“Look out!”
The panicked cry from one of the cowering villagers warned me that our
victory hadn’t gone unnoticed. Two more wolves were headed our way, and
the giant had drawn a hand axe from his belt. I turned around just in time to see
him throw it at me.
Time seemed to stand still as the glittering mass of steel spun through the
air towards me, the complex interplay of forces that guided its path announcing
that the giant’s aim was true. It would spin three more times as it sailed through
the air, then smash edge-on into my chest. With the force of a hundred pounds
or so of flying steel concentrated on the tiny surface area of its edge it would
cut through my shield like tissue paper.
I stepped into the spot my sorcerous instincts pointed to, two feet forward
and a foot to the left, and held out a hand bolstered by telekinetic strength. The
shaft of the axe slammed into my palm, and my hand closed around it. I let the
impact of the blow spin me around in nearly a full circle, adding my own
power to the movement. Then I released it again, and watched it sail through
the darkness to sink into the chest of the wolf on the left. The beast went down
with a howl of agony.
The wolf on the right checked, and eyed me warily.
“Come on then, monsters!” I shouted. “Who dies next?”
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The giant roared, and charged me. The wolf circled right, watching for an
opening.
“Oh, crap,” Cerise muttered behind me.
“Take cover,” I advised her, and counter-charged.
It was insane, but I figured being unpredictable was my best shot at
surviving this. I let my force bubble drop, knowing it wouldn’t do any good
against a weapon the size of the giant’s spear anyway, and desperately
wracked my brain. Jump? No, he’d probably seen me do it to the wolf, and
he’d just stab me in mid-air. The force spike trick? No, he was wearing chain
mail, and steel links that size would be stronger than my force constructs. Earth
trickery?
Yeah, that’s the ticket.
He was almost close enough to stab me now, so I turned the ground
around us into a quagmire of mud. The first few inches came out frozen, which
was a pleasant surprise since it meant I didn’t immediately sink.
The giant wasn’t so lucky. His tremendous weight cracked the frozen
surface instantly, and he plunged knee-deep before he knew what was
happening. I jumped away with a burst of force magic as he started to struggle,
and rapidly circled around the trap.
The giant shouted something in what I assumed must be his own language,
but he couldn’t turn fast enough with the goop impeding his movements. I laid a
horizontal force wall over the muck to use as a path, circling quickly to get
behind him, and then ran in close to ram a slender lance of force between the
links of his armor and into his right kidney.
He howled in pain. I made the end of the lance grow into a spinning blade
for an instant, thoroughly mangling the tissue inside. Then I released the spell,
and a spray of searing blue blood gushed from the wound.
I staggered back, gasping at the sudden cold, and nearly got eaten by
another wolf. I barely evaded its snapping jaws, and rolled under it. From that
position making a sharp spire of stone erupt from the ground to impale it
seemed like the logical course.
The wolf’s blood was hot, and I found myself almost grateful for the
dousing I got. Unfortunately one of its paws caught me as I was trying to get out
50
from under it. I went flying, and struck something that was harder than my skull.
For a few minutes all I could do was lie there in a daze, but eventually I
managed to get my eyes to focus. I found myself lying in the smashed remains
of a wagon, with what felt like half a dozen broken bones. Avilla was
crouched over me wrapped in a blanket, with a concerned look in her eyes.
“Can you hear me, Daniel?”
“Yeah,” I grated. “Crap. That one hurt. Gonna need a few minutes to fix
everything.”
She gave a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness. I was afraid they’d killed
you.”
Cerise appeared next to her, and crouched to stab her daggers into the
ground before wrapping herself in a blood-stained blanket. “Nah, Daniel’s
tougher than that. The frost giant died, and the wolves that can still move ran
off. Go ahead and fix yourself up, we’ll keep an eye on things.”
“Thanks.”
I turned my attention inward. Three broken ribs took some effort to knit
back together, and then I had a crushed shoulder to deal with. Fortunately the
bones hadn’t severed any arteries when they broke, or I might not have lived
long enough to wake up.
I made a mental note to come up with better defensive measures soon, and
focused on the task at hand. Eventually I got the shoulder put back together,
although I’d have to be careful with it for a few days. Then the frostbite where
the giant’s blood had struck me, and a nasty laceration along my chest where
one of the wolf’s claws had apparently caught me.
Too bad I couldn’t repair my shirt as easily. I only had one spare, and I
had a feeling it was only going to get colder.
Finally I opened my eyes again. Apparently it had been a while, because
Cerise was dressed now and Avilla was nowhere in sight. The slender witch
was arguing rather heatedly with a group of soldiers. About a dozen of them,
all gathered in a nervous clump with bulging packs on their backs.
“A little thing like you won’t last long out here without protection,” one of
the soldiers was saying. “Maybe the wizard will wake up, and maybe he
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won’t. Either way he’s not going to be in any shape to take care of you girls.”
“You have no idea what our master is capable of,” Cerise sniffed. “If you
guys want to run off in a panic I can’t stop you, but we’re safer with him even
if there wasn’t a soldier left in the camp.”
“Come on, Rolf, quit dicking around,” one of the men grumbled. “Just
throw the little bitch over your shoulder and let’s go. She’ll come around after
we fuck her a few times.”
“Shut up, Hroldir,” the leader said gruffly.
“Yeah,” Cerise chuckled darkly. “You don’t steal a wizard’s property.
When he first took us our master bound our wills to his so we’d serve him
faithfully forever, and laid dark curses on us to make sure any other man who
touches us will die screaming. Not to mention we aren’t just his pet bedtoys,
we’re sorceresses. If you mess with us we’ll be cursing you and screwing up
your shit forever.”
Hroldir gave Rolf a stubborn look, but the group’s leader ignored him.
“Now look, missy, there’s no need to take that tone. Some of the men may be
thinking with their dicks, but if the wizard dies on us you’ll be glad enough
there’s someone willing to take you in. I wouldn’t even be giving you the
chance if I hadn’t seen you and the crazy blonde come running out of the
Witchwood full of goblin arrows. No way any of these civilian girls could
keep up on a forced march.”
“Now we can carry your master for a bit if you think he can be moved, but
that giant’s buddies could be here any minute. So you need to tell your friend to
put down the cleaver and grab her pack right fucking now, or we’re leaving all
three of you here to die.”
“We’re not the ones in danger of that here,” I interrupted.