by P. S. Power
Oh.
That made sense then. Hopefully no one else felt as strongly about the whole thing as Veren did though. Healing device or not, too much more of that and Tor would just die. It was clear he needed a lot more work on his fighting skills. Painfully so, or it had been, but Tor’s memory was good enough in that regard.
Then everyone just left. That was it. No big thing, no hard feelings. Fight, resolve the issue and leave. It was efficient, but kind of strange feeling. He kept expecting his mother to pop out and chastise him for being a common ruffian or something. Instead he went inside and everyone acted like nothing had happened at all.
Heh.
Really they were waiting for Burks to come back and say that the truth device could be beaten or couldn't be, but that didn't come until after dinner that night. It was another grand affair, each guest with two servers, all wearing their sharp green clothing, which matched the table cloth and napkins and about twenty courses were served, each tiny, at least on his plate. Rolph, who sat directly across from him, had more, but Denno, two places over had about the same. It was a favor really. Tor knew that he couldn't handle all the food if the plate was loaded each time himself and doubted that Brown would do that much better.
Really it was ridiculous, the meal finishing off with four different deserts, then cheese and drinks. Tor was so full he had to stick to taking small sips of water at the end, but hadn't wanted to embarrass anyone by not eating it all. Then, as they sat and talked, Count Lairdgren made his way in.
Now, he, Tor thought as he regarded the man, looked exhausted. Tired enough that he didn't bother with a preamble at all. It was bizarre really, given the situation, but Tor couldn't find it in himself to blame him. Not looking like he did.
“It will work. I couldn't find a way around it, not at all. I'm sure there is one, but I doubt my brother here will have had time to experiment and figure it out.” Grinning he pulled out an amulet, the sigil glowing green.
Tor blinked. All of the amulets should have a pink sigil on them. It was in the shape of a “T” with lines through it on a diagonal. “T” for truth. Reaching out to the bit of focus stone, the wrong color too, being too brown for the soil around the Capital, Tor got what the field did. It glowed and turned black on command. It was a trick? That seemed likely, but what was the point?
Burks set things up quickly, Denno in a chair towards the side of the room along the outside wall, and the amulet activated. The glow was mainly white with hazy yellow strips, not the cream and golden yellow it was supposed to be at all. Denno wouldn't know that, but everyone else seemed to just take it in stride as well. Interesting.
Couldn't they see the obvious differences or was it that everyone else was just better at hiding their shock than he was? It didn't matter really, so Tor hid his own realization as best he could. If it was about fooling Denno, then he'd go along with it for now. But not without some kind of back-up information. Tor dropped into a deep state, cleared his mind and focused intently on Burks, who was doing the same thing, he found. He was reading Denno instead of just using the Truth device. Why? Tor didn't know for sure, but kind of suspected that the Count had actually found a way around it, one Denno could have used, so was going to try this instead. A pure reading would be harder and potentially more accurate, though why he hadn't done a better job faking the way it looked Tor didn't get at all. Was it a sign to him or… Tor had to fight shaking his head, it really didn't make sense at all.
“Alright Denno, would you please state your name for us all?” Burks said it like asking his own brother his name made sense, but Brown didn't blink.
“Dennorian Algiers Brown.”
A full and slow second after the lie the field turned an off black, almost dark smoke color. Instead of lancing through the field, it grew slowly like a cloud. It looked totally wrong, his units put out a stark black and shot across the field suddenly, looking like a rift had opened in space. This effect was cruddy by comparison. It made him want to roll his eyes, but he decided to go with the ruse for a bit, to see where it led.
So Tor didn't hesitate, leaning towards the man.
“Um, Lie? Denno, what was your given name, not what you picked for yourself.”
“Six.” The man said, smiling a little.
“But we all thought that we deserved actual names, so we each picked our favorite color. The rest came later, when we decided that most people would respect us more, think us more like them, if we each had two names. I was married about a century or two after that and took my wife’s name for a while, hence the Algiers.”
This time the field stayed clear and shone brightly.
Burks nodded, but it may not have been in agreement, but rather a way of letting Tor know that he felt his focus on the subject.
Burks kept asking questions then, without pausing.
“Denno, can you tell me how long you were held captive by Glost Serge?”
“Not really, between seven and ten years?”
Another lie.
“Not true, try again please.”
Denno took a deep breath and did something, relaxed his body, but also dropped into a deep memory of an earlier time, Tor didn't get it all, but the idea was clear, the man would tell the truth, but about the wrong event. Clever. Dead smart really. Most people wouldn't have that ability. After all, who had several long periods of incarceration to fall back on?
Oh, an Ancient.
It made sense.
“Twelve years?” It was a question, but this time the field didn't flicker, Burks hadn't triggered it at all.
Tor focused harder then as the Count asked questions carefully, letting most of the lies slip through, but trying to read what the man was hiding, directly from his thoughts. It was pretty clear to Tor really. Denno was held prisoner by Serge and Daria, for refusing to order hit teams in on all their enemies. For nearly a whole year.
One. Single. Year.
When it came to the larval, it had been him alone that built the army of them, not Glost Serge, not anyone else. Because he planned his own… purge? One that would remove every obstacle to his own… rule. For the entire world? It was hard to tell exactly, there were too many parts, too many undertones and shifting ideas, but that was a big part of it and he'd definitely grown the clones himself. For his own purposes. He felt threatened by someone and was responding, that was clear at least.
It was a bit of a different story to be sure.
To Tor’s amusement, the break out had been real, though half the guards actually worked directly for Denno himself, not the Premier and definitely not his daughter. A slightly smug feeling crept into the man’s thoughts as he gained skill in “fooling” the device. It was a waste of brain power and led him into thinking about even more than he would have normally. The main bit Tor grabbed was that he wasn't alone in his plan and that someone else, another of the Ancients, was in on it with him. Tor couldn't tell who, but the underlying point was solid and clear.
Well freaking heck.
By the time they finished, everyone in the room seemed far more relieved than not, even Burks who immediately clapped his brother on the back. Moving behind Denno he gave Tor a look, it wasn't mean or anything, but he got the picture. Sell the game. Make their brother believe he'd beaten the device.
Wonderful. He wanted to sigh and possibly slap the man for not being honest with them, but just in case, he had to back Burks play, didn't he?
Tor stood, walked in front of the man and knelt on the floor, bowing until his head touched the cold black stone.
“I have wronged you with my questions. I let my own paranoia and fear cause me to persecute one innocent of such. I know that I do not deserve forgiveness, but please know that I am truly sorry for having said the words or having the thoughts.” Tor stayed in place, letting just a faint sheen of tears come into his eyes.
“Oh! I… Well.” Denno suddenly stammered both pleased and a bit baffled about what to do.
“Well, of course you had ques
tions! Who wouldn't? Please don't feel bad about it, no harm done and you have a good test that allowed me to show my friendliness. Please, if it's allowable under your ways without harm, get up little brother.” He stood and took Tor’s shoulder to help him rise. As that happen a single tear crept down his face.
It was real enough. Tor felt the betrayal sting him, prick his very heart. It was foolish, but Tor had let himself buy in to the whole “little brother” act and now it hurt to have the lie given to the daylight.
“I'm sorry.” Tor said again, giving the man a hug so that his face wouldn't give the whole thing away, he didn't let go until he had control of it, mostly at least, about a half minute later.
No one else in the room said anything, but they all bowed, showing how sorry they were for their own part in the events, though no one feeling as bad about it as Tor, at least to their eyes. Well, that was fine, Tor decided, his self-respect and honor had been sacrificed long ago anyway. If he looked the fool here, then it wasn't a big deal. Everyone had seen it before anyway, hadn't they? He felt a little bad for Ali, since as her husband, his shame or embarrassment was hers too, but she just smiled at him and moved in to hug Denno as well. It became the popular activity in the room for the next few minutes, each of the girl taking a turn except Mutta, who just gave Tor a knowing look, as if saying she understood his weak male mind had forced him to act like that. He was tempted to stick out his tongue at her but refrained, just in case he wasn't mentally damaged and what he'd done was actually near what Burks had planned.
They broke up shortly after, the King taking Denno aside for his own apology and Connie coming to hug him and say how pleased she was that everything was all right between Denno and himself.
“Such questions have to be asked. I don't want you to ever stop, but it's also important to admit errors when they happen. To see you do that so quickly, without concern for your own ego or appearance… It's humbling Tor. Even without being told, you once again have shown the best in noble society, what others only aspire to.” This was heartfelt and the tears in her eyes were real enough, proud of him, not just a show.
“Thank you. Can we… meet later?” His voice went quiet and a little shaky, probably because he was very afraid in that moment.
Not with the obvious, that the Queen would think he was propositioning her. That was exactly what she was supposed to think. God he wished it were really that instead. No, the fear was that his grandfather might want to keep what he'd found out a secret from the King and Queen. But if that was the case, his plan was about to go awry. Tor wasn't an Ancient, he was a Knight of Noram and that meant defending his land and its people, all of them, to the best of his abilities. Right this moment it meant telling the King and Queen about what had happened.
It wasn't without risks though. Burks could call him a liar or even have him killed for it, and all he had was the truth. Not that his grandfather had ever been less than open and honest with him that he'd known about, but then until mere moments before he'd really thought the same was true of Denno Brown. Deep down at least. He'd had questions, but had really wanted there to be good answers that someone like him just wouldn't know.
Worse, Denno would want to turn the world into Austra. Wasteful, ugly and oppressed, led by a madman. That right there, that the Ancient was trying to do this at the same time that his own land was being led by an insane killer, should have told him that his way wasn't the best. If nothing else you wanted your rulers to not be crazy, and hopefully to actually care about the people. Or at least be willing to fake it really well.
But which of the other Ancients would be in it with him? Burks? That… didn't seem likely at all. That an older version of himself with that much more experience might fool him, even as he read his field, well… it was possible. It didn't prove that he had and Tor didn't want to believe it, but it could have happened.
Lara Gray?
She hated men and couldn't admit it to herself, which could make her hard to deal with for Brown, who had that inconvenient manliness between his legs, but it was just possible. Especially if she thought she could turn the tables and win the world over to her way. She'd said as much to Tor once.
White?
She'd seemed so nice. More, it was clear that both the older men on their trip had been at least a little in love with her for some reason. More than was reasonable with a sister. Even an adopted one.
The rest he didn't know at all.
Black was the Tellerand Ancient, and Tor thought he was a man.
As for the rest he knew nothing. Not even which color lived where. That would really have to be learned fast. Though, honestly, it wasn't Tor’s problem, was it? If Denno wanted to rule the world, Noram would have to fight, probably against hoards of Larval. Goody. That would be a bloodbath. The Noram military couldn't be beaten by the clones, not in combat, so the assassins would simply refuse to meet them there and stick to just slaughtering people at random until everyone else gave up. If they moved in secret and just took out little villages the people wouldn't be able to resist at all, until the common person just gave up.
The idea was horrifying.
But Tor didn't have to deal with that yet. Really, even if he did, taking an explosive weapon and pointing it at Denno's head would stop his personal plans well enough. Unless he'd made copies of himself too. Tor took a deep breath, which only helped a little and waited on the Queen, who looked shocked. But only for a few seconds. She leaned into him and whispered softly that they could meet in the water garden later for a “walk”, at one in the morning.
That would do. It was just past eleven thirty then, and Tor had to get everything ready first. Talk to Burks and make ready for whatever plan was offered, just in case it actually required something from him.
On the way out his grandfather raised a hand and waved him into a side room, then stood facing him, that way it would be nearly impossible to read his lips from anywhere else in the room. Tor silenced the conversation for them and shook his head before speaking.
“Really, that was the best you could do? I'm surprised everyone in the room wasn't laughing at it. A green sigil? I know it's your color… but still, it’s a bit obvious isn’t it? Also, it's cream and golden yellow, it matches Smythe's favorite robes, not white and pure stark yellow. More of a golden rod. Don't tell me that you just scrambled it up last night either, it was the wrong color of focus stone to be from here. That was something you've had. Probably faked up to pass any tests you had to take using one. Not trying to act all superior, but you can do a better job than that. Little kids can do better than that. If you don't believe me, let's quick make a wager and send the idea to the school. If we don't get three that are better, I'll make one for you myself.” Tor didn't smile, it was serious enough. It was one thing to make a copy of his work, or even change it to make it better. That had to be welcomed no matter who did it.
But making something so bad… and just so you could keep lying?
Who did that?
A liar did, that's who.
“All of that and what you take away that I made a poor duplicate of one of your pieces? Please tell me you picked up some of the rest…”
Tor didn't roll his eyes, but he did snort and started reciting what he'd gotten.
“Then when he let slip the bit about another Ancient being in on it with him, well, I didn't know what to think, but I figured that was why you wanted me to pretend to apologize, that or you just want to keep the peace. Hard to do if someone wants you dead though, or at least out of the way. Did you get who it is?” Is it you?
Tor really wanted to ask, but couldn't. What if it was the truth? Then they'd have to fight and really, Tor couldn't win. He'd do it, but it would just end with his own death if it ever came to that.
Burks was still dressed in green, except for his black shoes, the jacket was heavy and so were the trousers, which spoke of strength, but the buttons were wood, polished black and no belt was visible. He froze for an instant, almost too short
to notice and swallowed.
“I didn't catch that much even. I feared it. That, however, isn't the same as knowing. Not at all. People sometimes confuse the two things. Its common even. That's why accusation must never be assumed to be fact. But you aren't accusing, just saying what you perceived.” He looked at Tor seriously.
“I'd prefer you not tell anyone about this yet.” The tone was serious, but it was a simple statement, not a request.
Tilting his head to the right, Tor replied.
“I'd prefer to not have to deal with stupid shit all the time. Crazy Austrans killing people. Crazy Ancients that can't even run a single land properly trying to take over the globe, or whatever the hell his plan is… I know that he thinks someone is threatening him, that’s why he’s doing it, whatever the heck he’s up too. I'm a simple school boy. Or I should be at least. At most I should be plotting some complicated device right now for my next build. You know what I'd prefer? That when I go to tell Connie about what happened, you'd come along and make sure she and Rich know you aren't working with Denno, aren't betraying anyone at all.” Even if you are. The thought when unsaid, but it must have passed across his face.
Sighing Burks did nothing for a long while and Tor just stared at him, until finally he nodded.
“Alright. When and where.” It came out blankly, calmly and sounded so reasonable that Tor just told him about the meeting, glad that Burks was going to be reasonable about the whole thing. After all, if they both went and told what they'd found, the King would probably back the Ancient’s plan, whatever that was. Rich really respected the man after all.
He didn't even think about it being a bad idea until the jolt ran through him, Burks holding a small object in his hand that didn't seem to do anything but make things go dark. At first he thought it was stealing his energy somehow, but in the end he just fell, not getting up again for a long while.
