A Taste of Wine (Wine of the Gods Book 7)

by Pam Uphoff

A scene cut from the end of Explorers.

  After the battle in the canyon, Jin Genero's wagons continue on toward Karista . . .

  Jin didn't wake until they were stopped by the forward scouts from Fort Stag.

  ". . . about ten hours back, crossing the Feather River. Man, there were fireballs and explosions . . . " Young Henner was driving the lead wagon and was telling the scouts all about it.

  Jin yawned his way to his feet, climbing over the sacks of wheat, and sliding down to the road. Jek set the brake on the wagon – they were on one of the rare flat stretches – and walked up to the front with him.

  "Feeling better, Captain?" Jek looked at him with concern, and Jin realized he was wearing his bloody shirt with the 'bullet' hole in it.

  The officer looked at it and dismounted. "Would you be Captain Genero?" He was medium height, with a tawny Veronian look to him. "The Auld Wulf said you'd been a great deal of help." His gaze drifted over to included Jek in the comment and stuck there.

  "I certain wound up in the middle of it. Very . . . " he stopped as he realized he didn't have the man's attention. The man was staring at Jek.

  "Dad?" The scout sounded a bit stunned. "I mean . . . er, excuse me sir but are you . . ."

  "Carwell?" Jek choked. "Old gods, you're all grown up. I thought you were dead."

  The scout grabbed Jek by the shoulders. "It really is you. I figured you had to be dead. It's been . . . twenty years?"

  Jek looked suddenly stricken. "Look, have you talked to any wizards, about, err.

  "Yeah. Grew everything back. I'm practically married and we're expecting our first baby."

  "Married? I'm going to be a Grandfather?" Jek blinked back tears.

  The scout flushed suddenly, and looked around at Jin. "Sorry, lost track of business there for a bit."

  Jin shook his head in bemusement. He knew when to not interrupt.

  "We watched from the top of the canyon." Jek said. "They packed up and were on their way out of there before we were around the curve and out of sight. The Captain was injured, but the God of War saved him."

  "Actually it was a witch with this strange wine." Jin said.

  The scout nodded, looking up the road. "Dad, where do you live? Gemstone? I'll come and see you. Question's usually in Ash, when we're not off exploring."

  "We're headed for Ash, now." Jek said.

  "Most likely we'll be heading for Karista after that, and so returning in six weeks." Jin put in. "Should we look for you in Ash then?"

  "Ask at the Fort. General Wullo will know if I'm there. Or if you take the route through Wallenton, you'll pass through, anyway. Ask in Ash for Question, she may be watching those Earthers though." The young man's hands tightened on his father's shoulders. "I have to go."

  "Of course. I'm married too. Two kids. A step son and a baby, Old Gods! I named him Carwell, too!"

  The scout laughed. "I'm honored. Everyone calls me Lefty now, so it won't be a problem." They hugged and the scout mounted and rode on, his patrol followed him out of sight.

  Jek was blinking away joyful tears. Jin grinned. "Better let me drive, so you don't end up over a cliff somewhere."

  They reached the fort in the middle of the next day, and Ash at sundown.

  The Tavern was happy to take them in, and the stables were in good shape. Jin shuddered a bit and left the wagons sitting as if unimportant and not worth stealing.

  Young Henner perked up when he saw all the women in the dining room.

  Never and Dydit were there, with two young children, and waved him over. "Decided to pay a visit instead of hauling the Auld Wulf off to battles?" Dydit grinned, and explained to the old man who came out from behind the bar, "This is the land grant holder of Gemstone, Jin Genero. Harry owns the place."

  Jin got as far as Jek's last name and had them all sitting up and eyeing the older man. "Yes, we met his son on the road yesterday. Quite a surprise. Is there someone named Question around?"

  "She's that girl with the curly brown hair that came late to the party." Never told him. "We'll get her back here quickly. How long are you staying and where are you bound for?"

  "Karista, and we're not in any particular rush." Jin hesitated over mentioning the gold, glancing doorward as it opened. He drew a tight breath, feeling stiff and cold. Lord Kell.

  The man in the door glanced their way and he blinked and grinned. "Jin? Old Gods! I thought . . ." He reversed directions suddenly and darted outside. "Aero! Aero, get in here."

  And it was Jin's turn to stumble awkwardly to the porch and embrace his father.

  After a long interlude of story telling, most of it over dinner, they settled down to pay more attention to their surroundings. Dydit, Never and Harry had listened to the story. At some point, the God of War had slipped in unnoticed.

  "Other than those Auralians last year, Gemstone's been a real haven from the rest of the World." Jin said. If I can't trust a God and his neighbors . . . "Now, I'm afraid we've found gold. As soon as word gets out there's bound to be a rush."

  "Have you contacted anyone in Karista about it yet?" The God had his chair leaned back against the wall and a mug of ale in his hands. "No? I'll give you a letter to my banker." His eyes crinkled in sudden amusement. "You think I live high on a remote mountain, above all mundane concerns such as how to feed myself and that oversized horse? Yes, I have a banker. He can help you set up a company to be the gold trader of record, pay the taxes and distribute the remainder between however many people's accounts you tell him to. There's been a fair amount of gold taken out of this side of the range. As long as you keep your location quiet, you may avoid problems you're not ready for."

  "Thank you. I know it'll all come out eventually, I just figure the more time there is, the more help I'll have to keep the rawest of land grabs under control."

  The God nodded. "Do you think it's extensive—a regional occurrence? It might be well to warn the government about what is about to hit them."

  "It's in hydrothermal veins all along the contact zones between the new lava stripes and the strips of older land, the Ashstone ridges. Once we started looking, we panned a bit of gold out of half the little streams we checked, as far as we checked."

  Dydit whistled. "Definitely going to be a gold rush."

  The Auld Wolf nodded. "Rufi's going to have his hands full, even without these Earthers. Although having people out there might save us from being blind sided again."

  Archmage

  In "Spy Wars," Oscar and Bran were sent back to Ash for magical training. They've been away for seven years. There was bound to be trouble.

  The three soldiers rode into Ash just before noon.

  Oscar gave a sigh of contentment, viewing the collection of colorful little houses. "Familiar Territory."

  Lefty nodded at the dun mare tied in front of the Tavern and reined in. "That's Dydit's favorite horse. I'll introduce you so you can get over the horror of it all and then I'm going down to the tower." He swung down and flipped Bay's rein around the post.

  Bran frowned at the dun horse and then at Lefty. "I can't believe you let one of them live."

  "Dydit did not rape your girlfriends, did not suborn Rivolte, did not rape and raid his way through Auralia, nor did he attempt to take over the Cove Islands. Just treat him like a normal human being." If you can.

  "But he's not human." Bran protested as he followed Lefty through the door.

  Oscar entered hesitantly. But the dark, stooped old man behind the bar looked the same.

  "Oscar!" Harry straightened and hugged him. A foster father's privilege. For all his usually stooped appearance, Harry was pretty tall when he straightened up, and there was strength in his hug.

  "Harry you look good." Oscar eyed the other two people present. Never, spectacular as always. Add seven years . . . Never's thirty-two? It sure doesn't show. His smile congealed a bit as he eyed the other man at the table, but then his brows lowered as he studied Dydit's hands.

  Never stood up too. "Good to
see you two again. Do you know Dydit Twicecutt? He's Nil's apprentice. This is Oscar Harryson and Bran Butcher."

  Dydit snorted. "I know them, and from the glares, they know who I am. Relax. No nasty spell shreds lingering on." He looked absent minded for a moment. "Question's about halfway here."

  Lefty sighed. "And you've been practicing mind talking."

  "Telepathy. Nil insists that we use scientific terminology."

  "Complete with vibrations?" Lefty grinned.

  "Of course. And we must be able to restate it in such a way as to sound as if we understand all about naturally occurring electromagnetic field generation by the brain, all of which are, of course, vibrations. For Nil I will remember the frequency range. You're out of luck. You're going to have to learn it yourself, eventually."

  Lefty chuckled. "I need to talk my boss into letting me spend more winters up here training."

  Bran had been eyeing Dydit and poked Oscar. "This is that fellow that showed up in the Cove Islands, remember?"

  Oscar looked like he was starting to relax a bit. "I'd like to know how you do that Traveling trick. Selano, the King's Storm Mage, says only wizards can Travel, but I overheard Answer once telling Blissful she could do it if she had to."

  Never looked surprised. "She's never said anything to me about it, and everyone here knows Dydit and I together can Travel. We've been practicing, we can manage about ten miles ordinarily, but close to a hundred if there are hot springs or geysers at both the locations."

  "You're too far ahead of your studies as it is, young woman." Answer walked through the front door, Curious following her. "You need to understand the basics before you leap forward, else you'll have no foundation to land on."

  Never nodded. "I'm away so much, I'm way behind on triad exercises. Even when I'm here, I tend to disrupt the other triads, being out of practice and out of sync with their lessons."

  "Exactly. You don't mesh at all." Curious shook her head. "I just hope you aren't giving us a taste of the future. Wait until the children grow up a bit. We'll have five triads to try and fit together. It was simpler when there were just three children, and they had to fit. Period."

  Answer nodded. "If all the children grasp power it will certainly keep us hopping."

  "It'll be seven or eight years before Rustle grasps power, so I have plenty of time to practice Half Moon skills."

  Curious sniffed. "So long as you get back here often enough to learn them. I trust you practice what you have learned while you're off exploring."

  "Yes, Sister." Never’s cheeks were a little red.

  "This winter though . . . hmm. I think we'll continue the mixed triad work. You and Justice are strong enough, you worked very well with Kindly last winter. I think we'll try it again, even though she's now advanced to the Dark Crescent." Answer's eyes crinkled a bit, no doubt reading something of Never's response.

  Never looked a bit startled at the thought of forming a triad with a Dark Crescent. And then her eyes narrowed in thought.

  "This winter we'll be keeping an eye on those Earthers." Lefty firmly changed the subject. "The Auld Wulf has been transporting people from Karista and back. I'll be here, training and watching the pass as the weather allows."

  ***

  Oscar eyed the older lieutenant. Lieutenant Carwell Lebonift was a sixteen year veteran scout from the Army. Up till now, they'd put his mapping skills to use scouting the frontier areas. He'd been promoted out of the ranks, and given incredible freedom to explore pretty much wherever he wished. Obviously trusted by General Rufi. He was a wizard. Barely trained. Oscar supposed that even Question was more powerful and better trained than Lefty was. Not that I had a whole bunch of training, early on. But I'd best remember that he outranks me, if only by the date of his commissioning.

  And Dydit . . . damn those goats. He was the opposite problem. Very well trained wizard, not in the army at all.

  Lefty looked up suddenly and stepped out just in time for Question to dive from horseback into his arms.

  Bran snickered. "That can't possibly be Question—she's acting like a gurrrrllll!"

  She shook a fist at them. Oscar blinked in surprise at her figure, obviously very pregnant. Question a mother! Home has changed.

  Giggling children flowed around them, lots and lots of children. Oscar blinked at the sheer number of them, as they kept coming.

  Never grinned. "We blame it on the Gods. Twenty-seven children after that party with the wine, and then the mages kept it up with another twenty over the next three years. And the Sheep Man, of all people, started attracting strays like Harry, for nine more kids."

  "Hi Uncle Lefty. Do you really get to spend the winter here?" A little girl, all bright blue eyes, dark blonde hair . . . Hmm, must be Never's daughter. Oscar glanced at Dydit. Surely not! And anyway, all the goat-sired children had had black hair and honey-gold eyes.

  Curious was saying something a bit too loud about witches consorting with wizards and goats, and now mages. The kids were grabbing sandwiches off of trays and scattering. Apparently Harry was feeding the school kids.

  Never was a little flushed, but ignored the witches' comments as Lefty rolled out the maps, and showed them to Oscar and Bran. They pounced on his measurements of the vertical layering.

  "This is incredible. If this charred layer topped with a thick ash layer marks the comet, then we could probably find it world-wide." Oscar pulled out his own notepad and started writing.

  Bran scanned Lefty's notes. "We've seen lots of layered deposits on the islands, but I never thought about it being . . . well, Oscar has some weird ideas about things like the Exile from Heaven and Earth and so forth, and now Rufi gave us a brief that sounds like he might almost be right. But if we could find the same formation, that would give us a time frame for everything else. Or at least a single point to hang all the other relative comparisons on."

  Lefty shifty through the papers and pulled out another cross-section. A print, marred by a paper crease. “This is from the Earther’s studies. Two very dark layers with volcanic ash above. They seemed quite confident of their dating.”

  “Oh, yeah! I want to copy this.” Bran started reading the annotations.

  "Which islands? What are you two doing now?" Never looked interested.

  "We've been aboard a navy ship, and mapped ocean currents and islands. There are quite a few islands all over the Cific. We've gotten far enough south for some lovely tropical paradises. A bit short on animals, through. Tons of birds. This year Rufi pulled us off for some special stuff, and Selano says we need more training and asked Rufi to send us here for the winter."

  Bran asked about some of the notations on the map, and they started explaining how they were triangulating positions.

  Oscar brought their maps out, and they talked about mapping the coast of the Old World, both from boat and shore.

  "I really want to see these Earthers." Bran said. "Don't you think we need a rotation out to the watch post, to check them out? After all, if they've got any sense they'll infiltrate and gather information before they attack again."

  Oscar grinned. "If they infiltrate, we could control the information they get."

  Lefty gave him a quelling look. "The main problem being that we don't understand their motives well enough to know what information in their hands will do us the most good."

  Question scowled. "They take advantage of weak governments and destroy strong ones. If the World isn't valuable enough they take the people as cheap labor. If the World's valuable they ruin trade and starve the people until they sign away all rights, just to survive."

  "So. . . we need to have no valuable minerals, and people so intractable they couldn't possibly be useful." Bran cocked his head. "Could be fun."

  "Well, once the pass is snowed closed, we'll have time to think of all the possibilities. If they'd invaded in force, immediately, we'd have been in trouble. Now both sides have time to think."

  "Or build up. General Rufi's keeping all of the First A
rmy in the Gold Rush Territory this winter. In the Spring they'll move north, in case the Earther's decide to go south instead of through the mountains again. All the other Forts are on notice to be prepared to move half their people on a week's notice."

  Dydit frowned. "The Crossfire Canyon, at the far eastern end . . . you could probably hold them there without magic. Roll boulders from out of sight. Maybe arbalests. Some magicians with each unit would be nice, though. Shields and the occasional fireball. Pity magic is so short range."

  Even Oscar nodded reluctantly at that.

  :: Damned Goat does make sense.:: Bran thought at him. There was a wave of loss underneath it. Coo Miller had been his grandfather. The only death suffered by the defenders from Ash.

  Dydit continued. "I think the Mages with their lightening control did more damage than the rest of us together."

  Never and Question swapped grins.

  "Just wait till the kid's born. Then I'll show you some lightening control." Question sniffed. "And that's just a precaution. I didn't have any control problems while I was rescuing Never."

  Never nodded. "I think because you weren't even trying to repress it. The Earthers use a lot of electricity. It was rather vulnerable to Question's lightening."

  Dydit snorted. "I believe it. Especially with the flammable fuel in every vehicle. It certainly worked in the canyon. Sent them yipping home, tails between their legs."

  Speaking of which . . . Oscar turned to Bran. "Well, let's go see your father, eh?" And if we're really brave, Juli and Fava.

  Bran's little brother Jame was at the butcher shop counter.

  "About time you showed up again! I've had to do all your work."

  "And I'm sure you've messed up completely. For almost eight years now." Bran grinned, then straightened as his father came out of the back room.

  "Well. Decided to come home did you?" The old mage glowered down at his son, ignoring Oscar.

  Bran squirmed. "Just visiting, I'm afraid. Although I may be posted to Fort Stag for the winter, watching for the Earthers to return."