Comet Fall (Wine of the Gods)

by Pam Uphoff

  Gre's eyes traveled beyond the Courtyard and he blanched, no doubt at the sight of green hills backed by forested mountains, and more distant towering rocky mountains and remote snow capped peaks . . . his eyes dropped again, he turned, and gawped at the simple village street. Rustle closed her eyes for a moment, and smiled. She walked out into the courtyard as the villagers gawped at the newly arrived building.

  She spotted her father and waved. He vaulted over the wall and dashed across the courtyard.

  "I believe we've just woken up the Goddess of Mercy, Dad. Please don't do anything too silly."

  "Wouldn't dream of it." He relaxed slightly, and allowed Rustle to lead him over to the goddess.

  More people were crowding in to peer over the broken wall. The Auld Wulf strode across the courtyard, grinning. "Mercy! Welcome back."

  "Yhou! Volvgang Oldham! Uf all de people I nefer wanted to shee again!" The Goddess pointed a finger at him. "You . . . " Her eyes widened as she looked beyond him. "Harry!" She brushed past the huge man and threw herself at the old man. Harry slumped, and suddenly the spear looked more like a cane. Then he dropped the spear and wrapped his arms around her.

  Gre cleared his throat. "Excuse me, but, could anyone tell me where we are?"

  Chapter Twenty-three

  1374 Spring

  The New Lands

  Jin Genero, the Governor of Desolation Territory by virtue of being the Land Grant Holder of the Province of Gemstone, kept his body and head turned to the spectacle in the corral where three men were breaking some feral horses they'd rounded up. A couple of the horses had the buckskin color and strips on their legs that indicated they had some real wild horse in their ancestry, and Jin didn't give the men much of a chance of turning them into decent mounts. Especially considering their training methods.

  Lucky Strike was a boom town, and luckily for him, had located themselves far enough south to be across the border and into Gold Rush Territory, and thus the responsibility of the king and his army.

  Jin's kids were glued to the rail. For the trip to Lucky Strike, Jina was dressed like a boy, and if one of these out-of-control assholes even looked at her the wrong way . . . She was fifteen, and he was so glad she was more interested in horses than men. Old Gods take pity on the fathers of daughters. Even stripy legged horses were better than boyfriends.

  But out of the corner of his eye he watched a horse of a different sort.

  A spectacular metallic golden palomino, that he'd swear he'd seen eighteen years ago. Ridden by the God of Peace. The tall gelding stood motionless, ears back, and pinning whenever anyone came near. A hind foot was cocked, not in relaxation, but in a desire to kick something. The dampness around the horse's bit was tinged with blood and the noseband was brutally tight.

  And now his observation time was rewarded. The same tall golden youth he remembered walked out of the Miner's Bust.

  "All right. I'll stay a few days. Your people better show, though."

  "They will." The other man practically bowed. Salt Massis, closest thing to a mayor the gold rush town had.

  Oh shit.

  And Jina looked around at the voices, and spotted the golden horse. She straightened and took a step to see him better. Oh shit. Jin froze, eyes on the corral, trying not to attract the man's, the god's, attention.

  The Golden One flicked a glance her way. "Here, boy, take my horse around to the stable, put him in a good stall."

  Jina bobbed her head and took the rein. The horse shivered a bit, pinned its ears, but followed without trying anything.

  The god and the man shook hands, and the god walked back inside. Jin breathed a sigh of relief and hustled around to the barn.

  Jina and the hostler were both looking dubiously at the palomino gelding. He was utterly phenomenal, from his dished face to his sculpted muscles. Unfortunately the horse was collected up, tense and sweating; he looked like a snake about to strike.

  "Do you have a standing stall you could put him in to unsaddle and unbridle him?" Jin looked the animal over. Trouble in a pretty package. No doubt about it. He had spur scars, and scars around the corner of his mouth. "That bridle looks painful guy. Why don't you let us take it off?"

  An ear twitched his direction, and when Jina handed him the rein, he walked toward the barn trying to not tighten it and pull the bit. The horse stepped out reluctantly, and even more reluctantly walked into a rather tight narrow stall. He balked halfway, ears still pinned, shivering.

  "OK, that's actually a good place to stop." Jin told him. "Let me get the saddle." It had a breast band and second cinch, so it was a bit nerve racking getting it off the walking time bomb. The horse's tall withers were rubbed raw by the ill fitting saddle. Jina and the Hostler stayed well back while he was close to the horse, but the hostler shuffled forward to take the saddle, and hand over a rope halter as soon as Jin stepped back.

  Jin tied the halter around the horse's throat, then reached for the noseband. The horse crouched, and the skin around the muzzle wrinkled back in the equine version of a snarl. "I'm going to take it off, guy." The horse relaxed a little. Unfortunately the buckle had to be pulled a bit to unfasten, but the horse just quivered. He unbuckled the throat strap and reached for the horse's ears, then had to step up on a stool the Hostler scurried up with as the horse raised his head up out of reach. He eased the bridle over the horse's ears and let the bit drop from the horse's mouth.

  It was a large and fancy spade bit, the sort of thing one used to convey subtle commands to a very well trained horse, and regularly misused to force obedience on a poorly trained one. Jin handed it over to the Hostler without comment. "Now how about we put that halter all the way on, eh?"

  The horse stood still for that, and backed out of the straight stall coiled for action. "How about a stall? Water, oats and quiet." He led the horse into the last stall at the back, and untied the lead from the halter.

  The Hostler breathed a sigh of relief. "For all 'e didn't ever do anything, 'e sure 'ad me convinced 'e eats men fer dessert. Yer good with the 'orses."

  "Yeah, that was neat, Dad." Jina cast a soft look at the tall gelding. "Poor guy's been horribly treated."

  "Yeah. I hate seeing good horses in bad hands." Jin shrugged. "Nothing else we can do, though."

  Jina trailed him back to the corral with a few backward glances. Aero hadn't budged, and the horse currently being ridden was exhausted enough to be doing more trotting than bucking.

  "Good looking mare, isn't she, Dad?"

  Actually, for his longer patrols, she'd probably do quite well. The stripes might indicate non-domesticated ancestry, but the horses with a bit of wild in them did have good endurance and were thrifty with feed.

  Gemstone didn't have the acreage for grazing and hay that a good horse breeding operation would need. He had come down to see if any horses were available, but the market looked tight. It was a two month trek, but he'd best go back to Ash for horses, or perhaps all the way down to Farofo, same distance, lower mountains.

  "Yes, but there are so few horses for sale here, I suspect they'll be going for more than I want to spend. I think we can call this trip a bust and head home."

  Aero looked disappointed. Just fourteen and starting to grow like a weed, although his voice hadn't changed yet.

  I need to get him a good riding horse, Jin thought. "We should go to Ash, see your grandfather, they've got some good horse farms thereabout." That perked both kids up, and really, however strange the gods' village it wasn't dangerous like this place. Just full of randy mages, wizards and soldiers. Old Gods pity the fathers of daughters.

  "What is she doing, to have you praying so hard?" The tall god looked over at the two kids.

  Jin choked faintly. "Sorry, sorry. Nothing, but, but." Belatedly he noticed that neither of his kids seemed to have noticed that a very tall man had popped out of thin air. No one else was looking at him either. Other people . . . "That God of Peace person is in town. Old . . . err, sorry. He doesn't appear to have ag
ed a bit." Jin nodded at the Miner's Bust. "He walked in there. I was thinking about keeping an eye on him."

  "Ah, my old friend Pax. Yes, do watch him. But distantly, don't push it. Do you have anyone you can send your kids home with?"

  "Yes. I'll get them out of here and see what I can find out.

  "Thank you . . . " the god was gone.

  Jin turned away from the corral, and saw the golden youth leave the Miner's Bust.

  "Why don't we find the rest of the family, get some dinner and see how they're doing with their shopping?" The kids reluctantly left the corral and allowed themselves to be led down the street after the god. Jin kept him in sight until he entered a building down the street. Then Cina and Mev spotted them, and they were recruited to relieve the overloaded Jek of the overload.

  "Lost the kids?" Jin asked, only half joking. Jek and Mev's two boys and Cina's eldest, his angry step son, were all missing.

  Mev cackled, "Oh don't worry. The boys haven't got enough money to get into the kind of trouble they're too young for."

  Jin and Jek traded resigned looks. Mev had been a pregnant fifty year old prostitute when they first met her. She might be a loyal wife to his old Corporal now, but what she found acceptable, anyone else was more likely to consider shocking or appalling. Or both.

  "There's a restaurant down the street that looked interesting." Cina diverted any comments he might have made. "Let's drop this stuff off in our room, then go eat."

  'Pax', as the God of War had called him, was eating at that restaurant. He talked and gestured to the men around the large table. Jin sat close, with his back to him and tipped an ear that direction.

  ". . . opposing governments always start drawing apart, creating more friction, emphasizing their differences instead of . . ." ". . . army can get here in six weeks . . . " ". . . as many Auralians here as Veronians or Westerners, it really doesn't belong . . . " " . . . Western Army in Farofo?" "Pulled off to the far western border region . . . "

  Cina poked him. "You haven't heard a thing I've said, have you?"

  "Umm, sorry, umm. Quiet Jek." His old Corporal had just spotted the golden youth and obviously recognized him. "I need to stay here, while the rest of you go home. First thing in the morning."

  "You could, umm, pray . . . " Jek suggested.

  "Already did. You all go home, I need to keep an eye on him."

  Cina was looking a little strained, and he put a hand over hers. "Now let's finish this nice bison. I like whatever they've done to it."

  "Oh," Cina looked at her plate blankly. "Rosemary, I think. I'll have to ask around, when we get home. Surely someone is growing some somewhere."

  They all fell silent. Jin listened behind himself.

  ". . . glad to find so many who realize that by uniting we won't need an army. Taxes can drop . . . "

  Jin ate steadily and smiled reassuringly at his friends and family.

  Jin saw them off the next morning. Mev had just cackled when he'd started worrying about the older boys. Jek promised to return immediately, but it was a four day round trip. Damn, damn, damn. Cina looked worried, but opted to get her two younger children out of the lawless town before it got worse. Those boys . . . Jin kept one room at their nice inn, and hesitated over the gear he'd kept. He finally strapped on the sword. Then, with some misgivings, bought the stripe legged mare complete with battered old tack and rode her a bit to try and settle her down.

  Then he took her to the Miner's Bust. The Hostler was delighted to see him, and happy to have him put the mare in the stall beside the palomino gelding.

  "Nobody else, including me, wants to get near that horse," he poured water into the mare's pail.

  Jin leaned over the gelding's stall door, and stepped smartly back as the horse reached out with a snap of teeth. "Hey guy, feeling better?" He took the bucket from the hostler and poured it into the gelding's pail.

  The gelding made an ugly sound in the back of his throat, and Jin decided to leave him alone.

  He walked back to the Gold Nugget Inn and found the boys snoring on the beds. Jek's boys didn't stir.

  Luz opened one eye. "You said we were going to be here for three days, so don't bitch. I'm old enough to do anything I want." His jaw was clenched in anger and trembling in some disappointment, a hint of dampness around the eyes.

  Jin decided against starting a fight. "Something came up. Go ahead and sleep, have you got money for food? Have you had dinner?"

  Glare.

  He hunted out enough money to feed three hungry boys twice over and handed it over. "I'm keeping an eye on a problem, I'll check back occasionally, and Jek will be back in four days. If things get a bit war-like out there, use your judgment as to laying low or heading for home on foot."

  The second eye opened. "War-like? Like Auralia again, or the strange stuff you won't tell us about?"

  "Auralia. And some strange stuff. If you take off for home, take water, and keep an eye out for pursuit from the rear and Jek on the way back."

  Glare. "We camp and hike and explore all over the desert, Dad."

  "Yeah. But being on the other end of a hunt can be a bit different. Mind you, I'm not actually expecting trouble."

  "Huh." The boy's eyes moved down to the sword at Jin's hip, and then closed.

  Jin let himself back out and strolled back to the stable, and found the palomino gone. He caught the mare with a bit of a scramble to avoid getting kicked by the half wild creature. Then talked to her and brushed her until she relaxed a bit. He saddled her equally slowly, then unsaddled her and saddled her again. Bridled her three times, mounted, dismounted and mounted again. He finally rode her out, and managed to keep her to a semi-controlled trot until they were out of the shanty town and out on the desert flats. He let her speed up a bit, but kept her slow enough for control until she'd burned off some of her energy. When he got her back to town she was almost moving in balance with her rider and almost relaxed. Which was more than he could say for the Hostler or the palomino.

  The poor man was standing as far away as possible while still holding a rein. The horse had his head up and his muscles bunched to explode.

  Jin carefully circled the pair at a distance. "Give me a minute and I'll help," he said. He wanted to work a bit more with the mare, but . . . He chatted to both horses, while he unsaddled, unbridled and brushed the mare, then put her back in her stall.

  He returned and kept chatting, telling the horse what he was going to do just to have something to say, to keep the horse listening to him.

  He was less tense for the saddle removal, than the day before and held still while the halter was tied around his neck and the bridle removed. He quivered on the brink of doing something while the halter was put on over his nose, then stood tensely while being brushed out. Jin led him back into the barn and stalled him.

  "How in the World did you get him bridled and saddled?"

  "That young fellah that owns him come out and got real rude, then the horse just like froze and I tacked him up." The Hostler rubbed his arms uneasily. "Ain't never seen magic before. Dint much care fer it."

  "Yeah." Jin hunched his shoulders. "I've seen it before. It's enough to make a man religious, but you've got to be careful about praying. Getting a god pissed at you can be scarier than a mean wizard."

  ***

  "I need to get back to Xen. He's having fun with Lefty, but . . ."

  The Auld Wulf felt a twinge of regret. He saw her so infrequently, was so uncertain . . . She blew him a kiss and strode off toward the Grange barn, where they'd started sticking the collection of corridor openings. Much handier than the wizard's tower, when the witches started to assist them, and the mages used the corridor to Rip Crossing often enough that they hadn't protested the one to the Earther's Gate camp in Asia being there, either. Beck is probably hoping Bran will come home more often.

  "Hmph. Full of yourself as usual, aren't you?"

  He turned, shoulder blades itching. I've been safe here in Ash for too long. I've
forgotten there are gods I can't see or feel mentally, who are not on my side. "Good morning, Mercy. Have you had breakfast? Care to join me?"

  The elegant . . . Indian? Why did that pop into his head? What was an Indian? He'd have to check with Harry later . . . The woman nodded royally. "I believe you are you are familiar with what has become of the World since the Comet Fell, I would like to talk to you. So, by all means, let's chat over breakfast."

  The Auld Wulf translated that to I want information and unfortunately you have it as he followed her through the door. He had best be on his toes, though. It might not be wise to tell her everything she wanted to know, but he'd be polite while dodging awkward subjects. Heck, he might even forgo the bacon and eggs and load up on pancakes.

  "Do you do that often?" Mercy was tapping her fingernails impatiently on the table.

  "Umm," the Auld Wulf frowned. "Did I leave or just sort of zone out?"

  "Zoned."

  "Ah, good. A rather powerful wizard was praying, sort of absent mindedly, about the trials of fatherhood."

  She snorted. "As if a man had the slightest idea!"

  He bit his lip and refrained from mentioning that the man had three children to her one pathetic slump of a daughter. Who had possibly died a thousand years ago. "How's Grace?"

  Mercy glared. "I'm keeping her away from bad influences like you."

  Good to know, and to see that Mercy has moments of normal humanity.

  Pixie sidled up, a tiny little shy thing, already looking better fed than when she'd turned up on the doorstep a month ago.

  "How about a pot of green tea, and a stack of pancakes? Mercy?"

  She sniffed. "Pancakes and maple syrup. None of that obscene butter on mine."

  Pixie glanced at him uncertainly.

  "Butter on mine, please." He was rewarded with a flash of a smile.

  "She's a bit young, even for you, isn't she?" Mercy showed her teeth.