A Simple Darkness (The Young Ancients: Tiera) (11 page)

"
Good
. Do that all the time from now on. Have weapons on even in the bath. Petra took hers off to bathe with her fiancée about a month ago. He had his people grab her and tortured her for weeks. This was the man she was supposed to
marry
. I probably would have done the same thing, wouldn't you? Who wears a shield into the tub? From now on we can't let our guards down. They got your little brother with poison... do you know about that?" She sounded sad suddenly, talking about what had happened to people.

She felt her lips tighten into a frown.

"Countess Alan and a Larval gave him some kind of sleeping drug. It made him so calm he couldn't fight and just fell asleep. Then... They did things to him." It was bad and she knew that it was torture and rape, but that was all she'd been told. Karen, somehow, knew more.

"That's right. They used a special kind of pain compound from Austra that's so severe it makes all other tortures seem like sweet caresses. The Countess and the Larval abused him sexually while under extreme pain, and then the lady nearly unmanned him with a knife. After that he managed to fight back and free himself, but he was dying while it happened.
That's
what you have to be prepared for Tiera. It's the level of commitment you need too. He took off his own legs to get fee. Not what I'd recommend, but you have to be ready." There was a second yawn then and the woman closed her eyes again. "Not trying to scare you, but you really should be. There's a very good chance that these assassins will come for you next, to try and get at Tor. Timon said it won't work, but you're a girl, which means that Tor might do more to protect you than he would a boy. He probably can't help it."

Then, almost instantly, the bigger woman stretched out, rolled over and went to sleep, with the light still on. It was low, so Tiera left it, not falling asleep herself for a long time.

In the morning she got up, having managed a few hours of sleep at least. That was one thing that the Count had gotten right, she didn't really need much that way. Most nights she got a full seven hours, since things were boring after dark anyway, but she could get along with a lot less. She felt fine after the three hours or so that she'd had and took care of her morning routine early, before the other girls were there in the bathing area to mock her or anything.

Then she sat at the little work desk in the space and ate some magically dried fruit, which was light and less expensive than the regular kind. It was almost fluffy and had a crisp texture to it. It was mainly apple, since that was what had been cheapest and she needed to make certain her funds lasted for a while, so she wouldn't be driven to the dining hall in desperation and forced to eat other people's bodily fluids. The idea left her shuddering for a bit, her appetite gone. That wasn't good, if she was going to be working hard all the time now. She had to eat, but it was just so sickening to think about. She made herself take a few more bites, knowing that if she didn't she'd regret it later.

Karen woke up about then and muttered something unintelligible at her, then got up with a sudden surge and walked out of the room, presumably toward the restroom. It was the first thing most people did at least. Tiera didn't wait for her, since it was no doubt safe enough for her to walk to her class alone. She had all her gear on, including her flying rig and Tor shoes. That would let her run away pretty well if anything happened and anyone that could beat all that wouldn't be stopped by another body being in the way, she didn't think.

There were a few people in the weapons square when she got there, most stretching gently, or starting into some exercises with the stones. She followed along, trying not to seem like she didn't have a clue as to what she was doing, and tried to do what a rather homely giant of a man was, swinging huge rocks around and then lifting the biggest ones multiple times. She had to go with smaller ones the whole time, but when the man finished he waved to her, indicating she should take the one he'd been working with, which had to weigh hundreds of pounds. It wasn't the biggest one there either, so she copied what he'd been doing and lifted it with both hands. She only managed three times but the man smiled at her, his teeth nice and white for all that he had pock marked skin.

It made her hands hurt a lot though, when she looked down she saw that the skin had broken. No blood came out at least. He glanced at them and nodded.

"That will take some time. On the heaviest weights it will always happen anyway, when you push yourself hard enough. That one weighs in at nearly six hundred pounds. It's going to do damage." He didn't act overly impressed, though clearly it was something special. She was a lot smaller than he was and she could work out the math, after all. It was nearly seven times her weight and probably about twice his.

He waved to her again and moved to the practice table where he found a leather strap for her to wrap around her right hand, then handed her a practice weapon, which was basically just a heavy club.

"Pells. You're little, so you'll have running too, right? We always make the tiny people do that. Try hitting this pole a thousand times, as hard as you can. Then run... I don't know how far people run. I generally do a circuit of the school myself, but the good runners head to the next town and back. Who's your trainer?" He looked around, but clearly thought that it would be one of the other students, since she was new.

"Sir Karen Derring."

The words got the man to laugh for some reason and then wave at the pole that was stuck in the ground. It was about three feet thick and had huge chunks taken out of the sides from previous beatings, mainly with less than sharp metal, she guessed.

"That makes sense then. It explains why you're out here this early, to get a jump on things. Good fighter, but hard. I'll leave you to this. Enjoy it, since it's likely going to be the fun part of your day. I'm Havar, by the way." He gave a half bow, since he was no doubt above her here.

She went lower.

"Tiera. As you guessed, the new person."

The man gestured at her and then stood back as she tried to hit the thing in front of her hard enough to do something. The post shook a bit, but the pounding made her hand feel weak after a minute. She could hang on, so she kept after it, silently counting to herself. She was only getting about sixty hits per minute, so she doubled it, not wanting to take half an hour on the project.

The man was working his own post, but with a metal blade, his focus straight ahead. He called out to her with a booming voice, which everyone else ignored.

"Alternate, high then low. Faster!"

Then he did the same, so she had a clue what she was doing, with him calling out for her not to give up. There was, she realized, a real reason for that. Her arm ached bitterly after a few seconds and she was pretty certain her palm really was bleeding now. She didn't stop, since the man seemed to be saying not to. It was hard though, since it really wasn't pleasant. The man stopped after nine hundred blows, but she kept going. It was all she could do to keep the heavy club in her hand the whole time, but she did it, stopping only when the last blow was counted. She didn't drop the piece of wood, because it had frozen into her hand.

"Excellent. Half the new students drop the blade the first time when they finish. If you did that I'd have beaten you until you could pick it up. Keep that in mind for later, if it's your turn with the new person." He held out his hand for the club, smiling. "You did better than most."

She started to give the thing to him, then frowned.

"Wait... Is this a trick too? I hand over what seems to be my only weapon and then you beat me for that too? I'm armed. Explosive weapon and force lance, plus a shield." She glared at the man who laughed at her.

"Ooohhh, a smart one!
Exactly
my plan. You're really armed like that? Why? I mean
I
am, but I'm a paranoid monster that goes around expecting everyone else to be too."

Tiera smiled, finding herself liking the man, even if he wasn't great looking. He had a nice personality, she decided. Not overly servile or anything.

"Same with me. Plus, I made some people around here angry at me. I don't doubt I'm in for some real beatings soon. The Lairdgren group is probably coming for me and having these weapons won't help a lot with them. Shield either. I can't kill them and that's probably the only thing that would work."

The giant rubbed his face and moved back in front of his pell, hitting it a few times before speaking.

"Go ahead and rack the weapon where I got it from. Then, I don't know, practice running? There's a path that way." He pointed toward the back of the place. "Keep your shield on and do a few laps. You'll probably have to do more later, but it can't hurt to not look lazy on your first day."

She took the advice and did what he said, since he knew a lot more about the whole combat training thing than she did, clearly. The running path was just beaten dirt, but was clear enough she didn't worry about getting lost, even in the woods behind the school compound proper. They were leafy, but there wasn't a lot of dense undergrowth for people to hide in. She kept an eye out anyway, in case of ambush. She wasn't kidding about feeling a little bit like everyone was sort of out to get her right now. No one else seemed to be awake yet, until she padded back into the combat area about forty minutes later. She hadn't run fast, but it was at least a few miles.

Karen was standing next to Kolb, looking upset, which got a glare trained on her from both of them before she got halfway over to them, still keeping to a slow and steady run.

The head Instructor took a step toward her and growl, which was more than a little frightening. It was enough that she triggered her shield with a tap, in case he lashed out at her.

"Where have you been young lady? I told you to be here after you had breakfast, that didn't mean to sit in the dining hall chatting with your friends for half an hour, keeping us waiting."

Tiera didn't care for the tone he was using with her at all. She bit her tongue, until Karen moved in on her.

"You left hours ago! Where were you?" She at least didn't seem ready to beat her personally, like the bully next to her was.

She moved her hand to her pocket, to get out her explosive device. If she had to fight she really didn't think that she stood a chance, even with that kind of weapon, since
everyone
here had shields, but she wasn't going to just be beaten, if she could help it. Not when she hadn't done anything wrong. She had the thing out, but held by her side when Havar walked over.

"There she is. She beat you two layabeds out here by
hours
. Worked a full stones rotation with me, nearly matching what I did, including the heavy stones, then did introductory pells without messing anything up and ran the outer perimeter twice. Now leave off, will you? We finally get someone with half an ounce of promise and you want to scare her away on the first day?" He smiled about it all though and his words got the others to relax, a lot.

Sir Kolbrin bowed toward her slightly.

"
Ah
, I'm used to working with students that are a bit more reluctant than that. Your brother for instance. Forgive my mistake." He stood up, the scar on his cheek wrinkling a bit. "Also, please put the weapon away. Force Lance?"

She did it, but shook her head.

"Explosive. A Force Lance wouldn't work on your shields. I could hit the ground at your feet to kick up a distraction with this though. Maybe even cause you to stumble." They didn't have flying rigs on as far as she could see. She didn't either, but she had one with her, of course.

For some reason that got everyone to laugh at her, as if it were a silly idea. She still thought it might work. She hadn't tried it, but shield or not you had to stand on
something
, right?

The men moved away and Karen gestured to a place off to the side, where they could work together and not be in anyone's way.

"Let me know where you're planning to be from now on, will you? I'd thought someone had kidnapped you or something." She held up a large hand, as if to explain but then turned her palm over. "Unarmed training then. You have to take your shield off. We can put them on the table over by the pells. No one will touch it without permission." That meant walking, which was harder than it sounded, since her muscles were stiffening up already. She wasn't used to as much work as she was doing after all. Walking and flying, but not running or lifting rocks. Her shoulder ached too, probably from banging a club on half a tree for that long.

As soon as that happened, and she didn't have a shield, Tiera expected to be beaten for it, to teach her to keep it on, but Karen just ran her through move after move, repeating them until she could do it decently well, explaining things the whole time.

"Never aim to hit the surface of a thing, always try to move through it. Otherwise your blows will lack power. Normally I'd tell you to attack a person's eyes first, but unless they're a midget that isn't going to work for you. Men protect their groins, so work on attacking the knees first. Even on a small person it will take them off guard. As soon as you can, try to hit sensitive targets. I have a book you can look at for that later."

Then she hit her. Just once, right in the stomach. Tiera was actually lifted off the ground though, the force of it was so great. She fell back, rolling a bit and clutching herself, not able to breathe.