Fimbulwinter (Daniel Black) (23 page)

“We left a few men in Lanrest when we first set out,” Rain explained

when I asked about it. “For the first few days we were sending the wounded

back to town as well, and there are a few men who thought the camp had been

wiped out in that giant attack and made their way back on foot. We’ve got

seventeen men who can fight, and another twenty-odd wounded.”

“Any sign of Rolf and his band of deserters?” I asked.

“Not a hint. That’s just as well, though. I’d have to hang them, but with

our losses the men are in no mood for that.”

“I suppose not,” I agreed. “So, I take it the Baron still isn’t too happy

with you?”

Considering that the tavern was outside the town wall, odds were they

wouldn’t go more than a few days before something snuck in to attack them in

the middle of the night. That couldn’t be an accident.

“We’re on shit duty,” he confirmed. “I asked about moving the men into

one of those new towers you’re building, but he said he was reserving the

space for his own retainers.”

“You could always jump ship,” I suggested. “I’m leaving as soon as the

wall is done, and I could use some professional soldiers.”

He shook his head. “I wish I could, but our contract runs for another

month. Besides, the Baron wouldn’t allow a body of troops that aren’t under

his control to stay here. If I break the contract he’ll run us out of town before

sunset.”

“If you stay here another month he’s going to get you killed,” I pointed

137

out. “You heard him plotting to thin out the refugees, and those are his own

people. The closer you get to the end of your contract the less he’s going to

trust you. He’ll send you to scout for giants, or collect food from ruined

villages, or whatever it takes to make sure none of you are alive by then.”

“No Margold company has broken a contract in seventy years,” he said

stubbornly. “I’m not going to be the first. If he orders us to do something

suicidal then he’s in breach of the contract, and we can pull out. But unless he

does we’re stuck.”

I sighed. “I’m sorry to hear that. I suppose your loyalty speaks well of

you, but it’s damned inconvenient for me. Ah, well. Are you still supposed to

be providing my escort?”

“Yes, and I can spot you a couple of guards for your tower too. Just

don’t expect us to turn on our employer.”

“I get the picture. Go ahead and send them over, then. I’ll be starting on

the wall in a bit.”

Rather than walk back to my tower, I swung by the docks and moved

the hover-barge. I still didn’t trust the situation, and I wanted the thing close at

hand just in case. I reshaped the embankment next to my tower into a dock just

big enough to hold it, and resolved to come back and finish the improvements

I’d been planning sometime soon. It needed a roof, and some kind of heating

system, and manual controls so I didn’t have to steer it myself. Of course,

controls would also mean someone could steal it.

One of the refuge girls peeked curiously over the side of the stairs as I

parked the barge. What was her name again? Gudrin, that was it.

“Good morning, milord,” she said cheerfully, her breath misting in the

chill air. “Are we going to be leaving on that thing, then?”

I almost reminded her I wasn’t a lord. But no, that was a bad habit. It

was becoming increasingly clear that if I wanted to be able to protect my

people I was going to have to pass myself off as a noble. Better to just refrain

from commenting on that topic until I had a chance to come up with a plausible

story.

“It looks that way,” I told her. “I take it you’re joining us, then?”

She did a little curtsey. “If you’ll have me, milord. Miss Avilla said

138

most of the mercenaries for hire are single, and she wanted a few reliable girls

on hand to keep the numbers in balance. Although I’m not sure what I think

about this ‘wolf-touched’ business.”

I chuckled. “She actually explained that, did she?”

“Hrodir was asking her some pointed questions, milord,” she

explained. “It seems her magic works better on some folk than others? She said

I’m so open a couple more wolf hearts would probably have me sprouting fur

and getting an urge to go hunting.”

“You don’t seem too put off by the idea,” I observed.

She shrugged. “It’s a bit unsettling, to be honest. But you’ve taken good

care of us so far, milord. I’ll trust that you know best how to keep us all alive,

and try not to worry overmuch.”

“I see Avilla is picking good people,” I smiled. “Don’t worry, if we do

any major enchantment I’ll ask for volunteers and explain the risks first. I take

it you’re on lookout duty?”

“That’s right, milord. We’ve a lot of people coming and going, and it’s

hard to get a good enough view from inside. But there’s plenty of open space

between here and the town, so if I see soldiers coming I can scurry back inside

and help Gronir bar the door long before they could reach the stairs.”

I was halfway up the steps myself by then, so I paused to look her over.

She was wearing one of the warmth cloaks I’d enchanted the day before, but

her face was bare and her feet were wrapped in rags. With the temperature

well below freezing that seemed a little inadequate.

“It’s a good plan, but find someone to take turns with,” I told her.

“You’ll get frostbite if you stay out here too long.”

She nodded. “All taken care of, milord. Beri is going to spell me until

lunch, while the men are busy moving furniture and getting guard shifts

organized. Then they’ll take over and we’ll be working inside.”

Two steps inside the tower I was intercepted by a blonde-haired

missile.

“Daniel! Are you alright? Are we in trouble? What happened with the

Baron? I saw you brought the windboat, do we need to leave?”

139

I stopped the manic flow of questions by kissing her. Ah, honey and

cinnamon, with a hint of cherries this morning.

“We’re fine, sweetie,” I said reassuringly. “The Baron’s not happy, but

he’s not going to make an issue of it publicly. I think you can even go shopping

as long as you take a couple of guards with you.”

She smiled in relief. “Oh, good. I suppose I was worried about nothing,

then.”

I shook my head. “No, it’s good to be cautious. Actually, I want us to

make a point of keeping up better security in the tower from now on. Keep

guards on the doors whenever they’re open, and make sure anyone who goes

into town has an escort. Cezary may try to get revenge somehow, so let’s not

give him any openings.”

“Can we count on Rain’s men for that?” Cerise asked from the

stairwell.

“Better not. They take their contract with the Baron pretty seriously. I

don’t think they’re going to end up coming with us, either, so we may need to

hire more men than originally planned.”

Avilla frowned. “That’s too bad. He seems like a good captain. Well,

we have three town guards, a couple of hunters and a veteran mercenary now.

Should we go for a dozen fighting men, or more?”

I considered the size of the hover-barge, and the volume of supplies I’d

like to have room for. “I think twelve will do. I don’t want to make things too

crowded. Oh, and we definitely need gloves and good boots for everyone if

we can manage it.”

“Of course. And liveried clothing, and proper bedding, and tents… oh,

unless you’re going to do something about shelter?”

“I’m going to put walls and a roof on the hover-barge tonight. Beyond

that, we’ll see how much time I have. How are we doing on money?”

Cerise grimaced. “Everything costs three or four times what it should,

now. But those cloaks are selling really well. If you’ve got time to make a

couple more I think that’ll cover all the essentials.”

“Alright, I’ll knock a couple out right now. Then I’d better get to work.

140

The new wall doesn’t protect enough of the town to do us much good yet, and

I’m getting nervous about those giants.”

It was a dreary, overcast day. The snow never quite stopped falling

completely, and every so often we’d get a flurry that dropped visibility to

nearly zero until it passed. Eventually I realized my toes were going numb, and

had to stop to put a warmth enchantment on my boots before I could go on.

The men in my escort worked in short shifts, four men watching the

fields around me nervously for thirty or forty minutes at a time while the other

four huddled around a warmth stone I’d set up in the nearest tower. A group of

the Baron’s men were moving into the gatehouse I’d built yesterday, but the

rest of the new construction was still empty aside from a few sentries on the

wall.

The first time a flurry forced me to stop work I was terribly tempted to

pack it in for the day, and spend the afternoon improving my weapons or

preparing for the trip to come. But then I remembered the faces of the

townspeople, and the refugees huddled together against the cold.

I might not be able to save them. But I had to try.

I built two more towers that day, and another gatehouse on a road that

was more or less perpendicular to the river. I was tempted not to bother with

that, but there was enough traffic through the existing gate that I decided I’d

better not block it. Besides, the gatehouse could easily quarter a hundred men.

Maybe I’d spend a day building shelters for the refugees, when I was

done with the wall?

I kept going until the light began to fail, and Cerise came to fetch me for

dinner. After a full day of heavy spellcasting I barely had the energy to wolf

down my food, and stumble off to bed.

141

Chapter 10

I was awakened the next morning by a leisurely blowjob.

I groaned happily, still only half awake, and palmed one of the soft

breasts pressing against my thigh. Much more than a handful. In my limited

experience Avilla’s blowjobs were usually fast, hungry affairs, but she was

taking her time this morning. Nuzzling, sucking, stroking, swirling her tongue

around the tip...

“Oh god! You’re getting good at that, Avilla.”

She giggled, and came up for air just as I realized that hadn’t been

Avilla’s voice.

“Good morning, milord,” Tina said brightly. “Miss Avilla sent me to

wake you.”

The smiling redhead rose a bit, her heavy breasts dangling and swaying

enticingly. I found myself cupping them in my hands, and she sighed happily.

“You like them, milord?”

“Hell, yes. But is this really what Avilla meant?”

Her brow furrowed in consternation. “I think so, milord. She reminded

me to swallow an everything. Oh! Did y’want to have my virginity this

morning, milord?”

I swallowed heavily. Wow, I really wasn’t used to the way these

people thought.

“I, ah… I think we should make that a special occasion, Tina. A girl

only gets one first time, right?”

She beamed. “You’re so kind, milord! I’ll be looking forward to it. Are

you gonna do my boobs too? You said you could make’em really big.

I chuckled. “I suppose I can. Hold still for a minute.”

I closed my eyes and focused on my magical senses. Growth was a

simple form of flesh sorcery, much easier than some of the healing I’d been

doing. Hmm. Her breasts didn’t seem to be very sensitive, but that was easy to

142

fix.

“Oh!” She gasped. “That feels good, milord.”

“That’s the idea, Tina. Think that’s enough?”

“I get to pick? Oh, more please, milord!”

I kneaded her soft breasts, drawing a series of gasps and sighs from the

lovely young redhead as I tuned her nerve endings to an exquisite level of

sensitivity. By the time I was satisfied with that she was about two cup sizes

bigger, which was getting pretty impressive. She looked down at herself in

dazed wonder.

“There we go. How’s that?”

“Oh, my lord!” She breathed. “It’s… they’re…”

She abruptly ducked down and took my organ back into her mouth.

Now it was my turn to groan again. She bobbed her head energetically,

thoroughly coating me with saliva, then pulled away. By the time I caught my

breath she had my length nestled into her newly expanded cleavage.

“Fuck ma big boobies, milord!” She pleaded.

How could I say no to that?

Avilla gave me an impish grin when I finally made it into the kitchen

for breakfast. I mussed her hair, and gave her a squeeze and a kiss.

“Devious wench,” I teased. “Are you going to make a habit of setting

me up like that?”

“I’m just making sure everyone in the household is happy,” she smiled

back. “You were going to hesitate and agonize over it and leave her worrying