Young Warriors (Wine of the Gods Book 10) Read online

  The bandit leader obviously realized that the worst thing to do was stop and turn back. He yelled commands, and they spurred their horses to the right of the wagons. If the crossbowmen got any of them, it wasn't clear in the dust. Up in the fort, Sergeant Allcott's men held their fire.

  ***

  Xen cursed as he spotted the bandits hiding behind the rolling barrier of the two wagons.

  He looked west, and spotted the patrol topping the ridge.

  Looked back at the bandits.

  If they get in amongst the mules, they'll keep us from an organized charge. And of course, try to kill us all.

  "Move them out. Run 'em!" He turned back and sent Pyrite down the track. "The first time I could actually use a lance, and I don't have one."

  Pyrite snorted.

  "Let's just see if we can slow them enough to keep them away from the mules." He drew his sword and charged straight at the leading bandit.

  The man's eyes widened as he took in the larger horse, the uniform. He wrenched his horse's head, trying to stop, turn . . . Pyrite hit the horse's shoulder as Xen extended his sword and braced himself.

  The sword slid into the man's ribcage. Xen jerked it out. The first wagon jolted past. The bandit's horse staggered sideways into another horse, then all the bandits were dodging the tangle, slowing . . . the second wagon shot past. Xen heard the commands from above, and put up a hard shield, shifted his weight. Pyrite spun and leaped forward.

  "Let's get out of the crowd, let the archers have at them." Xen spotted a bandit heading north.

  Pyrite spun and raced after him. The bandit hauled on his reins, looking for a place to run. Beyond him, Xen could see the Patrol forming up, lances dropping. The bandit headed east, off the track and into rough ground. Pyrite followed.

  Between the first barrage of arrows from above, and the charge, the bandits had no chance. Only two made it past the bowmen down closer to the track, they, and Xen's bandit out in the rough lands, were the only men to escape. Xen's bandit angled back for the road once he was beyond the reach of arrows.

  Xen was a stride behind him as they rounded the corner.

  The magical blow knocked him sideways. Pyrite scrambled to stay on his feet. Xen dropped his stirrups and rolled off. Where . . .

  A woman stood on a ledge twenty feet above the road. Perhaps forty feet away.

  Blonde hair so pale it was almost white. Tanned skin. Brilliant blue eyes.

  Glowing with power.

  Xen raised a shield against energy effects. How did she hit that hard, from that far away? Even Nil needs to be closer for physical force spells. Well, that he lets us see. He felt the power taking shape. He knew that shape, or something close to it. She was throwing an illusion.

  Horses galloped past. The troops.

  Xen spat dust out of his mouth and raised his voice. "Three of them, and . . . " She wasn't there.

  The officer didn't hesitate, probably hadn't heard Xen over the horses' hooves. Pyrite nudged him. Xen mounted, and rode closer to the cliff. It was either a very strong illusion, or the woman had departed under its cover.

  He rather suspected that the three bandits would also be as good as invisible.

  I need to have some aggressive spells right to hand, at all times. At least a stun spell. And shields. I ought to have shielded much faster. Automatically, like I did when I thought the arrows were headed our way. And work on the distance I can throw a spell.

  ***

  Garit's squad toted the barrels back up the hill, while he climbed through the rocks to talk to the few troopers left below.

  Baylor Trehem looked down from his mount. "Ha! Hiding in the rocks with your bow and arrow, I see."

  Garit set his teeth and looked around the bloody track. "Looks like we got at least half of them."

  Baylor turned away with a laugh. "Coward."

  Garit froze. Forced himself to breathe. Made himself relax. It was just a joke.

  ***

  That was the last, and very nearly the only, action their rotation saw.

  As the heat built up toward summer, their rotation came to a close, and they were given their new assignments and plenty of time to get there. There was even time for a celebration, across the border in Auralia, at the brothels that Rally had never ceased to look forward to for the entire six months. Despite his misgivings, Xen allowed himself to be dragged along. Some responsible person should be along, if nothing else. He even let his inner teenager out of the attic for the night.

  The others wore their flashiest civilian clothes. Xen was sent back to find something more suitable. He noted that his pants and sleeves, that had been too long nine months ago were now bordering on too short. Still growing. Should have left the libido locked up. "Why don't we just wear signs that say gawping tourist, double your prices, and laugh behind our backs?" he complained.

  Lord Baylor looked offended. "We're going to a very swank place. They won't let us in if we're dressed casually."

  The fancy Auralian name translated to River of Sand, and it was indeed posh. They paid a huge amount of money to get in, paid through the nose to eat dinner from low tables while sitting on cushions on the floor, and paid even more for the rather ordinary wine.

  The dancers were brilliant. With their tanned skin and bleached hair, only the colors of their very skimpy clothing and various flags and fans differed.

  For a second, Xen remembered the woman on the cliff . . . but that powerful witch was nothing like these kept—and probably captive—women.

  The dances centered on one incredible woman. A tiny thing, she was variously precise, liquid, gymnastic, suggestive and athletic. She very nearly defied gravity, and had every man in the place drooling and clapping.

  Xen drooled and contemplated dragging his sex drive back up to the attic and locking it in. How'd it get so strong? No wonder men act like such idiots!

  The last dance was a huge group dance, ending with the dancers dancing naked out into the audience and dimming the lights, and then they each had their very own dancer.

  In the dim light he was able to imagine he had the athletic girl, rubbing him and undressing him, running her hands over him and showing him where to rub her, and pulling him down to the cushions on top of her . . . In his moment of greatest distraction he felt a spell wrapping around his soul, and batted it away impatiently. The girl jerked under him, and he got himself up on his elbows so she could breathe. He slid out of her, down far enough to kiss her, sighing a bit to realize that as a prostitute she probably found him just one more boring customer.

  She slipped away, and he dressed as the lights started brightening, especially those by the front door.

  "Whoa. That was great. Didn't I tell you guys this place was great?" Rally was wearing a stupid grin on his face as they reached the street. Xen suspected that he was too. "And that girl! She chose me. Oh wow. She was so young. What is she doing in a place like that?"

  "Taking every penny you had on you." Lester said, checking his wallet. "Yep. Cleaned out."

  They all checked. Dominic was pissed and wanted to go back. They grabbed him. "No way. We're over the border, the authorities will laugh at us, and if we cause trouble, throw us in jail. The whores were just a bit more expensive than we'd realized." Lord Asti explained.

  "Don't call her that!" Rally pulled himself up tall.

  "Well, don't be stupid. Auralia is such a mess these days, teetering on the brink of civil war, that they don't have time to worry about some town guards holding up some Western soldiers for all the, umm, 'legal fees' their families can come up with."

  "Yeah, but . . . " Dominic was still in a mood to return to the River of Sand.

  They swapped looks all round and dragged him back across the border. The fort was ten miles north. It was a quiet ride, once Dominic gave up and Rally shut up.

  Xen zigged between grinning like an idiot, and worrying about that magical attack. It hadn't felt anything like what he'd heard described by men who'd had sex with a
witch, it hadn't been a power flow. He'd been so distracted he hadn't even sequestered it for later examination. In retrospect, it was probably the woman who had thrown it. Physical contact always helped with a charm. Umm. Physical contact. He kicked himself mentally, but his thoughts still circled back to sex. He could come back tomorrow, there was plenty of time to get to Fort Otter.

  :: Stallion. :: Pyrite snorted a wave of smug superiority tinged with contempt.

  :: It's not that bad. ::

  :: Can you still think? :: Doubt, with the contempt a bit stronger.

  :: Well, I'm too drunk to do anything about it tonight. ::

  Snort.

  Chapter Three

  Late Spring 1388

  Farofo, Farofo Province, Section Six

  In the morning he was hung over and miserable, but loaded up and hit the road anyway. "Might as well be miserable going somewhere."

  Garit, Asti and Keith agreed.

  Lord Baylor opened a bleary eye. "We'll catch up."

  Pyrite was a bit censorious, but tried to not jostle him. Garit had to suffer through his mare's energetic prancing. Despite the crooked blaze that had earned her the name 'Clowny', she was an attractive beast, and made Xen wonder if the Royal Stud had sent mares to Sun Gold or Phantom.

  Asti and Keith had less trouble with their animals, and they all sipped water as they rode and started feeling human around noon.

  They stopped early at a pleasant little village with a tiny inn and a good cook. Xen spent a couple of hours wrestling with a really active hormone system. No more randy teenager. He visualized his libido now as a warrior, armed and armored, rearing stallion on his breastplate. He finally had to sword fight him, threatening to cut off his nads if he didn't get back in the attic. Backed himself up the stairs, slammed the door and locked it. "I really need to figure out how to suppress the hormones directly, not use absurd visual images and hope my subconscious is doing the right thing." Fortunately no one was around to hear him talking to himself.

  He took a deep breath and sighed. He didn't feel any different. It'd take a couple of weeks for the hormones to drop enough for him to ignore them. Speaking from experience. They'd sure jumped up in a hurry yesterday . . . Umm, worth it too. Really, he ought to let it go long enough to adjust and learn to handle the hormones. Four more years, give or take. I want to be as strong magically as possible.

  They dawdled over breakfast and headed off again. Took a long break in the afternoon in the thin shade of two scrawny trees. Other travelers, in a greater hurry, pushed on through the heat. They eyed an approaching group of riders cautiously. They were still only twenty miles from the border, as the Old Road ran nearly east-west.

  "A dozen horses." Xen reached out mentally, further than he'd ever been able to before. He blinked. Uncle Havi'd told him he'd gain abilities when he lost his virginity. Pleased, he took a long look, and suddenly recognized them. And their companions. "Oh. No. We'd better wait."

  Rally, Dominic, Baylor, Onray, Lester and Phillip rode up and reined their tired horses in. The six women on the other six horses smiled tentatively at them.

  Asti cleared his throat. "That's some baggage you've accumulated. Do you have any idea what your respective fathers are going to say?"

  Dominic shrugged. "Why should they object? We explained to the girls that we can't ever marry them. They know what lords are, after all."

  Xen looked beyond them, and around to the south. No pursuit, as far as he could tell.

  They stayed an hour, letting their horses rest, and the women, too. They probably weren't used to riding. They were all petite, and with their hair bleached stark white they were hard to tell apart. Xen had no idea if they were the same women the men had used two nights ago, or different ones. Or for that matter, if one of them was Xen's prostitute. Well, the lights had been turned way down. Still, a bit embarrassing.

  "But what are you going to do with them?" Keith sounded a bit jealous.

  "We figure we can rent a little house for the girls. Fort Otter is just outside Baytown, after all." Rally was proud as a peacock over the whole thing. Apparently they'd gone back to the River of Sand, and made their plans with the girls while fucking them, and the girls had simply dressed and walked across the border.

  "Whores go back and forth all the time. Who cares?" The one cuddled up to Lester shrugged.

  The nice inn in the next town wouldn't rent them rooms. The rundown inn charged them extra for bringing in their own whores. Angry looks were passed, between the locals and the Auralians. Still with a high load of hormones, Xen did his part to appease the local talent, leaving a very generous tip for a middle aged woman. Wow, strong hands. She ought to just sell massages. They shopped, the guys picking up more clothing for their girlfriends, then headed west.

  Baytown was a large fishing and trading port. The community was widespread, and the men rented a small house on the border between respectable and dissolute areas, with no trouble.

  They reported for duty all spruced up and ready for their next learning experience.

  The Western Navy's ships were all named after birds. Fort Otter's two training ships were the Wren and the Goose.

  Having admitted to never having set foot on anything more nautical than a river barge, Xen was assigned to stand out of the way and observe while the experienced crew got the Goose out to sea. Asti, also observing, had deserted his post for the purpose of losing his lunch over the rail before they were out of the bay.

  Captain Hadrey had sighed and ignored him.

  Xen's slight queasiness subsided quickly, as he watched in fascination. Sheets and lines, masts and spars and which was which sank into his brain as they spent two days cruising the coast. Garit had a lot of experience on the royal yacht and various Navy ships and climbed the rigging like an experienced hand. Asti stayed green and ate very little.

  The captain treated Asti and Xen—the least experienced of the rotation—like the lowest of crewmen and had them tightening and loosening lines until they knew which was which and what it would do. They furled and raised sails, and learned how to set the sails to tack properly. The captain eyed the green Asti and only Xen did any climbing of the rigging. Late on the second day they sighted land, and Xen was more than a little impressed as they sailed straight into Otter Bay.

  Asti excelled at the fine art of navigation, knew all about the stars and measuring their positions. "The main uncertainty is, what time is it? If you know that, you can locate yourself easily. Although how you can take accurate sightings at sea with the boat going all over is beyond me."

  Their seventh day they had leave and explored Baytown. The four without encumbrances sought out the sights, while the others hustled to check on their . . . "Okay, you who are so worldly-wise." Xen looked at the others. "Are those concubines, mistresses, girlfriends, whores or lovers?"

  "Yep." Garit grinned. "Oh, if they stay with the guys exclusively, and stay in housing provided by the men, but the men don't actually live with them, umm, mistresses will be the best fit."

  "You live with your concubine." Keith sounded wistful. "Girlfriends get gifts, but you don't pay for their keep. Whores have other men, and lovers are probably short term."

  "Hmm. All right. I got it. Probationary mistresses."

  They split up variously and Xen sought out the beach to soak up the sun and swim in the salty water. The beach was frequented by the younger crowd later in the day, but all the women were escorted, and in any case his hormones were returning to prepubescence quickly. He walked a long way north, away from the townsfolk, watching the sunset in solitude, and following the sounds of piping to a smoky fire where a woman danced naked. He could feel the spells, and the compulsions and backed hastily away. The woman laughed. "Oh Storm Mage, we felt you upon the waters of the ocean. It's been so long since the last Sea King came to us. Play with us, help us pass the time until the Sea Kings rise up and conquer, and become worthy of us again!" He kept backing and she laughed, her hair straggled into seawee
d, and her skin turned gray and slick as she danced into the waves and dived from sight.

  Xen shook his head faintly. The smoke must have been hallucinatory. He walked thoughtfully back to town and through it to Fort Otter.

  He'd have to get the sailors talking, see if there were rumors, myths . . .

  Their next leave, they all met for dinner, women included. The men were all smug and possessive, the women seemed happy.

  The young lords spent several weeks learning customs work on the docks, mostly looking for untaxed liquor and luxuries with high tariffs. They dined more frequently in town, with or without the women.

  The six mistresses were becoming discrete individuals as their hair grew out in various colors, and their skin either darkened because they weren't kept in out of the sunlight any more, or lightened because they didn't sunbathe all day. Xen didn't see much of them, but gradually learned their names. Lida, Jasi, Wenda, Kessi, Hoon and Skori.

  Then back to the sea and sailing. Xen was with Dominic, Onray, Lester and Phillip this cruise.

  They sailed west, well out of sight of land and practiced navigating to and around several small islands. Xen learned how to use his magic to locate himself—the ocean bed was only a few miles away even in the deepest part of the ocean, and had telltale shapes and slopes and canyons—but using the stars and time was fascinating as well.

  A whistle from the crow's nest brought everyone on deck alert.

  "Dragon off the port quarter." The call came down.

  "Dragon?" The captain huffed. "Don't usually get any of them this far east. Damn nuisances." He glanced at the trainees eagerly trying to spot the dragon. "They're shape changers, and when they're tired or hungry, they'll occasionally approach a ship. Best thing to do is feed them and let them curl up and sleep."

  Xen peered skyward, wondering if this would be one of the dragons his mother knew, or perhaps one of their children.

  Dominic snorted. "Bad as putting out the welcome mat for seals."