Wine of the Gods 4: Explorers (28 page)

Florian
cringed at the grit of heavy hooves on rock, approaching. He broke, conquering panic long enough to grab Greeson and pull him out of the water, drag him . . . He cast a panicked look back. The nightmare horse reared, then faded in the fog. He dragged Greeson another hundred meters, then laid him down to check for a pulse. Actually, he could hear the man breathing. His face and hands were burned badly, his clothes had melted, here and there, and stuck to the underlying skin. Florian started up in panic as figures melted out of the fog, then collapsed in relief. The troopers were back.

They split me
dic duties with a hyperactively alert watch on all sides. And carried Greeson away as soon as possible.

***

Never threw shields, physical and electromagnetic, across as much of the spectrum as she could manage, and wrapped them around the six Earthmen. Their weapons flashed, bright white explosions spreading across the shiny black surface. "It's not going to hold for very long." She ran forward and threw herself between the cliff face and the shield, wiggled through, Question and Lefty followed. The Earthmen caught on and threw themselves against the shield. Dydit cursed as they shoved him into the rock wall. Lefty grabbed him and pulled him through, leaving a bit of shirt and skin behind.

"That's it, Never has got to stop feeding you." Lefty trotted up the road and they followed.

"That juice wears off too fast," Dydit panted. "Should have brought some of the
good
stuff along. Oh, hell. God of War? God of the Roads? Damn it, do we need to be near a fumarole to call a god?"

Never whimpered. "Or maybe
closer to more people, for the collective subconscious stuff to work?"

Ten miles to the nearest fumarole, perhaps?  They were all beyond tired. They walked, trying not to stagger. Never kept looking behind, and when she spotted a flicker of movement, threw a shield across behind them. It started spotting out in white almost immediately. She staggered away from it, kept going. There was no way they could possibly
travel, even if they reached a fumarole. She found herself face down blinking at the rock. Dydit hooked his hand under her arm. She pushed up and managed to get upright. Walking the right direction. Lefty and Question were ahead of them, leaving the road, walking out to a steaming pond on the edge of the river.

Then she was rolling down the rough talus slope, the rocks ripping at her. Never grabbed a handhold, flung a hand out to Dydit and saw the
deep burn on his back as he collapsed face first on the rocks. But he rolled just a little more and looked up the slope. His face was strange and blank and his hand rose jerkily, a finger pointed and a line of light leapt out to slash across the top of the slope. There was a cry from up there, and Never climbed down. "Dydit, can you come down?" She stared, she wasn't absolutely sure he was breathing, but he was getting up. She jumped to steady him. He stepped blindly and she manhandled his weight and got him on the flat, over to the pool. He slumped.

"God of War!" Never wondered why she wasn't addressing the man by name, but suddenly he was there. Black horse rearing
. The helmeted head turned for a quick survey.

And then Nil and Justice were there
, too. The most powerful wizard alive, and his witch wife. Question's parents. Never sagged, letting the exhaustion win.
If they can't handle it, no one can.
  Justice had an open bottle of wine, and knelt to dribble it into Dydit's mouth. Nil held his head frowning down at his student. The black horse turned and charged up the talus slope. There were flashes of light, screams.

Justice reached out hesitantly to Dydit; Never could feel her channeling, but he resisted. "Dydit," Never's voice was shaking. "I seem to recall you once threatened Nil  with forcible power insertion. Now don't you make me do anything you might enjoy."

He gasped a faint breath, and his internal shield softened. Justice sent him a careful trickle of power. Never tried reaching for Earth, and whimpered a bit at the pain.

Nil scrunched down beside her. "I figure you'd better have a gulp of this stuff too, Never." He reached toward Dydit, who flinched. "You're worse than me, boy." He handed Never the bottle.

She took a mouthful, swallowed. Handed it to Lefty who helped Question drink, then drank himself. Never took it back and held it for Dydit. "Better drink it Goat, I'm thinking about going up to the road and checking on those guards."

"Don you dare," he grabbed weakly at the bottle, swallowed.

She pulled a little power, and fed him in trickles, and at some point realized that they were at the Ash hot springs, the witches' hot springs. She stretched out beside Dydit and cradled his head on her arm. "Wine or no wine, I'm too tired to walk far enough to find a bed."

The sun was in her eyes and the birds were singing. She turned away from the light and sat up suddenly. Stiffly. She was still on the warm rocks. Some kind soul had managed to put a thin mattress under Dydit. His chest rose and fell regularly. She stretched, and looked around. Question and Lefty, sound asleep, Nil and Justice sitting wearily, leaning on each other. Justice was smiling though, as she turned to look at Never.

"Got all your chicks home safely, Mother Hen?" She kept her voice quiet.

They both nodded, but Nil sighed when he looked at Dydit. "That's boy's going to be madder than hell. At least I hope he's not scrambled up enough to not be. I did something I
promised
him I would never do. I didn't even think about it, just jumped right in and took control while he was dying."

Never gulped. "That was why he looked so
—dead."

"Technically he was, but not really.
Takes a while for the cells to start dying, so you've got a brief window for fast repairs. Taking control like that, it's the worst thing one wizard can do to another."

"But you gave the control back to him?"

"As soon as he was close enough to the fumarole for me to travel to him." Nil sighed. "I don't know if I should leave now or get it over with."

Dydit growled. "Don't be stupid. You needed me practically right on top of the fumarole for Recognition. If you hadn't come they would have killed Never. The main reason I hate you is that you are always right." He was quivering, and Never laid down beside him and touched him carefully. He flung an arm around her and tucked his face into her chest. Breathing in long controlled sobs.

"Never, do you mind awfully if I don't ever die? It was really painful and scary and that was
before
Nil took over." His voice was a shaky whisper.

"I think that sounds like an excellent idea," Never whispered back.

More voices approached, and then light-weight rapid footsteps. Rustle and Havi ran up but finished their approaches as gently as butterflies. "Daddy?" in two voices, tentative touches. Dydit gathered them up in a hug.

"We brought soup." Havi whispered.

"Oh good. I'm hungry, but so tired I don't think I can chew."

When Nil helped prop him up, he gave him a crooked smile. "Did I make you promise anything
else
that stupid?"

"Hmm, there's the one about never tell Never."

"I managed to confess to that one myself. The wretched witch laughed." Dydit took a sip of soup  "Umm, tastes like yours, Never. I'll bet your mother made it."

"Grandmother, you oaf. And Rustle and Havi both helped." Answer sat down cross
-legged with the flexibility and grace of a much younger woman.

"Now, I don't suppose you four could manage to tell us what happened?"

"When I was on the other side of the gate, on Earth, people wearing a particular uniform arrested me. I escaped. When we got back to the wagon, we caught the horses, and headed back here. Two gyps carrying men in that same uniform caught up to us the second day, opened fire without trying to talk first. While I was under arrest, they kept assuming I was from a place called the One World. I can only think that they must be at war, they way they reacted to us." Never frowned. "I hope they don't follow the road and try to continue the battle."

Nil snorted.
"Those particular men are unlikely to. But this Earth has a huge population, according to the gods. Eat, then. I brought that old horse of Harry's up here. You can ride the rest of the way home."

They ate, and Dydit and Question rode the old horse back to the Wizard's Tower. Lefty borrowed another horse and headed for the Fort. Never sighed and walked home surrounded by family, and without Dydit. Again. Still.

8 July 3477

Dallas
Twelve fifty-three

Lon scrambled and made the supply gate. It was twilight on the other side.

The expedition f
rom the City had just returned to the gate camp. Mostly.

Julianne
Prescott's mention of the Special Agent and Troopers chasing down Dydit and Lefty had him turning immediately for the ridge. Prescott grabbed a company gyp and followed, with Meyers and Kolnavik jumping in with her. He ordered them back to camp, and found himself with a mutiny. So they all followed the Special Agent, unsure really why, other than turning around and just driving back to camp seemed impossible. Late in the afternoon, they picked up Roxy and Jefferson where the Agent had dumped them before running off in pursuit of the horse drawn wagon.

"They just suddenly sank." She sounded frightened. "I never thought about what magic that can build bridges could do, when used destructively. Their illusions are
so good. And then some of them weren't illusions. They, the agent and two guards were marathoners. They
ran
after Dydit and Lefty. The others were a bit slower. But they were running, too. Damn it, I kept trying to tell them about the magic, about how things really work. They just laughed and said it was holograms and tricks."

Jefferson growled. "She's nuts. She
really believes this crap about magic."

Lon pressed his lips together and counted to ten. "I should have expected to find
you
here, and a damned witch hunt that will ruin any chance of friendly relations with the natives."

"Natives, my ass. They're from One World."

Lon turned his back on him. The climbing line of the road was obvious against the cliff, and finally he turned the gyp that direction. There was no side rail on the road. It just jutted out from the cliff as it climbed the side all the way to where the river dived out of the glacier and canyon.

Three quarters of the way up it they found four guards
carrying a stretcher, with one bringing up the rear, looking spooked, despite carrying two laser rifles. Greeson was burned and blistered, but still breathing.

"They killed two troopers.
" One of the troopers said, as they inched by the first gyp, Greeson slung on a makeshift hammock of uniform jackets and laser rifles. "We need your gyps, one to get Mr. Greeson back to the gate, and one to pursue the murderers." Lon had stopped his gyp right up against the cliff. 

Julianne looked out her door. There was a good three feet of space. But it wasn't wide enough to make her forget how high up they were. "I'll head back to camp. I'll report to that McCamey person if you aren't back in a couple of days, Lon."

He nodded and ordered Scott to leave as well. "There's a gate scheduled in two and a half days. Push the pace and get him through."

It was just as well Greeson was unconscious, so he didn't feel them manhandling him into the second gyp. Lon took a long look back.

One of the guards kicked Ivan out of the driver's seat. "Don't even think about it.
I
will back down the road." His voice was firm, and Ivan didn't argue, he hopped out and climbed in Lon's gyp. One of the Troopers, who evidently had medical training climbed in with his passenger. Then they were easing downward.

The
other agent and two troopers crowded into Lon's gyp. He put it in gear and headed up. He drove carefully ahead, turned the corner at the top of the ramp. They were still on a single lane shelf, level now, projecting over the river. Then the canyon widened and the flats beside the rivers spread out. It was dark under the line of the fog bank. Lon bit his lip.

"Keep going. Let's see if we can find the other two troopers."

Lon shot a glance over his shoulder, only then realizing the agent was Florian Hastenberg.

Hastenberg and Jefferson. No wonder this got so fucked up.

He kept to the flattest areas, and crossed a side stream on a small arched bridge. The ground level mist was thin enough that they could see clearly in the headlights. He felt like he was driving in a tunnel, or cave, the roof of heavy fog pressing down on him.

Two small bridges later they found the bodies of the troopers. The killers hadn't even bothered to take their weapons.  Lon checked
the less damaged one carefully. No pulse. No breathing. Not that he expected it. The burns weren't as bad as the agent's had been, but the body appeared to have been partially dismembered with a sharp blade. The second trooper had been beheaded. Blood stains ran over the damp stones. He told himself it was just the fog condensing, keeping the stains looking fresh. The killers were long gone.

At the guards insistence they drove on another fifty miles, without seeing a hint of the
natives. The Oners. Whatever they were. They turned around and, stopping only to pick up the remains of the two troopers, headed for the gate camp, trading off drivers through the night.

George assured him that the agent had still been breathing when the gate opened and they got him through. They left the building open and the anchor powered up, and were rewarded with a trip to Earth about midnight their time.