Free Wine of the Gods 03: The Black Goats by Pam Uphoff

escaped?"
    "Eight." The Sheep Man was so matter of fact, the horror faded a bit. The old man dug his fingers into Lefty's abdomen like a baker kneading dough.  Lefty whimpered as the pain flared up.
    "Let's see, three weeks since the party? That's about right. How much of that wine did you drink?"
    "A lot?" It had been his first-ever hangover. The first time he'd gotten drunk since a drunken guard fell asleep on the job and cost him his manhood. He'd been ten, helping on his father's caravan.
    "Hmph, well, you see, you drank some powerful fertility herbs and some powerful aphrodisiacs. You  may have noticed everyone acting like cats in heat?"
    Lefty nodded, curling around another wave of pain.
    "Well, it all worked a bit different on you. I 'spec' Gisele was thinking about fixin g up some old wombs and getting them ready for babes. Must have a damn fine healing potion in there, and a damn good thing for some youngsters. Anyhow, it seems to me you're growing some new nads. And that's a bit of a problem, for a grown man."
    "What?" His voice squeaked, and the Sheep Man nodded.
    "Yep. See, nads grow in the belly of an unborn baby, and shift south as they get ready to be born. By the time they are born the nads are out where they belong. These new ones of yours are going to have to do the same thing, but since you're not an unborn babe, they've got a bit further to go, and some tough old muscles to get past, and a narrow little tube to fit down."
    "It's going to hurt?" he whimpered.
    "Yep,"
    "But it's going to work?" he squeaked. "What about my, uh . . . " He tried to look, but pain blurred his vision.
    "And a voice change at the same time, poor sod. Hope they stay small enough long enough to get out." The Sheep Man jerked his pants up. "Can't imagine anything of Gisele's not working, though. I 'spect your pisser'll grow back too. If it hurts too bad, just get drunk."
    "Uhh." His shaking hands settled his pants carefully around his hips.
    The Sheep Man stood up and walked away.
    "Thank you!" This time his voice worked. He almost wished it hadn't.
    "That's pretty weird." The brown girl wrinkled her nose. "Although from what I've seen in livestock, it ought to work."
    "Animals don't think about things the same way people do. They probably never notice anything has changed. They don't think about what ought to be."
    She looked thoughtful. "Wolves think an awful lot about what ought to be in their bellies." She stood up and brushed leaves off her backside. "I'll get you some food, so you don't have to move too much."
    "And wine?" he called after her.
     
    ***
     
    Never was helping cook dinner in the tavern. Harry and the boys could all cook after a fashion, but with so many women around, and so few kitchens, they'd fallen into the habit of cooking in the tavern regularly. She'd heard that the winery, the tavern and Gisele's hut had been the only buildings in the Valley, when the few surviving witches had limped in. Harry had been just as old and bent and hard then as now, and had had a gaggle of lost children about even then. They seemed to find their way to him, and maybe that was why all the crippled and battered magical survivors of a war had washed up here as well.
    Delight was examining bottles by the back door. "You're sure these are all that are left? We wouldn't want to overlook any."
    "I searched the village, took them all." Harry ducked out the back door.
    Never barely managed to keep her face straight. So far not a single Sister had had her moon flow. The Sisters of the Waning Half were of mixed feelings about the whole thing.
    Question wiggled past Delight. “Can I have some food to take hiking, Never, maybe a couple of days worth?"
    "Sure , honey." She cut off a chunk of hard salami, a wedge of cheese and added two small loaves.
    Delight clucked at the girl and shook her head, moving past Never to check a pie in the oven. "I don't know whether to pour that wine out, or save it for an emergency."
    Question loaded a bag.