Olympian (Wine of the Gods Book 25)

by Pam Uphoff

  Chapter Seventeen

  18 Nicholas 1398 yp

  Averge, Paris Division, One World

  Rael sniffed the fresh mountain air, so different than what she'd grown up breathing.

  Yip—Ytbw Withione Cere—lived part of the year in Lyon at a large show stable, but had hauled his concussed self off to his parents' small farm up in the mountains to the west to recuperate.

  "It's embarrassing to crash so badly, so close to home. We stopped here for a couple of days, to rest the horses, and ourselves, after we'd travelled up from Lisbon. I know the road down, I drive it all the time . . . there was a sharp enough corner, with a deep enough drop that they wouldn't have survived."

  Rael suspected he'd be a good looking young man, once the bruises faded. And the pupils of his eyes got back to the same size. He hadn't stood up when his worried mother had ushered her into the sitting room.

  "That was the worst possible place for that to have happened." Rael prompted him.

  "Well . . . maybe. But definitely not as dangerous as some spots on the road over the Pyrenees. Rust, Ezli said."

  "Yes . . . look, as part of the investigation, something came to light. And it may not be related. But rumor has it that Vueg ambushed you, kissed you, in the parking lot."

  Yip snorted, winced and touched his head. "In Madrid? That was nearly a month before the brakes failed. You think she was distracting me while someone fiddled with the brakes?"

  "How close to your van were you?"

  "Oh she shoved me right up against it. I had bruises on my shoulder blade from the door handle." He rotated his right shoulder. "If she'd done it before the show, I'd have thought she was trying to mess up my ride."

  "So, were you on the right or left side of the van?"

  He gave her an odd look. "You really do think she's involved? Umm, left side of the van. Was there someone under it?"

  "Well, let's say there's rust in a pattern that a fast-oxidation spell would have left if applied by someone standing a few inches away from the left side, just behind the cab door."

  "Fast-oxidation? Umm, look all of us riders? We suppress our magic, because it's illegal to use it in the show ring. We don't learn how to do fancy spells. They aren't . . . important." He winced, hand to head again.

  "Are you all right?"

  "No . . . there's still a bit of bleeding . . . well, Mom's driving me back to Lyon tomorrow." Now there was a touch of fear in his eyes. "Two days ago the doctor said if they had to do anything . . . they can't stop the bleeding without doing some damage getting to it."

  "Oh."

  He shook his head. "Well, I guess you understand."

  "Yeah." Rael looked at her right hand. The three outside fingers slow to respond, giving almost no feedback. Pulled out her pocket flask. "Healing spells. Tons of them, and an aphrodisiac you won't believe. Don't make me hit you."

  "Ha! I can barely stand up." He grabbed a glass beside his chair, and held it out.

  She pour him a bare shot.

  He grinned and tasted it. "Nice wine, but I was expecting hard . . . hard . . . Holy One! What is that stuff!"

  Rael watched carefully as he gasped and clutched the chair arms, panting.

  The room was a bit dim, so she was probably imagining the bruises shrinking and yellowing. The barely analyzed spells of an enemy agent. A von neumann's potion that we don't really understand.

  "Well . . . that was really something." Yip took a deep breath, and swallowed the rest of the wine. Sat and panted for a bit. "You, umm, you guards have some really amazing potions."

  "Well, this one's not in wide distribution. If it weren't for the aphrodisiac side-effects, I'd say it ought to be. As it is, well, I wouldn't actually mind if you happened to not mention it to your doctor."

  "Big secret, huh? Yeah." He stood carefully, turned his head back and forth. "Damn."

  He walked over to a wall mirror and stared into it. "My pupils are even again. One damn me."

  "It's not a cure all, although it sure tries hard to be. See what your doctor says tomorrow."

  "Yeah." His grin faded. "Rust spells. Something that could have crashed the van anytime in the last month. Veggie . . . is in no way affectionate. And that was an attack kiss, not passion. Don't let her hurt anyone else."

  "Yeah. We'll be all over the team. Take care of yourself."

  He glanced at the glass. "Does throwing a party count?"

  "Doubt it."

  Her grin faded as she walked out. Is a kiss in the right place grounds for a truth match? Especially if she refuses? I don't think a judge is going to allow it . . . and if I screw up the Olympic team, or look like I'm trying to eliminate one of Paer's rivals . . . One Bloody Hell.

  We can't guard Paer closely enough when she's on horseback. Never could. Damn, will she try something else, or will she think she's a sure thing for the final four?

  Chapter Eighteen

  19 Nicholas 1398

  New Delhi, Delhi Division, One World

  Paer and Efro got put to work warming up horses for the other four to ride. With thirty-one teams sharing space, they had to use their assigned arenas at assigned times. So actual jumping practice time was limited. Mind, the two juniors got to jump as well, but not as often as what Efro started calling "the Adults."

  But she got a lot of practice warming up the eight finest horses in the world. And by the end of the week she'd jumped them all, too.

  "So, with a hundred and twenty-four riders, round one will be split between two days. It almost doesn't count, for team competition. What you win is a better spot in the next round. And believe me, we really do want a later start time, so we can watch the early jumpers—because round two will be a whole new course—warm up our horses, and if we get into a jump off, they won't have cooled off before then."

  "And then the parade." Ezli frowned back toward the barns. "Fortunately for us all, our bit is quite brief, one long street, one lap of the dome arena and off we go, back to the barn. Umm, just the four of us, the eventers will fly in the day we leave, and the dressage teams as soon as they're out of here."

  Efro made a relieved swiping gesture.

  Reyc snickered. "It's not that bad."

  Paer elbowed him. "We'll do it in four years. Or maybe the Empire Cup at the turn of the century in two."

  "They don't make you parade for that, and the venues are scattered all over the Empire." Ezli grinned. "Then the finals, round three, if you prefer. The top eight scoring teams from round two duke it out for the Team Medals. Top three scores of the four riders in each team added up. Then two days later the top scoring thirty riders from the first two rounds compete for the individual medals. The day off gives the horses time to rest, and the riders can switch to a different horse, if they wish."

  Paer nodded. "So while it's likely that the winning teams will be well represented in the individual round, there could be some really good riders whose team didn't get into the finals, riding then, right?"

  "Right, in fact no more than three riders from the same team can compete in it."

  They all eyed each other.

  "Ooo, one last cut!" Efro grinned as glares turned his direction.

  Paer shivered. I'll talk to the guards about really, really watching the horses.

  And the people.

  "Early morning tune up, barely warming the horses up, stretching, a bit of galloping, a few jumps. Then a long cool down. Rest. Big show tomorrow." Ezli on Escalade led them out to the track.

  A random drawing had assigned each team four jumping slots for round one; two tomorrow, two the next day.

  Twenty-one hundred tonight was the deadline for the final declaration. Once the officials were given the four rider-horse pairs, and which would ride in which slot, it couldn't be changed.

  Paer had saddled Crystal for a good gallop at dawn, and was back in time to take Noir out with the rest of the team. Warm up, and a few high jumps to get the horses back into the mindset of the big jumps, then back to the s
tables.

  Paer circled Noir to slow his eager trot. Drat, neither Crystal nor I am going to make it this time. All the horses are sound, all the riders ready.

  Ahead of her, she caught Tidy's laugh. "Don't bet on it. Paer's scorching hot, getting better with every show. One of us could easily be cut."

  Veggie, riding her big chestnut, made a rude gesture and steered away from him.

  Tidy and Reyc were side-by-side for a moment as they walked up the track beside their assigned stabling. In the lead, Ezli dismounted and handed Escalade over to a groom and walked back to watch them approach. Constantly watching for the faintest show of lameness.

  Paer glanced over her shoulder. Two guards strolling along, keeping between her and another team heading for the exercise arenas. A sudden glow in her mind's eye jerked her head back around.

  Veggie gathering power, turning her horse sideways, looking over at Reyc and Tidy . . . throwing it . . .

  Paer could see the twist, feel just an edge . . . Panic. A spell horses are particularly vulnerable to.

  Paer booted Noir ahead, turned him to ram Veggie's mount, but the harm was done.

  Reyc's gelding leaped sideways, crashing into the hindquarters of Tidy's mount who wanted to run. And did, as Tidy hit the ground hard. Reyc was off, held on to the reins a moment and was rolled.

  Veggie cursed and turned toward Paer . . . and Snip grabbed her with both hands and hauled her off the horse.

  Paer grabbed the chestnut's reins and hauled him away from the struggle on the ground. Handed them to the first groom to reach them.

  :: Rael! Where are you? Veggie put a panic spell on two of the horses. They're running south. Get a car after them! ::

  :: Paer! ::

  :: I'm fine, plenty of guards here, they got Veggie. :: Only a slight lie, but she could see a local policeman and two guards running to help Snip. Or not.

  "C'mon, Paer let's get you out of here."

  "No." She swung off Noir, elbowed Wsca aside and handed the reins to Davy. "Cool him down, and give him a massage. I think he may be jumping tomorrow."

  The policeman interrupted her. "I saw power around her." he nodded toward Veggie. "What, exactly did she do."

  "She threw a panic spell on two horses." Paer's gaze was drawn the where Reyc had one hand cradled against her chest, and was being helped to her feet by a shaky looking Tidy. And jerked past them to people bent over a third form . . .

  Ezli. Standing there watching the horses as they walked toward him.

  "Oh, no." She bolted past the policeman.

  "Don't cut my best boots, dammit." Ezli was sweating and pale, one hand hovering over his booted calf . . . "Dammit, we have to have a team declared by twenty-one hundred."

  Tidy and Reyc limped up.

  "My wrist is sprained, and my hand, I tried to hold on . . ."

  "Collarbone." Tidy was almost as pale as Ezli.

  Then Veggie walked up, police and guards all around her. She laughed. "Looks like it's me and the kids, for a minimum team."

  "You threw a panic spell on the horses." Ezli panted.

  "But you can't charge me with it, and still field a team." Veggie radiated satisfaction.

  "It doesn't work like that." The nearest policeman glared from Veggie to Ezli.

  Paer patted her pockets, turned to the nearest black and purple uniform. "I need a comm."

  Wsca handed her his. Blinked as he recognized the number.

  "Dad. I need a big favor. Right now. I need you to get Okqi and Isgu from Linz to Delhi absolutely as fast as possible. Details later."

  She clicked off and tapped the Linz number. "Master Ibja? My Dad is sending a plane. Get Isgu and Okqi and their gear on board it. I'll call back with the time and place . . . wait."

  One of the other guards on his comm called to her. "Vienna Imperial. Go to the general aviation terminal. Two hours."

  Paer repeated that to Ibja.

  :: Rael? Horses? ::

  :: I've got them. Damn there was a lot of power in that spell. They're both a bit beat up. One scraped a fence, the other ripped off a shoe. Nothing they won't recover from, but they won't be showing tomorrow or the next day. ::

  Paer took a deep breath. The guards had hauled Veggie a few meters away, she was cussing. "And you can't use my horses, got that? There's no way I'll let you do that."

  Paer swallowed. There were medics all over, a lot more police . . .

  She looked around and walked over to Efro, standing horrified on the periphery.

  "Efro, it's going to have to be you and me, Isgu and Okqi. With Crystal, Soup, Noir and . . . " She turned and headed for the stables. "Escalade. Is Escalade all right?"

  The groom nodded. "I'd walked him away. He skittered a bit—we all felt that spell, what the One Hell was she thinking?"

  "I don't think she realized how powerful she is." Paer took a deep breath. "Right. Okqi and Noir don't work, so he rides Escalade. Efro on Soup . . . Isgu . . . Someone get me Ezli's comp. He needs to declare a team before they take him away."

  Another deep breath, as she walked back to where Ezli was getting splinted.

  "Captain Ezli? Here's your team. Okqi will be the acting team captain, riding Escalade. Efro on Soup."

  She swallowed. Braced her shoulders. "Isgu on Crystal. Me on Noir. I'll take the first slot, Efro the second"

  Paer glanced aside to where a hunched Tidy was typing on a comp held by Ezli's groom. "Third slot Isgu, fourth, Okqi. So they have a day to catch their breaths."

  Ezli's eyes squeezed shut in a painful grimace. "Right. Show me." He squinted at the screen. "Gee, Tidy, I guess you know how to spell after all."

  Thumb printed and sent. "Now, was someone saying something about giving me a painkiller?"

  As the lines of pain eased, he rolled his head to look at Paer. "Good job. Now get out there and win."

  Chapter Nineteen

  26 Nicholas 1398

  New Delhi, Delhi Division, One World

  Okqi and Isgu walked in, in time for dinner.

  Isgu looked over at Paer. "Once I recover, I will thank you for that. I'm not dead sure of what altitude that jet reached, but I may have passed the threshold to qualify as a space traveler."

  "Three hours. Straight up and straight down, or close enough to feel that way." Okqi grinned. "Only a little over mach 2, says the pilot."

  Then they both sobered. "We caught the news, driving to Vienna. A panic spell. Veggie! One!" Okqi looked from Reyc, forearm in a cast, to Tidy, in a sling. "How's Ezli?"

  "He's just out of recovery, they put in a plate and screwed his tibia back together. With accelerated healing he'll be fine in three weeks." Paer shivered. "The vet reports on the horses are good, so no long term damage to anything but the team."

  Okqi shook his head. "All eight of us have beaten all the others at one time or another—well, all right, not you, since you couldn't show Grand Prix until eight months ago. But among us, it's a toss up who wins, every show. Who's at the peak, who's still working up, who's a bit tired . . . Don't think of us as second string. We're not. Now. I think my stomach has arrived from Linz—it was a long drive across town—so let's eat, then head for the stables. I'd like to putz around on Escalade a bit."

  Isgu nodded. "And I need to kiss up to Crystal. I can't believe you gave her up."

  Paer shrugged. "Noir worked better for me. If there'd been another horse for you . . . but there wasn't."

  Paer was third in. She walked the course, then went back to finish warming up Noir.

  "Paer Withione Tarsus Ottoman, riding Planke's Noir for Team Paris."

  Paer shut out the announcer's voice, the crowd noises. Focus. Feel the horse. Look at the jumps.

  She nodded to the judge. Noir was ready and willing and they zipped around clean with the winning time—so far.

  And it stayed the time to beat for fifty contestants.

  Okqi was back from a workout with Escalade with plenty of time to send Efro in for his usual blazing fast roun
d. Rolled one pole off the standard for minus four points. Another dozen rides, and the long first day was over.

  "Right. You two relax. Tomorrow it'll be Isgu and me. We should have a pretty good idea if they'll need a jump off by mid afternoon. Pretty rare with team scores, especially with such a tight time limit. But sometimes they'll have teams with no penalties, or time faults, or just one. We'll have to see."

  Okqi glanced up at the scoreboard. Shrugged. "This is just for placement. Thursday and Friday are what really matters."

  Efro sighed. "But we won't be clear. Sorry."

  Okqi snorted. "The team score is best three of the four. We'll try to improve that, tomorrow."

  Paer coached Isgu on Crystal. "After a gallop, she's easy to collect back up. Too easy, really. Just sit down and imagine you're tightening the reins."

  He raised his eyebrows, but gave it a try. Got it right the third time. Went out and cruised the course with only a tiny time fault. Okqi hustled a bit and just squeezed in under the time.

  Fifth place overall. They'd jump late afternoon on Friday.

  Ezli showed up on crutches to watch their Thursday practice. Nodded satisfaction through gritted teeth. "No. I don't need pain killers."

  They retired to watch on the wall screen in their dorm cluster. Now each team jumped one after another, so the team scores were known immediately.

  "Caracas is always high, as usual. Let's see what they can do." Ezli shifted uncomfortably. "I actually wonder if Ujku did so poorly yesterday, so his team would have a day to recover before a jump off. It's not like he hasn't already got an individual gold, after all."

  Four clear rounds, with no time penalties. "First clear team. I suspect they're in."

  The last team of the day was also clean.

  "Right, so that's what you four have to do tomorrow." Ezli grimaced. "And now I'm going to take a pain pill and sleep like a baby—waking every few hours and crying."

  Nods of agreement from Tidy and Reyc.