almost not able to hold him up.
How long had he been out? Longer than five or six days at least. He knew what that felt like, having done it before a couple of times now.
Tor didn't make it to the door before it opened and Rolph came in with Kolb and the nice older man with the beard he'd seen before. He looked at them and smiled.
“Hey.” His voice croaked. Tor had to clear it for a while, and drink some water, before it just sounded like a frog lived in there.
“Wow, how long was I working?” He almost apologized for not greeting everyone properly first, but Rolph answered before he could say anything else.
“Eleven days! I'd thought you were just working on something at first, I mean I could see the template in your hand and all, I get what that means, but then you just didn't move. Two days ago you stopped even drinking water, so Trice and I decided we had to get help. I don't know what that is, but is the latest diaper rash treatment or whatever really worth all this?” The look on Rolph's face was stern and more than a little worried.
Eleven days.
Gods. No wonder he couldn't speak. Worse Karen would probably kill him when he went back. Kolb looked worried too, but the girl had been put in charge of his training, and as far as everyone else could tell her new trainee had run away after only one day. He decided to distract them all, if he could. He held up the template, one made in wood, with lines written over both the front and the back of it in tiny script. It was twice the size of the normal wooden planks he got, because he'd found the first two he tried weren't big enough for everything he needed to write down.
He pointed at it.
“Testing device for food, to tell if it's poisoned. It should tell us if there's anything in the food that doesn't belong.” Holding up his hand he grinned tiredly. “Yes, that includes exotic spices and foods that I just haven't encountered… But also poisons, inert materials, and so on. I need to test it, but I don't know how…”
The older man whose name he'd never even heard stroked his beard slightly. “I think I can arrange for that. You… Probably need food, water and sleep first though. Let's say tomorrow at noon? That gives you nearly a full day to recuperate. Do you think that's enough?” The voice sounded like the man was truly concerned about Tor's health and well being.
Nice of him.
Tor nodded and laid back to go to sleep before anyone even left the room. A while later he was woken up by hard punches on his right arm. They hurt, and didn't stop, so he opened his eyes. Trice sat next to him crying, and kept hitting him.
“Don't… ever… do that again! We thought you were dead… or going to die soon anyway! Promise me you won't do this kind of thing anymore!” She looked scared, really scared. Rolph handed him some bread and cheese.
“Bought it in town from a randomly selected shop I've never gone into before. Next we'll send someone else for food, if you need more. I got a lot…” He turned to Trice and shook his head, but gave her a half hug.
“Trice, don't ask him not to do things he may have too. Just…” Rolph turned to Tor and held his gaze. “Just promise that you'll be more careful and try not to die? If you're going to try impossible things, couldn't you at least let us all know first?”
That, he told them, would be doable, he just hadn't realized how hard this one was going to be at all. It was so complex that he wasn't even sure it would work. That earned him a punch in the chest from Trice.
Hard.
Tor rubbed at it gently while she spoke, figuring that it was going to bruise for certain.
“Oh, it'll work. If you scared me like that for nothing, then the weddings off, because they'll never find your body!” She growled this at him in a way that made him swallow hard and blanch a little.
OK, so it would work. Or else. He could get behind that. Casually he tried to work his way over to his shield, which sat on the table next to the bed.
Rolph laughed, getting what he was trying for, and made him eat as much food as Tor thought he could without getting sick, which wasn't much after the long fast and then slowly sip cool water until he fell back to sleep. When he woke it was black outside, so he lay there for a while, not wanting to turn on a light. Eventually, board and stiff, he decided to make some copies of the field into metal.
They copied fast. Almost too easily, given all the work he'd had to do originally. The copper pieces he'd gotten for it were about the shape and size of his little finger. Each had a tiny sigil on it already, just a mark he'd cut into each with the little cutter that he still had from when he built the first shield. It made a groove that should work well enough as an activation focus.
A tiny area of extra shiny copper on each piece, he thought it looked nice. Not glorious or stunning in any way, but clear and easy to use. That counted, right? This was just for him and, if it worked, his friends. It wasn't like most people had to fear being poisoned by Wensa after all. They probably should, but if they didn't know her, that might give most people a little protection at least. Even she wouldn't just break into homes at random to get people.
Would she?
Tor could feel the fields on the metal, or else he would have thought he'd just screwed up and it hadn't worked. After that, tired as he was, he got up and ate some more. Yellow cheese and half stale bread, but it tasted surprisingly good for all that. There was even some dried fruit. The real kind, slow dried in the sun, not magically. Chewy apple slices that felt velvety to the tongue.
So, all Tor had to do now was go to each class, beg forgiveness for missing, and pray that Karen would decide that murder was too harsh a punishment. Tor thought for a second… Maybe he could bribe her with gifts? She'd mentioned not having flying gear yet, and he'd brought extra back with him, the new version even, and a shield? It wasn't much, but maybe it would distract her from being too angry with him? If she hadn't just written him off already and moved on to the next thing.
Dorris took his return with aplomb, of course, and simply indicated that he should sit with a hand gesture and that small half smile she almost always wore. After class he explained that he'd spent eleven days straight working and she bowed slightly, then sent him on his way with a tiny smile and another small wave towards the door. The novel build instructor, Fines gave him a long look and told him that his project was due soon.
“Oh, the light! I figured that out the same day, it took about an hour, so I kind of forgot about it and moved on to harder things. I'll bring something in tomorrow…” The man smiled and waved his hand.
“Oh, don't worry about it, what did you come up with that was so important you missed class for two weeks?” His voice made it clear that he trusted totally that Tor hadn't just been skipping at least. That was heartening.
The man seemed impressed, in a reserved fashion. He wanted to wait for it to actually work or fail before passing judgment. That was kind of him too, since Tor had no clue if it was even really possible. It did have a light incorporated, he let the man know, which earned a smile and a promise of a good grade if the whole thing worked. That would count as a light well enough, unless it was inferior in some way, the man assured him with a serious smile.
His other classes went about the same, much to his relief. He had to apologize and grovel a bit, but no one suggested he leave school over it yet. Tor went back to his room for lunch, ravenous already, even though he'd eaten just a few hours, five, before. Half way to the room, in the center of the cobblestone commons Trice and Sara found him.
The blond girl smiled at him, seeming friendly, but Trice stood facing partially away, refusing to make eye contact. She crossed her arms and huffed.
“Ready for the test? If you die, I swear I'm never talking to you again.” The words were funny, but the tone was so serious no one even chuckled. She sounded ready to cry.
Tor wasn't really ready; he had to grab the fields from the room. With a bit of math he decided to take half the metal pieces and the big wooden template. That would leave him enough for his friends if the others were needed for testing. Taking a deep breath, he walked out, not knowing where they were going at all. No one had given him a location for it.
Sara patted him on the back, her hand lingering for about fifteen seconds. Trice didn't react to it, so Tor figured it wasn't outside of what was proper really. Finally the pretty blond spoke.
