by Pam Uphoff
"If you'll watch this area out on the far side of the battlefield, you can see the Oner troops coming and going, running messages and . . . the angle's poor but you can see a slice of the world on the far side.
"On this side note this patch of fighting. I think one of their 'invisible' fighters is keeping people away from another, who is trying to close the gate." Oners fell, with no visible opponent . . . "And now you can see a tank lining up to come through the gate." A bright flash on screen. The tank disappeared, and two figures were suddenly revealed. "Whatever they did to close the gate short circuited their invisibility devices. An EMP, perhaps. The two of them were out there alone, which may indicate that there are a limited number of 'magic tech' people." The armored warrior on the humongous black horse popped up to haul one of them away. Another invisible person showed up. Other horses popped in and out. A loose chestnut galloped up to the remaining man and carried him off to a wagon stranded on the field. Damien forbear to mention recognizing Xen Wolfson and Quicksilver Rustledaut.
"Humph." General Soeder leaned back, eyes narrowed in thought. "We must acquire the technology behind these gates. Clearly the Oners want the tech. Nice to know they aren't the source."
The tech behind the gates? It's fucking magic! But they won't believe that and they won't stop. It's too important. Damien controlled his gorge. This is not going to end well.
***
". . .so they're reporting all that about the Oner battle back to their superiors, and no doubt the government. Most likely the usual two week turnaround on new orders, if not longer, because of the Oner intel."
Xen kept quiet, watching Janic and Rufi.
"They're going to send Malder through the gate to report in person." Lefty glanced at his notes. "Tomorrow morning. Deena and Easterly are trading off, watching for any new orders that come through before their superiors get this report."
Rufi nodded, and glanced at Janic.
"Right, take a break. Then, failing a major change of their orders down there, I'm going to shift Xen, hopefully briefly. Dominic is running in circles, chasing rumors of witches. I'd like him to try to sort things out."
Chapter Twenty-one
Late Spring 1395
Lucky Strike, Desolation Territory, Kingdom of the West
Lucky Strike was one of the larger and longer lasting of the gold rush towns. Which unfortunately did not guarantee quality in the beer the local taverns served.
Xen sipped his weak, tepid . . . beverage and kept his ears open. Lots of bragging and even more morose drowning of sorrows. What had seemed like a hot lead on the fugitive Veronian witches had fallen flat. And if this is the best they can do for beer, I'll be glad to get back to Border Camp and Fascia.
Dominic scowled down at his beer. "I don't know what's worse. The beer or the whores. You'd think the women would flock out here to take advantage of all the rich miners."
A miner over heard that and turned to glare. "Huh. Look at the pretty little officers. I s'pose you've got 'Lord' stuck in front of your name? Well, I've got this." He tapped the sack hanging on his belt. "And gold is what impresses the ladies, not a pretty face."
Another miner snorted. "Yeah. Why don't you pretty boys earn your pay by catching a few bandits. Or killing water lizards."
"Yeah," a third voice chimed in. "Or those black goats. Damn those things are mean. I'll bet they killed Bart Mundy."
Xen blinked. "Black goats? Where?"
"All over the cliffs around the Rip, where else?"
"I never seen 'em down south," The first miner turned to look at the third. "Only up here."
"I seen 'em in the ashstone ridges. Nothing t'eat in the Rip."
They started arguing about the goats, and Xen leaned back, listening.
Dominic eyed him. "Goats? Why the hell are you interested in goats?"
"There's a transformation spell. Nil invented it. I wonder if a witch could have copied it, and been using it on anyone who bothered her?"
"Bullshit. You are so . . ."
"C'mon. Let's go take a look."
"Goats? Are you insane?" Dominic followed him out. "Why don't you stay here and I'll go to the Border."
Two men were standing on the boardwalk, admiring Pyrite. Hardly unusual. They looked up as Xen approached.
One was big, broad and bald. Xen blinked at the other. Black hair, golden eyes, but no one he recognized. Bristling back at him.
Pyrite, on the other hand had his head up, staring down the street. :: Sunset! That's Sunset. He is angry. ::
"Sunset . . . Ricardo's horse?" Xen sidestepped the two men and strode down the sidewalk. "Oh, yeah. Definitely one of the god horses." He held out a hand to the tall bay stallion. He snorted, head high and tense.
"He doesn't like strangers, and neither do I." Baldy had followed him.
Xen squinted. The man glowed, not strongly, but rather irregularly. Untrained mage with an instinctive shield.
"Where did you get him? We're looking for the associates of the man who owned him two years ago."
"I bought him at an auction, couple of months ago. The owner was some tough old broad, didn't catch her name."
Xen pulled up an illusion, the faces of the four women that were still at large. Jade and Teri, the witches. And Sunset and Smokey, from Verona.
The horse jerked back to the limit of his reins.
The man took a step back, too, then peered at the illusion. "No, she was forty, or even older."
Xen let the illusion go. "Drat. Do you know anyone who does know her?"
Baldy shook his head. "She just rode into town with a nice string of horses and sold them all."
"Got a damned high price for them all, too." The goat-boy looking fellow walked up behind his friend. "Mostly from us."
"Umm. Have you seen any black goats around?"
The punch took him completely by surprise.
He folded over. Staggered back out of range of any follow up and managed to suck in enough breath to gasp. "What the hell was that about?"
The man's teeth were bared and he looked homicidal. "I had my fill of goat jokes before I was eight years old."
"Eh?" Xen tossed a mild healing spell on himself, mostly a muscle relaxant. "Dominic, stop laughing."
"Bwahahaha! The almighty Xen sucker punched by a Veronian miner."
"I am not Veronian. I . . . left when I was twelve and never looked back."
"Never lost the accent, either," Dominic sneered.
The bald man had been hovering, looking like he couldn't decide between hauling his friend away, or jumping in to pound soldiers. Now he grabbed the other man's shoulder. "Time to go, Boss."
Growl.
"Stop it. Why the hell are you acting like this?"
Because I'll bet he's the result of Grandfather Dydit's escape-by-wine-induced-orgy and has probably been teased all his life. Heh. That makes him my half-uncle or some such.
"I was looking for some information, before I recognized the horse." Xen switched his gaze to the horse. :: Sunset. Can you hear me? I am Pyrite's friend. ::
The horse ignored him, staring at Pyrite who had walked closer, trailing a rein.
:: He won't hear me. ::
Xen glanced back at the bald man. "Knowing his former owners, he's probably been abused. Treat him kindly, he's very intelligent."
"Noticed that."
Dominic was still snickering. "Aw, don't I get to see you pounded on? Any other officer would have at least tried beat the crap out of him. But you're just so nice . . ."
"Dominic . . . Let's go check on those miners' stories." He scooped the rein out of the dirt and swung up to Pyrite's back. :: I think Sunset will be all right, now. Once he relaxes, he will start hearing you again. ::
Pyrite nodded. :: Havi's brother and the other mage will take care of him. What are we looking for? ::
:: Some miners have seen some mean black goats around the Rip. They may be people Teri or Jade used Nil's spell on. ::
The horse turne
d east and started trotting as Dominic rode up beside them.
Behind them the bald man was still berating his friend. "Honest to God, Vinz . . . "
Three miles out of town it clicked. Honest to God? No one but the old gods swear like that. Well, I slip occasionally, but . . . I'm going to have to look Baldy up, some day when I have the time.
Xen cheated and threw corridors to the Rip.
"Handy." Dominic ran a hand down the back of his neck. He scowled at thin air. "So why can't I ever grab those things?" He poked at a bubble. It ignored him.
"Most people can't even see them. Try being gentle, instead of poking."
"I don't want to be a wizard. I don't want to be gentle with a damned soap bubble. And there's a black goat looking at us."
Xen turned around. A large black goat was eyeing them warily from up on an ashstone ridge. "Hi. We're wizards. If a witch turned you into a goat, I can probably undo it."
"Mahhh! Mah! Mah! Mahhh! Maaaaah!" He bounded down from the ridge and charged at them.
Dominic reined his nervous horse around. "You have got to be kidding me!"
Xen swung off of Pyrite and was nearly flattened by the goat as it reared to get in his face. Yep. Standard spell, no extras and no traps.
"Mah. Mah! Oww! Oww! Bloody gods damned witch from the deepest pits . . . " The goat dropped back and fell over, cursing without a pause as his body changed. He was grey, with a substantial beard. Somewhere between scrawny and muscular. He finally ran down, panting for breath. He shoved and staggered to his feet. "Who the hell are you?"
"Captain Xen Wolfson. We're hunting for some witches."
"Only saw one, and she was one too many."
Xen held out his illusion of the four missing women. The miner shied back, hesitated, then poked at the image of Teri. "Might have been that one, but she was a whole lot prettier in the flesh." He looked around suddenly. "Say, would you happen to know exactly where we are?"
Xen looked around. Felt mentally for the steel spike they used to mark the block corners. "Desolation Province, block thirty three. The southwest corner is two and a half miles east and a bit less than five miles south. Why?"
Dominic snorted. "Because he's found gold and needs to register a claim. Haven't you been around enough miners to recognize the signs?"
The miner glared through his hedge of hair and beard. "Tryin' to jump my claim? Not a hope, sonny, I recognize a corridor when I see one." He turned and dived through Xen's loosely attached corridor.
Xen snorted. "I think he's been a goat so long he's forgotten about little details like clothing."
Dominic shrugged. "Lucky Strike sees all sorts of oddities. A naked man's barely good for a laugh."
"Well, I really ought to have asked him where he saw Teri. Let's go find another goat." He reached for the corridor, then shrugged and pinned it down solidly. He could start a new one here. The former goat was welcome to use it.
A trio of goats hung around the edge of the Rip. And were quite glad to be back in human form.
"Called herself Teri. She had a little boy. It's not right for a baby to be out here with a maniac."
"I thought about getting far away . . . but then how would I get changed back. Man! I was starting to get worried, she's been gone more than a month."
Xen studied the men. "Gone from where? I don't see . . . " He stopped and looked where they pointed. Leaned over the cliff. "Ah. I see she's gotten good at rock forming. But there was only the one women, no other women, even to visit?"
"Nope. Just us stupid men who left on four hooves." He looked at his hands. Wiggled his fingers. "Right. No offense, but I want out of here before she comes back."
Xen doled out spare clothes and sent them off.
They found the stairway down and searched, but the house built into, and out of the cliff was stripped and empty.
"Hey Xen, how close are we to Rip Crossing?"
Xen eyed him. Dominic wasn't very good at looking innocent. "I don't think there's much action there, this time of year. You'd be horribly disappointed."
"Always worth a try, though. We could sleep soft and clean up, if nothing else."
Xen contemplated a long soak in a hotspring not infested with water lizards. "You know, that's a really good idea. Then we could use the corridors, report in to Janic about Teri's abandoned hideout."
He reached northward, mentally. :: Orion? Got room for some guests? ::
He received a mental laugh in reply.
:: Saved! Put on a disguise and get over here! You will not believe what just drove up claiming to be from Verona. ::
Xen started grinning. "And then again, the Fascians were going to visit Rip Crossing and pick up information about gates. Dominic, how'd you like to spread some disinformation the fun way?"
Chapter Twenty-two
Late Spring 1395
Crossroads, Kingdom of the West
Growing up in the home of the God of War, River had known the God of Travelers all her life. So it was ridiculous to be nervous about this. Especially since, by the crinkling at the corners of the old man's eyes, he thought she was funny.
". . . so after prowling about, I think that low granite hogback in the northwest is about the only possible ceremonial spot in the land grant. But I'm sure any witches who joined me would want to live in the vicinity of the Tavern."
"Well, the way we've developed here, farming lots seem to get sold in two mile square plots. Two thousand, five hundred and sixty acres."
River boggled. "I wasn't thinking of buying that much land . . . "
"It's because we tend to be dry. Lots of grazing land, and small gardens. Most folk move into the mountains during the summer and fall." Harry frowned around the dining room. "Excuse me just a moment . . . " He stumped off to the door beneath the stairs. Growing up, the rumors of what Harry had in there had been pretty wild. When she and a few other kids had dared look, the messy office and bedroom had been such a disappointment . . . if only he hadn't kept doing outrageous things, like producing any flavor of ice cream on demand. There had to be a hidden door . . . but what to?
Today he returned with a map. A geological survey of the land grant. He unrolled it and weighted down the corners with a collection of salt and pepper shakers.
"Here's your hogback. Only a couple of hundred feet high, but that's nice on a nearly flat prairie."
"These grid lines are . . . every two miles, aren't they? Is this copied from the original land grant?"
"I think it is the map from the land grant documents. Hmm, I guess the grid explains why we do two mile by two mile squares."
"Ten thousand properties to start with, and getting broken up further with time . . . but it didn't happen here. Why not?" River eyed the old man.
He just shrugged. "We were living in Ash, back then. Me, Wolf, Gisele and Nil. I traveled a bit, Wolf and Gisele kept track of Scoone and Verona. When Scooners started killing anyone they suspected of being magic, we helped the people who were leaving. They formed a company, wrote the Agreements to form a Western Kingdom.. They raised funds by selling the land grants. Seventy rich arrogant jerks. Don't tell Giselle I called her that, eh?"
River giggled. "I guess that explains the attitudes of the nobles. So . . . why did you pick this spot? Oh, the Old North Road, right?"
"Right. And next door to where I lived. Wolf was the first of us to move to the valley, so he took section two. Gisele took the grant to the south, and I went west to the road. But the pass was closed, volcanism, you know? And in the summer, the water can get really scarce. So I lease grazing rights enough to pay the taxes and let it go, until Rustle used it to experiment with those gates."
"Did you figure out the gates, Traveler?"
"Oh no, Rustle cooked up that idea. Wolf helped with the first one, and then she put these up, trying to understand the form of the multiverse. The Comet . . . she burned herself badly trying to divert the comet—succeeded in diverting most of it. Then she suffered through several months of
amnesia and fluctuating weak magic. She's pretty well recovered, but with no emergency, and two kids to raise, she hasn't made any more gates. It's been nearly twenty years. Doesn't seem that long."
Rustle . . . invented these gates? I know she's strong . . . she must be irresistible to him.
"Pretty much. Guess you've got stepmother problems?"
"All of my own making, seeing another woman in Kendra Star's rightful place."
Harry nodded. "And yet, Kendra Star had three children by three different fathers before she ever fell in love with him. People are complex, and the Wolf, not that he was celibate, but he never lived with another woman again until Rustle. Twelve hundred years. She's been good for him. The kids have been good for him."
River winced. "I . . . haven't internalized the time that's passed. For me, she died seven years ago. And even that is long enough for a man to mourn, and start over."
"Yes, well." Harry shrugged. "I wouldn't know." He tapped the map. "Now, your hogback is near the corner of these four squares. Not that there's any demand for land, but I won't sell the other three in case you decide you want empty miles all around your hill."
"Ten thousand acres?" River boggled.
Harry grinned. "No water. And on the granite, no possibility of a well. This way I can feel virtuous while dumping land that isn't even good grazing. Now, let's talk price. Dollar an acre is damn near highway robbery, but I refuse to go lower . . . "
Chapter Twenty-three
15 June 3512 ce
Late Spring 1395 px
Rip Crossing, Desolation Territory, Kingdom of the West
Sneaking through a populated country with two large ACVs that couldn't possibly be mistaken for ordinary vehicles was not easy. Even with the mufflers, even with the satellite photos of the roads and knowing where to head across country to avoid the towns. Even with the night vision . . . at least they didn't seem to have come to official notice. The Kara Sea and Gulf had been dead calm, so they'd taken a half day and all night trip across to the expanded Yucatan peninsula to spend the day in the blistering heat, and then the shorter hop across to Cadent had kept the trip as short as geographically possible, with the shortest distance over habitable land possible. They had two weeks, then most likely they'd be getting new orders. If we can get the gate tech—or technique—we may yet stave off an invasion.
