by Pam Uphoff
He scowled back at her. "I hope Kester doesn't expect you t'get t'know those women too well? Meet their bosses?"
"Only if they're the right women." Deena tried for superior, and gave it up as a bad job. "Problem is, are those wizards too strong for me to do anything to? Especially if we encounter all of them at once."
"I wonder how busy Quicksilver is?"
They swapped looks and headed for the corridor.
Xen's little sister had built a house in the hills behind the Tavern. For some definition of "built." It literally was in the hill, with not much more showing than the door and enormous windows sticking out on either side of it. Inside it was mostly one big room with the kitchen in one corner, and a long, well ventilated corridor-tunnel to first a bathing room with hot water on tap, and then further off at a sensible and hygienic distance, a toilet.
Quicksilver was entertaining, and invited them in. "This is Yellow, Sister of the Half-Moon, from Ash."
Easterly boggled. "They named you Yellow?"
Yellow giggled and flipped the end of her long red braid at him. "They were doing hues, and there just wasn't anything in the letter Y except straight up Yellow."
"Insane."
"Probably." Quicksilver said. "I've been pitching working for you lot to her. Do you still need someone to make charms and such?"
Deena studied the redheaded woman. She didn't look very old. Six letters behind Quicksilver. And very pregnant . . . "You have to be sixteen to join the Army . . . and you might want to wait until you can easily leave your daughter with someone else before you enlist."
"Well, yeah, that would be sensible."
"Can you do corridors?" Easterly eyed her bulging figure with alarm.
"Umm, I've done a couple. I can't seem to throw them the way Quicksilver can. Even Rustle can only throw them to where she's already been." She waved a hand at her belly. "Once I'm a half moon, I'll be stronger, more able. I've been taking classes, but they get so boring. I need something to do besides get into trouble with another orgy. Although that haploid spell is seriously handy." She cleared her throat. "Or will be in the future."
Deena frowned. "Haploid spell?"
Quicksilver nodded. "Kills all the sperm in a woman's system, so she doesn't get pregnant. Handy for, err, Rippers especially."
Easterly was a little red about the ears, and jumped into change the subject. "Actually, one reason we came was t'beg some traveling assistance. We're going t'be going all over, tracking rumors and possible sightings for those seven women. Undercover, of course."
Quicksilver grinned. "What you need is to borrow my family's favorite wagon. I wonder if it's in working order? When are you leaving?"
Yellow had started giggling for some reason.
"Tomorrow. We'll check two places in Havwee, then drop down t'Farofo t'look at another. After that we have to go across country to the next spot. Well, it's on the road, but nowhere near a corridor."
Quicksilver grinned. "We'll meet you in Farofo, a bit before sundown."
They all had dinner at the Tavern, Quicksilver refusing to elaborate, and Yellow still snickering.
The next morning they dressed in nice City styles. Easterly looking authentically uncomfortable in obviously brand new expensive clothing. He drew the whores like vultures to a fresh kill. While he stuttered and squirmed and finally nearly ran away, Deena in a neat but shabby dress, walked quickly by, eyeing the few women who weren't teasing Easterly. They called him a few things as he fled, but none of them had the faintest glow about them. No familiar faces here. And no magic. They walked separately across town for a repeat performance, with similar results.
They corridored back to Karista, to report their lack of success and pick up any changes in their orders. There weren't any. "We'll get horses and supplies from Fort Oven if we don't like Q's arrangement." Deena poked dubiously at the tiny pile of clothing. "I'd rather just take the stage, but I don't know how much time we'll need at this cathouse, and then we'll just turn about and leave. Ten days out from Farofo, and then the same back. Unless Quicksilver will help us."
She gathered the clothing up in a canvas sack with handles, like laundry or marketing, and headed for the corridor. Easterly followed, saddlebags over his shoulder.
The place they needed to examine in Farofo was a busy restaurant, with a large number of women waiting the tables and flirting with the mostly male customers. Deena rejected quite a few advances, laughed about it with the waitresses, who seemed to be completely non-magical, and when a bouncer suggested that she ply her trade elsewhere, she got huffy and complained to the manager. No magic in the cramped back offices or busy kitchen, either.
They walked out almost together as the sun was setting. A gaudy enclosed wagon pulled by a pair of mismatched pintos rattled by them on the street, then stopped. The big ugly mutt following it growled at a passerby, who hastily gave it room.
The overly made-up woman driving leaned to look back at them. "Want a ride?"
Easterly started laughing. "Oh no. I do not believe this."
Deena looked back at the mutt. Quinn. Another dog popped out from under the wagon. Grinning. One of Xen's old dogs, Silky, was it?
Yellow, in multi-colored skirts and a very low cut blouse, opened the back door. "Tell your fortune, Miss?"
Deena dragged Easterly in before too many more people stopped to stare.
"I do not believe this. You cannot possibly be seen in this thing." Easterly's shoulders were still shaking.
Yellow grinned. "This wagon is a genuine historical artifact. This is the wagon the explorers used to cross the north pole to the Old World."
"Mind you, so many parts have been replaced that I'm not sure any actual pieces of the original are left." Quicksilver called back from the driver's seat. The narrow hatch to the front was latched open. "But as a way to travel, it just can't be beat."
Easterly wiped tears of mirth from his cheeks. "Travelers are t'only group of people held in lower esteem than m'family. Although, with Prince Staven riding around on a pinto, we may have finally won last place."
"One of these days I'm going to hunt down your family and see for myself." Deena looked around the wagon. At first glance it looked rather empty, but she recognized the rock handles lining the sides. "You know what? I don't believe this either. I mean, I know you magic types are weird, but this exceeds all my worst expectations."
"So, how can we help you?"
"We had four houses of ill repute to check for those Auralians. The first three have been a bust. The fourth is a newly built place in the middle of nowhere, somewhere out on the Old South Road. On what we are given to understand is the highest point on the road, about halfway between here and the border with Verona."
"Ah, and you don't want to take two weeks traveling each direction, just on a rumor. No problem. I've got the fastest pintos in the kingdom." She grinned at their expressions. "A Traveler friend of the family says there's a big flat spot at the top of the divide where everyone—not just Travelers—takes a break and camps. I wonder if that's where they built?"
Quicksilver drove them out of the town and two hours down the road before they were alone in the early winter twilight. "We got a late start, so Ten and Jack haven't worked much today." She made a scooping gesture and then threw absolutely nothing, except that a glowing circle appeared in front of them. The horses plodded right through it. "There. We're close to a hundred miles outside Farofo. Xen and I can detect major magic, traveling or making corridors and gates, from about a hundred miles away. About eight more throws, and we'll be as close as I dare make corridors. We'll drop all the bubbles the last day—I can see a concentration like we've got in the wagon from about ten miles away."
Easterly looked around. "Have you been here before?"
"No. I'm throwing blind, just assuming this map of the Old Road, with all the fault block shifts, is accurate." She snickered and threw again. And then twice more. That landed them just outside a fairly large encampment of su
spicious merchants.
They warned the 'Travelers' off. "We don't want your thieving and whoring around us!"
Quicksilver made a rude gesture. "We are not thieves, and we don't fuck pigs." She steered the team around the encampment and they drove on through the dark for another half-hour.
They pulled over and stopped in an absolutely desolate spot. Flat desert stretched away on all sides.
Easterly jumped down and unhitched the horses. "I can't believe, after all those gorgeous beasts and intelligent horses you and your family own, that you're driving spotted critters."
"Ha! The Sheep Man keeps a line of pintos going, says he has too many fond memories to not have at least a few around. The mostly white one is Jack, the mostly black one is Ten. And they're pretty smart." She pulled buckets out of the back and poured water into them from a metal spigot on a barrel attached to the side of the wagon. Deena wondered how much water was in bubbles, just carried along as if it weighed nothing.
She explored, and found firewood in one bubble, and a steaming hot dinner in another. Seeing Yellow making a ring of stones, she brought out an armload of wood. "This is . . . really great. Although I suspect that we ought not be bringing you two along with us."
Yellow laughed. "But what could look more authentic than a pregnant lady? How could we be anything but what we seem, with me along?"
"The main problem is going to be checking out this cathouse." Easterly said. "I don't think Travelers will be welcome."
"Not as customers, perhaps." Quicksilver pulled out some clever folding canvas chairs. "But I'll bet the back door will be open to fortune tellers and people with charms and jewelry to sell."
"Unless this is them." Deena said.
"In which case we accept our dismissal with rude gestures and spitting, and drive on, mission accomplished." Quicksilver pointed out.
"Well, Colonel Kester said that if we caught any of them in a vulnerable state, to kill or capture them. I don't think he quite understands about magic."
"So we get to tromp the Evil Wizards and Witches? Excellent." Quicksilver looked appallingly bright-eyed and eager. "Relax and have some dinner. Afterwards we'll do some undetectable disguises." She studied Deena. "You need to advance, but how about I show you some offensive spells, anyway? Two days should be enough to practice stun and spin."
The next two days they plodded steadily along, climbing ridges and then dipping down again. But always working gradually higher, until they topped out on a broad ridge and saw the gradually descending route ahead.
It was late afternoon, with Easterly driving and Quicksilver sitting beside him. Quicksilver frowned over at the compact building south of the road. "It's just like Faro said. They built it on the camping spot. Do they expect me to want to visit their establishment?"
A man stepped out of the boulders to the left. He was dressed all in grays, with a scarf around his head. "And who would this Faro be? You're not one of us."
Easterly eyed him. An authentic Traveler. I guess they don’t like these people just building a bordello on a place they used regularly.
"Faro Valasik, I'm a friend, not family. I travel a different path, but Harry watches my steps. This is the halfway point of my current journey, and I believe we will camp in the traditional spot." She pointed and Easterly reined the pintos to the right into the flat spot in front of the ornate cube.
A man stomped angrily down the steps. Staggered a bit. "Damn it all! We've told you lot you aren't welcome here." Besides being obviously drunk, he had blonde hair and dark skin. The one Xen had called Eldon.
"This is them." Deena breathed to Yellow. Yellow headed for the door, and Deena took a last look through the window before following.
Quicksilver climbed down from the driver's seat and stretched, showing a bit of cleavage. Deena sighed. Quicksilver just wasn't very good at it.
Yellow hopped out of the back, and her smile had more sexual allure than Q's entire body. "Hellooo, handsome. It looks like you are short on customers."
Quicksilver pulled a palm sized globe of clear crystal out of her pocket and held it up between herself and the man. "I see that this would be a very good day for you and your ladies to pick up a few pretty things, eh?" She turned and walked around the back of the wagon.
The man stomped after her. "Look, just move the wagon . . . "
Quicksilver made a scooping gesture and he disappeared. She picked up absolutely nothing and shoved her thumb up against the wagon as if pressing in a tack.
The doors of the building were flung open, and three more men jogged down the steps. Easterly climbed down from the high driver's seat, moving stiff and slow, flexing his hip and knee joints. "Damned long trip. I don't suppose you have hot baths?"
The man in the lead, Deena recognized as Heso. He walked around to the back of the wagon. "Where'd Eldon get to?"
"He's right over . . . " Quicksilver pointed around the corner of the wagon and followed the man out of sight. She returned and repeated the pressing motion. "That's two of the strongest ones taken care of. Ricardo isn't anywhere near."
"Well, let's just see about bagging the rest of them, then." Deena stepped around the wagon to find Easterly and Yellow facing the other two wizards, with a pack of women trotting towards them. She recognized them from the images Xen had passed on to her. The four unknown witches and the three missing Auralian mistresses.
Their nine to our four. And Yellow's in no shape to fight.
"All right, you lot need to clear off right now!"
Zap, and the other one is Ronnie. Deena eased to the side. We need to split their attention, hit them hard and fast . . .
"Oh, hey! There's no need for this to get nasty, you know?" Easterly protested. "We're just camping for the night."
Yellow eased up to the big black-haired man. "You must be the boss here."
The first woman to reach them was the one called Smoky. "Hey! This is a whorehouse, you can't seduce our men under our noses."
Deena swaggered forward. "Perhaps you'd like to look at our charms and jewelry?"
Quicksilver held up her crystal ball. "Would you like to know the name of your True Love?"
Smokey looked at them in disbelief. "My True Love's name is Ricardo. Old Gods! Go away. We are the Whores de Combat and will destroy you if you insist."
There was a long silence.
"Hors de combat?" Easterly asked, in a voice quivering with laughter. "Whores de . . . " He lost it then, bellowing with laughter.
The seven women surged forward, knives appearing in fists. Quicksilver dropped her crystal ball, reached into her pocket and pulled out two sticks. An inch thick, about two feet long . . . One stick rapped the knuckles of the nearest knife wielder, the other popped her temple and the woman dropped
I think the daughter of the God of War just might know how to fight . . .
Yellow turned her embrace into a chokehold and Zap thrashed and sagged.
Deena started tossing stun spells, and caught one of the whores before the shields started going up. Quicksilver gestured and knocked them back. Shields not grounded.
Easterly backed away from a pair of women trying to flank him. He pulled a knife, jumped back and deflected a stab, kicked to the side at the other woman and flinched back from a slash at his leg.
Ronnie jumped in to help, skidded suddenly and collapsed.
Silky jumped and knocked one witch flat. She went limp as her head hit the stony ground. Easterly blocked another slash from the second witch, stepped in and punched her. She staggered back and kept backing.
Yellow dropped the limp wizard and tossed up a hand. A thrown knife bounced off her shield, a foot from her chest.
Quicksilver was tossing spells as the rest scrambled to retreat, throwing spells themselves as they backed up. Only one of them had much power, and Quinn leaped and fastened her teeth in the witch's left arm as she gestured. She shrieked and beat at the dog, then tripped at the edge of the plateau and slid out of sight. Easterly started t
hrowing fireballs. They bounced off the witches' shields, but were massively distracting. Deena threw more stun spells and another woman collapsed. Ha! Can't hold enough shields at once!
The last two women turned and ran. Easterly bolted after them, and brought one down. The other made it into the building with Deena and Yellow right after her. She knew the ground and was through the building and out the back door. The witch who had gone over the side was there as well, she looked their way and sprinted at the rock face and was gone. The second witch was on her heels and ran through the same spot. Deena followed, into the Farofo market, where vendors cursed their abrupt entry and they could see no sign of the women.
"Damn, damn, damn."
Easterly catapulted out of a blank wall, bounced off a vendor's cart and joined them. "Quicksilver said she'd hold the fort. She'll put all of them into bubbles, said maybe she'd take the whole building."
They split up. Easterly headed for the area around the corridors to alert the troops on guard duty. Deena and Yellow searched the market area, finding no trace of the witches. Then they had to search for the corridor back. With better luck.
Quicksilver was chatting with a collection of Travelers. Two more gaudy wagons had appeared from nowhere and the man in gray Quicksilver had spoken to earlier was admiring Jack and Ten.
"I've got the others all bagged. Found three kids inside. Very little paperwork, unfortunately. The babies are just a few weeks old."
The Travelers allowed that so long as the building was open for campers, it could stay.
Quicksilver had collapsed her thrown corridors behind them as they traveled, but dragged one all the way from Farofo to the spot where they’d left all the bubbles. So with a single toss to that spot, and a brief pause to pick up the abandoned supplies, they were back in Farofo, where they threaded through the public corridors to Karista. They turned the bubbles and the papers over to a flummoxed Colonel Kester.
Chapter Thirteen
Winter 1393, day 8
Karista, Kingdom of the West
Xen looked up from the report he was penning when Lily walked into his office. Janic had been both relieved that Art had appeared to have no part in the assassination—and irritated that he might turn into a future problem.