In The Depths Of Winter

by Bradley Mitzelfelt

  “No, I’m going to my quarters. You’re the one following me.”

  The dwarf frowned at him. “Well excuse a girl for trying to have some fun.”

  Dearic lifted his hand to pinch the bridge of his nose, his shield settling against him. The feeling that he would regret this had thoroughly set over him.

  “Sorry,” he said. “It’s been a long day.””

  “So I’ve heard,” she said as she sidled over near him. “You nearly killed the Hallmaster’s nephew and he let you live. He must think you have great power or he’d have killed you. Maybe he’s afraid of you.”

  “Dwemorin? Afraid of me?” He laughed. “No. Far from it. He could kill me without breaking a sweat. No, he knew Shakrin would be fine, and he knew what happened. Killing over an accident isn’t really what the Hallmaster does.”

  “I would demand death for a human that nearly killed my nephew. Strange that he doesn’t.”

  Dearic frowned at that. It sounded rather dark, and put him back on edge rather than in the slow fall to relaxation that he’d been in.

  “My name is Vahneen, by the way,” the dwarf woman said. “You must be the one they call Dearic. You’re from Brivan, right?”

  “Yeah, that would be me. There aren’t an overabundance of humans here.”

  “No, but I hadn’t heard you were human until today. I’d just heard that you were an outsider.” She grinned and walked past him, flicking her hair to smack his shield as she passed. “I never knew you humans could be so cute.”

  Since when did dwarves use the word cute? I don’t even think Fanan would say that and she spent the better part of the time we first met trying to get me into bed with her. He shook his head, hefting his shield as he started to walk again. Vahneen kept up with him, and she didn’t even have to run to do so.

  “You’re not very talkative,” she said. “You don’t like me?”

  “It’s not that. It’s just been a long day, as I said. Talking isn’t really one of my top priorities.”

  “You did say that. I just thought you were interesting and wanted to talk to you was all.”

  Sure you did. You must be from wherever Fanan’s mother was from. He shook his head at her and motioned towards a door at the side of the hall, a door he stopped in front of. She stopped a few steps further on and turned to smile at him.

  “You’re odd,” he said to her. “You aren’t related, somehow, to Fanan are you?”

  “Fanan?” she asked as she frowned and tapped a finger to her lips.

  “Fanan Ironshield. She’s the Hallmaster’s daughter.”

  “No, I’m not. Why?”

  “You act just like her. Without the strange sailor talk that really doesn’t fit a dwarf. Your voice is almost lyrical in comparison.”

  Vahneen blinked, and then grinned. “You like my voice then?”

  “I didn’t say that,” he said before he sighed. In a sense he had said it by pointing it out. “It’s not terrible, though. I could get used to it.”

  “We should go mining sometime. We could go down deep, find some good ore, toss some sheets around,” she said the last part extremely fast before finishing with, “and then we could make you something.”

  He groaned. Just like Fanan. Why can’t I get away from these crazy dwarf women! He decided to lie about his status because it would be easier.

  “I’m fine with everything but the sheet tossing. I belong to someone now. I’m not available for that.”

  Vahneen’s bubbly attitude suddenly burst, and a cloud of anger descended upon her. He stepped backwards until he hit the door to his room, one hand feeling for the handle in case he needed to make a quick retreat.

  “Who? Who is she? Is it this Fanan Ironshield you mentioned?” She was stepping towards him with accusatory finger wagging.

  “What? No. Someone else. Someone who isn’t here and you’ll likely never meet. I’m sorry, but that’s how it is.”

  The anger subsided and she pouted and turned away. “Well, at least we can spend some time together doing something else that’s fun. I’ll find you sometime soon. When I feel more up to it.”

  He watched her go, and when she was gone, he opened the door to his room, stepped in, and bolted it behind him. Finally free. I swear if anyone knocks on my door tonight I’m not answering unless it’s an emergency. These dwarves will be the death of me. I just wish I knew what to do now.

  He put his shield in a corner of the stone room, lit by a single ever burning lamp. The dwarves had figured out how to run oil through the halls of the mountain to every single lamp without the oil ever being seen. It was really rather remarkable, and he suspected they had carved some sort of piping into the walls, but he hadn’t taken an interest in studying their technology. He was too busy training.

  Once he’d disrobed and put his things away, he lay down upon his bed, feet hanging off the end, and stared at the ceiling.

  “A mage of all things. I can’t believe Aiyana was right. Now I just need to figure out what the side effects to this are.” He rolled over and buried his face in his pillow. “Or else it might kill me.”

  Chapter Two

  In the time since he’d first discovered the strange weapon, Gregor had managed to recruit several of the people nearby to his cause. As it turned out, there were quite a few people amongst these strangers that were more than eager to cause mayhem if he handed them one of the things that they called guns.

  Apparently, in the hands of certain people, the weapon was all that was needed to turn them into exactly what he needed for his army. They were strange people, too. Some of them wore next to no clothing, and in some places they actually wore no clothing. He found himself lingering in those places quite a bit, and enjoyed it while he did. They were more than willing to accommodate him once he showed them what he could give them.

  He walked down the road towards the strange spear that he’d learned was called the Eiffel Tower. Apparently it was made of iron, but he didn’t know how they’d managed to build it. They must have their own Magic. They probably used it to lift the pieces, heh. I could just make the whole thing appear from nothing, myself.

  “Hey, you. Stop.”

  Gregor turned to look at the person speaking to him. The man holding the gun on him was shaking, and he kept wiping his forearm beneath his nose. Mucus was dripping free and his eyes were completely red.

  “Me? Heh, you better rethink that.”

  “Yeah? Why should I?” the man asked before jabbing the gun forward. “Give me your money!”

  “No, heh.” Gregor pointed a finger at the man. “Lenum des Stilmarun.”

  The man instantly froze, his finger nearly having pulled the gun’s trigger. Gregor walked up to him and plucked the gun out of his hand, before pointing it at the man’s leg and firing. The crack of thunder resounded, and the bullet blasted through flesh and bone to leave a hole that bled through the man’s pants.

  “I’m sure that hurts. Yep yep,” he said before he tucked the gun inside of his robes. “Clearly you’ve never heard of me. Too bad for you, but I don’t really need people who can’t control their own bodies.”

  He winked and then turned to start walking away, leaving the man standing in the middle of the road, frozen and bleeding out. No vehicles, that’s what he’d learned they called the wagons with no horses, still moved. Their fuel had run out weeks ago, though several had been driven out of the strange city and into the forest. At least it made it easier for him to get around.

  “Are you just going to leave him standing there?”

  The voice emanated from the shadows of an alley as he passed. Gregor stopped and turned his head to the side to peer within.

  “Why shouldn’t I? It’s fun, heh.”

  “He’s a junkie, I’ll give you that, but he could have been used. Give him a gun, the right fix, and drop him into a crowd and he’ll have a field day.”

  “I don’t understand what a field day is, but it still doesn’t matter. He’s dead now. Yep ye
p. No use to us.”

  “Well, he’s not dead yet, but considering the lack of medical supplies it won’t be long.”

  A woman stepped out of the shadows, clad in black clothing with a hood hanging down to hide her face. Only the purple tips of her hair dangled from beneath the hood. The only other part of her he could see was her chin and mouth.

  “I have no need for people like him, Josette. I thought I explained that already.”

  “So you say, but I would think anyone could be of use. Especially the junkies like him. Hopped up on cocaine and doesn’t even remember his name? He’d have no problem going into a crowd with the prospect of riches and killing people. Wouldn’t that be useful?”

  Gregor frowned at what she said. It made sense, but he refused to accept it. I won’t have some girl telling me what is good and bad for my plans. She doesn’t even know my full plans anyway. Shaking his head, he started walking again.

  “Enough of that talk. Yep yep,” he said without glancing back to see if she was following him or not. “How are you doing with recruitment?””

  “Numbers are up since your little stunt at the Eiffel Tower last week. Don’t know how you do that stuff you do, but making the tower move like that was killer. Literally.”

  Gregor scrunched his nose up at what she said. The way she spoke was ludicrous to him. How did these people even understand themselves?

  “Magic is a simple concept. I have it, therefore I am superior to everyone else. Yep yep. That is how I have conquered much of this world, and that is how I will continue to do so. Making your tower move wasn’t that difficult.”

  “If that wasn’t difficult for you, I’d hate to see what else you could conjure up. Granted, that’s why I work for you. Power is worth working for. You’re only safest with the strong right?”

  “That is the wisest thing I’ve heard you say yet, heh.”

  They walked for a bit longer, a few more people emerging from shadows to walk with them. As it turned out, Josette was a leader in a revolutionary movement in her country, which she was now no longer part of. These people that showed up to follow them around were other members of her cause. Apparently they hadn’t liked the way things were going in their previous world. Anarchists like them made for good soldiers.

  The hardest part was acquainting them with the realities of their situation. He’d done it before, but he’d only had one man to deal with then, not a whole city of people, some of whom didn’t speak a language that he could understand. Still, as Josette said, power would draw people to him, and it was working so far.

  “What exactly are the numbers?” Gregor asked.

  “Last count was one thousand, two hundred and seven. Every day we add a few more. More will come, but a lot of those here are either old or too young to be worth the effort.”

  Yes, he’d come across that problem. There were a lot of the feeble. They disgusted him more than those like the man he’d left to die did. Completely useless, they were. The kids were also useless, and he’d killed more than a few of them. Of course he’d been forced to kill the parents too. Why they were so attached to their offspring he didn’t know. They’d just have grown up to annoy them or disappoint them. Such was the circle of things. His parents had found that out, too.

  In the months since his arrival he’d whittled the population down slowly. He wasn’t really trying to kill them all, but there was an extreme resistance to his rule. Many called him names that he didn’t understand, but if they did it to his face they only did so once.

  “How is the accumulation of weaponry coming along? Do we have enough yet? I tire of this place and wish to move on. More will have come through when your city did and I desire to recruit or kill them, as well. Yep yep.”

  Josette sighed. “We’ve gotten all we can get. Since things went berserk the remaining government has been stockpiling everything. They still hold out in a few of the central buildings.”

  “I know this,” Gregor said as he suddenly spun around to look her in the eyes. “I want to know if your troops are ready to fight, not have you tell me what I already know.”

  “Yes, they’re ready to fight. As ready as any French Resistance force has ever been, at least.”

  “How often have you people fought wars against your government, heh? Sounds like a regular occurrence.”

  “Many times,” Josette said before she nodded to two of those that were following them. “Not always against our own government. Anyway, where do you want them to meet us?”

  “Right here.”

  They’d arrived directly beneath the structure called the Eiffel Tower. It was large, but it seemed to serve no real purpose aside from decoration. I really don’t get it. Why build a building only for decoration? They must have had a lot of money, time, and people to do it all. Wasted effort. He shrugged and looked back to his new companions. The two Josette had nodded to had left.

  “How long until they get here?”

  “No more than half an hour, I suppose. Most of them are probably still drunk from last night.”

  “What was last night, heh?”

  “A party.”

  “For what? What’s worth celebrating?”

  “We’re alive?” Josette shrugged her shoulders. “Don’t really need a reason to get drunk, you just do it.”

  So strange. Yep yep. I don’t think I’d like to live where they are from. No matter, though. Once Chaos is free, nowhere will be safe. He sat down in the middle of the strange ground he’d learned was made of a substance known as concrete. It wasn’t very comfortable, so he didn’t see why they didn’t just use dirt and grass.

  “I don’t really need your people for this. Nope nope,” he said as he surveyed their surroundings. Not many people were about. “But if they help, they’ll be more willing to work for me, and I need soldiers. There’s a war to be won, and your guns may be the key to it.”

  “What kind of war can so few win?”

  “So few?” Gregor asks, looking up at her and tilting his head with a lofted brow. “A thousand soldiers is a substantial army. Yep yep. It should be enough to turn the tide when paired with my orcs and goblins.”

  “Orcs and goblins?” Josette asked, eyes widening as she leaned closer to him. “Those are real?”

  “Of course they are, heh! Nasty creatures, but they make good soldiers since I don’t care if they die or not. Ugly things, too. The elves kill them faster than I can send them in so I need better soldiers. Ones that can think.”

  “Elves too!” Josette and the others, more were starting to arrive, looked stunned by all of this. “This is a strange world. I wish I knew how we got here. I almost wish we could go back where we came from. At least we knew what we faced there.”

  Gregor grinned. Of course he knew how they’d gotten there since he was the one that had brought them. Not intentionally, but he had. I won’t tell them the truth. If I did, they’d resent me. Yep yep. Besides, they don’t need to know that I plan to send them all into a battle that will likely kill all, or most, of them. It would just make things harder.

  “Elves are nasty creatures. So full of themselves. Yep yep. They think they are superior to everyone, but I’m going to show them that humans are superior to all other races.”

  This got a few shouts of agreement from the people that had started to gather around them. Apparently there was an attitude against races other than humans amongst their people. He could certainly use that to his advantage.

  Something he noticed as he looked out at those gathering was that they were no longer alone beneath the tower. Gathering just outside of range was a host of people that Josette had told him were part of the French army. He understood that their country was called France, and that their army wasn’t a weak one, but they looked so strange in their little outfits.

  “Athelum de Sheldarun,” Gregor said, hastily.

  As soon as he finished speaking, the sounds of gunfire rang out around them. All of the bullets, which would have killed the majority of t
hem without anyone noticing, slammed into a barrier that crackled with electrical energy as each bullet struck it. This wasn’t an ordinary shield spell. This was a malicious one.

  “This is going to be funny, heh.”

  Sure enough, the shield showed its true nature. It wasn’t quite sapient, but it still felt each strike of a bullet. When it did, it lashed out, sending electrical energy arcing through the air to strike at the soldiers. Cheers erupted from within the shield. Though his powers were clearly strange to them, they still knew when something good was happening. More than one of them had referred to him as a wizard, which he didn’t quite agree with, but he got the impression that they knew what Magic was, at least.

  “Well, that will hold them off,” Josette said, crossing her arms over her chest, lips curled upward in an impish grin.

  “If they keep attacking it, it will kill them all. Yep, yep. But I think they’re going to run now.”

  As he watched, many of the soldiers broke off their attack, running back to where they’d come from. A lot of corpses lie burnt to a crisp in the street they vacated. He grinned, and watched them run off before looking up at Josette.

  “It’s fun to watch them run away.”

  “I would have given anything before all of this to be able to do what you just did,” she said, watching the last of the soldiers retreat. “We tried so hard to beat the government, pushing back their stupid reforms. Things were never easy, though.”

  “Nothing is ever easy, but that’s what makes it fun!” Gregor giggled. “Besides, if it was easy, it would be boring. Nobody likes boring.”

  Josette’s grin faltered, and she regarded him with squinting eyes. He just smiled at her from where he was resting. Getting up would be too much trouble.

  “Are all the rest of your people here yet?”

  “Almost. Are we going to finish them off?”

  “We are. Yep, yep. It will be fun, you’ll see. After that we’ll march you off to fight those stinky elves in their trees. When you kill them, there will be lots of celebrating. Much drinking.”