Extermination (Daniel Black Book 3) (20 page)

Her eyes were luminous in the dimness of the cargo hold. My hand found its way up her side, to cup her pert little breast. My thumb grazed her nipple, and found it already crinkled into a hard point. She gasped.

“Strong enough to stand up to a frost giant,” I told her. “Only the best for my girl.”

Trapped in each other’s eyes, our lips were inexorably drawn back together. Elin squirmed against me, grinding on my erection. The scent of her arousal was intoxicating.

Somehow she found the strength to break the kiss, and bury her face in my chest.

“Not here,” she whispered, her breath coming in ragged gasps. “Please… the men…”

Oh, right. Yeah, I didn’t want to give anyone a show either. That was one of the reasons I’d put in that loft above the bridge, but the wolfen girls were up there now. I wouldn’t necessarily mind them getting an eyeful, but Elin was far too shy to be comfortable with something like that. Damn it, there really wasn’t any way for us to get a moment alone, was there?

“I suppose you’re right,” I said. “I don’t want to embarrass you. I guess I’ll just have to save it all up until we get home.”

“That would be wise of you. I expect that I shall be quite demanding, and then Tina will wish to welcome you home.”

“Good thing I have magic,” I pointed out.

She blushed, and buried her face in my chest. “Pervert. I can’t believe you use magic for such purposes. But I suppose I can’t pretend that I don’t enjoy it.”

She held up her hand and inspected the ring again, while playing with the force field.

“It still amazes me how you create such artifacts so casually, Daniel. Any normal wizard would need months to work such an enchantment, and would consider the result a prized possession.”

“Only the best for my girl,” I repeated. “But personally I think we can do more. It needs some kind of offensive function. Maybe a force blade, or a concussion effect? I bet we can work in some general purpose telekinesis too, and you definitely need a safe fall enchantment.”

She groaned. “Your largess shall surely be the death of me. Very well, one more enchantment before I collapse in exhaustion. Perhaps the safe fall spell?”

“Sure. You know, you could just use your amulet to banish the fatigue.”

“That hardly seems healthy.”

“That’s why I-”

She covered my mouth with her hand. “Don’t you dare tell me to just heal that too. I value my sleep far too highly to hear of such things, you slave driver. Now, show me how this works.”

It was a relatively simple enchantment, but it still took us an hour or so to assemble. By the time we were done with that she really was dead on her feet. She swayed drunkenly when she tried to stand, and ended up leaning against me.

I stroked her hair, and took a deep breath of her scent.

“Sorry,” she muttered. “Help me to bed?”

“Sure.”

I scooped her up in my arms, her slight weight no burden at all. She sighed happily, and leaned into me.

“You’re spoiling me,” she chided.

“Good.”

I opened the door to the bridge with force magic, since my hands were full. It was a bit brighter than the hold, with moonlight shining in through the windows.

“Everything alright up here?” I asked.

“It’s all under control,” Cerise assured me. “You should check out the view.”

I carefully made my way across the little room, to stand next to her at the windows.

The moon was nearing the horizon off the starboard bow, almost full and looking close enough to touch. The sky was darker than I’d ever seen it back on my Earth, dotted with a million hard pinpoints of light. There was the North Star high overhead, with the Big Dipper curling away from it. Dimmer stars I’d never seen before dotted the sky around it, and the diffuse glow of the Milky Way stretched across the sky like a giant arch in the heavens.

Far below, the snow-covered landscape shone softly in the moonlight. I could barely make out a pair of frozen lakes to port and starboard, and the dark shape of a low hill in the distance ahead.

“Pretty,” Elin mumbled.

“Yeah,” I agreed.

I stood and watched for a few minutes, just drinking in the sight.

The constellations were the same ones I’d learned as a Boy Scout back in America. The moon looked the same as well. I’d known for a while that this was some kind of alternate version of Earth, but seeing so many things that were the same made me wonder about the differences.

Why was the Baltic Sea a chain of lakes here?

Why did this world have magic, when mine clearly didn’t? Although, was I really sure there was no magic in my world? Maybe it was there, and we just had a shortage of wizards.

My metamagic sorcery provided an answer for that mystery. No, magic is made up of elementary particles that interact with normal matter. If it existed in my world some physicist pouring over the results of a particle accelerator run would have noticed it long ago.

So, there was magic on this world but not mine. Gods, too. I was pretty sure that a bunch of mythological gods running around on Earth beating each other up would have left tons of archeological evidence behind. Although that left me wondering how this world’s reality came to be my world’s legends.

The history was oddly similar as well. The Varmlanders were like Vikings who’d had a chance to carve out a nice kingdom, and then settle down and start acting like their southern neighbors. Not to mention all the passing references I’d heard to famous philosophers from classical Greece.

Come to think of it, there was another interesting question there.

“Elin?” I whispered. “How long ago did Aristotle live?”

She stirred slightly, settling herself in my arms. My only answer was a soft snore.

Cerise chuckled. “Sounds like she’s down for the count. It was, um, two thousand years ago? A little more, maybe. Why?”

I’d been assuming this was an analogue of medieval Europe. But that sounded like the date was about the same as in my world. Interesting. So there was never an industrial revolution here?

“Just thinking about parallels and differences,” I said softly. “But I think it’s time I got sleepyhead here to bed. Where did the wolfen girls end up?”

“Embla got her wish, but it turns out sound carries pretty well from the loft. Irithil chewed out his guy for being rude, but I think they ended up sneaking back to the tail gunner’s position or something. They never made it back, anyway, so it’s just Daria asleep upstairs.”

“Alright. Let me see if I can manage this.”

Obviously I wasn’t going to be climbing any ladders with a sleeping girl in my arms, but levitating myself was a trivial feat with the amount of energy I had available. I floated up slowly, keeping myself tethered to the floor and wall with magic so I wouldn’t drift around and bump into something. A little more force magic to open the hatch, and I floated up into the dark space of the loft.

The ceiling there was less than four feet high, so it was more of a crawl space than a room. But it was easily big enough for half a dozen people to stretch out and sleep. It took me a moment to pick out which blanket was Elin’s in the dim illumination spilling up from the bridge, and I made a mental note to install a night light up here.

Elin stirred as I was tucking her in, and made a little questioning noise.

I kissed her cheek. “Everything is fine, Elin. Go back to sleep.”

She latched onto my arm, pulling me down into her blankets with inhuman strength. Then she rested her head on my shoulder, and went back to sleep with a contented sigh.

I laid down beside her, and just held her.

After a few minutes there was a slight sound, and another female form brushed against my back.

“Do you want me to clear out?” Daria whispered in my ear.

I smiled. For such a ruthless opportunist Daria could be surprisingly thoughtful.

“No,” I whispered back. “She’s out for the night, and I have work to do. I think she needs someone to hold, though. Mind taking my spot?”

“Sure.” She retreated, and there was a soft sound of blankets being shifted. Then she was back. “Here, pass her over.”

Not wanting to wake her again, I used a touch of flesh magic to keep Elin soundly asleep as we moved her. We managed to shift around so she was in the wolfen girl’s arms instead of mine, although I learned in the process that Daria was naked. I froze for a moment when my hand accidentally brushed against a bare breast, but she just made a happy little sound.

“Careful there, boss. You know I’ll jump you if you give me half a chance.”

“I thought you were serious about Gronir?” I asked.

“I am,” she sighed, sounding a bit frustrated. “I just can’t help wanting a taste. You’re the boss, you know? I’m keeping myself fresh for you on this trip, just in case.”

“Uh huh. You do remember Elin and Cerise are both here?”

“Cerise has had me,” she said, sounding a bit smug about it. “She can make me her bitch with a look, milord. I bet she’d get off on putting me through my paces for you.”

Alright, now I really had to get out of here before I did something I’d regret. A good leader doesn’t go around screwing his men’s wives and girlfriends, no matter how much the women in question want you to.

Although, that was with human subordinates. The magic that had given the wolfen their powers had done all kinds of crazy things to their instincts, too. Maybe… no, bad idea. No dreaming up some stupid rationalization for fucking Gronir’s girlfriend. I had four lovers already. Shouldn’t that be more than enough for any man?

“Go back to sleep, Daria,” I told her. “We’ll talk about this some other time.”

She sighed. “Yes, sir.”

Great, now she was doing the submissive thing. Definitely time to get away from the crazy wolf girl. I carefully disentangled myself, and crept back over to the ladder. The hatch made a soft thunk as I closed it behind me, and dropped to the deck of the bridge.

Cerise giggled. “That girl’s got it bad.”

I rolled my eyes. “Don’t you start, too.”

Irithil diplomatically didn’t say anything, but I suddenly realized that those long ears had probably picked up the whole conversation. Great.

I stepped to the window, and looked out into the night. The moon was setting now, and an impenetrable darkness crept across the land as it sank below the horizon. Pretty as it was, I was a bit concerned about that. At this rate I wouldn’t even be able to see the ground in a few minutes, let alone hope to pick out any landmarks.

I shook my head. “How are you two navigating, anyway?”

Irithil pointed to the North Star. “The angle above the horizon tells me how far north we’ve come. Basic celestial navigation.”

“Granny taught me to use a map,” Cerise added. “It’s pretty easy as long as you pay attention. See, that river below us is the Glomma. We’re more or less following it north until we get closer to the mountains, then we’re going to come up along the eastern foothills until we get close to Yinthalos. There are lots of weird-looking lakes to use as landmarks along the way, and Irithil knows the territory pretty well.”

I looked out the window again. Nothing but stars above, and darkness below. For all I could tell we were about to plow into a mountainside.

“Guess the demon package comes with improved night vision?”

She grinned. “You bet. You should get some for yourself one of these days, Daniel. It really comes in handy.”

“I can think of safer ways to buff myself up, if I can ever spare a few days to work on it,” I replied. “Any idea what time it is?”

“Midnight was four hours ago,” Irithil answered. “I’m a bit concerned about our rate of travel, however. On this course I expect we will travel all day, and arrive at Yinthalos well after sunset. Fighting in the dark will seriously hamper you, will it not?”

“Yeah, that’s not ideal. There are things I could do to make the ship a little faster, but I don’t think I want to try making drastic changes while we’re in the air. Got any other ideas?”

“A weather working to change the winds in our favor would likely attract attention,” Irithil mused. “But there are several air spirits who owe me services. This is a large vessel, but I believe they could lend us enough speed to arrive at Yinthalos in daylight. Unfortunately that will leave me a bit tapped out for magic.”

I shrugged. “That’s fine. My magic is really good at blowing things up, and I’m preparing some nasty surprises for the enemy. Why don’t you go ahead and get that going, and let Cerise take over the flying again while you work.”

“Very well.”

They switched positions, and Irithil went to retrieve his bags. I stepped up behind Cerise, and put a hand on her shoulder.

“How are you holding up?” I asked.

“I‘m fine. I guess I should get some rest before we get into a fight, though.”

“I’ll take over flying once there’s enough light for these feeble human eyes to see by,” I told her. “Then you and Irithil can take turns catching some sleep.”

She frowned. “What about you?”

“Flesh magic,” I pointed out. “I’ll sleep on the way home. Right now I’ve got way too many things to do.”