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

  She... could see that. It was too easy and tempting to just get rid of people she didn't like. If she did it right who could stop her? It was the lesson she learned from Count Morris and his people. Even Sandra, if from the other side. When she was careful and thought things out, it was really hard to stop her. She had good weapons and was willing to use them. Sandra had that going for her too, but her target had been nearly equal to her and mobile. It made a huge difference. If Tiera had just been killing people she could have taken out most of the Morris military, as well as the Count and possibly Sandra too. That last would be closer, since she'd adapt and seek help from her friends, but it was possible, if she caught her off guard.

  The only thing that had stopped her from doing that was what her parents had taught her about human life and how it was all very valuable. If not for that, she probably would have already been slaughtering people. Maybe thousands of them.

  "Right. Well, I'll try not to do that. Next time you want to dump horrible truths about me like that try to stay awake for a bit will you? A girl might just want to chat about things like that." It came out sounding almost peaceful, if a little bossy.

  There was no response at all, the good looking man just staring out the window his eyes locked on the horizon. It was eerie and more than a little strange, the total silence like that, which didn't end for over an hour and a half. When he did speak it wasn't in response to anything she'd said, but did come with some pointing.

  "Thought so. We're nearly there. See that outcropping? That should be the entry point. Move toward it slowly and it should open up. If not, then we wait. I doubt they've gone anywhere however. Unless they've reactivated the lunar base." He didn't explain what that was at all.

  That kind of thing would get old, of course. She could work it out, since she knew that Lunar meant it had something to do with the moon. That didn't explain anything though, not really.

  "So, is that the name of the place, or is it really all the way up on the moon?" She tried to make her voice polite, but it came out a bit snooty. It was totally the wrong tone, but the Count just shrugged.

  "Both. If they do have it up you should go and check it out. It's built on a similar model to this place. Largely under the surface, powered using alternative techniques. Instead of using animal power for most things, or running water. Some of those things can be dangerous, so try not to touch anything that looks too odd to you here, without asking. Blue won't label anything. You're supposed to know, or not be here."

  He gestured as the gray side of the low mountain slid to the side. It was dark within, but some lights came on, showing a smooth floor, also in a practical gray color.

  Tiera didn't wait to be told to go inside, that part was obvious. She moved in slowly, landing in a small box that had been drawn on the floor in blue, since the other craft inside were. That seemed to make sense to her and Count Lairdgren didn't suggest otherwise. He got out without waiting for her to do the same and started walking to a wall on the left. There was no one in sight and she couldn't see a door at all, but there was a nice flesh colored glow in that direction.

  That meant heat. It was normally too faint to see, but her breath steamed in great clouds, meaning that the whole place was freezing. She didn't feel it, so magic seemed to work here. That was a good thing. Not that it wouldn't have, but Blue was strange and if anyone could block things like that, she'd be the one Tiera would pick for it. The woman, who was also a man, or so she'd heard, was both brilliant and strange at the same time. Cold and remote. All the Blue's were like that, except Cordes Blue. She was different. That had to do with her having the mind of an ancient king in her head or something, as well as her own mind. Tor had the same thing. Same king and everything. It was a strange connection, but one that almost made sense. After all the man had so badly wanted to save his land, Noram, that he'd found a way to make copies of himself just to do it.

  Only, it hadn't been needed and Green had taken on the job of protector, and done it for over two thousand years. Count Lairdgren.

  He stepped in front of the wall and spoke, his voice calm and peaceful. Almost placating.

  "This is Green. I've come to deliver a magical device made by Torrance Purple, that will prevent Larval Assassins from being on this continent. It does not kill, it only drives them away. Is this acceptable?"

  There was no answer, but a slot opened in the wall. One big enough for a regular amulet, but not much else.

  Tiera poked at it, or at least started to, then remembered that she wasn't supposed to touch anything she didn't understand. That pretty much left the floor in this place. It seemed almost like a magical palace, changing like that to make a hole, but it didn't feel right and had made noise as it moved.

  "The box it's in is bigger than that. About two feet high and three wide. It does have an amulet with it... Here." She didn't ask if she should get it out of the back, just doing it. It took a bit, but she had an odd feeling that no one was going to let her in. When she got back she had to push the chest into place, balancing the amulet on the top of it. That would keep it from going anywhere if not moved manually.

  "So, open up further and I can push this in?"

  Nothing happened for a while, and she was about to suggest they just leave, when the wall changed again, making a cubby just big enough for the thing to slide in, with only a tiny fraction of clearance on either side. It was clearly meant to keep them from putting anything else in with it. As if they couldn't have just hidden things in the chest?

  "Well, I'm Tiera. I don't know who's listening, but... Hello!" She tried for bright and cheery sounding, since no one wanted to open the door to some angry or sullen person did they? The wall swallowed the box and then nothing happened at all.

  Lairdgren walked away a half minute later.

  "On to Afrak then? Too bad, but it seems no one is home. I was looking forward to filching a bite to eat. Nothing for it but to travel on however."

  "I... Why won't they let us in? Do they think that..." Tiera didn't see it. Not letting a person in was considered pretty rude, if you didn't have a real reason. It was saying that you didn't want them in your home, that they weren't good enough. It was an insult, and as far as she knew there was no need for it. Hadn't they all left on good standing and as friends? More than that.

  Family.

  Shrugging the Count smiled.

  "They aren't in at the moment. The automated system took the package for us, probably recognizing me from the last time I was here, which was a while ago. You're an unknown to it however, so it would go to a default setting and give only minimal aid. If needed it would probably heat this space and provide food and water, but it can clearly understand that we don't need such at the moment."

  That led to a long description of what a computer was, and how some of them were actually quite brilliant. Tiera had to learn a lot of new words, but thought she had the basic idea after a few hours. She let him fly, since it was her turn to sleep. Unlike the Count, she decided to actually make a little bed in the back, and managed a good few hours lying flat, a nice pillow under her head. It was rare for her to sleep much more than six hours herself, but she tucked in for nearly eight, since there was little else to do. It was that, pilot, or chat and while there were a lot of things to talk about, she wasn't sure she really liked her grandfather all that much. It was a response to what he'd said earlier, naturally.

  It had hurt her feelings and that made her want to lash out at him a bit. It was simpler not to talk about things than to fight for hours with a person that probably didn't really care that much about how she felt, except the parts he didn't like.

  After moving back to the seat next to him, her mouth gummy and foul tasting, her stomach grumbling due to prolonged lack of food and feeling the lack of drinking water, for all that the ocean under them looked inviting, she saw it. A river that flowed through the air headed inland. Looking to the left Tiera saw another one. This had to be the place then.

  Neither of the
m spoke about it. That was one thing that was nice about the Count, he kept the small talk down to a minimum. It was nice at times, to hear another voice, but chattering just to have noise would be oppressive in the tight confines of the space. That meant that, when he did speak, she jumped, smiling, even though he sounded serious.

  "There have been some problems with Gray lately. I'm hoping that I can manage her and that she'll respond well to you. She doesn't care for men, in the main. She... Her basic pattern is like yours. Not identical, but she has a lot in common with you. You'll see. Remember though, she isn't a role model for you. The people that created her meant well, but they held to ideas that are too different to remain operational, compared to what the rest of us live by."

  "I heard she was a bitch. Is that what you mean about us being similar?" There was a bit of sourness in her own voice, but she lightened it with a chuckle. She didn't want to be that way, it was just hard to help.

  "It isn't exactly like that, but she can be difficult for some to deal with. The important thing is to stay calm and not engage if you can help it. She should be fine with you however. You're basically her. You'll see."

  The city was so different that it was hard to see it at first, it was green and had paths, but instead of houses there were low lying hills. It wasn't until she noticed that a few people were walking in and out of them that she understood that those were the places people lived and worked. They lived surrounded by trees and bushes, plants and even grass. It was lovely, like a park though, rather than a farm. There were people outside collecting fruit from trees and tending to plants and in the distance she noticed that there were several small herds of goats and possibly sheep.

  There was also a large crater in the middle of it. It seemed out of place and fresh, and looked to be the work of an explosive weapon. There were lines of force that radiated out, where a hand had shaken as it held it. She'd seen that before, while she trashed County Morris.

  "Well, that's not good, is it?" Her voice was low and she got her own weapons out, even as they came in for a landing in front of the space.

  "Indeed. This was Lara Gray's personal home. It has been for centuries. I wonder what happened."

  The sound that came from behind them was nervous, and Tiera nearly killed the four women standing there instantly. They were all of a type, except one, who had orange eyes, ones that reminded her of Regina, except they were slit like a cat's, and bright blue hair.

  They were all also armed. With sticks. After a second Tiera realized that they were tools. Strange ones but meant to till the soil, rather than do anything damaging to a person. The one in the front sounded worried, her eyes looking at the man at first, but then focusing on her, as if she were clearly in charge.

  That worked for Tiera, but then the woman ran to her, and gave her a hug. Rattling off something in Afrak. She didn't know the language, but understood that's what it was, since, obviously, that's where she was. The Count spoke to her then, his voice soft, trying to set the women at ease. The brightly colored one with her dark skin, a color that neared a blue black, didn't let her go at all.

  She did answer him though. After a few exchanges Lairdgren turned to her, very obviously.

  "She thought that you're Laurie, your mother. I explained it to her however. There's been an attack and Gray is missing. Two giants, a man and a woman, attacked about a month ago. They're missing as well, so no help there. No one knows why they came, but they were clearly after Lara and went out of their way to not harm anyone else."

  It was clear that they couldn't really do much for these people, so Tiera suggested that they put up the Larval... shield, or whatever it was. She got it out of the craft, which she left up, hoping no one would jump into it, but wanting to be able to flee if they came under attack. The people had weapons, and even though they couldn't really hurt her, they seemed so timid and scared that she decided to feel bad if she had to harm them. Even the attackers that had come hadn't bothered them.

  The weapon in the box was easy enough to deploy, but was a lot different than she figured it would be. When she read the note it just said to dump it on the ground and hit the sigil on the stone. That was in the middle of what seemed to be incredibly fine dust, it was hard to pick up, since her shield kicked on for some reason, but after stepping back she was able to tap the single glowing arrow on focus stone. It was a bright red color.

  Then the dust shifted a little on the ground and after a few moments started to hum slightly. Then it spread into the air in all directions, at great speed.

  The whole thing got the Count to go wide eyed for a few seconds.

  "Oh, my... That's rather fine work, isn't it? He's created boxes of what are essentially magical nano fields. That's, you know what a nano is, don't you?"

  "Everyone knows that. Like Death Dust. Tiny machines that do work. In this case... Anti-Larval dust? Driven by magic? Do you think that each bit has a field linked to it? That must be tens of thousands of fields. No one could do that..."

  "Tens of billions, and apparently Tor has. I'll have to get him to show me how he did that, if we can meet up again soon. I wonder what they do? His note didn't say this would harm the Larvals just deny certain lands to them."

  The easy thing to do would be finding one and seeing what happened, but she doubted they had time for that. As it was she felt bad, not knowing what to do about her missing relative, who she'd met, but hadn't actually talked to at all. It was strange, but Green almost seemed to have forgotten that part of things. That was probably due to the fact that he just had so much to think about that remembering who all was at the last Summit of Ancients was too much for him. That or...

  Or he thought they were being watched somehow? Why pretend that she hadn't met Gray before otherwise? It might just be caution, or it could have been... nearly anything.

  If it was something bad, she couldn't afford to ask about it, because she didn't know where it would be safe to do so. Something that he'd said hit her. That if they weren't safe talking while hanging in the air, everything was probably going to be known. Had that been a hint?

  There was nothing she could do about it, but if it really was the case had he been controlling her the whole time? Steering the conversation so that whoever was listening wouldn't know anything new or useful? Her attitude problems didn't seem to be that important, in light of something like that, did they? Real enough, that was clear...

  "Well, we should be going then, I suppose. I don't guess that these people might have some food we could buy or anything?" She made her voice light. If they couldn't talk about things, how could they communicate anything? Some kind of code, but she didn't know any of those or even how to form one. Not that anyone that could spy on them anywhere they went might not easily figure out as well. It would have to be something they couldn't see, or hear. She shook her head, not able to think of anything.

  The food part was taken care of easily, a basket of fresh fruit was brought along with bladders of clean water. She checked them all for poison, but they were perfectly fine. The strange looking woman gave her a hug and spoke to her again, handing her a soft cloth sack.

  It took translation, the words musical and flowing, but not comprehensible yet. Not to her.

  "She asks that you take this to her daughter, if you have time. Abumanitalli. We should be able to drop it at the palace on the way back to the school."

  Tiera looked at the woman and then smiled, giving her a hug. It took a few seconds to work it out, but when she did she realized something.

  This adult woman, who looked to be nearing fifty, if in a fit and well kept way, was her cousin. That meant she was family and that meant she was required to help her, if it was within her power to do so. Delivering things was totally within her abilities too, so it would have to be done. Not that she wouldn't have anyway, since Tiera liked Abbie well enough.

  The language barrier was too much though, so she moved them out after a few minutes, taking charge. It was pretty clear that the ma
n next to her wanted to go and see about Lara Gray, to help her if he could, but other than flying around the continent blindly, they didn't really have any way of doing that, did they?

  Instead Tiera took the controls and headed straight back to Noram, at full speed, the whole thing suddenly a lot more urgent to her for some reason.

  Something deep inside her wanted to just start asking questions about what could be wrong, but maybe she wasn't supposed to give away that she guessed something was going on? Her grandfather just sat there looking young and perfect, relaxed and as if this was just the way he always traveled. She felt tense, but tried to hold that off with meditation. It didn't really work, her few lessons in that skill not being enough yet to really do anything of note.

  "Hey... Did you have Dean Hardgrove put me in meditation classes?" It was probably a safe thing to talk about, and she was kind of curious, given the rest of what they'd discussed. The old fellow had acted like it was his own idea, but that might not really mean all that much.

  Clearing his throat he nodded, "I did. Also your singing lessons. It's important to do pleasant things as well. I was too hands off with Tor and I fear that part of the problems he had in school ultimately came down to a curriculum that held far too much work and too little fun. It's too easy to try and manage every moment of a young person's life. Which, yes, I'm doing with you as well. The only one of you that I'm not is Timon. He stepped around me rather nicely, didn't he?"

  Tiera took the whole thing at face value, most of her attention going out the window, flying carefully, trying not to give anything away, if there actually was something. It was so frustrating. She wanted to scream her questions at the man, but he just kept talking about things that seemed normal and even a little boring.

  "Are you going to keep on with your singing lessons do you think? You should have a decent voice, if you practice a bit. There's skill involved in it. Most things are like that. You have enough talent to do them well, but it will require practice. Meditation, building, music, art and even fighting."