Goddess of the Moon (Young Ancients: Tiera) (6 page)

The
whole thing was both rude,
and
at the same time something that the girl
wasn't really allowed to comment on overly. She just made a half choked sound,
and walked down the line, turning a brilliant shade of red, and letting the
next person go ahead. He, wisely, just asked for some eggs, smiling happily.

They
all took turns eating, which led to the second problem. They had to sit in
different areas, since there wasn't enough room for all of them to be together.
It wasn't that bad, when Kolb and his buddies went out, but when Karen went
with her two girls, little Maggie came under fire almost instantly. She looked
scared, and tiny, which got some stares from the giants in the room. Not all of
them held sympathy either, as if being afraid put out a scent they just
couldn't resist or something. A boy, who looked to be about
way
too
freaking old to try something that stupid, knocked her tray out of her hands.
It required reaching down to do it, and sent food flying a good ten feet away.
The wooden platter spun a few times as it arced away even. There was no way to
imagine it wasn't done on purpose either. It was an attack that would have had
Tiera herself fighting instantly, even in a state of deep meditation.

Wars
had been started for less. In the last year even.

Tiera
looked up just in time to see it happen too. The girl tightened her face and
looked about ready to cry, as the man, and he was one, being both very tall,
and about twenty or so, laughed at her. Meanly. As if it were all a horribly
funny joke.

Havar
moved from the kitchen into the dining room fast, but not as quickly as Kolb,
who held up a single hand to the man, glaring at the noble bully.

"Name?"

"Baron
First, Williams. Boris Williams." He glared at the bald man with his
scared face, as if being a Baron first would mean anything at all given the
situation. Tiera didn't know what would happen, but got her little weapon out
and pointed at the man, readying a nice finger sized force lance blast to the
eye. Just hard enough to make him cry, if he didn't back down.

Oddly
enough, a young sounding voice got her attention first.

"I'm
Terry Baker. Countier Second, Baker, Countier Seven Lairdgren. I'm challenging
you to a duel. Unencumbered. Outside, right now." That got some attention
from the room and Tiera wondered if she should go and fight instead. Terry was
only ten after all, and not a giant at all. He didn't seem particularly scared
though, and Havar just looked at him... and
nodded
. Tiera didn't get it,
but Havar, apparently, knew something she didn't.

Then
the large and battle hardened man smiled. It was far too happy for the
situation.

"That
will do. Terry, Baron Williams, let's go outside."

The
man didn't even bother trying to beg off, which Tiera realized, she would have.
There was simply no way to win a fight with a ten year old. Either he hit the
kid once and Terry passed out, making him a giant bully, or he let himself be
beaten by a tiny child until Terry was satisfied with the results. Anyone with
a brain in their head would have figured that out and simply bowed to everyone
there, then refused the fight, citing common sense, and a desire to protect the
boy... It wouldn't be held against the man by anyone.

Sighing,
Tiera made up a plate of food, and no doubt being rude herself, started eating
it as she walked. She gestured for her two buddies to go with her, in case she
needed someone to hold her plate.

Kolb
gestured for everyone to follow him, toward the practice area. That was walled,
so not just anyone would see it happen. It was a surreal sort of thing, walking
along in the cool morning air, nibbling a rolled up pancake with fried eggs in
it. She had four of them with her and wanted more food than that, but could
make that work, if she had to kill the man, for hurting her little brother.

Havar
stepped forward then, and waved to the combatants, then Karen and Kolb, each of
whom changed outfits. Karen went into a nice red suit of clothing with shining
gold buttons and on seeing that, Kolb got himself arranged to have something
similar, only with silver buttons and all in a deep and rather pretty green.
She hadn't realized it before, but it was a good color on him. He normally wore
black or gray, as a rule, but green made him look happier, even without a smile
on his face.

She
just kept eating and looked at the kids that had followed them out. Half of
them were students, the other half little ones. None of them looked
particularly frightened at all. She probably didn't either, holding her brown
flatware in her left hand, and her second pancake in her right, munching along
like she was.

Havar
stood back, and Kolb walked over to Boris Williams, talking to him, and then
shaking the man down for all his magics and weapons. He had a knife, and a good
shield, it looked like, as well as a clothing amulet, which he was allowed to
keep on himself.

Karen
got things from Terry, which if Williams was smart, would have made him run
away right then.
Three
knives, a
very
top end shield,
three
explosive weapons,
four
force lances and
four
cutters. Those all
had varying lengths too, as well as two different styles of construction. He
also
had a healing amulet on him, as well as a Fast Craft, and for some reason, a
little
house
. That got Tiera to blink. It was about enough golds worth
of stuff that he could buy a medium sized town if he wanted.

He
got to keep his clothing amulet too though, since that was only fair.

At
least Tiera thought so. Karen leaned down for a bit and looked at Terry, who
was speaking to her very softly. After a minute she stood and called out at the
top of her voice, sounding very, very proper.

"Countier
Baker asks Baron Williams if he truly wishes to utilize clothing amulets for
this fight? In good faith, he recommends against it." That got the Baron
to bristle for some reason. After a bit, he angrily pointed at Kolb who
grimaced, but did his job anyway.

"The
Baron agrees to the wearing of amulets and asks the Countier if he has great
interest in seeing what a real man looks like nude." It was clear he
wasn't all that happy to be saying it, but the Baron laughed at his own joke.

Really,
she didn't get it either, but Terry just waved at him and spoke to Karen again.

She
yelled.

"Fine.
As long as the terms are agreeable. We need to clear the field. Everyone clear
the field." She didn't seem panicked, and in fact was managing a much more
bored sound to her voice than Tiera thought she'd manage, given what was about
to happen. Still, she kept eating her food, the hunger being a bit too hard to
ignore.

Terry
stood in place, but the giant Baron, who had to be nearly three hundred pounds
and was at least as tall as she was, so seven feet and a bit, ran at the tiny
boy, his right fist clenched and howling, as if
he'd
been the aggrieved
party.

She
was watching closely, but nearly missed what happened anyway. Terry, her very
kind, and still
little,
brother, did something with his right hand,
shaking it a bit, while the sleeve became long and twisted into a point. Then
he knelt on his left knee and let the other man run into his out held right
fist, which had basically turned into a spear. It ripped a very nice hole in
the Baron's left thigh and Terry hardly moved at all as the man bellowed in
pain. The clothing reformed, spreading on the other side of the wound and
turning into something like heavy cloth fishhooks, she thought, before he
yanked it back out. There was more yelling then, but Terry, who she always
thought of as the
good
brother, wasn't finished.

The
fight after that wasn't really that impressive, since it was all Terry changing
his clothing into various weapons, and then moving in to hit the man, over and
over again. Most of them were bludgeons however, which meant a lot, since the
man ended up passing out after a while, and Terry kept beating him until the
man didn't move at all.

Kolb
walked up and kicked the man gently, then moved Terry back with a soft wave. It
was a gentle thing really, that seemed quietly impressed, rather than worried.
The Baron really had asked for it though, hadn't he?

"The
Baron lives, but might need medical help..."

That
got Terry to walk back over and change the man's clothing for him, so that
bandages appeared in all the right spots. Looking up, Tiera saw that Dean
Hardgrove was in the gate of the practice area, looking less than perfectly
pleased. Tiera did some math in her head and realized that he couldn't
actually
kick her little brother out, him not being a student there, and while the
Instructors there might get a dressing down, the fight had actually been
perfectly legal. Nearly so at least.

Technically
they both had to get permission from their Counts, because duel or not, it
could start a war, in potential, but
Tiera
had been right there.
Technically they should have contacted the Baron's people too, but... Oops?

She
ate the last of her pancakes. The Dean however looked at the scene and then,
without hesitation, walked straight over to her. As if she was the one in
charge or something?

"I
don't suppose you know what this is all about, Countess Baker?"

She
was about to get all defensive, but realized that her previous thought was
simply correct. No one there had any hold on Terry in particular that she knew
about, except for herself and possible Havar. However that worked.

"Oh,
yes, I
do
. It's an incredible tale, I think you'll find. Baron First
Williams assaulted a young lady, Maggie, in the dining room and then mocked her
over it. It was clear provocation, so Countier Baker, Terry, challenged the man
to an unencumbered duel, to protect her honor. The Baron kept his clothing
amulet though, so Terry asked, very properly, if he was certain he didn't want
to meet without them, and recommended it. That technically gave them weapons,
but it was the Baron's choice, so had to be allowed. Then Terry helped to
correct the man's behavior
and
provided bandages for him after, so that
he won't bleed to death. I think that about covers it, right?" She looked
around and saw that Karen was actually nodding along, as if that truthfully
was
,
indeed the case.

"That's
about it, Dean Hardgrove. I hate to say it, but that was the second insult to
this group of visitors this morning too. I won't mention who did the other one,
to allow the saving of face, but we are
not
looking good here, as a
group."

The
Dean looked around and then pointed at a group of school students. "Take
Boris to the nurse's office please, for treatment? The rest of you, kindly pass
the word that anyone insulting any guest here, at any time, will be expelled
immediately from this point forward. We're lucky that no lives have been lost
today."

Then
the man, not even waiting for anyone else to do anything, turned on a heel and
stomped away, clearly angry about the whole thing.

Which
got her to shrug.

"Everyone
back to the dining room. We have people to feed. Kolb, get with Terry and go
over what mistakes he made, please? Everyone else, stay with your adult buddy
for now." She didn't tell anyone watching that they had to pass the Dean's
words along, since the man had done that already. It would, no doubt, be the
main topic of conversation for the day.

She
was about to head back and keep working herself, when Kolb waved at her, he
looked incredibly relaxed as far as that went.

"Tiera,
you and your two need to see to making those amulets? We'll all go with you
when you're finished, so meet us in the dining room. Say in, fifty
minutes?"

She
grimaced, but actually did the math and shook her head.

"Say
in two hours? I
might
make the copies in an hour, maybe, but I need to
make up some new tiles for it first." Which wouldn't take a whole extra
hour, but she wasn't above sneaking in some extra time for work, if she could.

The
boys and her ran then, back to her room, and then behind the building she lived
in, to collect and cut up some little focus stone tiles. They weren't big
things, but she managed to have the boys help her scrape the surface with a
cutter, making two notches in the front of each. That really did take nearly
half an hour. Then, not knowing what else to do, she started working, just
leaving the kids sitting there, watching her.

Time
passed with decent quickness then, since she drove herself pretty deep. The
fields were decently strong, and when she opened her eyes she noticed one of
the little boys was at the door, holding one of her new weapons. The other, Clyde,
was at the back of the room, near the far wall. Guarding her. Probably because
they were buddies now. She'd said so, several times, hadn't she? It made sense.

She
nodded at them both.

"Those
are new weapons, and take some skill to activate. They're potentially deadly too."
She tested the big pile of fields in front of her, with Lewis, who was at the
door, and then got a cloth bag made of canvas, to hold everything. She
technically should have used something nicer, but she was out of velvet bags
that were large enough. Sighing she pulled fifty of the things and put them in
another sack, which was smaller, but nicer, and then did the same with the
rest. One was in velvet, one in silk.