“The town priest has her,” I admitted. “I think he wants to bind her.
Hopefully the fact that I have his copy of In Tauro de Maleficis is slowing him
down.”
She blinked up at me in worried confusion. “You do? What are you
doing with something like that?”
“He spotted Cerise. He’s been trying to talk me into binding her, as if
I’d do something like that. I figured it would be easier to play along for a few
days than argue and make another enemy, so he lent me the book.”
I rounded a corner, and was forced to slow down a bit by the gathering
darkness. The sun was well below the horizon now, and the overcast sky
blocked out any light from the moon or stars. Soon the only illumination would
be the faint gleam of firelight leaking out around the shutters and doorways of
the buildings that were still inhabited.
Avilla chewed her lower lip, and studied me with a concerned
expression. “If you say so, Daniel. But you do know you don’t need anything
like that with me, don’t you?”
“Avilla, my people would consider that kind of binding evil even
without the rape and torture parts. I wouldn’t even consider it. I only bothered
to read the book because I was hoping to find something we could use to help
Cerise with her control problems if things go badly.”
“Oh.”
She worked an arm free of the blanket, and reached up to hug me.
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“I’m sorry, Daniel. I shouldn’t have doubted you. Did you find
anything?
I shook my head. “Nothing concrete, but it gave me some ideas. I’ll
need to talk to her about the details of what she’s struggling with. You can’t
bind yourself to be sane, but I can think of other possibilities that might help.
Not giving in to a specific compulsion, or making rules for herself that she
can’t break in a moment of weakness. I’m not sure it’s a good idea, but it’s an
option we can fall back on if she decides she needs it.”
“That makes sense. But what if-”
I froze, and covered her mouth with my hand. She stopped talking
instantly, and turned slowly to follow my gaze.
There was a frost giant standing at the breach in the wall.
I’d just turned a corner onto the street where Oscar’s smithy was
located, and we were barely two blocks from the breech. Hopefully the gloom
and the snow would hide us, but I carefully eased back behind the corner of the
nearest building to be safe.
The giant wore chainmail and held a huge spear in one hand, just like
the one I’d fought before. As I watched a second giant stepped up to peer over
the town wall. He surveyed the rooftops of the town, and said something to his
companion.
“Can you understand them?” I asked Avilla.
She nodded hesitantly. “I speak a bit of Jotun, but it’s hard to hear from
here. Something about a meeting? Oh, my!”
A dark shape faded into view, perched atop the wall not twenty feet
from the giants. In the gloom I could only make out a silhouette, but the sleek
outline of an ungol was unmistakable.
To my surprise it hissed something at the giants that sounded
suspiciously like speech.
“It says its pack claims the town,” Avilla translated. “The giant thinks
that’s funny. He says… oh, dear. They’re only scouts.”
“I was afraid of that.”
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The giant rumbled something else, and stepped back from the wall. The
ungol hissed a final comment, and faded back into invisibility.
“He said the ungols can feel free to hunt all they like tonight, but his
clan will sack the town at dawn. I don’t understand, Daniel. Ungols are terrible
foes. They’re demons of shadow and frost, terribly strong and almost
impossible to kill. A whole pack of them could fight an army, easily. But the
giant wasn’t afraid of it at all.”
I frowned, and carefully set her down. She squeaked in protest as her
bare feet met the snow, but I was pretty sure we’d already made too much
noise. I held her close, carefully keeping one arm around her so my shield
would continue surrounding us both, and eased Grinder out of my pocket.
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” I told her. Then I raised my voice
just a bit.
“Ungol. We aren’t going to be easy prey.”
Something slammed into my back with the force of a speeding car,
straining my shield and sending me crashing to my knees. But my shield held,
and I thumbed Grinder to life. The harsh glare of plasma abruptly lit the street,
revealing the ungol leaping back out of reach. Damn, that thing was fast.
It’s mouth gaped wide, baring dozens of gleaming teeth, and a cloud of
white mist poured out to engulf us. Numbing cold instantly froze the exposed
skin of my face and seeped inwards.
I pointed Grinder at the beast and activated the weapon’s ranged attack,
sending a jet of superheated plasma washing out in its direction. It leaped
away, landing well out of my weapon’s intentionally short projection range.
But the supernatural cold faded.
“Pretty claw,” it hissed.
I nodded. “I’ve got more where that came from.”
“Worldwalker. Sorcerer. Naughty Hecate, breaking Zeus’ rules.”
Avilla rose awkwardly to her knees. “Mighty one, we are not-”
“Food does not speak!” It interrupted angrily.
She cringed.
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“What rules?” I asked.
It regarded me for a moment, utterly motionless. Then its tail lashed.
“It asks questions. Sacrifice?” It nodded in Avilla’s direction.
“No,” I said carefully.
“Rude,” the demon pronounced. “Run, prey. Hide and fight. Play with
food. We kill you last.”
It turned, and bounded off down the street. Its pebbly hide lightened to
match the snow, and in seconds it faded from view.
Avilla stood, and threw herself trembling into my arms.
“Daniel? What are we going to do?”
My face tingled painfully with healing frostbite. I licked my lips, and
gazed off into the darkness.
“We’re going to rescue Cerise,” I told her. “Then we’re going to get
our people together, and get the fuck out of this place before whatever the frost
giants think is going to beat those things shows up.”
A wall of snow descended on us as the oncoming storm struck. For a
moment the street was completely hidden, and all I could hear was the roar of
the wind. The temperature dropped noticeably in the space of a minute, and
Avilla huddled against me shivering.
But then the first blast eased, and I could make out the nearer buildings
again.
“We’re going to travel in this?” Avilla asked incredulously.
“Giants would never find the town in this,” I pointed out. “They’ll
strike after the storm clears. But we can’t let the weather pin us down. Come
on.”
I carefully took my bearings on the three buildings that were close
enough to see, gathered Avilla back into my arms, and set off for Oscar’s
smithy.
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Chapter 14
“Split the money up between you. I don’t want anyone too loaded
down by the weight. The same goes for whatever other supplies you end up
carrying. You may need to drop it and run at some point, and if it comes to that
don’t hesitate. I can always get more gold, but if you die I can’t bring you
back.”
Beri and Tina paused in the middle of counting my ill-gotten loot to