to be legally and fully owned, they can't be borrowed anyway. It the law. Even a Count has to follow that one.” She looked miserable, almost ready to cry, which didn't match what he knew about her at all.
Tor scratched his nose absently.
“Oh. Well, I guess he can just use the shield from the flying gear I gave him for his birthday? Oh, yeah, right…” He pulled out a set, flying rig and shield and handed one to Karen and another to Davie. “Happy birthday, Davie. Sorry your gift was late like this. I’ll have the rest of it soon.”
Karen went slightly pale. “But…”
Tor's eyes flashed and he didn't let her speak. Pointing rudely with on finger at what she held instead. Then he bowed from the waist going about halfway down. He hadn’t tried to kill her after all. He stood after about fifteen seconds, hoping that was long enough.
“Yours is by way of a blatant bribe to keep you from killing me too much for being gone all this time. I apologize fully and humbly for my absence. If it helps, it was work related, and I felt that my life hung in the balance. Um, I made a new kind of poison detector. You two get those for free too, but, you know, there's a waiting list, everyone here is getting one if they want it. David… well, he's my friend. He helped me do testing on my very first novel build project, and you know, there's no debt between friends. I don't know if that's a thing here, but it is where I come from, and it means that at need he can have anything I own, or can make, obviously you too Karen, if it comes up. Besides…”
Surprising even himself his voice came out in a half growl. “This Count really thinks he can kill one of my friends that easily? Not if I can do anything about it. Now, we need weapons for you too, right? I've never made any, but let's see what we can come up with…”
Karen wouldn't let them go out to the range instantly to examine weapons, because Tor had to exercise first. Needed to badly as it turned out. The only kindness he was shown was that Davie got to beat him instead of Karen, and he had a feeling that the boy was pulling his blows out of pity, due to his still injured leg. Otherwise he'd have been dumped on the ground more times than he was. Then they worked stones, swinging the heavy rocks with their metal handles around in various exercises until he just couldn't any more. That was normal, but then she had them do it with lighter weights and didn't let them stop until they could barely budge even the smallest ones, which only weighed ten pounds each.
Only then was Karen satisfied enough to fly with Tor out to the range. David, for all that he now owned a set of flying gear, had never actually gotten to use the schools yet. First years and non-combat students didn't rate, it seemed. Tor chuckled at that, because he wouldn't have either, if he didn't have his own. Even at that, he'd never practiced fighting with a shield on at all. Unless having Count Ward pound on him that one time counted as practice? He was probably supposed to stick to the idea Kolb had taught him and run away if he could. It seemed like a good plan to him. Fly away now, if he had the right amulet with him.
The range, when they got there, was not impressive. A bit of a letdown really. It was just a large open area that had some dried and scrubby grass growing in clumps, and bare earth along the far end. The ground rose into an earth berm that looked to be twenty or thirty feet thick and about the same height. In front, near the ground, there were a few objects set up as targets. A painted boulder with a fresh looking red x stood next to a half dozen standing wooden plates that were hung in red painted frames.
Karen walked to a locked box next to where they landed and slapped the lock plate, which got the box to open. She took out three of the object inside and handed one to Tor.
“Keep it pointed down range please. At all times if possible. These are real weapons, if… Well, I think you'll get it. Pick a target and give it a try.”
The device itself looked familiar, just a silver piece of metal that had a small sigil on it where his thumb could reach pretty easily. It was obviously made for bigger hands than his, but he was used to that, and just gripped it closer to the middle, before pointing it down range. He aimed at the boulder, not wanting to waste the wooden targets, and activated it.
A puff of dirt came off of the dirt backing, about ten feet too high. Since he stood about two hundred feet away that was probably just due to poor aim. It wasn't like he'd done it before. He aimed lower and hit the rock, but it didn't do much. The boulder moved a little. At least he thought it did. That might have been imagination.
“This is just a force lance, but it's only about four times what a student’s lance would be. The fields degrading. Not that we need vast power levels for practice, but it would be nice to have a few around that could be aimed reliably. Here, try this one. Aim for the stone again.”
Nothing happened in the air between the boulder and himself, but a flame finally burst out of the air around the boulder. He'd seen something like this one before at least. Close up. The flame flickered and died almost instantly.
All of the weapons did that as he tried them. They worked for a single hit or blast, and then you had to trigger them again. The flame one was just that weak, the field flickering and fading even as he used it. He caught the feeling of the field, but realized that it took power from the user to make it function. Why, he wondered? That didn't seem like a good idea for people that needed to keep fighting for a long time, did it? It could work by just concentrating ambient heat at the point of focus just as well. Better probably.
The rest all did the same, except the cutters. Even the one explosive weapon they had for practice was weak and grabbed energy from the user. That, Karen explained, was why they didn't just stay on all the time. You had to be very strong to use a weapon like that, and no one could do it for more than about a minute all told, and those people paid for it in exhaustion latter.
Well. That explained why Wensa hadn't suffocated him with fire at the shield test then. She'd just run out of energy? Thank goodness for that.
Tor saw a half dozen ways to improve the weapons instantly. He'd have to fly back before he could get the ideas on paper, but he nodded. So better weapons, and one that could take out a Count without killing him? That… could be a lot trickier.
He didn't promise anything, but Karen probably got that he wasn't going to let a kid go into a fight with a grown man unarmed. He'd challenge the guy himself first, even if it meant he had to die. As it was though, honestly, David was probably more capable of surviving this fight than he would be. The shield would help, probably, and a few weapons that didn't drain him while being used.
Tor focused on those, a force lance that would pack a punch and an explosive that could be used if things got really desperate. Then he needed something that would take out the man’s personal shield somehow. Really, that would be the hardest part. It would be easier to beat the man unconscious even through the shield than to disable it. That would be dangerous though, because beating him into giving up was just a breath away from killing the man.
In the end he didn't have anything even remotely like a shield remover ready in time. Tor felt a little panicked when he flew with Rolph and Kolb out to the testing range. Karen and David already waiting, everyone clearly feeling a little agitated, except Rolph. He seemed cool and relaxed about the whole thing.
“Don't worry Davie. If Tor's on it, you'll be fine.” His large friend, long red hair pulled back into a ponytail, smiled and patted the boy on the back.
The vote of confidence was appreciated, but Tor just hoped what little he could bring to bear would be enough to save the kid. The fields were on copper tubes, because he couldn't afford to give away real silver, even if it was the standard for weapons. He couldn't even afford solid copper. Taking a deep breath he held up the first one.
“Force lance.” Triggering it he aimed at the targets, the constant barrage of force hit the backing wall first, but he didn't turn it off and it didn't just pulse like a normal weapon. He spoke while it hit the targets knocking most of them down as he swept the weapon back and forth.
“It doesn't take personal energy; it's just an organizing field. I'm a little uncertain why the regular ones grab from the user, to tell the truth, but this is way easier to use and you can leave it on. It's strong, but shouldn't kill the guy instantly if he has a shield or even heavy armor. On the good side, it will affect a person even through one of the shields I've made, except for the newest version, which you'll be wearing, so even if he has one of my earlier models it will be at least a little effective. That way the weapon can't be used against you even if he takes it away or something. It just tells stuff to move, kind of like the flight field, or more like the Falcon's or how a water pump works. Obviously you can't fly with the new shield on though, not yet, so wear both and only use the new one when you're on the ground.”
Taking his thumb off from the sigil Tor moved to the next one.
