But enchanting the stone? That was tricky. My first attempt unravelled almost instantly, and a second try resulted in stones that were barely warm to the touch.
Well, maybe human limitations weren’t the only reason it took time to enchant an object. I tried slowing the whole process down, to give the magic time to sink into the stone and set properly. That worked out a bit better, but the resulting enchantment was still pretty distorted. Could I fix it?
I spent the rest of the afternoon tinkering with it, churning out badly enchanted heat stones and fixing their flaws one by one. It was a familiar process, actually. Build, test, fix a bug and repeat. I’d spent years doing the same thing coding web apps. Well, web apps didn’t explode or shatter or melt themselves if you made a mistake. But working on stone made it easy to just banish the results of my failed attempts, and keep going.
Finally I paused to stretch, and looked up to find that Cerise was quietly watching me.
“Hey, Cerise. What’s up?”
“Avilla wanted to know if you’re going to join us for dinner,” she told me. There was an odd note to her voice, and she was still staring at my little factory device.
“Something wrong?”
She slowly shook her head. “No. I’ve just never seen anything like that before. Am I getting this right? That thing makes enchanted rocks?”
I grinned. “Pretty neat, huh? There’s some kind of stability problem with the pattern buffer, and the part that sets the enchantment into the stone seems to wear down if I don’t reinforce it every so often. But as long as I’m keeping it tuned up I think I can turn out about one stone per minute all day long.”
“That’s incredible, Daniel,” she replied in amazement. “How does it work?”
“Come have a look. I think I can share my mana sight. Yeah, how’s that?”
She blinked, looked around the room, and then called a wisp of shadows to her hand and studied it.
“Awesome. So this is a real wizard’s magic sense? It’s a lot better than mine.”
“No, this comes from having mana sorcery,” I explained. “Remind me when I’ve got the keep set up, and I’ll see if I can make something that lets you and Avilla do this. Now, take a look at the factory enchantment. This is the power tap that runs it, this is the pattern buffer that holds a copy of the enchantment it’s going to make, and these bits here actually apply the magic…”
Spell crafting was sort of like electrical engineering, something I hadn’t studied since a few electives back in college. Complex, mind-bendingly counterintuitive, and highly mathematical if you wanted to really understand it. I probably would have been lost if not for the free insights and toolset my mana sorcery gave me. But to my surprise Cerise actually seemed to get the gist of my explanation.
“You’ve got a really weird approach to spell work,” she told me. “Some of this stuff is just impossibly complicated for any normal person. I could spend months trying to make something like that pattern buffer, and I’d make a mistake somewhere and screw it up. I guess that’s the benefit of sorcery.”
“Definitely,” I agreed. “The downside is it doesn’t come with a lot of explanations, so sometimes I have to guess at why the things I’m doing work. A lot of my healing is so complicated I might as well be using a magic item for all I understand it. But mana sorcery is kind of self-referential. It does most of the math for me, but it also lets me see what it’s doing if I look.”
“Cheater. I guess I can’t hope to do stuff like this myself, then.”
“I wouldn’t give up too easily,” I told her. “You’re not going to copy my abilities exactly, but you’ve got some impressive talents of your own. I think you can go a long way if you keep working at it.”
She smiled. “Thanks, Daniel. Hearing that from someone like you means a lot to me. Now come on, I’ve been down here long enough they’re probably getting ready to send out a search party.”
The girls seemed happy enough to have me joining them, but they weren’t thrilled to learn that I was leaving on an overnight expedition in the morning.
“But we just got here!” Avilla protested. “You haven’t even finished the tower yet, let alone gotten a decent rest. You can’t keep pushing yourself like this, Daniel.”
“I know, sweetie,” I sighed. “Believe me, I’d like nothing better than to spend the next week catching up on my sleep and strengthening our defenses here. But time waits for no man. We’ll be a lot better off in the long run if I impress the prince and the Conclave now. Not to mention that anything I can do to help the city survive will make things that much easier on us.”
“I suppose,” she pouted. “But you’re going to get a good rest tonight if I have to tie you down to do it.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I agreed. “I’m just going to finish the gates downstairs, so we don’t have to worry about monsters attacking the guards in the middle of the night. After that I’m going to straight to bed.”
“Good.”
“That reminds me,” Cerise said. “Did the guys have any luck finding a place to buy furniture?”
Avilla shook her head. “Not really. The city is so big, it’s going to take days just to learn our way around.”
“Well, you’ll be happy to hear I’ve arranged to get us the services of a couple dozen carpenters for the next few weeks,” I told her. “Just a little kickback for letting the harbormaster decide what order the ships get thawed out in. I’m not sure what they’ll have on hand in the way of materials, but if we need to I’m sure the men can take a couple of transports across the river and cut down some of those trees with their force blades.”
“Oh! That’s wonderful news, Daniel. I was afraid we’d have to spend half our money on furniture, or just do without.”
“How long are you going to be gone?” Cerise asked, still sounding a bit concerned.
“Two or three days, I think. Depends on the weather, and how far out the ice turns out to go.”
Avilla frowned. “You aren’t going alone, are you?”
“Not a chance. I’m going to take a detachment with me, either Rain’s men or Gronir’s. We’ll have one of the harbor pilots with us too, to show us the way.”
“Take the wolf pack,” Cerise advised. “They can handle another run in the snow.”
“Good point,” Avilla agreed. “The rest of the men need a few days of rest before they’ll be good for much. The trip was really hard on everyone. You know, I understand your point, but I really wish you could let this wait a little. Don’t forget, you’re supposed to be at that wizards’ meeting in three days.”
“Maybe I should go too,” Cerise suggested. “I could watch your back, just in case.”
I shook my head. “No, one of us needs to stay here and make sure Avilla is safe. The men will do their best, but we both know one ungol would wade through the whole garrison right now. Besides, I know you’re a badass, but you’ve been looking pretty ragged yourself. I’m not losing you to some stupid accident.”
That last bit kind of slipped out on its own, and I winced. I must be more tired than I’d thought. But to my surprise, Cerise didn’t take offense. Instead her eyes went wide, and she blushed slightly.
“You see?” Avilla said happily. “I told you not to worry so much.”
“I guess so. I, um, thanks.”
Cerise kissed me on the cheek, and leaned into my side. I put my arm around her, and she sighed happily.
“What was that about?”
“Silly kitten was afraid she’d become too much of a monster for you to see her as a girl,” Avilla explained.
“Ah. Well, we’ll just have to make sure she understands that isn’t the case. Granted, I think she’s incredibly hot when she goes full demon mode and starts ripping monsters apart.”
“You do?” Cerise said incredulously.
“You bet.”
“But, I’m barely even human anymore. What about the thing with my tail?”
I shrugged. “Avilla seems pretty h
appy about it.”
The pretty blonde sighed dreamily. “Oh, yes. Sex was good before, but now you can do things to me I never dreamed of. One of these days I’ve got to get both of you to do me at the same time.”
I chuckled. “See? No, you’re not threatening my masculinity or anything. Well, as long as you don’t go trying to use it on me.”
They both giggled at that.
“Are you sure?” Avilla asked. “It feels really good.”
“My ass is exit only,” I insisted, which only set off another round of giggles.
“But seriously, Cerise. I know who you are on the inside, and that’s what counts. We’re not going to suddenly decide you’ve turned into a monster and reject you.”
“I guess,” she admitted.
“Also, even though I love the way you can kick ass, that doesn’t mean you have to be hard as nails all the time. Everyone needs to let their defenses down and just be taken care of sometimes. You can have it both ways.”
She buried her face against my chest, and just stood there in my arms for a long moment. Avilla leaned over to gently stroke her hair. She sighed, and relaxed into my embrace.
“Thank you,” she breathed.
“You’re quite welcome, Cerise.”
“Take care of yourself out there, Daniel. I don’t think we’d find another guy like you.”
I smiled. “I will. The same goes for you, you know. You’re pretty damned amazing.”
“Hmm. I think kitten needs some special attention tonight,” Avilla purred. “Can you make some time to help me with that, Daniel?”
“Always.”
Chapter 5
We set out early the next morning, if not quite as early as I would have liked.
The sky was clear as crystal, a welcome change after weeks of clouds and snow. My companions speculated that the Red Conclave’s weather spells were finally having an effect, and the faint traceries of warring magic I could see running across the sky led me to suspect that they were right. I still had my doubts that it would last, but a few days of clear weather would certainly make my job easier.
I went with Cerise’s advice, and took Gronir’s group with me. They weren’t as heavily armed as Rain’s men, but the force blades and piercing arrows I’d made them were effective enough to handle most things we might encounter. They were also a much better scouting force, which was the main thing I wanted them for anyway.
We took one of the transports, as well as the little open-topped sled I’d made to carry the heating stone factory. But the hunters were too restless to just sit inside all day, so they went out in twos and threes to patrol the area as we traveled. Their long, loping stride could cover ground faster than a horse, and they ranged out a couple of miles around the slow-moving vehicles. I’d warned Gronir to be careful of ambushes, but with their keen senses and superior mobility I wasn’t too worried about them.
Laying out the heating stones turned out to be a tedious exercise. It took my factory enchantment a couple of minutes to make a stone, and based on the previous day’s testing I was only placing them about twenty paces apart. That meant my magically-propelled sled had to creep along at a glacial pace, and I frequently found myself having to stop and wait for the next stone to be finished. But I couldn’t just zone out, because I still had to operate the damn thing. Not to mention keep an eye on the factory enchantment, and stop to refresh bits of it every so often. The whole process was still a lot faster than enchanting the stones myself, but it was a complete pain in the ass.
The pilot the harbormaster had sent with us as a guide didn’t help matters. For the first hour he just sat on the bench next to me and brooded, only occasionally rousing himself to adjust our course. As the walls of Kozalin gradually receded he grew increasingly nervous, asking what we’d do if we were attacked. Then he’d started worrying about the weather, the size of our escort and our chances of survival in an increasingly pessimistic tone. When he started going on about how he was doomed to get frostbite from sitting on a chunk of metal in the cold I’d had enough.
“Go ride in the transport, then,” I growled. “It’s warm in there. Just tell the men where to drive it, and I’ll follow along.”
He abandoned me readily enough at the invitation. I snorted, and went back to concentrating on what I was doing. Honestly, did he really not notice that the metal of the sled was under a warmth enchantment?
Some time later Gronir came trotting over, and hopped up next to me.
“Hey, boss. I think I’m going to strangle that guy if he doesn’t shut up about how doomed we are,” he said jokingly.
I chuckled. “Why do you think I sent him over to you? At least you guys get to take turns getting away from him. If he was with me I’d be stuck listening to it for the duration.”
“Hah! Good point. But we’re making him stay in the driver’s cab. The girls have really had the itch today, and we don’t need him cramping our style.”
I’d never pried into the details of personal relationships in their group, but I’d gotten the impression they weren’t exactly monogamous. Daria seemed to be sticking with Gronir, but I kept seeing the other two women with different men. They were a lot less reserved about public displays of affection than was normal in Varmland, too.
“Understandable,” I commented. “I wonder if that’s a side effect? Now that I think about it, most of the felwolves we’ve killed have been male. Hunting instincts might not be the only mental effect they’re picking up from the rituals.”
“Yeah, we all figured that,” Gronir agreed. “Daria says as long as she doesn’t start growing fur in weird places she’s not complaining. But I’m thinking it might be smart for us to stop for a bit. Being stronger is good, but there’s no sense turning ourselves into monsters.”
I frowned. “I agree, but you’ve never worried about that before. Did something happen?”
He stared out over the snow ahead of us, and sighed.
“Yeah. Since the last ritual, some of us have started hearing something. Not with our ears, you understand. Just kind of feeling it. Only there’s no words, so I don’t rightly know how we’re understanding it.”
I raised my eyebrows. “What does it say?”
“Run and hunt,” he murmured. “Pounce on our enemies, and scatter their herds. Soon the world will be ours.”
I considered that for a moment.
“D’you think they can control us?” He frowned nervously. “Miss Avilla, she said the felwolves are the children of Fenrir. That’s why they fight for the evil gods. If we take too much, are we gonna end up doing the same thing? I used to think just staying alive was all I had time to worry about, but now I’m not so sure.”
“Good,” I said. “You’re right, there is a danger there. If you just push on without stopping to think you could all turn yourselves into wolf monsters, and then you probably would end up turning on us. But there are ways to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
“Cerise is the expert on this, so you may want to talk to her about it when we get back. But you’ve basically got two choices. The safe one is you stop now, and be satisfied with what you’ve got. Some of the power you’ve gained will bleed off over the next few weeks, but so will some of the side effects. You might still hear that call. But you’re a man, not a wolf. If it’s just a whisper now and then all you need to fight it off is a little stubbornness.”
“I guess we could do that,” he mused. “But what’s the other choice?”
That led into delicate territory, but at this point I was pretty sure I could trust Gronir with the information.
“I think Avilla has explained how her ritual filters what you get by stealing power from an enemy? So you guys get mostly strength and magic, instead of sprouting fur and literally turning into wolves?”
He nodded.
“Well, obviously the filtering isn’t perfect. Some stuff you aren’t asking for always slips through, like the hunting instincts and this ‘whisper’ thing. There’s nothi
ng Avilla can do about that, but Cerise knows a way to go back and get rid of side effects you don’t like.”
“Really? Why hasn’t she been doing it, then?” He asked curiously. “I mean, I know she likes being scary and all, but I’ve heard her grumbling about how hard it is to hide her horns all the time.”
“She couldn’t do it on the road,” I explained. “She has to set up a chapel, so she can sacrifice the unwanted power to her goddess.”
He looked away nervously. “Oh.”
I thought he might drop it at that, but instead he spent some minutes thinking while I laid out the next few heating stones.
“I guess she worships one of the old gods?”
I nodded. “Hecate.”
More minutes passed.
“I’ll talk to her,” he finally said.
“That’s it?”
He shrugged. “I guess I’m not surprised. She’s a right hellion, but she’s always had our backs. If you and Miss Avilla don’t have a problem with it, I guess I don’t either. Not like there’s going to be a Valhalla for any of us to go to anyway.”
That was an interesting issue, actually. If this world had gods and magic, were there souls and an assortment of afterlife realms too? Was there really a Valhalla full of mighty warriors, and an underworld where everyone else ended up as some kind of shade? I wasn’t necessarily going to buy that just because the people here did, of course. When it comes to religion people will believe all kinds of crazy things on little or no evidence. But I couldn’t just dismiss it, either.
The rest of the day passed by slowly. Kozalin gradually faded into the distance, until only the iron tower of the Conclave’s fortress was still visible. Patches of clouds began to appear in the sky, and now and then a brief flurry of snow would fall.
Black Coven (Daniel Black Book 2) Page 7