Goddess of the Moon (Young Ancients: Tiera) Read Online Free PDF Page B

however, which was still a sign of
wealth and power. Most couldn't get anything like that, unless they knew the
right people. Kyle Hardgrove did though, didn't he? Tor, and the
Lairdgren Group came to mind. Their army of super builders, trained by her
brother.
    The
man bowed to her gently, as if they were equals, even though this was his place
and he was in charge of her there, and then did the same with the kids. It was
both cute and probably about correct, since they were the guests.
    Tiera
smiled. She tried not to look blank about it either, meditating or not at the
moment.
    "We
have guests in. A special military crew." She gestured at the two with
her. "Of short people. They're hiding in and around the school grounds. The
rules said that they should be in the woods for the night, but if they don't
all break that instantly, they deserve to be caught. We need searchers to try
and find them, in an hour. I was thinking a couple of the combat groups? Only
people with shields, since they have orders to fight in order to prevent
capture. That, and escape if they can, if taken."
    She
didn't have to say anything else, since the man bowed again.
    "I
think I understand. One hour then, Countess Baker. Are you on the side of the
searchers?"
    "Nope.
Sam Builder and I have been assigned projects for the night, while our buddies
keep us safe. We get about nine hours to come up with a full build. I don't
even have anything planned."
    Her
building at all was so new that the man looked at her skeptically for a moment,
but she realized it wasn't that at all.
    "Then
go. No spying on me to see what my plans are." He made hand motions at
them to get them to clear out and everything.
    Tiera
had a sneaking suspicion that he was about to change the rules of the exercise,
a lot. Not that she blamed him at all. Military commanders did that. The good
ones at least. You had to outthink your enemy and not be afraid to break a few
rules, if you wanted your side to win.
    She
jogged off, heading toward the woods, but patted her new friends after a bit
and moved close to them, her words soft.
    "We're
going straight to the weapons area. Use your shields so that you have air.
We'll hide in the little pond there. Under the water. Can you do that?"
She realized that they might be terrified of water now, what with giant waves
having nearly killed their entire world and all that. The two kids just
whispered back at her.
    "Yes,
ma'am. We can do that. Baron Havar has us swim every few days."
    She
smiled, but didn't say anything else. They got the idea. They'd go and sit in
the pond all night and she could do her work. That was a different problem,
since she wasn't a fast worker really. Not yet. Her one real build had taken
nearly three days for instance. It was nicely complex, true, but nine hours
wasn't a lot of time to do more than make some copies.
    Still,
some builds weren't a lot more than a variation on someone else's work, were
they? She could do that and it would count, she was willing to bet. What she
needed to do then was something simple enough to manage in the time allotted.
    Tiera
had no clue what that should be however. She knew that some things were needed,
like a new communications network that Tor couldn't tap into instantly, but she
probably couldn't do that at all, much less in a few hours.
    She
and her new friends moved to the practice area, then, with their shields on to
keep them warm and dry, sank themselves under the water. They were close to
her, she knew, since both of them had an arm over her, she noticed. Then they
held her down, gently, even though she wouldn't float anymore. Except that she
would, she realized, since there was a lot of air trapped around her. For some
reason she'd thought it was a tiny amount, but the bubble was a good two and a
half feet from her body, around everything but her hands. That meant the kids
were pushing down on her shield, so she could work without flying a bit toward
the bottom constantly. It was really