Comet Fall (Wine of the Gods) (22 page)

The man who'd slapped Xen received the first fireball.
It hit with a burst of flame and he collapsed without a sound. Flames flickered and died down in his charred skull.

The man arguing
for
stealing boys got the second ball between the eyes.

Rustle collected another handful as the screams started and the swords came out. She missed the leader as he ducked, the tent behind flared, engulfed in flame. She threw two more and everyone was running away from her.

"Get the horses, get the horses!" a man yelled. Excellent idea.

Phantom squealed and men cursed.
Xen had been dropped and lay limp on the ground. Rustle laid a partial shield over him, and turned to the horse lines. The camp was bigger than she had realized, voices called from beyond the trees, the alarm was spreading. She threw another fireball at the man leading a string of horses away. At this distance it only scorched his hair. He dropped the rope and ran.

She called Phantom and
grabbed Xen. Phantom and Junk dragged the string of horses to her, and she untied them and released the rest. They were still saddled—their own saddles—and Rustle tightened the cinches.

"Mom?"

"Hi, Xen," Rustle looked around. "Oh, dear."

The God of Peace
walked across the camp, straight at them. She popped Xen on Phantom. Leapt to Junk's back and reached across for contact, and a location. The Temple in Cadent.

The horses' hooves clattered on the marble floor
of the kitchen. She ducked and steered Junk through the apartment and out into the Plaza. Orgy in progress.

"What are they doing Mom?"

"Being very silly and getting into lots of trouble." Xen had a tendency to slide, and Rustle stopped to tie the saddle strings around him. Better than nothing. Even Phantom had trouble not spooking as the dancers danced through the crowd, grabbed men here and there to have sex with on the spot. A clatter behind her, as of more hooves on marble. She urged Junk through the crowd, and Phantom followed on her heels.

"Can we play wrestle too?"

"No, this kind of wrestling is only for grownups." With a bit of ruthlessness they made progress. She glanced back and saw that Peace and his men were stalled. She hoped the God of Peace remembered his name . . .

The god was
attracting dancing virgins and a crowd of men after the virgins. Junk found some clear space and trotted forward eagerly and made it to an alley Rustle turned corners, moved as fast as she dared.

Sh
e pulled all her shields up and tight and circled half the city before she was sure she'd lost the God of Peace.

Xen
moaned, and then barfed all down Phantom's side.

Rustle reached for him and held him close.
And hurried home.

Farli and Marisha clucke
d over the state of the boy. Rustle checked his pupils anxiously and gave him a tiny sip of that wine, just in case. Faro gave her a lecture about taking a valuable stallion out for a fun ride.

"Faro, that's the good news. The bad news is that we are leaving in the morning. I'm sorry I can't stay longer, it has been a pleasure knowing you all. But if you have any more mares to breed, you have until sunrise."

In fact, Xen was so pale that she let him sleep, and the City gates had been open for two hours when they passed through. The horses were under illusions, her papers in order and they followed all the rest of the departing holidayers.

She just hoped that she
'd gotten control of any power flares and didn't stand out like a bonfire to an angry god's search. She let the illusions trickle away.

"This man woke me up and made me drink something nasty
." Xen looked upset. "I didn't mean to get kidnapped."

"
Kidnappers rarely stick to kidnapping only children who want to get stolen."

Xen scowled at her. "I won't laugh about it."

She leaned and hugged him. "I am very glad that I could hear you and get you back. I may be a little silly about it, for awhile. Silly, now, because I was so frightened then."

For three days they ambled n
orthward. She used no magic at all. In the first big town to the north she bought a few extra supplies, and special items. Chalk dust turned Phantom into a messy sort of gray. That and a return to their colorful Traveler's clothing was all the disguise they used as Rustle zig zagged through the countryside.

On t
he fourth day the Valasiks caught up with them. "It finally happened." Faro shrugged. "I bought a horse from the knackers, and healed it. And tried to sell it back to the man it had previously belonged to. A very important man, I regret to say."

"Well, it doesn't seem fair that you had to leave town!"

"Ah, once a Traveler, always a Traveler. We have more money than we ever dreamed of, and Mos and Seff have found wives."

"Really? Congratulations." Rustle
turned and looked at the second wagon. Thunder and Lightning poked their heads out and waved.

"We need to buy two new wagons, fix up them up
properly." Degan grinned. "Ah, I'd forgotten what it was like to be young and in love!"

The wagons they bought were serviceable, the two teams of horses utter wrecks. All mares, of course.

Rustle bought Thunder and Lightning clothes for a wedding present. Moss and Seff had thought the veils quite sufficient.

Rustle got the first itch of followers about the time they hit the
Old South Road.

"The Auralians may still be raiding the Road." Faro pointed out.
"I have no desire to follow it. We can lose your admirer in the New Lands."

"Umm, how about going back to where we met? I left a line of road markers all the way to
Gemstone."

Faro rolled his eyes. But turned to take a rough track that headed northward.
Black volcanic sand blew in from the New Lands, fault lines and the ruins of old cities marked the start of the lands once settled by man and surrendered during the Dark Ages.

"And no doubt your good friend the God of Roads will be looking there." The Traveler snickered. "It is a good route, though, to stay out of trouble." He pulled out a roll of paper. "T
his is a map of the wastes, or at least the edges. It will help us find water, there is good detail in the east and south. After that we may have difficulties."

"If they come too close, I can summon help.
Or get help with water."

The itch
woke her at midnight.

Faro eyed her, then rousted his brothers for a very early start.

They passed through a village at dawn, and then two more increasingly small villages. At noon, they filled their water barrels and skins at the last village and headed across a stretch of the wastes toward a more distant village marked on Faro's map.

T
hey took a break in the scant shade at noon, then pushed on until sunset. Phantom heaved a sigh of relief as she unsaddled him, and watered him and poured oats on the solid rock.

She slept until the itch flared again. Two hours past midnight, if the stars were to be believed. She fed and watered
all the horses. Started a tiny fire, and breakfast. The other's roused and joined her. They were underway well before dawn. Stiff from the ground, she started out leading Phantom to loosen them both for a long day's ride. The itch persisted, then worsened. She tightened the cinch and mounted as the dawn light showed enough detail for speed. Looking back she could see nothing.

When t
hey found the lava strip, they turned and headed straight north. They made good speed on the hard rock. Whoever was after her had better be on a fast horse, or he wasn't going to catch them.

She alternated walking and trotting, a relaxed lope occasionally
, up a hill to take a look back. Behind her there was movement at the limits of the horizon.

Faro
watered the horses, gave them half a feed of oats and walked the teams for an hour. "Mounted men cannot carry water, as we can. They will give up soon, and go raid elsewhere."

R
ustle remounted, and looked behind. Whoever was back there was catching up. Slowly. They stopped again at noon, for an hour's rest. Then Rustle saddled up Junk and let Phantom roam freely. They walked onward, not trotting in the heat.

Rustle noticed a familiar hill, veered a bit to get onto the trail of her plinths.

Degan, driving the lead wagon grinned. "So, you think you can call the God of the Roads, now?"

"I'm hoping that the people back there will change their minds about attacking us, without my actually having to disturb Harry. And . . . I think I'll call the God of War, first."

Degan laughed. "Oh, yet another god who is a personal friend?"

Rustle swallowed a grin and didn't mention Xen's parentage.

The road signs didn't slow pursuit.

They walked through the twilight, and the thin light of the crescent moon. They traded off the watch, got some sleep. The itch got no worse over night, and in the pre-dawn she fed and watered horses. They were running out of hay fast. They should be grazing the horses every night on the dry grasses of the ashstone ridges.

She wondered if the God of Peace could
travel water to and from other places, or if they had a true advantage over him.

Mid-day, t
he itch increased.

Faro brought out his glass and peered back. "They are galloping.
There are three of them. We can run as well. The hard ground will be rough on the horse's legs, but the wagons will travel well."

Rustle
dismounted. "I think it's time to ask for help." She raised her voice. "God of War!"

And a wave of magic poured over the desert like thick syrup. A breeze lifted dust into a whirlwind, into a rearing black horse, rider armored and helmeted, sword raised. The War Horse touched down.

"Who summons the . . . Rustle!" The deep voice brightened, and the horse swung in a quick circle to survey the situation.

The Auld Wulf lowered his sword arm, swept his helmet off with his other hand. He tossed her a grin, but his gaze returned to the distant riders.

"I'm afraid that Xen and I attracted the attention of the God of Peace. I think that's him following us."

"Indeed." He stared southward.

Rustle glanced at the Valasik's. They were staring at the god. Frozen in place. Xen wiggled past Marisa, but was snatched back. "Shh! Don't interrupt a god, it's not safe."

Xen wiggled indignantly.
"That's my Dad."

Wolf shot a grin his direction
, then looked back south. The three horses, slowed, stopped. They came together into a compact group and disappeared.
Traveled.

He cocked his head as if listening. "They're nowhere near, but Pax will be able to travel back to that point, should he want to continu
e pursuit. Don't dawdle here." He faded, the weight of magic poured away, and they were left standing in the perfectly ordinary desert.

"Well." Rustle cleared her throat. "Perhaps we ought to move on. We can make a longer stop, in a couple of hours."

Faro, who had been bringing up the rear, shook up his reins and drove around to her. Glanced at Xen. "Is he really . . . ?"

"Yes. I think that was why Pax pursued. He must have suddenly realized that Xen was a possible hold on an old enemy."

Faro nodded. "Well. Perhaps we ought to take the god's advice and move."

They
pushed for two days, cutting across two ashstone ridges in hopes of being slightly harder to find.

Then they
took their time, travelling northward. With no pursuers, there was no point in risking the horses, working them in the heat of the day. And they staked them out to graze most nights.