IX
He had not heard the wolves for hours, but he was still unwilling to risk so much as peeking through the shutters.
The sun, weak as it had been during the day, was once again giving way to darkness. Inside the tiny cabin, only a few faint slivers of half light gave any illumination to the dark, spartan home. The table that they had used to bar the door was a sturdy, rough hewn object, flanked on either side by a tough log bench. Set on right side of the room were two large beds, one for a logger and his wife and the other for their children. On the wall opposite the large door was a stone hearth, cold and silent with half a pot of frozen stew hanging above long dead coals.
Crispin had searched the place thoroughly hours ago for anything worth salvaging, but the cabin had offered very little. He had found some warm clothing to replace Emeri's shredded cloak and tunic, and a fair number of heavy woolen blankets to take the place of the ones they had lost in the fire. There was still a small amount of dried beef and unspoiled bread in the pantry, but barely enough to survive more than a few days. Beyond that, however, the cabin held nothing of value. Now, sitting at the table with his weapons in easy reach, the ranger tried to figure a way past the remaining winter wolves with two badly wounded allies.
Emeri was easily the worse off of the two, but what little healing magic Crispin was able to muster had at least brought the Lancer back from the brink of death. Now Emeri was sound asleep beneath the covers of the former owner's bed, recovering from his injuries. Rachwal occupied the other bed, wrapped in bandages that Crispin had torn from a long dress that he had found and buried beneath the blankets. Finally, sitting across from him, Talia had wrapped herself in a blanket as she tried to keep the cold at bay.
"You should get some sleep," Crispin said, speaking for the first time since the group had settled into the cabin. "You need rest to cast spells, don't you?"
"Can't sleep," Talia said quietly, looking up from the table. "How's your leg?"
"It'll be fine," Crispin answered, looking down at the red tinged bandages wrapped around his thigh. "I've been through worse."
"I can tell," Talia said with a little bit of a smile, tracing a line down the side of her face where the scars would be on Crispin. The ranger ran a thumb over one of the lines, a bit of a smile coming to his own face. "That wasn't from a winter wolf, was it?"
"A worg," Crispin replied. "That was a long time ago."
"Oh," Talia said, expecting a little bit of elaboration. When Crispin said nothing after a moment, the mage continued. "I guess it was a… not something you like to talk about?"
"Didn't Thierry tell you how it happened?" Crispin inquired, a bit surprised.
"Should he have?" Talia asked in reply.
"He's got a big enough mouth," the ranger explained. "The boy can talk for hours. At any rate, if you must know, these scars are a reminder not to be too overzealous."
"Overzealous?" Talia repeated. Crispin nodded, a faint chuckle escaping his lips.
"Back when I was younger than you, just starting out as a scout down here, my mentor had me track a small goblin raiding party," Crispin explained. "The trail actually led through this area, and into the foothills of the Khairathi Mountains. When we reached them, there were five goblins, all worg riders like Rachwal, and four of us. And I went charging into them, thinking that goblins were no danger whatsoever. I got the goblin rider, but the worg latched onto my arm, dragged me down, and managed a nasty swipe across my face with his claws while he tried to bite through my arm."
"Ouch," Talia said, wincing at the image of a young Crispin being mauled by a worg.
"Yeah, that's what I said," the ranger agreed with a bit of a grin. "Anyway, Renaux finally managed to kill that worg before he could finish me off. We didn't have very much in the way of healing magic, especially back then, and I doubt Renaux would have done anything more for my face as it was. He was more than a little bit upset with me charging out of cover like that. Told me that now, every time I saw my reflection, I would remember not to be such an idiot."
"That's a bit extreme," Talia decided.
"Maybe in Stith it would be," Crispin said. "But out here, you don't get many opportunities to make the same mistake twice."
"A hard life," Talia said quietly. "If I had burned myself in the lab, Telford would have had me right over to the local healers."
"Telford?" Crispin repeated. Talia nodded.
"When I was sixteen I was apprenticed to him," the mage explained, a wistful smile coming to her face. "He's a wonderful man, more of a father to me than my real father, who was too busy counting the money he made running the shipyards at Stith. He was always helping me, always making sure I was well looked after, and always there when I needed him."
"Well, why aren't you still in Stith with this Telford?" Crispin inquired. The mage looked down at the table, her mood darkening as rapidly as it had brightened.
"Well, about four years ago, the Arcanists' Guild wanted to expand their influence south and west," Talia answered. "Montcalm had a guild house, but it wasn't very big at the time. Telford suggested that I take the opportunities afforded down here, since the Guild was… well, let's just say that, down here, at least some day I won't just be 'Telford's little apprentice' any more."
"You were in love with him?" Crispin concluded. Talia started to nod, but then went rigid as the question registered in her mind.
"No, he was my teacher," the mage said, trying to sound nonchalant. "What would make you think something like that?"
"That dreamy look in your eyes and the way you talk about him," Crispin said. "You can relax. I'm not going to run back to your Guild and tell everyone. Or at least anyone that doesn't already know."
"That was a long time ago," Talia said quietly, reluctantly conceding the point.
"And he sent you down here to break off the affair," Crispin deduced.
"He sent me down here because it was good for my career!" Talia shot back, her voice rising in anger. Crispin held a finger to his lips for her to lower her voice.
"Maybe we'll leave this conversation alone for a little while," Crispin decided. Talia nodded her agreement. "Get some rest. You're probably going to need all of your spells tomorrow."
"Still no fire?" Talia asked, pulling the blanket closer around her shoulders.
"They smell smoke, they'll sit outside the door and wait for us," Crispin answered. "This way, we give them as little incentive as possible to stick around. If you share the bed with Emeri, you'll stay a bit warmer. And he's still hurt too much to try anything."
"What about you?" Talia asked as she stood.
"I'll take first watch, then get Rachwal up for the next one," the ranger answered. "You get some sleep, so that you can memorize another lightning bolt. We'll probably need it."
Talia nodded reluctantly, then turned and carefully edged her way under the blankets next to Emeri. Despite her fear of the wolves outside and her anxiety at being in the same bed as the highwayman, she was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
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"I don't know. I just get the feeling they'll hit us as soon as we open the door."
"It's a definite possibility," Talia heard Crispin say to Emeri. The mage slowly opened her eyes, and turned to see Crispin and Emeri peering through a partially open window. With the shutter opened a good four inches, a blinding ray of sun shone across the room, the first true light that Talia had seen in two days. Sitting on the far side of the room, Rachwal was doing his best to stay out of the light, picking at his fingernails with a small dagger. "Look, we can't stay in here forever," Crispin continued, rubbing at the thick beard on his chin for a moment. "Sooner or later, we're going to have to try leaving this place."
"I just don't like it," Emeri said. "I'd give it another day. At least give me and the flat head a little more time to heal. He can't take the bright light too well, anyway."
"Are the wolves gone?" Talia asked, sitting up in bed. Crispin turned to her with a shrug.
"They could be waiting only a few yards away, buried under the snow," the ranger answered. "Or they might be halfway across the Khairathi Mountains by now. We're not going to know until someone takes a step outside. Take care of business and get to studying. Bedpan's under the bed."
"Okay," Talia said quietly, feeling under the bed for the pan. "Um, can I have a little privacy?"
"Where would you like us to go?" Emeri asked derisively.
"Just turn around, Emeri," Crispin said. "Besides, we have more important things to worry about. Rachwal, close your eyes."
"Why?" Rachwal asked, genuinely perplexed.
"She wants privacy, flat head," Emeri replied.
"What is… privacy?" Rachwal asked, forgetting the slur in light of the odd request.
"Just don't look at her," Crispin said. "Turn around or close your eyes or something."
Rachwal still seemed confused, but finally turned away from the mage to face the opposite wall. Crispin returned his attention to the window in front of him, considering the bright, almost blinding light reflecting off of the snow in the empty streets of the village.
"Twelve winter wolves," Emeri said, watching his breath cloud up in front of him. "At least we got seven of them already."
"Yeah, but we don't know how many more might be wandering the forest," Crispin added, shaking his head. "Something is very wrong with this situation. We don't even see twelve winter wolves all year any more."
"So we hit our limit," Emeri said. "Shouldn't be any more out there."
"I don't know," Crispin said. "Me and Talia were attacked by a pair of winter wolves. On the same day, your patrol got ambushed by four more. And Rachwal's raiders got hit by another six. That's twelve, at the very least. I'm starting to think that Talia's theory about unnatural storms might not be wrong."
"You think there really is a druid out there?" Emeri asked quietly, trying to display some skepticism through his tone.
"Yes, I do," the ranger confirmed. "That innkeeper wasn't killed by a wolf, and there's a wall of thorns that wasn't there the last time I was here right outside the door of an inn. There's something weird going on here."
"But why would a druid want to prolong winter like this?" Emeri asked. "Druids are all about life and rebirth and the cycle of nature and all that garbage. Why would one of them want to disrupt the whole cycle and keep winter?"
"To drive the loggers out," Crispin replied. "Like the elves on the Argent border. They'll do anything to keep us from cutting down trees even close to their border. Maybe that tale about the druid grove at Sauveterre had some truth to it."
"Okay," Emeri said. "Even if she is right, what do you want to do about it? We can't go wandering all over the place looking for a druid. We'll never find him!"
"Let's worry about getting out of this house before we worry about finding any druids that might be in the area," Crispin said, picking up his long bow and drawing an arrow.
"What are you doing?" Emeri demanded as the ranger began to remove the bar from the door.
"I'm going to step outside," Crispin replied.
"Even though you're the one with the bow," Emeri pointed out. "Don't you know basic tactics? The one with the bow backs up the one with the hand weapon. So you stay here. I'll go outside."
"It's not like you to be the hero, Emeri," Crispin said, still not moving from in front of the door. "And you're still not fully healed."
"Don't be a bastard, Crispin," Emeri said, pulling his mace from his belt and pushing the ranger to the side. Crispin reluctantly allowed the Lancer past, nocking an arrow as Emeri walked out into the bright street. As the door creaked open, Talia jumped up from her seat to join the ranger at the open doorway.
"What is he doing?" the mage asked, watching the Lancer walk out into the middle of the street.
"He's taking his morning walk," Crispin answered simply, not taking his eyes from the Lancer. "How's your studying coming?"
"But… we don't know if the wolves are still here!" Talia blurted out, not even bothering to answer the ranger's question. Emeri stopped in the middle of the road, and turned to look up and down the thoroughfare. For a tense minute the Lancer held his mace defensively, waiting for an attack from any direction. Finally, he turned back to Crispin with a shrug.
"I guess they left," the ranger said, lowering his bow and taking a few steps out into the morning sun. After only a moment's hesitation, the mage hurried out after her companion. Emeri walked halfway back to the cabin, meeting Crispin along the side of the road.
"So we can leave now," the Lancer said. "We'll have to hike it all the way back to Mattin at the very least, and see if we can get a few more Lancers out here. And probably those knuckleheads you trained, too."
"We can't go back," Crispin said, looking around at the snow covered forest. "Planting is already over two weeks late. We've got to deal with this ourselves, before the whole south freezes out."
"Ourselves?" Emeri repeated. "What do you expect to do with a bookworm and a flat head? And how are four people going to cover enough forest to find whatever's causing this?"
"I'll think of something," Crispin answered, shrugging. "I may not be able to track a druid, but a large pack of winter wolves won't be able to effectively cover their tracks. In the meantime, Talia can go over her spells, and we can see what's left in this town in the way of supplies."
______________________________________________________
"At least we know what happened to the town now."
Crispin only nodded faintly in agreement, focused on the carnage before him. The temple to Pelor was easily the most distinguishable building in Falloux; a low stone wall surrounded snow covered flower beds and a domed temple of stone, worked brass, and glass ringed with pillars of white marble. Just inside the heavy cedar double doors, Emeri and Crispin hesitated in the tiny foyer as they surveyed the seventy-odd frozen corpses strewn among the ring of mahogany pews and the ivory and gold altar set in the center of the temple. Men, women and children, almost half the population of the town, had been killed in the middle of prayer. Despite the heavy snows, the glass panes in the roof were clear enough to allow the sun to shine brightly down on the macabre scene.
"They probably never knew what hit them," Crispin finally said, taking a step forward. "They never had a chance."
"Let's see if there's anything we can use and get out of here," Emeri said. Even the hardened Lancer was unsettled by the massacre, taking a careful step forward and trying not to disturb the corpses.
"This doesn't feel right at all," Crispin said, making his own way across the temple. "Looting a church like this."
"I'm sure they'd want to help us find these winter wolves and put them down," Emeri reasoned, glancing back to the ranger. "Do you know where they'd keep any of their… well, their healing potions or things like that?"
"There are alcoves on the other side of the temple," Crispin answered, "leading back into a small hospital. Their healing supplies would be in there."
Crispin and Emeri edged their way through the sun drenched hall, stopping as they reached the center of the temple. Lying on the other side of the altar, an older man with salt and pepper hair and dressed in the silver and gold robes of a priest of Pelor, had been half frozen and half torn apart by the winter wolves. Crispin knelt next to the man for a moment, looking into his sightless blue eyes.
"Poor bastard," Emeri said quietly, looking over the ranger's shoulder. Crispin nodded in agreement.
"Well, I guess you're with Pelor now, Fabian," Crispin said quietly. The ranger pulled a discarded altar cloth over the priest's face, then stood up and continued to the alcoves.
"Fabian wasn't exactly a pushover," Emeri said as the two men pushed aside a golden curtain and entered the small antechamber beyond. "You sure we won't need any more help on this?"
"We don't have time to get the help," Crispin answered, pushing aside the golden chalices and sun symbols as he searched for anything of use in the alcove. "By the time we get back, report to the marquis, gather a force, and come back here, those winter wolves could be at the gates of Montcalm. I can send a messenger back, if I can find a bird that didn't actually fly north for the winter, but unless you want to have snow at midsummer we have to find the source of the problem."
"It's not like you to be the hero, either," Emeri stated, turning to the ranger.
"I'm not thrilled about this, trust me," Crispin said. "But I don't think those wolves are going to let us just walk back to Montcalm without a fight."
"Hey Crispin, do you even know what we're looking for?" Emeri asked, stopping as he moved a pile of parchments and books. He held up a furled scroll as he turned to the ranger. "Any one of these things could be magic, but I can't tell a magic scroll from a normal one. Maybe we should have brought Talia."
"I'm not looking for scrolls," Crispin said. "Fabian kept some kind of healing ointment. It was in ivory jars, not very big. Had a gold pattern on the lid, some kind of phoenix and sun design."
"I think I got something," Emeri said, turning to the ranger and holding out a small flask of translucent blue liquid. "Sacramental wines?"
"Fabian, I could kiss you," Crispin said, taking the bottle from Emeri. "There any more of these?"
"Yeah, five in all," Emeri answered. "Are they healing potions?"
"No, they're potions of cold resistance," Crispin replied. "Really good for warding off a winter wolf's frost breath. I managed to get Fabian to part with one for me last year. Potion kept me warm for a whole day."
"Then maybe Talia'll stop shivering," Emeri said. "I still don't see those jars anywhere, though."
"I got them," Crispin said, reaching up to a top shelf and pulling down two tiny white jars. "We can't exactly stop and smear this on in the middle of a fight, but it works wonders on an open wound."
"We need anything else from here?" Emeri asked, looking up and down the shelves quickly.
"No," Crispin answered.
"What about the gold?" Emeri inquired, gesturing to the holy symbols and chalices.
"We are not looting a temple to Pelor," Crispin replied sternly.
"I wouldn't loot a temple," Emeri said. "I just thought I'd hold onto it until they got a new priest."
"Get out," Crispin directed, pointing to the doors on the opposite side of the temple. Emeri shrugged in resignation, then started back to the exit.
______________________________________________________
"Did you get everything we need?"
"More or less," Crispin replied, meeting Talia on the front porch of the cabin. "Found some healing salve and potions that'll come in handy, some food, some blankets, a shield for Emeri, and a short bow for Rachwal. I think that should be about all we need. You get your spells ready?"
"Yeah," Talia answered with a nod. "Um, I'm sorry about not having a fireball, but, well, I was a little nervous about throwing one around. I mean, it's got a huge blast radius, and I just had this nightmare about blowing myself up along with whatever I was throwing it at. The lightning bolt just seemed a little more… precise, I guess."
"Truth be told, I'm glad you haven't blown us up yet," Crispin said with a bit of a smile as he glanced past Talia to his other two allies. Inside the cabin, Rachwal and Emeri were both preoccupied with their packing jobs, ignoring the pair standing in front of the home. "Look," Crispin said, sounding a bit awkward. "I thought about it a little, and I, well, I apologize for what I said last night. About Telford."
"That's okay," Talia said with a smile, a bit of color coming to her cheeks. "You… well, you were pretty much right. I was in love with him. And as for his sending me down here… you're not the first person to say that. Anyway, it's probably just as well. We had a good year together, but it never would have worked out. I mean, he was twenty years older than me."
"Well, if it makes you feel any better, it's nice to have you down here," Crispin said, starting to head into the cabin. Talia put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.
"Crispin, was that a compliment?" the mage teased. Crispin smiled slightly as he shook his head.
"I've met some of the other members of your little guild," the ranger pointed out simply.
"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone that you were actually nice to me," Talia said, lowering her voice to a more conspiratorial tone. Crispin laughed as he continued into the cabin.
"They wouldn't believe you, anyway," the ranger said.
"Believe what?" Emeri inquired, looking up from his pack.
"That Crispin was nice to me," Talia answered.
"You're right," Emeri said flatly, packing a pipe with tobacco. "I wouldn't."
"Where'd you get that pipe?" Crispin asked, seeing the ornate design on the wooden object.
"Gaetan," Emeri replied. "Remember that old logger?"
"Yeah," Crispin answered, nodding slowly. "I guess he didn't get out either, then."
"Found his body in the middle of the street," Emeri said. "I figured he wouldn't mind, since my pipe burned up in the inn, and he probably won't be doing very much smoking any more. So now that we have our supplies, what's our next move?"
"I already scouted the western edge of the town," Crispin said, leaning on his long bow. "The most recent tracks go off to the west, but angle slightly north. There's one other path, one that I stumbled on by luck, that runs off to the southwest." The ranger glanced back to Rachwal as the goblin finished his own packing, his wounds healed by the ointment recovered from the temple. "You going to come with us, Rachwal?"
"Cannot raid with snow," the goblin answered, throwing his pack over his shoulder. "I come with you. Kill this druid."
"The Goblin Stones are just about west of here, right?" Emeri asked, considering the wolves' path. Crispin nodded.
"What are the Goblin Stones?" Talia asked, curious.
"One of those natural defensive positions that I told you about," Crispin replied. "A small goblin tribe used to live there, until an orcish war band slaughtered them to the last. According to local lore, the goblin bodies were strung up on the rocks as a warning to stay out of the orcs' territory. You can still find goblin bones there, at any rate."
"Well then let's go," Talia said, eager to continue the journey. Emeri shook his head at Crispin, still doubtful about the chances of such a small group's success.
"What about getting word back to Montcalm?" the Lancer asked. "If we don't get the job done, someone else has to."
"I already sent a hawk back to Mattin with a message," Crispin answered. "Hopefully, Prejet will get the message and send it the rest of the way to the marquis."
"And if he doesn't get the message through?" Emeri asked. Crispin shrugged.
"Then we'd better get this right the first time," the ranger answered simply.