A Simple Darkness (The Young Ancients: Tiera) (18 page)

Karen took the letters back to the room for her, so that she could start right in, and didn't show up for hours while she did all the morning routine she'd been set. Havar was there first, working stones after padding up himself, about two hours later. She was trying to double the number of empty handed blows against the pell in front of her, which was stained a dark red from her blood already. Her skin stung, but she didn't stop, picking up the healing amulet after that. Other people were there, but they didn't pay any attention to her, which meant she didn't have anyone to practice with really.

"Hey, Havar... I know it won't be much of a challenge for you, but do you want to do some double club work?" The man looked at how she was dressed and shrugged.

"Alright." He seemed a little tentative at first, but didn't spare her overly when she missed her blocks. His did keep his blows to her arms mainly, that and her middle, he made swipes at her legs but missed most of the time, since they were too far down for him to easily reach. For her part she managed to abuse his legs enough that he was limping by the time Sir Kolbrin came over to watch them.

"Havar, bend at the knee and use your lead weapon to parry. Tiera, use your speed, he can't start or stop as fast as you can, and you need to counter his reach." The instructions kept coming even as they both took damage. He finally missed her arm and managed to hit her in the face, pushing a tooth through her cheek. They didn't stop though, even after she retaliated with a nice solid backhand blow to the groin. He teared up, but didn't slow at all.

Those were mistakes though, not blows done on purpose. They hurt bitterly, but so did everything. After ten minutes or so Sir Kolbrin stopped them.

"Healing amulet and then come see me."

The large man made sure she got to use the thing first, but as soon as she was healed she pressed it to his arm. He smiled, even as the pain hit him again. It wasn't completely comfortable after all. It beat the heck out of doing it the old way though, with weeks of slow healing needed to repair their abused bodies.

When they got to Kolb he covered every single mistake she made, which was a list that was a lot longer than she'd expected. She'd never even thought about her foot position before for instance. The Head Instructor showed her what he meant and then had her do it, over and over again, just walking that way, so it would become habit. She had to avoid the others sparring with each other to do it, but the man wasn't ignoring her, calling out new variations every few minutes.

When Karen finally ran up they were both motioned over, before they had a chance to do anything at all. It had to be close to ten o'clock and Kolb didn't look happy at all. With his Instructor. He actually stood with his hand on Tiera's back.

"So, Karen... A bit late, aren't you?" His tone was so mild that it sounded almost friendly. The larger girl just nodded, seeming ashamed.

"We were out gallivanting all night. Sorry, sir."

He still didn't sound angry, but he did look at her very directly then.

"Oh? We
who
?"

"Tiera and I. We... Well, went visiting and making contacts, but lost track of time."

The big man shook his head then, the first hint of real disapproval coming then.

"You and Tiera? I think not. No,
she
was here since before I arrived, working to improve her skills. It couldn't have been that, or you would have been out here with her. I expect my Instructors to hold to very high standards, even if it means going sleepless. I expect a full work out from you. Take the afternoon class. Tiera here will work with Judith and for the remainder of this session." It was an order and sounded like a punishment, but it was just her regular job, wasn't it?

It was the disapproval that did it, Tiera could tell that, but why exactly she didn't know. Maybe it was an act, to cover what they'd been doing? Sir Kolbrin was probably in on it. Tim had said she should follow his orders in her current task at least, hadn't he? That had to mean something. They really needed to talk soon, someplace where she could actually ask questions.

Judy was set to attacking them both, while wearing a shield. Tiera and the Head Instructor didn't get them, and had to try to find ways to subdue her. It was harder than it sounded like. The only thing that worked at all was when she used her whole body to wrap Judy's left arm and managed to force it back, while the large man did the same with her spine. It took both of them though. When he tried it alone she just shook him off. It was harder to do it with her arms, but by pushing on them she could slide out eventually. Tiera got more than one boot to the stomach that way.

When they finally stopped Sir Kolbrin rubbed at his scar and nodded.

"Tomorrow it's you two against me. No shields for you. I suggest you both think about it, since I noticed a half dozen tricks that Judith missed using." Then he walked away, making the other girl's eyes go wide.

"We're in for it then, aren't we? Did you see anything?"

Tiera had, but not a half dozen things. They worked on it for a bit, trying to find ways around them. The easy way was to just cheat, and blast the ground at the shielded person's feet, but that was kind of hard on the paving stones. They didn't have a lot other than that.

At noon she ate in her room. She was running out of food and would have to make another run to the store later if she could. Otherwise she was going to start being even hungrier. Tiera was starving, since she'd missed breakfast.

The rest of the school day was normal, even though the singing class was a little rough, having only had one lesson and the teacher, who was a thin man called Instructor Crane, clearly wasn't happy with the students that day. Some of them were still hung over, so he had them sit to the side, sipping cups of coffee, while the rest of them worked.

"Alright. The
good
students that showed up ready to work, please review the new song." He turned to glare at the others then, the ones that were sitting. "The rest of you, I expect to come in ready to perform it for us all tomorrow. It had better be good too. Don't make me give you a black mark."

No one seemed that worried about whatever a black mark was, so it probably wasn't a huge deal. She knew it meant a mark in a book in the headmasters office. If you got ten of them the school kicked you out. Hardgrove had shown Tiera h
er
sheet, which already had seven. One for each boy.

Luckily, he'd also explained that they only lasted for a year. If she was a good girl for that long she wouldn't be in any real danger.

When she got out of that class, at nearly five, she headed back to her room, really starting to drag. Regina was standing right outside, waiting for her, holding a single flower that she handed to her sweetly.

"It's between your last class and dinner. That's when we were supposed to meet, isn't it?"

Tiera blinked, but nodded. It
was
something like that. She'd hoped for a nap, but she took her friend by the hand and moved her inside. Karen wasn't there at all at least, still working.

She set the flower, a daisy, on her desk and pushed her friend back onto her bed, then climbed on top of her. It was a little more aggressive than she'd been before, but this time it wasn't about practicing kissing for boys, was it? They didn't do much though, since, honestly, Tiera didn't know what else to do with a girl. Her friend had some ideas however, some of them being rather interesting.

They kept at it for a bit, until panting they both laid back on the bed, holding each other.

Reggie let her dark hair sweep over Tiera's face, since they were both still clothed. The curls tickled a little.

"I should have told you I liked you before, instead of trying to trick you into kissing me. I didn't know you'd be willing to do anything else. Are you mad at me? I didn't mean any harm, but it caused so much trouble for you. Please say you aren't."

She sounded pretty sad about it, so Tiera cuddled her close and whispered in her ear.

"Never. You're my best friend. I know you didn't mean to hurt me."

"Just your friend?"

That was a strange question, since, well, obviously they were rather close, weren't they? Look at what they were just doing.

"I think that friendship is more important where I come from than here. There, if someone is your friend it means that you support them fully. I've seen people near starving give their last bit of bread to a friend. It isn't some small thing at all." She wasn't trying to insult the girl, but kind of thought there was going to be a negative reaction to the words for some reason.

Instead there was just another hug.

"Alright. I can work with that then, for now. I'd like to be your girlfriend, maybe, someday. Is that, I don't know if you'd want that?"

She didn't either. It felt wrong to even think about, but her own mother had told her it was correct here.

"I don't know how to do that, but if you'll fill me in on the rules for it, I can try." It sounded horribly backward, but the other girl clapped happily and kissed her again.

"Oh! Thank you! I know that I'll be good at it. Here..." She pushed Tiera back and got her to take her clothing off, her mouth moving downward suddenly.

They were interrupted about then by the door opening, but Regina didn't stop what she was doing, even as Tiera started to try to move out from under her. When she realized that it was Karen and Ali standing there, she nearly died of shame, but they just walked in and closed the door.

Then, almost ten seconds too late, Reggie stopped and looked up, her face sheepish.

Ali, smiled and waved happily.

"Don't stop on our account. We'll be right out of your way."

Then Regina went back to work, the others ignoring what was going on completely. Whatever it was they were doing they left moments later and things got even more interesting as the other girl moved down even further.

When that was finished, her friend grinned at her. "Did you like that? I know that it was probably strange, but..."

Tiera grinned and tried her best to return the favor. It was a bit odd, but it felt nice to give someone else pleasure she decided. Not as nice as receiving it, but nearly.

Then she managed to send her friend off to dinner and ate alone in her room, looking at the single daisy the whole time. It had been an interesting day. A long one though, and really she had to finish her task. That meant figuring out some way to deliver the letters that she hadn't before. A trip to the Capital would work for a few of them, but that would need to be during the day, or she'd never find anyone.

After practicing her song a few times and doing some extra problems for math class, she actually managed to get to sleep. It wasn't late, which meant she woke up in the dark, just lying there dreaming of ways to try and get around a full shield, starting from an unarmed position. She drifted in and out for a while, but a few ideas managed to trickle in. Nothing all that Earth shaking, since they were all just minor variations of what she knew would work on Judith, but it was worth a shot. The trick would be in getting Sir Kolbrin on the ground, on either his stomach or back. If they could do that, and work together, they might stand a chance.

It was a lot to ask for however. She hadn't had a lot of training in grappling yet, but she'd seen the Head Instructor working with some of the others. He was good at it and having a shield would just make it easier for someone that skilled.

Still, it would at least show that she'd tried. She decided to spend the rest of the night practicing, using the light on the wall as a target to focus on.

It was harder than it seemed like it should be.

As it turned out the next day, it was a lot different to turn off a shield at a distance than a light. Tiera had managed to get the light activated and off from about three feet away, but that didn't do anything to Sir Kolbrin's shield at all. No, he just threw her and Judith off at every turn. Finally she did manage to get him on the ground for a few seconds by pulling his legs together as hard as she could while Judy pulled on him. It didn't last and neither of them could manage to hold him at all, since he was rapidly shaking his arms or legs when they tried it, using the properties of the field to make it impossible to hold him.

Jerk. It actually made her mad after a while, but just hitting him wouldn't work at all, because... shield. They locked him into place on the ground and she wrapped her legs around him, with her feet painfully trapped under his back as he struggled to get away. He rolled on top of her, but didn't just hit her in the face, which would have been the next logical move. Instead he tried to shake his torso, which looked funny enough some of the other laughed. Right until the movement broke both her ankles.

 "Kolb... Stop. Halt!" There was panic in the voice, but the man didn't stop, thrusting against her in a way that even Tiera got was a bit sexual looking. That wasn't his intent however. She didn't let the hold go, which ended up meaning he had to pick her up and slam the shield against her several times before she slipped off.

It had been David that had yelled and it was him and Havar that hit the man, also wearing shields, to get him to stop. The odd thing was that they all started laughing for some reason. Sir Kolbrin first, but then Havar, who was lying on top of the Head Instructors face, trying not to slip off as the magical forces hit each other.

For her part of thing she decided that rolling was going to get her to the table with the healing amulet and her own shield faster than crawling. It made her dizzy, but Karen got the devices and handed them to her without needing to be asked, which was nice.

"Judy's shield too, if we're going to change the rules." She said it right before the gasp came, the healing device with its etched figure of her brother's silhouette held tight in her right hand. There was a slight pop from each leg and she had tears in her eyes from the pain, but as soon as she could she joined the pile, trying for a hold on the bald giant's right arm.

He still shook himself, making it really hard to trap him in place, but by lying on top of the arms and wrapping it with her whole body, protected by her own shield, she managed to make it work, finally getting the man on the ground to call out, sounding calm enough about it.

"I yield."

They all let him up then, the four that had held him in place, if just barely. Karen stood back and looked troubled, but didn't wait to be asked for her assessment of the whole mess. It had been a giant pile too, lacking in art, or even decent efficiency. She laid it all out, going over what Sir Kolbrin had done first, which had mainly worked, until the rules had been changed, and ended with Judy's, which was harsher than Tiera thought was practical.

 "You weren't backing your partner fully. When she committed fully to the situation and took damage you should have done the same. I understand why you didn't, since it's only a training exercise, but learning to deal with the new shields unarmed is possibly one of the most important things we can be doing right now. Kolb didn't pick you because he expected you to go easy on him. Fix that next time."

No mention was made of
her
performance even though most of it hadn't worked. Havar patted her on the back and then moved her away gently. He didn't explain himself until they were halfway across the training area.

"Judith didn't really do anything wrong. She lacked the needed context is all. It can be hard to learn that, but Karen was actually being a little hard on her, so I figured you should be out of earshot for it, so she won't blame you later. We should work joint locks. I'll show you what to do, try not to actually break things, so that we don't have to use the healing device too much. A soft practice for right now."

They worked on it long enough that Karen laughed when she came over to collect her for some sword work, against David, who was a lot better than Tiera was. So much so that he was actually forced to work at half speed by his sister, so that it wouldn't be too lopsided. Judy looked a bit disgruntled, but took a turn against David too, both moving much faster. Karen pointed out what they were doing wrong the whole time, but didn't mention the shield work things yet.

 Tiera actually wanted to talk about it, since they clearly hadn't come up with anything that would really work yet. Not for an unarmed person against a shielded one. If she could learn that trick of Tim's it would be useful, but that was going to take time, she feared.

After luncheon she let herself get lost in math, so much so that she was late to singing practice which had Instructor Crane scowling at her.

"I trust you have a good reason for being
late
, Miss Baker?" He glared at her hard enough that everyone else chuckled, making her feel embarrassed and small. "I was going to have these drunkards and gadabouts go first, but perhaps you'd like to regale us with your version of the lesson instead? I'll accompany on the piano." He sneered a bit, but that got silence from the room at least, since it was rather harsh for just being a few moments late.

Luckily she'd practiced it the day before and knew the piece. She didn't stumble badly and while her range wasn't that great compared to a few of the more advanced girls, she had a nice clear voice and mainly kept herself in tune. It was far from perfect, but good enough that when the Instructor looked at her he smiled, if a bit dryly.

"A little flat at the start of the second section. It didn't sound like you were strangling a cat however, which means you actually practiced. I'll forgo beating you in the commons. This time. Don't be late again. Now Sorenson, front and center, the male version. Start after the bridge..."

The boy that came to the front still looked hung over and wore rich silk clothing in a bright red. He was unshaved and greasy seeming, like he hadn't bothered to climb into a tub for a few days. That was a big deal at school and if he kept it up people would mock him. As it was they snickered a little as he butchered the song, forgetting half the words. What was worse though, was that when he actually had the right phrase... he was
really
good. It just made the mistakes that much more glaring.

For some reason Crane didn't even bother to correct him, just waving him to his seat and getting the next person out to take a turn at mangling the song. A lot of them were clearly superior singers, but it was like they just didn't actually care much at all. It was hard for her to understand, since, if you were good at something and bothered taking a class in it, shouldn't you try your best?

She
was
and her singing was kind of medium level at best. Then, she'd been assigned that class for some reason, and hadn't picked it at all. It wasn't an excuse to not care though. Then they all sang as a group, which was much better sounding, with the other students that weren't in trouble going along with the rest, fixing most of the problems.

Poor Instructor Crane still winced and sighed as if pained when they did it, but it wasn't that bad, she didn't think. The man waved for them all to leave, but called out to them to actually
practice
. He didn't sound overly hopeful about the idea however.

Tiera had to go into town first, to get more fruit and dried meat. It wasn't the most incredible meal plan, but it kept her going well enough. She also got some cheese that was on sale, a firm white that was a little sour tasting, so not as popular, but should last pretty well. The woman in the shop, who was only about thirty and dressed in a grayish tan, covered with a nice bright blue apron, mentioned that a lot of the students had been coming in for provisions lately.

"I don't know why that is though."

Tiera looked at the cheese and asked how much two pounds of it would cost. That was only seven coppers so she got it, before informing the woman as to why her customer base had grown.

"A boy spit in the food. Well,
my
food. It was a personal thing, but everyone is afraid that it will become the norm now." She paid as the women seemed pensive, her face going shrewd.

"I wonder if I could capitalize on that? Make up some baskets of things for people to buy, and sell them on the school grounds for a bit? People will adapt after a time, of course, but for a few days that might work."

It sounded like a good plan to her, but then she was probably going to be the last to adapt to the whole thing, wasn't she? It had been her oatmeal that was tainted.

Then, after she got back to her room, she did her math, sang for a while, trying very hard to improve and do the basic exercises that she was supposed to stretch her vocal range and control and felt nearly virtuous as she went over all the information in the book that Karen had given her, so that she'd be ready, if there was a test on it. Just as she was finishing that, there was a knock on her door.

At first she didn't hear it, since it was a bit tentative, but when they knocked again she jumped up. "Sorry, one moment. Lost in study..." She expected it to be Regina, but when the door opened she found that it was
Guide
standing there instead, clutching something in his hand. Several things actually. For a second she expected to be attacked and nearly ducked, but he held his hand out instead, as if to hand her something. She was a little leery, but took it, knowing that if it embarrassed her it was probably just fair. She half winced, waiting, but nothing happened.

"Plates and cups. Do you have a desk?" All the rooms did, but it was clear he was asking to be invited in, which was only polite after all.

"Oh, certainly, sorry, I was expecting this to explode, or turn my clothing amulet off as a prank. I suppose I deserve that, but... plates and cups?" She remembered the idea, but hadn't expected him to show her when he was done.

He nodded.

"Each of those has something different on it, so you don't have to carry them around if you only need one thing. Eventually I'll put them all on one device, but I haven't mastered that yet. Here, hit the sigil on that one..." He pointed as she set them all on the writing desk, a small wooden thing with a bit of a slope. Then Guide moved it to the left hand side and pointed again at one with a simple disk on it.

Her hand tapped the top of it, her intent making it activate, which got a stack of plates to appear. Ten of them. They were a nice white color and had silver scroll work around the upper edge.

"These are lovely." She picked one up and held it. The weight seemed about right and when she flicked it, the thing made a sound that was at least close to what fine china might have.

"Good out to two hundred feet from the central devices. Plates, goblets, and silver. I'm pretty proud of it. Farlo said that she wants a copy for her family. You don't have to wash them, just hold the used things over the trash and turn it off. Or, I suppose, just put them in... That would be easier I think. You get new clean ones each time. So, is this about what you meant?" He seemed a bit bashful for some reason.

"More than I was thinking. I'd like a set for my parents too. I have a lot of brothers and sisters, so it would save them loads of work. I... can't afford it, of course. Still, these are
very
fine." She turned on each of the things and shook her head. The silver was wonderful and felt like the real thing and the goblets were crystal glass on long stems, but large enough for water or juice at the table, not just wine.

"Beautiful. You did really nice work on these."

He blushed and looked at the far wall for a second.

"Anyway, I brought these for you, if you want them? I know that, well, things haven't been smooth between us. I'm sorry I laughed at you when that boy spit in your food. I should have stopped him, or at least said something. It, well, we don't think highly of nobles where I come from, and people can be a little crude there at times if they don't like each other. I didn't think much of it at first." It wasn't a brilliant admission, or a real apology, but then, he didn't owe her one, did he? She ignored that part and focused on the gift.

"This is a bit too much for a present though, isn't it? Not that I don't want it, I do, but this would cost hundreds of golds. Unless it's a courting gift, and even then, the last one I got was a single wild daisy, and that worked pretty well. If I'm going to tell the truth about it." She smiled as he blushed again, but the boy shook his head, rather firmly.

"No. I mean, I couldn't. Henry is my friend and if I, you know... So I
can't
. It's just because the idea was yours originally. Master Tor always gives people that had the original ideas half of the ownership of the device, but he also has a lot of ideas. Come up with another one and I'll give you half of it." His face was flat then, as if he expected her to scold him or something. That just made sense though, didn't it? Tor put things out so fast it was easy for him to just give it away. Real builders might come up with a few new things per year, if they were one of the top ones. Giving half of it away would be hard to do.

"Oh, well, pots, pans, rolling pins, tooth brushes... toothpaste and soap... Bath towels too, that shouldn't be too hard and those are useful. Tor hasn't come up with it yet, even though it should only take you a day to do the work. Perfumes, fake candles that never burn out, for decoration. Oohh, magical bed warmers that make the sheets warm, for the winter?" She grinned but the boy went wide eyed and then made a face.