Fimbulwinter (Daniel Black) (10 page)

I took a deep breath, and reminded myself this wasn’t America. Fourteen

was barely young enough to cause gossip in most cultures, and the idea that

there’s something wrong with trading sex for protection is a modern invention.

But it still didn’t feel right.

“As long as they’re doing it voluntarily,” I grumbled.

Cerise shrugged. “Doesn’t look like any of them have been beaten lately.

What more can you ask for?”

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I shook my head sadly. Then we reached my next patient, and it was time

to focus on healing again.

None of the others were as bad off as the captain, but they were pretty

bad. By the time I was reasonably confident none of them going to suddenly

drop dead on us I was exhausted again, and my headache had grown to near-

migraine proportions. Only three really critical cases, but a dozen others had

needed bones set or bleeding stopped before they could hope to move any

distance.

Finally I stepped back from setting a broken leg, and someone held a plate

full of sizzling meat under my nose.

“That’s the last of them, Daniel,” Avilla was saying. “Please, rest for a

minute, and eat something.”

I blinked stupidly at her for a moment, and realized that if I was having

this much trouble focusing I probably wasn’t good for much. “Ok.”

I found an overturned crate to sit on, and reached for the plate. But Avilla

deftly avoided my hands.

“Nope! We’re doing this right for you, so I need to hold the plate.

Cerise?”

The slender witch swept her dark hair back into a ponytail with a few deft

movements, and drew her daggers again. “Ready. The old Artemic-style ritual,

right?”

The blonde nodded happily. “Right. I was surprised Daniel wanted to

share with everyone, but I suppose they’ll need the strength. Ok, I’m ready.”

She closed her eyes, and started chanting under her breath. Cerise cut off

a bit of the steak, speared it on the tip of a dagger, and held it up to my lips.

I frowned, and opened my mouth to ask what they were up to. But Cerise

just shoved the meat in with a smile.

“Eat,” she ordered. “We know what we’re doing.”

Well, hell. I was hungry enough to eat a horse, and I was learning to trust

them. I ate.

The slab of meat Avilla had brought me was huge, but she’d somehow

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managed to sear it to medium-rare perfection with nothing to work with but a

campfire. It was a bit chewy and didn’t taste much like beef, but I didn’t really

care. By the time I was done my headache was receding, and I was starting to

feel marginally human again.

“Thanks. I needed that.”

Avilla smiled. “I’m glad you liked it. That’s the last of the heart, of

course, but I expect we’ll be having wolf flank for a week.”

“At least it’s cold enough to keep the meat from spoiling,” I pointed out.

“So, what was that spell you were doing?”

Cerise gave her a smug look. “Told you.”

Avilla flushed in embarrassment. “Oh, you! I’m sorry, I thought you

knew. A little magic to claim the strength of a fallen foe by eating its heart.

Usually it just restores vitality and gives you a little temporary extra strength,

but with a felwolf I thought we might get a more lasting effect. So, you weren’t

trying to make the refugees cold resistant?”

“Um, no, I had no idea you could do that kind of thing,” I admitted. “But

it’s not a bad idea. They’re going to need all the help they can get to survive

this trip.”

“That’s why I didn’t say anything when I figured it out,” Cerise put in.

“Normally I’d complain that you should explain things like that in

advance, but I suppose I was pretty busy,” I mused. “Ugh, what a morning.

How are you two doing?”

“A little bruised from the fight, but I’m mostly healed already.”

“Same here,” Avilla agreed. “I think you took most of that felwolf’s

weight when it stepped on us. But we need to get you out of those filthy clothes

before you catch something.”

“Don’t remind me,” I groaned. “I feel like I took a bath in wolf blood, but

there’s not much point in changing if there’s no way to wash up first. I’m afraid

this outfit’s going to be a total loss, too.”

“Oh, not at all,” Avilla said brightly. “Just give me a basin of warm water

to work with, and I’ll have it clean and patched up in no time. I’m good at that

kind of thing.”

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“Well, that’s good to know. I’ll see what I can come up with when we

stop.”

Thomas came by then to let me know the group was about ready to move,

which cut the conversation short. I looked around to find the peasants gathering

their bundles of goods, a few of the young men clutching unfamiliar spears.

They seemed a bit less beaten down than they had in the wake of the morning

ambush, but it was still a pretty ragged group. The remaining soldiers weren’t

much better, for that matter.

I walked over to them and they fell silent, all eyes turning to me. Were

they expecting a speech or something? Oh, well. I checked the sky, and noted

that the dark clouds were noticeably closer.

“I’m not big on speeches, so I’ll make this short,” I told them. “I’m sure

most of you have noticed there’s a storm coming, but we don’t want to still be

sitting here when that frost giant’s buddies come looking for him. Does anyone

know the woods around here?”

They milled about for a bit, but finally one of the young men nervously put

a hand up.

“This is Lord Brent’s hunting range, milord. Ain’t no one lives there, but

I’ve been in some... ah, watching fer poachers, y’see...”

“I’m sure,” I chuckled. “Well, honestly I wouldn’t care if you were one of

the poachers. I’m not one of your local nobles, and we’ve got more important

things to worry about. What’s your name?”

“Gronir, milord.”

“I’m not a lord, Gronir. Alright, I need you to find us a spot to camp

maybe a half-mile or so into the woods from here, preferably close to water.

Think you can do that?”

“Yessir,” he nodded. “But sir, cold ain’t gonna stop them giants. Won’t

they see our fires?”

“I doubt they can find their way through a blizzard any more than we

could a rainstorm. But just in case I’m going to make us an underground shelter

to hole up in, and the snow will cover our tracks soon enough. We’ll stay there

until the storm blows over and I get all the wounded healed enough to travel,

and then we’ll make for town. Any questions?”

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One of the older men stood, leaning on a staff. “I’m Hrodir, sir. I was

headman of Shiner’s Grove before... well, before. Sir, everyone’s been talking

about making for Lanrest like its safe and all, but what if it isn’t?”

Most of the others frowned at that, and it was pretty obvious they didn’t

want to think about it. But it was a good point.

“I’ve never visited Lanrest myself, so I can’t speak to its defenses.

Sergeant?”

Thomas shook his head. “Depends, sir. The town’s got a good moat and a

fifteen foot curtain wall, and the local knights will all be gathering there.

They’ll hold off goblins and even trolls easy enough, but giants? Depends on if

a big enough band decides to attack the place.”

“I see. Do you have a better idea, Hroldir?”

He looked uncertain. “Not really, sir. Some of the mountain villages are

set up where giants couldn’t get at them, but they’d be easy pickings for goblins

or rock trolls. There’s supposed to be big cities downriver a ways, and stout

castles, but that’s a long trip.”

“Hmm. Well, it never hurts to have a backup plan. Find out who else has

ideas along those lines, and we’ll all talk it through while we’re waiting out

the storm. But my bet is there aren’t that many giants, and they’ll be busy

raiding easier targets for at least a week or two. With any luck I’ll have plenty

of time to meet with whoever is in charge in Lanrest and arrange some nasty

surprises for them before they show up there.”

There were grim smiles all around at that, and a couple of the young men

laughed.

“Hell, yeah,” one of them said. “The wizard can handle them giants.”

“That’s the spirit. Alright folks, let’s move.”

It was only fall, and most of the trees and bushes still had their leaves.

Between that and the snow covering their branches visibility was short, which

made me a bit nervous about goblin ambushes. But nothing bothered us as we

made our way into the woods, picking our way through a maze of game trails.

Gronir took the lead with a bow in hand, and a couple of soldiers with

spears right behind him. I placed myself next in line after them, on the theory

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that if we did encounter trouble it was more likely to come from ahead than

behind. Cerise stayed at my side, her sharp eyes constantly searching the

underbrush, but Avilla dropped back to chat with the peasant women as we

traveled.

There was enough overhead cover that most of the trails had only an inch

or two of snow, although there were deeper drifts here and there under the

trees. The landscape was uneven, rising and falling in random folds that hinted

we were near hill country. But we made decent time, and it was barely an hour

before we found ourselves at the top of a ravine overlooking a small frozen

river.

“Here we go, sir,” Gronir announced. “That’s the Babbleflow down

there. It’s mostly too deep to ford, so there should be water under the ice. We

just need to find a spot where we can get down the slope.”

The ravine was maybe ten feet deep, with steep sides but a good bit of

more level ground along the banks of the river. Most likely it flooded a lot in

spring, but that was hardly going to be a problem now. I nodded.

“This will work. The sharp drop is actually perfect, so don’t worry about

finding a stretch that’s climbable. Sergeant, set sentries and get everyone

organized for a wait, will you? I’ll let you know when the shelter is ready.”

“Yes, sir. No fires, I assume?”

I shook my head. “It won’t be that long.”

Using my earth magic to make something was actually a nice distraction

from my worries. It was the work of a few minutes to cut a steep little ramp

down the face of the cliff, just wide enough for people to pass single file. The

ground didn’t feel entirely stable, but with a little more concentration I found

that I could reach into the loose earth and fuse it together into something more

like sandstone. That was solid enough to handle a lot more weight that we

were going to put on it, but I was careful to leave a layer of soil covering the

stone so it wouldn’t be too obvious.

Then I walked down the trail, and took a look at the cliff face. I wanted an

inconspicuous shelter, so going underground seemed like the best option. I put

a hand on the near-vertical surface, and closed my eyes.

Loose soil, with gravel and small stones underneath. Normally it

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wouldn’t be stable enough to excavate, but that worked in our favor. No one

who knew the area would be expecting it.

I fused the dirt into an arch of stone, a foot thick and just big enough to act

as the roof of a doorway. I added walls to support the arch, and then banished

the dirt inside.

“Neat,” Cerise commented, and I realized she was watching me intently.

“So that’s earth sorcery?”

I nodded, and stepped into the empty space under the arch. “Yep. It’s

surprisingly easy, although I have to be careful to get the engineering right.

Don’t want a cave-in.”

She winced. “Yeah, that would suck. I’ll let you work, then.”

Repeating the process a few times gave me a little entry hall leading eight

feet into the cliff, which was probably deep enough. I was getting a feel for the

technique by then, and the results seemed more than strong enough.

The next step was an underground hall at right angles to the entrance. This

one was bigger, about eight feet wide and seven high at the top of the arched

ceiling. I did it in sections, but kept going until I had a good forty feet of it.

That would still be a little crowded for a group this size, but it was workable.

Ventilation might be an issue, so I cut a few windows leading outside into

the wall. A foot tall and a few inches wide, they would have made good arrow

slits if not for the two 90-degree bends that ensured light and sound from the

inside wouldn’t leak out too much.

Of course, that let in the cold along with fresh air. So next came a

platform built out from one wall of the room, with a large flat surface of

conjured stone. Enchanting that to radiate heat equivalent to a fire was fairly

simple, since I wasn’t trying to make the effect adjustable in any way. That