Extermination (Daniel Black Book 3) (24 page)

“What are we doing out here, anyway?” Cerise asked.

I turned my attention to the terrain. We’d missed being blown off the hill by about twenty feet, and one of the
Intrepid’s
landing legs was resting on a pile of rocks instead of solid ground. But she was facing the right direction. I could work with this.

“I need to make sure the ship is stable,” I told her. “I think she’s too heavy to be pushed off the hill by the wind, but I’m not taking any chances.”

I crawled under the ship, and shaped the stone under each landing strut into a form-fitting hollow space several inches deep. There, that should keep us in place without preventing us from making a quick liftoff if we needed to.

Then I walked around behind the ship, and started throwing up some hasty stonework. A stone post to each side of the ship’s rear doors, connected by an overhead arch high enough not to obstruct their movement. Extend the posts into walls, with the arch growing into a roof overhead, and I had a little shelter. Good thing, since snow was already starting to fall.

“Is this to give the elves more space, or is it some kind of fort?” Cerise asked.

“Both. I’m going to put in some arrow slits, and make the stone self-warming. Can you circle back around through the bridge and get the rear doors open?”

“Sure thing.”

I extended the walls another twenty feet or so while I waited, and then closed off the end of the space I’d made. That gave me a room almost as big as the ship’s hold, and the walls were a couple of feet thick. By the time I heard the boom of the ramp falling behind me I had the first observation slit done as well.

I did a few more of them so we’d have two in each wall, and turned to find Tavrin and Cerise standing at the foot of the ramp.

“Can you set watches to keep an eye on the area?” I asked.

“Of course. Visibility will be poor, but giants aren’t known for their stealth. I think our chances of being surprised are minimal. What about frost wraiths?”

“I’m going to seal up the gaps between the stonework and the ship’s hull, and then put a warmth enchantment on the shelter. It’s not a perfect defense, but we can add spirit wards if we end up being here for more than a few hours.”

“Very well. I think it would be unwise for anyone to sleep out here, but the extra room will give our retainers a chance to stretch their legs periodically. I take it you intend to wait out the storm, and then resume our trip? What if the enemy uses it to pin us in place until his forces can catch up with us?”

“We’re almost two hundred miles from Yinthalos,” I said. “That’s a long march on foot. If the storm doesn’t break by morning we’ll put our heads together and come up with a plan. If nothing else, the
Intrepid
can travel overland a lot faster than an army can march. We’d just need to put up that weather ward you mentioned, and figure out a way to navigate.”

He frowned. “Alright. I do wish we had a more certain plan, though. I prefer to keep several layers of defense between the children and any danger.”

“Well, I’m open to suggestions. For what it’s worth, though, Hecate doesn’t think Loki will send anything after us. Anyone powerful enough to beat us would be important enough for Asgard to target, if they get spotted.”

“I see. Yes, until the Fenris wolf is freed I suppose Loki will be forced to move carefully.”

The elves were busy while I was setting up the warmth enchantment, and by the time I was done they had a curtain with a spirit ward on it hung across the entrance to the hold. They’d hung more of those dim light crystals on the walls as well, and there were already lookouts keeping watch at the vision slits. These guys were really starting to impress me.

I called the ship’s crew together and assigned men to stand watches on the bridge, just in case. Was there anything else I needed to do? Maybe take a look at that night vision problem, or come up with another layer of defenses for the encampment?

“Daniel?”

I blinked, and looked down to find Elin gazing at me in concern. “Huh?”

“You’re asleep on your feet, Daniel. Have you rested at all since we left for Yinthalos?”

“I’ve had a lot to do,” I replied.

She gave an exasperated sigh. “I swear, Daniel, sometimes I think you need a minder. Come to bed. Please.”

“But I-”

She silenced me with a kiss.

“Whatever it is, it can wait. Come to bed with me, my love.”

Why was I resisting this? I couldn’t remember.

“Alright, sweetie. Bed it is.”

The loft was a warm, cozy space, lit only by the dim glow of a single candle. By the time I had my boots off my eyelids were sagging, and I realized she’d been right. Elin helped me get my coat and breastplate off, and I collapsed onto a bedroll.

Elin took a few moments to change into a nightgown, despite the awkwardness of the confined space. Next time I built an airship I’d have to find room for a cabin with a ceiling more than four feet up. Then again, watching her graceful contortions was rather interesting.

She blushed a little when she felt my gaze on her.

“Do you like what you see?” She asked shyly.

“You’re beautiful,” I mumbled.

Her lips curved into a warm smile. “Thanks to you. I’ll never forget what you’ve done for me, Daniel.”

She blew out the candle, and slipped under the blankets beside me.

I was far too tired to do anything. But it felt so good to drift off to sleep with Elin nestled in my arms. I was a lucky guy.

Sometime later I half woke to a rustle of blankets, and bare breasts pressed against my back. Cerise settled herself against me with a contented sigh, and instantly fell asleep.

I drifted off again with a smile on my face. Doubly lucky.

Hours later, a tremendous crash jolted me awake. The floor bucked beneath me, and my head bounced off unyielding metal.

“The fuck?” Cerise grumbled somewhere nearby.

I tried to sit up, and my head swam. Fuck. Concussion? My amulet was already fixing it.

“Ow,” I groaned.

The ship rocked again, although not as violently. Faint shouts and clanging sounds drifted up from the direction of the hold.

“We’re under attack,” Elin said unnecessarily.

Faerie fire blossomed in her hand, lighting up the loft. Daria and Embla were here too, already scrambling for their weapons. Thankfully they’d slept in their clothes, unlike my girls and me.

“We’ll secure the bridge and find out what’s happening while you dress,” Daria volunteered.

“Fuck it, I’ll go with you,” Cerise said. Shadows rose around her, clothing her nakedness.

“Be careful,” Elin cautioned. “Daniel, are you… oh. That’s going to need healing.”

I sat up again, moving more carefully this time. “Yeah. Concussion. Just need a minute.”

Cerise nodded. “We’ll buy you some time, big guy. Come on, girls, let’s see what was stupid enough to mess with us.”

Cerise opened the hatch, and jumped down into the bridge with both wolfen girls on her heels. Damn it, it sounded like there was a pitched battle going on down there. There was cold air blowing up through the hatch, too. What the hell?

“Here,” Elin said urgently, holding out my coat.

I struggled into the enchanted armor, and fumbled for my weapons. Grinder. My earth talisman. My revolver. No time to worry about the breastplate, or get my boots on. At least my head was clearing.

“Close the hatch behind me, and get dressed before you come down,” I told Elin. “We’ll probably need you to heal.”

“Right,” she nodded. “I’ll be down in just a minute.”

A glance through the hatch showed nothing but the deck below, so I wrapped myself in a force shield and jumped through.

An enormous fist of stone intercepted me halfway to the floor, and smashed me into the back of the bridge so hard it dented the bulkhead.

The whole armored windshield at the front of the bridge was gone, torn away by what looked like some kind of stone golem. The giant construct was crouched over the front of the ship, peering in through the hole. But that wasn’t the only threat. In the darkness outside blasts of flamer fire showed the girls squared off against a bunch of short figures covered in bulky metal armor.

In the moment it took me to take in that much the golem opened its jaws, and a blast of noxious vapors roared out to surround me. I choked. My eyes burned, and I couldn’t breathe. Tear gas? Damn it, I was going to get killed at this rate.

I threw myself into the cold air rolling in from outside. Another tremendous blow caught me in midair, and sent me skipping across the ground and out into empty space. I fell, bouncing over boulders and through bushes, until I finally landed in a snowdrift.

My coat and safe fall enchantments negated the impacts, but it was disorienting as hell. I just laid there for a moment, letting my force shield collapse so I could grab a lungful of clean air while I healed my eyes.

Then I reformed it, and sat up.

The blizzard was still going full blast, cutting visibility to nearly zero. At least the steep slope told me which direction the top of the hill was in, but climbing in a gale wasn’t going to be easy. I shivered. Damn it, maybe I should have taken a minute to get fully dressed. The warmth spell on my coat wasn’t enough protection against this level of cold.

No, there was no time to worry about that. I might feel like I was freezing, but my amulet would keep the cold from doing any real damage. I needed to get my ass back in the fight.

I had to do most of the work with magic, holding myself against the rocky ground and shaping handholds as I went. It took long minutes to climb back up the hill, worrying the whole way. By the time I reached the top I was cursing under my breath. Were the girls alright? If something happened to them… well, I’d just have to make sure it didn’t. They were tough, and there isn’t much I can’t heal. They’d be alright.

I pulled myself over the edge of the hilltop, and looked around as best I could. Erratic flashes of fire lit the darkness in the distance, along with weaker glows that reminded me of Elin’s faerie fire. I could vaguely make out the bulk of the
Intrepid
through the blowing snow, with the hulking figures of several golems around it. Beyond that, I had no idea what was going on.

Well, killing the enemy is generally a good move. I readied my weapons, and headed for the nearest flash of fire.

I found a roasted body in the snow, and rolled it over. Bearded face, burly as hell and maybe four feet tall. I would have said dwarf, but he also had a pretty substantial pair of tusks jutting up from his lower jaw. Whatever he was, the heavy plate armor he wore hadn’t been much protection against a flamer. The metal was still hot to the touch.

A bellow and a distinctly feminine war cry drew my attention. I hurried towards the sound. A snow flurry blinded me for a moment, and then I found Daria wrestling with two more of the creatures. Her flamer lay broken in the snow, next to a bloody body with long hair.

She kicked one of her opponents in the face, rocking him back and giving her a chance to stab the other one with her force blade.

“Die, you murdering bastard,” she screamed. “Die! Die! Why won’t you die!”

Her force blade just fizzled out when it struck the creature’s armor, doing no damage at all. It must be enchanted with a protection against magic, but she was too far gone to notice. Her opponent punched her in the face with one armored fist, and his buddy was coming back in with a rope in his hands.

I thumbed Grinder to life, and rushed in to lay a wild blow across rope guy’s chest as he turned in surprise. Sure enough the saw blades fizzled and reformed instead of biting, but the plasma in my weapon’s blade left the heavy steel breastplate glowing orange with heat. He stumbled back, screaming in agony as his own armor cooked him.

I gave him a shot of the plasma jet to make sure, and turned back to find that Daria had thrown her opponent to the ground and was now beating his head against a rock.

His hand curled into a fist, and a dagger popped out of a sheath on his forearm. He stabbed her in the belly, and pulled his hand back to do it again.

“Daria!”

I threw my earth talisman at him. The lump of stone became a manacle midflight, wrapping around his wrist and pulling down to pin it to the ground.

Daria ignored her injury, and kept bashing. I had to pull her off him so I could roast him with a plasma jet. Then she threw herself against me.

“He killed Embla!” She wailed.

“The fuck he did. Her head’s still in one piece, she’s not dying on my watch. Pull yourself together, Daria.”

I stopped her bleeding, and knelt over Embla. Half the bones in the poor girl’s body were pulverized, and she wasn’t breathing. She must have gotten hit by one of the golems. But her heart was still struggling to beat.

I didn’t have time to put her broken body back together right now. I banished the broken bones that had punctured her lungs, stitched them back together and stopped the worst of the bleeding. She jerked, gasped and started breathing again.