Friends and Enemies (Gwen Farris Book 5) (33 page)

She shook her head. That wasn't going to get things fixed, and eventually Kate
was
going to be able to walk off, once the ankle was healed fully. Just being away in the country might not be enough to stop that. Now, a small island might do it, but even that wasn't certain. The woman could swim, after all.

There was laughter from inside. It was a dark sound, but real enough.

"I don't swim that well. Still, I see this as needed. I... Know what to do. I'm sorry Gwen. I... I got you into this. Really, I'm every bit as selfish and bad as everyone always told me I was, aren't I? I always thought that it didn't matter. What if a few peasants were used and tossed aside while I took what I wanted from the world? That's what they're there for, isn't it? Then I was exposed to you, always doing the right thing, and seeing everyone as your better. That isn't true either, you know. A few people might be your
equal
in this life, but very few are actually worth more than you, Gwen. I apologize for all of it. It was all my fault." The words were emotional, thick, and clearly not Gwen speaking.

It was enough for Ferdinand to look at her hopefully.

"You have an idea, perhaps, Miss Vernor?"

"I do, your majesty. First, Gwen was just thinking that an island might be enough to keep me. Which it might, if I fail in my plan. I..." She stopped and looked over at Beth, and sneered a bit. Gwen recognized the feeling. "Not that I love being the slave of a cold fish, but what if I hide Gwen away as hard and tightly as I can, then allowed you to use that device on me? I can't promise it will save her from the effects, but if it does, then only I would be left a slave. Then I can be put to finishing the plan that Gwen has, and she can go and live a real life?"

Ferdinand looked over at Beth, who flipped both palms up, which meant resting the now open wooden box in her lap.

"That... Might work? The worst that happens is what we have planned anyway, I think. It would take Katherine's cooperation however. Her will would be required to act as a shield, and we cannot compel her to do it. It would have to be her choice."

The king nodded.

"Which she just offered, without reservation, I believe? It isn't enough to make good the betrayal of our Kingdom, Miss Vernor, but it
will
allow you to live, and perhaps give you a way to begin on that effort. I have no thoughts against it, if it can be done. Anyone? Now is the time to voice your concerns, if you have them."

No one did, it seemed. Even Gwen couldn't find any. It really might not work, but then she'd lost three years of her life in what had felt like no more than a night's sleep. That had to indicate she wasn't getting
anything
directly during that time. Kate's brain would change though, once addicted. That might be enough to hook her, too.

Then again, if they didn't try, no one would ever know.

"Do it. If it works, we can make new plans, and if it doesn't, well, then we still make new plans. Either way. It almost doesn't matter, right?"

Her own mouth moved again, this time to smile.

"Except that it
does
, of course, Miss Farris. It was
always
a matter of time before others worked out how to rift. Erin was able to figure it out, and that meant that the rest of the world would have eventually. Perhaps I sped that along, but they were close to it anyway, when I got there. The things I've done to you, taking your world, the good things you once had, the
riches
that you haven't told anyone here about that were yours... I can't return that to you, but perhaps I can truly remove myself from your way, and allow you the life you should have had? If not... I don't know. It's all I can do."

Then, almost as if she were falling asleep, Gwen moved away from the world, into the darkness. There was nothing left then, other than black. That and the sense the world was about to rip open, allowing pure terror to spill out and consume her. Again, she screamed into the eternal dark.

For a moment, or possibly longer, she had to wonder if she were ever going to come back to the real world. It could be a trick, if Katherine had worked out how to do it. Maybe reverse the sense of pleasure in some magical way, so that Gwen was hit with it all, leaving her free to run away. Except that she wasn't doing that on a broken ankle.

Then everything went away, until she opened her eyes. Bethany stood there, looking at her, hopefully.

"Gwen... Are you all right?"

"Um... Yes?" She felt fine, actually. Normal, and more than a little bit relaxed. She was sitting on the same sofa that she had been and the king was there.

Still wearing the same grass stained trousers, which meant it hadn't been all that long, she didn't think. He was the kind of person that
would
change, and probably burn the clothing if it couldn't be cleaned well enough. More to the point, his people would do it for him. Ferdinand wasn't that wasteful by nature, she didn't think.

After all, he hadn't thrown
her
away.

Beth clapped happily, and then leaned in to hug her.

"It worked! I told Katherine that if she let you back out for a full day, I'd give her ten minutes of reward time. You truly feel no effects from this? I could give you a jolt, too, if you want? I have the device right here..." She was being leading, and testing her, Gwen knew. It was a bit tempting, she realized, having felt it once before for about ten seconds.

She managed to shake her head however, which wouldn't be able to take place if she were truly hooked.

"Nope. I'm good. Perfect really. So, does this mean that I'm free now? I mean, other than when Kate has training to do? I really do think we can work out a shield for rifting. Then..." She stopped and looked at the king, understanding she was about to go all subversive on him. He got that too, and so did Count Goebbels, who was still there, watching her happily enough. "Then, once we have that, we should
give
the plans for it to anyone in the world that wants them. It will take rifting off the board as a real weapon, or at least as more than a hit and run tactic, but Kate probably wasn't wrong. Eventually everyone is going to have it. This world doesn't need that kind of thing. You can't use it without destroying the whole planet anyway. Not in any kind of massive way."

The Count looked annoyed then, "we can't? Why not?"

Ferdinand looked at the man, and grimaced a bit.

"Dust winter. We've known that for some time. If we use more than twenty rifters at one time, we could set off a new ice age. Well. I can't promise that we'll be that unselfish, Miss Farris, but if you provide the shield techniques, I think we might be persuaded to at least
consider
it. In the mean time, you should work on this new method that might come of this here. Imagine, being able to train a portion of a person's mind with pleasure, and leave them free the rest of the time? Amazing, if possible."

He glanced at Beth, and winked,
warmly
.

"I'll see you soon? If this is stable, then Gwen can be assigned to guard my queen, which should work nicely, I think. Unless the two of you are planning to go to Aubrey?"

Gwen looked away, feeling a bit guilty. She probably needed to see to that one. Poor Christophe had been left hanging, for years.

"He already got married, right? It's been several years, so I just kind of assumed that would be the case. He's a catch, and didn't need to leave himself off the market, what with everything." She tried to get ready for the news, and still winced when she heard it.

Bethany told her, seeming sad about it. Like it was the worst thing to come of what Kate had done, by far.

"Duke Aubrey
did
marry. He also provided guards for the Vernors to make certain they wouldn't be harmed by anyone seeking to punish them for Katherine's misdoings. It would be a good idea to go and see him, I think. Also a very
hard
thing to do, as it represents loss." She actually glared, for almost a whole second, at the king. Given that she had actual training that prevented that kind of thing, it meant a lot.

The man gave a single hard nod.

"Understood. I'll leave that up to you, but, Gwen, my cousin holds
you
no ill will. Even though things didn't work out for you, it would do no harm to make sure you remain friends. I give this only as friendly advice, since I think of you as a friend as well." He bowed, since
obviously
that was what you did with your pals.

She rolled her eyes, but grinned at him.

"Great. That will go over like a blanket made of bricks I bet. Still, I should at least send a letter. Then I just get some cosmetic surgery, and change my name and boom, presto, I won't be the single most hated person in history anymore. Booya." She tried to work out how to do that one, but Count Goebbels flipped a single palm up, as if to say that wasn't a huge problem.

"Leave that portion to me, dear? It will help if you have a working shield ready. Shall we call it a year? I don't wish to push, but the sooner we're on this, the better. Then we'll simply reintroduce you as the savior of mankind. I think any past connections to a body thief and traitor might be mended that way, rather nicely. Particularly if it can be arranged before a rift war happens. Taking that fear away can, perhaps, be made to look like what was happening the whole time. Like it was a mere trick, to allow you the resources needed to save the world. Again."

She nodded.

"Yep. Now all we have to do is survive until then, and make it actually happen. Piece of cake."

Bethany looked at her funny and touched her arm, gently.

"You mean to say that it's simple, even if it truly won't be?"

"That's it exactly! Though... Now I actually
do
want a piece of cake. I'm starving." She rubbed her middle, and rose, to float off toward the kitchen. Everyone else followed along.

It was nice. Almost like having friends, or something.

Chapter fourteen

Gwen got a surprise the next day, since she'd kind of figured they'd go and get to work, almost immediately. At least the guarding the queen portion of things. It didn't happen, and the reason was obvious, as soon as she thought about it for half a second.

She had a freaking broken ankle. Guess who the Special Service didn't need watching for deadly threats? Gimpy her, stumbling around in pain. She smiled as Beth tried to say that without being too harsh about it.

"Adam mentioned that you might need to... Rest for a while? Rebuild a little, perhaps?"

Gwen snorted, "okay, I get you. I'm not doing a lot until I fix some things. Anyway, we can go over what's needed for the new techniques? I think I have the basic concept down, so it won't be too hard. It's a combination of different things, null radiatives, but I want to catch only teletransport instead of everything at once. I haven't seen anyone do it, but I think we can. It will be useful for making secure zones, too. No one will be able to go in that way. Here..." She outlined the basics, her eyes squinting after a little bit, waiting for the hold Katherine had put on herself to break.

A shattering and world ending co-opting of Gwen's reality. Once again.

Beth didn't get it all, but that wasn't important. All she had to do was learn how to get
Kate
to be able to do it. Gwen still needed to work it all out though. In the end that led to several days of experimentation, culminating in
her
sitting in the front room while three different Westmorlands she didn't know tried to teletransport out of the room to the back yard. She actually managed to stop them from going anywhere, as long as they were all within about ten feet of her. Further away than that was a problem.

Kind of a big one, though that evening she got a visit from Adam. It went differently than she expected.

Beth was polite about it, but Gwen kind of figured there was going to be belittling, and screaming. Instead the man smiled at her. It was creepy, because she instantly had to think it was part of a trap.

"I hear that your plan is working already? I have to say I didn't really imagine you'd have any success at all, much less manage anything this soon."

She smiled then and shrugged, her blouse pulling over her chest a little, since it was an old thing that Kate had worn years before, when she'd been a teen. It very nearly fit, but it wasn't exactly perfect. Someone had gotten bigger across the chest since she was fifteen. Lucky her.

No one noticed that though, since it would have been rude.

"I know, go figure, right? It isn't perfect yet. But yes, if I was right next to a rifter, I could stop them. The range
has
to be increased, by miles or more, and ideally it needs to be attached to a radiative that can be turned on and off. Otherwise it will stop teletransport too, and I learned how to do that the hard way, so I don't want to ruin it."

The man nodded, as if they
weren't
enemies. Frenemies. They weren't going to try and kill each other after all. It was important to keep that kind of thing in mind.

"Understood. Keep me informed as to your progress? Also, Miss Farris, I... hear that your family is returning to Wessington? How do you feel about that? I was instructed to ask, in case it's going to be an issue."

The name of the city there took her off guard for a moment,
then
she had to work out who her family was. The man didn't mean Billy, since no one was ever going to be ready for him. That was his thing. Even the Westmorlands thought he was a weirdo, and that was saying something. Part of that was the thing where most of them couldn't really understand that he was an alien. They all just thought of him as Darren, the Westmorland version of himself, who'd traded places with him while learning to teletransport.

No, Adam meant that the Vernors were coming back. To their own home. It
was
a bit nerve-wracking to find that out, because they might be mad at her. For not keeping Kate reigned in enough. Under control and managed, so that the girl couldn't get out of hand. That was kind of her fault, even if she couldn't have done it really. It was hard to admit, but true.