by P. S. Power
It was a bit shocking, but everyone moved so fast then that it was nearly a run, scurrying through the halls, with several Royal Guards meeting them at the door, almost as if magic had been used.
George started to bow, but Kolb waved him up briskly.
"No need for that between us. Today we're all Knights here. Do you and your people have a plan for this kind of evacuation?"
The fit looking man nodded, his livery looking pressed and sharp, but Tor could sense the magic behind that. Not his though. It was a field designed to keep wrinkles out of clothing. A good one too. Whoever made it was a master of their craft.
"In this case we'll use the northern gate first, and inform you of the change in plans, if any, when you return to make the pick-up. The packages will be gathered and herded through the shield as rapidly as possible, with the craft ready to go on the other side. When you have them all assembled, one of you should signal to us by holding your hands in the air, thusly." Two large and callused hands went up, then made fists. That way it wouldn't look like anyone was surrendering, but it would show that no one had a weapon out first. Not that it would matter much. All the Royal Guards would be wearing shields. "Then we go as fast as possible."
It was a good enough plan. Simple, and no doubt very little like what would happen as people tried to throw their luggage in the back and ask if drinks would be served. Timon's service did that. Even providing meals for the flight to keep people comfortable and busy. It wasn't a horrible plan, but might just be a bit much to ask given everything that day. Maybe he could pick up a basket of bread or something? Just in case people forgot to eat.
Tor nodded and looked up at the man, his face set.
"We should leave from some other place then, so that if anyone thinks to attack later they won't know exactly where to set up. Is everyone up to climbing over some rubble? We can go through the shield wall in the back. I have that set up as the prison right now." Those people would need food too. Last meals and all that. So really good quality stuff.
It was a bit of a dismal thought, but the General at least seemed to think he was brilliant.
"You got use of that? You didn't just commandeer the place did you? That might not go over well at all. I looked into picking one of those up for my retirement villa. Debri house suggested that they could procure one for me, for about half a million gold. A bit beyond my pensioner's stipend I'm afraid." The words didn't seem upset about it at least, even though that was way too much, in Tor's estimation.
They all walked directly back, literally scrambling over the fallen wall, slabs and charred chunks of which lay all over the back lawn. It was all a uniform tan color. There in front of them was the purple and gold glowing rectangle of the new prison structure, visible through the floating river that dipped down, about a hundred feet away from the Palace shield. Part of it still existed, at the bottom, making a nice seven feet of barrier there. For half a second it seemed like it might be a problem, but no one said anything at all. Then, the rest of them were all tall people.
George walked with them, but clearly wasn't going. His job was inside after all. Protecting the King and Royal family. If they were all still there. It wouldn't shock him to learn that the Heir and the others had been removed for safety. After all, if the King fell, someone had to take his place.
Smythe looked at the others and then George, his face set and a bit ashen.
"If you would signal your people when we get to the shield, we'll run through at best speed. Then it can be put back up immediately." He sounded hard. Commanding. Like he ran things or something.
Tor grinned, even if the day was too grim for that kind of thing. It had to look half insane, but no one called him on it, just moving along as they were.
The whole thing took about ten seconds, George waiting for a wave from Smythe, everyone running about fifty feet when Tor said the field was gone and then stopping, letting it go back up. It wasn't visible right now, not even as a distortion, but if you paid attention, and had the skill, you could feel it. The dome of it was a little rough, actually, instead of smooth, faceted like a jewel and slightly uneven. That had to do with how the components had been placed though, since there were hundreds of them, little mistakes had been made. That was life though. It still worked, so no one complained much. Plus, they couldn't see it.
He'd been afraid that Smythe or Thorgas might find it awkward to get over the wall, but they just put on flying gear and lofted the debris. It was strange, but they all had it. Kolb and Karen followed suit and Tor just lifted into the air, using his mentally commanded Not-Flyer. Out of all of them only Thorgas seemed impressed though. The rest of them had seen the trick before.
"The wonders of the modern world. I don't suppose you have more of those for sale? I wasn't aware there were flying devices that didn't require hand controls." He seemed impressed, which was always nice. It beat having people hate him when they thought he wasn't looking at any rate.
"This is actually a new kind of Not-Flyer. I haven't gotten a chance to make mental controls for flying rigs or vehicles, though it's in the plans. I'll try to get you some for your unit." Then he stopped, realizing that the man would have no way to pay for it. It was a pain, but he had to make some kind of arrangement, or he just wouldn't take it at all. "The men getting them will have to do some extra work. Helping orphans in their off time, planting trees, that kind of thing. If they want the units."
The man actually smiled at him as they got to the back wall of the new prison structure.
"I'd heard you were generous, Lord Baker, but that... Very correct. So you'll allow the rent on the devices to be good works?"
Tor nearly said that he'd meant they could earn the things, but the economics of that wouldn't work and people would feel indebted to him if he did that. It was pretty clear that people hated feeling that way, wasn't it? They needed a chance to earn things on their own. He'd been told that, over and over again, but it was hard to remember at times.
"That's right. I'll pass them along to Lord Smythe first, for disposition, but I'm sure that you'll really have to do all the work that way. Since it's your idea and all that." Holding up a single hand he touched the purple of the flat, glasslike wall and made a door appear. It had a hallway behind it and would lead to the central area inside. There were clear spots along the way to stop people from easily escaping, but he didn't explain that. They had a straight shot into the place, and he'd make it vanish behind them. It made it a lot less likely that anyone would just accidentally walk away. Poor souls.
It was an odd detour to make, but Smythe stopped everyone, even though they had a time schedule, and looked into one of the empty cells as they passed it.
"Are they all like this?" He didn't seem too angry about it at least. Tor probably would have snapped at him if he had. It was just the stress of the day though, so he nodded.
"Yes. Unless the girls have changed any of them. They got water in, so the prisoners can bathe. Or, I guess, drown themselves if they want. I hope not. That would be distressing. Most of them are just kids after all. Maybe I can talk the King into death by cutter. That won't hurt as much as hanging." He shuddered a bit at the thought, which made him look and feel weak, but Karen patted him reassuringly. She was always nice about things like that.
The Military Counselor gave Tor a very strange look then, and held it for about a minute as he walked into the space and then tested the water in the bathroom briefly.
"Very good. I doubt that Richard will actually call for death for the fighters. Unless they personally committed direct treason. Most soldiers don't actually care who they're fighting, and might even be relieved that they didn't succeed in killing anyone of high station. Do you plan to call for any deaths?"
Tor blinked and furrowed his brow hard enough that Karen had to hid her grin with a hand, so as to not offend him. Not that it would have. He got that it had to be ridiculous.
"Me? Why? Did they try to bomb or attack my house?" The idea suddenly worri
ed him greatly, but the men all laughed at it, if only a bit.
"No, no, nothing like that. It can happen after a battle though. A man enraged insisting on death and assuring it happens, regardless of what's best for others. Not a problem here. I didn't really think it would be, but it can be hard to know what you're thinking at times, Tor."
There didn't seem to be a need to answer, so he led them to the front, were Melisa and Harper were on duty, having set up cushioned chairs behind a large table that had sign-in papers on it. Harper stood instantly, which left Melisa looking at the paper in front of her, eyes closing as Tor watched. Her hair was falling ever so slightly into her eyes.
Without thinking about it he held up one finger and whispered to the other girl.
"Report?"
She looked a bit scared by all the people, but didn't let it stop her from pulling the papers from the other girl's fingers. Then she laid it out flat and turned it so that he could read it.
"Three more came in, which makes thirty-one of them so far. We took names, ranks and the military force they serve with. One of them won't give us that information, but he seems too young to really be in uniform. We just locked him up. Or, well, the soldiers did when they came. We didn't actually do it ourselves."
"Good. We'll... Send someone in a while to relieve you both, so you can get some sleep. If one of us doesn't come with them personally, don't let them have control of the place. Call for help at least and keep your shields on. I'll try to come, but it might be someone else." In other words, he had no clue what to tell them and that load of manure was better than sucking his thumb or just saying nothing to the kids at all.
Not that they weren't adults, they just looked young.
Harper looked embarrassed, but she spoke anyway.
"Um, is it possible to get some food? We haven't eaten for a while and... the prisoners..."
Right. Tor wanted to roll his eyes, but couldn't fault the girl at all, what was she supposed to do about it?
"I'll see if I can get something in. It might be a bit. Sorry about that. War and all, you know. Annoying, isn't it?" He tried for charming and managed well enough that the girl looked down and then back at him, flirting a bit, even though that wasn't his intent at the moment.
"Thank you... Sir."
Then he found himself propelled toward the front door by Kolb, who had actually remembered their current task.
Tor had to run a bit to avoid falling flat on his face. Luckily, he was needed to get the door open, so everyone else had to slow down.
Chapter fourteen
If it was quiet and almost restful inside the makeshift holding area, outside was just the opposite. On the good side they didn't have far to go in their search for either the Secret Army or the Flyers Corps. They were staged about two hundred feet in front of the wall. It was a decently large amount of people, since a group of men and women, mostly armed with wooden tool handles, had come out to help defend the city. There had to be close to five hundred of them, all dressed in various city type outfits.
They were also loud. Not bombs and explosions noisy, but that babble that a lot of people chatting created without realizing it. They were still excited, though all the soldiers and even the kids from the school, who were off to the left with their Instructors and the Secret Army, even though they didn't know it, were more subdued and calm.
Smythe made a face, but kept his back to the crowd of people that had gathered and looked at his general.
"That's a poor idea. What do they think they're going to do?"
Tor didn't know himself, but Karen shrugged.
"Defend the wall, if they have to. I take your meaning though. They wouldn't last seconds if a real attack comes. Not if it was a force like we had earlier coming at us. The fighters will need food. The prisoners here too. We should set that up with them. It will give them something useful to do, and keep them off the battle line if anything else starts up. Brave people though, so we need to be careful not to insult their honor." She didn't seem convinced that sending them away was the right thing to do, but Thorgas seemed to think it was a fine idea.
He called for some men to come over and set up a system, where several flyers and a collection of city folk would go and collect food from shops and vendors.
"I hate to requisition things, but we will need food before nightfall. People will start hoarding..."
The Fast Carriage that came into view was a large silver rectangle, which probably meant it was Timon. Why he'd shown up, Tor didn't really know. Probably just curious. The thing landed right in front of them, and almost immediately Petra Ward hopped out the passenger's side, a weapon in her left hand. Held up at the sky however, since she didn't want to actually kill them. He hoped.
"All clear here?" She didn't talk to him, looking over him to see first Karen and then Kolb.
The bald man didn't answer immediately, actually looking around first, searching in all directions. Then, without saying what he was doing, used his flying rig to loft into the air, heading straight up, his feet dangling in a relaxed manner. After taking a really good look, he landed and finally answered.
"Clear. Battlefield protocols."
Then people started getting out of the vehicle. The side door opened and three more people popped out, Timon, who was driving the craft, Gerent, and beside him, Sara. Tor almost winced, but realized that, while he was a few hours late, he hadn't missed picking her up by that much.
No one did anything for a moment, until Timon bowed toward the general. It was strange that he missed Smythe, but he also skipped the rest of them.
"Timon Baker. Fast Transport Service. This is my brother, Gerent Lairdgren and this lady is Sara Debri, from the merchant house." Then , almost rudely, he walked directly to Tor and started talking without hesitation.
"We need to break open your vault Tor. I have goods coming in. Food, and some soldiers from other places to guard your Palace. Borrowed them from Duke Morgan. We can pay for it, but my funds are in there and Collette is off with her father, trying to arrange passage back to his Barony for him. Everyone in the City is trying to get back home suddenly." The boy looked young, but didn't give any ground in his posture, even surrounded by powerful people and giants. If anything he sounded like he was in charge of it all.
It wasn't a small thing, getting the coin, since Collette kind of ran that section and no one else knew how to get in to the locked room. Tor could do it, but short of turning his house off, he doubted anyone else would be able to, and right now that would catch some attention.
"Ah... Busy here. Still, if we can get things around... I need food. For here and for the prisoners in there." He pointed but didn't add more. "Also for some others. Baskets of food for later, do you know how to do that? I've heard you do something like that when you take people on longer trips."
"Glaren, your cook, does that for me. You need what... Twenty-three baskets? We have the food for it, I think. I can pass the message, but I need that gold soon or some rather delicate deals might fall through." Tim sounded a bit cold then, brutal, without even talking about anything sensitive, except the number of baskets. He was off by two, but very close. That meant he knew something, didn't it?
It took a while but they got a group of Secret Army members set up, ten of them ready to fly, and forty military men, to act as guards for the craft on the ground, for the take off and landings. That meant each Count or Countess could take up to five people with them.
Without hesitation Tor took out his little communications device and tapped the sigil for the Capital, even if it was so close he could have walked over to the shield to talk, or gone in, if the situation were different.
"Tor?" The voice was Connie's and she sounded more relaxed than she had earlier, which left him feeling better about things, for some strange reason.
Probably because he still loved her, as wrong as it was.
"Please pass the word that each Count or Countess can have no more than five people. More than that and
we can't take their luggage. Thanks."
"Ooooh. That's going to be a problem. I'll try to see that it happens. Talk to me later?"
Tor felt a bit embarrassed at her tone, but no one looked at him funny, except Gerent.
"Uh, sure."
There was a bit of pleasant sounding speech, that honestly Tor barely kept track of, and then they broke the connection. He didn't want hard feelings with her, but also couldn't handle the whole thing at the moment. Still. It had been weeks since he'd found out they were related and his emotions were still raw and a bit stripped bare on the subject. He didn't feel that way about Varley, even though that situation should have been a lot worse for him. The girl was so closely related it was literally as if she were both his daughter and sister after all.
Of course, he'd never really loved her, had he?
That made a difference.
The others, being Knights and having their own matters to see too, really didn't need him for the moment, he realized, so he decided to risk doing a bit of personal business.
"I'm off to my place then. This shouldn't take but a half hour or so. Gerent..." This part was a risk, since the man had been traumatized in prison personally before and Tor had to assume wouldn't want to go back into one. "Would you take over for the rest of the day as Warden for our cells here? I need someone that is certain not to abuse the captives. Most won't be with us long..."
The look on his new brother's face was strangely hard suddenly, so Tor hurried to explain, feeling the sub-text in his field. It was a useful trick, as long as he remembered to do it.
"The current thought is that most of them will be released soon, after questioning. It's just that the girls running the place right now are very tired, having been up since early in the morning. I'd consider it a great favor." It was very possible that the man would say no, given everything and Tor realized that he was about to, when a wave of darkness stole over his entire body, causing the smaller man to actually shake a bit.
"I'll do it. But... I won't let anyone be harmed... no torture or anything. If you want to question them you'll have to use magic or whatever it is you do. If you..."
