Ward was with them and all, and really, no one liked him that well right now, after having declared war on them. None of them had recognized Tor for who he was at all it seemed, and had been picking on him because he was the smallest male in the group and clearly wasn't a noble. They were mainly bored they said. Watching people like that all day had been hot and not all that interesting, so they'd made a game of it.
Oh. Well that made it all right then.
So if he'd been the thirteen year old boy he looked like to them instead of an adult, that would have made it all right for them to break his nose and hit him? Be deprived of water in the hot sun when he was already badly dehydrated and had nearly died the day before? The women and Smythe had been given something to drink, but even the Count had been denied.
That, it turned out, had been ordered. Very clearly, and by name. Ward wasn’t to receive any kindness at all and harsh treatment was recommended.
With that bit of information the whole command structure of the city guard was turned out, even before true dawn broke. The Commander was cleared, having basically just repeated the King’s words verbatim, adding only suggestions for food, cool drinks and even light entertainment for the high ranking guests. Cards and dice, even music. He called them guests and apparently meant it, enough so that it didn't show up as a lie. The man was old. Smythe old, not just a little gray at the edges. He had steel in his spine and looked truly outraged at what had transpired. Without hesitation he offered to resign on the spot. The King looked at the others and then finally at Tor.
“Well Master Tor, you seem to have gotten the worst of it. I'll leave it to you.” He looked blank again.
Tor glared at the King and snorted more than a little derisively.
“Right. Put his fate in the hands of the enraged man while he's still in a snit?” Tor sighed and shook his head. “Let's find out what happened first. If it turns out he's responsible for it, then we can give him the boot later. No need ruining his job over what he's said so far.” Looking at the man he shrugged.
“We didn't get the musicians though. If you paid for them you might want to look into that.”
The man had to fight a smile from his face but he nodded.
It went just like that until they got to the Major in charge, the broken nosed Curtis's direct boss. When he'd given the orders they'd changed dramatically. Cruelly. Special orders had been given to be hard on Count Ward, which meant the rest of them were treated in a similar fashion.
Smythe laid into the man so harshly Tor almost expected him to strike the fellow. It seemed like a good idea, to Tor at least. He decided to help if Smythe moved on the man. Not that the councilor needed it, not armed and shielded as he was, but the Major had a decent shield too.
Tor could turn it off.
Instead it was just more pointed questions and asking if he was a spy for anyone, which he was, a Duke Fram that Tor had never heard of, and if he or Fram was working with the Austrans which they didn't seem to be. No, this, he assured them quite openly, was personal.
“That git got my sister pregnant, and then set her aside without a by your leave! Half my wages go to keeping her and her child fed and housed. I can't even afford a wife because of it, not even as a Major! I saw a chance for a little pay back and took it. None can say I don't have the right!” It was all true, and he pointed at Count Ward which made so much sense no one even asked if the Major, a man named Jarad, was really certain. Ward just shrugged. He'd gotten a lot of girls pregnant over the years, hadn't he? It went unsaid, which was good, or the brightly clad guard probably would have attacked the Count then and there.
Tor brought the little magic chest and the remaining gold over to the man.
“OK… For your sister, here's some gold to tide her over, so you can have a normal life and not be stuck taking care of her with all your resources. It's… a couple hundred gold? Have her get with me and I'll come up with some kind of business for her, I have a couple things that might work, so she won't have to struggle too much until we can find her a proper husband if that's what she wants.”
The man's mouth hung open.
“That's to help fix things with her though, since she's innocent in all this, as for the rest…” Tor disabled the old shield around the man’s neck with a thought and kicked him in the groin. Hard. Twice. When the man went down clutching himself he applied a boot to the side of his head a couple of times and then kicked him in the nose until it popped. After that he grabbed the man by the hair along with one arm and manhandled the limp body to the side, then set up a house around him with no door and hid the amulet again. Leaving the heat on full blast.
“Let him out in about eight hours. That should do the trick I think. Unless anyone else wants to take a turn beating him? I think we can all see how this happened now and let go of any hard feelings. I'll even lend an amulet to heal all the broken noses. But let me repeat what I told everyone earlier. Anyone ever tries to take me prisoner again and I fight. I won’t be gentle about it like I was this time either.”
He glared at the guardsmen and then asked if that would be enough for the day, so everyone else could go get some rest. The King agreed with a regal nod. He offered the transport for their comfort, but Tor didn't want to wait, since the royals would need it first, so everyone got Not-flyers instead, those being so easy to use it didn't even take real practice, and they zipped around the outside of the city in a few minutes. Tor stared at the wall as they passed. It was pretty. White stone material, but smooth and un-seamed. When they got around to the other side he saw a palace where his house had been.
Last time it had been a castle, an old fashioned stone looking thing. Now it looked like the King actually lived here, and the poor looking place inside the wall was housing for peasants or something. Maybe a school or hospital. It was cream and white with delicate barding all around and looked almost like a wedding cake, not a place to live. Like the Wards estate, only nicer, fresher. Tor almost blanched at the wasted resources, then remembered it was all just a shield anyway, no matter what it looked like. He took everyone to the front door, almost hesitating to enter, because it looked so very different, only to have Collette and Petra come out at the same time, wearing different, but equally stunning outfits, both in bright pink. They both froze for a second, seeing all the people, but then they ran to start passing out hugs.
Or at least tried to. Everyone except Maria was still wearing a shield. Even the man Tor recognized as selling drinks at the estates parties. That baffled Collette, and put Petra on alert instantly, her training was in military matters, so she got what everyone being shielded like that meant instantly.
“Everyone inside, go, go! The whole place is shielded. Come in, we weren't expecting guests but please be welcome.” Her voice was stressed suddenly, just on the verge of going all military and harsh. She hid it with a smile, polite and warm. Once inside the huge marble room everyone started taking their shields down, The Ward people first, then all of them. Tor felt uneasy but forced himself to do it too. Varley had been right when she told him they couldn't connect to the world properly living behind a shield all the time. It just felt so exposed without one anymore.
Before Tor could go collect his own hugs, or even say hello, Countess Ward ran to Petra and Collette, both being her family, and started speaking in a fast high pitched voice. Practically a panicked squeak. Tor wouldn't have been able to make out what she said, but apparently Collette was a master of it. For all that his friend had always said she didn't get along very well with Maria, she certainly seemed to manage her all right.
It started with a hug that Petra joined in on after a few more lines, which developed into cooing and petting her back and hair as the Countess spoke about the horrible experience she'd had. It would have made sense if she was stressed about the attack, how scared she was, even how betrayed she felt by Laval, though that particular Larval was probably long dead already. Hard to tell.
No, she was going on about the poor accommodations at the palace instead, as if a broom closet wasn't good enough for her? They'd actually given her one of the nice rooms in the guest house. Yes, she had to share with four others, but it wasn't like they put her in the tool shed. Even then, it would have been a roof and walls, wouldn't it? For the first time he could ever remember Tor suddenly felt a wave of relief and gratitude that he'd been brought up as the son of a village baker, not the heir to a county. He knew first hand that what they had was better than most people even dreamed about. Even the room they were in made him uneasy in its grandeur, and it wasn't even real. Still, no need to goad the girl Tor decided.
She really had been through a lot too.
He gently pulled Collette aside, since she was the main house person really.
“Do we have rooms for everyone? I invited them all to stay, but I forgot about King’s week and how crowded everything gets…” Sure, they could expand, but a small village of vendors had started to grow around them, so if they wanted more space, they needed to grab it now and possibly bribe a few merchants to shift positions, cover
