you go by Daniel the Black?”
“Close enough,” I replied. “Black is actually just my family name, but
people keep trying to make it into a title. What can I do for you?”
“It’s more a matter of what will you do, and whether you ought to. I’ve
been hearing some disturbing rumors about your apprentices, and the scale of
this wall project is a bit disquieting as well. But perhaps we should discuss
this privately? I know how you wizards are about protecting your secrets.”
“Good idea. How about the top of the wall, then?”
“That would work”, he nodded.
I’d been keeping the face of the wall where I was doing construction
pretty vertical, since it was a lot easier to start a new section and just stand on
it as I grew it to full height than it would be to walk back and forth along an
incline. That meant there was no easy way for anyone else to reach the top
unless they wanted to go all the way down to the gatehouse and climb the stairs
there. So I led Holger over to the workface and conjured stone under both our
feet, sending us smoothly up the side like a slow-moving elevator. In a matter
119
of minutes we were halfway up.
“An interesting technique,” Holger observed mildly. “I don’t sense any
elementals at work, but no human could power spells on this scale for any
length of time. That would require a pact with demons, or worse. But drawing
so heavily on such bargains always gives them away.”
I shook my head. “Bargaining with anything that doesn’t like humans is
a fool’s game. Everyone makes mistakes, and the first one will kill you. No, I
found an entirely novel source of power for my magic. Without giving too
much away, you might say that I’m tapping into the substance of the world itself
to power my spells.”
He frowned. “That seems phenomenally dangerous.”
“There’s a reason I haven’t revealed the technique to anyone. The
world is far too big to be harmed by a single wizard doing this, but if it
became commonplace there could be problems. Normally I’d have spent a lot
longer studying things before putting it to any large-scale use, but events have
forced my hand.”
“None of us expected Ragnarok to come so soon,” he agreed. “Loki has
barely been free for a year, and the sages all expected he would spend
generations preparing his forces. But that’s neither here nor there. Will this
technique of yours affect the fertility of the earth? Could it disturb the dead, or
make crops unwholesome?”
“No, it doesn’t operate on that level. It affects the actual substance of
the stone under our feet, not the spiritual aspects of the land. I can’t even begin
to deplete the amount of energy available - what I’m doing here is like dipping
a cup in the ocean. The main hazard would be if something goes wrong with
my energy tap. In that case it could release a huge amount of uncontrolled
magic, probably manifesting as intense heat and invisible destructive forces.
Obviously I’m confident I’ve solved those issues or I wouldn’t be risking
myself, but it’s one of the reasons I try not to have too many people nearby
when I’m working large-scale magic.”
All of which was more or less true. I was pretty sure my amulet was
safe as long as it was intact, but if the enchantment were damaged somehow it
could easily start leaking radiation or even explode. At some point I needed to
find a way to lock my power source inside an armored box to protect it, but
120
until then I was trying not to expose any more people to such possibilities than
I had to.
“I see,” he mused. “Well, desperate times call for desperate measures,
and you seem to have it in hand. But that wasn’t my major concern. Your
apprentices have been telling some disturbing tales about their situation, and
it’s causing talk.”
I sighed. “Yeah, sorry about that. I let them spread a few rumors to
encourage random armsmen to keep their hands to themselves, but Cerise gets
carried away with it. That girl loves to make it sound like she’s a demon bound
to a dark wizard or something.”
“Not surprising, considering her nature,” he observed. “I can smell the
taint of darkness on her soul from halfway across town. She’s a witch, isn’t
she?”
Crap.
I turned to look out over the frozen fields surrounding the town. “She’s
a teenage girl who’s willing to risking her life to protect innocent civilians
from monsters. Isn’t that what matters now?”
“That’s a valid point,” he conceded. “One could even argue it fits with
Odin’s command for all men to set aside their grievances and fight together
against the traitor’s hordes. But at the same time you can’t expect a leopard to
change its spots. Given half a chance she’ll be sacrificing young men to her fell
goddess, and enchanting innocent maidens into submitting to her cult’s
perversions. I suppose binding a pretty young witch might seem less dangerous
than trapping a demon or elemental, but I assure you that is not the case. How
confident are you that whatever leash you have her on will hold?”
That was not exactly the tack I was expecting him to take. Apparently
he believed Cerise’s little story about being bound? I’d thought they just killed
witches here, but it sounded like maybe slavery was considered a viable
option too.
What lovely people.
“Sure enough that I let her out of my sight,” I said slowly. “Did you
have some specific recommendation?”
“To be honest, I’d like to recommend handing her over to the church for
121
a proper execution,” he replied grimly. “Whatever power she wields is born of
blood sacrifice, Daniel. Can you let her claim more victims in good
conscience?”
“She’s under my protection,” I said stiffly. “Also, it turns out that
monsters are valid sacrifices.”
That surprised him. His brow furrowed in thought.
“I see,” he said slowly. “Turning darkness against darkness? That’s
more devious of you than I’d expected. But with time she will become what
she preys on, and no simple binding will be reliable on such a protean
creature. If you insist on taking the chance, you should at least impose the
Riven Covenants on her.”
“Hmm. You’re really concerned about this?”
He nodded firmly. “Yes. I can’t stress this enough. Witches who
practice freely are inevitably consumed by their own power, Daniel. I can see
that the girl has some affection for you, but you can’t expect that to hold when
tested. She might turn on you last, but she will turn.”
“Well, I suppose that isn’t exactly my field of expertise,” I allowed.
Did I dare admit that I didn’t know what this covenant thing was?
“Indeed. The Church, however, has considerable experience in these
matters. I’m told you arrived with little baggage, so I assume you don’t have a
proper library?”
“Unfortunately no,” I admitted.
“Well, I have a copy of In Tauro de Maleficis I can loan you, for
reference purposes. It’s a translation into the vernacular, but it should still
work well enough. Can I have your assurance you’ll take action quickly?”
I nodded reluctantly. “Yes, I do see your point. But I’m going to have to