Growing Up Magic (Wine of the Gods Book 9)

by Pam Uphoff

  "They are playing with us." Deena growled, looking at the naked forms as they topped a rock slope too steep for the horses and disappeared into the forest.

  Easterly stopped. "Hold up Deena. The Lieutenant just said to find out who they are, not pursue at all costs. And . . . there's something weird about how they're always just ducking out of sight."

  He could see her glare in the moonlight. The just past full moon was low in the west, and the sun wouldn't rise for another hour.

  "Weird? I don't believe in magic. Or Gods. Otherwise I'd have been praying to the God of Spies for hours. Help! God of Spies, I'm Lost in the Woods!"

  Easterly winced at her sarcastic tone. Tried to ignore the sudden prickling at his nerves. "Well, I just . . ." He broke off as Deena wheeled her horse around.

  The dark form was silhouetted against the moonlit sky. Details of the horse and rider were impossible to see. "That's a nice Lost charm on you two. And Expectations, too. Who'd you offend?" The figure's voice was soft, almost boyish, and he made a slight gesture with his left hand.

  The stars wheeled giddily about and Easterly shook his head, then looked around.

  "You need to come this way." The dark figure turned and the horse walked away to the, if the stars were to be believed, north-west.

  "Who are you?" Deena pushed her tired horse up close to the dark rider.

  The horse was taller than hers, and the rider about as tall as she was. In the eerie dark he might easily have loomed. Instead he was so remote that he seemed untouchable. "The God of Spies. You called me." He disappeared into the dark forest and Easterly let Bandit follow, trusting her senses above his eyesight in the gloom.

  "Very funny. There's no such thing as a God of Spies. What is your name? Where are we?" Deena sounded angry and determined.

  They walked out into the first clearing they'd left hours before, and took the path to the grassy field with the flock of sheep still grazing in the warm summer night. There was a village, dark in the predawn, that they skirted to approach one of the huge barns some villages used to combine their harvests to bargain collectively with the merchants. The dark figure pointed to a spot on the side of the barn. Another one of those half visible doors. The dark figure looked at Easterly. "Ah, a wizard. Your hormone repression's getting a bit thin." He waved his left hand and a sparkling net wrapped itself around Easterly. "That ought to be the last time you'll need it."

  Easterly shook his head again, but turned Bandit and sent her through the doorway that wasn't quite there. She tossed her head and snorted, shoes loud as she danced on the pavement of the Temple of Ba'al.

  Deena trotted her mount out of the side of the wall, looked back and scowled at the solid marble. Then she turned and scowled at Easterly. "I do not believe in magic."

  Easterly sighed. "I try not to. But strange things keep happening." He turned Bandit toward home.

  Captain Carson yelled at them when they tried to tell a straightforward narrative. "There's no such thing as magic!"

  That brought footsteps from outside the room. The Captain glared at the doorway, stiffened abruptly. "Sorry sir."

  General Rufi nodded, and eyed them. "So, what have you upset the Captain with?"

  Deena sighed. "Something straight out of your fairy tales." She told the story again, and Rufi nodded.

  "Begging the Captain's pardon, but there are some surviving magic users, and even gods. They tend to live out away from most other people. I recognize enough of what you've said to know where you've been. I'll write and see if they know who Rebo's new friends are." The General grinned at the Captain's expression. "Relax. Magic has to be seen to be believed. Leave that part of the enquiry to me."

  Carson gave him an exasperated glare. "Oh, right. I'll just say these two were rescued by the Boy with the Talking Horse."

  Rufi chuckled. "Do you know, it might have been. The boy might think the 'God of Spies' was pretty funny if he overheard you."

  Deena echoed the Captain's expression. "I didn't hear the horse talk."

  Rufi's smile broadened into a grin. "No one ever does."

  The Captain glared at his retreating back. "All right. Go away. The fairies helped the little perverts escape. So I can concentrate on all these women who may or may not have had sex with the Crown Prince Tertiary. Old Gods, it'll be that mess with Fossi all over again. Old Gods! He's fourteen, I wasn't ready for this sort of problem yet. Garit's never . . . and Staven's so sensible . . . "

  They saluted and withdrew in relief.

  Easterly eyed Deena. "That mess with Fossi? What did Prince Fossi do?" He'd thought the Spear Prince was the model of decorum and a proper military officer.

  "Fossi's a bastard, his mother's a Traveler, or ran away with the Travelers or some such, and they didn't locate Fossi until he was nearly eleven. All we'd need is four or five bastards running about to make everyone wonder about the succession."

  "Umm, why bother? I mean, there's three other princes, plenty for a Spear and a Crown."

  "Because . . . Old Gods! I don't believe in magic. Get it from someone who does. The mess was apparently everyone running around trying to find the missing prince. There's this thing they call the collective subconscious, so that subconsciously everyone knows what everyone else knows. It's a stupid theory. But apparently there was a widespread conviction that the Spear Prince already existed, when Rolo was born. We don't need a repeat of that, especially when there must have been a dozen or more women at Ba'al's Temple. If any of them get pregnant, how the hell do we know who the father is?"

  Easterly shrugged. "They're bastards. Rebo's only fourteen. They'll be negotiating for a marriage—or two—when he's around twenty. Those legitimate kids ought to be the ones that will inherit."

  Deena nodded. "I agree, but . . . well, I don't understand, but it doesn't work logically."

  In the fall Prince Staven was sent off on his two year rotation.

  Crown Prince Rolo chewed his fingernails and worried. Both for the boy and the succession.

  The king laughed at him. "Now you can't be any more worried than I was. Poor Fossi had so much to prove. And lets face it, Rufi's a hard act to follow. Stave will just be compared to Fossi."

  Rolo sighed. "I know. But this is the one time in his life when the Spear Prince garners more attention than the Crown Prince. I think Stave's a bit intimidated by the attention." Staven was getting high marks for being serious and a hard worker. And if "competent" was a more common accolade than "brilliant" none of the reports were negative.

  "I wish he were older. Sixteen's so bloody young. Another year . . . but I didn’t want him running with Rebo, either. What am I to do with that boy?"

  Easterly left them to their worries. And wondered a bit if he would ever marry, have children. And worry about them.

  Chapter Eleven

  Winter1387

  Karista, Kingdom of the West

  Prince Rebo worked hard to be obnoxious all winter under a tight guard. Easterly had the less arduous task of guarding Garit. The King's youngest child had turned sixteen in the fall and he was both growing and filling out. He spent a lot of time with the guards on the practice fields. His tutors had to nearly tackle him to drag him inside for lessons. Easterly spent a lot of time on horseback, following Garit while he evaded them.

  "It's not that I'm not interested in some of it, but it just keeps going on. I'm going to be in the rotation this year, I should be getting ready for that, shouldn't I?" He eyed Easterly to gage the degree of sympathy he was stirring up.

  "Seems like there'd be a point where you were done. Maybe you could pin them down as to where that is, and then get there as fast as you can. And, umm, I'm not sure your father has quite decided whether or not you'll be grown enough by fall for the rotation. Could be the year after."

  Garit huffed. "It's nearly six months. I'll be much taller and stronger. I'll turn seventeen two weeks after we report for training. And the main problems with the lessons is that Rebo's in the room. Usually bra
gging."

  Easterly nodded. "Well, if it wouldn't make the situation even worse, I'd say that when he brags about five pregnant women, you point out that they're whores and no one knows if any of the kids are his."

  "His buddies claimed they found a bunch of virgins for him."

  "Even if I believed that, have they been chaste since then? And frankly, I doubt they were even exclusive just that night; there was a whole damn orgy going on. 'Spect that at least his buddies helped themselves to the ladies after he'd done the official deflowering."

  Garit hunched unhappily. Easterly sympathized. The boy was, fortunately, without a bad influence to procure women for him. At his age Garit probably didn't consider himself fortunate.

  Around the Spring Equinox, Rebo's five women started giving birth. Twins and a mind boggling set of triplets bolstered the boy's bragging to eight children. The whole Palace heard the screams when Rebo learned that he had to pay for their maintenance out of his allowance. He managed to find a low for princely behavior, no details leaked, but all the serving women in his part of the palace were shifted to other duties and replaced with men of mature years and impeccable behavior.

  Whether it was growing enough, or just to get him away from Rebo, Prince Garit joined the two year rotation in the fall.

  As the cold set in and the comets showed in the evening, Easterly got barely enough leave to get hay in. He hardened his heart and butchered two of the old cows, freezing lots of the meat. If early signs were any indication, keeping meat frozen wasn’t going to be a problem this winter.

  Prince Garit's departure had resulted in Easterly being assigned to some of the other princes and princesses. But more and more often, Rebo, as the Prince ran rough shod over the rest of the guards.

  "I think those unmentionable cousins of yours gave you the magic touch where obnoxious young men are concerned." Lilly was tapping her finger nails on the table, muscles in her jaw tight. "His behavior toward Princess Eleganza was unconscionable, and Deena damn near pasted him a week ago."

  Easterly sighed. "Look, he isn't going to get any better for about five or six years. You need to send him off with some very worldly types that can find him a prostitute every other day so he'll behave in public."

  "The last whore they found him with was male." Lilly commented dryly. "And looked younger than Rebo."

  Easterly winced.

  One of the other guards walked through, and tossed out a comment. "They've spotted what they think are the two men from the museum party hanging around him, and I heard that Rufi brought in one of his witch daughters to take a look at Rebo for spells."

  "Magic." Lilly shook her head. "God of the Roads, that's all we'd need."

  Easterly wondered if he could meet this possibly fictional daughter and sighed. Fortunately the snows came a bit early, and Rebo was easy to keep track of for a few months. Once the spring thaw set in, the prince became nearly impossible to guard. Very much to Rebo's irritation, Black Magic was able to outsprint Bandit, but Easterly was always able to catch up. Until the day his cinch gave way, a mile out from the Palace.

  Rebo laughed. "And don't follow me! That's an order, Easterly." He put spurs to the mare's side and Black Magic galloped recklessly through the traffic. A chestnut horse joined him, the rider slim and black haired.

  Easterly led the mare back, took a look at the clearly cut stitching of the girth straps and requested additional guards to hunt for the Prince.

  "He's with that black haired, blue-eyed pretty boy, and they both had stuffed saddlebags. Old gods know what they've planned." Easterly stomped off for a change of clothes, extra socks, and money. "In case I have trouble running them down."

  Bricker handed over a sizable sack. "We just found his valet locked in a closet, the man says there are clothes missing. I'm sending out people every direction, but you've got an instinct. Find him. Don't wring his neck."

  Chapter Twelve

  Spring1388

  Crossroads, Section One, Foothills province

  The only building in sight had a sign, 'Fire Mountain Inn' out front. Where it got enough customers to stay in business was anyone's guess. Black Magic was in the barn, with four other horses, so Easterly turned Bandit over to the stableman and walked across the brick paved yard to the back door.

  Rebo was there, with his pretty boy. Easterly cursed mentally, and wished he had an officer along. It wasn't any of his business what the Prince did. His job was simply to keep the prince alive. It had taken him three damn weeks to catch up to the Prince, and he had no idea how he was going to bring him back. He leaned against the wall in the shadows and hoped no one noticed him.

  Rebo was sixteen, and the pretty boy looked younger. The two boys were going out of their way to make their sexual relationship obvious to the three big men sitting across the room from them.

  Easterly eyed the men's well kept gear, the metal strips on leather jackets to protect their arms, the swords, close to hand even while eating dinner and guessed mercenaries. They were a bit too disciplined to be bandits. Hopefully disciplined enough to ignore the obnoxious prince.

  Rebo giggled as a good looking girl brought out the men's dinners. The waitress looked seventeen, possibly eighteen. Nice smile with good teeth, nothing at all suggestive.

  Rebo grabbed her crotch as she walked past. She yelped and swung her tray, smacking Rebo across the face. Rebo yelled, the three mercs jumped up and Easterly stalked forward. The mercs stopped at the sight of his uniform, and the girl scurried through the kitchen door.

  Rebo glared. "What are you doing here? I dismissed you and specifically ordered you to not follow."

  "Good thing I did, since you seem determined to get your ass whipped."

  He curled a lip. "We could of beat them. And anyway, shouldn't you be arresting that slut for hitting me?"

  "No. You deserved it. Unfortunately I cannot also stand by and watch these gentlemen beat you to a pulp, so I think we should be heading home."

  "You don't have to do what he says, he's just a glorified servant." The Pretty Boy smirked.

  Rebo started to open his mouth, and Easterly grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and hauled him out of his chair. "Time to go home, my Prince."

  The Pretty Boy looked like he'd like to do something, but his eyes jerked to the side and he settled back. Easterly followed his gaze. A bent old man, leaning on a spear was at the base of the stairs leading upward. The stableman, pitchfork in hand was at the back door.

  Easterly nodded politely, and gave Rebo a little shake. "Have you paid for dinner? No? Then do so now. Tip the girl."

  Rebo fumbled out a collection of coin and paper, tossed it to the floor and shrugged off Easterly's hand. "You've ruined my adventure." He stomped out the door to the barn.

  "I think three weeks worth is quite adventurous enough." Easterly stalked across the courtyard, pausing as he spotted Bandit up on the hill, flirting with a hoary old draft horse. The stable boy grabbed a halter and hustled off to catch her. The older man fetched the Prince's tack.

  As soon as Black Magic was saddled, Rebo mounted and spurred off down the road. He was heading for Karista, so Easterly didn't rush to follow. He bought a sandwich from the cook and a sack of oats from the stable boy while he saddled up himself.

  "Sorry, I swear I shot the bolts, but that old horse likes company and sometimes lets horses out." The boy eyed his uniform nervously, but Easterly paid for the oats and tipped him before heading down the road.

  It was a slow trip back to Karista, the Prince behaving as badly as he could without provoking Easterly after the first time he whipped the brat's rear for trying to rape a maid at a nice hotel. Easterly knew damn good and well that he'd stepped over the line.

  Two weeks down the road they met a troop of the King's Own. The relief on Captain Carson's face was short lived as Rebo ordered him to arrest Easterly. Carson mildly suggested that they leave that decision up to the King. Rebo fumed for the remaining week, and spurred ahead as soon as the ci
ty walls were in sight. Carson sent the troops after him, looked thoughtfully at Easterly and shook his head. "You'd better stay away from him until his complaints have been heard."

  Easterly wondered a bit grimly what the penalty was for striking the Crown Prince Tertiary. Probably the worst they could do was send him back to his family.

  Chapter Thirteen

  1388

  Discordia, Auralia

  No. The worst they could do to him was assign him to guard an embassy in a foreign land where he could spend three years wondering what his family was doing.

  The king had thanked him, and suggested that a long separation from Prince Rebo was unfortunately necessary. He had six weeks to get his affairs in order – haying, paying his father's taxes in advance, and with many regrets, turning Bandit out to pasture with the cows. She was only three. She'd only be six when he got back. No reason to sell her, apart from keeping her away from the cousins. "Buck them off. Kick them. Make them scared to fool with you." He rubbed her forehead and walked off, not looking back.

  Wacolm saw him to the ship. "Don't look so down. One of the best things about embassy duty is that they try to keep the guards busy by putting them through Officer's School."

  "Me? The Private Who Laid Hands On The Crown Heir Tertiary?"

  Wacolm snickered. "If that boy ever grows up, you may take some of the credit, and we all know it. So just get out of sight for three years, and come back a lieutenant."

  ***

  Worrying about home was the only negative. Discordia was the largest city in the World, despite the rain of meteors and fires that had destroyed a quarter of it thirteen years previously.

  Easterly learned all three local dialects of Arbish and wallowed in all the schooling he'd missed as a child. No mention was made of magic. The libraries were unhelpful. But he took to the classes with a hunger he'd never recognized and graduated early. Even with the duties of a new minted Lieutenant, he kept taking more classes, and reading voraciously.