He wore a shield all the time, but didn't let it activate. Most of the men on the ship, and they were all men, seemed to think that magic was a superstition that didn't do much of anything at all and that the military of Noram just used tricks to try and fool the people they fought into thinking that their scientific equipment was magical for some reason. Just a ploy to throw people off. A few seemed to think that “magic” was just what Tor’s people called science.
Well, if that helped them sleep, who was he to say otherwise?
Really Tor didn't see why they thought that way. Wouldn't it be easier just to admit that there were other ways to do something? For instance, he knew that magic was real, but also that the Austrans did some similar things using different techniques. Their stuff worked from the physical down, instead of the mind out, at least originally, but it all worked. Afrak did a bit of both really, but with living creatures. His own magic aside, a lot of builders used some physical mechanisms to do work. Locks were often just a tiny device incorporated into a moving arm that was actually what stopped someone from getting in, but most people used keys for that, which worked just as well, prestige of owning something magical aside.
If he could see there was more than one way, why couldn't these men? Denno Brown might make sense, if he couldn't help it, but these were just regular people. Why believe something so clearly incorrect?
Everyone was polite to him, but most didn't speak much, he picked up the accent quickly enough, since it was closer to Noram standard than his own native tongue. Burks had started him working on it days before they got to the ship. Part of a contingency plan Tor had been told. A layered plan so that when it all fell apart they knew what to do instead. It made sense, but made everything far more complicated than he really felt comfortable with. Get too complicated and things always went wrong, at least as far as he could tell.
They fed him three meals a day, the food greasy, funny tasting and heavy in his stomach, but that really could have been nerves. Everything was canned or possibly frozen first, which effected the flavor, but Tor wouldn't complain. It was what everyone else was eating and they wouldn't have anything else on the ship most likely.
When they reached the port Tor felt a chill. It was gray and joyless, the pier itself some kind of stone, which should have been interesting and durable, but it had a neglected feeling as if it was just there until the next one was put up. A similar focus stone structure would have lasted centuries, even in the water. This thing couldn't have been thirty years old, and needed massive repair already. In places he could see large metal bars buried in the rock itself, almost a part of it. That was odd, but he could see ways of doing that, if not why.
The ship came in slowly, so by the time the gangplank, what the sailors called the ramp, was in place, Tor stood with his little bag of toiletries, ready to go. Glancing below he expected to see the military waiting, or possibly a surgery set up so that Lilli could have him emasculated without pause. Instead there was just a familiar girl, wearing a strange one piece garment that had arms and legs, but attached in the middle, everyone wore something similar it seemed from what he could see. She smiled up at him, waving happily.
Whee. The bride to be.
Tor strolled down, trying not to frown at her. If she thought he'd go down easy, she was sorely mistaken. He felt for the trap, the men laying in wait, but no one was around at all, except her.
“Tor!” She called out as if they were old friends and she hadn't hacked Yardley Principle to death with a cutter. Because the girl had wanted to keep Ali from being sold as a sex slave. More exactly because Yardley, a tall dun colored girl, had spoken out against what Lilli had wanted. Daria Serge. Glost Serge’s daughter.
“Tor, over here!” She actually waved excitedly.
Tor decided to steal the march. If they were going to be at each other’s throats, cowering from the insane girl wouldn't help, would it?
“Daria,” he made his voice polite and almost friendly. “I was thinking about your ideas for the wedding night and decided to skip that and go with my plan instead.”
Tilting her head as if curious she spoke, a cautious tone instead of just crazy.
“What’s that?”
“Well, instead of me being used by all those men, sodomizing me to death and all that, I was thinking we could tie you up and offer you to all comers on the street. We'll take you in during the day and ensure plenty of lube, so you should be able to go on for a long time. That would be way more fun, don't you think? And last longer too. It's important to pace the adventures you know. Fools rush in, and all that.” He made his voice chipper and light, but still felt a shock of surprise at what she did next.
She clapped her hands.
“Oh, goody! Someone that will actually play back. I was worried you'd be all boring after we got married. Your pretty, granted, but your reputation has you as almost virginal for a Noram elite. Dad says I have to keep you around, but won't say why. Leverage probably. Anyway, I'm staying at the complex, you know, government house? Our “palace” I guess. Dad’s place. We could get a room though, or if you don't want me around, you could rent a hotel. Dad will cover it. He's kind of looking forward to meeting you, if you’re willing.”
That… was not what he expected. He was being given options and not even ordered to go and meet with Serge? Very different indeed.
The sad part being that, while he didn't trust her current half sane behavior, he kind of needed to get in to that complex. From what Burks had guessed, Denno should be there, probably in the lower levels. But the place was huge. Finding him would be a chore and maybe take more than a casual meeting and a cup of tea. Maybe impossible. For the seventh time in the last ten minutes Tor wished that they'd bought the whole Burks substitution thing. That wasn't the plan anymore, so he needed to just deal. Right now he had to pick and the mission meant he had to pick going and staying with a mad man.
How exciting. Fear counted as a kind of excitement, didn’t it?
“Oh, well, I don't really know my way around and if we have to marry, I might as well stay with you, right? Seriously though Lilli… don't try anything with me until it's time to fight to the death, and then, I kind of recommend running.” It was even true. That was his personally preferred method of dealing with problems that could lead to violence. She'd take it as a threat, but that was her problem, wasn't it?
“What makes you think we brought you here for something bad? Worse things could happen than getting married you know. I once knew a girl that was hacked to bits by an invisible magic sword for instance…”
It was a counter threat, hidden behind an innocent smile, her one green eye looking happy, the brown one looking sad. Of course that was his eye, looking back. Or more to the point, his friend Petra's eye, since he used her to develop the healing device template for women. Instead of acting all shocked or angry Tor just nodded.
“Yeah. But you don't have magic here do you? I'm surprise you haven't worked out how it's done honestly, it's not like the techniques are secret or anything. Just takes a bit of discipline. I can show you how even, if anyone wants to learn. Shall we go?”
He was tempted to whip out a carriage and float through the city above the streets but Lilli, Daria he corrected in his head, already had a vehicle with her. A two wheeled contraption that she sat astride and that rolled down the street with a soft whirring sound. He was supposed to sit behind her and grab around her middle. It sounded like a lark to him, a game to embarrass him, but he did it anyway. It suddenly felt important to hide as much magic in this place as possible. It probably wouldn't help, but teasing them about their lack wouldn't aid anyone and he had a job to finish.
The “palace” was a large house, but boxy and plain compared to the lavish houses and estates he was used to seeing. The outside was a soft gray stone looking material and the inside was white as chalk and had bright red flooring. They'd tried to decorate, but it seemed like they'd either failed or the taste of the Austrans was far different than what he was used to. Subdued and colorless except the red of the floor. A whole lot of beige.
He was taken to see the premier almost the second they got in the door, Daria running like a small girl, her voice happy.
“Daddy, daddy! Tor's here to marry me! Can you believe he actually came? He hasn't even tried to kill me yet. That means he likes me, doesn't it? He's so dreamy.” Giggling, she spun in her bland light tan suit, made of something light like cotton, it was baggy but had some give to it.
Just like her personality. Each time she turned around she affected a different “crazy” personality. After a while Tor simply sensed her field, looking for the signs of madness. What he found instead was a calm mind that had good focus. She wasn't insane at all, she was faking it to throw him off. Turning to face her slightly Tor waited and watched. So this was a trick? Well, the least he could do was act like he was going along with it.
“Hello! Sorry for just popping in like this, but the relatives kicked me out. I tried to send my grandpa instead, since this is all his fault, but your ship’s Captain was too clever for that. Nice to meet you in person.” Tor held out
