Wine of the Gods 1: Exiles and Gods

by Pam Uphoff

  "Go north, away from Miami, go north." "Go north, away from Miami, go north." The voices tangled, male and female, recognizable and strange.

  The memory of the voices echoed in between them.

  "An asteroid is going to hit New Miami. At nightfall. Everyone needs to leave, now. To get as far away as they can. God of War. Let me out!" River put all the power she had into that command, a curiously intricate and complex spell. I never saw the complexity before, never twisted the little bits to fit into the lock of another person’s mind. However disastrous the results, I have given birth, and I am a Full Moon witch.

  "God of War! Unlock the door."

  For a second the shadow of the real god was there, looking out of the commander’s eyes. The lock clicked open, the bars slid.

  She walked out. Up a flight of stairs that had her legs quivering. Across a stone paved patio, around the corner of the building and across the front garden of the mansion. At the gate she turned. The commander had followed her.

  "Do you understand? The city will be destroyed. Get all your people out of here. Send all the citizens out there away. Tell them to leave the city and keep going." River turned and walked out the gate. Down the street, around two corners. The plaza was bounded on one side by the Mayor’s Residence, on another by the Assembly house. The north side was the start of the market. West were the better homes of the rich.

  River walked out to the center sculpture. A simple slice across the ankles and the marble effigy of Mercy toppled. She stepped up to take its place.

  People were turning to look at her. Some ran off to the mayor’s. To the assembly. More just came close enough to see her, hear her.

  "A meteor is going to hit the city. Get your family and get out of town."

  "Go north, away from Miami, go north." "Go north, away from Miami, go north." The voices tangled, male and female, recognizable and strange.

  "Go north, away from Miami, go north." The God of War’s deep voice echoed across the plaza.

  "Go north, away from Miami, go north." Goddess of Health and Fertility, Gisele’s voice was commanding, for all it was sweet also and beautiful.

  "Go north, away from Miami, go north." God of Travelers, God of the Roads.

  "Go north, away from Miami, go north." A warm baritone that had men and women alike leaning toward it. God of Love.

  "Hurry!" Androgenous, the Goddess of Logic, of course.

  River climbed down and started walking. Everyone scurried away. Everyone. Everyone heard the gods, that time.

  Behind her, staff and solon alike were fleeing the government buildings. The merchants were folding their canopies, harnessing the donkeys and old nags that had pulled their wares to the market. By the time she was three blocks away, light carriages, suitable for the city, were passing her, piled with a few possessions snatched, families and servants. The roads were filling fast. How far away do we have to be? A ten mile wide area of total destruction, a hundred mile zone of diminishing danger? We’ll be lucky if most of the people make it twenty miles. She felt the quiver in her legs and knew twenty miles was beyond her ability.

  ***

  Simon stepped off the ship in the early morning. It had been a fast trip. Now all he had to do was prove his insanity by once again showing up to woo an agent of Mercy’s. He picked up his case and headed up the hill toward the City Plaza, and the site of Mercy’s mansion (in the winter.) He angled through smaller streets, circled Mercy’s abode at a block’s distance, then retreated to eat lunch at a small neighborhood diner. Am I insane? What am I doing here?

  "Go north, away from Miami, go north." "Go north, away from Miami, go north." The voices tangled, male and female, all of them well known.

  "Go north, away from Miami, go north." The God of War’s deep voice echoed across the plaza.

  "Go north, away from Miami, go north." Goddess of Health and Fertility, Gisele’s voice was commanding, for all it was sweet also and beautiful.

  "Go north, away from Miami, go north." God of Travelers, God of the Roads.

  "Go north, away from Miami, go north." A warm baritone that had men and women alike leaning toward it. God of Love.

  "Hurry!" The Goddess of Logic snapped the trance.

  And everyone started moving.

  Simon hauled out the folded metal frame and opened the dimensional bubble. Led the mares out, right there on the street, in full sight of everyone. Closed the frame, folded it and leaped in. The mares took off at a trot, and he let them go, dodging the early traffic. Opportunities for speed were going to be few today. People were boiling out of their houses, small sacks of possessions in their arms, distressed children clinging. Simon could have stopped, given a ride to one family, perhaps two. But he was driven to hurry. To go that way. Down that street.

  And there she was. Walking. Plodding. Wavering a bit. What happened? Why isn’t she with Mercy? The mares couldn’t make progress in the crowd of people, but River was slow. Slowing. Leaning against a street sign. Looking up as the bay horses halted beside her.

  She met his eyes, reached, took his hand and let him pull her into the carriage. She leaned wearily against his shoulder. "I tried to stop them. But it took so little to move the asteroid. When I broke the pyramid, it made the premonitions come true. It’s going to hit here." She slid down, head in his lap. Her eyes blinked uncertainly, her skin was cold, pale and clammy. "I’m all right. Miscarried. I just have to sleep, rest." She closed her eyes.

  He checked that she was breathing, then let the mares move out again. A woman trying to herd three children caught his eye. He gestured for her to put the children up on the boot. A street waif, thin and frightened, fit in once he scooted closer to River. A man with one leg stood on the step for a few miles, then gave up his place to a young woman with a baby.

  The crowd squeezed through the city gates. There were no guards, they’d fled with their own families hours ago. They picked up speed on the open road. One of the roads the God of Vice had built between every major city. Just goes to show that the worst of all the gods is in some ways the most useful. River stirred, sat up. She looked around, squinted at the setting sun. "How far have we come? The asteroid will hit near midnight."

  "Fifteen miles, maybe. It’s hard to judge, when people move so slowly, sometimes. What happened to you?"

  "They were trying to shift the asteroid so it would hit New Bombay. When I realized they weren’t trying to make it less dangerous, I broke the pyramid. Mercy hit me with a death spell. I barely . . . I didn’t block it enough. You risk your life helping me. You don’t really love me, I put an aphrodisiac in your wine, at dinner."

  He blinked down at her in a chaotic churn of emotions. "Umm. I put one in yours. Because it was also a truth serum. I needed to ask you a bunch of questions."

  She snorted, winced and wrapped arms around herself. "Ouch. I thought that stuff was awfully strong, and you rather immune, until I poured half of my glass into yours."

  "Oh. No wonder I lost control of the circumstances." Simon looked behind. The mother of the three children was looking desperately tired, a death grip on the leather of the boot, keeping her walking with the carriage. Simon stopped the horses, and hauled the oldest child up to the front, reached back to pull the woman up beside the other two. "Hold on. The road is clearing a bit, I’m going to speed up a while." The waif slipped silently down and ceded her tiny sliver of the seat to the girl who had clung to her baby and balanced on the footstep all this time. The fat moon was giving enough light to offset the dimming twilight from the east.

  "Is this the northwest road, or the north road?"

  "Northwest. It was the fastest way out of town. Does it matter?"

  She shook her head. "The army is ahead of us, but I doubt we can get far enough to need to worry about them."

  The mares were only a little tired, five hours of walking . . . "God of Roads, everyone on the road tonight needs desperately to get away, give us strength and speed, for just these few last hours."

&n
bsp; River squeezed up beside him and pulled the boy onto her lap. "Don’t let Art know you prayed to Harry. He’ll probably do a less emotional, more thorough job of killing you than Mercy managed with me."

  "I don’t work for Art."

  "Umm. Pax?"

  "War."

  "Don’t be silly. I work for War, and I’ve never seen you."

  "Of course not, I had a cover to protect . . . wait. You work for War? But, you’re a witch. You’re a part of the New Tokyo pyramid. How could you fool them?"

  "By never thinking about it."

  Simon shook his head, then steered the mares around a last group of families and let them trot. For five minutes, until they caught up with the next group of people. Then it was back to walking. The pedestrians stumbled slowly out of their way, so at least the mares could walk out at their normal pace. A bit of clear road, another brief trot. At times it seemed like the countryside was blurring a bit, moving past too fast. Simon sent heartfelt thanks to the God of Travelers, old or little, any and all that could help put distance between Miami and the former residents of New Miami and the homes they were about to lose forever.

  They stopped at a bridge over a stream, and Simon climbed down to dip buckets and hand them up, for both people and horses. Other people on the road stopped, some coming partway down the rocky hill to help lift buckets. Shod hooves rung on pavement up there.

  "You!"

  Simon’s head snapped around, that had come from up there, and it had sounded like the Goddess of Mercy. He dropped the bucket and scrambled up the hill. There were screams and yells, the crowd that had stopped for water scattered. A whip cracked and he caught sight of a closed coach disappearing into the night beyond the bridge. River was gone.

  Chapter Twelve

  December 2236

  New Miami, India

  "You’ve got a good shield, girl, to survive that spell. Well, it won’t happen again."

  River was almost thankful for the paralysis spell that held her up. The army of new Miami had been just an hour ahead of them, marching doggedly toward Kingston. They had stopped now for a breather. Water and rations were being passed out.

  "Are you going to walk your army all the way to Kingston? They’ll desert when the asteroid hits." Her mouth felt stiff and clumsy, but was mostly free of the spell.

  "Nonsense. Why should they, it’s the sign of our power."

  "Haven’t you slept? Dreamed? Don’t you know what we did?"

  "We’ve moved the asteroid. It is going to hit New Bombay."

  "Mercy . . . no. All the dreams, they’ve come down to New Miami now."

  The Goddess scoffed. "As if I’d believe you."

  "Mercy, I’ve tried to evacuate New Miami, to get your people out of there."

  "Bah." The Goddess raised her hand.

  Is there anything this woman cares about at all? Think, witch, or you're going to die here. "Mercy . . . Where is Grace?"

  The exquisite little woman froze. For one second something real, some human terror showed through. She disappeared.

  River felt her muscles unlocking, and held very still.

  "Should I kill her, sir?" The man looked like Edmund Vice, but moved and held his sword like the God of War. Pax's commander, another little god.

  Pax looked around in irritation. "No. She’ll want to do it herself. We don’t have time for this sloppy sentimentalism. Pick the witch up and throw her in one of the wagons. Get us moving again."

  River locked all her muscles, fought to stay stiff, awkwardly posed, as two soldiers slung her on top of the nearest wagon. The wide eyed drover opened his mouth to say something, perhaps to protest, then closed it and faced forward. The little god ignored him, walking off to chivvy his troops into order and get them moving again. River watched Pax pace by; the wagon lurched into motion. She turned her head slowly. Guards there and there, a file of troops three wagons back.

  The wagon rolled under a tree. Deep moon shadows. She rolled off the wagon and staggered as quietly as possible around the tree. Spotted a thinnish spot in the brush and kept going.

  ***

  The refugees from New Miami quit when they reached the cross road. Simon blinked in disbelief. This road cut across the lowland, linking the North road to the Northwest Road. They were nearly two hundred miles from New Miami.

  Simon turned the mares up the cross road and stopped when he’d put a low hill between them and New Miami. "Stay here," he told his passengers. "You’re safe for now. I’ve got to try and find River."

  Where would Mercy be? Would she have passed the army, gone ahead, or was she staying back from the hostilities? Up ahead there the lead elements must be setting up their siege on Kingston. "I need to hurry." He rubbed the two mares’ foreheads. "I’m sorry to do this to you." In the dark, no one noticed him pull the saddles out of a empty metal frame. He rubbed the mares down, watered them, fed them. Saddled them and headed back for the northwest road. Tired people were everywhere, spreading out, collapsing. Whatever god had given them energy, had kept them going, was gone. And we’re at least four times further along than any of us walked or rode. Thank you, Harry. He mounted Artemis and led Diana up the suddenly empty road. He hesitated, uncertain who to pray to for a lost witch. "God of War, I suppose. Or Health, she looked so weak. Oh damn Mercy!"

  In the dark, Simon heard the arguments before he could see the guard post. He reined Artemis to a stop and listened.

  "But we have to keep moving. We have to go north, the gods said so."

  A male voice, exasperated. "All that's north of here is going to be a battlefield. You don't want to take your family there. Back off a couple hundred feet, I think there was a stream, camp there. After our gods have put this upstart Mage King back in his place, you can move on."

  Simon looked around. The local semi-tropical forest was fairly open here, and his night adjusted eyes showed a faint track off to his left. He turned Artemis and actually had to give her a nudge with a heel to get her to move out again. "Sorry, lady, I know you're tired." The clink of the horses' shoes was loud in the night, then muffled as they left the hard road. He let the mare pick her way along the track, and extended his mental senses forward. The little glows of animal life were overshadowed by the brighter glows of humans. The human glows varied enormously, from those with no special genes to some who were, no doubt, Little Gods. I wonder what it was like, before the Exile? When people with no magic whatsoever were the vast majority. Surely the genetically engineered must have stood out, obviously better than the ordinary human.

  Simon pulled his wandering thoughts back to the present. The mares weren't the only tired ones around.

  A brilliant glow at the very edge of his perception. He recognized Mercy, and put up a cautious shield to keep his thoughts inside, but allowing him to see the army, and keep track of Mercy. She was further to the left . . . would that be where she had River imprisoned?

  Simon pulled his sight back into the real world and looked for deer tracks turning right. Deer being small creatures, he soon dismounted, and finally gave up and dropped the mares' reins. "Remember that you are trained to ground tie. I'd prefer to not have to chase you all over the county in order to make a quick get-away."

  They pointed their ears at him, then dropped their heads to scavenge for bits of not-too-winter-dried grass.

  Simon checked for glows; three gods now. Mercy, Pax and Art, he'd bet.

  The forest ended in a fringe of brush. He eased through, staying low.

  The meadow ahead was swarming with the bright dots of campfires, the dull glows of lanterns inside canvas tents . . . and centered on the west side, two large buildings. Mercy's and Edmund's movable mansions.

  Right, no Art, this isn't pretty enough for him.

  He blanched at the thought of River in Edmund's hands, and slid back into the forest. He ought to be able to get around behind those two buildings . . .

  There were two sentries pacing behind the buildings, and another glow just inside the line o
f trees. Very dull, almost animal-like. Simon caught a brief silhouette and couldn't stop a snort of amusement. Or a powerful witch shielding hard.

  She'd heard him, and turned, hand raised to throw what was probably a really nasty spell.

  "You just don't know when to quit, do you?"

  Her glow wavered, dimmed again. "Simon. How did you find me?"

  He slid up next to her. "I was planning on burgling Mercy's home, to rescue you. What are you doing?"

  She nodded toward the building. "Amused and Flattered are in there. They feel frightened."

  Right, her Triad. Mercy can't hide them from that bond. Or perhaps she doesn't want to. "Even odds it's a trap."

  River shook her head. "Mercy's too busy to really worry about me right now. I need to help them now, later will be too late."

  He looked at her, nearly invisible in the dark. "You sound like you're about to keel over in a faint." He sighed. "So let me get rid of the sentries and scout ahead. Please?"

  "Certainly. Couldn't deny you the chance to show that you're the God of Heroes, now can I?"

  "Just so you don't do the archetypical fainting maiden routine. I don't know the lay out here."

  "The dungeons are in the basement, of course. Unfortunately, the stairs down are outside and near the front left corner. We're going to have to get rather uncomfortably close to the gods, to get down there. I was waiting for the big distraction." She leaned her head briefly on his shoulder. "And trying not to faint."

  Simon dropped a kiss on the top of her head. "I think we'd best do the burgling now, and escape when the big distraction hits." He moved up to crouch and watched the movements of the sentries. Careless, their attention inward, toward the camp. As they reached opposite ends of the two mansions, Simon eased out of the brush and crossed to the house . . . paused to wait for River as she staggered after him. "This is not smart!"