P. Power - Knight of the Realm

Well, too late for that now.

Those he could do, with a bit of work. He started that night, after Nita fell asleep, working until morning. Not much sleep, but Tor wasn't going to let his friend be alone if he could help it, since she seemed lonely at times still. Sometimes he wouldn't be able to be with her, and hopefully she'd understand that, but for now he just pushed himself into the deepest dark within and worked there, barely understanding things in words anymore, just ideas. If anyone asked him what he done exactly he'd have to point to the things he made and shrug. It was just too different to talk about easily.

He built and worked, carefully and deeply, for two more days before things suddenly went sideways on him.

It had to happen, something like it at least, he realized as Nita sat across from him at the small round table they ate at, staring at her plate of brightly colored bits of food. She hadn't eaten much, just picking at things listlessly for a while. Finally, as the music started and drinks began to flow, she spoke, her voice sad and a little scared sounding. Worried maybe?

“Um, Tor? I was thinking and, well…” Her face buried behind her long dark blond hair she whispered. He could just make out what she said.

“Did… Did Maria get you to do this? Is she paying you to spend time with me?”

He blinked. What? At first the words didn't even make sense to him. Pay him?

“Sorry… I… why would she do that? I mean, no, but why? And really, I don't need gold, what would she be paying me in?” Land came to mind as a bribe, but he didn't say it out loud, because Nita was a little down on herself still. No need to throw fuel on that fire, he decided instantly.

That she'd gotten five days in before doubting herself this much, this openly, was amazing really. Tor didn't let anything show for a second. Denials wouldn't work, he knew that. He'd been in similar places in life and saying he loved her simply wasn't proof. Reaching under the top of his tunic, a simple light-tan looking thing he'd made up that morning, with a red sash and white canvas pants and black boots. It kind of fit in with what people wore here during the day, without aping them exactly.

Real people, not royals.

Finding the truth amulet he carried all the time any more, he tapped firmly and it started glowing in gold and cream, the gold making two broad stripes down the nimbus around him.

“You've seen this before right? Goes black if I lie or say something that isn't true, even if I don't know it when the words come out? As long as it's in my head at least. So, no, Maria did not, at any time suggest I date you, spend time with you or anything of that nature, except mentioning you weren't married, which I took to be implied match making, didn't you? Kind of nice of her given that she and I aren't all that close.” The glow stayed steady and she ducked her head but asked more questions while she had him like this. An odd type of shyness that she had…

“Are you… sleeping with her? My sister?” She glanced at him looking almost afraid.

“I've never slept with your sister.”

This caused the whole field to go a deep black, which made Nita cringe and the few people around them listening openly lean in suddenly, since things had obviously gotten interesting. Sorlee even shifted seats to move closer. Tor held up his hand and grinned, embarrassed.

“Sorry, I misspoke, that can happen. Um… I should have said… I've never slept with Maria.” This time the field did what it was supposed to do at least. Gah. Pesky truth. Still, it showed the whole thing worked and that he didn't have a special device that let him lie. He could do that, but who would? If he didn't want people to know something he just wouldn't say it.

“Which one…”

“Oh! I didn't mention that did I? It's not a big thing, we're just friends, Collette? She runs the ice manufactory at the Capital. She's living with me actually, but last I saw it the place was nearly the size of the King’s palace or the estate here. It's not like we're having to share a room. Who knows what she has it doing now. Petra Ward is there too. It's not a permanent thing. You know, with King’s week coming we all have to go back. I can put you all up there if you want? It's outside the south gate, but the trip to the palace isn't that bad. I'm going to throw a party of my own this year too, but you can go to the palace if you want, or stay with me for that. Since they're not declaring war right now or getting everyone pregnant anymore we should also invite Maria and Marvin… I guess.”

Tor grimaced and kept going, trying to keep Nita distracted from the fact that he'd slept with her sister. “Though I don't think they should do more than swear fealty several times and grovel a bit this year and probably next. Marvin getting Princess Veronica pregnant is not popular with the royal family right now, as you might imagine. Me either as far as that goes, kind of ruined my engagement to her. The Prince may say some nasty things to Marvin over that, after Alphonse apologizes to Maria. He doesn't know he's doing that yet, but if he doesn't, I'll sneak into his room at night and shave his eyebrows off.”

Funny thing, the field didn't blink at all on that one. Tor hadn't known he felt that strongly on the matter, but it seemed that a certain Prince needed to step the heck up, or he was going to look funny for a long while.

Nita's eyes danced and her mouth opened in way that his body started to respond to on its own. She didn't even question that he'd slept with Collette, probably assuming he would in the future too, thanks to the messed up way nobles ran their relationships. Well, Nita could sleep with who she chose too, so it was fair enough. He didn't feel jealous about that, like he thought he would. Was he adapting to this strange world then? A little?

It was an amazing thing, an almost perfect moment for him. He felt accepted as Nita sat looking at him. Like he was something good, and not a troll at all.

He felt fine. Happy. Complete.

The men attacked hard and fast, hitting him from four sides at once without any warning at all. Nita was in the way of one, who tried to hit her with a blue beam of light, an electric weapon. Tried being the operative word. Her shield hadn't been on, but Tor triggered it before the beam hit, slapping his left hand to her chest before he did anything else at all, pushing her away. The shields locked somehow and… twisted as the force of him hitting her chest tried to flow into the ground. Painfully for him. The impact on her went neatly into the ground, but his hand and arm wrenched around suddenly with a cracking sound that could only be a bone breaking. It wasn't as quiet as Tor figured it would be, the other time he'd broken a bone he'd barely even noticed the sound at all.

He screamed. It hurt and there was no time to kill the pain or even prepare for it. Sometimes you just had to deal, and no trick was going to save you.

“Run away!” He screamed, the chant that Kolb had drummed into him for years, but this time it wasn't about him, the others needed to run. At Queen’s day the seven Larval's had been taken out, but killed over twenty nobles, Royal Guards and warriors first. Most of them combat giants. Most of those killed with nothing more than knives. The brave man Duke Winchester, who'd fought to protect Tor while he stopped the death dust in the air, had died, desperately clinging to the attacker even as his guts slid to the ground. It had been Smythe that had saved him then, Tor was told. He alone had taken out three of the men, using a military grade shield and Not-flyer, ramming them at over sixty miles per hour. Varley had taken one that way too, figuring it out from watching Smythe on the fly. Once they were down others finished the work, but without those two the whole thing would have gone a lot differently.