The Silence Within (The Young Ancients: Tiera)

by P. S. Power

  If he didn't, then it just showed he didn't care about that kind of thing, not that he couldn't get it. Besides, it was kind of brave of him to ask, since they had a bit of a negative history. She liked Mitchell better already, for what they'd done, didn't she? Maybe it would be the same for Sam?

  "Sure. I don't know if Karen is in the room or not right now, but if so, well, she won't care really, you know? She's an Instructor here, but not in your section, so, you know, you might ask her if she wants to do something too. She may say no, but if so, it will only be the fact she works here, nothing else."

  They chatted as they walked, and he seemed even more nervous, which didn't make a lot of sense. Possibly it was about the Karen thing, since the woman was huge and not that great looking. Nice though, and from what she'd seen, most men liked sex enough that looks were a bit negotiable, weren't they? She took his hand anyway and led him to the room.

  Of course, Karen wasn't there when they started, but showed up about halfway through, and started backing out the door, which was polite of her. Tiera just waved to her to get her to stop, urging Sam to keep going.

  "Karen? This is Sam, you know him?"

  "Certainly. Hi Sam." She sounded almost like she was fighting a giggle, which would have been bad, though understandable.

  "Good. He wants to know if you'd be available for sex at times? He's not in the fighter's section or anything. I didn't know if it was allowed. Hmmm." That last bit wasn't put on, Sam just managed to really hit the right place distracting her for a bit. It was a little cold talking during things anyway, wasn't it? Karen didn't seem to mind watching though and sat on her bed, then surprisingly, made her clothing vanish and propped her pillows up, so she could see what they we're doing while reaching between her legs.

  "All right. You can start now, if you want? Or, I mean, after Tiera finishes?" She didn't stop what she was doing and it led to an interesting hour after that. She didn't touch Tiera at all, but Sam looked exhausted by the end, and clearly learned some new tricks from Karen, who Instructor or not, was actually pretty cute without her clothing on.

  It was a very strange situation, but Sam managed pretty well, kissing them both and promising that they could do it regularly, if they wanted.

  "Or not, but, I really had fun."

  Tiera nodded.

  "Me too. Let's schedule that. Oh, not to push you around, but you should ask Sherri Bonner on a date soon too, if you have time? She's a friend of mine, but both of you will eventually need to get married, and even if you don't, she's a fun person to know."

  Sam actually blushed again, and Karen smiled at him, her clothing reappearing, a very nice black shift that hugged her body and seemed like silk. She slept like that at times.

  "That wasn't... I don't think she's putting you off Sam, the words were a bit vague though. Tiera?" She said it with a devilish grin, knowing that if she had been putting the man off, she'd be trapped into denying it now. It would be horribly rude otherwise.

  She hadn't been however. He was a bit unskilled, but so was she, so that wasn't exactly a reason to not spend time with him, was it?

  "Nothing of the sort. Just playing matchmaker. Though, I guess Karen and I are both in your potential marriage pool too, aren't we? Or will be, as soon as you get a title. Tor did it, so I don't doubt you can too. Good works and selfless action at a heroic level? Well within what you can manage, right?" She jumped up and moved to the door where he stood, kissing him again.

  "I mean, I won't be marrying you, most likely, since I've been putting everyone off for that, at least for the time being, but it isn't outside of what could happen. In the meantime... Well, we should do this again."

  The boy swallowed hard and smiled, but reminded them that he had another build coming up soon, which meant being out of touch for several days.

  Then he left, looking back over his shoulder as the door closed. It was sort of cute.

  Karen didn't wait long, shaking her head and settling back on the bed.

  "So, trying to bribe me? I can't think of what you might want, if it isn't about getting out of punishment for missing today. If that's the case, I suggest you steer some women at Havar, since he's the one that actually got angry about it. Thinks that you've decided to go all spoiled princess on us and not take things seriously anymore."

  That was a bit of a surprise, but made a weird kind of sense at the same time. After all, he'd been avoiding her, but it meant they weren't working with each other each day. Plus she had put in fewer hours than she had been. Most days she'd stayed late, and here she'd run a half day, and then missed the next. If he were actually focusing on her as a person, he might think something like that was really going on. True, she had a schedule that most people would never bother with, but change was always more noticeable than what you normally did each day, wasn't it?

  "Oh? Well, I have plans tomorrow afternoon, which I can't get out of, so I guess he'll think I'm really gone, won't he? I should get some sleep then, so I can start early and see what he wants me to do."

  Karen settled back herself and seemed to think it was a good idea, but what she muttered was very different than that.

  "You've been doing well lately. I haven't heard anyone complaining about you being a Doretta at all. A few still refer to you as 'The Bitch' but since that's mainly me and Kolb, I don't think it's really that big of an indictment, do you?" There was sleepy sounding teasing in her voice, and it was clear she didn't mean it, not as something unfriendly.

  It was more like she just didn't want Tiera to get lazy.

  "That sounds about like what you'd do. Goodnight." She focused on the light plate, which actually turned off, even from all the way across the room. That was pretty decent, she realized. The meditation must be paying off.

  Then she slept, which was free of memorable dreams, though she didn't get up until nearly four, which meant rushing through the morning showering to get things done in time. She added an extra lap to her running, and worked a bit more on pells than normal, which was what she was doing when Havar, Kolb and Karen showed up, and without even warming up, started to beat her for an hour. They were all better than she was too, and fresh, so it was pretty one sided.

  If, she allowed, that "pretty" meant that her bleeding on them counted as a counter attack. She was armed, but with a sixty pound metal practice club, which was a deadly weapon. Right until Kolb moved in and broke her right ankle with the tip of his wooden practice blade. She could still balance, even as pain screamed at her, but swinging her weapon was out. The recovery from a swing put a vast amount of force on her lower legs, and just hurt too much to manage. They were all working together too, which they'd been practicing for years. It was almost choreographed and lovely, except the constant thumping they delivered was breaking things and making her cry.

  She tried to roll toward the weapons rack, blocking feebly with her club, holding it underhand, which made it nearly useless for anything else, only to have Karen hit it about twenty times, twenty-three to be exact, which made her drop it. Then she focused her blows on that arm, making it break too. The worst part was that Tiera had to try and hold her shield off, accepting the beating, so that no one would realize that she had one on.

  When she grabbed a lighter weapon and could fight again the whole thing got worse, not better, and she ended up with half her teeth missing and part of the skin of her face hanging off. She was allowed to heal then, so that she wouldn't bleed to death. It wasn't out of kindness.

  Then they started again. It was so brutal that everyone was standing around and staring by the time they were finishing up.

  "Gods, what did she do to deserve that? I know she missed yesterday, but isn't that a bit extreme?" The words came from a fourth year girl that Tiera knew as Brettle, and thought might be a Conserina, but wasn't certain. They'd worked together, but not often at all.

  Kolb took the healing amulet when she was done and passed it to Karen who didn't need it long, and then Havar, for about the same a
mount of time. Kolb went last, being the least harmed, and waited until that was done before addressing everyone.

  "She sent a note, so the absence was excused. This was just her monthly full force exercise. You've all seen her normal routine, so... why don't you get back to work, instead of standing around gaping?"

  Havar looked at Kolb hard and actually blinked several times.

  "She sent a note? I thought she'd simply gone off to play in town. You might have mentioned that."

  "And have you coddle her like you normally do? Hardly a sound plan. How did things go with that anyway?"

  Tiera had mentioned what she was up to in the letter after all, since hiding it wasn't going to help. Apparently neither was sending it along, but she just cycled her clothing to get the blood off of it and motioned to Karen, picking her for the next bit of work. She was thinking something with full shields on.

  "It went well. I took over County Morris, renamed it County Baker and was confirmed Countess. I'm taking some people down this afternoon to set up some homes and businesses. Do you want to come? I know it isn't weapons practice, but I could use the help organizing my new fighting forces."

  There was a growl, coming from Havar, who glared.

  "That isn't funny. Even claiming that could have you put to death, if Count Morris heard about it. I'd rather not lose you." Then he looked away, seeming angry, but didn't explain why.

  Kolb chuckled.

  "Not a joke. It was what she was doing yesterday at least. I heard about it from the King last night. He didn't know the situation on the ground, but did mention that it was real. So, not just Countess Baker, but the sitting Countess. An impressive day's work. She killed the Morris family, day before yesterday."

  That got Karen to sigh and shake her head.

  "Really, it's just your whole family then, isn't it? You didn't even get in like your brother Todd is, by marriage. I'd feel inadequate, if not for the fact that I'm clearly wonderful, and everyone loves me." She sounded very serious, but then bowed. "Countess Baker."

  Kolb and Havar did it too, which got everyone to turn and stare, meaning that the whole story had to be told, from the beginning, taking up valuable practice time. She shorthanded a lot and then got back to work. Countess or not, Karen kept hurling her into the stones and Mitchell came over with Johan and Keras to take their own turns. Size really helped with grappling too, so she had to struggle a lot harder than they did on the throws. Most of the time she ended up under them, forcing her to lock her legs into place and fight from there, even when she'd started the motion. They all just fell on her when they could.

  Hardly fair, but just physics.

  When lunch came she went to see Tor, and beg for food, which got him to smile.

  "Borrow a million gold from me, and you still can't afford two coppers for some hand pies?"

  She shrugged and quickly ate the first of the meat pies she'd gotten. They were good, with just the right tenderness to the crust and a bit more body than a light fruit version would have. Not everyone did that, but Tor actually used slightly different recipes for each kind he made. The difference was subtle, but there.

  "That's for the County, not to line my pockets. If I borrowed it, personally, I'd have to pay you back. This way I can assure you of your good deed and tell everyone how my brother paid for it all, because he loves them. That way they won't think I'm totally insane when I have to have them executed for committing crimes and all that." She took a bite, swallowed and then made a face. "I hadn't thought about that. I need to review the laws there, don't I? So that, taxes... making sure everyone has food..."

  Tor nodded.

  "I know. And to think, some people actually want the job. Well, as long as you need food, my door is always open. You know that."

  "I do. Thanks. It's good to know. Anyway, I'm off to the County. What time should I be here tomorrow?" It was her off day, the first of two, so she was slated to work the Bakery. The set up was normal enough and she tried to memorize what he had in stock at the moment, so that she'd know what to prepare for the next day.

  "About four is when I've been starting. I have a copy of the key." He did too, in his pocket, ready to go. Here, she'd thought she was showing how honorable she was, impressing him with her willingness to keep her word, even as a Countess, and he was acting like it was totally normal.

  Which, she realized, it was.

  That got her to smile and take the brass thing from his fingers, then keep eating. She washed up in the sink he had behind the counter, and took off for her room to get the chests she'd stored there. It would have been a risk, if anyone had known what was in them, since the school dorm rooms weren't exactly bank vaults and it would be worth the risk of stealing to a lot of people, but they were still there and a good sixty people were standing around in the commons, clearly waiting for her to arrive. Including the Headmaster.

  Kyle Hardgrove.

  "Countess Baker, so kind of you to have us all for the day. I do hope that you aren't put off by the number going?" He looked at the assorted bodies, which included several adults, including a few she didn't know, as well as a lot of girls that had to be friends of Sherri and Ali, since they huddled close to them, as well and a good twenty fighters.

  "Not at all, in fact, it's very nice of you all to come help me like this. We'll need some space. We can all ride in the one vehicle." She tried to sound happy and, she realized, was.

  Not everyone here was a personal friend, perhaps, but they'd come to help her, or at least get in on the free adventure, which was fine too. Sherri and her people even smiled at her and half the fighters section people made a point of waving, showing they personally recognized who she was.

  So she took the time to make the craft really nice inside, making the exterior deep green with a sky blue stripe again. When people got into place, they all seemed impressed and said so, very politely. About eighty percent of them were nobles, including Farlo Ross and Mark Sorenson from the Lairdgren Group. Of the two, it was the good looking tall boy that seemed uneasy, and he actually walked up to her and bowed instead of settling into the back with the others.

  "I know that things haven't been good between us all the time, so if you want me to not go along, I'll understand."

  She was already seated, so gestured for him to take the front passengers seat. It was big and a deep green color, feeling like fine leather and so padded that the boy sunk into it, his arms going to the rests instantly. He looked a little surprised though and it wasn't about the seats.

  "Sam apologized to me with sex, and all you're offering is to leave? Hardly fair... Of course, I think that the sex might have been totally tangential to any apologies, to tell the truth, so maybe I should just take it, and call it good? The answer though is that you're always welcome. If you aren't, I'll find you and let you know. I don't generally hide things like that. You may have noticed?"

  He gave her a nod then and turned to look behind them.

  "Good. About Sam, I mean. People haven't been rude to him, but they've all been putting him off. It's hard for some of them to realize that he's not a just some commoner. Stupid of them, but he's short, and from a rural background. At the very least he's merchant class now, in his own right, and in less than a year. More than that. I'm... not happy about Sandra. I understand it, but she was a friend of mine. After she killed Regina Helmsley, we all sort of knew that she was done for, but it's still sad." He shook his head and teared up a little. "That probably sounds wrong, doesn't it? I saw it happen, if from across the way, so I know it was murder. Worse, we all know that she'd broken her father's treaty with you, even before that. It's just..."

  He didn't explain it, but she knew anyway.

  "That she was your friend, and it shouldn't have had to happen at all. I still place the blame with her father. He set it all in motion and could have ended it at any time with a simple apology. He didn't, because I was too short. It's a stupid reason to die."

  On that, it seemed, they both agree
d and the boy got up and moved to the back, either angry with her, or just wanting to hold a conversation with someone that wouldn't be tense and edgy the whole time, which theirs would have become, if he kept talking about how sad it was that his friend had been murdered. He might just have understood that, or perhaps it was something else entirely.

  The trip didn't take that long, and no one moved in alongside of her, not even Ali, Sherri or Karen, letting her pilot in peace. Once they were on the ground, a large group of people waiting for her, many of them armed, she stood up and waved to the people in the back.

  "Well, I see some friends, but just in case, everyone should have a shield on?"

  That got most of them to do that, but a few of the girls looked frightened, since sudden attack was really a part of their worlds now. They had the devices to protect themselves, and with a little help managed to walk out with her. She took the lead, figuring that, if anyone was a target, it would be her. She might as well make it easy for them.

  The assembled people bowed, going low and the man in front, her new friend Lawrence, smiled.

  "Countess Baker. We have some news, as well as some individuals that have come to seek new positions? These here have all passed truth testing and seem to at least have good ideas." He gestured to them, as Tiera set the floating cases on the ground, for unloading.

  It was probably rude, but the first thing she did was open the boxes and when she found the right one, unpacked the communications devices. Without asking she set the first one up, writing the name on it, using the control screen and then showed Lawrence how to use it.