military forces. The school personnel and students… Actually seem to have the situation in hand remarkably well, to tell the truth, right now the… Magics Minister is in charge of the situation. Is that correct?” Small beads of sweat broke out on his forehead then, tense and like he really didn't want to be talking over a magical device to his boss or something.
There was a pause, finally Smythe came back, sounding genial.
“Well, one minister can't over rule another directly. By preference I'd feel more comfortable if the military was in charge of security at the moment, but I can only suggest that…”
Tor shrugged, bobbing a little, his mind having started to integrate the Not-flyer controls to a much finer level of control.
“Alright, Um, Instructor Kolb, if you'd call your people in? I'd like to do the first round of questioning? We probably shouldn't bring anyone else in until we know for certain that there aren't more attacks coming.”
It didn't take long for Smythe to agree. A deep voice came over the device, sounding calm and commanding, but Tor thought he caught a fine tone of worry too. The King.
“Tor… Be thorough and keep us in the line of communications, will you please?”
“Got it… Rich. Oh, just in case it comes up…” Tor explained the shield building project, and the expected numbers. There was a gasp from the people on the other end of the device and one from Teller who openly stared at him.
The King chuckled though, “Very good. Outfit the forces there first please?”
“Of course.”
They'd have to, if nanos were involved. The elite forces had no more than class four shields and sometimes less than that. Class two was still the military standard, but some had managed to get their own. The first ones that stopped death dust were six's. Tor was wearing an eight himself. Most of the kids had sevens, the only difference was that his would resist being turned off remotely. That was why it had taken Rolph half a day to get it done even at close range.
The effort for that must have been nearly superhuman. Rolph wasn't even a builder. Frankly, if he could do that though, the man could build too. At least copy. Tor decided to bring it up with him if he got a chance. It was a handy skill to have if nothing else.
When they got off the line Teller sighed.
“I'm… not a General you know. Just a Major. I just happened to be on duty when the call came in.” He sounded guilty.
Tor smiled as he walked over to where the people to be questioned stood waiting, “Well… I don't know if the promotion will stick or not, but until told otherwise, you're a General. I don't want the Queen to think the military isn't taking this seriously. Notice, Smythe backed it with the royal family in the room. What that means for your weekly pay remains to be seen. Can't hurt though.”
Kolb had gone to get his forces back which took runners, or in this case, two of the military flyers along with Judith, who was sent to actually get the people and pass the code phrase along. It was a slower way of doing things than they should be using, but no one had made them a communications device yet. Since he was the only one that knew how so far, that oversight was all on him. No one mentioned it, thankfully.
Tor took a handful of amulets and started questioning people.
It was going to be a long day.
Longer.
A longer day.
Chapter Fifteen
The kids from the school were mainly what they seemed. A few had been sent to spy on people, but it sounded almost like an afterthought for all but three of them. Those had specific missions, and one, a good looking girl that was older than most first years by a bit, was targeted directly at Rolph. Tor remembered having seen her trying to flirt with him a time or two.
Ah.
Tor got her to admit that she was working for Countess Thorgood and that she was just there to get close and collect information.
“Hmmm…” Tor said, looking at her, shaking his head. “I suggest you back off for the time being, and make sure you don't disclose anything about your target.”
She agreed readily enough, but Tor would still be following up on it. Teller didn't seem all that pleased with him, leaving a spy in place, but Tor just had to throw his hands up the second time the man mentioned it.
“What can we really do? Half of the upper class people are probably spying for someone or another. With an economic crunch on, they kind of have to be, don't they? For that matter most of these kids would probably feel obligated to answer to me, if I asked them to, or Countess Printer. Right now we need to just make sure no one is trying anything dangerous or planning an attack. Especially the Austrans. If we find any of those, don't let them get a hand in a pocket, eh? Try to take them alive though… easier to question that way.”
After that was finished Tor did something no one expected and started questioning everyone. The people that were cleared were sent back to their rooms, and each dorm got a set of questioners coming to every door. It was invasive and a prickish thing to do, but Tor had orders to be thorough, which meant everyone got questioned. Including him, Kolb and all the military men.
That part pissed of Teller to no end. For a second, when Tor held out the truth amulet to him, it seemed like the man might hit him, feeling offended. He did it though, and passed easily, which kind of meant all his own men had to take a turn too. Tellers’ elite forces had some spies… a lot of them really. Nearly half the men worked for someone else on the side, which was pretty bad.
Tor just took note of whom they worked for, or rather got Kolb to do it for him, since the man had much better hand writing and that meant there was a real reason for the Knight to be standing there next to him. None were working for Austra however. It took all night, and people were scared and grumpy by the end, but the whole town, down to the waitresses in the restaurants and even there little children, were cleared. Mainly by him. His eyes kept closing as he worked.
He was falling asleep on the job, and couldn't help it. Kolb played it off as him going into a trance. For some reason almost everyone bought it. Apparently his penchant for doing things like that was well known. How they justified the snoring Tor didn't know.
“OK, I think that's everyone. I need to report in to the King, then get some sleep. Teller, Um, not to tell you your job, but I know I'd sleep much better if there was some kind of guard still. We know that none of our people are going to be doing anything wrong, but… Well, outside attack is still possible.” Tor yawned and held up a hand.
“Admittedly, not very likely. I think I just caught the poor girl out and she panicked to tell the truth. If not, she would have deployed her weapon more carefully and survived it.”
Teller didn't comment on his theory, but didn't seem to think much of it as far as Tor could tell. He went back to his dorm room to sleep. He could have stayed at the house, but that would require extra guards to be set. It was a waste of resources. In his room, barely conscious, he contacted the King again. Or tried to. Instead he got a nervous sounding young voice.
“Um, this is the palace. How may I help you sir or ma'am?” The voice was still young and tentative, but not half as nervous as the last time he'd heard it.
“Kenner? This is Tor. I have a report for the King, but it isn't urgent. Can you take notes for me here?”
Kenner had helped him out in the past, but only for a bribe. Tor kind of expected to be shaken down by the kid, but it seemed that his job now, instead of washing the floors, was to answer the communications device like he had and alert the right people. He admitted that taking notes, at least good ones, was beyond him yet, though he was studying for it.
He could get a Royal Guard for that though.
“Hey Tor, This is Chet. I've got the gear ready, go on your report.” The voice sounded a little sleepy, but not too bad. It held good enough humor and the man explained that the rest of the people had, wisely, taken to their
