Goddess of the Moon (Young Ancients: Tiera) (12 page)

One
of them, Ron, actually explained.

"Yeah.
We here could do it, but most of the kids suck so far. I say we grab some of
those Elite Flying troops for it. They're pretty good, and already can
fly." It wasn't a bad idea, even if it did come from a child. It was
better by far than the nothing that Tiera had, and she nearly said so, but then
realized that it would be better if she were a bit less chatty about her own
failings at the moment than that.

Instead
they moved on the Countess's Palace, which had only taken a little damage in
the fighting, clearly having been clawed a bit by a giant purple dragon. What
seemed to have once been a nice spire on the northernmost corner was
gone
.
Only rough lines in the stone, and some rubble, was left. Tiera wouldn't have
even gotten that much, if there wasn't another on the other side that was still
holding together pretty well.

At
the gate there were guards, ten of them, all holding force lances of one kind
or another, mainly older versions on small copper tubes, which marked them as
being things that Tor had made. Even if they were expected, they had to go
through the whole thing about who they were again, and wait for the Countess to
be informed
properly
, before being let in. It took the better part of
half an hour, but that was fine. Really, as far as she was concerned, they
could have all just left. Her own palace wasn't that far away, if they were
flying.

Once
inside they were treated kindly enough. A rather scared looking older man in a
butler's outfit taking them in to see the Countess directly. She didn't have a
throne room, exactly, but there was a space designed to be a lesser version of
that, clearly. She had a regular chair, just a bit oversized, that sat on a
stage. It wasn't at the far end of the room however and while two feet higher
than the other chairs, they were all regular sized, and not tiny, like the ones
the King forced people to sit in at his place. To humble them.

They
were starting on the introductions again, when the Countess, who had short
curly hair that was an iron gray, plenty of wrinkles and a heavy dress that was
made, not of magic, but out of heavily embroidered cloth that must have weighed
sixty pounds, stopped and looked at the children that were standing behind
everyone else.

"I..."
She didn't seem to know what to say, but Karen did.

"The
Dragon Fighters of the Lost Section. Most are from Austra." Then she
stopped and didn't make any excuses as to why they'd taken little children into
battle that day. She didn't explain how they'd won either. They
had
,
which was an answer to all of that, wasn't it?

"I
see... Thank you all. I asked many for help, but so far, you, here in this
room, are the only ones that answered my plea." She bowed, first to Trice,
then to Farlo, who she seemed to recognize, then she seemed to scramble a bit,
finally bowing to Tiera, even though they'd met before. She'd been shorter
then, so it made some sense that it might be hard to recognize her.

Her
next words were interesting however.

"I
called on your parents for aid, of course, Ducharina Morgan, being inside their
Duchy. They said they'd march troops out, but couldn't offer more than that. I'm
surprised, and pleased, to see that their own daughter came to our rescue. I'll
have to send them a note of thanks. It's unexpected."

There
was no cattiness in the words, and Trice threw off a deep bow.

"Very
few could have done much for you today, even if they arrived in time. That we
were available was pure luck. We should get with the King, if that's permitted
and see about setting up new forces to deal with such threats, we have a plan,
but it will require more than the people in this room." She looked at the
woman who grimaced and then nodded her head.

It
wasn't a happy thing at all.

"I
understand."

Trice
didn't wait, doing that right there, getting in touch, not with the King
himself, but with Smythe of Westend, the Military Counselor. Tiera liked him
all right, even if he did work for King Jerkface.

"Westend
here."

"This
is Patricia Morgan. There's been an attack on Callwood. You know about
that?"

"We've
had some reports. We weren't requested to bring forces in, since Countess
Callwood and her County is in rebellion to the crown. Is the city still
standing? From what we heard... There were dragons? I don't know what to make
of that. Did the message get misunderstood?"

Timon
didn't announce himself, just stepping toward the focus stone device and
speaking right up.

"Magical
seemings. Probably harder to kill than a real dragon that size would be if it
were flesh. We had a force ready, by chance, but we need more of them. We can
get weapons, but need men and they'll need to be stationed in space. Oh, also
willing to go from there to Earth without a craft. That's fun though. We'll
have to take you up for that soon. Princess Karina too." There was a sound
that Tiera understood was walking and they managed to make some small talk
while it happened. The palace of the King wasn't small after all.

Finally,
Smythe broke off, mid-sentence.

"I
have news of the attack on Callwood." Then, after a moment, she heard him.
Richard. Speaking as if he owned the place or something. Tiera blinked, but all
she could see for a moment was Regina, her head exploding as Sandra Morris
killed her, Tiera being too small back then to shield her with her body. Worse,
now, with her new Timon shield, it would have worked. Even being little like
she used to be.

Shaking
a bit she frowned at the device and nearly yelled at the man. Countess Callwood
looked at her and gave a strange look that seemed to speak of more knowledge
than she would have figured on. Tiera had to force herself into a deeper trance
then, just so she wouldn't say anything out of place. They had real work to do
after all.

"Situation
report."

Boringly
enough, that got the whole day recounted, including explanations of how they'd
fought and who'd provided the weapons for it. Then Kolb, rather boldly, stepped
in and explained Ron's idea. He didn't cover the fact that the "man with
the idea" was nearly ten years old, but the King didn't ask either.

"Yes.
Smythe, would you see about getting the forces around. Countess Baker, I think
you have the strongest ties with the Orange Ancient, perhaps you could set up
the rest of what's needed?" The words got most of the Austran kids to
stiffen, not just Lewis and Clyde, but Timon spoke up then, smoothing things
over.

"The
Orange
Revered One
, Sire. It's the new name for the immortals on our
side. If we vary from that too much, the Austran kids will probably attack her,
and that would make a mess all over." He didn't sound like he was joking
and the King, jerk faced dufus or not, just corrected himself.

"The
Orange Revered One. Of course. Would you do that for us, Countess Baker?"
There was, perhaps a hint of command in the tone, which got Countess Callwood
to snort loudly.

"You're
ordering a sitting Countess to do your bidding now? And you wonder why we can't
stand your rule?"

There
was a bit of silence then and the King finally spoke, using a slightly colder
voice.

"Forgive
any offense, Countess Callwood. I meant no disrespect, of course. Tiera, I know
that this might be an imposition, but since Alice Orange is your Aunt would you
please help us? I'd ask myself, but she seems to prefer women over men in most
things."

Tiera
looked at the device and frowned. The man was family. Supposedly.

"I'll
see what I can do, to that end." Then she shut it, and didn't go on,
because her next words would have been yelling, about things that no longer
mattered to the world at all. The King not backing her against Count Morris,
even when the law required it. How that led to the death of an innocent girl. How,
when she thought about it, she still wanted to die, because of that single life
being snuffed out.

Countess
Callwood however, was ready to defend her anyway, and actually stood up,
seeming ready to scream for a while, since her nerves were already on end. Tim
cut that short, bowing to the lady.

"Very
good then, Sire. If you could have, say four hundred men ready to go by the day
after tomorrow? We'll have the weapons and shields for them. It may take longer
than that to put them into space however. I'd suggest, by preference of Alice
Orange, that the men be homely, if at all possible. She doesn't hate men, she
just doesn't trust the attractive ones." Then he bowed, to the Countess,
as the King started the long, and drawn out goodbye required by protocol.

It
was a thing they apparently had to listen to at the moment, given everything.
As a rule she tried to avoid time wasting things like that. There were always
far more interesting things to do. Like sleep, or eat. Staring at a wall came
to mind, which was what she did then, only murmuring a little when the King
said her name. It was, no doubt, very rude, but she didn't really want to chat
with him at the moment. Finally the man shut up and got off the device, allowing
Countess Callwood to dismiss them.

Except,
she didn't. At first Tiera wondered if she was really just that thankful to
them, but she got it after a bit. She wanted them to stay, in case the dragons
came back. That made a lot of sense really. A
whole
lot. It wasn't going
to happen, but she waited for a bit before addressing the woman, who was trying
to have rooms readied for them.

"I'm
horribly sorry, Countess Callwood, but I'm afraid that we won't be able to stay
long. May we have permission to visit later, however? I think that you and I
might have a lot in common." It was just meant to be polite, but the woman
actually smiled, a vulpine thing that seemed to have a lot of weight to it.

"I'm
almost certain we do, Countess Baker. Might I call on you again, if we come
under attack? I know that I personally, and no doubt my people here, would rest
much better tonight, if that were the case. Simply having the aid that you and
your friends have provided to douse the flames is a thing that... Well, let's
just say that you've all proven yourselves to be good friends this day?"

It
was an interesting thing to say, and Farlo bowed a bit, but no one else said
anything. She and Karen had simply given over several devices to put out fires
and showed those doing the work what they needed to do. Most of them were out
already, which meant that Tiera really needed to get some of those things for
her own County soon. Fire happened, after all.

It
still took an hour to get out and it was dark outside when they managed to get
everyone inside Terry's Fast Craft. Then, without a lot of hesitation, they
headed out, going to her place. She called ahead, so that her people would have
at least a little bit of a chance to prepare for them. It felt almost mean,
doing it that way, but the butler, Conway didn't seem too put out. Then, he
wouldn't. No matter who she was bringing, in what numbers or why. He'd only
panic
after
the line was cleared.

Farlo
however blinked at her and moved across the expanse of the craft to sit in a
soft cream colored chair next to her.

"You're
butler
has his own communications device?" She grinned when she
spoke, and didn't seem to be saying it was wrong or anything.

Tiera
nodded, feeling a bit abstract and far away, being in a trance like she was
still, if not deep enough for what she needed.

"My
lady's maid has one too. That way they can get in touch with me and scream if
I'm not doing my job properly. Don't your people all have them yet? Your
Grandparents, I mean? After all, you can make copies of the things, so it seems
like that should happen." It could have come out snooty, or mean, but
Tiera managed to just sound flat and tired.

That
meant Farlo just winked at her.

"Would
you believe that it never even occurred to me before this? I can see the use,
but, well, it just hadn't. I even have some I can send over. Back at school
though. I..." She blushed and looked away, but spoke loudly enough that
everyone in the large space could hear her. "Thank you for not mentioning
how I shamed myself, when we came in."

It
took Tiera a bit to understand what she meant. Wetting herself. It wasn't a
response that Tiera had at all, and none of the kids had done it, but she
really hadn't thought about it at all. Was that
really
a shame? The
woman had done what she needed to and not let anyone down, she was just about
to say that when Baron Havar laughed.

Farlo
stiffened, but his words were a lot different than his tone.

"So
did
I
. I just cycled my clothing before anyone could notice. That was...
An impressive sight, the world coming at us, at speed like that. I dare say
that we weren't the only ones that did so this day."

Timon
shrugged and waved at the others. He was taller now, nearly six-six or so,
which meant that he was easy enough to see.

"No
doubt in the future too. We should remember to always go
first
, if we
get a chance. I was fine, this time, but the first time I did it, I had to
change too, before Tiera could see. That was a night drop though, which is at
least
twice as scary. I couldn't see the ground at all. I could feel it though...
coming at me..." He made a bit of a face, which actually looked like he
was reliving the memory of something worse than that even, but didn't say what
that was.