Comet Fall (Wine of the Gods) Read online

  She remembered a statue of a laughing boy on a horse and fled the village with its painfully loud voices. Not screaming, but nearly as painful in their proximity. And the screaming was still there. The big barn on the outskirts, another corridor right there. A dome of rock in a bubble. She scratched at it and opened the door. It was full of bronze statues and heavy with potential. Alive.

  She looked desperately at the laughing boy. "The screams would go away if I went through a gate, wouldn't they? But I don't have a gate, they're so far away." A statue of a wagon and a team of horses. "Too slow." A saddled and bridled horse. "Are you fast, horse?" The statue seemed to think it was, so she peeled off the covering to find the real horse underneath and mounted. "Take me to a gate. Fast." Then all she could do was cling. And hope the horse knew where to go.

  Half a world away, fires raged and people died. She couldn't keep the pain out, and reeled in the saddle. The horse shifted to keep her weight centered and kept moving.

  She endured.

  The horse staggered a bit, grunted as he tackled a hill. There was a glowing spot up there . . .

  The horse leaped into the glow.

  The screams chopped off, the pain faded.

  Silence. Blessed silence.

  She slid off the horse and collapsed onto winter killed grass.

  "I'm sorry. I tried to save you."

  She vaguely wondered if she could ever go back . . . to wherever that was. Then she let sleep take her.

  Chapter Forty

  1376 Spring Equinox

  Mount Frost

  Sixty-six strong, the Pyramid of Mount Frost surrounded the final spire. It was chilly, so much earlier than their usual pilgrimage. Three months since the Comet had, mostly, been diverted.

  Answer climbed to the pinnacle. "Sisters of the Mount Frost Pyramid. It is time to chose."

  Furious and Curious climbed up beside her.

  Delight walked around the spire, and stood beneath the place she had occupied so long. "Sisters of the Ash World Pyramid, come here."

  "Sisters of the Rip Crossing Pyramid. Come here." Verse walked to the north side of the spire.

  "Sisters of the Karista Bay Pyramid. Come here." Trump walked to the last side.

  The rest of the witches stirred into movement, children carried or clinging.

  Whoop and Ask joined Verse, and then Xanthic, Ultra and Iron came as a united triad.

  Most of the witches chose to stay in Ash or to move across the Ash gate to the World beyond.

  Justice and Never stayed officially with the Mount Frost Pyramid, but everyone knew they'd be on the Prairie Coast World with the Wizards, and their school.

  Cost and Zenith joined Trump, surrounded by their children, carrying babies.

  "This is probably the last time we will meet, all of us, together, but our hearts and souls will know each other. We must all travel regularly, to assure that our descendants know us all, every witch. We will always train our sisters from smaller pyramids, we must always trade knowledge."

  And the single Triad of the Dark Crescent up on the top tier began the song of greeting as the full moon rose above the mountains.

  The Witch Families

  Founding witches of each family are in bold and underlined.

  Italicized witches were all born in 1353, nine months after that party.

  Fathers, if known, are in square brackets.

  Zero (mother of Furious, Curious)

  Curious 1294 year of birth, post Exile

  Idea 1315

  Opinion

  Tromp

  Verse [Harry]

  Furious [Coo] 1303

  Likely

  Exchange [Firth]

  Cost

  Answer (mother of Delight, Happy, Ultra)

  Delight 1294

  Kindly

  Particular

  Deal

  Whoop [Wolf]

  Happy 1303 [Harry]

  Never [Rufi]

  Rustle [Dydit]

  Xenotine [Wolf]

  Ask [Wolf]

  Leopardite [Rufi]

  Ultra [Wolf]

  Blissful (Glorious, Elegant, Swish)

  Elegant 1294

  Justice [MonSant]

  Question [The Sheep Man]

  Jek [Lefty Lebonift]

  Xanthic [The Sheep Man]

  Young [The Sheep Man]

  Bid

  Glorious 1303 [Beck]

  Mostly

  Free [Merc]

  Zenith

  Swish [Harry]

  Recent Joiners

  Catti

  Iron

  Zamm

  Jasper

  About the Author

  I was born and raised in California, and have lived more than half my life, now, in Texas.

  Wonderful place. I caught almost the first bachelor I met here, and we’re coming up on our thirty-third anniversary.

  My degree's in Geology. After working for an oil company for almost ten years as a geophysicist, I “retired” to raise children. As they grew, I added oil painting, sculpting and throwing clay, breeding horses, volunteering in libraries and for the Boy Scouts, and treasurer for a friend’s political campaign. Sometime in those busy years, I turned a love of science fiction into a part time job reading slush, unsolicited manuscripts, for Baen Books (Mom? Someone is paying you to read??!!)

  I've always written, published a few short stories. But now that the kids have flown the nest, I'm calling writing a full time job.

  Other Titles by the Author

  Wine of the Gods Series:

  Outcasts and Gods

  Exiles and Gods

  The Black Goats

  Explorers

  Spy Wars

  Comet Fall

  A Taste of Wine

  Dark Lady (coming February 2013)

  Growing Up Magic (coming May 2013)

  Short Stories:

  Fancy Farmer

  Lawyers of Mars

  Lost Boy

  Mall Santa

  Excerpt from an Upcoming Release

  From Dark Lady

  Roger trotted up and stopped his horse across her path.

  "Where did that horse come from?" In the dim light he was peering closely at Phantom.

  "He belongs to my employer, Lady December."

  "I know that, but where did she get him?"

  The Prince . . . Captain Alpha walked his horse up to them. "She said she bred him herself, off in this mystery kingdom."

  Liz turned to the captain. "She just rode him into the stable yard, umm, a week ago. I was talking to the tavernmaster about a job, and she hired me on the spot, needing all sorts of help."

  "What's she living on?" Roger turned his horse so she could move again.

  "She opened an account at the Exchange, which is probably more than I should say about my own employer."

  Captain Alpha pushed his horse forward. "But what if she was a spy? Arbolian, perhaps?"

  Liz felt suddenly ill. "Well, I'd most likely suggest you get a proper warrant and ask at the Gold Exchange about the coinage she sold."

  "Oh really?" Roger purred. "Gold coins?"

  "There are so many things that are strange about her. Cotton, for instance. It's like she's never seen cotton before. And prams, and she asked about magic. I took her to Church yesterday, and she didn't know any of the responses." Liz huddled miserably in the saddle. "They worship other gods in Arbolia, don't they?"

  The Prince patted her shoulder. His horse wasn't as tall as Phantom, but he was taller than she was. It put them eye to eye. "It may be nothing more than my over caution. But if she does anything . . . detrimental to the kingdom, do let me know." He smiled charmingly as they entered the stable yard. "And really, she probably had a country manor house attacked by bandits, and fled, traumatized, and I'm being all paranoid about spies."

 

 

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