The Silence Within (The Young Ancients: Tiera)

by P. S. Power

  It was why he had a full bakery display case, even though no one had been in to buy anything while she was there.

  In conversation, you couldn't just complain to him about something, like needing more sleep, because he'd find out what you needed, and then work out some magic to fix it for you. That or he'd fret over not being able to help you enough, when all you really wanted was a nap. Then he'd shut down and go glaze eyed, thinking about what to do.

  He was brilliant because of it, but also weird.

  She smiled at him, knowing that all of that would reach him pretty easily, since she wasn't hiding it at all. That was the point. It was mean, though true enough, but would also, hopefully, keep him from finding out what she was really thinking. There was a small chance that he might just try and stop her from killing Count Morris and Sandra when the time came. He'd actually told her to kill them all, the whole family, but she was nearly certain that had actually been the Ancient King Cordes, talking through him. Tor didn't tell people to kill, even if it was the only option.

  He was capable of doing it, and had, but it wasn't his normal way at all.

  She walked out of the shop, waving to him, trying to hold her mind as blank as possible. It was harder than it should have been, since thinking about Sandra left her feeling angry and out of sorts again. Not as much as she would have a month before, but enough that it tried to steal her control away.

  She jogged, slowly, back to her room. Tiera wouldn't need a basket of treats for the afternoon, and it would make a decent meal to replace dinner. Then she had to head straight back to the practice square, since being late would make her look bad and the others would make fun of her. If it happened to Havar or Karen, no one would say much, as long as it wasn't too big of a time gap. If she was the last one in, even by a minute, then Kolb would mock her for it. That wasn't fair, but she sort of understood why that was. After all, she had a long time to live with bad habits, if they took hold, and Kolb wouldn't want that for her. As a family member it was his job to help raise her, but not the others so much.

  Thankfully the person being attacked wasn't her, as she thought it might be, and instead was a likely looking fifth year girl that seemed to have been drinking that morning. The healing amulet would have cleaned that out for her, but instead of just admitting to her weakness, she'd tried to hide it. That had Kolb pointing to her covertly as Tiera walked in. She waited for the others to get there however before moving, padding up behind her as she moved in to strike a much smaller girl that was probably a first year.

  Given the sloppy blow, that was probably just the tall dark haired girl's way of taking it easy. Unfortunately, that wasn't going to happen that day. They were at war after all, and somebody had to remind them all of that, or they'd get lazy.

  This time the fight was one sided again, but went the other way around. The girl she didn't know, except by reputation, wasn't just a bit tipsy, but was near to falling over with drink. That meant she didn't do very well against Tiera, even if she wasn't holding to any kind of rules at all. She tried to dig her eye out at one point, which hurt horribly, but didn't stop the battle. After about five minutes of both of them going full out, Tiera had the other girl pretty much tired out and trying to cover herself from the worst of the attack.

  Without asking if she should, she jumped back, waiting for the woman to stand. It took a while.

  "What the fucking hell?" She sounded blurry and like she might just need to throw up. "Who do you think you are?"

  It was Karen that answered, by laughing and jumping on her, thrashing her with pure abandon, stomping her after she fell to the ground.

  "Get up Mags. You know the score, coming in drunk is about as bad as not showing up at all. You'll have to answer for it. Be thankful your warning was from a first year. We were planning to set Kolb on you."

  When the woman wasn't able to get up on her own, but still fighting weakly, Havar got to have his turn. It was less of a beating and more like a prank, pulling the woman by the arm to the pond near the back and tossing her in bodily.

  "Gah!"

  That let them all know that she didn't have a temperature amulet on. If she owned one. It was very possible that she just didn't. They were hard to get, if you didn't have family that could provide them for you.

  There was a round of applause then, from behind them, which got the woman in the water, Mags, apparently, to growl and shake her fist.

  "You're all monsters, you know that?" She sounded upset and like she might just actually mean it.

  Tiera nodded.

  "We know. Now, are you coming out, or are we going to continue in there?" It would be to her advantage, but seemed interesting enough for Tiera to try. The woman was about six-eight or nine and waist deep. Tiera would have to fight with the water around her chest...

  That wasn't lost on Mags, but it didn't help her a lot. In fact, Tiera nearly drowned her. Twice. Then had to pull her out by the hair, so they could heal her and get to the rest of the day.

  This time they all flew, because the word had been spread by the first session that they needed all their gear on them from then on. Mags didn't have hers, clearly, and some of the other first year kids didn't own flying gear at all, which got Kolb to stare at her, expecting her to give them a ride. She shrugged and shook her head. After all, they'd already done that one.

  "We need to move as a group, so how do we carry someone that doesn't have flying gear or a shield? I think we need rope."

  That got some people to run at least and while it took longer than ten minutes to move the three miles to the range, with a few of the people dangling under some of the others, sitting in rope chairs, they all made it alive. Tiera carried Mags herself, and was very careful, since her punishment was either over, or hadn't happened yet. Depending on what the others said. They hadn't been beating her for that reason, but Kolb might count it anyway, since it had been pretty one sided.

  "Going down." She called this out so the other woman could find her feet in time to stand. It worked, since she went really slowly. Not all of the others were as nice to their packages, and some of the kids were dropped on their butts in the dirt. "Hey, watch it! They need to be able to run back."

  That got a groan, but not as much as the exercise did, since the others had heard all about that too, from the morning class. This time Kolb and Tiera were on force lance, and both had very high end ones. Technically she wasn't allowed one at school, but she hadn't turned her weapons in at all, since she was planning to kill some people. It made a warped kind of sense to her at least, and Kolb didn't say anything about it.

  Some of the people circled around, which was, she realized, what she should have done earlier, and attacked them from behind while their friends made it to safety. It was a better plan than hers had been by far, and while Kolb and she fought bravely and even well enough, the eight people managed to take them after a while. Two of them were for her, the others all ganged up on the head Instructor.

  Then they did a very similar run back toward the school, but with Havar calling out what was supposed to be done. He wasn't as nice about it, staying on the road and calling out to people if he could still see any hint of them as they hid. After a bit he started to yell if they weren't hidden fast enough, and by the end, the school in sight, he only gave them a few seconds to vanish, which was a lot harder than it sounded like, since the good cover was farther away. She made it each time, but barely. One of the others did too, but only by using military grade Tor-shoes.

  Even Kolb was called out once. He didn't complain though, just pushing to do better on the next round.

  Then they were all let go for dinner. The afternoon class was easier than the morning one, being several hours shorter, at least the way she did it. There were still things to do that night, like check on Alice and her project and make certain they got what was needed. After munching on the rest of the rolls in her room, she headed out, using her Fast Carriage for it, since she'd walked and run a lot that day alrea
dy. She wasn't sore, but didn't want to be coming back in the dark if she could help it. That probably was going to happen anyway. Everything always took longer than it should, didn't it?

  It wasn't hard to find the new training center by air at all, since Alice arranged all the buildings that Tor had for her in a large circle. There were seven of them, not the six that Gerent had mentioned, which meant that Tor was around somewhere, or had been. Really, that probably meant her job was done as far as this went. There was no one outside that she could see, and Tiera wasn't going to go to each door and knock. The places were huge after all, and even if she got the right one there was a better than even chance that no one would hear her.

  There was movement back in the woods, once she looked, and three people came walking out, not a minute after she got there. One of them was wearing all orange too, which looked hideous on her. It was a bright color, one that Tiera didn't think was natural at all. Easy to see at a distance however.

  She used the low mode of her craft and floated to them, since they were actually over half a mile away. When she settled and got out, there was a bit of a surprise, since it wasn't Judy, Alice and Tor like she'd thought at first, but Gerent, Orange and Carol Coltress.

  Tiera smiled and snapped her fingers playfully.

  "Right! Beatings. Sorry, we can go and do that now. Do you know where Bonita has gotten to?" She spoke to Carol, but it was, very strangely, her Aunt that spoke.

  "She's coming here, along with Burkes, tomorrow. She's helping to manage the first students for me, so that Judith Kerry and I can work on actual training. Gerent came to see about that marriage proposal." This last bit was shared with a deadpanned face, but a look that lingered on the little man next to her, who didn't blush at all for some reason.

  He normally did, so it was different, though not a bad thing. Carol sneered at the Ancient and crossed her arms.

  "Do not play with his heart, Madam, or we will have words." She seemed legitimately cross about it too.

  "Who's playing? He already agreed to it. I have witnesses. In some eras we would have been married right there."

  Tiera had to nod then, since it was just true. She'd seen it herself after all. It had clearly been a joke, but if Alice thought that pretending it was real would work to actually trap the man...

  Well, she was probably right.

  "All right. I'll get with mother and Count Lairdgren to set this up. Someone should tell Tor that he's paying for it all, or at least doing the baking." After a beat she grinned and rolled her eyes. "Silly of me, sorry. I'll do the baking. I was just being lazy."

  Gerent held up what seemed to be a set of silver plates, about the size of a large gold coin each, but square. She didn't recognize it at all, but she could get the basic idea.

  "A Timon built river? Like what he uses on his wall?" That was pretty special but it would get the water close enough to all the houses, if they did it right. Most of the water would even end up back in the river if it was set up correctly.

  Gerent let his head come up, proudly.

  "A wall too. He donated them for the project. Isn't that amazing? I feel like I'm letting everyone down already, not doing my part." The words aside, the little man didn't seem to feel any shame over it at all. At least his face simply looked happy.

  Carol laughed and explained that part at least.

  "Gerent guilted him into it. In all my very few years, I've rarely seen something done as well in regards to the use of emotional leverage."

  The small dark haired fellow shook his head sadly though and looked away.

  "It wasn't like that. I just asked him to do it, that was all. He said he had extras and while no one could afford to buy them for this, it's a worthy project, isn't it? I mean, going to the stars? That's a dream come true." Gerent spoke gently, and his words got even softer after that. "I dreamed, when I was little, about going to a better place, up in the stars. In my head it didn't matter how big you were, or who was in charge, everyone was equal. I know that isn't how things are, but..."

  That got Carol to point at him with a single finger, which was pretty rude, especially in Royal circles.

  "Like that. We could send him around to tell that tale and earn enough funds to cover this whole thing without a single problem." She seemed proud of it too. As if she had something to do with it, what so ever?

  The wall needed to be put up first and was a decently well designed device. You had to set the size you wanted it to be, and then walk the whole thing, touching it, in order to "imagine" it into the right shape and configuration, but it wasn't hard to do. At least it didn't look like it. Gerent did it for them. Then Alice jumped up the ten foot high solid wall and put the plates for the tiny river in place. It would be about three feet around when it started, which was the biggest size the river in the woods could handle anyway. The nifty part was the glow however. With no additional lights at all, they could set the colors they wanted. Orange voted for her color, naturally, but Gerent figured they should use green, since it was in Lairdgren, after all. Carol didn't chime in for some reason and Tiera couldn't care at all. After a while she shrugged.

  "Green on the bottom and orange on top? I don't know if it will do that, but..."

  It worked. It also was hideous, though both of the people with a voice in the matter thought it was a great solution. It was easy to see however, which could be a real point, for night landings and all that.

  The Ancient woman clapped, which was a thunderous thing that had to sting her hands. "Most perfect. Now, we need food, clothing and Instructors, before we can open the doors. Gerent, will you handle that? Unless you wish to teach here? Being in the first crew, that would make sense."

  Tiera got it instantly, he was being drafted. Well, conscription was something that she'd mentioned before, even suggesting that everyone in the entire world be placed in her new military. She wasn't getting that, but Gerent didn't say no, meaning he was most likely in.

  Her eyes started to close on their own, which meant that she nearly didn't hear the next bit.

  "Tiera, you're in too, correct? Since, if I have it right, you have actual experience?"

  She shrugged, but didn't get to complain about her scheduling, all her class work or anything, since Carol snorted, disbelieving suddenly. She was willing to believe people could go there, having seen a ship do that, but that Tiera had was too difficult?

  "Her? She's barely a child. When would she have had time? We only have these new ships as of yesterday, or is that wrong?" Her tone was suddenly harsh, as if she wanted to abuse someone with it. Tiera was about to lash out and strike her when she stopped and realized she wasn't actually upset about it at all, even if it clearly was a bit of an attack.

  "About two months ago. The leader of Antarctica came and took me to the base on the moon. We should get Blue Four in on this too, since she's... Really, I have no reason to think that, I just like her. She's been to space though." So had all the Blue family, but she didn't mention that, since Cordes Blue was a bit creepy.

  Tapping a single sigil, Gerent got the water flowing, and it rushed out of the woods, moving up to about fifteen feet in the air. Then it circled around the whole thing and came back in a line that paralleled the first one. The water was so clear and clean it was almost invisible. The encroaching darkness didn't help with that either. Then, closing his eyes, her newest brother made the thing start to glow, first green, then orange. It wouldn't hold two colors at a time though. Not that way. It would however alternate, making the whole thing look like a slightly glowing sweater. A glowing and horrible one.

  Tiera nodded, too tired to be enthused by the effect, even if it lit the world nicely enough.

  "I'm almost certain that if we use that one, no one will attend your school here. I don't know, how about you alternate days? Or just make it gold? That way neither of you will get what you want, and I can go get some sleep?"

  That had to be done in her room, or she could be kicked out. It was true that almost
everyone broke that rule occasionally, but it was a good enough excuse not to be there anymore. When was she supposed to have time for a trip into space again? She actually had things to do like...

  Really it was just morning fight practice and evening meditation. Even then, it was just school. She could skip for that, she thought. Or, if she knew when they were going, get it done on an off day? Really, there was no reason she should go at all. It was fun, of course, getting to see new things and the Earth from space was a marvel, a gem floating in a black void, all blue and green.

  That didn't mean they needed her for it. She had things to do after all. People to kill. It was the most important thing. Then, after that was done, well maybe. If she had time before the end.

  There was a sudden urge to simply slip away in the night and kill Count Morris, or perhaps even his daughter, who was currently living in a tiny shack near the border of Morris and Ross. She could be there in an hour and have the girl dead, except that wasn't her plan. It would work for her father though, so she decided to get it done.

  After she slept.

  It wouldn't help her at all to be wobbling all over the place, missing targets and stuttering when she should be giving well thought out speeches. Of course that was planned for later, after she'd finished. To herself, as she fled the scene. That was the time for it. When it wouldn't cause you to lose because of grandstanding.

  No one spoke to her for a few moments, talking about what kind of supplies they'd need and who was paying for it all. She set up her craft, waved to them and went back to her dorm room, because sleep, was good. As it was she nearly left a hole in the paving stones of the courtyard as she landed. The craft, as always, got packed away here. It would be in the way if she left it. For about an hour, until someone decided that taking it for a ride wouldn't harm anything. It was probably even true, if they weren't morons. What were the odds of that though?