Goddess of the Moon (Young Ancients: Tiera) Page 4

  True, she could have turned her shield on, but on the way in she decided not to, since, after all, the towels needed to be tested. The water hit with a bit of a shock, since she didn't have a temperature device on. During the night, her shield had handled that, since it was designed to, and had to be, for space work. Now she just got a sudden jolt that woke her all the way up.

  After a few seconds, she swam to shore and mock glared at Karen. Then, in revenge, moved in and gave her a big hug. She had to take it too, or it could be construed as her rebuffing an advance, which was dicey at the best of times, especially in public. Then they both got to test the new device. It worked, about like a towel should. After a bit of wiping and cycling their clothing so that they'd be dry, they were back to normal, more or less. Her hair was slightly damp still, but since she only had about an inch of black fuzz on her head, that wasn't too bad.

  She bowed to Sam, since he had, clearly, done it. The boy didn't smirk at her, or even look like he was going to ask about her own project, just seeming pleased instead. It was, naturally, Kolb that needled her on that one, even though he clearly felt uneasy about it. Tiera shrugged, copying a thing that her brothers did all the time and handed one of the little devices she'd made to Kolb, and took one herself, then she waved him over by the other people and mimicked holding it up to her throat.

  He got the idea and did that himself, so she flew upward a few thousand feet, and hovered there, her feet dangling under her.

  "If this works, you should be able to hear me up to a few miles away." She waited for a second, wondering if it had simply failed. That would be a little embarrassing, but it wasn't like she was in the Lairdgren Group or anything, so no one would probably make that big of a deal about it.

  "Well, it seems to work pretty well. Go out a bit so we can check the range?" Kolb spoke very naturally and didn't raise his voice at all even.

  That range, it turned out, was a lot closer to fifty miles than not, which left her feeling pleased. Very much so. Of course, everyone with an amulet of the same kind would hear what all the others were saying, but it was meant for work in space, and distances could be a problem there.

  She explained that, as she flew back. Her stomach growled at her more than a bit the whole time, too. She really needed to eat something soon, or there was going to be trouble. Mainly when she grabbed up one of the other people and took a bite out of them in desperation, she thought.

  Kolb didn't really cut her a lot of slack, instantly going over the flaws of the thing. She got that however. It was part of his duty as her Instructor.

  "Everyone with one can hear you speaking. You should have some way to select channels, or connect with only one of the other units at once, on demand. If it's for space work, it needs mental controls. Run up fifty of them or so and take them out to the Space Training base for testing after breakfast."

  This time Sam shook his head.

  "No. A hundred. If you can make that in nine hours, you can do a batch of a hundred inside one. Builder Tiera." He said it with significance and bowed to her, which got all the Noram people there to do the same, including Terry. A little late, the kids all did it too, seeing that.

  Havar looked around at his charges, clearly counting them all, which was decently responsible of him, and then frowned.

  "I don't know where we can get food this time of day. Kolb, any ideas? They all missed their suppers last night."

  Kolb tilted his head, but Tiera waved a bit.

  "We'll go and take over the dining hall here for a bit. We can make some pottage and eggs." Those were decently quick at least. It was just them, the people on their side now, since the searchers had left, probably to go sleep, after they'd failed to capture anyone. That had to be embarrassing, being defeated so handily by little children... The idea left her smiling, just a bit.

  They all agreed it was a worthy operation, and moved in that direction, with Kolb going over what everyone did. It was a lot more interesting than she'd thought. Tiera smiled on the first one.

  "Terry and Gary got Sam into a Fast Craft and spent the night about ten thousand feet straight above us. That was a clever use of resources and they even stayed above the woods, which was well within the rules. Maggie and Linda camped out in the woods, burying themselves and Karen in a hole that they covered with branches, also evading detection." Then he turned to Havar and his two boys. "Bobby and Ron managed to evade capture. The hiding could have been done a little better, but we'll blame Havar for that. Setting up a normal camp site wasn't the best plan, given what resources you had. It did leave you mobile however, which worked. This time."

  There was a grin on his face then, as he looked at the ones with him.

  "Finn and Zackary hid well enough, once we realized that Headmaster Hardgrove was in on it all. We moved into the attic of his building and stayed there all night." That just left her people, who he waved at, already having the names. Naturally. "Lewis and Clyde both managed to do a good job as well, using their shields to hide in the pond like that with Tiera. In all, there are only a few things that we could do better as a group. We'll work on that, later. Right now we need to move on the dining facility, and seize control of it. That will mean working. Tiera, can you lead that one? I know how to cook, but I don't know if anyone else here can."

  Terry looked at her and then made a slightly tight looking face.

  "I can, sir. Pretty well. I'm better at baking, but eggs and pottage isn't hard."

  Tiera nodded at the words.

  "True. We need enough for everyone. The head cook here will be observing too, so everyone be ready for that." She was about to say more, but they all nodded, as if that was completely ordinary. Being observed all the time like that.

  Maybe it was for them?

  The operation didn't go smoothly, but the cook did let them in and only fussed at them about twenty times. Mainly about constantly washing their hands, which both she and Terry had down thanks to life times of working with food, and about making sure they had enough variety of food stuffs so that the early rising students wouldn't complain at him. They got a delivery of bread, from the bakery in town, which would help, and Terry, despite what he'd said about simple foods, made pancakes for everyone and egg bread. Kolb shocked her by jumping in and having the kids cut up about forty apples, after taking the skins off. He used a bit of sugar to make a fruit sauce to go over everything. She did the pottage, using some shredded steak and browning it with spices, as well as real oats, since they had plenty of those.

  It was decently enough done she thought, considering it was mainly the work of kids too young to attend the school there and everyone coming in could see that. They still complained however.

  The first one that did it was clearly a noble girl and looked to be about sixteen or so, which would mean a third year. In other words, well old enough to have already learned proper social graces. She snootily looked at the very young boy that handed her tray over and sniffed.

  "What's this? Are we letting commoners in now?" Then, as if it made any sense at all, she glared at Sam Builder, as if he wasn't the acting Magics Counselor for all of Noram, and sniffed again. "More of them, I mean?"

  It was rude, but the boy in front of her just gave her a hard look and didn't stop. When he spoke his voice was slightly raspy, from being awake for so long.

  "I'm Ron. With the Lost Section. Do you want to get together later and fuck?" The boy might have been about ten or so, and was so clearly illegal due to his age that the woman in front of him had to say no. By law.

  Except of course since they were in public, that would mean being a Doretta if she did that, wouldn't it? The ten or so students in the room all stared for a bit, having clearly heard the boy. True, he'd be a bit hard about it, but that wasn't a vast problem under the rules. He'd introduced himself too, so that he wasn't unknown to her. Finally, after a moment's silence, Mark Sorenson, of the Lairdgren group, who was a noble by birth, clapped twice.

  "Not a bad answer, Ron
. Not bad at all. Cynthia, I think you should apologize to the young man, before this gets way out of hand. I know that if he said that to me at least, I wouldn't have a good way out. Definitely go with groveling. You should throw in Sam too, by the way. After that little display, I don't think you can imagine that he'll let you go without some work either... Especially after the rest of the room starts calling out suggestions to him."

  The girl looked ready to backhand the little, and pretty insolent, boy in front of her, pulling her right hand into place for it and everything. Oddly enough Baron Havar cleared his throat.

  "I wouldn't do that, miss." He didn't even sound hard or angry about it, which Tiera would have expected.

  "Oh? Why not? He's just a commoner."

  Whatever he would have said didn't come out though, since Tiera decided to end it there. Things really could get out of hand after all.

  "Because it will make you a Doretta if you do that. Either tell him yes, which will be hard, since he's way too young for you, or grab hold of the line Mark made for you and apologize. You don't have any other way out. Face it, you came in being a bit bitchy, and insulted him, and he used social combat rules to take you down so fast you almost didn't get the idea. If he can do that on the fly, imagine what he might do if we give him a few hours to think about it? Besides, he has a shield on, and you'd never touch him anyway. It would just make you look mean, and not feel any better."

  The girl made a very angry face, but then shook her head a little and forced a smile. It wasn't gracefully done, but it was, in the end, accomplished.

  "I'm sorry, Ron. Your offer is most welcome, but would be illegal here. I was rude to you, and shouldn't have been. Can you forgive me?" She just stood there, batting her eyelashes at him. Actually it wasn't a very good apology, but the kid nodded once, and moved her plate along, not saying anything really.

  Havar called him on it, like a parent.

  "Ron, use your words, please."

  He nodded again. The voice that came out sounded young, but dead. Lacking expression at all. "Yeah. Not a huge problem. Too bad though... you have cute lips."

  The whole thing was both rude, and at the same time something that the girl wasn't really allowed to comment on overly. She just made a half choked sound, and walked down the line, turning a brilliant shade of red, and letting the next person go ahead. He, wisely, just asked for some eggs, smiling happily.

  They all took turns eating, which led to the second problem. They had to sit in different areas, since there wasn't enough room for all of them to be together. It wasn't that bad, when Kolb and his buddies went out, but when Karen went with her two girls, little Maggie came under fire almost instantly. She looked scared, and tiny, which got some stares from the giants in the room. Not all of them held sympathy either, as if being afraid put out a scent they just couldn't resist or something. A boy, who looked to be about way too freaking old to try something that stupid, knocked her tray out of her hands. It required reaching down to do it, and sent food flying a good ten feet away. The wooden platter spun a few times as it arced away even. There was no way to imagine it wasn't done on purpose either. It was an attack that would have had Tiera herself fighting instantly, even in a state of deep meditation.

  Wars had been started for less. In the last year even.

  Tiera looked up just in time to see it happen too. The girl tightened her face and looked about ready to cry, as the man, and he was one, being both very tall, and about twenty or so, laughed at her. Meanly. As if it were all a horribly funny joke.

  Havar moved from the kitchen into the dining room fast, but not as quickly as Kolb, who held up a single hand to the man, glaring at the noble bully.

  "Name?"

  "Baron First, Williams. Boris Williams." He glared at the bald man with his scared face, as if being a Baron first would mean anything at all given the situation. Tiera didn't know what would happen, but got her little weapon out and pointed at the man, readying a nice finger sized force lance blast to the eye. Just hard enough to make him cry, if he didn't back down.

  Oddly enough, a young sounding voice got her attention first.

  "I'm Terry Baker. Countier Second, Baker, Countier Seven Lairdgren. I'm challenging you to a duel. Unencumbered. Outside, right now." That got some attention from the room and Tiera wondered if she should go and fight instead. Terry was only ten after all, and not a giant at all. He didn't seem particularly scared though, and Havar just looked at him... and nodded. Tiera didn't get it, but Havar, apparently, knew something she didn't.

  Then the large and battle hardened man smiled. It was far too happy for the situation.

  "That will do. Terry, Baron Williams, let's go outside."

  The man didn't even bother trying to beg off, which Tiera realized, she would have. There was simply no way to win a fight with a ten year old. Either he hit the kid once and Terry passed out, making him a giant bully, or he let himself be beaten by a tiny child until Terry was satisfied with the results. Anyone with a brain in their head would have figured that out and simply bowed to everyone there, then refused the fight, citing common sense, and a desire to protect the boy... It wouldn't be held against the man by anyone.

  Sighing, Tiera made up a plate of food, and no doubt being rude herself, started eating it as she walked. She gestured for her two buddies to go with her, in case she needed someone to hold her plate.

  Kolb gestured for everyone to follow him, toward the practice area. That was walled, so not just anyone would see it happen. It was a surreal sort of thing, walking along in the cool morning air, nibbling a rolled up pancake with fried eggs in it. She had four of them with her and wanted more food than that, but could make that work, if she had to kill the man, for hurting her little brother.

  Havar stepped forward then, and waved to the combatants, then Karen and Kolb, each of whom changed outfits. Karen went into a nice red suit of clothing with shining gold buttons and on seeing that, Kolb got himself arranged to have something similar, only with silver buttons and all in a deep and rather pretty green. She hadn't realized it before, but it was a good color on him. He normally wore black or gray, as a rule, but green made him look happier, even without a smile on his face.

  She just kept eating and looked at the kids that had followed them out. Half of them were students, the other half little ones. None of them looked particularly frightened at all. She probably didn't either, holding her brown flatware in her left hand, and her second pancake in her right, munching along like she was.

  Havar stood back, and Kolb walked over to Boris Williams, talking to him, and then shaking the man down for all his magics and weapons. He had a knife, and a good shield, it looked like, as well as a clothing amulet, which he was allowed to keep on himself.

  Karen got things from Terry, which if Williams was smart, would have made him run away right then. Three knives, a very top end shield, three explosive weapons, four force lances and four cutters. Those all had varying lengths too, as well as two different styles of construction. He also had a healing amulet on him, as well as a Fast Craft, and for some reason, a little house. That got Tiera to blink. It was about enough golds worth of stuff that he could buy a medium sized town if he wanted.

  He got to keep his clothing amulet too though, since that was only fair.

  At least Tiera thought so. Karen leaned down for a bit and looked at Terry, who was speaking to her very softly. After a minute she stood and called out at the top of her voice, sounding very, very proper.

  "Countier Baker asks Baron Williams if he truly wishes to utilize clothing amulets for this fight? In good faith, he recommends against it." That got the Baron to bristle for some reason. After a bit, he angrily pointed at Kolb who grimaced, but did his job anyway.

  "The Baron agrees to the wearing of amulets and asks the Countier if he has great interest in seeing what a real man looks like nude." It was clear he wasn't all that happy to be saying it, but the Baron laughed at his own joke.

  Really,
she didn't get it either, but Terry just waved at him and spoke to Karen again.

  She yelled.

  "Fine. As long as the terms are agreeable. We need to clear the field. Everyone clear the field." She didn't seem panicked, and in fact was managing a much more bored sound to her voice than Tiera thought she'd manage, given what was about to happen. Still, she kept eating her food, the hunger being a bit too hard to ignore.

  Terry stood in place, but the giant Baron, who had to be nearly three hundred pounds and was at least as tall as she was, so seven feet and a bit, ran at the tiny boy, his right fist clenched and howling, as if he'd been the aggrieved party.

  She was watching closely, but nearly missed what happened anyway. Terry, her very kind, and still little, brother, did something with his right hand, shaking it a bit, while the sleeve became long and twisted into a point. Then he knelt on his left knee and let the other man run into his out held right fist, which had basically turned into a spear. It ripped a very nice hole in the Baron's left thigh and Terry hardly moved at all as the man bellowed in pain. The clothing reformed, spreading on the other side of the wound and turning into something like heavy cloth fishhooks, she thought, before he yanked it back out. There was more yelling then, but Terry, who she always thought of as the good brother, wasn't finished.

  The fight after that wasn't really that impressive, since it was all Terry changing his clothing into various weapons, and then moving in to hit the man, over and over again. Most of them were bludgeons however, which meant a lot, since the man ended up passing out after a while, and Terry kept beating him until the man didn't move at all.

  Kolb walked up and kicked the man gently, then moved Terry back with a soft wave. It was a gentle thing really, that seemed quietly impressed, rather than worried. The Baron really had asked for it though, hadn't he?

  "The Baron lives, but might need medical help..."

  That got Terry to walk back over and change the man's clothing for him, so that bandages appeared in all the right spots. Looking up, Tiera saw that Dean Hardgrove was in the gate of the practice area, looking less than perfectly pleased. Tiera did some math in her head and realized that he couldn't actually kick her little brother out, him not being a student there, and while the Instructors there might get a dressing down, the fight had actually been perfectly legal. Nearly so at least.