Black Coven (Daniel Black Book 2) (11 page)

              “Who is this ‘Unraveler’?” I asked. “That isn’t a name I recall.”

              “Have you not heard?” The great serpent rumbled. “Hel’s sister is yet in her youth, but she was trained well by her brothers in Gaea’s halls. In a scant year she has freed her father and brother, broken the seals of Tartarus and gathered a horde of fell beasts to her banner. Her touch brings freedom to all who suffer in darkness, and no barrier can withstand her will. If you oppose her you will be but another stepping stone on her path to Ascension.”

              It took me a moment to puzzle that out. “Loki and Gaea have a daughter? Together? How the hell did they manage that?”

              “In the usual way, I imagine,” it said with a grin, displaying a mouth full of teeth the length of my arm. “Sigyn is a devoted wife, and Gaea is one sneaky bitch when she bothers to try.”

              Okay, then. If I remembered my Norse mythology right the story was that Odin had bound Loki in chains in a cave somewhere, with a giant serpent on the ceiling dripping venom on him. His wife Sigyn was allowed to attend him and catch the poison in a bowl, although it wasn’t a complete protection because she had to go empty it from time to time. Gaea was an earth goddess, so I suppose it made sense that she’d be able to sneak into an underground location if she wanted to. But… um…

              Well, this was the god who fathered half the monsters in Norse mythology, and was supposedly Sleipnir’s mother. I suppose kinky bondage sex with Gaea right in front of his wife was par for the course, and Gaea’s reputation was in line with that. Despite the situation, I had to fight back a chuckle.

              “That does sound like Loki.”

              “Odin was a fool to leave his most potent limb unbound,” Narfing agreed. “But I must have your answer now.”

              That chased away my grin. “What exactly do you want me to do?”

              “Nothing,” he answered. “Go back to your tower, provision yourselves and seal your gates. When Kozalin is secure you can take your people and leave.”

              Yeah, I’m sure an army of monsters camped on the ruins of the city would have no problem letting us go. Did they think I was a complete idiot?

              Why were they making this offer? If the fall of Kozalin was really inevitable I doubt they would have bothered. So, they had some intel about me from previous encounters and they wanted me out of the way.

              What could I do against a goddess?

              No. In the Greek myths the children of gods were usually born as mortal heroes, and had to win enough divine approval before they were allowed to become gods. That sounded a lot like this ‘path to Ascension’ business. So a demigoddess, and one who was hiding her actual name. Sneaky and powerful, but not necessarily a strong fighter.

              “You know, Narfing, I don’t really have a quarrel with Loki’s people,” I said contemplatively. “I sure as hell don’t have any love for the Aesir, and if you just wanted to tear down Asgard and salt the earth I wouldn’t lift a finger to stop you. But when Loki decided to cause the Fimbulwinter, and Gaea sent her children to rampage across the land killing everyone they could find, they declared war on humanity.”

              “That was a mistake.”

              I drew Grinder, and nudged it to life with a thought. The blade of violet flame coalesced with a shriek like the mutant offspring of a jet engine and a wood chipper. The huge monster flinched away from the noise, and I nodded to myself. I’d figured a giant aquatic monster would have sonar, and sensitive hearing to go with it.

              “Kozalin is under my protection,” I shouted over the din. “Find another veil anchor for your schemes. If you attack this one, there won’t be enough left of you to bury.”

              “Insolent wizard!” Narfing roared. “You dare to spit on the Unraveler’s kindness? Then I shall kill you myself, and save her the trouble!”

              I readied myself, but the expected lunge didn’t come. Instead the great serpent reared up, and dove back into the waters it had emerged from. A long, long length of sinewy body followed the motion. Damn, how big was this thing?

              Then a shock ran through the ice, and I realized what he was doing. I spun, and bounded back towards the vehicles.

              “Gronir! Scatter! It’s coming back-”

              My words were drowned out by the thunderous crash of Narfing’s armored head smashed up through the ice. Huge chunks went flying everywhere, several of them shattering against my shield, and then Grinder’s blade touched the water. The resulting steam explosion blasted me into the air, and I blacked out momentarily.

              Fortunately my healing amulet was running. I was still bouncing across the surface of the ice when I snapped back to consciousness. I tumbled to a stop, and scrambled back to my feet.

              A hundred yards away the wolfen were circling the hole in the ice, peppering Narfing with arrows that didn’t seem to be doing anything. I saw a couple bounce off the sea serpent’s bony head despite their piercing enchantments, and although the ones that hit his body penetrated they didn’t reach deep enough to hit anything vital. Not that an arrow was likely to do much to a monster this size even if it did prick an organ.

              Beyond them, I could just make out motion under the trees along the river bank. The goblins were here.

              I pulled myself to my feet, and threw myself back towards the fight. “Gronir! Get your people out of there!”

              Narfing reared up for a better look around, and spotted me. “Still alive, little wizard? None of you will survive to see Kozalin again. But I’ll kill you first, if that’s what you want.”

              The wolfen backed away nervously. “Goblins on both banks, boss,” Gronir called.

              I nodded. “Keep them busy, and stay well back. This is going to get ugly.”

              “You have no idea,” Narfing chuckled darkly. Then he struck.

              For all his vast bulk he was as fast as a striking snake. His head blurred towards me, and I barely had time to throw myself into the air before it smashed into the ice where I’d been standing. He went right through it despite its thickness, sending boulder-sized fragments flying everywhere.

              Alright, I had his attention. Now how was I going to stop him?

              I conjured a long lance of force, and tried to angle my fall to land on the monster’s back. But even with the momentum of my fall behind the impact my weapon sank barely a foot into his scaly hide. I had to jump off immediately to avoid getting dragged underwater, and then his head came smashing up through the ice again.

              This time I didn’t see him coming in time, and his armored forehead smashed into my shield with the force of a locomotive. The impact sent me flying, momentarily stunned again, and my shield’s energy level sank alarmingly. I couldn’t take many more blows like that.

              A tail the size of a longboat rose up through the ice near where I was going to land, and batted me back towards Narfing’s head. Damn it, at this rate I was going to get killed.

              I shrouded myself in flames as I flew, hoping that would discourage the sea serpent from his game of ping pong long enough for me to get my bearings. But instead I found myself slamming into a wall of broken ice. Then I was underwater, and my flaming aura was snuffed out. I frantically closed the ventilation holes in my shield before the inside could flood completely, but I still got soaked in freezing water.

              In the dim light filtering down through the broken ice I could just make out Narfing’s vast bulk sweeping around for another pass.

              My shield enclosed enough air to last me a few minutes, and was buoyant enough that it would bob back to the surface pretty quickly. But that would just leave me a sitting duck again. Instead I gave myself a hard push, sending myself jetting through the water towards the river bottom. Narfing adjusted his aim, obviously having no trouble following my movements.

              I conjured an invisible lance of force fifteen feet long, and wove a tether of force magic to anchor it to the riverbed. Let the monster’s own momentum do the work. But Narfing jerked away at the last moment, and swept past well beyond the point of my weapon. Damn it, my force constructs must be visible to his sonar.

The end of his tail smacked into me from above as he finished his pass, smashing me down into the frozen mud below. My shield’s energy was getting dangerously low now, and it wasn’t recharging as quickly as it should have. Holding the shield up against the pressure of the water around me was consuming a good chunk of my amulet’s energy output, and the way I kept getting battered around didn’t help. I needed to strike back somehow, but my usual tactics weren’t working.

Fine. Time for something different. As Narfing swept around to face me again I quickly conjured up a ball of nickel-iron and expanded it, forming a large hollow sphere. Then I banished the material.

The resulting thunderclap of imploding water was loud enough to deafen me. Narfing thrashed in pain, his attack run completely disrupted.

Alright, monster. Let’s see how you like a bigger one.

I started working on another sphere, but this time he realized what I was doing too soon. A sweep of his tail produced a sudden current that swept me away, and I lost my hold on the sphere I’d been making. His head came in again, and I desperately jetted aside in an effort to avoid the blow. But I wasn’t used to maneuvering underwater, and my movements were too slow. I barely got out of the way, and he simply turned and snatched me up in his jaws as he passed.

Crap.

The sea serpent had a double row of huge, serrated teeth that definitely weren’t made of anything as fragile as normal bone. They ground down on my shield, and my energy reserve rapidly fell towards zero under that tremendous pressure. A few more seconds and I’d be ground to paste, but I couldn’t wiggle free.

I reached my left hand in past the teeth, and conjured a mass of molten nickel-iron in his mouth. Hot metal compressed by a pressure equal to the Earth’s core met freezing water at a piddling few dozen atmospheres, and exploded.

When I regained consciousness I found myself bobbing in the middle of an expanse of water littered with chunks of ice. My left arm was gone from the elbow down, and my whole body was a mass of pain that throbbed dully through the partial anesthesia from my amulet. I catalogued the injuries wearily with my body sense. My whole left side was a mass of burns and charred flesh. I had almost two dozen broken bones, including both legs and most of my ribs. My right foot had apparently gotten caught on something, because half of it was missing. The eerie silence told me I was still deaf, and for that matter my vision was a bit blurry too. Oh, of course. I had a concussion to go with everything else.

But I was alive, and as long as nothing interfered with my healing amulet I’d stay that way.

I’d been out long enough for my shield to recharge, so it was probably safe to say I’d gotten Narfing. Were the wolfen still here? Gingerly, I levitated myself out of the water for a look around. A wide field of shattered ice stretched out around me in all directions. But I could make out movement in the distance to the… east? Yeah, that was east. I floated unsteadily in that direction.

The goblins were trying to finish the job. The wolfen had somehow gotten pinned into a bend in the channel, with a large group of goblins and trolls hemming them in while smaller groups peppered them with arrows from the far shore. But the goblins weren’t having an easy time of it. The ground was littered with bodies, goblins and wolves and even a beheaded troll.

Unfortunately the wolfen seemed to be out of arrows, and they must have lost the transport at some point. They crouched behind the meager cover of a few dead enemies, with their spears and swords at the ready.

A goblin arrow bounced off my shield. Heads turned in my direction, and a shrill babble arose from our enemies as they noticed my approach. I could pick out a dozen white-cloaked shamans in the group, and I realized uncomfortably that the ring I’d enchanted to block their curses had been on my left hand. My shield would stop physical attacks, but I’d learned in Lanrest that there were plenty of spells that would go right through it.

But we’d had half a dozen skirmishes with goblins since I’d built myself a defense against such attacks, and they didn’t know it was gone. I extended my right hand, and triggered the enchantment on my other ring. The magic reached out, searching for the complementary pattern on my missing weapon, and pulled.

Grinder‘s hilt flew up from the field of flotsam, and sailed through the air to smack into my hand. I willed it to life, and the blade reformed. It was strange, not being able to hear its howl, and I found myself checking out of the corner of my eye to make sure it had worked.

The goblins ran.

All of them were mounted on wolves, so it was a rapid retreat. The shamans actually laid down a wall of mist to obscure their movements as they went, and the whole operation was a lot more adroit than I was used to seeing from goblins. Even the trolls responded quickly to whatever order had been given, backing up a dozen paces with their eyes on the wolfen before they turned to lumber off into the fog. In less than a minute there wasn’t a goblin in sight.