worse, white hot already if small, so he dropped the plates directly inside of it.
He was soaked of course, but none of the people watching seemed inclined to make fun of him yet. That would probably come later when the school children described him as a midget troll that tried to despoil their young Countier by wetting himself on him or something.
Flying had to be a euphemism for something naughty didn’t it? Everything else was to those freak royals. Tor wanted to growl, memories of Trice coming back again, and what she’d said about him. There wasn’t time for that though, so he forced himself to just pay attention to what was at hand. Trying to save a city.
When the fire went out he got the plates back out of the puddle that had formed which was probably hot still, but thankfully his shield and temperature equalizer took care of that. Then Tor put out the third fire, which was barely even burning. After that one he looked but couldn’t find anything else that seemed to be alight, so, hoping he didn’t run into anything, plates still trying to slip out of his hands, and trailing water the whole time, Tor flew back to the command area and signaled Karen and Petra to stop, and go back to fighting the fire outside the wall. The drenched clothing wasn’t such a big deal, except that his pants were all wet, and of course insisted on drying last, so that he was walking around the next morning looking like he’d peed his pants.
Embarrassing.
The first three times Scotty, the giant man that was Gary’s dad, mentioned it, Tor ignored him. It did look like he’d wet himself after all, and everyone was tired, so the guy was probably trying to get a laugh to boost morale. People did laugh. A lot. Each time it dug into the already fragile parts of himself, pushing at him… making him more and more angry. On the fourth time Tor gave Scotty a level look and asked the man, fairly politely, to knock it off.
“Or what little boy? You’ll kick my ass? Ooh, I’m so scared!” He mugged a little for the exhausted people around them. Right. Tor shook his head slowly and felt his stomach grow cold inside.
A lot of the other people, most of them from the area, had chuckled when the giant said it. Tor could see that. They were his people, plus it had been silly of him to say anything like that in the first place and the guy was probably trying to save face. Really, he probably didn’t even have to, as big as he was. Tor threatening him wouldn’t be taken seriously, by anyone. You didn’t have to prove you were tougher than a kitten, did you? Of course not.
The only problem was that Tor didn’t care at the moment. Not really. He closed his eyes and tried hard to be concerned about anything, but nothing came to him at all. There was just a hole inside that emptied into the bottom of everything.
And a burning anger, which at that second was pointed directly at the giant in front of him.
Jerk.
He held up one finger to the man and triggered his flying gear with a quick tap after a few seconds. Tor raised high into the air and looked around, trying to seem calm about it all, until he found a large field, probably ten square miles in all and nearly that far from Rossalynd, that was burning along merrily. Pulling the blast device he’d built into the poison detector looking bit of metal out of his shirt he aimed, triggering it for about a second.
The world erupted with a blast that probably made the city jump. Literally.
The field of grass stalks was flattened and churned, with a large crater in the center of it when the dust cleared, a giant cloud in the shape of a toadstool over it, growing slowly. Most of the fire was out in the field, and the surrounding area for miles, so at least there was that. Tor landed by the man gently, if not in a smooth looking fashion, and smiled at him. What that looked like Tor didn’t know, young and surly probably, but that would have to do for now, Tor didn’t have anything better to offer.
“Scared yet?” Tor said his voice soft and menacing.
The man froze, not moving, or blinking. Tor really didn’t want a fight, but the guy didn’t seem to want to leave him a lot of choice either. Plus he was too huge to play with. If they fought, Tor would have to kill him. Instantly and without hesitation. Knowing that he switched weapons to one of the smaller explosives and got ready for the giant to move. Time passed slowly, Tor glaring with an insane smile on his lips, trembling slightly and Scott Ross just holding very still.
Kolb came flying in at nearly full speed and noticed the little situation lining up, beneath him. It was the old man that came walking over first however, looking calm and relaxed about the whole thing.
“I see you got the fire out in the south section outside of the city? Bit extreme, but it’s good to know we have a back up if we start to lose the line. Try not to use that too close to the city again though, eh? I don’t want to leave cracks in the wall. Just got it the way I like, about fifteen years ago.”
Smiling Tor put the little device away, tucking the small copper rectangle away under his first, the hemp cord it was on itching for half a second while it moved.
“Sorry about that. I’m just… Well, it’s been a rough couple of days. My engagement had to be broken off and some harsh words were said. I’m sure that this guy, sorry… don’t know your name,” he pointed at the giant man with one finger, not carrying that it was rude. It was that or the explosive in his other hand. But then, hey, that one was already pointed, wasn’t it?
“Didn’t mean to be insulting when we flew in, but my, er, lack of being tall, was mentioned prominently as well as looking a bit young as that situation blew up, in public. So I over reacted. Then when he tried acting tough with me, well, I’m kind of at my limit, you know?” Tor stared at the man, letting his expression go blank. “If you want to die, I can arrange it easily enough. Right now, if you move on me, you’ll just die. If you call in an army, they die with you. Do you get what I’m saying here? I really don’t care right now one way or the other myself, but I promised my best friend that I wouldn’t kill any innocent people just because I’m ticked off. I’m pretty sure that goes away if I’m attacked though, and right now my personal definition of “attack” is pretty loose I think. So, you know, it’s your choice. I came to help you fight this fire though, not argue like twelve year olds over who has the biggest manhood.” Tor waved his left hand not smiling.
“I’ll cede that one to you if it’s that important, but keep pushing me, and I will end you. If you think I can’t because I look too young or small to be a threat, then go ahead and try something, because it probably means you’re too stupid to live anyway.”
The giant man stormed off, probably to go get some weapons. Tor shrugged. He really just couldn’t care right now at all. He’d explained himself, even if he had been a bit of a prick about it. But these people had to learn that he wasn’t a child and wasn’t going to put up with insults about it anymore.
Kolb landed near him and walked over slowly.
“Say, Tor… What exactly is that thing you used? It’s rather… effective.”
Oh, right. Tor got it out and showed him. “I made it the other night. Just in case I have to fight, you know an army or two… It’s just an explosive. Like the one I gave you only larger in power and size of effected area. It has continuous activation too, but I didn’t think that would be needed right now, so I just tapped it once.”
Huge shoulders slumping a little the bald man glanced at Tor with a slightly wry expression. Then, for the first time Tor could ever remember, the Knight sighed at him.
“So, are you really sure that you want to start a fight with a Count’s heir? It’s clear you could take out his forces, but is that really a good idea? I know that things haven’t been going well for you lately, but I can’t see how that would really help anything. It’s a lot of people to kill just because you don’t feel happy in the moment.”
“What?” Tor let his voice sound shocked. “He’s a Count’s heir? I thought he was the Count! Well, that changes everything. I was being nice because of that you know. After all, Gary said he’s a Countier sixth, so it’s not like they need this one for anything, right? Lots of spares.” Tor waved his hand in the air just a little, moving the tiny device around with it. Then he shook his head and sighed and put all his weapons away. No need for him to make things worse, not really.
He felt like doing it though. Like killing the giant moron would make him feel better. Take some of the pain away. Pain didn’t work that way though. Even Tor could see that.
“I’m just kidding. I’m sure that we can let this go now. It was just tempers flaring due to stress. Since we all know what the situation is, I don’t think we have to continue on with it.”
The old man next to him winked and moved to pat him on the back.
“That’s using your head now. Figured you for a smart one, thinking to bring in all that gear with you. We’d be trying to hold an evacuation route instead of people sleeping cozy in their own beds and complaining about the smoke and frightening noises right now without it. Still, we aren’t out of danger yet. This may be the largest city in County Ross, but we have a lot more to deal with if we’re not going to lose thousands of lives to this thing.”
That, Tor knew, was true, he’d gone up and seen it in the air himself several times. It all looked smaller from
