Wine of the Gods 05: Spy Wars (16 page)

Late Spring 1362

Karista, Kingdom of the West

Lefty walked into General Rufi's conference room and found Captain Trehem and a worried looking civilian reading over some notes.

"There really wasn't much to it." The man was middle-aged, heavy set and unhappy.

Trehem nodded. "Yes, but we do appreciate your mentioning it to us. Lefty, this is Cuffi, formerly a Holy Captain of Ba'al. He did not return to the Temple when the Inquisitor General was released, but he's been recently contacted by a former spy of the Temple, who was curious about that to-do to the east of Wallenton."

Lefty nodded, noting that Trehem didn't name
Ash. "I've never heard about that encounter from someone who was near enough to have seen and heard it all. Tell me about it."

Poor nervous Cuffi stammered and blushed his way through the Black Wizard's demise at the hands of a female general, and the local's fervent delight in their rescue. Lefty had trouble keeping a straight face as he suddenly started recognizing people from their descriptions. Never kissing the Inquisitor General's boots, tears of thanks in her eyes? Nil, the dim witted shepherd?

"So, this Mousey has been around for years?" Lefty asked.

Cuffi hesitated. "My father volunteered me in, umm, forty-nine. Mousey was already well up in the Temple hierarchy, the first time I ever heard of him. He was the Spymaster's assistant. Gave me the creeps even back then, he did. And yesterday, well, all he wanted to know was where it had all happened. I, umm, didn't mention the village's name. Just that we'd gone three days out of Wallenton. I didn't figure they deserved his attention, and the more I thought, the less I liked the idea, so I asked His Lordship who I ought to talk to about it."

Lefty nodded. "It might have been an innocent encounter. But just in case he's a spy of some sort, if you meet him again, you might write out as close as you can remember what he says, and what you tell him."

Trehem eyed him. "Are you going to talk to those people up there?"

"With the General's permission."

"Good. C'mon Cuffi, let's get home."

Lefty read the man's report, and wandered back to the General's office.

"What do you think?" Rufi leaned back in his chair, looking a bit rough for the elegant appointments of the Palace room.

"Ba'al was about the only show of magical ability going, for a good long time. If I were a foreign spy looking to study the local magic, that's where I'd be. The question is, where is this 'Mousey' from? Verona, Auralia or Earth?"

"And if the Earth has been studying us for so long, what have they found out, and what are they going to do? We both know how few witches, wizards and mages are alive today. An all out invasion would overwhelm them quickly, and we don't have the ability to resist or duplicate the Earth's weaponry."

Lefty thought about the guns of the explorers and wondered how they differed from their Army's weaponry. Dydit's descriptions of the battle in the Feather River Canyon had made them sound considerably more powerful. "So they have a second line of spies? Long term moles just now poking their heads out?

"Looks like it.
Go to Ash, warn them about Mousey but also talk to everyone about how to deal with the Earth, collect ideas. In fact, ask them if they have any idea what happened to the statue of Ba'al. We moved everything, so if it gets really energetic it will still be trapped on an island, away from people. Apart from the steady stream of tourists taking picnic lunches out there. I'll do whatever the gods recommend." Rufi's eyes crinkled. "I'm afraid it is much too early for you to get snowed in for the winter. I'll have to find some other reason to send you up there, later."

"Training always sounds good, Sir. And if I take that new stage to Wallenton, it'll get me there so fast you'll never realize how much time I spent there, this time."

***

The Earthers had moved the wagon to the Gate camp, and strip
ped it. Almost two years since they'd abandoned it, and by the brush grown up around it, it hadn't been used for at least a year. Parked out away from the Camp proper, the soldiers probably wouldn't notice it was gone for a good while..

Question repaired the wagon while Never searched the area for the horses. A wizard's natural affinity for sunlight somehow transferred to the easy manipulation of what her father called "solid sunshine." Which was an odd way to look at wood, but then her father was
very
odd.

They'd tried out a new 'corridor' that the Auld Wulf had created, and snuck down from the hills after a day long survey from the heights showed no sign that they'd been detected. They'd ridden two sturdy cart horses, assuming that their abandoned beasts had either moved south or frozen, unprotected in the brutal winter so close to the ice cap.

But apparently the soldiers down in the science camp had adopted them. Storm had quite the little herd now.
The three mares all had pinto foals tagging along behind them and two chestnut yearling fillies filled out the group. A yearling colt was hovering in the near distance; no doubt Storm had made it clear he wasn't welcome near the mares. The yearlings were all rather obviously Sun Gold's offspring.

"Do you know, I'm half minded to leave them here. They're a good start on repopulating this continent with useable animals. We should bring in cattle and more horses."

"Leave them if you want. But you have to explain it to Dydit and my Dad. And they're going to be awfully inbred." Question juggled a small Jek who clearly wanted to get down and explore in person. "No, Jek, you may not practice your crawling underneath horses. How on the World did Rustle and Havi survive?"

Never patted Obsidian, sound asleep in a sling. "Rustle was two and a half, and Havi almost two the first time we took them with us. Well, it was only my second trip, and Dydit's and Lefty's third. I won't say they were old enough to have any sense, but they knew not to walk under horses."

Question snickered. "And I think they believed their Daddy's stories about the giant kid-eating water lizards. You on the other hand, got a bit of a shock, didn't you?"

"A bit? I think I was as shocked as Kite, and the lizard was after her not me." She looked down at the baby. "You know, we never did map the east side of the New Lands. We should think about spending next summer out there."

"Even a short mapping trip would be great." Question jiggled her son. "Then you too can grow up in a Traveler's wagon."

They rolled out the next morning, under a light warp and there was no alarm raised. It was a long four hours before they turned down the deep gully where the Auld Wulf had anchored his Corridor. From there, they drove straight through and out the solid wall of the wizard's tower.

Question let out a whoop and dived off the wagon and into Lefty's arms. "You're back! And wait till you see what the Auld Wulf did!"

"I think I just saw it." Lefty set her down, grinning.

"It's quite a trick. Beats Traveling—once it's up." Dydit unharnessed the mares and shooed them away.

Nil snorted. "He can move the ends wherever he wants, just pulling them along. I thought we hadn't seen much of him lately, and I couldn't figure out why he was borrowing so many horses and running them so hard. Ha! Relays. When the horse was done for the day, it
was just pop back through the corridor for a good night's sleep. Next day a different horse."

Dydit chuckled, "And not a sign of that big black one. You know Never, we definitely are going to have to enlarge the barn at our place. After all, the children need horses too. No sign of the horses we turned loose?"

"Actually they're doing well, populating the continent with equines. The soldiers built a shed for them, and put up hay. I figured it would be less obvious to leave them there. And the lack of riding horses around here is mostly due to you and Nil breeding every mare you get your hands on. Let's grab Havi and head for town. I could stand dinner at the Tavern tonight, and I'll bet Rustle is ready to be rescued from my mother and grandmother."

It turned into a large welcome home party, as much for Lefty as Never and Question, who hadn't actually been gone very long.

The next day, the witches all left for Mount Frost and their Summer Solstice ceremony. Question showed Lefty the intricacy, or rather the simplicity, of the corridors. When Lefty finally headed for Karista, it was with one end of a corridor to Ash, and another to his Gate Camp observation headquarters. In his backpack.

***

Lefty eyed General Rufi a bit nervously. He'd always seemed open about magic, but this thing was startling. "The Auld Wulf did something . . . odd. Worked at it a couple of years running, apparently. It'll speed up getting from the Gate Camp to here immensely. It's a magical corridor, and I've got one end with me. The other end we left out in the hills between the Gate Camp and that Science Camp. And that's the third thing I need to talk to you about."

"Magic corridor? Umm, let's start with the Science Camp. What are they up to?"

"They are quite certain that this One World, their enemy, has Gates to our World. All in Auralia, apparently in two cities, Fascia and Discordia. They were talking about them having a regular once-a-week gate schedule in each city."

"So they are concerned that the One World is spying on the Auralians?
Or do they realize they have already allied with them?" Rufi's eyebrows rose.

"They seem to be worried that these Oners will use the Auralian army to further the One World's conquest of this World. I
. . . don't like the sound of some things they are thinking of doing to stop them. It may be all hot air, but I think I need to spend more time over there listening to them, and turn this spy hunt over to Dydit."

"Hmm, Oscar and Bran are on Auralian duty, and report that the One Worlders are
training the Amma's army in the use of advanced weapons. Things that are like small versions of the Cove Island cannons."

"
Training, or actually arming them?"

"
Both. Damn, I need more magicians. I should try recruiting in Ash. Oscar and Bran are my only people who can get close to the Oners and the Amma." Rufi sighed. "Now, this magic corridor. What does it look like?"

Lefty huffed out an amused breath. "Four rocks glued to a piece of paper, labeled 'this way up'. I'm told that the fewer magic genes one has the clearer ones vision through it. It looks sort of foggy to me, Dydit says he can't see anything but
bright fog and perhaps some ghostly silhouettes." He pulled out the two papers with rocks stuck on them.

Rufi cocked his head. "It looks like a window on a weathered and holey limestone exposure. Deep gully, at a guess." His eyes narrowed. "I can see the grasses on top blowing in a breeze."

"Yes, sir. And if we move these rocks further apart, we can open the window large enough to just step through." He unfolded the second one. "And this one goes to Ash, to the wizard's tower."

"Obviousl
y we need to put the Gate Camp corridor someplace secure. Guarded. Not inside the Palace grounds, in case the Earthers discover it." The general tapped his fingers, then nodded. "There's an old building at the First Army Depot. Far enough away from the rest of it that a raid out of it would be seen coming, near enough that the scouts can bunk in the barracks there, at need, and run messages in for me within an hour."

"Sounds perfect."

"The Ash corridor can go here. The guards will be throwing fits regularly, but it's good for them."

27 Rajab 1364 / late spring 1362 Local

Foothills Province, Kingdom of the West, Target World Forty-two

There was a stage as far as Bridgetown, from there they had to walk. Or would have if they weren't from a superior culture. Ajha had carried the antigrav generator in his backpack, Egto the folded platform, Idre the controls and Wink the batteries. While Egto and Wink assembled the little scooter out of sight of any curious Bridgtonians, Ajha and Idre hiked back and refilled their backpacks with food that would hopefully keep until they were back in civilization.

Then they traded off driving and sitting on their packs, scrunched up on the inadequate platfor
m. By keeping their minds open—it was so nice to be out of the City, away from the mental din of thousands of nearby people—they detected and avoided the few other people and even ghosted past the fort in the middle of the night. Just a bit of projected inattention was all it took. And whatever Usse's expectations, there was no sign of magical glow about the place.

The
slopes steepened abruptly, the riders had to get off and walk up the steeper inclines, but it was still a hell of a lot faster and easier than walking all the way. On the thirteenth day they stopped to gawp at a deep canyon, with the road winding down into the depths and then back up the steep wall opposite.

It took Ajha a moment to focus on the bridge soaring across the canyon below him. He studied it and finally decided
it was probably two thirds of the way down. He blinked and refocused. "Who the hell built that bridge?"

Idre looked at his locator and took a rang
e across the canyon. "This is where the battle took place. Let's go take a look."

Halfway down they found the first sign. A excavated hole in the cliff with metal shrapnel imbedded in the rock. They walked slowly down, attention jumping from their instruments to scanning the ground with their own eyes. They picked up expended bullets a curve later, then some odd irregularities in the paving, which had been concrete until patched with rectangles of recrystallized granite. But there were only three patches and beyond them a bonanza of expended rounds.

"Machine gun hosed the whole area. And another artillery round hit up there."

Ajha walked back and forth. "See how there's an abrupt cutoff of the bullets? The
natives were using a shield. Bet we find a bunch of bullets over the edge, they probably slid off and down to the next turn of the road." They walked on around the next hairpin turn and did indeed find the predicted rounds.

Egto picked up a handful, examined them. "About half aren't deformed. They hit something soft. Do the natives use a gradual shield, instead of a hard one?"

Two more switchbacks and they were at the start of the bridge. The road continued down, the bridge had obviously been added later. But it was of the same recrystalized granite construction. Not in blocks, but of a single piece. Or perhaps it had been made in blocks and then recrystallized? Somehow . . .

Egto walked out on it, head down and studying it. Then he got down on his hands and knees and started a scan, edging gradually forward. "Can you make expansion joints on a microscopic scale?" No one answered him. "Crystal structure isn't
random, they're aligned, long axis more or less vertical. Most of the thermal expansion is going to show up in the thickness. I wonder if there are voids inside?" He pulled more small instruments from his backpack and returned to a prone position.

Ajha walked down further, looking up at the shallow arc, and out at the six tall arches that supported it. Down
in the depths the noon sun shone off metal, and he walked on. The river was high and he could only gaze speculatively at the wreckage wedged in between a huge boulder and the side of the canyon. Made of metal, advanced manufacturing methods. The surviving angles were unfamiliar. Earther. There was more wreckage across the river, something that might have been the remains of a tanker truck. A drive shaft stuck up from the rubble, and one of the boulders looked suspiciously like an engine block. Ajha took pictures, then turned and hiked back up to the bridge.

"Anything?" Wink hopped off the bridge.

"Vehicular wreckage." Ajha panted. He handed over his cam and lay down. "Why didn't I work out harder last winter?"

"Because you didn't know about this canyon
. And the air's thin." Egto shook his head. "I don't know how the hell they built this thing. There are discontinuities where blocks recrystallized into each other, but it's not like melting. It's the application of just enough heat and pressure for the crystals to align and join up. On the larger scale, the arches will get taller when they expand, the side arches go from leaning slightly in, in winter to leaning slightly out in summer, and those scrape marks there are where the bridge ends scrape forward and back. See how it wedges down? The edge, I am glad to say, is taking a beating. Whoever made this is going to have to repair it every twenty years or so."

"Can you tell how many times it's been repaired?" Ajha rolled over and looked at the scrape marks.

"Never. There are just three winters' worth of scrapes on that rock you're lying on and the bridge wedge. As far as I can tell, it was built immediately after the Earth attack."

Ajha looked at him, and then at the bridge. "Why do you think after?"

"Because of that intercept that said that the old bridge was destroyed and the natives built a new bridge for the forward elements of the Earth Company to retreat over. Or removed an illusion that concealed a second, higher, bridge." Egto glanced back at the bridge. "But the bridge is only about as old as the battle. It could be a coincidence that the battle happened right after they put in a new bridge."

Ajha nodded. "But why put in a new bridge, for the tiny bit of traffic they get through here."

He pushed back to his feet, then walked across the bridge. It was nerve racking, with the wind blowing down the canyon. The side walls weren't nearly tall enough for safety.

After five days of testing they found no trace of chemicals or projectiles on the eastern side of the canyon. All the
natives' offensive weaponry seemed to have been magical, unless of course, the tanker really had been struck by lightning.

They hiked out of the canyon and coasted back out of the mountains. They snuck around the fort again, this time striking south on a secondary road to check out the village of Ash. It was the only village that qualified as three days from Wallenton, at least on the local maps.

It was a picturesque little place, prosperous despite a few empty houses. Abundantly supplied with blondes and redheads, damn good looking ones, and a few odd types he'd never noticed in the City, with black hair and honey gold eyes, including three girls that could have passed as triplets with long hair down to their tight little pre-teen butts.

"I need to come back in about eight years." Ajha muttered to himself.

Wink heard, and stifled a snicker.

"What?" Egto looked around at him.

"Nothing. What are those women doing?" Wink nodded at the redheads and blondes who were apparently dancing in the vegetables.

"Fixing nitrogen, while having fun. They can't draw outside power, they're just drawing down their own reserves. They've got a touch of magic, but there's nothing here even close to the power that raised that bridge."

Idre nodded. "Get a good night's sleep and we'll leave in the morning. Three days walk to Wallenton, then we can take a barge downstream to Karista."