before you catch something.”
“Don’t remind me,” I groaned. “I feel like I took a bath in wolf blood, but
there’s not much point in changing if there’s no way to wash up first. I’m afraid
this outfit’s going to be a total loss, too.”
“Oh, not at all,” Avilla said brightly. “Just give me a basin of warm water
to work with, and I’ll have it clean and patched up in no time. I’m good at that
kind of thing.”
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“Well, that’s good to know. I’ll see what I can come up with when we
stop.”
Thomas came by then to let me know the group was about ready to move,
which cut the conversation short. I looked around to find the peasants gathering
their bundles of goods, a few of the young men clutching unfamiliar spears.
They seemed a bit less beaten down than they had in the wake of the morning
ambush, but it was still a pretty ragged group. The remaining soldiers weren’t
much better, for that matter.
I walked over to them and they fell silent, all eyes turning to me. Were
they expecting a speech or something? Oh, well. I checked the sky, and noted
that the dark clouds were noticeably closer.
“I’m not big on speeches, so I’ll make this short,” I told them. “I’m sure
most of you have noticed there’s a storm coming, but we don’t want to still be
sitting here when that frost giant’s buddies come looking for him. Does anyone
know the woods around here?”
They milled about for a bit, but finally one of the young men nervously put
a hand up.
“This is Lord Brent’s hunting range, milord. Ain’t no one lives there, but
I’ve been in some... ah, watching fer poachers, y’see...”
“I’m sure,” I chuckled. “Well, honestly I wouldn’t care if you were one of
the poachers. I’m not one of your local nobles, and we’ve got more important
things to worry about. What’s your name?”
“Gronir, milord.”
“I’m not a lord, Gronir. Alright, I need you to find us a spot to camp
maybe a half-mile or so into the woods from here, preferably close to water.
Think you can do that?”
“Yessir,” he nodded. “But sir, cold ain’t gonna stop them giants. Won’t
they see our fires?”
“I doubt they can find their way through a blizzard any more than we
could a rainstorm. But just in case I’m going to make us an underground shelter
to hole up in, and the snow will cover our tracks soon enough. We’ll stay there
until the storm blows over and I get all the wounded healed enough to travel,
and then we’ll make for town. Any questions?”
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One of the older men stood, leaning on a staff. “I’m Hrodir, sir. I was
headman of Shiner’s Grove before... well, before. Sir, everyone’s been talking
about making for Lanrest like its safe and all, but what if it isn’t?”
Most of the others frowned at that, and it was pretty obvious they didn’t
want to think about it. But it was a good point.
“I’ve never visited Lanrest myself, so I can’t speak to its defenses.
Sergeant?”
Thomas shook his head. “Depends, sir. The town’s got a good moat and a
fifteen foot curtain wall, and the local knights will all be gathering there.
They’ll hold off goblins and even trolls easy enough, but giants? Depends on if
a big enough band decides to attack the place.”
“I see. Do you have a better idea, Hroldir?”
He looked uncertain. “Not really, sir. Some of the mountain villages are
set up where giants couldn’t get at them, but they’d be easy pickings for goblins
or rock trolls. There’s supposed to be big cities downriver a ways, and stout
castles, but that’s a long trip.”
“Hmm. Well, it never hurts to have a backup plan. Find out who else has
ideas along those lines, and we’ll all talk it through while we’re waiting out
the storm. But my bet is there aren’t that many giants, and they’ll be busy
raiding easier targets for at least a week or two. With any luck I’ll have plenty
of time to meet with whoever is in charge in Lanrest and arrange some nasty
surprises for them before they show up there.”
There were grim smiles all around at that, and a couple of the young men
laughed.
“Hell, yeah,” one of them said. “The wizard can handle them giants.”
“That’s the spirit. Alright folks, let’s move.”
It was only fall, and most of the trees and bushes still had their leaves.
Between that and the snow covering their branches visibility was short, which
made me a bit nervous about goblin ambushes. But nothing bothered us as we
made our way into the woods, picking our way through a maze of game trails.
Gronir took the lead with a bow in hand, and a couple of soldiers with
spears right behind him. I placed myself next in line after them, on the theory
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that if we did encounter trouble it was more likely to come from ahead than
behind. Cerise stayed at my side, her sharp eyes constantly searching the
underbrush, but Avilla dropped back to chat with the peasant women as we
traveled.
There was enough overhead cover that most of the trails had only an inch
or two of snow, although there were deeper drifts here and there under the
trees. The landscape was uneven, rising and falling in random folds that hinted
we were near hill country. But we made decent time, and it was barely an hour
before we found ourselves at the top of a ravine overlooking a small frozen
river.
“Here we go, sir,” Gronir announced. “That’s the Babbleflow down
there. It’s mostly too deep to ford, so there should be water under the ice. We
just need to find a spot where we can get down the slope.”
The ravine was maybe ten feet deep, with steep sides but a good bit of
more level ground along the banks of the river. Most likely it flooded a lot in
spring, but that was hardly going to be a problem now. I nodded.
“This will work. The sharp drop is actually perfect, so don’t worry about
finding a stretch that’s climbable. Sergeant, set sentries and get everyone
organized for a wait, will you? I’ll let you know when the shelter is ready.”
“Yes, sir. No fires, I assume?”
I shook my head. “It won’t be that long.”
Using my earth magic to make something was actually a nice distraction
from my worries. It was the work of a few minutes to cut a steep little ramp
down the face of the cliff, just wide enough for people to pass single file. The
ground didn’t feel entirely stable, but with a little more concentration I found
that I could reach into the loose earth and fuse it together into something more
like sandstone. That was solid enough to handle a lot more weight that we
were going to put on it, but I was careful to leave a layer of soil covering the
stone so it wouldn’t be too obvious.
Then I walked down the trail, and took a look at the cliff face. I wanted an
inconspicuous shelter, so going underground seemed like the best option. I put
a hand on the near-vertical surface, and closed my eyes.
Loose soil, with gravel and small stones underneath. Normally it
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wouldn’t be stable enough to excavate, but that worked in our favor. No one
who knew the area would be expecting it.
I fused the dirt into an arch of stone, a foot thick and just big enough to act
as the roof of a doorway. I added walls to support the arch, and then banished