Wine of the Gods 26: Embassy (31 page)

Xen watched Rael gallop on Tat. Circle and trot back toward them.

Deena snorted. "She's never fought from horseback. But at least she can ride."

"And Tat's got the basic shields." He knew he wasn't keeping the worry out of his voice.

:: Ha! Now you know how I feel! :: Pyrite snorted.

"Well you can't fight inside a house, Horsie."

:: Can too. ::

Rael's head jerked around and her eyes widened.

Pyrite turned his head to look at her. :: You're strong enough to hear me. No wonder He likes you. ::

"Umm . . . " Rael slid off Tat, swapped a glance between the horses. "Can Tat talk too?"

:: No. Talk out loud, she understands a lot. ::

Deena rolled her eyes. "I still think Xen's fooling us."

Pyrite snorted.

"Tat knows shields, as well. You can probably leave the physical shield to her and just worry about mental and energy yourself."

Pyrite tossed his head suddenly. :: No. I will carry her. Tat can get you down the hill just as easily as I can. ::

Xen opened his mouth . . . shut it. "That's actually a good idea."

Rael eyed Pyrite. "You're that much better than she is?"

:: Yes. You do not sword fight? Just magic from horseback? ::

:: Lasers, guns, and hand-to-hand, as needed. ::

Pyrite nodded. :: Much more fun than waiting outside while He does all the fighting. ::

Ajha eyed the three Action Teams. Each one an experienced Compass. The three compasses had never worked together, mentally, and there simply wasn't enough time to train them in making a Grand Compass.
Shouldn't be needed, anyway.
"Right. Here's the ground we'll be fighting on. I'll be on this hill to the north, eight hours before we hit them. As soon as you come through, I'll give you the update on enemy positions . . . "

A sniff from Iqgu, youngest of the Team Leaders. "Asleep in bed."

"Or around the swimming pool. Which would be better than a fight through the house, in my opinion." Ajha ignored the curled lips. "You guys are used to dealing with physical resistance, rioters with no power. This gang is dangerous in a whole new way. Not just magic—you'd better expect spells you've never dreamed of."

Superior smirks.

"Don't worry, Closey, we'll do the heavy lifting."

I can only hope the learning experience isn't fatal.

Easterly eyed his small troop.
Six of us, plus this Princess of Xen's.
"Fuchsia. I want you on the south ridge. Watch them all afternoon, see who is where, who's home and who's not. The FBI recordings make it clear that the women sleep in the north wing, the men in the south.

"So were still on the original plan. Xen goes through the gate first and throws two corridors. Xen goes in the back of the house. We go to the front corner of the house to catch any of them that come out the front. Yellow, you have to go first, to open and pin that end of the corridor. I'll be right on your heels."

He eyed Rael.

A corner of her mouth turned up. "Rior wasn't spotted in any of the back bedrooms, so I'll take the front and see if I can find her. Him. Whatever."

He nodded, leaned back and eyed the Oners. "Your Teams will probably follow Xen, but depending on what you observer says, you also have the option of the corridor to the front. Your choice."

The oldest of the trio showed his teeth. "If the alarm hasn't been raised, we'll sneak in and start throwing sleep spells. Best that way, however much I'd love to fight some Fallen magicians."

Q looked over the FBI "SWAT" team.
Innocent lambs to the slaughter.
Their usual gear was now backed up with magical charms.
I could find a hole in their protection with four spells. But they're the world the Hors raided, so they have a right to . . . get swatted. I just hope the charms break on a non-fatal spell.

She'd scooped up a building they wanted and brought it though to an unclaimed section south of the hospital.
They can turn it over to the diplomats later. Now, it's staging for three gates.

Her network of gates included a gate from Embassy to the FBI's world, and a gate to Comet Fall close to the Hors' gate to their world.
Garit will go through that gate, the FBI through the one I'm about to open.

The observers have been in place for two hours. They ought to have a good idea of where everyone is.

She looked at the leader, anonymous behind black armor helmet and visor. "I'll open the gate to the target now, and get ready to start taking theirs down."

Nod. "We're ready. If everything is quiet over there, we'll stand down a bit and wait until it's time."

Mag was delighted to get away from the witches for a few days. Even if it did mean carrying things for Fidel-the-Magnificent who thought he was too fine to carry boxes.

He did have a nice place in the British Empire World, though. A small horse farm, but Mag rather thought he should buy books there, not tote them in from his room at the mansion. Ajay took the last boxes by himself, while Mag decided to scout around and see if he could find out what the witches were up to. He had a few tricks he wanted to try. From up on the hill he should be able to see through the back windows . . .

Ha! And here was a witch being really sneaky, doing a bit of spying herself, not that there was anything to see this evening. The lit rooms showed the children in the dining room and most of the men up in the library. From up here on the hill she had a good line of sight into the library. Ha! Spying on the Almighty Rior? He squinted against the low afternoon sun, he could barely make her out in mottled brown and green clothes, but the dark hair . . .

Gauntlet, Betelgeuse . . . or had he found Jade herself in such a vulnerable spot?

Mag reached down as far as he could, picturing the frequencies like Rior always drilled them on. At the very bottom of his mental range he tossed the sleepy/dazed/dreaming-about-sex spell he'd copied off Tyrone. Ha! Slipped it right under her shields. He crawled under the brush with her and tossed an orgasm spell, reinforced the dazed spell. The baggy clothes suited her luscious body poorly, as she writhed face down on the ground in magical ecstasy. Grinning he pulled her pants down, pulled her up to her knees and took her like the bitch she was. And held the dazed and orgasm spells hard on her. Oh yeah, she was clenching like mad.

How can I control her the way she controlled me? This is the time to screw her mentally.
He pictured cramming compliance into her brain with every thrust, and jacked harder. Came, and felt something, getting into her brain.
Good little girl! Happy little girl! You just love to fuck me, little girl! Yeah, only Mag can give you deep screaming orgasms like this!

She took a deep breath, and he crammed her face down into the old leaves to muffle a scream.

He giggled. "Take that, you bitch!"

Oh, God of the Sea! I'm going to have to run, now, but it's worth it!

He pulled out and rolled her over to take her from the front, and only then realized he'd found a complete stranger. He cursed in annoyance, then laughed again.
She feels like a witch, so she must be one of those "Magic Central" people. I'm screwing the King's Own.
He pulled out the potions he'd wanted to try on a few witches. He gave her a swallow of all three, took a pull on his hip flask to keep up with her, then rode her good and hard. With a hand over her mouth to stifle the cries of ecstasy.

Spy on them, eh?

Can't let her go.

He wondered what it would feel like, to kill this woman while he fucked her. Maybe he could completely drain her . . . he couldn't hold it any longer and came, sending her power.
Cutting her throat would be simpler.

It slowly percolated through his brain that perhaps there were more spies, and they were about to be raided. He flopped down on the woman and peered out at the mansion. Who was in the library . . . ::Franc. Get up and walk into the hallway where there are no windows. Get Rior to come with you.::

:: What, you got one of the tight asses to open her legs? :: Franc sounded pissed.

:: She's a spy. We need to get ready for a fight. But we have to do it where no one will see us doing it through the windows. ::

Rior came in directly then, cold and businesslike. :: Don't kill the spy, that's very detectable. Use that sleep spell, very very hard. Then . . . let's assume they're from Comet Fall, so they'll have their gods along with them. We'd better evacuate the children, just in case. Avoid the uphill gates, they must have found one long enough ago to set this up. We'll leave through the new downhill ones, if we can't win. ::

Mag could nearly feel Franc sweating, through the mental link.

He gnawed his lip. :: We need to fight them enough to slow them down. ::

Rior agreed, reluctantly. He was doing something in the background, giving orders . . . right, getting the youngest witches to collect the babies and run for the Calgary gate.

:: Mag. Find a place near the road down from the old gates, set a trap for troopers. They like to charge in. Trip the horses, stun the riders use your imagination. I'll start the women moving out the front door to the new gates. Franc, slide casually out the front door, and set up between there and the new gates. ::

Mag was surprised the cold bastard cared about the women—but then he needed them for the gates, didn't he? But the women cutting and running immediately . . . Yeah. Rior was right. The witches would all be worried about their precious babies. And those few seconds in the prison world, that pair on the black horses, the spells coming in big interconnected nets. If Falchion hadn't gotten the gate open right then . . . They could find another place, build a bigger mansion.

He wrapped his 'I love babies' spell around the spy, jacked a few times to pick up extra power, gave her a farewell series of orgasms, then sleep, sleep, sleep. With a snicker, he pulled off his shirt and wiped her crotch, pulled up her pants and fastened them. Guard, asleep on duty having naughty dreams. Nothing real happened. Surprise in nine months, assuming she survived the night.

He worked his way downhill to the road, and settled down in the brush. Ambush troops? He sure as shit wasn't going to leap out at them with a sword. Maybe a magical version of the old rope trick that was in all the stories about knights and cavalry. They'd be charging into the setting sun, limited visibility . . . . There was a dip in the road, where rainwater had cut across. He built up an illusion, covered the little channel with an illusion of flat dirt road. That would hold for hours. Then he shifted closer to the mansion. A good hard stun spell. If it didn't take out the riders, it'd get their horses. And a physical shield. A foot high, grounded and stretched in an arc to cover the road, and as it flattened, across the grass to the pool as well. Yeah. It'd be tough, but damned fun. He'd have to wait until the last moment for those two. If anyone came.

Rior may be paranoid. Maybe that woman just found us, and hasn't reported back.
He grinned.
I could keep her.

Franc sauntered casually across to the pasture and opened the gate. Left it open so the women wouldn't have to climb the fence or slow to open it. Casual stroll across the pasture, stop and pat a couple of horses. With his nerves screaming. The horses picked up on it, and galloped off. Then down to the lower pasture gate. Lean on it, as if he were admiring the sunset. Open the gate and stroll off toward the beach. How many Western magic users were on the way? If there weren't any gods. . . He set himself up on the south to cover the approach to the Calgary gate. The other two were new and barely explored. If he had to run for it, it was Calgary for him.

Uphill, the front door opened and the witches walked out. Ran out. Apparently they'd decided on speed over further dissimilation.

Garit looked up as Q stepped through the gate.

"They're running. They spotted something."

Garit jabbed a finger at Nighthawk. "Back to Disco. Tell the FBI to go now. Dagger. Same to Easterly." Garit turned to the troops. "Let's hit them hard before they make a Compass." Check cinch. Mount. Through the gate and two strides across to the corridor as Q was stepped back from it.

Acrobat leaped through and raced down the road, the troop at his heels.

Mag was shocked out of his daydreams about heading back up the hill to check on the spy by the horses leaping out of thin air.
A corridor!
He pulled power and threw a broad, hard stun spell. Two horses staggered, clogging up the charge but failing to produce his imagined pileup.

The shield spell he'd planned . . . he was jerked out of concealment and rolled . . .
damn it, I didn't have time to anchor it.
He'd already released it, but as he staggered to his feet, he could see three horses down, and others limping, riderless.

He threw himself flat and rolled away from the trooper who'd spotted him, swung at him, and dived between trees, threw fireballs, stun, sleep, orgasm . . . Horses squealed and threw their heads.
Ha! Didn't expect that, did you?
Mag wound between trees, heading for the coast and the gates. An officer yelled orders, and the troops got their startled horses back into line.

Mag left them to it.