Wine of the Gods 4: Explorers

by Pam Uphoff

  All I'd need to complete the nightmare would be natives on one of the prospects.

  Chapter Two

  1360 Late Winter

  Ash, Foothills Province, Kingdom of the West

  Lieutenant Carwell "Lefty" Lebonift was ambushed just short of the village. He'd been walking—his favorite form of locomotion—when the horse galloped up the graveled road. The rider had pulled the horse to a near stop before diving off.

  Flat on his back, Lefty chuckled. "I need to talk my boss into letting me spend winters up here training." The grey, overcast day seemed a lot brighter, all of a sudden.

  Question held him down and kissed him again. "Ha! Fine thing to say when winter's just over! I'm surprised I'm still speaking to you."

  He nuzzled into her curly brown hair and held her. "Your horse is escaping."

  "She wouldn't dare. Dad taught her to ground tie." She turned her head enough to see the mare walking off, her head held carefully sideways to avoid stepping on the reins. "Drat." She rolled off him and stood up, her left hand circling slightly.

  Lightening flickered along the mountainside and Lefty could feel the hairs of his arms stirring as the static charge built up. "Question, perhaps we ought to catch her the old fashioned way?" Question's wizard powers had come in strongly these past two years. But between her control problems, and a natural affinity for lightning . . .

  "No way." The horse started walking in small circles, snorting in alarm. Question stalked down to pluck the reins off the ground triumphantly. "There. Now you can stop."

  The mare kept circling, and Question tugged the reins. The mare kept circling. Question pulled her off balance, she staggered and kept circling.

  "Drat it all, I didn't make it strong enough to persist. Stop that." She waved her left hand. Lightening hit a pine a hundred feet away.

  Lefty ducked automatically. By the time his eyes had recovered from the flash, Question was nursing burned fingers and the mare was nearly out of sight down the track, with no sign of slowing.

  He cleared his throat cautiously. "Still need a little practice?"

  "Do you think?" She hitched her hand in the crook of his elbow and let her tender fingers dangle as they fell into step down the road. He pulled out his hip flask, and offered it.

  "If that is that wine, you'd better not let Dad catch you plying his dear daughter with it." Her right hand went to her abdomen. "Lady Giselle says I get little burns all over when I lose control like that. She says I'm all scarred and probably won't ever . . . I had another tubal pregnancy last fall. It went bad just a week after you'd left."

  He stopped and put his arms around her carefully. "Then you'd better have a sip of this, and we'll behave for a while."

  She nodded and took the flask from him. "I'd say we were a star crossed couple, but look at Never and Dydit. Never's decided to not chase him, and he looks lost, and jealous of every man that looks twice at her, but he still shies away."

  "Ah, we're a good couple. Just . . . not parents yet. The way we travel about we've no business with a baby, but in a couple of years, maybe we can, well, I guess I thought that wine could cure anything. We could adopt a kid or three." He sighed at the list of platitudes. It wasn't going to convince a woman with baby hunger.

  She swallowed wine and handed the flask back to him. They walked into the village in a glum silence. It was a beautiful little village, the wooden houses painted various pastel colors like large flowers in the bright green of the sprouting grass. The main road was graded and graveled, paved in the village proper, but with the spring runoff, a thin layer of ooze just couldn't be avoided.

  Question's horse, sweaty but relaxed, was being walked around in front of the Tavern. Never had her blonde hair pulled back in a pony tail, and was bare foot in the muddy street. Her sash was being used as a lead line, and her shift and overdress fell straight and tried to hide her figure. She was still spectacularly beautiful. Why Dydit ran away instead of toward was beyond him.

  Question sighed. "Thanks, Never." She pet the horse. "Poor Little Bit."

  "I'm afraid to ask what happened."

  "Lost control again. Drat. Dad's going to say something acerbic about the reins."

  "I suggested to Dydit that he bring an old set along with him when he came. Maybe the Sheep Man won't notice."

  "Fat chance of that." Question shrugged ruefully. "I'll go find a rope."

  By the time Dydit arrived the horse was cool and in a stall, and Never had her clean feet in shoes and her sash emphasizing a slender waist.

  Lefty thumped his friend on the shoulder. "So, are you three ready to hit the road again?"

  Dydit snorted. "Gods, yes. I learned a lot over the winter, but one more lesson in constant vigilance and I'll run away screaming."

  "Thought you did that last week?" Question looked around innocently.

  "I came back so it doesn't count." Dydit led the way into the Tavern. There was a small fire burning in a corner of the huge fireplace, antidote to the spring dampness. They grabbed the big round table in front of it. Their meetings had a tendency to involve lots of large maps being unfolded or unrolled.

  Harry chuckled from behind the polished bar along the side wall. The owner and proprietor of the Tavern was a old man, dark except for the arc of gray hair around the sides and back of his bald pate. "It's good to see Nil settling down to teach."

  Dydit nodded. "He gets rude about all three of his students running away every summer, and when I come back he's gone insane and bred every mare we've got, and sold most of the three year olds I trained over the winter."

  Harry shook his head. "I expect he'd do that anyway. And he claims it's nice to have time for the twins, and to try to coddle Justice."

  "He needs a dozen students so he can't gang up on the two or three of us." Dydit thumped down in a chair and grinned. "But six months away from him is even better. Can we leave tonight?"

  Never shook her head. "No. I have to at least make the Equinox assembly. This will be the fourth year in a row I've missed the Summer Solstice ceremony. It'll be seven or eight years before Rustle grasps power, but I need to be sure she gets to enough of the ceremonies to stimulate her power. Answer's reshuffled the Half Moons, but I'm still the odd witch out. So I learned a lot of solitary techniques over the winter. Out on the trail, I'll have plenty of time to study them. Practice. So, Lefty, when do we leave?"

  Lefty was a sixteen year veteran scout from the Army, which had recently seen fit to make him an officer. And he was a wizard. Barely trained. Dydit and Question were both more powerful and better trained than he was. And Never might be 'only' a Half Moon level Witch, but she was learning fast and growing in abilities. How had he gotten put in charge? Oh, right. He was an Army Scout, and they were civilian volunteers.

  "One week. It was a cold winter so I'm starting us late on the assumption that spring thaw was late across the mountains as well. Not to mention where we were when we quit last fall. Whatever we ought to call it."

  Harry frowned. "Asia is what the continent used to be called. I think you must be in a region called Siberia. You should be far enough south to find the end of the ice cap, soon."

  Used to be called? Lefty frowned at the old man. Was he a mage? Did he have any old books? Despite five summers spent with this trio, he still wasn't comfortable enough in the village to ask prying questions. Especially given the ability of at least half the residents to fry him to a crisp with a casual wave of their hand.

  Giggling children invaded the Tavern. Two of them made a beeline for their table.

  Never's seven year old daughter was a blue-eyed blonde charmer. Havi's hair was black and his eyes honey gold. Dydit's son showed the influence of the spell Dydit had lived under for nearly six hundred years. Six and a half years old. Damn nice pair of kids, but they aren't my responsibility. I can just enjoy their best and send their worse back to Never and Dydit. It's the other way around with your own kids. His thoughts circled around Question's last miscarriage. Being chi
ldless may have made exploration easier for her, but she wanted a baby so bad. I'm in the Army. I could be sent anywhere. I won't be around to raise a child. Her fertility problems and his lack of desire for a child were additional strains on a relationship that suffered already from his seasonal absences. But there's no one else in the world for me.

  "Hi, Uncle Lefty. Is it time to go? We can pack and be ready to leave tomorrow." Rustle was all bright blue eyes, ready and willing to charm, argue, or reason as needed to get what she wanted.

  The other kids were grabbing sandwiches off of trays and scattering. Apparently Harry was feeding the school.

  The kids had gotten pretty bored last year, just driving through the canyon, on and on and on. Hell, he'd gotten bored too. But this year something should happen. They should arrive somewhere.

  The kids grabbed food and scampered. Nice kids. Never's witch daughter and Dydit's rescued son. If Never and Dydit ever stopped chasing and started catching each other, they'd no doubt have more children, together. Maybe one wouldn't be so bad. Ours. A tough little girl like Question. If we can. For the first time he felt a faint pang of regret. Figures it'd take loosing a chance to make him realize he wanted one.

  Curious must have been in the back, cooking. She was saying something a bit too loud about witches consorting with wizards and goats.

  Never was a little flushed, but otherwise ignored the witch's comments as Lefty rolled out the maps.

  Question was looking content as her fingers ran over the blank paper of the unexplored areas. "The New Lands are no paradise, but I love being out there, just going out to find out what's there."

  That got nods all around.

  "And this summer, we'll explore the other side of the world."

  More people came, and the other diners in the Tavern wandered by occasionally to study the map. Harry and the Auld Wulf argued about the permanence of the extreme divergence between magnetic and true north, with Nil egging them on.

  The Auld Wulf straightened abruptly and stepped away, getting misty, as if disappearing into a fog bank. His shaggy vest and linen shirt crinkled and darkened, Lefty could almost imagine chain mail and black leather. And a horse, huge and black, or perhaps just a horse-shaped hole in the fog, loomed over him and he was gone.

  "Well. It's been a long time since that happened." Harry said.

  ***

  Gemstone Valley's lush greenery cut off abruptly where the rocks surfaced in the surrounding ridge. From the ridge crest at the southern end of the circular valley, Jin could look south over barren rock and desert, and see the dusty column of air rising and being blown east by the light breeze.

  "Well Corporal, I guess we'd better go see if that is a wagon train full of merchants just dying to cross a thousand miles of dry rock and sand to sell us their fine goods, or if those fellows we chased off last week have come back with friends." Jin had always assumed that the desert would ensure their safety. That the cost of getting to them would make them an unappetizing target for bandits.

  "They were Auralians," Corporal Lebonift growled. "Next time you can't sleep and go for a stroll, take a couple of men with you. You could have been killed. And I'd really, really like to have had a talk with them."

  The Corporal had lost a son to the Auralians years, two decades, ago. The former Veronian Merchant was not going to lose his new family without a fight. The Corporal's wife had been pregnant when they met. In the two years since they'd settled here, that son had been followed by one of his own.

  "Yes, it would be nice to know if we're facing a large bunch of bandits or an actual Auralian force." Jin tried to be professional, to not think about his own hostages to fortune. "Well, they know where we are, so let's go take a look."

  Jin kneed his horse down the track and ten men followed. After two years of safety, neither men nor mounts were liking the return of military discipline.

  After they'd warmed up a bit, and settled down to travel, Jin sent men out to either flank, and sent Bickle out to scout ahead. "Don't get caught. If they see you, just bolt back here and let us know how bad the news is."

  Bickle was neither seen, nor caught. The news was all bad. "Two centuries, all mounted, but foot soldiers, not knights. Uniforms. I didn't get close enough to be sure, but I think they're Auralian. Not our army, that's for sure. They've got a wagon train of supplies, but the wagons are all sorts, like they were bought here."

  "Or taken in raids." Jin looked around, thoughtfully. "We will need maneuvering room to use the horses . . . "

  "You don't mean to fight them!" Nisto sounded shocked.

  "We have to delay them long enough for the rest of the men to form up on the ridge crest." He licked his dry lips. "And for our families to retreat up into the mountains. Flick, you'll be the messenger." He swung off his horse and dug paper and ink from his saddle bags. Orders for Ornisio. Orders for Cinna and Mev. They'd know where to take the children, and as much else as they could.

  Then he led them out and around the Auralians, to start harassing them from the rear.

  In their first sweep past the raiders their short bows hit two men, and several of the draft horses. That stopped the column's march, and they were able to lead the pursuing soldiers off into the badlands, split them and kill half a dozen of them.

  Then back to the column, this time from the far side, with less success.

  The horses were exhausted, and the sun setting. Jin pulled back into a draw with a tiny water seep. Knowing the ground was their only advantage, and he was going to use it. Leaving the horses, the tired men spread out across the desert and crept toward the Auralian's position.

  They were holding some sort of ceremony.

  Burial rites for the men who'd died today.

  The man officiating was not the older officer, but a youth. Slim and athletic, he stood on a flat stone shelf, a foot above the soldiers.

  "Our brothers died in the name of Peace.

  "As we came to bring Peace, they have brought us War.

  "We came into this empty land and we were attacked, slaughtered.

  "Empty handed, in friendship, bringing the blessings of civilization, we came.

  "Thus were we received, but we shall bring Peace.

  "Tomorrow we will push on to this 'Gemstone', and we shall make it ours in the name of Peace, and we will dwell peacefully among them.

  For a moment Jin wavered. He had not, in fact, asked the strangers their business. But then he looked over the assembly. All male, all armed, military discipline and marching order . . . There were a few women in the wagons, whores, or possibly captives. The only way this many men would live in peace in a town the size of Gemstone would be if they killed all the men and kept their wives. Jin winced at bitter memories. He should know. The Old Gods knew their wives knew how it worked.

  The soldiers were up on their feet now, chanting "Peace! Peace! Peace!" as other armies had been known to chant 'Victory!'

  Jin heard the clink of shod hooves, and slid backwards, bow in hand, ready to slow the first alarm and pursuit as the soldiers to one side became aware that a string of horses was departing. Two men, only slightly alarmed, trotted to catch the string and Jin waited as long as he dared before he put an arrow into the leader. Hostilities confirmed, the alarm went up and Jin withdrew carefully as commands flew and organized forays replaced the initial chaos.

  They only kept one of the strings that had been cut loose, but the invaders had spent the better part of the night chasing, and then guarding, horses. Jin and his men shot a dozen more invaders, and Risti was injured. In the pre-dawn they saddled up and headed home.

  Whether the delay had been worth the risk, only time would tell.

  They were nearly ambushed in turn by their own men. Jin blessed Ornisto and briefed Young Henner on what they faced and what he was planning on doing. "They only have a two-to-one advantage on us, and we'll whittle that down a bit as they move today. We'll keep about of a third of our people mobile, and the rest will hold the ridge."
He pondered logistics. "I'll send food and grain to the Middle Springs. Make sure the Auralians, or whoever they are, don't follow you there."

  "Yes, sir." With a snappy salute.

  Hmm, maybe military discipline could survive two years of farming.

  He was back on the ridge shortly after dawn.

  Ornisto briefed him. Jin returned the favor. He frowned when he spotted Mev on the ridge.

  "She insisted. And there are so many little foot paths up over the ridge that I need the older women to watch them, and throw and roll rocks while they scream bloody murder. The younger women have taken all of the children and the less useful of the horses off for the High Vale. Lady Cina says she'll keep a watch and cross the pass if the wrong men come after them." He looked suggestively at the tents set up on a flat spot.

  Jin nodded. "I'd better eat first through. Then I'll sleep. And then fight."

  He slept fitfully, as horses and men came and went. By noon the Auralians were in sight, and dismounted to form up in their fighting array. Uniforms glittered, a flag hung limp. Yep. Auralians.

  They sent an emissary, and Jin walked out with two officers, the Corporal, and a boy to run messages.

  "We come in Peace. Why do you make War?" the man demanded in a loud orator's voice. He kept his distance and ensured everyone could hear.

  "Why did you not come first? Your armed spies prowling at night attacked a man here in our town. A poor start to proving the peaceful intent of two hundred armed men in a military column, bearing the colors of a foreign nation."

  "We sent no spies. If your constables cannot find your sneak thieves, it is not our fault, although we can assist you in fixing the problem. In these unclaimed wastes, we must all work together for Peace."