The Mask of Omegon (Gwen Farris Book 6) (15 page)

Wiping her lips, which had more to
do with a stranger touching her than it did the fact that it had been a woman,
Gwen turned back toward the house. The steps were clean, as she mounted the
porch, nodding to no one. Charles took a deep breath.

“
That
was different. Shall I
see to arranging a letter box?” He spoke as if that was a thing, not that she didn’t
get the basic idea.

Gwen had figured that people would
mail things, but these folks were all local enough that they’d come in person.
In the world she was in, given the time frames involved,
that
meant they
were from town. Most of them had probably
walked
there in the first
place. It was a huge turnout, given that. These folks didn’t have the internet
after all. There were no flash mobs either. Except that, somehow, there
had
been one.

Apparently to free
her
.

Which, even if it wasn’t actually
needed, was better than the whole burning at a stake thing that she’d kind of
suspected would be coming. Gwen didn’t get it, but it was clear that most
people in the Western Kingdom really weren’t upset with
her
in
particular. She blamed herself for failing them. By some strange miracle, these
people just didn’t see it that way.

She’d been around long enough to
know they weren’t naturally kinder than anyone else, so it wasn’t just their
innate goodness shining through. Not that they were all that bad. They were, in
the end, pretty much just people. Some good, most kind of average.

Gwen tilted her head back and
forth, then smiled.

“Yes? With a note so people don’t
expect to hear from me for about a month? Or… Maybe I should get with Agatha
now and see what she advises me to do? That or my
other
main advisor.”
That being King Ferdinand. Except that this didn’t feel like the kind of thing
to bother the guy with at the moment. He was busy after all.

Talking to former prisoners and
working on how to get at the rest of them. She felt a bit bad about not staying
on to do that part herself, but the truth was, they knew where she was going to
be. Gwen was on call for them all, if they recalled she was there for them.

The other side might even be true
as well.

Gwen was shaking a bit, though it
wasn’t from fear for once. It was just that her blood sugar had kind of
crashed. The butler, Charles, nodded to her.

“I’ll see to that. Would you like
me to get in touch with Madam Longbranch? I’ve memorized the number.” He didn’t
say why that was, but Gwen knew it was probably from Mrs. Vernor having called
the lady so many times. She was pretty much the other woman’s best friend. The
one that had stuck with her through everything. Including the messes with
Katherine.

“That would be great. Thanks,
Charles. Right now I need to go and change, then find something to eat. A
cookie or something? A biscuit?” She thought that the man would get the strange
names she had for a few things, but she didn’t snack on things like that most
days, so she tried to be clear about it.

The man smiled at her, then glanced
at her leg.

“Some juice as well? Very good
Miss. I’ll see to that all immediately.”

She grinned, betting that he was
going to be faster than she was, if she didn’t get a move on. It was a race,
after they got inside, the man taking off without even looking back. Even as
Carlisle, the footman, stood by the door, still armed. Just in case anyone
changed their mind.

“We’ll work this in shifts. Can you
take the first one? No longer than two hours?” She sounded funny saying that,
but wasn’t going to rest easy without a guard on the door at the very least.

“Yes, Miss Farris. I’ll see to a schedule.
Should I place you on it? You were in the thick today…”

She nodded and rolled her eyes at
him, since he was staring at her leg. It was a bit improper, no doubt, since
unlike Charles, Carlisle was just built, dark, handsome and as far as she knew
both straight and single. Gwen wasn’t, so she didn’t want to lead the man on. A
thing that he’d probably take as her not wanting to mix with the hired help,
even though that
wasn’t
her point.

“Wake me up at four in the morning?
I can get a walk in and patrol at the same time.”

That got a single nod.

“I’ll see to that as well, Miss.”

The man didn’t leave, so she did,
hurrying away. It wasn’t exactly late at night or anything, but she’d gotten a
good, fairly early start on the day which meant it wasn’t dinner time yet. Not
even close enough that she was going to be expected to not eat for an hour or
two when she needed to have something to balance her out.

So, she quickly showered,
rewrapping her leg with the same gauze, since it was still clean. The wound was
sealed over, even though it hadn’t been earlier. That was the power of a good
healer. Peter was getting great at it, she was willing to bet. More than most
ever would be.

When she dressed, it was in a skirt
and blouse. One of the new things that she’d had made for her, before Katherine
had taken off. It hadn’t been worn before. It was a light summer garb, she
thought. Not that it was all that hot yet. The day had been nice there, but it
was early in the spring still.

There was no spirited running down
the stairs, since she was sore. A crin was no joke as a weapon, after all. The
blow had been a glancing one, or she might well have lost her leg. So luck had
been with her that day, she knew. That and foolishness. No one hearing about
what crazy Gwen had done should have thought of it as anything other than that.
Small children would have worked out a better way of doing things, rather than
what she’d done. Rushing in like it made sense.

People
should
have come to
get her. To take her off to the funny farm.

Instead they gave her a small plate
of cookies, along with some rather sour cherry juice. That was in a large
tumbler, though the biscuits, which were almond, were sweet and crunchy. Fresh
as well, from the taste of them. That was served in the front room, along with
Ethyl who seemed worried about something.

It wasn’t hard to figure out what
that was.

“My dear! We should get you to a
hospital! Or… or… perhaps a holiday? I know a nice spa in the country. Near the
high mountains, in the west? We call those the Rockies here…”

Gwen smiled then, nibbling a tasty
snack before speaking.

“Hm? We call those the same thing.
I’ll be fine though. It’s been a day, but tomorrow will come.” That had been
her motto for a very long time. Even when she hadn’t been certain it was the
truth.

Mrs. Vernor took a long slow breath,
shuddering on the exhalation.

“But… Those people thought that you
were being held against your will.”

That, the way it was said,
explained a lot. The woman was, rightfully, mortified by that idea. So she was
trying to get Gwen into a safe, secure place. Not to protect her from the noble
crowd. No, it was to show that Gwen was loved to them. Virtue signaling.

It wasn’t a horrible idea. She was
just too busy for that. There was a war on, after all.

“No. I’m leaving for a trip in a
few days anyway. After that… We should put together a drive for the soldiers.
Knit them caps for the winter, or send care packages. Not all of them will have
family to do that for them. We can’t send them girls, but we can send pictures,
letters, that kind of thing? Or is that already happening? Or…
Can
we
send them girls? I bet
that
would go over well. With the troops, I mean.
Not so much back here.”

Ethyl snickered a bit and smiled,
sitting across from Gwen, smoothing her dress as she did it.

“Provisions and comforts? That
isn’t a bad plan. I should… Well,
I
should see to that, but I doubt that
anyone will join us, if I do.”

“No? Countess Goebbels
will
,
I bet. Agatha… If they can’t get a good crowd in… Oh… Get with James’ wife?
Ella? I haven’t seen her for years now. The children must be huge. There’s no
reason that this shouldn’t be taken large. Also, we need kids to work the
shipping routes. The Students Service? I have places for some of them. We can
find more.”

The words got Ethyl to hop up,
calling Agatha at home, from the other room. Gwen found out about it when one
of the serving ladies came in and told her that she was needed.

“Miss? Ma’am asked me to get you? The
telestator in the second chamber. Countess Goebbels?” The woman, Laura, didn’t
seem nervous about her being there or anything. She’d been around for a while
though. Long enough that the poor woman had seen some pretty real shit, just
working as a maid. Assassins… Protestors… It was probably a bit different than
working in a normal house would have been for her. Hopefully it wasn’t too
stressful for her to handle.

Gwen didn’t need help to get to the
other room, or a guide. She got one however, with Laura standing by her arm the
whole time, ready to grab her if she started to fall due to her wounds. It was
sort of obvious, but not mentioned in the slightest by the woman.

“Thanks, Laura. I should be good
now. I can call for you if not?” She meant it for once. Normally it would have
just been lip service.

She really had been kind of hit
pretty hard though. That meant not being a moron about her care.

“Yes, Miss. I can stand in the
hallway?”

Gwen grinned at her.

“Not needed. I’ll yell pretty loud
if I need help! Go ahead and do what you normally do. You’re too busy to be
bothered by me
that
much.”

That got a smile in return, which
was a bit conspiratorial for some reason, instead of just polite.

“Certainly. So much for getting to
just stand around for hours.” The woman smiled, which was funny, for some
reason. Gwen thought that was the point.

In the room, Ethyl stood in front
of a rather nice telestator on a tall table. The whole thing gleamed. At least
the wooden part. The silver globes were made of what seemed to be the actual
precious metal, instead of lead. The wood was a dark teak color. It was, in
all, the nicest such thing that Gwen had ever seen. It was even nearly the
perfect size for Ethyl to be standing there, her right hand out, touching the
center of the five globes with her right hand. It was simply resting on the top
of it.

For a long time Gwen hadn’t known
why they did it that way, instead of just pushing a button. Now she kind of
did. There was a constant drain of magic from the person that kept the line
open. Even if they were a low magic individual it worked, since it took nearly
nothing. Being alive was enough to make the link happen. Not the rest of it,
which took a crystal pack on the bottom of the unit, but that single part was
almost free.

You could also do it with a button,
but the original inventors had all been magicians, who had magic to spare, so
they’d made it that way. Over time they’d altered the basic pattern so everyone
could use it.

“Here she is, Countess Goebbels.
Gwen has a rather ambitious plan to aid the troops. Also a need for the Students
Service? I fear I haven’t been as involved there as I should have been.
Matters…” Her voice trailed off, as Gwen moved in.

“Hi! We should meet and go over
things? Tomorrow… Or in three weeks? I’m leaving in a few days. Working on an
airship. As a loader. They’re shorthanded, since a lot of the crews are former
Air Navy, meaning they reenlisted if they were young enough.”

The voice from the device was
pleasant, if a bit high pitched.

“Ah! Hence the jobs for the kids?
That would go over well. We’ve been working on the idea of some kind of
children’s patrol as a way to keep them engaged. No one has wanted to do that.
The Europans aren’t attacking the kingdom yet. Do we risk frightening the poor
dears, do you think?” She was asking a real question, not just making some kind
of point.

Gwen thought that was right. The
truth was, she knew, that she wasn’t that great at reading people most of the
time. Not when they were dealing with her. Especially people that came from a
different world than she did.

“I think we should? It
will
probably be a bit scary for them, but having people do anything at all is
better than just sitting at home, worrying about things they can’t affect. We
should press for advanced officers training, too. Maybe enlisted as well?
Combat training, conditioning drills for… Really,
everyone
. Just in
case. As well as the comfort boxes.” She just said the words, but Ethyl nodded
suddenly.

“I like that name. Comfort Boxes.
Bits of candy, treats, letters and news from home? What else do the men need?”

She didn’t know what was provided
to them, but there was probably something left out. Shields would be nice, she
didn’t doubt. They didn’t have those however. Not in the world she was standing
in. Others did, but she hadn’t worked out how to get any yet.

“I don’t know. I
can
find
out, if I try. For that matter, I can ask around and work out what kind of
thing might be desired that way. I’ll start on that now. So, a meeting? Say at
noon tomorrow? Is that too early? It isn’t for a party, but I really should
send a real invitation to you. Some others as well.”