Wine of the Gods 03: The Black Goats (7 page)

The three old men joined a card game in a corner of the common room, while the three young women ate dinner, keeping an eye on the boys as they ate, but sitting separately.

The three pretty women attracted every male eye, including a pair of armed and armored warriors. Mercenaries by the looks of them. They were the ones that approached them.

"Haven't seen you young ladies around before. New in town?"

Never raised her chin. "We're here for a brief visit, and no, we do not want your company."

Their male glows flickered angrily at that, and Never reached out mentally and drained  just enough of their energy that they scowled, but backed off and returned to their own tables. They sat, however, so that they could see the young women without turning their heads.

"How did you do that?" Mostly and Likely were looking at her wide-eyed.

"Could you see what I did?" Nods. "That's half of what you need to learn." She thought quickly. "The inn backs up on a little stream; it's isolated enough, if you'll remember to not scream."

"Never!" Mostly was shocked.

"But, how do we get them out there." Likely shot a nervous look at the mercenaries. They grinned at her.

"You walk out the back like you were going to the privy. They will follow you, trust me on this. When you spot them, look nervous and walk away. Don't run until you are sure you are out of everyone's sight. And of course, that they are close enough to catch you."

"Never, they're not nobles."

"And they're ugly." Mostly glanced over. "Well, if they shaved, the big one might be all right."

Never resisted knocking their heads together. "Use them to learn how to channel. Worry about getting pregnant later. Maybe your pretty couriers will come back through the valley."

Likely brightened at the thought. "Oh, yes. C'mon, Mostly; let's get this over with."

They walked off together, and the mercenaries watched them go. They drained their mugs, exchanged grins, and followed.

Theo and Tivo, the two oldest boys scurried over to her. "Those men are after Mostly and Likely!"

"Don't worry," she winked at them. "They won't hurt those poor mercenaries very much."

Never worried a bit about them none the less, pacing the floor, and at one point hanging out the window as a fire bell rang several streets over. Whatever was burning was put out quickly, and the town returned to what passed for silence in a large town.

Mostly and Likely came in together, a bit after midnight. They smelled of smoke and both looked a bit shaken. They crawled under their blankets without talking. Remembering her own week-long recovery, Never left them alone.
And stifled her curiosity.
I think they had a bit of an adventure!

She fetched them breakfast the next morning, and picked up some juicy gossip about the fire. A number of the town's notables had been seen fleeing the town's fanciest brothel in various states of undress. She wondered a bit about the smell of smoke on Likely and Mostly. A brothel would be an obvious place to go for experience, but really, she suspected they rarely had women walking in the front door to volunteer for an evening . . .

She found Curious comforting them. "But it worked, you both can channel now, even though it will take you a bit of time to recover." Her eyes gestured Never out, so she left the tray on the little side table and stepped out with the older woman.

Curious shook her head sadly. “Those girls! They just don't understand! They went all gooey and happy, until the men started talking about how much the brothel keeper would pay if they dragged the girls in!"

"What!" Never was shocked. "Wait, that fire last night?"

Curious nodded. "Yes, that brothel. Those two little ninnies argued all the way there and didn't start fighting dirty until a customer walked in and decided on the spot to see if Mostly enjoyed being whipped."

Never stared in horror. "They let those men
sell
them . . . but slavery is illegal, the man couldn't hope to hold them by force . . . how did they start the fire?"

"One of the men they were trying to control knocked something over. The bouncer  tossed them into the basement, locked them in while they fought the fire. Fortunately they remembered how to deal with rock, and tried the same on the brick until they got out. What a mess! Thank the old gods they did learn how to fight back and channel. I wouldn't want to go through this again. What their mothers will say when they get home!"

Elegant and Delight joined them, and they walked downstairs for their own breakfasts.

"This is nearly the first time you've been out of Ash, Never." Delight frowned. "Since your man came to you, instead of having to find one here. The
world isn't as simple or law-abiding as Ash. Now, I doubt a brothel could hold a witch for long, not one with training. But a combination of shame and abuse, backed up with alcohol or drugs can enable a man to keep a woman from complaining to the authorities, even if she manages enough gumption to run away. You weren't raised to be easy to traumatize, emotionally dependent, easy to control, or to feel shame in the act of sex."

"Shame?"

Elegant nodded. "Oh yes. They even blame women for getting raped. The society is controlled by and organized for the convenience of men. Keep that in mind when you're out there. Not that anyone should be able to harm you."

Curious smirked. "But remember that there are men out there who truly believe that a woman who can't defend herself is fair meat for their use."

Mostly and Likely refused to budge from bed, so Never explored the town on her own and with the men and older witches. She saw the Governor's Palace, and the formal gardens through the iron-barred fence, and was embarrassed to realize she couldn't remember what his name was. Something with a W, wasn't it? The Temple of Ba'al was spectacular on the outside, but she was much too sensible to even think about going in.

The Sheep Man and Harry were with her as she stared up at its gilded domes and towering spires.

"Ba'al's not really a god." The Sheep Man told her.

"Yes
, he is, well, he's what's left of one. Trapped himself and can't get out. And he was a bad one, so we're not about to help him." Harry wrinkled his nose at the burned-meat smell the incense failed to cover.

"He's like the worst of the wizards
,” the Sheep Man sneered. "Messed up growing his nads back and turned nasty." He strolled off, eyeing the huge complex.

Never leaned closer to Harry. “So it's true wizards
cut their own nads off?"

"Yep. And they eat them. Can't learn wizardry if they're distracted by women. Once they've learned, they run around like idiots trying to grow new ones. Or used to. There aren't any wizards anymore. Or, no new ones, anyway."

"Somehow that doesn't surprise me!"

Harry threw his head back and laughed. "Men will do worse things for power than they will for sex. Trust me on this."
His forehead furrowed. "Actually there's some scientific basis for it. The effect of testosterone on the last maturation stages of the brain . . . or something like that. I don't remember the details . . ."

She peeked through the front gates at the oversized statue of the Wizard Ba'al who had once been a god. The upraised hands held flame, some sort of gas piped in, perhaps? The figure was both muscular and fat, with an erect phallus emerging from a cluster of six testicles.

"Eww!"

Men were said to sacrifice their first-born children to Ba'al, for virility.

Some said the royal family's tradition of the first-born son serving in the army and the second son inheriting the crown was related to Ba'al worship. She walked away, wondering how such a perverted religion could become so popular. Did the god do things for his followers? She wasn't sure she wanted to know what that might be. Certainly the authorities seemed to be giving the church an awful lot of leeway.

She kept her ears, and other senses, open as she accompanied one or the other of the women around town, to the auction house and several factors interested in semi-precious stones, then to make their purchases, the salt they needed for pickling and preserving, the iron they'd turn into nails, horse shoes and hinges; lead, copper and tin they'd melt into brass for buckles; or shape into pots and pans. Meta
l was of the deep earth; and witches could do with it as they wished. With her new ability to channel, Never could feel the potential in the ingots, just waiting to be powered and shaped. She was not just feeling things, but understanding them better. Maybe because she was advancing magically, but just growing up might have something to do with it. She could feel people more strongly as well, hear the surface thoughts of the non-magical people about them. She got used to the men's sexual arousal near her, and the deep-seated anger and hatred some had for women. The caution and deference of some women, and the deep-seated  anger and hatred some bore for a man, or all men. She took an informal count, and was relieved to find the negatives outnumbered by people feeling secure and content. It was easy to overestimate the negative emotions, simply because they were more noticeable. She wondered if everyone at home would feel different, now.

They left the following morning, everyone's business concluded, the boys surfeit with candy from the markets and the sights of glassblowers, blacksmiths, marching soldiers in fancy uniforms, and houses crammed together, street after street. The guards on the gate were checking outgoing wagons today, many more than she'd noticed on the way into town. They checked their pass against their numbers and passed them through.

As the wagons creaked back into motion, she overheard one man speaking. “. . . doubt we'll ever catch those murdering whores . . . "

She glanced at Likely and Mostly. They were in their best outfits, their second-best dresses having not survived the night of the fire. They both looked the picture of proper young daughters of a prosperous merchant. Curious had insisted on pulling their hair back severely. Squinting at them, Never rather thought there was a bit of glamour there, altering the color slightly, pointing a chin . . . She wondered how many had died in the fire, and whether the two mercenaries were among them.

Once clear of town traffic, she asked Curious.

"Oh, now don't fret, dear. The girls may have precipitated the situation, but it would have happened sooner or later. In all that confusion, a couple of the whores got their revenge on the brothel master, and a couple of the customers." She looked demurely at her fingernails, then over at the Auld Wulf in the wagon behind them. "I expect they'd like to come out now, don't you think?"

The old man started laughing, and steered his horses to the side of the road. Harry looked back and stopped, and the Sheep Man as well.

"Or were you going to keep them secret all the way home?"

"Ah, I figured they'd probably prefer to head down south." He shrugged and lifted one of the huge salt barrels. The girl curled up under it squeaked in alarm, scrambling stiffly up. The next barrel proved to be equally full of girl instead of salt.

Never blinked. "You two can't be whores. You're younger than I am." But on second glance they'd had hard lives, and their mouths were tight and desperate.

Curious stepped up to them. "Pleased to meet you. I'm Curious. I'm sure the Auld Wulf has introduced himself. These are Never, Mostly and Likely. Elegant and Delight. Harry and the Sheep Man. Tivo, Theo, Fossi and Fiber."

They looked half-starved, and were short and thin, nearly shapeless. Nearly naked, too, standing huddled together in short shifts.

Never shook herself, broke her stare. “Well, why don't we share out some clothes while we drive on?"

She grabbed a water skin, and both girls drank thirstily. "Thank you for getting us out of town." The brown-haired one looked around nervously. The girl with the raven-black hair nodded.  They were shivering a bit in the cool spring air, and Likely dug out a pair of blankets while Mostly pulled out the loaves they'd bought for dinner.

Never dug into her bags and pulled out two light undergowns. They'd be too long, but they were as good a place to start as any. "How about a wash first? You two are pretty smoky smelling."

Cleaned, dressed, and fed, the two girls finally admitted to names, Zammara Kitha and Chocatti Midglecek.

They camped a bit early, and away from other travelers. Never kept an ear on the conversation as she washed dishes after dinner.

"You're from the Isles, Zammara? And Chocatti must be a Veronian name." Curious was patiently hemming the gowns, a bit awkwardly with the girls still in them.

"Yes'm. I don't really remember the Isles, though, just my father's boat." The black-haired Zammara blinked away a tear.

The brown-haired girl nodded. "My uncle's a merchant. He made some bad trades, and got into money trouble, about three months ago, I figure." Her fists balled up. "I didn't figure a brothel would want me, but they dress me up like a little girl, in the kind of clothes a noble daughter would wear, and they, and some men . . . "

"That's sick!" Mostly sat down in front of them. "If I had known, I'd have set the place on fire, on purpose."

That got their attention. "You did that?" Chocatti giggled, the first sign of softening Never had seen in the girls.