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

by Pam Uphoff

  In the morning, they waded through a foot of snow to the Grange barn.

  Jame was keeping a casual eye down the hill toward the farms, and whisked the door closed behind them. "We're supposed to be practicing this morning. Hask joined the First Compass after Coo died. So Coso moved to the Second Compass. Then with Bran gone, there were only six of us, so we've been swapping out and just doing minor Compasses. Or recruiting the babies, and they can't actually do any work, they can barely carry a circuit. If Oscar really can keep up his part, we'll try a full Compass. Then maybe Dad will let us work."

  "I can." Oscar looked around the barn. It was stuffed full, ready for winter. There was just barely space behind the doors for them to circle up.

  Jame took North and Bart South. Nevil and Peter grabbed East and West, leaving the younger two, Ross and Carl to take Northeast and Southwest. Bran stepped into the Northwest spot and Oscar circled around for Southeast. The ritual knife made the rounds as they all whispered the preliminary meditations that would get them all working together, in the same rhythm.

  Oscar took the knife from Bart, nicked his left wrist and passed the knife to Peter. He joined hands with Bart, his palm slippery with a bit of blood, and then accepted Peter's bloody grip. As the compass was completed, he could feel, and closing his eyes, see, the flow of power pouring in a circle through their grips, then widening and speeding until they were engulfed in a whirlwind of power. Oscar could feel all the others, both as individuals, and a part of the unified Compass. He could feel their exhilaration at the power they were raising, and feel Bran's caution that they not raise any more than they could handle. Jame reluctantly acceded, and spun the Compass down slowly, letting the power bleed off gradually.

  When it was all gone, they all sank back into themselves and released their grips. Grinning.

  "We did it!" Jame' elated face got suddenly cautious.

  Beck and all the farmers were standing in the doorway.

  "If I'd realized you could raise that much power, I'd have had you do it outside, and I'd have given you a task to do. Good job boys." His eyes went from Bran to Oscar. "It seems that you two have managed some training. But I have a duty to train only those who will use the power responsibly. Will you give up your allegiance to the King and join us heart and soul?"

  Oscar shook his head, and after a moment Bran's jerked right and left.

  Bec's eyes narrowed. "Very well. You've made your choice. Take yourself off until you come to your senses and devote yourself to the Compass."

  Oscar sighed. I don't even have a father to get mad at me. I don't know how Bran can stand to turn away from him.

  Beck reached out and squeezed Jame's shoulder. "Excellent control, good judgment. I though we'd have to help you contain the power, but you handled it. Stayed on top of it."

  Bran looked a bit wistful, and Oscar thumped his shoulder and pulled him aside. "Yeah, if we'd stayed, you'd be North, and leading the Compass, and getting the credit and the praise. But all seven of us saw your expertise, your understanding. I think we all stayed in control because you were so in control. Now, come down to the Tavern. I want to show you something."

  The school kids came in for lunch and he opened his shields carefully and touched each Goat Boy. "Wizards, mostly. Rustle and whoever this little one is are witches." But he summoned one more little dark haired boy. "Which one are you?"

  "That's Havi." Rustle told him. "He's almost my brother."

  "I think he's got both wizard and mage genes." Oscar reached out and touched Cor and then Brad. Squirmed as a chill ran down his back. They're all mixed up. With all of our genes, whether they look like the goats or not. "So maybe you three should have some basic mage lessons."

  The kids went back to school and Oscar looked at Bran. "Did you catch all that?"

  "You mean, the way those four are somehow both of ours?"

  "Yeah. It's got to be something weird with the Goat spell or the Wine."

  "Or maybe it's the way they both work, when you mix them up." Bran frowned. "Changing the essence of a thing, the genes, is the most delicate Art of all the Mage Talents. Dad says neither he nor Coo could do it, that the ability was lost to us."

  Oscar scratched his chin. "I think Lady Gisele or Nil or both of them know how."

  "I hope the Earther's stay home. I think we're going to have a busy winter, if we need to ask for lessons from them." Brad sighed. "I really thought Dad would come around, if he saw what we could do."

  Lebonift trotted downstairs. "Ah there you two are. All glum faces too. No luck with your dad? Well, saddle up, and come let Nil sneer at you, and finish crushing your ego."

  They dragged back to the Tavern in the twilight.

  "Vibrations. We're supposed to learn about vibrations?"

  Oscar nodded. "I was hoping for something a bit more practical than talking about light spectrums. Although the possibility of ultraviolet or infrared fireballs getting through shields is interesting."

  "Even though we couldn't do them."

  "Yet, he said."

  Bran nodded. "I didn't like the way he smiled when he said that."

  Oscar glanced over as the Tavern door opened.

  Juli and Fava.

  They eyed them, a bit belligerently, then swapped glances and shrugged.

  "Juli says we ought to have at least a truce. Be polite. So, why don't you two come to dinner?"

  Bran perked up. Oscar wished he'd taken the time to mention that Fava and Juli . . .

  Fava led him out, and even took his elbow for a moment, before moving self consciously off.

  Over a great dinner they told them the story of what had happened to the rest of the Goat Wizards. Fava and Juli looked a bit skeptical, but the four kids just lapped it up. They got all wide-eyed at his description of Curious's blast of heat and light and all the burned bodies, and the battle on the mountain top, Nil defeated and about to be killed when Dydit and Never stumbled out of thin air to save the day. The deaths of the four Evil Wizards. They cheered at that and laughed when he mentioned Dydit and Never suddenly remembering their kids and disappearing again.

  Oscar walked back to the Tavern in a good mood, and slept well.

  Nil kept them busy all winter, and twice they went with the Auld Wulf to observe the Earthers. At the start of winter, the foreigners had three camps. The one guarding the end of the Rip was abandoned early in the winter. The camp at their gate was kept strictly to a hundred men. Their gate was more elaborate than the Oners', with their metal plate. The Earthers had a whole circle of metal, and the Auld Wulf explained that it was just a beacon, allowing the very complex mechanism "at home" to find this particular world out of all the parallel worlds out there.

  "And they all have the same continents and seas and all?" Bran eyed the big circle.

  "Give or take a different history." The Auld Wulf looked like he had a headache. "If I remember correctly—and assuming we gods—and all your ancestors, for that matter—are from that same earth—they are in an interglacial, much smaller ice caps, and warmer weather all around."

  "So why would they want to come here?"

  "For the minerals. Mining and . . . timbering didn't work out very well, I think. Colonies, source of cheap labor. Just, hubris, wanting to own everything, I suppose." The Old God reached out to them, and the world flickered around them. Five spots along the Rip, and then the jump to the hotsprings behind the winery.

  We have got to learn that Travel spell. I can just barely even see it. But if that goat can do it . . .

  The Auld Wulf looked around and grinned. "Do you have time for more lessons? Come up, when Nil gives you the time, and I'll teach you recognition. It's the first part of the spell web."

  Oscar and Bran swapped grins. "Yes, sir!"

  They got into the habit of rising early to meet Cor, Brad and Havi and run them through the basic compass chants. A bit to their shock, the Auld Wulf, Harry and a new fellow called Romeau joined them for a very low powered compasses, barely a
trickle of power circling around. Oscar could feel the restrained power of the three older men.

  If nothing else, it was a way to distract Nil from his wretched vibrations.

  "I know the gods are powerful, but how can they join a mage compass?"

  The wiry old man shook his head. "I know why Oscar's an ignorant fool, but doesn't Beck teach you lot anything? Gods are just powerful magic users. There's nothing . . . they aren't the creators of the universe or even the World. They are old, not eternal. 'Bout fourteen centuries. They have both a Witch gene and a Mage gene, and every single other special gene there is. They can make a Compass because they are mages." His sharp smile flashed. "And they are witches, drawing power from . . . " He raised his brows.

  "Gravity." Oscar scowled. "So . . . what about that Romeau person? Does he do anything except spout bad poetry?"

  Nil laughed at that. "That's the God of Love, boy. Show some respect. He does all the local book keeping, since our esteemed mayor is so busy with her children."

  Bran wrinkled his nose. "And that's another thing. Are we supposed to believe they're actually dragons?"

  "You better. They're humans, with just a few changes to their genetics, for the extra pair of limbs, bat genes added to control the form of the limb. Lizard for the form of the rest of the body. They started out as Mages, so when the last man died, the women couldn't change back and forth any more. Maleth and Wind Lady Agate butted heads, and he flipped her state to human, and left her like that. No wizard dared change her back. Maleth was not a nice man, as you no doubt noticed. He was the largest of my goats."

  Oscar pressed his lips together and simmered quietly.

  "Her children are interesting. I think the fellow I changed for her must have been a weak natural wizard. They may, in a few generations, regain the ability to change themselves."

  Oscar snickered. "Ash. This place is strange."

  "And full of lazy students. Now. The spell of sleep. Do you remember the frequency of the sleeping brain? Demonstrate on this sheep."

  Oscar quieted his mind, brought out the framework of a mental contact, slowed the vibration, called up the spell and tossed it.

  The sheep managed a single bleat of pain before it exploded. Gore and wool rained down on them.

  Nil looked unmoved. "The frequencies of slice and sleep are close but distinct. 'Lower' is insufficient. You must be exact. However, to save wear and tear on the flock, let me show you a spell containment system. A mental box you can keep the memory of each spell in, and keep them separate. After you've cleaned up this mess." He made a casual swipe of his hand and the blood and more disgusting things leaped off his clothing and face.

  Then he sauntered off for lunch, leaving them in the dripping room.

  "He knew that was going to happen, didn't he?" Bran looked around. "That's why he had his oldest ewe here."

  Oscar tossed a dripping length of intestine into a wheelbarrow, that just happened to be handy. "He warned me about being sloppy. I guess this is better than exploding some poor guard I only wanted to send to sleep. But . . . eww. The smell . . . "

  "You know. I used to think we were pretty dangerous. After this winter, we may be downright scary."

  Oscar pulled a handful of blood stained wool down from a rafter. "After this winter, we'd better be downright careful . . . Do you think a small, careful shield spell could be slipped between the rock and the gore? We could lift the disgusting bits . . . "

  Nil had congratulated them on their magical clean up, and demonstrated boxes. "Spells all consist of combinations of basic charms. It's too easy to accidentally power a second spell that has several of the same charms as the spell you intended. The boxes put a wall between them, and makes it easy to invoke a single spell. Saves time in a battle, if you don't have to doublecheck what you are calling up."

  And more lessons from the Auld Wulf in recognizing places, even though the complex spell for Travel was too much to hold in their minds all at once. Dydit and Never demonstrated their rock molding methods. Oscar and Bran had exchanged glances and shaken heads. "I can't even see what you're doing and the power just gushes through like water in a pipe." Oscar eyed the smug pair. And realized he'd stopped thinking of the wizard as a goat, and hadn't actually noticed which color of hair the local kids had, lately.

  They ate dinner in the Tavern, with Juli and Fava. The kids were with friends for the night, and their mothers looked relieved.

  "Not that we don't appreciate the drill you've been doing with the boys. It's been nice to have some girls-only time." Fava said.

  Juli nodded. "But a break for some actual adult conversation is nice as well." She shook her head. "Things would have been so different . . . well, in retrospect it's just as well we didn't try to force fit ourselves into being Magewives. And our little plot to tie the knots on you two . . . funny how we always thought about 'the four of us', and never just me and Bran. Fava and Oscar."

  Bran snorted. "You two always did everything together. And tying the knot is a silly girl's game. You don't have any power."

  Oscar shook his head. "You've got to watch that assumption, Bran. They can't pull outside power, but they're from a highly magical family. They've got tons of ability. Just . . . maybe one solid spell every few days or so. Or a steady trail of little spells, like bug off and fertilizer."

  The women both blinked at him.

  "Oscar . . . I think that's one of the nicest things any one has ever said to us."

  A loud laugh from the far side of the room. Old Gods! Beck. He'd been so busy oogling Fava and Juli he hadn't noticed.

  "That's true, too. Women can be dangerous, if you let them use their magic on you." The older man frowned at the girls. "We were too lenient with you two. Silly girls don't decide who they are going to marry, and mages don't marry for life. Fava . . . it would have hurt Coo, but your own father would have thrown you out for marrying an outsider. And Juli . . . well, maybe the boy did have cause to run away." His gaze swung back to Bran. "Better that he'd come to me, though. Or Coo. The Archmage would have settled the matter. Stupid children!" He turned and stomped out.

  Fava hunched her shoulders. "I wasn't being stupid."

  Or maybe we all were. But you can't change the past, and so . . . here we are. This is the place we're starting from. His brows drew together. "The Archmage? I suppose Beck is that, now."

  Bran frowned. "I . . . don't know. I think there's a minimum number of mages you have to have, to . . . there's, like, this super big compass . . . Coo was dad's Archmage from before the war. I wonder if there are enough mages, now? We've got three full Compasses, or would if they'd let us join them. And they've probably got a baby Compass as well."

  Oscar nodded. "Or maybe Beck just can't bear the thought of stepping into Coo's place."

  Bran nodded. "And it's not like there's any competition."

  A succession of storms kept them in the village. Then the weather warmed, and Selano Discorski rode into town.

  The ancient mage grinned down on them. "No, I did not order this nice weather. I took the stage to Wallenton and waited for it. Now, take this horse away. I need to see if I remember, correctly, the good food this place has."

  He claimed the elk was even better than he remembered, as he eyed the youngsters. "So how is the training going?"

  "Well, but not as much compass work as we'd hoped for." Bran shrugged. "My father is still disapproving of my leaving."

  Selano nodded thoughtfully. "Perhaps my being here will change that. We'll see, tomorrow."

  And they did. Beck stomped in, obviously disturbed and glared down at the older mage. Selano looked back, mild and unchallenging. "A pleasure to see you again, Beck. Will you join me for dinner? Or . . . this is the Equinox, so I suppose you have something else planned."

  Oscar swapped glances with Bran. Old Gods! Selano timed his arrival for this. Now Beck has to either invite him in, as Coo always did, or insult him.

  Selano smiled placidly. "Don't worry about the
boys and I. I'll keep them busy tonight."

  Beck straightened his shoulders. "It would be an honor to have you join us. And the boys as well." He didn't make the offer warmly, but he did make it.

  Selano bowed his head. "We would be honored."

  Oscar looked around the crowded barn. If you counted the ten year olds who were feeling the faint wisps of power, Ash had twenty-nine mages. With the addition of Selano, Bran and Oscar, thirty-two. Four full Compasses. Of course four of the boys were too young to do more than hold the circle while absolutely nothing happened. So, call it three Major Compasses and one minor. He settled down quietly to eavesdrop and learn.

  "Dad says it's not strictly a matter of numbers. The strength of the individuals matters too. He's sure our batch will support him." Conor was the Second Compass' North. He was talking to Hemet, his South.

  "Of course we will. You aren't going to challenge him, are you?" Hemet glared.

  "I thought Aiden or Lew might. But the main problem is Selano Discorski. He's a Storm Mage, and really strong."

  "But he's not one of us. He can't be our Archmage."

  Oscar perked up his ears. Archmage? Is something going on? Have they reached Bran's critical number of Mages?

  They shifted into Compasses for the opening power gather. Oscar joined Selano and Bran in a compass of the youngest locals. Will was five years younger than he and Bran, and Dalton and Miki were just twelve. Newtin and Basco had just been babies, when he'd left the Village. Selano took the East position, nodding Bran into the North position and Oscar the West. After a few trials, Newtin took Northeast and Basco took Southeast, where Solano could balance and support them. Will took South, and Dalton and Miki Northwest and Southwest. He could feel them all. Selano was incredibly powerful, running softly and subtly, supporting two youngsters on each side, but Oscar could feel the reserves he held untapped. Bran was less experienced, more obvious, but strong. Oscar steadied the power he raised, feeding it carefully to the young mages counterclockwise, kept the circle of power going, rotating and building with every circuit. Oscar worked at smoothing out the rough spots, and as the power built, they all started working together. They started bringing in more power, letting it seep in gradually, not disturbing the Compass balance. It was so smooth and perfect and powerful Oscar could feel himself starting to shiver in awe at the beauty of it all. Then the power split abruptly and the Compass pulled apart. His vision was filled with the glow of power.