Fimbulwinter (Daniel Black)

by Brown, E. William

  There were too many of them. I turned the ground in front of us to mud to buy us a moment’s respite, and grabbed Cerise.

  “Hold on!” I told her, and threw us both into the air.

  My previous experiment in flying hadn’t worked out so well, but this time I wasn’t going any further than the top of the wall. Cerise gasped in surprise as we left the ground, then whooped and clutched at me.

  “We’re flying!” She yelled.

  “More like falling in the wrong direction,” I corrected. A second push up, a wobble to keep us from hitting the wall, and then we were above the level of the parapet. I glanced down to see startled guardsmen looking up at us.

  Down in the breach two more trolls were headed for the spot where we’d been fighting, and the first one was getting back up. Yeah, that would have ended badly.

  I managed an awkward landing on top of the wall, and put Cerise down. She leaned against me in a way that would have been a lot more appealing if not for my broken ribs, and kissed me.

  “We’ve got to do that again,” she said excitedly. “Only next time try not to crash in the middle of a horde of monsters.”

  “Good advice,” I said dryly. “Watch the ribs. I take it you were out in the town?”

  She nodded, and gave me a suddenly worried look. “Are you going to be alright? You looked really bad, but I figured it would be like the fight with the giant.”

  “It will be, but I can’t afford to spend an hour healing right now. Thanks for the save, by the way. I don’t think I would have made it out of there on my own.”

  “I still owe you two more,” she grinned. “So, how do we save the town? Or do we need to pack up and get the hell out?”

  “There aren’t enough of them to sack the town,” I pointed out. “There must be three or four thousand people crammed in here, and one on one a civilian with an improvised weapon is probably about as dangerous as your average goblin. But they’ll kill a lot of people, especially with those trolls.”

  “It’s not just that, sir wizard,” one of the soldiers put in. “Goblins love setting fires. If they get out of control they could burn the town.”

  “Oh. Damn.”

  I desperately needed to sit down and fix my amulet’s enchantment. If I could just throttle it so it would only spend half its power flow on healing me that would leave plenty to keep the shield up and recharge my own reserves. But a change like that could easily take twenty minutes, and by then the outcome of this fight would probably be decided.

  What could I do with what I had?

  There was a tiny trickle of free power for me to use. My shield was back up, and at this rate it could probably take a hit from a goblin weapon every now and then. But a troll or a flurry of hits would collapse it.

  My personal reserves were still mostly full, but I’d have to limit myself to small spells or I’d run dry fast. So force blades and balls of fire, but no big area-effect spells. Well, it was too late for that anyway. The last of the attacking force was already moving through the breach and into the streets of the town.

  They’d caught us by surprise, and the Baron’s men were still trying to mobilize. I was pretty sure they’d push the goblins back out of town when they got organized, but until then there was nothing stopping them from rampaging through the streets killing people and setting things on fire.

  Alright then.

  “You men, make sure the wall is secure and see what damage you can do from up here. Cerise, follow me. Let’s see if we can rally a defense.”

  I hurried down the wall as best I could. I was still limping, but at least I could walk more or less normally now. Every passing minute was the equivalent of several days of natural healing for me, and it was starting to add up.

  There was a street running parallel to the wall, and I kept an eye on it as we moved. At first there were goblins on wolfback running everywhere, along with the bodies of dead civilians. But the ones who’d gotten into town first were busy looting the buildings nearest the breach, and only a few had gotten as far as setting them on fire.

  Further down the goblins were still beating at doors and windows, trying to break into homes and shops whose owners had gotten enough warning to bar their doors. Beyond that there were still people in the street, some of them fighting while others ran for their lives. I searched frantically, looking for a possible center of resistance.

  There. An open-air smithy, where a cluster of burly men were laying into the goblins with hammers and iron bars. An older man and three younger ones, probably his sons. Some of the goblins had already detoured around them looking for easier prey, but not too many.

  I opened my shield and pulled Cerise against me. “We’re jumping again.”

  She sheathed one of her knives and wrapped her arm around my waist. “Ready!”

  I stepped off the wall, and threw us across the street. A few seconds of frantic maneuvering dropped us lightly in the middle of the goblins, between a snarling wolf and a shaman who’d just started to wave his staff and chant. Cerise stabbed him before our feet even touched the cobblestones.

  I cut the wolf in half with a force blade. Cerise cut the shaman’s throat just to be sure, and flicked a blob of darkness into the back of a goblin who was trying to stab one of the blacksmiths. Then there was way too much happening for me to keep track of it all.

  I slashed madly with my force blade, hacking up goblins and trying to dodge their little swords and spears. A snarling wolf leaped at me, and I cut it in half. But the body kept going, smashing into my shield and sending me stumbling back.

  A sword bounced off my side in a shower of blue sparks, and my shield failed again. I cut a goblin’s arm off and kicked another one away. A spear sank into my side an instant before my blade found its wielder. I gasped, and send a flurry of blades flying through the air.

  Several goblins went down in pieces, and the rest fell back.

  “Holy bells. What happened to your shield, master?” Cerise was at my side in an instant, carefully extracting the spear. Fortunately goblins aren’t all that strong, so it hadn’t penetrated far enough to perforate my intestines. The bleeding stopped almost immediately, but it was one more injury slowing me down.

  “It’s going to be weak until I finish healing,” I told her, and turned to the smiths.

  “Thanks for the save, sir wizard,” the older one said. “You look like hell. You need to come in and sit down for a bit?”

  I shook my head. “After we’ve beaten off this attack. Gather your neighbors, quick. We’ll stop them here.”

  I stepped into the middle of the street, and started shaping the cobblestones beneath my feet. A proper wall capable of stopping trolls would take more energy than I could spare, but we didn’t need anything that ambitious. Instead I made the stones grow long spikes, turning a stretch of road into a field of caltrops. Then I stepped back a few feet, and started making a low barricade of earth.

  A couple of the blacksmith’s sons quickly joined me, setting tables and workbenches on their sides atop the dirt. We had a chest-high obstacle laid across half the street in minutes, and more men began to gather.

  They weren’t much to look at. Frightened peasants dressed in rags, clutching worn-looking scythes and hoes. Townsmen, a little better dressed and not quite as thin, armed with improvised truncheons and the occasional kitchen implement. One man with a spear, another with what was probably a hunting bow. Not a single scrap of armor among them.

  But even the puniest man was twice the size of a goblin. They could hold, as long as they didn’t have to deal with a troll or one of the more powerful shamans. If they had the determination to stand together and fight, instead of running.

  The roar of a troll drew my attention back to our enemies just in time to see them charge. Another pack of wolf-riders flanked the lumbering troll, with a dozen or so goblins on foot bringing up the rear.

  Alright, time to show these men they could fight back.

  “Kill the goblins!” I sh
outed. “The troll is mine.”

  The charging monsters hit the field of spike stones, and faltered. Some of the wolves balked, while others stepped on spikes and began howling and thrashing in pain. A few, either lucky or smart, managed to avoid the spikes and make it to the wall.

  The troll’s huge feet came down on several of the spikes. The creature stumbled, looking down in confusion, and I struck.

  I’d been thinking for days about how to kill trolls more effectively. Thrown force blades just didn’t have the momentum to do more than annoy one, and getting within melee range of something that dangerous was a stupid risk. My more ambitious ideas weren’t practical right now, but one of the smaller ones might work.

  While the troll was distracted I carved off a chunk of one of the overturned tables making up the barricade, layered it with force and fire magic, and launched it at the monster’s chest.

  The creature’s flesh was tougher than wood, but a charge of cutting force magic meant the projectile penetrated a few inches and stuck instead of bouncing off. Then the fire spell went off, and the wood ignited.

  The troll stumbled back with a howl of pain, now more confused than ever. The magic fire burned much hotter than normal, quickly consuming the sliver of wood. But just as I’d hoped, the troll’s flesh caught fire.

  It clawed awkwardly at the wound, and managed to dig out what was left of the projectile. But by then it was too late. I concentrated my meager fire magic on encouraging the flame, making it spread faster, burn hotter, consume its fuel more quickly than normal.

  A goblin arrow struck my reformed shield and glanced off. I ignored it, hunkering down behind the barricade while I fed the flames.

  The burning troll turned and tried to flee. In its panic it managed to step on one goblin and set a couple of others on fire, and the whole attack dissolved in confusion. Half of the goblins fled, while the rest found themselves caught between the men defending the barricade and their burning ally.

  Cerise vaulted over the barricade and danced through the group, her silver knives gleaming in the firelight. One, two, three goblins died in as many seconds, bright sprays of arterial blood arcing through the air as they fell. Her nimble feet easily avoided the spikes, and as she dove back over the barricade I saw that the cut on her arm had healed.

  The troll stumbled in circles for a few moments, its arms waving uselessly, and then collapsed.

  A ragged cheer rose from the defenders. There were a couple dozen of them now, and a group of women were already carrying another table out of a nearby house to finish the barricade. The blacksmith clapped me on the back.

  “That was a fine sight, sir wizard,” he said. “What do we do now?”

  “Hold them here. What’s your name?”

  “Oskar, sir. Oskar Smith.”

  “Good to meet you, Oskar. I’m Daniel Black. I need to go rally the people and get barricades set up on other streets so they can’t circle around us, so I’m leaving you in charge here. Gather more men, and hold the line until the garrison shows up.”

  “Yessir,” he nodded. “But what if another troll attacks?”

  “Cerise!” I called.

  She slipped through the crowd like a ghost to appear before me, her dark eyes gleaming. Her dress was ripped and stained, exposing pale patches of flawless skin beneath. She’d discarded her cloak of concealment, and her power sang hungrily beneath her skin.

  “Yes, Daniel?” She purred.

  “You getting enough from ganking goblins to keep you going?”

  She smiled nastily. “Oh, yeah. As long as they can’t dogpile me I can go all night.”

  “Good, you may need to. I’m going to go set up more barricades. I need you to stay here for now, and make sure this one holds. They don’t have that many trolls, but if another one shows up here you get to kill it.”

  “Alone?” She gulped, suddenly less confident.

  “We’ll help, miss,” Oskar said confidently. “But clubs and knives won’t keep a troll down.

  She looked him up and down, and licked her lips. “You can help me anytime. Alright, Oskar, if you guys can distract a troll I can make it die. Will you be back soon, Daniel?”

  “Depends on how fast the garrison musters,” I told her. “Hold out as long as you can. If things start looking hopeless and I’m not back yet, head for the tower. You can hole up there if you need to.”

  “You got it,” she smiled. “The way you charged up Avilla we can call plenty of help if we need to.”

  “If you have to,” I nodded. “Stay safe.”

  I turned and limped off down the street. Going airborne was too dangerous, so I’d have to do this like a normal person.

  Distant screams and shouts filled the deepening gloom. Most of the buildings I passed were locked up tight, and there were a handful of bodies in the street. Goblins who’d gotten too far ahead of the main group, and the civilians they’d cut down before someone was brave enough to fight back.

  Most of the buildings were built right up against each other, sharing walls and covering whole blocks in a single solid mass. The ground floors were mostly brick, with heavy wooden doors and stout shutters over the windows. A troll could try to smash its way through, but it would probably just bring a building down on top of itself. So most likely the invaders would be limited to moving along the streets.

  The cobblestone road emptied out into a small plaza crowded with refugees, most of them huddled under blankets around several small fires. Several men armed with farm implements watched my approach.

  “Everyone arm yourselves!” I called. “A goblin raiding party is inside the walls.”

  The crowd stirred, and a few of the younger men stepped forward uncertainly.

  “What should we do?” One of them asked.

  “You men, come with me,” I said to the ones who’d already been armed. “The rest of you, send a party back down this street. We’ve thrown up a barricade, but we need more men to defend it.”

  “Who are you?” One of the older men asked, eying my bloodstained clothes.

  “I’m the wizard, Daniel the Black. I’m going to break this damned goblin tribe, but I can’t be everywhere at once. I need you to keep the little runts away from your women and children while I kill their leaders. Now get moving, we don’t have time for arguments. Roust out the neighbors, and get them to help.”

  His eyes went wide. “Yessir, lord wizard,” he stammered. “Ah, Jerzy, Adrianna, you two start knocking on doors…”

  I left him to it, and headed out of the plaza with a half-dozen farmers in tow. There was a street leading almost directly away from the wall, so I took that and followed it for a bit until we hit an intersection.

  There I found another troll caving in the front of a building while a dozen goblins capered and jeered around it. I interrupted the party with a flurry of force blades.

  Half the goblins went down in pieces, and the troll turned from its work to growl at me. My companions flinched.

  “I’ve got the troll,” I told them. “Finish the goblins.”

  Time for troll-killing method number two. Hopefully this would work, because my shield wasn’t going to stop more than one hit from the thing.

  I threw another force blade, cutting a shallow gash across the troll’s chest. “Come on, ugly! You’re too stupid to fight me!”

  As expected, it roared and charged.

  I extended a lance of force from my left hand, an eight foot tube of invisible energy narrowing to a point at the end, and jogged towards it. I saw a flicker of confusion in the brute’s eyes as we closed with each other, and it glanced at my outthrust hand.

  I turned a small patch of road under its feet into mud.

  It stumbled, suddenly too distracted to wonder what I was up to. I plunged my force lance home, and our combined momentum drove the magical construct deep into the troll’s chest. But I didn’t know if being stabbed through the heart would be enough to kill it, so I dissolved the end of the lance and sent a blast
of flame roaring through it into the wound.

  The troll started to fall, and I certainly wasn’t going to hold up its weight in my current condition. I dropped the lance and backed away. A glance around showed a couple of goblins fighting the peasants and the rest turning to flee. Excellent.

  I took a minute to decapitate the troll, and then followed the fleeing goblins back towards the breach.

  This time it took a bit more work to get some resistance organized. The goblins had had more time to work, leaving the street littered with bodies. Several buildings on this road had been smashed open and their occupants killed, while others the goblins had simply set on fire.

  I put out a couple of buildings, killed another group of goblins, and recruited a few more townspeople before we reached the next intersection. There we found a couple of abandoned carts, and rolled them across the street leading back towards the breach to make an improvised barricade. I conjured enough dirt to fill the space beneath them, so the goblins on foot couldn’t just crawl under them and attack the defenders, and paused to take stock.

  I was still badly injured, but ten minutes of healing had made a noticeable difference. I was moving a little more easily, and my broken bones no longer felt like they were going to pop lose if I moved too fast. My right arm was still useless, but I could probably run a little if I had to.

  My scratch force included nearly twenty men, most of them townspeople and all armed with improvised weapons. More were starting to emerge from nearby houses as they realized someone was fighting back effectively, and there weren’t any more trolls in sight.

  Good enough. I picked the most assertive-looking man in the crowd and put him in charge, and headed off to find the next street we needed to block.

  By now I was starting to wonder where the garrison was. I know it takes time for men to throw their armor on and get organized, but surely the Baron kept some of his men ready to fight? Maybe not enough to stop the attack cold, but shouldn’t there be some sign of the town’s defenders?

  I found one group of them around the next corner. A couple dozen men, including a few knights along with the regular soldiers, were locked in a desperate melee with two trolls and a whole lot of goblins. The battle filled an intersection between two narrow streets, and one of the adjacent buildings was already on fire.