Read Fimbulwinter (Daniel Black) for Free Online

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    less force behind them, and that was the only thing that saved us. Sometimes I
    got a force wall up in time, but more often than not another arrow would lodge
    itself in one of our number. I took one in the arm and another in the chest, and
    had to waste precious seconds ripping the second one free and stopping the
    bleeding. The witches gasped out protective charms as they ran, but even so
    they were starting to look like pincushions. Poor Avilla even had one sticking
    out of her breast, which had to hurt like hell.
    Finally we smashed through yet another thicket, and found ourselves at the
    edge of a wide cleared space. I threw up a barrier behind us as soon as the
    lack of cover registered on my weary mind, and we all stumbled forward. Two
    heartbeats later another volley of arrows rattled off my shield.
    There was a cluster of ruins that might once have been a village a few
    hundred yards from the edge of the forest. The buildings had been burned,
    recently enough that thin trails of smoke still rose here and there. There were
    moving figures between us and the ruins, and for one heart-stopping moment I
    thought we’d been herded into another band of monsters.
    Then I realized they were human.
    There was a line of carts and wagons drawn up in an open field next to
    the ruins, with several groups of people gathered around them. Several were
    already shouting and pointing in our direction. Most were civilians, a crowd of
    men and women in ragged clothes clutching bundles of belongings. But a good
    percentage of them were soldiers, dressed in chain mail and bearing a varied
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    assortment of spears, swords and bows.
    “Keep running,” I gasped out, and stumbled to a stop. They girls took my
    advice, making a beeline for the hoped-for safety of the guards while I turned
    to face the way we’d come.
    They might just take us all in out of the goodness of their hearts, but I
    wasn’t counting on it. Soldiers weren’t going to turn away a pair of cute young
    girls, but I’d better make an impression.
    A half-dozen goblins burst from the trees and stopped, looking around
    wildly for a second as they took in the scene. I threw a hail of force blades
    downrange with a dramatic gesture and completely unnecessary incantation.
    Two of the little monsters went down, one decapitated and the other cut clean
    in half, and the others retreated into the trees. A few arrows rained down
    around me, several bouncing off my shield.
    I exchanged fire with the creatures for a few seconds, but that didn’t seem
    to be getting us anywhere. A couple of the soldiers snapped off shots of their
    own, and a squad of them began cautiously approaching me with their shields
    raised. Then the lumbering form of a troll emerged from the woods, and they
    decided maybe it would be wiser to watch from a distance.
    An especially wrinkly goblin wearing a feathered headdress and about a
    dozen amulets sat on its shoulder, waving a length of carved bone at me
    menacingly.
    “You no stop Gug!” The creature shouted proudly. “Spirits of earth
    protect! Gug, smash puny human!”
    More goblins appeared along the edge of the woods, capering and
    cheering.
    I cracked my knuckles, and conjured a ball of flame in one hand. “Come
    and get it, ugly.”
    The troll grinned, exposing far too many teeth, and charged me.
    I stood watching as nonchalantly as I could manage, trying desperately to
    pretend this was just another raid. I could see the bubble of protective magic
    around the troll, and my previous tactics weren’t going to work. A gaggle of
    invisible spirits stood ready to oppose any earth spells I attempted, and the
    troll was warded against fire. A second ward confused me for a moment, until
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    I realized it was a protection against physical attacks. It wasn’t terribly strong,
    but it would turn light blows aside and blunt the force of heavy ones a bit. All
    in all it was a pretty impressive setup.
    Too bad for the goblin he was up against me.