Wine of the Gods 03: The Black Goats (38 page)

The Sheep Man leaned back in his chair. "Would you like me to leave you alone to cogitate?"

"I need to write out so
me notes before I forget." The colonel eyed the man. "You are a wizard?"

"Oh yes. Mind you, I gave up all that tyrant king stuff
seven centuries ago. I came away with the goats and some really fine sheep, and stayed here through the last bout of cold and dark. The world has made an enormous leap forward, these last four hundred years."

"Four hundred years." Bail fidgeted. "We call it the Age of Exploration. When the Western Kingdom was founded, and the little trading towns along the border with Auralia grew into city states and then countries of their own. How old are the Old Roads?"

"A thousand years. They were completed before the comet fell. Just. I read books that said there was a port city on a large bay on the west coast. The maps bear little resemblance around the coasts, any coasts. I could correlate the mountain ranges, pretty much, and of course, the grosser features of the lands."

"You're not a god, so how can you be so old?"
the colonel asked.

The Sheep Man shrugged. "Magic? The gods meddling for so many years and generations we're no better than domesticated animals? They keep breeding themselves into the human bloodlines, you know? The so called Tyrant Wizards came to power during one of those bad times the old gods spok
e of. Right around the year six hundred, when the harvests were so bad the people would have raised up a worm if it could fill their children's bellies. I was born in Scoone, in the year seven twenty-four. The volcanoes there were still active when I was young, when I came to power.

"As the volcanoes cooled, the wizards' power cooled with them. And we weren't needed, as we had been needed to ripen crops, to bring light to grow the crops, when the days were too dark." He shrugged. "I should have walked away then, instead of sitting in the middle of a swarm of wizards, fighting over the disappearing pool of power from the volcanoes. In the end, no-one needed power and we were all cast out or killed. The last spate of volcanism wasn't bad enough to bring magic back into control. The regular kings could still control the magic workers. The bad times were over so quickly that when the magic workers rebelled, they could be killed
—they weren't needed. I heard about a few half-trained wizards in the last Auralian war, but I could never find any of them."

"When you were in power, was that the first 'bad period' after the comet fell?"

"No. The second good period, actually. The first is when the Gollian wizards that had survived the Fall re-organized, way down in the south; they were cast down some time after the dark ended. The Wizards ruled well out into the good climate period after, before we got so obnoxious the people threw us out. I ‘spose the first dark age was caused directly by the comet and the immediate volcanism. Then the skies cleared, for maybe fifty years. The third dark period started after about two hundred years of good weather and normal growing seasons. It was shorter, and not so bad. Bad enough that few records exist prior to it, mind you. Hence all the myths. The comet fall and the three waves of volcanism have all gotten rolled into a vague memory of 'dark ages' as if there had been only one."

The wizard studied the colonel. "Why the interest in history?"

"We're trying to understand what's happening with these goat wizards. What they want. Why they want it. What they might be planning in the long run. I don't think this helped."

The Sheep Man frowned. "In a way they are my fault. I suppose I should help corral them."

"Tell me about them."

"There were numerous factions in the Scoone court. Maleth. The Org
brothers. Mon Sant. Raide. Neet.  Deldrious. A lot more, but those are the important ones. Oh, King Nihility. Mustn't leave the Tyrant out. All told about sixty strong wizards ganged up to take down the Wizard King. The King took out eight of them. Wrapped them up in a web of spells, the first and foremost of which was a transformation spell."

"He turned them into goats?" Bail boggled.

"Yes, very large nasty ones. Then Deldirous and the other fifty or so forced a chain spell on the King. Limited his ability to either collect power and to expend it. Tossed him in the dungeon and started maneuvering for advantage against each other, because they'd never dreamed that Maleth, Raide and Orgaphos Org could all be taken down."

The colonel
rubbed his forehead. "Are you saying that these wizards are  very powerful, trained wizards from the days before we even have written records? Just myths and tales?"

"Yes, but they are still just men. The Inquisitor General killed Maleth. Oscar and Bran killed Raide and Mon Sant. All you have to wor
ry about is the Org brothers—three of them—and Neet, who's a nasty backstabber; a powerful wizard but not much of a leader."

"That's only seven. What about the eighth?"

"Maleth had a young apprentice." The Sheep Man shrugged. "Once Maleth was dead, he was free of any bindings that could have made him a problem. I've been keeping him busy doing useful things."

"Excuse me." Colonel Negue straightened. "I don't believe I properly caught your
name
."

"Nihility."

The colonel closed his eyes, as if in pain.

"And no, I don't and never did, eat babies. I mostly herd sheep. Very relaxing."

"So. What do you think these wizards are up to?"

Nihility interlaced his fingers and propped his chin on them. "Take the most arrogant, insufferable noble you've ever had to work with. Make him smart. Make him able to use magic,
and able to feel it slipping away, and him getting weaker. Lock him up for a nice long time, and then let him out."

"They want physical power—t
he ability to grant life and death. They want magical power—from the Sun and other sources of Fire, such as volcanoes and large foundries. Lightening. They know they are the best, higher than the nobles, and they expect the World to view them as such. I'd say, to treat them like gods, except the gods mostly just want to be treated like people."

He unwound his fingers and tapped them on the table. "They are afraid of me. They know that I had them in my power for a long time, and still have layers and layers of spells wrapped around their souls."

"You can control them?"

The Sheep Man shook his head. "I can fight them. When I defeated them before, I was on top, with the best power sources. It took sixty of them to bring me down, and I still took eight of them with me."

The colonel stood, paced around then retuned and sat. "So they are looking for power, both for itself, and to use to defend themselves against you. Will they be looking specifically for a defensive position? Or is power more important?"

"Umm, once they have the power, they can make the physical defenses that will limit what I can do to them," the old wizard king frowned. "Are there . . . do you know of any currently erupting volcanoes in Auralia? Or anywhere else for that matter. That is where they will go. And good riddance, as far as I'm concerned." His mouth twitched in a suppressed smile. "I know where they are, and they know where I am. They stopped in Ferris for two months, then moved on after that failed attempt to boost Rivolte. Stayed for six months in Tehat, and are currently moving west at about thirty miles a day. I've been wondering about boats."

Bail nodded. "The ports for trading ships that go to the Cove Islands. I've talked to sailors. They all say there are several volcanoes there, and almost continual eruptions of one volcano or another."

"Well, Colonel, there you have it. Most likely they are headed for the Cove Islands, to establish control over a power source for magic. They will most likely take political control as well, although whether that will be obvious or subtle is impossible to say. Once the wizards are there, their ability to affect the rest of the World will be fairly limited. Not zero, but perhaps not enough to be worth starting a war over. A magical war, mind you, which none of The King's officers know how to fight." Nil hunched his shoulders unwillingly. "If his majesty does decide to fight them, my services are his to command, under certain circumstances. Mainly that I have tactical control, because I know the sorts of weapons they will have available."

Bail sat back and thought about a magical war. Not good. He automatically took inventory of the room.

The two Ash boys were gone, no doubt off with old friends. The two lieutenants were smirking at two women who had joined them at their table. They didn't actually look like locals, the brunette had the distinctive tawny Veronian skin and the one with the lustrous black curls had the slanted eyes of many Cove Islanders. Ash was growing. It had an actual dry goods store. A school. Babies everywhere.

The three other troopers were at a third table, with female company, of course.

Elegant had a two year old daughter with dusky skin that made one wonder if the father wasn't, perhaps, a certain officer from Farofo.  And the young woman called Never had a girl as blonde as she was, or Lieutenant Lord Byson Trehem. Well, it wasn't like he hadn't been hearing stories about
that
wine for three years now. In a small village like Ash, the herd of two year olds was quite noticeable.

A couple of the young ladies who had eaten in the Tavern were very pregnant. Looked a bit young for it, in his opinion.

Speaking of Elegant . . . "Captain, a pleasure to see you again. This is my colleague, Happy." Another of the local blondes, this one in her thirties. He wondered if she was related to Never. The blonde hair and blue eyes contrasting with even darker skin, rendering an attractive face strikingly beautiful.

Bail introduced
the colonel, who was staring at Happy. "If you'll pardon my asking, you two are both witches?"

"We are."

"Join us, won't you? Neither of you were on the trip from Havwee to Karista."

Elegant nodded. "My daughter Justice and granddaughter Question told me all about it."

Bail turned to Happy, "As often as I've been through the village, I've never stayed long enough to figure out who is related to whom."

"We're all the d
escendants of three witches who survived the Auralian war. Answer is my mother, Never is my daughter."
Daughter!

Elegant smiled, "Blissful is my mother, and also Glorious's. Delight is Answer's other daughter. Our third ancestor is no longer alive. Zero was the mother of Furious and Curious."

"You each have two daughters?"

They both laughed. "That wine! Old Gods, how that wine has gotten around. Two or three daughters each." Elegant tossed a look at the foreign girls. "Plus we've found some talented youngsters. We should probably try harder to find more.
You've met my daughter Justice, and now I have a three year old, Bid."

The colonel
nodded. "That wine. I was stabbed through the lung and dying. Two tiny sips and I'm up giving orders and fighting to not get fresh with someone else's wife." His eyes twinkled. "If only I'd realized at the time that the ladies were witches and not married to the men."

Happy snickered, and poked the Sheep Man. "Justice has been known to act rather married."

The Sheep Man looked smug.

The colonel
nodded. "And I've envied you that daughter, ever since that trip. Your granddaughter, madam is an extraordinary young woman."

Elegant blinked.
Not used to people praising the girl?
Bail wondered.

"How do the witches feel about these goat wizards?" Rufi just laid that one out there and sat back.

Elegant got quite still for a long moment, and Happy frowned. The Sheep Man tilted his chair back, then grinned. "I'd better go check the kids, then these two can be frank."

"Thank you," Elegant nodded, as he left. She sighed. "The goats were a fixture in the valley. We didn't really know what they were . . . I suppose we all sort of knew 'the Sheep Man' was a chained wizard, but he was under some genuinely wicked spells, one of which made him a drooling idiot most of the time. My daughter broke that spell just seventeen years ago. The man you know is profoundly different than the tragic figure we older witches grew up around."

"The goats always avoided witches." Happy took over. "I know of only two times there were problems. Once a witch tried some experiments on one, and, umm, the goats took umbrage. The other was during that party three years ago, with half the valley incapacitated. The Sheep Man got extremely incapacitated. That's when three of the goats escaped."

Elegant eyed the men. "Do you understand that deflowering a virgi
n brings a burst of raw power? Especially a virgin with magical potential. Apparently it's a way to break a spell by brute force. I hadn't realized that, and perhaps the wizards didn't know either. Several days after that party, with everyone dragging around and still exhausted, four youngsters, all virgin, took a bottle of
that
wine, up on a hill, and wound up raped by goats."

"That . . . that sounds nasty. We've heard from the women in Ferris that the wizards raped, that said they generally did it as goats. Did your youngsters survive? Have babies?"