crooked tax laws and bogus fines and fuck off. If I catch you bothering my
girls again I’m going to break both your knees so you’ll never walk right again,
and then I’ll let them have you. What would you do with this brainless wonder,
girls?”
Avilla stepped up next to me with her butcher knife in hand, and started
to sharpen it. “We need soap and candles, master, and he has plenty of fat. I’ll
cut it all out and render it down.”
Cerise glided across the room to lean against my other side, and the
light seemed to dim. “I need more vellum for my grimoire, master. Can I flay
his skin off and cure it? He’s got so much, I could make twenty pages easily.”
Avilla held up a finger. “Oh yes, I need bone meal too. Not much, those
little bones from his fingers should be enough.”
“Mmm. And if you lay a finger on Avilla?” Cerise knelt to look into the
man’s eyes. “I’ll cut your eyes out and sacrifice them to Lord Sargoras, so
you’ll see nothing but the Realm of Madness for the rest of your life. I’ll put a
curse on you that makes your balls swell to the size of melons and drives you
mad with lust, but makes it so anything that touches your dick feels like broken
glass. I’ll-”
I put my hand on her shoulder. “He’s already pissed himself, Cerise. I
think he gets the idea. Now get out.”
I released his men and shoved him at them. The whole group retreated
hurriedly, the soldiers at least being smart enough not to make any more
trouble. They half-carried him up the stairs and out the door.
I kept an eye on them until they were gone, then rounded on Rain’s men.
“You! What the hell are you here for if you’re just going to stand around and
watch?”
“But sir,” their sergeant protested, “they’re the Baron’s men. We can’t
go getting in no fight with them. Not unless we get the Captain’s say-so.”
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“Then what use are you? Out. I’ll talk to your Captain in the morning.”
I barred the door myself, and leaned against it with a sigh.
“Damn it. It’s just one thing after another. Gronir, did Avilla hire you?”
“Ah, yessir,” the woodsman answered nervously.
“Well, good job backing her up. That’s exactly what I want from you.
Is everyone alright?”
There were nods all around. Then Avilla’s eyes went wide.
“Oh no! Dinner!”
127
Chapter 9
I wasn’t terribly surprised to receive an urgent summons to appear
before the Baron the next day. His men were pounding on my door before the
sun was even up, although apparently the household was already stirring by
then.
I’d been up late into the night working on a better version of the hover-
barge, just in case we had to leave town in a hurry. So I was still soundly
asleep when Beri came up to tell me we had company.
“Gronir isn’t opening the door for them,” she reassured me. “But they
say the Baron wants you in the keep right away.”
I rubbed my eyes. There was still one naked girl lying next to me, and it
was awfully tempting to just roll over and go back to sleep. But that would be
a bad move.
“Alright, I’m up,” I grumbled. “Tell them I’m on my way down.”
I sat up, and Cerise made a sleepy little protest and cuddled up against
me. I sighed, and extracted myself from her grip as gently as I could manage.
Avilla appeared at the doorway while I was pulling on my shirt,
looking worried and wringing her hands. “Daniel? What are we going to do?”
“Keep the tower locked up, and put someone on watch. Be careful not
to let anyone in unless you’re sure there aren’t any soldiers ready to rush the
door. But try not to worry too much, that’s just a precaution. I don’t think the
Baron is actually going to try anything.”
“What’s going on?” Cerise asked sleepily. She sat up and stretched,
which had the effect of completely distracted us both from the conversation for
a moment.
“Slugabed,” Avilla groused, but she was smiling.
I shook my head, and pulled my shoes on. “Time to see the Baron. You
stay here and keep an eye on things.”
Cerise frowned. “The Baron? But what if he decides to take offense?
You’ll be all alone.”
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I shook my head. “He needs the wall I’m building too much for that. I
think he’ll wait until it’s done. Besides, if something does happen I’d rather
have you here making sure Avilla is safe. I fight better if I don’t have to worry
about where I’m throwing my spells.”
“We should really figure out how to fight together,” she complained.
“But I guess now isn’t the time. Should we keep working on hiring?”
I nodded. “Yes. I want us to be ready to leave the instant I get paid. But
don’t risk going into town until I’ve got a better feel for the situation.”
“Sure thing,” Cerise agreed. “Good luck.”
“Stay safe,” Avilla added.
I gave them both a reassuring hug, and headed for the door.
I was a bit more concerned that I let on. I’d given Cezary a bit of a
beating, and in retrospect that wasn’t such a smart idea. When did I become so
violent, anyway?
Maybe that wolf heart was affecting me?
Or maybe it was just that I could finally strike back at injustice without
being locked up for it. I’d spent so many years knuckling under to an
increasingly crushing burden of stupid, nonsensical rules that there was no way
to fight. Arguing with an employer just gets you fired, and arguing with the
government is a good way to land in jail. But here politics was a matter of
individuals and personalities rather than impersonal bureaucracies and
leaderless ideological trends.
It had felt awfully good to just punch that idiot instead of having to
listen to him talk. But did I really want to make a habit of that kind of thing?
There were only four soldiers, and they were cautious but respectful.
So they probably weren’t going to try anything, but I kept my shield up just in
case.
A light sprinkle of snow was falling, settling onto roofs that already
carried a heavy load of the stuff. There was only a thin dusting of white on the
streets, but I could see deep drifts beginning to develop in corners and along
the sides of buildings. The streets were still full of activity now, but another
blizzard or two would probably leave most of the town snowed in.
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How hard would that be to prevent? Put roofs over the narrower
streets, maybe. Fuse the cobblestones of the wider roads together, and enchant
them to radiate enough heat to melt the snow. Or would the runoff just freeze
into ice sheets before it found its way outside the walls?
I reminded myself I wasn’t going to be here that long, and turned my
attention back to the people.
There were a lot of soldiers in the streets, hurrying about in groups of a
dozen or more. Most of them weren’t nearly as well equipped as the 5
Margold, however. Lots of light chain shirts instead of proper hauberks, and
half the spearmen wore leather armor instead of mail. Some groups wore
relatively standardized equipment, with various insignia embroidered on
cloaks or armbands. But others had the motley assortment of personal gear I’d
have expected of medieval troops, where each man spent his own money to
buy whatever equipment he thought he might need.