I almost ran into Chantelle on the stairs down to the warding room, and would have if she hadn't squeaked as I took the last step towards her. I opened my eyes and easily avoided her, passing within centimeters of touching her. Walking around via memory and calculations, keeping precise track of where you are, was fun and entertaining, but it didn't take into account changes in the environment.

I smiled up at her from two steps below where she was standing, our eyes almost at the same height.

"What's happening?" I asked.

"There is an army of winter monsters coming from every direction." She said. "Are you okay? You were in more pain before, but it didn't last as long. And you feel different."

I noticed I'd been isolating the Chosen Person sense from the rest of what I was thinking and feeling, so I stopped doing that, sending her a feeling of reassurance.

"I'm fine." I said. "Is that better?"

She nodded. I kissed her, then put my arm in hers and led her to the warding room. The small mana crystals she had been working on were in a neat row on the floor away from the table in the center of the room.

The table had the hologram from the detection ward over it, and it showed intrusions from all directions. I recognised the Arachne and ice spiders coming from the north. There were also wolves and snow dwarves, with white fur, white beards, and enormous feet, coming from the east. From the south were ettins and yetis, the only real difference between them being yetis were covered in thick white fur and ettins were bigger. And from the west there were giant snow worm things.

All four groups were coming towards my fortress in a synchronised way, so that they would all arrive at the same time. I was a bit surprised that there weren't any humans in the groups.

"I recognise most of the creatures." I said to Chantelle. "The two I don't recognise are the snow dwarves and the giant snow worms."

"The snow dwarves are known as the Barbegazi." Chantelle said. "They are the Mountain Keepers, and are thought to be generally peaceful to humans, they need very cold temperatures to survive. The giant snow worms are Snow Burrowers, and they're nasty. They can move through snow without leaving any marks, and swallow travellers whole. All of the creatures out there are strongly affiliated with the winter god."

"Well, they've reached the walls." I said. "You should be safe to come and watch. You'll be able to come back inside if there is any danger. Only the Arachne and ice spiders can scale the walls, and it will take them time to do it. The rest will have to use the stairs which I can defend easily."

We went up the stairs, and I took a quick detour to get my sword from inside my Pocket Dimension before heading outside. It was light out, probably just after dawn. I couldn't see any of the creatures yet, so I soaked my power into the stone walls to see if they were trying anything. I couldn't detect anything, so I entertained myself by creating some small stones and pushing them over the curve of the walls. They wouldn't hurt anything seriously.

I was expecting to see the first thing from the north at the top of the stairs, but I was surprised when a clicking sound came from the south. I was staying close to the stairway going down into the fortress, I wanted Chantelle to be able to escape to safety easily, and I didn't want to leave the entrance to the fortress undefended.

Half a minute later the first ice spider appeared from the south. The clicking was its sharp ice feet clicking against the stone of the walls. It came to within twenty meters of us, and the entrance, and then turned around. It squatted and attached the end of an ice rope to the wall. Ah, the ice ropes are their web, I realised. It quickly ran back down the wall and out of view, trailing the rope behind it. They must be building ropes for the other creatures to climb up, expecting the obvious way of the stairs to be defended.

Another ice spider came up and did the same thing as the first, then another, and another. I waited a minute for the first ones to get all of the way back down to the ground, all the while more spiders were attaching more ropes and dropping down. Then I sent heat into the stone, specifically at the points that the ropes were attached. I couldn't send my power into the ropes themselves, but after enough heat at their attachment points they disconnected. I could tell the ones that had things climbing up them by how fast the rope disappeared down the wall. Shortly after I started disconnecting them, the spiders stopped coming up to attach more ropes.

I was only giving them the option of using my stairs if they wanted to attack with more than just spiders. A few minutes later a yeti's head poked up over the edge of the walkway. There was still twenty eight meters of walkway between the top of the stairs and the entrance where Chantelle and I were standing.

The yeti came the rest of the way up the stairs, and I stepped between it and Chantelle as I noticed it was carrying a decently sized boulder of compressed snow, about a meter in diameter. It leaned back to throw it, and I raised my sword. My perception of time slowed as it threw the boulder. I had an estimation of its mass, and I knew its speed. It was easily enough force to push both myself and Chantelle completely off of the top of the fortress.

My sword was designed perfectly as a cutting weapon, and would go right through the boulder without doing anything to stop it. I could see the path it would take, and could easily duck under it, pulling Chantelle with me. I prepared to do that as it approached, until it got close enough for me to sink my power into it. It was simply compressed snow, there was no spell on it that would stop my power from affecting it.

By this time the boulder was within a few meters of us, so I pushed hard on it. I curved it around just before it would have hit me and rolled it back with just enough force for it to come to a stop in front of the yeti. I could have sent it back with enough force to hit the yeti off of the stairs, but I wouldn't take them seriously until they came to fight me with a method I couldn't easily counter. Having fun at the expense of their attacks was setting the tone I wished to have with them. If I treated their attacks as trivialities, and they couldn't find one that I didn't treat that way, then they would have no option but to go away and leave us alone. That was the plan, anyway.

The yeti picked up the boulder and threw it at us harder than before, looking like he really gave it his all. I returned it to him just as easily as before. I smiled at his roar of frustration as he picked it up again. A second yeti came up from the stairs with his own boulder and they both threw their boulders at me at the same time.

Two boulders wasn't any more difficult than one. I sent the newest yeti's boulder back first, calculating it to stop just before it. The first yeti's boulder I waited a moment and then sent it back harder, calculating it to arrive at the same time as the first boulder.

The second yeti easily picked up his boulder as it arrived, but the first yeti stumbled backwards. I heard clicking from behind me and turned my back on the yetis to see an Arachne approaching. I knew the yetis would try to hit me while I was distracted, but I was ready for them.

"Hello there." I said brightly to the Arachne. "As lord of these lands I welcome you as a guest."

I wasn't sure what she would do if I invited her as a guest, the other Arachne I'd talked to had been polite. Which at least meant they had the concept of guest rights and responsibilities.

"We refuse your hospitality." She said.

Oh. That's what she would do. That wasn't very interesting.

"We have been tasked with retrieving Chantelle Warder." She said. "Will you hand her over?"

"I won't go with you." Chantelle said.

"She won't go with you." I repeated, smiling.

I still had my power soaked into the stone of the walls, and I sensed a rope attach to it in the blind spot behind the Arachne.

"The great God of Winter doesn't mean her any harm." The Arachne said. "He just wants to use her services."

The Arachne was just stalling for time. Whatever was climbing up the rope must be a better fighter than her. I gave it a few more seconds and then disconnected the rope.

I smiled as I heard a roar fall away behind the Arachne and then cut out. I didn't seem to have any sympathy or empathy for the monsters who were attacking my fortress.

"You're only getting your..." I started to say as I detected the yetis boulders behind me by the sound. I pushed my power out without turning around, having to wait a moment for them to get within range. I returned them to the yetis at the same speed they were thrown at me.

"As I was saying." I said, as I heard two yelps behind me as the yetis were knocked off the fortress. "You're only getting your own people hurt trying to be sneaky. You can't touch me anyway, but at least in a direct confrontation I will give you a fair fight."

The Arachne hissed at me before backing away slowly. I smiled and gave it a wave. It couldn't retreat fast, as the walls were too smooth and slippery.

"You should probably head inside into the Pocket Dimension now." I said to Chantelle. "I've likely antagonised them enough for them to stop messing around and attack directly."

Chantelle nodded. "Be safe." She said, giving me a kiss and going inside.

From the direction the Arachne had disappeared I heard her shout. "Attack!"