Wine of the Gods 1: Exiles and Gods (20 page)

"Mrs. Gardener, Heidi. What a pleasure to see you again." River’s brain caught up with her tongue. Mrs. Gardener didn’t look pleased at all, but her scowl was aimed at her daughter.

"Miss Reardon." She nodded stiffly. "We were strolling and admiring the flowers."

Heidi was pale, apart from the red spots on her cheeks. She looked furious. "I like to crowd watch. I’ve met the most fascinating people along the river walk."

Now her mother colored up. "Most of them just fascinated by the balance in your Trust."

River stepped back from what looked to be heading for a nasty family fight. "Enjoy your walk." She turned and walked away.

A man was watching mother and daughter from the far side of a fruit vendor’s stand. He turned on his heel and matched her steps as she passed. "Excuse me, you’re a friend of the Gardeners?"

She looked him over. Younger than she was. Dark skinned, bright intelligent gaze. Not actually ragged, but his clothes were built for work and had plenty of mileage on them. A solid glow. "I met them aboard ship, and don’t even know where they live. Traveler."

"I’m not . . . that influenced. I’m an independent Mage. I write books." He scowled. "About far away places."

She shook her head. "I really cannot help you, even if I were inclined to get a young girl in trouble."

His jaw muscles clenched. "I am not trouble. Beside my writing, I’ve got a job as a drover, a share of the business. I can support a wife and children."

"Heidi is nineteen. And her mother is not about to let go of her. If you don’t want her crying kidnap, you’ll have to wait until she’s twenty-one."

"That’s barely over a year and a half from now." His aura rippled and darkened.

"Haven’t you had any magical training at all? You’ve no shield what-so-ever."

His eyes narrowed. "You’re a witch!"

"Yes."

"You don’t know anything about Mages."

She sighed and steered him down an empty alley. "Picture a piece of glass. Now picture it with a faint rime of frost on it. You can still see through it, but your undirected thoughts are trapped back behind it."

The scowl deepened, but she could see the drop in brightness even as he dismissed her visualization.

"Now think of it as a mirror. Keeping other people’s thoughts out."

He opened his mouth to say something and she flicked a tiny needle of pain at him. He flinched back.

"Mirror. Reflect it."

He ducked. Scowled and crossed his arms. Winced at another hit. Bounced the next needle.

"Nice. Study those two, and you’ll be a lot less vulnerable to anyone with a desire to use you, or attack you." She sighed. "Of course, as you gain power you’ll be pulled more strongly into the Archetype. You’ll be a little god, not a Mage."

"I am not a god. Nothing controls me, I go where and when I wish."

"Control you, no. You’ll just have a hunger to go places and see new things
.
You already feel it, don’t you? It will get stronger."

He scowled. "Nothing controls me." But his eyes shifted, and his rudimentary shields stiffened a bit.

"Then practice those basics hard."

She left him standing absolutely still, attention inward, and his glow dropping steadily. Independent mage indeed. Abandoned, more like, to have had what
looked like no training whatsoever. He’d picked up visualization quickly enough. What he needed was a list of the basic charms to memorize, then training in how to apply power to them, how to combine them, then how to gather more power . . .
Mother would kill me if she caught me training a male in magic usage.
She smiled wryly.
Add it to the list of things for which I’ll some day find myself expelled from the pyramid.

River finished the report, and charmed it with the God’s name. Folded it carefully, then dug down to the bottom of her wardrobe, where the carelessly discarded pouch lay among her shoes. She slid the report into the pouch and sealed it. Some sort of dimensional shortcut, the god had said, the day he gave it to her. The twin of the pouch was in his office, along with several dozen others, one each for his far flung web of spies. No doubt all the gods had them—spies and pouches.

And what am I going to do about that one? Simon. Who is he spying for?
River blew out a long breath and glanced out the window.
Almost time for lessons. Do I really want to advance? What man do I use to bump my skills up a level? Or two levels, if I get pregnant, as well as lose my virginity.
She blushed a bit, remembering a good looking professor of physics.
From Cairo, he said. I wonder how long he'll be in town.

She kicked out of her shoes and stripped down to bare nothing. "Bloody theatre, no reason we have to wear these damned robes, and nothing under them other than to make us feel naughty or something."

"I heard that!" Amused’s voice filtered through the door.

Flattered’s giggle followed. "I thought it was so we’d feel insecure and unready, so we don’t jump the gun and grab the nearest man without worrying about his well being afterwards?"

River opened the door as she finished tying the belt. "I think someone was trying to set up a mystique about witches and gave up when the sexy robes turned out to look like ordinary bathrobes."

"You can’t make up rituals and the proper trappings, River. And don’t go quoting something about the Exile, either!"

"It’s only been a hundred and eighteen years since the Exile. So there aren’t any rituals older than that." River scowled at the mirror. Her hair was an unremarkable lightish brown, shoulder length, her eyes blue.  "They might at least let us put our hair up. It keeps getting in my mouth."

"That’s because you cut it, what, two years ago? Honestly River, what were you thinking?"

"That if I expected to get out of Athens alive, I was going to have to look like a boy. I thought I was quite dashing with the mustache." She led the way outside, turning for the amphitheater of the Crescent Moon.

Flattered snorted. "I can’t imagine why you went there in the first place."

"Because Edmund Vice had a reputation for throwing magic all over the place. I figured I could pick up some readings and analyze them. I didn’t realize how often the God of Vice indulged his baser desires."

Amused widened her eyes, trying to look innocent. "But River, think about how you could have advanced, two years early, and with a God!"

"Eww!" River hunted around for a way to distract them. "Now if Pax had been interested . . ."

Two matching sighs.

"Oh, those golden eyes!"

"His voice! It’s just mesmerizing."

"Well, I see two of you are ready to advance." Firefly eyed River and shook her head in resignation. "Come in girls, you need to understand the dangers, and practice as much as is possible beforehand."

The so-called amphitheater was actually a open patch in a grove of trees. Stones had been set in the ground in a hit-or-miss pattern that kept it drained and usable most of the year.

"Amused, tell me about the tiers of knowledge."

"The tier of the New Moon is for the daughters of witches. They learn the usual academics and receive additional instruction and training to prepare them for the advent of their power. Most girls are New Moons until their fifteenth or sixteenth year. The Crescent Moons are girls who have evinced their power. They are trained and drilled until they are deemed ready to advance, generally between the ages of twenty-five and thirty. The witches of the Bright Quarter Moon tier have lost their virginity and can channel the power. After advancing they learn skills that require channeling. Full Moon witches have given birth, so they can learn to heal. Most witches stay on this tier until they are forty-five. As witches approach the Change, they become capable of stronger magic and move to the tier of the Dark Quarter until they are around sixty. The Dark Moon tier is where witches learn the most powerful spells, including things once thought only the province of the Gods."

"Right out of the text book. Very good. I will just add that the ages are approximate, and depend on many factors, such as an early loss of virginity, infertility, and early menopause. What else, River?"

"Basic strength, and the mix of magic genes each individual possesses. And the mix of normal genes, that influence the way the magic genes work."

"Explain about basic strength, Flattered."

"There is a gene that enables the collection of power. It is an artificially engineered version of a naturally occurring gene that energizes a person in a crowd or through music. Depending on which of numerous alleles of the natural gene a witch has can change the amount of power than she can collect, and the velocity with which it can be collected and used. The artificial gene was added to the X chromosome, so a witch can have one or two copies of it. But because it is strongly dominant, having two is only a slight boost to power collecting abilities."

"Good, River, the mix of genes?"

"There are one hundred and five artificial genes besides the Power collection gene. We can have one or two copies of them, on the paired chromosomes. So a maximum of two hundred and ten special genes. Some of the genes are dominant, some are recessive, some share dominance or influence other genes. And for about half of them there are multiple alleles. So while the power gene influences the strength of spells, these other genes determine what sorts of spells any given witch can actually do, and which of those they can do best."

"Close enough. Amused, tell me about the other power collection genes."

"Our power collection gene is located on the X chromosome, and is usually called the witch gene. It catches a bit of the power of gravity. The wizard gene is an engineered gene, much like the witch gene, but unable to collect as much power. It operates on light, over part of the electromagnetic spectrum. The Mage gene is again similar, but it is located on the Y chromosome. It is very powerful, collecting from the lower electromagnetic spectrum though heat and vibration and kinetic energy."

"Yes, although we've had information about what is being called a Gollian wizard, apparently fairly strong. River, the gender differences?"

"The witch gene is linked to an artificial gene that primes the immune system to attack Y bearing sperm. That is why witches mostly have female children. Like anything, it can be got around. The mage gene, being on the Y chromosome is inherited father to son. The only instances of it occurring in female children involve irregularities, XXY babies with hormonal changes so the baby is physically female. The Goddesses are like that. The wizard gene is weak in males, but when doubly inherited by a female the resulting magic can be strong." River hesitated. "This isn’t according to the text, but I’ve heard . . ."

"Please restrain yourself from unproven gossip, River."

River opened her mouth, then shut it.

Her mother sighed. "Oh, go ahead. You’ll tell the girls outside of class any way. I might as well hear it."

"I understand that girls with one witch and one wizard gene are strongly magical, and often wind up as these little gods."

Her mother grimaced. "That’s actually probably true, and why we have amended our rules, so we don’t produce any more of them. Pay attention. Witches should not cross with wizards. Nor do we use any of the various methods of circumventing the female selection gene,
especially
if we mate with mages.

"You’ve all seen the pathetic results of these crosses. There really is such a thing as too much magic. While mages and wizards have psychic glow, and are very attractive, I recommend against intercourse with them during your fertile periods."

Flattered was sitting up straight and bright-eyed. "What about seducing gods?"

"The Old Gods and the little gods have both a witch gene and a mage gene. So long as you do not use a spell for a male child there is no problem. Of course, you’d best be careful they don’t use one on you. Not all of them are considerate of
your
desires." Firefly nodded. "Good. You have the basics. Now, River tell me what danger you face."

"When a witch loses her virginity, there’s a leap of psychic energy which can cause her partner’s blood pressure to spike. Then as she begins channeling, if she doesn’t control the energy flow quickly enough, she can drain the man, and then herself, of personal energy, umm, glycogen, causing anything from a slight weakness to severe debilitation or death."

"Amused, how will you avoid this problem?"

"I will pick someone with moderate glow, because their nervous system can handle the zap with less effect on their blood pressure. Then I will choke down the energy flow and shut it off before either of us is drained."

"Exactly. Now we will start with meditation, and then we will practice shunting power. This is not too different from channeling. By learning to control the rate and amount of shunting, you will come as close to practicing control of channeling as we are capable of. Any questions?"

River nodded. "I can already do some healing."

Firefly snorted. "You can suppress pain for a short while, and press wounds together, sometimes long enough for the cause to resolve itself. After you give birth you will be able to detect the cause of the pain and cure it, and micro manipulate wounds, rebuilding the injured tissues. The difference is quite striking. As you shall see, hopefully within a year."

They were already sitting cross legged, and dropped into a light mediation state easily. Or should have been able to. Amused and Flattered were both uneven and spiking with excitement.

Firefly sighed. "You will not advance for at least a month, so settle down."

River settled in, easily enough, but now she had things to meditate about. Simon.

I’d hate to hurt him. Quite apart from the criminal penalties, I rather like the man. Pity, he's good looking and obviously intelligent. Not the worst fellow to pick as a father for my witch daughter. But that little bit of glow he has might mean he's a wizard. Hands off.

But if I did it off-cycle, so I didn’t get pregnant
. . .