Tom Liberman - The Hammer of Fire

“Is it decided that we’re joining up with Corancil, then?” asked Brogus with a grin on his face as he imagined the glories of the marching armies, the booty stolen from defeated towns, the young girls willing to do anything for a powerful soldier.

“How else are we going to get all the way to the southern continent, do you know how far that is?” asked Milli with a little shake of her head. “The First Edos told me what to look for geographically, five volcanoes, along the southern shore of a huge peninsula, but he didn’t tell me how to get there. We need Corancil, they say he’s built portals, transportation gates that can take a dwarf from one side of the continent to the next in a blink of an eye.

Brogus shook his head and smiled, “I don’t believe that nonsense, it’s impossible, but even if we have to walk, we’ll be better off with the army than trying it on our own. Those are wild lands in the center of the world, I’ve talked with traders that went all the way to Sea’cra in the east, it’s dangerous, at least ten thousand miles to the south too, maybe more.

“I don’t believe that bit about portals either,” said Milli with a grin she could not suppress and glowing eyes, “but I guess we’ll find out, won’t we!”

Half an hour later Milli stood at the entrance to the Hall of Relics chatting with a young dwarf who wore a heavy set of chain armor and held a massive pike upright in his right hand. His wore a broad smile on his face as he explained something apparently quite important to the girl, and two other guards stood next to them and interjected their thoughts quite frequently. Milli smiled as they told their stories, gently touching an elbow here or a shoulder there, as she laughed in a musical way.

Brogus and Dol stood about a hundred paces up a long, marble floored corridor and gazed at one of the many sculptures that adorned the passage. The one they examined depicted a squat dwarf with relatively short beard who held a double-headed axe held in both hands while a raven perched on his shoulder. Flat letters imprinted onto an iron plaque on the wall declared, “Harras Drawhammer and Orc Cleaver”. The two spoke in low tones as they glanced occasionally at the thick stone statue.

“How long should we give her?” said Brogus with a glance down the hallway as he fingers tapped his upper thigh and he rocked back and forth on his heels.

Dol said, “Milli will signal, like she said.”

“It’s been too long,” said Brogus with another glance down the hallway, and his fingers increased their drumbeat on his leg. “I’m going to go.”

Dol quietly reached out with his hand, grabbed the heavily built dwarf apprentice by the elbow, and gave him a squeeze.

“That hurts!”

“Wait,” said Dol quietly without relaxing his grip.

“Fine, let go of me, I’ll wait.”

Dol released his grip and then looked back to the statue with a placid expression on his face. “The three main families are the Drawhammers, Blackirons, and Firefists, but weren’t there five major families at one point?”

“How am I supposed to know that?” asked Brogus looking at the statue and shrugging his shoulders. “What does an apprentice like you care about the important families and the High Council anyway?”

Dol looked steadily at Brogus, “Was it the Highhelms? And that raven, wasn’t there something about a family that spoke with ravens?”

Brogus gave out a snort and shook his head, “Fine, if you want to yak about this nonsense be my guest, but don’t expect me to say anything. Aren’t you even a little excited? We’re about to steal the most important relic in all of Craggen Steep, leave the mountain for the first time in our lives, join up with Corancil’s army, and head to the southern end of the world.”

Dol looked calmly at Brogus and smiled, “The pIan is to be inconspicuous while Milli does her thing.”

“Incon what? Anyway, why do we have to do everything exactly the way we plan?”

Dol nodded, “Otherwise there is chaos.”

“A little chaos might do you some good, Dol. You’re too damn calm, too quiet; it’s why you don’t have many friends. You’ve got to get a little crazy, a little wild, do something at random!”

“No,” said Dol firmly and glanced down the hallway towards the halfling girl and the guards. “I think Milli is signaling us.”

Brogus turned sharply and spotted the girl twirling her long hair with one hand while laughing gaily at something one of the dwarves said, “Let’s kick in the door!”

“Slowly, keep cool,” said Dol in a low tone turning to walk slowly up the hallway towards Milli and the heavily armed dwarves at her side. “Keep talking about the statue.”

Brogus bounced along at his side, unable to keep a lively hop out of his step, while Dol continued to move at a steady, smooth gait, both even and calm. When his companion got too far out in front, Dol reached ahead and pulled him back with a firm tug of the cloak. Brogus partially spun around and slapped Dol’s hand away which let his jacket fly open for a moment to reveal the handle of a heavy short axe underneath. It was made from solid oak and worn smooth with time, the gift from his father, and his father before him who knew how many generations. The blade was sharpened to a razor edge and glinted in the bright lights of the hallway.

One of the dwarves with Milli looked up towards the approaching two but the girl put her hand on his chest and looked him deeply in the eyes long enough to distract him away from the approaching dwarves. Another few seconds, another couple of strides, and then they were upon the soldiers.

Brogus pulled out his axe with a smooth motion, twisted it so the blunt end came first, and hammered the lead guard over the head with it. The soldier went straight to the ground without making a sound. The second and third guards turned to the Brogus with eyes wide in shock but their military training took over and they lowered their massive pole arms towards him. Milli put her foot out as the first stepped forward uttering some sort of exclamation; he stumbled to the ground, and dropped his weapon with a clatter. The third and final guard shoved the sharp point of the pike at Brogus who tried to knock it aside with his axe but only managed to slightly alter its course and took a shallow, scrapping wound to his shoulder.

“Intruders!” shouted the second guard from his knees but Milli pulled a small dagger from her belt and hit him over the head with the butt end. He crumpled face first onto the ground and gave off a slight moan, but the third guard remained in the fight and took a step backwards while waving his heavy pike at Milli and Brogus to keep them occupied.

“Get back, both of you!” he shouted. “Alert! Alert!”

Brogus made a move forward towards the guard but a quick stab from the pike sent him back again as he waved his axe at the much longer weapon.

“Alert! Alert!” shouted the guard again and he did not hear the sound of breaking glass behind him. “What do you think you’re doing? Milli, this is the Hall of Relics, the council will throw you into the dungeons!”

“I’m really very sorry,” said Milli in her sweetest voice as she turned her lips down and made a little face. “It’s all a misunderstanding. Put down that pike and we can discuss it?”

The guard looked at her, blinked his eyes twice, and slightly lowered the pike.

Dol kicked him in the back of the knee and the guard stumbled to the ground with a thump, letting his pike go as it skittered across the floor. “I’ve got it,” he said and motioned with his head to the exit. “Let’s go.”

“Lead the way, Brogus,” said Milli as she scrambled away from the entrance just as another couple of heavily armed guards approached from down the hallway. “They’re trying to steal the Drawhammer Shield,” she screamed in a high pitched voice and pointed back into the room.