Extermination (Daniel Black Book 3) (17 page)

The
Intrepid’s
first rescue mission had turned up a number of serious flaws in her design, so of course I set out to fix them the next morning.

Varo was pretty typical of the places I hoped to visit, so the biggest problem was simply that she wasn’t big enough. There was a limit to how much I could do to address that problem without rebuilding the whole ship from scratch, but I could lengthen the hull a bit. Another twenty feet of length made the cargo hold a lot roomier, and I was able to fiddle with the lift cell enchantments to give the ship another fifteen or twenty tons of maximum buoyancy. That would have let us do the Varo op in two trips instead of three, which was a lot less of a problem. I strengthened the airship’s frame a good bit while I was at it, hopefully fixing that problem with heavy loads.

The other issues were more complex. First I had to modify the ship to land on skids instead of just resting on her belly, so I could make the bottom of the ship something other than a flat expanse of featureless aluminum. With that done I was able to expand the chin gunner’s position into a larger bubble of aluminum and fused quartz projecting down a few feet from the rest of the hull. I moved the bomb controls there, thinking a bombardier sitting behind the gunner might actually be able to see what he was aiming at.

Packing a hundred or more people into a confined space with no sanitary facilities had also proved to be a bad idea, especially when most of them were peasants with little concept of privacy or basic sanitation. I’d figured out how to make a magical flush toilet during my work on the keep, but of course refugees would have no idea how to use such a thing. Aggravating. I didn’t want to waste a lot of space on bathrooms, but I didn’t want to be cleaning human waste off the deck after every trip either. Livestock were bad enough.

In the end I settled for putting in a little washroom next to the bridge, and a slightly larger privy right across from it. I was just finishing that up when Beri came rushing out across the snow-covered field where I’d parked the ship.

“Milord!” She gasped. “Come quickly, please. Miss Cerise needs you in her sanctuary.”

The poor girl looked terrified. “What’s wrong, Beri?”

She opened her mouth, and then abruptly shut it and looked around wildly. “I, um, she’s in no danger, milord. But it’s important. Very, very important. Please, come as quickly as you can.”

I frowned. “Alright, let’s go see what she wants.”

Beri wasn’t exactly a track star, so rather than let her lead me back towards the palace I scooped her up in my arms and ran. She gasped, but had the wit to keep still when I started using force magic to lengthen my stride. I covered ground pretty quickly that way, but it was still a good run to the entrance of the arcology block.

Halfway there Beri took a deep breath, and managed to relax a little. Then she rested her head on my shoulder, and gave a little sigh.

“I am so jealous of Tina sometimes,” she muttered.

“That’s what you think about in the middle of an emergency?” I chided.

She chuckled ruefully. “Sorry, milord. I can’t help it. You’re really sexy when you’re being all masterful, even if you’ve never been interested in me. Not that I’m complaining! I know how lucky I am to be training under Cerise.”

“Huh. You looked pretty scared a minute ago,” I probed.

“I was frightened quite out of my wits, milord. But you’re here. Everything will work out fine, I’m sure of it.”

My fishing for clues about what was going on was interrupted at the stairwell, where I found Irithil and his delegation waiting for me.

“Adept Black!” He called. “I must speak with you at once.”

I stumbled to a stop. “Now?”

“It’s a matter of life and death, Your Diligence. Not just adults, but children.”

Right. Children are a really big deal to elves. I looked down at Beri. “What about your crisis?”

“No one is dying right now,” she said. “But you really, really don’t want to keep her waiting, my lord.”

I set her down, and sighed. “Fine. Walk with me, Irithil. What’s going on?”

He wrung his hands as I stalked up the entrance stairs towards the elevator bank. “It’s our settlement in Scandinavia, Your Diligence. I’ve just received an urgent sending, although I can’t imagine how it got through. They’re besieged by a horde of winter wraiths. They’re trapped inside the wards now, and they can’t get out.”

I frowned. “Sounds bad, but what do you want me to do about it?”

The elevator arrived, and we all filed in. It was a close fit, and I somehow ended up sandwiched between those sexy elven swordswomen. Who were both giving me pleading looks now, and pressing their impressive busts against my arms. Damn, these guys didn’t miss a trick.

“Your Diligence, the clan’s children are in that settlement. I’ve been instructed to agree to your terms, if you can somehow arrange for their rescue. My lord informs me that he has been in contact with a certain goddess who intimated that this was possible. Perhaps with your flying wonder?”

“You want me to take a prototype that’s barely been tested and fly it hundreds of miles into the far north during Fimbulwinter? I can think of less painful ways to commit suicide. What the hell is a winter wraith, anyway?”

“A form of elemental frost spirit. Intangible, and they feed by sucking out the life force of travelers. They’re normally quite rare, because they can only breed in the cold of the polar ice caps. But this unnatural winter has brought that cold down to latitudes where there are human settlements for them to feed on, and simple walls of wood won’t keep them out.”

“What kills them?” I asked. “Heat? Dispels?”

“Intense heat is quite effective,” Irithil agreed. “But few mages can summon that in any great quantity under the conditions where winter wraiths dwell. My people could easily deal with a small hunting pack, but an army like this is unprecedented.”

The elevator reached its destination, and I pushed my way past the elves to get out. They followed along behind me as I walked to the doors of my residence area, where a wolfen and one of Corinna’s warrior dryads were standing guard.

“Please, sir,” one of the elf women said. “My little nephew is in Yinthalos. Name your price, and I’ll gladly pay it.”

“All of us will,” the other one added. “There is no one else we can turn to, save those whose price would destroy our clan. There has to be something we can offer you.”

“First I have to figure out if it’s actually possible,” I pointed out. “But whatever I do about that is going to take time, and I’m told I have something urgent to deal with. Wait here, and I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

I made my way inside, noting for the hundredth time that I needed to figure out a way to put a heavier guard on those doors. Gudrin and Alanna were both good fighters, but they wouldn’t have a prayer of stopping something like an ungol. Or these winter wraiths. Would our spirit wards keep them out, or did we need to add yet another layer to the island’s defenses?

Those thoughts kept me busy as I crossed the expanse of bare dirt that was supposed to become Avilla’s garden, and made my way back into the maze of passages where I’d been setting up magical facilities for the coven. Cerise had a generous chamber set up as a chapel to Hecate there, where she worked most of her personal rituals.

“What am I walking into here?” I asked Beri. “Something you didn’t want to talk about when we were outdoors? A ritual gone wrong?”

“Not… wrong, milord,” Beri replied nervously. “Just, um, very unexpected. You should really just go on in.”

It occurred to me then that Cerise was perfectly capable of arranging all this as the setup for some kinky bedroom scene. Was I going to walk in to find her tied up and waiting for ‘rescue’, or something? No, Beri would be a lot more embarrassed if it was something like that. Instead she seemed genuinely nervous. But then why was she being so evasive?

Ah, well. I was already here. I opened the door, and stepped into the chapel.

A few candles provided a dim light, illuminating the stone altar I’d shaped to Cerise’s specifications. Two figures stood before it, outlined in the candlelight. The shorter one was obviously Cerise, with her demonic features in full view and her wings spread wide. The other stood several inches taller, although her hooded cloak hid her features from this angle.

The taller woman seemed to hold Cerise spellbound, one hand cupping her cheek while she gazed into her eyes. But my arrival broke the moment. The hand fell away, and Cerise returned to herself with a little gasp.

“Welcome, my champion,” she said warmly. “Do close the door, Beri.”

That voice was unmistakable. I stepped out of the way, and Beri awkwardly tried to bow and close the door at the same time.

“Hecate,” I said. “This is unexpected. Um, welcome. I do hope our enemies can’t get in the way you did?”

“I was invited,” she replied. “Beri, come. You may kneel at my feet. Listen, and be instructed.”

That seemed a little out of character from my previous meetings with the dark goddess. Beri did as she was told, of course, rushing so much she probably skinned her knees on the floor. Hecate smiled faintly, and rested her hand on the girl’s head.

Beri’s eyes rolled up, and she went limp.

“There now,” Hecate said. “She’s a promising girl, but a bit too silly still to be given deep secrets. In this state she’ll hear only what I wish, and awaken too dazed to question the details.”

“So that’s how it works,” Cerise said, sounding a little dazed herself. “I always wondered.”

“And that presence of mind is why you survived those early summoning mishaps, when you decided you couldn’t afford to wait on the safer methods of building power,” Hecate pointed out. “You’re a silly thing yourself sometimes, but you have great potential.”

Hecate mussed her hair affectionately, but Cerise didn’t complain. If anything she was basking in the attention.

“She’s pretty amazing,” I said honestly. “Sometimes I think she’s protecting me as much as the other way around. But I don’t imagine you risked a personal appearance just to chat. Is there something we need to do for you?”

“You may be surprised, Daniel. I believe you’ve actually managed to construct a place where Asgard’s watchdog cannot spy on me, and that is a rare thing. I may well visit again, especially if Pelagia is going to keep hosting revels in my name. Which reminds me, I expect my champion to attend the next one. You’re far too reticent about enjoying the fruits of your labors.”

“I’m not sure I’d survive attending something like that, ma’am,” I protested. “Besides, I have enough trouble finding time to give my coven-mates the attention they deserve.”

She sighed. “You still need to learn to trust me, Daniel. I am spinning a thousand threads of fate at once right now, and I don’t have time to explain everything in detail. You’ve barely scratched the surface of the synergies between your magic and that of the groves, and if you’re going to discover the rest you need to get past this hesitance of yours. Why are you afraid of Pelagia?”

“Um…”

“Is it her mastery of subtle influence? Cerise, tell Daniel what would happen if Pelagia bent her magic to controlling him.”

Cerise snickered. “Daniel, you’re Hecate’s champion, and Pelagia has barely been accepted as a priestess. If she tried something like that her magic would backlash threefold. Besides, don’t you remember how she pledged fealty? ‘I submit myself to your will’ is a hell of an oath from someone who can’t break her word, and she gave it freely. You weren’t seriously worried she was going to start some kind of trouble, were you?”

“I, ah, guess I should have talked to you about it.”

“Indeed,” Hecate said. “More, you should trust that out of the thousands of voices entreating me for salvation I would not send you one inclined to treachery. Demetrios and Pelagia are as trustworthy as anyone you could find in this land, and while Corinna was an unexpected addition I see that Cerise has her well in hand. Clan Nethwillin is a more complex case, but if you handle them properly they too will be loyal.”

“The dark elves? Wait, you’re the reason their sending got through, aren’t you?”

She smiled. “At last, he begins to think. Yes, Daniel. The head of their clan is finally desperate enough to agree to a favorable bargain, and their presence here will solve more problems than I have time to list. I know it won’t be easy, but I need you to make this happen.”

That shut my mouth. I thought furiously for a long moment. Could I do this? The
Intrepid
could only make about forty miles per hour, and that was without a headwind. So, call it a twenty hour flight if nothing went wrong. What was likely to go wrong?

“The weather is the biggest challenge,” I said slowly. “I can’t fly through a blizzard, and if we have to land and wait one out their wards may not hold long enough for us to get there.”

“The weather moves at Loki’s bidding,” Hecate told me. “Right now he seems intent on battering Britannia, to drive the Summer Court’s servants out of Midgard. You have a clear path to Yinthalos, and I can hide your ship from his gaze on the trip north. But be warned, I expect he won’t take kindly to this rescue. I’m not sure what grudge he has against Nethwillin, but he’s sent a tribe of frost giants to help the winter wraiths break their defenses.”