Goddess of the Moon (Young Ancients: Tiera) (38 page)

She
sat up, splashing in the water a bit. True, she was naked, but Kolb wasn't
going to care. He even made direct eye contact with her, rather than looking at
her breasts. That was part of the cost of being that old, she guessed. He'd
seen all the varieties of women, clothed and not, millions of times. She just
wasn't special to him that way, was she? It would have been a shame, if she'd
ever really had her sights set on him in particular. Instead he was just her
Instructor, and possibly, in a weird way, her friend.

Waiting
hadn't always been her strong suit, but she managed this time, and after a
minute, with the bald, muscular, and slightly intimidating man staring deep
into her eyes, he spoke.

"We're
not... going back. It was decided, in the last meeting. When we get to the
Moon, the ship will offload the goods we brought, and leave." Then he set
himself, as if expecting her to leap up and attack him. As if she could? If she
wanted to take out Kolb, it would have to be a real ambush, she knew. Using
weapons. While he had nothing. And, she considered, was possibly naked at the
time, if that could be managed. Even at that, she figured her odds of winning
at less than twenty percent. When the man pulled out the stops, he was just
that good, after all.

So
she nodded a bit, looking away, to the right. Toward the Moon, even if it
couldn't be seen from there. They were near the interior of the ship after all,
and there weren't a lot of windows anyway, even on the outer hull.

"I
know." She whispered the words, and realized that it was just true. She
hadn't known that was the case, not really, until the words were said, but now...
She understood it all. Or some of it.

Martin
Kolbrin, Baron, Ancient warrior and school weapons instructor, sighed at her.

"I
gathered. The question is now, what do you plan to do about it? Take over the
ship? Or the one that the High Servants have been using? Run back to Earth, and
get yourself killed?"

She
grinned and stood up, knowing that she needed a towel, or the room would get
all wet. There was a stack of Sam-towels though, next to her, made to look
green, at the moment. A deep color that darkened a bit when she started to wipe
her body down. She did it carefully, since leaving damp footprints was
considered a bit rude here. They didn't have a lot to do, so new rules had been
cropping up, to give people something to do.

"No,
it's a good plan. We have people on Earth still though, so they'll need to be
picked up. Is Alice doing that?" She looked at him, her mind buzzing with
ideas, with plans that couldn't have been her own, but weren't from the man in
front of her either. He gave her a very frank look then. One that was a bit
scary.

"Tor
and Timon have a way off the planet, if they can take it. Gerent, he lied to
you. He plans to stay and set off the device himself, to ensure it happens.
He... hasn't become one of us. So he can live through it. Your oldest brother,
Teral, is staying. Tamerlane too. To guard the planet while we can't be there.
The rest are staying, Tiera. The Ancients of all the lands. Blue Four is slated
to come up, but the Blues have their own craft, so she won't be stuck. The
others..." He paused as if it was going to take her time to work it all
out.

She
shook her head a bit.

"I'm
sorry for your loss. I know that they're your family, in a way that might be
more real than anyone else has ever dealt with. It's a little sad for me, Green
and Brown being people I've met, but we aren't close. The ones I'm close to are
Doris, you and Alice. I get to keep you all, right?" The words were a bit
weak sounding, and young, but she wasn't old, was she? Despite how life made
her feel sometimes.

"Yes.
I... Green... He doesn't think that Timon can do it. Free Tor from Cordes. If
that's the case, we'll have to leave him there. We can't risk giving Cordes a
toe hold in space, not even to save Tor. I know that-"

She
shook her head sadly, a single tear coming to her eye as she stood there naked.
A sob half choked in her throat.

"I...
Kolb, if Timon can't do this, he'll most likely die in the attempt. Tor will
too. He told me that. If not, then it's my job to make certain that Tor dies.
If he can't kill himself. We have a plan too." She felt miserable, and a
sense of certainty came over her about the whole thing. Her brothers would die,
and she'd be left alone, without them.

There
were the others, but it was Tor and Timon she was close to. Terlee was her
favorite, but distant, being too old for her to relate to really. Terry was
sweet and brave, but so different from her that she almost couldn't understand
him. She fought because of rage. Anger driving her, and lack of fear letting
her rush in where others couldn't go. Or wouldn't.

Terry
was different. He'd left home, learned to fight, and stood in front of dragons.
Because
other
people needed someone too. He wasn't free of fear, or
built to have unlimited courage, he was simply that
good
.

The
others were all too young really, to have ever been her friends at all. Tor...
They'd grown up together. Timon was even closer than that. It meant that she
couldn't let them die. But really, she couldn't save them either, that was all
up to Tim.

If
she could feel it, she would have been shaking with fear for them. There was
only sadness though.

Kolb
made a commiserating face, "so we don't have to worry about you stealing
the ships?"

She
shook her head, but didn't lie to him. After all, some day she was going to need
his good faith and trust. Going behind his back would make him think she was...
She just didn't know. It felt like a lot of work, suddenly, dealing with other
people.

"No.
I'm going to make my own ships and go. I have a duty here, in this, Kolb. I
know, I can't beat the Ancients in a fight. Probably not even if I cheat. But I
won't let them win either. We have one plan here, and it can fail at too many
points. Someone has to be there as a backup, to make certain it all happens. We
can't
let them win. The Others. Gray and Cordes and the ones helping
them. Even if they're innocents, like Monroe and Maris. If it comes to it, I'll
destroy everything, to make sure they don't win. It might not be good, or
right, but I won't let them get away with killing everyone." She wanted,
very badly, to explain it all more clearly. The words wouldn't come though.
They stuck deep inside her, lodged in place, and not coming to the front of her
tongue.

Rather
than bark at her for being stupid, which, to be fair, she was being and knew
it, the weapons Instructor gave her a long and drawn out, blank stare. They
stood like that, her with a towel in hand, him looking directly into her eyes,
for a long time.

"Then
hurry. You'll need a ship faster than this one, if you're getting back in time.
Gerent was planning to set the device off if another attack came at all. It may
already have happened. Be prepared for that. If it's the case, then going back
to the planet is a death sentence for one of us. Even with a shield on. Timon
made his new killing field well, if he's to be trusted. In this, I do. Even The
Green Man says that few things in the universe can stop this particular magic
in the time we're giving it."

Then
he turned, walked to the wall where the door was supposed to be and made it
appear. Ali was standing outside, her face locked into a blank expression.
Waves of terror came off of her though, meaning someone had managed to
eavesdrop.

Brilliant
of her, but also a bit ill timed. Or
perfectly
timed, depending on who
you were asking. Kolb got the idea at least, and made a face at her.

"So
much for secret meetings. I trust you not to mention this to anyone else until
we're actually at the new colony? It really is the best plan right now."
Then, without waiting for her to answer, he walked away smoothly, his feet
barely making a sound at all as he did. It was impressive, given his size.

Ali
slammed into the room, near panic, and made the wall vanish again. Since, Tiera
thought, that had worked so well before. Then she stalked over to Tiera,
looking... Angry.

"You
all knew that? Timon told me he could do it, and Tor said it would be all
right, and... they lied to me, didn't they? Gerent too. They're all going to
die, and no one told me..." She didn't cry, for some reason, but did
manage some credible glaring. "He's my husband, Tiera. I should be
with
him." To
die
with him, was the underlying point, it was clear.

"Right."
Tiera spread her hands, still nude, and triggered her clothing amulet, so that
she was in student browns. "Well, you heard my plan, and if you think that
I'm going to let you throw your life away for no reason, then you're an ever
bigger ditz than everyone always says."

That
got the other girl to look hurt for a second, and then shrug.

"What?
You think I don't know what they all say? Easy Ali, who'll lick anything put in
front of her? Slutty Baker. Frost brain. I've heard them all you know. Do you
think that I care? I let people think I'm stupid, because it gives me an edge.
I have sex with everyone that's willing, to make
alliances
. I lived on
the streets of the Capital for two years, Tiera.
Two years
. I had to
learn how to survive, and did. I won't leave my husband alone now though. When
it looked like my father was going to find me, Tor, he
married
me. Me.
Some girl that was too young and stupid for anyone to be willing to bother
with. The King and Queen ordered him out of the marriage you know, after that.
He told them no, because I was his
wife
. The
King
. Right to his
face. He fought for me, and won. A
boy
, standing up to the most powerful
people in the Kingdom, and not even blinking about it." She took a deep
shuddering breath and leaned in, whispering, even if they were in space and not
being all that loud. There were always listeners after all.

For
a long time she just stood there and Tiera had an odd impression that the girl
was going to kiss her for some reason. Then she did, if only on the cheek.

"Tiera,
Tor..." She gasped and smiled then, "when we were in Afrak, to get
married on Petra's ship, Tor had the Assassin's Guild kill my father. Just to
protect me from him. It cost... Ten thousand golds. He also suffered for it,
horribly. He knew he would, and did it anyway... So, I have to stand by him
now, even if it means dying. I won't let him go alone." She looked ready
to fight about it, but Tiera could see her point.

"Ali...
I won't let you die doing this, but you can go with me to get them, or to make
sure that Cordes doesn't win. I can't promise we can save him. But, I agree,
you should be there, if it isn't too late. If it is... Then we can cry
together, and try to go on."

That
got her a hug and Alyssa Baker, her sister in-law, smiled. It was a dangerous
thing. One that seemed to say she had other plans anyway. To die with her
husband, if it came to that. Tiera... understood. Could she really tell Ali
that her honor wasn't just as good and worthy as anyone else's?

They
parted then, and if anyone saw them leave the washroom together, they weren't
visible. She got right to work, making the new ships, taking a full day to set
the original field, trying to work out ways to make it go faster. The key, she
was sure, was in how the communications devices worked. That was hard to make
big though. The trick was making a thing that was in two places at once, for an
instant, then becoming one, in the right location. It would have to be done in
steps, since she doubted that she'd even be able to find something as big as a
planet if she made the bites too big. A tiny fraction of a degree off would put
her hundreds of thousands of miles off course. That assumed she only screwed up
by that small of a margin, too.

So
it would take lots of little steps, no matter how it was made.

She
also needed it to be armed.
Well
armed, and against a lot of different
things. Old ships made of metal and plastic and glass foam, like what Blue
used. New magical ones, and possibly other things she'd just never heard of.
When she came up for air, looking around, everyone else was standing by, with
their bags, ready to go.

Tiera
didn't have to ask what that meant. They were there. On the surface already.
She could feel the field of the place around her, like a cool hug. It was
friendly and a lot nicer than she remembered.

Alphonse
looked at her, as if amused by her silly antics.

"Some
new magic wonder? Diaper rash cream, or magical fish fryers?" He looked
happy to be there, but she shook her head and looked over at Smythe of Westend.
Then at the others. Karina, Maris and Sheri. Her group, if an assigned one.

"No,
war ships. We're going to be left here, as soon as things are unloaded. In a
week, I'm taking a group back, to make sure the plan works. If..." She was
about to make a big dramatic speech, but Sheri, of all people, interrupted.

"Good.
I kind of figured that was the case. Why else bring everyone like this? Most of
the new immortals are here already. Like a safety net, in case the others can't
save Earth? I wish my family could have come." She looked sad, and Maris
patted her shoulder, comfortingly.