Mighty Hammer Down (20 page)

Rommus pushed open the heavy wooden
door and went inside. A man sat behind a desk that was covered in
papers and books and a large map. It was a familiar
face.

"Commander Soterus, it’s good to see
you again."

The man finished writing on one of the
papers before he looked up. "Rommus, where have you been? Your
father asked each Legion’s Commander to come to you for weapons to
arm a team of assassins. No one could find you"

"Assassins from each Legion? Why would
you need so many of them? That must be almost 100
people."

"You’ll have to ask your father that,
Tirinius. I am busy planning to ride to war. What is it you have
come here for?"

"War? What are you talking about?
We’re going to war?"

“
20,000 of us are, and
another 20,000 will ride behind us. I am here to gather troops and
then we ride to aid the Vindyri in their war against the Bhoors. We
ride before midday today."

"This is all news to me. Send a rider
to my father and tell him that he is free to take whatever weapons
he needs from my forge, but I don’t think there’s nearly enough to
arm that many men. Maybe half of them."

"I will do that. Now what brings you
here?"

"Well I had a run-in with some Mages
and I am in need of a shirt, a scabbard to fit this sword and some
food if it can be spared." He pulled the sword free and laid it
gently on the desk in front of him.

"Oh my," said Soterus, finally paying
attention to something besides his paperwork, "look at that." He
reached out and touched the flat side of the blade to inspect the
magnificent weapon. "You made this?"

"No, I can’t take credit for this one.
I took it from the Mages. Do you have a scabbard that will fit
it?"

Soterus stared at the weapon in wonder
and only answered when Rommus cleared his throat to get his
attention. "Yes, yes I think so. I have one here that you made to
match one of your swords I have. It has gold trimmings so it would
even compliment this weapon."

"I don’t need anything fancy, just
something to keep me from cutting myself."

"No, no, I insist. Such a sword must
have a beautiful scabbard, and I have others. Besides, if you have
not seen your father then he has not paid you your 20 gold pieces,
and I assume you are not returning to Brinn if you requested a
rider be sent there. I will put it on the books as part of the
payment. May I hold it?"

Rommus looked at the man touching his
sword. He was uncomfortable with the idea, but he trusted the man.
"Yes you can hold it."

Soterus held the sword in his hand and
turned it in the light coming from the open windows. His face was
frozen in a smile as he walked to the cabinet where weapons were
kept. He held up a few of the swords inside to compare sizes and
pulled out the one he wanted. He slipped the sword from the
scabbard and gently replaced it with the golden blade. He walked
back over to Rommus, staring at the hilt the entire time. He held
it out to Rommus and he took it from him.

"Rommus you must make me a sword like
this. I will pay almost any amount. Perhaps you’re willing to sell
me this one?"

"I don’t think I can bring
myself to part with this one, but I promise if I discover how it is
made, I will make you one
¾
for slightly more than a reasonable
price."

Soterus smiled up at him. "Good
enough. What else did you say you needed?"

"I need a shirt and some food if you
can spare any. Oh and another sword, but nothing fancy."

"Of course you can have one of the
soldier’s tunics. I hope a dark red is okay. As for the food, we
are busy here and no one is preparing any food, but I will pay you
some of what your father was going to pay you so that you can buy
your own. You can have one of the swords from this cabinet, but not
the ones with the gold. Those are my favorites." He opened the
drawer and pulled out a gold coin and few silver coins and handed
them to Rommus.

"Thank you Commander Soterus. Your
help is greatly appreciated."

"Certainly Rommus, just remember your
promise. Is there anything else I can do for you?"

Rommus pulled one of the swords from
the Commander’s cabinet. It was one he had made a few years
earlier. "No, I think that’s all. Oh, tell the rider to tell my
father that I had trouble with Mages, but I am unharmed. I won’t be
returning to Brinn for a while."

"Certainly Rommus. I will send one
right away."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You didn’t get any food?" Alana said
as she held her stomach in exaggerated discomfort. "I’m surprised I
can still stand up."

"Relax. They didn’t have anything
cooking but I knew the Commander and he gave me some money. It
should be enough for a few weeks or more. Do you like my
shirt?"

She pulled at the fabric and rolled it
in her fingers to examine it. "Yeah it’s nice. I like the red. You
still have the black pants the Mages dressed you in though. I
thought you said that people in Medora don’t wear
black."

"Generally we don’t, but I didn’t want
to be too greedy. A shirt is all I really needed so I’m happy to
have it. Anyway, I have more important news."

She flipped her hair over her shoulder
to avoid having the breeze blow it in her face. "What news is
that?"

"Vindyrion is at war with
Bhoor-Rahn."

Her mouth hung open in shock. "That’s
impossible. I haven’t been gone that long. How could that
be?"

"Well it’s true. The Commander here is
taking 20,000 men into Vindyrion to help fight the Bhoors. They
will leave the city before noon."

"I just can’t imagine it. It has to be
a mistake. The Bhoors have been our allies ever since I can
remember. Why would they attack us?"

"You assume that the Bhoors are the
ones attacking? Perhaps the Vindyri are the ones who started
it."

"Well that doesn’t make sense either.
Why go to war at all when there is peace?"

Rommus ran his hand over the hilt of
his sword. "Because the best time to strike is when your enemy
isn’t looking."

She looked down to the sheathed sword
in his hand. "What’s that?"

"Oh here, I made this for
you."

"Stop it you did not. Where did you
get it?"

He held it out to her. "I really did
make it, but it was years ago. The Commander here gave it to me
when I asked for another sword. I thought that you had better have
something a little longer than that knife."

"Wow, thank you again Rommus. I am
going to have to work hard to repay you for all these things you
have done for me. These soldiers sure are generous to give all this
to you."

"Generous? No. They actually owe me a
lot of money. I just gave the Commander here a message to send to
my father telling him he is free to use all the weapons at my
forge. If they gave me what they owed me, I wouldn’t be able to
walk because of the weight of the gold."

She laughed as she fastened the sword
to her belt. "Well Rommus, which way from here?"

"Well, I think we should stay heading
east since that’s the best route away from Brinn. Luckily for you
the Great Library is on the way, maybe if you behave yourself I’ll
take you there."

She smacked him on his back. "Oh I’ll
be a good little girl, don’t worry. But I really don’t need to see
it if you are in a hurry to leave. I do need to eat though or I am
going to wither away to nothing."

"Actually, maybe we will skip the
library. I feel like we need to leave here as soon as we
can."

"What do you mean? Do you see any
Mages or suspicious people?"

"No, it’s nothing like that. I just
have a feeling. It’s like if I am quiet I can hear a voice on the
wind calling to me."

She cocked her head and gave him a
puzzled look. "Rommus you sound like you just got hit hard on the
head or something. Can you really hear a voice?"

He closed his eyes and listened
carefully. "There’s no voice, don’t worry. I think the incident
with the Mages is just making me want to get away from
Brinn."

Chapter 16

Uritus took out his anger on the items
on the shelf, causing them to crash violently to the floor. He
tried to calm himself by closing his eyes and concentrating on a
new plan, but rage flowed inside his veins and kept him from
thinking clearly. At his feet were countless magical relics from a
forgotten age; some shattered, others intact. None of them mattered
much to him now that he had lost what really mattered. He rested
his head against the empty shelf before him and did his best to
assemble his thoughts into a workable plan.

There wasn’t even anyone to punish.
There were certainly plenty of Mages left in Medora, but the Purple
Mages who had aided him were almost all slaughtered. All of them
did their best to regain control of the situation, but their
attempts were futile. Some of them were destroyed in a blink, their
souls completely obliterated when they were cut with the sword of
Arius. There was nothing left of them but a memory and a few
corpses.

He found himself walking away from the
shelf and towards the door. His frustration at his lack of power
was consuming him. He knew that he needed to move on and make the
best of the situation, but it was difficult now that his plans were
ruined. There was still the Medoran Empire which was to be handed
down to him upon his father’s death, but that wasn’t quite good
enough. He thirsted for more.

He made his way to the throne room
where he intended to pray for forgiveness from Inshae. He had no
idea what his god thought of his feeble attempt, but he hoped that
he would see that he did his best and not punish him too harshly.
He had never seen anyone punished anyway, so he was not all that
concerned. The only people who really suffered were the people who
he himself decided were unworthy. The Mages worshipped him with
almost the same respect as they had for Inshae.

When he got to the throne room, he
felt an odd feeling. He closed the door and locked it, wanting no
interruptions from the nosey Mages wandering the halls. The room
seemed more silent than usual. He felt as if he was being watched,
but after he inspected the shadows, he determined that that was
impossible. He knelt in front of the small altar at the side of the
room and began to pray to his god.

The silence became heavier. He shook
his head thinking his ears were not working properly, but nothing
changed. He refocused on his prayers and tried to ignore the
strange feeling. Curiosity took him, and he opened his eyes to make
sure nothing was abnormal. Something was different. He pulled back
his hood so that he could better see what was going on. Everything
in the room seemed to be swaying, the light flowing in a dreamy
haze around him. He followed the strange current with his eyes to
the opposite wall. There, hovering above the floor was a giant
form, much larger than a man, darker than the blackest skies. His
black robes swayed gently in a wind that Uritus could not feel
himself. His eyes rose to the face, and he saw that he was looking
upon his god for the first time.

"Inshae, my master," he said as he
bowed his head to the floor.

The voice came into his head, not into
his ears.

Rise

Uritus stumbled awkwardly to his feet
before his god. He stared across the room at the empty eyes, not
knowing what to say. Finally he uttered a few words. "Have you come
to punish me, my master?"

The room shook with an unheard
laughter.

I have not come to punish
you. Although you have failed in controlling the god of war, you
have succeeded in other areas.

"But master, without him we may lose
the war."

Your war is of little
importance to me. I support it only because it fits into my plan
for now.

"I am here to serve you, my master.
Your plan is my plan."

Good. There is no reason
to punish you then.

"Did the ritual work? Did killing one
of the Tirinius bloodline kill Arius in the world of the
gods?"

Your ritual worked if your
intentions were only to slay a god. If you meant to control your
puppet god of war, then you have failed. But these are your
troubles, not mine. It matters not if the god of war is Arius or
Tirinius, all that matters is that you connected the world of the
gods with the world of men.

"If I accomplished all you needed,
then why have you come to me?"

I did not say you
accomplished all I needed. You are to serve me for eternity. While
the gods are now able to walk the earth, we cannot yet fully
control things in your world. Other artifacts will need to be found
to enhance our power.

"Tell me where the artifacts are and
you shall have them all."

Oh you simple humans. To
you everything is so easy. In reality I cannot give you the
information you seek.