Wine of the Gods 03: The Black Goats (34 page)

"So, really, you don't have anything to do with the governing of the country?"

"Not a thing. I
tried
to talk to them. The latest point in the negotiations was that my husband had to be capable of being regent for my little brother. Fair would be good. He understands how Verona runs. They think he's not old enough, hasn't got the backing of one faction or the other. I told them that was perfect, he could be a common meeting ground. They patted me on the head and sent me away. So I went. A lot further than they'd thought."

Never nodded. "Sounds like the only sensible thing to do." She walked out then, to meditate and communicate.

:: Really, Never, you've found a very odd group of traveling companions for someone who wanted to be alone for awhile. You should have taken Rustle along. It would have been educational. ::

Never snickered, then thought about fighting bandits while keeping track of an active toddler. She shuddered. In the distance, she could hear the men talking.

"You could at least try that wine, colic
kills
horses, you know!" Romeau's Sun Gold was a bit under the weather. Head hanging and occasionally turning to look at its sides.

Dydit was shrugging, "All right, but just a bit. It's rather strong."

:: I'm so glad she's home and safe with family. Honest, I'll mind all the kids and let you and Grandmother get in some major works as soon as I get home. ::

Her mother was amused, :: The school is working out very well that way. We'll rope you in for extra duty when you
finally
get back. ::

::
Yes Mum. Now I'll go deliver Lefty's orders and work on my own. Love you. ::

Sun Gold was already feeling much better, prancing about energetically, lethargy and pain gone. Dydit was over with his three mares. She and Lefty drifted over.

"Why are you giving
them
that wine?" she asked.

"Oh, I figured I'd breed better horses than Nil, just to show him up."

"Sun Gold's a gelding."

"Sun Gold
was
a gelding." He said. "Step aside, I believe he's dragging his Loyal Master and Companion through hard times and ooof! You have a hard elbow, Witch."

They stepped aside as Sun Gold introduced himself to the girls.

Lefty reached out and grabbed Romeau, "You're the God of Love. You shouldn't stand in the way of equine romance."

"Oh Cruel Fate!

The finest horse

That 'ere set hoof to World

A hasty decision,

An awkward yearling cut.

Oh the loss to the equine race!"

"Romeau, Wizards have been growing their nads back since thousands of years ago. That wine of Gisele's would grow nads on a fish." Dydit told him.

Romeau frowned, and walked over to where Sun Gold was done with the sweet talk and getting down to business. He straightened back up. "I want to meet this Gisele person."

Never and Dydi
t swapped glances. "That's a scary thought."

"Scarier than the Goat of Love, armed with an aphrodisiac so strong it can start wars and religions?" Lefty asked.

"I'm, I'm. I didn't. Well, I mean, I did, but. Umm, it's the Sheep Man's fault for bringing that wine along."

"I'm shocked, really. You
looked
at the Empress." Never snickered. "
Six
virgins? That was a lot of spells broken, no?"

"Yes. Not any
useful
ones, mind you."

"So, umm," Never looked sideways at him, "How many children do you have, anyway?"

He didn't dignify that with an answer. Mainly because he hadn't a clue. Every female Ba'alists he'd encountered over the last three years, the orgy, Old Gods! The Bully in Scoone! The other two women in Scoone, and the orgy in that border town . . . it could easily be forty, now that he thought about it. Or more. He was a bit hazy on numbers during the orgy in Cadence.

When the Lord and Lady begged a drink, he gave them a
very
tiny amount. They still got a late start the next morning, and Romeau drove their wagon, while they slipped into the back. Sun Gold was kept busy, herding his harem up close behind the wagons, and satisfying the mares.  Over and over. They stopped early, out of sheer pity for the exhausted animal.

Never's examinations were interesting.

The lava strips narrowed, and some of them disappeared into fault zones, and merged with others. The depth to the zone of hot soft rocks got deeper.

"I have a nasty suspicion that I'm going to have to get a very, very early start and trace the faults and lava strips north and see what happens. The World is a sphere. Do the faults spread and then converge again?"

"Like the lines on a melon?" Dydit could see what she meant, but there was a bit of a problem . . . "I don't think you can go far enough north to go halfway around the World."

"Hmm. OK, I can see that there would be a problem. But could I go far enough to map the faults out on a globe?"

They followed the faults through the badlands that ran from north of the Southern Divide, to the Great Divide, and on the south side found the first sight of other people they'd had in over a month.

Juit was more of a large village than a small town, but big enough to sell the extra mounts. Dydit kept his mares. The prancing golden stallion attracted rather a lot of attention. He left behind some happy mares and hopeful mare owners, somewhat lighter in the pocket.

"Sun Gold did all the work, he should reap the rewards." The new saddle blanket was a dazzling white, and a gold trinket decorated the bridle.

Without all the extra equine mouths to feed, they continued Never's survey of the faults.

***

"Excuse me, miss?"

Never looked over at the man who'd spoken, and completely missed the man behind her. The whiff of the drug on the cloth, and she reached to pull the energy from his body . . .

She woke up bound, gagged, and in a wagon. Moving fast.

"Awake, are you, Princess?"

Never blinked woozily at the man, then tried to look around. Had they gotten the Princess, too? She reached for the power, but she was too far off the Earth to feel it. She had a feeling she really needed a shield.

"Now, if you'll be good, I'll undo the gag. Are you going to scream?"

She shook her head.
They think I'm the Princess?
She eyed the man's collection of knives, showing briefly under his vest and at his belt.
I think I'll be a Princess for awhile
.

Veronian, a Veronian Princess. The gag came off. "How, how dare you." she made it sound nic
e and weak. With Lalli's accent. He chuckled.

"Now, Princess, in another two hours we'll be meeting some people. You are going to marry one of them."

She shook her head. "I'm already married."

"Not by either Veronian or Auralian laws. But you know that, don't you?"

She widened her eyes and tried to look desperate. The effort made her eyes water. All to the good.

Sooner or later the
y'd have to leave the wagon, put her down on the Earth. They'd regret it.

"Wakey, wakey, Princess Lalligah! That's better. Hello, beautiful! I'm your new fiancé, Solti Llano Lilian." The young man would have been handsome if his eyes had been just a bit further apart. He dabbed at the corner of his mouth with a frilly white handkerchief. "Blue eyes! Oh, I'm so glad! Don't you just get tired of everyone always having brown eyes?"

Solti Llano had brown eyes and arrogantly arched nose, a bit paler skinned than most Auralians.

"Let's see her in the green silks. Oh you're just going to love this!"

She couldn't pull power. Even upstairs she should be able to grab
some
power. A collection of men and women scurried about with clothing and she was stripped and redressed like a large doll.

"Oh, hmm, I'm not sure, with those blue eyes. . ." The Solti strutted around her. "No, that just doesn't work. Try the blue next."

The people scurried and she was handed a cup of tea. Assuming they wouldn't actually strip her with a cup of tea in her hands, she sipped it slowly as the minions returned with the blue silks. Like the greens she was wearing, it consisted of pantaloons, a filmy blouse and an embroidered tunic. Interesting, the Solti didn't seem to be dressing her in revealing outfits, and while the colors were gorgeous, the tunic concealed, rather than emphasized the female chest. Hmm. She watched his eyes. Yes, he was watching his male servants, not the female.

"
No. Perhaps the orange, or maybe the heliotrope, what do you think Princess?"

Princess was feeling extremely unwell.

"I want to see them, put them on her and him, and let me see." Oh yeah. Llano's eyes lit at the thought of the young man in those silk outfits.

"And you must try on this gold ensemble, yourself." He said.

The tea cup was whipped out of her hands before she could snatch, and the clothes started flying. No problem, the Solti had eyes only for his, eww, eunuch servant. Who looked stunning in a peacock embroidery over bright blue and iridescent black silk.

The Solti made them all parade around, but his eyes spent most of their time elsewhere. Finally noticed her weaving. "Are you drunk?"

"I feel horribly ill. That nasty stuff I breathed doesn't seem to have agreed with me."

"Well, no matter. The wedding is in five hours so there shouldn't be any need for you to be knocked out again." He waved an airy hand. "Feed her, let her nap, then we'll try on the wedding outfit." He took the arm of the P
eacock clad servant. Poor sod. The rest of the people scampered around again, and a platter of sandwiches and a glass of chilled fruit juice appeared.

Never nibbled, but just felt worse. Finally she curled up and tried a basic meditation that took her down to sleep.

The screams and curses woke her.

She fought the lethargy of her limbs, it was so hard . . . she rolled over, and got one foot off the bed, and slithered down to the floor. She crawled for the door.  Looked around. Stairs down. Down was good. Even with crashes and screams. She vaguely wondered what the fuss was. And slipped. She did manage to get her hands out in front of her so she didn't land on her head. There was blood everywhere, but the screaming had stopped, so that was good.

And the goat. That was good. No it wasn't. Yes it was. It was shoving at her, trying to get her to stand up.

She couldn't make up her mind. "Are you a good goat or a bad goat?"

"Maaah!"

"Sorry, I don't speak goat."

It was a really nasty goat, probably one of the ones that raped the soldiers. It certainly had a big pizzle like those goat. It butted at her hand, and she grabbed the base of a horn. Carefully. There seemed to be a sharp cutting edge to the horn. It lifted i
ts—his—definitely a buck—head and half pulled her to her feet. She staggered to a wall and used it to prop herself up.

The goat reared up, tall enough to put a front hoof on either side of her head and lick her face. Its nasty red pizzle pressed against the front of her body as it leaned closer, and nibbled her jaw line, working downward. She could
feel the pizzle between them. Throbbing.

She had a brief moment of coherence. "Dydit, it you don't get your, your, thing away from me, something awful is going to happen to you. And I will eat it. It can't possibly poison me worse than I am already."

"Maaah!"

"I don't think they meant to poison me. I think it must be something witches aren't supposed to have. I need to get out onto the dirt. Or rock. Or something." The lucidity started fading.

"All right, then let's get you outside." Dydit pulled her arm across his shoulder, and wrapped his arm around her waist. He was quite strong. Tall. His bulk was all muscle.

He was as naked as the goat, of course. And his pizzle seemed to be normal, she was glad to note, as he half carried her out the front door, and down a flight of marble steps. Power. It was right
there
.  She couldn't touch it. Grass under her feet. Bare dirt. Couldn't touch it. "I can't quite seem to, to . . . "

"I'll get help."

"Or that wine."

She could feel the man's body tense at the suggestion.

"Stay here, stay hidden, in case anyone comes." He laid her down on the ground.

Bare dirt, and she could, couldn't. She blinked up at the goat, it stared at her with its demonic honey gold eyes. "Wine," she told him. He turned and ran away.

She laid there for a long time, sometimes watching the world jerk around in circles, and sometimes there were two worlds. And then it got all dark and she couldn't decide if she was blind or if it was night. The Moon rose, settling that question. And then there was a Black Goat in the Black Night, and it had a bottle of wine. Half a bottle, and it had brought a naked man along to open it and force it down her throat.