by P. S. Power
That... Really, if Tiera didn't know better, she would have thought that Connie was hitting on him and trying to arrange an overnight... Tiera blocked the thought out. It took a bit of chanting in her head, but luckily her mother came in soon after and the whole thing was repeated. She really expected there to be arguments, and people saying they couldn't go at all, but her mother seemed instantly in love with the idea.
Even if the moon did sound a bit primitive yet.
The next few hours was all about setting up who would be going, and it was both a large group of people, and a strange one. Most of the Ancients that Timon had made and her family was going, which made sense, because they'd need to be shown that it could be done, if they were going to be moving there.
Smythe of Westend tried to beg off, which Tiera figured was about him being too busy with the latest war effort, but the King shook his head.
"No. I know this is embarrassing to you, what with the Reid Smythe issue, but it must be done. We need a presence there that will tell our people that they are not freed of their vows, merely based on distance."
The old man bowed, and then stood up very straight.
"Yes, Sire." His face went sly then. "Should I... see to an accident for the man?"
The King frowned and looked at the rest of the room closely.
"Acting Magics Counselor Builder, what say you, should the criminal Reid Smythe be executed?"
Tiera had forgotten about that part of things. Sam, boy that he still was, had a position of real power. Even if she hadn't thought of it as real at all. In a way he was one of the most powerful people in Noram, wasn't he?
"What did he do?"
Karen cleared her throat. "He's the High Servant that was found to be in dereliction of his duty. There was a trial and he was sentenced to three years of forced labor, on the Moon."
Listening closely, the builder closed his eyes for a while, and then opened them and looked at Smythe directly.
"A prisoner sentenced to a punishment should not be killed, or abused, if that was not the sentence. If he has committed no new crime, then I have to suggest he not be killed. However, after that, if the others are derelict of duty, it might serve well enough for some of them to, um, have an accident or two?" He didn't flinch away, and the large Military Councilor seemed upset, but didn't call him on it.
Instead, after a bit he bowed. Not low at all, and seated, but enough to announce the boy as his equal.
"Agreed. I'm sure my cousin Ethyl will be pleased if her son lives through this, though I don't know why. He's a waste of resources. Ever since he was a child, in fact."
The rest of the group going took more time to work out, since it had to be made a bit smaller, which was hard. The whole fighting section wasn't going to be allowed to visit, but half of them were. Mainly the older students. Remy Two was going to stay, which seemed strange at first, but Tiera didn't bother working it through. Someone had to teach the others after all.
Maris was going, and Doris too, along with her own top students. No one had any real reason for that to happen that made sense however. Until Sam waved his right hand a bit.
"Are we going to teach the High Servants to meditate? Perhaps that will aid them, in their work?" It was enough for Karen to glom on to it. They could learn mental discipline, which might help them with their sense of duty.
Finally, at the end of the whole thing, Count Lairdgren pulled a paper for her to sign, and then did the same himself on another one. The only difference there was that the Count took his along with them, and waved for the people with him to stand.
"We should head back to the school now. You have classes in the morning, after all. A pleasure trip of this nature won't free you from that." He sounded serious and didn't smile at all. On the good side he did land in the center of the school commons and shewed them all away. Even her, which Tiera hadn't counted on for some reason. It was almost like she wasn't special or something.
That thought got her to smile, right up until Kolb found her, at the door of her own room. Now he, clearly, wanted to talk to her, alone. Which he did rudely, taking her arm by force, and yelling at her.
"I've a mind to beat you naked in the commons! Skipping classes for days on end like that is not allowed. If you don't have a good reason, you're out of the section!" Then, gently, considering his tone, he pushed her into the room and reached back to grab Karen, pulling her in too.
"Sorry about that. I actually know why you haven't been around. Are you up to a bit of recon tonight? We've located something going on in Afrak, near the Northern tip, but heavy clouds have come in so the new satellites are useless. It will be a tight timeline, but I'd love to get eyes on the thing. It's huge, whatever it is. It suddenly showed up, this morning. That speaks of magic, to me. What kind is a thing that we need to figure out."
There was half a moment where Tiera felt like telling the man to go do it himself, alone. Not out of anger, since she was too deep for that to really happen. Not even out of tiredness. It was the beating that did it. He hadn't been wrong in what he'd told everyone. They weren't ready to face their enemies. Not in person. Not one to one.
Calling her half trained was a fiction even. She was hard working, or liked to think so, but she wasn't enough to stop a person that had thousands of years of practice and time to get ready. Even the idea that Timon's plague would be more than an inconvenience to them seemed off suddenly. Like a joke.
Or a trick.
That idea stuck with her for a long moment and she didn't speak at all. She didn't know what was wrong with the plan, but something truly was. Tiera swallowed her words and then looked at the Ancient in front of her. Possibly one of the best warriors that had ever lived. Why did he need a little girl to go with him? Or Karen? Sure, she was a better fighter than most of the kids at the school, and a Knight, but what was she going to do against a thousand evil and insane clones?
It just didn't all fit.
She held her tongue however and finally nodded.
"We need Mags then, I think. She can pilot us in."
Kolb looked at her strangely for a bit, "Mags Helms? From the afternoon section? Why would she be able to do it? Does she even have a Fast Craft? I was thinking we could take yours."
That was telling too. Tiera tried to work it all out but couldn't do it. Not really. It was so clear that she wasn't needed at all that it was almost a sound in the air. A low rumbling, like thunder. For a moment she thought it was the blood in her head, or some kind of attack, but it proved to actually just be thunder, since a small storm had come in.
She looked at the man and shook her head.
"Mags has a Space Ship. Don't let that get around." She watched Kolb, but he wasn't surprised by that news at all. In fact, he didn't respond much at all. It was off. Not totally, but enough for her to be suspicious. It didn't really take a lot anymore to cause that to happen, did it?
Taking a chance, Tiera reached out, found his mind and realized what was wrong. He wasn't her Instructor at all. It was Cordes. That explained the differences nicely enough, didn't it? She really wanted to roll her eyes then, but kept her face straight, and moved to pack her gear.
"Kolb, can you go look for her? I need a second to pack up." She got out her little weapons first, and started to put a few in her pockets, while the Weapons Master regarded her coolly. At the door, he turned, smiling gently, but with a bit of a lopsidedness to it. It was what Mitchell had always done too.
He cleared his throat, and then glanced at Karen pretty hard.
"I'll be right back." When he turned Tiera pulled her weapon and slapped her shield on, then shot him in the back with an explosive burst that was just large enough to take his head off. It hit the base of his spine perfectly too.
She felt a little sick, having just killed her friend like that, and Karen was horrified, but Tiera waved for a bit and managed not to hurl.
"Cordes, in a Kolb clone. We were warned it might happen. My guess is that it's an updated model to
o, made just for us. He knew who Mags was. Where to find this room too." She didn't lose her lunch, but wasn't going to be snacking in her room soon either. It took a bit to recover, but her roommate, being harder than she was, clearly, got her communications device out and hit the sigil for Baron Kolbrin. Nothing happened. A half minute passed. Then a full one. The silence stretched and grew, even as a few people came to see what the sound had been. Then suddenly there was a noise and a familiar voice came.
Sounding a little breathless.
"Kolb here."
Karen looked relieved. Like she hadn't believed what Tiera had told her, just because her eyes had seen something different? That was hardly open minded of her.
"We, Tiera and I, just killed a clone of you at her room. It had Cordes in it. Are you local?" There was a sound of running feet, and before Tiera could process it all, Remy was there, looking around, then at Tiera with a big smile.
"I knew I liked you. Which of you did the actual take down?"
"I did. If you're going to be an Instructor here, you should, I don't know, get the students back from the dead body, and act like you're in charge?" Tiera didn't smile at him, but the young looking pale man turned and started waving the others back, even if they were taller than he was.
"Nothing to see here. Move along. Move along. We have this under control." That kept going for a bit, until Kolb got there, having taken a lot less than a minute for the quarter mile.
He looked at Remy and then Karen.
"Good, I did a sky and quick perimeter check. We need to do a more extensive one. What's the situation?"
This got addressed to Tiera, since Karen moved out, starting to look around and taking to the sky less than ten seconds later. She was just visible from the open door.
"He came, yelled at me for missing classes, then told us we were needed for recon in Afrak. Something big in the northern part of that land, covered with clouds. Meaning that the satellites won't work. I suggested we get Mags Helms to take us in, and he knew who she was. That means-"
The bald man got it and looked at his own form laying there, dead on the ground. The blood was still pouring from where the head had been.
Then he looked at her.
"So, the exercise the other day was a little too much for you?"
She looked at the body on the ground, dressed in fighting leathers that were almost identical to the ones he had on, and read his field before answering. It was, thankfully, Kolb. He looked at the weapon in her hand, which had been what he was commenting on, it seemed, if lightly.
She put it to her side, but not away, in case an attack came.
"A bit. I take it that your actual plan was to try and get me to be willing to run off? Flee from the Others, because they're clearly far too much for me to handle?" She didn't let herself seem bitter about it, but the man shook his head anyway.
"No, that was for your friends. Sam, Ali, Sheri... If they face one of the clones, any of them, they'd die right now. That's what it was about. Guide might make it. When Remy and I were taking after you, he held an explosive weapon on me. Not covertly either. Openly. It's why I backed away when I did. He would have opened up on me if I hadn't, I think. He had my shield down too. It was impressive. The rest though, we need them to be scared. To run and hide, if it comes to it. That's what I've mainly been having those three work on, while you were out."
It was better than him saying that about her at least, so she took it all with a nod.
"Well, you did a good job, since we're all running off to the Moon now. In about a week. The whole fighters section. Mainly to threaten the High Servants. It's already cleared with Dean Hardgrove. Remy is staying here to teach. Do you think he can do it without killing everyone?"
That got a genuine laugh, which came from the door, not Kolb.
"I'll manage. You're actually leaving me here with your kids? What if I'm a traitor, or a spy? Or even, what if I just teach them too well and they like me better, huh Kolby?" There was a bit of teasing in it, but Tiera cleared her throat.
"You aren't a traitor or spy. Because you don't have to be. There's no benefit to you in it. Even being on our side is mainly about getting to have people to play with that won't die instantly, isn't it?" She paused and he bounced a little, like a tiny child when overly excited.
"True. You two are the best though. The others are way more fun than regular people, but they get tired too fast, and whine about the pain. This place is nearly perfect for me though, I admit. Tiera even bribed me with the use of her flying machine. Do you have any idea what I could do with that thing? I'm half tempted to go and kill Gray and Cordes, just for fun. Only they wouldn't be as entertaining as you are." A hand went to his chest then. "I love you, Kolby. Will you marry me?" There was an absurd batting of eyes, and the big weapons master looked at dead him on the floor.
"Sure. You have to be a woman for that though. We can talk about it later."
That was because Karen was coming back, along with the Dean. He seemed ready to freak out and everything, but Remy went very serious and reported the whole thing to the man instantly, before he could ask.
Adding in the part about the marriage, without cracking a smile at all.
The old man stroked his white beard and then tightened his lips. "It's getting too dangerous for our students."
Remy however disagreed. "No sir. It's been dangerous, true, but it just got safer. Gray and Cordes were clearly trying to take either Tiera, or Karen Derring here. They handled this matter in a way that will send a clear message to those two though. Don't screw with Lairdgren School. By the way, Karen, I love the new face, we should get together and work on some disguises soon?"
She was back to her regular Karen look, the original one, which was why Cordes had known who she was at all, most likely. Not that it mattered now.
Karen looked at dead Kolb and nodded.
"That would be good. Let's do that. Soon. Right now, we should move the body? If it's safe. How do we do that? It could have, I don't know, magics on it, or nano devices. Genetically engineered diseases or..." She waved her large and well callused hands, and looked at Kolb. "That's actually all the fancy talk like that I know, unless we're going to go into electricity."
There was a smile about that at least, "that's about what's needed for that, except for booby-traps, and that sort of thing. It isn't impossible, so we assume it's the case. Right now, everyone should have a shield on, at least."
Then they carted the body away in a magical floating box. Kolb had a whole bunch of them. It was impressive, since she'd had to fight a bit to get even one. Now she knew who was running away with them all. It actually made sense. They were useful, and the man loved useful things.
They buried the clone a good way off, using an earth moving unit for the whole thing. Then they took turns scrubbing the walk way stones outside of her dorm room door. It didn't totally work, since the blood had left a dark splotchy stain, but it was enough that it didn't look like blood anymore, just like something had spilled at one point.
After that, she didn't know what to do. Her head filled with pesky thoughts, but she let them go, which clued her in as to what would be needed, if she was going to sleep that night. Either drugs or meditation. Since the latter worked a lot better for her personally, and she'd missed several classes, she went and sat with Doris, who didn't seem disturbed by her coming at all. Even if it was an off day and they were the only ones there. They sat there, eyes closed, for four hours and at ten, when Tiera stood, her Instructor just nodded at her slightly.
"Do you require further absence?"
She shook her head, "not soon. We're going to the new Moon colony in a bit. My brother Terry has a job there, so we're all going. You're supposed to teach the High Servants how to meditate, along with your top students. Could you get a list of who will be going as soon as possible?"
The white haired lady smiled so gently that Tiera nearly didn't notice it at all.
"I have some few that might wish t
o travel there. I'll suggest it to them."
Then she closed her eyes again, which Tiera took as a dismissal.
That night, she mainly meditated, since sleep was being a bit illusive for some reason. Karen didn't even come back to the room, which meant she felt the same way, or at least found someplace else to rest that night. Possibly with Remy? They could take turns trying to disguise themselves, and all that.
It wasn't a horrible idea even. Learning to look like someone else. Maybe she could become a man? At least in looks. A big fighter, like Havar? She was too tall for most women now, she knew. That train of thought led her to think about a lot of unrelated things, until it was light enough for her to go and run in the morning. She didn't go fast, but she did eight laps, and worked through two pells and a double stones rotation. Then, because Remy was apparently not kidding, he spent most of the morning forcing her to work harder and harder. Though he was nicer about it than before, and didn't even bruise her at all. That was probably about proving he could do that kind of thing without killing little kids. He did suddenly start cheating however, causing spikes and projections to cast out from his body, trying to catch her off guard. She responded by working over to the magical weapons table and grabbing her little stylus. She wasn't mean about it, poking him with a force lance that was only about as strong as a decent sneeze, but she was able to force him to back off a little and things became a bit more fair, for a while. The thing was, he learned her patterns faster than she could make up new ones.
After ten minutes of that, he took her weapon away, and embarrassingly, tucked it into her waistband in the back, without making her shield trigger. He was quick, but clearly had moved in slow motion, so as to not harm her at all.
Then, when she pulled it, he did it again, and again. Finally, on the sixth time she managed to actually hit him, though it didn't do any damage at all. She had to pull his arm as he put his hands down her pants again, moving away with a twist, so that she could elbow him in the jaw. It was a complex move and one that only worked the one time. Everything she did with him was like that. She'd come up with something, and he'd instantly learn to counter it from then on.