Goddess of the Moon (Young Ancients: Tiera) (11 page)

It
removed the top of the building the thing had been on. Which was sloppy. She'd
have to remember to needle him on that later.

They
did two more that way, and a last was taken out by her buddy team. Clyde, Ali
and Lewis. The boys flew at it, getting it to be aimed at them, uselessly
thanks to their shields, and her sister in-law destroyed the thing. That was
done using some kind of new device that didn't make a mess at all. True, the
woman that had been using the machine, who was a solid black color, like
Monroe, popped in a wet mess, but the
building
was fine. So was, she
realized, the weapon.

Another
clone started to move into place, but Ali made him pop too and no one tried
again after that.

The
whole mess went on for over an hour, and then they moved directly into flying
over the city, hunting the remaining clones down. They found two, who huddled
together, as if for warmth, in the alcove of a barn like building where wagons
seemed to be made. She was about to kill them both, an all black woman that
looked to be in her mid-twenties and a small white colored boy, when Timon
called out.

"Hold!
Everyone hold. I'm going to go in... Ali, get ready to do that thing." He
didn't say what, but no one else spoke. Operational silence and all that.

Tiera
however moved in too. If her younger brother was going into danger, she had to
help him. It was, as everyone in her family would have said, a rule.

What
Tim was saying seemed strange to her however. Very much so, especially coming
from him. If Tor had said it, she would have understood. Or even Terry, but
Timon? It didn't seem that likely, but here it was. Right in front of her.

"Hello!
Would you two like to live? More to the point, would you like to help our side?
I know you may have been told otherwise, but
we're
actually the good
guys, and don't want to hurt anyone. Notice please, that the people that you're
with keep trying to kill everyone else? And here we are offering a very
different thing."

There
were no words, but both of the strange looking people laid down on their
stomachs, with their hands over their heads, as if it were something they'd
planned. Timon moved in and made them strip, which took time, but none of the
kids flew over and killed them or anything. Yet.

She
thought she got the idea. Some of the clones, like Monroe, had their own minds,
not versions of Gray or Cordes. These two both did, it seemed, or at least had
someone else in there. The all black woman felt a lot like Monroe even, meaning
she was probably a pure slave. The white boy... He seemed funny. Not human at
all.

"Tim,
what's the boy..." She was a little scared, but her brother just shrugged
a bit.

"I'm
already on that one. You're one of the Remy, aren't you? May I ask which
one?" Timon looked at the kid as Tiera paled and got ready to fight. The
Remy were super assassins, and so dangerous that almost no one could defeat
them. The only person in modern times that had was Tim, and while he seemed calm,
she certainly didn't like her own chances if it came to a fight. He'd had to
use special magic to stop the last one, after all.

The
thin looking white boy, who seemed about fifteen, stood, but didn't change
shape or even glower at being caught out.

"I'm
Remy Two. This is Maris. I understand that you have to take my own life, if you
can, but I'd ask you to consider leaving her alive and intact. She's a good
person, and deserves fair treatment." It was said pretty blankly, and
Timon nodded.

His
words were strange though.

"Are
you personally committed to being on Gray's side in this?"

The
boy looked at the woman lying on the ground, who was like a lump of coal, given
her color and how little she moved, and faked a sigh.

"Not
so much. I'd infiltrated to see what was going on, and managed to get sent out
here. That's all. Gray isn't sane anymore. I nearly started the protocols to
destroy her, but didn't get to it before they managed to send me out. I have to
say, I do love the modern warfare. I heard a rumor that Remy Seventeen was
destroyed? Is that true?"

Timon
stiffened a bit, holding something in his right hand, but then gave a single,
somber nod.

"I
killed her. Using magic. To be fair, she was trying to kill me too, so it
wasn't as if I'd really just moved on her or something like that." He
didn't move, but there was a sense about him, that his intent was poised to
strike, like a snake. On the device in his hand, which was made of silver,
rather than Focus Stone.

The
boy...
smiled
.

"That's
impressive! Maybe, when this war of yours is over, we could fight too? I don't
want to bother you, right now, if you're busy at the moment. But it would be
interesting to see if you could do that twice. Do you think you can?"

Her
brother let his head come up a bit, but looked sad.

"I
can. I have a device that will kill all the Remy on the planet, if it comes to
it. Remy Seventeen suggested I use it. As a kindness to the rest of you. I
wanted to get with some of you first however, in case you don't want to
die."

There
was a pause and the boy finally looked around, and, oddly, waved at Tiera.

"I
can wait a bit, if you want. Now, are we to be prisoners or what? I doubt you
could really hold either of us. We'll go along with you however, and do what
you say. For now at least."

She
looked at the boy, and getting the general idea took a step forward.

"All
right, if you both give your word to be on our side in this, we'll find a place
for you. Say, on the Moon? You'd have to help with the new colony there, but it
will put you out of the line of fire, and be useful work." Also, it would
keep them from attacking too many people. After a moment she wondered if Tim
would allow it though, since they might sabotage things there, and if Terry was
going in a few weeks...

He
didn't though.

"That
sounds like a plan. Maris, you can be in charge of something or other, if you'd
like? I'll let you decide what, or if you want to at all. You can also go
anywhere you want, but it might be best if we kept you away from the Others
right now." It was a strange way to treat a prisoner, but he gestured to
her, and got a smile in return. "Would you like to stand? Or not, as you
choose."

The
woman did get up, and slowly, Kolb and several others came over. Trice did too,
since her husband was right there, and so did Ali, for some reason. The others
all stood back and either looked around, as if scared, or covered the two new
people with weapons. Ready to kill them, if they turned out to be evil
Ancients.

That
got her to blink a little and turn to face the Austran kids.

"These
people are
Revered Ones
that were forced to fight against us. They're
joining us now. First things first then, are there any more of you around here?
If so, are any of you possibly friendly?"

That
question didn't get answered, because the Callwood guard forces finally came
out. They were pointing weapons too, but some of them were literally swords,
which meant they were pretty much ignored by the kids. They came on foot, not
even using the older flying rigs.

The
man in charge, who was dressed in a rather stately tan outfit with a white
helmet, bellowed at them, then stopped after the first words left his lips.

"Halt!
This is Callwood and you are required by the Countess-"

Then
the man pretty much froze up, looking at all the tall people that were, if he
was paying attention, very well armed. The kids all hovered in the air a bit
too, about five feet up, and had weapons pointed at the four, probably very
brave, men that were looking at them.

Karen
bowed at them.

"I'm
Sir Karen Derring. Conserina First, Derring. We've repelled the attack, for the
time being. We have Countess Baker with us, who was called in for such
assistance by your Countess. We also have the Lairdgren Group, some instructors
from Lairdgren School, and... the Lost Section. Also known as the Dragon
Fighters. That would be the kids that saved you, there?" She waved at
them, and the men, who weren't overly tall, started bowing. To the kids first,
which was smart, really. Then everyone else, not particularly noticing who was
which person, Tiera didn't think.

The
men looked a little lost for a bit, but then sent one of their number to run a
message to the Countess, which had Trice wave, pulling her communications
device out and hitting the right sigil. Then, without speaking she handed it to
the thirty-odd year old man in charge.

He
looked baffled and perplexed, but when a voice came a few moments later, he
just bowed to it and spoke.

"Countess
Callwood? This is city guardsman Lateen Royce. The attack has been repelled, by
a combination of forces? We were told you invited them?" He sounded
nervous, but the woman on the other side of the device just sounded pleased.

"I
invited many people this day. Who actually answered the call?"

Trice
stepped forward then, looking very serious.

"As
your man here said, it's a mixed group, I'm Patricia Baker, Ducharina Third,
Morgan. We have Countess Baker with us, in her own person, as well as Conserina
Derring, Conserina Ross, Baron Kolbrin, Baron Havar,
two
Countiers
Baker, Baron Sorenson, Sam Builder who is the acting Magics Counselor for the
Kingdom, Lady Alyssa Baker who's also a Conserina Derring, Guide Eastgreen who
is the Building Ambassador to Vagus, and the Lost Section. Those were the ones
that actually killed the dragons for you. We also have two... Revered Ones, who
were forced to fight against us, but who have come to our side at the earliest
possible time. They aren't prisoners." Then she stopped, having said most
of that without even taking a single breath. She did then, which got Timon to
smile a bit.

There
was no sound at all for a few moments, and then the Countess spoke, sounding
nearly like she was crying, for some reason. Probably just relief.

"Thank
you. Thank you all. Please, if you'd come to my palace, I'd host you as guests.
Anything I have is, of course, yours." It was, Tiera knew, a big deal to
say something like that. Given the rules in place, they could, at least
potentially, abuse the woman for the rest of her life, based on her saying
that. It meant she pretty much had to really mean it.

Kolb
looked around and nodded.

"We
need to finish sweeping the city, to make sure no one hostile is still here.
Then we should call in a team to fight the fires. You have your own people for
that, but some of the newer techniques might help-"

Farlo
raised her hand and looked down at her wet pants, which she hadn't bothered to
change yet.

"I
have some equipment for that? I carry it all the time."

The
Countess spoke again, actually sobbing a little now.

"I
thank you for whatever support you can give us."

The
girl took off, which had her buddies moving with her. Karen too. They seemed to
be up on how to fight fires at least. Tiera wanted to go help herself, but
realized she didn't actually have anything in particular that would be of much
use that way. It was an oversight.

That
left the rest of the afternoon, which wasn't that long at this point, to try
and find who might be left. Terry put up his craft and hovered it over the
city, taking Remy Two and Maris with him. Before he left, Tim pressed something
into his hand, and whispered to him. What he said she couldn't hear, but Timon
saw her watching, and told her, when they'd left.

"It's
a Remy killing magic. If the thing kills him, it will stop it. Terry would
still be dead, but I doubt that will happen. The shield he has on is really
pretty good." There was a smile, but it was clear that Timon wasn't all
that pleased with how things were going either. They'd won, for now, but there
was a real problem at hand.

One
which Havar addressed almost instantly.

"This
isn't good. We have exactly one group of people that can stop an attack like
this at present. The one here. If I were our enemy I'd have things ready to go
all over the world. Doing the same thing, almost anywhere else, would be
devastating right now."

It
was the truth, so she nodded, and moved a bit closer to him.

"Agreed.
What do we do about it?"

Being
a nobleman, Baron Havar tried to look down at her, mainly out of habit, she
guessed, and failed for the most part, since she was only a bit smaller than he
was now. His eyes softened for a bit, and for half a second, not knowing why,
Tiera really thought he might kiss her. That was both out of character and
place, given the situation, but Sam interrupted them anyway.

"What
if we set up a few squads with Tiera's new weapons and shields like this? Put a
builder with each one and set them up in space, on ships. Then if things start
to happen, we can drop on the attack sites. That worked pretty well, didn't it?
If we all work on it, we can have a thousand weapons ready by tomorrow
sometime. More if Timon does it. I don't know who to get though, really. I...
Don't want to send the kids after things like this, even if they did a great
job today. I know that..." He turned, clearly expecting ten children to be
holding him at weapons point, but got a lot of nods from them instead.