Wine of the Gods 03: The Black Goats (47 page)

"They are an invading army, defeated. That officer we have, hopefully still tied up below I will take to the Sea King to answer a few questions." The Admiral looked around at the half buried men. "These? If they will drop their weapons, and depart the island, forever, I will allow them to go."

"There is no place that will have us." The officer had a Western accent.

"Then sail west off the edge of the World. Your other choice is death."

"We could surrender to the Auralians." one of the troopers shuddered. "They'll only geld us again and work us to death."

"And what did you do, that you are not welcome in the Kingdom of the West?"
the colonel walked up to the trapped officer.

"I trusted my lord to do what was right. Obeyed his orders. I was a lieutenant of Duke Rivolte's, one of his loyal armsmen."

"And the rest of you? What crimes have you committed in your homes, that you cannot return there?"

There was some muttering. "I was a merchant . . . " "My property will have been sold . . . " "What will my wife have done . . . " "sold to pay my father's taxes . . . "

"No desperate criminals?" The colonel looked at the admiral. "I'd rather they were disbursed and sent to their various homes, than that they remain a group, capable of forming a fighting group in the future."

"The Auralian's can't go home."
the admiral pointed out, "I agree with you otherwise." He gave the colonel a razor edged smile. "I especially like making them your problem."

The colonel
snorted. "No doubt my king will have something to say about the matter." he walked up to the officer. "There are another thirty of you to the north."

"Blinded by the flash. If I order them to surrender, they will."

The colonel nodded. "Then if we are in agreement, Admiral, I will take the prisoners down to the village, and see if there are any ships there. Never, could you?" The rocks around the officer snapped and stirred and freed him from his half burial.

The Admiral hunched. "I want all these magic workers away from here as quickly as possible." His eyes swung toward Dydit and Never. "How many others have you snuck onto our islands?"

Dydit snorted and left the officers to their wrangling. He joined the old wizard sitting quietly to the side. "Are you all right?"

Nil sighed. "I still have the knack of killing people."

"You doubted that?"

"I hoped that." He shrugged. "We'll stick around and make sure the Sea King is all right about our leaving, and then perhaps we'll talk about what you and Never were doing. How you got here. And, other things."

The other witches walked over, led by Curious. "I've heard tales of wizards who could travel magically. Was that an example?"

"Quite an extraordinary one." Nil grinned. "It's hell when a pupil outstrips the teacher, and the poor teacher thought the kid was still learning his alphabet."

"Kids!" Dydit jumped to his feet and he and Never stared at each other.

"We left the kids in the Rip
. Alone!" Never grabbed for Dydit.

Dydit took Never's hand and accepted the power she sent him, and stepped back to the Rip. He spun around.

Peaceful moonlit night. Hot springs. Shivering, he limped toward the wagon. Never boosted him up a few of the larger blocks they had to climb to get out of the canyon. Havi and Rustle were sound asleep. He exhaled in relief and collapsed on one side of them. Never sat protectively on the other side.

"Did we really just do that?"

"It was an awfully convincing hallucination, if not." Dydit winced and eased out of his pants. "Ouch. Even that wine only half healed it. All right. That's convincing. I just helped kill four of the five strongest wizards in the world. I'm going fetal for the rest of the night."

". . . and so I brought them all with me." Rufi waited for his father to stop chewing his knuckles. Surely he wasn't
amused
.

"So, what am I to do with yet another of Rivolte's men? I can't hang them If I'm not going to hang the Duke."

"If you wish to populate the New Lands, he might become an asset. Somewhat to my surprise, rather a lot of the miscellaneous women, once told they were free, attached themselves to particular men and refused to be parted. Even the ones that didn't know any of the surviving soldiers wanted to come. Apparently they have nothing else, and figured they'd stick with the group they knew."

"Hmph. Good idea. March the lot of them over the mountains and turn them loose. Do they have anyway to avoid starvation?"

"Well, I brought away all their surviving horses—they had seven ships, so I figured I might as well use them all—they should be able to sell or trade them for more cattle, sheep, and goats. Well, maybe not goats, but get things they'll need. They were pretty resourceful and very quick to strip out their possessions. I don't think the admiral realized half of what they took."

"Hmph. Seven ships?"

"Auralian, sir. The crews are rescued slaves. We can keep the hulls, or use them for diplomatic points. The crews can find employment in the merchant fleet, with no problem."
Since they're a bit nervous about the ships the waves pushed up so close to shore when Oscar waded into the water and crooked his fingers at them.

"So, that wraps that up nicely . . . doesn't it?"

"Mostly, sir. I need to talk to Selano about taking on a pair of apprentices."

"I'm going to have to get used to magic, aren't I?" The king flicked his fingers. "Yes, Colonel, I approve of your plan for the wizards' soldiers. I will consult with the Council on the best way to utilize the ships. Selano can have as many apprentices as he likes, so long as he
doesn't knock the city down. Magic! Maybe it will all go back to Ash and we can forget about it."

"I doubt that's going to happen, father. Now that they're out, they seem to be enjoying themselves."

Characters:

The
Mount Frost Pyramid

in the year 3452

Dark Crescent

Zero (deceased)

Answer

Blissful

Waning Half

Curious (daughter of Zero, sister of Furious)

Delight (daughter of Answer, sister of Happy)

Elegant (daughter of Blissful, sister of Glorious)

Full Moon

Furious (daughter of Zero, sister of Curious)

Glorious (daughter of Blissful, sister of Elegant)

Happy (daughter of Answer, sister of  Delight)

Half Moon

Idea (daughter of Curious, granddaughter of Zero)

Justice (daughter of Elegant, granddaughter of Blissful)

Kindly (daughter of Delight, granddaughter of Answer)

Crescent Moon

Likely (daughter of Furious, granddaughter of Zero)

Mostly (daughter of Glorious, granddaughter of Blissful)

Never (daughter of Happy, granddaughter of Answer)

New Moon

Opinion (daughter of Idea, granddaughter of Curious)

Particular (daughter of Kindly, granddaughter of Delight)

Question (daughter of Justice, granddaughter of Elegant)

New Moons are girls at puberty, not yet grasping power. They learn meditation, concentration and memorize the basic charms. The girls stay at this level until they grasp power. Girls not grasping power by the Summer Solstice after their sixteenth birthdays are expelled from the Pyramid.

Crescent Moons have consciously grasped power. They learn how to collect and disburse power and apply the power to rock finding, levitation, shields, heat and cold spells. They learn to work in a triad to handle more complex or difficult tasks. Girls usually stay at this level for ten years. They advance by loosing their virginity, during which they learn to channel power—to handle it outside themselves so more power can be applied—and giving birth—during which their awareness of their bodies and then the world around them expand.

Half  Moon. Women with children. They learn metal working, differential mass detection for finding gems and minerals, diagnosing illness and injury and healing. Witches remain at this level until their daughter grasps power.

Full Moon. Witches whose daughters have grasped Power begin learning the applications of wind and water.

Waning Half. Grandmothers learn the applications of Fire and Light.

Dark Crescent. Post menopausal women study Traveling, Building and the theories of vibrations.

Some advancements are in name only; not all witches can or will learn everything. Precocious students are taught techniques above their level without official advancement.

The Old Gods

The God of War, The Auld Wulf

The God of the Roads and Travelers, Harry

The Goddess of Health and Fertility, Lady Gisele

The God of Love, Sir Romeau Ayres

Harry's orphans:

Oscar ~ 15 years of age

Tivo ~13

Theo ~12

Fossi ~10

Fiber ~8

Piph ~8

The Mages

Beck Butcher

Coo Miller/Coo Hasenski

A large and inbred collection of blondes and redheads including Bran, Fava, and Juli.

Selano Discorski, the King's Magician

The Wizards

The Sheep Man, Nil, Nihility

Maleth

Dydit Twicecutt

Raide

MonSant

Orgaphos Org

Ondu Org

Oran Org

Neet

Kingdom of the West

Northwest portion of continent

Co
lonized from Scoone and Verona 400 years ago

King Rebo Negue

General Kerch Negue  (King's older 1/2 brother)

Colonel Rufi Negue (Crown Prince Leano's older 1/2 brother)

Crown Prince Leano Negue (married to Princess Nez)

Prince Fossi Fitzroy (First son of Leano, destined for army leadership)

Prince Rolo Negue
(second son of Leano, second heir to the throne)

Lords were originally the Land Grant Holders (six per Province) and their immediate heir, now all the descendants, however distant, use the title.

Duke, one per Province, inherited father to son unless otherwise designated by the king. Occasionally the king will appoint a governor, who has all the powers and responsibilities of a duke.

Council is made up of all the Dukes, representatives of several interests (Merchants, Farmers, Manufactures . . . ), the five largest cities and four appointments of the King's.

Rocky Coast Province

Ice Valleys Province

Hester Mountain Province

Big Bay Province

Three Rivers Province

Foot Hills Province

Three Birds Province

Desert Valley Province

Dry Hills Province

South Coast Province

Ferris Province

Farofo Province

Southern Divide Territory

New Lands

Empire of Verona
(Emperor, huge web of noble titles) Central and eastern parts of the continent

Scoone
(Democracy) Northeast of continent

Auralian Empire
(Amma and Soltis) South of continent

Cove Islands
(Sea King and inherited ranks derived from naval history) A string of volcanic islands in the Cific ocean