A Simple Darkness (The Young Ancients: Tiera) (41 page)

Finally she went to the little school jail and was about to just start using a Truth amulet on them all when the Fast Craft settled right outside of the building behind her. Almost as if it had been waiting for her to take action. Tor got out, naturally, as well as Count Lairdgren and several of the Royal Guard. A second vehicle settled too, coming in behind the first slowly. A gleaming silver cube instead of a purple teardrop. Timon.

She tried to hold her face still and finally just didn't bother at all.

"Truth amulet. I'll have the facts in the matter first. If any of you try to stop me... Then I guess we all just fight, don't we?" The idea didn't frighten her at all. Not even the fact that she couldn't win. What she
could
do was take down the building behind her, which wouldn't give the kids inside any kind of chance at all.

Two things happened at once then. Three really, but Tim wasn't going to physically try to stop her, so she ignored him for the moment. He was
so
smart, and more clever than she was by far, but he was still just twelve and wasn't likely to start a war just to protect some people he didn't know very well, who had already harmed his family. He was a
good
brother that way. Unlike a certain annoying wizard.

Count Lairdgren spread his hands lightly, looking pretty bored with the whole idea, and next to him Tor shook his head, too hard for being in denial of what would probably be a small hearing.

"Tiera, I talked to the King, he demands that you let Sandra go, unharmed."

That explained the guard then, didn't it? Also why George wasn't there. She actually liked him and might have asked what it was he intended. He wouldn't have hesitated to try and kill her, but these others were already holding weapons. Poor ones from the look of it, that wouldn't do that much to her, or at least remakes of her brother's work, made larger for the hands of near-giants. It was hard for them to accurately control the things if they were too small after all.

She gave a single slow nod.

"I don't believe that's up to the King, is it? He can demand all day long, but if he sends his men in here to stop me from taking lawful action, all the counties would rise against him. He doesn't want that right now, does he? No... we'll have this trial. Bring them out please, one at a time."

Off to the side Tiera saw Reggie, who looked terrified and cute all at the same time. She walked over to where Tiera stood, since for all the world, it looked like it was one rather tiny school girl facing off against the Green man, the Wizard Tor and six armed and aggressive Royal Guardsmen.

After a moment it looked like all of those people versus two girls.

They didn't stand a chance then, did they? Tiera took her friend's hand, but let it go after a man from town who she didn't know, brought them to her. Roland first.

Roland
Gala
it turned out, the boy that had spit in her food.

It didn't make her feel good about him when she realized that part of things. He put on the Truth amulet though and didn't seem that sorry at all when he spoke, even though, for all he knew, he was about to die.

"I heard some of the others suggesting they do something the other day and realized that you didn't get who I was in class, so set up that part. Just getting you there, but it was fair. After all, I got in trouble because of you. Six black marks, just for putting you in your place. Hardly right."

The rest were just as guilty. Well, three of them were. William Sorenson from singing class, who it turned out was Mark from the Lairdgren group's older brother. They were the sons of a landed Baron. The girl with the pitcher was just put up to it by William, and another girl that was in on it, but mainly because she really liked the boy.

The others were mainly innocent, more or less. They'd known that something was going to happen, but not exactly what, which was why they'd all come. To see Tiera be taken down a peg.

As if she wasn't already down far enough?

"Fine, get me Sandra Morris. The charge here isn't playing a prank, but fomenting war. If she's innocent, then we can discuss the
proper
behavior of someone once they surrender. That's fair, isn't it Count Lairdgren?"

It was his County after all. If he said otherwise then the whole thing was up, regardless. If he wanted to ignore the King, he could do that too. Any sitting nobleman could in their own area.

The man shrugged, which hardly looked royal at all, but then spoke.

"That does seem reasonable, don't you think Tor?"

Her brother made his face hard though, as if trying to thwart her just to be a pain.

"No... I... The King said."

Tiera rolled her eyes just as Conserina Morris came out, and the man that held her arm gently lost control of her as she shrugged out of it, her face looking sour and grumpy.

"Let go of me. What is this? I'm a Conserina and I demand I be let go at once, or else it will be deemed an act of war."

Tiera felt her breath fall short. It wasn't what she'd really expected from the older girl, was it? Not that Sandra was weak, but she wasn't the kind to try and get out of telling the truth, was she.

"If you fail to answer the questions, it's an act of war too. I think your response is a pretty clear indication of what's coming, but let's do this anyway, so that when the King complains at me, I have proof of your wrong doing, shall we?" The Truth amulet was dropped over the other girl's fuzzy hair, her face set as hard as stone. Since Tiera probably looked the same she let that part go, watching the white and yellow glow clearly.

"Did you plan this attack Sandra?" Her question was simple and clear and the larger girl refused to answer at first.

After she asked several times Tiera got her own Explosive Weapon out, making the Royal Guard all act as if she were suddenly committing treason. Sandra made a face and then turned her head a bit.

"Yes. I did it. I planned it and I did it, because I hate you. I just didn't think you were smart enough to figure out who'd done it, to tell the truth."

Tiera waved the others away from the other Conserina.

"So, you were starting a war with me on purpose and you admit it to everyone present? This was a clear act of instigation, don't you agree?"

"Well, not if you didn't know who'd had it done it wasn't. It was just a way to get back at you for all the wrong you've done to me."

That one nearly started an argument, but she held her tongue.

"Fine, Count Lairdgren, what's the sentence for people that instigate war here? A stern talking to? A spanking? Letting them go free and unharmed to do it again? You
swore
to me that she wouldn't be a problem. That she was a good person, but look at her... If she had a weapon right now I'd be dead, wouldn't I? Not that any of you would care." She glared over at Tor and made a face. "My own brother, working to try and get me killed. Shame on you Tor. You've grown so big in your own mind that you can't even see your own sister all the way down here in reality, can you? You wouldn't care at all if I were humiliated or killed, as long as it didn't threaten your precious plans." Her voice was calm again and she shook her head.

He was doing it again, trying to calm her so that she wouldn't act correctly.

"
No
. You will not use your magic to get her out of this! Count Lairdgren..." She was about to ask him what the punishment should be again, but he waved at Tor instead.

"You heard her. Stop now." He held his forehead like it hurt and then looked over at Sandra, his face less than amused.

"Clearly she doesn't mean you real harm Tiera. A container of urine, while an insult, isn't the same as a knife to the throat. It was wrong however and there needs to be punishment for it. Six days on a work crew sounds fair. See to that." He waved again to the jailer, who nodded and moved to let everyone go. It didn't seem like enough somehow, but Tiera tried to let that part go. Regina seemed happy enough about it, and nodded firmly to her, after giving her smaller friend a tight hug.

"There. That should keep them from doing it again. No need to make a bigger thing of it than it already is." Her words were bright and almost cheery, though Tiera noticed something over her shoulder.

It wasn't a huge thing, but the man that ran the little cells for the school was handing around boxes that held the belongings of people. Including the ones Sandra had. But, being a builder, she was always armed...

"
No
!" She spun her body around to protect Regina, just as the explosive weapon came up. Most of it hit her and the ground, but the rest of the field lapped around her, taking anything off of her friend that wasn't protected by Tiera's body. Bloody shreds of the girl, bone, blood and flesh, rained across the ground, the hard stones suddenly slick and wet. Most of the right half of her head was gone in an instant and Reggie's body was blown out of her grasp, her shield making it too hard to hold her.

 "Reggie!
No
!" She cried out an anguished scream, but everyone else just froze then, staring, first at the mess and ruin that was the now dead Baronetta Regina Helmsley and then back over at Sandra, who was scrambling for an amulet.

Tiera pointed the weapon in her hand, but it didn't do anything. The other girl already had a shield on. Screaming she rushed her bodily, hitting the side of a transport and being moved back so hard the Earth itself was churned up from the action.

By the time she stood the girl was in the air and leaving. Fast.

"Regina..." She ran to her, knowing it was hopeless, but tried to scoop up what little she could from the smear on the ground and press it against the place where her love's head had been. Then pressing her side to the girl she tried to heal her. Nothing happened, naturally. The damage was so great that she couldn't heal anything at all.

The screaming was louder then, but by the time she stopped Conserina Morris, the murderer, was gone.

She spun on her brothers, who just stood, looking sad and upset. Tor did at least. Timon actually just seemed hard then. He nodded to her.

"So, war against Morris again? Remember, take out the guilty. Might as well take his holdings intact, if you're going to do it."

She nodded, feeling numb, covered in Reggie's blood still.

"This is your fault Tor. If you hadn't meddled in this, if you'd
listened
to me, Regina would be alive right now. I won't forgive you for that. Not ever. You
or
the King. You killed her as surely as if you'd handed the weapon to Sandra yourself."

She sounded dark, but calm. That wasn't magic though, it was simply that she had nothing left at the moment. Her gaze went to Count Lairdgren, not caring what he had to say, but wanting him to know what had happened there. Why it was going to be the way it had to now.

"You made mistakes that cost Reggie her life and took her away from me. I don't have
anything
else. That isn't going to be free you know. It will cost you more than you can imagine."

He at least seemed to understand, and bowed low to her suddenly, then he laid flat on the ground as if realizing that it wasn't going to be enough to merely bend a little.

"I take full responsibility for this. The damage done here is my doing, not anyone else. I ask, no I humbly beg that you do not seek to destroy these innocents for my errors." He was going to go on, but she shook her head.

"You may as well get up. It wasn't you that refused to listen to me. You made some poor choices, but
you
didn't try to have me killed, did you? You failed to back me when it was needed and got in my way, but you didn't order that Sandra be let go, to kill."

That seemed to make everyone else there relax except Timon, who seemed ready to cry.

"Tiera... No. I know this hurts, but you can't..."

"
Can't I
? Really Tim? Who do you think set this all up? Who ordered it done in a fashion that caused this? I can't blame the Count, can I? No... There's only the one person that caused this to happen."

Tor laid down on the ground too, but Tiera just ignored him, not even listening to his words. Instead she scooped up the dripping body of her love, her heart nearly stopping from the pain. No one stopped her as she set up her Fast Craft and set the girl in the back of it, lovingly holding the ruin of her life.

"No," She muttered softly, her voice to gentle to carry at all, even as a small crowd stood around, straining to listen to her. "I
know
who did this. I know who made this happen."

She left, heading toward the east, fighting to remember how to get to Regina's home. She'd never been before, but she knew the route. It had been on the maps. It was in County Thomson after all, in the Capital there. She'd been to her sister's house, so that would do.

The trip wasn't a long one, maybe fifteen minutes. She didn't know what to say to Baron Helmsley. It was like no words could ever be enough. That was the truth too, she knew. She was still covered in blood and didn't change it was...

Horrible, but she didn't want to lose that last connection to her love. The blood dried on her skin, but she just let it.

After a while she set down in front of where she thought her friend's house was. It wasn't a mansion, but had a certain charm to it and three stories, so a wealthy person's home, but nothing that screamed power or of vast riches. It was a real person's home. Painted wood in brown and light blue trim. It looked manly and happy at the same time. That light blue had been Reggie's favorite color.