A Simple Darkness (The Young Ancients: Tiera)

by P. S. Power

  That got the other two girls to give her a funny look, and Karen sighed.

  "It's an off day. You don't have to go to class."

  Tiera shook her head.

  "You don't, I need to do my morning stuff. I was ordered to do it each day, remember? We can head out after that, if I'm not needed here. No later than noon."

  It made sense to her, but Judith looked a bit unpleasant about it. That didn't really make sense to her, and no one explained at all, so they talked about how unlikely it was that anyone would really come to Ali's dinner, since they were just a bunch of kids, a lot of them poor and therefore not overly important. That went on until dinner, when Sheri had them all move to the dining room, which was wonderfully done in shining wood and black stone, with magical lights in various colors in the corners of the room. It made the food a little hard to see, but it smelled nice. Ali and Sheri had to hop up to get it from the kitchen, because they didn't have servants at school. It was all dished up at the table, from common serving containers, which meant that if Sheri had spit in it, she'd have had to do it to all the food.

  The plates were made of black focus stone, which was sturdy and nice, hers already on the table when she was sat in place. So was everyone's, since that was a decently polite way to do things to save work for the hostess. She looked down at her plate, then tapped it, thinking.

  "Has anyone tried making magical plates and cups? They could be made to look like anything and then when the meal is done you wouldn't have to wash them at all. Silver too, I suppose." She didn't know how hard that would be, but they had houses that could be packed up and worn on tiny amulets around the neck or in a pocket. If you had house stuff too, then you could have your whole life with you. That got her thinking about other things, like toothbrushes and razors.

  Guide made a very disgruntled face at her, which she assumed meant it was a stupid idea, then he held his head.

  "So, it's your whole family that comes up with things like that? No, no one has thought of that yet. It wouldn't even be hard..." He looked off at the far wall, and then got up and left. Not just the room, but the whole house, just walking away and not coming back.

  Sandra Morris, the head of the group, smiled and waved toward the front door. "Lost him. I blame Tiera for that. We don't talk about work at the table for a reason. Now, if you have more ideas, keep them until later. We'll need to watch Guide for a bit and make sure he doesn't starve to death, forgetting to eat like that." She looked at her food and then at Sheri. "This looks beautiful."

  No one else checked the food, but Tiera and Karen both did, which got a slightly panicked look from Ali, her eyes going wide.

  "Do you think that I'd poison you?"

  That got the room to go silent, since, as a rule, you weren't supposed to ask things like that. Nobles just assumed that anyone might do that to them, if they had a reason. They'd put Tiera at the far end of the table too, since she was the one out of favor and Karen was across from her, which probably had to do with the fact that she wasn't as well known to the rest of them, rather than being a comment on her directly. She was Alyssa's sister after all, and fairly high ranking. Sandra was too, Tiera thought, but didn't know about anyone else overly. She only knew that the head of the Lairdgren group was a Conserina, since she'd tried to get engaged to Todd.

  It looked like he was going to go with Countess Thorgood however.

  Tiera looked at her sister-in-law and shrugged. It was a forced movement, since she didn't normally do things like that, and she knew it looked a bit stiff and probably bitchy. They all thought the worst of her already, didn't they? Nearly so at least.

  "Yes." It was blunt, but the truth. "You were clearly upset with me about things and even though I've tried to make it right, that doesn't magically fix it all. I know that. More to the point, Sheri actually made all the food. I don't know her, but she clearly isn't my friend. Some of these others I know have a grievance with me. For that matter I'm a little miffed with some of them, so... yes. There could be problems like that."

  Everyone glared at her for a while, except Judith who got out her own detector and checked her food then the serving trays and bowls. "Good point. I was getting lazy anyway, not checking things all the time. Things... We should all check, no matter what we eat or drink." There was a sense of command to the words, but Sandra followed suit, nodding, as if she knew something the others didn't. Henry didn't have a detector on him for some reason, so Tiera passed hers down to him, which got her glared at again. By all the boys, but not Karen who nodded to her.

  They talked about music then, which was something Tiera liked, but wasn't up on, as far as the latest crazes. It turned out that she'd seen the newest popular musician at least.

  Sandra explained it to them.

  "Marco Sorvee? He was at the wedding, standing for Dorgal last week." She'd be the one to know, since she was doing the same for Lyn, the leader of Vagus. They'd all been there, even Sheri, for all the girl wasn't anyone all that special. Well, it turned out Henry hadn't been, but he was just a poor scholarship boy, not anyone important.

  Tiera winced when she realized she'd just thought that. A lot of people hadn't been invited to the wedding after all. Most Barons and their families didn't make the cut for instance. Just being left off that list didn't mean he wasn't a good person or just as needed as anyone else.

  Luckily she wasn't speaking much, just trying to not be hated for the most part. It was easier to do when you didn't make too much noise. It wasn't working that well, since half the room was giving her dirty looks when they thought she wasn't looking and Farlo made sure to catch her eye first when she did it. Henry didn't look at her at all though, which was almost worse. It was like he was saying she didn't exist to him.

  It made her mad. It really was annoying, but what was she supposed to do? Demand that someone she'd angered be her new best friend? Her lover? She'd never even kissed a boy before. Thankfully, when the meal was done they were all allowed to leave if they wanted. Most of the people stayed, but Karen looked at a watch she pulled from a pocket hidden in her dress and shook her head a bit.

  "We need to go, Tiera, you have studying to do before you sleep. This was lovely, Ali. Sheri. Thank you both so much for having us." She curtseyed and that got Tiera to bow. It wasn't totally correct, but she didn't know how to do the same thing correctly. There was leg crossing involved, but after that she wasn't sure what all was needed and couldn't see Karen's legs well enough to copy her. They were both given quick hugs and then ushered to the front door by Ali, who whispered to them as soon as they were outside.

  "Can you see to the party invitations for me? I don't have a communications device here."

  Karen nodded, "no one does, that I know of. I kind of think Kolb might, but those are impossible to get for most people." She stopped talking suddenly, which made the slip a lot more obvious.

  After all, why would Sir Kolbrin have such a thing? Timon had one, but he was Tor's brother, and used it for business. Even that was bizarre. But the school's Weapons Instructor? That didn't make a lot of sense. Tiera thought that she'd be in line for one first, since her brother had created the thing. Ali seemed to miss it though, so she didn't say anything to alert her about it. There was clearly a secret involved. One that they weren't supposed to know.

  It wasn't a problem. She'd just ask Timon. If he didn't know, it would be a shock. If he was around the right people, he'd have figured it out long ago. It was the way he did things. Thankfully the rest of the kids in the family were like her. Smart enough, but not so... alien about it.

  Karen hugged her little sister again and didn't say anything until they got back in the room.

  "Not horrible. A bit too aggressive defending your use of the poison detector. Then, Ali shouldn't have put us on the spot either, so that one is a wash, socially speaking. Handing Henry yours to use was a nice touch. Sends a bit of a mixed signal, but it did show you were willing to protect him, which is a good thing. You should reach out
to Farlo soon. She's coming for you, I think. How, I don't know. She was being pretty open about her disdain however and she's got social connections. Best to make an overture there and cut that short." While she spoke she actually got a book out and handed it over to her. It was a slim thing, with only about forty pages . When it was opened a large finger pointed to two side by side pages.

  "These diagrams show the basic weak points on the human body. How long do you think it will take you to memorize them all?"

  There were only about forty listed, so she tilted her head and tried to absorb the pages. She waited until the picture was set, floating behind her eyes even when she closed the book.

  Then she started listing them off, one by one.

  "Top of the head, Temples, eyes, base of the skull where the spine meets, throat, over the heart in the front and back..." The rest of them came just as quickly and when she got to the bottom she reversed the order, ending at the top of the head again.

  The big fighter gave her a funny look and shook her head.

  "You can do that in ten seconds, but you can't remember The Rules?"

  Making a sour face she started to cross her arms, but then remembered that the woman in front of her might actually attack her, and resisted it.

  "Get me a list of them why don't you?" That was half the problem she knew. They all talked about The Rules, but no one just wrote them out.

  She was told to read and memorize the whole book instead, which took longer, since it was hand written. It was all useful though, pointing out how to best damage given targets on a person, a lot of it written for weapons use. You could punch or kick over a liver, but for it to be fatal you basically had to stab it, for instance. It was a thing she'd never even considered. Her punches the day before had just been... thrown. Aiming hadn't been a real consideration except in the most general of ways. This text was suggesting that it would be a lot more useful to try and hit certain areas.

  At eleven she dimmed the lights in the room and turned in, Karen already snoring softly. She really would have preferred to have the lights off, but it made some sense to leave them on a bit. That meant she was able to get up and fight if someone tried to break in. They'd see her too, but she doubted that anyone coming for her would be less able to fight in the dark than she was.

  Not that she thought anyone would do that, but who knew?

  Farlo had seemed pretty ticked, hadn't she? For some reason the idea made her smile, as if a school girl was the worst thing she had to fear. Not killers that might want to take her in order to force Tor to come out of hiding or something like that. She wouldn't let that happen though. If it came to it she'd kill herself first. Since that wasn't something she wanted to do, it made sense to stay ready at all times, didn't it?

  She was up early again and ate in the room, leaving before the snoring giant woke at all. There was no one in the arena that morning, so she ran first, then worked stones for a while, wrapping her hands with leather straps first this time. It let her lift the heaviest rock she could three more times than the day before. That or she was stronger already.

  Then she tried to hit the pells with a club in each hand, alternating. It wasn't done that smoothly, but she got to a thousand and then made herself keep going, even though her arms felt like they wanted to fall off. When she finished she turned to find Sir Kolbrin watching her with a stern look on his face.

  "Targeting. It isn't just about slapping the wood with a stick. Those are deadly weapons and the pell is a warrior that will kill you if you miss." He ran his hand across various points of the scarred and dented wood. "Eye, juncture of the neck, arms, legs, torso... Each blow from this point on should be done with intent. Mean it, like you would in battle, decide where you want to wound them and do your best each time." He grinned then, which took her off guard for some reason. He just didn't seem like a jolly sort, in the main.

  He picked up two clubs as well and demonstrated what he meant on his own pell, calling out instructions to her, making her do it all again, which nearly didn't work, as dead as her arms were. After half an hour, sweating profusely, he let her stop.

  "Fine enough for now. You should also practice the unarmed work you did yesterday and then use the healing amulet Karen got for us. It makes life far more pleasant." He moved off to work with the stones himself then, leaving her to rack her weapons and then stare at the pell. She was supposed to hit it? And do some kicks? That was... going to hurt. She had the healing amulet though, so it wouldn't do permanent damage. Trying not to seem like the weakest person ever, she faced it and tried to remember what she'd been told.

  Aim through the thing and use her whole body to generate force. The first punch nearly made her cry, but she didn't let herself. Her fist ached, but hadn't broken or anything. Her knuckles stung though, even as she reversed it and did the same move with her other hand. She didn't think she could do it a thousand times, it was just too painful. Instead she aimed for a hundred with each move, counting them carefully. Some things were worse than others. Slamming her elbows and knees into the log felt harder, but didn't make her bleed. Kicks were nicer but made it difficult to balance if she tried the high ones. When she tried using her forehead it made her bleed after ten strikes and nearly knocked her out. In all she decided that it was probably a lot more useful to hit things with a weapon. This training was nearly as bad as the beating had been the day before. When she finished she had to limp to the table with the magical devices and equipment, which had just been left in the open all night.

  The healing amulet made her hands and head sting badly, but she healed, and there were no scars. No calluses either though. It meant she wasn't really toughening up all the way. She felt better then, fresh and rested, but wondered if she'd just undone all of her exercise. Maybe if she did the damaging stuff first, then did her exercises later? It would give her a day of building muscle each time at least. Still, things had been easier that day than the one before, hadn't they? Was that just learning or did the amulet cause her to get stronger as she healed?

  She didn't know, but could only watch and see.

  Sir Kolbrin gestured for her to come over, then pointed at the pond at the back of the space, which was only about fifty feet across.

  "Can you swim?" He sounded gruff again, as if he thought she might not be able to. That or she wouldn't want to get wet.

  "Yes, mother taught all of us kids." Without waiting, getting that it was coming next she started walking and called back, not wanting to be tossed in particularly. "How many times across and back?"

  "Start with ten. I want to make certain you can do it."

  She just waded in. The water wasn't deep, about four feet in the center, but it was small enough it didn't take long to finish. She was soaking when she got out, but her hair wasn't in the way, so there was that. She cycled her clothing a dozen times, so that she'd be mainly dry.

  The man just nodded at her once.

  "Now, you have magical weapons, but I'd prefer you learn traditional ones first. I have a class coming in for special flying practice. You have your gear with you?" He didn't seem to doubt her at least, and didn't seem surprised when she pulled the hand piece to her flying rig out and put it on. It was the older kind, on copper, but was basically the same field the military used. Hers had a right hand piece instead of left, but that was because it hadn't been meant for combat.

  "Alright. No weapons today. I'll explain the exercise when everyone else gets here. That way I won't have to do it twice. Make sure to collect your shield from the table."

  It took a while for everyone else to arrive, so instead of wasting time, they worked on unarmed moves for a while, mainly joint locks, since Sir Kolbrin was trying to work out a version of fighting that would work past a shield that way. Since she had a shield on, it made for some interesting moments. It was slippery, but by pushing his body against hers and using both arms to stop her arms and legs from getting away he could manipulate her rather painfully at times. Not always though and he e
ncouraged her to try and get out of the things as hard as she could. Then they'd switch and she'd try it.

  It was with her rather inexpertly trying to use her whole body to lock his right arm out that everyone else found them, walking into place lazily, most of them seeming at least a little sleepy. That or hung over. It must have been close to nine in the morning, which seemed late enough for them to have woken up, but no one looked chipper at all.

  "Today's exercise is in teamwork. No use of weapons, magical or standard. Shields and flying gear only. You have one hour to catch Tiera here, get her to the ground and keep her there. Any questions?" He looked around as everyone scrambled to get their flying rigs in place, a few of them looking panicked just ran away, not having theirs. "Go!"

  Actually, she reflected, she had some questions, but didn't have time to ask them, since she was being chased. Except that no one was near her at all. About twenty miles away she dropped and spun in place, expecting to be hit from behind, but the others were still a good ten miles behind her. She could have run, but it wouldn't have been much of a challenge to the others if she did. Instead she headed for the left flank of the line coming toward her. She stuck her right hand out, upright with her feet dangling under her, trying to come up with a plan. She had nearly a whole minute to make it work after all.

  When she got to the person on that side, who turned out to be a woman she didn't know, Tiera spun again and rose slightly in the air, then settled over the lady and straddled her left arm, suddenly cutting her own flight field, which knocked the woman downward, with Tiera slipping upside down for a bit.

  "Ahhh!" The other girl, who couldn't have been in her late teens screamed, panicking a bit. The shield would protect her, but falling was hard to get used to and rushing into the Earth was particularly daunting.