A Simple Darkness (The Young Ancients: Tiera) (23 page)

It wasn't killing the older girl, just stopping her for interfering.
She
had a shield on after all.

When she got back to where the Count had gone down, it was clear that someone had given him a healing amulet. He was back on his feet, staring at her.

Tiera growled and rushed him, attacking a lot harder this time. Her weapon flailed then, against a shield.

"
Cheater
!" She didn't stop though, but wrapped his arm with her body, dropping her own weapon in the process. It was hard, but she got him to the ground, writhing in pain about a minute later. Unfortunately, while she managed to break his elbow, she couldn't manage to do a lot else. He moaned, but didn't say anything and she was out of options. Nearly.

She let him go and ran to her craft again, which no one had bothered to move yet, since Sandra really hadn't been in danger at all. She changed its position, settling it on top of the Count and pushing him deep into the ground. The force of it didn't go into him, that was true, but after a bit she managed to choke off all the available air.

Let him choke on it, she decided, climbing out, only to be hit by not one, but four Force Lances. Good ones too. They knocked her out after about two seconds. As was her habit she came to swinging, even though no one was nearby at all.

She didn't wait for things to be worked out, running to the side, where she'd set her amulets and magical weapons as a show of good faith. That had been a mistake it seemed, since Count Morris wasn't the only one in his family lacking in honor, was he?

No one tried to hit her again, so she was pretty well ready to fight a few seconds later, someone having turned her Fast Craft off it seemed. Sandra. That earned her a blast from an explosive weapon. It wouldn't hurt her through the shield, but by hitting the ground at her feet she was pretty much buried a few seconds later, as everyone else ran off.

"Cowards!" She screamed the word, rage making her fast and taking away most of her ability to care about others. She was about to kill them both, Sandra and her father, when Countess Morris ran to them, then threw herself to the ground. Begging.

"Please! No..." It wasn't some big heartfelt plea, filled with advanced reasons as to why she shouldn't kill them, but the words sounded sincere.

Tiera stopped for a moment, which got at least a few of the people to slowly walk back over. Sandra floated out of the Earth, using her flying rig. It was a good trick, one the Tiera would try to remember. A group of soldiers worked to get the Count free at the same time.

"Stop. All of you!" Tiera pointed at the ground again, ready to start fighting again. "I can't believe that you'd all cheat like this! I can see your father doing it, since he's
obviously
a bully and a coward, but you Sandra? To think, I was almost related to you. It's a good thing that Todd is a better judge of character than I am, I guess."

The thing was, she couldn't let them go, could she? They'd just come back and try to kill her later, no matter what they said right then. The craven were like that. Kind of by definition.

Oddly enough it was the old man from earlier that ended it, moving to stand between them all, his hands held out to show that he was unarmed.

"Conserina Lairdgren... I think that I speak for us all when I say that this situation, while unfortunate, should perhaps end here. I... do have to agree that it was handled less than perfectly, but the girl sought only to protect her father as she saw him dying. Would you have done otherwise were the positions reversed?" Count Overland didn't move, just holding his ground, looking at her without fear, even as she had an explosive weapon pointed at his middle. She pointed it down at least, not wanting to be rude to him.

"But... They have to die. He insulted me and then they cheated. I can't accept their word that this is over, can I? That makes sense, doesn't it? I'm not giving up my life later just to look good now." Did they all think she was stupid? Probably. They were all too dumb to see otherwise.

Again the old Count spoke his voice soft.

"You can take their word, dear. If they swear this done and apologize in front of all of us, then to do otherwise would leave them foresworn. All would turn on them then."

That got a snort from the audience, a woman that Tiera had never met. The noise got a hostile look from the King, but the woman spoke anyway, meaning that she had to be decently high ranking, or she wouldn't have risked it. That or she was insanely angry too. That was what Tiera was going with at the moment, to explain her own behavior, if anyone asked.

"Would we though? The young lady seems to have the situation about in hand, doesn't she? A duel is
sacred,
and these people have broken every rule involved, several times. Notice that we haven't turned on them yet? We should all be turning our backs and snubbing them, but here we stand, making excuses and prattling, instead of getting ready for war."She gave the crowd a sour look but then addressed Tiera directly.

"You have the forces of Duchy Keen at your disposal. We'll be ready to march within the week, at your command." The woman had red hair shot with silver and looked a little odd then, her eyes going to Timon, who shook his head slightly.

"County Breen as well, if it's needed."
That
person Tiera recognized at least, having met him rather memorably. It made her feel better, but she knew that they really couldn't afford to fight that way right now. Not with what was coming to the kingdom.

She growled and nodded anyway.

"Thank you. I won't need the help, this is between me and these people here. These evil, petty people that won't even meet me fairly." She was about to demand satisfaction, since she recalled Count Morris having done that earlier, when Princess Karina stepped forward too, first standing in front of Count Overland, protecting
him
with her own body, then slowly walking toward Tiera, her arms out, as if trying to give her a hug.

"Tiera... Please, calm yourself and focus. These people acted less than perfectly this day, true, but they're not bad people. I admit that there might be use for some apologies here, but even if they don't come, we don't need death over this. Count Morris will promise to leave you be. So will Sandra and all their people." She couldn't hug her, but tried, hovering just over the shield. "No one will break that. I understand your concerns, but..." She stopped and looked around then nodded once.

No one moved for a long time, the Queen covering her mouth and looking horribly sad for some reason, but she didn't call out for the girl to stop, or not speak the words that she seemed to know were coming.

Timon
did
however.

"Enough." He walked over to the hole the Count was being pulled out of and helped him out, along with his soldiers. Then he waved to Sandra and gestured for her to come back to the ground, since she'd been hovering above them all, pointing her weapon at Tiera.

Then he held his hands up.

"This is finished now. There will be no more said about it and no one will strike at anyone later. Is that understood? Now, we're going inside and talking about more pleasant things and if I hear so much as one person say an unkind word for the next hour they're going to spend the next month mucking out the stables here. Is that understood?"

A few people chuckled a little, but King Richard bowed toward the boy. "Agreed. That's by decree now. I expect that we'll all abide by it?"

Then, oddly, Count Overland bowed to Timon and then the King. Very carefully, and in that order.

"I second it. Rest assured my back can't take that kind of thing, so I'll do my best to behave."

That got everyone to laugh, except her and the Morris family. Even the soldiers made polite noises.

They all seemed happy, except for her. Those people almost had to try and kill her now, didn't they? All she could do was get ready for them. That and hunt them down before they could get her. Doing it that night made sense. The more time they had to plan, the easier it would be for Sandra to work out some magic that she couldn't beat in time. Everyone else might have thought that her father was the danger, but all he had was an army. Sandra had the Lairdgren group.

That she was in a real war now suddenly hit Tiera, even as everyone walked inside. They couldn't afford it, not as a kingdom, but it almost had to happen. Trying to set it aside right now only worked against her, didn't it? She was about to mention it when Timon walked over and shook his head.

"This isn't what you think. Not totally. I mean, yes, Count Morris handled it poorly, but they won't come for you. I can guarantee that. Sandra won't even be mad at you. She had to act. I'll try to explain later, if she doesn't first." He spoke quickly, but the words didn't leave her feeling any better really.

She made sure she had all her amulets and left her shield on and carried her weapons in their little pockets so that she'd know which one she was pointing without checking. No one looked at her, not when they saw her eyes at least, though a few got caught looking away suddenly.

That got her brother to laugh.

"They're all acting as if you were in a combat rage. Close enough. Don't let it get to you."

The King acted funny then himself, making a point of addressing Count Morris several times and seeing to his health and comfort, while not bothering to even look at
her
at all. The rest of the Royal family did the same thing, seeing that the man and his wife had drinks, soft places to sit in a nice meeting room and familiar faces around them. Sandra hovered near her da, Tiera noticed, which was proper enough, but showed where her real allegiance was. Not that it could have been any different.

That was one thing that Count Overland had been correct about. If it had been her father out there, Tiera would have done the same thing, wouldn't she? Even if it meant breaking the rules. It was what you did for family. She could almost forgive that, but she still felt ready to kill them all. Even Countess Morris and she'd only tried to fix things, not make them worse. Twice even.

It bothered her a little that the King was so clearly siding with the bully though, as if he were the one in the right and she was the mean one that had started it all and then used his family and armed forces to cheat. No one was even requiring them to say they were sorry. It was
galling
. She felt her own anger start to rise again, even though there probably didn't seem to be a reason for it as far as anyone else could see.

Finally, after about fifteen minutes of that, the King left the room, along with Count Lairdgren and a few others she didn't know. Probably to plot against her. She followed them then, her eyes hard, rage just about as bad as it could get without her boiling over. She wasn't subtle about it, just walking at the back of the group, going unnoticed until King Richard turned around and looked down at Count Lairdgren.

"Oh, Tiera. I didn't really mean for you to be in on this part, perhaps you could find some refreshments." He waved his hand and pointed at her, which got two people to step out of the wall, each with Royal Guard liveries and uniforms, as well as weapons in their hands.

She ducked and pulled her own, her back going to the wall behind her, ready to take them out.

Count Lairdgren rolled his eyes and spoke slowly. "Calm. Everyone stand down. Richard was simply asking for Tiera to be taken back to the gathering, I'm certain."

At least the King nodded at that.

"That
was
my intent. I was going to suggest a bit to eat perhaps?"

Tiera shook her head.

"
No
. You're just letting them go. You've picked your side and chose the bullies. Loyalty has to go both ways you know. If you won't back a loyal subject against people like that, then it's no wonder people want to overthrow you! You didn't even tell them to apologize or anything." She stomped her foot, so angry that she didn't care if she looked like a ten year old girl at the moment. "Fine then. If you won't be my friend, then I'm not yours
either
. Don't come to me for help when you need it. If you can't be friends with a single person, you don't deserve to be King."

Then she left. Everyone stared at her, until she got around the corner. She didn't wait, running for the door then, choosing to go out the front, since no one sane would expect her to. She didn't stop to work the handle, just kicking it open and heading out. It broke, but was faster and they were rich enough to be able to afford a new door. It didn't matter anyway. She'd have to break a lot of doors before it hurt them at all.

It did give Tiera an idea however.

Instead of fleeing, or even just going to Tor's house or back to school, she made herself remember the town map she'd seen earlier. It had directions to the Morris Capital house right there on it, marked in red, almost as if it were a sign. True, that had been so that she could find it to deliver them for the meeting, but it let her work out how to find it, even now. She didn't get her Fast Craft out or anything, she put on her flying rig instead, and flew out over the northern wall. It meant going over the magic river on the top of it, but she left that alone for the time being. She was only going after Morris after all, unless pushed to do more.

If no one was going to help her, she'd do it herself.

It took about half an hour to drive in low mode through the gate, her vehicle made to look like a happy pink and orange glowing globe of translucent glass. It got people's attention, and most of all didn't seem to be angry or anything like that.