Envoy to Earth (44 page)

Before he could go on Duchess Keen spoke up, from her place
down the table.

"One of the men, McKenzie, worked his way into my
household staff. When Prince Gerent and King Dorgal came to question him as to
his involvement, he attacked them. In a combat rage. They defeated him and took
his head. He didn't seem to be exactly sane. Still, I stand responsible for
allowing him in." She bowed her head, but no one bothered to so much as
glare at her.

Count Ward still seemed ready to hit someone, and kept
looking at the King, as if it had all been his fault. It took a bit, but Gerent
understood that, after a moment. He was still playing his role as a good
traitor, blaming the man for things that he couldn't have controlled at all and
in the end had tried very hard to fix. The idea made Gerent blink a few times,
as the large man looked at the King evenly, his voice accusing.

"But this
Jimson
, the one that ordered it, that
caused this, you let him go free? You didn't even try to stop him? It was
his
fault!" A giant fist struck the table, breaking it, as sturdy as it was,
but no sparks of aura came off the man, so they all stood their ground. Well, a
few stepped back from the wooden slab, but no one fled the room.

King Richard looked away.

"The responsibility for a sworn man's actions stands
with the Liege Lord. Always. You know that as well as I, Marvin..." The
thing there was that Gerent had indicated enough of that one that he thought
the King would have understood.

Which, most likely, he had. That was suddenly clear. Both of
them, no matter the real and raw the emotions at the moment, were still playing
their game of intrigue with the others. Luckily for him he wasn't involved in
that one.

"Jimson... I found him about three weeks ago." He
looked at his intended bride and really wondered what she was going to think
about this next bit. It would be enough that most women would probably break
the engagement. He hoped not, but if it had to go that way, then it did.

Count Ward slammed the table again, but not as hard this
time, and glared a bit at Gerent. It looked pretty real.

"Did you let
him
have an honorable death too? I
know you wouldn't let him go, not if he was guilty of such a thing, but... he
at least should have been hanged as a common criminal!"

Letting his voice go low, Gerent ignored the man, and the
King, and looked directly at Pet, turning toward her. Then he let his eyes go
downward.

"I... Hired five men. We took him to a remote location,
and then forced him to go over everything he did to you. Then, for the same
amount of time, the men... did that to him." He nodded a bit, then glanced
at Count Ward. "
Everything
. When that was done, earlier today, I
killed him with my own hand and buried him, then sealed the grave with focus
stone, and left it otherwise unmarked."

A warm hand touched his, as Petra clasped it, pulling him
toward her a little bit. She didn't explain, or look too upset by what he'd
just said. She understood it however. Everyone there did.

After a moment Count Ward stormed out, along with his wife,
who glanced at Petra and him before they went. It was a worried look.

The King glanced at the broad back of the man leaving, and
went blank. His face nearly a thing of stone, it was so unmoving.

"We can only hope that our efforts were enough to save
innocent lives. Thank you all for coming. I hope the next time we meet, it will
be under better circumstances."

There was a soft murmur from the room, but no one swore
loyalty or dropped to a knee to beg forgiveness for what they'd done before. It
wasn't until everyone else left that the King waved to him, indicating that he
should stay. Petra certainly didn't move. It was either the plan or she was
going to insist that the King send her away if it was about something else. He
didn't, just taking the Queen's hand, reflecting what they were doing.

"I'm very sorry. I should have seen to that situation
myself, but other matters pressed on me. I do hope that this won't impact your
coming wedding negatively? It was a dark chapter, but it has lifted some now, I
think. I
hope
."

Then, as if it made total sense, and he hadn't just spent
weeks helping to torture a man, and having him raped over and again, a packet
of letters and contracts came out, from various nobles to people in Harmony.
Tiera, Tor, Tim and Patty, Karen and Smythe. The bulk of them were actually for
Sam Builder, however, the Ancient of Noram, which was good to see. He just took
them as if it were perfectly normal to do so.

"I should have these there tomorrow. Right now..."
At that moment he didn't know what else to do, but smiling, he looked at Petra,
who seemed somber and like she was thinking deep things that he probably didn't
want to know about. "For now, I think that I should spend some time with
the people I love."

That earned a little hand squeeze at least. When they left,
a few minutes later, the dark skinned woman next to him didn't speak. He could
have worried over it, but figured that it was probably just a sign that she was
going to break things off. It wasn't until they flew back to the space craft
that she looked at him directly, and leaned in for a kiss.

"You love me? I knew it! My natural charm, wining the
day, again." She over emphasized the words, playfully, but he nodded. He
kind of did love her, didn't he? It was a real enough thing.

"Well, it really
did
, so I can't take that one
away from you. The good looks didn't
hurt
, but it was
mainly
that
other thing. Your charm. So, are we still getting married?" Love or not,
that was something that might be going away, only it was clear it wasn't.

"You bet we are. I was thinking, we need to get a
house. Where should we put the first one?"

He had an answer for that, and packed away the Tim-craft
after they climbed out. It was dark outside, but the space ship glowed a faint
blue color, making it easy to see, in the new landing area outside of the city.

"I was thinking that we should try Harmony first. We
could start our own little city, if you want, to make room for others that will
want to move there. Then, I don't know, but County Ward seems like a good
place. As long as the weather doesn't get too bad. I'm getting worried about
that. These storms and floods..."

She looked at the craft and moved toward it at a quick walk.

"Tell me about it. The Ancients are dead and still we're
suffering from what they did. Millions have died and more are going to, even
with all that's being done. Harmony, that sounds nice though. Let's do that. In
fact, we can go and see to that right now. There's only two weeks until the
wedding."

Gerent kissed her on the cheek, and held her hand as they
climbed up the ramp to the ship. Then, a few minutes later, they took off,
going straight up into the sky.

Looking down he realized something. No matter how much
damage had been done, or how hard life was, looking at Earth from space, from
far enough away, it was still lovely. A blue and white ball of clouds and
ocean, with just a few hints of land here and there. Even the massive spinning
storms were beautiful, in their own way. Deadly too though.

For the moment however, he needed to get to his own planet.
His new home. Because he was the Envoy, and that meant making sure that the messages
got where they needed to.

Thinking that, he touched the bottom plate on the arm rest
and jumped, doing most of the work in an instant. Then, holding Petra's hand,
they finished the journey, side by side.

Together.

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