Wine of the Gods 4: Explorers

by Pam Uphoff

  The mages were retreating, they and the three witches mounted their frozen horses, which abruptly unfroze. The two wizards walked back to their horses, but the young one stopped, looking at the blonde witch. "Take mine, Wolf, I'll stay with Never." He flicked a look at Jin. "Take Never's, will you?"

  Jin mounted and gathered the reins in time for the chestnut mare to seriously spook and try to depart. The god had mounted the dun, who pranced and fought the slow pace the god held her to. Wolf? Jin had never considered a name for the Deity. The black horse followed, but turned where he could still see across the valley. They all stayed fairly close together, gusts of wind blowing rain under the shield and Never turned and strode up hill, the young wizard beside her. The sheeting rain moved up the slope after her.

  The next turn went wide around a tall outcrop of basalt. Behind it they were out of sight of most of the soldiers, but that worked two ways. The ordinary horses froze again, and Jin dismounted. He unslung his cross bow, cocked it and laid in a dart, feeling feeble and useless in this company. He edged out to where he would be able to see the wagons rounding the curve of the mountain, if they kept coming.

  The rain stopped abruptly, and the light brightened as the cloud bank blew south, unraveling as it went.

  Across the valley they were setting up equipment. Boxy things on tripods, they were attaching pipes to the front, bringing up crates that had two men straining to carry them. Pulling things up and attaching them to the box parts.

  The god eyed them. "Never, we're going to need a very strong physical shield between us and them, possibly layered. There are going to be lots of very fast moving bullets.

  One of the mages chuckled. "Moving? Sounds like our sort of job."

  They formed a square out in front of the blonde. Never? Was that a name?

  A roar from across the valley was loud enough to drown out the rain. A different sort of rain hit the shield, and the witch jolted back as if struck.

  "Make it permeable to magic, Woman!" The oldest mage snapped.

  And suddenly the horizontal rain of bullets was slowing to visibility, the pellets dropping to the ground before they hit the shield.

  A barrage of the larger projectiles flew, arching high. The wizards started throwing flicks of light at them, several exploded in flight, the others hit rock and exploded. Jin flinched as a fist sized rock struck his arm. The young wizard cursed and picked sharp shards from the side of his neck and left shoulder.

  "Sisters? A high shield that slants down in the direction those are coming from?"

  The three got together, murmuring something.

  Jin had a moment's warning when the distant sound of the wagon's growl suddenly swelled. The wagon rounded the curve of the mountain moving incredibly fast. He threw up the crossbow and pulled the trigger. The soldier on the valley side jerked and the wagon scraped the cliff, bounced and dived off the road. The second wagon veered around and charged down on him. A line of light zipped across just above the metal front section of the wagon. Screams sounded and the wagon wavered but came on. Jin cocked his crossbow then scrambled out of the way. Bolt. Aim and fire. The third wagon jerked, the soldier on the left grabbing for something—the steering?—on the right, and it turned back toward him. He dodged again, then the wagon was falling into a deep ditch across the road. A soldier jumped forward from it, hitting the ground in a beautifully controlled roll. As he leaped up Jin slammed the butt of his crossbow into his chin, dropping him.

  Jin tripped and fell flat as another lash of fire flicked over the road. He crawled hastily back behind the wizards, then stood and surveyed the field. The bullets were keeping the mages busy, the witches were shielding. The wizards and the god were all the offence available.

  The other four wagons had stayed back, and Jin trotted as far toward the valley drop off as he could to try and spot them, either below or down the road. He could see a tiny bit of wagon sticking out around the curve of the mountain, just down the road. What would they try next? What would he have done?

  Climb. He cocked his crossbow and trotted around the basalt outcrop. No one in sight yet. "I'll check if they're climbing the cliff," he called to the god, and started up the road.

  "Nil," the god called. "How about sleep, eh?"

  "Pretty short range." the wizard called back.

  "Illusions?" the young wizard was suddenly surrounded by warriors that bolted down the road and around the corner.

  Jin pulled his mind back to his own business. A hundred yards up the road a head emerged over the edge. He snapped off a shot and watched it skip off the road and bounce over the head. The snap of one of their weapons came as he was smashed back into the cliff and rolled down to collapse on the road. He lay there half stunned, between friend and foe. He tried to call, warn them, couldn't seem to breath . . . shapes ran past him, a dozen or so . . . running down to catch them from behind.

  "God of War," he whispered. "Answer my prayer."

  And he was there, leaping into action, his sword decapitated the last two with two quick swings, then he was running after the others as they turned toward the sounds of bodies hitting the ground. Two snaps of the strange weapons, then he was in among them. Jin laid there dreamily watching as the god stabbed then withdrew, smashing a face with the pommel of his sword as he did, flicked the point across a neck, rammed the cross guard into a throat, kicked, grabbed an arm and pivoted and threw, stabbed, slashed . . . then he was running down hill toward the sounds of more fighting. Jin whimpered a bit, but grabbing the rough cliff, pulled himself up to his knees, his feet, and tottered downhill.

  He stopped and leaned on the basalt outcrop. Two wagons rolled slowly into sight. There were men behind them, using them as a moving shield. The constant barrage from across the valley was lighter, sporadic. But one of the mages was on the ground, and the trio of witches were leaning on each other for strength. The blonde witch was sitting cross legged on the ground, back straight and eyes closed. She reached up a hand to the young wizard, and Jin could see a glow of power flow from her to him. The wagons dropped into pits, and an eye searing flash erupted in front of the soldiers. The old wizard and the god leaped forward, swords in hand. They swarmed over the first wagon, nose down in the ditch, and dived low as the soldiers clumped and started firing their weapons blindly. The bullets hit shields just feet in front of the witches, and one of them slumped to the ground. The black haired witch threw up her hands and the bullets stopped further away.

  The young wizard gestured, and the soldiers weapons jerked upwards. So did the swords of the god and wizard, but they jumped into the midst of the soldiers and turned it into a brawl rather than a battle of projectiles. The black horse leaped the ditch and reared to strike out with metal shod hooves.

  The blonde and black haired witches ran forward. Every man they touched collapsed in moments. The blonde kept glancing back, the shields were still holding. And suddenly it was quiet on their side of the valley.

  The blonde staggered back to face outward. "I'll hold a shield. I think everyone needs to get around behind the outcrop."

  "Yes, and break out the Joy Juice." The young wizard jumped forward and grabbed the god as he staggered, half carrying him back across obstacles. The old wizard was supporting an arm and moving slowly. The black haired witch moved to help, then abruptly spun and bolted past the battle field and up to the horses. She was back quickly with a bottle of wine. She stopped long enough to pull the cork, then held the bottle while the god drank. Then the old wizard, and then Jin was blinking at her. "Drink. It will heal you."

  He took a gulp and it warmed him all the way down his throat. She placed her fingers gently on his left shoulder. He blinked down to see a small bruised hole. A metal pellet oozed out of it and into her fingers. The hole closed, and even the bruise faded. She was not only beautiful, she was a angel of healing and he wanted to . . . He jerked back and blushed furiously.

  She nodded. "I know, but it can heal damn near anything."

  She le
ft him for the mage on the ground, he saw her shoulders slump and then she turned to the rest of their party, giving them wine and chivvying them around the corner. The blonde witch was last up. The noises from across the canyon ceased, and she folded down to sit cross legged.

  The god cursed a bit, pulling off breast plate, chain mail, gambeson. He placed fingers to his chest and summoned two of the pellets.

  The old wizard grinned. "Always knew you were heartless."

  "Smart ass. I'd forgotten how hard you had to make a shield for bullets." The god swept his gaze around and nodded. "Now we need to collect the enemy wounded, disarm them, tie them up and heal them."

  Jin shifted his shoulder. He was feeling much better. He turned back up hill, to where the god had stopped the rear attack so easily. Or not. They did shoot him.

  Six of the soldiers were still breathing, and Jin started collecting weapons, and everything else he didn't recognize. The young wizard joined him, binding the men and then dosing them with a few drops of wine.

  "No point in them getting too spunky." He looked across at Jin. "I'm Dydit Twicecutt, by the way."

  "Jin Genero. We almost met in the Cove Islands."

  "Ah, the officer in the rocks. I thought you looked familiar." The wizard grabbed two soldiers and heaved them to their feet. "Come along lads, unlike armies that roll into other people's worlds without even knocking politely, we probably won't just kill or enslave you, or even make sure you're so short on food you beg to be our servants doing all the dirty work."

  The 'lads' looked baffled.

  "I don't think they understand you." Jin grabbed one and helped him up, then another, and steered them down the road.

  "Yes, but is the problem the language or the mind set?"

  Jin snorted and went back for the last two. One tried to kick, and he knocked him down and rolled him down the hill. The other elected to walk. The three mages were wrapping the old one in a cloak, covering his face. They glared at the soldiers. "Should have killed them all," one muttered.

  " . . . white with a red cross," the god was explaining, as something that look a bit like a flag hovered in the air and floated out around the corner. "Let me go first."

  "Remember you don't have any armor on now." The old wizard sounded like he was scolding a child.

  Never lifted her head. "I've a little shield up, so you can stick your head around and see if they know what that is any more."

  Nil looked at the six soldiers. "I'll mind them, you youngsters go help the Auld Wulf." He strolled over to them. "Why dount you zot? We wull zenda you hoom soan."

  The God of War wasn't attacked on sight, so he continued down the road.

  Jin followed Dydit around the corner, looking back to see the soldiers slowly sitting down. "I could understand that. Mostly."

  "They speak a variation of Ancient Scoone, same basis as Westernese has, but shifted in a different direction. Their writing is even closer." Dydit checked the soldier on this side of the ditch. "Broken jaw."

  "Stock of my crossbow."

  "Remind me to be polite to you." Dydit relieved the soldier of his weapons and strange stuff, then joined Jin in checking the other soldiers in the crashed wagon. One of them was whimpering, and another was still breathing, shallowly. Dydit dribbled wine into that one before removing weapons, and cleared the rest of the bodies before moving the man.

  "Maybe a bit more Joy Juice? Umm, what exactly is that stuff?" Jin eyed the wine bottle as Dydit dribbled some into the unconscious man's mouth.

  "As best I can tell, one day the Auld Wulf, him, the God of War and so forth and Lady Gisele, who just happens to be the Goddess of Health and Fertility, got drunk together and threw about five times too many herbs and spells into what must have been a pretty big batch of wine . . ."

  "We weren't that drunk!" the god protested.

  "And then they trotted it out for a party," Dydit continued. "Which turned into a village wide orgy, and nine months later, what was it? Twenty-five babies? Something like that. The Wine of the Gods. Proof that they really do have a sense of humor, and Heaven help anyone who runs into it."

  Jin sighed. "Shouldn't you show a little respect?"

  Chuckles from ahead.

  "Hmm, yes, little respect." Dydit abandoned a body and checked another. "Which of you fine gentlemen gouged this one's eye out?"

  "That was me." The god walked over. "Yep, that's their leader. Don't know if he was just the boss of this bunch or the whole shebang. Let's get some wine down him and find out."

  Dydit stripped him of everything remotely odd, and the god trickled wine into his mouth. Dydit, sighed, and pressed the semi attached eyeball back where it belonged. He met Jin's eyes and shrugged. "The wine seems to work a bit better if it doesn't have to move things around too much."

  The officer stirred and swallowed.

  "Good, naow drunk ut owl." The god said, as the man blinked and lifted a hand to his eye. "We need to toulk."

  Dydit moved to the other soldiers, but was obviously listening to what was being said.

  Jin joined him, shifting all the weapons up hill and away from these soldiers. Not that they'd be feeling very aggressive any time soon, no matter how good the Joy Juice was. Some of the damage ought to have crippled the men for life. He made a note to not get on the wrong side of either the god or that stallion of his.

  The blonde witch had walked down and was listening closely.

  "I can't quite understand them," Jin said.

  "The Colonel appears to think we're from someplace called the One World. The Auld Wulf is trying to find out what it is, and why that matters to these people." She looked irritated. "If the blithering idiots had stuck to talking to us we might have set up some mutually advantageous trade. But this ass is convinced that, well, maybe I shouldn't call him an ass. For all I know his world may be at war with the other one. And this is one of those unfortunate things that happen in war."

  "What do you mean by 'world?'" Jin smoothed down the hairs on the back of his neck.

  "Hmm, did you ever hear any of those children's tales about magical worlds through the fairies' hidden door?"

  "My mother's stories ran to shrinking pills and falling down rabbit holes."

  "Same sort of idea. These guys have what they call gates, that go from their world to other ones. Lots of them. Recently they figured out how to come here. Four of us were exploring for the King, and encountered them, umm, I guess it's been almost eight months ago now. Question and I snuck through the gate and had a look around, brought back some books. These guys apparently treat worlds with people living there that can't stand up to their weapons as big goody bags. Take the minerals, the people for cheap labor."

  "Well, that's just like most of history, isn't it? Kings and Dukes can spout off about their principles, but when push comes to shove, soldiers are there to be used to gain riches and power for them and nobody gives a damn about the people just trying to live and raise their kids."

  "Umm, you sound like you've learned from experience."

  Jin sighed. "Sorry. I owe King Rebo everything, and I'll give my all for him. But once I would have said that about Duke Rivolte."

  "Ah. That mess. I don't have enough experience with evil wizards to tell you if the Duke had to be already tempted to have been so quickly influenced, or if he was an innocent, entirely used by the wizards. You could ask Nil." She gestured back toward the old wizard.

  Jin shook his head. "At some point you . . . just have to let go, and say you're going to do the best you can from here out. Rivolte . . . he was ambitious, but not disloyal. I thought." He shrugged. "I liked his son, even though he probably got my father killed trying to save his ass. Did they ever find him?"

  "Lord Kell hasn't been officially found. I think the King is waiting until he makes up his mind what to do about the father." Never straightened and frowned at the ongoing conversation. "Idiots," she got up and stomped down to the enemy officer. "May I suggest that we compose a letter to this person
's government, get it vetted by the King, and send these people home. If they truly have been trying to ban travel to the One World, then I suspect they will do the same for us." She leaned over and looked at the officer, her accent changed as she addressed him, stretching words out and emphasizing the endings of some. "Our technologee is so advanced that thirteen of us, hastily summoned, defeated your company. Go home and tell your government that they do not want to see what one of our armies can do."

  The god snorted. "Good idea. Diduh you undurstand that?"

  "Yus."

  "I am going to release you and these men I have captured. If you resume the fight I will . . . take it poorly . . . Withdraw to just beyond the mountains, there's a good stream one mile south of the road there. Wait for an official diplomatic communication. Since we're talking bureaucracy, it may take awhile. If you need food, we will supply it. I will send the medicine I have used on you and yours so that you may treat the wounded over there."

  "Smull mutter of the burge."

  "Oh. That. Dydit, Never? A demonstration of our tech would seem to be in order." He reached down and pulled up the officer and marched him to the edge of the road.

  The wizard and witch walked up beside them. She laid a hand on the wizard's shoulder, and they started glowing. They made several gestures, shook or nodded their head as if arguing. Then Dydit reached out his hands, curled as if holding poles and raised them. Two thick columns of rock, glowing and hot rose from the stone just this side of the river. They rose a third of the height of the canyon walls and curved away, over, down to the other side. Two more arches rose beyond it, slightly shorter. A third pair was pulled up out of the rock on this side. Then beams grew, stretched across the valley from side to side. Rocks rolled from the far side, deforming and spreading into cross beams, rolling up to the center of the span, then another and another . . . Jin gulped and took a look at the officer. He looked stunned.

  "Uone of your holograms? Ife heard how gud they arr." He took a deep breath. "Going to kill us by hafing us derive right into the river? Those two, I recohnisize them. They're One Worlt."