Slave Line (The Young Ancients) (5 page)

"Alright. Trice, Sandra, would you two arrange that with Sam and Ali? Maybe get Rolph in on it too, since he's in charge of my finances. We should use the house funds for that though, or the stuff in the Debris vaults, not the Kingdom's treasury. I want it to be our project." It felt right, besides, those funds were building up pretty fast too. Tor didn't know where they all were, or who ran them, but he apparently owned hundreds of businesses now, or half owned, having provided the initial funds for it. It was better than letting a mountain of gold build up though.

Trice winked at Sandra playfully and waved her toward the door, as if she had something naughty planned with Tor. The dark girl waggled her eyebrows a bit and looked toward the door wistfully.

"I should get back to work in the kitchen then. I'm not really sure I understand why, but if it's the job, I guess I should see to it. Unless, you know, you both want me to stay? I'm not too related to either of you for that to be interesting." The dark skin girl smiled prettily.

Trice shook her head.

"Not this time. Later though? It sounds fun. Right now I actually have some things to discuss with Tor, and I'm trying to keep it low key. Kind of private matters..." She didn't say more, but Sandra ducked her head.

"Oh. Sorry. I'll just go and do that work then, if I haven't been fired yet. Disappearing like I did... I'll have to come up with a story." Then she left without another word. Most nobles would spy on you if they could, but they tried to be discreet about it in the main, leaving the illusion that they weren't. Tor didn't bother with it himself. He was technically one of them though, his blood nearly as good as Sandra's even if he hadn't been raised that way, so he knew he should probably look into it as a pass time if nothing else. It was kind of the tradition after all.

For once Trice didn't wait to explain herself to him. No hedging or beating around the bush. It was refreshing. She often did that, as if drawing things out for some reason he couldn't guess. He half expected her to try and get him to at least make out for a while, but she didn't, stepping back from him instead.

She looked slightly scared suddenly. That or worried, it was a little hard for him to tell he realized.

"Tor... I... Have some bad news. I know this can't be the best time for it..." She hesitated just an instant before powering forward. Probably because he was wondering who died, a sense of dread filling him.

Was it one of his family? No, she would have opened with it if that was the case. The only one that made sense was Debbie. She might kill herself he knew, trying to atone for what her brother had done to all those girls. The Wards were watching her though and for all that Maria wasn't his all time favorite person in the world, he didn't think she'd leave Debbie unguarded for even an instant.

Especially since her own mother, Baroness Coltress, was probably hiring someone to kill her at that very moment. It was misplaced, but the woman was angry about her daughter having been murdered and raped. Tor could understand that part, but she was also a horrible person in general, so something would have to be done there. That was what the meeting with Collette and Burks was about later.

The words Trice said next had nothing to do with that though, or anyone he knew dying at all.

"Um... There's a man, near Galasia... He's... pretending to be you. He has some amulets and magics of yours and used them to protect a town that came under attack by a gang of marauders. I..." She froze, as if waiting for him to explode over it.

Cold oatmeal got his ire it seemed, but not someone just claiming to be him. It was a little strange, but he didn't see what the big deal was.

"He's claiming to be Tor Baker, or... The "Wizard Tor", something like that?" He really couldn't bring himself to care if he was. Technically it was illegal to impersonate a noble, but he didn't care about it at all. If the man wanted his life that badly, he was welcome to it. He could even move out of the house he was in and give the fellow his gold. At least if he'd take the headaches that went with it.

"No, just calling himself the "Troll of Galasia" and helping people, as far as anyone has heard. Still, that's what they call you there. Do you... What do you want done about it?" She seemed to think it would be something bad for some reason. It was clear from her face. He'd never been that great at reading faces, but he got it now for some unknown reason. She was definitely worried. Maybe he was gaining a new skill?

Tor shrugged though, and took her hand.

"Well, if he wants to be the Troll of Galasia, I can send him some gold and whatever supplies he needs for it. Update his magics for one thing. Get him a flying carriage if he doesn't have one. As long as he's just helping people I mean. I never really wanted to be a troll anyway. We can build him up with the name and make people think the plays where about him the whole time."

Trice just stared at him for a long while. Then, as if worried about him, chuckled just the tiniest bit.

"OK. I'll see to that for you then."

Chapter two

"What did you think I was going to do, have some guy I don't know killed? Freak out and go to war with Galasia because someone from there used a nick-name that someone gave me as a joke? Especially if this person is actually off doing good things..." Tor was a little amazed that Trice hadn't gotten that about him yet. They'd known each other for years after all.

The woman patted his shoulder and shook her head slowly.

"That's pretty much exactly what I expected. It's what everyone thought would happen at the palace. If you were any other nobleman it would be what happened almost exactly. At least having the man locked up, probably killed. War with Gala would be a little over the top just for this, but it could happen. Plus... Well, everyone knows you'll kill now, so it's throwing expectations out of joint. Two weeks ago you were the one that always solved things as non-violently as possible. You didn't even kill those Larval assassins, just took them prisoner. Today you might just slaughter whole cities if they do the wrong thing. I mean,
I
get the whole thing with Baron Diddles and Box, I really do. You were standing up for other people in each case. Making sure the innocent weren't abused. How many people actually know that about you though?" She stood, black velvet outfit with black boots making her look slightly stern for some reason. The little purple and red dragon amulet she wore, the one that moved but looked like it was trapped in a glass disk, waved at him though, seeming happy enough. It gave away her real mood, Tor figured, which wasn't half as serious as she was pretending.

"No they just saw you walk out for a fist fight that no one really thought you could win, even if you were healthy, and beat a man to death. Most figure it was about him angering you, but they don't get why. Not really. The main rumor is that he beat Lady Pricilla and that you two are secretly lovers, so you made sure it wouldn't happen twice. The second one is that he pulled that knife, which changed the rules or something. That was really stupid of him. I mean, think about it, if he killed you in a fair fight, well, someone would have probably challenged him to a duel to the death over it before the day was out anyway, but they might not. If he stabbed you in an unencumbered fight like that... he wouldn't have walked from the field. At least fifty people would have killed him for that and some three hundred out there could have done it on their own, even with his guard present. Connie had elite military waiting at the back of the crowd. Uncle Richard didn't know about it, but... yeah." She looked directly into his eyes and leaned in.

"I don't know that he was planning on surviving the day. That isn't exactly sane though, is it? What was the upside in it for him? If he thought he could win honestly, he wouldn't have brought a weapon and given everything, he had no reason to think it wouldn't be more than a few minutes work for him. The jerk had to know you were almost dead anyway, people told him."

Tor laughed gently and then stared back, feeling more than a little breathless, like the air had been stolen from his lungs. He wasn't the only one laughing either. Three separate voices in his head did too. Glost Serge spoke though, his voice less sane than it had been in life most of the time. It told him that someone else was obviously behind it. Had steered the man at him like a weapon, to make him jump one way or the other.

"It was a set up Trice. I don't know why, or who did it, but the Baron wasn't bright enough to think of anything nearly as complex as he did. I mean the whole challenge took brains to put together. Sending it to the King's court, naming me as a Knight first, so I had to fight and couldn't pull out or put it off... The man was a hothead, and perhaps of average intelligence, but that kind of thing would have taken a genius to put together. All the possible escapes but two had been cut off and killing him before the event would have made the Kingdom look bad in the long run."

"Two... What was the other?"

Tor didn't want to admit to it, but it was the thing he'd pretty much planned for originally. Until he'd threaten to rape his own son after he killed Tor.

"Me letting him win." Or just losing, but it hadn't gone that way. The idea wasn't lost on his friend though. She grimaced.

"Ouch. Well, glad that didn't happen. This way we don't have to worry about your ego being bruised at least."

Rolling his eyes he stood and walked over to her, hugging her to him tightly for a second.

"But it means someone tried to have me killed. If they're smart enough to set that last bit up, they're probably good enough to know it wouldn't work too, not for certain, meaning their intent was something else. Probably controlling what I'm going to do next, or later at least. It may have even been designed to force me to kill the man. I..." How did he explain it all to her? Normal people felt bad when they killed, but it didn't seem like what he was going through. This was awful on a level he couldn't explain at all.

He waited, wondering what to say, but decided not to. Trice was his friend, but that hadn't always gone smoothly and he really didn't want her to think he was weak or vulnerable at the moment. He was, he knew, on just about every level, but he couldn't afford letting anyone know that. Not if he really had an enemy that could set up complex plots like that.

"So, anyway, this Troll of Galasia? I don't know... let's sent him a care package and make sure he knows he can come here for help if he needs it?" That would be enough, right? He really wanted to avoid being responsible for another death if he could help it. Kind of the point of the mind control that he'd been born with, no doubt. Rhetistics, Tor thought it was called. Whatever the heck that was. He needed to get with Burks and figure all of that out soon. Maybe there was some way to remove it or something? That would make his whole life easier if it was the case. For some reason he knew it wasn't though. for one thing Denno and Burks would have removed theirs a long time ago if that was the case.

When they got ready to leave the room it was nearing ten in the morning, which meant it would be safe to call the Palace and see about arranging a visit. It was probably fine to just show up, but they had a communications device now, which meant he could at least warn everyone they were coming. It seemed the polite thing to do and if there was a long wait to get an audience with the King Tor could just show up closer to the time of the event, waiting in his own home, which would be more comfortable for him.

No one answered the device at first when he activated the palace sigil, which just was a glowing word on the white stone hand piece that spelled out the word instead of a real symbol. It was easier to remember which one was which that way. He watched Trice for a while, wondering what she was thinking as they waited. After the first five minutes she smirked a little and hugged him again.

"Well, we kind of stole the kid they had answering the device, so that's probably slowing everything down a bit. I have to hand it to the Austrans, they really did a good job setting up spies in the palace. The only thing they didn't have was someone sleeping with the King passing along his pillow talk. Well, they didn't have that for anyone there, so at least there was that, but it was too close." Trice didn't seem happy about it either, for all that she sounded grudgingly impressed.

"I know. Well, everyone there is getting checked out from now on. The Royal guard will see to it. If they don't I will. What would have happened if Glost had ordered them all poisoned or just stabbed in their sleep? They might not have gotten everyone, but one or two of the royal family being killed would be devastating."

Almost as if it were planned the device picked up suddenly, the sound that came across took a second to understand, since at least ten people were yelling, and it didn't sound happy. In fact it sounded like a fight was going on, with someone crying in the background.

"Tor?" It was Rolph, Prince Alphonse Tor amended, since they were in the Capital, not back at school. "Um, help!" Then there was a clatter and the device turned off again.

Tor started running. His body protested and he moved too slowly, so he tapped the front of his shirt, activating his Not-flyer, which let him levitate along about four inches from the ground. Then he moved a lot faster than was safe indoors. His friends were under attack. He had to hurry.