ever have concerns about that, and I’ll take care of it. Now, what about
Avilla?”
“The Baron took her to the keep,” Oskar said. “Poor girl was
practically in tears. I asked around, and found a chambermaid who worked
there until a few months ago. Boy, go ahead and bring in Daria.”
The chambermaid wasn’t much to look at. Probably early twenties,
with a scraggly mop of brown hair and a face covered with acne scars. Her
clothes were as rough as any other commoner I’d seed in this land, but unlike
Vasha her dress fell to her calves and she had a cloak on over it. She looked
around nervously as one of Oskar’s sons escorted her down the steps, and her
eyes went wide when she saw me.
“The wizard!” She breathed. “But they said you were dead.”
“I got better,” I said mildly. “You know the layout of the keep, right?”
“Yes, lord wizard,” she said nervously. “Worked there for six years,
until the steward got it in his head I was the one stealing the silverware.”
“Hmm. What have you been doing since? I don’t imagine anyone else
in town would hire you after that.”
“I, ah… I get by, milord. But what does a great wizard lord want with
a nobody like me?”
So she was the one doing the stealing, and she’d managed to hide
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enough of her gains to live on. At least for a bit. Well, it wasn’t my business.
“I need to know where the Baron would keep a woman that he’s
kidnapped, and plans to have his way with.”
She blinked in surprise.
“He didn’t. Miss Goldenhair of the vast bosoms?”
“He did,” I said tightly.
“Hel take the lackwitted son of a poxy goat,” she spat. “Aren’t the
monsters enough trouble for him?”
“Do you have an answer for me?” I asked.
She hesitated.
“I do, lord. But… am I going to be cursed or beaten if I ask for
payment? I’m not too greedy, but if I’m to betray my lord to you…”
I raised an eyebrow. “Yes? You want silver? Gold?”
She shook her head. “Protection, lord wizard. A place in your
household. Then it won’t be my lord I’m betraying, will it?”
I didn’t say anything for a long moment. She licked her lips, and
shuffled nervously. But she held her silence.
“Daria,” I said slowly. “In my land, we consider that there are two
kinds of thief. There’s the kind that steals from everyone around her for her
own benefit, and there’s the kind who spies and steals for her lord or her clan.
The second kind are respected, and the best ones get treated like knights. But
the first kind? They’re scum, because no one can ever trust them.”
“Which kind of thief are you, Daria?”
She took a step back, her mouth opening to deny the charge, but
something in my expression stopped her. She studied me thoughtfully for a long
moment, and hung her head.
“Truly, lord wizard?” she said softly. “I’ve never heard of a place
like that.”
“Truly,” I said.
“I’ve never had a family, not since I was a little girl. Or a lord who
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bothered to notice my existence, or anything else to belong to. But they say a
man will march into hell and back for the respect of his brothers. I figure a
woman is no different. I can be the second kind for you, milord.”
“Then we have a deal, and I’ll trust you until you give me a reason not
to. Assuming you have good information for me.”
“The fourth floor,” she replied. “On the north face of the keep. That’s
where he keeps his little conquests…”
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Chapter 13
The sun was nearing the horizon as I made my way through the empty
streets of Lanrest towards Baron Stein’s keep. The three-story buildings that
crowded the town cast the narrow streets into shadow, and the gloom in the
alleyways was already near-impenetrable. Here and there a furtive band of
townspeople scurried for shelter, clutching at improvised weapons and eying
the shadows nervously.
It was snowing again, in sporadic flurries that presaged the impending
arrival of another snowstorm. The cold pierced the rough homespun weave of
my borrowed clothes easily, and I found myself wishing I’d taken the time to
spin warmth enchantments on everything instead of just my cloak. But I was on
a deadline.
Twice now I’d come across huge bloody stains in the snow that
covered the street. A third of the town had been reduced to a maze of smashed
and burned-out buildings in the goblin raid, and now everything was falling
apart. My route took me across half the town, but not once did I see a soldier.
Even the plaza around the Baron’s keep was largely deserted. A
group of refugees huddled miserably among the stalls of what had once been a
small open-air market, tending fires that burned scavenged wood. But the keep
was buttoned up tight, with no sign of guards or sentries outside.
That would make my job easier. No doubt there were men peering out
arrow slits somewhere up there, but they wouldn’t have a very clear view. One
more peasant wandering through the snow wasn’t likely to draw much
attention.
I started across the plaza as if I were simply headed for one of the
streets on the opposite side, and waited for a snow flurry. One came as I was
passing fairly near to the keep, reducing visibility to a few dozen feet. I turned
and sprinted for it.
I fetched up against the grey stone of the fort’s wall just as the snow
cleared again. Naturally there weren’t any ground-floor windows or arrow
slits, so no one inside would be able to see me now. I glanced around to get my
bearings, and began to circle the keep.
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According to Daria the baron had a habit of kidnapping pretty
commoners to serve in his bedchambers, but he tended to follow a regular
pattern with them. A normal girl would spend the afternoon being prettied up
by his servants while they talked up his amazing sexual prowess and fed her a
line about how she’d inevitably submit eventually so she might as well not
resist at all. It sounded hackneyed to me, but I suppose that would actually
work with a lot of impressionable young peasant girls.
Avilla’s treatment had likely been a lot harsher. They had to suspect
that she was more dangerous than she looked, considering her association with
me and Cerise. But the Baron must be busy as hell trying to salvage something
from his disintegrating fief, so with any luck he hadn’t had time to get down to
business yet. Daria said he normally retired around sunset, so I might still be
in time to stop the inevitable.
I paused to lean against the wall and wrestle my emotions back under
control. Knowing that Avilla of all people was going to be raped by some
medieval asshole because I was too fucking careless to protect her properly…
But an enraged rampage would probably get her killed. I had to play
this smart. For Avilla, and Cerise, and all the other people who were counting
on me. No more mistakes.
Another flurry of snow hit, along with a sudden blast of wind. I
negated half my weight with a careful, continuous application of force magic,
and started up the side of the tower.
The keep was generations old, and the primitive mortar holding the
weathered stones together was badly eroded. There were plenty of handholds,
and I’d done a bit of recreational rock climbing in my day. Nothing serious, but