Wine of the Gods 4: Explorers Read Online Free PDF

could be sent anywhere. I won't be around to raise a child. Her fertility problems and his lack of desire for a child were additional strains on a relationship that suffered already from his seasonal absences. But there's no one else in the world for me.
    "Hi , Uncle Lefty. Is it time to go? We can pack and be ready to leave tomorrow." Rustle was all bright blue eyes, ready and willing to charm, argue, or reason as needed to get what she wanted.
    The other kids were grabbing sandwiches off of trays and scattering. Apparently Harry was feeding the school.
    The kids had gotten pretty bored last year, just driving through the canyon, on and on and on. Hell, he'd gotten bored too. But this year something should happen. They should arrive somewhere .
    The kids grabbed food and scampered. Nice kids. Never's witch daughter and Dydit's rescued son. If Never and Dydit ever stopped chasing and started catching each other, they'd no doubt have more children, together. Maybe one wouldn't be so bad. Ours. A tough little girl like Question. If we can. For the first time he felt a faint pang of regret. Figures it'd take loosing a chance to make him realize he wanted one.
    Curious must have been in the back, cooking. She was saying something a bit too loud about witches consorting with wizards and goats. 
    Never was a little flushed, but otherwise ignored the witch's comments as Lefty rolled out the maps.
    Question was looking content as her fingers ran over the blank paper of the unexplored areas. "The New Lands are no paradise, but I love being out there, just going out to find out what's there."
    That got nods all around.
    "And this summer, we'll explore the other side of the world."
    More people came, and the other diners in the Tavern wandere d by occasionally to study the map. Harry and the Auld Wulf argued about the permanence of the extreme divergence between magnetic and true north, with Nil egging them on.
    The Auld Wulf straightened abruptly and stepped away, getting misty, as if disappearing into a fog bank. His shaggy vest and linen shirt crinkled and darkened, Lefty could almost imagine chain mail and black leather. And a horse, huge and black, or perhaps just a horse-shaped hole in the fog, loomed over him and he was gone.
    "Well. It's been a long time since that happened." Harry said.
     
    ***
     
    Gemstone Valley's lush greenery cut off abruptly where the rocks surfaced in the surrounding ridge. From the ridge crest at the southern end of the circular valley, Jin could look south over barren rock and desert, and see the dusty column of air rising and being blown east by the light breeze.
    "Well Corporal, I guess we'd better go see if that is a wagon train full of merchants just dying to cross a thousand miles of dry rock and sand to sell us their fine goods, or if those fellows we chased off last week have come back with friends." Jin had always assumed that the desert would ensure their safety. That the cost of getting to them would make them an unappetizing target for bandits.
    "They were Auralians, " Corporal Lebonift growled. "Next time you can't sleep and go for a stroll, take a couple of men with you. You could have been killed. And I'd really, really like to have had a talk with them."
    The Corporal had lost a son to the Auralians years, two decades, ago. The former Veronian Merchant was not going to lose his new family without a fight. The Corporal's wife had been pregnant when they met. In the two years since they'd settled here, that son had been followed by one of his own.
    "Yes, it would be nice to know if we're facing a large bunch of bandits or an actual Auralian force." Jin tried to be professional, to not think about his own hostages to fortune. "Well, they know where we are, so let's go take a look."
    Jin kneed his horse down the track and ten men followed. After two years of safety, neither men nor mounts were liking the return of military discipline.
    After they'd warmed up a bit, and settled down to