A second later I slammed my talisman into him, breaking his arm and sending him sprawling. Sefwin went to finish him and almost got gutted by one of his buddies, spinning away at the last second with a shallow cut along her arm. There were too many of them for this. I needed a better tactic.
A dark blur wove through the press, and a dwarf who was about to take another swing at me lost his head in a fountain of blood. Then Cerise was standing in front of me with a bloody battle axe in each hand.
“Don’t hog all the fun, now, love,” she said lightly, and turned to attack another dwarf.
“You’re welcome to this kind of ‘fun’,” I said. “I’ll take standing at the back casting spells any day.”
“Cast away, milord,” Sefwin said, springing past me to launch a furious series of attacks on another dwarf.
Cerise laughed. “Hey, I think I like this girl.”
I ignored the byplay. Cerise could do this all night, but I’d already seen that Sefwin was a lot more fragile. One false move here and she was dead. I had to make this reprieve count.
I risked a quick glance around. The giant blob of water off to the right told me that Elin was still fighting, and to my left Tavrin was making a stand with the other elves. It didn’t look good, though. There had to be thirty or forty dwarves on the field, and one of the golems was still up and breathing gas attacks at the elves. If the wind didn’t keep blowing the stuff away they probably would have fallen already.
I needed to clear these guys out somehow, but most of my usual tricks weren’t working. Time to improvise. I called Grinder to my hand, and brought my earth talisman back to hover in front of me. It only took a few seconds to shape it into a heavy iron barrier, four feet wide and seven feet tall, with a vision slit at eye level and a small hole in the middle.
“Both of you, get behind me!” I called, and shoved Grinder through the hole. I activated the weapon again, and triggered the plasma jet as soon as both girls were out of the line of fire.
That worked like a charm. The cone of violet flame caught three of the dwarves, who immediately fell back and started screaming. I turned the shield left and right, playing the beam over the ranks of the nearer enemies to disperse them.
“Awesome!” Cerise shouted, peering around the shield. “It’s working, Daniel. Fry the little fuckers!”
“Marvelous,” Sefwin panted. “I believe… I’ll stay… right here… behind this shield.”
A crossbow bolt thunked into the barrier and stuck. Yeah, they had some kind of armor-piercing enchantment on those things. Not enough of one to punch through a plate of nickel-iron an inch thick, though.
I stepped forward, still holding the beam on. I caught several more dwarves, before a party tried to rush our flanks. I turned to drive them off our left flank with the plasma beam, while Cerise made short work of the ones on her side. I handed Cerise my revolver, and advanced again.
When Cerise started firing explosive rounds into the main group of dwarves Elin’s water ball abruptly shifted in our direction. She took up a position behind us, which left Cerise and I with a clear field of fire and no more worries about getting flanked. I pushed forward again, levitating the shield so we could move quickly, and caught another group.
The last golem went down, and the enemy’s morale finally broke. They retreated into the snow, leaving a trail of bodies behind them. Cerise kept firing until the last of them vanished in the darkness, and I turned Grinder off.
The howl of the wind seemed quiet after the din of battle.
Cerise clapped Sefwin on the back. “Good job there, girl. I didn’t think you were that badass.”
The elf girl fell to her knees. “I’m not. Sorry, I was burning life force there at the end. Ran out of mana ages ago. I think I’m going to pass out now.”
“Just rest for a minute,” Cerise told her. “Daniel will get you fixed right up.”
Elin’s water ball evaporated, and she staggered out of it to fall into my arms. She was covered in blood, and my body sense pointed out three deep stab wounds that she was struggling to heal. I immediately added my magic to hers.
“Fuck, Elin. What happened to you?” Cerise asked.
“Some crazy dwarf swam right up to me while I was distracted with the second golem, and started stabbing me. I’d be dead if not for my healing amulet.”
“Most of my people are dead,” Tavrin said grimly. “Or captured by the dwarves, which is scant improvement. This is a disaster. What will you do now, Daniel? Journey to Kadur Osh, and try to buy them back?”
“You think I’m going to give these assholes money for kidnapping our people? Fuck that. They haven’t had time to get far. First we’re going to get our people back, and then we’re going to make them pay for this.”
He shook his head. “I appreciate the sentiment, but the Sons of Ivaldi are a major clan. They must have an outpost under the hill, but I don’t see how we can assault it with such a small force. All of us are injured, we’ve exhausted our magic and I doubt we’ve faced more than a third of their garrison.”
“How long will they hold them here?” I asked.
“An hour or two, I’d guess. In theory the earth gates they use allow for instant travel between their citadels, but they can’t keep them open all the time. There must be an outpost nearby, but they would have attacked in much greater force if their gate was open.”
“The local commander got greedy?” Sefwin asked.
“Yes,” Tavrin agreed. “That’s the most likely explanation. He tried to take this ship with his own forces, so they could keep the mithril for themselves. After this battle I expect they’ll seal their doors, and have their geomancers call for help. It will take them some time to get the gate open, but once they do the clan will march an army through to claim the airship. They’ll send the prisoners through as soon as the vanguard has cleared the gate, to make sure they can’t be rescued somehow.”
“They sure are determined to get my ship,” I commented.
Tavrin raised an eyebrow. “Daniel, do you realize how much an ounce of mithril is worth? Your ship is probably the single greatest treasure in Europe.”
I sighed. “I should have painted it, or something. Well, if it takes them that long to get a gate open we’ve got a shot at this. Elin, how are you doing?”
“Better. The bleeding is stopped, and I don’t feel so weak. But I need to get to shelter soon. My water wasn’t enough of a barrier against the cold.”
“Right. The gas cloud in the ship has pretty well dissipated, so we’ll set up a healing station there. Tavrin, gather the wounded. We can save anyone who still has a heartbeat, if we can get to them in time. Probably some of the dead ones too, if their spirits haven’t departed yet. I get the worst cases, Elin gets the easier ones. Cerise, go up to the hold and help Daria get Embla back here. She got smashed up pretty bad by a golem, and we’ll need to stabilize her again. Sefwin, come with me.”
That got everyone moving.
I helped Elin into the hold, and fetched the power stone from where I’d stored it.
“Sefwin, can you pull mana from large power sources safely?”
She nodded wearily. “Of course. That’s part of my basic training. I’m fairly versed in magic, I’m just not old enough to have a deep well of power yet. It takes a century or so for an elf’s magic to fully mature.”
“Great. Draw on this to get your strength back, and then show your father so he can get everyone else to do the same.”
I was starting to get used to that astonished look.
By then Cerise was back with Embla, and then the wounded elves and humans started arriving. Elin and I worked frantically for several long minutes, trying to stabilize the critical cases so we wouldn’t lose anyone else. I restarted two hearts, dealt with severed limbs and shattered bones, and conjured gallons of blood. There was even one elven warrior who’d been beheaded in the last frantic fight, but I managed to reattach his head and get blood circulating again before he suffered
more brain damage than I could fix.
There were some I couldn’t save. An elf with a crushed skull. One of my crewmen who’d had his head split open by an axe. A few Nethwillin retainers who’d been hacked apart by axemen and then trampled in the fighting. Still, that was a lot fewer deaths than I’d expected. Only five fatalities in all, compared to seventeen we were able to save.
Like I’d told Embla, it takes a lot longer than you’d think for people with fatal injuries to actually finish dying. Elin’s magic was better than a modern emergency room for dealing with trauma patients, and my flesh magic was even stronger. It was less than ten minutes before we had the last patient stabilized.
Well, for generous versions of the term. They probably wouldn’t drop dead if we left them unattended for a few minutes, but they certainly weren’t going to get better on their own. It would take at least another hour to get them all completely out of danger, but we didn’t have that much time.
I looked up to find that the elves had already gotten another sheet hung to help trap warm air in the hold. It still wasn’t exactly comfortable, but between that and the warmth spell on the hull the temperature was hovering a bit above freezing. Much better than the subzero conditions outside, and the blankets Daria and Sefwin were laying over the wounded would hopefully be enough to protect them from hypothermia.
Tavrin and the other elves who’d made it through the battle were all gathered around the power stone, drawing energy from it to replenish their reserves and prepare spells. Cerise was sitting with one arm around Elin, watching everyone else.
I noticed Sefwin was trying not to use her injured arm.
“Sefwin? Come here for a sec.”
She hurried over. “Yes? Do you need something?”
I ran my finger down her arm, and smoothed the cut away. Hmm. Exhaustion that needed fixing, and some assorted scrapes and bruises. Nothing serious enough to take any real time, though.
“Better?” I asked.
“Much better. Thank you, Daniel.”
“You’re welcome, Sefwin. Alright, planning time everyone.”
That brought Cerise and Tavrin over. I noticed Cerise was mostly healed from the fight already, and Tavrin had found time to bandage his wounds.
“Do we know where the dwarves took the prisoners?” I asked.
Tavrin nodded. “I had them followed. There’s a hidden entrance to the west, about forty yards away.”
I shook my head. “Loki played us perfectly with that second storm, didn’t he? How did they end up with so many prisoners, anyway? The gas?”
“Yes. Between the wind and snow they were able to get close enough for their geomancers to collapse the fort you raised without being observed. Then they threw gas grenades into the hold, and subdued my people as they ran out of the cloud. The humans were easy prey, and even a lot of my clansmen didn’t have the proper counterspells ready. It takes a great deal of skill to fight back when you can’t see or breathe properly, and a pair of dwarves are trying to knock you down and put shackles on your wrists.”
“I see. Well, I can’t criticize you for that. I got caught petty badly off guard too, and a golem knocked me right off the hill. By the time I climbed back up and found the ship again you were having that standoff with the dwarf.”
“That reminds me,” Sefwin interjected. “We don’t have time for ceremony, but I fully acknowledge my debt to you. You saved my life tonight, Daniel.”
I waved her off. “I think you returned the favor not five minutes later, Sefwin. Don’t worry about it.”
She smiled. “I did, didn’t I? I can’t believe you got back up after being hit with a wizard slayer bolt. Do you think we might be fatebound?”
Elin sniffed. “He saved you once, Sefwin, not three times. Let’s not get carried away here.”
“Twice,” Sefwin disagreed. “Yinthalos wasn’t going to hold out much longer. And it hasn’t even been a day yet.”
Tavrin frowned at the exchange, but didn’t say anything. I had no idea what they were talking about, of course. But Cerise seemed to be puzzled too, so for once I didn’t have to hide my ignorance.
“Someone want to fill me in on what you’re talking about?”
“Oh, it’s a tradition among some of the elder races,” Elin said. “Everyone’s destiny is a thread on the loom of fate, but sometimes two threads will be intertwined.”
“Some people are fated to do great things together,” Sefwin interjected. “Blood brothers. Lifemates. A general and his trusted lieutenant.”
“Also bitter rivals and deadly enemies,” Elin added sarcastically. “It doesn’t have to be a good destiny. The story is that you can recognize a fatebonded pair by the outlandish things that happen when they first meet. There’s a whole list of signs that are supposed to mean different things, but I wouldn’t put much stock in that. It’s not as if the Norns need to advertise their work.”
Sefwin frowned, and looked like she was about to argue.
“I guess that’s interesting,” I interrupted. “But let’s focus on the problem at hand, shall we? Elin, I think you’re going to have to stay here to take care of the patients. We’ve got an awful lot of people here who’ll die if they’re left alone for long. Any objections?”
She shook her head. “I have no desire whatsoever to see another battle tonight, Daniel.”
“Alright. Daria, I want you to stay here and watch her back. Someone needs to be on guard, and you’ve got good ears. Sefwin, you back her up. Hopefully you won’t have any more trouble.”
“You might need me to find the prisoners quickly,” she objected. “I have active blood bonds with Amiya and Lashkin right now, and that’s the only sort of link that you’ll be able to follow through dwarven wards. Father, does anyone else have a bond to follow?”
Tavrin looked like he’d just bitten into an apple, and found half a worm. He glanced at the other elves, but they all shook their heads.
“Why in the Nine Worlds do you three have blood bonds?” he asked.
She studied the floor, looking very much like a teenager caught doing something stupid. “We were simply working on our mental defenses, father.”
That didn’t reassure him. “You aren’t ready for soul magic yet, Sefwin. You’re only forty, and your partners are both a decade younger. You could lose yourself if you’re not careful.”
“Drama later,” I interrupted. “Is she right, Tavrin?”
He reluctantly nodded. “Yes. I hate to take a child into danger again…”
Sefwin’s chin came up. “I killed three dwarves tonight, father. Like it or not I’m a blooded warrior now. I won’t fail the clan.”
He sighed. “Alright.”
“Fine. Tavrin, detail one of your people to help guard the injured. The rest of us are going hunting. Can you do anything interesting with the power source?”
“Yes. We’ve already started preparing battle spells.”
“Good. You’ve got a few minutes to work on that while Cerise and I get dressed, and then we’re going to get moving.”
Cerise looked down at herself, and smirked. “Oh, yeah. Forgot I was just wearing shadows.”
I snorted, and headed for the loft. “Nut. Why aren’t you freezing?”
“Witch,” she pointed out. “Frost resistance spell, on top of magical vitality. It would have to get a lot colder than this to hurt me.”
“If it got much colder the air would freeze,” I grumbled.
I pulled on my boots, and donned the padding and breastplate that would have protected me from those damned axes. The belt with sheaths for Grinder and my revolver, and a pouch for my earth talisman. Then I could shrug the coat back on, and a warmth cloak over that.
Cerise managed to wiggle into her leather catsuit, through some process that had to involve witchcraft considering how form-fitting the thing was. I’m not sure why she bothered with the low-cut boots that went with it, considering that the soles of her feet were tougher than leather. Probably just a fashio
n statement.
“Ready?” I asked.
She hesitated, and gave me an uncertain look.
“I guess. We can really do this, right? Get our people back from those greedy bastards? I feel like I really fucked up tonight, letting so many of them get captured. We didn’t even manage to keep Elin out of the fight, and she’s counting on us to protect her. She’s trying to hide it, but I can tell she’s kind of freaked out about that.”
I sighed, and pulled her into a hug. She laid her head against my chest.
“I know, Cerise. I feel the same way. We weren’t careful enough, and we got caught with our pants down. But what’s done is done. All we can do now is try to fix it, and make sure it doesn’t happen again. Is Elin alright?”
“Yeah, she’ll be okay. She’s just really afraid that she’ll lose control of herself and turn into a monster if she starts getting into fights. I think it’s kind of silly, considering she didn’t hurt anyone the last time she went grendelkin. But you know how she is. We just need to let her ease into things a little bit at a time, until she finally figures out that she can trust herself.”
“That’s what I thought. Well, if we do this right the dwarves will be too busy to try another raid until we’re gone, and once we get home she can stay in the palace where it’s safe for as long as she wants. To be honest I’d rather not expose her to danger anyway.”
“Me neither,” Cerise said. “She’s not really cut out for battle. I guess I’m the only girl in the coven who is, and half of that’s from eating so many demons.”
“Well, whatever the reason I’m glad you’re here. Right now we have to get our people back, and I need my badass babe at my side to pull this off. Are you with me?”
“Always,” she assured me. “Okay, Daniel. If you say we can attack a dwarf fortress with a handful of elves and get away with it, I believe you. We killed a dragon together. How hard could this be?”
Extermination (Daniel Black Book 3) Page 21