Wine of the Gods 05: Spy Wars (12 page)

Peace's voice rang clear. "That brings back old memories, Wolf. I'm surprised you'd wear it though. You lost that right when they court-marshaled you, when they realized you were a monster like the rest of us." He stepped back from the cliff edge and out of sight. The Oners glanced toward the retreating Auralian knights and backed away reluctantly. They were arguing quietly as they rode away from the invisible Oscar and Bran.

Down in the broad canyon, the Auld Wulf turned and surveyed the battlefield. Rufi had a lot of men down, but there'd been more wounded than killed outright. Most fighters were not as deadly as the God of War. He handed something to Rufi.

Oscar felt the ebbing of the torrent of magic that had brought the God of War to the Battlefield. And suddenly the God was gone.

"He has got to teach us how to jump around like that." Bran sighed and looked around for the retreating Auralians. "I suppose we ought to go hear the Amma's reaction."

"Should be interesting. Pity we can’t steal some horses and supplies and beat this lot to Fascia. I'm tired of cooking." Oscar looked wistfully back at General Rufi, but the General had a bottle of that wine, and the Auld Wulf knew where to find him. There was no point in scrambling down the canyon to speak to him.

***

Ajha was still shaken, when the Info Team finally had the privacy to talk. "Pax is still opaque. But that fellow that popped out of nowhere . . . I've never heard of battle magic being used like that."

"The widespread magic field, that was like being in Mekkah. Swimming in magical potential." Idlo paced. "I had no sense of something similar to the One though. It was like a million people focusing on the area, all at once, but no connection between any of them."

Wink nodded. "And that . . . God of War . . . He held multiple shields, dealt easily with Edmo's probe."

Egto looked bothered. "It looked as if he was teleporting around the battle field."

Wink shook his head. "Not possible. You've been watching too many weird shows."

"Have not. And I really miss them."

"And then Pax backed off and ended the confrontation before we tested it any further." Ajha chewed a knuckle. "He didn't want us to find out too much."

Egto brightened. "He didn't want us to know we were stronger than that War person. He didn't want us to work out the easiest way to defeat one of them."

Ajha bit his lip. "Was that why? Or is Pax a coward, when it comes to blood, gore and actually risking his life?"

Idre stopped and faced him. "That's an interesting possibility. Something we need to watch for, because a weakness like that is very exploitable." He huffed out a breath. "And now we need to hustle back to Fascia for the wedding. The treaty negotiations ought to go fast, after that."

Ajha nodded.
And maybe we can figure out how that God of War seemed to pop out of nowhere.

14 Shaban 1363 / midsummer 1361 Local

Empire of the One

They reported back to the Priest once the wedding was over, and the Princess had daily contact with the Amma. And a good bit of control over him. Some the old fashioned kind, but touches of magical influence as well. Princesses of the One were trained to have a light touch, so no one would detect changes in the man's behavior. And in this rare case, so even the magically talented could not detect her manipulations.

Treaty terms were quickly agreed upon. The Amma
had been impressed by the demonstration the first trained troops had put on, and was eager to get his hands on enough modern weaponry to arm his entire army.

After the Ambassador reported on the diplomatic advances, the Info team reported. Briefly, as the Priest already had their detailed written reports in hand.

"In the six months we've been here, we've analyzed Auralia in depth. We have found a tiny background of low level magical power being used, But no sign of an organization that trains or even identifies people of ability. Apparently the few spells we saw used were handed down from mother to daughter like an heirloom. There was no theory being taught. So despite near universal belief in magic, we have not found anyone similar to Paxal Gold, other than our single distant glimpse of the purported 'God of War.' "

"The
native mythos is that there were thirteen Gods. Gold claims to be the God of Peace, and when questioned has said that a few of his fellow gods are still around, and that they avoid him. He says they are violent and over-emotional." Ajha paused for breath, not to actually look at his note pad.

"We've certainly found it true of him, and the battle we observed, the so-called God of War was absolutely deadly. Of course he was fighting against other mounted swordsmen, not dealing with modern weaponry. Unfortunately we were not close enough, long enough, to pickup details of his magic usage. We need to keep studying Paxal Gold, and possibly track down some of the other so-called gods."

Idre took over. "Looking at the other polities there, the four other nations are an interesting spread of governmental types. Two kingdoms, one with a ruling nobility, one with a partially elected Council. One is a full blown democracy. And a trading empire with the governmental power based on ship ownership that ossified sometime in the last few hundred years into a de facto aristocracy." Idre sniffed disparagingly. "Scoone, the democracy, has outlawed all magic. The Kingdom of the West is the home of the worship of Ba'al. Post Head Usse reports that magic in association with the Church is rare but present. We propose to quickly check Verona, so the military will have some idea of any magical defense, then we'll move to the Kingdom of the West for an in-depth study of the Church of Ba'al. We can, at the same time, check for infiltration from Earth into either of those two polities."

One Ygti nodded. "A very succinct report, Information Team. I approve of your plan to check those two polities. I will be moving across to the Target next year, and will undertake to study this God of Peace myself."

The Priest turned away from them. "Ambassador, the One has approved the agreement you have negotiated. The cadre of officers to train the Auralians in modern weapons and warfare will begin arriving inside a week. By the time they have the army up to speed we should know how much of a threat the Kingdom and these other gods are, and perhaps the Action Teams can deal with these native magicians before we begin our move to unite the world. I would prefer to put off a confrontation until we are a bit more comfortable in our relationship with the Amma, and deeper into the penetration of the Amma's bureaucracy."

The Priest tapped a new page, and frowned. "The matter of the poor discipline show
n by the Action Leader and her aide . . . Action Leader Kael has an excellent record, and retesting confirms that she has the complete double set of the Prophet's genes. Pregnancies, while rare, are not unheard of, and are usually a sign of ill health or long term use of some medications. So since her sexual activities were kept out of her own team, I think this will be treated as a medical matter."

Idre and Egto had frozen in place. No glances were sent their direction.
Kael must have declined to name her lover.

The meeting broke up then, and the Information Team found themselves with t
en days off before the next gate opening. Idre and Egto exchanged terrified stares. And then glares as Wink started grinning.

"Don't say a thing. Not a thing." Idre growled.

Wink bit his knuckles, and almost got control of his expression.

Egto looked around
, a bit obviously. "Well, I think I'll pop home, see you in ten days."

They split up immediately.

Ajha called home, left a message with his mother's housekeeper program that he would arrive the next day, then booked an over-night ticket and went shopping. Showing up in foreign clothing wouldn't do. As it was he barely had time to make the suborbital. He changed clothing in flight, hogging the facilities long enough for a sparing sponge bath. He was tempted to get his hair cut between airport and home. But the style in Auralia was long.

Black Point Holding was two hundred kilometers north of the port, a brief stop for the train that served the coast. The thirty-five prophets had, by and large, had many wives. Actually some variations of the Book claimed that ten of the thirty-five Prophets were women, but whatever the truth, their descendants now numbered nearly
a billion, loosely organized into over three thousand clans. Black Point holding was one of the smaller clans, having married internally rather more than was probably wise. But they'd produced a large number of very powerful Withiones and Neartuones, high up in government. His own father . . . well, no chance he'd be here.

Ajha headed uphill, through what amounted to a small town. Grocery store, run by Servaones that everyone pretended weren't relatives, medic center, a few art galleries, the hardware store, run by a cranky old Withione, bookstore, tack shop run by a retired world class rider, and on up into the residences. There were probably two thousand of the family that lived here full time, double that number who, like him, had a room stuffed with their possessions in some relative's home, and where they were, in theory, welcome to sleep when they were in town. The rest rented rooms at the hotels, camped or begged for crash space if they came to a family convention. Family . . .

He felt the clumsy spell and diverted it as he turned off the main street uphill.
Welcome home, Ajha!

"Hey look, Aaaajha! The
family disgrace is
close
to home."

"Ewmo! Dear Cousin! Haven't you found a job yet? Yucky, Orc, still here?"
No one else wants you idiots either?
Ajha managed to not say it out loud.

The spells
they tossed his direction seemed a lot weaker than he remembered. Age, experience and Directorate training, no doubt. Ewmo and his pals had just stagnated, here, while he'd learned to fight. "No? Still living off Granddada's pride in your test scores? I'd have thought he'd expect you to do something with all that potential." Ewmo was a high Withione, but compared to Idre or Wink? Flimsy. Ukky and Orqu were theoretically strong Neartuones. They were nothing compared to Egto.

"Beats being a Directorate slave. I thought you were stuck on a primitive World, trying to get through the dirt to dip your wick. Or is that long hair a sign you've gone the other way?"

It was enough to make one believe the people who said the non-prophet genes mattered too. He ignored his cousins of various degrees, and they failed to find the enthusiasm to chase after him.

His mother's house showed crisp, clean, straight lines, but was made of the local wood and blended into the mostly natural trees of her allotment. The door still opened to his thumbprint, and the house computer addressed him by name.

"The Mistress is out right now. She hopes to see you for dinner at sunset."

"I will be here." He walked down to his old room,
a buffer between the Mistress' territory and domicile of the occasional Servaone. One forbid any member of their family ever hire a Multitude. "Any live servants, right now?"

"No. Mistress dismissed the last one a month ago, and hasn't run out of clothing yet."

Ajha chuckled. "Home. Nothing else like it." Tucked out of the way, or not, he had a great view and a huge bathroom, and he was ready to soak for an hour until sunset. He managed to get seriously pruney before he got out and tried to find an acceptable hair style. He uneasily told himself his hair was not thinning on top, nor receding, and finally brushed it straight back. His old clothes were a bit tight. He told himself it was muscle and went in search of his mother. He found her in the company of two aunts, two uncles and his maternal grandfather. He split the difference between his first impulse to hug her, and her formally offered hand, by broadcasting delight and a deliberate leak of :: She looks so young! :: as he took her hand in both of his.

"Mother, Kiaj Withione, I am honored to see you again. Aunt Zoum, Aunt Tuyq, Uncle Afla, Uncle Elwy." He clicked his heels properly and bowed. "Ahvi who is With the One. I greet you, Grandfather."

"Ajha. And I am pleased to greet you. You have gone far for your class, shaming me in my treatment of you. You are getting good reports from some interesting sources."

Plenty of praise, but still that reference to his classification. He smiled smoothly. "Thank you Grandfather. You
have always inspired me to make my own way in the World, and that has aided me in maximizing my actual performance. Perhaps you should try that method on some of my cousins."

Uncle Elwy snorted. "Ewmo said he'd seen you, and you were pretty high nosed."

"I was surprised to see Ewmo here. I'd have thought he'd be pursuing advanced studies, or perhaps already in business or government."

"Ewmo graduated last year." Aunt Zoum stiffened. "He's looking for the right position."

"And I'm sure he'll find it soon. Elections are coming up, so I'm sure lots of opportunities are unfolding. I'm afraid I haven't been in a position to follow politics. I picked up the names from the news on the way here, but half of them meant nothing to me. Who do you favor?"

His mother looked grateful for the change to a merely inflammable subject and they all brought him up to date over dinner. Over-salted, over-cooked, over-decorated and skimpy. No wonder his clothes didn't fit, the way he'd been eating for the last year and a half.

His new found ability to shrug off all the tricks and traps of his cousins cheered him immensely over the next few days, and he was very nearly sorry to leave. And no matter what his girl cousins said, his hair was
not
receding.

***

The Info Team was ignored as the commander talked with the ambassador.

"We'll keep all the basic training down in Discordia for now. We'll hustle the Amma's picked guard through first, and return them to Fascia. Then as the regulars adapt, we'll assign them to Fascia too. Start building them up for the strike at Verona. That should go quickly enough. Then, when the rumors have reached the other nations, we'll see if they'll join voluntarily." The officer shrugged. He glowed with unmistakable Withione power. "If they won't join voluntarily, we'll take them by force."

The ambassador nodded. "I've got people in all the bureaus, now, and we're talking about banking practices. The Amma's a bit resistant to changing his taxing procedures, that'll take more work. The other nations are actually better organized and have a higher GDP with lower taxes. And less corruption."

"Vexing." The officer nodded. "But it makes Auralia easier for us to manipulate as we slide people in while we modernize their fiscal policies."

"True." The ambassador shrugged. "Not that any of these countries are exactly well run, by our standards. The gold rush in the Kingdom of the West is likely to be a problem."

"That's why it'll probably be the last one we incorporate. We'll make sure there aren't any alliances they can buy, no matter how much gold they have. As we take the other countries, we'll be sure to seal the borders, so soldiers can't slip away to the kingdom."

The ambassador nodded. "Although given the rampant jealousies, taking it first would do as well. No one would rescue them."

The train eased into motion. The gates did not handle long vehicles well, but with sufficiently thin and flexible links, they could get a lot of material through in a short time span. The power to open and hold open a cross-dimensional gate was large, and expensive. Ajha looked out to watch the complex stream by the window. Then they plunged through the bright flash of the gate and spiraled up to ground level at the back of the compound, turning as gravity and friction slowed the train without stressing the linkage, and finally stopped it.

Now that the rail was finished, the construction of the main building could get underway. It would be nice to be out of the hotel. Especially nice to not have to watch the Action Team's out of control behavior. He made himself useful as a guide for the financial experts the Ambassador had brought along. With the treaty signed, they would start moving into positions of future power—assistants to the Amma's minister of finance.