by P. S. Power
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.
Tiera waved at the others. "So, it's not a shame, just a thing. I'm sure we won't have to mention it again?"
That got a soft sound from the room that seemed like they all agreed and the girl blushed again, but didn't try to beat up Baron Havar for laughing at her, which was good. Not that Farlo was violent. She'd probably make some new magic for it, her Havar punishment scheme, that being the case.
Tiera sighed and waved the large man over to them. She didn't have any real reason for it, but at one point she'd thought they were friends and really had kind of missed him. They used to work together every morning and lately hadn't been at all. Part of that was due to the fact that he'd been teaching refugees to fight at Wildlands, but even before that they'd grown apart.
Mainly due to his anti-short person bigotry.
He came over, schooling his face into not seeming like he felt anything at all, and slid with decent grace into the large chair next to her.
"You have something for me?" He meant a mission or something, but she just shook her head. Then she sighed.
"Yes. An apology. I found out that you thought of me as a pet or something and took offense at it. Tor told me. I should have confronted you with it and made you see me as a person, instead of not working with you each day. It isn't a thing you have direct control over, seeing small people as being less than you. You can fight it, but you have to want to." Which, she realized, he'd already been doing, on his own. If not he couldn't have been doing his job well at all.
He gave her a seated bow.
"It was very hard for me to see and understand. I didn't see you as a pet however. I don't even know where that came from. I did come to understand that my... thoughts towards those much smaller than myself could use some work. Except for Tor, of course. He's still annoying to me. I like the rest of his family, at least the ones that I've met, if that helps at all?" There was no smile to go with that, as if he was afraid she'd take offense.
Like Tor wasn't a pain in the rear sometimes?
She chuckled a little and touched his arm, flirtatiously. He didn't do anything like that back yet, but she had hopes.
Chapter four
Once her head had hit the pillow, she was out. That came as a bit of a surprise really. The room she was in was about as nice as any she'd ever slept in, and was all her own, literally, since it was in her house. Her palace. The silk sheets were made of magic, and had been made a blood red for some strange reason that she didn't know, but it went well with the wood interior of the place. Everything looked shiny and new too. The soft fabric felt a bit odd against her skin, but it was real enough. She was just used to sleeping on regular cotton sheets. Real ones.
She woke in the dark, the room not having any windows, in order to keep her safe. She didn't let her guards follow her around all the time or anything, since that would end up being a lot more work than not. Most people of her current rank didn't do that when they went to school either, so it wasn't just her being a pain. It was, no doubt, also her being a pain. At least the people on her staff thought that was the case.
The fact that she was better prepared to fight off any given attack than her personnel was her fault. She had the ability to provide for them, if she ever stopped being a lazy little girl and grew up enough to see to it. To that end she got up before everyone else did and started right to work. Or almost.
She had to go and dig in the backyard first, the stars bright overhead still. She managed to get her mind into good focus before starting though, so didn't mind the night air, which was only a little warm. Humid too, but not horrible yet. She took her time forming several hundred of the little pen shaped wands she wanted to use, the look of the Focus Stone she compressed being far different there than anywhere else she'd ever been. It was, curiously, a lovely shade of jade green.
Tiera figured that someone might have come and knocked on her door at some point, but she didn't notice it, just making batch after batch of her new weapons. What finally got her out of the room was a combination of things, starting with the fact that she'd run out of materials to build on. There was also, she realized, an acute sense of hunger burning a hole in her middle.
She didn't have a clock, or watch, so went and cleaned up first, then moved down the stairs, holding a red silk pillowcase that had to weigh in at nearly three hundred pounds. It was filled with six hundred weapons though. Enough for the four hundred that they were sending up, as well as two hundred for her troops and guards.
It wasn't that late in the day however, being only about nine-thirty. Others were up, and eating, when she got into the front dining room, with Conway looking very proper at the bac
k of the space. On seeing her he ran over and tried to take the bag from her, but that wasn't going to work. It was heavy for her to walk around with, but the butler wouldn't be able to pick it up, most likely. She didn't want to embarrass him by explaining that though. That meant she needed a story.
Before she could come up with one, Guide hopped up from the table and put a magical box up for her, which she dumped the entire sack into. That earned a low whistle from the boy.
"All right." He spoke loudly enough for everyone to hear, but was clearly joking with her. "I'll marry you. If you want, I mean. This is... Impressive for someone new. I could have done it. Maybe. Sam too. Lyn Red, Tim and Tor. I think, possibly Mark?" He looked over but the noble young man just shook his head.
"I can do large batches, but that's a lot. I'd probably need a nap in there somewhere." If he was kidding it was hard to tell.
Farlo just stared at Guide, her eyes wide. After a bit she covered her mouth and so did both Karen and after a few seconds, Maggie, the little girl.
Ali beamed at both of them as if she'd been given a present.
"Perfect! We'll have to have that here, since Tiera is a Countess now and this is her County. We'll need to get everyone in." She seemed to be lost in thought suddenly, but stopped talking. The rest of the table looked pretty blank on the topic. They either didn't want to play or figured it was simply a real thing. Except for some reason, Baron Havar. He actually smiled and then bowed toward her.
"Ah, and here I was waiting for you to graduate before putting forth my own offer of marriage. See what I get for waiting?" He really didn't seem put out though. Which, she realized, probably made sense. He not only understood that she probably wouldn't be marrying Guide, but also had no plans to marry her either.
