A Simple Darkness (The Young Ancients: Tiera) Page 32

  Unable to keep her tongue still she threw caution to the wind and tried to ask, if with some subtlety, what was on her mind.

  "I... don't really love singing. I like the process, but I feel so watched and observed all the time. Like Instructor Crane and the others know everything I'm doing. Is that just me being paranoid?" She giggled, trying to make it seem real, even though that wasn't something she did a lot of. "It would have to be, I can't imagine that they'd actually care much about me at all, can you? Could you imagine someone being able to see everything you did like that? Impossible, right?"

  The man didn't speak for a few seconds, just smiling and looking at her from the plush and comfortable seat next to her.

  "You know, when I was a child, even after that, we were all watched, all the time. Not just the kids in the special programs either, though that would make sense, being different as we were. No, every person was, all the time. There was a network of satellites... Do you know what those are?"

  "Things in space, like tiny ships that circle the Earth?"

  "Yes. That's not exactly right, but pretty close. Anyway we had a network of those that could track people anywhere. Outside or in. They knew what you said and even at times what you thought, though that was more unreliable. It was mainly used to stop crimes before they could happen, or to catch the wrong doers after. It was hated of course, but it did a lot of good as well."

  He sat, not even giving her a meaningful look, just making conversation. About being spied on, anywhere. Even she could get the idea.

  "That sounds like it must have been hard, knowing that everything you said or did would be tracked. Was that done using computers then? I can't imagine a person could keep track of all that information, could they?"

  "Exactly correct. It was run from the Lunar Base. We don't have need of that now and haven't for a long time, but my point was that I grew up being watched and knew it. You don't have that to deal with, not on the same level, but being careful about spies and what not is always a good thing. This latest rebellion in Noram will have them out en-mass no doubt. You should be in for some attention that way as well. It isn't that important, except to the job at hand."

  She thought she got what he meant, but couldn't be really certain. He was trying to tell her that they might be spied on anywhere and while they were real, the situation in Noram wasn't what he was really warning her about. Only, it was clear that he meant that part too. So, both? Real spies and that satellite system thing, or at least something similar.

  Did that mean he suspected Blue was spying on them? They were all gone, and he suspected they'd taken off to the Lunar Base. Who else could get to the moon though? Tiera wanted to ask, but didn't know how. She decided to try anyway.

  "Do you think we could go to the Moon too? I don't know how we could get there, with the Blues gone. Who else could do that? Brown in Austra?" That seemed likely, since they did some space things, from what the man had said to her. It would be a shame if he was working against them, since she liked him, but if it was the case, she'd deal. She wasn't so close to any of the Ancients that she trusted them. Not even the one next to her.

  "Sure. Denno, Blue... They have the tech for it. I think that Tor could do it in short order too. This craft would be able to make the trip, if you provided air reprocessing, so that it stayed clean the whole time. There are some others that don't come around that often that could do it, but the problem there is knowing who's been doing what. Black is handy with technology, even though he doesn't live like it. That's down to the Treaty though. Tellerand is only allowed a fairly low level of tech. He can't perform magic, so it's meant living at a relatively low level for thousands of years. That doesn't mean he can't do it. You get bored, eventually. When that happens people start to bend the rules."

  The one thing they all had in common was that they were all Ancients. Well, and her brother, but if Tor even knew there was a base on the Moon, he wouldn't use it for spying, she didn't think, and if he did, that wouldn't bother Lairdgren that much, since the man had created him to be an exact double of himself.

  She looked at him for a few seconds and copying a thing that he did a lot, tilted her head.

  "Wait... If Tor can make a craft to go there, couldn't you? For that matter, haven't you?" It was a strange thought, since these types of things were new, but the man next to her shrugged instead of denying anything.

  "Given enough time, you could do it as well, now that you know it's there. Several of your school friends could as well. That might be a good project to work on, as soon as they realize that Tor grew this vessel instead of building it in a more standard fashion. Instructor Fines knows that, but for some reason has failed to mention it to the Lairdgren Group. Someone might want to suggest it to them."

  Then the man went silent, just smiling happily as they flew into the west.

  Chapter twelve

  The whole thing left Tiera feeling tense and like she couldn't say anything, since, at least if she wasn't reading too much into what was being said, she couldn't. It was a pain in the rear and made her want to hit something. Possibly the Count next to her, since it was all his fault. Clearly she wouldn't be watched if she were related to him, would she?

  They landed at the Capital, going straight to the King's place, since that was where Abbie lived while she was waiting to get married to Prince Alphonse. Tiera decided to just drop the bag off for her though, rather than trying to find her for a chat, and landed smoothly, avoiding the growing crowd of shouting people in the yard. They were mainly nobles, though the fringes of the group had a few worried looking servants as well and some guards scattered throughout. Not all of them were Royal Guards, a few wore the red and white of the city patrol. There was a bit of pushing and pulling on the people in the middle, which looked a bit too familiar for her taste. It was the King himself, standing with a bloody nose, in front of an enraged Maria Ward, who seemed both angry and half panicked.

  "How dare you say that! We've proven over and again that we're loyal and you call us traitors now? You... you imbecile!" Count Ward stood behind her, along with Captain Petra, who had something in her hand that Tiera figured was a Force Lance. That or she planned to kill a whole lot of people if things didn't calm down. It seemed a little odd that she'd be backing the Wards so openly, but from what was being called out it seemed that they were the ones in the right.

  After all, they'd swore their oaths using the Truth amulets. They had to mean them, or it would show as being a lie, wouldn't it? Count Lairdgren pulled her back slightly, since she'd taken a step toward the action, rather than away.

  "Try not to get involved. We don't know enough at this point."

  That seemed prudent. Then, she wasn't great at that kind of thing, standing back and waiting. A few seconds later the whole scene changed though, when one of the nobles in the crowd started to shimmer, sending off little white and blue dancing sparks into the air. That went away when her shield kicked on, meaning it wasn't physical light, just part of the combat aura of a person in battle rage. He was large, a man that was close to the biggest she'd ever seen in person, taller than either the King or Count Ward by a full head and he was broad and muscular at the same time.

  He was also heading right toward the much smaller blonde Countess as everyone else ran away suddenly. Everyone but Count Ward. He tried to hold his ground, but was tossed aside so easily it was clear that he didn't have a shield on. Not a new one at any rate, or it would have protected him. The Countess, as fortune would have it, did, so when the huge man slapped her with the back of his hand she wasn't immediately injured. Instead the ground lifted up, the force of the blow actually trying to take the Earth itself out of place.

  Tiera blinked.

  She'd never even heard of someone being able to do that. It was simply vast power and the man didn't seem to get weaker on the second blow at all. It was pretty clear that even if the shield didn't fail, Countess Ward might well not survive his rage. She took several more blows, but
started to cry out with each of them, damage being done as her body reabsorbed the backlash of the event. It wasn't the force that did it, but her recovery from it, which allowed her body to try and shake apart.

  Next to her Count Lairdgren tried to take her arm, but couldn't, and suggested with a hard look that they back away. If she did though, then the Countess would just die, wouldn't she?

  "No. Get the others away. I'll get Countess Ward and her husband out, then get that big one to chase us. If I can." It seemed insane, but she wasn't going to try and fist fight the beast in front of her. The look of rage and incomprehension in his eyes was too great for that. He was way too far gone for diplomacy either.

  She didn't wait, getting in her Fast Craft as quickly as possible, and then ramming the giant with it. Not at anywhere near full speed, but enough to put it between the Countess and him. He slammed the sides with mighty blows that threatened to tear the whole thing apart, even though that was nearly impossible to actually do that. She thought she understood then. The man wasn't just hitting things, but augmenting his actions with magic somehow. Direct effect. It was incredible really. If she hadn't been focusing on making a door to get Maria Ward on board, she would have been impressed. She decided to save that for later though.

  It took a few seconds to open the hatch in front of the woman, the Craft in danger the whole time the other side actually warping under the fists of the man, and even longer to get the woman to actually climb on board. She was injured and clearly in shock, but Tiera was pretty certain that if they didn't move soon, the attacker was going to destroy her Craft, which would tick her off.

  The second she was on board Tiera lifted straight up, then, without pausing, dropped in front of the dazed and reeling Count Ward. No one was near him, but the giant saw what was happening and bellowed, producing an inhuman sound, and came for them before she could even set down. She had to do the work on this one, since the man couldn't move on his own yet, so hopped out and threw him into place, getting it all done just before the vast man in his nice burgundy outfit could reach them. He wasn't slow, not for someone that big, but she had an edge in raw speed, she thought.

  Then she took off, not certain what to do. She couldn't leave the man there, she didn't think, because he might hurt someone else. Or calm down now that the object of his anger had fled? It wasn't a sure thing. Tiera just didn't have anything else.

  After a bit she realized that she was flying north. There was no real reason to, it was just the way she was going. Probably because home was that way for her.

  Countess Ward was sobbing and making a high pitched sound that made Tiera want to slap her.

  "Marvin! He's dying. What do we do?" The words were nearly screamed, and when she looked back Tiera had to agree with the assessment. He did not look like living was a thing he'd be doing much longer.

  Stopping the vehicle she moved to the back and lifted her shirt, putting his hand against her rib cage in the right spot, then focused, turning the healing amulet on. It didn't seem to do anything at first, but make her feel better. After a bit though the man made several cracking sounds and grunted in pain. It took nearly twenty minutes, but he was able to sit up then, gasping as if he'd been running the whole time.

  She looked at Maria, who was starting to swell in various places and who still sobbed and moved over to her, feeling exhausted herself already. It was clear the woman had taken her own share of damage though. Thankfully it wasn't as bad, so there was no screaming while the healing happened. That would have been too much in the moment and adding a beating to her current damage would have been more than a little mean.

  The problem, she decided, was that when she healed them this way, the field affected her even more strongly than it did them. That meant she was burning a lot of energy herself at the same time, even though it didn't help them at all. Shaking her head she decided to keep carrying amulets with her for things like that. She didn't have another healing amulet though, just the one the Count had put in her rib cage, so it had to serve for the moment.

  "There we go. So, what do we do now? I don't think that man can reach us here. I can't recommend going back right away however. Why were you hitting the King anyway? Not that he doesn't sometimes deserve it, but, you know, King and all that. Even I don't just slap him around. Not so far at least." Tiera looked at the woman and saw that she was shaking still, which shouldn't have been happening, but her Count held her close, as if trying to keep her warm with his own body.

  He was the one that answered though, not the woman.

  "It was part of a ploy. Richard was to suggest that there might be traitors about, which, as you are aware, there are. Then point a finger casually at Maria and I. She wasn't aware of it however, which caused a rather spectacular reaction. The attack took me off guard, but I think the King let it through on purpose. Otherwise his shield would have kicked on. The idea was that we storm off, to see if anyone would approach us, to see if we might be recruited for the opposition." He smiled, which looked a little lazy and dull, but had a sweetness to it that worked for his dark features. "I thought Pet was going to go to war right then. We really should have included you girls in on the whole thing. Thank you for the timely assistance Conserina Baker. I'm certain Countier Ross wouldn't have wished us dead, after he calmed, but I certainly wouldn't have survived the scene without you."

  Maria was so wide eyed that she showed panicked whites all the way around the clear blue.

  "I ruined everything? I... I'm so sorry, Marvin... I struck the King."

  There was silence for a few seconds and Tiera took a bit to think, then shook her head.

  "I'm no master strategist, but I think this will work brilliantly. It was probably why the King let you hit him in the first place. That would normally be an act of war, but he can't afford that right now and everyone knows it. So he'll have to hold his hand, probably after making some threats or demands. Anyone who doesn't know about the whole thing will have to think it's real though, won't they? Who'd let you hit them like that? Well, the King, but how many are aware of that about him? Clearly not his enemies, or they'd have been far more careful about things."

  Marvin nodded, his huge head looking a little too calm for the situation.

  "See Honey? Tiera is right. The plan is far from being in ruins. We need to stay in the Capital however. We were at the palace, so that will have to change, I think. I have to attend the Council of Counts, as it's one of my duties, as long as no one is actually declaring war on me at the moment. Perhaps we could stay with your father or Collette? Tor would take us in. Though I imagine he'd seek to smooth things over with Richard himself."

  Shaking still the other woman made a strangled sound. "My father is Richard's lover, dear. That wouldn't work very well as far as people approaching us. Tor is so much the King's man that no one would buy us staying at his palace, even in his absence. Perhaps an Inn, if any will have us?"

  Tiera had a flash of an idea, and spoke without thinking. It wasn't an attractive quality, she realized, and was a thing that could cause a lot of problems, if they were actually being watched all the time like Count Lairdgren had hinted.

  "Why not see if Gerent will put you up? It will mean staying with him in the same room, but he's clearly incredible, so you should both welcome his presence. A little funny looking and short, but that's part of his charm." She was about to argue the point with them, when Maria started nodding.

  "I agree. A very interesting man. A hero too, I hear. He saved a young woman from a horrible fate... Trice told me about it when we spoke the other day. I think she's quite taken with him." There was no hint of irony in the words when she spoke, just contemplation. "He's recently been traumatized himself though. I don't know if we should bring more trouble to his doorstep."

  The woman took a deep and shuddering breath, her youthful face suddenly seeming enraged.

  "Trice told me what was done to them. She cried the whole time. Marvin and I were set to attack Galasia when she explai
ned that they were put to the test under Truth verification and that you already ordered the evil men's punishment. What was left of them at least." She growled, her voice bestial and so angry that it nearly set Tiera off as well. "I'm glad. They deserved it. I know that the Baron wouldn't have ordered half of that. They would have just sat in a cell, waiting to escape. This way they won't. Not ever."

  The Count clearly didn't agree, but his words weren't mean, just slightly different than either of the women's would have been on the topic.

  "It's a horrible precedent. Now every woman that feels wronged at all will want the same for her assailant. The problem there is that things aren't always as clear cut or clean as people like to think they should be. We don't have tens of thousands of Truth devices around either. Now each person that hears this story might well seek to take it upon themselves to do the same thing, and who's to blame them for it? Except the men that are wronged in turn, if a mistake is made or lie told to harm them without merit. Or their families? It would have been better if you merely killed them, Tiera. We have the idea of death for high crimes already. Lifelong crippling and rape as a punishment though... That's new and I think many will see it as a way around ordering a death." He sounded sad about it, as if he'd given the idea more than a bit of thought too.

  Maria snorted at her own husband.

  "Don't lecture her over it. She acted and did no less than I would have in the same situation. Sometimes we can't rule based on cold logic and forethought alone."

  "True darling... but Tiera Baker doesn't rule in Galasia at all. It wasn't her decision to make. The only reason that the Baron bowed to her will was his own, very real, fear of war with her. After what she did in Morris, very few would have tried to stand up to her at that moment. I would have had to swallow my own pride, to protect my people, even if I disagreed with the action, which I do. She bullied the man into allowing her to abuse his people. That has to harm them all."