Portals of Infinity: Book Four: The Sea of Grass Read online

  "Yes, yes it is," I said after a moment looking at the expression on Henry's feline face, his eyes clearly showing his devotion, his ears up in rapt attention. It made me just a little uncomfortable to see just how I was viewed by so many of them.

  "I've met several gods and goddesses in my service to Feliogustus," I told him, using Fel's full name. "You will never find a better god, Henry, and you will be rewarded for your faith and your hard work, he really does care."

  He bowed his head a moment, and I think said a prayer, then looked back up at me as we heard the people outside starting to welcome the approaching riders.

  "Thank you for that, William," he smiled. "Now, why don't we go outside and meet the new guests?"

  "So, shook you a bit did it?" Fel asked. We were sitting outside his bar, instead of inside it. This was a first, usually we always met inside. There were even people walking outside of it, some of whom nodded to me as they passed. The recently dead I assumed.

  "Yeah, a bit. It's, it's a bit strange when you think about it, Fel. I really do think of you as a person, as a friend, as just another guy. But you're a god, you have powers I can't even conceive, I'm amazed that I can even understand you.

  "And the clergy, Henry, they worship you, they honestly and truly worship you."

  "Well of course, Will, I'm their god!" Fel laughed.

  I looked at him a moment, "Do you remember what it was like to be mortal?"

  He nodded and took a sip of the beer he was holding, "Yes, I even remember when I realized about Aryanna what you're now realizing about me. It's a tough thing to understand when your best friend is something that you can't even fully conceptualize."

  "I once lost a friend to a cult, when I was in college, and he looked on the leader the same way Henry looked at you, only there was one difference." I said taking a drink of my own beer.

  "That he was worshipping a fraud, while Henry worships a real god." Fel supplied.

  I nodded, and didn't care that he had pulled it out of my mind.

  "I was impressed at what you said to Henry there at the end," Fel said. "First time that happened to me I had no idea what to say, I think the phrase is 'gob smacked.'"

  "I still can't think of you as anything more than another guy, my friend," I said turning to look out at the street and the people walking along it. "I don't know if I ever will. I'm not sure I can wrap my head around it."

  "Narasamman is almost the same way, though she had a decade of being a priestess to shield her from the effect." Fel said with a nod.

  "The thing is, I don't want to insult you Fel, it's strange, knowing what you are on the one hand, but having trouble processing it on the other."

  "I wouldn't worry about it, Will, you're really better off just continuing to deal with me, and any other god or goddess you run into, like we were people."

  I looked at him, "Really?"

  "William, we are so far above and beyond you, that there is no other way for a mortal to do it. The shocking thing about becoming a god is the first moment you become one, but we all hold on to a bit of our mortality, because that bit is what defines us when we ascend. If we didn't have it, we'd never be able to relate to our followers, we wouldn't be able to even care about them."

  "Why did you become a god, Fel?"

  Fel looked at me very solemnly, "Because Aryanna told me I'd enjoy it."

  "Do you?" I asked, wanting to know very much if he did.

  Fel grinned and laughed, "More than I ever thought possible. Some people are cut out to be gods, and I most definitely was one of them."

  I nodded and thought about that a moment.

  "And to answer your question, you're not. You'd never care for it. You're a good Champion, Will, but you'd make a poor god."

  I started at that, "Why?"

  "Because you don't like to sacrifice people to do what must be done. As a god, sometimes you have to let hundreds, maybe thousands die, and it's not an easy thing to do. And all of your people, all of your creations, will eventually turn to dust with the passage of time. Yes, you can build more, but those things too will pass.

  "Trust me, William, when the time comes, if it ever does, pass it up like you did for Stephanie. I will always have a place for you in my paradise, even if you live a million years, I will take you back, and you will be rewarded, William. You will find it more enjoyable and fulfilling than you would ever find being a god."

  I thought about that a moment, and I looked up into Fel's eyes, and for a brief moment I could see what he really was and I understood.

  "Thanks, Fel, thank you for that."

  He smiled and leaning over he ruffled my ears. "Like you said to Henry, I really do care."

  I smiled.

  "And pay attention when you get to Aldar, I think you just may find something of interest there."

  The trip to Aldar wasn't much different than the trip to Cooch had been; it was to the east of Cooch, which had been east of Glisan. As I understood it, Aldar was on the eastern edge of what is considered to be the Mowok's lands. On the second day of the trip we came across a herd of suzhen, of which a dozen were quickly dispatched while the rest fled. It was interesting to finally see that suzhen were afraid of something, and that something was wolats.

  I also got to see Smoke hunt, she was one of the few to spear one before the herd realized it was in trouble and turned and fled. I had to admit that I was pretty impressed; she took one right through the eye with her spear. Most went for the neck or the heart, as the head of a suzhen is pretty hard and it's not a guaranteed kill.

  I think it was then that I realized why a beautiful and very talented female like her was still single; a lot of the males were just too intimidated by her. Most probably felt that they couldn't really measure up to her, and many of the rest probably didn't want to even try when there were females so much easier to impress around.

  I kind of felt sorry for her, but she had so much pride it was hard to feel too bad. She didn't strike me as the type to be worried by things like that. I'm sure once she found the male she wanted, she'd make sure he got the message.

  We rode into the Aldar village later the same day as the hunt, and even though it was fairly late in the afternoon, they still put together a party. Rees and his new girlfriend were still with us, plus a couple of others from the Glisan tribe, but most of the rest had either stayed back in Cooch, or had returned home to Glisan already. Rees had just offered to stay with us on the whole trip, to guide us.

  The next day started out a bit different, when Smoke came back to the teepee looking rather excited.

  I had been helping Henry unpack his gear; he wanted to do a service of some sort that night.

  "What's got you so excited?" I asked.

  "They're going on a raid!" Smoke said and started to gather up her gear.

  I grabbed her arm and turned her to look at me. "What?"

  She pulled her arm loose, "They're going on a raid, they're leaving soon, so I have to get my things and go."

  I grabbed my weapons harness, my pack, which had my bow tied to it, Tom's saddle and bridle. "What are we raiding?"

  Smoke looked at me, "you're coming?"

  "Somebody has to keep you out of trouble," I smirked, and then winced as I got clipped by one of her spears as she turned to head out of the teepee.

  "Oh, I'm sorry, did I hurt you?" She growled.

  "So what are they raiding?"

  "Come along and find out!" She said flicking her tail at me.

  I shook my head and smiled wryly. "Have you ever been on a raid before?"

  Smoke shook her head, "No, that's why I have to hurry; I don't want to miss this one!"

  "They're not all fun and play," I said from behind her, "Just remember that."

  She flicked her tail at me again, "You don't have to come you know."

  "I may not," I said in a low voice and she turned to look at me surprised. "If I don't think you should be raiding whatever it is they're going to attack, I won't take part i
n it."

  "You'd stay behind?" she asked curious.

  I nodded, "I represent Feliogustus, Smoke. I can't just go doing whatever I wish," I thought I heard a laugh in the back of my head at that, but it was probably just my imagination. "I have responsibilities."

  We stopped by where her wolat was browsing, and I whistled for Tom who trotted up looking happy when he saw the saddle.

  We got them saddled up quickly, then I followed Smoke again as we walked over to where the party was gathering, leading our mounts.

  "Ah, Smoke, it will be good to have you with us," a male I didn't recognize said smiling.

  "Rhys, this is Will; Will, this is Rides Well,"

  We touched palms and I nodded to him.

  "Ah yes, the champion of the god that has come to the People, I've heard of you."

  "What are we after today?" I asked him looking around at the group. There were about forty warriors assembled, about a quarter of them were females.

  "A caravan headed for Barassa!" He smiled, "There have been less of them this year, so we haven't had many opportunities."

  "Will this be enough?" I asked curious motioning to the gathered group.

  Rhys nodded, "We will be meeting up with another group. The Caravans tend not to have more than a double quad of guards. The scout said this one appeared to be the same."

  A double quad was eighty, unless we were meeting up with a lot more warriors, we weren't going to have numbers on our side. We were mounted however, so that would help.

  I looked at Smoke, who looked at me, and I nodded, "Anything that hurts Barassa is fine with me."

  "Good! Let's go, we have a long ride before us today!"

  I watched as he called for everyone's attention, and we all mounted up and followed him out of the village.

  Seven

  East of Aldar Village

  We rode for about three hours, leaving the plains and heading into lightly wooded hills that were the eastern border of the plains and met up with another group, of about twenty, who joined us. Twice single riders rode up to us, talked to Rhys, then rode off again. I figured they were our scouts.

  We stopped around noon to eat, and let the wolats rest for a while. Another one of the scouts joined us while we did.

  "Okay," Rhys said as we gathered around him, "The caravan is about a twenty minute ride after we cross over that ridge," he motioned eastward. "It's almost to the ford of the river; we will attack them just as they're nearing it."

  "What about the guard post to the south of the ford?" One of the others asked.

  "It's almost empty, just a few soldiers stationed there now. The quad that Barassa used to keep there is gone."

  Everyone smiled when he said that.

  "So, here is the general plan," he said and then proceeded to sketch out what he wanted everyone to do.

  "Why are we leaving the way to the river clear?" Smoke asked as Rhys drew out the lines he wanted everyone to follow.

  "If they can not escape, they will fight to the death. If we allow them an out, they will flee, and hope to come back later and recover whatever we do not take."

  I'd swear Smoke almost pouted.

  "The goal is not to kill any more of them than we have to," Rhys said looking at Smoke. "This isn't a war, this is a raid. Besides, if we kill them all, they won't come back next year so we can raid them again, now would they?"

  There were several laughs from the group as he said that. But I started thinking about what Rigel had said on the council, and the idea of embargoing Barassa.

  I wasn't so sure I wanted this caravan to come back next year. But I also wasn't keen on the idea of slaughtering a bunch of merchants either.

  Everyone went and checked their weapons, their saddles, and their mounts, and then we all saddled up and followed Rhys as he led us towards the caravan. I noticed he dispatched half a dozen riders, who split up and rode ahead of us and to the sides, to scout out any possible ambushes I guess. Rhys obviously had done this before, and he also apparently was suitably paranoid to make sure that everything was as it appeared.

  The trees started to thin out as we progressed and after a few minutes Rhys stopped and held up his hand. Everyone stopped and looked at him.

  "We will ride out from cover shortly. Ready your weapons, remember my orders."

  He waited while they all readied spears and I readied my bow.

  "Now, Ride!" he called and we all followed him, moving first into a canter, and then into a full gallop as we broke from cover.

  The caravan members saw us immediately, there were twenty wagons, all of which were very large and had a team of ten of the oxen like creatures pulling them. They raised the alarm, and the guards all moved to the side of the caravan we were approaching from, and all those riding on the wagons jumped off drawing weapons, except for the drivers who were trying to coax more speed from the oxen.

  I lowered my body closer to Tom's head, turning my bow sideways guiding him with my knees as I got ready to shoot. It was then that I noticed something about the wagons; ten of them had people sitting in the back of them. A lot of people. People who I could see were chained to each other and probably the wagon.

  I hated slavery and I knew that Fel opposed it as well. I kicked Tom to a harder gallop, and as we drew within bow range I sat up, and as everything slowed for me I called out "Kill the Slavers! In the name of Feliogustus, kill all the Slavers!"

  Once again, a sunbeam found me and on my leather armor the symbol of Fel appeared and I could feel the effect of my presence bursting forth like a shockwave as I invoked my champion status.

  I shot all of the arrows in my hand in less time then it took to think about it, I grabbed another bunch from the quiver and sent them on their way just as quickly. I killed eighteen guards, three drivers, and every merchant I saw standing anywhere near the slave wagons. I ignored the others completely. I went through the thirty arrows I had brought, then tossed the bow to the side and drew my swords, riding straight at one of the slave wagons, then turning quickly to the left and riding down along the line of them, killing everything in my path, sparing only those who dropped their weapons and fled.

  When I got to the end, I turned Tom around and reversed my course, riding back down along the length of the caravan once again. Most of the rest of the band was following Rhys's orders. Rhys and his group had turned to concentrate on the regular merchants, which they were harassing, and who were fleeing rather hastily looking over their shoulders at what was being done to their slave trading companions.

  But about a dozen of the band however must have felt the same way about slavery as I did, because they had followed me and using their spears they had engaged the guards and merchants and were killing them as well. Unsurprisingly Smoke was in the lead and had already killed or seriously wounded two. She moved to engage a third as I rode back down along the line of wagons, using my enhanced speed, strength, height, and mobility to kill at least a half dozen more before they all dropped their weapons and ran. I followed on their heels, Tom growling and snapping, with Smoke and several others along side me as we slowed and let them run.

  When they got to the river and started running into it, we turned and rode back to the caravan at a much slower rate.

  "What was that?" Rhys yelled at me angrily as I rode up, "I said to drive them off, not slaughter them!"

  I looked at the bodies on the ground. I had probably killed thirty of them, and the ones who followed me had easily killed just as many. I looked up at the slaves on the wagons; Rhys's people had taken the keys off the dead merchants and were slowly freeing them.

  "Feliogustus does not tolerate slavery, neither do I," I said calmly. "We only killed those who were seeking to make money off of it."

  "Do you think they'll keep coming this way if you kill them all?" He growled.

  "No, that is why I killed them. Why I plan on killing all of them."

  "Then they'll just stop coming!" Rhys fumed, leaning closer and putting his muzzle almos
t to mine.

  "Exactly, they'll stop coming. And Barassa will stop being the major slave port, and will become poor, and we will be able to destroy it. Without Barassa, the slave trade becomes less profitable, slavery won't make the merchants enough money to keep doing it, and there will be less of it!" I said calmly and looked him in the eyes.

  "You can't know that!" He growled.

  I smiled slowly, "You would be surprised at what I know. Without a place to sell slaves, merchants will switch to something they can sell. Money, wealth, those are the things that fuel any trade. Traders will not pursue trade that makes them no money or costs them their lives.

  "Besides, I thought that the People hated slavery?"

  Rhys sighed, "My father's mother was a slave, rescued from one of these very caravans. We raid them as often as we can, and lead away as many as we are able. I worry that if they stop coming here, they will go places where we can not find them."

  I thought about that for a moment, this was obviously a personal crusade for him, for many of them. I remembered then that Smoke's mother was from lands far to the north, I turned to her, she was sitting on her wolat to my left.

  "Your mother was a slave as well, wasn't she?"

  She nodded, "Striker led the party that saved her, while she fell in love with my father, she felt she owned him a life, and so gave him Hans to thank him."

  I nodded slowly. I turned back to Rhys, "My family has always fought against slavery; it goes back many generations in my homeland. That fight was eventually won. I want to start that fight here, and I want you to help."

  Rhys looked at me stunned, "You want me to help?"

  I nodded.

  "It will take years, lifetimes!" He balked.

  "Yes, I suspect we will all be long dead before the fight is finished, but if not us, who? If not now, when? We will still be dead many years from now, but wouldn't you rather go to your end knowing that you were the one who started this?"

  Rhys blinked and looked around, looked at the freed slaves who were starting to gather into groups on the grounds.