Fimbulwinter (Daniel Black) (21 page)

barrier I’d conjured in front of him.

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“Ow! My nose!”

“Go bother the peasants, junior. I’m not falling for that.”

He glared at me and clutched his nose. “You can’t do that! That’s

assaulting a noble, with magic no less! My uncle will hang you for this!”

I snorted. “Your uncle needs me to build a real wall around his town so

you don’t all get killed when the giants get around to you. Cerise, you’ve been

reading up on customs around here. Do you know anything about this?”

She gave me a puzzled glance, but then understanding blossomed.

“No, master. I know a lot of the nobles in this part of the kingdom use

tax farmers to collect from their towns instead of trying to do something

complicated like licensing or property taxes. But I’ve never heard of something

as crazy as sending a tax farmer after a noble’s party. If he’d pulled this on a

visiting baron it would probably start a war.”

Cezary sputtered. “Noble! I don’t see any livery on these servants, and

you haven’t a single real man-at-arms. You’re just a jumped-up hedge wizard

with delusions of grandeur. If you know what’s good for you you’ll stop putting

on airs and start showing some deference for your betters.”

“Betters!” Avilla fumed. “Our wizard is worth a hundred of you, you

worm!”

He scowled. “That’s it, I’m out of patience. I’m assessing a two

hundred silver fine for obstruction of my duties, payable immediately. I

suppose your so-called apprentices would fetch that on the open market, if you

don’t have the coin-”

He self-important demands were cut off when I slammed him into the

wall with a burst of force magic. His men went for their swords, and I did the

same thing to them. They hit the stone in a cacophony of rattling steel, and

found themselves pinned a foot off the ground.

I released Cezary, and stalked across the room to punch him in the gut

while he was trying to regain his balance. He folded over nicely, but I wasn’t

satisfied with that. I grabbed his arm, spun him around, and planted a kick in

his ass that sent him sprawling on the stone floor at Avilla’s feet. Another burst

of force magic flipped him over, and pinned him to the floor on his back.

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I walked over and put my boot on the middle of his chest, and pushed.

He choked, and scrabbled at the floor.

“You’re a complete dumbass, aren’t you Cezary? Well, let me see if I

can explain this in small words. Your job is robbing your uncle’s subjects to

fill his coffers. I’m not one of your uncle’s subjects. So you can take your

crooked tax laws and bogus fines and fuck off. If I catch you bothering my

girls again I’m going to break both your knees so you’ll never walk right again,

and then I’ll let them have you. What would you do with this brainless wonder,

girls?”

Avilla stepped up next to me with her butcher knife in hand, and started

to sharpen it. “We need soap and candles, master, and he has plenty of fat. I’ll

cut it all out and render it down.”

Cerise glided across the room to lean against my other side, and the

light seemed to dim. “I need more vellum for my grimoire, master. Can I flay

his skin off and cure it? He’s got so much, I could make twenty pages easily.”

Avilla held up a finger. “Oh yes, I need bone meal too. Not much, those

little bones from his fingers should be enough.”

“Mmm. And if you lay a finger on Avilla?” Cerise knelt to look into the

man’s eyes. “I’ll cut your eyes out and sacrifice them to Lord Sargoras, so

you’ll see nothing but the Realm of Madness for the rest of your life. I’ll put a

curse on you that makes your balls swell to the size of melons and drives you

mad with lust, but makes it so anything that touches your dick feels like broken

glass. I’ll-”

I put my hand on her shoulder. “He’s already pissed himself, Cerise. I

think he gets the idea. Now get out.”

I released his men and shoved him at them. The whole group retreated

hurriedly, the soldiers at least being smart enough not to make any more

trouble. They half-carried him up the stairs and out the door.

I kept an eye on them until they were gone, then rounded on Rain’s men.

“You! What the hell are you here for if you’re just going to stand around and

watch?”

“But sir,” their sergeant protested, “they’re the Baron’s men. We can’t

go getting in no fight with them. Not unless we get the Captain’s say-so.”

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“Then what use are you? Out. I’ll talk to your Captain in the morning.”

I barred the door myself, and leaned against it with a sigh.

“Damn it. It’s just one thing after another. Gronir, did Avilla hire you?”

“Ah, yessir,” the woodsman answered nervously.

“Well, good job backing her up. That’s exactly what I want from you.

Is everyone alright?”

There were nods all around. Then Avilla’s eyes went wide.

“Oh no! Dinner!”

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Chapter 9

I wasn’t terribly surprised to receive an urgent summons to appear

before the Baron the next day. His men were pounding on my door before the

sun was even up, although apparently the household was already stirring by

then.

I’d been up late into the night working on a better version of the hover-

barge, just in case we had to leave town in a hurry. So I was still soundly

asleep when Beri came up to tell me we had company.

“Gronir isn’t opening the door for them,” she reassured me. “But they

say the Baron wants you in the keep right away.”

I rubbed my eyes. There was still one naked girl lying next to me, and it

was awfully tempting to just roll over and go back to sleep. But that would be

a bad move.

“Alright, I’m up,” I grumbled. “Tell them I’m on my way down.”

I sat up, and Cerise made a sleepy little protest and cuddled up against

me. I sighed, and extracted myself from her grip as gently as I could manage.

Avilla appeared at the doorway while I was pulling on my shirt,

looking worried and wringing her hands. “Daniel? What are we going to do?”

“Keep the tower locked up, and put someone on watch. Be careful not

to let anyone in unless you’re sure there aren’t any soldiers ready to rush the

door. But try not to worry too much, that’s just a precaution. I don’t think the

Baron is actually going to try anything.”

“What’s going on?” Cerise asked sleepily. She sat up and stretched,

which had the effect of completely distracted us both from the conversation for

a moment.

“Slugabed,” Avilla groused, but she was smiling.

I shook my head, and pulled my shoes on. “Time to see the Baron. You

stay here and keep an eye on things.”

Cerise frowned. “The Baron? But what if he decides to take offense?

You’ll be all alone.”

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I shook my head. “He needs the wall I’m building too much for that. I

think he’ll wait until it’s done. Besides, if something does happen I’d rather

have you here making sure Avilla is safe. I fight better if I don’t have to worry

about where I’m throwing my spells.”

“We should really figure out how to fight together,” she complained.

“But I guess now isn’t the time. Should we keep working on hiring?”

I nodded. “Yes. I want us to be ready to leave the instant I get paid. But

don’t risk going into town until I’ve got a better feel for the situation.”

“Sure thing,” Cerise agreed. “Good luck.”

“Stay safe,” Avilla added.

I gave them both a reassuring hug, and headed for the door.

I was a bit more concerned that I let on. I’d given Cezary a bit of a

beating, and in retrospect that wasn’t such a smart idea. When did I become so

violent, anyway?

Maybe that wolf heart was affecting me?

Or maybe it was just that I could finally strike back at injustice without

being locked up for it. I’d spent so many years knuckling under to an

increasingly crushing burden of stupid, nonsensical rules that there was no way

to fight. Arguing with an employer just gets you fired, and arguing with the

government is a good way to land in jail. But here politics was a matter of

individuals and personalities rather than impersonal bureaucracies and

leaderless ideological trends.

It had felt awfully good to just punch that idiot instead of having to

listen to him talk. But did I really want to make a habit of that kind of thing?

There were only four soldiers, and they were cautious but respectful.

So they probably weren’t going to try anything, but I kept my shield up just in

case.

A light sprinkle of snow was falling, settling onto roofs that already

carried a heavy load of the stuff. There was only a thin dusting of white on the

streets, but I could see deep drifts beginning to develop in corners and along

the sides of buildings. The streets were still full of activity now, but another

blizzard or two would probably leave most of the town snowed in.

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How hard would that be to prevent? Put roofs over the narrower

streets, maybe. Fuse the cobblestones of the wider roads together, and enchant

them to radiate enough heat to melt the snow. Or would the runoff just freeze

into ice sheets before it found its way outside the walls?

I reminded myself I wasn’t going to be here that long, and turned my

attention back to the people.

There were a lot of soldiers in the streets, hurrying about in groups of a

dozen or more. Most of them weren’t nearly as well equipped as the 5

Margold, however. Lots of light chain shirts instead of proper hauberks, and

half the spearmen wore leather armor instead of mail. Some groups wore

relatively standardized equipment, with various insignia embroidered on

cloaks or armbands. But others had the motley assortment of personal gear I’d

have expected of medieval troops, where each man spent his own money to

buy whatever equipment he thought he might need.

The townspeople who were out and about seemed reasonably

prosperous as far as I could tell. At least, their clothes were a lot better than

what I’d seen on the peasant refugees, and most of them wore actual shoes

instead of just wrapping their feet in rags. But they kept their heads down,

cringing nervously out of the way whenever a troop of soldiers passed by, and

I noticed that none of them were armed.

The fear in their eyes made me wish there was something more I could

do for them, but it was the refugees who were the worst off. They were

everywhere, huddled in clumps wherever they could find a little shelter from

the weather. In narrow alleys, under porches, in disused corners of the winding

streets. Their ragged clothes and rough blankets were little protection against

the cold, and most of them looked like they hadn’t eaten in days.

My escort ignored them, and they kept their distance. But I wondered

how many of them would still be alive in a week.

Baron Stein’s keep was bustling with activity. Laborers carried an

endless stream of barrels and sacks into the keep under the watchful eyes of his

soldiers, while work parties came and went constantly. Apparently the Baron

meant to keep all the supplies that could possibly fit in his own cellars, where

he could keep an eye on them.

That wouldn’t have bothered me, except that there was no one

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dispensing food to those refugees.

I was led across the great hall and up a stairway to the second floor,

then along one of the balconies overlooking the hall to an open doorway

flanked by a pair of guards. Inside was a meeting room dominated by a large

rectangular table, with twenty or so men crowded into it. I recognized Baron

Stein, Holger Drakebane, Captain Rain and a couple of the men who’d been

clustered around the Baron during my brief audience the day before.

“-stand at fourteen months’ normal rations for the town and garrison,

my lord,” one of the older soldiers was saying. “But we’ve now emptied all

the farms within easy reach of the town, and at this rate the roads will be

impassible in another week. We might gain another month or two by emptying

the villages a bit further out, but we’ve little word on what we’d be facing.”

“Well, now that our wizard has finally joined us maybe he’ll have a

thought or two on that,” the Baron replied sourly. “The war council meets here

at dawn every third day, Daniel. Don’t be late again.”

I blinked in surprise. I’d expected shouting and threats, not an invite to

the executive planning meetings. Did Stein not care what I’d done to his

cousin? Or was there something more going on here?

I gathered my wits, and responded. “I’m afraid your invitation only

reached me this morning, milord, but I’ll certainly strive to be punctual in the