Tom Liberman - The Hammer of Fire

“Oh no, not at all, First Edos, please, I’m quite honored to have you visit me,” she continued and then hustled over to her little stove, put a kettle on it with an easy motion, and fumbled through several cabinets before she found a tin filled with coffee beans, “It’s only local grade, from the foothills of the mountain,” she said with a small shrug of her shoulders. “I’m sure you’re used to better.”

“It’ll be fine, that’s very sweet of you. I’ve heard good things about you over the years you know, and now you’re friends with young Delius, yes?”

“You’ve heard of me?” said Milli and stopped her preparations for a moment as she turned to face the old gray beard. “Really? Me?”

“My friend Borrombus speaks quite highly of you,” said Fierfelm as looked closely around the small chamber for the first time. “It’s all coming back to me, yes, when I was a young apprentice my room was much smaller than this, but I suspect you’ve seen an apprentice’s chambers. It’s good for them to suffer a bit, now isn’t it? Although I’ve had my differences with the High Council over the matter, suffering is one thing but brutalization is another. We’ve had discussions we have.”

“Oh, I…,” said Milli with a blush and her hand came to her cheeks which flushed red, “what does he say?”

“Oh dear, I’ve embarrassed you,” said Fierfelm, stood up, walked over to the girl, and gave her a little pat on the shoulder. “I’m an old fellow and I forget how what other people think is important to you young folk. In any case, we’re all very fond of young Delius but I’m afraid his future with us is rather limited, his breeding you know.”

“It’s not fair,” started Milli and turned to look at the old dwarf, her yellow eyes now glistening with tears but her voice hard and sparking with anger. “He can’t help who his grandparents were. You’re not from one of the three families, you should know better than anyone.”

“Oh, I agree completely, it will be the downfall of Craggen Steep in the end,” said Fierfelm as he looked around the little room. “Now, where do you keep the cups and saucers?”

“Over there,” said the halfling girl pointing to a cupboard near the sink, “but I’m afraid they won’t be the fancy kind you’re used to.”

“Quite all right, quite all right indeed. Frankly, all that gold doesn’t make for a hot cup of coffee, I prefer a clay mug anytime and not near as heavy. The older I get the more I treasure the simple things. Did you know as a boy, me and the other apprentices used to roast the crusty ends of week old bread for our coffee and drink it from tin water cups.”

“No!” said Milli her eyes somehow gettingeven wider yet, “you?”

“Indeed, indeed, that was before old Udor picked me out as the most promising apprentice. I didn’t realize it at the time but he was taking a big risk. There were plenty of Blackirons and Firefists who wanted their sons and nephews for the position but Udor wasn’t one for ceremony, he was a metal-smith of the best sort.”

“Udor made the Hammer of Fire,” said Milli in a whisper as she looked around the room at the embroidery on the couch, the paintings on the wall, all pink and yellow but not of flowers; they showed hammers, anvils, weapons of war; that was the life of a dwarf in Craggen Steep and that was her life. She’d first heard of the great Hammer of Fire long before she ever got to see the First Edos’s workshop. It was only later, when she became a young woman that handsome young dwarves on the fast path to success in Craggen Steep began to call and take her to places like that.

“Oh yes, yes indeed, he put it together from the Staff of Faelom and the great hammer head Kanoner. Now all of those traditionalists say he didn’t make the thing because he merely wedded the two parts but don’t you listen to them. He made the hammer and I watched him do it. He wouldn’t let anyone else into the Deep Forge for a year, he used the Silk Anvil of Rowena, indeed he did. It was the last thing he forged before they removed him from power, just like they’re going to remove me.”

“The Silk Anvil, what’s that?”

“Oh dear, yes, well, I travel in such lofty circles I forget that some things are secret. Never you mind dearie, it’s just something from a long time ago.”

“Oh,” said Milli just as the kettle began to boil. “Oh no, that’s the water, here, sit down and I’ll get everything ready. Do you take sugar, cream?”

“You don’t have any peppermint by any chance, do you?”

Milli’s green eyes again grew wide at the mention of the incredibly costly treat, “Oh, I’m sorry, no, I’ve never had… that is to say I’ve heard of it… is it good with coffee?”

“An acquired taste, but don’t let it bother you, just let’s you and I have a little talk, yes, cream is fine, a little sugar as well, not quite peppermint. One does get used to the trappings of power, doesn’t one?”

Milli blinked rapidly for a moment and said under her breath, “I guess?”

“What was that?”

“Nothing,” said the girl as she finished with the kettle and sat down next to the gaudily bedecked dwarf. One of his beard bands alone contained more wealth than the girl could possibly hope to attain in a lifetime. His robes were made of the finest silk imported from some far off lands, even his rings glowed with magical energy and sported gemstones the size of her thumb, “First Edos, why are you here?”

“Please, call me Fierfelm, I’m only First Edos in name now that that the Firefists have taken control. I’ll be eased out with awards and ceremonies but they’ll never let me back into the Deep Forge to pursue my craft,” this last he said as he eyes took on a faraway look and he sighed. “I’ll miss that forge more than anything else. I remember the first day I saw it with old Udor. It was, it still is, the most beautiful thing in all of Craggen Steep. The seat of power for old Gazadum, where Hovslaag himself forged the tools used to craft the world.”

“I’m so sorry,” said Milli and patted the old fellow on the hand. “It must be terrible to have known such beauty and lose it.”

Fierfelm smiled and nodded his head, “That’s very kind of you to say. I’ve trusted Borrombus and his nephew to handle things up until now but the Firefists knew my plans all along, so I’ve come to you personally this time. I was followed, you can be sure of that, but they know everything in any case so all I can do is try to fulfill my promise personally. I’ll not rely on others anymore.”

“I’m not sure I really understand,” said Milli and took a sip from the steaming cup.

“The Hammer of Fire, old Udor wanted it to be used, but the Firefist family won’t allow it and frankly, until your friend Delius came along there wasn’t really anyone who could effectively wield it in any case.”

“Dol won’t do it,” said Milli. “We tried to convince him but he’s stubborn, he won’t listen to reason.”

“Borrombus explained everything to me,” said the old dwarf with a nod of his head as he took a sip of his coffee and forced it down his throat with an expression as if he just swallowed an iron ingot. “This coffee is just atrocious; I suppose once I’ve been removed as First Edos I’ll have nothing to look forward to except death and bad coffee.”

“I’m so sorry,” said Milli and looked down at her cup without a further word.

“Never you mind,” said Fierfelm, “never you mind. I’m here for something far more important than coffee. It’s a good thing that young man of yours is stubborn because last night was a trap. They knew you would try and steal the hammer and had agents there to prevent it.”

“He’s not really my young man,” said Milli with a little blush, “we’re more just friends.”