“I told you that he was unstable sire! Look at him, holding us all hostage. Ready to kill us if we don’t accede to his demands! We should have killed him when we had a chance. Now who knows what he’ll do?” The man looked smug instead of scared, which frightened the hell out of Tor. He shook after all that and felt a pressing need to use a restroom, but this man looked angry, and then smug, about something? When technically Tor had just won the little skirmish, at least if it was judged by the criterion of his not dying.
“In general people that try to assassinate other people without good cause, and fail, don’t act like the cat that had all the cream Smythe. Do you think that you’re winning anyone over by claiming that the guy that handed you a weapon as a good will gesture not three minutes before you launched an attack is the unstable one?”
He obviously did because he smiled then.
“Oh, I think I’ve proven my point well enough.”
Tor shrugged. Maybe he had at that.
“Well, if your point is that you’re off your rocker and a dick-head, I think you’re doing just fine. Did you have some other point? Because notice, I didn’t set you up with an appointment with a death squad when everyone else was having a conversation about what to do. God, haven’t you ever heard of venting? Didn’t you think that Rich was going to come pat me on the back and tell me to stop being an a-hole and that Connie was going to give me a hug and I’d back down with some minor face saving gesture from Debri house? Haven’t you noticed, in all of this, that, no matter how hurt I’ve felt, how injured I’ve been, I’ve never, ever, seriously injured, much less killed anyone? What — the fuck — is wrong with you?”
Tor put the dangerous device back around his neck for safe keeping, then crossed his arms and glared at the military counselor. He wanted to tap his foot at the guy, but figured that would be a little too farm wife to be taken seriously just now. After a minute of silence Tor looked at the King.
Hands going out, palms to the sky Tor gave the man a puzzled look. “Did he at least ask your advice before doing this? Cause if you told him to kill me, that kind of puts an end to our friendship. It’s a hard and fast rule of mine. I just made it up right this moment, but you know, it really makes sense don’t you think?”
“He didn’t let me in on it at all. I wouldn’t have authorized it if he had let me in on it either. I’m not very pleased right now Smythe. Consider yourself under arrest and confined to your rooms until the council hears this. What happens then will depend a lot on what your exact orders were to these men.”
So, Tor wondered out loud, had Smythe been the one really behind trying to have him killed then? Or maybe this council if they were responsible for the man? No one seemed to know. It was really a grand situation. Tor shrugged.
“So, I kind of need to get out of town now I guess, and not tell anyone where I’m going either. I can’t keep fighting the whole military by myself, not forever. You saw how well these guys did and there were only eight of them. They even used my own weapons against me! The ones I gave you for safe keeping Rich. Not to attack me with. That’s not a small point either. Kind of ticks me off to be honest. I can’t be safe anywhere can I?” He tried not to pout about it, but the idea hit him hard. What little sense of security he’d had was gone now. Tor couldn’t even go home, because Two Bends was even less ready to fight off an attack than this place was. At least here the army, presumably at least, wouldn’t attack innocent people to try and get to him.
That… would have worked.
If they’d grabbed the King and Queen or… Or even some serving girl or man that he didn’t know, maybe Burks or Laura the cook… He would have had to give up to protect them, even if he knew the bad guys were going to kill him. Thank god they hadn’t thought of that yet. He needed to get clear, fast.
Richard walked over and patted the shield behind his shoulders, nothing connected of course, but the gesture was right. “Don’t be silly Tor. I can assure you that this won’t happen again, and at the very least any new threat will be novel.” He smiled and nodded to his wife. “Connie will see to your safety from now on, at least while you’re here. That way if anyone dares try to attack you, we can simply execute them out of hand. It’s one of the Queen’s rights you know, the writ of full protection. Even I can’t breach it. It’s actually the only law that I can legally be put to death for breaking. I’ll have it announced now, if you wish dear?”
“Do it.” The Queen’s voice was steely and hard. She glared at Smythe as she said it and the man actually winced. It sounded like a bigger deal than Tor would have thought.
A vision filled his mind for a moment, of him being ambushed by more black garbed military men and the Queen suddenly jumping out and doing battle with them. It involved a lot of swirling of skirts and hair pulling. Possibly some biting. Not that the woman wouldn’t know how to protect herself for real, she was probably better trained than he was, it was just funnier the way he thought of it.
Smythe certainly didn’t like the idea at all, so maybe she was more dangerous than Tor thought?
“Your majesty! I assure you such extreme measures aren’t needed…” The older man said, his cream and yellow colored robes drifting slightly in the breeze.
Connie glared again, but it was the King that spoke.
“Obviously they are. In my entire reign, no one at this palace has been attacked while a guest here. Not in my name at any rate. Now my own staff is taking it on themselves to decide who should be assassinated? I think not. Guards, please escort the counselor back to his rooms and ensure that he stays there pending the decision of the council.”
Tor just stood, not really knowing what was happening. Queen’s protection? So was he being adopted as a pet or something? He had to ask out loud, because he kept coming up blank on this. It had never, at least to his recollection, been covered in the little schoolhouse in Two Bends. Everyone gave him a look that he interpreted as “silly bumpkin” but that didn’t tell him what he needed to know.
“So what is it? This Queen’s protection. Don’t I get to know before I accept it? Because if it means I have to become a eunuch or something I think I’d rather just go hide out in the woods.” After all, just because women didn’t like him, that didn’t mean that he couldn’t have sex ever, did it? There were professionals for that kind of thing, and really, it wasn’t like he was disfigured or diseased so if he had the money, they might not say no. The ones in the Capital had seemed willing enough and were even nice to him when he told them he didn’t have the money at the time. That they worked for gold was, well what made them professionals, right? Everyone worked for coin. He wasn’t that awful… was he? The idea left him feeling a bit dirty, an artifact of his early upbringing, but it was something to cling to at least.
Rolph ducked his head and turned away. After a few seconds of shaking shoulders Tor got that the big guy was laughing at him, but no one else spoke. What he needed right now was… Varley. She’d tell him what this was. Eye narrowing he asked where the girl was, so that he could get some answers. Rolph finally got his laughter, if not his face, under control enough to explain.
“Tor, it’s not that big of a thing, just, well historically speaking the Queen’s protection has only been used to protect the Queen’s lovers from a jealous husband. So if they announce this it will basically be taken as everyone admitting that you and mom are, you know, together.”
Ah. Tor frowned. Well he wouldn’t let her do it, would he? Let them do it. He had too much respect for them both, for all of them, to let that happen. Even if they didn’t like him at all. Connie’s name couldn’t be linked to someone like him, he told them, his voice going soft. Then he went inside the guest house to get his luggage. Running off and hiding would be way easier with some gold on hand, plus he had his working supplies and some things he promised to do, like those rivers for Afrak and building a wall for Ellen Ward.