Wine of the Gods 03: The Black Goats (39 page)

Happy nodded. "They did. So. Three goats escaped that night. They encountered some Ba'alists that were on their way up here. They assaulted the advance party." She steepled her hands. "Understand that we acknowledge the supremacy of King Rebo. But we defend ourselves against bandits, even when they wear the tabards of a church. We understand that the King has to be careful around the Ba'alists, they are a formidable power block."

Rufi nodded. "I understand a century of Church Troops disappeared into thin air. Surely not three goats?"

"No. The whole village turned out for the fight. And the five goats that were still here mixed in as well. They are
large strong
goats, with a man's understanding sort of in control. The Ba'alists have a habit of celibacy. The goats were stopping in mid-battle to rape virgins before they killed them. All the goats escaped."

"Thought the Sheep Man said he still had one?"

"Dydit is no longer a goat. Whether he is a nice person, is debatable." Happy scowled.

Bail blinked.
Dydit?
He remembered the young man who'd driven into the Fort in a Traveler's wagon. Who'd reported on the Veronian Princess, before Lefty returned.
One of the Goat Wizards? And stepping out with Never, who is her daughter. No wonder she's scowling.

Rufi sat up. "This goat wizard is still here? We can see him?"

"Sure, c'mon out to the wizard's tower." The Sheep Man returned. "Are you done ruining my reputation, or shall I leave again?"

"Go away, Nil. We'll send them out in the morning. It's too late for anyone but you to go tromping through the snow."

He laughed and departed, following Rufi's officers out the door with their new friends. Bail thought briefly about warning them, but they'd proven to be such arrogant toads . . . and Elegant was smiling at him . . .

And Rufi was back to studying Happy, "Have I met you before? Wallenton, umm, guess it would have been in, umm, last half of 3427 that I was stationed there. They post young officers all around the kingdom, familiarize us with each province." Then he shook his head, "Actually you're too young, err, never mind."

Happy eyed him in return. "Oh, I get into Wallenton every year or two, but it's highly unlikely . . . "

"I'm sure you would have remembered, I was a nasty royal snot back then. Even Bail, here couldn't stand me."

"You do look a lot like a certain Ruffian I ran around with for a few weeks."

Bail snickered. "Do you know, I'd forgotten that was your nickname." He got up and followed Elegant out. Rufi was on his own.

***

Oscar rapped on the door apprehensively. He stepped back a bit so he stood shoulder to shoulder with Bran.

"Yes? What . . . Oscar?" Fava stared at him and then Juli slipped up beside her and stared equally hard at Bran.

"Umm, we, umm, thought we ought to . . . "

Fava sighed. "Come in you two. We might as well get this over with."

Bran gulped. "Juli, look, we were fifteen."

"We thought we were going to go up on a hill and maybe kiss a little." Oscar said. "We weren't planning on anything else. Whatever we may have dreamed."

Juli shook her head. "We were both sixteen, and angry because the Circle wasn't letting us grow up and take our places. We talked it over and decided we could choose who would deflower us, and, and . . . "

"And they were already saying things about that wine." Fava said. "I don't think they realized, about the fertility magic being so strong. We weren't planning on babies, just you two. "

Oscar boggled a bit. "You were planning on going all the way?"

"Yep. It never occurred to us that our blood spells to prevent pregnancy just simply wouldn't work. But it worked out very well for us, actually." Juli waved around at the house. "We wanted our own homes, where we'd be out from under our mother's thumbs, and we did realize that it came with a husband, whether we wanted him or not. With, with everything that happened, well, we refused to marry, and the Witches decided to build us a house. So the Mages had to help or look really bad."

"It's a great house." Fava said, "C'mon, I'll show you."

So they got the tour. The spacious kitchen, the basement stuffed with shelves and filled with jars and barrels and sacks, the childrens' room, with four toddlers sound asleep.

Oscar stepped carefully over toys on the floor and studied the four children. Two with black hair, one with red, one with blonde.

"We figure my little girl Vala is probably yours, and Juli's little boy Brad is Bran's, although the way we were all carrying on, it could just as easily be the other way around. Kett and Cor
—well I guess we all know where that black hair and honey eyes came from, don't we?"

Oscar winced. "That was such a nightmare."

"But Juli and I can't run away and pretend it didn't happen."

Oscar winced again. "Bran and I are in the Army. We can't be here, to help or, or anything."

"We could send money." Bran frowned at the little red head in the crib.

"Oh, Old Gods. We’re working. We’re teachers at the school. Did you see the school? We don’t want you
r money and we can’t go back to being giddy girls swooning over your useless looks. Will you two please just go away? We didn't any of us want this, but we’ve got it, and made it as good as we can. You two . . . have lost any claim on us. And frankly, I don't want to add either of you to my list of dependents." Juli stomped out.

Oscar swapped shrugs with Bran and followed her. Fava brought up the rear, and the two women stood shoulder to shoulder in the door as they walked away.

"Well," Bran said, "They didn't throw the crockery at us, nor ask us to marry them."

"Is that wha
t we wanted? Do we look like leeches or something, to be called dependents?" Oscar glanced back at the snug house with the lantern's glow in the windows. Turned away. "Let's get some dinner."

***

Lieutenant Lord Beni Kestle leaned over to Lieutenant Lord Gode Denacil and whispered, "I'll never again complain when a common officer drags me out to a provincial village."

Gode nodded. "I've never seen such a high density of good looking cunts in my life." Coming from a man who regularly attended royal balls, that was quite a compliment. Beni agreed, entirely.

Zammara shook her shining black curls. "I wish it was summer, we could show you the hot springs. Not that they aren't still hot, but it's cold for a walk." A little smile crooked the corner of the girl's mouth, "we generally bathe nude."

The mere thought was enough warm him up. "Walking through snow would be a bit, umm."

"Oh no!" Catti said, all wide eyed. "We keep the path clear."

"Really?" Gode smirked at her, "Perhaps you should show us these hot springs after all."

"I'll grab a bottle of wine," Zammara winked, "There's some with a reputation you wouldn't believe!"

***

"Let them sleep in." Bail advised Rufi in the morning. "Young twits like that haven't our kind of endurance."

"Old gods." Rufi stretched, a broad grin spreading across his face. "Those myths about witches are true. I'd almost forgotten."

The Tavern boys had their horses saddled, and they rode out, at a walk on the frozen road.

Bail looked over at him. "You know, I'd forgotten what a snot you were. You were so different a few postings later when we wound up serving together again."

Rufi started laughing. "Deflowering a witch as a life changing experience? Bail, do you realize that I might be a father?"

"D'you mean to say your other girlfriends never caught?"

"Not that they ever told me, and they would have." Rufi shrugged and eyed the swarms of little kids headed for the school. "How are those six wizard babies doing?"

"The oldest is almost two, the youngest a year and a half. Do you want to see them?"

"No. I'm just curious."

Bail spotted a spectacular blonde herding three of the toddlers, and called to her. "Never? Could I have a word?"
He swung down off his horse. Rufi gave him a curious glance, then joined him on the ground.

The little blonde girl beside the woman looked them up and down and decided they were uninteresting, and ran off with the other kids. It looked like a snowman was under construction in the school yard.

"Do all the kids go to school every day?" Bail asked.

"No, or not the little ones, at any rate." Never answered. "We've got a meeting today."

Bail introduced Rufi, "Never was the witch that did the survey of the New Lands last summer, connecting the lava lands to the faults in the south."

"Your scout, and Dydit helped as well," she dimpled. "I'm afraid the runaway lovers and the God of Love weren't much help, although they were good company so long as you could keep Romeau from spouting poetry."

Rufi grinned, "We got a dose last night. Hmm, the God of Love? Well love does rot the brain, which would explain the poetry."

Her dark blue eyes sparkled as she laughed.

"I believe you're Happy's daughter, aren't you?" Bail asked innocently. Yep. Straight strong nose, square jaw, high forehead. She looked quite a bit like the whole royal family. Rufi was suddenly studying her intensely.

"The oldest," her eyes twinkled. "I don't have to explain about the wine to you do I, Captain?" She sobered a little. "It's odd, Ash being so much less remote, all of a sudden. Half of these children will know their fathers, when it used to be scandalous to even know their names."

Rufi shifted then, "You don't know who your father is?"

"Certainly not." she frowned a little, "Mother did say she caught first try, so maybe she knows," she shook herself a little. "Sorry to wander off like that, Colonel. At this point I'm tentatively planning on heading over the pass in the spring and mapping my way across. I especially want to see the central fumarole zone, and see if the other side is the same as this side."

"That would be very useful." Rufi stared at her a bit longer, then glanced at the school, "Umm, nice to have met you, Never. I, err look forward to seeing more of your work."

She gave them a bright smile and walked on.

Bail mounted, "Spectacularly good looking, isn't she. Cute little toddler, too. Congratulations, granddad. Baby looks a lot like Byson, don't you think?"

Rufi stopped dead with one foot in the stirrup. "
Byson?
Oh crap. He was almost as bad as I was at that age. And he's Heddi's son, they're cousins. Well, half cousins once removed. Heddi was King Haro's third wife's last child."

"He's married now, and there's nothing wrong with the little girl, so it's not a problem."

"Right. A bit late to worry about it, isn't it?" He heaved himself up on his horse and looked over at Bail, "What about you?"

"I was never a snotty noble, so the witches can't take credit for turning me into a responsible human being. On the other hand, Elegant's younger daughter is unusually dark skinned. One might almost think some wandering Far
ofo sired her. And I keep finding these excuses to come to the village."

"Always Elegant?"

"Yep. I think she's staked a claim."

"I'm going to have to find some excuses to get back here occasionally. Daughters and granddaughters.  Wizar
ds. Old gods." He snorted. "I think I'm glad all the magic is concentrated up here."

"I wrote up, as close to word for word as I could remember, what they said last night." Bail told him.

"When did you find the time?"

Bail laughed. "Early this morning. Maybe I should have let you sleep in with your
lieutenants. You appear to have gotten the full treatment. At least I have sense enough to stick to older women."

"Older? You do realize that they could be thousands of years old?"

"I don't think so. Well, maybe Answer and Blissful. But the rest of them were born here, since the war," he blinked in the bright morning sun. "The Auralian war sixty-four years ago. Do you suppose we could get any of them to write a history book?"

"I don't know. I hadn't realized how . . . normal Harry and the Auld Wulf were, for gods."

Bail nodded. "Yes, that was a bit scary last night. Really bad poetry."

Rufi whooped and spooked his horse. Reined him back gasping for breath. "Damn it Bail. I'd forgotten about your appalling sense of humor. What did he say, the heat of man, and something about doing everything wrong?"

"I suppose I shouldn't complain about a god's poetry." Bail shrugged.

"Ah, all right. When I think about gods, I suppose Lady Gisele was more what I pictured. Some one
seriously
uncanny. Not a bad poet with plumes in his hat." Rufi sobered. "I guess a Duke's rebellious son herding sheep is rather unimportant, compared to a comet that fell to Earth and killed everyone except the inhabitants of three or four towns. So let's go talk to a mere wizard or two."