The Hammer of Fire

by Tom Liberman

  “Thank you for your generosity and I’m glad my feeble brain can contribute in some small way,” said Blaggard.

  “Ha! You’re welcome,” said Cleathelm and slapped the little goblin hard on the back. “You’re quite welcome. You keep thinking about the little things while I focus on the big issues. Summer, ha!”

  A few hours behind them Uldex and his companions continued to follow the trail of Cleathelm and his goblin companion. Uldex now wore a light-weight jerkin purchased from a small merchant caravan they encountered a day before and kept his heavy chain shirt well packed. His companions nodded their heads and the little one gave a grin, “I still think we should just kill them like we did Rogu and put an end to it. What are we going to learn by following them except that they’re idiots?”

  Uldex shrugged, “We’ve been over this before. They are to stay alive unless they try to take the hammer.”

  “Then why did we kill Rogu?” said the little dwarf as he licked his thick lips and ran his hand through his heavy blonde beard.

  “He was dead already, poisoned. We were doing him a favor.”

  The little dwarf smiled and closed his eyes in memory, “It was fun anyway. This old game trail isn’t going anywhere, Uldex. See the smoke trail from over there, that’s a village not a volcano. They have to go there. Let’s just head there and pick up supplies. They’ll catch up to us.”

  Uldex stood for a long moment and watched the smoke wafting gently in the air as he glanced back to his left and the game trail that Cleathelm and his companion took a few hours before. “We do need supplies.”

  “That’s what I’m talking about,” said the smaller dwarf with a grin. “Girls too.”

  Uldex nodded his head but couldn’t keep his thoughts from turning to Milli and her golden hair. “Yes, girls too.”

  “I know what you’re thinking,” said the bigger of Uldex’s two companions.

  Uldex shrugged, “Yeah, so?”

  “You can’t let that get in the way of our job. We’re Blackirons and that’s what matters. You’ll have to take the hammer from Dol eventually, one way or the other.”

  “I know,” said Uldex.

  “And that means taking it from the halfling girl as well; she’s with Dol, she hasn’t come all this way to fail.”

  Uldex shrugged again, “You think I don’t know that?”

  The big dwarf moved closer to Uldex and stared at him directly in the eyes, chin to chin, “You may say you know it but when push comes to shove you might not have it in you to do what’s needed. If you don’t, I’ll have to do it.”

  Uldex stared back his dark eyes glowing with intensity, “You’ll do what I tell you to do and nothing more.”

  “I’ve got orders from Borrombus that you don’t know anything about,” said the stout dwarf not backing down an inch from the baleful glare.

  “You’ll do what I say, when I say it,” said Uldex as the two glared at each other nose to nose.

  “Not necessarily,” said the dwarf with a little shake of his head.

  “Cross me if you dare,” said Uldex and put his hand on the long knife at his side.

  The big dwarf tilted his head down so that his eyes looked at Uldex from under his heavy brow and gave a low snort, “You think I won’t?”

  “I hope you will,” replied Uldex.

  They stared at each for a long moment before the big dwarf made as to turn around but then grabbed at his axe and spun towards Uldex with the blade whistling towards his head.

  Uldex took a step forward and bumped heavily into the chest of his opponent which forced the axe to swing behind his head and his opponent’s wrist to smash into his skull.

  “Aaghh,” said the big dwarf and took half a step backwards and prepared to swing again. That’s when he noticed Uldex’s fist under his chin and felt the searing pain of the dagger that had just penetrated his lower jaw and pierced his brain pan from below. Uldex raised his left hand to control the weapon hand of his opponent which began to spasm rhythmically and then lowered the big dwarf slowly to the ground.

  “You’ll remember I didn’t intervene, Uldex,” said the small dwarf as he stood behind Uldex, his own axe in his hand.

  “I’ll remember, Carus” said Uldex. “And you’ll remember that my orders are to be followed precisely.”

  “I never thought anything else,” said the little dwarf with his wicked grin in place. “Shall we head to town then?”

  Uldex nodded his head and looked at the fresh corpse. “We need to get rid of the body first. That idiot Cleathelm might get lost and end up doubling back on his tracks. We don’t want him to find it.”

  The little dwarf looked at the body and then the ground, “We don’t have anything to dig with.”

  “Drag him into the bushes and gets some rocks from the creek back there, that’s the best we can do. Then we’ll go to town and resupply. Remember to keep your jewelry and coin purse well hidden, these yokels will cut your throat for even one of your smallest rings.”

  The little dwarf nodded his head and went over to grab the big dwarf by the ankles.

  Chapter 19

  “We have to stop here, Dol!” said Milli as she stamped her foot and pointed to the little village spread out in the valley below them. She stood next to her horse and held onto his reins gently as she stared up at the tall dwarf still on his horse. “This map that Brogus … acquired … is useless. We’re totally lost.”

  Dol sat on his stallion and looked to the south with a grimace on his face but said nothing.

  “We need to get supplies,” said Milli.

  “We can see volcanoes,” said Dol. “Right over there, and there,” he continued and pointed towards the high mountains in the distance. “If we keep looking we’re sure to find a group of five and then I kill Gazadum and get my reward.”

  “The ones with Gazadum could be hundreds of miles to the south or the west or the east,” said Milli. “You’re being stubborn for the sake of being stubborn. We’ll get there faster if we get directions. No one is going to try and stop us. Who could possibly know us down here?”

  Brogus dismounted with an awkward movement although he managed to stay on his feet, walked over to Milli, and stood next to the girl, “She’s right, Dol. How could anyone from Craggen Steep have followed us down here? No one knows us or what we’re doing. We go to town, get some directions, some good food and drinks, a nice nights rest in a bed, and then leave. What can go wrong?”

  “I don’t like stopping,” said Dol with a grimace.

  “It will speed us up in the end,” argued Milli. “We’ll have a better idea where we are, right, Petra?”

  The old woman had been heretofore silent on the issue as she watched the argument between the three from the safety of the back of her horse, “I’m not completely opposed to Dol’s point of view,” she finally said with a sage nod of her head.

  “What?” said Milli turning sharply to the woman and glaring at her through eyes narrowed into slits. “Why?”

  Petra sat on the horse for long seconds saying nothing before she finally replied, “I can’t say. I just don’t like going into town, it’s a feeling.”

  Milli stood silently looking at the older woman on the horse, “I suppose if you have a feeling ….”

  “No!” said Brogus his face red and his hands waving back and forth, “A feeling? A feeling? That’s nothing. I’m hungry, I’m thirsty, and I wouldn’t mind staying in a comfortable bed for the night either. Come on, Petra, be reasonable. How strong a feeling?”

  “It’s difficult to judge these things,” said the woman. My family has a history of foretelling but I’ve never been much good at it.”

  “We can have a séance!” shouted Milli and clapped her hands while jumping up and down. “It’ll be fun and then we’ll know if going into town is a good idea or not.”

  “I’m really not much good …,” started Petra but Milli was already unpacking her horse and chattering excitedly to Dol and Brogus. “You two p
robably don’t know much about it being dwarves and all,” she said with a toss of her long hair. “I read about it in books. A couple of times old dwarf ladies came in and tried to get me to read the cards because we halflings supposedly have the gift.”

  “Did you?” asked Brogus with an eager smile on his face. “I’ve heard of fortune tellers before but there aren’t any in Craggen Steep. At least not that I know about. We met a band of gypsies once on a trade mission but I got stuck on kitchen duty and couldn’t get my fortune read.”

  Dol sighed, rolled his eyes, finally dismounted in a desultory fashion, and kicked at a few rocks on the ground while ignoring the excited Milli and Brogus.

  “I didn’t say I was good at it,” interjected Petra as she watched Brogus and Milli making preparations to set up the camp, although they ignored her as they jabbered back and forth about who would get their reading done first. “My sister was much better than me,” Petra tried one last time before turning to Dol who continued to kick little rocks and mutter to himself. “Not much for fortune telling are you?” she asked him.

  Dol paused at his rock kicking exercise, looked up at Petra, and shook his head, “I’ve never been one to pray or ask the Gods for guidance.”

  Petra nodded her head, “I’ve known a few like that over the years, but mostly it’s the other way around. People are looking for answers as to why their lives are the way they are. It seems in the nature of people to want a reason for what happen to them.”

  “What happens happens,” said Dol with a little frown and a shrug of his shoulders. “I was born, I live for a while, and then I’ll die.”

  “That’s a rather fatalistic view, my friend,” said Petra coming over and putting her arm over the dwarf’s shoulder. Even though she was a relatively short woman she still stood more than six inches taller than the dwarf although he was quite a bit broader at the shoulder than she. “The gods are up there causing things to happen. They know the future which makes the future knowable. You just have to tap into the right lines of energy.”

  “I suppose that’s true,” said Dol. “But that doesn’t mean I have to like it. If the future is determined then nothing I do makes any difference. I have no free will.”

  “Just because the Gods know the future doesn’t mean you don’t have free will,” said Milli stopping her activity around the camp fire to join the discussion. “You have free will to make any decision you want. If you go home right now then that’s your decision, right?”

  Dol looked at her, licked his lips, grimaced, and then shrugged his shoulders, “I guess, but if the Gods already know what the future is then don’t they know what decision I’m going to make?”

  “But you still have the free will to make that decision,” countered Milli.

  “If they know what the decision is then isn’t it already decided? The same with Petra telling your fortune. If she can actually tell the future doesn’t that mean that the future is already decided?”

  “No, not at all,” said Brogus adding his voice to the melee.

  “Why not?” asked Dol his eyes beginning to get a little fiery.

  “It just doesn’t,” said Brogus while Milli stood with her hands on her hips and a puzzled expression on her face.

  “I kind of see what Dol is saying,” said Milli after a long pause. “I mean, if anything I decide is already known then am I really making a decision at all?”

  “That doesn’t make any sense,” said Brogus. “Let’s say we go into to town. Then everything would be different than if we didn’t go into town. Every decision we make changes the way the world works.”

  “By that argument,” said Dol. “Wouldn’t every decision everyone makes lead to some different … I don’t know, different reality?”

  “Exactly,” said Brogus with a smile and he clapped Dol on the back. “Now you’ve got it.”

  “So, if that ant down there,” said Dol pointing with his boot to a line of ants marching through the dirt towards where they were just laying out the food, “turns right instead of left that leads to a different reality?”

  “Well,” said Brogus and put his hand to his beard. “I’m not sure animals count.”

  “What if you’re killed by a bear? Doesn’t that decision make a different world? What if a pack of wolves eats some pilgrims or something? Those all have to make differences.”

  “Animals don’t have free will like people,” replied Brogus. “It’s different.”

  “How is it different?” asked Dol insisting.

  “It just is,” said Brogus and shrugged his shoulders.

  “That’s why I didn’t want to start this conversation at all,” said Dol turning to Petra. “It just leads to headaches.”

  Petra nodded her head, “I’ve always had doubts about the fortune telling business to be honest. I sat in on my sister and my grandmother for years when they gave them. Usually they sized up a person, a young girl was usually looking for love, and a young man was usually looking for … well, love. That sort of thing. You could usually tell what they wanted to hear and that’s what you told them.”

  “That’s not really fortune telling then,” said Milli. “I’ve read that some people are in better touch with the Gods and they get visions of the future. Even the dwarves have people like that.”

  “Yeah,” said Dol. “We call them insane.”

  “Shut up, Dol. You’ve always been a spoil-sport. I thought maybe you were getting better now that you seem to have a sense of humor but I guess some things never change.”

  Dol pursed his lips, gave Petra a sour look, and then went about helping get the camp organized.

  “You said your sister had the touch,” said Milli almost tugging on Petra’s arm like a little girl who wants a pony. “You might have it in you if you try.”

  “You might be right,” said the woman with a small smile. “You never know unless you try.”

  “That’s the spirit,” said Brogus. “Do you use cards, tokens, what?”

  “I have a deck of cards around here somewhere,” said Petra and went over to her horse and began rummaging around in the saddle bags for a while.

  “Can we help?” asked Mill in a voice that was more high-pitched than normal.

  “Just get the fire going,” said Petra, “and put on some hot water for cooking. We’ve got those rabbits Brogus bagged yesterday to cook before they go bad in this heat. Meat won’t last long down in these southern climates.”

  “There’s nothing else we can do?” said Milli almost dancing with excitement.

  “Just get the camp ready,” replied Petra with a snort like laugh the came out of her nose. “You’re like little children.”

  Twenty minutes later the four of them sat around the now blazing campfire with Milli and Brogus eagerly watching Petra clear a patch of ground and lay down a black piece of cloth that had stars and crescent moons stitched into it. The old woman took her time and carefully smoothed the cloth until it lay perfectly flat, or at least as perfectly flat as the ground allowed, and then began to unpack a heavy deck of cards that more than filled her hand. Their backs looked like a starry night with a full moon rising near the upper right hand corner; the edges were worn and frayed, and the few glimpses Milli and Brogus caught of the cards themselves displayed colorful characters of various sorts, little fields of swords, and other fantastical scenes. Despite Petra’s caution she almost spilled the heavy cards as she tried to shuffle them, as they did not fit easily in her small hands. But, after what seemed an interminable period of waiting she finally looked up and smiled at Milli and Brogus, “Who’s first?”

  The two looked at each other and sat on the edge of their seats, “You go ahead,” said Milli to Brogus.

  “No,” replied the broad-shouldered dwarf, “Ladies first. Unless Dol wants to have a chance.”

  Milli and Brogus looked over at the tall dwarf but he pretended not to hear them and occupied himself with the rabbits that were cooking over the small fire on a thick little wire grill
.

  “Ok, I’ll go,” said Milli with a smile and all but bounded over to where Petra waited. “What do I do?”

  “Just sit down right here,” said Petra as she riffled through the card deck. “Now, after I deal there will be three piles of three cards each, the first three represent what has past and the three possible interpretations of that. The next three represent the present, and …”

  “The last three the future,” interrupted Milli bouncing up and down as she sat. “How do you know which of the three cards is most important?”

  “I was getting to that,” said Petra with a little smile at the girl.

  Brogus moved in close, getting down on his haunches as he eagerly watched the proceedings in utter silence.

  “Now, in each group of three there is an evil, neutral, and good position. The cards themselves have a nature. Let’s say you pick a good card and it goes in the good position of the past pile. That means it is matched with its position and has greater meaning. Likewise, if you pick an evil card and it goes in the good position it is mismatched and we should probably ignore it. Does that make sense?”

  Milli nodded her head in quick little motions and stared at the cards in Petra’s hand. “Yes, that makes sense. Suddenly, I’m not so sure I want to do this.”

  Dol started to say something but then thought better of it, closed his mouth, and returned to the rabbits which were coming along nicely.

  “The first thing to do is to think about what’s troubling you. Some sort of problem that you face. You have to really concentrate because this is about you as much as it is about me. Keep that question in your mind.”

  Milli closed her eyes and her upper lip covered her lower as she sat in silence for what seemed to be a long time but was probably no more than four or five seconds. Brogus stared at her while Dol busied himself by the fire although even he couldn’t keep from taking a look over to the group now and again. Eventually Milli opened her eyes, “I’ve got it.”