side of the river. As silent as they were I couldn’t shake the feeling that there
were more of them lurking about that I hadn’t spotted. On closer examination it
was obvious that they weren’t actually velociraptors - their heads were longer
and narrower, their forepaws were tipped with long blades instead of normal
claws, and their hide was decorated with spines and ridges that had an oddly
metallic look. But the general body plan was similar, and I’d certainly hate to
be a normal human confronting them on foot.
Our speed rose gradually, but the tense silence lasted until we left the
ruined village well behind. Then a babble of nervous voices erupted from the
refugees.
“What do you know about Ungols?” I asked Cerise quietly.
“They’re Cthonic beasts from the Stygian Abyss, out beyond Tarterus,”
she replied. “Supposedly even tougher than they look, and smart too. But they
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shouldn’t be here. The path to their realm has been sealed since before
Olympus fell. I read something once about a few of them being stuck
elsewhere, enslaved to… um… I think it was some group of wizards in
Muspelheim, but I could be remembering that wrong. But the Sons of Muspel
are basically fire demons, so if they were here it wouldn’t be so cold.”
Well, the implications of that were obvious.
“Are there a lot of sealed places full of monsters like that?”
“Yeah. No one knows how many, because the gods don’t like to talk about
it and mortal wizards who go poking around don’t usually live long. But
Tarterus is some kind of nexus for portals to worlds full of monsters.”
Avilla nodded. “That’s why the Olympians used it as a prison. They
sealed the doors to the Planes of Terror and bound the Titans in front of them,
so they’d only need to watch one place.”
“Hmm. Well, maybe we’ll get lucky and most of the monsters will eat
each other instead of coming here.”
The girls exchanged nervous looks. “We can hope.”
The rest of the trip was deceptively peaceful. We passed mile after mile
of snow-covered field and forest, the former gradually becoming more
common as we neared the town. We were moving generally south-east, and the
land was becoming flatter. At one point a castle was visible in the distance,
still flying a banner, but that was the only sign of civilization.
At length a walled settlement came into sight before us. A sigh of relief
went through the refugees as we approached, and it became clear that the place
was still held by humans. There were guards on the walls, flags flying, and
even a group of wagons approaching an open but heavily guarded gate not far
from the river bank.
But I noted that the walls weren’t all that high, the moat was frozen, and
the gates were made of wood. I could see a dozen ways for the monsters we’d
been fighting to break in if the defenders ever relaxed their guard, and it wasn’t
that big a town. Maybe a few thousand people, if it was as crowded as I
expected. I was going to have my work cut out for me if we wanted to hold the
place for long.
The river bank was steep enough that I wasn’t eager to try getting the
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barge up it, but there were docks where the town met the river. I slowed us to
walking speed and carefully maneuvered towards them, looking for an empty
spot. There were buildings beyond the docks, and I saw people shouting and
pointing at us as we approached. A clatter of chainmail announced the arrival
of troops as I carefully pulled up alongside a wooden dock, which proved to
be at about the right height for us to disembark.
“People!” Someone shouted in amazement. “There’s people on it!”
“Halt!” A nearer voice ordered. “Announce yourselves, strangers.”
I climbed to my feet to find a dozen or so armored men clustered at the
end of the dock, armed with a motley assortment of spears, swords and bows.
The man addressing us was the best geared of the lot, with a pot helm and steel
greaves to go with his chain hauberk.
“Daniel Black, traveling adept,” I called. “These are survivors from the
5th Margold Foot, along with some of your local villagers. May we
disembark?”
“A wizard, eh? Come on ashore then, sir. I’m sure the Baron will want to
talk to you. What kind of infernal contraption is that thing?”
He sounded pretty dubious about it, but I suppose for all he knew it was
going to start eating his men or something.
“Just a bit of earth magic,” I reassured him. “It won’t do anything unless
I’m controlling it. We ran into a frost giant and a pack of felwolves about
twenty miles upriver, and the injured weren’t going to make it here on foot.”
“Damn. We saw a giant the other day, those things are huge. How’d you
get away?”
“The wizard killed it, and the felwolves too,” Sergeant Thomas
interrupted. “We wouldn’t have made it back without him.”
“Thomas!” The man called, obviously recognizing him. “Glad you made
it. We’re going to need every man the way things are going. Ah, the Captain?”
Thomas gestured at the litter two of his men were carefully raising onto
the dock. “He’s hurt bad, but the wizard patched him up. Says he’ll be up and
around in a few days.”
“Hmm. I’d keep a guard on him if I were you. Alright, sir wizard, if you’ll
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follow me? You have servants? Bring’em along. We’d best get this sorted
quick.”
“Alright. Let’s just tie a rope to this thing so the wind doesn’t blow it
away.”
I added a couple of loops to the parapet of the hover-barge, so we could
tie it off to the dock as the rest of my party unloaded. Then Avilla motioned
Beri and Tina over, and we set out following the soldier who still hadn’t
bothered to introduce himself. Avilla positioned herself a step behind me to my
right, with the maids immediately behind her and Cerise bringing up the rear. I
shot her a questioning glance as we crossed the dock and started into town, and
she responded by looking nervously around and then back at me.
So, she didn’t entirely trust the situation either? Good to know.
The buildings along the river seemed mostly empty, but the reason for that
became apparent when we came to a wall separating the docks from the rest of
the town. Beyond that the place was packed, a bustling crowd filling the streets
despite the cold. We made our way down narrow, winding cobblestone roads
between two-story buildings set so close together they often shared walls. An
eye-watering stench rose up around us despite the chill, and it was abundantly
obvious that to the locals the streets doubled as makeshift sewers. Lovely.
A square keep stood in the middle of town, surrounded by a small plaza
that was mostly full of wagons and improvised shelters. There were campfires
everywhere, surrounded by clumps of half-frozen refugees. I picked out a few
soldiers here and there as we walked, but no one who looked like an officer.
The main gates of the keep were closed, but a smaller door set into one of
them stood open and unguarded. Inside was a small entryway, leading into a
fairly large hall. Long wooden tables and chairs were stacked against the
walls, but the middle of the room was currently clear and mostly empty. A few
men in better armor than the regular soldiers stood clustered around a throne at
the far end of the room, apparently in the middle of a discussion. A gaggle of