Read Online Wine of the Gods 26: Embassy by Pam Uphoff - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Pam Uphoff
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immediately. This would go on for hours and hours, and she couldn't stand the thought of hours of labor while everyone gripped and told horror stories.
She settled down in the deep grass and concentrated on her breathing, on relaxation, on seeing the gate like a tough resistant corridor, much thicker than the corridor down there. She realized with surprise that it wasn't actually made from a bubble. At least not a regular one. Were there bubbles that had thicker skins? She sat and breathed slowly and looked at bubbles, big and flimsy, small and tight, shiny, dull, spinning fast or slow, floating slowly and moving with considerable speed. Some weren't even roundish, there were cone shaped ones, and a few cylinders. She looked back at the gate, looked past it at the other gates. With a bit of distance she could see that they were made out of the cone shapes, two each, with the large ends against the colorful crinkled up wads of paper that were Worlds, whole universes, and their trailing tails tangled together.
She was experimenting with how to grab a fast spinning cone when the pain ripped her right out of the meditation trance. She struck out and hit the big draft horse that had nipped her, scrambled away and then nearly collapsed as another contraction hit. She'd wet herself. No, her water had broken. She staggered down hill to the corridor, panted through a contraction and crawled through. She staggered out of the house, and ran straight into Arrow.
"Hey Falchion! You missed seeing the panic with seven babies born practically all at once. Epee and Becca both had twins . . . Old Gods! Smokey! Falchion needs you right now!" Arrow grabbed her arm and pulled her along faster than she really wanted to go.
Then she was sitting on the birthing stool they'd made after Arrow's delivery, and she was pushing as hard as she could, while everyone kept telling her to breathe. Three more practically continuous contractions later and she was holding her daughter. "Are we up to Pike? Welcome to the World."
Then another contraction hit.
She panted and pushed and delivered the afterbirth.
Rocked her daughter and ignored the older witches alternating between criticizing her and turning on each other.
She finally caught her breath and looked around. All the witches closer, the men a respectful distance away, pretending to ignore the witches. But Rior was closest, and within hearing range.
"I think I just figured out how they make gates."
Chapter Ten
Summer 1398 px
Embassy World
Xen watched apprehensively as all his old mentors lost their collective minds.
"I should never have rounded them up for the water system." Q chewed her fingernails. "I . . . really should have just done it myself. I think they're drunk . . . Maybe just on power."
Xen winced as the oldest and strongest Mage Compass of Rip World lined the hole they'd excavated with black basalt and kept going. Walls rose, big, blocky angular . . .
"It needs some interior walls in the basement, for structural strength." Q peered worriedly at the hole. She winced as huge slabs of rock lifted off her pile and sailed over to meld themselves to the growing walls. She raised her voice again. "Floors! Don't forget . . . " She sliced off a chunk of granite and levitated it into the basement herself. First some interior basement walls, hopefully she was remembering correctly where to put them . . . Melded thick walls to the foundation and the outside walls. Then another slab for the floor above, thinning the slab a bit so it stretched out to the nearest interior basement walls. And another.
Xen hopped anxiously about, trying to watch the construction, and make sure Q didn't get squashed. "Remember the big courtroom in the middle. Smaller meeting rooms around the sides." He yelled, with not a clue if they could hear him, or would heed him if they did.
"Offices upstairs? Please?" He tried not to whimper.
But interior walls started going up, and Q trotted up from the
She settled down in the deep grass and concentrated on her breathing, on relaxation, on seeing the gate like a tough resistant corridor, much thicker than the corridor down there. She realized with surprise that it wasn't actually made from a bubble. At least not a regular one. Were there bubbles that had thicker skins? She sat and breathed slowly and looked at bubbles, big and flimsy, small and tight, shiny, dull, spinning fast or slow, floating slowly and moving with considerable speed. Some weren't even roundish, there were cone shaped ones, and a few cylinders. She looked back at the gate, looked past it at the other gates. With a bit of distance she could see that they were made out of the cone shapes, two each, with the large ends against the colorful crinkled up wads of paper that were Worlds, whole universes, and their trailing tails tangled together.
She was experimenting with how to grab a fast spinning cone when the pain ripped her right out of the meditation trance. She struck out and hit the big draft horse that had nipped her, scrambled away and then nearly collapsed as another contraction hit. She'd wet herself. No, her water had broken. She staggered down hill to the corridor, panted through a contraction and crawled through. She staggered out of the house, and ran straight into Arrow.
"Hey Falchion! You missed seeing the panic with seven babies born practically all at once. Epee and Becca both had twins . . . Old Gods! Smokey! Falchion needs you right now!" Arrow grabbed her arm and pulled her along faster than she really wanted to go.
Then she was sitting on the birthing stool they'd made after Arrow's delivery, and she was pushing as hard as she could, while everyone kept telling her to breathe. Three more practically continuous contractions later and she was holding her daughter. "Are we up to Pike? Welcome to the World."
Then another contraction hit.
She panted and pushed and delivered the afterbirth.
Rocked her daughter and ignored the older witches alternating between criticizing her and turning on each other.
She finally caught her breath and looked around. All the witches closer, the men a respectful distance away, pretending to ignore the witches. But Rior was closest, and within hearing range.
"I think I just figured out how they make gates."
Chapter Ten
Summer 1398 px
Embassy World
Xen watched apprehensively as all his old mentors lost their collective minds.
"I should never have rounded them up for the water system." Q chewed her fingernails. "I . . . really should have just done it myself. I think they're drunk . . . Maybe just on power."
Xen winced as the oldest and strongest Mage Compass of Rip World lined the hole they'd excavated with black basalt and kept going. Walls rose, big, blocky angular . . .
"It needs some interior walls in the basement, for structural strength." Q peered worriedly at the hole. She winced as huge slabs of rock lifted off her pile and sailed over to meld themselves to the growing walls. She raised her voice again. "Floors! Don't forget . . . " She sliced off a chunk of granite and levitated it into the basement herself. First some interior basement walls, hopefully she was remembering correctly where to put them . . . Melded thick walls to the foundation and the outside walls. Then another slab for the floor above, thinning the slab a bit so it stretched out to the nearest interior basement walls. And another.
Xen hopped anxiously about, trying to watch the construction, and make sure Q didn't get squashed. "Remember the big courtroom in the middle. Smaller meeting rooms around the sides." He yelled, with not a clue if they could hear him, or would heed him if they did.
"Offices upstairs? Please?" He tried not to whimper.
But interior walls started going up, and Q trotted up from the
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