Soldiers of Ice h-7

by David Cook

  The man's weatherbeaten face almost broke into a grin at the relish of some private joke, and then his stoic face regained its composure. "Forgive me, I have forgotten my manners," the woodsman quickly said, his voice apologetic. "I fear you have come a long way for naught, Martine of Sembia. The Vani are not friendly to strangers."

  "The Vani?"

  'Me gnomes of Samek." He spoke in strained tones as he stiffly picked up his coat, a heavy parka of fur and leather, from the ground and brushed away the snow that clung to it.

  Martine persisted, stepping forward to press her claim. "I still would like to try. Can you guide me to them?"

  He stopped and suddenly scrutinized Martine, looking at her and beyond her into the gray woods, as if searching for

  any others who may have accompanied her. His gaze was startlingly sharp and intense, far more than she expected from an ordinary frontiersman, and it made Martine wonder if she had done the right thing by showing herself so abruptly. This simple woodsman wasn't what she had expected, and that made her nervous.

  "Are you alone?" he asked.

  "Yes. Are you?" She felt her hand inch unconsciously toward the sword that dangled from her hip.

  Vilheim flicked his eyes between the sky and Martine until he finally seemed to compromise and gazed at the trees behind her. He rubbed at the thick stubble of his cheek tentatively. "Alone? Yes… I'm alone." Martine thought she detected a trace of sorrow in his voice.

  The man met her gaze evenly. A shiver made her legs tremble, and she was suddenly aware just how cold it was as the dry breeze swirled up motes of ice between them.

  "You'll freeze out here tonight," the woodsman said abruptly, a smile finally breaking across his face. "I can offer you a hot meal and a place to sleep. You are welcome to stay, although you may find me a disappointing cook. Your search for the Vani might best be done tomorrow when there is more of the day."

  Martine accepted Vilheim Baltson's sudden hospitality at face value. She sensed a basic decency in the man. It wasn't just intuition, but also trust in the simple ways of the frontier. Visitors were too few to be abused or driven away. Martine seized the opportunity, thankful for the offer of warmth and comfort. "Much kindness, Master Vilheim. As soon as I've tended to my hippogriff, I'll gladly accept what I'm sure will be considerable improvement on another meal of boiled jerky and biscuit."

  "I wouldn't be so certain," Vilheim warned as he pulled the axe free from the log to take it back inside. "Bring your animal up and come inside when you're ready. I'll straighten

  up the place a little."

  Martine trudged back through the snow to fetch Astriphie. The hippogriff was crouched in bloodstained snow, tearing at the carcass of a deer, forcing the ranger to wait until the meal was done. Finally she was able to remount the hippogriff safely and fly to the cabin. After making a quick bed of pine boughs for Astriphie, she knocked at the cabin door.

  "Come in," Vilheim called from the other side.

  With one hand close to her sword, just in case, she opened the door and was instantly assaulted by an outrush of steamy warmth. Compared to the cold dryness outside, the cabin was like the tropics, and after days of camping in snow, it was a blessing.

  "Come in quickly and close the door, or there'll be more wood to cut," her host chided from the fire. He was already ladling bubbling stew into two thick, wooden bowls. "Sit at the table. Please."

  Martine didn't require more urging and pulled up one of the two rickety chairs she saw. The whole cabin was a single, sparsely furnished room-one wobbly table, two chairs, a bed heaped with comforters, and a chest. A wellpolished, dented breastplate hung from a rack by the door, along with a battered war helm, several spears, and Vilheim's coat. The crudely tanned bear rug on the smooth wood floor in front of the fireplace was testimony to her host's prowess with bow and sword. These two weapons hung over the log mantel, both unpretentious but well made. Aside from these martial touches, the rest of the cabin's furnishings were purely functional-pots and pans, lamps, dishes, and the like. Overhead, the scarred wood rafters were carelessly decorated with leather bags hung from pegs and, in one case, a bent-handled dagger driven into the wood. Above the rafters, cobwebs glowed in the flickering light. There was one other door, which Martine

  had little trouble guessing led to an attached privy.

  She had barely settled in before her host quickly set the table with bowls of hot stew, great brown rounds of bread, and a pot of fresh cheese. The aroma of grease, fried onions, and salted venison belied the threat of bad cooking. After Vilheim pulled up the other chair and mumbled a grace, Martine set to eating with a vengeance. She ate greedily while Vilheim observed silently.

  After both had pushed their bowls away and Martine profusely thanked her host, the talk gradually turned to news of the outside world. They talked about trivialities-who ruled where, and what new wonders had arisen. He was particularly interested in how the land's faiths fared, and although she wasn't very religious, she told him what she knew. As the conversation continued, Martine came to call him "Vil," and he in turn managed to drop the formal "of Sembia" from her name.

  Yet throughout their conversation, Vil revealed but little of himself. He was from Chessentia, as she had guessed, and had been living in the valley for about three years. He had settled here for privacy, he explained, and it was as good a reason as many she had heard.

  She offered little more about herself. No mention was made of her role in the Harpers or of her current mission. It wasn't wise to carelessly advertise one's allegiance. Her host seemed satisfied to let her keep her secrets.

  At last the Harper broached the subject of the gnomes.

  "I know them," Vilheim allowed. "I've been their neighbor for three years now-but a short time, in their estimation. They're good enough neighbors, but in their own way." Vil paused and sucked on his lip as he tried to think of the right words. "They prefer their privacy."

  "Do you think I could meet with them?" Martine tried not to sound too eager. Unconsciously her fingers started playing with her table knife, spinning it back and forth. "Or could you guide me to the Great Glacier?"

  Vil leaned back, considering the young woman's question. "Better you try the Vani first. I usually stay away from glacier country. Tomorrow I will take you to see them, and you can ask for yourself."

  Two

  Wakefulness came slowly to Martine the next morning. Sunk into the depths of Vilheim's feather bed, which he had insisted she occupy while he slept on the floor, Martine had no desire to rise. The Harper lay staring upward at the semidarkness, listening to the bleak, cold wind that moaned outside the window. Gradually the dim outlines of the rafters and the black roundness of a hanging venison haunch took shape over her, illuminated by the dying glimmers from last night's ash-banked fire.

  What time she woke and how long she lay there, Martine could not say. Wake and sleep blurred together, one coming, the other going, in repeated cycles. Finally the dim shapes overhead lightened and filled as the eastern sun cleared the distant ridge and sent its rays through the gaps between the window shutter's slats, followed by the clank of cooking pots as Vilheim prepared breakfast.

  With a sigh, Martine clawed her way out of bed and groped her way through the worn blanket divider, another thing her host had insisted upon last night. Instantly cold air swirled around her bare legs, reminding her of where she stood. She pulled her tunic closer to her for warmth. "Morning," Vil called out as he ladled water from a barrel and into a pitted old pot.

  "Good morning to you, and thank you for the bed. Did any woman ever tell you you snore?" Martine cheerfully tweaked him as she rummaged through her clothes at the foot of the bed. Finding the warm leggings she sought, Martine pulled the curtain closed to get dressed.

  "You're the first," Vil shouted over the makeshift wall. "Rose hip tea or hot goat's milk?"

  Goat's milk sounded revolting. "Tea-" Martine began, only to suddenly awaken to the implications of the man's words. "Wai
t… am I the first one to tell you you snore? Surely you're jesting me." Even as she said it, Martine realized it was none of her business. Damn, she chided herself. I've really stuck my foot in my mouth.

  There was a cough from the other side of the curtain. "I meant that you are the first umm-woman to tell me that. Although the arrangements were always… well… pretty much like last night"

  Martine remembered to think this time and decided not to ask any further questions. She was surprised her host hadn't taken offense, especially since the man seemed possessed of a decided puritan streak. Perhaps he was trying to reassure her of his own intentions.

  "Well, you don't snore much," she lied, hoping that would end the subject. She straightened out her tunic and stepped back into view.

  Vil had just finished hanging the pot on the claw over the fire and was leaning against the mantel, carefully prodding the coals into life with a poker. A small swirl of embers rose from where Vil poked the ashes. "Ready for breakfast?" "Mm-hm. It smells wonderful in here." She wasn't

  exaggerating; the air was tangy with the aroma of fruit and herbs. She took down the curtain to clear space for both of them at the small table.

  "Cured venison, fresh cheese, whey, berry jam, and hardtack; tea or milk, as you prefer. I have a chance to make up for the meager table I set last night." He laid out a simple meal for the pair, unwrapping clothbound packets of soft, fresh cheese and dry biscuits, followed by pots of thick jam and translucent whey. With a final flourish, he set a marbled haunch of meat in the center of the small table so that one leg wobbled perilously under the weight.

  "Good meal, indeed!" Martine gaped. Pulling over the two chairs, she waited for him to say a blessing and then dug in. Eagerly she ate chunks of hardtack smeared with buttery goat cheese and red jam and topped with slivers of venison. Even the fresh goat's milk, which she tasted dubiously at first, was refreshingly welcome after drinking only cold water and birch tea on the trail.

  After a bit, when the silence made it apparent that Vil was rusty as a conversationalist, Martine asked, "Are you known among the gnomes?"

  "We are… good neighbors, as I said last night." Vil shaved offanother piece of venison. "I respect their ways, and they tolerate me." Behind him, the rekindled fire gave a popping sound as a pocket of resin ignited. "When I first came up here, I didn't see a gnome for a year. I think they hoped I would go away. It was only after I built the cabin that any of the Vani came by."

  "Three years ago?"

  He nodded as he finished his tea. "Don't worry, you won't have to wait that long. If we leave after breakfast, they should still be in council when we get to the warren. With any luck, they'll see you today."

  This suited Martine just fine. She hurriedly finished her breakfast, only to have to wait until Vil finished eating. After helping him scrape the dishes and clean the table, Martine struggled into her coat and stood by the door, waiting. "Have you ever been on skis?" her host asked as he laced up his coat, refusing to let himself be hurried.

  "Yes." Twice… and the first time was when I was ten, Martine thought.

  "Good. It's time to go."

  Outside, in the morning shadow cast by the mountains, Martine, with Vil's paternal advice, laced the ungainly boards to her feet and set out to follow him across the snowy hummocks, wobbling along, barely steadied by her poles. The route he followed led through an icebound world of alternating light and dark. Where it could penetrate the forest branches, the dawn sunlight turned the soft snow-clad outlines of trees and roots into a dazzling domain of white. Elsewhere, deep shadows quickly closed in and clothed the landscape in darkness.

  The air was rich with the scent of pines. Martine's skin prickled from the cold. The trees loomed over the pair, their white-dressed boughs locked so close together that the bottom branches were hidden permanently from sun-light, leaving them scraggly dead sticks occasionally tufted with needled clusters. The great trunks stirred with the wind till the forest echoed with muted popping and creaking sounds. Winter birds confided secrets to each other and warned of the passing strangers:

  After they had pressed on for an hour or so, judging from the rise of the sun over the eastern ridge, and Martine was lathered in a fine sweat despite the cold, they struck a narrow path that twisted round gnarled roots and tunneled through arched brambles. The path was clearly meant for creatures much smaller than even the petite Martine. She and Vil ducked, bobbed, and pushed their way through the tangles until finally Vil pulled aside the last thorned branch and slid easily into a small clearing at the base of a steep

  knoll. The hillside was a tumble of granite shelves and trees clinging precariously to the slopes, all draped with snow. The trail they were following led to the very base of the mound and then vanished or so it seemed to Martine at first glance. In truth, the path ended at a cunningly concealed arch, shaped to match the jutting rocks that framed it. Set back deep in the opening were a pair of squat wooden doors of weathered gray pine, cleverly carved with vines and rocks so that their shadowed surface mimicked the summertime slope of the hill. Together the doors were almost as broad as they were high.

  With the tip of his pole, Vil rapped at the snow-dusted doors. The sound hollowly reverberated from the hillside. Barely a moment passed before Martine heard a muffled scraping from inside the hill. With a creak of wooden peg hinges, the doors swung inward, releasing a wisp of steam. The weak eastern sun reached through the slim gap and etched a thin line onto the polished floorboards beyond, the hint of snowy tracks marring the perfect smoothness of the wooden floor. The creaking stopped as a shadowy face peered through the crack, scrutinizing the visitors.

  Apparently satisfied, the doorkeeper nodded briefly. _ "Welcome Vilheim, friend of the Vani," croaked a brittle voice as the gnome swung the door wide.

  "Greetings, Tikkanen. We have come to see the council. Are the elders in session?" Vil bowed as best he could in his thick winter coat, and Martine followed suit.

  The object of their courtesy was a little man who stood no taller than Vil's waist, stocky of build and buried in a thick cream-colored cloak that covered him to the very bottom of his chin. Despite his stocky build, Martine knew the little man was actually lean for one of his kind. Airy strands of long white beard escaped from the top of the collar and swayed like cloudy wisps in the breeze. The gnome's face seemed ancient, reminding Martine of a shriveled apple. The doorkeeper's rheumy red eyes were barely noticeable behind his bulbous nose, a pronounced characteristic of his race. Tikkanen's nose was limned with thin red veins and colored with age spots.

  `The council sits today, it is true." The old gnome cleared his throat and then pointed at Martine. "Before you enter, Vilheim, will you testify for your companion, swear that she will abide by the laws and customs of the Vani, that she brings no evil to this warren, bears not the mark of a blood feud, and carries no curse upon her?"

  Martine's and Vil's eyes met for a moment. She was uncertain just what he would say. After only a slight hesitation, he answered, "I swear this upon the honor of great Torm."

  The god of loyalty seemed an appropriate choice for such an oath, Martine decided, feeling relieved.

  "Then enter, Master Vil and companion." The gnome stepped aside with a grave nod, and the two visitors clomped into the small pine-floored antechamber. Vil had to stoop to avoid hitting his head on the low beams. Martine was thankful for once that she was short. Behind them, the old gnome eased the outer doors shut to seal out the cold. In the guttering light of a candle, the pair undid the bindings on their skis. Tikkanen waited stiffly near the inner doors.

  "Are they all this formal?" Martine whispered as she crouched down to unknot the snow-crusted lacings. "Tikkanen follows the old ways," Vil whispered back. "And he is not deaf." Martine bit her lip and spoke no more. "Leave your things in my care," the gnome instructed when they were ready. "The council will see you at the first convenient opportunity." He pulled open the inner doors, which were painted with ferocious-looking badge
rs. Vil bent down to pass through the low threshold, and Martine followed, ducking her head. Beyond the door, the hall was high enough for them both to stand up easily, although her

  companion's head barely cleared the ceiling. Old Tikkanen closed the doors behind them, shutting out the remaining chill.

  Here inside the warren, the hall was filled with light from a pair of wall sconces that held carved wands glowing with magical light. While Tikkanen clicked the door bolts into place, the humans brushed the snow from their leggings. Eventually the ancient doorkeeper shuffled past to lead them down the corridor into the heart of the underground warren.

  This was Martine's first visit to a home of the little folk. She had never been inside the dwellings of either dwarf or gnome, so she was fascinated by every detail. She had expected to see stonework and dank moss like a dungeon or cellar, or wooden beams like a mine, but not the bright wood paneling that covered the walls, ceilings, and floors. Far from dank and dark, it was bright and warm, with an airiness that Martine found welcome, for she had never been fond of the constricting quarters of eaves.

  Their path led them through another set of doors. These were intricately carved with stylized patterns of birds, trees, and entwined vines. This third door sealed in the warren's humid warmth, and beyond it they smelled the rich scents of pine, varnish, caraway, and baking ovens. As before, the way continued to be lit by magical sconces. Their route twisted deeper, past intersections and other doors embellished with carvers' art, until at last Tikkanen ushered the pair into a small room, undoubtedly large by gnome standards. In the center of one wall stood a door studded with brass medallions.

  "The council is inside. You must wait for them to summon you," the doorkeeper explained before leaving. Apparently used to this arrangement, Vil settled into one of the high-backed benches against the wall. Carved for gnomes, the seat wasn't more than a footstool to the lanky human. "Sit," Vilheim suggested.