Tom Liberman - The Hammer of Fire

“No, no, I didn’t… I mean,” started the dwarf as he backed away from the table in little stutter steps, “I just… what I meant to say

…,” he tried to continue but Milli turned her back to him and he stood there stammering for a little while, then bent down to help his friend up, and the two retreated back to the bar arm in arm.

Dol watched the dwarves go and then turned back to the table and Milli and Brugus, “I don’t like to admit it,” he said in a quiet voice with the slightest inflexion of sadness.

“Admit what,” said Brogus, having lost track of the conversation and wearing a quizzical expression on his youthful face. “What don’t you like to admit?”

“Actions should determine promotion,” he said looking down at the table and shaking his head. “Those who do well make promotion, those who don’t get left behind.”

“But, what don’t you want to admit?” said Brogus again as he leaned forward in his seat and put his hands on the thick stone table. “Either you don’t talk at all or you talk in riddles, Dol.”

“That I might be…,” started Dol.

At this second, before he could say that last terrible word, one of the young dwarf girls at the nearby table dashed across the divide between the two groups, snatched at Dol’s hair with a quick motion, and then ran back to her table where she opened her hand and showed something to her sister. Both girls broke into a fit of giggles and looked back and forth between the object and Dol.

Dol stopped in mid-sentence, slumped with his shoulders, slowly shook his head, and gave out a long sigh. Milli sat there with her mouth open for a half a second and then burst into a fit of laughter before she could cover her mouth with her hands. “I’m sorry, it’s just funny,” she said trying to stifle her laughs.

Suddenly the father of the girls was at the table with a serious expression on his face, “I’d like to apologize for my daughters,” he said a scowl on his craggy face, but this apology triggered another bout of laughter from Milli and Brogus’ own harsh guffaws soon joined in. Dol sat there quietly and looked at the two with black eyes through narrowed lids.

“It’s ok,” he said to the older dwarf, “it happens all the time.”

Milli shrieked with laughter and pounded Brogus on the back as the dwarf beat his fists onto the table, his face growing redder by the moment.

“I’m going to pee myself,” he finally gasped and this sent Milli off into another gale of shrieks.

The older dwarf stood at the table for much of this but eventually nodded his head to Dol and put down a small, green apple on the table. It looked about the size of a cherry but the surface was crisp and it had the distinctive shape of an apple. “You’ll be wanting this back then?”

Milli shrieked, fell out of her seat, and started to roll around on the floor while Brogus buried his face in his arms as his body shook with laughter.

Dol sat with a stony face, took the little apple, looked at it closely, put it into his pants pocket, and then waited for Milli and Brogus to stop laughing.

“I’m sorry,” said Milli gasping for breath as she regained her seat, “you have to admit, it gets funnier every time.”

“Maybe you should ask me if I want to do it,” said Dol in a low tone filled with strength. “There are times I find life here in Craggen Steep… trying,” he continued as he looked over at the table of the young girls and shook his head sadly.

“I thought when you kept your hair short-like they didn’t grow?” said Milli and then, suddenly realizing that Dol was not talking about the apples that grew in his hair, turned to him, “You’d want to do what?”

Dol looked at her and shook his head, “I could shave my head bald but then I’d be even more of a curiosity here in Craggen Steep. You know I don’t like people looking at me, talking about me. They just keep getting worse as I get older. When I was a teenager it was only once a year or so but now they pop-up at any time.”

“No, no, forget about the apples, your hair. Ask you what you want to do with what?” insisted Milli as another little burst of giggles erupted from her mouth unbidden.

“The Hammer of Fire,” said Dol in a low voice but there was passion in it. “If we take it, what do I want to do with it?”

“So, you’ll help us!” said Brogus his eyes glowing as he leaned forward at the table. “Dol, we can’t do it without you, you know that. Someone has to carry the thing.”

“First we have to decide what to do with it,” said Dol his face humorless and his gaze steady.

“It was my idea to steal the thing,” said Brogus with a broad grin as he nodded his thick head up and down and tapped his chest with a thick forefinger. “You two figure out what do with it.”

“Go ahead, take credit where credit is due Brogus,” said Milli with a smile and gave the burly dwarf a pat on the back. “Dol here might actually be able to hold onto the Hammer of Fire, but he’s right. We need to figure out what do with it once we take it. I’m not going to join the army on some five year campaign to subdue the southern continent, Corancil or no Corancil. They have nomadic horsemen down there and the desert sun can’t be good for my skin. I’ve lived my life indoors, under the mountain. I see the way dwarves come back from the caravan trades all burned red and peeling.”

“Why not just join up with Corancil?” said Brogus. “He’s already conquered most of the northern realms, Das’von, Stav’rol. They say he’ll be emperor one day, that he’ll control the entire world. If we join him we can be part of all that. The expedition to the southern continent is gathering now. We should join him. You know the High Council will never allow a dwarf army to join him. It really wouldn’t be the hidden city of Craggen Steep if we went marching around the world now would it?”

“No,” replied Dol suddenly using his toneless voice again as he shook his head.

“Where’s that apple?” asked Brogus changing the subject once again and causing Milli to burst out in laughter and the thick jawed dwarf followed. It took Milli and Brogus a few minutes to calm down from this second bout of hysterics, although each time they almost settled, another would trigger more laughter with a small facial movement or even just a little hiccup. They only stopped when the waitress gave them a sour look and refused to come near their table. All the while Dol sat silently and stared at his mug of beer.

“So you’ll do it?” said Brogus, finally calm enough to speak, as he leaned over the table an eager grin on his face and his eyes wide to the point where white showed all around. “You’ll take the hammer and head out with us?”

“Dol, you know if you do it you’ll break your apprenticeship contract. You won’t be allowed back in Craggen Steep unless you can pay your indemnity,” said Milli, her yellow eyes suddenly dark and the bright smile gone.

The short haired dwarf shrugged his shoulders and looked around the room at all the young dwarves who wore advanced apprenticeship badges on their sleeves and then looked at Milli, “You were right earlier, there’s no hope for a half-breed like me, not here at least.”

Milli reached over the table to touch his hand although Dol pulled back and leaned against the back of his seat. “I was too harsh, you know that’s not completely true, Dol. You’re as fine a metal smith as any young man your age. It’s because you’re so useful in the forge that they haven’t promoted you too much, because of your… natural characteristics. You could stay and make a fine living.”

“Shut up, Milli,” said Brogus. “He’s right. We’re all stuck here for life unless we do something bold.”