Young Warriors (Wine of the Gods Book 10)

by Pam Uphoff

  Quicksilver blinked a bit over that completely absurd comment. "There certainly seems to be some miscommunication somewhere. Has the government given you power of attorney over your father's 'abandoned' property? Can you do anything? How attached to the house are you? Can you sell it and buy something smaller? Or invest the money and rent, live on the income. Or come to Ash. We're all witches there and take care of ourselves."

  "That, that person said I should be sent to Ash." The girl spat, and hunched her shoulders.

  "Hmm, why don't we find someplace a bit more private, and talk about this?" Quicksilver abandoned her studies for the day and led the girl out and around to a small tea shop where they could take over a corner nook and be private.

  "Okay. What happened? I know you are the Lady Eden who eloped with Prince Rebo." She eyed the girl's belly. "Looks like you got part of the elopement taken care of."

  The girl gave a shaky sigh. "We met when he had leave, in Farofo, then went through a Corridor to Gemstone, and another to Rip Crossing . . . "

  At the end of the whole sordid story Quicksilver was sick. "All right. In brutally straight terms, this is what happened.

  "Your father was using you to gain some major influence. When he fled, you gained more freedom of movement, and Rebo was free of whatever magical influence your father had over him. And he didn't want to marry you.

  "In Rip Crossing you met some very irresponsible people, with just enough of them . . . seriously sick enough to turn your elopement into a dirty little game. They didn't tell you the wine had spells on it, to make you really want sex. Everyone got drunk on it, and it snowballed from there. They put spells on everyone, so all the men looked like Rebo, and all the women looked like you. But they were too drunk, or didn't care enough to make sure the honeymoon couple, umm, were exclusive.

  "A posse tracked down Rebo. They probably couldn't see through the glamours on everyone. But they realized you were fucking everyone. That's probably what Rebo realized, once all your father's controlling spells were off him. Hard to argue with, since he saw you doing it.

  "The man they left behind to ensure that none of the women, including you, were going to get pregnant with the Prince's child used one of the properties of that wine to reduce the chances of any of you being pregnant with the Prince's baby. This was a very callous action, and he really ought to have gotten you out of there immediately, and made sure you didn't get pregnant at all. Do you think it's his child you are carrying?" Xen, you are dead meat! How much did you clean up the version you told me?

  "No." The girl sighed tiredly. "I think he's the only one that didn't, well, use me. And . . . I . . . shouldn't have . . . my Father controlled me. Then it stopped, suddenly, and I was free to do whatever I wanted. I made a hideous hash of it, though."

  Quicksilver concealed a sigh of relief. Good. Big Brother can still be my Idol. And I'm going to have to apologize to him for assuming he'd take advantage of any available female. But this poor girl needs some help. A village full of help, in fact. "Umm. I dunno. What do you want out of life? What do you want to aim for? Let's see how hard it will be to get there."

  "I want . . . I want everyone to get out of my head. I want to control myself. I want to go away and, and just have time to figure everything out. I don't even know if I love Rebo—or if my father made me love him."

  "Hey, now there's a nasty thought. But going away, that's easy. So to speak. You may want to put the baby up for adoption, or just put her on ice to keep for later. I'll show you how that works." She scooted her chair back, pulled two rock handles out of her book bag and opened up the bubble. "My brother decided I needed a watchdog, and gave me a two month old puppy. She was born nearly five months ago, but inside the bubble, no time passes. As far as she's concerned, I close, and then immediately open the lid. Even if I think most of the day has gone by. So she's really just three months old. After your baby is born, you could put her in one of these, and just leave her there, unchanged, like a princess in a fairy tale, for years. Decades. Forever, I suppose. Until you are ready to deal with her."

  The girl's eyes jerked up away from the puppy. "For years?"

  "Years might be a bit tough. But with double bubbles, it'd work. But if you are that . . . unloving of the child, adopt her out and forget about her. For minor timing issues, they work like a charm. I know one lady who had a baby, then married the father. She's, umm laying low for another few months, then she'll have this obviously newborn baby to show the in-laws and everyone else. That'll really irritate the high society gossips."

  Lady Eden looked down at her belly wryly. "Unfortunately, there's nothing I can do to stop the rumors. It's quite obvious that I'm pregnant."

  "Well, yes. Perfectly normal for witches to be pregnant, though." Quicksilver frowned. "Would you like to see Ash? Find out what life is like in a village that is full of witches?"

  "Yes. I would."

  Quicksilver left money for the tea, and held out her hand. Traveled home.

  "My front porch. I could find it from anywhere." She left her book bag, but let Quinn out to play. "C'mon, it's a beautiful day to just walk down to the Village."

  She pointed things out to Eden as they strolled down the hill. "I think by year's end there will have been seven babies born here, which will, eventually, make a nice class size for school. That's the school on the far side of the main street, up the other cross street. This is Lady Gisele's herb garden, she can cure almost anything." They paused to sniff appreciatively.

  "And the Twin Inn, so named because it looks just like the one that used to be here. C'mon, I'll buy you lunch."

  Beige and Zeolite were there, eating lunch with half their attention on their babies. Hazel and Grape were serving. They all greeted Quicksilver by name, and swept Eden up into the group. Much comparison of babies was batted around.

  "We lucked out and only had twins, each. Inky had triplets." Beige smiled faintly. "She's a troublemaker. Deserves all three of them." The four babies were almost eight months old, crawling already, and giving themselves guided tours of the Inn's floor.

  Eden eyed the two sets of twins. "And your sister had triplets?" She stared down at her belly in dismay. "Twins might be fun?"

  Hazel was almost as large as Eden. "Damned orgy. We girls weren't in on those wretched boys playing that nasty trick on you. Heh. Ricardo and Eternal fessed up, and . . . I'm not sure what the Sheep Man sentenced them too, but they both went away and haven't been seen since."

  "The Sheep Man's the head wizard. Very nasty sort to cross." Grape added, she was more slender, although still definitely pregnant.

  "Good. That Ricardo deserved whatever he got." Eden shrugged impatiently, dismissing them. She drooled over the babies, and the five of them strolled the street, discussing housing.

  "I have money." Eden explained. "I just suspect that doesn't matter to you witches."

  Grape shrugged. "We'll build another house for the sheer fun of it, but you've got to buy the lot. That's how we fund the things the village needs, like a bank and a mayor."

  "And we're forever buying things from Wallenton or Karista. So we'll trade all sorts of stuff for coin." Hazel looked over at Eden. "We're having some classes up at the hot springs tonight. They aren't the beginning levels you'll need, but if you want to come and see what witch school is all about, come and watch."

  "That sounds awfully sensible. Sort of unlike me." Eden smiled wryly.

  They walked up the street to the school. "How many students do they have now?" Quicksilver asked. "I heard mother say something about thirty-five witch girls."

  "Well the oldest six are done now, and Oryx and Othello too. Umm, there's seven new kids. So there'll be thirty-four students next year. That'll be nice for the four teachers, and Miss Guti is sort of a full time baby minder, she could get loaded down with as many as nine right now, although most of us just put the babies on ice."

  Eden sighed, looking through the windows at the studious heads bowed over books. "This is
a really nice place. But I don't have any skills at all, beyond dancing and charming whoever my father aimed me at."

  "Well, if you don't start learning the skills now, when will you?" Grape waved around the village. "We can show you how to do things everyone can do, and stuff impossible for anyone but witches."

  Eden looked up and down the street. "So, these lots you sell?"

  They hauled her around to show her four possibilities, then they walked up on the hill to look down on the village, and pointed out where everyone lived.

  "We're both staying with our grandmothers while we study over the winter." Hazel rolled her eyes. "I wish I had enough money to buy a lot. This part of my family drives me crazy."

  The small sheep flock wandered by, and Eden nodded at them. "I didn't know sheep came in different colors. I just hear about dying cloth or thread."

  Quicksilver giggled. "My mother experiments. I think the orange and brown shades are the best. That one over there is supposed to be pink. I suppose the color won't be so bad once the fleece is clean. Mother keeps these weird sheep of hers away from the normal sheep, so they don't go feral and reproduce on their own."

  Hazel scoffed. "C'mon Quicksilver, there's a ram right there."

  "Yeah but his genes aren't sheepish. He's an experiment of my Mom's. He started out as a wolf. I've seen him catch rabbits; not once has he tried to harm a sheep."

  Eden was wide-eyed in astonishment. "You aren't kidding, are you? You really do think animals can change? What about people?"

  That led further into the past, and the Black Goats, not to mention dragons.

  "Dragons. I'd certainly like to fly away." Eden looked back down on the village. "Running away to Ash looks like a good alternative, though."

  Chapter Thirty-eight

  Spring 1392

  Karista, Kingdom of the West

  It had been an interesting winter.

  But Xen was delighted to be back on active duty.

  Watching Hoon.

  Not back to the Crossroads, yet. But there was always hope . . .

  Xen joined the next group of invisible watchers. They moved in after dark, walking around the corner, up the alley and partway up the neighbor's carriageway. After a careful check, they climbed over the fence and into the bubble.

  "Wolfson, good. I asked Janic to send you back. I don't like magic, either, but this thing is . . . useful. We need another spyhole." Captain Gerard met him at the entrance.

  "That Action Team came back and took over the attic space. Not that they're there, now. But we'll need the spyholes once they return. They've all gone to report in person."

  Deena sniffed. "But they expect to be back. And they seem to have given up on being able to afford their own place."

  Xen frowned. "Sorry, I haven't even heard rumors. All the Oners, even Hoon, are headed for the Crossroads, to report?"

  "Yep, they even took her two kids." Gerard scowled. "I'm not sure they are planning to return."

  "Oh." Shit. Is it time to snatch Rufi? Or is it too late to grab the boy? "When did they leave? There's a fast stage to Bridgeton now, isn't there?" Xen turned away abruptly and started shoving the bubble up to the attic.

  "Yeah. They took it. They'll have to arrange their own transportation from there, or walk." He smirked a bit. "With two little kids."

  "More likely they'll hire someone with a carriage, or buy horses." Xen anchored a hole over a table, moved on toward more comfortable looking chairs.

  "Probably, I wonder if we could get Easterly to drive them? His word-for-word transcription of their conversations while he drove them was interesting. Amazing memory the man has."

  Deena nodded. "We could drag him kicking and screaming in here, too. Although he says that he'd rather not see or hear things he really, really doesn't want to remember."

  Xen anchored a third hole. "So that team hasn't been able to make enough money to live elsewhere? Why not with the Post head?"

  Gerard snickered. "Best bet is that they don't trust her. I heard them say she wasn't 'really' a Princess, apparently because she had children. Beats me why. Are their princesses supposed to never have sex or something? Hoon doesn't much like hiding eight men in her attic. She's started trying to set one of them up with Lady Eden. Poor little bitch can't get a break, she came by to 'view her property' and she's obviously pregnant. Janic really doesn't want them too well funded."

  "Hmm, yeah. She's a mess, right enough." Xen shook his head. "Pity she's stayed mixed up in this. It would have been better for her to just go away and try to get her head straightened out."

  "Do you know her history? Everybody's been speculating."

  Deena looked over at him, challengingly. "Dare you to fess up."

  Xen grimaced. "Okay. See, these bubbles like this one? Inside them time can slow down or speed up. In this one, it is proceeding at the same pace as the outside world, because of all these spy holes. Umm, have you heard that some of the gods rode out the comet fall a thousand years ago in 'shielded' temples?" Nods all around.

  "Not that we believe it." Gerard poked the brassy bubble uneasily.

  "Right, well the God of Art did so, overdid the time effect a bit and came out a thousand years later to a World he wasn't a part of, wasn't important in, and decided to change all that. He decided to be the next king's father-in-law. All he needed was a daughter to raise in a very cloistered, controlled area, so she would grow up utterly dependent on him and his guidance. So he looked around and found a beautiful young lady with a bunch of magic genes, so he didn't have to work too hard to get the kind of magical daughter he wanted, and whipped the young lady into a bubble where an entire year went by in the blink of an eye. With a bunch of controlling spells to make her compliant and then forgetful, all she knew was that she walked out onto a terrace at a party, and walked right back inside feeling a bit shaky and odd. Rather subject to nightmares."

  "You expect us to believe this?"

  "The baby daughter was also raised in this fast bubble, with some (hired) proper raising, but a whole bunch of her mother's memories, edited, just pasted in while she slept away days at a time. A month—our time—after the first young woman's experience, Lord Matthew presented his sixteen year old daughter 'Lady Eden'. Prince Rebo was enchanted. No one else much liked the idea of a god steering the next two kings after Rolo—assuming Rolo didn't suffer an unfortunate accident.

  "Two years later they eloped. No doubt assisted by Eden's father. But in the middle of it, there was an interesting todo at the Palace Winter Ball, Lord Matthew Gallery, also known as the God of Art, a bit dented around the edges, fled to avoid the other gods' wrath. The little love birds, suddenly freed of control, started rethinking their plans. Instead of heading to Verona for a public marriage that couldn't be repudiated without some tricky diplomacy, as Art had planned, they made a dash for Rip Crossing."

  "Old Gods! Didn't they believe that place's reputation?"

  "Rebo certainly did. He paid a wizard to provide the wine of the gods, plus illusions so all the men looked like Prince Rebo, and all the women looked like Lady Eden. So he could have Eden without marrying her, and have a reason to repudiate her, after. General Rufi caught up to them in the middle of an orgy. Rebo was sobered up, uncharmed, forced to admit that he hadn't actually gotten legally married yet, and didn't want to, anymore, seeing as how his darling had been and in fact still was, sporting about with four other men, and never mind what Rebo'd been doing."

  "As the wizard in place, it was suggested that I make sure the lady was not carrying the Prince's child. Err . . . nor the other women."

  "Go on, now tell us about the wine of the gods." Deena said.

  "I used a spell to destroy all sperm cells in the seven women's bodies. However, the wine of the gods works fast. Some of them may well have been pregnant before we took Rebo away. Plus, our interruption failed to end the orgy. And they'd had so much fun they had another, several days later. And at that point, it didn't matter. So several pregnancies hav
e resulted."

  "So you're going to have seven babies in another three months." Deena said.

  "Well, hard to say who the fathers are," he protested. Does she really think I jumped in and fucked seven women in the half hour I was gone?

  Gerard looked at him. "Let me get this straight, Eden was conceived by magical rape, then magically raped herself. She didn't even really have a childhood in between."

  "That's right. And so we don't lose track of this One World spy setup, she's still being manipulated and used. Sometimes life really stinks."

  "No kidding." Captain Gerard looked around. "Everyone ready to leave? You can all sleep at home tonight, and tomorrow report to Wacolm. He wants Wolfson and Janic at the Crossroads, to wait for the Oners to show up. It'll probably be another week, depending on what they can hire at Bridgetown. The rest of you will probably be back here."

  Chapter Thirty-nine

  Late Spring 1392

  Wallenton, Foothills Province, Section Three

  From Wallenton, the fastest way back to Fort Stag was through Ash.

  So when the colonel started frowning directly northward, Garit wondered what the man could possibly be thinking. Or feeling or sensing. The witches said the colonel's has some magical talent. He sure seems to guess right a lot. And now I have to wonder why we're back here in Wallenton, again. There's a small fort here that patrols the roads to the south and west. The town—small city, really—has never needed outside help. We're on the edge of civilization here.

  The colonel squinted into the warm wind and nodded as he made up his mind. "Lieutenant Negue? Line up some of these barges to get us across the river. I think we'll head up this side of the ridge and check the Crossroads."

  The barge captains looked at Garit as if he were insane. The current was strong, but the river was not too wide. They swam the horses across, most of them loose, a few of the strongest swimmers rode their horses across to herd the rest. They paid to barge the troops and equipment across after them.