Envoy to Earth (37 page)

Gerent took off his truth amulet
and slapped it on the man, which had the King asking about Jimson and the rape
again. It turned out that he really
hadn't
ordered that part. Just the
rest.

Ger smiled, a soulless and very
dark thing. It was bad enough so that the crying Count moved back, and crawled
onto his bed, trying to get away.

"Good. We won't have to rape
you then, if you didn't order it. Tell us, where can we find Jimson and the
other guards? Don't bother lying, we don't have time for it."

He didn't really know, having been
imprisoned for some time, but guessed that his heir would. Since the man was
right there, it wasn't a problem.

Then, to his surprise, Tovey, his
affable sort of brother in-law, stepped in and took the man's left arm, and
broke it at the elbow as Rodriguez bellowed in pain. "County Thomson
rebukes your acts."

Count Harris went next, pulling
the man up and stomping his shin. It ripped the flesh from the front, thanks to
his hard soled and heavy boot, but the main effect was the cracking of bone.

"County Harris rebukes your
acts."

Count Peterson started to move in
on the fellow's right hand, but Gerent cleared his throat. "Leave that
one, will you?"

Without pause he repeated Harris
action and took the other leg.

"County Peterson rebukes
your actions." It was a bit different, but actually made more sense, from
a dramatic perspective.

Dorgal and the King actually
worked together, for both their lands, Vagus and Noram in solidarity, and broke
the man's lower back, as he screamed. They rebuked him too.

That left Rodriguez, who didn't
seem to know what to do. Gerent could see that.

"Count Rodriguez, do you
rebuke the acts of your predecessor?" The King spoke gently, getting the
idea.

"I do, Sire."

"Very well. Prince Gerent,
you seem to have some kind of plan?" He waved at the unbroken and still
functioning right arm and hand.

Without pause, Gerent stepped in
and pressed the same cutter he'd used to unman the fellow into his remaining
unwounded palm.

"It has a foot and a half
blade on it. You-" The man tried to kill him with it, which seemed to
upset everyone else, as if it were a scandal. Gerent just nodded.

"I did cut your boys off for
you, so we can let that go. All of us have shields you can't do anything about.
Now, if you run that across your throat, we'll make sure no one knows you were
less than a man when we killed you. Not the common people at least. If I have
to do it-"

Gerent had been going to claim
that he was going to tell everyone about the man being a coward, but that
wasn't needed. He waved the thing at his head, missing a bit at the neck,
taking his jaw off as he lay on the bed not able to move, half propped up on
his side. It was enough.

The man was dead, and had made a
mess of things. It seemed a lifelong habit with him.

It was done.

This part at least.

Now they just had to find Jimson,
and the others.

Find them and punish them hard
enough that even in a rage, Count Ward would be satisfied. That was going to
take some work, Gerent feared. After all, he'd just helped torture a man, and
didn't feel like it was enough himself, and Pet wasn't even his sister.

The tracking of Jimson and the other men was left to a
combined group. Countess Printer led it, but it was Terlee, his adopted sister
that was doing most of the investigative work. She was soft spoken, polite and
clearly smarter than anyone had ever bothered to indicate to him. Not in Tim's
league, maybe, but she was clear headed and figured out where the others were
inside of about ten minutes. Some of them at least.

True, that part wasn't hard. The ones found were working
around the Rodriguez Capital. Not in the same positions that they once held,
since the men had been removed as guards, once the new Count took office, but
they'd been considered good and sturdy people, so other nobles had hired them
all pretty quickly. You didn't, it seemed, keep on the sworn men and women of
the person you were replacing if they were found guilty of treason. There was
too much risk that they might just still be working for the old leader.

That meant they had some trips to make. The first one was
simple enough, since they loaded up all their conspirators, except for King
Richard, and headed off to that far southern county directly. The place they
wanted was called Barony Reves. The old man that ran it had hired two of the
rapists, not knowing who they really were, other than potentially valuable
assets. Finding the place wasn't exactly easy, but Tovey had a map that he
shared with them, and so did Count Peterson. They matched, but weren't the same.
Interestingly enough. The pictures were very similar however, so he was able to
follow landmarks to the right spot, and flew them in personally. It didn't
occur to him that he had a map of the place as well, on his communications
device.

They weren't subtle about the landing. This wasn't being
done in secret anymore, since most of the others felt that Marvin Ward would be
fairly well mollified by what they'd done. It was only Dorgal that agreed with
him really. His First Mate cleared his throat and looked at the assembled
nobles, sitting in his chair on the main bridge, as they congratulated
themselves quietly for a job well done. They weren't wrong, but it wasn't
finished. Not even close.

He could see that, but the others didn't really.

Except Dorg.

"I know that this might seem old fashioned, but the
rest of this is the important part, isn't it? Petra wasn't... harmed, by the
old Count, but by
these
men, directly. They weren't ordered in to do it
by him either. We know that now. That means we need to figure out how it
happened and make them pay for it, in proper measure." He sighed and
looked over at Tamerlane, the Countess Thomson, before going on. It seemed
strange to Ger that he'd focus his attention there in particular, but he didn't
break eye contact with the small and pale woman. "There are two jobs that
need to be done here. Yes, making certain we protect the innocent. I... Don't
know Count Ward personally, but I believe that he'd want the men that touched
his sister not to be able to do that again. The other, perhaps more important
task is seeing that Petra knows others stood for her. That we all made certain
that these men can't come back and do it again. They never
would
, but
that isn't the needed portion here." There were layers in the words,
things that had probably taken a lot of deep thought to come to, that it was
clear no one else really got.

Gerent however, understood. Count Peterson looked confused
by the words, and so, he realized did most of the rest of them. Holly Printer
less so than the others, because the idea of making these beasts pay just made
sense to her, but it was the great bearded giant man that spoke, if a bit
gruffly.

"They
can't
harm her again. I've seen her fight.
If they hadn't taken her by treachery, they would have likely lost in the first
place, even if there were twenty of them. She won't fear these men now."
It was logical of course and probably true, to a large man that had always been
coddled and then grew into a being so powerful that no one could force him to
do anything he didn't want.

It wouldn't be right though.

Gerent looked at him and then away, focusing on the landing
he needed to make, going slowly the whole time.

"Count Peterson... She wasn't in a fight with these men
that they simply won. They used her, against her will. That scars people's
minds, no matter how strong or powerful they are. Anyone that went through what
she did would be afraid after the fact. That she isn't crippled by it shows
that she's very strong, but don't confuse that with this not being harmful to
her. It wasn't just the pain, or how they touched her, it was that they took
her power away. Not forever, but that doesn't come back, once you know that it
can be taken. After that point you
always
know that it can happen again.
It colors everything you do, for a long time. Possibly forever." He looked
out the shield glass on the front of the craft, and parked it in the air,
hovering over the large mansion of Baron Reves. It was many times larger than
the place below and he moved over a bit, so that the whole thing would be in
shadow. On purpose. It got people to come out to see who was there, if nothing
else.

The large Count didn't call him a liar, or a fool, but
seemed oddly pensive suddenly. He might not have understood the feeling that
Gerent spoke of, but he was bright enough to get that it might be something he
just wasn't able to comprehend, without it being wrong. That took intelligence,
being able to know that kind of thing.

Count Harris just watched Gerent closely, but didn't speak.
When someone did, it turned out to be Tamerlane, her voice very still and soft.

"How are we getting down there? The craft we used
earlier?"

He grinned, changing the mood. It would seem insane, he
didn't doubt, but being too dark wasn't going to help anyone, was it?

"We can just step out. Everyone here knows how to fly,
right? Using the new shields?" That turned out not to be the case, since
Dorgal, Count Harris and Countess Callwood had no clue at all. That lady seemed
particularly distressed by the idea of being near an open door that high up. It
was only a few hundred feet, but Gerent didn't press the issue. If he had his
way, she wouldn't be subjected to what was about to happen.

 None of them would be, except
him. A person so broken already that a little more wouldn't really do much
harm.

Something interesting happened at
the door however, which he formed in the wall of a small room down the hall, so
that the others left behind wouldn't be afraid. That being mainly Countess
Callwood, Erid and the crew. It was that, knowing how to fly or not, both Count
Harris and Dorgal moved with the whole group, gamely enough. Tovey nodded to
them, and ran over how the mental controls worked on the new flight systems. It
wasn't hard to use, so they were all floating down to the ground, more or less,
a few moments later. Count Harris plummeted a bit, but his eight foot plus
frame slowed before he hit, and the shield took most of the punishment for him.

Dorgal matched the rest of them,
his face set and outwardly calm.

When they landed, they were met
by ten armed men, and an elderly Baron Reves, all of whom were nicely dressed,
if not in official uniforms. They were at home and it was an isolated enough
place that putting on airs here would just be wasted effort. It was surrounded
by a lush green jungle, but other than his own people, no one lived this far
out. A retirement villa, the new Count Rodriguez had called it.

Stepping forward instantly, the
living Count Rodriguez bowed, if not that deeply. Gerent did it too, without
thinking, which turned out to be the order of the day, as everyone else went
along with it. That showed the Baron that they were at least not invading. Or
if they were, that his own Count was leading them. That had to be reassuring,
didn't it?

Count Rodriguez stood and looked
at the guards. He spoke directly to the Baron however.

"Well met, Baron Reves.
Bart. I have some... Some rather bad news. It seems that some of your men, two
of them, were involved in the torture and rape of a Conserina about a year
ago?"

Gerent nearly jumped when one of
the men, a golden colored and hard looking one with blond hair and green eyes,
stepped forward. There was no fear or hesitation. Just movement.

"That would be myself, and
Goings, sir. It was dark work, but ordered by the Count." He looked at
Rodriguez and nodded a few times. "Your cousin, sir." He clarified
for them, just in case anyone was confused.

That was it. They didn't have to
hunt him through the fields or beg the Baron to let them interview the men.
They just asked about it and both men came forward, as if it weren't a real
issue.

Gerent thought he understood it.
They didn't think it
was
, because to them, it had been ordered. They
were sworn men and everyone knew that their leader was
always
responsible for their actions.
As long as they were doing what they were told. Without waiting he removed his
Truth amulet and turned it on, then explained the concept to the men. The other
nobles, the ones with him, all knew what it was, but these isolated guards and
even the Baron seemed amazed by the idea. The old man just shook his head when
he tried it, both lying on purpose and then telling the truth, so that the
light would change.

After a bit he passed it to the
first man to step forward, Tallis, who held it and repeated what he'd claimed,
about it being an order from the Count at the time. It was honest, the pure
white light and yellow stripes staying unbroken. He even added that he didn't
take any real pleasure in the act itself, at the time, which was also true. The
other man said the same, but it turned out that he had, on some level enjoyed
using Petra. He was ashamed of it now, he allowed, which
did
seem to be
true.

Countess Printer moved to the
front, and spoke to the men gently. Her voice was clear, but sad sounding.

"It wasn't ordered by the
Count, gentlemen. We Truth tested him on the issue. He believes that a man
named Jimson ordered it? Do you know where he is?"

The men didn't want to believe
it, not at first, so Gerent took the amulet back, and repeated what he'd heard
the Count say.

Tallis looked away and shook his
head.

"Well. Fuck." It was
dark and brooding, not said in anger. The other man, Goings took a deep
shuddering breath, but didn't speak. They understood what was going to happen
then. That would make it either easier, or harder, Gerent knew.

If they wanted to fight... Well,
who could blame them? A sworn man or women had to obey their liege. No matter
what. Oh, there was room to argue the merits of an act, but a direct order
had
to be carried out. In return, they knew that, as long as that was all they did,
nothing would ever come back to haunt them. It shouldn't have, even in this
case.
If
things had been ordered properly. Well, they didn't know it,
but they still would have died for the action, but it would have been illegal
for Gerent to kill them. Not that it would have protected them from what was
coming.

Worse, at least to his way of
thinking, neither of them had any clue at all where this Jimson was. They tried
to tell them what they knew, at any rate, even knowing that they weren't going
to live much longer. There was fear in them, but also bravery, and dignity,
after a fashion.

Finally, as the conversation died
down, the other guards shifting uneasily, since this kind of thing affected
them directly and really hit home, Baron Reves cleared his throat. It was a
weak sound, as if he didn't know what to do, or what was intended.

"Are we to... Hang them
then?" It was clear that the man expected
much
worse, and most of
the Counts and Countesses nodded. Dorgal did too, clearly thinking that it was
good enough. Gerent however stepped forward, and shook his head.

"
No
." That got
everyone else to look at him, suddenly worried. Of course they thought that he
was going to insist that they torture the men first. Castrating them at the
very least. He'd done that to the Count, hadn't he? Which to most of their
minds was the much bigger and more important issue. Except that these men had
just been following orders. Even if they hadn't been. It was confusing perhaps,
but under the law, they were only partially guilty, and that on a technicality.

Instead he pulled out the cutter
that had taken their old leader's life. About half of the people with him
turned away, so as to not witness what they thought he was going to do.

"They
have
to die,
but we should let them have the option of doing it honorably. They were misled.
That can't excuse the crime they committed, but-" He held the weapon out
to Tallis, who just stared at him, for a very long time. A minute. Then two.

Finally his callused hang came
out, and he bowed. Only a little. Probably figuring that if he were going to
die, he might as well seem regal about it, and not servile.

Gerent did it back, going much
lower, as the man took the weapon from his hand.

"That cutter has a foot and
a half sweep. It's the same one that Count Rodriguez used to maintain his own
honor." Standing back he carefully didn't explain the rest of it. These
men didn't need to hear it.

Kneeling, the man looked up at
the sky, his dun colored heavy trousers on the neatly trimmed grass of the
lawn. Holding the silver handle, he touched the sigil, which was engraved on
the side.

"For honor!" Then in
one motion he took the cutter across his neck.

Nothing happened for a moment. He
went still, and his head stayed in place. Until the blood started to push out
through the flesh, and his head came off. Sliding to the ground with a soft
thud.