The Hammer of Champions

by A L Issett

  “General Torrin” Captain Galero said and eyed the man harshly.

  “Ah, Galero” Torrin spoke as he gestured to a couple of seats in front of him. “I see you went out and got allies once you knew this fight was impossible to win with your limited knowledge of real warfare.”

  “We came to offer you terms of surrender” Galero replied letting the slight pass. “If you take it, you won't be executed and your men will be welcomed back. Yourself and the rest of the leadership of this movement will be exiled. I doubt you will get another chance, here it is in paper signed by the Queen.”

  Torrin smiled as he picked up the paper and tore it into shreds. “Quet has no Queen” General Torrin laughed. “You have a romanticized view on warfare, you don't ride into an enemy camp and issue threats. I aim to ransom you back to your people after killing a few of your men as proof of my intent. The fact you brought what looks like Ketian nobles with you means no one would dare jeopardize their safety.”

  “Are you mad old man?” Perry said as he drew his blade. “I am a three bolt swordmaster, I can be across this table in record time and open your throat up.” Tanner could see Perry still had those thin swords he favored but this one seemed different than his usual dueling sword.

  “You are in a room full of mages boy” the General said as he drew his own sword. “I doubt you could even take me, let alone survive a hit from a mage.”

  Tanner started heavily draining on all the mages in the tent with him. Their power was intoxicating as he could feel so much energy it seemed like it would pour out of him. Galero drew his sword and attacked, General Torin brought his blade up quickly. Galero’s blade cleaved through the General’s sword and into the man’s head surprising the hell out of him. Men poured through the tent as Tanner cut into a mage readying a spell. His sword thrummed from the feeling of mage blood and seemed to take over, dodging and slicing as it sought out every mage in the room. Spells flowed out all over the place, lightning, fire even some wind spells as Tanner cleaved into any magic user he could find. Galero and Perry seemed to be holding their own as Tanner was about to slice into another mage. Galero instead hit him over the head and caused the mage to go unconscious. The fact Galero didn't kill any of the mages made Tanner stop as the tent started burning around them. Tanner rushed out and could see he had lost two men. Wallace was bleeding heavily from one arm but had his sword out fighting off two attackers. Tanner stepped in and decapitated one opponent before gutting the other. Enemy soldiers started gathering around as Tanner ripped off a piece of his tunic and told Wallace to fix his arm.

  “Soldiers of Quet” Captain Galero said loudly. “I came here under a flag of peace to allow you to go home from this war. I am sure you know the Queen’s army has gained more allies which is the reason you were suddenly told to flee. That army is on its way here and General Torrin along with the majority of his mages lie dead or disabled. Those who want to pledge their allegiance to false rulers, do so knowing no quarter will be given when the main army gets here. Those who wish to switch sides and show their support for our new Queen and fight alongside our Ketians allies make yourself be known.”

  Tanner watched as man after man threw down their weapons and went to a knee. Torrin must have been a horrible ruler or these men were too scared about what would happen once the rest of the army caught up. Tanner went to bury his dead and saw Galero rip a brace from General Torrin’s arm. In all Galero had four mages subdued and each was under heavy guard as Tanner left the group. Two of his men had died and Tanner regretted he didn’t even know their names. He told Wallace when they got back to make sure he was told who their families were, Tanner would ensure they never had to work again and would pay his widow if he had one a stipend every month. If they were not married it would go to their parents. After Tanner buried his men it took a day and a half for the rest of the army to catch up. Tanner could see it had grown a little as more men from Ket had joined up. The Queen looked odd Tanner thought as she was excited to see there were four mages taken as prisoner. Darlene had asked Tanner if Orecrusher could see his weapon again after hearing about Galero’s success against Torrin who was a wielder and good swordsman in his own right. Tanner remembered Galero slicing right through the man’s sword and into his skull easily before yanking his sword out. Tanner declined the Queen’s request as he had not gotten the blade he was promised but told the Queen he would reconsider if he could see the process done. The Queen did not agree to it right away but finally relented and made Tanner swear to secrecy. Tanner nodded but what he found was both gruesome and disturbing.

  The captures mages were tied down as a knife opened up their arm, causing the blood to flow. The handle of the Hammer of Champions was forced into the cut as other mages looked on. Tanner could feel energy was flowing from the wounded mages into the hammer somehow. This energy was different, Tanner knew it must be what allowed the mages to perform all kinds of magic in the first place. Tanner could feel the tied down mages power change, they would not be able to throw flame or ice, they would only be able to give the magical items their power. When the ritual was finished Tanner could tell the hammer had a lot of energy. He watched the dwarf make a sword within a couple of hours along with help from unaffected mages. The sword was of good quality but were decidedly plain, Tanner thought. Each sword by itself was a great weapon, if one of the changed mages fed power into it, it became practically unbreakable and razor sharp. The dwarf muttered if he could get the same type of metal Tanner’s sword was made from then he could really do great things but was satisfied with his creations. The power contained from each mage let Orecrusher craft two swords a piece. With the final mage he used the power to make a single elegant brace that looked more like a bracelet if anything along with a long dagger that had a thin blade. This took longer than almost every other weapon he made combined as the army had been stopped for four days now since the killing of General Torrin. Tanner had used the time to watch Orecrusher and to mourn his lost men, he would see this thing through to the end.

  After the former separatist army caught up it did not take too much longer to divide the new soldiers into existing units although none of them held leadership positions. The soldiers were probably angry they lost out to farmers, miners and others who had shown loyalty despite the fact the assimilated soldiers had a lot more experienced and fighting ability. The new unified force did not take long to catch up to the other part of the army that supplied General Torrin’s troops and quickly subjugated them after a couple of brief but deadly fights. More magic weapons were made from this as the group continued on to the capital of Quet. Tanner thought the war was over and any other battles would just be a formality as the rest of his men had caught up. Word had been sent that Carolina was safe which caused the king's troops to all fall back. Perry along with his father’s men stayed the course until Sanctuary, the capital of Quet.

  “Well here we are” Queen Darlene said as she looked at the walls of her capital city and could see it was manned by soldiers. “I had hope but I never thought I would be returning here and fully capable of retaking the city. How do I look, do I look the part of the warrior Queens of old?”

  “You are missing just one thing” Tanner said as he took off his helm and placed it on her head. “Now you look like someone who means business. How has your training been coming along as a wielder?”

  “I am still not skilled enough to take on a master swordsman” Darlene admitted. “But that assumes the swordsman knows he is fighting a wielder. I have one mage locked on my dagger and another on my brace. I can move a lot faster than normal and this blade should be able to cut through bone if I wield it with enough force. Which reminds me of your swords, you will have them when the city is retaken. The mages kept within are some of the strongest in Quet, I am going to give all the separatist soldiers a chance to lay down their arms before the attack begins. Once we have forced our way inside the city many of them will have to be executed to send a message. At least that is what Fa
rlane believes. The mages inside will not escape unscathed no matter what they do. Their magic will be stripped away and more weapons will be created. For now though I hope the people inside take my offer. I fully intend on letting the generals be exiled, everyone else can stay although once everything comes out they will no longer hold the positions they once had.”

  “You already sent your terms?” Tanner asked.

  “I did, I sent them moments ago with your countryman and his entourage” Darlene replied.

  “Are you touched in the head?” Tanner said not believing what he was hearing. “If those tossers hate nobles and tossed all of you out on your ear why would they listen to a twat like Perry? If anything someone is going to find him insulting and a proper fight will break out.”

  “Possibly” the Queen smiled.

  “You want this to happen don't you?” Tanner replied. “If Perry gets lucky and starts cutting through people the way we did to Torrin then your problem is solved. If that fancy dan gets himself killed then those who done it will have to deal with the Ketians seeking retribution no matter what deal you give them. They will be on their way out of here and fast. I don't like it, I am not big on that knobber Perry but you set him up. He is too stupid to keep his mouth shut sometimes.”

  “You should be the one talking, if you are not threatening to kill someone then you normally sit around scowling” Darlene began. “Besides, if I am being set up to be with this Perry, then this will be his first quest as a would be king, kicking other men out of his house. I know my decree has been spread amongst the regular soldiers still on the side of the separatists. The fact I am willing to let walk those who killed my father should make some of them defect and ease Perry’s task.”

  “Well then I should get ready for this battle” Tanner admitted. “When are you going to talk to the separatists, you can't get all dressed up just to sit around here.”

  “I am going to meet with anyone of the separatists as soon as they want to” Darlene began. “I am expecting at least some of the leadership to make their way out to me soon. I only gave them until sunset to comply, anyone still in the city will be considered and enemy as far as fighting goes.”

  Tanner looked up and could see the day was already half over and went to put on the armor he had become fond of. The thickness of it made it hard for some to use a crushing or piercing weapon against him, the drawback was that the armor was heavy. Tanner could move about as well as a normal man in normal armor which made him wonder why whoever this Reaker person was would even have this thing made.

  “It seems like this is it Milord” Wallace said as Tanner started putting on his armor. “We lost some but it is going to be the highlight of my life telling my children I fought alongside the Immortal Earl.”

  “You fought alongside of the what?” Tanner asked.

  “The Immortal Earl” Darouth explained as he joined the conversation. “It is meant with respect Milord, no one says it in malice.”

  “I have never heard of this name” Tanner replied eyeing the two men.

  “Well Milord” another soldier began. Tanner hated to admit the man’s name had slipped his mind. “Some of the old timers say they remembered you years ago when the former Earl took over as King. They say you looked the same then as you do now.”

  “Hopefully we all make it out of here for you to tell that story” Tanner replied. “We don't know what is going to happen next, but the Queen has sent her terms to all involved.”

  The sun was almost out of the sky before Tanner could see a rope tossed over the wall. First a single soldier climbed down. And archer was going to shoot but thought better of it and climbed down himself. Soon other ropes were tossed over and had men streaming down until finally the gates themselves were opened as unarmed men started running through them to defect from the false rulers. There were sizable numbers of men still on the wall unsure what to do.

  Although the gates were opened the Queen made no move to have her army inside, Tanner thought she was using it to get rid of all the traitors at once. As the sun finally set a messenger came running out of the gate with some type of correspondence. The Generals wanted to talk. Tanner did not know what the Queen replied as she sent her own messenger back but Tanner could see the troops around them started getting ready for an attack. Tanner and his bunch would just hang back unless they were really needed. Moments later four men came walking out of the gate in highly decorated uniforms. Tanner was of the opinion there was only one other general but all the men looked to be equal in rank. They all went in to see the Queen, Tanner followed them after a moment or two.

  “You must be feeling proud of yourself Farlane” a man with a big moustache which started at both his ears and met under his nose said. “You have put this girl on the throne and plan on ruling from the shadows. We should have killed you but like a rat you slunk off.”

  “Do remember your courtesy and call her Majesty by her title” Farlane began. “I don't mind if you speak ill of me but you will show her some respect.”

  “The time of Kings and Queens has ended” said the younger of the four men. This man had blonde hair and Tanner could see the hilt of his sword. Unlike the others it looked to have been marked, this man had seen battle a lot more recently than his comrades. “Just because you wear an old helm on your head and have a dagger by your side does not make you dangerous or intimidating.”

  “You will give me my respect” Queen Darlene spoke. “You are the men who killed my father, I owe you nothing. However if you keep at it you may find my mood has changed from letting you go into exile.”

  “Your father was tyrant girl” the man with the moustache spoke again. “I have lived my life, I am not scared of you or your thugs in this tent. I don't expect you to keep whatever promises you made, I just wanted to let you know I intend to die like a man facing down my enemy instead of cowering.”

  “I think I have taken the last insult from either of you, the next man to try it will die” Queen Darlene said. Tanner could feel the power start to pour into the intricate brace Darlene wore on her arm. Likewise another flow went into her dagger, Tanner could not see the mages doing this but knew they had to be very close to tent.

  “You don’t give me any-” the man with the moustache said as Darlene leapt from her seat and in one move drug the tip of her blade across the shocked general’s throat before he could finish his sentence. Tanner knew the long dagger had a razor sharp tip and although he could not see the wound properly from his vantage point, the look on the Queen’s face told him she had succeeded in her attack. The general put his hands to his throat as Darlene kicked him hard in the chest sending the general crashing down back first on the ground. Darlene looked shocked for a moment, then sat back down and regained her composure somewhat although Tanner could see she was still shaking.

  “Does anyone else feel the need to insult her Majesty or can we get to the topic at hand?” Farlane said as he gestured to the now dead general. “If her Majesty wished you dead you would have been killed when you walked into the tent. It is highly unlikely that without a mage any of you could beat the Ketian Earl of Tox nor the various guards lining this tent. Speaking of Ketians, where is our messenger?”

  “Lucky to be alive” one of the generals said, this man being slight of stature and missing most of his hair. “He is a pompous ass that was not only insulting as he delivered terms, he even took it farther by killing three guards and two mages before we put arrows in the mages around him. I did not think such a secret would be shared with outsiders. After his support went down it was easy enough to stop him with a combination of mages and pikemen. He is in the dungeon right now, everything he had on him is locked away in the armory. I will admit perhaps my biggest surprise is learning that the Ketian is not the only wielder I thought impossible.”

  “I think your biggest fault was doubting her Majesty” Farlane said as he looked down his nose at the general. I take it Malfry that you have already gotten your family well clear fr
om here before we arrived?”

  “My family is gone yes, they were sent away long before any of this happened” The General said with a sigh.

  “Well then you already know her Majesty’s position now leave Quet” Farlane said as he eyed the three defeated men. “In five days which is more than enough time for you to leave we will send men after you. Come back into Quet again and you will be killed.”