by Pam Uphoff
They split medic duties with a hyperactively alert watch on all sides. And carried Greeson away as soon as possible.
***
Never threw shields, physical and electromagnetic, across as much of the spectrum as she could manage, and wrapped them around the six Earthmen. Their weapons flashed, bright white explosions spreading across the shiny black surface. "It's not going to hold for very long." She ran forward and threw herself between the cliff face and the shield, wiggled through, Question and Lefty followed. The Earthmen caught on and threw themselves against the shield. Dydit cursed as they shoved him into the rock wall. Lefty grabbed him and pulled him through, leaving a bit of shirt and skin behind.
"That's it, Never has got to stop feeding you." Lefty trotted up the road and they followed.
"That juice wears off too fast," Dydit panted. "Should have brought some of the good stuff along. Oh, hell. God of War? God of the Roads? Damn it, do we need to be near a fumarole to call a god?"
Never whimpered. "Or maybe closer to more people, for the collective subconscious stuff to work?"
Ten miles to the nearest fumarole, perhaps? They were all beyond tired. They walked, trying not to stagger. Never kept looking behind, and when she spotted a flicker of movement, threw a shield across behind them. It started spotting out in white almost immediately. She staggered away from it, kept going. There was no way they could possibly travel, even if they reached a fumarole. She found herself face down blinking at the rock. Dydit hooked his hand under her arm. She pushed up and managed to get upright. Walking the right direction. Lefty and Question were ahead of them, leaving the road, walking out to a steaming pond on the edge of the river.
Then she was rolling down the rough talus slope, the rocks ripping at her. Never grabbed a handhold, flung a hand out to Dydit and saw the deep burn on his back as he collapsed face first on the rocks. But he rolled just a little more and looked up the slope. His face was strange and blank and his hand rose jerkily, a finger pointed and a line of light leapt out to slash across the top of the slope. There was a cry from up there, and Never climbed down. "Dydit, can you come down?" She stared, she wasn't absolutely sure he was breathing, but he was getting up. She jumped to steady him. He stepped blindly and she manhandled his weight and got him on the flat, over to the pool. He slumped.
"God of War!" Never wondered why she wasn't addressing the man by name, but suddenly he was there. Black horse rearing. The helmeted head turned for a quick survey.
And then Nil and Justice were there, too. The most powerful wizard alive, and his witch wife. Question's parents. Never sagged, letting the exhaustion win. If they can't handle it, no one can. Justice had an open bottle of wine, and knelt to dribble it into Dydit's mouth. Nil held his head frowning down at his student. The black horse turned and charged up the talus slope. There were flashes of light, screams.
Justice reached out hesitantly to Dydit; Never could feel her channeling, but he resisted. "Dydit," Never's voice was shaking. "I seem to recall you once threatened Nil with forcible power insertion. Now don't you make me do anything you might enjoy."
He gasped a faint breath, and his internal shield softened. Justice sent him a careful trickle of power. Never tried reaching for Earth, and whimpered a bit at the pain.
Nil scrunched down beside her. "I figure you'd better have a gulp of this stuff too, Never." He reached toward Dydit, who flinched. "You're worse than me, boy." He handed Never the bottle.
She took a mouthful, swallowed. Handed it to Lefty who helped Question drink, then drank himself. Never took it back and held it for Dydit. "Better drink it Goat, I'm thinking about going up to the road and checking on those guards."
"Don you dare," he grabbed weakly at the bottle, swallowed.
She pulled a little power, and fed him in trickles, and at some point realized that they were at the Ash hot springs, the witches' hot springs. She stretched out beside Dydit and cradled his head on her arm. "Wine or no wine, I'm too tired to walk far enough to find a bed."
The sun was in her eyes and the birds were singing. She turned away from the light and sat up suddenly. Stiffly. She was still on the warm rocks. Some kind soul had managed to put a thin mattress under Dydit. His chest rose and fell regularly. She stretched, and looked around. Question and Lefty, sound asleep, Nil and Justice sitting wearily, leaning on each other. Justice was smiling though, as she turned to look at Never.
"Got all your chicks home safely, Mother Hen?" She kept her voice quiet.
They both nodded, but Nil sighed when he looked at Dydit. "That's boy's going to be madder than hell. At least I hope he's not scrambled up enough to not be. I did something I promised him I would never do. I didn't even think about it, just jumped right in and took control while he was dying."
Never gulped. "That was why he looked so—dead."
"Technically he was, but not really. Takes a while for the cells to start dying, so you've got a brief window for fast repairs. Taking control like that, it's the worst thing one wizard can do to another."
"But you gave the control back to him?"
"As soon as he was close enough to the fumarole for me to travel to him." Nil sighed. "I don't know if I should leave now or get it over with."
Dydit growled. "Don't be stupid. You needed me practically right on top of the fumarole for Recognition. If you hadn't come they would have killed Never. The main reason I hate you is that you are always right." He was quivering, and Never laid down beside him and touched him carefully. He flung an arm around her and tucked his face into her chest. Breathing in long controlled sobs.
"Never, do you mind awfully if I don't ever die? It was really painful and scary and that was before Nil took over." His voice was a shaky whisper.
"I think that sounds like an excellent idea," Never whispered back.
More voices approached, and then light-weight rapid footsteps. Rustle and Havi ran up but finished their approaches as gently as butterflies. "Daddy?" in two voices, tentative touches. Dydit gathered them up in a hug.
"We brought soup." Havi whispered.
"Oh good. I'm hungry, but so tired I don't think I can chew."
When Nil helped prop him up, he gave him a crooked smile. "Did I make you promise anything else that stupid?"
"Hmm, there's the one about never tell Never."
"I managed to confess to that one myself. The wretched witch laughed." Dydit took a sip of soup "Umm, tastes like yours, Never. I'll bet your mother made it."
"Grandmother, you oaf. And Rustle and Havi both helped." Answer sat down cross-legged with the flexibility and grace of a much younger woman.
"Now, I don't suppose you four could manage to tell us what happened?"
"When I was on the other side of the gate, on Earth, people wearing a particular uniform arrested me. I escaped. When we got back to the wagon, we caught the horses, and headed back here. Two gyps carrying men in that same uniform caught up to us the second day, opened fire without trying to talk first. While I was under arrest, they kept assuming I was from a place called the One World. I can only think that they must be at war, they way they reacted to us." Never frowned. "I hope they don't follow the road and try to continue the battle."
Nil snorted. "Those particular men are unlikely to. But this Earth has a huge population, according to the gods. Eat, then. I brought that old horse of Harry's up here. You can ride the rest of the way home."
They ate, and Dydit and Question rode the old horse back to the Wizard's Tower. Lefty borrowed another horse and headed for the Fort. Never sighed and walked home surrounded by family, and without Dydit. Again. Still.
Chapter Nineteen
8 July 3477
Dallas Twelve fifty-three
Lon scrambled and made the supply gate. It was twilight on the other side.
The expedition from the City had just returned to the gate camp. Mostly.
Julianne Prescott's mention of the Special Agent and Troopers chasing down Dydit and Lefty had him turning imme
diately for the ridge. Prescott grabbed a company gyp and followed, with Meyers and Kolnavik jumping in with her. He ordered them back to camp, and found himself with a mutiny. So they all followed the Special Agent, unsure really why, other than turning around and just driving back to camp seemed impossible. Late in the afternoon, they picked up Roxy and Jefferson where the Agent had dumped them before running off in pursuit of the horse drawn wagon.
"They just suddenly sank." She sounded frightened. "I never thought about what magic that can build bridges could do, when used destructively. Their illusions are so good. And then some of them weren't illusions. They, the agent and two guards were marathoners. They ran after Dydit and Lefty. The others were a bit slower. But they were running, too. Damn it, I kept trying to tell them about the magic, about how things really work. They just laughed and said it was holograms and tricks."
Jefferson growled. "She's nuts. She really believes this crap about magic."
Lon pressed his lips together and counted to ten. "I should have expected to find you here, and a damned witch hunt that will ruin any chance of friendly relations with the natives."
"Natives, my ass. They're from One World."
Lon turned his back on him. The climbing line of the road was obvious against the cliff, and finally he turned the gyp that direction. There was no side rail on the road. It just jutted out from the cliff as it climbed the side all the way to where the river dived out of the glacier and canyon.
Three quarters of the way up it they found four guards carrying a stretcher, with one bringing up the rear, looking spooked, despite carrying two laser rifles. Greeson was burned and blistered, but still breathing.
"They killed two troopers." One of the troopers said, as they inched by the first gyp, Greeson slung on a makeshift hammock of uniform jackets and laser rifles. "We need your gyps, one to get Mr. Greeson back to the gate, and one to pursue the murderers." Lon had stopped his gyp right up against the cliff.
Julianne looked out her door. There was a good three feet of space. But it wasn't wide enough to make her forget how high up they were. "I'll head back to camp. I'll report to that McCamey person if you aren't back in a couple of days, Lon."
He nodded and ordered Scott to leave as well. "There's a gate scheduled in two and a half days. Push the pace and get him through."
It was just as well Greeson was unconscious, so he didn't feel them manhandling him into the second gyp. Lon took a long look back.
One of the guards kicked Ivan out of the driver's seat. "Don't even think about it. I will back down the road." His voice was firm, and Ivan didn't argue, he hopped out and climbed in Lon's gyp. One of the Troopers, who evidently had medical training climbed in with his passenger. Then they were easing downward.
The other agent and two troopers crowded into Lon's gyp. He put it in gear and headed up. He drove carefully ahead, turned the corner at the top of the ramp. They were still on a single lane shelf, level now, projecting over the river. Then the canyon widened and the flats beside the rivers spread out. It was dark under the line of the fog bank. Lon bit his lip.
"Keep going. Let's see if we can find the other two troopers."
Lon shot a glance over his shoulder, only then realizing the agent was Florian Hastenberg.
Hastenberg and Jefferson. No wonder this got so fucked up.
He kept to the flattest areas, and crossed a side stream on a small arched bridge. The ground level mist was thin enough that they could see clearly in the headlights. He felt like he was driving in a tunnel, or cave, the roof of heavy fog pressing down on him.
Two small bridges later they found the bodies of the troopers. The killers hadn't even bothered to take their weapons. Lon checked the less damaged one carefully. No pulse. No breathing. Not that he expected it. The burns weren't as bad as the agent's had been, but the body appeared to have been partially dismembered with a sharp blade. The second trooper had been beheaded. Blood stains ran over the damp stones. He told himself it was just the fog condensing, keeping the stains looking fresh. The killers were long gone.
At the guards insistence they drove on another fifty miles, without seeing a hint of the natives. The Oners. Whatever they were. They turned around and, stopping only to pick up the remains of the two troopers, headed for the gate camp, trading off drivers through the night.
George assured him that the agent had still been breathing when the gate opened and they got him through. They left the building open and the anchor powered up, and were rewarded with a trip to Earth about midnight their time.
Chapter Twenty
12 July, 3477
Earth, Nowhereistan
Florian kept a low profile, listening in on the debriefing of the Dallas Dimensional people. Lon, especially. He knew him only from the brief period when the soft headed idiot had been making trouble on Tournay. Florian had sent him home and gotten him fired. The man had actually threatened him. The Company had shut him up with promises to investigate, and tightened their choke hold on what information the media received.
And now the soft hearted fool had been completely taken in.
"Right. There were gravity fluctuations at frequent intervals. Nothing regular." Lon had been answering questions for hours and was starting to look a bit punchy.
Halfway through, the interrogators had switched from Gate Security to regular Army. Glares were swapped around between departing and incoming groups. Stupid turf wars. Florian had stayed quietly in the background, out of Lon's sight, and managed to get overlooked. He'd shed his filthy suit coat; they probably took him for another company man. The army brought in new experts on gravity, on electromagnetic phenomenon, and on the One World. It figured that the Army would want the tech. They had no business investigating espionage.
He took a very small sip of water. He didn't want to call attention to himself with a bathroom break.
They should have brought in this Dr. Farr, to talk intelligently about the gravity fluctuations. The group that had visited the native city were probably answering even more questions, somewhere. To his relief, the questions seemed to be running down. Now for some action! He'd whipped out a beautifully polished report in his head while they drove back, and had it down and in his pocket as soon as they'd made the camp. They'd heard the alarm when the Anchor started swapping codes with the gate, and had gotten lined up with their gyp in time to take the unscheduled gate. His superiors had been duly impressed, but would they take his recommendation? Easy enough to engineer a plague that goes for those engineered segments of DNA. That way we won't harm any real natives.
"Let's take an hour break." The current lead questioner stood and stretched. "My aide's ordered in sandwiches."
Florian kept an eye on Lon, but the fool had taken the hint that they didn't want him going far, and just ducked into the nearest bathroom for a bit.
The sandwiches proved plentiful, with drinks (non-alcoholic) and chips and open discussion of what equipment the technical people needed, and what they needed for a rundown.
Florian felt like spitting.
"Rundown?" Lon was asking the Army types.
A dark haired sergeant explained. "If they really only have horses, then it will take them weeks to get as far as the gyps can get in days. Some gyps with extended fuel tanks should be able to run them down quite quickly. If we can't, then we need to consider that they have advanced tech, probably kept hidden up that canyon."
Lon nodded.
"Something is bothering you?"
"If they were Oner agents, why did they let us get DNA samples? They could have been more standoffish, not cooperated with a physical. That one huge illogical action tends to make me doubt the identification of them as the One. The DONA people thought they went to the city that's roughly in San Francisco's place . . . but they should barely have had enough fuel. Even the tank trailer was nearly full, and they drove all over that city, showing off. And they got back so quickly." The softy trailed off. Good luck untangling those thoughts. "We got t
he impression that Dydit and Lefty had traveled for months, but apparently they're only four days away, by gyp."
"They were probably feeding you bad information right along."
"Maybe. If they are natives, well, the DONA people were bad enough, now Agent Greeson's use of force has confirmed that we aren't good neighbors. I suppose they must have ambushed them? Grabbed a laser and . . . " Lon shrugged.
Nods all around.
"If there is no One World presence, that's going to be a serious road bump in our diplomacy."
One of the officers looked around in surprise. "I'm sure DONA will require they be turned over to us to be tried for murder."
Lon sighed, and pressed his lips shut. Florian shook his head in sheer disbelief. The man was going to say it out loud. He could tell.
The officer stared. "Don't you agree that is the proper response?"
"What legal jurisdiction were they in? Why do you call it murder? It is clear from the eye witnesses that the agent opened fire from long range on an official local government exploration party that had every right to come and go as they pleased. At this point, all we have are some natives who decided to go home, and reacted violently to being chased down and assaulted."
"You'd let those natives get away with murder?"
"It wasn't murder. But you would have let Agent Greeson get away with murder, wouldn't you? The problem with civil rights, is that everyone's got them. Even natives. One day our lack of respect for that is going to haunt us."
Another officer eyed him. "Do you also think we should have let Tournay starve?"
"Unfortunately for that argument, I was there. We were sinking grain ships offshore and deliberately starving people. Please pick a different example."
Please. Shit, shit, shit.
"We did not!" The man was utterly aghast.
Lon made a rude noise. "Go find a man named Florian Hastenburg. He was, at that time, working for the Garamond Corporation, and in bed with the DONA agents on site. Ask him how many sailors he murdered before he sank their ships, you naïve puppy."