Wine of the Gods 03: The Black Goats (2 page)

She poured for the captain, Harry and Mayor Accure, cast a glance through her eyelashes at the lieutenant, and headed back toward the kitchen.

The lieutenant rose and stepped after her. She turned back in surprise, and he took her hand. And put a coin in it. "My room, as soon as you can."

She stared at him, shocked as he dropped a kiss on her gaping mouth, then lifted her knee as hard as she could.

***

"Well, wasn't that clever, Lieutenant Trehem." Bail looked down at the hunched figure in exasperation. "You really do need to learn the difference between a woman who's swooning over your good looks, and a cheap whore."

Byson stiffened indignantly. Sergeant Gruff had stopped in at an opportune time, and been available to cart Byson upstairs while Bail finished being skinned by the mayor. Gruff had given him an update on the men—well fed and all bedded down in the Grange barn, no problems.

Bail continued. “You should have been paying attention to the meeting with the village elders. Thank the old gods that young woman isn't related to either of them. For some strange reason they did not seem inclined to invite us back, or mention that the men coming to town to spend their hard-earned
money would be welcome. Even if the woman had been a whore, leaving the table during negotiations to pick her up was hardly impressive." Bail shook his head in despair. "Have a good night's sleep, Lieutenant."

He stalked out and sought his own bed. Old gods! It was
clean
. No fleas, no bed bugs. The water in the pitcher was
hot
. There was even a little lump of soap. A soft towel.

He recalled Gruff's words. "All the pretty women are in here. Lefty says he scouted out six young'uns and three that were close enough to still be damned good lookin', all back there in the kitchen. And you say you never saw but the one?" He'd glanced up the stairs and nearly lost control of his lips. "And she kicked his lordship in the nads?" he'd shaken his head. "This one I want to meet."

Bail dried his face on the towel, and crawled into bed. He gave up and let the smile out. That gorgeous woman had kneed Byson. Maybe she'd like an ugly man with good manners.

***

"I don't believe I did that." Never thumped her head on the wall behind her chair. "I can't believe I was that stupid."

"Well, dear, you were a bit obvious." Happy was placing exact stitches in a pieced bodice. All her extra money came from selling her exquisite embroidery down in the capital city of Karista. She had a single client, a duchess, who paid extraordinary amounts of money to ensure she remained Happy's only client. "Or are you trying for a rape? I've always considered that such a cheap way to increase the man's psychic energy. One worries about the violence bleeding over, you know?"

"No, Mother, I am not going to drive him to rape me." Never hesitated over the thought, then blew out her breath. "Maybe I should turn him over to Mostly or Likely."

"Don't you dare!" Happy's eyes sparked. "I want to see those beautiful blue eyes in a granddaughter of mine. He reminds me of my first." She sighed at the memory. "And only. I caught right away."

Never laughed and stepped over to hug her mother. "Don't worry! I'll get you up to the Waning Half Moon Level before Glorious or Furious."

"Hmph! I certainly hope so! With all these new men around though, all three of you may increase all at once."

"That would upset the Pyramid, wouldn't it! Only Curious is showing signs of darkening."

"I'm sure we'd survive, dear. I rather suspect Delight's and Elegant's moon cycles are limping a bit, too." She bit her lip, uncertainly. "We need one of them to advance soon.  The Triad of the Dark Crescent is broken, and that's dangerous. The Dark Crescent is the strongest of the Triads."

And Blissful and Answer are both so old.
Never didn't say it out loud. Losing the whole of the Dark Crescent would mean loosing not just power, but knowledge. The Sisters of the Waning Half were taught most of the spells of the Dark Crescent, but not all, and they couldn't try out that academic knowledge until the menopause was complete. Granny Zero had died over the winter. The knowledge rested only in the minds of two elderly women. It was time for an advancement.

She hesitated, then brought up something she'd wondered about. "Mother, why is there such a gap between the ages of the Dark Crescent and the ages of the Waning Half? How old were . . . who were their mothers'?"

"Oh dear. Well, you've heard about the Auralian War?"

"When King Haro, the father of King Rebo, fought off the Auralian invasion?"

"Yes. There was a lot of power expended in that war. The last of the wizards died in the battle and the mages lost a lot, too. The witches, the Sisters of the Moon, lost nearly everything. Zero was a Sister of the Full Moon, Answer and Blissful were just Sisters of the Half Moon, and survivors of two different pyramids. A single Sister of the Dark Crescent survived. Tragedy, her name was. She died when I was just a little girl. We think there were other survivors, but we've never found them. There is so little magic around now, we just sort of keep quiet about it."

"So they all lost their first daughters?"

"Yes. But however bitter, they knew they had to carry on the Pyramid. Zero gave birth to Curious before they even arrived here, and Answer and Blissful were pregnant when they arrived. Then they waited ten years to have Furious, Glorious and me. So the timing would work out for rebuilding the Pyramid.”

Never knitted her brows. "I guess I knew the Waning Halves and the Full Moons were sisters in fact as well as Sisters of the Moon. I just, I thought we could only have one child. I never worked it out. Silly of me."

"We usually do just have one. It's deadly to our powers to actually fall in love with a man and dedicate ourselves to him, so it's best this way." She shuffled a bit. "And children take up a huge amount of time as well. But we need to have them to advance our ability to manipulate power, we have to have them for the next generation of witches . . . and we love them. We need them for our humanness."

"I don't see why you can't care for a man and still dedicate yourself to the Moon."

Happy chuckled. "Ah, the innocence of youth. Men have expectations. Not of sex." She held up a hand to forestall comment. "Or, not only of sex. They expect their wife to cook and keep house, to sew and mend and wash. To be with them on social occasions, whether high or low. Bit by bit, like water on rock, they will wear a woman away with their expectations, until the moon is forgotten."

"But we already keep house and mend and sew for ourselves, for our children and mothers and grandmothers." Never considered the women of the village, but that didn't help. The mayor had no husband. Old Lady Gisele lived alone . . .  "Harry, the Auld Wulf, and Beck Butcher are the only men in the village. And only Beck is married. But he's a mage, like the farmers and Coo Miller, so they swap wives around all the time, don't they? Oh, and the Sheep Man, but nobody would marry him."

Happy opened her mouth then shut it firmly.

Never wondered what she hadn't said, and resolved to look into the situation. "I never thought about how different from the rest of the
world we are. How different from everything in the books."

"It's the power, dear. Women are at a serious disadvantage without it, and that has shaped the greater society. By and large their society is shaped to protect women and children."

"Huh. Well, shouldn't we try to have more children and form a second pyramid?"

"Oh, no
, dear. That's not how it's done." Happy faltered. “Well, that's not how it used to happen. You see, If Curious, Delight and Elegant were to all pass the menopause while Answer and Blissful yet live, we'd have too many Sisters of the Dark Crescent. Or if Opinion, Particular and Question all grasped power this year we'd have too many Sisters of the Crescent Moon. When there were several pyramids in communication with each other, they could combine their extras into a new pyramid that is close enough to full strength to protect itself. Of course, advancement isn't that simple. Our Elder Sisters are all very powerful, among the most powerful women in the world. That's why they survived. We children and grandchildren need to remember that not all witches will advance to the Dark Crescent. Some women simply aren't powerful enough, and no matter their time of life, simply don't advance past a certain point."

"I see. But that doesn't answer the problem of expansion. Trading extras won't work anymore. We simply need more daughters."

Happy sighed. "Well, yes, dear. We may well have to consider having more daughters." She stared her daughter straight in the eye with sudden sternness. "But no husbands."

***

Bail got them out of town the next morning. "Bit of time in the saddle will loosen you up,” he told Byson.

The young noble glowered at him. "I am not suffering from stiff muscles." He eased himself down into the saddle, carefully.

"And something else ain't stiff either." The whisper was quiet enough that Bail decided he could ignore it.

"Let's move out."

Sergeant Gruff, no fool, had already sent the wagons on, and had the men in marching order.

The road was drier, this side of town, rising toward a pair of smallish mountains. Small compared to the cloud-piercing giants to their right, at any rate. Harry had told him that the road would take them between the two mountains, and down to the Old Road. Fort Stag would be just a few miles east.

Bail ran an experienced eye over the lines of soldiers and found it light. "Scouts out, sergeant?”

"Yep. It's good for them."

Bail nodded. Gruff had saved his neck too many times for him to not pay attention to his hunches. "Expecting anything in particular?"

"Nope, this valley just gives me the willies. It just ain't natural."

"What do you mean?"

Gruff waved at the fields showing the tender shoots of some grain crop. "Where are the farmers? I asked, and there's all these women who do most of the farming. There's not hardly any men around here, maybe six of the farm families actually have a man there. The butcher, the miller, some madman with sheep and goats, the
tavern owner, a fellow up in the hills that brews that wine you were appreciating last night. That's it. Eleven men. Some orphan boys that Harry looks after, but he had them out running messages to the sheep man and the miller and the butcher, and starting some sheep and cattle moving toward Fort Stag. There's twenty-four women. Even if you figured all the men were married, and they aren't, that'd be thirteen maidens in a little bitty village." 

"Something happened to the men? Bandits?"

The lieutenant sneered. "More like the men are the bandits. That'd explain why the village is so prosperous-looking.”

"I never did see this group of women Lefty thinks was in the
tavern kitchen."

"All banded together to watch out for each other." The sergeant
glanced back at the lieutenant. "You'd almost think they were afraid to risk their reputations. Sounds like some nasty characters to me."

"And the children." Bail frowned, searching his memory. "There were teenagers, but I don't think I saw a single child under ten or any babies. The young woman was past twenty. Surely she's married, had a child or two by now?"

Byson shuddered. "Plague, d'ya think?"

"Actually I was wondering about hostages. Plague? There hasn't been one for decades, but now that you mention it, I'd prefer hostages. We'll have to keep an eye on the situation. When I send the first dispatch to General Baring, I'll mention it; ask specifically about bandits possibly based up here. And any reports of sicknesses."

Never paused on the crest of a hill, checking the locations of the cattle, sheep and goats grazing on the high pastures. The Sheep Man had his huge flock spread out to the north, all the cattle were well south. Everything peaceful. They cut straight across the meadows to the forest before turning north. No reason to walk through the sheep. They certainly were not avoiding the Sheep Man's black goats. Even if they were the nastiest creatures in all creation. Rumors that he'd lost a lamb to wolves five years previously were generally considered gross exaggerations.

"And then they left. Pulled out first thing in the morning." Kindly pressed her lips together. "I can't imagine you'll get another shot at the man, even if he comes back."

Kindly was a Sister of the Half Moon. As soon as her daughter Particular grasped power, Kindly would advance to the Triad of the Full Moon. And, of course,
those
Sisters were waiting to hold their granddaughters and advance in joy to the Triad of the Waning Half. Which explained her exasperation with a Crescent who couldn't even manage to lose her virginity.

"I think it was great." Question had sneaked up unheard. "I wish I'd have seen it."

Kindly shook her head. "It was painful to watch. The man deserved it, but honestly, Never should have seduced him first."

Never winced. Their group of women, seventeen total, seemed so tiny against the spread of the valley, the hundreds of sheep. She turned and followed her grandmother, a hundred-and-twenty-year-old
repository of academic knowledge and the traditions of a witches' pyramid. Blissful was not much younger. They were two deaths away from losing incredible powers and abilities.

I can throw rocks around.

The forest trail was shaded and cold; patches of snow lingered to the north of the large trees. The trail wound about, turned east to reach the hard black rock of the mountains, and finally dropped down into the gully. Mist rose from the trickle of water, and the temperature of the air rose, along with the faint odor of the hot springs. But the slight wind flowing through the gully cleared the air above the springs themselves. The arc of a low cliff sheltered the three springs, and the pools that gathered their water. There was no vegetation here, just the clean dark rock and the water. A stream of cold water, snow melt, poured over the cliff to the left, and splashed into the first pool, cooling it. The overflow cascaded into the second pool, and then the third.

Idea tested the temperature of the third pool, and nodded her approval. The girls were already shedding their clothing, and Never stripped and joined them, easing carefully into the hot water.

Justice was leader today.

"Sisters of the Moon, our power comes from the heavens and the earth. From the rock and the stars. Our magic does not drain from the living, as a blood mage, nor from the storms as a lightning mage. We feel and use the attraction between the heavenly bodies, tap it for our needs. The greatest power is the attraction of the sun for the earth, the second power is the attraction of the earth for the
moon. Pulled between these two forces, the earth is heated, and that is the heat you feel here."

Indeed. Never could feel the power. It was strong here, nearly as strong as on the peak of Mount Frost during the midsummer full moon, where they convened the whole pyramid once a year to celebrate advancement through the phases. This year Opinion's and Particular's inclusion in the Tier of the New Moon would be celebrated. And maybe, Never eyed the girl, maybe Question's advancement to the Crescent Moon. That would over-fill the Triad, but surely one of the Sisters would manage a baby before the next year's midsummer
full moon.

"Relax and meditate in the heat of the earth, absorb the power."

Kindly dropped a stern glare on Question, and the girl lowered the hand that had been about to splash Opinion. The girl leaned back and floated, instead. Couldn't she feel the power?

Never relaxed into her own meditations, seeking to first store the power, and then shunt it aside, so she didn't overfill and injure herself. The elder Sisters had warned that a woman could even be driven insane or die if she tried to hold too much power. How could a woman come by that much power? Would she be able to hold more and more as she advanced? If she ever advanced. She'd heard that witches did gradually gain strength, even without losing their virginity.
I don't want to find out how long "gradually" is.

"The first step up the Pyramid of the Moon is to grasp power. To consciously manipulate the abilities most of you have used to a tiny degree subconsciously all your lives. The next step is to learn to channel power around your body, and gain major bodily awareness. Loosing your virginity is the fastest, most certain means of learning to channel. Bodily awareness leaps into focus with childbirth. The nine
months—or more—between are the most intense training period of your lives. You should have the academics already, learned since you first grasped power. You know how to collect and disburse power, and can hold a physical shield. Now is time to learn metal-working, differential detection of rock types, ores and gems. After you have given birth and advanced to the Tier of the Half Moon, you will learn to use your new bodily awareness for the diagnosis of ills and healing. The years as a Half Moon will hone your skills in all disciplines, and further advancement, to the Full Moon when your daughter grasps power, and the Waning Half Moon when you become a grandmother will add additional power-collecting abilities and thus additional power to all your workings. As you reach menopause, another large step becomes possible. You can learn the techniques of traveling and building.”

"But today we will concentrate on the Sisters of the Crescent Moon. You are able to store power and shunt power away. Two of you have learned to channel power. You need to learn to control the channeling. Not just push it away so it does not enter you, but to be a conduit, so the power flows through you to where you want it to be, and does what you want it to do." Kindly shook her head at Never. "This is not something a virgin can do. Mostly and Likely, you didn't quicken, but you should have learned to channel during your sexual experience." She frowned as both women looked blank. The older woman stood up and stepped out of the pool. She returned with two small copper ingots. "Feel these, metal from the deep earth, let the power flow through you, from the pool to the copper."

They each took an ingot and concentrated on it.

"No, no, no! You are still shunting power, bouncing it off yourself and letting it fly anywhere. Let it enter you, and then guide it out, into the metal."

Never couldn't see that they were doing anything but staring at the copper bars in dismay. When Likely fumbled hers, Never dunked herself and grabbed it. She shook the wet hair out of her eyes and looked at the copper bar. It seemed so full of potential, but her attempt to mentally twist it skittered weakly off the surface. She handed it back, scowling.
I will not be weak. Even if I have to walk to Wallenton and pounce on some fat clerk.

***

"Lefty, you're looking a bit odd." Bail eyed the scout narrowly. The wiry young Veronian could track a deer on stone, and an enemy through magic, or so he jokingly claimed.

"I circled up 'round the north end of the valley, there was a funny smell to the air." he wiped a nervous hand through his tawny hair, so close to the tone of his skin and eyes it was surprising he'd never picked up the nick name "Lion." Probably the soft, high-pitched voice. No roar there. "Found some hot springs. Powerful magic there, and then these women came. Young ones. Pretty ones." He blushed, his eyes sliding toward the lieutenant. "Stripped off their clothes and climbed right in."

"Did you join them?" Byson sneered.

"No, sir. I don't have truck with witches. That's what they were, talking about the sun  and the moon. I came away quick."

"Very sensible of you, Lefty." Bail dismissed him with a nod, and the young man slipped away from the fire. Bail stood up and wandered back toward the keep. They'd reached the Fort at sundown, and Bail wasn't chancing the interior until it had been inspected in daylight.

As he'd expected, the sergeant joined him shortly.

"Could they really be witches, Gruff? I haven't heard of a single one that escaped the Auralian War, but surely, here or there, some survived."

"Nor me." The sergeant scruffed his boot through the thin grass that had rooted in the stony ground. "It's supposed to be a good thing, to have witches about." His voice was uncertain.

"We're not used to magic, any more." Bail raised his face to the bright stars above. "It's something that happens in tales, not in real life. Well, except for the King's Mage. And I've never seen him do anything besides forecast the weather, and anyone can do that."

"No wizards left in Verona either." Lefty piped up.

Bail sighed. "Didn't I dismiss you?"

"Figured you didn't want to talk in front of the lieutenant. Poor guy, they got him targeted."

Gruff shifted uneasily. "How do you figure that?"

"Ah, all the stories have a witch play a guy over, drive him up the wall, until he takes her, then they drop him cold." Lefty shifted his eyes toward Bail. "Good thing the king sent his nephew along. Otherwise you'd be the one they were stalking."

Bail's stomach clenched. "Nonsense. I'm too ugly to chase."

Gruff scratched his bristly chin. "There're a couple of the men that're pretty handsome. Maybe we'd better send them out the furthest. Just in case."

Bail nodded, but turned to Lefty. "What else do you know about witches?"

"They always come in threes. Or sixes or nines or even more. There were nine at the hot springs. Three that were probably in their thirties, damn good lookers though, like noblewomen. The lieutenant’s friend and two about her age, and three girls, just budding," he cupped his hands over his chest, “you know?"

"Right." Bail rubbed his eyes. "What about mages and wizards; aren't they just the same, only male?"

Lefty looked shocked. "Certainly not! Witches' powers are of the earth,
mages are water and wind, wizards get their powers from fire. Of course, they all blend together, nothing is ever truly pure."

"What do you mean, their powers come from earth, water, wind, and fire? What about blood mages
? And the king's magician is supposed to be a storm mage."

"Like I said, nothing is pure. Even solid rock has a bit of water, wind and fire in it, but it comes the closest to pure, which is why witches are so powerful. Blood mages,
that's water, with some earth and water in it. Storms are wind and water, and fire as well if there's lightning. Wizards can influence lightning even better than a storm mage, and control any ordinary fire. The strongest wizards could pull power down from the sun itself—but  then the sun is another heavenly body, and as such contains the earth powers as well, so it all comes around in a circle."

"How did you learn all of that?" Bail mentally kicked himself for asking. Lefty's enslavement in Auralia and escape to the Kingdom of the West was a subject best not looked into. He knew what the A
uralians did to their slaves. They weren't called savages because of a lack of civilization, but because of their decadence.

"Nothing to do but read in a harem." Lefty's jaw was clenched.

"Well, you keep your eyes on them; we'll send the other scouts up the mountains."

Lefty hunched his shoulders, but nodded. The other scouts would do something foolish if confronted by nine naked women. Lefty was unfortunately immune to that sort of influence.

So Bail could concentrate on finding this "new pass" the King's Magician had "seen" and not worry about what was at his back.

***

Answer rung her hands, fretting. The omens were all bad. Three young women of the Crescent Moon, and not a single one of them pregnant. The youngest hadn't even managed to lose her virginity. Mind you, up here in the Valley there weren't any young men to practice their flirting with, so she'd been incredibly heavy-handed. But kicking him in his male parts! She pushed herself to her feet and paced.

A girl with sixteen,
sixteen
, moon flows that hadn't shown the faintest sign of reaching out and grasping the power of the earth.

"This valley was our refuge after the war, after all the pyramids had been shattered and destroyed." The other four women watched her pace, and kept their silence. "It was what we needed, then. Have we missed a sign? Should we have left?"

"Answer," Blissful's voice was reproving. "You know perfectly well that before the war only half of the girls ever reached power. I've been wondering how you managed to tip the odds."

Answer shook her head. "Not I. But perhaps some of the old gods had a hand in the matter. Perhaps we're just returning to normal."

She stopped at the patter of running feet. Question, in her usual brown hunting clothes, peeked through the door. Even excited and out of breath she remembered her manners. Pity about the power.

"Speak, child."