Envoy to Earth (42 page)

In a rage like he was in, there was no point in talking
about anything. Clearly he knew what was coming, didn't he? It wasn't what he
deserved, but rather what the world required of him. Gerent and Dorgal took
turns fighting with the man, knocking him around and to the ground, over and
again. He had a natural shield, due to the rage he was in, but that didn't mean
it was as good as what either of them had. It didn't for instance, stop the
force lance that Dorgal had with him. Or the Cutter that Gerent finally pulled
out, taking the man's head.

It was a huge mess, over all. The room was a complete loss,
he was willing to bet. For a moment he felt horrible about it, until he
realized he could
probably
just send some gold along for repairs. Or
just leave that to the Duchess, since she was the one that hired an obviously
insane asshole that
had
just tried to kill them. Plus, given the sobbing
and slight moaning coming from the next room, she got that part of things. It
was telling. Well, that and the fact that she muttered too, and said as much.

Gerent moved into the hallway, but only after looking at
Dorgal and making sure he was doing all right. He didn't even seem worried. In
fact, he just looked blank. It was probably better than the fear that was on
his own face. He'd just killed yet
another
person. It was becoming a
habit with him, and that couldn't be allowed. Being a noble now... That meant
he could easily end up being a monster himself. Like a lot of them were.

Not that you had to be powerful in wealth or title to be
that. McKenzie showed that pretty clearly, didn't he?

In the outer hall, the Duchess stood, holding a weapon. It
was only a knife, but she hadn't fled past that point, and seemed relieved when
they walked out of the room, instead of the giant that had been raging inside.

"He...Kind of ruined that room. Sorry about that, but
it was a combat rage thing." Gerent had heard that one before. Even at the
Palace of King Richard, a person that accidently slipped into that state was
largely held blameless for what they did.

The red and gray haired older woman, who was tall enough, at
six-six or seven, looked up into his eyes. Then she glanced at her hand, and
stared at the blade there.

"Is he... No longer in my employ?" The words had a
weird tone to them, but there was a shaking to go with them. A reaction that
everyone had when they were faced with death. Unless they were insane. Not
everyone showed the result as clearly, but it influenced them all, from the
strongest to the weakest man alive. That having been him for most of his life,
so he knew that one well. He shook a bit himself, but didn't let it worry him.
Pride had been a thing that Gerent couldn't afford. He still probably wouldn't
be able to.

"He passed, unfortunately. I took his head off."
He waited for her to suggest he pay for the damage, and decided that it would
be better to do that than make her hate him, anyway. Not that he carried gold
on him like that. "It will take a day or two for me to get coin around to
pay for what was done in there. I have more work to do, so it might be longer
than that. I... How much should I send?"

To her credit the woman just shook her head no.

"He was my man, no matter how short his employment. A
sworn man, so claiming that this wasn't an attack on you rings hollow. I...
will of course put my affairs in order." She bowed, but there was no
apology to go along with it.

That made sense. She hadn't done anything wrong, had she?
Her move here was... Well,
that
would be down to his family, adopted or
not. Wouldn't it? Harmony might be a new power, but there was little chance of
Duchy Keen surviving a fight with them, if it came to it.

Dorgal looked away, but didn't comment on anything. Gerent however,
did.

"Nonsense, Duchess Keen. He was a
very
bad man
that tricked his way into your home. He attacked me, because he knew his own
end was near, nothing more. A personal issue, if you will. We came for
him
,
so even that could be looked at as me not managing this well enough. I beg
forgiveness for that. I'm truly sorry." He bowed, going low, but didn't
kneel. It was a thing from a street performance he'd done once. It was a made
up thing that he and his partner at that time had come up with. Baron, had been
his name. The only one that Gerent had ever known him as. Not Baron anyone,
since that would have been making a claim to a title. Just Baron.

The man...had really known the ways of nobles, and they'd
skirted breaking the law over and again, using that information to create some
shows that had truly been something good, until the man just left one day,
before Gerent woke. There was no mention of his leaving, but that wasn't too
surprising. Back then no one stayed with him for that long, did they?

He wasn't truly certain that it had ended either. That part
of his life.

Baron however, the oddly named city man, who was a bit too
clever for the world they lived in, had explained the meaning of different
apologies. You didn't kneel to a person you hadn't wronged. It didn't matter
who they were. If the King had been there instead, he would have only bowed as
deep. He was sorry for the mess, and distressing the lady, but that was it.

So he stood after a moment.

She nodded slowly, and then moved around Dorgal to peek into
the room, not entering. She didn't go pale, but after a moment she did come
back to them and bowed to first him and then Dorg.

"I think I understand, gentlemen. Thank you then, for
your aid in uncovering this man, before he had a chance to harm any of mine
here."

He bowed, this time going lower. It was, for dealing with a
noble, a rather nicely done thing on her part. First she'd offered her own
life, in a way that meant she truly expected to die that day, to protect those
she served. Then she changed the road they were on smoothly, and turned their
little scene in the other room into them giving her help with a problem.

They
had
, but it wasn't why they'd come.

Gerent smiled. "I'll send that gold along in a few
days, if possible. This is too gruesome to leave on you, Duchess."

They bowed again several times and she patted both him and
Dorgal on the arm, and then called in several sturdy looking men to take the
parts of McKenzie away. That... Started another fight.

Luckily it wasn't
that
big of a happening. The guards
were McKenzie's fellow sworn men, and didn't know what had happened, or at
least why. So they fought in the hallway, knocking holes in the walls with
their force lances, as Dorgal and he just stood this time, understanding that
they weren't going to be harmed.

The Duchess didn't even call out for them to stop. It was
pretty clear that the woman didn't see a good way out of things this time,
since her men were attacking them both, without cause. It was the other side of
the Liege Lord thing, wasn't it? If your men misbehaved, you were punished for
what they did, because, after all, it could only take place on your orders. She
just pulled her dagger and tapped her chest to turn her shield off, then
stabbed the blade at her own stomach hard enough that the guardsmen that
noticed it called out in shock and stopped fighting instantly.

"Duchess!"

It was Dorgal that got there first, putting his hand in
front of the tip of the weapon, stopping it with his shield.

"None of that now. This is just a little
misunderstanding. These men didn't know that their fellow was a wanted man. He
fooled many. Let's not make an issue of this. I'm sure that Prince Gerent
didn't take offense,
did
you?" He looked hopeful.

In fact, a good part of the look told Gerent that, if he
had
a problem with a little attack amongst allies, he'd better eat it. He
understood the concept however. You just didn't buy trouble if you could help
it. That had this situation written all over it, in letters even he could read.
Glaring, if subtly done.

Gerent nodded. "I agree. Let's explain this. I can't
give you all the information gentlemen, but I think you'll understand..."
They didn't, until he got to the part about what the men that had worked with
McKenzie had done, after they found out they were tricked. He didn't use
Petra's name, but he didn't doubt that they could figure it out.

"We can't let this out, for other reasons. Please keep
it to yourselves? It's a matter of some delicacy."

They didn't speak about it after that. In fact, the men
didn't even speak at all, they just bowed, and Dorgal rolled his eyes as they
tried to leave.

"He
meant
to ask you not to speak about it, until
it's resolved. Not for you all to kill yourselves to keep his secret. Just, you
get the feeling here, let's not tell
all
the spies at once, shall
we?"

One of the men looked relieved at least. He wasn't even the
youngest of them.

They smiled a lot and bowed for a while until the body was
gone, then left, setting up the fast craft without much hesitation, hoping to
leave before the next wave of attacks came.

Gerent got them to the ship, and felt the weariness of it. A
bone deep realization that there was still more to do, and as far as he knew,
it was going to be hard to figure it all out. Maybe impossible. Or it might be,
if he tried to do it all himself. He had, if not noble friends, then at least
connections, now. That was worth almost as much.

Nearly.

He fretted over what to do next, who to approach for aid in
this. Finding Jimson. How did you locate one man in a place as large as the
Capital of the whole land? A single thread in a blanket. Who could know that
sort of information? Shrugging he went to Tor's place and settled the craft in
the landing area. That being the large, mainly hard packed earth section, in
front of the magical palace. There were no festivals going on, but he and
Dorgal had to wait for about half an hour, so that everyone could get out of
the way. Then he waved to the man.

"I'm going to take the Tim-craft. Can you get into
orbit for about... I don't know, until I call you? In orbit over the Capital,
in case I need you?"

There were some raised eyebrows, but he agreed after a
while. That left the area open for people to walk in and get ice. Gerent didn't
have a clue what to do next. Oh, he could call in the smart people, and beg for
help, but that didn't...

He had what he needed though, didn't he? Everyone kept
hinting that Collette and her family were spies. That hadn't slipped past him.
What was the point of that kind of person if they didn't have information? In
fact, he'd heard about people buying packets of information from them. That
sounded kind of random, like you just got the latest news, or had when he'd
heard about it, but it was a place to start.

The next part was going to be a bit of work, he thought,
except that... Well, would it? He knew Collette, and she'd gotten several of
the new communication devices. Was she the kind of person that would have given
her own father one of those?

Betting that at least Bonita was, Ger looked at his own
device and found Baron Coltress in about four minutes. He didn't really know
what to say to the man about his problem, but taking a deep breath, he hit the
sigil.

At first nothing happened as he stood in the middle of the
open area between the great walled city, all tan and huge, with a magical river
on the top, and a brilliant white and cream palace that had real gold trim.
Just as he was about to give up, only thirty seconds later, since he was
feeling nervous, a good looking slightly older man, blond like Collette,
answered, his face looking professional.

"Coltress here. How may I help you today, sir?"

"Hello. Um, Gerent Lairdgren. I need to find a man,
that may, or may not, be in the Capital. His name is Jimson, and he was until
about a year ago, or a little more, he was a sworn man of Count Rodriguez. The
dead one. He's probably sought similar work, and I don't think he's hiding, but
I can't guarantee that."

He wondered if the man was going to deny knowing anything at
all, or even suggest that he find someone else to help him with that kind of
thing. Instead he stroked his chin lightly, and then nodded, very slowly and
almost imperceptibly.

"I'll need some time to look at my records. What would
this be worth to you, do you think?"

Gerent thought about that and then shrugged. It was pretty
important to him. Not on the level that he'd sell his new life for it, or the
pain of an innocent person, but other than that, he was willing to deal.

"Five diamonds, each the size of my thumbnail, all
identical. If you don't want them when you see them, I'll give you a thousand
gold for it. I don't want you to be taken by surprise, when I find this man,
he's going to wish he could die before the end comes. I mean that too."

The man whistled. Kind of like Patty did sometimes when
impressed. Maybe it was a spy thing?

"That sounds like a grand bargain for me, except for
the part where cheating you would be worse for business than the gems are
worth. The going rate for this kind of thing would be about twenty gold. More
if it takes active work to find what you need."

Gerent nodded, and then smiled, not wanting to look stupid
or naive.

"I understand. I'll back my original offer if you can
have that for me inside a week. Sooner is better. Try not to let anyone else
know about this? I also need to hire some particular men... I can handle that
however. Thank you. Connect with me when you find something?"

"It will be done."

It was a strange way to say it, but he tapped off then,
since the other man had already. Then he walked slowly, heading to Tor's place.
He had his own little house too, he recalled. It wasn't a vast palace, but he
and Boxy had done well enough there, hadn't they? It wasn't enough for a fine
lady like Petra, so he'd need something closer to town, or at least some city.
A bigger place, like what Tor or Timon had. Something that she could be proud
of.