Envoy to Earth

by P. S. Power

  Holly Printer squealed like someone had grabbed her behind at a county fair drinking contest. Petra got a big hug, and then he did, with his behind, in fact, being grabbed. It was a bit happier than he'd expected, to be honest. It wasn't her being married, but she seemed pretty pleased by the idea anyway.

  "Oh! That's wonderful. Yes! We need to work on dresses, the theme, so many other things. I'll have my best people on it. I suppose Maria will be helping you? Now that you two seem to have made up?"

  They'd been fighting? He nearly asked, but the Countess, just shrugged and looked at him, understanding without words that he didn't know the whole story yet. So it was a thing that she figured would be hidden from him, he guessed.

  "If you want to know that one, I suggest you ask Maria herself. I'm sure that she comes off looking better in her version than mine, and I don't want a war to start over it. This is wonderful, can you both stay the night? We have so much to talk about!"

  He shook his head.

  "I can't. I need to get to Warden, so that I can set someone up for a go-between. I promised not to mention who. That isn't the whole reason I needed to speak to you, unfortunately. I sort of want you to help me on a project of mine."

  She smiled, her face looking like she was the one going to be married, not her friend.

  "What do you need? I have a full box of string that I'm never going to use. Some ribbon..." It was a joke, but she stopped when he smiled, because it probably didn't seem all that kind.

  "I'd like you to agree to let me torture and kill Count Rodriguez. The old one. Maybe get the others that are a bit against the King to go along with that too?"

  She paused, not knowing the whole story, it was clear. Then she hardened her face, clenching her jaw until muscle stood out on the side of her cheek.

  "I can do that. It's about time. Half of the reason I'm against the King now is his lack of action there. That thing hurt my friend. If you need my word, or hand, in this, you have it."

  Petra hugged her, and then looking away, described the rest, so that she'd know. It was horrible to hear, and more in-depth than what anyone else had gotten from her so far. She ended with the instruction that her brother wasn't to find out, which got a simple nod.

  "People say many things about Marvin Ward, but he loves his sister. If he knew about this, then I'm not certain anything would stop him from killing thousands, or more, over it. I'll do what I can."

  Gerent hoped so, because there weren't too many other people that would come over to their side that easily, he didn't think. No, past that point, it would be down to bribes, blackmail... and threats.

  The only good thing was that Petra was able to leave with him after that, to go to her old family home.

  Chapter seven

  Gerent was sleepy when they hovered over the ocean near Warden, but he had to stay up, having given his word to Collette. Everyone else was put to bed, except for Dorgal, who was a bit baffled at the idea that he'd be needed for anything, even knowing the score there, and Erid, who insisted that he attend to Gerent. If there was work to be done, he had to be there, since it was his task for the day.

  That didn't turn out to be wrong, since the brilliant man loaded up the amulets for the people of that far off southern county, and took them along. Gerent helped load it all, but remembering their real job showed something there. He'd gotten sidetracked and so focused on the idea that they needed to set up a meeting for Collette that he'd actually forgotten the fact that people needed food. They'd had that horrible storm, and been the hardest ones hit, too.

  They were getting good at unloading however, so managed to land his Tim-Craft on the front lawn of the Ward estate before anyone came out to see to them. When that happened, there was a bit of a shock, since Countess Ward walked out, dressed in a white gown that hung off her shoulders and didn't have sleeves. Her face was smiling, and she all but pulled Dorgal away by force, not even bothering to explain her reasons why. There was a full meeting set up inside, but Gerent, it turned out, wasn't needed for it. That made sense, given that he barely knew Dorgal, but Petra explained the actual reason behind it, which was a second shock.

  "It's that you and Collette are close. Maria won't want you there, in case it's painful to see her passing to another man. I should probably head in however, since getting those two put together makes great sense for me, personally. So, are you staying here tonight? You can sleep in the craft here? I have to work in the morning, but if you stay..."

  What they could do if that happened he didn't really know, but he nodded.

  "Right, if I stay, then you can sleep with me. Which given the days I've had without rest, will end up being a massive snore fest. Still, it sounds more romantic than me just running away, doesn't it?" He yawned, which was real, since Gerent hadn't used Ali's new device in a while, so he'd be able to sleep when the opportunity came.

  The Tim-Craft was a lot easier to use than most of the other houses, having pre-set rooms and bathing chambers in its make-up. All he needed to do was touch the wall and think about wanting a bed and it arranged itself for him, the vehicle reforming inside instantly. It had a lot of silver in the pattern, but Gerent didn't care about that at the moment, so he didn't bother changing it. He just made sure they all had spaces, and took the first room. His had a name on it, formed with a lot of concentration, but he didn't know how to spell either Erid or Dorgal, so he left the others free. If they both ended up in the same room by mistake, well, they were grown men. They'd handle it.

  Still, hours later, he woke as Petra came into the space. She didn't insist on having sex, even though he was willing enough in spirit. His body was willing too, but his brain just couldn't rouse enough to do more than move over in the large bed. It had silk sheets on it, or seemed to, and the pretty woman touched his arm as she drifted off. She didn't try to cuddle to him, which he was grateful for.

  His life had left that kind of thing being too uncomfortable for him. As it was he slept a bit less than restfully just having her with him. It was tolerable however, and when light finally came through the window over his head, she rolled over and poked his arm a few times.

  "Gerent? Are you alive?" She wore a grin when he cracked an eye, her face a bit puffy with sleep.

  "I think so. We can be over to Printer in a few minutes. Or... If you don't need to be there right now, we can go and get the space craft first? Then I can just go from there to the next County."

  "That one. I have about an hour." She touched his arm lovingly, as if suggesting that an hour was plenty of time to do a lot of other things.

  It was pretty darned tempting, but if she wanted to meet her class in time, and perhaps eat something first, they needed to hurry a little more than that.

  Gerent was willing to let everyone else sleep for a time, but Dorgal got up when they did, and sat in the back as Gerent piloted back to the ship and set things up for the day. It took about fifteen minutes to be off the Coast of Printer, and Petra was fed and bathed, or at least showered, before she had to leave for the day. The odd thing there was that she pulled him along with her, using his Tim-Craft, making it almost tiny, and landing off to the side of the stone weapons area that the school had. Without asking, she took the thing down and handed it to him, then reached over and changed his clothing from green silk to look like a brown workman's outfit.

  The woman smiled at him, as she used her head to point out that the kids were coming. Not all of them were children, however.

  "The class size is down, since some of the parents decided that they didn't want to risk Holly grabbing them up as hostages. Anyway, I was thinking you could get a work out in? A few hours of exercise a day is important." She seemed to want him to stay, which he figured was a trick, but she didn't abuse him too much. No, here she had people to do that for her.

  There was stretching, lifting big stone things with handles, and hitting wooden posts with swords, clubs and sticks. It was hard, but only painful. Even the unarmed fighting practice, which
was done with a large fellow that stood four inches taller than he did, but looked to weigh twice as much, wasn't that brutal. He just had to do what he was told and not forget and drop his guard. Not that he did. Keeping himself covered was sort of sensible. His entire life had taught him that when taking a beating, it was best to have an arm or leg in the way. Doing it Petra's way just meant he could be more effective with it, which was sort of interesting.

  Better, working with the large man like he was, Gerent was not only allowed, but expected, to fight back. Most of his life that hadn't done a lot for him, but now when he landed a blow, the padded man actually moved. True he hit back, but nothing that landed was all that solid, since he just moved his arms or legs a bit to push things aside. A few struck home anyway, since he was far from perfect, even having had instruction, but it was better than just covering his head and hoping that the fellow stopped before Gerent died.

  At the end of the bout, he got another person to work with, who was much smaller than he was, but the boy didn't let that stop him, and cheated nicely, pulling a wooden knife about halfway through. That let him kill Gerent, but even the kid himself just shrugged at the end.

  "You're not too bad. Almost everyone else has whined when I've done that to them. Instructor Ward said that I should though, to remind people that real fights don't have rules. So, you get the idea, it wasn't personal. Um, I'm Wallace?" A quick bow came, that was a bow between equals.

  Gerent did it back, matching the angle.

  "I know that one from experience. Unfortunately. Should we go again?" It was hard, being slashed at with a knife like that, but Ger managed to get a bit better over time. Half an hour later Petra pulled him aside, and smiled at him.

  "You need to work with a blade, too. Magical weapons and shield as well. When you get to Harmony, you should look up Kolb and work with him. Keep this up at least four or five days a week. Still, you did pretty good for your second fighting lesson ever." She said it loudly enough that the other students turned to look at him, with Wallace walking back over, looking confused. That, or disbelieving.

  "Eh? You're joking with us to make me feel inferior, aren't you?" There was a pleading to the words, as if the boy really wanted it to be the case, but Petra laughed and patted him on the back, looking at the young man who was a bit gawky and big eared.

  "No. It's his second ever lesson. You did well enough for today, but keep that in mind. There are always good people out there. You have to work hard every day to keep ahead of them."

  Gerent thought of something and frowned at the boy.

  "Wait, are you... Wallace Eager? Um, Baron First?" That last bit was dangerous, since getting it wrong could be a problem, but the boy tightened his jaw and nodded.

  "Yes." It was said with a grudging expression and a dark look to his eyes. Like he expected to be punished for having that name.

  Gerent smiled.

  "Oh? Good! I know you then. After a fashion. Right now I'm heading to some other counties to pass out some relief aid from Harmony, the Moon Colony? But we need to get together and set up some things for other lands. Right now the big concern is Tellerand. Possibly Soam, as well. You need to get teams together for that. Countess Printer and your father have volunteered you for that. Or at least they agreed to get some students from here on it, so, you know, I'm electing you. Um... For now if you need to get in touch with me you can get Petra here, or Countess Printer to do that for you. Keep in touch. If I get back through here in the next few days, which I doubt will happen, I'll get you a new communications device." It made sense to him, but he sighed and then shook his head a little as the kid looked at him, seeming a bit upset. "That won't work will it? You need to be set up first. I..." He really wanted to get things going for the day, but shrugged and turned to Petra. "Wallace and I will run to the ship and do that, then head out for the day. Can you... I don't know if he's allowed to miss classes."

  After all, he hadn't gone to even little kids' school, much less one like this one. Petra however just smiled, and patted the other man on the arm. It was a firm thing, that rocked the thin six foot plus kid a bit, and earned a glare from some of the other students. It was pretty clear that most of them weren't wild about the idea.

  She winked, making it a broad thing that everyone could easily see.

  "Do it. I'll get you cleared for the day, or longer if needed. No one will have a problem with you doing that. Are you taking him along with you to Harmony when you go? That's tomorrow you're heading back, isn't it?"

  From across the way a young woman who looked average through the face, but tall enough that she had to have noble blood, sneered.

  "Why would that traitor be allowed to do anything? He should be strung up by the neck, not put in charge."

  The tone was annoyingly snotty and entitled sounding. He turned and smiled, not wanting to start a fight, but it was clear from the way that Wallace turned red that he knew which traitor was being discussed. Gerent hadn't really known that people would think that way, but didn't back away from the boy. Instead he shrugged.

  "Like I said, we need to set up those teams of people for the aid missions." He looked at the boy himself and didn't let anything show on his face. It was easy to blame and call names, and most people that weren't very bright could use that trick to seem a little smarter than they actually were. That kind of person rarely got much done in life, however. He'd been on the outside looking in for too long to have not seen it happen over and again. The loud angry man, or woman, could push people around, but in the end they only damaged the good people, and rarely helped anyone other than themselves.

  It was pretty clear that Petra wanted the boy to have that bit of a break, but the truth was that Gerent didn't need him to go along and didn't feel like babysitting. It wasn't that Wallace had done anything wrong, just that it might be a hassle to be moving extra bodies around like that.

  Which probably meant he was being selfish, and a bit snotty himself. Not wanting to be like the little princess over on the other side of the practice area, who hadn't been working very much, mainly just standing and chatting with her friends, Gerent nodded.

  "Or he might be over in Tellerand. They wouldn't take any aid at all. I know they don't like magic there, but they'll need food and supplies just like anyone else. I don't know what to do. Maybe Queen Tiera or one of the others will have an idea. If that's good with you, Wallace? We won't be gone long."

  The boy looked miserable, but that seemed to be about people not liking him, rather than the idea of leaving his studies like Petra had suggested. There was a somber nod, which meant that Gerent didn't feel too guilty loading the boy onto the still tiny and green square that the Tim-Craft had been made to look like, taking him to the bigger ship which floated off the coast, about five hundred feet above the water. It was huge still, but didn't really need to be.

  "When we get in we should set that thing to be smaller, since we don't need all that space right now. Then we can get in touch with everyone we need to for the day. You can do that part. Your father is in on the rebellion, right? So you know all the right people for that? Most won't have the right communications devices, so we need to just show up. King Richard does have one though, so you can pick his brain on how to get food into Tellerand. I just don't have a clue there." He chattered at the boy, who finally sighed and glared at him, as they landed in the bigger craft. He goggled a bit as he looked around the loading bay in the back, but didn't comment on it.

  Instead he shook his head just about the smallest fraction possible, and looked down at his feet. He was all in brown too, so they matched, more or less. Magical clothing for both, Gerent guessed. That, or the kid had put on brand new and totally perfect clothing that morning before going to work out and people never did that, he was willing to bet. Not even the rich and powerful. They used old things they didn't care about. Doing anything else was wasteful.

  Wallace looked over at him, and explained his sudden downturned eyes.

  "I... My
father is in rebellion. I have to support him, as his Heir. I don't know that I'm allowed to help the King like that. I don't really agree with father on that score, but it isn't my place to undermine him." It seemed like a difficult idea for the younger man, who looked to be about seventeen or so. Youthful, but an adult.

  Also about the age that he looked himself in the mirror now. It made him a good reference toward understanding what other people would see when they looked at him.

  "I'm not suggesting that you trade sides, just that we need to all be working together on some of this. It won't be easy to face the man, even at a distance, but no matter how this thing turns out in the end, you can't let yourself act totally from fear. You don't have to do it, but if you're already getting in touch with all the other world leaders, I don't think that you should ignore the King of your own land. Whoever they plan to put in, if they succeed, too." Gerent didn't know the plan there, but Wallace actually did.

  "Kedrin, the King's brother. He's... Actually, I don't think he'd make a better ruler. The man is fun, and good in conversation, but his idea of being in charge has more to do with giving his friends gifts and bedding pretty women, than actually looking out for anyone in particular. I think he's staying in Harris right now, since no one would think to check for him there. They're far from the richest county after all. They do well enough, but mainly because Galasia is there. Have you ever been?" The words came out easily enough that Gerent didn't let himself feel angry over it.

  Wallace simply didn't know the story. They both climbed out and he took the empty little craft down, so it wouldn't be in the way, and started walking, mentally working on the problem of making the ship smaller with all the people on board. The trick there would simply be getting everyone into one room for it, he thought. Probably the bridge. The rooms with supplies would need to stay the same, and he didn't want to shift any of the bed chambers too much, so it would take some planning to get done right.