Comet Fall (Wine of the Gods) (46 page)

She looked desperately at the laughing boy. "The
screams would go away if I went through a gate, wouldn't they? But I don't have a gate, they're so far away." A statue of a wagon and a team of horses. "Too slow." A saddled and bridled horse. "Are you fast, horse?" The statue seemed to think it was, so she peeled off the covering to find the real horse underneath and mounted. "Take me to a gate. Fast." Then all she could do was cling. And hope the horse knew where to go.

Half a world away, fires raged and people died. She couldn't keep the pain out, and reeled in the saddle. The horse shifted to keep her weight centered and kept moving.

She endured.

The horse staggered a bit, grunted as he tackled a hill. There was a glowing spot up there . . .

The horse leaped into the glow.

The screams chopped off, the pain faded.

Silence. Blessed silence.

She slid off the horse and collapsed onto winter killed grass.

"I'm sorry. I tried to save you."

S
he vaguely wondered if she could ever go back . . . to wherever that was. Then she let sleep take her.

1376 Spring Equinox

Mount Frost

Sixty-six strong, the Pyramid of Mount Frost surrounded the final spire. It was chilly, so much earlier than their usual pilgrimage. Three months since the Comet had, mostly, been diverted.

Answer climbed to the pinnacle. "Sisters of the Mount Frost Pyramid. It is time to chose."

Furious and Curious climbed up beside her.

Delight walked around the spire, and stood beneath the place she had occupied so long.
"Sisters of the Ash World Pyramid, come here."

"Sisters of the Rip Crossing Pyramid. Come here." Verse walked to the north side of the spire.

"Sisters of the Karista Bay Pyramid. Come here." Trump walked to the last side.

The rest of the witches stirred into movement, children carried or clinging.

Whoop and Ask joined Verse, and then Xanthic, Ultra and Iron came as a united triad.

Most of the witches chose to stay in
Ash or to move across the Ash gate to the World beyond.

Justice and Never stayed officially with the Mount Frost Pyramid, but everyone knew they'd be on the Prairie Coast
World with the Wizards, and their school.

Cost and Zenith joined Trump
, surrounded by their children, carrying babies.

"This is probably the last time we will meet
, all of us, together, but our hearts and souls will know each other. We must all travel regularly, to assure that our descendants know us all, every witch. We will always train our sisters from smaller pyramids, we must always trade knowledge."

And the single Triad of the Dark Crescent up on the top tier beg
an the song of greeting as the full moon rose above the mountains.

Founding witches of each family are in bold and underlined.

Italicized witches were all born in 1353, nine months after
that
party.

Fathers
, if known, are in square brackets.

Zero
(mother of Furious, Curious)

Curious 1294 year of birth, post Exile

Idea 1315

Opinion

Tromp

Verse
[Harry]

Furious [Coo] 1303

Likely

Exchange
[Firth]

Cost

Answer
(mother of Delight, Happy, Ultra)

Delight 1294

Kindly

Particular

Deal

Whoop
[Wolf]

Happy 1303 [Harry]

Never [Rufi]

Rustle
[Dydit]

       
Xenotine [Wolf]

Ask
[Wolf]

Leopardite  [Rufi]

Ultra
[Wolf]

Blissful
(Glorious, Elegant, Swish)

Elegant 1294

Justice [MonSant]

Question [The Sheep Man]

Jek [Lefty Lebonift]

Xanthic
[The Sheep Man]

Young
[The Sheep Man]

Bid

Glorious 1303 [Beck]

Mostly

Free
[Merc]

Zenith

Swish
[Harry]

Recent Joiners

Catti

Iron

Zamm

Jasper

I was born and raised in California, and have lived more than half my life, now, in Texas.

Wonderful place. I caught almost the first bachelor I met here, and we’re coming up on our thirty-third anniversary.

My degree's in Geology. After working for an oil company for almost ten years as a geophysicist, I “retired” to raise children. As they grew, I added oil painting, sculpting and throwing clay, breeding horses, volunteering in libraries and for the Boy Scouts, and treasurer for a friend’s political campaign. Sometime in those busy years, I turned a love of science fiction into a part time job reading slush, unsolicited manuscripts, for Baen Books (Mom? Someone is
paying
you to read??!!)

I've always written, published a few short stories. But
now that the kids have flown the nest, I'm calling writing a full time job.

Wine of the Gods Series:

Outcasts and Gods

Exiles and Gods

The Black Goats

Explorers

Spy Wars

Comet Fall

A Taste of Wine

Dark Lady
(coming February 2013)

Growing Up Magic (coming May 2013)

Short Stories:

Fancy Farmer

Lawyers of Mars

Lost Boy

Mall Santa

From Dark Lady

Roger trotted up and stopped his horse across her path.

"Where did that horse come from?" In the dim light he was peering closely at Phantom.

"He belongs to my employer, Lady December."

"I know that, but where did she get him?"

The Pri
nce . . .
Captain
Alpha walked his horse up to them. "She said she bred him herself, off in this mystery kingdom."

Liz turned to the c
aptain. "She just rode him into the stable yard, umm, a week ago. I was talking to the tavernmaster about a job, and she hired me on the spot, needing all sorts of help."

"What's she living on?" Roger turned his horse so she could move again.

"She opened an account at the Exchange, which is probably more than I should say about my own employer."

Captain Alpha pushed his horse forward. "But what if she was a spy? Arbolian, perhaps?"

Liz felt suddenly ill. "Well, I'd most likely suggest you get a proper warrant and ask at the Gold Exchange about the coinage she sold."

"Oh really?" Roger purred. "Gold coins?"

"There are so many things that are strange about her. Cotton, for instance. It's like she's never seen cotton before. And prams, and she asked about magic. I took her to Church yesterday, and she didn't know any of the responses." Liz huddled miserably in the saddle. "They worship other gods in Arbolia, don't they?"

The Prince patted her shoulder. His horse wasn't as tall as Phantom, but he was taller than she was. It put them eye to eye. "It may be nothing more than my over caution. But if she does anything . . . detrimental to the kingdom, do let me know." He smiled charmingly as they entered the stable yard. "And really, she probably had a country manor house attacked by bandits, and fled, traumatized, and I'm being all paranoid about spies."