“Patricia… Do you realize how much it would cost to purchase something like this?” Her voice sounding awed.
Trice smiled and shrugged, “More than I have on me?”
“More than the value of Noram probably.” Heather shook her head and regarded Tor with wide eyes.
“I'm… not certain I'm just saying that either. You couldn't afford to purchase a work like this. I don't think anyone in the world could. I wouldn't have thought it was possible at all. Not even the King could get something like this for gold. Probably not even for a landed title.” The woman kissed it herself and closed her eyes.
That got Tor to shrug.
“Right, well, you know, that just means that if someone needs one, and I have time to make it for them, they get it for free. I should eventually have devices for all the limbs, so if someone needs one, you can just send them to me for it? Or, you know, I can send some over to you and you can just distribute them to your shops and retail outlets to be given away to people that need them? If that's not…” Tor didn't know what it wasn't, but suddenly everyone in the room was bowing towards him. He bowed quickly, baffled. Heather walked over and gave him a hug, which made Tor a little uneasy. She was a bit older, but kind of hot. Also his friends mother.
“We can do that, Master Tor. Simply let us know what you'd have us do.”
Then, of course, changing the topic without warning, Sara wanted to join their merry band of “visitors” and grabbed a rack of wine bottles for the purpose, but they couldn't fit everyone in the back of the golden wood and enameled cream of the royal carriage. Not without sitting on top of Royal Guards and Wensa rather politely informed them that wouldn't work. They needed the guards to be ready, not half smothered in young bodies as fun as that sounded. The other guy smiled and shook his head a little.
“Drawback of the job.” He intoned, his voice deep, matching his size. The guy wasn't the biggest man Tor had ever seen, but had to weigh over three hundred pounds, all muscle. Wrapped around a core of death.
Which right now was chuckling at them a little.
Duh. Sometimes he was a moron. Tor sorted his amulets and found the carriage, a tiny disk of focus stone, white like the rest, with a glowing horse on it. Holding it at arm’s length with his left hand a simple tap got the thing to appear.
It was purple on the lower half and deep blue on top, but otherwise it looked a lot like a regular carriage. A box on wheels, except as he touched the amulets sigil, which was held in the very nose of the vehicle, the whole thing stretched back, becoming longer, adding seats inside. Then he made the top transparent, leaving a solid shield in place, but making it look like a box open to the air. There were no wheels, because it didn't need them, it just floated about a foot from the ground.
Opening the door he waved everyone inside. Wensa didn't want to however, not trusting something new that she hadn't practiced in for years.
“We can't be trapped inside if something happens, we may react incorrectly or make an error that costs our charges lives.”
Tor nodded, he could understand that. New things were always a risk, even the ones he made. Touching the amulet again he made a second layer at the back, with an uncovered but comfortable seat. Raising them well above the street, the shape much more like the top seat some carriages would have for guards, something that Wensa had practiced with most of her life no doubt. Then he put in steps going up the side. It was all in purple now. That proved to be good enough for the woman, who wasn't just trying to be a pain it seemed.
Climbing in the driver’s seat, directly in the middle of the front, Tor placed his hand on the controls. It worked like a Not-flyer really, except the purple rounded hand piece he grabbed hovered in the air on its own. It felt like smooth glass in his palm, finger wrapping around it easily. It could go about as fast as a military Not-flyer, most likely at least. Possibly faster actually, he hadn't tried the new “magic carriage”, but it had some extra features he wasn't telling anyone about yet. For now he went slow, not much faster than the carriage from before. Rolph called out to the driver to take that back to the palace, which was a bit of wisdom Tor lacked.
The man would have sat there waiting for them if no other instructions came. He may try to get food and water, but drivers had been known to wait days without leaving in a situation like that. It was something Tor needed to internalize instantly he knew. Protect your people, even from themselves. Check.
Driving the new magic carriage was pretty simply, as long as he didn't go too fast or get lazy and stop looking for people walking out into the street. Half the time it was like they didn't even see the rather large craft until they nearly walked into it. It was this level of attention to the outside world and the much better visibility he had compared to a real carriage that allowed him to see the girl walking towards the new craft before she noticed them. She didn't look very happy, a little miserable really, if Tor could judge such things from a distance, but she'd still hurt his friend, so she must pay.
What could he do though? Beating her up would be wrong, and just make him the bad guy, provided he won the fight, which he wasn't certain of by any means. There wasn't much time to think though… What would have bugged him after he'd broken up with Trice?
“Um, Sara? Quick… Start making out with Karina, um, drop your top or something… be as naughty as you legally can. Both of you look like your having fun, quick!” His voice was hurried and sounded stressed even to himself. It probably came across as a squeak in the back.
Whatever it sounded like, Sara didn't pause but half a second, took her top down and started kissing the Princess. Good kissing to, with enough passion to sell it as real most likely. Tor couldn't turn around to watch, but he saw the look on Lilli’s face, and as they passed so did Karina. Tor heard a sudden gasp of air.
“Tor… that was brilliant! Use me and throw me away will you. Bitch… Not a week out and I'm riding in a magic vehicle no one has ever even heard of before, making out with a girl better looking than she is and have a smile on my face. See, I do have friends. Real ones. She couldn't even get a date before she met me hardly and only got her eye fixed because I know Tor.”
That grumbling rant led to a longer one which made Tor wince. Their little group of girls was called “The Rabble” and seemed based on the personality of Lilli and her penchant for getting other people to do stupid and shallow things. Stealing from shops, having sex on dares and the emotional abuse of the other girls, even if they were a Princess. She offered love and warmth, as well as excitement, but it came at a cost. Obedience to an unstable bitch. For that love Karina had been collecting devices from Tor, which wasn't hard to do, and getting money from her parents, which was, honestly, more difficult to manage, since they asked questions when it came to golds, even a few coins. Karina had also performed more and more advanced sexual acts on the girl. They all had. They were really all Lilli’s girlfriends, though a couple played with each other too sometimes, Karina informed them.
“Everyone stopped talking to me now though. Even Yardley and we were friends I thought. Special friends I mean. At least as close as Lilli and I were. So I don't know what's going on. She didn't look happy did she?” The tone to her voice wasn't gleeful or anything like that, just considering. Even when mad she was a decent person, Tor decided. Her little group had kind of been a bad influence. Especially Lilli, having all those girlfriends…
“Wait…” Tor looked back and swerved a little then locked his eyes on the road and tried to speak without sounding too panicked at having almost crashed.
“You can have more than one girlfriend?”
Sara giggled, her voice low and sultry.