Portals of Infinity: Book Four: The Sea of Grass

by John Van Stry

  "I hear your words, Champion. We will discuss this later." Rhys turned then to the others, "Burn the slave wagons once they are empty. Raid all the food and clothing you can find for the freed. Take what you can from the other wagons; we need to get these people moving if we want to be back on the Sea of Grass by nightfall!"

  I smiled and turned to look at Smoke, who was watching Rhys fairly closely.

  "Deep thoughts?" I asked her softly.

  "Hush you," She said and her ears went down in a feline blush as her face fur ruffled.

  "You fought well today," I told her. "I was impressed."

  "Thank you."

  "With a woman like you to help him, I suspect he will go very far on this quest."

  Smoke Dancer slowly smiled at me, "You know, I believe that you are right," and with that she urged her wolat around me, to follow Rhys as he went to see to his people and his orders.

  That night we made camp out in a small ravine on the plains that Rhys knew about. We'd freed four hundred and twenty-six slaves. Each wagon had been packed with about forty on average. Their condition wasn't great, but it wasn't too bad either. They hadn't been fed in two days, and barely given enough water to survive. I guess that was to keep them weak and tractable during the journey.

  The food we liberated from the caravan was eaten within minutes of our passing it out, and all the water we could find there or brought with us was rapidly consumed as well. Rhys had detailed four teams to start bringing water back in rotation as we had marched away from the ambush site, and he'd also sent off another two teams of ten men each to go hunt.

  That had left half of our original number to guide and protect over four hundred people.

  That didn't turn out to be too much of a problem actually; they all realized that their freedom, as well as their survival, lay with us, so they willingly did what we asked of them.

  Rhys shook his head as he sat down next to me at the campfire several hours later, "There are a lot more of them than I expected. Usually two hundred is a lot."

  I nodded; Smoke was with him of course, she hadn't left his side since we'd left the ambush site. I don't think it had quite occurred to Rhys that she had staked her claim on him, but I think everyone else had at this point. I figured once he got this situation under control he would notice.

  "I talked with several of them," Smoke said softly, "they were household slaves from Metina. Their owners were offered a high price for them, as slave prices in Barassa have increased. They have heard rumors that the slave markets in Barassa are empty."

  Rhys looked at her, apparently a little surprised that she was sitting so close to him. "Well, that would explain the numbers." He turned and looked at me. "So, what's our next step?"

  "The queen and the Hiland council want to do what they can to stop the slaves going to Barassa. They have about five hundred soldiers who can ride wolats. If you were to help them, lead them, what could you do with them?"

  Rhys laughed, "Like they would listen to me."

  "Will is married to the queen, Rhys. They will do as he tells them." Smoke told him.

  Rhys looked at me in surprise, "Truly?"

  I nodded, "Yes, it will take them a few weeks to get here, but what could you do with those kinds of numbers?"

  Rhys thought about that, staring into the fire for a minute. Suddenly he laughed, "I could control almost all of the trade that goes in to Barassa. If they're any good that is."

  I shrugged, "You're probably going to have to teach them how to fight like the People do; they've never fought mounted before."

  Rhys growled and shook his head.

  "No one said this was going to be easy," I told him.

  "Rhys, we can do this," Smoke said softly and put a hand on his arm.

  "We?" He asked looking back at her a little surprised.

  "Yes, we."

  Rhys slowly smiled; I think he suddenly realized that Smoke was interested in him. "I have to make the rounds one more time before I can get some rest, Will. Please, ask the queen to send all that she can spare, and we," he looked at Smoke and smiled, "will do what must be done."

  He stood up then, and held a hand down to Smoke who took it, and he pulled her up onto her feet.

  "See you in the morning, Will,"

  I nodded, "See you both in the morning, Rhys, Smoke."

  "I can't send messages for you, Will," Fel said. We were sitting outside the bar again in my dream.

  "Rules?" I asked.

  He nodded, "Yes. Also as your god, you do my bidding, not the other way around," he said with a smile.

  I smiled back, "I'd tease you about that, but I'm afraid what the payback would be."

  "Wise that," he agreed.

  "Of course, as your champion, if I were to ask if I could share my wife's dreams tonight?"

  "Oh, that I could easily grant for you, Will."

  I smiled again, "Thanks, Fel. I'll probably just gate home and lead them here myself, probably easier that way.

  "I am worried about one thing however, Fel,"

  "Yes?"

  "My declaring when we attacked; will that get you in trouble? This puts you in direct conflict with Tantrus."

  Fel shook is head, "We've been in conflict for several years now, and since he started it, the other gods will not be upset by this turn of events." He stopped and took a sip of his beer, "Some of them will undoubtedly be concerned by the anti-slavery stance, but that's more of an issue for kings and queens, than for gods, William."

  I nodded, "Okay, thanks, I was worried."

  "It made a good impression on the Mowoks, it was the right thing to do."

  I nodded and stood up; I saw the door that I'd used before to join Rachel in her dreams appear.

  "You've been doing a good job, William; I want you to know that I appreciate it."

  I smiled, Fel's approval actually made me feel good. "Thank you, Fel. Goodnight," I said as I stepped through the door.

  "Goodnight, Will."

  Rachel's dream was not as coherent as the one I'd left with Fel; it was more of the type you would normally dream. That was until Rachel noticed me and came to my side. I don't know if it was because I was there, or because of something Fel did, but things stabilized and became a lot more realistic. This seemed to happen whenever we shared a dream.

  "This is still a dream, isn't it?" Rachel asked looking around.

  "Yes, this is a dream."

  "Feliogustus sent you? But I didn't ask yet," Rachel said looking at me surprised.

  "No, I asked," I said and kissed her.

  "Mmmm," she purred, "I like the sound of that. When are you coming home, love?"

  "A few days I think, I'm going to be taking the cavalry with me, so have them get ready."

  "Sure, I'll tell them when I wake up in the morning." she said nuzzling up against me.

  "Don't you want to know what I'm doing?" I asked surprised, usually she had lots of questions.

  "We can talk when you get home. This is a dream, and for once I'm going to take advantage of it, and you, in the kinds of ways I've always wanted to," She purred rather huskily.

  Eight

  On the Sea of Grass

  "So what happens with all of these people?" I asked Rhys the next morning. I noticed that Smoke was very much in his personal space today, and they were both engaging in occasional displays of affection for each other.

  "I'm sending out riders to the nearest seven tribes, to see who will take them in. With a group this big we have to find at least that many places to send them. We'll then divide them between those tribes that are willing to take them in. After that, it's up to the tribes and the freed people. They can stay until they are healthy enough to move on to where they wish to go, they can even stay join the People if they are accepted by one of the tribes.

  "Usually they will stay until we move to our winter grounds, then either join one of the towns we trade with along the way, or go further north and settle in one of the cities there."

&nb
sp; "Well, I'm going to head back to Aldar with whoever you're sending that way. I have duties I need to address there. I expect I will be back in about a month with the soldiers I mentioned yesterday."

  Rhys nodded, "I will have to think about how to handle this war. I will discuss it with the chiefs and the war leaders."

  "I suspect they will have some good counsel to share."

  Rhys nodded.

  I turned to Smoke and smiled, "Good luck, I hope you find what you're looking for."

  She smiled at me and then looked at Rhys. "I think I already have," She said, causing him to look rather proud and smile back at her.

  "We'll see you when you return, Will."

  I nodded to her, then to Rhys. "Until then."

  The ride back to Aldar was quick. The camp was only about three hours away from the village. I went and found Henry as the two I had ridden back with went to make their report to the chief and tribe counsel.

  I found him among the wolats, dispensing his usual bribes and brushing a few of them out. I noticed his garb was a little less priestly, and more like the locals, my guess was that he didn't want to get his priest outfits dirty while brushing out some of the tribe's pack members.

  "So, how did the raid go?" He asked looking up at me curiously. "And where's Smoke Dancer?"

  "Smoke has found someone more suited for her attentions," I said smiling. "The raid was a lot more successful than we expected it to be. We freed over four hundred slaves, so they're sorting them all out and will send them out among the neighboring tribes until they decide what they want to do with their new found freedom."

  "Ah! More possible converts!" Henry said smiling.

  I grinned and pointed to the symbol of Fel on my leather armor.

  "Hey, that's nice, where did that come from?" Henry said looking at it.

  "I freed them in the name of Feliogustus; I suspect you are going to have a very ripe audience for converts."

  Henry laughed and rubbed his hands together. "In that case, it's probably better if I stay here." He thought about that a moment, "Actually, I should see about riding out there myself..." He looked up at me.

  "As much as I would like to help, I have other tasks I need to be about. Are there any you can draft to help in camp?"

  Henry paused a moment, then nodded. "Rees I'm sure would be willing. Especially if it gives him an opportunity to check out the male his sister has set her sights upon!" He chuckled. "Yarsha would definitely help. Is it far?"

  "About a three-hour ride."

  He nodded, "Okay, I'll need to get things in order then. What will you be doing?"

  "I need to meet with the chief here, then I'm going to return to the Glisan village, let Steve know what's going on, meet with chief Rain Walker. After that I'm going to head home to Hiland."

  "Well, if I don't see you, have a safe trip, and may Feliogustus watch over you in your travels," he said blessing me.

  "Um, you know he watches me all the time?"

  Henry smiled, "See? My blessing worked!" He hurried off to his tent then, I guess to start putting his things together for the trip.

  I shook my head and sighed with a grin as he ran off, "Fel, you have more characters in your clergy than a comic book."

  # # # #

  Three days later I gated into the main temple, with Tom following me on a lead. He gave a small woof of surprise, but the priests in the back altar room where we appeared were not very happy with a half ton of wolat suddenly appearing. When I noticed the foot prints Tom was leaving on the rug I shrugged and told them I was sorry and quickly led him outside. I probably should have used that cleaning cantrip on him before I gated in. Or at least tried to, I had no idea if I could, but as he was my mount, I suspected there must be something I could use for that purpose.

  Once outside, I headed up to the castle and went in search of Rachel. When I finally found her, she was riding one of the female wolats, and doing rather well at it too. I was impressed; she obviously had been practicing at it for some time and was shooting a bow at a set of targets while riding around the practice ground, hitting all of them, most of them close to center.

  "Hi, love," She said when she saw me and rode up next to me. Leaning over she kissed me while I sat on the back of my mount.

  "I see you've become rather good at riding," I nodded to the targets, "and shooting."

  "Well, I've always been good with a bow; I used to go hunting quite often before I became queen. I must admit that riding Jeri here lets me travel around the city and inspect the various public works I've got going on around here a lot quicker. I can get out to Diament's dam and back within a day and still deal with other tasks."

  I looked at her a little concerned; the dam project was almost twenty miles outside of town. "You've been riding out to the dam?"

  Rachel nodded, "Of course, I have to check up on these things myself occasionally. It's a crown project after all." She smiled at me sweetly and patted my wrist, "Don't worry, I do bring along a few guards when I go."

  I tried not to growl, "And how many is 'a few'?"

  Rachel laughed, "About two hundred, though last time General Holse sent all eight hundred cavalry with me. He thinks it's a good exercise for them, sudden unscheduled deployments he calls it."

  I stopped any complaints, mollified. "We're up to eight hundred now?" I asked surprised.

  Rachel nodded, "Last fall General Holse had asked the traders to bring as many as they could this year and offered to pay a premium if they did. So they showed up a few weeks ago with quite the herd, I think it was close to three hundred. From what I heard, the traders from the plainsmen spent the winter talking to all the tribes, and they put together a large group.

  "They did warn him, however, that there would not be another delivery until next summer."

  "So how many Wolats do we have now?"

  "About nine hundred." Rachel said and started riding her mount back towards the stables at a slow walk; I had Tom walk next to them.

  "That many?" I said surprised.

  "Well, about a hundred of them are still too young to ride; the stable master has set up a breeding program with fifty of the females, and a number of the more promising males. According to the tribesmen you hired, it's best not to start riding them until their third year, though you can start training them in their second."

  We rode into the stables, and a couple of grooms took the leads and led our mounts off to their stalls. I noticed when Tom tried to nip the one I'd handed the reins to, that he tapped him on the nose sharply and told him “No!” which brought Tom up short. Obviously they had become much more experienced with wolat behavior.

  "So, how many of my new cavalry are you planning on taking with you?" Rachel asked as I put my arm around her and we walked back to the castle.

  "I'm thinking five hundred. That would allow for attacks with overwhelming force. They'll probably be broken up into several groups, but until they've become experienced with fighting from the back of wolats, they're going to need to fight in larger groups. They'll probably need two to one, or even three to one, odds to win safely."

  "That makes sense. That will also leave enough for General Holse to continue his training. Once we finish Diament's project, I'm thinking of building a large breeding ranch out to the north of it, on a small section of the plains west of where the tribes are. I'm hoping that I might be able to entice a few of them to work there, and learn what they know."

  "So, you're starting to agree with me that we need them?" I asked.

  "Let's just say that if this plan to hamper Barassa works out, I want to be ready to follow up. I'm still not fully sold, and neither is General Holse, but he admits that it looks promising. That even if we don't fight from the backs of them, just being able to move our troops faster, and having them arrive without being exhausted from marching, will be a serious advantage in combat.

  "Plus," Rachel leaned into me and purred, "I like riding them. Seeing as I'm queen, that means I get what I want."r />
  "Tyrant!" I laughed.

  "Well somebody has to be in charge, it's just better that it's me!" Rachel said grinning.

  "You won't get any arguments from me!" I smiled back.

  "How are Baron and Suisan doing?" Baron had just turned four and his younger sister was now ten months old.

  "Baron wants to see his father of course; I weaned Suisan two weeks ago. Guess who turned up yesterday?"

  I shrugged, "I have no idea."

  "That girl you rescued, Goth."

  I looked down at Rachel in surprise. "What? I left her with Jezza and his wife. They have several children; I thought she would be happy there."

  Rachel nodded, "She ran away, made her way up here to see you. I let them know she was here so they wouldn't be worried."

  "Well, send her back," I sighed.

  "She'd just run away again. This is something you're going to have to deal with dear," Rachel said with a smile.

  "I don't know how to deal with it, that's the problem!" I grumbled.

  "Then why did you save her?"

  "I couldn't just leave her there, not when I learned what they were doing to her!"

  "Will, there are probably hundreds of little girls being abused at least as bad as she was, if not worse. You didn't save them, did you?"

  "No, but I saw what they were doing to her, hell, they offered her to me! I was involved. I had to do something about it." I looked back down at Rachel beside me as we walked. "Doesn't it bother you?" I asked her.

  Rachel smiled, "Why do you think I want to destroy their city? Slavery is only for criminals until they've worked off their sentence, or captured enemy officers until they've won their parole. It is not something to trap people into, and trading in them is just wrong. Reliance on slaves makes a people soft, and separates them from their lives and obligations."

  "It also allows people to treat other people like objects," I growled.

  "Oh, that's what husbands are for," Rachel laughed and then squeaked as I pinched her.

  "Well, let's go see the kids; I'll deal with Goth after I've seen them, which will hopefully give me a few minutes to figure out what to do with her."