Knight Esquire ya-2 Read online

  Everyone worked, even Kolb, who helped get the trunks outside and tapped the plates on each one, then, without warning, lifted off for the weapons section. Everything went with him. Even Davie and Karen lifted off almost instantly, Tor started too, but noticed that the boy that had helped with the trunks just stood, right fist clenched hard enough that it turned white. He looked off at the retreating backs of the flyers, legs locked and stiff as they stood on the stone walkway.

  “Um, are you all right?” Tor tried to sound calm and friendly about it, but the kid was kind of scary. At least he had his shield on already. The larger boy shook his head hard; a sharp movement that made Tor nearly wish he hadn’t asked.

  “It’s my district, I mean, I’m only Countier sixth, but, it’s my home. I don’t know how to fly though. I was supposed to be up in the rotation to learn next month. I…” Before the boy could start hitting anything Tor started talking.

  “Walk with me then. This is a crash course on how to fly. Pay attention, because you aren’t going to have a lot of time to get things wrong.”

  It really wasn’t that dangerous Tor told him, but slamming into the ground, even with a shield on, hurt. No one had died yet at least. Tor couldn’t walk and talk very well, and certainly couldn’t jog and talk, so he activated his flying gear and explained while he floated along about five feet from the ground. By the time they got there, one Countier Gary Ross was ready to try flying for the first time.

  “Look… some people get scared the first time they fly and some can’t hack it at all, being up high is just too much for them. If you find that happening to you…” Tor turned and gave Gary a grin and a half way credible floating bow.

  “Then toughen the hell up. People back home need you, and that counts more than being afraid, right? It counts more than dying even. If you can accept that now, then being afraid, even being terrified to the bone, won’t stop you from doing what you need to.” Tor gave the boy a single nod and went to get him a flying rig.

  Not ten minutes later, they took off, Kolb in the front, because he had the map and Tor holding the rear with Gary, so that he could call out suggestions if needed. Also that way they wouldn’t bash into anyone if Gary messed up. They were needed, some flying tips, but the kid was no worse at flying than anyone else had been their first time. Better than a lot really. Way better than Tor. Of course the controls were easier now that he’d fixed them, on turns if nothing else. At least there was no five minutes of spinning in place when Gary tried to turn in the air the first time.

  If Gary was afraid he hid it well. His lightly tanned face only showed a steely determination that Tor kind of admired. The look on his own face was probably still just lost and sad, if not close to tears. He thought of Trice for a few seconds and his eyes welled up, liquid dripping down his cheeks and then whipping back as soon as they fell out of the shield, making him glad that Gary was flying along side of him, about a hundred feet away. If he’d been in the back he might have gotten hit.

  Tor let those thoughts go. Yes, he could accept that he was short, ugly and that no woman anywhere would be insane enough to love him, or even touch him, unless they were faking interest or being paid to do it. It should have been obvious from the start. He was just a troll after all. Could he even blame her for saying those things? They were all, well most of them, true.

  Oh hell yeah he could.

  Now that he knew how their royal society thing worked, how people weren’t supposed to make fun of other people if they showed interest in them, how very deeply these ideas were held, and worse, that Trice herself had never said things like that about anyone else, even the old Count that she hadn’t wanted to marry, who she always spoke of in respectful terms, even to her friends… Yes, he could blame her for it. It didn’t make him feel any better, so he dropped into a meditative trance, using flying as his focus. Trying to measure the control of his left hand as perfectly as he could, the residual tremors having been making his flight more than a little shaky so far.

  Shaky or not the crew of eighteen people got to the fires before dark. Just because it was close and looked to be the biggest place around by far, they stopped at a walled city. Lines of men and women were surrounding it, digging and sweating as the fire line moved towards them. They landed well back of this line, behind the people that desperately fought, near a clutch of people that stood shouting at each other.

  “We can’t hold the line, we need more people, we have to get some water on this thing or we’ll lose the Capital.” The man looked old. Around eighty or so, and had rough workman’s hands which he waved under the nose of a much younger, but still old looking man, who must have been in his forties or so. The second man was huge. Not just big like a royal, but so big that when he spoke things clenched inside Tor in fear.

  “How do you suggest we do that? Bucket brigade? We could try working hand pumps out here, but that would take half a week, if we’re lucky. Burying the fires more certain anyway. We just need more people.”

  “Da!” Gary yelled running up to the older men. He jumped in front of the giant and gave him a quick hug. “I’ve people from school, all fighters except, well, him… but he’s…”

  “Gary! Good to see you boy! We can use all the help we can get. But, um, we aren’t taking children on the fighting line yet. Things are desperate, but we won’t throw lives away.” At first he looked at his son, which Tor thought was a trifle unneeded. The kid was more than big enough to handle a shovel. Then he realized that the man was looking at him too. Great, this crap again, Tor thought.

  He had half a mind to tell the giant to go fuck himself and just leave, but instead took a deep breath to calm himself and dropped into an even deeper, calmer mental place. Or tried to anyway.

  “Fuck you.” He said, the words just slipping out. Yep, he’d lost it, telling Counts to go do anything was a bad plan in general and really, no one wanted to be cursed at, did they?

  “I have magical water pumps, earth moving equipment, and other things you wouldn’t even know to ask for to fight your damn fire. If you don’t want my help then fine, but insult me right now and I will be forced to kick your ass.” Tor stalked over to the man, everyone staring at him like he was crazy, except the old man, who chortled.

  “Good! Let’s get the pumps set up and people on anything else you’ve got kid. Don’t mind Scotty here now, he’s just confused as to what needs to be done.”

  Tor laughed, if a little weakly and popped the top on the main chest, listing things off as he set them on the ground around the chest. No one anything for a second, then ten, but the old guy started yelling at them.

  “Move! Get the gear and figure out how to use it! Basic activation? Can you show us how to use it fast?”

  Tor grabbed an earth moving rig first and showed them all how it was done as fast as he could. Right hand pointing at the ground, left hand directing the stream of earth. Then handed it off to Davie to try, giving the giant a dirty look as he did.

  Kid indeed.

  The water pumps would take a reservoir or river to use, and for best effect people that could fly, so he asked Karen to be in charge of that, since he knew her, and she was used to acting as Kolb’s second in command. At least as far as Tor went. He pointed at the giant that was Gary’s dad, who would be easy to see if nothing else, and told him to get the temperature equalizers to the front line. The people on the ground would need whatever help they could get them, even if it was just to help keep them from getting too hot.

  Kolb, who had actual experience with the air stilling devices, owning one himself, headed up that section, Tor hadn’t been sure that it would work, but it was at least as effective as the earth moving devices, which seemed to be getting the job done at about a hundred times faster than a single man with a shovel. They only had twenty of those, and fifteen of the air stilling devices. It would be tight. Yeah, it represented the equal to about three and a half thousand new people coming out, and it really might not be enough, Tor realized. All
they could to was fight as hard as possible.

  After about twenty minutes, Karen and her team headed into town and had water roaring out in thick streams that they sprayed at the fire from the air. That worked too. Still, even with all that the fire was tenacious. As it got dark, not too long after that, Tor looked at Gary, who stood uneasily, as if he wanted to help fight the fire himself. He should have been. Tor wanted to himself, but given his health knew that would be stupid, but Gary? He had everything needed. Health, strength and courage. These people were underselling him by a lot.

  No children on the fire line… Well, there were other things of use to do.

  “Gary. We’re going to need light soon. I have some things that will work, but I don’t know how to deploy them. Here, see the controls?” A few seconds of tapping earned a nod from the large kid, which Tor hopped meant he got it.

  The boy stood for a minute, eyes closed, then, without saying anything, he took all the light plates, using both hands for them, headed back towards the wall of the city and bobbed over it, flying. Fifteen minutes later groups of men, women and children boiled out, each one holding one of the lights. Ah! Tor never would have thought of that. They could just stand back and light things up, but also move to where it was needed. Brilliant.

  It was probably a royal thing, thinking of getting help from other people like that. Tor wouldn’t have at all. He probably would have just stuck the lights to the wall of the County capital, which had a name it turned out. Rossalynd.

  Almost no one slept that night, the fire slipping past them again and again, no matter what they did. That wasn’t such a big deal, each time someone would simply use and air choke, or bury the new patch of smoldering grass with dirt, until somehow, the fire jumped the twenty foot wall and got inside the city.

  The scene outside the city was surreal, eerie even, smoke blowing across them in silent waves, the fire making a constant roar that sounded a bit like the ocean, but not, all at the same time. People wanted to run in to save the city, but the old man wouldn’t let them. Losing the external fire line lost the city too. Karen, floating in the air above everything turned her pumps spry towards where the first blaze had begun, but it just couldn’t reach. Not even a tenth of the way.

  “Got anything in your box of tricks for this boy?” The old man said grimly, his eyes tired. He sounded defeated, like they’d lost already.

  Did he? What did he have left? Temperature control plates wouldn’t matter at all, and the fire wasn’t going to be poisoning anyone right now, so that was out. There were some cups that would cool or warm beverages and while a cool drink sounded nice right then, it wouldn’t put a fire out. The only thing he had left were the set of twenty building air dryers he’d put together for Ellen Ward. Making the buildings, or the fire, drier wouldn’t help.

  But…

  “I think I might. Um, here…”

  The dryers weren’t meant to carry a lot of water at once, but they could carry some for a while, sending water to where ever the second plate was for collection. If that was over, near, or on a fire itself… He didn’t know if it would work, but it was worth a shot. Tor told the old man what to say and got him to scream out instructions. Old as he was, his voice carried a lot farther than Tor’s did at the moment. Tor took two of the plates and flew them in, over the city and held them as Karen and one of her friends, Petra he thought, used their pumps to hit the drying portions of the plates directly.

  It worked, the loose streams of water that collected in the air hit him hard, like a torrential rain, in two streams each about three foot across. They slapped at him, the water focusing on each hand sized copper plate, making them slippery, and trying to rip them from his still weak grasp. His right hand shook, aching from the strain, the plates trying to push apart, slick water building up between them, but he held on. Just barely, an act of will more than real physical strength, and got the first fire out by just hovering over it for a while. The second one was worse, white hot already if small, so he dropped the plates directly inside of it.

  He was soaked of course, but none of the people watching seemed inclined to make fun of him yet. That would probably come later when the school children described him as a midget troll that tried to despoil their young Countier by wetting himself on him or something.

  Flying had to be a euphemism for something naughty didn’t it? Everything else was to those freak royals. Tor wanted to growl, memories of Trice coming back again, and what she’d said about him. There wasn’t time for that though, so he forced himself to just pay attention to what was at hand. Trying to save a city.

  When the fire went out he got the plates back out of the puddle that had formed which was probably hot still, but thankfully his shield and temperature equalizer took care of that. Then Tor put out the third fire, which was barely even burning. After that one he looked but couldn’t find anything else that seemed to be alight, so, hoping he didn’t run into anything, plates still trying to slip out of his hands, and trailing water the whole time, Tor flew back to the command area and signaled Karen and Petra to stop, and go back to fighting the fire outside the wall. The drenched clothing wasn’t such a big deal, except that his pants were all wet, and of course insisted on drying last, so that he was walking around the next morning looking like he’d peed his pants.

  Embarrassing.

  The first three times Scotty, the giant man that was Gary’s dad, mentioned it, Tor ignored him. It did look like he’d wet himself after all, and everyone was tired, so the guy was probably trying to get a laugh to boost morale. People did laugh. A lot. Each time it dug into the already fragile parts of himself, pushing at him… making him more and more angry. On the fourth time Tor gave Scotty a level look and asked the man, fairly politely, to knock it off.

  “Or what little boy? You’ll kick my ass? Ooh, I’m so scared!” He mugged a little for the exhausted people around them. Right. Tor shook his head slowly and felt his stomach grow cold inside.

  A lot of the other people, most of them from the area, had chuckled when the giant said it. Tor could see that. They were his people, plus it had been silly of him to say anything like that in the first place and the guy was probably trying to save face. Really, he probably didn’t even have to, as big as he was. Tor threatening him wouldn’t be taken seriously, by anyone. You didn’t have to prove you were tougher than a kitten, did you? Of course not.

  The only problem was that Tor didn’t care at the moment. Not really. He closed his eyes and tried hard to be concerned about anything, but nothing came to him at all. There was just a hole inside that emptied into the bottom of everything.

  And a burning anger, which at that second was pointed directly at the giant in front of him.

  Jerk.

  He held up one finger to the man and triggered his flying gear with a quick tap after a few seconds. Tor raised high into the air and looked around, trying to seem calm about it all, until he found a large field, probably ten square miles in all and nearly that far from Rossalynd, that was burning along merrily. Pulling the blast device he’d built into the poison detector looking bit of metal out of his shirt he aimed, triggering it for about a second.

  The world erupted with a blast that probably made the city jump. Literally.

  The field of grass stalks was flattened and churned, with a large crater in the center of it when the dust cleared, a giant cloud in the shape of a toadstool over it, growing slowly. Most of the fire was out in the field, and the surrounding area for miles, so at least there was that. Tor landed by the man gently, if not in a smooth looking fashion, and smiled at him. What that looked like Tor didn’t know, young and surly probably, but that would have to do for now, Tor didn’t have anything better to offer.

  “Scared yet?” Tor said his voice soft and menacing.

  The man froze, not moving, or blinking. Tor really didn’t want a fight, but the guy didn’t seem to want to leave him a lot of choice either. Plus he was too huge to play with. If they fought, Tor woul
d have to kill him. Instantly and without hesitation. Knowing that he switched weapons to one of the smaller explosives and got ready for the giant to move. Time passed slowly, Tor glaring with an insane smile on his lips, trembling slightly and Scott Ross just holding very still.

  Kolb came flying in at nearly full speed and noticed the little situation lining up, beneath him. It was the old man that came walking over first however, looking calm and relaxed about the whole thing.

  “I see you got the fire out in the south section outside of the city? Bit extreme, but it’s good to know we have a back up if we start to lose the line. Try not to use that too close to the city again though, eh? I don’t want to leave cracks in the wall. Just got it the way I like, about fifteen years ago.”

  Smiling Tor put the little device away, tucking the small copper rectangle away under his first, the hemp cord it was on itching for half a second while it moved.

  “Sorry about that. I’m just… Well, it’s been a rough couple of days. My engagement had to be broken off and some harsh words were said. I’m sure that this guy, sorry… don’t know your name,” he pointed at the giant man with one finger, not carrying that it was rude. It was that or the explosive in his other hand. But then, hey, that one was already pointed, wasn’t it?

  “Didn’t mean to be insulting when we flew in, but my, er, lack of being tall, was mentioned prominently as well as looking a bit young as that situation blew up, in public. So I over reacted. Then when he tried acting tough with me, well, I’m kind of at my limit, you know?” Tor stared at the man, letting his expression go blank. “If you want to die, I can arrange it easily enough. Right now, if you move on me, you’ll just die. If you call in an army, they die with you. Do you get what I’m saying here? I really don’t care right now one way or the other myself, but I promised my best friend that I wouldn’t kill any innocent people just because I’m ticked off. I’m pretty sure that goes away if I’m attacked though, and right now my personal definition of “attack” is pretty loose I think. So, you know, it’s your choice. I came to help you fight this fire though, not argue like twelve year olds over who has the biggest manhood.” Tor waved his left hand not smiling.