A Simple Darkness (The Young Ancients: Tiera) Read online

  Timon's Fast Craft settled on the far side of the palace, and he floated around the building using his Tor-shoes about five minutes later, his face holding a wry smile and shaking his head as he tapped the back of his right hand, dropping the four inches to the ground.

  "Well, I heard. Sorry about sending you into that mess. Can you tell me exactly what happened? Start from the moment you left this morning."

  It took a while for her to get through it all, since he asked a bunch of questions about things that had happened that she'd barely noticed. A lot of his attention went to what Countess Morris had done and said and how she'd sounded when she did it. That seemed pretty important to him, but she couldn't see why. It was the Count that she had to fight.

  Then, not being very helpful at all, her little brother walked off, into the King's palace like he owned the place, and was just letting that pesky group of tall people squat there for the time being. It would have been funny, if the situation wasn't so tense.

  She was just so mad. Anger coursed through her each time she thought of the man, calling her names, as if he knew her? As if she became a whore, just because he proclaimed it, in his blindness and stupidity? She didn't touch the weapons when they came out, since that was against the rules, but she looked at them carefully. They were identical, except for color. There was a very slight difference that way, one being almost imperceptibly darker than the other. They weren't perfect in length, being about an inch over three feet, but that had to be close enough. Other than that they looked like very straight and undecorated table legs. There was a little bench that they were set on, made of highly polished wood, with a nice white seat cushion across the whole thing.

  It was nerve racking, having to wait, but at least it wasn't days or something insane like that. Most duels were like that she knew, but that was just to ensure travel was possible. Karen was taking care of that, so it wasn't an issue. She thought that was the case at least, it might have been so that people could get their affairs in order first. If so the man was out of luck, and, as it turned out, time as well. The plain silver craft settled about ten minutes after it was due, meaning that the Count already looked pretty bad. Showing up late like that was an insult after all.

  Another one.

  Her right hand tightened into a fist, but she waited, nearly ten more minutes, for a whole group of people to come around the edge of the palace. It was the whole Royal family, Count Lairdgren, half a dozen other tall people that she vaguely recognized and about sixty that she just didn't. Her eyes went directly to Count Morris though. He looked... embarrassed. He also tried very hard not to make eye contact with her. It was a mistake of course, since it meant he wouldn't see her coming.

  "You're late. I thought for a few minutes that you were going to try and not show up. Good to see you have a little bit of honor left. Maybe it will get you through the next minutes." The rage was so clear in her voice that people glared at her, or at least reacted. Most just looked, she realized. They weren't actually angry, but baffled. As if they didn't understand the whole thing.

  She saw that Sandra had come, and stood by her father, not looking happy at all. Tiera bowed to her, a choppy motion that showed just how much hatred was in her body at the moment. She forced a wicked sneer to her face though, making direct eye contact with the girl.

  "Countess Morris. So sorry to hear about the loss of your father." It was a pissy thing to say, since it was basically announcing to everyone that she fully intended to kill the man. There really was no other option however, was there? She walked to the center of the grass then, and looked around, wondering what the next step would be.

  I turned out that Timon stepped in then, getting in the way.

  "A moment please?" He had a bland tone and character to his voice. Everyone looked at him anyway, as if he weren't just a little boy. "I have a few questions before we begin. Count Morris, why were you trying to avoid coming to the Council of Counts? It's my understanding that without special dispensation from the King, it's required of you, an unavoidable duty. I know that at least one of your fellows had to come from his sick bed for it. I lent him a healing amulet, so that won't be a problem, but he came, out of duty, even though he lay near dying at the time. You on the other hand seemed to be ducking out." He didn't explain it all, but he did hold up a Truth amulet and try to hand it to the man, who took it, but seemed to not really understand what it was, not at first.

  "Preposterous, I wasn't trying to avoid it!" The glowing white and gold field shifted to black, a streak shooting across it in a way that meant the man wasn't just lying, but that it was a major thing. Timon didn't call him on it, but the King did.

  Her brother just shook his head.

  "Are you loyal to the King and kingdom, Count Morris? To the heir and Royal family?"

  "Naturally? What kind of question is that?"

  The response there was interesting. There was a bit of a black streak, but not when he spoke about loyalty, only when he pretended he didn't know why the question would be asked.

  Tiera shook her head, but didn't interrupt. She did want to know why the man had done it. Insulted her like he had.

  It took about two minutes for the man to realize that Timon wasn't just asking questions, but taking information from every breath Morris took. It was an amazing thing to see, but the man's words didn't help a lot. After he took the device back her brother looked at the King and then the Queen, giving each a small bow.

  "Count Morris is loyal, but thinks that there is danger here and doesn't wish to be caught in the middle. He purposefully went after Tiera, knowing who she was the full time, even ordering his man to try and drive her away, so that he could have an excuse to miss the Council. He clearly didn't realize that Tor wasn't the only dangerous person in my family." Timon looked sad then and shook his head. "That was an error, Count Morris. I suggest you grovel now. I don't know that it will save your life, but you laid your conspiracy too well, and in the wrong place. This road will not end well, otherwise."

  The man bristled, but didn't deny it at all, instead he turned his nose up.

  "Do you really think I fear a little girl? Her head doesn't even come to my middle. I'll thrash her easily and then make her beg for me to stop. This is a ridiculous thing. I don't know the game that you're all playing at, but this should end now." He sounded a little less sure of himself at least.

  Tiera nodded once.

  "Let's get it done then. We'll see who begs, shall we?" She gestured, holding out her right hand. "Weapons please."

  A man dressed in a nice green outfit jogged over to the table, a man in red doing the same. The other man went first, but the one in green brought her the stout piece of wood quickly enough. He looked hard and stern faced.

  "Should I call anything out , miss? Or... call for a champion?"

  She shook her head, but then reconsidered. "Tell him to get ready, there will be no more warnings."

  The man didn't hesitate. "Prepare for battle! No further word will be given!"

  Then she ran as fast as she could across the distance between them. The Count was bigger than she was, but slow and, as she'd guessed, not much of a fighter. He held the stick correctly and tried to block with it, but he missed since she was aiming so low. The crack was deafening. It got a nice bellow from the man as well.

  Then she did it again, several times before he could fall and managed a nice strike to the back of his right hand, causing his stick to go flying. Since she had time, after that, she hit him in the groin with her foot and then started to break his jaw, but stopped for a second and hit him in the stomach instead. He couldn't beg very well if his mouth didn't work, could he? Not that he had a lot of time to get to it. Her next blow just missed the left temple. He was down already and not likely to get up on his own now. She moved to make the next blow really spread his brains across the yard when someone hit her from behind. Hard.

  She couldn't really roll with the stick in her hand, so she landed on her face as a cry
went up. She rallied pretty quickly, in time to see that it was Sandra Morris, and that she had a Force Lance out. She hit Tiera with it again, picking her up and throwing her backward bodily. It was cheating, but not totally unexpected. The stick fell from her hand, but that didn't stop her from doing anything.

  Tiera had already worked out what would be needed after all. She didn't have a shield on, but her Fast Craft essentially was one. She set it up and hid behind it, letting it take the pummeling for her. Then she crawled in, making a small door for it, and, instead of running away, slowly moved toward Sandra and knocked her down, turning the earth under the dark skinned girl as she did it. Then, just as slowly, she set the thing down on top of her and climbed out.

  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.