Tremble in the Dark: A Gwen Farris Novel (22 page)

"Mr.
Cordell! So good of you to join us. We weren't certain if the train would be in
on time. I... Don't know your friends?" Now she sounded nervous, but
Martin waved at them both, in what was a normal enough fashion, she thought.

"We
should have a fantastic show today, Jennifer. This is Gwen Farris, and
Detective Bethany Westmorland. Miss Farris has come to speak to us all. She's
pro-Westmorland, but also pro- low magic people. I found it shocking, but I
think that
Miss Westmorland
is as well. If you could get Telly out for
us?"

There
was sudden bustling, as the woman, who wasn't all that old, being right around
what Beth was, so twenty-five or so, nearly fleeing into the back room. The set
up was different than the one other Telesar station she'd been in, WGN, but it
was nice enough inside. Not highly decorated, but care had been taken with the
space and it was well cleaned and polished, as if someone actually took pride
in what they were doing. She would have thought that this place, being the
center of hate for the region, would have been poorly kept, if anyplace was
going to be, but that didn't seem to be the case.

Telly,
it turned out, was a Newsie. Not one that Gwen was familiar with, but Beth, it
seemed was. At least she wrinkled her nose when the heavy man walked out from
the back, looking ready to fight them all right then and there. Including
Martin, which was heartening. After all, at least there was hate to go round
for them all. It was always good to remember to share the treats around evenly.
The man positively glared at her though, which meant that Gwen was halfway to
moving on him before he even spoke.

"Damn-it
Cordell! What do they have on you? Found out about your tax dodging?"
Without waiting, the large man sneered at her and tried to grab her by the
shirt collar, like a school yard bully. Gwen looked at the hand, and smiled.

"That's
a bit harsh, considering that I came to do an interview with you, for
free." The man actually tried to shake her a bit, like she was a child.

Because,
clearly, he wasn't too bright. Reaching up she slapped the inside of his right
hand, and gently put pressure with her left hand directly on his elbow, then
pivoted about forty-five degrees. The man, who was probably a hundred pounds heavier
than she was, flew into the ground with only a little extra help. Then, being
that she was Gwen, he was kicked in the head half a dozen times while Jennifer
squealed, as if she were the one being beaten, and Cordell, made odd, half
panicked noises.

She
let the dazed man go, and stood up, then pulled her little red colored PC from
her side pocket. She wasn't going to
use
it, just hit the man with it, a
bit, for practice. The action had several others come from the back, including
an older woman who looked at the situation and actually worked out what was
going on.

"Ah.
Gwen Farris. Telly, what was your plan? You've
heard
the stories about
her. It hasn't been like her face wasn't in all the papers." She stopped
short of calling the man a moron however. "Glenda Simmons, pleased to meet
you. May I ask why you've come here? Is there an emergency?" Now the lady
actually seemed worried, which made sense. Gwen had been on the TS a lot, but
the fact was, most of the time when she was, something very bad had just
happened. A terrorist attack, or the King being kidnapped. That sort of thing.
In fact, all of them, including Telly, the new mop, stopped then, to listen to
her.

"Nope.
Or rather, yes, there is a very dangerous and horrible situation, but it isn't
new. I was asked to come and speak about the mistreatment of both the
Westmorlands and the low magic people in this society. I know that it isn't
your normal Westmorland hate ideal, but if you people can't drop that after you
find out about what's being done to them in your name, then you deserve what
you get." She held up her right hand, which had the weapon in it, then put
it away.

No
one was going to attack her now, she didn't think. If they did, Beth would
probably mock her, and call out suggestions for them. She did
not
look
at all happy. In fact, she was turning a brilliant color of red that matched
the man on the floor, as far as angry looking flushing went.

Mrs.
Simmons let her eyebrows go up, and seemed ready to tell her where to stick her
haughty ideas, when Martin spoke, his voice sounding professional and mellow.

"If
what I was told is correct, Glenda, she isn't wrong about that. I hate the idea
of eating that much crow, myself, but it seems like I might have to. They're
tortured
.
It's what the Westmorland Protocols really are. They're... slaves. Our slaves,
in as far as we're the Kingdom too."

That
got people to look at him funny, and Gwen shrugged.

"Which
you only have my word for, so far. I can prove it, if I'm not thrown in prison
for telling you all of this, I mean. I can even arrange for some of you to try
out their lowest level things, so that you can tell others about it."

That
for some reason, had her marched into a waiting area, just outside a glass
fronted sound booth. This one was a bit larger than what they had at WGN, with
slightly raised and unpadded stools rather than chairs for sitting in. The big
man, Telly, who looked like a rather angry version of Teddy Roosevelt, stormed
the booth, and waved at her to come in, along with Martin. Beth just shook her
head and walked out, so that she wouldn't have to listen to what was being
said. Since that would cause her a lot of discomfort, it seemed like a good
idea to Gwen.

"This
is Telly Richards, today, here in the studio, we have two very special guests.
I'm not at all pleased by it either. Martin Cordell is here with Gwen Farris.
And yes, before you ask, that
Gwen Farris
. Martin, please tell me why
you brought this witch to my doorstep?" The man was still clearly upset,
and Gwen glared at him, because if he attacked her again, she was going to kick
his ass so hard he'd need a hospital visit.

That
would probably mean she'd end up paying for it too, but if it was what had to
happen, she'd do it, and not lose sleep over it.

Martin
settled onto the central stool, putting himself between the two of them, and
laughed
.

"Ladies
and gentlemen, our host, Telly Richards, just tried to lay hands on Miss Farris
in the front room here at WXFL. It was a mistake, and now he's acting like a
giant girl about it. Except that he isn't, because at least some girls wouldn't
have been tossed around like that, by a woman. Luckily you didn't insult her
friend, Telly, since she mentioned putting people through a wall if they tried
that. Now, I've been on a train with Miss Farris and her friend, Bethany
Westmorland, for a day. Yes, a
Westmorland
. I was told some rather
troubling news, which I'll relate to you now."

It
took about five minutes and most of what took place on the train was left out,
but the part about the torture and enslavement of children, and worse things
being done than that was all left in. Then Gwen was asked to go over what she'd
experienced, personally, in that regard.

It
took a bit.

"Now,
don't get me wrong, hard training, even at that level, if chosen by a dedicated
adult, is... Well, no one should ever think it's
good
, but it
works
.
I'm not saying that the Westmorlands aren't needed. I'm saying that they should
have a choice in the matter however, and not be tortured into love of Kingdom
and King." Those words, she knew, would probably have her out of favor
pretty much everywhere.

It
hadn't occurred to her before that, since, after all, she came from a world
with the internet, and no one really cared what a person like her had to say
about any given topic. Here though, she was very nearly part of the government
herself. During the recent crises, she'd been the mouthpiece more than once and
had simply made up rules and laws, that everyone had followed. This was a part
of things that were dangerous, for her.

Ferdinand
might well not be all that pleased with her now. She'd been joking about ending
up in prison for saying this, but now, after the words were out, she realized
that she might be in some trouble for real. Someone had to do it though, didn't
they?

"Don't
get me wrong. Your King is a great man, and has a good heart, and the
Westmorlands aren't wrong for loving him, but they deserve the same choice that
you have, at least initially. They're taken away as children and forced to
become what they are, and aren't even left with the ability to speak out
against it for themselves. So
we
need to do it for them. Yes, I get that
they've been the focus of hate for a long time, with some people that don't
have a lot of magic feeling that they, personally, are behind people being kept
down, but that
isn't
true. In fact, the Westmorlands are there to work
for you as much as almost anyone else."

She
went on, and just when she was about to have to repeat herself, Telly, the
jerkwad assface, attacked her. With words.

"You're
a liar. All we have is your word on this. You could say anything." He
sounded livid, but, she noticed, his face was a lot calmer now than it had been
when they first started. She just shook her head and let her disdain sound in
her voice.

"To
what end? Do you think that the King will thank me for this? I might well end
up in prison, or hanged, for letting people know this. Do you think the
Westmorlands
are going to have a party tonight, after this? They'll likely hate me, because
they don't have a choice in the matter. If not, I've probably just made their
lives a lot harder. No, the only thing, the only people, that can gain from
this are those listening at home, and some children that might not be tortured
and have their lives stripped from them. I don't think that the adult
Westmorlands can be helped now. The only thing we can do to make their lives
better is treat them as people, and not show fear of them, or hatred."

Telly
snorted. "Really? I suppose that next you'll claim that you're doing this
out of love for those with little to no magic? Do you think that they're your
equal as well, Miss Farris? Do you think that I'm the same as you are? I can't
even charge a tiny crystal pack, no matter how long I work at it, and I hear
tell that you can power airships. Certainly you think of us as the same, don't
you?" He sounded just a bit bitter.

Gwen
snorted back. Then she let her voice go a bit sharp. It seemed to be what Telly
was going for.

"Naturally.
Where I come from no one has magic at
all
. Or, if they do, it's the
barest fraction of what you have here. There are other ways to get things done,
and while your way has some handy aspects, the non-magic folk of my world have
a
greater
technological base than you do here. There are other ways to
do things."

That
took a while to explain and the conversation shifted for nearly two hours, but
she was finally let go, managing to win Telly over, just a bit. They did hit
the torture aspect again, as well as what could be done without magic. She
started out with some cautions, since they didn't want to follow in the footprints
of her world, since that could do some damage, but the idea seemed to make the
host happy.

Then,
with very little fanfare, she managed to collect Beth, and head back to the
hotel. It was still light out, but getting late, but they could eat at the restaurant
next to where they were staying. Hopefully at least. She was wrung out and
exhausted now, even though she'd hardly done anything all day long. It would be
nice to just sit and relax for a bit.

The
Public Lorrie they were on, which was the last one that would run that day, if
the sign was correct, took it's sweet time getting them back, and Martin went
off to change, coming back with both Clara and Sally, who were dressed nicely,
but conservatively, considering everything. Then the ladies, since it was their
job now, for the week, helped Beth and her to get into nicer clothing and
makeup, for the meal.

Or
tried to. They had showers there, in their rooms, and both Beth and Gwen stated
that they'd be using those first. The hard spray was brutal, but it was so nice
to be clean again that it was worth it. An hour later they were all walking
outside, to the place next door, hoping they didn't need a reservation. It
wasn't packed, but there was a line to be seated.

It
was nice though. Not the best place that Gwen had ever eaten, but the food was
decent, and cost less than the stuff on the train had. By a lot. Bethany, being
far more clever than she was about social things had already slipped the funds
for the meal to Cordell, who produced them as if from his own wallet.

Sally
and Clara were silent the whole time, and tried not to seem impressed by the
place, which was good, since it was, really, just a place for them to get food.
It was a seven course meal, but very little food actually came. It was just how
they did things here.

When
they got back to the hotel, much as Gwen had suspected, they were ambushed. Not
by an attacking force, which she was pretty much ready for, having taken her
bags with her even to the restaurant, which had raised a few eyebrows. It was
the desk man that waved them down however, looking nearly panicked.