Wine of the Gods 05: Spy Wars

Wine of the Gods 05: Spy Wars Read Free Page A

Book: Wine of the Gods 05: Spy Wars Read Free
Author: Pam Uphoff
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behind. The language similarities argue that they split from our world within the last four thousand years, possibly less than half that. I need to study their history, find out how Arabs came to colonize the western hemisphere. With the Spanish and English. But the heavy Arab influence is unusual.
    They managed to confine their tour of the city to a selection of restaurants the Action Team liked. The staff of the one they ate in eyed the outsiders with trepidation, and a few puzzled frowns from the girl waitresses.
    The fellow sitting next to Ajha smirked. "They almost remember us."
    The food was spicy and different. Ajha had to force himself to eat it, as he felt the Action Team reaching out to influence the women around them.
    A few of the team slipped away, came back looking sated.
    Ajha gave up on the rest of his dinner.
    He was glad to leave without any further forays by the Action Team.
    The next day, Wink "casually" dropped a comment in the hearing of some of the Ambassador's staff.
    "It almost makes those men fit to live with during the day," one of them wrinkled his nose.
    "Yeah, but . . ." So much for the glory of the One, and the superiority of the descendants of the Prophets. Out every night raping natives. Ajha's stomach twisted as he tried to maintain an aloof and uncaring tone.
    Egto snorted. "Well I guess that explains why so few of the staff are female."
    "Oh yes. That just avoids a whole lot of unpleasantness altogether."
    Ajha was appalled. Half of them are Withiones, the pinnacle of our society. The most powerful magicians. And no use excusing it on the basis of their genes, the genes of the Prophets are what we claim make us superior.
    Ajha hid his feelings from the Action Team, and concentrated on his other duties. They quickly scouted out a good Embassy location. It involved several current landowners and a large number of tenants, none of whom were happy to be evicted. But as soon as the paperwork was done, and the purchase price paid—in gold bars, weighed and measured—they began to raze the miscellany of small houses and apartment buildings. The limitations of the gates dictated the layout of the Embassy grounds as they designed the compound. The long run, and braking spiral for the gate train dictated the locations of the buildings. It would all be surrounded by a stone wall, plastered and whitewashed to match the local architecture, and by next summer they could move from the hotel to the Embassy.
    For now, the gate anchor was dug into spot well out of the public eye, and they were, however sporadically, back in touch with Home.

Chapter T wo
    Late Fall 1360
    City of Fascia, capital of the Auralian Empire
     
    Lieutenant Oscar Harryson slouched along the road, falling further behind the self-styled Ambassador 'of the One.' His current assignment—keeping an eye on Auralian military developments—was rapidly turning into a study of the Amma's new allies. Despite their accents and occasional use of incomprehensible words, the foreigners' word for their country sounded like the Scoone word for 'one' so he and Bran had fallen into the habit of calling them that. He spotted Bran ahead, arguing with a vendor about some fruit, and turned down an alley. He trotted quickly along until Bran contacted him with a quick flick of thought. :: He's turned right, and is looking over that big block that's being trashed and rebuilt.::
    Oscar was familiar enough with the city to wind back through alley s, and get around to the far side of the mostly razed block. They were putting a tall wall around it. Oscar dug into his bag and swapped his orange sash for a leather belt and tied a white kerchief around his head, the ends dangling to shade his shoulders before he stepped out of an alley and sloped across the road, getting as close to the last remaining buildings as he could . . . in fact the windows were empty, so he slipped in and crossed the old hovel to peek out the other side. The Ambassador was just a dozen

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