by P. S. Power
"Both. The first set of information that was added to her germ line granted her greater mental abilities, intelligence and memory. Not at the level of any of Tor's brothers or sisters, but it would have shown eventually. Later, only a few months ago, I added a very strong pheromone set. It was geared particularly to cause Tiera Baker to fall deeply in love with her. I'd hoped that a calming and stabilizing influence would aid her in the long run. The pattern I used for your sister, one that took away fear and added in a much higher level of aggression, is very dangerous, if left unchecked. So when I noticed that Regina, daughter of Meridith Helmsley, a former student and subject of mine, was coming to the school, I rearranged the roommate schedule a little, so that the girls would be together. It was working rather well until that most unfortunate happening."
Ah. Tor didn't really know what to say, but if the woman was lying, she did it so well that even her words seemed to fit everything that had happened.
"One last thing then, so you can get back to your day without an annoying me around. Why did you make the changes to my brother and sisters and what are they?"
That took longer than he thought and she said it all at once, explaining that each of them was given something of the original command line. Timon didn't feel guilt for what he did for instance, allowing him to remain focused and on top of things all the time. Tiera had aggression and a lack of fear, but not combat rage, since she would never be able to control it, not like he could. Taman...
"I wasn't aware that there was a fourth child with the correct anti-aging genetic expression. How fascinating. Do you think I could have a reading of her tests as well? Does she seem overly aggressive or manipulative? Precocious perhaps?"
He said no, but Ali stopped him by putting a single finger to her lips.
"A bit advanced, as far as relationships go. Not so much outside of what any girl her age might think about, but she's very forward. Is that part of this?"
Doris regarded her evenly.
"Most likely, but I won't be certain until I see the data. Thank you all for the information. I am truly sorry that I've caused you distress Torrance. Might I suggest that you meditate regularly? I've found it very useful for such traumas in the past, if you apply yourself."
"I'll see what I can do that way. I'm not promising that this is finished however. It's a big thing to me." She bowed a little and started to walk away.
"Oh! Wait, sorry, you didn't make this new virus, did you? The one killing everyone?"
"No. Why would I do that? I actually like people." She gave a cool look to him and then smiled, walking away, back to her room and students within.
Tor took Ali's hand and then Sara's walking between them, over to the empty commons area. Then he set up his purple craft, which was currently in a rectangle and helped them on board, even if they didn't need it. The move allowed him to seem both attentive and kill time before he spoke.
Then he flew off toward the Capital, not really knowing why he was going at all.
"Oh, right, to give Sam back his clothing amulet." At least it gave him an actual place to plan on landing. There was really a lot to check on, even though dozens of others would have probably taken over by then.
"What?" Sara said this from behind him again, so that she could see Ali's face, he thought.
"Just wondering why we were going to the Capital. Lots to do, but that should be the first stop. Find the Lairdgren Group."
There was more silence then, but he didn't let it go on the whole trip. That would just be hiding from what was already out there and known to everyone present. Cowardly. Even if it did seem like a good idea at the moment.
Run away!
He smiled at his old battle cry, but made himself speak anyway, trying not to sound like he was in shock.
"So, that was an informative talk. I hadn't really thought she'd be the one. I figured that Gray had done it somehow. Sneaking over here to do it... Doris... That makes a lot more sense. She pretty much could go anywhere she needed to and no one would challenge her overly. Even visiting with the Queen most likely. Clever, in a controlling and very, very inconvenient fashion." Tor flew dead on however, his nerves not getting to him this time. After all, he'd asked a series of questions and the woman had simply answered. Without drama or blame, even apologizing about a thing she'd never even thought a possibility. He might not love the whole thing, but he couldn't hate her for it, could he?
Damn straight he could. He just didn't.
It really would have been easier if he could have.
Sara spoke up, sounding a bit bland, making herself seem like it was a discussion about what to have for luncheon.
"What do you plan to do to her? Doris I mean. Kill her? Have her exiled like Terry suggested? I don't know that you can properly disown her though. At least it wasn't Count Lairdgren that did it all. I would have been willing to bet gold it was him. He's always been a little creepy." She gasped and tried to take the words back. "That came out wrong! I meant to say he was always a bit creepy about you. If he wanted an Heir, why not keep you close and raise you himself? Or, I don't know, at least make certain you weren't raised in the middle of the woods by people that don't exactly know the ways of the world all the time."
He was at a loss for what to say. Why hadn't it gone that way? Before he could shrug it off, Ali turned in her seat and sighed loudly at the other woman.
"It's because of the way Tor is. Count Lairdgren too, I guess. He has to do what people in power tell him to. I don't think it's totally like that, but he just thinks that some people's ideas are really good, no matter what they are, so he was kept away from the wrong sort of person, so he wouldn't simply be used like that. It's why I've been trying to protect him from bossy people, since I found out. You can help with that." She sounded no more than matter of fact, but for some reason, after about ten seconds she rushed to the back seat. Tor had to reach out mentally to figure out what was going on.
Sara was crying.
Why that was he didn't know. Him being a bit suggestible wasn't that huge of a deal was it? Tor had been like that the whole time she'd known him after all. He tried to think through things, and it was clear that Sara might have gotten the better of him in a few business deals at first, but that was about all, and she had been giving him fair market value for his work, more or less. No wonder she'd always seemed so hesitant about it all back then. She'd probably known it was too easy or something.
There was a soft sound of a back being patted and gentle murmurs that were meant to be soothing.
Tor just made a wry face and let it be heard in his voice.
"Alright Sara, what is it? Was it you that told Trice to say all those mean things about me in public, hoping that I'd hear it, and dump her?"
That got a gasp and several sobs, before a single word came out.
"Yes." It was drawn out and horribly broken, but Tor understood it. Then it was Ali's turn to gasp.
"No. The King himself told me that he ordered her to do it... Oh... but not how." There was silence for a bit, and he had to hope the whole thing would be over soon, since they were entering the Capital area and there were at least thirty things flying around all at once, so he'd need to concentrate.
A slightly calmer Sara managed to explain a bit more, slamming a wall across her emotions in a fashion that had to do with extreme levels of training, Tor figured. Probably what she'd learned at the special school, in part.
"It was all me Tor. Trice didn't know how to tell you, and I got her to think that you hearing about her saying mean things would be easier on you than if she just broke things off. I should have just let her do it the regular way. I pushed her a little, trying to get her to make a really clean break, so I could have you. I didn't know it would be that bad though, I swear. Please don't hate me. I... Know it wasn't fair, but I didn't know why you'd chosen her over me back then. I thought it was because she was a noble and I wasn't. Who wouldn't like her better? Even if you were mad at her, I didn't know that he
aring her say those things would... make you think you really were that way. Bad and ugly. No one thinks that! Even people that go on about you being full of yourself, or having a big head, they don't think that you're anything other than nearly perfect." She sniffed and laughed a little. "Other than the things they don't like, I mean."
Tor needed to pay attention and started watching all around himself very carefully. It wasn't as hard as it seemed it would be, since there was a lot of distance between people, so he slowly moved to land near the staging area behind the Palace. Someone had already gotten the river floating on top of the wall corrected, and there was a team of people, at least two hundred of them, doing the repair work. About twenty doing the actual laying of the tan earthen bricks and the rest helping out, clearing rubble and carting needed materials so the work would go as fast as possible. It was working too, since about half of the repairs looked to be well underway already. It would take a while, even with this kind of effort, but not that long. A week maybe? For the wall. The rest of the city would need different things.
As he got out of the vehicle, leaving it in place for a few moments, so that Sara could get herself around again, he noticed a rather memorable man in red and white, what the city guard wore, not the people with the rockets, and several of his cohorts, being surrounded by about five times their number in black clad military men. From what he could tell, someone was about to get a nice beating.
That person was City guard Captain Curtis. For half a moment Tor wanted to see it happen, but then he remembered that he wasn't a complete monster and moved to intervene, even as two of the men growled at each other, both making rather interesting and creative threats of violence. It was the big Captain Peterson doing that part for the military.
"So, situation report?" Normally that phrase was bellowed, sometimes screamed, but Tor didn't really care if a few people lost a tooth or two. Not these people. It wouldn't happen though, since to a man, they all had fairly decent shields on. That left it to name calling, which was too petty and childish for anyone's good.
To his surprise all of the military men stood straight and saluted him. He didn't do it back, not being military, even if he was dressed a bit like they were.
"Magics Counselor Baker, sir! This... guardsman, he and his fellows roughed up some of our work crew earlier. Gave them a sound thrashing, just for trying to help clear rubble from the streets. Then he came back here to complain about it to us. Do you wish us to dispatch him?" It was said with an eerie tone to it, like he'd love nothing better than to set upon the man.
Tor turned to the Guard Captain. He wasn't a friend of his, but he had to at least ask what the situation was, didn't he?
"Curtis, how good to see you. Now, what's the problem here?" It could be anything, from drunken men causing real problems, infiltrators trying to sabotage instead of help, or, as Peterson had said, these louts having been bullying innocent people, just trying to help. He read the man closely, but, once again there was no sense that he recognized him at all. He did get the idea that Tor was important though, from the way the military fellows were treating him. At least that was an improvement over the last time they met.
"Found some peasants with shields and other magical gear. Figured that they must have stolen it. When we came to report, we were set upon. Illegally." He seemed ready to fight about it too.
That was when the peasants in question came walking up, both beaten and bloody. Sam was slightly better off than Guide however, and both of them were naked, since their clothing had no doubt been taken from them, being "magical gear". Knowing they hadn't done anything wrong, they'd have just gone along with what the big guardsmen ordered them to do. Even when they were important, those of country stock most often simply did. Habit or something.
"I see." Tor patted his shirt and then started taking off all of his amulets, except the one that had his clothing on it. That left him with several other fields too though, including his shield. After a few seconds he traded out with one from the floating case behind him, which left him naked for a moment, and gave it all over to Captain Peterson to hold.
"These 'peasants' are two of the members of the Lairdgren Group. Both powerful wizards, and Sam Builder here is the attaché to the Magic's Counselor. Which would be me, as chance would have it. Ordinarily I'd have you written up and removed from your positions for this, not because they're important people, even though they are. No, this is the second time that I've heard you use the excuse that a person is only a peasant, without checking to find out if it's true or not first. Even if it was, that isn't an excuse to beat people. Though you saying that is." He focused without explaining what he was doing, and gestured for the Military men to stand back, even though that left them in a loose ring around him and the men in red and white.
"Now, you clearly don't remember me, which is a little surprising. Let me help you recall the meeting. If I can."
He did that by turning off all the Guard's shields at once and then, one by one, knocking them to the ground before they could react, and stomping their noses until they broke. They tried to run, but there was a trick he'd learned, to fight an evil Baron once. It was all mental, but it let him see things in slow motion. The last time he'd tried it, Tor had been far too close to death to get the full effect of it, but this time he was healthy and strong. It made a huge difference.
After the noses were all smashed he had to do the legs and then the arms, stomping them all into deep bruises, but not breaking them. He knew how to do that, but, needing punishment or not, these men had a job to do. After that he stood back, breathing hard and got his amulets back from the military Captain by holding out his left hand. As he put them back on, he came back to his normal self, and the world seemed to speed up, considerably and all at once.
"Just so you realize this gentlemen, I would have done the same thing, regardless of the rank of the people you assaulted. If I hear about this happening again, it will go on report, do you understand? We have a lot of magic, and a lot of coin, suddenly in the hands of some people you might not expect it to be in. Deal with it. As it is, the next time you, or any guard, tries to harass or assault any of my people, know that they will have orders to prevent that, and the means to back it up." He wanted to kick the man in the groin, really hard, just to punctuate the point, but stood back instead and motioned for a hole to be made in the circle of bodies.
"Go now and get back to work. If you want to complain and think that you won't be punished just for that, tell Commander...You know, I never got his name. Anyway, tell your Commander that he's welcome to come and correct me on the matter, if he wishes to discuss it." He looked down at his right hand, which throbbed a bit from having hit someone. He didn't really remember it. "I do mean discuss too, not fight. He's actually a reasonable person with half a brain. Now get."
A nice thing about the Elite Flyers-Corps, they didn't jeer or mock the beaten men at all, they just moved out of the way and readied themselves to fight covertly, weapons coming out to do that in case the men tried anything, but the guards just left, muttering imprecations about him, but they went.
Ali and Sara were out of the craft and ran to both Sam and Guide, Ali rooting through the box of things that was once again floating behind Tor and handing them clothing, then her own healing amulet.
"What happened?"
The story from their perspective was a lot different, involving a hard day's work removing large blocks of stone and a few walls, using various techniques, and the sudden ambush of yelling authority figures that hadn't even given them half a chance to explain who they were.
"I've half a mind to tell this whole fucking city to suck it, and leave." Guide said this with more than a little wrath to his voice. The surprise was that Sam nodded, standing behind him.
"I agree. I knew that it wasn't a friendly place, but I didn't think I'd ever be beaten just for helping after something like this."
Tor understood. He really did. Hence beating the men like he had. It wasn't a
bout him showing off at all. No, it was about him taking a bit back from them for himself. Selfishly. These men hadn't gotten to do that though. They could probably chase them down, but that wasn't really the point was it. Too many here felt that way. If you were small and dark, you had to be a peasant, and that meant second class, no matter what title they held or how high they reached, trying to improve their lot in life. True, most weren't beaten for it, day to day, but he had been before, and others had too.
"Are you leaving the Lairdgren Group altogether, or just withholding your services to the Capital? I'd like to remind you both that you don't work for the King directly, and come to that, I doubt he'd order you to stay in a place you've been so mistreated. In fact, we'll remove the whole group. Get everyone packed up and ready to go. We'll need to see to getting some transports in." Tor was serious, and it showed, mainly in the wide eyes of the military men.
One started to laugh, a fellow near the back, not bothering to cover his mouth, which meant that his words carried in the sudden silence.
"Right, like they don't have to do what their told? They're only peasant scum. Who cares what they think?"
Tor didn't answer, just getting his communications device, which, with the rest of the things, was in the box. It was big enough that it rubbed when he walked, if he made a pouch for it.
The King answered immediately, himself.
He didn't laugh after Tor explained what was going on. There was just silence for a long time.
"I'm... very sorry gentlemen. I'll try to take steps to see this doesn't happen again. I can't begin to show the true depth of my horror at these events." He went on for a bit, but he didn't ask them to stay. The King didn't expect them to.
Which was good. Tor might have been inclined to stay just for the sake of the people in the city, and may even be required to because he was a Knight of the Realm and the Magics Counselor, but he wouldn't let his friends be mistreated. His people. No more than he would have if they were his own family. Rich understood that without asking, it seemed, because despite what some might think of him, he was, at heart, an intelligent and good person.
