Extermination (Daniel Black Book 3) (16 page)

“Your Diligence? I’m Sir Kai Ottosen, the fief holder here. Has Prince Caspar finally arranged our rescue, then?”

“No, the prince is busy fighting these ape men that are rampaging across the kingdom. I’m here on my own. I figured as long as I’ve got this fancy flying ship I may as well put it to good use. But I’m sure the prince would be happy to have more loyal vassals at his side.”

“What about my people?” He asked with a frown. Well, points to him, then.

“Kozalin is already overrun with refugees,” I admitted. “But I just put up another shelter, so there’s space for them. I can lift out some supplies as well as your people, so they won’t be starting over from nothing. Or they can come work for me. I’ve got a brand new fortress right next to Kozalin that needs a garrison, craftsmen, servants and even farmers.”

“Farmers? In this weather?”

I smiled. “Magic, obviously.”

He considered that for a long moment, before finally nodded.

“Very well, Your Diligence. Can you bring that thing a little closer to the gate? This is going to take some doing.”

His prediction proved accurate. I helped his men take the barricade apart, and with some careful maneuvering we were able to back the
Intrepid
up to the opening and lower the ramp to the snow right outside the settlement. But it was still a good walk from their granary to my airship’s cargo hold, and there was too much snow in the streets to get a cart through.

Sir Ottosen cautiously trooped up the ramp as a work party arrived with the first few sacks of grain, and looked around.

“How much weight can your vessel fly with, Your Diligence?” He asked.

“You can pretty much cram the hold full,” I told him. “She’ll lift a good thirty tons with no problem, and we’re not going to fit anywhere near that much in here with people taking up most of the space. It’s early enough in the day that we can make more than one trip if we need to, unless we end up spending hours on the loading.”

“I see. Yes, I’ve heard that the Griffon Knights can fly thirty miles in an hour, and Kozalin isn’t much further than that. Perhaps you could take the ill and infirm first, along with the livestock? By the time you return we’ll have had a chance to shift most of our supplies nearer the gate, where we can load them quickly.”

Livestock? I hadn’t even thought about that, but it made sense. Horses were probably the most valuable asset these people had, and the rest of their animals were easily portable food.

It ended up taking three trips. The first load was a few cows, lots of chickens and pigs, several horses, a swarm of children and a few older women sent along to keep them under control. They were variously elated and terrified by the flight, leaning towards the latter whenever the animals moved around enough to make the airship list noticeably. I ended up spending half the trip in the cargo area, directing the men who were supposed to be gunners in their efforts to keep the weight evenly distributed. I was definitely going to need to find a loadmaster for these trips.

We made good time back to the island, and I had Cerise land inside the walls so we could unload our passengers directly into the ground floor of the arcology block. I figured the large, empty spaces along the road would make decent holding pens for the animals, and keep the refugees out of the weather until they were all assembled.

By the time we returned the locals had a couple of cartloads worth of grain ready to load, packed into everything from burlap sacks to dozens of giant baskets. There were a lot of bundles of household goods, too. Piles of vegetables wrapped in blankets, bundles of clothes, stacks of farming implements and other hand tools. A hundred or so women piled into the cargo compartment along with the goods, many of them with small children in tow. The hull creaked a bit as we loaded them in, and I noticed a slight strain on the
Intrepid’s
structural reinforcement spell when we lifted off. Not enough to be dangerous over such a short trip, but apparently I needed to strengthen the frame a little if we were going to carry loads this heavy.

The villagers all stared around in amazement as they disembarked, and I heard more than a few murmured discussions about the merits of living in such a place. This time Avilla was on hand with a work party to help unload the cargo, and she started working the crowd before we were half done.

“No, there aren’t any blood sacrifices here. Our wizard raised the island with earth magic.”

“I’m one of his mistresses, silly, and the other three are just as pretty. He doesn’t need to diddle the serving girls.”

“Yes, it’s always this warm inside. We have running water and indoor privies as well, so you hardly even need to go out in the cold.”

“We need more seamstresses to make uniforms for the soldiers, and cooks and assistants for the kitchens. Maids, too, but I’m very picky about who I accept for those positions.”

“Yes, the wizard makes marvelous magic weapons for his soldiers. He has a professional captain training up a new company right now, and they have room for another twenty men or so.”

“The farms? Yes, they need men, but if you have a husband you’ll want him to join the garrison or work in the armory instead. If he goes to work the farms he’ll be happy enough, but you’ll hardly ever see him.”

I smiled. It sounded like that part of the plan was going well enough. Although I found myself a little unhappy at hearing Avilla describe herself as my mistress. She meant more to me than that.

Avilla worked herself out of the crowd to visit me on the bridge as we prepared to depart again.

“This is taking more work than I expected,” she noted. “What do you think of the villagers?”

“They’re good people,” I told her. “I counted maybe forty men left in the village, and well over a hundred women. It’s pretty obvious how that happened.”

She shook her head. “Is it like that everywhere? At this rate we’ll have to make the men marry two or three girls each, because there just aren’t enough to go around.”

“It’s a problem,” I agreed. “But better that than the reverse. If I ever find a settlement where the men outnumber the women I’ll know they’re not worth saving.”

She smiled, and kissed my cheek. “You’re a good man, Daniel. Hurry back to us, now. It’s getting late, and you said it isn’t safe to fly after dark.”

It was a close thing. I’d hoped to make it a fast trip, but Sir Ottosen had a lot more cargo to load. Sacks and baskets and all sorts of improvised containers full of grain. His household goods, and those of his retainers. More bundles of vegetables wrapped in blankets and cloaks. Spare weapons, and big bundles of arrows tied together with twine.

“We can’t afford to waste anything,” he said when I commented on the arrangements. “Even so, we’ve barely managed to salvage half the contents of the granary. But the carts are useless, and there’s nothing else to put it in.”

“Oh. Well, I think I can help you with that.”

It was simple enough to throw together a big basket of force floating on a skimmer field, and then Ottosen’s men just shoveled the rest of the grain into it. Once I got it back to the airship I spent a few minutes stabilizing the spell enough to last through the flight, and the men all trooped on board. I noticed that there were a few women among them, obviously sticking close to their men, and a couple of badly wounded men were carried aboard on stretchers.

“Is that everyone?” I asked Ottosen, eying the sun. “It’s going to be dark soon, so this is the last trip.”

He took a head count, swore, and stormed off to look for a missing man. That took a good ten minutes, during which a couple of teenage boys dragged a reluctant pig up the ramp and an old woman arrived being led by a young girl. This was not giving me a good feeling.

“Cerise? Would you mind making a quick circuit of the village? The way people keep straggling in has me worried we’re going to leave someone behind.”

“Sure thing, Daniel. What if someone doesn’t want to come?”

I sighed. “They’ll die if they stay, but I suppose that’s their choice. Just make sure they know this is their last chance to get onboard.”

Sure enough, Cerise turned up a couple more peasants who’d been hiding in their homes for some stupid reason or other. Then Ottosen returned with a chastened-looking man-at-arms in tow, and a rather pretty young girl trailing along behind them. Ottosen spun to growl at her when they reached the ramp.

“Off with you, you damned witch!” He shouted. “Your little stunt nearly cost me one of my men. You can stay and greet the goblins for all I care.”

She paled, and stumbled back.

“That isn’t your call, Sir Ottosen,” I said firmly. “This is my ship, and I’m not leaving anyone behind.”

His hand went to his sword. “No man of mine would be fool enough to risk being left to the goblins just for a chance to dip his wick, Your Diligence. She was bewitching him.”

I raised an eyebrow. “So your theory is she wanted to get herself stranded? That doesn’t sound very plausible. Come here girl, I’m not going to let anyone hurt you. What’s your name?”

The peasant girl hesitantly crept up the ramp. “Mari, milord. I meant no harm, really I didn’t. I only wanted him to take me with him. I… I like Jacob, milord. He’d make a good husband.”

At first I’d assumed that Ottosen was just being an intolerant jackass, but on a closer look I realized that Mari actually did have magic. A faint, wispy aura, barely worth mentioning compared to Avilla or Cerise. But her attempt at a veil of concealment was equally flimsy, and barely did anything to impede my senses.

Cerise came bouncing up the ramp as Ottosen was denouncing Mari’s witchcraft and loudly proclaiming that she was no longer welcome among his people. She took in the situation at a glance, and swept the girl up in her arms.

“Sweet! We’ll take her, then. Trust me, we know just what to do with an apprentice hearth witch.”

Mari squeaked in protest. “What are you doing? Put me down!”

“Nope. I’m carrying you off to my evil lair of dark wickedness, cutie,” Cerise declared firmly. She marched across the crowded cargo hold and disappeared through the hatch that led to the bridge.

I chuckled.

“Problem solved,” I said. “Don’t worry, she won’t be causing trouble for you anymore. Now, is that everyone? We need to get in the air before it gets any closer to sundown.”

Ottosen threw a befuddled look towards the bridge, and shook his head. “Yes, that’s everyone. What… who was that? What does she plan to do with her?”

“That was my apprentice, Cerise,” I told him. “She thinks witches are cute. Probably wants the girl to cook for her or something. Anyway, what do you care? You were going to leave her to die, remember?”

“Yes, I suppose you’re right. Very well then, she’s your responsibility.”

I watched the crew pull up the ramp and close the cargo doors, and double-checked the latch myself before heading for the bridge. I arrived to find Cerise already in the pilot’s seat, with Mari standing next to her looking around in wonder.

“I’d be honored to serve such an important coven,” the girl was saying. “Thank you for giving me this chance, ma’am.”

“That was fast,” I observed.

Cerise turned to grin back at me. “Hey, you know I wanted some backup. Mari’s pretty green, but I’m sure Avilla can get her whipped into shape.”

Mari blushed faintly. “Thank you for your kindness, ma’am.”

“Aww, isn’t she cute? Was I ever that young?”

“I doubt you have more than two or three years on her, Cerise,” I pointed out. “But she’s right, Mari. My coven has a lot of responsibilities to deal with, and we can use all the help we can get.”

“So you’re the warlock of the coven, milord?” She asked. “I was just telling Miss Cerise, I’d be happy to pledge my fealty for a safe spot of floor to sleep on and a crust of bread now and then.”

“We take better care of our people than that,” I told her. “But what exactly was the deal with that guard?”

She gave me a crestfallen look. “I really didn’t mean to make us late, milord. I was just worried about how I’d get by as a penniless refugee in a big city, especially without a kitchen. I was trying to convince Jacob to at least take me in as a mistress. Only, mum always said that the kind of convincing you do on your knees doesn’t take long at all, but he was lasting forever. I suppose I must need practice.”

“Sweetie, if a guy that age lasts more than a few minutes with a girl that looks like you it doesn’t mean there’s a problem,” Cerise said knowingly. “It sounds like you picked a good one. Or were you feeding him manliness recipes?”

She flushed. “Um, well, I had to get his attention somehow. I know that’s clumsy, but mum never had a chance to show me how to do it right.”

Cerise cackled madly. “Fuck, you’re so precious! Don’t worry, Mari. I’m sure we can find someone to finish your education. Avilla might even take you on as an apprentice if you impress her.”

“I think that’s a conversation for later,” I pointed out. “It’s about time we got underway, here. Take us up, Cerise, and set course for home.”

The sun was nearing the horizon when we finally reached the island, and I gave a mental sigh of relief. I could probably improvise some way to set the airship down in the dark without crashing, but we didn’t need to be taking risks like that with a load of refugees on board. I’d have to be more careful about the time on future runs.