Soldiers of Ice

down at her audience. 'Vreesar's gone back to the glacier to open the gate. Well ambush it when it gets there.'

Jouka kicked a bucket in disgust. 'An excellent plan! And how will you get there-fly? It takes a full day and night of hard skiing to reach the glacier, and this fiend has a full night's head start on you.'

'Well teleport.' 'What?'

'We'll teleport there,' she repeated firmly. 'Jazrac had a ring. I can't use it, and you can't use it,' Martine explained, pointing to Jouka, 'but fm betting that Krote can. He uses magic like Jazrac did, so the ring should work for him.'

'If you give him the ring, hell just run away.'

The woman stepped aside, giving Krote a clear route to the door. 'He could leave now if he wanted to.'

The shaman seemed to relish being the subject of their argument. He smiled broadly. 'Maybe I not help. Maybe I let little people all die.'

The faces of the gnomes seemed to change color magically at his words. Some grew pale, while others turned red with indignation. 'Me shaman's words triggered a wave of discussion among the gnomes. In the heat of argument, the Vani all but forgot the presence of the humans or the gnoll. It was as if they were back in their council chambers at the warren. Only Jouka, indignant and inflexible, remained silent. He stood in his corner, spiked arms carefully folded over his spiked chest.

After some time, Ojakangas, the broad-chested carpenter, finally rose pretentiously and, in his best imitation of Elder Sumalo, pronounced the decision.

'You propose a great risk, Harper,' Ojakangas announced, stroking his trim black beard. The gnome's voice was high and nasal, and if the situation had not been so serious,

Martine would have found it comical.

'But if you are willing to take this risk, we will allow it,' the gnome continued. Martine wasn't aware the gnomes had any real say in the matter, but she kept her opinions to herself. There are conditions, however.'

'Me woman set her hands on her hips. This was her plan, and she didn't care for the idea of the gnomes imposing any conditions. 'Like what?'

'Me gnolls may still attack. If they do, we think it will be at dawn. We ask you to wait until after the sun has risen before leaving. Your enemy will still be far from the glacier then.'

Martine pondered Okajangas's words, wondering if there was any trick. 'Agreed,' she finally said.

'Second, one of our people will go with you, to be sure that someone'-Ojakangas looked meaningfully at Krote' does not betray you.'

'I welcome the aid, but who will it be?' Martine suspected the answer, but she couldn't refuse the gnomes on this.

'Jouka Tunkelo.'

The Harper winced. Jouka looked up in furious surprise. 'Me?„

'That is right, Brother Jouka,' Ojakangas said sternly. 'Me council has decided.'

The black armored warrior fumed but couldn't very well challenge the authority of his fellow gnomes. Instead, he snatched his thorny helm and stormed out of the cabin into the frozen compound.

With Jouka's departure, the gnomes began to chatter excitedly, warily circling their new ally. Krote stood stock still, his rag-wrapped arms folded over his chest, the sardonic smile still on his lips.

Martine pushed through the confusion of gnomes to Vil. 'Why did they choose him? He hates the whole plan.' The gnome logic was completely lost on her.

'Martine,' Vil said with a chuckle, almost as amused as Krote by the outcome, 'what other choice did they have? Think a minute. It allows Jouka to save face, and it gives you the best warrior they've got. Still, the look on Jouka's face…'

'Wonderful… just wonderful,' Martine snapped, far from happy. 'Excuse me, but we have some preparing to do. Come on.' She led the way into the heart of Vil's cabin.

Inside, the pair picked their way through the carpet of gnomes, gathering supplies: Occasionally babies bawled and whimpered, only to be quickly hushed by their mothers, and here and there widows wept softly in the arms of a comforting relative or friend, but in general the room remained grimly silent. Silence settled over the two humans as they worked, contemplating the task that lay before them. Clearing a little floor space, they assembled their gear. The warrior produced two wicker packs and a mound of blankets from the small planked loft overhead, followed by sausages, hardtack, bundles of sugar, dried fruits, wax, whetstones, and a host of minor but necessary items. Vil fussed over the preparations, paying careful attention to each item selected. Only when he was satisfied did he finally pause to warm himself by the fire. 'That should be enough,' he said as he rubbed his chilled hands together. 'We don't want to overload the packs.'

Shouldering their gear, they carried the loads outside. Martine was startled to see a faint trace of dawn limning the mountain ridges. The whole night had passed by unnoticed. When was the last time she had slept more than a catnap? Two days ago? Three? She couldn't even remember.

'We sleep now,' the — man advised, noticing her grogginess as she stumbled over the frozen ground. 'The gnomes will wake us if anything happens.'

Martine nodded and let him steer her back inside for what she hoped would not be another futile attempt at rest A firm shake roused the Harper from a world of warmth and comfort. Martine tried to tell the landlady to let her sleep by the fire for an hour more, but the shaking was insistent until finally the woman opened her groggy eyes. 'No more ale, Jhaele,' she mumbled, trying to focus her eyes.

'Ale?' squeaked a nasal voice.

The Harper shook her head and her vision cleared. Ojakangas leaned over her, his expression unamused by her blathering. 'They're coming, human. You're needed on the line.'

The Harper lurched to her feet, suddenly clearheaded. Her side throbbed, her cuts and scratches burned, and her skin chafed, raw from days in armor, but the woman hardly felt these pains. Quickly buckling on her sword, she opened the door and stumbled into the glare of early morning, the sun's reflection blinding off the snow.

Stilll in a semidazed condition from sleep, she heard Vil shout, 'Get down, Martine!' in a tone that demanded immediate attention. An instant after she'd let her knees buckle in response to his order, she heard the whistle of an arrow just overhead. It ended in a solid thunk against the cabin wall, its head driving several inches into the solid pine.

'Be careful, for Torm's sake! They've targeted the doorway!' Vil was crouched in the snow against the fallen hem gnomes to either side of him. Black feathered shafts jutbed from the log barricade, testimony to the events of the dawn.

Fully awake now, the Harper scuttled across the snow to join Vil. 'Anything happen?' she asked, dismissing the archery as unimportant. Vil shook his head. 'Not yet. I think they're building up their courage for a charge. Their archers have us pinned down, so my guess is it shouldn't be too much longer.' 'What's the plan?'

'Plan? Fight them.' Vil gestured toward the cabin. 'Ojakangas has gathered the wounded who can still fight. They're our reserves. Everybody else who can fight, about fifteen in all, is out here. Good plan, eh?'

A whooping cry came from the woods. Before the echoes had finished, a lone gnoll charged from between the mist cloaked trees, running madly toward the barricade. The beast sprinted with its wicker shield held high and its sword low, covering the open ground at a startling pace.

'Stay down… wait!' Vil bellowed. A volley of gnoll arrows punctuated his warning.

With a last spring, the gnoll scrambled onto the barricade, trying to hack a gap through the tangled pine branches. 'Stop him!' Vil shouted, and a small squad of gnomes hurried to the position. They jabbed their spears up between the trunks, but the gnoll furiously blocked the thrusts aside with his shield, meantime trying to poke his sword back at them through the gaps. The clatter and clang of the skirmish resounded through the clearing.

In the midst of that fight the woods erupted in a chorus of howls. The ravens gathered at the fringe of the woods squawked and took flight all at once.

'Jouka, Oja-here they come!' VII warned.

A ragged line of gnolls, shrieking savagely, burst from the woods and sprinted madly across the gap. Martine guessed there were about twenty of them. The pack headed for a different section of the wall, one unprotected now that their pack mate had drawn off the defenders.

Moving in a crouching run along the line, Martine and Vil reached the new position just as the first of the gnolls scrambled onto the logs. Swords drawn, Martine and Vil