Comet Fall (Wine of the Gods) (17 page)

She
decided to remain in Cadent longer, and the Valasik's stayed as well.

The Travelers
leased a well kept stable in a better part of town, and Faro and Degan continued to make a killing selling horses. Farli and Marisha moved into the little house and this time Rustle helped them with
their
wardrobes. The Valasik's aped the city dwellers, and the prices of the horses rose accordingly. They bought old nags, injured and worn out riding horses, and sold them a few days or weeks later, healthy and sound.

Phantom brought in a very respectable stud fee.

Xen was growing, but at his own pace, and Rustle winced to think how much leaving his friends was going to hurt, and how falling behind his friends might hurt worse. At three he was now a bit behind Farli's two year old son, in development, and well ahead of Marisha's daughter who had just celebrated her first birthday. But in another year Megan could be pulling even, and Fermi well ahead of him. But Rustle decided to stay as long as it didn't seem to be hurting him. Certainly there was enough
stuff
in Sir Romeau's junk room to keep her busy. The books alone were fascinating, almost all with baffling assumptions of background information.

The little gadgets were fascinating, and sometimes baffling.

Farli and Marisha—and all the kids—joined her several times for a rummage, and once were there when Sir Romeau was again exiled from his Lady's regard. Sir Romeau flirted with the ladies and had them blushing and laughing like young girls.

The Virgins didn't really approve of
Rustle. However she dressed now, they knew she was a Traveler, and couldn't possibly be the scholar 'studying the gods' she claimed to be. Even if the God did let her in.

Today the Temple was being watched by Thunder and Lightning. The two girls were nineteen years old,
now, and Rustle thought they both looked like . . . family.
I have four half-sisters and two half-brothers.

And now
they were staring at a young man who was walking in circles around the goat statue. He was tall and thin, moving as gracefully as a dancer. His dark golden blond hair nearly matched the golden tan of his skin, and when he glanced at her, his eyes shone metallic gold. He looked to be a well grown eighteen. His cheek bones stood out in an aesthetically pure face, and he frowned disapprovingly at the Goat. "Violent, aggressive. Bad. Very bad indeed." Cracks raced over the onyx statue and spread. It collapsed in a spray of black sand.

Pain stabbed through Rustle as if she'd seen her actual father killed. She stalked forward.

"What did you
do!
" Thunder was aghast.

Lightning, showing her usual sense, turned and ran out the side door.

As the boy turned in her direction, raising his hand, Rustle grabbed his shoulder and spun him around.

"That was not your property to take or destroy at your whim."

"Whatever serves the cause of Peace." The young man looked her up and down and pulled power in through her grasp on her shoulder.

A cramp crabbed her hand, and it was with an effort that she opened it and broke the connection. His eyes narrowed.

"Rustle! Don't be rude." Thunder hustled up beside her, eyes wide and fixed on the young man.

The corner of his lip curled knowingly.

He studied Rustle, and pointedly ignoring Thunder. "
You
don't look like the usual Temple Whore."

"
I'm not," Rustle sat firmly on her anger. "I'm a scholar, studying the Gods. And you?"

"I am a God." He crossed his arms and waited arrogantly for her reply, or perhaps worship.

"Oh, excellent!" Rustle pulled her pad of notes from the pouch. "Tell me. Do you remember who
they
were?"

He frowned. "What?"

"They. The other gods can't remember who did things to them."

"The
other
gods? How many do you know?"

"And some of the gods have memories of 'labs'. Do you know what 'labs' are?" That triggered something.

The youth was standing slack jawed and eyes vacant with memory when the Six Virgins erupted into the room.

They variously yelped in dismay, broke into tears or tried to scoop up the black sand of the former statue.

"Labs. Animal labs and, and . . . labs. Trans world travel?" The youth ignored the barely clad women behind him. "The machines, they . . . " his hands went to his head. "They made us a part of their machines."

He paced around in circles. Glared at her as she wrote.

"You make my head hurt. Are
you
one of
Them
?"

"Don't, don't you hurt Rus
tle." Thunder had tears in her eyes

The Virgins pulled themselves together and approached. "Who are you?"

"I am the Golden Boy. I am the God of Peace. I am here to speak to the Emperor of Verona." He pulled himself up straight. "I was distracted by your violent and obscene statue. Do not make any images of violence again, or risk my wrath!" He turned then, and walked out of the Temple.

Rustle sat down and
wrote a note.
Just met the God of Peace in the Temple in Cadent. He says he's here to talk to the Emperor of Verona.
She tore out the page, charmed it with the Auld Wulf's name and shoved it into the pouch. Then she wrote down every word of their very brief conversation. The Virgins were still carrying on.

"Rain, don't be silly. It was just a statue, not the Goat of Love himself." Rustle told her.

The head Virgin sniffed woefully. "What do you know of the Goat of Love?"

"Well, for starters he's my father, and secondly he's just arrived."

With company. Armed to the teeth.

"Pax
walked out a few minutes ago." Rustle stood up.

Her father hugged her. Damn it, where's my hug from the Wolf?

The Auld Wulf, Romeau, and the Sheep Man were all looking out the doors. Dydit joined them, and Rustle followed, the Virgins trailing.

"He's out of sight. Damn it, can we talk our way into the Palace faster than he can?" The Auld Wulf scowled out at the Plaza.

Her father swapped looks with the Sheep Man. "We may be able to get in easily, if anyone still recognizes us."

Romeau snickered. "The Goat can probably get in." He shot a look over his shoulder to where the Virgins were rapturously, and perhaps a bit confusedly, looking from Dydit to Romeau.

Rustle snickered. "The God of Love has many aspects. Two at once is a bit of a stretch for the Ladies, though."

"Nonsense," Romeau rallied. "You just need a bit more experience."

"Use a light warp, and nobody will see you at all," she suggested.

"Makes it tough to talk to the Emperor, but we could hear what that damned Peace has to say . . . " Nil muttered.

The four men headed out without any further conversation.

Rustle chewed her knuckles for a second, then she followed.
She stationed herself where she could watch the main gates of the Palace, and concentrated on being unnoticeable. Until the Auld Wulf faded out of nothing next to her. "Come along to the Temple."

Rustle blinked at the sudden dimness of the Temple.
"Trouble at the Palace?"

"That idiot walked straight in and started giving commands," Romeau grinned. "Would have worked like a charm, if only we hadn't been blocking his compulsions."

"That old man was tough minded." Dydit said. "Bet he could have resisted."

"Until his formerly loyal Courtiers killed him." Romeau wrinkled his nose in distaste.

"And we didn't have to show our faces, which is very lucky, for some people." The Sheep Man glanced at Dydit.

"Now the Emperor is pissed at Auralia, and we've set spell blocks all over the place," Dydit said. "They didn't see us, so we can slide out of here without
the Kingdom of the West being blamed for anything. Would you like a quick trip home?"

"Can't leave the horses and
Xen, Dad," Rustle grinned. "Besides, I'm having way too much fun rummaging in Romeau's attic."

Dad split a glower between Romeau and the Auld Wulf. "No fooling around with gods!"

"Don't worry, Dad, I won't do anything you wouldn't." She hugged him and stepped back. Three of them flickered out and were gone. She met the Auld Wulf's eyes.

"When you get tired of Cadent, there are some ruins across the Cific you might like to explore. And some temples of Gods that we haven't figured out how to open. Call me, when you're ready to come home, or
go to Asia." Then he scooped her off the floor and kissed her. Thoroughly. Hungrily.

He set her down with an exhaled breath somewhere between ecstasy and guilt
and disappeared.

Thunder
sighed. "Why doesn't anyone kiss me like that?"

Lightening
sighed. "Can you invite him back for the Annual Orgy?"

Rustle sighed. "He's the God of War. It just wouldn't be r
ight."

1373
Late Winter

Ash, traveling

Tromp looked in the mirror, and liked what she saw.

Clear high rounded forehead, dark wings of brows and lush dark eyelashes surrounded deep green eyes. Her cheek bones were breath-taking and her delicately pointed chin was the perfect complement for her pouty lips. She'd do a bit more work there after she'd left the village. Along with changing her hair color. A bit. She'd decided that just a few streaks of brown, for contrast, would be better than solid brunette.

She even had a proper escape plan.

In an hour she'd be on her way to Wallenton, with the spring wool clip and the winter projects everyone had finished. She'd had a good winter, herself. The Witches had shown her Triad how to find gems under ground, and how to bring them to the surface. An incredibly valuable skill.

But children . . .
Not that she regretted Azure and Beige, mind you, childbirth had been better than sex, and nursing had been good until her nipples toughened up. After that it had just been tedious, and the girls were taking more of her time and attention every day. It was time for her to be free of them.

Except they spent
almost all of their time focused on her. She was the most important and marvelous thing on the World to them. She was going to miss them horribly.

She was sure Zenith and Cost would take good care of them when sh
e mysteriously disappeared in Wallenton. She had retrieved her backpack with all the money hidden in the secret pockets. She'd tossed the notebooks to make room for her clothes and her own packet of garnets and diamonds. Now she carried it out to the wagons in front of the tavern, trying to make it look lighter than it was.

With a quick glance to see that no one was watching, she muscled it up on the second wagon and tucked it in under the seat. Weg, who was driving this trip raised an eyebrow.

"I won't need it until we're in town, so I figured I'd get it out of the way," she smiled at him, reducing him to the usual gawp-and-nod reaction. She was starting to get bored with it. She needed a big forceful man who'd get a bit rough. She hopped down from the wagon and went to fetch the babies' gear, and of course, the babies themselves. Babies? They were nearly two years old, how could it possibly have been so long?

She met up with Zenith and Cost on the way back, and they chattered happily as the wagons rolled out. The way Zenith was making eyes at Weg made Tromp wonder if she hadn't picked the young man out to father her second daughter.