P. Power - Knight Esquire

That, Tor knew, was both correct and probably the best he could do with the situation. He held out his hand to shake on the deal. It was a country thing, a handshake sealing a bargain, but the woman didn’t flinch away from it, merely taking his hand in a hard clasp.

“Deal then. I’ll keep trying to watch my back and you don’t kill me without a decent reason. Better than I expected to tell the truth. I kind of thought you’d just kill me really.”

For some reason the other guards all laughed at that. For a bunch that he’d been raised to think of as humorless killers they sure laughed a lot. Maybe it was just him? Did they find him funny? Probably. Oh well, what could he do about that? For their world he was probably exactly wrong. Too small, too country and too naive in general. That could lead to laughter he figured.

Maybe someday when he learned more he’d get the joke?

He got his weapons back from Kolb and all the amulets, then handed the explosive one back to the large man.

“That one’s for you. Being your Squire and all I’m supposed to…make sure your weapons are ready and all that anyway, right? I also have a shield for you, and flying gear. Force lance and air thingie too. I probably should have given that to you already. Sorry, I’m kind of new to all this Squire stuff. Well, if this is over for now I need to get back to my work out, or Karen’s going to have a fit and probably beat me half to death, and who can blame her? I’ve hardly been showing up at all lately.”

They let him go, and he tried to keep his eyes open in case of attack. Would anyone other than Wensa want him dead? Why? Maybe Count Rodriguez, but the attack on the stairs had come before the duel and the man hadn’t even seemed to have known who he was until he told him. Sure, that could have been an act, but over all Tor didn’t think so. Rodriguez seemed at least as genuine in his apology to David as he was in his anger in the first place. More so to tell the truth. Something definitely hadn’t been right with that situation. Was Count Derring really such a jerk that killing his son seemed just to the guy until he was called on it? If so Tor felt sorry for Davie and Karen.

Had he insulted anyone personally? We’ll, he’d been at court for a while and it could just be that someone didn’t like having him around, a dirty little country hick. Offended by his existence? No one had said anything directly to him about it, but then, would they? He tried to think back and kept coming up blank. Some people might be annoyed with him, he wasn’t perfect after all, but who’d try to even just bang him up like that? Dorgal? The guy was a bully, most of the time at least, but he’d never tried to hurt Tor physically. He was about words and intimidation as far as anything Tor had ever seen. And really, if he was going to try, he and his buddies could have just jumped Tor at any time and not gotten into any real trouble, being rich and all that.

After the weapons practice and exercise, which included a little slow running to start building his left leg back up, and a lot more gentleness from Karen than he’d expected after being called away like that by Kolb and the others. She didn’t hold back with him at all when they worked together, but she didn’t yell at him either, except when she had him on the ground beating him with her sword. “Get up Tor! Roll out of the way! Anyone you fight with will knock you down in a few seconds, you’re too little for them not to, you need to stay ready for it…” She added in a few stomps for variety.

Then she had Petra and a few other people take turns doing the same thing for a while.

It wasn’t comfortable at all, but she didn’t seem angry about anything, just pensive. Finally, just before it would normally be time to leave, she gestured to him.

“I… didn’t know that you were a Countier before Tor.” The large woman looked ashamed, as if it could somehow be her fault. She bowed towards him and held it.

“If I ever did or said anything to give offense, please-”

Tor patted her on the shoulder gently, which got her to stand up, looking shocked, but only for a second.

“You’ve never been anything but perfectly courteous to me. Besides, we’re friends, so if you had, I would have mentioned it before.” He nodded at her firmly, knowing that his Two Bends logic might now make a lot of sense to her very royal mind, but it got her to grin happily enough.

“Oh, good then! I couldn’t think of anything, but, um, well, and please don’t take offense, but I kind of thought you weren’t a royal, before I met your mother and sister. I definitely don’t want hard feelings to fester there. Especially since Davie and Petra would gang up on me in my sleep if they thought I had. They both kind of think you’re great by the way…”

He blushed a bit and looked away shyly.

“Um, thank you?” Tor hated things like this, never knowing what to say.

Karen just smiled and patted him on the shoulder, more of a solid thump than a proper pat.

“Good then. I hate having to grovel anyway. So…” She looked serious again. “If we’re friends, does that mean I can get some of those weapons from you like Davie has? I can’t afford to buy them, but…” Her look went slightly wicked then.

“But I can let you borrow Petra if you want? I don’t think that would hurt her feelings at all. My too of course.”

Thinking about it for a few seconds, he nodded. They could both probably use the weapons and gear. It just made sense.

“I don’t think I’m allowed to hand out those explosives. But if Kolb OK’s it, the rest should be doable.”

“Really? I was kidding, about the stuff, I mean, you can have me and Petra anyway, in the evenings after lessons maybe? That would be a good time.”

Shrugging Tor figured it was her way of making sure he got enough practice in. Maybe it was rude to just yell at a Countier and tell him to get his but to painful extra training? But if he needed it, she had the right.

“I don’t know when I have the time, really, but let’s make sure you all get those weapons anyway. Oh, and please tell Petra thank you for me? You too of course.”

For some reason Karen seemed really pleased with the fake deal. That he needed work on his weapons skill was clear after that. He didn’t have to do it that night at least, which was good. Karen hugged him as he left the training square though, either happy about the free stuff, or more likely, trying to make him feel better about needing extra lessons.

It was really sweet of her. Especially since she could have just hit him in the head with the side of her practice blade and ordered him to show up.

There were other things to do first though. Hard things. Royal things that he wasn’t prepared to handle at all.

Tor sat in his room later trying to think of anyone in the world that might dislike him enough to do something like that. Kill him, or even just push him down some stairs for fun. That was what he was doing when Rolph, Sara and Trice came in. Standing, he gave Trice a hug and then, feeling more than a little awkward about it, a kiss on the mouth. It wasn’t exactly romantic, he knew, but he really did want her to know that he appreciated her efforts so far. She kissed him back for a few seconds, far more warmly and expertly than he’d managed. She held him and sighed, her chest pushing softly into his through the slightly shiny black blouse she wore.

“Now that’s more like it. What’s up?”

It took a while for Tor to explain everything that had happened, but less time than he’d thought, since Rolph had already filled them in. They’d actually come to help him work everything out. They all had ideas too, ones that, oddly enough, fit their individual backgrounds more than the situation at hand. The idea that they all walked around in different worlds took him for a few seconds. Everything overlapped, of course, but did Tor actually live a different existence than they all did, even while in the same space? That… actually made a lot of sense.