by Pam Uphoff
Jacana growled something about stupid men, her glare drifting from Xen to Ux and back.
Rael prowled the new perimeter and ignored them. Another new gate sprung up, this one much closer.
An hour later they'd finished twenty and Rael walked between triads, telling them to quit. Nudged Xen.
He nodded. "Just a few more cones to use up and we'll quit."
Rael looked back to the witches, relaxing, dropping hands, power released. Bunny hustled by with an armful of boost, and Rael headed to the ute to help.
Three more gates far down the hill, and Xen and Q quit as well.
Xen stretched. "Two hours, twenty-three gates. Excellent. A short session this afternoon, and then three or four more days should take care of it."
By the time they got to the building, Pig and Barracuda turned up with a large bird apiece.
"That's not a pheasant . . . " Rael trailed off dubiously.
"Grouse." Ohhe grinned. "Native to Europe, pheasants are Asian . . . I think."
The witches grabbed them and started arguing recipes. After the dogs fetched eight more birds each, Xen told them to stop, and assured them that they'd get plenty of yummy leftovers.
Q thumped down beside Bunny. "It looks like it'll be grouse in game sauce vs orange-ginger grouse."
Rael eyed her. "But you're not cooking?"
Wrinkled nose. "It's the two triads competing—and no, Icks and Ux, I will not tell you who is cooking what—and no outside help allowed."
Rael prodded a bit. "You aren't really part of the witch community any more are you?"
"No. Both my mother and I have difficult relationships with Answer, especially, but also we're both gone quite often, for long enough periods that we don't have triads to fit back into." She shrugged. "Disco's much more interesting, but I do regret never really belonging, back home."
Xen nodded. "We both work better with Magic Central—the army's magical group—than the more traditional magicians in Ash, or the very eccentric magicians in Rip Crossing."
"Isn't there a pyramid in Karista? That's your biggest city, right?" Bunny looked fascinated.
Q and Xen swapped grins.
"The Karista Pyramid is . . . " Xen broke off, looked at Q and they both started laughing.
Q cleared her throat. "The Karista witches spend too much time immersed in city life to be serious about developing their magical talents."
Xen looked innocent. "But they're up to the minute on the latest fashions and high society gossip." The grin broke through. "But don't cross them. The Eldest Sister, Trump, may not know the advanced subtleties, but she's a powerful force of nature and not to be underestimated."
"What about the other countries? However many, no one seems to ever know." Ohhe looked like he wished he could take notes.
A jolt, shiver . . . "Earthquake. Interesting. I really hope all the gates aren't causing it." Q shrugged. "The problem is Auralia. After the Amma departed with his nobles, families and army, their Empire broke up into a dozen or more pieces. How many depends on who you're talking to, everyone argues about whether regions are separate nations or if it's just a few rebels talking nonsense. And like as not there will be more than one self-proclaimed government sending emissaries to Karista demanding to be recognized as the legitimate government and incidentally supporting them with more than words."
"That explains a lot." Ohhe's fingers twitched.
Bet he spends some time writing up a report tonight . . . which I ought to do as well.
"But the West has the best training, and the highest background level of magic genes. Verona's close, but their training is pathetic. We've quietly intervened a couple of times, just to be sure they never get enough people that even with their brute force training they could be a threat to us." Xen shrugged. "Not my problem any longer."
Q nodded. "The last time I checked in . . . well, let's just say most of the kids they were trying to train had moved to Rip World."
"Is that near this Rip Crossing we keep hearing ridiculous rumors about?"
"Oh, it's a colony world. The gate to it is in Rip Crossing. The population's so low that the government just treats it like part of Desolation Territory and lets Governor Havi run it."
"Governor? I thought you had, like, Princes and Lords?" Bunny blushed. "We don't actually know a lot about you guys."
Q grinned. "It's mutual. The Kingdom is broken up into Provinces and Territories. Which are broken up into Land Grants. The Land Grant holder is a Lord, generally hereditary, but in the territories people can buy grants, but they have to be economically viable inside of ten years or it lapses."
"The Land Grant Holders of each province elect one of them to be the Duke and represent them in the Council. The title of Duke has become hereditary as well, although the king can remove one, and in theory the other Land Grant Holders could as well. Territories have appointed governors, ditto provinces where the hereditary duke is under age, or the lords refuse to have hereditary layer of government. They are also members of the Council. Cities and professional guilds over a certain size get representation as well."
"And of course," Xen sniffed, "the title of Lord has expanded to cover any and all male line descendants of the Land Grant Holders. So they're all over the place putting on airs."
Q snickered. "You tell them, Prince Xen."
Xen gave her a rude gesture. "Nope. Female line of descent. Princess."
That got a gesture Rael wasn't quite sure how to translate so she ignored it. "I got the impression the king is not exactly a figurehead . . . "
That got her glares.
Xen cleared his throat. "We have a two-part head-of-state. Crown and Spear. The King runs the administration of the kingdom, the Spear runs the Military and the police. They both support each other and act as a check on each other. Either may request action of the Council, and either can veto legislation the Council passes. Both of their signatures are required to enact a law."
"Isn't that awkward?"
"It usually works well. Except when it's such a disaster it implodes before it gets within a generation of the top."
"And that's how the Hors de Combat started? They assassinated a prince?"
"Yep. And we're really glad they don't seem to be in business any longer. Wherever they are."
***
"Those things look pretty dangerous."
Q took her eyes off the large herd of large cattle under the substantial dust cloud. "They look like they're migrating. I fail to understand why. It's the middle of the summer."
Goldfinch eyed the dry clouds. "Maybe the water is drying up in the south? Isn't Northern Europe supposed to be wetter, year round than the south? Of course, I have no idea what climate changes this world has experienced."
Q nodded. "Makes sense. And they're avoiding the hill, for now, but we may need to break off early. Which makes this a good time to switch things around a bit."
Rael walked up raising her eyebrows, the rest of the women trailing.
Oh this is going to be good!
Q hoped she was looking businesslike. "Bunny? Why don't you try working with Demi and Egret. Rael with Goldfinch and Ibis. And I'll make a third triad with Jacana and Lapwing."
Rael grinned. :: Giving the Mean Girls a lesson? ::
:: That's half the fun. You'll be the other half. Not to mention Xen's reaction. ::
But the others looked variously interested. Jacana and Lapwing exchanged glances and started grinning.
They spread out along the hill, the guys keeping an eye on the cattle.
***
Rael followed Goldfinch and Ibis along the hill and down a bit.
Ibis grinned. "Don't look so apprehensive. We're the nice witches." She held out her hand and Rael reached to meet it.
Zing!
"Whoa! Hadn't expected that from a Oner!" Ibis scanned her. Shook her head. "You'd fit right into the Farmer girls. Don't you think so, Goldie?"
Goldfinch nodded and held out a hand. Rael grit her
teeth and touched it.
Zing!
Oh one damn it all to hell!
She cleared her throat. "My mother served on Comet Fall, an Action Team Leader. She got pregnant. The name Bran Butcher has been mentioned."
Black and Auburn heads nodded.
"Hi Cousin! My mother is your father's younger sister. And Ibis would be your niece. Her mother is one of Bran's other daughters." Goldfinch's grin widened. "You'll have to come meet the rest of the family sometime. Don't worry, there's only a couple hundred of us . . . last time I counted."
Rael just closed her eyes. I never thought about having family on my unknown father's side. Cousins, Nieces, Half-sisters. A couple hundred. Why me?
So . . . pick up some information. "So, your mothers are witches and your fathers are wizards, right?"
Double giggles. Goldfinch shrugged. "We're Rippers. We don't do things the ordinary way."
A snort from Egret as she walked by. "Orgies and recreational genetic engineering. Pervies, all of them."
Ibis and Goldfinch just laughed.
"True. Man you get the Wine in the hotsprings and, well, even the women with no power at all can have double power babies." Ibis glanced toward Xen. "Pity he doesn't play."
"Often." Goldfinch added.
Oh? How often?
Rael shut down that line of thought as the others took her hands and led her off into the sparkling blue to hunt for cones.
***
Q managed to not laugh . . . until she turned around and spotted Xen. Blank faced, staring at Rael. Ha! You never analyzed your girlfriend's genes? Good. I'd hate to find out you were as analytical as I am.
Jacana and Lapwing held hands and smiled hungrily at Q.
She sobered enough to just grin at them and took their hands. Opened her shields to their hostile advances and let them in. Reached for them and swamped them with sheer strength of mind as they merged.
:: Let's get to work.::
Ten gates later she released them.
Smiled sunnily. "Good work guys. Thanks!"
Xen parceled out boost with a straight face to the two stunned looking witches. Didn't say a thing. Out loud.
:: Did you out-bad the Bad Witches? Tsk, tsk! ::
:: I might have been a little too dominant. :: Q took a sip and looked the other way. :: I'm a bit surprised that you were surprised. ::
:: I wasn't actually. Except . . . she said her mother was an Action Team Leader. I suddenly realized that it wasn't the meek little assistant that Bran seduced, but rather the leader of that whole appalling action. ::
:: I trust you have sense enough not to hold the sins of the mother against the daughter. ::
He glowered at her. :: No. But it might explain an ability to do horrible things when ordered. I'll be more careful the next time she tries to murder me. ::
Q started laughing and walked over to wake up the other triads. :: Beats being meek. ::
:: True. ::
The grouse in game sauce won, seven to six, with Q abstaining from voting. "The boss needs to stay neutral."
***
The Witches were at odds in the morning; the Ash Triad crowing their victory, the Rip Crossing witches grumbling. They all rode the utes out to the far south side of the hill.
Xen looked over at Q. "Tell you what. Why don't the Witches guard this morning, and let us guys do a bit of work." He sent a grin at the Speed Team. "So . . . who's brave enough to try a minor compass with me?"
Rael giggled. "Ooo! Four apprehensive expressions. And I thought my reputation was bad!"
Scar squirmed. "I'm game . . . Sarge? Good or bad idea?"
"Good. I think. Ux—you stand by while the rest of us try this."
"Oh now, we're just going to gather a bit of power for herding cones. Think of the reports you can write about dimensional manipulations." Xen took South and held out his hands.
Scar gulped and took West, Ohhe North, and Icks stepped up to take the East position.
Xen felt their uncertainty, and their inexperience. :: I thought you guys did Compasses? ::
:: That's Directorate stuff. The Action Teams, mostly. The Army mostly needs people who can shield. ::
:: Huh. Ruin your reputation saying things like that. But for this you need to pull your mental shields in tight against your core self, and let your surface thoughts and sensory impressions hang out. :: He gave them a moment to adjust shields. :: What we're going to do is collect a bit of power, and pass it around the circle. We'll build up the power a bit, and I'll show you how to build a gate.::
Well, not the first time I've taught beginners. And they do have good solid shields.
He pulled power from the heat of the air and passed it to Scar, who sent it to Ohhe, on to Icks, and back. ::Now we add power while we spread this bit out and gradually build up a nice big ring. ::
The other men were reasonably well trained, and held the ring steady as they all added power.
:: Enough power. Now close your eyes and see what I see. :: An uneasy ripple as the blue of the inbetween superimposed itself on what they could see . . . then they all closed their eyes and studied the inbetween. He'd kept his own attention in close . . . :: This is the Helio's Miniverse. Just five stars. Ours, the triple star system of Alpha Centauri, and over there, Barnard's Star.
He started to focus toward the Sun, but one of the others protested.
:: Can you actually see planets around other stars? ::
Xen paused. :: I never looked. ::
So he did. Easing closer to the largest star of the Alpha Centauri system.
:: A gas giant, like Jupiter, and there's a smaller planet . . . ::
Shift to the second star. :: Asteroids, two belts . . . bet there's a planet in between. :: Skimming along . . . Right there. Small, no atmosphere. ::
Xen pulled back. :: Right. Now let's look at Helios. ::
The astronomer of the group reluctantly released his grip and they shifted, zoomed in on the Earth, wrenched and messy. :: Merging is not kind to a world, let alone the life on it. ::
:: Now, the gates . . . we need two cones for each one. See all the bubbles? In amongst them there are a few odd things. See that cone? First we bump it with a bubble to slow it and push it into the planet, where it grabs on. Pull the tail out nice and long, and look for another cone. Grab a second bubble and slow it. Push it around so the tails twist together and shove the big part a little bit away from us as it sucks down on this world. ::
The power ring was nearly exhausted, so Xen pulled back and let the compass fall apart. He dropped his grip on the other's and looked around. The new gate was ten feet away.
"Congratulation, you've made your first gate."
They all looked at it, a bit bemused. Ohhe looked at his watch. "Two hours? For one gate? That's kind of slow."
"Well, we took a bit of a tour. Which one of you is the Astronomer?"
Icks shuffled his feet. "I'm not really an Astronomer, I just like reading . . . mostly fiction about space travel and all, but text books and science magazines . . . Those planets were really there?"
"Yep. In that universe." He shot a grin Q's direction. "But don't tell Q what you did until we're done with the gates. Then you can distract her."
She glowered.
"So, boost all around and then let's see if we can put up some more gates."
He quit at eight, and they broke for lunch.
The witches were smug about how much better they were and had forgotten their rivalry with a new target to variously laugh or sneer at. And they proceeded to demonstrate their superiority with twenty-five gates before quitting for the day.
Rael eyed him. "So . . . was that deliberate manipulation of the witches?"
Dimples. "Yes . . . except it turned out to be very educational. Your guys' different perspective surprised me, and showed me a possibility I'd never considered."
She raised her eyebrows. He glanced over at Q.
"I don't want to distract her . . . but later
on we're going to be looking at other planets."
"Other planets . . . like Mars?"
"Or planets around other stars. The main problem will be . . . velocity . . . Hmm . . . " He jumped at her poke.
"To heck with Q. I think we should worry about not distracting you."
He grinned. "Drat. I love it when you distract me. But perhaps you need some landscaping done at your house? I could bring a few things by and see if you like them."
"Hmm, my yard is rather . . . neglected."
"Hmm, your yard is about to get a face lift."
"Well, maybe after we've saved the World."
***
Two days later they packed up and headed home.
Rael took the wheel of the lead ute and Xen joined her.
"We'll know in two months if it did any good." Q climbed into Ohhe's ute. "Drop us off at the staging area. I'll close the gate to here, then we'll take one of the other gates back to Embassy."
They drove through the gate, back to the rocky barren world.
Xen looked over at her. "So I'll see you in two months, Spikey. Go report, we'll close this gate, and get ourselves home." He hopped out of her ute and blew her a kiss.
The witches waved to the Teamers and headed for the third gate. Two more gates and three corridors to Embassy, according to Ibis.
Rael drove through the gate that was the first link back to the One World, then turned hard and parked. Leaped out and ran back to the gate.
:: Keep going. I'm going to see what Xen's up to. ::
A mental grin from Ohhe, then she warped light and shut her shields hard. As soon as the last ute was through, she jumped.
Xen was walking back toward the gate to the X World.
"Xen!" Q followed, sounded exasperated. "What are you doing?"
"What I do best. Spying. I'll go see if Helaos are feeling the earthquakes, on their side of Helios, and if they realize that something is being done to them. And if they're going to track down our gates."
"And then what are you going to do?"