Goddess of the Moon (Young Ancients: Tiera) (28 page)

"
Cordes
,
in a Kolb clone. We were warned it might happen. My guess is that it's an
updated model too, 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 to 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.

She
could
catch him with variations, which, she understood, was the point.
There was nothing she could do that he couldn't match already. She had two arms
and two legs, a head and so on. He'd fought that, and everything it could do,
for millennia, and won the whole time. What he was doing was trying to force
her to grow, as fast as possible. To not be predictable, and to learn to
counter him. Or what he was doing. That probably wasn't the same thing.

She
ended up sweating and gasping for breath, but not very injured at all, which
was nice. Friendly even. When it was lunch time, he patted her sweaty back, not
seeming to mind that at all.

"Tiera,
dear, would it be all right for us to visit with Maris? I should check on her,
to make sure she isn't being mistreated." It would be an hour before the
next group came in after all, and while Tiera figured that the woman was
probably doing fine, it wouldn't hurt to check and make sure she wasn't feeling
lonely. That or being used as a sex slave by Ali and her friends.

She
wanted a shower, but Remy actually had a job to get to, and a limited break, so
she contented herself by cycling her clothing until the worst of the damp and
scent was gone. It wasn't perfect, but she was no worse than most people would
be by that time of day anyway. When they got to Ali's nice house, there was no
one there. It was a bit strange, so she just led Remy down the street a bit.

"They
also own a bakery? Maybe she's there?" Hopefully not scrubbing the floors
like a drudge. If that was the case, Tiera was going to have some words with
her sister in-law. Instead she was there with Sheri, and they had one of her
new food devices out and were practicing making various food items. It looked
like they had a good array of things going too.

For
some reason they both froze when she and Remy walked in and Sheri at least,
looked worried. Not 'afraid for her life' scared or anything, but like a tiny
child with the stolen candy still in her mouth.

"Ah.
So..." It wasn't very helpful, but she waved at the machine. "I
borrowed that from you? I was going to get it back before luncheon, I promise,
I just lost track of time."

There
was a desperate feel to the girl, but she was also being
honest
. It
wasn't theft, just borrowing, which was a sort of tradition for noble girls at
school. Normally it was clothing, but it could be make-up, boyfriends, almost
anything really.