Theodore (24 page)

Bill's blood started to boil but Theodore quickly
intercepted him, “He came here for me.  Get the bystanders out of here and
then
come back for me.”

“He's half a head taller than you!  He'll eat you alive!”

“He's still shorter than you, and I sent your furless butt
to the lockers...”  Theodore composed himself as he moved into the open.  “I'm
here, Colm.  I expected your brother Edwin actually.  Leave them alone; this is
about us.”

“Oh, so there is the
brave
Highlander.  Can't run
now, can you?”

“If you were alluding to my fight with your
charming
brother, if he was so interested in a fair fight, then why were there enough
rockets aimed at me to level the entire building?”

Colm grinned as his armor exploded around him, floor to
ceiling in a wall of blue flames.  “Eh, his friends tend to be thorough.  Can't
blame them really.  Each time they seem to come up short a full set of
whiskers...”

“And so now they sent you... If you wanted to make this a
proper affair, we could always do it back in the Highlands...” replied Theodore
as his own armor suddenly started swimming around him.

“Nah!  This will be more fun!”

“What happened to Thomas?”

“How would I know and why should I care?” Colm laughed. 
“But I
do
know that my brother Edwin stopped in to say 'hi' to a certain
Dr.
Janice
Westmore as she dropped by the courthouse to do some
paperwork...”

“Now you are just trying to get a rise out of me,”
Theodore
hoped
Colm was bluffing.

“You wish!” Colm laughed.

Theodore just stood in front of Colm, “Please surrender. 
More blood won't solve anything...”

“Depends on whose blood it is!” he snarled as his fur
cycled in color and he pointed his Live Steel sword at Theodore.

Great, he’s a Silver too.  Ross and Dad left off that
part...  “I’m tired of all the killing...”

“That's funny, I was just getting used to it!” 

Colm charged and their two sets of ethereal armor screamed
and shed a waterfall of blue sparks where they collided.  Both sets of armor
compressed as both parties fought for control.  Theodore's own sword sprang
into being in order to parry Colm's savage blow where the armor seemed
unwilling or unable to stop him.  The strikes kept coming... 

“Oww!” protested Theodore as a Live Steel blade in
practice
struck his exposed forearm.

“Stop trying to over analyze me.  Slow down and relax. 
The calmer you are, the better you will be doing,” grinned Aidden.

Theodore was suddenly horribly confused... He was standing
in their front yard back on Afon with his father and he felt... weird.  That
and his dad was tall!  His father hadn't towered over him like that since he
was twelve!  He looked down at the size of his ever so familiar long sword in
his hand.  Maybe he
was
twelve.  Had he been having a bad dream?  Some
bizarre hallucination caused by the pain of his father's Live Steel sword even
in practice form.

“Calm down, relax.  Don’t think about it, just let it
happen.  Concentrate on the result, not the method.”

Theodore grinned, “You say that a million times, it
doesn't make it any easier.”

Aidden laughed, “At some point it will sink in.  Maybe at
a million and one!  It's not a sword fight that you should be thinking about;
it's a contest of wills.  Are you a mean and savage person?”

Theodore laughed lightly, “No.  Far from it.”

“Then why are you trying to
be
mean and savage? 
Relax and let it all wash over you.”

“If I relax too much, I'll pass out.  Shave me and paint
me blue!  Won't do a lot of good then!”

Aidden laughed, “No.  No good at all.  When you truly
relax and can feel the music of life around you, then everything will take care
of itself....”

Music.  That was what he had forgotten.  There on the roof
top he had finally felt the music flow and he danced with his opponents... 
Relax...  Why was he afraid of Colm?  Just because he was a Silver?  He was
nothing compared to his brother...

A savage blow sent Theodore to the floor.  Unharmed, just
out of form.  He rolled backward and hopped back onto his feet. 
Calm.  I
need to be calm
.  His breathing slowed as did his heart rate and he could
feel
his armor swell, taking strength from his inner fire.  A fire burns
brightest and strongest from a steady breeze, not erratic gusts.

Colm, for his part, was not interested in Theodore being
calm.  Well save for the eternal version... dead calm.  Colm closed again
rapidly shifting from sword to pole ax and back again.  But Theodore held his
ground expertly.  Their savage blows produced miniature whirlwinds of blue
sparks, twirling across the dance floor.  But Theodore held fast.

Relax.  Focus on the goal, not the method
.  Those
words echoed back into his head as he recalled those times where he had invoked
Live Steel arrows without ever needing the bow.  Results.  What did he want? 
Did he want him dead?  No... like the summer dance, he just wanted the man to
stop and no longer be a threat.  His heartbeat seemed to thunder in his head as
it grew slower and slower, suddenly nausea threatened to overtake him and he
fought back a level.  Too calm!  Colm must have sensed something was wrong as
he chose that moment to close with another savage volley.

Theodore fought off the exchange, not as well as the first
time, but well enough.  He had lost his place in the dance and needed to find
his rhythm again.  Well, he knew how calm
too calm
was at least!  Something
flittered in his mind as he recalled the fight against the gunship in the field
just a few months ago.  Nausea had threatened to consume him then too, but what
had he been doing...  Arrow launch...

Suddenly a grin flashed across Theodore's face as he snuck
a quick glance across the hall. 
Empty!
  Bill had been able to evacuate
the room.  Bill, oh there!  by the door, with his carbine at the ready. 
Carbine.  That day in the field, Theodore had been carrying Bill's carbine.  He
laughed to himself as he realized the obvious truth: he hadn't dropped the
carbine, he had absorbed it!  And if he could produce an arrow...  In a flash
of blue sparks, Bill's errant carbine appeared in Theodore's hands.  A quick
flick of the charging handle and a push of the safety and he emptied it into
Colm.

Colm's armor held fast under the onslaught, but it was
clear he hadn't been expecting it.  His own grin quickly flashed, “Oops, out of
ammo!”

“Telling that to live steel?” retorted Theodore with a
grin and with a quick flash of blue, the magazine had been replaced and
Theodore emptied it again... and again.  By the fourth magazine the carbine had
faded from view and it was just the
results
that counted: pulse rifle
rounds going down range.  Gun or no!

Colm was snarling, able to handle the pounding against his
armor but not able to lash out against it.

Theodore's smile was complete as Bill opened up with his
carbine and they
both
hammered at Colm's shell.  Against Theodore alone,
Colm was barely holding even.  With Bill helping, however, Colm's armor was
quickly starting to buckle.  There was a brief pause as Colm
tried
to
lash back while Bill changed his barrel, but Theodore held his own and quickly
Tim and Saundra had joined the party and Colm?  The boastful Silver suddenly
felt his armor crack and peel off of him, sending him unconscious to the
floor.  A series of late bursts tore into Colm causing real damage.

“Sedate him!  Quickly!” barked Tim.  “
Then
worry
about the wounds!”

That was almost a superfluous command as both Bill and
Saundra were quick with the hypos making sure Colm wasn't getting up again
anytime soon.  Saundra started a pair of tourniquets on the unconscious Taik. 
It was unclear if she was happy with taking a prisoner.

“If we ODed him, I'll send my apologies,” snarled Saundra.

Bill grinned at Theodore, “You sneaky cat!  You stole my
carbine!  Now I owe Tim a fifty!”

Theodore let out a small laugh, “I figured the carbine
cost more than that...”

“Way more,” grinned Bill.  “The fifty was a bet.”

“Never bet against a Highlander's arsenal,” grinned Tim. 
“When the carbine came up missing, I guessed you had borrowed it by accident or
design.  You should be proud, Theodore, we took him down without killing him.”

 Theodore smiled honestly at that, “Just barely, but yeah!” 
His smile suddenly melted, “Was he telling the truth about Mom?  I mean
Janice?”

Theodore sat with Bill and the twins in the canteen while
they waited for news of Janice Westmore.  Theodore was in no mood to be social,
but he was in less of a mood to be left alone.

“Well, going to a dance with Theodore does seem to be
exciting,” grinned Maurice.

“Can't say it was
ever
that exciting when I took
it,” replied Marcel.

“Wrong semester maybe?”

“Could be!”

Theodore
tried
to roll with the twins, but the
waiting was killing him.  He just let out a small meow and rested his head on
the table.

“Drink your lemonade.  You are dehydrated,” mothered Bill.

“Not interested...”

“I don't care if you are interested,” groused Bill.  “You
need fluids.  Now drink up or I'll have Saundra put an IV in you.”

“She did make a mess of Colm,” offered Theodore with a
feeble grin.  He poked at his drink and gave it a quick taste.  Maybe something
stronger instead...

“I can hear those gears turning from here.  Alcohol will
just make the dehydration worse.”

“And would put a damper on his keen personality,” added
one of the twins.  Theodore was too tired to care which one...

All eyes went to Tim as he walked in with a practiced
blank face.  “He finish his second lemonade yet?”

“He hasn't finished his
first
,” replied Bill.

Tim walked over to the counter and came back with a glass
of water and set it in front of Theodore.  “Drink one or the other.”

“Tell me what you found out first.”

“No.  You drink first.  You agreed to be a good boy when
we dropped you off here.  And it seems you haven't.”

Theodore growled and slammed the water.  The lemonade
tasted better but water went down faster and didn't get his fur sticky...

“The Home Office had no comment about the condition or
whereabouts of Dr. Janice Westmore.  They did not even confirm if she was on or
off planet,” began Tim with a practiced meter.  “When we inquired with the
Foreign Office, they revoked our standing paperwork without comment and refused
to talk with us.”

“Neither is a good sign.  So is it true then?”

“I know a quick way to find out.  Bill, you game for doing
a rotation with the Shukurae's 319
^th
 CSOG?”

“Not until this is over!” replied Bill somewhat shocked.

“He is trying to end it,” observed Marcel.

“We do double-talk well,” replied Maurice.

Tim grinned, “There is a certain truth to those two...”

“Um, so is the 319
^th
rotating in planet?” asked
Bill suddenly catching on.

“Not exactly, the Ambassador-at-Large for the Highlands
has asked for 'help' and the 319
^th
has offered their assistance.”

“Hell, yes, I'm in!” fired back Bill.

“Load up, we move out in half an hour.  You coming too,
Theodore?”

“What Bill said!”

“Um, so if the ambassador for the Highlands is in the loop
then I guess you
do
know,” prodded Theodore as they waited for the drop
ship.

Tim frowned, “Don't try to bluff the college kids, they
actually pay attention... Yes, she has been in the loop for longer than you
might imagine.”

“I take it she was brought in when you were assigned to
babysit.”

Tim grinned, “Actually, no.  Your name was in the mix when
you first started college here.  A minor going to school offworld... Your name
went to the
top
of the watch list when there was that targeted attack
against you last year.”

“Um... wow?  I didn't know I was causing so many
problems.”

That got a proper laugh out of Tim, “That is her
job!
 
It helps that there aren't a whole heck of a lot of Highlanders out there.  If
it wasn't the social respect the Highlands have amongst the other Taiks, you
guys would probably be lost in the paperwork from a hundred years ago, you guys
are so darn tiny.  That's not true... The Shukurae would have kept you out
front and center even if the other Taiks hadn't.”

“Um, the Shukurae need to give it a rest,” laughed
Theodore.  “We helped them with their civil war over two hundred years ago!”

Tim frowned, “I don't think you appreciate how much
Highlanders have done for the Shukurae in the intervening years.  Two hundred
years ago was just the
start
of a bizarre but militarily effective
relationship.”

Theodore just shook his head, “Hey, my parents are
artists.  Heck my father even turned down work for the constables because he
wanted to be around my mothers.  I guess I missed out on hearing all the
stories.  Such things just seemed to make my dad squeamish.”

“Your father is the second most amazing Highlander I've
ever met that didn't have a military tradition,” observed Tim.

Theodore laughed, “I think he'd get a good laugh out of
hearing that.  So, who's the first.”

“His son: Theodore Blackford.”

Theodore felt is fur start to spike, “Um, that's me...”

“Yep!  Yes, indeed.  And your fur
still
stands on
end at the slightest provocation...”  Tim turned and looked Theodore square in
the eyes, “Things are going to get a lot worse before they get better.  We know
Edwin will make sure of that.  But promise me one thing:
listen
and
remember
your father's words...”

“Well, of course...”

“No,” interrupted Tim.  “There is still fear in your
eyes.  You are going to have to let that go and trust your father.  Trust what
he has taught you no matter how weird or unpleasant it may seem.  Trust him. 
Completely.”

“I have!  I mean look at what happened with Colm!”

“No... there was still hesitation and fear in your
eyes...”

“This sounds kinda weird coming from a human...”

Tim laughed, “I've served alongside enough Highlanders to
recognize a really special one.  Besides, if it is the
truth,
it
shouldn't matter if it comes from an insane person.”

“Like you for example...”

Tim got a good belly laugh from that, “I'm not crazy, I
just have a low tolerance for boredom!”  He wiped his eyes and continued more
seriously, “Just trust your father.  Please.”

Theodore smiled, “I think I can do that.”