The Mask of Omegon (Gwen Farris Book 6) (14 page)

There was silence for a while.

“I have the name. I recall him, but
we need to do an investigation first. I’ll have the information back to you
inside a week? Is that suitable?”

She nodded, then let her voice
raise a bit.

“That would be good. I should be in
and out of Western over the next while. Even from the airship, I can do it. I’m
trying to learn… Well, you probably understand. I’m not saying more at this
point, secure line or not.” That had to sound insane to almost everyone.

Except the King.

“Understood and agreed to, Gwen.
I’ll be in touch as soon as possible on that issue. Now, I need to speak with
Count Morris. If he’s capable of such?” There was doubt in his voice.

Adam knew the answer to that one.

“We’ll have him brought in. He’s
not had an easy time. Severe torture. Rape. All the men were, of course. That’s
the Europan way. Please…” Adam wasn’t able to speak then.

Gwen winced. It was his programming
again. A thing that the man had no hold over, at the point of his life he was
at. Tortured, using vast amounts of pain, to be unable to do anything else.
Even as he
tried
, forced to protect a noble, the guy was suffering for
it.

The man couldn’t even bring himself
to beg the King to be delicate with the Count. Not even to ask if it was
allowable.

So Gwen moved forward and whispered
just loud enough to be heard over the telestator.

“Gently, if possible? That… Well,
what happened to him… it makes me
glad
that I killed those people, which
isn’t a place my mind needs to be going right now.”

“That’s understood as well, Miss
Farris. I’ll be as kind as can be managed. Thank you.”

Then, before she had to think too
much about things, she got out of the room.

Gwen was hit by several things as
soon as she got back at Park Street. The first was that something was up.
Something off and a bit bad, at least on the surface. It was hard to pin it down,
but there was normally a
lack
of yelling in the huge mansion. Nice
places in general didn’t have a lot of that kind of stuff going on. Most days,
in fact. When that kind of raw din happened, it almost always had to do with an
attack of some sort.

This time it sounded different than
that. Like people were
chanting
outside. That got her to hobble over
toward the front of the place, to find
all
the servants. The men armed
with crins. The long copper tubes were pointed at the floor, as Gwen moved in.
She didn’t even bother to fake smiling.

“What’s up?” Her voice was a bit
flat, since her entire system was suddenly geared up to fight.

It wasn’t exactly hard to
understand. Having been in actual battle earlier that day, everything in her
mind told her to get ready for more of the same. Her right thigh even twinged
in phantom pain, ready to be shot again. Prepared on some level, to die in an
instant. It should have been panic inducing.

Instead a strange calmness came
over her, as every fiber of her being focused on the new threat.

Winslow made a strange sound. It
came through his nose, with a closed mouth. It should have been a snort, but
there was a tense squeak involved in the thing at the same time.

“We seem to be under… Protest. The
front gate was stormed however, which is a threat of extreme violence. No one
has rushed the house proper as of yet.” Peeking out the front window, pushing a
lace curtain to the side for a moment, the man went silent. Then he moved to
the side directly, using the solid wall as protection. “No weapons in sight at
this time. They have signs however. They seem to be about you, Miss Farris.”

That just made sense to her.

After all, the common people had no
real reason to think of her as anything except the traitor that had endangered
them all. Not much of one at any rate. Her name
had
been linked to the
new shielding magic skill set, but that was probably just words to most of the
people there. That it had taken that long for them to come for her was probably
a measure of how fair everyone was being at toward her.

“I see. Well…” She shrugged.
Normally she would have just stood back. Maybe even evacuating the house, in
case they were stormed. At least now that she had that ability. This time she
just couldn’t. She was too tired. Of everything. Of the constant fight that her
life had been for decades.

She glanced over her shoulder to
see Ethyl come into the room. She was dressed nicely and made up well, as was
her custom. There was fear in her eyes, however. A thing that the woman shouldn’t
have to have there. Her face was pale, under the paint she had on it. That part
could have been imagination.

Gwen, feeling a combination of
annoyed and tense just walked to the front door.

“Well, if they came for me, I guess
I should go see what they want.” There was very little hesitation, as she
pasted a smile on her face, ready to be torn to bits by the pitchfork wielding
mob outside.

There were about a hundred people
inside the wall that ran around Park Street. They were indeed holding signs.
Some of them were men, but the vast majority had skirts and dresses on. That
was interesting to see. Especially since the most common sign being held simply
said;
Free Gwen
.

Seeing her there got the chanting
to slow down, peter out and then stop. It was kind of strange, given that no
one actually seemed ready to fight. As soon as everyone went silent, or nearly
so, Gwen waved at them.

“Um… Hello? I see the signs there.
Free
Gwen
. I didn’t know that I was a prisoner…”

That got a shouted response, which
was
actually
very helpful.

“They sent you to war! Like a
soldier!” That came from one of the dress wearing women, who seemed upset by
the idea. The lady, who was older and in drab colors and had mousy hair, looked
fierce for a few moments. Like she was
going
to kick someone’s butt over
the idea. There was a finger pointed at her right leg, which was bare, except
for the white bandage wrapped around her thigh. For the Western Kingdom that
was probably a bit risqué of her, going out like that.

“Oh… No. They didn’t. I don’t know
where you got that from.” Or how anyone had even heard about it at all.

A man, who was a bit further back
shouted, his voice fairly polite over all.

“The telesar said that you went off
to recover prisoners of war. You were injured in a fight.” He pointed too, but
stopped after a second, to look away from her. That got a low mutter from the
crowd.

“Right. No one
sent
me,
however. I was using teletransport from a distance, along with some
Westmorlands, to get our people back…” That was getting into issues that were a
bit secret from the public, which was probably the reason they were confused.
It was incredibly rare to be able to do any kind of personal teletransport. No
one really had both the personal and object versions of it. She was special that
way. Which no one was going to understand, since it was considered nearly
impossible.

So she just shrugged and jumped in
with both feet.

“We had some prisoners in danger
that we didn’t have pictures for. That was how we were finding them at a
distance. So I had to go and get them. That was my decision. Mine alone. No one
forced me to. Or even
asked
. Really, at the time I recall people
standing there saying
no
rather firmly in my direction… I just chose not
to listen to them.” She grinned, not meaning it. Her face felt strange doing it
suddenly. Due to the fact that she felt like she was about to be attacked.
Possibly with signs. To free her.

Which wasn’t a plan anyone there
seemed to have.

“But… You’re a
woman
!” That
seemed to be the real issue of the moment. Women didn’t go to war there. Not
often enough for it to be considered normal.

The woman that screamed that, which
was
a bit shrill, was hidden toward the back of the crowd. Hidden,
literally, behind several signs.

Gwen shrugged, then flipped her
hands. Both of them, to show that she didn’t care, but that she was engaged in
the conversation.

“So? No one should have to fight.
Male or female. It isn’t
worse
if it’s a woman doing it than a man. Not
here, where fights are being done with weapons and magic. I mean, I killed five
or six people today, to get our men back. Soldiers, with weapons. It was a fair
fight, more or less. Except that I wasn’t there to
fight
. Just get
people.” Plus, ambushing the ones in the way.

That made it
far
easier to
win.

The reaction was puzzled, instead
of simply bowing to her superior logic. One of the men in the front row scowled
a bit.

“You shouldn’t be forced to do that
kind of thing. Not just… Not because of your gender alone. You aren’t even
from
here. You were
wronged
by people from here, which suggests that we need
to protect you. Not put you in danger!”

That got a cheer. As if they were
going to rush the house, grab her and lock her in a pretty little cage.
Probably force feeding her sweets at the same time. Instead of getting mad at
them, she smiled. Meaning it this time. For the most part.

“Well… Thanks? That isn’t how I
live and won’t be, but I get that you all mean well. That’s really nice of you.
I’m not a
prisoner
here, though. Even the King himself lets me do what I
want. I… There’s a lot that I have to atone for… I mean… I let Katherine run
off and… I couldn’t stop her. You must all hate me for that.” Some of them did,
she knew. That had been what Gwen had been told.

The mouthy guy in the front, who
was balding and a bit pale, stepped forward.

“No one thinks that! Of course you
couldn’t stop that evil woman from taking over. She’s a body thief! Her powers
would have overwhelmed you. Probably any of us. As it’s been pointed out in the
media, you’re in her body. That gives her power over you.
Everyone
gets
that. Why wouldn’t we? It only makes sense.”

That got a whole lot of nodding
going on.

Gwen frowned, or tried to. It
probably didn’t work that well, since she hadn’t practiced that in front of the
mirror.

“I… Can’t you see? I wasn’t
strong
enough. I failed… It led to the war we’re fighting now. This is all my fault.”
It made perfect sense to her, but she was booed then.

People actually saying
boo
.

When it stopped, the older woman
that had yelled first moved a few steps forward.

“No, Miss Farris. You didn’t fail.
We, all of us, have failed
you
. That’s why we’re all here. To get you
free from this prison.”

She blinked, then smiled, changing
the subject. It was clear that these people meant well.

“You mean the palace that they let
me live in that’s
nicer
than what the King has? The one that I can come
and go from at will?
That
prison? No one is keeping me here. I just…
Don’t have any place else to go. Though I
am
taking a trip in a few
days. Working on an airship? Which by the way, is my own choice… No one makes
me do that kind of thing… Can’t you… Isn’t that part of being free? The right
to come and go as I please?” She tried to be wry about it.

Probably seeming like a bit of a
smart ass. That was just her way.

There was muttering from the crowd,
which seemed confused, instead of happy to find out that Gwen Farris wasn’t
being used as a slave or kept as a prisoner.

“They make you work on ships? But
not fly them?” That was a different woman, from the left hand side this time.

Gwen shrugged.

“Well, I haven’t learned how to fly
airships yet. I can take lessons, but it hasn’t come up. That’s all. You know…
Can I get your questions in writing? Then I’ll… I don’t know, go on the radio,
the telesar, to answer all of them at once? That should be a good sign that I’m
free, right? I mean, how many people do you know can just beg a spot to do
something like that?”

That one got a low rumble from the
people there. It was a bit odd, but she winked at them and waved, shewing them
back.

“Now, send those to me here and I’ll
get to that. In about a month? Maybe sooner? In the meantime… Focus on helping
the troops? Thanks for caring about me. I mean that, but… Yeah. I’m good. I
swear. Even if I
do
go off and do stupid things sometimes.” She patted
her right thigh, which made her wince, even as she tried to smile. It didn’t
hurt that much, but it really was like she was walking around half naked for
the place she was in.

“Now, git. Go on… Get off my lawn,
before I have to find a broom to chase you away with.” There was much waving,
over several minutes, to get people to walk away. A few people stayed. They
weren’t the loud ones either, just being random individuals.

One of them, a young woman, jogged
over to her. Her face was a bit round and she had short hair. Black boots that were
polished and shining, with cool looking crossed laces on the front. White ones
with blue stripes.

“Miss Farris? I was… would you sign
my book for me?”

It was one of the Gwen Farris
Investigations comics,
not
an actual book. She glared at it a bit, then
rolled her eyes.

“You know, I have nothing to do
with these things. No one asked or anything first. I also… Not that there’s
anything
wrong
with loving women, I’m more into men, personally.” She
didn’t know if explaining that it was slander was going to go over well, but
the girl had her own pen and handed the things over.

“Oh, sure… But… That’s not the
point, is it? It’s that you
can
do what you want. That’s what you said
just now…”

Gwen didn’t see the parallel. Still,
signing the thing didn’t cost her anything. Except to show that her hand
writing wasn’t pretty. It was cribbed and a bit cramped looking.

“A point! Here you go then. Now-”

Without warning the kid kissed her.
It was a bit strange seeming. On the lips, but not too deep, thankfully. Then
she darted off. It felt like a
kiss
, which was probably confusing, or
would be if she wasn’t so distracted by the world at the moment.

The men from the house had all come
out, and were standing behind her. Still with their crins, but hiding them, so
their being there was protective, but not an overt threat to anyone. The people
left then, using the gate this time instead of climbing over the stone wall
like they had to get in the first time.

Probably because they didn’t have
ladders inside the wall. There was almost no way people were going over that
thing in a dress, after all. Even the men, who’d shown up in shiny suits, for
the most part, weren’t going to be doing that very easily.