Knight Esquire ya-2 Read online

  “It’s not that, not at all. I was just thinking about a personal matter that, well… your own situation just pointed out to me that I may have lumped someone else in to a personal matter of my own, unfairly. I guess I have to see to fixing that before I hurt people that aren’t involved in other matters.”

  “What?” The Baron asked, his face showing that what Tor had just said didn’t make any sense at all.

  Right. Why would he know anything about it?

  Tor explained the whole thing, knowing that it made him look foolish and stupid, weak and undesirable, but not wanting the Baron to feel like he was being made fun of. When he came to the end of it he had tears in his eyes, and the room was silent, probably wondering how this half mad midget had gotten into the room. The Queen handed him a light pink handkerchief to blot his eyes with, which had to look ridiculous, but at least his nose wasn’t running from it yet.

  The Baron looked at the others in the room, the woman next to him, a fairly young and pretty person that turned out to be his wife, now looked at Tor with tears in her own eyes. Was he so pitiful that even strangers felt sorry for him? It almost made him laugh, but he didn’t want the situation to be misunderstood. Laughing at the already stressed out Baron would end badly. If nothing else the giant man would probably challenge him to a duel. If he didn’t just pull a weapon and attack. The man had three of them. A knife hidden in his jacket, a force lance of indifferent quality and a cutter that had about a two foot sweep on it. Nothing he had would touch Tor, sure, but that didn’t mean an attack wouldn’t be a bad thing.

  Instead of anything like that the whole room just stayed quiet for a long time.

  “Fine. I’ll allow passage through my lands.” The Baron said gruffly, biting the words as he spoke, not looking at anyone at all. The King looked at the Duchess, who’d grinned suddenly, but hadn’t said anything. The gaze didn’t waiver and after a while seemed to pin the woman in place, she went still. After nearly a minute, her face frozen into blankness, she spoke.

  “I apologize for trying to force my way through. It was high handed and unnecessary. Please accept my apology and promise to not do so again.” Her words didn’t have a truly sincere ring to them as far as Tor could tell and her face didn’t look like the matter was really settled either, but the King seemed satisfied with her response and had them all shown the door with a strong suggestion that they not come back to him on related issues for at least another five years.

  Connie reached over and patted at his right hand lightly, forcing herself to comfort him, Tor guessed. He was fine though. Embarrassed about what he’d said, but that was all. It didn’t really matter. No woman wanted him anyway, so if they all learned what Trice thought of him, well that wouldn’t change their minds anyway. If you were an ugly little troll, that was hard to hide, right? All he could do was try to be a good person and hope that would be enough in the end.

  The chairs were rearranged and only one was left in front of the group of four this time. An older woman came in, tall, like all the nobles were of course, but this one looked tired and care worn. Her clothing was of fine quality, but looked old and had some spots on it. She was quite about it, but it was pretty obvious after a few minutes that the woman didn’t live in the same reality that the rest of them did at all. Her mind was gone and seemed to have been for a long time.

  The scary thing was that the woman was a sitting Countess. Unmarried and childless, she had complete control of an entire County, one of the northern ones that used to be rich, until she’d gained power some fifty years before. County Cannor. They hadn’t exactly suffered under her, but she wasn’t a good leader either from what Tor could glean. Distracted at times if nothing else.

  She just seemed to want to visit though, and didn’t have a real issue at all. Not even an imaginary one, which was kind of a relief. What would they have done if she announced herself under attack by forces no one else could see or hear? The King was required to give a certain amount of aid in case of unlawful attack, and honestly, imaginary foes had no lawful reason for attack, did they? It would have been an almost impossible fight to win too. Worse, Tor had a strong feeling that if it came to it, he’d have been the one ordered into battle. Rolph too probably. The woman couldn’t argue that the heir and his best friend going to her aid was less than the King really taking notice, even if she was a little off.

  He had a momentary vision of both of them dressed in armor made of wood shingles holding broad children’s play swords running around for weeks trying to slay an invisible dragon.

  After half an hour the woman stood and left without saying goodbye. No one commented on it at all. The King just smiled at her back, seeming relieved and happy enough.

  “Last one coming…”

  Two chairs were put out and the Morgans were lead into the room, by one of the Royal Guard, an older fellow that looked to be important, if the extra bit of gold on his collar meant anything. Both wore somber clothing in dark colors. Death colors. They walked in with heads high, until they saw Tor sitting there. He tried not to look away or glare, but really, he didn’t know what to do with himself either. He felt ambushed and glanced at the Queen next to him, then over at the King and finally Rolph, who at least looked a bit shocked too. That part was nice. At least his stupid looking facial expression had his friends company.

  The Prince sat up very straight and pointed at them rudely.

  “What are they doing here? After what Trice did…” He looked at them angrily. “After what she said about Tor, you two are just lucky that he’s agreed not to kill you. For now. I had to beg a promise from him for that much! I’d have thought you’d be hiding away somewhere hoping you weren’t found. He may not be “noble” enough for your daughter, but you should just thank all gods that he’s not! Anyone else, and I mean anyone, would have attacked already and not given you a reprieve.”

  They both sat without responding at first, finally Mercy looked at the Queen and spoke softly.

  “Um. Well, this is delicate then isn’t it? We… didn’t know that Tor would be here still. We’ve tried to talk to Patricia, but she won’t answer our letters, or at least hasn’t yet. We don’t really know what’s going on, just that the wedding is off and that Tor’s demanding all the devices he gave us back? Is that right? And Alphonse is obviously upset, but… What’s going on? I’d thought we left on, if not good terms, then at least as good as possible. Did you two have a fight?” She looked at Tor with concern in her eyes.

  Tor wondered if they really didn’t know or if this was just one of those complicated ruses that the nobles liked to pull off to make each other look stupid. It could be, he knew. One of the things that Trice had pointed out was that he wasn’t very bright after all.

  Grimly Rolph recounted the whole event in the restaurant and how he’d had to beg Tor not to destroy half the kingdom, which was still tenuous, as Tor had a super-weapon that could do just that. Tor almost laughed about it, not because it wasn’t true, but because he literally had it on his person. Hanging on a little cord around his neck. The Morgans went white as sheets. Not, Tor noticed, at the implied threat Rolph had delivered, but before that, when they heard the words that had been spoken about him.

  “Are you sure? That doesn’t sound like her… perhaps someone misconstrued or reported the words of someone else?” Mercy began. Rolph held up his right hand and stopped her.

  “Heard it myself. Hard to ignore actually, since she was kind of yelling it to the whole room. It wasn’t even in private, so that dignity could be preserved. It wasn’t even during a fight, so that we could blame anger or lack of caution. Nor was she too far gone into drink for sensibility. She knew where she was, and what she was saying. The people around her even argued against her, not knowing we were there to hear them, but she persisted anyway. She wasn’t being led by her fellows into this… If Doretta had been half as vile Wylde would have killed her in the street.” The last bit came out as a low growl.

  Tor wanted t
o leave. Why did he have to deal with these people? He hadn’t wronged them, had he? For all he knew they had him poisoned on their daughters behalf. She even said to a room of strangers that he was too nice and trusting, too easily taken in.

  What did they want from him?

  It took a long time for them to get to that. What they wanted, it turned out, was to not have to give the stuff back. Richard let out a huff of air that sounded half like a growl himself, matching the tone of the room perfectly.

  “Really? In all this, the most important thing you can come up with to bring to our attention is that? Gold? You have gold! I thought better of you both. I’m very disappointed in you.”

  They both hung their heads briefly, but Eric rallied first.

  “It’s not gold, not just that… anyway, we’ve formed hundreds of contracts with people for goods shipments, most of them perishables, if we don’t do it, then a lot of people that have been waiting for our rapid transportation are going to be stuck, many of them losing a lot because they’d gambled on our ability to get things across the kingdom for them. We dealt in good faith, but now… I can see the reasoning, I even agree, but it isn’t fair to these others.”

  The discussion drifted away from him directly for a bit at least. It was both an easy and hard situation.

  “So let me get this straight,” Tor finally put in, anger creeping in to his voice even as he tried to hide it from everyone. It made him sound cold and mean anyway. “I either help you make a bunch of gold, or loads of people that haven’t done anything to me at all suffer because I’m being petty? On one hand I can easily fix this by just letting you go ahead, but on the other, if I do, I’m weak and spineless? I just want to make sure I have this all right. After all, it’s you two, and your own daughter, that are setting these conditions.”

  What the hell was he supposed to do? He was being petty, even in his anger he could see that, but if he didn’t do it, he’d look weak. To her. Then again, should he even care what she thought about him at all? Tor knew the answer to that without even thinking. He’d though she was his friend and all the while she’d just been using him. She didn’t deserve to have any of his thoughts or concern at all. If he was too nice, or too stupid or even too ugly, well, that was just what he was.

  “You know. I hate to mention this, but there’s a really good chance, given what she was saying about me and where the juice came from, that Trice was the one that poisoned me.” Tor didn’t let anyone else speak, waving them to quiet with his right hand first.

  “She knows how to do it, she’s mentioned that more than once in fact. More, she could easily have gotten access to the barrel at any point in the process and stated, after the fact, that she hates me and wished I’d died. I knew that we weren’t really going to get married the whole time, I’m not that dumb. Really, I can’t see why you people keep thinking I am. Kind isn’t really the same thing, you know. But I’d thought that we were friends enough that she’d just tell me when the thing was up and we’d keep being friends after that. I don’t know why she’d want me dead, even if I disgust her. Even if she didn’t want to be my friend… It’s hard for me to believe even now, but…”

  Tor’s mind made the connections rapidly then.

  “God. She’s even the same height as Wensa, and knew that I didn’t wear the shield turned on all the time back then, especially after meals, when I was kicked down the stairs. I know that she has the skill physically, and she even knows when I go to dinner. Crap…” Tears stung his eyes as he spoke.

  “She’s had enough access to our room to know how to get in too. The food just showed up on my bed. So whoever did it knew which bed was mine too. Not that hard to do, since Rolph’s bed is special, way nicer than mine, but still, it’s a lot of little stuff adding up…”

  Everyone stared at him.

  “No…” Eric said, standing up suddenly.

  Next him Mercy stood as well. “It can’t be. There simply has to be another explanation. I…”

  Looking confused they both stormed out quickly, as if fearing that to stay meant arrest or death. Or possibly that they’d have to face the facts, which might be even scarier for them. Had it really been her? Tor tried to line everything up, it wasn’t, he could see, proof of anything, but a lot of things fell in line really nicely. Or it did now that he knew that she’d hated him the whole time. Even that gods awful fake crying of hers. Who cries like that?

  Someone trying to trick you, that’s who.

  He buried his head in his hands for a few moments then sat up. Nothing had really changed for him. He didn’t know anything for sure and his absolute position in the universe was still the same as when he walked into the room. Sure… Tor felt pretty crummy, of course he did.

  “Even stupid little trolls have their pride, don’t they?” He said to the room, not caring if anyone else got it at all.

  Getting up slowly he went to find his trunks, Rolph walking along behind him. They were in a room just off the kitchen, which was pretty close to the first place he’d checked. The lid was up on one of them, it was clear that it had been gone through. He pointed at the state of it, it was the trunk that held all the devices, and all his normally neat stacks were scrambled. How annoying.

  “If people want stuff, I really wish they’d just ask, you know? It’s not like I’ve ever refused to give someone something that they wanted. So, who do you think it was?” He re-latched the box and tapped the second float plate with his amulet, then picked the box up with a grunt. He repeated it with the second one, leaving both hanging in the air beside him. It took some pushing to guide them through the door of the small room, but he managed with some pulling and a few half hearted kicks.

  “The staff? Some noble that figured out what was in there? One of your sisters?” He smiled. The idea of Varley going through his things was ridiculous. Karina might, but not the younger one. She was smart enough to just request what she wanted, or possibly just mention that having something would be nice, it wasn’t like he’d been stingy with the stuff he made or anything, was it? For that matter Karina probably got that too by now.

  The large head tilted as they walked.

  “Probably none of the above. My guess? The Royal Guard. Hearing you have a super-weapon they probably felt obligated to try and find it, if it was in the palace itself. If nothing else just to see to the safety of the King. Kind of their job.”

  That made sense. Of course the little device was hanging on a cord around his neck at the moment, but Tor didn’t bother mentioning that. After all, shield or not, trying to use it on the ground put you too close to the blast itself. He really doubted anyone could survive that. It was a stupid weapon really. Too powerful to be used in almost any situation. From the air, pointed far away from you was about it. Maybe pointed at flying people a long ways off? Still he didn’t want to have a big fight over it.

  The marble floors made only small sounds as he walked out the door to the back of the complex, towards the guest house. The lawn was huge and well tended, which probably took specialty cutters. How did you make it perfectly flat like that three inches from the ground without some kind of guide? He tapped the float plates and let the cases settle behind him.

  “Right, that makes sense. Anyway, um, I don’t know when I’ll be back around here, if I ever am, so, thanks. I’ve been glad to have you as my friend.” He held out his hand to shake, but Rolph crossed his arms instead of taking it.

  “You say that like you’re going someplace. Our rooms are made up in the guest house and by the way, no one here is going to take no for an answer. Varley said that if I let you go away right now she’d never speak to me again. Now, she’s just a kid, true, but I think she was serious about giving it a good try. Have you ever tried to be the heir to a kingdom if your little sister refuses to communicate with you directly? You may think my jobs easy, but… Let’s just say I’m counting on you as a friend to help me avoid that.” He managed to say all this with a straight face.

  �
�I… just don’t want to be a bother to anyone. I can stay at an inn or something, or, I don’t know, go camp out maybe? I mean… I basically just accused Trice of poisoning me, and she’s your family.” Tor looked at the outer wall surrounding the palace, feeling hemmed in and small.

  “You’re all kind of obligated to hate me now. I’m a little surprised no one launched an attack in the room when I said it. The information fits, but, gods, Rolph. I loved her, at least as a friend, but even if I’m not good enough for anyone, that doesn’t mean I don’t have feelings. I didn’t expect her to like me back, but kill me? Why? She could have just walked away and had me giving her things for years if that’s what she wanted.” Tears ran down his cheeks, Rolph took his arm and walked him forward, his right hand pointed back at the luggage without him ever looking at it, then at the guest house with a small flip of the wrist.

  “I know Tor. I really don’t get it either. I mean, I’ve known her all my life, we played together as little kids. She was the first girl I kissed, quite chastely by the way, and the first person that ever kicked my butt in a fight. We were four. Hair puller. But if I hadn’t had been in the room with you and someone told me she said those things, I’d have called them a liar to their face and probably called them out. This… It isn’t like her at all. I’m not defending her, I heard it, but it’s like she isn’t the same girl now or something.” Rolph got him inside and had him sit on a low bench just inside the door.

  It was just a wooden thing, nice, but its sole purpose seemed to be giving people a place to sit if they needed to take off muddy or dusty shoes. Given that he’d yet to see it rain in the Capital he wondered if anyone here even knew what mud was. Well, the people in the potters distract, they’d know, but would anyone else?

  “Yeah, well, it’s magic. An effect I seem to have on women. I guess I really need to just give up on the idea of ever being loved. Maybe those people in Galasia had it right all along? I’m a troll in disguise and too stupid to know it? I guess going off to live in a cave is fitting enough, I could work there, I suppose, and get things done uninterrupted. I don’t…” The tears still fell and he felt like he was a little kid crying because mommy had left on an errand. “I don’t want to be alone forever.”