The Hammer of Fire

by Tom Liberman

  “Do you know how to ride a horse like that?” said Brogus eyeing the muscled chargers that eyed them from nearby. He took a step towards one of the beasts but it reared and lashed out with a hoof. “They don’t look friendly.”

  Sufeka laughed at the attempt to approach one of the horses. “You’ll never ride the horse of a Farrider, invader,” he said. “We train them too well.”

  “I think he doesn’t like our chances of taming the steeds,” said Milli with a glance at the nomad on the ground. “If we can’t catch them then we can’t unload their supplies.”

  Petra produced something from inside one of her pockets and began to hum a little tune as she quietly approached the horses while looking in the opposite direction.

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” started Brogus as he reached out towards Petra.

  Just a moment later the old woman was at the lead horse, cooing gently, and whispering soft words in its ear as she fed it something from the palm of her hand.

  “Witch woman!” shouted Sufeka from the ground and started to rise but Dol merely turned the hammer in his direction and pointed it at him.

  “This might work out,” said Milli as she cautiously approached the mammoth horse and held out her hand.

  “How are you so good with animals?” asked Brogus, now wearing one of the floppy hats the nomads sported a few moments before. “Here, I got their hats. We should all put them on. I don’t know why we didn’t even bother to ask where we were headed.”

  Milli looked down at the ground as she stroked the shoulder of the big horse, “That was my fault. If Petra hadn’t brought water and food we’d have died of thirst days ago. As it is we wouldn’t have made it more than another day or two and we had no idea what direction to head.”

  “We still don’t know where to go,” said Brogus and looked at the man on the ground. A moment later all four of the companions wore one of the floppy hats as they stared at the prisoner.

  “We can follow their tracks,” said Petra looking at the hoof prints in the ground. This scrub is good for that as long as there isn’t a storm.”

  “I wouldn’t mind some rain,” said Milli, her face red and her skin parched and dry. “Even if it did wipe out the tracks.”

  “We can’t wait too long,” said Dol, the fire in his eyes gone as suddenly as it came, and they were now returned to their normal, brown color. “When this patrol goes missing they’ll send out reinforcements. On horses like these it won’t take them long to find us.”

  “Wait,” said Petra who pulled something out of the saddlebag of the leader’s horse. “It’s a map. I don’t understand the writing but there are symbols.”

  “Let me look at that,” said Brogus coming over and taking the parchment from the hand of the woman. “We dwarves know a thing or two about map-making.”

  The nomad on the ground watched them closely and thought about dashing for one of the other horses, but the tall dwarf with the short hair kept him under strong surveillance. He felt burning shame at the defeat at the hands of the barbarians, although he could see that the hammer was of great power. He could yet redeem himself by taking it back to his people.

  “See this symbol here,” said Petra, as she, Milli, and Brogus huddled over the map and took sips of water from the large skin containers they looted from the great horse. “It’s the same as on the horses and their equipment. I think we’re right at the border of this other tribe. This other symbol looks like a black horse and I’d take that as a good sign we’re on the right track.”

  “You could be right,” said Milli and turned her attention back to the man on the ground. “I just wish we could ask him a few questions. And, if we do find this Black Rider, how will we communicate with him?”

  “He looks the hard sort,” said Brogus with a glance back at their prisoner. “I’m not sure he’d talk unless we put the tongs to him.”

  “Brogus!” said Milli.

  “What?” said Brogus. “He’s not going to volunteer the information, and besides, he can’t speak our language anyway.”

  “Still, torture?”

  “It’s just an idea,” said Brogus with a shrug of his shoulders and another sip from the water skin. “If Petra is right about this map then we can head … well … what direction is what?”

  “They say you can tell by watching the sun,” said Milli pointing up.

  Petra looked at the trio and shook her head, “Have any of you three ever been outside for more than a few days of your life?”

  “I’ve been on trading caravans for weeks,” said Brogus. “But I didn’t pay too much attention to the sun. It’s awful bright.”

  Milli shook her head, “I was outside as a little girl, but I don’t remember it.”

  Dol simply shook his head.

  “We’ve been out in this desert for almost three days and you haven’t tracked the sun once?” asked Petra with a shake of her head. “I doubt you even noticed the constellations are completely different.”

  “What’s a constellation?” asked Brogus with a look of incomprehension on his face.

  Petra looked at Milli with raised eyebrows but the Halfling girl’s face bore a puzzled expression as well. “The stars? Up there?” Milli said pointing up to the bright sky.

  Brogus looked up and into the sun and then down the ground and began to blink rapidly, “Owww.”

  “Don’t stare at it, you idiot. That’s the sun.” said Petra with a little snort of air. “I’m talking about at night. The little pinpoints of light. The stars. You’ve heard of them, right?”

  “Ohhh,” said Brogus. “Yeah, those. Never gave them much thought. Are they different here than back home?”

  “You really didn’t notice?”

  Milli looked back and forth between Dol and Brogus and finally shook her head, “Do they change often?”

  Petra just smiled. “It doesn’t matter. It means we’re a long way from where we were before. I pay attention to those sorts of things. Now, if this little compass at the top of the map means what I think it does, then we need to head in the direction of the setting sun to get to this other area. If this symbol means anything at all it means the territories of the Black Horsemen. Even if we get there alive I don’t know how we are going to talk to them. I know a bit of the trader tongue but I doubt that extends this far south.”

  “We are in the south,” said Brogus as he took another glance up at the sky. “I never thought it could get this hot. Did it take us half a year to travel through the portal? It seemed like it happened right away but it was winter in Das’von.”

  Everyone looked to Petra.

  She shrugged, “I’m not sure about things like that. Maybe the seasons are different in the south. Maybe this is winter and it gets even hotter.”

  “No!” said Milli and touched her sunburned skin gingerly. “It can’t get hotter than this. It’s always pretty much the same in Craggen Steep.”

  “Unless you do deep mining,” said Brogus. “It’s sweaty down there all the time. Hundreds of miners working next to each other, hour after hour. I’ve seen apprentices keel over dead, I have.”

  “Lovely thought,” said Milli with a tight little smile towards Brogus. “Be dear and try to say something to take my mind off the heat.”

  “What do we do with him?” said Dol with a nod of his head to the prisoner.

  “He’ll catch one of the horses and ride back to his friends as soon as we leave,” said Milli and put her hands on her hips and stomped her foot. “But, we are not going to just kill him in cold blood.”

  “What then?” asked Brogus tilting his head to the side and looking at Milli.

  “I might be able to cook something up that will knock him out for a bit,” said Petra. “The plants here are different than back home but I recognize some things and I’ve got some herbs I brought with me.”

  “That’s the plan then,” said Milli with a nod of a her head and a firm smile. “We knock him out and then head towards the … what di
d you say about the sun?”

  “Towards the setting sun,” replied Petra. “In a few hours it’ll start going down and we can just follow it to the horizon. I’m not sure what the measurement means in actual distance but it can’t be much different than we use back home. One tick mark means a thousand or so steps.”

  “Maybe one tick mark means a thousand miles,” said Brogus.

  “Maybe,” said Petra, “but I doubt it. People think the same way no matter what. You’ll find different people everywhere but they’re all the same in many ways. The way they think, the way the act, the way they can be tricked from their coin. You’d be surprised how much people are the same everywhere.”

  “Wait,” said Brogus. “It is a few hours until the sun goes down. In Das’von the day was much shorter than that and the nights longer. The days are longer here. It must be summer.”

  “That’s true,” said Milli with a bright smile. “So it can’t get hotter!”

  “I’m going to brew something up in the cave,” said Petra. “Make sure he doesn’t get away.”

  The morning sun filtered through the clouds four days later as they stared across the bleak landscape of never changing prickly scrub plants and dirty brown sand and dirt.

  “Sun’s coming up,” said Brogus. “We should find another cave in the next couple of hours before it gets too hot. His skin was still red and burned but with the desert clothes and good water supply looted from the nomads he looked healthier than four days before and spoke with a stronger voice.

  Petra went over to the one horse they managed to tame and petted it across its neck, “We’ve still got enough water for a few days but we might want to head towards one of these green splotches on the map. I’d guess that means water and we’ll need to get the horse more than we’ve been giving it or it will die. I don’t want to wait until we’re out of water again. It was pure luck those nomads came across our hiding spot or we’d be dead now.”

  “What if we run into more of those nomads?” asked Milli looking in first in one direction and then in the other. “I think we should just keep heading to the place on the map that shows the black horse picture. That’s who we are here to find. If we find them then they’ll have water.”

  “We’re here to kill Gazadum,” said Dol in a quiet voice as his hand went to the hammer at his side. He found himself touching it more frequently these days and luxuriating in the heat it emanated.

  “Yes, Dol,” said Milli with a roll of her eyes at his now familiar refrain. “But we have to get out of this desert first and we don’t even know how far away the five volcanoes are from here.”

  “South,” said Dol with a shrug. “We need to head south.”

  “Further south?” said Brogus moping his brow. “How is that possible? It can’t get any hotter.”

  “How do you know it’s south?” said Milli with a sideways glance at Dol through her yellow eyes. She fiddled with draw strings on the floppy hat that she wore.

  “I know,” said Dol, his hand lingering on the handle of the hammer long enough that the heat started to permeate through his arm.

  “That’s not an answer,” said Milli, “but I know you well enough to understand that’s all I’ll get.” She looked down at his hand which held the hammer and then turned her gaze to Petra. “How long can we make it with the water we have?”

  “Another three days for us,” said the old witchy woman with a shrug of her shoulders as she continued to stroke the mane of the stallion. “I don’t know for the horse. If we give him our water that cuts into how much we have left.”

  “Why not head for the water spots?” said Brogus and moped his brow yet again. “We have a better chance of finding people there anyway. Wouldn’t they gather near water?”

  Milli looked at her friend and broke into a broad smile, “Actually, Brogus, you have a pretty good idea there. If we find water we’ll surely find these nomads. I’m still not sure how we’ll talk to them but at least it’s a start.”

  “I had a good idea!” said Brogus as his smile threatened to leap completely off his face.

  “Don’t let it go to your head,” said Milli but her smile widened as well.

  “Too late,” said Petra with a shake of her head as a big grin appeared on her face as well.

  “She’s right,” said Brogus and made a muscle with his right arm.

  Milli rolled her eyes and shook her head, “Fine, fine. Let’s find a place to get out of the heat of the day. There are some low hills over that way,” she finished pointing towards a little rise in elevation to her right. “Is that in the right direction to the water?”

  Petra pulled out the little map and nodded her head, “Generally, I think. It’s not easy to figure out exact directions like that. Those hills are opposite the sun this morning, so it’s as good a choice as any. I wish we could find one of the landmarks on this map because then we’ll know how far we’ve traveled.”

  “You don’t even know where we were when we started,” said Brogus with a shake of his head. “I’m not much at map reading here in the open but underground I know my business. The mines of Craggen Steep go on for who knows how long all the way to the bottom of the mountain and beyond. You have to know where you start to be able to figure out where you are now.”

  “Fine,” said Petra with a little downturn of her lips, “we need to find first one place on this map and then a second. Is that good enough?”

  “Yep,” said Brogus as he continued to smile widely.

  “And wipe that grin off your face,” said Petra. “If it wasn’t for me we never would have made it this far.”

  Brogus continued to smile. An hour later, just as the sun began its long climb to the zenith of the sky, they found a small cave in the rocky hillside. They all went into together and set down their gear before Petra went out to gather some of the strange plants that grew in the region. They had learned, through trial and nausea, what plants were tasty and which were toxic.

  “It must rain sometimes,” said Petra as she returned with an armload of the little green pads that grew on the plants all over the desert. “These plants can’t exist without water at all. I bet they have a big rainy season and then it’s stored up to survive the rest of the year. It probably happens in autumn and maybe again in spring. I bet it gets cold in winter. It gets cold enough at night and this is summer.” With this observation, to which no one replied, she busied herself with scraping off the needles while Dol and Brogus ignited a little fire with some of the scrub they harvested earlier.

  “It does get pretty cool at night,” said Brogus stripping off his heavy chain shirt and preparing some bedding for the long day. “I never would have thought it but it’s true.”

  “Hey!” said Milli from the cave mouth. “I see some dust over there.”

  Petra and Brogus immediately rushed to the entrance of the little cave while Dol stayed at the fire and gently twisted the hammer round and round. The three peered out over the seemingly endless desert while little Milli stood in front and pointed. Petra, the tallest of the trio stood behind her, and Brogus tried to wriggle his way past the tall woman. “Riders,” said the witch with in a low tone. “They’re coming from the direction of the black horse symbol.”

  “Do you think we should say hello,” said Milli looking back over her right shoulder to the Petra. “I mean that is who we’re supposed to spy on.”

  “We could ambush them like we did the first group,” suggested Brogus and looked back towards his weapon and armor on the floor of the stone cave. They lay neatly arranged so that he might grab and use them at a moment’s notice. He learned this particular habit a long time ago from his father and older brothers in the dwarf citadel. Even in the secure environment of Craggen Steep darkling forces attacked from the realm below on occasion and the mining operations were always at risk. The darklings were a cruel, torturous lot that captured dwarves for slave operations beneath the ground. Dwarves were strong miners and the darklings worked them to death building
new tunnels for their endless warrens.

  “We don’t want to kill them,” said Milli looking at the burly dwarf. “They might know the Black Horseman.”

  “They might be violent, like the first group,” said Brogus and watched as Dol slipped back on his armor and fingered the hammer at his side. “We don’t want to meet them out in the open with those horses. We wouldn’t stand a chance. We should lure them here to the cave like before.”

  “They’ll not pass close enough,” said Petra judging their movement and direction with a practiced eye.

  “If we flag them down then we lose the element of surprise,” said Brogus with a look back towards his axe again.

  “If we don’t then we’re back to wandering in the desert running out of food and water,” said Milli tapping her foot on the rocky ground.

  “She,” said Brogus with a nod at Petra, “can find us plenty of food and the map shows where the water is.”

  “So you propose to wander around in the desert for the rest of our lives,” said Milli with a shake of her head. “Think Brogus. We have to contact someone and those riders are the best option we have.”

  “You’re smarter than me, Milli,” said Brogus with a frown. “If you think that’s what we should do, then let’s do it.”

  “Dol?” said Milli with a look back to the dwarf who, by now, stood fully armored and ready for battle.

  He shrugged, “Either way. I have my mission.”

  Milli turned away with a snort. “He’s going to be no help at all unless we get in a fight. I say we wave to the riders. Petra?”

  The witch woman gauged the distance of the riders to their location, put her hand to her chin, and eventually nodded her head, “I think you’re right Milli. The other choice is to wander endlessly and if we’re in another tribe’s territory this map is probably not all that useful.”

  “Go ahead, Brogus,” said Milli and turned to face the dwarf warrior.

  “Should I put on my gear first?” he asked with another longing look back to the cave.

  “It’ll take them some time to get here,” said Milli looking back and forth to the riders and Brogus. “Wave them down and then gear up.”