That was heartening, the speech the King gave for his wife and the listeners benefit. A bit of a shame though, Tor decided, the Queen’s protection would have been nice about then.
Stupid honor.
“Right, well, as I was just about to say, this isn't a real problem. I've been working to recover my strength, field pattern solidity, and have made great strides, I just have to get a bit more done and I'm sure it will be fine. I mean, I may lose the fight, I won't lie there, I really am pretty weak right now, but I shouldn't die.” It was a lie of course, at east possibly. Right now it would be a bit like a five year old trying to fight the man, maybe a nine year old. There was still real enough danger. He made his voice go smooth and confident, shrugging as he said it.
“Not fun, but I'd hazard it won't be the last beating I ever take. Who knows, maybe I'll figure something out in the next few days? I know that I'm not making funeral plans for this.”
He wasn't. That task, by tradition, was for the living, if anyone cared to do it at all. Otherwise they could just drop him in a hole. That would work well enough.
Laughing, as if much reassured himself, Rich slapped him on the back, gently, gave his wife a hug and left them alone, probably thinking they'd have sex. Tor hadn't noticed him doing things like that before, but it was kind of obvious right now to him for some reason. Well, he'd give her some cuddles, but doing much more was pretty much out.
They moved to a back room and shut the door. Tor moved with her gently, kissing her at first, as soon as she sat on the low leather sofa. They just held each other, nibbling and stroking for a while, then he playfully turned off her clothing amulet and looked at her. Creamy soft skin, dark hair at the juncture of her legs with just a bit of a red hint and dark nipples that puckered just slightly at his touch.
“I love you, you know.” Tor whispered it, as he sank in front of her, letting his mouth find the mound of her womanhood. He might not be up to a twenty mile run, but he managed with her all right, though it left his tongue sore and lips feeling a little chapped.
She sighed after tensing and spasming under him and pushed him away a bit, so that he could be pulled up to her lips.
“I love you too. Don't die.” The last was a command. Solid and forceful. “I don't care what you have to do. Flee, or cheat. Have the man killed or poisoned before hand to make the fight more even. Whatever it takes, live my love.”
Then she spent a while kissing him, moving finally to repay his efforts with her own, trying to get his clothing off. Tor stopped her with a wink.
“Sorry, none of that, I need to keep my strength for a bit. I know it's a silly superstition, not being with a woman before a battle, but just in case, I don't want to push it.” Plus, he hadn't responded at all, even while working on her. She was as lovely as a woman could be, but… nothing.
It was embarrassing.
At least she let him off the hook easily, either understanding the real problem or accepting that he had some reason for not doing it at that moment. She dressed, a simple flip of her hand near the chest, turning the amulet for her soft blue velvet gown back on with a thought. It was clean, of course, with no signs of what they'd done, no wrinkles or stains. Then it wasn't really the same garment was it?
It just looked like it.
Tor stood and smiled, nodding to her and giving her a hug before standing back. She was taller than he was, and always would be. Even for common men he wasn't over tall, right in line for average. That made a difference in a fight.
So, if he would do it, Burks would have to slouch.
After all, wasn't he essentially the same person? It would look right at least. Tor would need to coach him in fighting though, he realized as he flew back to his house. Otherwise Burks would win too easily. Provided the man didn't insist he fight anyway. He could be too busy or just not want to be bothered after all. In that case Tor would fight and do the best he could. It wasn't exactly a good plan, but what else could he do?
Cheat.
Tor smiled. Yeah, he could do that.
It was time, he figured, for another trip to Grenwyn. If nothing else, maybe Burks would have an idea or two for him? It would probably require him to give up his life and run away or something though. Or possibly just doing something he hadn't thought of. Publicly humble himself in front of the man, begging for forgiveness? He wasn't sorry though, so it would probably seem false. The man had relations with a little girl. The only reason Tor had left him alive had been the fact that he hadn't done it again after that one time.
There were ways. Getting Burks in was a handy idea, of course, if possible.
Or he could build a device that would make him faster and stronger? Wrap him in a shield that would work on mental feedback, and help his body move…
Which would totally work. It would be cheating, but he was so willing to do that. Had orders from the Queen to do it if he could even. The only downside being that it was an incredibly complex field and would take him a month to make, carefully, if he was well. He doubted that anyone else could make it. Yet. Lyn would be able to in a year or two, he didn't doubt, but until then, no. He made a point of writing the idea down and mapping it out though. I could still come in handy later.
He had a lot of ideas, but all of them ran to about that level of difficulty. He could do them, if he was healthy, or someone else could, if they had time and a reason too. He could even just have the man killed, except Baron Rochester dying two days out from any kind of dual would look suspicious. Enough to make people talk and doubt the King.
Shaking his head, Tor decided to go to visit his grandfather the next day just in case he could come up with anything.
It would mean a scolding no doubt. Tor got that he'd messed up of course. He acted when he shouldn't have, beating the man when the matter wasn't his business to deal with. If he'd held his hand, this wouldn't be happening. For that matter it wouldn't have if he'd killed the guy either. The only thing that could have caused this was what he did.
Yay.
Well, at least he knew it was all him this time and wouldn't have to look around for who to blame. That saved time. Still, selfishly enough, he didn't want to die just to make the man feel better.
Was there some way he could fight without using a lot of energy or movement? Where speed and strength wouldn't matter? One that didn't require magic or a weapon? Well, if he could know what the man was going to do and he didn't change his plan when Tor slowly reacted to it, that would work. He'd even practiced that before. Unfortunately that just didn't seem likely at all. Anyone sane would try and adapt using best speed in a fight, wouldn't they?
But…
What if he used his mental abilities anyway? It would be risky as all hell, but he could make himself not feel pain, that was even easy. He did it all the time and it barely affected his field at all, it was just a trick, distracting himself from what was happening. He did it every time he meditated or worked deeply even.
Also, if he focused in the right way, he could view time as if everything moved slowly, like going through water or something. He hadn't done it on purpose before, but it had happened a few times in life, usually when he was about to get beaten anyway. So if he could learn to do it on purpose and trained for it, that could help. Maybe.
Then all he had to do was fight perfectly, without any errors at all.
Against a giant that he had to assume would already be willing to do anything to win, including possibly cheat himself. Tor decided to be careful of poisons and attacks coming in himself. It kind of made sense, what the King had said. Rochester, for some reason Tor didn't really get, feared him. Even now. He could use that.
If the man was afraid enough, he might just pull out. If he didn’t the fear would still help steal his fine motor coordination and cause him to burn up energy faster than he would otherwise. Worth fanning the flames on for certain.