Gateway to Nifleheim Read Online Free Page A

charge.”
    “Freedom has ever been a magnet,” said Theta. “But it’s also a target.”
    “Well, freedom for these pilgrims means me and mine gotta ride through muck and mud every time we leave the Dor,” said Ob. “Within the walls, there are cobblestones on every street—solid stuff, like any civilized place has. You can walk about and not get mud all over you—not like out here in this pigsty. The worst of it is, there are no sewers out here, so the whole place stinks and never stops stinking, not even in the deep winter. The lighting is spotty and the well water is suspect. The buildings are all wood, even the foundations, instead of honest stone like most everywhere within the walls. The whole place is just not civilized, if you ask me. Our own fault, I suppose, letting folks do as they will. But if they want to live like this, they should go live in the woods. At least out there it don’t stink.”
    “The buildings look solid and well kept—permanent construction,” said Theta. “This is no nomad camp or shantytown. The streets are straight and level. There's no garbage lying about. And no beggars. Most towns aren’t half as good.”
    “Aye, that might be true enough,” said Ob. “But it’s not up to Eotrus standards all the same. We should’ve built another wall. My mistake it was. Aradon wanted to, but I talked him out of it. I figured that rather than waste good stone and sweat and a heap of silver on more masonry, we would tell the folks that anyone what wants to build outside is on their own come trouble. I figured that would put the fear in them, since folks don’t care to see to themselves, all lonesome like, when things go bad. But it didn’t work. I’m not ashamed to admit when I’m wrong. That’s the gnome way, you know.”
    “Must not get much trouble around these parts,” said Dolan, who also spoke with an accent, though different from Theta’s, “or them folks would’ve heeded your warnings, they would have.”
    Ob looked over his shoulder at Dolan, eyebrows raised. “Dor Eotrus guards Lomion’s northern border, sonny. We’re on the edge of the wild out here, so believe me, we get our share of trouble, time and again. It comes down from the mountains, more often than not,” he said, pointing at the white-capped peaks in the distance. “There’s no civilization out that way, my friend. None at all. All a man will find in the deep mountains is death. Sometimes quick, sometimes slow. Whatever trouble what comes this way, whether from the mountains or not, it’s we Eotrus that stop it cold, and protect the realm, as is our duty. Most of the time, it’s lugron, there’s a mess of them up in the hills, in caves and such; bandits every once in a while; a man-eater: wolf, lion, or bear, now and again. In years past, we had trolls down on us too, but they’ve not been seen in numbers in a gnome’s age. Every once in a long while, something worse comes down from the north, with the cold and the dark and the mist; things held over from the old world, maybe even back to the Dawn Age; stuff best not spoken of, not even here, not even amongst men like us. And if you go up in them mountains, and none of them things kill you, the cold will. You’ve never felt cold, real cold, until you spend a night high up one of them peaks. First, it will freeze your bones solid so that you can hardly move. Then it will freeze the blood in your veins; no man survives that, tough or not.”
    “I guess we’ll stay clear of the mountains,” said Dolan. “With all those dangers that come down this way, why do folks build outside the walls?”
    “Some folks’ memories aren’t long enough for their own good,” said Ob. “Or else they’re just stupid.”
    “Common afflictions, both,” said Theta.
    “Aye,” said Ob. “Your manservant speaks his mind,” he said, referring to Dolan.
    “Every man should,” said Theta. “Not that he has much to say.”
    “Not much at all,” said Dolan.