The Silence Within (The Young Ancients: Tiera) (4 page)

Tiera stalked across the room, not feeling even a bit as angry as she sounded. That was a good thing, and a new one, but her old reflexes were still all there, and really she knew how to handle bossy people that attacked with words, didn't she? With violence. It was the time honored method and everything.

Carol stopped at least and spun in place, just in time to catch a shielded fist to the middle. She doubled over and went most of the way to the floor, even though it was only a little blow, not one carrying her full force or weight even.

"You'll apologize to Trice, take the damn amulet, and remember your manners from now on. I'm
not
going to warn you every two hours about how to behave. This is it. A person trying to give you a gift should be
thanked
. That's the
only
proper response. What I want to know is, why am I having to tell you this at all? I'm almost certain that you had classes on this kind of thing at some point, even if you can't get it from context at the moment."

 There was a pained sound and gasping for a long time, the woman standing there nude, her light brown skin darker than Tiera by several shades. Trice was about the same, or a little darker, herself. About normal, for both of them. She was the one that got looks, being so pale all the time.

"Sorry... I forgot myself."

It was a start. Not a perfect one and Tiera wondered how many times she was going to have to hit the woman before she snapped and just killed her. Her guess was between five and seven. That was one. She decided to actually keep track of it, just to see how it worked. She loved numbers after all, and knowing that kind of thing, how much she could take without killing an annoyance, just seemed like a good plan.

The woman bowed. Not low enough, given what she'd been saying to Patricia in her own home, but again, it was a start.

"Forgive me for... being a bitch, I guess. I do indeed know better and your gift is kind and most welcome. Things have been stressful for me over the last months and I..." She ran out of words, which was a thing that Tiera understood pretty well.

It was part of noble society that she wasn't that wild about at all, all the begging and apologizing, with actual kneeling and scraping being involved. In Two Bends you had to say you were sorry if you wronged someone, but no one bowed or hit you when you did. It wasn't that one way was better than the other and she got the general idea, but it still made for a
lot
of awkward dinner parties. Really, most of these people would benefit from holding less of those. It seemed like you had to go to something like that at least once a week, if you were in the Capital.

Even at school they were held at least once a month. More often if you had friends in the homemaking studies section. She sort of did too. Not close personal friends, but people she knew. And Sherri.

Thinking of the girl made her want to blush. It wasn't that she didn't like her, but she'd been having sex with her regularly, starting about a week or two after Regina died. Everyone else probably thought that it was about her being fickle, or not really loving Reggie. That would be due to the fact that most people were morons. The reason she was doing things with Sherri was all about getting everyone else to leave her alone. Especially Tor. Timon wasn't that bad, though she had no illusion that he didn't get what was going on with her. Tor however, if he figured it all out, he'd try to stop her.

Timon might eventually too, but not until after she'd had her revenge.

"Good enough. We all have our moments, no need to draw this out." Trice said it with good humor, and didn't make the woman do more than she had. That was the polite way of handling things like that, but what were the odds that anyone else was going to follow suit that night?

There was no clock in the room and Tiera didn't have a watch on her either. She actually owned one, but it was in her school dorm room. It had been a bit of an oversight, not taking it with her while she spied on her personal foes, because armies, even the decently new and expanded County Morris one, ran by the clock. It would have let her get a little more sleep for instance, on more than one occasion. She'd stayed up for three days straight at one point, trying not to miss anything.

Without asking then, probably feeling put out by the woman, Trice dressed her. The outfit Carol ended up in was pretty. A white dress with several layers, with blue flowers on the sleeves and highly polished black leather shoes with white stockings. It was, perhaps, a little young for the woman, but not so much she couldn't carry it off at all. Tiera drove it into her memory, so that she could use it herself sometime. Maybe with pink flowers? It hung there, along with Carols face, behind Tiera's eyes.

That was the sign that she had it, she knew. She wouldn't forget what it looked like. Probably ever.

The problem, Trice assured them, with having a new home, was that you didn't have years of entertainments just lying about, waiting for guests.

"All I can really offer is conversation, and I need to save some of that for the meal. Oh, will the beatings begin before or after? I'm inclined to say before, but that might leave everyone too raw for the meal. Tiera, any thoughts?"

She sighed.

"Before. If it were my sister wronged like that, I'd probably explode, if I had to wait that long. Am I needed to help with the meal?" The instant the question was out, she winced. It was hard and real and her sister-in-law, if that was the fact, looked slightly put out by what she'd said. You weren't supposed to
ask
things like that, because it implied that the person being asked was too poor to have servants. She knew that wasn't the case, since Timon was actually doing pretty well. She just didn't know if they had anyone yet. That was all.

"No, the staff can handle it." There was a dark look that went with that, but then she raised her eyebrows at Carol. "I hear that you might get a position with Gerent? That's a step up, I hear. Or several." She didn't have to add who she heard it from, and the Baroness colored, turning a deep crimson.

"I
did
apologize already." The tightly clenched teeth made it a bit harder to hear, but those were the words.

Trice... Bowed, if only a bit.

"True, you did. Excuse me please? I should go and see how things are going. It's..." She had a watch, on a gold chain and everything. It was in a little pocket on her left side, and barely made a bulge. "Only about seven-thirty. Dinner is, naturally, at nine. Capital time." Then she left quickly, glancing back at Carol like she secretly wanted to beat the woman herself. That was probably a bad plan, but might be needed, at the rate things were going.

Carol turned on her the instant the door closed and started to scream.

"How dare you lay ha-" Then the gasping made it too hard for her to talk. It was another single blow, taking her in exactly the same spot as before.

"That's two, and one more than I said I was giving you as a warning. I'm not certain you really understand what's going on here, and it might be a problem later if you don't. Right now you're about twenty seconds from being taken out and
executed
. I have no tolerance for this kind of thing at the best of times, and you
hurt
Bonita, who, in case you missed it, is going to be my
grandmother
in a few days. Right now I don't have a wedding present for her, but I'm considering making a wall decoration for her. Out of your head." She stopped, stomped her right foot hard while the other woman groaned a bit and held up her right hand to stop her from speaking. "Wait. That all sounds like I'm joking with you. Jesting... That isn't the case. I
will
kill you, if you don't fix yourself. I know it doesn't seem fair to you, but you see... I just don't care. You aren't family yet, and even if you were I wouldn't let you get away with what you've been pulling. Do you understand what I mean?"

The other woman looked ready to fight by the time she was finished talking, and stood suddenly, her right fist clenched and moving upward. That only served to have her hit a half dozen times, each of them hard enough to require a healing amulet, if they were going to a polite meal at all. Baroness Coltress ended up on the floor, unconscious.

That, unfortunately, didn't last, since she started to moan and cry piteously after she woke up, less than a half minute later. Rolling her eyes, Tiera moved closer to her. She
accidently
stood on the edge of her dress, pinning the larger woman in place.

"Do you understand the process here yet? Before you start in on it, let me assure you that I don't care about what the King wants, how powerful your family is, or anything of that nature at all. The
only
thing I care about is you actually acting like a civilized human being. That, your own good behavior, is the only coin you have that will work with me. I don't need anything else you have. Just be
polite
." It sounded pretty good, until she glared and answered.

"Oh, like
you
?" She sneered a bit, which got her clipped in the jaw by a shielded right hand, taking the woman all the way to the floor again.

"Of course not. I expect you to behave like a real person, not someone like me. What kind of silly question is that?"

The woman didn't answer, just dissolving into tears. Before she could speak, Tiera hushed her and then shook her head.

"Remember, do what I tell you to. Later, when I'm beating you, you'll have a chance to fight back. Perhaps you'll want to work on a plan for that now? I tend to be a little weak on guarding my knees, since almost everyone I fight is much taller. They forget to attack there at all. That might be a place to start."

Not that she was the end all of fighting or anything, but for once, in Carol Coltress, she was both stronger, faster,
and
had better fighting skills than her target. It was actually kind of refreshing. Most of the time, at practice, she had to go up against people that were many times better than she was still. Oh, she was gaining skill, that wasn't the problem. She just hadn't been at it for as long as all the others. It made a difference.

When Carol could finally speak, she didn't curse or clench a fist at her. That meant she was able to learn, right? How long the lesson would last, she didn't know. Tiera guessed that it would be around an hour or two. Hopefully she wouldn't need another beating until later, after the meal. It would break things up, if she had to do it halfway through the meal, but not in a good way.

They went down early, and were served drinks in the front sitting room, though Trice joined them. This was done mainly in silence, with an injured Carol sitting there, the bruises on her face turning darker by the minute. One of them was even a good likeness of Tiera's right fist, complete with all the knuckles that had made contact.

Timon got there before the others, but only by a matter of feet it seemed, so there was no knocking at the door to inform them about what was going on, just a slight sound of wind from outside and then a door closing, moments later.

"Trice? Gerent and Collette are here." There was only one voice, so Patricia called back.

"Over here! We have guests too." She didn't say who exactly, which meant Tim was in for a decent surprise, since, Tiera thought, he actually
liked
his sister for some strange reason. Collette on the other hand might not be nearly as pleased for her part in things.

That... actually didn't go in the direction she thought it would at all.

Timon walked in, saw her and half ran over to her.

"S'Tiera! How have you been? You missed my wedding. That was kind of sudden though. Real. I don't know if you got the story yet? We expect presents, but you can take a load of things to Austra for me tomorrow, and we'll call it even?" He grinned and then hugged her again, holding her close to whisper in her ear. "You get paid, but it's more important than it sounds like."

When he pulled back, still holding her hands for some reason, as if she might escape, she just agreed to do it. After all, coin was coin, and she'd need more eventually. At least if she had to keep herself and Carol in squirrel meat sausage. Oddly, thinking about that made her stomach growl a bit. Not that she had a great love for that particular animal, food wise at least, but the growing she was doing was intense, and made her hungry all the time.

Timon, for his part, hadn't really started to grow yet at all. Tor had explained that one to her. It was so he could start in the normal pattern for nobles. It would take longer, but not hurt as much. In the end they would all be over seven feet tall. Including her. That would probably ruin her looks a bit, since heavy features looked manly, and that couldn't be helped at those sizes, but she'd live. Tor seemed to think that it wouldn't be as bad as all that however. That meant he'd either done something already to fix it, or he just didn't want to be bothered with her vanity.

 Gerent was in front of Collette, who took one look at her mother and made a disapproving face.

"Hello. I didn't expect to see you here. From the look of things, it seems you're up to your old tricks?" She pointed to the bruises and swelling, but everyone got the idea anyway. "In that case, perhaps you have room for a few more?"

Then, quickly and efficiently, Collette moved in to beat her step-mother.

There was a smooth flow to the action, a weapon coming out instantly, which seemed to be a large one that had several different sigils on it. The kind of thing that Tiera had seen before, with her brother Tor, but not really known were available. It had at least eight different kinds of effects right in the one package, which meant that it would probably cost nearly as much as the house they were in to purchase. That she had a thing like that was incredibly telling.

Somebody thought
very
highly of her.

"No!" The cry came, not from Carol, who was just glaring at her step-daughter, unwilling to back down it seemed, even if pain would be coming shortly, but from Gerent, who leaped in front of her holding his arms out. "Collette, no! You can't do that!"

As angry as the women was, her fine features going into red already, she froze and held the thing in her hand up at the ceiling.

"Move Gerent. You don't know what she did."

He was a bit breathless, probably from fear, but didn't do what she asked, looking at the floor instead. It was kind of humble, but at the same time he shook his head, slowly.

"You mean tormenting Bonita Coltress, and making her life so awful that she almost couldn't stand it? Being unloving to her own family and threatening to harm and kill people for simply seeing to what was right? Like Tor and Count Lairdgren?"

"All right, so you
do
know what she's done. Now move out of the way and I'll finish this. It was a mistake to try and get her to repair herself. I shouldn't have let the others convince me it was a good idea."

That... Tiera was suddenly torn, understanding that the whole situation was very similar to one that she'd been in herself. Tor had asked her not to take things with the Morris family too far, counting on them all to act in civil and responsible ways, after they had a bit of a fight. That ended with Regina being killed by Sandra. Maybe Collette had the right of it then? Was the only way out of this for the woman to die? If so, then the younger blonde didn't need to be the one to handle it, did she? Killing her parent, even one as evil and stupid as Carol seemed at times, would damage her.

"Collette..." She didn't know what to say, but was about to offer to simply take the woman and go, making certain she vanished into the night, when Timon sighed dramatically, calling the attention of the room to himself.

"This
isn't
the same situation Tiera." He was looking at her directly, making it seem like he'd been reading her mind, at least very nearly. "Carol hasn't been perfect and deserves to be punished, but she just doesn't have, and never will have, the power of Sandra Morris. If she shows any remorse at all, or knowledge that she's done something wrong..."

Collette seemed baffled by the statement and looked at her then, glaring as if she suspected Tiera was up to something. Planning to steal her prize away.

"We can't let her get away with this."

The words were ones that Tiera had spoken herself, in regards to the whole Morris clan, and it really had turned out that she'd been correct. It was hard to see past that, a fine anger settling into her, being transferred to Carol, since the others were out of reach for the moment.

"She... did seem to be more aware of her actions earlier. The beating I gave her before, was just to help her hold to that new course. She relapsed for a bit, that's all. The plan right now is for her to grovel and beg for a while, then
I'll
beat her, heal her up with an amulet and then do it again, so she doesn't perish from it. Then we have dinner. Is that a good enough start? As King Cordes once told me, we can always kill her later." That had been the version of the Ancient in her brother's skull, but it still counted, didn't it?

Apparently enough to get the still enraged woman in front of her to smile. It was a grim and dark thing, but didn't even pretend that she wasn't taking glee in the idea.

"I can get behind that. All right, beg forgiveness. Consider it practice for what you'll need to do with Bonita." There was no move to hit her first or anything, even after the complex and dangerous device in her hand went away.

Carol, being a true noble, froze. It was like she'd been caught doing something naughty, and didn't know what to do suddenly. Gerent was still right in front of her, standing between the woman and her step-daughter, which couldn't have been comfortable at all for him. He looked pale and drawn, his arms being held low, but in front of his body. It wasn't exactly a powerful looking pose, but Collette had to notice that, even with a large and very well armed noblewoman in front of him, one that he probably considered a friend, he
still
didn't get out of the way.

It was incredibly brave. Then, anyone that didn't know that about her new brother was a fool, weren't they? Every single thing that he'd done that she'd ever seen or heard of, marked him as a true hero. A tiny and noble one, even if that hadn't truly been the case in his first actions, not having been adopted yet.

Tim cleared his throat softly.

"Baroness Coltress? Not to be rude, but for something like this, I'd suggest at least going to your knees and bowing your head. Collette wasn't personally wronged, but going after your own family like that is going to take some work to repair." He sounded almost gentle, for him. Considering that he'd taken a sitting Count once, and tortured the man for hours over something that was no worse than this really, if more physical in nature, it was even kind.

It still took a while for the woman to sink to her knees, tears starting to fall. That was due to the humiliation, most likely, not any real remorse, but she started in with a voice that sounded sincere enough.

"I was cruel to her. To Bonita. I wanted my own children to do well and thought that you and she were in their way. It was evil and I knew it at the time. I know that I don't deserve forgiveness in the matter and am only doing this so that the punishment can end. It was horrible. I had to do things that... No one cares about that. I've been punished enough though. You should forgive me. I've paid for what I did and won't do it again. Isn't that enough?" She didn't keep going on, but Gerent spun and stared at her,
hard
.

In fact he was very nearly glaring and kept it up for several minutes as the room went to a dead silence. When he spoke his words carried weight. A sadness even, and he shook his head slowly as he stepped to the side.

"I'm sorry Collette. I can see that I erred in my thinking. She is your mother though, so
you
shouldn't kill her. Tiera and I will do it for you." Then slowly, he sank to his own knees. "I was wrong, and it created a rift between us. Please forgive me for not understanding the situation. I was only seeking to do what was right. I know that isn't an excuse for ignorance and understand that you can't be my friend any longer. I'd just hoped that you could be a family again. I've never had that, and want it for my friend. I can't ask you to..." There was
real
sobbing then and Collette, angry or not, went and pulled him from the floor, holding him closely, like a pet, but still seeming to mean it.

"There is nothing wrong between the two of
us
, Gerent. You did the right thing. I think that my point has been proven anyway, don't you?" She looked at Tiera and then Trice, but avoided Timon for some reason.

That didn't make a lot of sense, because her brother wasn't going to stop them from executing the woman for her crimes. That wouldn't make sense after all.

Except that he snorted and looked around the room, his face smiling a bit.

"Or we can let her try it again? What do you say Carol? One more chance to get it right? Then Tiera can kick your ass for a while and so forth. When you seem ready, we can take you to the others that you've wronged. Too many people have invested actual time and energy into fixing you for that lame an apology to be the last gasp, but you have to do better. You aren't wearing a truth amulet, so
lie
. The tears were a good start, but I don't know, how about you focus on the wrongs
you
did and the bad parts of yourself? You don't have to think they're true even, just start listing off bad traits and people will assume that they fit. They do that even for good people, so it's a workable trick. You saw what Gerent did, try to make it more like that? Go ahead. Hurry please, I'm starting to get hungry and we need to see to that beating before we can eat. The food will get cold if we take too long." Again he sounded soft and gentle, even as he corrected the woman. It was really out of place. Normally he'd have delivered the words with coldness and seemed far too hard for his twelve years to have made him.

"Fuck you, little boy. I
know
how to give an apology." The words came with a bitter smile, from the woman who was still on her knees.

Timon laughed.

"Then get to it. Please."

She did a much better job then. It was all playing, her tears slightly overdone, her words a bit too flowery to be real. They took turns making her correct it, as Collette stood, looking like she wanted to flat out murder the woman, humbling herself or not. Then, she had to be able to tell that it wasn't real at all.

Then, as promised, Tiera beat her for ten minutes, putting about half a pint of her blood on the nice sitting room carpet, then let her heal for nearly the same length of time. After that she did it again, even as the lady begged for her to stop, moaning and crying for real, finally.

It was enough though. Tiera remembered her tears on the side of the road, and suddenly stopped, looking at Collette.

"We can leave her like this for the meal."

Collette shook her head, looking at Gerent.

"No, let's heal her. If I hear of you trying to hurt Bonita, with words or deed, ever again, I
will
kill you. I can forgive the harsh things you said to me, perhaps, in time, but I
won't
forgive that." She didn't ask for the woman to tell her she understood, but that wasn't needed. They all did.

Tiera wondered if the woman was really just going to die anyway? She had to be thinking the same thing. Gerent gave her a healing amulet, letting her hold it for a long time, so that she could heal properly, then offered his hand to her. It was clear that the movement was meant to help her to stand, but she got up on her own and handed over the stone device that had a bright green outline of her brother Tor on it without waiting. Still holding his hand.

"Thank you, Gerent. I..." She bowed and held it, her head nearly to her waist. "I apologize for my lack of skill earlier. I caused trouble for you and should not have." She didn't go on and stood back up, but gave the tiny man a look that seemed to indicate that the matter wasn't finished and that it
might
be a good thing for her protector. It wasn't perfectly done, but was a good enough thing that Tiera was willing to let it go.

So was everyone else, which meant they finally got to eat. That part of the new growth she was doing was harder than she'd figured on. Instead of wanting food every day, once or twice, she was starving all the time. That felt like what was happening at least. She half ran to the table, knowing that she'd look like a greedy freak if she wasn't careful, but waited for Trice to indicate where she should sit. They had a server, an older man that actually looked a bit familiar to her. She focused on the face, letting it come back. He'd been at Tor's bakery the last time she'd seen him.

"Thom?" She smiled and the man bowed to her roughly. It wasn't a smooth thing, but she had a feeling that the position might just be one that Trice had made up to give him something to do. If so, that was a kindness, since the fellow was just some man from near her school that didn't have anyone else to help him in his old age. If Timon and Trice were going to care for him, that was a good thing. Tor probably should have done it, but that might have seemed too much like charity? Doing it this way he could feel like he was earning his keep. He wasn't infirm, having been healed recently of all the ills of old age, so he probably could manage it well enough even.

His serving skills weren't up to the palace standard yet, but he didn't do that poorly either, especially if it were a new thing for him. She made a point of smiling at him, even if it wasn't real. After all, he'd always been polite to her. Besides that, this probably meant he was kind of like family, didn't it? A friend of these others at least.

He was also smart enough to load her up with food when he came around. Far more than she could have eaten before. Gerent too, once she looked over. Not as much, perhaps, but enough that at each course she boggled a bit. They both cleaned their plates however and didn't seem too uncomfortable about it after the dessert.

The instant it was finished, Timon stood up and left the room, only to come back a few minutes later, talking to someone on one of the new communications devices. It took her a few moments to recognize the voices, but she got it when Prince Alphonse spoke for a bit.

It left her feeling warm and a bit happy really, since they were good friends.

Sort of cousins too, which was less than perfect, but she didn't let herself consider that part of things for a bit.

"I see, so Carol Coltress is back and ready to set things right? That's good. When I heard what she'd been doing to Nita I nearly ordered her death." There was a pause, but it was only long enough for good drama. "So did mother. I know, you probably think that
I
can't order someone killed like that, but you'd be surprised what some people are willing to let the Heir to the throne get away with, under the right circumstance. So, what's the plan there? Do you need me to come and keep the Coltress family from killing her? Or help hide the body?" He was being slightly playful about it, but from the sound of things, the Queen was taking it all a good bit more seriously in the background. She actually suggested that the woman finding her way into the deep desert, naked and without the ability to call for help, might be a good punishment for her.