by P. S. Power
That got them an appointment for the early morning, which meant that they were allowed to go off to their rooms for the night, shortly after that. Tiera kind of wondered if, after the first real beating for her wrong doings, Carol would take off in the night. It was pretty clear that Collette had the same thought, and made a bed appear in the hallway, actually across the woman's door, blocking it from being an easy escape. Tiera knew this because she had to walk past it to get to her own room, which was the one next to it.
Gerent just stood, clearly not knowing what to do. Trice wasn't around, and Timon was off doing something or another. Carol vanished inside, but a few moments later opened the door and looked at them all, her face hard.
"Countier Lairdgren? Would you spend the night with me? I fear that Collette might take the opportunity to, end my days, as it were, if no one else is around." She didn't seem all that scared, and Collette actually nodded, as if the same plan had occurred to her already.
The little fellow blushed brightly, then he stammered, more than a bit.
"I... that might send the wrong message, maybe if Tiera..." He looked desperate and sought her eyes, his face imploring.
Tiera thought about it and answered with all the concern she could muster, which wasn't much, and what was there all had Gerent's name on it.
"Well, that depends Gerent. Are you trying to avoid sex with her? That's fair, given everything. I think that everyone assumes that you'll be doing that with her, including Carol, so no one will think less of you for it. If you don't want to, well, given the evening, I think no one will take offense about that either. She has a real point though. Unless you were inviting me too? That might be a little awkward, since I have to thrash her again, probably several times. I might be too nice about it if we were having sex too. Probably not, but it could happen. Plus, you're my adopted brother, so that could be a bit strange. If we hide it from the rest of the family it should be fine, naturally." She didn't really mean it, since it was only the kids and Tor that it would have to be hidden from, but he blushed even brighter, which shouldn't have been possible, and shook his head.
"That's just being mean. I can't force myself on her like this."
It was, strangely and almost compassionately, Carol that fixed that.
"Agreed, Gerent. But you aren't forcing yourself on me at all. I invited you. It wasn't a mistake, and we can do whatever you wish, but it would be nice to have someone I know will stand up to my step-daughter with me. Please?" It was heavy handed, but Tiera had to agree with the plan. It was either that, or get Tim to do it and she didn't trust Carol not to make a move on him. After all, as far as she knew the boy was legal.
They didn't have to talk about it that much more and Collette allowed Gerent to crawl over her bed, but hugged him halfway across.
"Don't worry Gerent, I promise not to try and sneak in for, oh, hours. You should get her nice and tired out for me first." It was mean sounding, but when she let him go, he scolded her.
"No. No matter how this ends, you can't kill your own mother. I'll be sleeping across the door on the other side, so I suggest you don't try anything. I won't let you do that."
The woman... kissed him then. A lot more romantically than Tiera would have suspected from her. Not that she was showing poor taste, but it seemed like a new thing, from Gerent's reaction.
"Agreed. Sleep well then."
The night went on and Tiera got to her own room, deciding not to worry about what Baronetta Coltress might do with her problems for a while. As to what Gerent and Carol were doing, well that was up to them, but she had to figure that it would actually be sleeping, since the Baroness had to be nearly as exhausted as Tiera was herself. Maybe more so.
It was pretty clear that they were going to have a long day, so she decided to get as much rest as possible. That wasn't nearly as much as she might have gotten though, since, it was clear a few hours later, that Collette had lied.
From the yelling it sounded like it at least. It wasn't Gerent though, making the noise, but Timon, and came from the lower level, outside the house. Only the fact that she'd had her window open let her hear it at all. She saw three forms in the silver glow of the river that ringed the compounds wall and the smaller form of her brother not ten feet away.
"Halt! This is private property-"
One of the forms rushed him, bouncing off of his already activated shield. Then a real fight started. Leaping from the second story window she ran toward the scene herself. She was unarmed, after a fashion, but also wasn't. She had two cutters imbedded in the backs of her hands and a shield in her rib cage. Clothing too, so she turned it to combat leathers, and went after a small person that, when she saw her close up, seemed to be her mother. Younger, and perhaps a bit lighter in frame. After a few seconds she realized that all of the attackers were.
Great. Because that wouldn't give her nightmares later.
She didn't bother talking, focusing on the back of her right hand and fighting, her shield taking a beating, even as she rushed in and did her own damage. They didn't stop, the three women, until she managed to get the legs off of one, the eighteen inch cutter doing its work, and Timon made the one coming for him explode. That left one, who, rather than try and run away, laughed.
"Oh, this is rich, isn't it? Well, I see that the direct approach won't do at all. I'd thought myself more than a match for you, Timmy. It seems that I was wrong? And you a man and everything. Well, let's see if this works?" She grabbed at her belt, where there was a little pouch. It was a gray outfit, made of fine cloth, but too light for the silver night. Before she got the contents out, Timon blasted her apart, which reminded Tiera far too much of what happened with Regina. In fact it caused her to relive it all, for a moment, a wave of agony ripping through her again. She was distracted when her shield started to light up then, with tiny purple lights. Then it positively glowed with them for a while.
"Nanos?" She said the word like she actually understood what it meant, though other than them being tiny machines, she didn't really.
"Probably a virus of some kind, or other biological agent. That's what Gray specialized in. Cloning too, it seems. At least that sounded like the full Gray that I've met before." He didn't move, just standing as wave after wave of things hit their shields. She got the idea. If they left and the things were tracking them, which they seemed to be, if slowly, then whatever it was might spread. By holding their ground they could let their shields do the clean-up for them.
Tiera nodded to herself and spoke without waiting for Timon to explain it all to her. She thought she got the basic idea at least.
"So, that's four times that we've killed her now. This isn't done, is it? She didn't sound that way to my ear at any rate."
"No, I don't think so. We need to get in touch with some people. This..." He watched the purple cascade for a bit and then forced a grin. "Really, I'm far too young to feel this tired of life already, aren't I?"
"I know. Me too."
Neither of them spoke for another hour, as the virus, or whatever it was finally stopped attacking them. It seemed to be all of it too, since when they started walking around nothing else came for them. Tim went off to get in touch with people and after a bit, Tiera went to her things, which were in her Fast Craft, not her room, and did the same, getting in touch with Baron Kolbrin. He was her friend after all, as well as a family member and her weapons Instructor. It probably didn't make sense to involve him yet, really, but it left her feeling better. That he was already awake, and clearly out in the practice square was clear by the thunderous blows that someone was producing in the background. Havar most likely.
That was a different problem, but she'd deal with it later, she decided.
"Kolb? This is Tiera. There's been an... interesting situation here in the Capital, at Timon's new palace. His, and Patricia Morgan's..."
"Patricia Baker's. The wedding was a fairly public affair. So, situation?"
"Three clones of Gray, apparently trying to kil
l Tim. Attacking at least. Then the last one managed to spread something that the shields took care of. A nano or virus most likely, but it could be different than that. I just thought I'd share that there were several of her running around and from what she said it didn't sound like she thought their dying would be any big deal. To my mind that means there are probably more of them. Tim's on with the Palace. I'll get with Tor next, since that might be an issue there as well."
"I understand. Can you come here? We might want to consolidate our forces." It wasn't an order, but sounded commanding enough for all that.
"Off to Austra today, though I'm sure you can come along? I don't know if that's the real destination however. Tim's being a little cagey about it, to tell the truth. That could mean anything though. You know him." She felt, oddly relaxed about it all, she realized. Maybe just because the Gray's hadn't been aimed at her personally yet, but for all that she'd just been in a fight, she felt pretty peaceful, if she were to be honest with herself about it. That wasn't really normal at all. If it wasn't for the fact that she'd had her shield on the whole time she would have wondered if it was an effect of some toxin or poison that Gray had gotten into her system. That wasn't likely, unless it had happened earlier. If that was the case, then they might be open for another attack, while they were feeling calm about things. Nothing happened, so she called Tor, not expecting an answer at all, since it was still early. About four in the morning, she thought. Maybe five. Hitting the sigil, she just waited.
"Tor here." He sounded awake and efficient at least.
"Tiera on this end. We had an attack at Tim's in the Capital. The big new place? Gray. Three of her. No one knows what this really means, but they're dead. These at least."
"Crap. Well, that almost had to happen, didn't it? We need to check ma and make certain she isn't another version of Gray too. I've been avoiding that, to tell truth, since, if it's the case, then she's been like that for a long time. Maybe all her life. If that's the case... Well, then she'd still be our mother, wouldn't she? You're all right though? Tim? He won't talk to me right now. Things are tense."
It was out of order and she didn't have enough data to make sense of that, but decided not to try and get it from Tor. He wouldn't lie to her, perhaps, but he'd manipulate the whole thing, if he could, without even knowing that he was doing it. Timon was actually more honest that way, at least in regards to her.
"Well, see to your defenses and all that sort of thing. Are you at your bakery?" It made sense after all. It was his job now.
"Yes. Do you need me to come? I can see if Sherri will watch the store for me. She's actually gotten pretty good, in the last few weeks. Oh, I'm supposed to tell you that she misses you, if we talk."
"I should be back in a day or two. School and all that." She hadn't missed the girl herself. It wasn't some flaw with her though, she was nice. It was just that everything was too raw for Tiera relationship wise right now. If she really liked Sherri, and someone hurt or killed her, what would she do? She was already too far gone to take much more that way, wasn't she? "We'll talk then. I just wanted you to be ready. This seems to be something a lot bigger than I thought. I mean, clones? What's that about?"
"It's part of an emergency system the Ancients have, in case they all get wiped out and the Earth is in danger. At least that's what I was told. I'll see if I can find out anything else on that score. Um, be careful and tell Tim... I guess he won't want to hear from me, but, he's still my brother, even if he did say otherwise."
It was news to her, and had to be a new thing. For the life of her, she'd thought that they were all on more than good terms when she'd left. Was it about Trice? She'd been Tor's girlfriend for years after all. Maybe there were hard feelings that way? It didn't sound right though, did it?
She started to clean up the bodies and wrapped them up in a large sheet of fabric that she found in the back of the place, in a shed that seemed to be real and had gardening tools. Some of those, in a rack along the wall, were actually amulets. Earth movers and compression units, pumps and so forth. Thousands of golds worth of things, just hanging there, all in focus stone with glowing sigils, so Tor's work, not anyone else.
That was a statement, after a fashion. What it meant she didn't know however. That Trice was mad enough to put these things out here, like a hoe or rake? That Timon was? Or that their gardener was so well connected that he had access to things like this as a matter of course? If so he must be the world's richest person as far as that profession went.
She thought about this and a few other inconsequential things while she wrapped up the rather gooey and sticky remains of three women that looked an awful lot like she did in the mirror. She wasn't her mother, exactly, but physically it was more than possible to make a mistake there. If anyone had seen the whole thing earlier, it might well have looking like four of the same girl had been fighting, not just three. She was different though. Her face was a bit rounder, she thought, and while pretty enough, her mother and grandmother were just a bit nicer looking. Part of that was the hair though.
Hers was so short now that it actually made her look a little bit like a boy. A very cute one, so she didn't worry about it. Most days.
It was tempting to bury the bodies, or to burn them in case any trace of that virus remained, but Timon walked over and produced a floating box, which was a Tor design, and helped her load the corpses into it, then closed the lid.
"We need to get this looked at. I don't know who can do the work. You have contact with Blue and her family, so maybe we should send them there? You can take a new communications device, so that we won't have to make trips to see them every time one of us has a new idea. Lyn already has one, so we need Black, Aunt Alice and Julie White. I'll send you with one of my new craft. They aren't as fast as the ones Tor made, but are nicer. You'll see in a bit here. I have to..." He actually stopped and looked around, as if someone might be watching him. "I'm meeting with some of the rebellion today. I don't know what they want, but I... helped some of them last week. It was bloody work, but has me and Trice in well with them right now. I should drop your name too, in case they need the extra help." He didn't seem to be kidding at all, so she nodded.
"Why not? I'm mainly focusing on Count Morris, and Sandra. You might want to warn them off of them, if they're counting on those two for aid. I don't care about sides there." They probably couldn't take her seriously, but it was what she had planned.
"I'll bring it up. Really, I kind of thought that you were going to finish that on your vacation. A bit of a surprise that you didn't. Or are they dead? I haven't heard anything, but that doesn't mean much right now."
"No, I physically checked on the Count. Sandra is too dangerous for that. When I take her it will be from a distance, and while she sleeps, or at least is working. If she isn't trying to outfit every fighter on the rebels side herself, she's a moron. I don't think I can afford to wait much longer, really. Eventually she's going to realize that her only hope is to kill me first. For all that she's a wizard, she has to have figured out that she's never beaten me in a fight. I mean, if she can."
That she might not be able to understand that fact, since her genetics caused her to hold smaller people in contempt, was a real factor. If that was the case, then she might even come for her sooner, rather than later. Tiera really wanted to see her face when she killed her, to watch it blow apart in a fine mist that slowly drifted down on the paving stones. Like what she did to Reggie. It was too kind, perhaps, so a bit of torture might just be in the cards first. It would take careful planning though. Maybe she could pick up some of that Austran pain compound? It sounded pretty harsh, which fit with what she wanted at the moment.
Her brother nodded, but didn't say much this time, just waving to the house.
"We need to clean up and get people around for the day. I need to head towards Ward myself, so... Yeah. Do you need to eat? You look to be growing. I guess that Tor saw fit to do something nice for you, not just strip you of what you
are, in some kind of late night mind rape?" There was real anger in his eyes, and he stared at her with that way he had which meant he was drinking in everything she was thinking somehow.
"What? Mind rape? He made some changes in me, like we talked about. He said that he'd done you as well, and that you'll grow too, but like a regular noble, not all at once like we are. That way it will be more natural and not as hard on you... But, is that why he thinks you aren't talking to him?"
That started a conversation that was a bit more heated than she would have thought it would be. After she got the basic idea, that Tor had sort of snuck up on him and changed him in his sleep, which he took to be a huge violation, she had to agree. It was against his will after all.
It also had to be done.
Wisely, she decided not to try and debate that with him, just waiting for him to tell her what he had planned. Fighting with things like that wouldn't help and while she could see both sides of the equation, that didn't mean that Timon wanted her to do that. He'd want her to be on his side, since she was his sister. That Tor was her brother too... Well, they all got that, didn't they?
"Well, Tor isn't going to change me back and I don't think I can do it myself. Not and survive it. I've led Count Lairdgren to think that this is mainly over, but it isn't really. My initial impulse is to kill Tor. I don't think it will help and I get what he was thinking, but it doesn't make it all right. I'll probably have to kick his ass a few more times, or he'll keep doing things like this."
"A few more times?"
"Got the drop on him once already. I only hit him once, but it did knock him out. A focus stone box of space craft to the back of the head. That's why you need to go to Austra today, to deliver those to Aunt Alice and possibly bring her back here with you. I'd do it myself, since she's actually my second favorite Ancient right now, you aside, but..." He was busy. That made sense. There were rebellions to foment or whatever he was doing.
