by Pam Uphoff
Easterly showed up soon after, and then the two Janics, father and daughter, for a brief on their Embassy experiment.
"I was really hoping that they were ahead of us in understanding the multiverse." Q eyed her empty bowl and fought the urge to go for a third dessert. "Unfortunately they haven't any way of viewing the multiverse. They have a map based on the things they do to their gate mechanisms—the amount of power they graph as distance, the vertical and horizontal distortion of the spherical magnetic field they graph as directions. And what they come up with bears only the faintest of resemblance to what I see."
Janic senior nodded. "Graphs can be like that. Never mistake them for reality."
Chapter Seventeen
Early Fall 1398
Black Island, Comet Fall
Rior eyed all the babies. Witches and servants alike. Seven infants. And I got a zing off six of them. Very strong off Miss Herrietta's boy.
"So that wine of yours . . . swaps DNA all over? From several fathers, sometimes?"
"Whole chromosomes." Teri smiled . . . rather nastily. "I can change individual genes if anything is defective or non-magical."
"So odd . . . I hadn't realized you were a woman, Rior." Jade's thin smile was smug. "And blonde."
Rior shrugged. "I ran afoul of an odd potion. I'm male now." He glanced toward the babies. "I'm surprised at how magical they all are, even the servants' babies."
"Oh, in their case the wine just swapped out all the chromosomes." Teri walked over and touched Miss Herrietta's boy.
The poor toad woman paled but didn't move.
"Congratulations. You and Mag have a beautiful baby boy!"
Beyond the reach of the beach bonfire's light, Rior caught a faint mutter and spit.
Yeah. I feel that way too. Aloud he just said, "Guess that explains the Y chromosome."
Teri sniggered. "What do you want to name him? I won't insist that you stick to the names we chose for witch girls."
The toad woman appeared to be trying to disappear.
Rior wondered if the boy would ever be registered on the One World, and if Rior even cared any more. What had the One World ever done for her? Turned her into a whore, for all intents and purposes. Giving her first to the Amma, and then proving itself incapable of finding her and removing her from the situation when it collapsed. Because their invasion of Earth was more important than a mere Princess of the One. He hoped it had been a complete fiasco.
Shrug.
Another snigger. "Roddie. We'll call him Roddie."
Rior was, slowly, working his way to the witches trust. But he was not yet ready to move here full time. Not until he'd proven his worth to the witches by rescuing their friends. Then he'd be trusted. Probably. And I can probably trust them.
Someday I am going to have to investigate everything the witch's wine can do.
So there is a spell component that mixed and matched genes from all the men. It practically designed and assembled the babies. These people's magic is terrifying, and I swear they don't even see it!
But that was for the future.
It was time for a raid on a prison.
The plan was for them to be very stealthy. Just sneak in and then sneak out. They'd maintained a watch on the prison gate, they knew the times when they had the best chance of getting through undetected.
Tonight, for the first time, they'd step through and see what was on the other side.
He was taking Jade because she wouldn't stay home, the five mages because they knew how to sword fight, Smokey and Sunset because they were the ones who wanted Dawn and Frost freed in the first place. Everyone else was staying home with the children. He hoped. A more ill-disciplined group of women was hard to imagine. He was going to have to remember some team building exercises from his own early life.
The three new mothers all looked over at him. "We think we need a sentry outside the immediate gate area, to come and warn the rest of us if it all goes tits over asses."
He nodded reluctantly. "Maybe one. We're going to move the corridor up closer, and one of you could sit near the entrance."
That perked them up, and perhaps they would actually be cautious about it.
He found some sticks, held them out. "Short stick goes."
Epee drew the short stick and grinned at her 'sisters'. If Rior understood correctly, the girls had been so extensively reengineered after birth that their actual lineages didn't matter. They were virtually identical, except for hair color. Epee had hair so blonde it was nearly white. Gauntlet's hair was a rich brunette and Falchion a redhead. He shook his head. I really shouldn't have fucked them. Bad start to a professional relationship.
But the rest of them were ready to go, and they walked down to the other corridor. Smokey went through first, to take a look and enlarge the corridor. A blast of frigid air, snow melting as it met the tropical warmth. Rior wasn't the only one hastily donning a coat.
They followed quickly, all but invisible, using Rior's mirror spell in the long grass. They slipped as quietly as possible through the grass, Jade hauling the corridor along behind them.
They crossed the hill to the road. There were homes back behind the tavern making the road the safest way to travel. They slipped past the tavern and down the road another kilometer before they cut up the hill to within a quarter kilometer of the prison. Epee settled down with the corridor, and the other nine closed in on the prison.
Rior eyed the others. His mirror spell worked even better in the falling, blowing snow than he could have hoped.
The first obstacle was the wall. The small gate would be difficult to get a group through. The large gate didn't open often, but one of those times was when the supply wagons came on the fifth of each month. They were let through one at a time, and rigorously searched. The raiders split up into three groups, Rior, Jade and Mag. Followed by Sunset, Smokey and Ajay. Then Franc, Bender and Hat, the main muscle. They would be guarding their line of retreat all the way in, and if necessary, forcing a way out for them.
The soldiers lived in barracks inside the walls. They guarded the gate more than actually guarding the prisoners. The gate was in a building, or rather a building had been built around it, and all they needed to do was get inside undetected. Shift change would come about two hours after the wagons had been cleared through, and the doors of the gate would be open for about twenty minutes. If at all possible, they wanted to get in before then, and come out with their friends with the changing guard.
Their timing was perfect, the first of the supply wagons in sight a mile down the road. Rior walked up to the gates, and when they swung open for the quartermaster to hustle out to welcome the wagoneers, all three groups slipped in. Rior would have cursed them, but the inner gate opened as the outer closed. The uniformed search crews walked in, bundled up, hoods up and speculating whether there'd be any fresh fruit among the supplies the wagons were bringing them, oblivious to nine invisible people sliding quickly past them. The invisible invaders walked out as the gates waited for the last of the searchers to catch up. So, there was the first part, gone by easily.
At the gate, the two soldiers in the raised boxes were looking at the fuss around the front gate. Rior slipped up to the small door in the gate building. It was man sized, with a guard on each side. Rior sent his sense down to the lowest he could reliably work. Freeze. Do not move. You may say four things: "Yes, Sir." "No, Sir." "Yes, Sir?" "Yes Sir, I did indeed dump one of my sisters' toys into the discard bin."
Jade gave him an odd look. He smiled and cast an illusion of the closed door, then opened it and walked through. The guard on the other side was just as still and frozen. They walked across the shadowy room and stepped through the gate.
The far side boasted a stone paved yard, triangular in shape. High walls, with passages through to the two buildings to either side. They looked like rather stark manor houses.
Alarmed yells from above. Rior looked up. Two watch towers, manned. He threw a strong stun spell at first one to
wer, then the other. And lower down as well. Saturate the buildings. No need to worry about this "Harry" over here. It's a whole different world.
Smokey grabbed his elbow, becoming a bit more solidly visible with contact, and pointed at the building to the right. The arched passage through the wall was filled by a metal barred gate.
No need for the illusion here. Rior let it fade, and looked around as the others started dropping theres.
Jade was at the iron gate, a hand wrapped around the bottom of one bar, then the next and the next. She reached up and wrapped her hand around the first bar, wrapped an illusion around it and removed the bar, laid it on the ground quietly. The second and third yielded as easily, and they stepped carefully through the gap and headed for the building.
There was a sound of running footsteps. Hat's voice came from nowhere. "A soldier just rode up and said one of the kids spotted invisible people walking toward the prison, they've raised the alarm."
"And those guards are going to say something really stupid." Jade growled, running for the house.
"No! We have to leave, now!" Rior hissed.
Sunset turned back to the gate and made a pushing movement just as people appeared. They bounced back through the gate, and a flash of light spat back out.
Smokey gulped. "You can pass in a corridor, although it feels icky. You can't in a gate. Not with a lot of metal, any way. I'll bet they're at least burned, if not chopped up."
Another voice piped up from the invisible. "I think I can make gates. I might have to practice for a bit, but we could go off and get lost out there. It's an empty World, you know?" Falchion's voice, and as she released her warp, the rest of her showed as well.
"And how did you learn to make a gate?" Rior tried to keep his temper.
"I was meditating when I went into labor, and suddenly I could see it a whole lot better. I just need to figure out how to catch a cone shape." She yeeped and ducked as a barrage of arrows shot her direction from the gate. Several arrows bounced off a shield.
Rior turned and tossed fireballs. Arrows can pass, can energy? "Can you close that gate? Then open another?"
"Umm, I'll try." She sat down in the witches' usual meditative position, which happened to be the same as the One.
Sunset kept bouncing soldiers back through the gate until they stopped coming. The mages had opened the barred gate to the left and a pack of people were milling about.
Rior looked them over, spotting the four wizards with no trouble. The other four men walked up in a chevron of dominance. The man in the lead looked a vigorous fifty.
"Who are you?" The leader glanced at the gate. "And I hope you have a backup plan."
"Yes. Although why you assume it includes you escapes me."
Sunset squeaked in surprise. "That's Prince Mirk!"
Rior dug out the reference. "Oh, the one that assassinated his nephew? I thought that to gain a throne one needed to kill the people overhead?"
That earned him a black look. The man turned back to his subordinates. "Thomu, go catch those horses you've been making up to. I think it's time to leave." The wizards went with him.
Smokey was back with six women, all looking anxiously at the gate.
"They're just standing there waiting." One of them muttered.
Sunset nodded. "They've probably sent for Xen. Or Quicksilver." Her voice got a little squeaky at the end.
The bright rectangle of the far side door winked out, taking the shadowy room with it and leaving nothing but an empty rock frame.
Chapter Eighteen
Early Fall 1398
Crossroads, Comet Fall
"What gate?" Easterly frowned at the rock arch. "I've sent for the gate experts, but it looks to me like one of your attackers was able to close it."
Colonel Benton straightened as he looked past Easterly. Easterly looked over his shoulder. The God of War and the Dark Lady. Looking very civilian thank goodness, despite the pair of huge and huger black stallions they rode.
"Yes. It's gone." Rustle dismounted and ran her hands around the arch. "We'll need to establish a new one. Do you want it back where this one was, or would you prefer to assault the prison from a different side?"
"To the left of the old position, please. About a quarter mile."
Rustle sat cross-legged on the ground right there and closed her eyes.
The Auld Wulf looked at the Colonel. "This may take awhile. I'll try to give you advance notice that she's about ready to connect it." He sat down too.
Easterly gestured everyone away. A private looked uncertainly at the two black horses, and Easterly shook his head. "If they wanted to be put up they'd probably go over the stables themselves."
The private gave him a spooked look and retreated.
Time trickled by, and the soldiers standing by with horses ready sweated and their officers started rotating them out for breaks.
Four hours since the alarm went up. What are they doing over there? Running, or preparing to fight?
More clatter of hooves and Garit, Xen and Q joined them. Xen and Q sat. Garit sighed. "Wish I could do any of that."
Easterly nodded. "Yeah, me too. I think."
The Auld Wulf stood up and caught the Colonel's eye. "A few minutes. Let us get through first to block any hostile magic."
Rustle and Xen unfolded and stood, leaving Q alone. They all mounted, and Easterly fought down a chill as the late afternoon light gleamed off the War God's armor. It wasn't there a second ago!
Xen was in his corduroy 'God of Spies' outfit and even Rustle was in black. They all mounted, and Xen looked at Garit and nodded at Q. "As soon as the gate goes up, get her out of the way."
Easterly stepped back and looked for his crew. Peter came up with his horse. He wished he hadn't succumbed to insanity and bred Bandit, but Blazer was a good enough fellow.
The arch of rock filled with bright fog that swirled open, showing a grassy hill down to the back of the men's building. Garit lifted Q bodily and stepped aside and Easterly led the troops through on the heels of the old god and the young goddess. It was quite an anticlimax. The inmates were gone, and only the limp bodies of the stunned guards were left behind.
Q walked through after the troops cleared the gate, sat and concentrated. Pointed. "About thirty miles. They're opening a gate."
The Auld Wulf, Rustle and Xen disappeared, then Quicksilver opened and threw a corridor. Stepped through. Easterly was on her heels, with Garit and the Colonel on his as she pointed again. "Right down there, maybe a mile."
The Colonel spurred off, troops following as quickly as they could pour through the corridor. Easterly rode with them, reviewing shields. A flash of bright light ahead of them, and the battle was over before he gotten to it.
The magicians and gods were all swatting burned spots and sharing around a flask of joy juice.
"I didn't know a gate could do that." Xen wheezed and felt his reddened face.
"They got away?" The Colonel frowned around the burned slope.
"Thoroughly. Damn." Xen looked over at Garit. "You know what we were saying about not needing a criminal investigation division?"
Garit nodded. "You think some dimensional criminals might just exist after all?"
"Yeah. Apart from the freed prisoners, I didn't recognize any of the men. The two Whores de Combat we never caught were there, Jade, and another witch, very young. The young one was creating the gate."
Quicksilver joined them then. "She didn't slow it enough to attach, it was very strange."
Xen nodded. "As soon as they saw something on the other side they charged on through, and the guy I think was leading them grabbed the witch who was still working on the gate and yanked her through with him. That's when it exploded."
The Colonel scowled. "I can only hope it burned the hell out of them. Can you follow?"
Q shrugged. "There are three Worlds they might have gone to, but I don't have any idea of where on that World they are. I may be able to find a gate scar . . . "
>
Easterly staggered and the horses spooked. They were all staggering. Earthquake.
Q stood up abruptly. "That blast cleared out everything I need for a gate, and I don't like the things the inbetween is doing. Time to leave."
The Colonel formed up his people and headed them up the hill. The Auld Wulf jumped for his stirrup and then reached down to pull Q up behind him. Another quake sent the horses skittering about. Easterly turned and followed the assorted gods up the hill and the Colonel fell in beside him. "Do you think these quakes are caused by that gate flash?"
"Were there many quakes here?"
"I've not heard of any, no one has reported them."
Easterly nodded. "Could be then, and they look to be in a bit of a hurry, which is a bit scary on its own."
The colonel shook his head. "Scary is the thought of reporting in. I have a nasty suspicion I'm going to wish I'd gotten into enough of a fight to have died bravely."
They trotted through the corridor. On this side a detail was dealing with the limp bodies of the guards in the towers.
"They're all breathing." One lieutenant reported.
The colonel ordered them all though the gate and the various magicians followed.
Q slipped off the big horse and sat. The gate dimmed and disappeared. "Sorry, but that just looked bad. I'd rather over react than wish I had when it's too late. I'll stay around and monitor the situation. I think that gate maker must be pretty damn good at it, or damned lucky they didn't all get killed rushing a gate that isn't attached like that. And I haven't a clue where they might be."
Easterly winced, realizing that he was going to have to report abject failure as well.
***
". . . so that's our inconclusive report." Xen was sympathetic with his listeners grumpiness. "Until they come back, we can't find them."
King Leano steepled his hands. "You say until, rather than unless?"
"I can think of two reasons for this prison break. One, the Hors de Combat wanted to free their compatriots, or two, someone has plans to use Mirk against the Kingdom. We can't count on option one."