run out of town if I tried that! Are you… Since we’re dating, is it all right to ask? Who are you, really?” The words held a genuine tone to them.

  Like he really meant it.

  “Ahhhh. Um… Okay. So… You know that part where I said I was Gwen Farris?”

  “Yes?” There was no eagerness to him, but he seemed ready to take in what she was saying.

  “Well… I’m actually… Gwen Farris. The woman from another world? So… If that doesn’t work for you, I get that part. What Katherine did… Um… Just so you know… She was the one that did the swallowing back there. The rest was me. I’m not really experienced, so I think she wanted to help. Just so… You know, if we do something again and I’m a bit different about that? I don’t mind doing it, but… I really have nothing to fall back on, skill wise.” It was why she’d done anything at all there, she knew. She was feeling like there was nothing to her life. So she’d done something crazy. Doing sex stuff with a guy that she’d just met.

  Not letting fear rule her.

  A thing that might just be working out, at least for the night.

  Instead of being bothered by her being herself, he just took her hand and started walking. It made sense, if they were seeing each other. That part was sudden, but she’d had worse introductions to people than finding they liked to play super hero and lurk in isolated caves. Honestly, that part was kind of cool, since he actually had real powers. Not great ones for the world they were in, making him more like Zorro than Superman, but she could deal with that. He had his own comic book, if nothing else.

  “Seriously? Not as pretend or a joke? You’re really her? That… I… I’m going to be strung up for this then, aren’t I? I’ve heard that you’re the King’s mistress… That, or special pet. No one seems really certain which. Tongues will wag to the worst, of course.” It sounded like it might be a saying, not just a clever turn of phrase that he’d come up with on the fly.

  Rather than pretend to be shocked, since the man was probably just correct about what people said, and why, she shrugged. She didn’t take it back, but did turn one hand, the free one, upward. It meant about the same thing. One hand seemed to mean that she honestly gave no fucks. Only way more politely.

  “Honestly? Ferdinand is nice to me and thinks he owes me. Katherine… Not so much. He’d have put her to death, but it would require doing me at the same time. I was going to kill myself, originally, when we got back from Europa, but he didn’t want
that. I… don’t really know why. People would have understood. The coward’s way out, but still, there was nothing else left for me to do. Don’t you think?” It had really happened. Nearly.

  There was silence as they walked for a few moments, the sounds of their feet on the dirt being the only noise at all. That and their breathing.

  “No. I can see that part of it all. At that point… It would have seemed that he had you killed. Murdered, because you were inconvenient. Removing a hero that had saved the entire world, because another person betrayed us all… That would have lost him the kingdom, or at least made it harder for him to keep in these troubled times. Didn’t Gwen help come up with the new rift shield after that?”

  She nodded, but also spoke, since it was dark.

  “Yes. It isn’t perfect though. We can probably protect most places, but not all of them. If a person could teletransport themselves in suddenly, then rift… No one would be there in time to stop it. We can only cover a few miles per shield right now.” It was a lot and had slowed the current war down, possibly stopping a rifting battle from happening.

  It wasn’t nearly enough.

  The man next to her scoffed a bit, smiling.

  “Almost no one can do that. Teletransport like that. How many people have you ever met that can move themselves instantly between places? It takes a rare talent to do that. I’ve trained in magic, with some rather high talents and never once met anyone that can do that.”

  The thing that Tomas didn’t know, that she wouldn’t tell him, was that all the rifters could teletransport. It was required, in order to be able to tear space apart. If you could move an object, anything in theory, in three different directions at one time, space couldn’t handle it. Then the world screamed and did things that it wasn’t meant to. It wasn’t exactly a nuclear bomb, but it was comparable. Vast explosions and contamination that she still wasn’t certain might not be radiation.

  In all the world there were a few hundred people that could, due to their training, rip the world apart in a rather spectacular fashion. There was even one that could grab an object at a distance, possibly anywhere in the world and make it do that, letting her do it hundreds or thousands of times without cost. That was so secret that she wasn’t going to tell anyone about it. Ever. Not even her new boyfriend.