Black Coven (Daniel Black Book 2) (4 page)

“Mmm. I’ll want to talk to you about that, but not now. I’m sure you acknowledge the Conclave’s primacy in Kozalin’s magical affairs?”

I nodded carefully. “Of course, Your Wisdom. I was actually coming here to offer my services to the Conclave. In circumstances this dire wise men must stand together, or else we’ll all be eaten separately.”

That got a snort.

“If only everyone saw things that way,” he said ruefully. “Very well, young man. You may ply your trade here as an ally of the Conclave for now, but plan to attend the council meeting this Frey’s Day.”

“I wouldn’t miss it, Your Wisdom.”

“Good,” the prince put in. “We can always use another wizard. What do you want for this work? I’ll warn you, the treasury is under quite a strain at the moment.”

“Right now there are more urgent things than gold on my mind, Your Highness. The last place I tried to settle down in fell to an army of giants not four days after I arrived, and I have quite a few survivors with me. So, perhaps a place where I can build a home, and permission to fortify it to the extent that I can?”

He frowned. “There aren’t any unoccupied estates within the walls.”

“Oh, I can do my own construction. Stonework and healing are my main talents, and I can throw up a decent fortification in a few days. I just need a spot to build on that isn’t going to end up cut off and surrounded by monsters.”

A crafty look stole over his face. “Ah, I see. In that case, I’ve got just the thing. More space than you could possibly need, as long as you build out instead of in. I’ll have a man show you there. Agreed?”

So, he was planning to have me build in the breach? That seemed like a sensible plan, killing two birds with one stone. I was planning some serious fortifications anyway, so I could make it work. I nodded.

“Agreed, Your Highness. I’ll get started on the harbor as soon as I get my people under shelter.”

He nodded. “Good, I’m glad that’s settled. Aron, what’s next on the schedule?”

One of the servants in royal livery stepped forward. “Ah, the meeting with the military supplier guilds, Your Highness. We’re actually going to be a bit late for that.”

“Then we’d best get moving.”

He nodded to the old wizard and strode away, surrounded by a gaggle of guards and servants. A moment after the party cleared the room one of the servants came scurrying back to me.

“Adept Black? I’ll show you the way when you’re ready.”

I shook my head. “So that was Prince Caspar?”

Not being an idiot I’d long since quizzed Captain Rain about the royal family of Varmland, since there’d been a decent chance one of them would be holed up in Kozalin. Prince Caspar was the king’s oldest son, although he had a sister and two younger brothers somewhere.

Carl chuckled. “That was a crazy way to introduce yourself, Daniel. Boss, don’t let the ‘I’m just a crafter mage’ facade fool you. This guy’s a hell of a war wizard. Saved my ass from, what was it, eight mountain trolls?”

“Only five,” I corrected.

“Only, he says! I don’t know if I’d have made it back if he hadn’t shown up when he did. Oh, Daniel, if it wasn’t already obvious this is my boss. High Adept Lukas Steelbinder, the guy who runs the Conclave’s military forces.”

“I also oversee cooperation with the Crown and local military forces,” Lukas put in. “All of which demands far too much of my time these days. Carl, we’ve called off the rescue effort. Is your team ready for another mission?”

Carl’s face turned serious. “I’m afraid not, sir. We lost four men, two of them to that last troll attack, and half the rest are casualties. Daniel patched them up enough to make it back alive, but we’re going to be keeping Elin busy for a few days.”

Lukas frowned. “Elin is no longer available for healing. I’m sure your sister will tell you the tale. Well, in that case I’m assigning you to the Citadel Guard until further notice. Daniel, what about you? I notice you aren’t traveling alone?”

“No, I have decent little fighting band. A dozen professional soldiers with magic weapons, a pack of heavily wolf-aspected hunters, and magical transport that can cross snow at a good speed. Oh, and I have two apprentices. Cerise here is excellent at killing things, up to and including demons. Avilla is more of a support type, so you probably won’t see much of her.”

He gave Cerise a sharp look. “Demons? Hmm. Yes, I see. Well, keep in mind that a wizard is responsible for the conduct of his apprentices.”

“Of course,” I agreed. “I don’t expect any problems at this point, but I keep a close eye on them both.”

“Good. Well, if you gentlemen will excuse me, I believe I have a long list of appointments that the prince interrupted.”

Once we were out of the room Carl shook his head. “If something’s happened to Elin that’s bad news. She’s an ugly little mutt, but she was the best healer in the city. Her mother was an undine of some power, though you wouldn’t know it to look at her.”

“Human father?” I asked

“Half human, half grendelkin. It kidnapped her mother and raped her, kept her with child for a few years before the faerie lords caught up with it. They don’t like to kill children, but of course the mother didn’t want anything to do with the little monsters. The Conclave agreed to take in Elin as long as she manages not to eat anyone, and then she turned out to take after her mother in magic. Anyway, I’d better find my sister-”

“Carl!”

A gorgeous redhead stepped out of a side passage, and enveloped Carl in a hug before I’d had a chance to properly register her presence.

“Oof! Watch the ribs, Mara.”

“Aww, can’t I be happy to see my big brother?” She pouted. “I was getting worried about you.”

“Yes, well, my relief party went missing and then I got into a bit of a fix with some rock trolls. You can thank Daniel here for getting me out of that in one piece. I’d probably still be out there dodging monsters without his timely intervention.”

“Really?” She released him, and turned to me with a speculative look. “Thanks for that, then. Carl’s a bit of a goof, but I can’t exactly get a replacement for him. I’m Mara.”

She shook my hand, something that normally only men did in Varmland, and I couldn’t help checking her out. She was tall, only a couple of inches shy of my own six feet, with long legs and an athletic build. A narrow face, with a pointed chin and a cute little upturned nose, and green eyes that sparkled with inquisitive intelligence. Her skin was several shades darker than I was used to seeing here, maybe halfway between the usual Scandinavian pallor and a more Mediterranean olive. Her hair was her most eye-catching feature, a lush mass of flame-red curls far too vibrant to be natural. Her dress was a little shorter and a lot tighter than was considered proper in this country, although back home it wouldn’t have attracted any comment.

Her aura, however, was stunning. A tightly leashed shroud of fire magic cloaking a deeper well of brilliant gold, far stronger than anything I’d seen before. Certainly more powerful than her brother, although I was less sure how she’d stack up against the High Adept. Steelbinder’s magic had been mostly artificial, a carefully-woven maze of layered enchantments whose full potential was difficult to evaluate. Mara’s was all innate, a passionate blaze of wonder with only a few superficial hints of the more deliberate complexities I was coming to associate with wizards.

Interesting.

“You’re quite welcome, Mara,” I answered her. “Too bad you weren’t there, or you’d have toasted the trolls before I showed up.”

“That’s what I keep saying,” she huffed. “Only no one will listen to me.”

Carl sighed. “Yes, well, Mara’s power is good but she’s still working on the academic side of things. She hasn’t actually made adept yet, so the Conclave doesn’t want to send her into battle unless the situation is desperate.”

She rolled her eyes the way only a teenage girl can. “Yeah, yeah, the old men don’t think I’m ready for real magic. You’re pretty perceptive, though. I’ve been learning to cloak myself as a control exercise, and most people don’t see through that.”

“I can see magic a lot more clearly than most wizards,” I told her.

“Hey, if you’re not an adept yet does that mean I can actually say hi without a lot of bowing and scraping?” Cerise put in.

“Of course you can,” Mara replied. “I hate that shit anyway. Oh, you’ve got some interesting magic going on. I like the tail.”

Cerise grinned. “Yeah, it comes in handy. I’m Cerise, this big lug’s apprentice. You should come out and visit sometime, after he builds us a place to stay. Knowing him he’ll end up working himself to death trying to save all the refugees personally, but Avilla and I will need someone to show us around.”

“I could do that,” she agreed. “Assuming things don’t get too crazy.”

“That reminds me,” Carl interrupted. “What happened to Elin? I gather she’s alive, but Steelbinder said she wasn’t available for healing?”

Mara’s gaze fell, and her hands clenched into fists for a moment. “Yeah, it’s pretty ugly. They sent a team to Tartarus to find out how bad things were, and something really nasty followed them home. There was a big fight in the Chamber of the Door, and Elin got caught in the crossfire. She’s fucked up really bad. Her magic is barely enough to keep her alive, so the Conclave is going to have to do without their miracle healer.”

Carl frowned. “I see. No luck with healing elixirs?”

“Are you kidding? No one is going to ‘waste’ an irreplaceable resource like that on the mutt. They tried some of that medicinal shit the junior alchemists make, but when it didn’t do anything they just threw up their hands and decided she’s a lost cause. They’re basically just waiting for her to die now.”

He gave her a considering look. “I see. I take it you’ve been keeping her company?”

Mara shrugged. “Trying to. She’s a prickly bitch, but it’s not like I can complain about that.”

Prince Caspar’s servant discreetly cleared his throat.

“Oh, yeah. Sorry, guys, but I need to go see this plot of land the prince is giving me and get some kind of shelter up before it gets dark.”

We said our goodbyes, and Carl went off to talk more with his sister while I led my party towards the door. When they were safely out of earshot Cerise leaned into me with a sigh.

“Ooh, yeah. Did you see the ass on that girl? I’ve got to get me some of that.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Poor Avilla, abandoned already. What will she do when she finds you’ve thrown her over for another girl?”

Cerise snickered. “Are you kidding me? The second she gets a whiff of that girl’s power Avilla’s going to need fresh panties. Besides, we’ve always wanted to seduce hot sorceress bitches together. It’ll be a bonding experience.”

I chuckled. “You do realize she’s probably straight?”

“As much fire magic as she has? There’s no way she’s going to care about shit like that once she gets going. I’ll have her eating out of my hand in no time.”

“If you say so, Cerise. So, on a more serious subject, do you know anything about grendelkin?”

“Not much. They’re a rare breed, and the descriptions in stories all contradict each other. Big, misshapen, lots of teeth, live in swamps and eat people. I think they might be shape shifters, actually.”

Oh. Grendelkin, as in Grendel, the monster from Beowulf.

“Lovely. Now I’m not sure whether to feel sorry for the poor girl, or wonder why the Conclave is keeping a cannibalistic monster in the middle of a city.”

“Can we go with both? Why do you care, anyway?”

I shrugged. “Partly I’m just a sucker for girls who need rescuing, and it sounds like she’s got a pretty shitty situation. But powerful healers are a rare resource, and I don’t want to end up being the only one in the city. We’ll be better off if there’s a well-known local healer that people will go to before bothering me, so I can spend my time making weapons and fortifications.”

“Oh. In that case, should we try to recruit her? It sounds like they treat her like shit here, so it might not even be hard.”

I shook my head. “It’s tempting, but I don’t want to piss off the Conclave by poaching their people. I’ll need to get a better feel for the situation before I can decide anything about that.”

The prince’s servant directed us back into a less wealthy part of town, where we took a turn towards the river. The harbor district was a little run down, but it bustled with activity despite the cold. There were dozens of inns and taverns packed with customers, hundreds of shops and businesses selling everything from sailcloth to compasses, a shipyard, and some surprisingly large warehouses just inside the city wall.

Like Lanrest, the docks themselves were outside the wall. But Kozalin’s harbor wasn’t undefended. There was a high embankment faced with stone along the waterfront, pierced by ramps that descended to the level of the piers. A battlement along the top of the embankment made it fairly defensible, protecting a strip of buildings a block or two wide that filled the space between the shore and the stretch of city wall facing the river. Several companies of troops manned the battlements and aggressively patrolled the streets, keeping a watch for goblin raids or more exotic forms of trouble.

The harbor itself was filled with ships of every description, from large three-masted cargo vessels to little river boats with a single collapsible mast. But it was also frozen over. Most of the smaller boats had been pulled out of the water, and here and there I saw work parties shoveling snow off the decks of the larger ships or hauling loads of firewood about.