Tor could turn it off.
Instead it was just more pointed questions and asking if he was a spy for anyone, which he was, a Duke Fram that Tor had never heard of, and if he or Fram was working with the Austrans which they didn't seem to be. No, this, he assured them quite openly, was personal.
“That git got my sister pregnant, and then set her aside without a by your leave! Half my wages go to keeping her and her child fed and housed. I can't even afford a wife because of it, not even as a Major! I saw a chance for a little pay back and took it. None can say I don't have the right!” It was all true, and he pointed at Count Ward which made so much sense no one even asked if the Major, a man named Jarad, was really certain. Ward just shrugged. He'd gotten a lot of girls pregnant over the years, hadn't he? It went unsaid, which was good, or the brightly clad guard probably would have attacked the Count then and there.
Tor brought the little magic chest and the remaining gold over to the man.
“OK… For your sister, here's some gold to tide her over, so you can have a normal life and not be stuck taking care of her with all your resources. It's… a couple hundred gold? Have her get with me and I'll come up with some kind of business for her, I have a couple things that might work, so she won't have to struggle too much until we can find her a proper husband if that's what she wants.”
The man's mouth hung open.
“That's to help fix things with her though, since she's innocent in all this, as for the rest…” Tor disabled the old shield around the man’s neck with a thought and kicked him in the groin. Hard. Twice. When the man went down clutching himself he applied a boot to the side of his head a couple of times and then kicked him in the nose until it popped. After that he grabbed the man by the hair along with one arm and manhandled the limp body to the side, then set up a house around him with no door and hid the amulet again. Leaving the heat on full blast.
“Let him out in about eight hours. That should do the trick I think. Unless anyone else wants to take a turn beating him? I think we can all see how this happened now and let go of any hard feelings. I'll even lend an amulet to heal all the broken noses. But let me repeat what I told everyone earlier. Anyone ever tries to take me prisoner again and I fight. I won’t be gentle about it like I was this time either.”
He glared at the guardsmen and then asked if that would be enough for the day, so everyone else could go get some rest. The King agreed with a regal nod. He offered the transport for their comfort, but Tor didn't want to wait, since the royals would need it first, so everyone got Not-flyers instead, those being so easy to use it didn't even take real practice, and they zipped around the outside of the city in a few minutes. Tor stared at the wall as they passed. It was pretty. White stone material, but smooth and un-seamed. When they got around to the other side he saw a palace where his house had been.
Last time it had been a castle, an old fashioned stone looking thing. Now it looked like the King actually lived here, and the poor looking place inside the wall was housing for peasants or something. Maybe a school or hospital. It was cream and white with delicate barding all around and looked almost like a wedding cake, not a place to live. Like the Wards estate, only nicer, fresher. Tor almost blanched at the wasted resources, then remembered it was all just a shield anyway, no matter what it looked like. He took everyone to the front door, almost hesitating to enter, because it looked so very different, only to have Collette and Petra come out at the same time, wearing different, but equally stunning outfits, both in bright pink. They both froze for a second, seeing all the people, but then they ran to start passing out hugs.
Or at least tried to. Everyone except Maria was still wearing a shield. Even the man Tor recognized as selling drinks at the estates parties. That baffled Collette, and put Petra on alert instantly, her training was in military matters, so she got what everyone being shielded like that meant instantly.
“Everyone inside, go, go! The whole place is shielded. Come in, we weren't expecting guests but please be welcome.” Her voice was stressed suddenly, just on the verge of going all military and harsh. She hid it with a smile, polite and warm. Once inside the huge marble room everyone started taking their shields down, The Ward people first, then all of them. Tor felt uneasy but forced himself to do it too. Varley had been right when she told him they couldn't connect to the world properly living behind a shield all the time. It just felt so exposed without one anymore.
Before Tor could go collect his own hugs, or even say hello, Countess Ward ran to Petra and Collette, both being her family, and started speaking in a fast high pitched voice. Practically a panicked squeak. Tor wouldn't have been able to make out what she said, but apparently Collette was a master of it. For all that his friend had always said she didn't get along very well with Maria, she certainly seemed to manage her all right.
It started with a hug that Petra joined in on after a few more lines, which developed into cooing and petting her back and hair as the Countess spoke about the horrible experience she'd had. It would have made sense if she was stressed about the attack, how scared she was, even how betrayed she felt by Laval, though that particular Larval was probably long dead already. Hard to tell.
No, she was going on about the poor accommodations at the palace instead, as if a broom closet wasn't good enough for her? They'd actually given her one of the nice rooms in the guest house. Yes, she had to share with four others, but it wasn't like they put her in the tool shed. Even then, it would have been a roof and walls, wouldn't it? For the first time he could ever remember Tor suddenly felt a wave of relief and gratitude that he'd been brought up as the son of a village baker, not the heir to a county. He knew first hand that what they had was better than most people even dreamed about. Even the room they were in made him uneasy in its grandeur, and it wasn't even real. Still, no need to goad the girl Tor decided.
She really had been through a lot too.
He gently pulled Collette aside, since she was the main house person really.
“Do we have rooms for everyone? I invited them all to stay, but I forgot about King’s week and how crowded everything gets…” Sure, they could expand, but a small village of vendors had started to grow around them, so if they wanted more space, they needed to grab it now and possibly bribe a few merchants to shift positions, cover their land rent or something maybe? Or run water to their new set ups, carrying water in a bucket was a pain and the river really wasn't clean enough to drink, which meant getting that water from in the city, nearly a mile long round trip. It was a good point, so he decided to set up water anyway.
They could bribe any vendors they needed to the old fashioned way. With gold.
Collette grinned and let her short blond hair bob a little as she nodded. If she looked a little pleased with herself, well, it made sense given what she told him next.
“We have one hundred rooms ready for guests, not including our own. If that isn't enough I left room on the upper floor for a staircase, and we can just add another level or two. Or more. It's King’s week after all, so we may need to. I'm pretty proud of how things look. Don't you like it?”
Tor kissed her warmly which got a look from Maria, a bit of a scowl from Trice, and Petra coming over to join in. After a second Sara did too. Much to his amazement she kissed everyone, if on the cheek. Him on the mouth though. It got a chuckle, and Maria actually stamped her foot at them. When he turned she had both hands on her hips and a wry smile on her face.
“Hey! Isn't everything supposed to be about me?”
Marvin ran over and picked her up by the waist, his hands, huge as they were, wrapped most of the way around.