by Pam Uphoff
Andy climbed back up and swung the horses around. "I really hope this works both ways, you know?" He took a good long turn and aimed at the wall of the Inn. Paul trotted forward, feeling from the front corner, and suddenly falling through. The horses hesitated, but stuck their heads in and the rest followed.
They were back in that village, back at the barn that had . . . who knew how many corridors? Andy drove around to the other side, and aimed at the back edge, Jaime, up with him giving exact directions. The horses snorted but stuck their noses through and kept going. Devvy shuddered a bit at the sight of the Rip Crossing Inn.
They climbed out of the canyon quickly. She supposed someone might see them as they climbed the near vertical canyon wall, but they'd be too far ahead for anyone to do anything. Or perhaps Orion was a deep sleeper. Devvy tried to not look down as the horses labored up the switchbacked road. Then they topped the rim, and headed east. They let the horses take their time and camped beside the gyps and trailers in the early dawn.
Their prisoners showed signs of waking up, so they hastily dug through the med kit and sedated them. "I hope to hell we can get back to Fascia fast. I really don't want to find out what pissed off magicians can do." Devvy worriedly laid the trio out in the carriage.
They ate, then loaded the carriage and horses. Once underway, they could relax, and reality returned. Bach and Coolie were still laughing and envious of their afternoon and night in the hotsprings pool.
"We got to Rip Crossing, what, just four days ago?" Zuni blushed. Everyone suddenly started looking at anything but each other.
Paul avoided everyone's gaze. "We were much more professional the last three days."
"I refuse to talk about it." Rose stiffened her shoulders. Elevated her nose.
"I think that's an excellent idea." Devvy sighed. Captain Orobona was going to flip when he saw those vids. The general . . .
Paul Hamza and Captain Furnace kept quiet. The other guys, who didn't seem to think the women were on the comm, started talking. That night figured prominently in the subjects under discussion. Rose clicked her comm off and stared expressionlessly out the window. Zuni turned hers off very quickly.
Felis and Mengle appeared to be comparing notes, and bragging to Bach and Coolie. The whole damned three day drive. Only Devvy clung grimly to the conversations. I might as well know what the gossip is going to be based on. It's only going to go downhill from here. In the late twilight, they switched to infra red lights and vision and kept going. Even pushing the pace on the rough roads, and once on the Gulf, not worrying about who might see them, there was no way to make in in less than three days. But they made it through Verona before the following dawn. And if they left some shocked fishermen, or alarmed a few naval vessels, well, it wasn't like they were even pretending to be Auralians, any more.
They slowed only to swap drivers and check the prisoners. Get some food into them while they were still woozy, and then sedate them again.
Furnace slumped down beside Hamza. "Good thing we've got the instruments and these scientists. The general is going to go apeshit over the Rip Crossing . . . incident. I'll be lucky if I'm not court-martialed."
Hamza nodded. "Let's report in to Captain Orobona, who was put in charge of the sneaky parts and, er, perhaps he will shorten the video presentation?"
Furnace looked dubious.
"We're spies, damn it. Seducing a couple of wizards and getting information from them is practically in the line of duty."
Bach coughed. "If only you hadn't also been screwing each other so enthusiastically, and practically simultaneously."
Coolie snickered. "We captured a good discussion the next morning from the dining room. The two wizards were talking, one knew all about the Witches, and the other was curious. That alone will be worth the trip."
"I wonder if it was Nick that knew the witches?" Zuni Mackay huddled in her seat. "He didn't seem to know much about the gates, said he was just a plain old normal wizard, and he didn't do things like that. I got the impression that the other fellow might."
"He said it was all fakery, that they used naturally occurring gates and took credit for them." In the predawn light it was hard to tell if Goodwin was blushing too.
Devvy nodded agreement. "He didn't seem to have a very good opinion of the wizards in Karista. He seemed to think they were playing politics and barely competent, magically." She was keeping her face under control, but her cheeks felt a bit hot. "Zuni, you need to write down everything Nick said to you, after you went off alone with him . . . or did one of you get that?"
"Got it," Bach said. Mackay managed to huddle even deeper.
Furnace shrugged. "The girls all said they weren't witches. Said they were farmer girls."
"I guess hay lofts are passé?" Bach ventured.
They'd hashed it to death by the time they floated off the water and onto land near Fascia. The three women almost stopped blushing.
Bach was driving the transport with the carriage and Coolie was pulling the horse trailer when they slowed and pulled into the Army Depot. They were directed to a small building. Intel. The people there unloaded the instruments and the prisoners, and waved them off.
They exchanged looks, and drove around to the motor pool.
There, of course, weren't any grooms out here. They unloaded the carriage and the horses, and Paul helped Tripp and Andy harness them. Andy drove. Walking the stiff horses most of the way up the hill and into the city, to the Palace. Where grooms took over and they dragged guiltily in to report.
General Soeder was blackly amused. "I don't believe we had a plan to breed wizards even if we got desperate. The behavior of the personnel was . . . even for a spy mission . . . unacceptable. I'll write it off as, umm, poisoning by an unknown Native intoxicant. This. One. Time."
Furnace cleared his throat. "What about the three scientists?"
The general ground his teeth. "They are no longer your business. Now, we need to figure out how to retrieve those people infiltrating this so-called wizards' school. And perhaps send in a clean up team to reduce the number of these so-called wizards."
Captain Orobona managed to not wince. "I have a detailed location . . . but do we really want to retrieve our agents so soon?"
Soeder nodded. "Good thought. They might as well learn everything they can, before we bring them back."
Chapter Twenty-seven
Early Summer 1395
King's University, Karista
Q was flat on her belly, under a table, and cursing a tangle of wires when she heard a familiar voice.
"Oh! Sorry. I was told I could find Lady Quicksilver Rustledaut . . . Umm, Wolfson? Here?"
"Heliotrope! Yay! I'm trying to fix a problem with the power supply. Can you wiggle the power cord for the screen?"
"Oh, Hi, Q. Umm, sure."
She sounded a bit worried. Q translated without difficulty. "Don't mind the droolers out there, they're just scientists. Guys, behave. Just because she got about eight times the sex appeal I've got doesn't mean you have to turn into idiots in her presence." A wire wiggled and she grabbed it. "Ah! Got it. Let me just shift it to a different plug to split the load so we stop blowing fuses and . . . that ought to do it." She wiggled out from underneath the table and stood up, brushing off her clothes. She grinned, remembering the horrified looks of the older professors. Pants! A WOMAN wearing Pants! In the University! Well, not Weg, but he was from Ash. And the students. You'd think they'd never noticed women riding horses. Idiots.
"Guys, this is Heliotrope Trumpdaut. She's probably better than me with the software. Heliotrope, this is Doctor Andre Througus, who is in charge of studying the Oner Technology. Doctor Vawn, Doctor Copeland, Doctor Kasik, and then the students who are outshining them, Miss Wilkins—soon to be Dr. Wilkins, Lord Asti, and Lord Everet."
Q ignored the polite murmurs of greeting and looked over at the display. "Working again. Good. Heliotrope?" Ha! I don't know why you came, but you're getting roped in. "Did you ever use .
. . "
Two weeks later Quicksilver finally had enough free time to get back to her thesis, and all the professors and students were madly in love with Heliotrope. It was funny watching the witch's bafflement at all the praise for her intelligence and ability to make the Oner machines disgorge information on demand. Not that the men didn't notice her beauty, but the brains were what really impressed them.
Now if they'd only look at me like that. Damned archetypes.
Chapter Twenty-eight
Early Summer 1395
Fascia, Auralia, Comet Fall
"All three claim to have been studying the gates, that they have no idea how they are made. 'Magic' they keep saying. And 'A witch named Rustle, experimenting.' The instruments they had were all from the One world. They claim to have a spy post there that buys anything they need. We're still working on them."
Xen, slipping into General Soeder's conference room, on the heels of a late arriving officer stiffened in alarm. Still working? On who? Three people who were studying the gates? What did my "sightseeing family" do, kidnap some of those physicists? Which ones? Most of them don't believe in magic. Weg Kasik, on the other hand, is writing a manual . . . And when did they snatch them? Xen had a sudden sinking feeling that he ought to have watched the Earth spies at the Rip a lot more closely. It's been eight days . . . even if they used the corridors to get to the Crossroads . . . can they travel so fast that they're back here already? Questioning their captives? And if Dr. Weg Kasik is one of the people they've got. . . he'd better be in good shape. Else Nil will tromp them flat . . . after he's finished with me. He's rather proud of Weg.
Soeder looked grumpy. "Right. We probably need to grab one of the magic community." He snorted. "Captain Orobona's people know where to find them."
Yep. The "tourists from Verona" are back.
The captain in charge of politics—no doubt he had a much more obscure title—stood then. "Ambassador Fitzgerald is getting nothing but grief from the Natives down in Discordia. They will say nothing about any tech, and contact with the One World, or gates. The Oner training grounds down there were completely stripped, nothing of interest left behind."
Soeder nodded. "The World Council is considering the likelihood of success, trade verse conquest, especially in view of that Elf, who did show up and was apparently rude to the entire Council. We won't take any new actions until they have made up their minds."
Xen perched out of the way and eyed the first man, the one who'd reported on their captives. And when the meeting was dismissed, kept track of him.
The man boarded one of the gyps, unfortunately overflowing with soldiers. But from what Xen heard, they were all headed for the camp around the gate, so he traveled there and waited until that gyp passed by, then followed him to a small metal building.
Small, by the standards of the huge barns they'd thrown up almost as fast as witches could build, but ugly. And all the same style and color. Numbered, to tell them apart.
Building twenty-five had four little offices, and behind them, a barred holding cell, and a few bleak rooms that looked about like interrogation rooms everywhere. Two chairs, one table, a ring set in the floor. And beyond them, a small room that reminded him of the Oners' hospital. Vid cams for remote monitoring. Both in the rooms and watching the holding cell. He flicked a bit of power at the two watching the holding cell as he drifted invisibly over to it. Three cots . . . "Oh. Crap. Nil is going to kill me."
Dr. Weg Kasik opened one eye. The other was swollen shut. "Hi Xen. Figured someone would show up eventually. Hope you're ready to go, they hear everything in here."
"I think I just fritzed them. But I hear someone coming, probably to check. Get back to snoring and let's see how alarmed they are."
The other two men, older men, moving stiffly, sat up and looked around, baffled. Weg, of course, hadn't been the least bothered by a mere invisible wizard.
A soldier stomped in, looking irritated. He glanced at the three captives, then turned his attention to a spot on the upper wall.
Xen waited until he'd fetched a ladder and climbed it before he applied a rotary kinetic spell to the lock and let the door swing open. He dropped his voice lower. "Everyone touch, get close together . . . " A metallic clatter behind him as the soldier descended fast . . . He extended his light warp and traveled to their observation hill. "Ta da! Instant rescue. Good afternoon, Corporal."
The man on duty was too used to invisible people showing up to do more than grunt. As they stepped under the camouflaged tent of the watchpoint, Xen released the light warp. "And if you gentlemen will just duck through this small corridor . . . " Weg leaned over and scrambled in, and the other two followed.
"Oh crap!"
Xen looked around to see the observer, binocs to his face, watching the camp imitate a kicked ant mound.
"If they search outside the camp, they'll find us. Illusion or not, this ridge of hills is an obvious place for an observation post. Or for them to come to look over the desert. Here come some of those gods damned gyps of theirs."
Xen watched, with dreadful certainty as one gyp stopped on one hill crest, soldiers spreading out to search the ground, and peer into the distance while the other gyps continued. The second gyp turned up another hill, the third gyp curved and zoomed up theirs . . . Xen and the observer dived for the corridor as the gyp smashed through illusion and camouflaged tent.
Xen rolled to his feet, reached out mentally and popped the corridor bubble.
"Janic is going to kill me." He glanced to where three old men were splashing in the river, bathing abraded wrists. Their shirts were off, and some bruises were showing. "Twice."
***
". . . and my main conclusion is that we've seriously underestimated how fast these people can move around."
Colonel Janic crossed his arms. "This is why you have to be careful playing games with spies. Because by the time you remember it isn't really a game, someone's been hurt, usually your own side.
"In this case, three men three kidnapped. The scientists studying the gates at the Crossroads, right at the same time a family group departed after three days of sightseeing."
"Yes. I . . . did not watch their departure. I assumed they'd run home with their disinformation."
"And pure luck you were where you could overhear that report and hunt them down. Now if I was sensible, I'd order you to stay home. Before you do something worse. Instead, I'm going to send you back out to rebuild the corridor. I agree with you about their fast movements, so while you are out there—hopefully sweating your ass off and feeling guilty about your carelessness that allowed the torture of three civilized, peaceful and brilliant old men—why don't you figure out how to sabotage those machines. I assume they can replace them, so I don't want it done until things are about to go hot."
"Yes, sir."
***
Both Lebonifts, Deena and Easterly were waiting for him on the border.
Deena looked determined. "Kidnapping civilians! This isn't going to do. And how are they?"
"Fine. The Earthers only had them for six days, and half of that was being transported. They were drugged a few times, and slapped around a bit, but nothing serious. Yet, as Weg said. Lady Gisele dosed them, scolded me, and had me take them home. They're mostly pissed about the lost equipment, but they were already talking about what other sorts of equipment might help them. Q said she'd keep an eye on them."
Lefty snorted. "Janic and Rufi said it was about time you screwed up. They thought you were getting too over confident and cocky."
"They got that right. I didn't even watch the known Earth spies leave, to make sure they were going home. I tossed an illusion of badlands in the corridor arch, and figured that would stop them checking it out. I didn't warn anyone at the rather obvious next two destinations about them. Didn't take any precautions. Thank god they didn't kidnap any witches in Ash. I've seen Answer pull out all the stops once, and I hope to never see it again. Especially if it might be aimed at me."
Lefty snorted. "I just wish I could have witnessed Soeder hearing about the escape. I'll bet there's a bunch of unhappy soldiers over there, just now."
Xen nodded. "I know the feeling. I screwed up all around."
Deena shook her head. "Usually if you said something like that, I'd paste you. This time I don't think you even realized what you said."
"Yeah. So get to work. We need to be at least within easy travel distance." Lefty eyed the badlands to the south. "The corridor to the river gets us a third of the way there. We could shift another from Pax's house, but I'd rather have the rest in four segments. Make the last one short. Then if we have to close another, we can still be fairly close."
Five days later Xen hand carried the final corridor to a different hill, and very carefully used a bubble to scoop out a cave just below the crest. He covered the entrance with both painted canvas that matched the terrain, and an illusion. He reinforced the stone over head. Next time a gyp can drive right over us, without noticing. He pinned the corridor to the back of the cave, and settled down to see if his work had been noticed. No one showed up to shoot him, so he returned to the Border camp.
On his first leave, he hustled home and checked a number of things. Including a really nice barbaresco wine his father was experimenting with.
He kicked back on the front porch with his father to salute the setting sun. And grill him on past knowledge.
"No, I don't think anyone here has designed charms for warping light, although Pax might have done so. I think he was able to travel the huge area he took with the Earth Gate because he had people with charms scattered around the boundary of what they needed to grab. So they must have had something along the lines of a light warp. Pax was never a good teacher, I can't see him finding magically talented men and training them in magic. Especially well enough to hold a light warp for any time at all. He doesn't trust well enough to train someone well enough to possibly threaten him later." His father grinned. "Speaking of invisible, your optical fiber haired sheep are rather fascinating. Obsidian has some velvety fabric she made from the wool. It's not quite got the effect you wanted, but it's certainly interesting. And then the ram got out with Rustle's colored sheep. The lambs' wool is sort of iridescent. Answer had a few choice comments about random breeding and the careless spread of experimental genes. Then she bought the blue fleece."