Fimbulwinter (Daniel Black) (31 page)

amulet would protect me from frostbite, and a little numbness was nothing. I

pushed on until I reached the fourth floor, counted three arrow slits over from

the east corner, and cautiously eased over for a look inside.

I found a small room, dimly lit by a couple of candles. Most of the

space was filled by a pair of beds, a wardrobe and a little table with a couple

of chairs around it. The walls directly ahead of me and to my right were wood,

but to the left was just a heavy curtain. According to Daria the Baron’s

188

bedchambers would be on the other side.

In the soft light I could make out three unhappy-looking girls huddling

together on one of the beds. But no sign of Avilla, damn it.

A loud smack of leather against flesh echoed through the curtain, and

all three girls flinched. A male voice on the other side of the curtain was

saying something, but I couldn’t make it out over the wind. Never mind, I got

the picture.

I reached into the stonework with my earth sorcery, and shaped the

arrow slit into a doorway.

It took the Baron’s mistresses a few seconds to notice, and they just

gaped in astonishment for several more. By the time they came to their senses I

was already stepping into the room.

One of them screamed. The second one immediately joined in. The

third clawed her way out from under the blankets and ran for the door,

heedless of the fact that all she had on was a thin shift.

I ignored them in favor of ripping the curtain away.

The Baron’s bedchamber was considerably larger than the one his

mistresses shared. A large four-poster bed stood in the middle of the room,

with an overhead canopy and curtains that were currently drawn back. There

was other furniture – a writing desk, a couple of wardrobes, an armor stand

supporting a suit of plate mail, a small fireplace with a fire going – but I

dismissed it all as unimportant.

In a broad empty space at the foot of the bed Avilla hung from a set of

iron shackles, with a cloth gag in her mouth. The chain had been pulled up so

she had to stand on tiptoe, and she was naked despite the coolness of the room.

Her back and butt were covered by a mass of angry red marks, and there were

tears running down her cheeks.

Baron Stein stood behind her, still fully clothed, with a heavy leather

belt in his hand. His eyes went wide when he saw me, and he dropped the belt

to reach for his sword.

I strode forward and punched him in the face.

He staggered back, with blood spurting from his nose.

189

“You’re supposed to be dead!” He protested.

“No real wizard ever let that stop him,” I growled. “Draw your sword,

little man. We’ll see how it does against mine.”

The door to the mistress’ chamber flew open, and a pair of armored

men stormed in. But I was ready for this fight. I pulled out the stone handle I’d

spent half the afternoon enchanting, and activated it.

A bar of tightly contained flame three feet long shot out from the hilt, so

hot that it burned violet instead of orange. Hidden within the glow more than a

hundred little force constructs materialized, each shaped like a miniature buzz

saw and spinning so fast the teeth broke the sound barrier. The high-pitched

howl of the counter-rotating blades filled the room, and I stepped forward to

swing at them.

Their blades bounced harmlessly off my shield. But my weapon

chewed through swords, armor and men with equal ease, spraying fragments of

hot steel and shattered bone everywhere. With one blow I cut the closer guard

nearly in half, reducing his chest to a ruin of smoking meat, and destroyed the

other one’s sword. He’d barely managed to check his headlong run into the

room when my second swing took off his head.

I felt a sharp pain, and looked down to find the Baron’s sword

protruding from my chest. But, my shield had been up?

“Damned wizard. You think I wouldn’t be ready to deal with your

kind?”

Stein stepped back, pulling his sword free. Now that I was paying

attention, I could see the hard shell of enchantment that protected his blade

from all other magical effects. The spell that formed my shield couldn’t affect

it, and I didn’t have any other defense against a physical attack.

I swayed, and everything went fuzzy. I could hear more screams and

shouting nearby. The Baron wouldn’t be alone for long, damn it. But I kept my

grip on my weapon, and somewhat to my surprise I wasn’t passing out. Guess

there’s an advantage to a healing item that continuously cures all the symptoms

caused by your injuries.

“You’ll have to do better than that,” I said grimly.

Stein’s eyes narrowed. “Cut off the head, then. Or just hack off your

190

limbs, and burn the body. That’s an impressive weapon, but I can see you’re no

swordsman. Tell me how to command your pretty little golem, and I’ll let you

walk away.”

“Golem?” I asked in astonishment.

He nodded at Avilla. “No wizard would build a masterpiece like that

thing just to fuck it, though I don’t doubt it’s a hell of a lay. It’s an assassin,

isn’t it? Send it to smile and flirt and look innocent until a man drops his guard,

and then it turns into a monster and kills him. It doesn’t even know, does it?

Tell me the command words.”

There were booted feet pounding across the floor, along with a jingle

of mail and more shouting. No time to play games.

“Idiot,” I snorted. I raised my weapon as if I were about to attack, and

then send a wave of force out to slam into Stein.

It parted around his sword, but the fringes of it caught him anyway and

bounced him off the wall. Another telekinetic blow caught him in mid-air and

slammed him into the ceiling. He lost his grip on the magic sword, and it went

clattering across the floor. I released him, and turned to throw a flurry of force

blades at the men trying to enter the room.

That sent them stumbling back, which gave me a moment to seal the

doorway with a mass of stone. The floor creaked a bit at the addition of what

was probably a couple of tons of weight, but it held.

I turned back to find Stein diving for his sword. I knocked him across

the room again, and then slammed him into the room’s outer wall and made the

stone grow bands around his wrists and ankles.

Then I turned to Avilla.

She stared at me in shock. I’d been standing between her and the

guardsmen when I’d tried out my new weapon, protecting her from the spray of

fragments with my shield. But she’d gotten a good look at everything.

I wrapped her in a protective shield, and severed the chain holding up

her shackles. Glowing bits of iron sprayed the room, and the bed began to

smolder.

I dropped both shields, and caught Avilla as she started to fall. She

191

collapsed against me with a muffled sob. I held her awkwardly with one arm

for a moment, trying not to touch the marks where she’d been beaten. Finally I

decided I’d better turn off my fancy new weapon, so I could have a hand free

to remove her gag.

“I’m sorry,” she gasped as soon as it was off. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,

oh Daniel I’m such a useless slut. You should just leave me behind.”

“What? Oh, hell no. What do you have to apologize for, Avilla? I’m the

one who screwed up and let you get captured.”

“I’m so weak,” she sobbed. “I should have been strong, like you or

Cerise, but I just gave up. I was ready to do anything if he’d just stop beating

me.”

I soothed away her pain in a wash of magic, and held her close.

“Shhh, it’s alright, Avilla. It’s ok. You thought I was dead, and

everything was hopeless. Didn’t you?”

She nodded, her face buried against my chest.

“Where were you? I thought… did I do something…?”

She sounded so lost.

“One of this asshole’s men stabbed me in the back and left me under a

burning troll.”

“What?!” She pulled away, suddenly furious. “They betrayed you?”

I nodded. “Some knight who was a relative of that tax farmer. I don’t

know if the Baron put him up to it or not, and right now I don’t really care.”

There was a muffled thump at the doorway, and the stone shook

slightly. Avilla glanced at it, and back to me.

“You’re really not mad at me?” She asked meekly.

I shook my head. “Of course not. I’ll never abandon you, Avilla.

You’re safe with me.”

“Hah!” Baron Stein barked. “Uppity book-sniffer. The might of the

gods is more than your unnatural magic can match. We’ll see how high and

mighty you are when Holger sends your other bitch to kill you.”

192

“Will we, now?”

I plucked the dagger from his belt and pulled it across the room to slap

into my palm. Then I handed it to Avilla.

“Here’s your chance at payback, if you want it.”

A louder thump shook my improvised barricade. They’d found

something solid to use as a battering ram.

“But you’d better hurry,” I went on.

Avilla looked down at the dagger in her hand, and up at the Baron. For

a moment she hesitated, and I thought she was going to pass. But then her eyes

went dark, and her grip tightened.

“Beat me, will you? You think you can steal me and break me and

make me yours? I don’t belong to you, you bastard.”

She stepped close, and ran the blade along his cheek.

“My love binds demons and eats their hearts, Baron. You’re lucky she

isn’t here, or she’d sacrifice you to one. All I can do is this.”

She brought the knife down his other cheek, leaving another shallow

cut.

“Oh, and I’m not some stupid assassin golem. The most powerful

hearth witch in the north created me, and she wanted me to seduce a prince.

She made me soft and sweet and beautiful, so I could win his heart and bind it

with true love. Then she was going to take over my body, and enjoy an endless

life of luxury.”

She leaned in to whisper in his ear. “All you had to do was make me

think Daniel was dead, and treat me decently. I was made to fall in love. But

instead you tried to beat me into submission.”

She lowered the knife, and stabbed him in the belly. He grunted.

“Gut wounds are nasty, aren’t they?” She said conversationally.

“Sometimes they’re clean, but sometimes they fester. Especially when a hearth

witch wants them too. Nasty things gather, burrow and breed. So mote it be.”

She stepped back and smiled at him. “There now. You could take

weeks to die, but it’ll get you in the end. Should I leave him like this, Daniel?”

193

“Wait!” Stein gasped. “I… I can pay you! Thirty crowns, and weapons

for your men.”

I rolled my eyes. “Never leave an enemy alive. That one’s on the Evil

Overlord list.”

“You keep a list, Daniel?” She turned back to her victim with gleaming

eyes. “That’s my man. That’s who I belong to. Not some ignorant noble who

thinks he can steal me away with treachery and pain.”

“Forty crowns!” He pleaded. “Please! You won’t get far without

money.”

She stabbed him again, lower this time. He groaned, and struggled

uselessly against his bonds.

“Keep your money, pig. You’ll never touch me again.”

The knife fell again, this time into his thigh. A red stain began to spread

rapidly down his leg. She stepped back.

“I just wish I had more time to pay you back. But this will have to do.”

She plunged the dagger into his eye. He screamed, thrashing and

twitching for a long moment, and then went still.

A crack appeared in my barricade, but I repaired it with a wave of my

hand. I dissolved the stone manacles, letting the Baron’s body fall to the floor,

and hugged Avilla from behind.

“Better?”

She sagged against me. “I think so. Can we go now?”

“Sure. One last thing.”

I pulled out a heavy chest of iron-bound wood I’d noticed in the corner,

and cut the lock off with my new weapon. Avilla huddled behind me and stared

at it.

“What is that thing?” She asked. “I’ve never seen such a powerful

weapon.”

“I haven’t decided what to call it yet,” I told her. “I just finished

making it an hour ago.”

194

“An implement like that deserves a proper name. Storm-Biter?

Thunder-tooth? No, those are too fancy. He wants something simple and brutal.

Grinder. That’s it.”

I chuckled. “Grinder, huh? Sounds about right. Oh, good.”

Sure enough, the chest was full of little bags of money. I grabbed a

sheet from the bed to make an improvised sack, and dumped it all in. Then I

handed it to Avilla.

“Here, you keep track of that.”

“Alright,” she agreed. “Um, I don’t suppose you brought me clothes?”

“Nope. Couldn’t get my hands on a backpack in time, and the way I got