Wine of the Gods 26: Embassy (4 page)

Rior stayed away for three days, then returned and hunted down the men.

"Let's go down to the beach and I'll show you some male type magic. Don't let on to the witches that you're getting trained, until you're strong enough that they have to respect you, and not just kill you."

Because your mage gene is so similar to the One power gene that I'll bet all the exercises I learned for mine will work. Pity there aren't eight of you. The Compass exercises the men do are incredibly strong. We'll just have to try it with just four at a time.

Mag eyed him. "You talk about helping them get their friends out of jail. How about getting us out of this jail?"

"When you learn enough magic to get through the protections they have on their corridor, you can free yourselves—and never be captured by them again."

Mag growled. "We helped them make that corridor. We repaired our ship and sailed northwest, found Asia and a place with a corridor to Karista. They used that to get the other end to Karista. Then they didn't need us any more. But they kept us anyway."

Ajay nodded. "Be careful, or they'll decide to keep you as well."

Rior showed his teeth. "Well, there's kept, and then there's leading. We'll see how clever I am—or am not—one of these days."

Mag grinned. "Indeed. Let me show you something." He turned north, up the coast. The ground rose, the water color deepened to show the deeper water . . . and beyond a rocky headland, a ship.

"Cove Islands design. The finest little two masted brigantine in the world. We work on her a little bit everyday."

Rior eyed the wreck anchored in the tiny bay. "Storm damage?"

"Battle." Mag glowered. "These mages . . . they were stronger than us, trained. They didn't fire a shot. They were Sea Kings, and water obeyed them. I didn't know I could do that."

"We know now." Bender kicked a rock. "For all the good it does us."

"We need to step a new mast, buy new sails . . . find the time to do more on the hull." Mag sighed. "The only ship I've ever commanded, and that only because the officers were killed. But once there was nothing but Dregs aboard, she became our ship."

Rior nodded. There was a long spar bound to the stump of the foremast. Two sails furled on the aft mast—that was the main mast on a brigantine, wasn't it? Bah, stupid lessons from so long ago, she . . . he really hated it when dry boring lessons were suddenly useful.

"I wonder what you can do with magic?"

"We can work wood. But just a little, every day."

"I see. Has anyone ever explained collecting power to you?" Rior raised his eyebrows at the puzzled looks and shaken heads. "High time you learned, then."

The ship repairs went faster, then, the mages nearly drunk on power . . . he'd swear they picked up even more power once they were out on the ship. They collapsed around dawn, and he went ashore for fruit to replenish their physical energy.

I don't think I'll teach them about Compasses, just yet. I'll consolidate my place first. Then show them how to increase their power.

"Rest for a couple of days, then we'll see about a new mast. The way you five work wood, I think we just need to find a tall enough tree."

He left them there, and walked back to the tiny village.
That worked well. Almost too well. They're quite strong, and that natural affinity for wood working . . . I can't quite see how to harness it. Maybe those imprisoned wizards would be more useful. I should take another look at this special prison of theirs.

He watched the return of the witches. The younger teenagers first, possibly pre-teen. Hard to tell, the way the witches played with them. Betelgeuse and Dagger, if he'd sorted them out correctly, were both Jade's daughters. They galloped into the village first. Then the blonde, brunette, redhead trio, trying to look adult and sophisticated instead of two months pregnant and exhausted. In fact, judging by their sizes, they'd been living in that Fast House and gained a couple of months. Arrow was Teri's daughter . . . and he rather wondered how much time she'd spent in the speed bubble these last months. She could easily pass for eighteen or twenty, now. Hugely pregnant, clutching her belly.
Not mine.

The two little kids, Nimbus and Dusk, looked about six. Sunset and Smokey were their mothers, and they tended to cling. Given the sharp glances the four women were exchanging, any sensible child would have run off and left the witches to settle their dominance battle.

Rior decided to be sensible, and eased out of the village and down to the beach and the corridor. A long hot shower, a change of clothes, a fancy dinner in his favorite restaurant . . . Yes. That was the best plan.

But I'll be back. Never fear, my little witches.

At least there were no practices on the three day trip up the island volcano for the Summer Solstice. Just hiking up and up and up until they finally climbed up on a platform, not flat, but with five broad steps up to a small triangular spot.

Dagger stopped at the base with Nimbus and Dusk.

Sunset and Smokey walked up two steps and looked wistfully up more. But they barely used the Fast House, so their daughters were only six. Betelgeuse, Arrow, Epee, Falchion and Gauntlet stepped up only to the first tier. Arrow was really, really fat.
She must be due to have the baby soon. Then she'll be up a step. The three will be up there pretty soon too, the way they talk about going into the Fast House. And . . . I'll have to admit I can gather power pretty soon.

At sundown they waited until the full moon rose, then started singing all the songs Teri and her mother had been teaching her. Down with the rest of the little children, Dagger sighed wistfully, but didn't touch the power she could see flowing from the World to the Moon.

She'd just have to keep trying things in private until then.
If I can stand to not touch the power flowing up from the Earth to the Moon.

They sang the Moon up the sky, and then back down, and then they hiked down a little ways, to where they'd left their food and bedrolls, and they munched a quick snack and slept until noon. The hike down found a whole new set of muscles to make ache, but it was still better than the House. As the ground flattened out, Dagger ran ahead, outstripping the others.

She galloped into their village, and waved to Nanny Mason, Miss Herriette and Becca. They were busy, so she slipped into the Fast House and shut the door. And heaved a sigh of relief. Teri couldn't see what she was doing in here, and Dagger would be able to step right out with practically no time gone at all.

She put her hands out and grabbed. The flow was a bit odd, in the House. It flowed up and around, circling in again. And she took a handful, made it glow. The first exercises for a Crescent involved shields, and lots of silly little charms, that later could be added together for the big spells.

She picked up a piece of paper and started writing names on it. "Pretty Boy, Pretty Boy, what do you see? Pretty Boy, Pretty Boy, will you marry me?" Repetitive and silly, it was supposed to twist the mind so the words were magically imbued with the caster's impression of the person.

Teri hissed and ate away at the paper. Smokey and Sunset were watery and ineffective. The other witches were confused and uncertain. Nanny, Becca and Miss Herriette's names faded away as if they didn't really exist. The five mage's names curled and twisted and turned odd colors. She decided she didn't want to see what Jade's name would do.

Dagger stepped back out of the room and burned the papers in the cooking fire. Took a deep breath, relieved and relaxed, the built-up power used and gone.

Arrow was in labor by the time the rest got back to the village. Smokey and Sunset fussed over her, and by nightfall were looking worried. By midnight, Arrow's screams were down to whimpers.

She's going to die. Unless . . .

Dagger thought of all the power she could gather now, spread her hands and gathered an armful. "Please! We need a Midwife, desperately." She put all the power she could into it.

"Dagger! What are you doing!" Smokey gawped at her. "You've grasped power! That's wonderful."

The older witch grabbed her and swung her around and thumped her down suddenly, staring beyond her.

"Who are you?"

Dagger followed her gaze. The woman was young, with long red hair, wearing a plain linen shift and overcoat, and had a basket full of bottles and instruments.

"I'm the Midwife. You called me." Her gaze left them and she walked toward the whimpering.

Dagger was surprised to see Jade draw back, away from the woman, pulling the kids away too. "She's a goddess, very dangerous. Watch her, but don't get her angry."

Sunset inched closer and watched as the weary Arrow drank something the strange woman urged on her, and then curled up with another contraction.

"You need to sit up." The woman pulled an odd stool out of nowhere. The seat was a horse shoe shape that gave the baby a place to go. "And that baby is all sideways. She needs to turn around." The witches all twitched as she swirled her left hand at Arrow's belly. "Better. Now you can make some progress."

She propped Arrow on the stool, speaking softly to her, as she had more contractions.

Dagger watched in horror as Arrow labored on for another two hours before the baby was finally out. The Midwife turned the baby upside down and wiped out her mouth and then swatted her before she gasped a bit and started breathing. Once she got started, she got louder, and the Midwife had Smokey hold the baby while she tied off the cord and cut it.

The placenta came out after a couple of more contractions, and then Arrow was tucked into bed with the baby beside her.

"Now," The Midwife looked around. "She needs to be watched, and the baby needs to nurse within a few hours. Oh, she's much too young for this! Give her a spoonful of this every morning and every evening." She pulled a bottle out of her basket and looked around puzzled. "Where in the World am I?" and then she was gone.

They all started talking about it, and migrated out of Arrow's room. Dagger bit her lip, and slipped back in to watch Arrow and the baby. It was a tiny little thing. "Halberd." She whispered. She had no idea what sort of weapon that was, but it was the next name on the list. Pretty serious weapon, she'd almost killed her own mother.

Out around the cook fire, Falchion, Gauntlet and Epee were looking down at their fat bellies in dismay.

"This is it. First and last time." Epee said.

Betelgeuse hunched her shoulders. "We all have to, once. For power."

Dagger shivered. "I'm not going to have a baby for a long, long time."

Halberd thrived, and Arrow recovered slowly.

Two days later Teri started drilling Dagger, training, she called it, but it was more like a battle, or maneuvering before a battle. Looking for advantage over the new threat.

On the fifth day, Teri showed Dagger how corridors worked, and made the mistake of letting Dagger see the mental twist needed to unlock them. "We lock them to keep ordinary people from using them. They could just walk through, accidentally, otherwise."

On the twelfth day she started talking about long sessions in the sleeping room, so Dagger could advance this year.

On the thirteenth day Dagger spotted the corridor in Jade's room and used it.

She gawped a bit at the city. It was as angular and rocky as the mountain, but it was all regular. There was some grass and some trees, but obviously the grass and trees were required to stay in their proper place, generally squares and rectangles, occasionally circles, and sometimes even in big pots. She walked and looked and stared and ogled everything.

Several times people approached her and she skittered away. She'd heard all about how awful people could be, even though some of the people had looked nice. The horses were quite a bit bigger than the mean little ponies on the island and they moved too much for her to want to be anywhere near. And they smelled all sweaty and hairy, and they pooped in the stone streets. The smaller animals she finally decided must be dogs. The books had said they came in all varieties, but the reality exceeded anything she'd expected.

They used corridors a lot. There was a whole street full of them, and she gleefully dived in and out and got thoroughly lost. Which was the whole point. She didn't want her pyramid to ever find her again.

The main problem she was going to have appeared to be food. On the island there were trees full of food. Out here, she spotted some fruit trees, but they were behind fences, and people frowned at her when she got close.

Finally she went through the wrong Corridor, and wound up back in the City.

She tried one called Bridgeton that no-one else was using, and found herself in a small version of the city. Just five streets and only the 'Inn at the Bridge' was very large. The bridge was stone and arched over a huge river. Beyond it, she could see a few large plowed fields, then a forest. It was the wildest looking place she'd seen all day, and she trudged across the bridge toward it. It was further than she'd thought, and she was really tired, getting thirsty again and really hungry.

But she wasn't going back. She wasn't going to just live in the jungle and have babies. She drank from a stream, ate a few odd berries and curled up under a bush to sleep. It was better than the House. Really.

She didn't recognize any of the trees, and they didn't seem to be producing fruit right now. She got better at spotting the berry bushes and walked on up the road. It seemed like the right thing to do. But she was awfully hungry. It wasn't fair that the trees had nothing edible about them. But she was tired enough to sleep anyway, under whatever bush or leafy pile was available when the sun went down. One day there was a big wooden walled fort, and she thought about asking for food, but it was full of horses and men. And even the witches had been wary of men, kept them under control. These were armed. And up on huge horses. She walked past quickly hoping they were too busy to notice her. The trees were falling back from the road, and the slight roll to the land was turning into actual hills, covered with dry golden grass except around the creek beds, and those were looking pretty dry too. She looked to the right at the hills, and beyond them the mountains. Maybe she should leave the road, berries were better than nothing. There was a small village ahead, and she wondered if she could just
ask
someone for food. A woman. She imagined someone like Nanny Mason or Becca, who would just hand her food. She eyed the big building, the horses tied in front, and men hanging around talking and decided she'd be better off going up the lane. One of those houses would have a woman in it . . .

A tall man walked out of the barn and across the brick courtyard to the back door of the 'Fire Mountain Inn.' He glanced her way, narrowed his eyes a bit, studying her. Her edging toward the lane ground to a halt and she got ready to run.

"You hungry, kid?" He stuck his head in the back door and emerged with bread in his hand. "Here." He tossed it to her, and she snatched it out of the air, and retreated. But he wasn't trying to catch her. He just walked into the building and left her alone.

She wolfed the bread, then drank at the trough. Go or stay? There were wonderful smells coming from the open door. She edged up and peeked in the kitchen. There was a really pretty lady cooking, and a couple of girls coming and going with trays full of food.

"C'mon in and have something to eat." The cook smiled over at her, and she walked in, just like it was home.