The Hammer of Fire (26 page)

“We are wasting time here,” said Dol and
continued his pacing with his fingers tapping at the sides of his
legs. “I don’t trust these dwarves. They’ll try to take the hammer.
I see them looking at it.”

Brogus rolled his eyes. “Nobody wants the
hammer. They can’t even hold the thing.”

“They don’t know that,” said Dol and turned
to face Brogus with fiery eyes. “They’re dwarves, you’re a dwarf,
you know how we covet pretty things. They’ll take it from us. Why
do you think they haven’t sent us south yet?”

“And we’ll never see those horses again,”
said Milli suddenly appearing at the door with Petra. She wore a
floral patterned cotton skirt that came to just above her knees and
a lightweight blouse made of a gauzy material that showed a hint of
the slender frame below. Her lips turned down as she thought of the
magnificent horse that she rode across the desert and to the
mountains. “I won’t let them take him or the hammer either, Dol.
Trust me on that.”

Petra, who wore a thick, wool jerkin with
more dwarf-like blacksmith patterns, peered over Milli’s shoulder,
“Hello all.”

“Hi, Petra,” said Brogus barely able to lift
his head from the comfortable pillow. “Did you find out when
they’re going to let us head south?”

“I asked you to find that out, you didn’t ask
me,” said Petra with a shake of her head. “Do you even listen
anymore?”

“Wait a second,” said Brogus as he sat up in
his bed and looked at the old witch. “I was supposed to find out
when they’ll let us leave? When did we start relying on me for
anything?”

Milli snorted out a laugh, “Good point.”

Petra rolled her eyes, “You’re the dwarf. You
can talk to these people.”

“I don’t speak their language any more than
you,” said Brogus. “They don’t even have those stupid spell stones
or whatever. It’s all hand signs and pointing at things. It’s
impossible. Why don’t we just find the horses and leave?”

“How do you propose to get out of the
mountains?” said Petra and looked up at the ceiling, an expression
of exasperation on her face. “This place is a maze, it’s worse than
the tent city of the Black Horsemen.”

“It’s not so bad,” said Brogus and looked
back at his mug of beer. “We head down the main corridor and find
the down shafts. Take them for a bit and then meander around. We’ll
find an exit eventually.”

“Yes, but on what side of the mountain? We
need to head south. That’s what Manetho told us,” said Petra. “If
we come out on the desert side of the mountain then we’re back
where we started.”

“Why can’t Milli find out,” said Brogus with
a shrug. “She’s good at getting boys to give her things.”

“I’ve tried,” said Milli. “I don’t understand
what they tell me. I can’t get answers to questions if I don’t
understand the language. Why didn’t we get one of those translator
stones from Manetho? Why don’t I ever think of anything? What’s
wrong with me?”

Petra put her arm around the young girl, “I
should have thought of that stone as well. We all figured if they
were dwarves that you could speak to each other. I suppose everyone
in the world speaks a different language. When we get to Shandoria,
that is what Manetho called it, when we get to Shandoria we’ll run
into the same problem again.”

“At least they feed us good,” said Brogus and
looked around for the plate of food he left somewhere in the
room.

“Brogus,” said Milli with a sharp voice. She
walked over to him on the bed and slapped him on the top of the
head. “You start walking around and figure out this place. Find a
map or something. I’ll find the horses and then we’ll make a break
for it.”

“Ok,” said Brogus with a little wobble of his
head. “I can do that.”

“Can do what?” said Milli.

“What you said,” said Brogus.

“What was that?” said Milli.

“What was what?” said Brogus.

Milli closed her eyes, “What I just told you
to do.”

“When?” said Brogus.

“Just now, what did I tell you to do that you
agreed to do?”

“Oh,” said Brogus, “that. About finding a map
so we can get out of here.”

“Good,” said Milli. “I thought maybe you
didn’t hear me.”

“Why did you think that?” said Brogus.

“By Davim, shut up!” said Dol glaring at the
three of them. “I can’t think with all this noise. I’ll see you
later,” he finished and stormed out of the room, slamming the door
behind him.

“Do you notice he’s a little … angry lately?”
said Milli to Brogus and Petra.

“I don’t know how he was before,” said Petra
and shrugged but also looked at the floor.

“Cool, calm, he always thought things
through, right, Brogus?” said Milli as she looked at the closed
door that Dol slammed behind him. The dwarves of this mountain
built in much the same manner as those of Craggen Steep although
not as grandly. In the hidden citadel the ancient hallways, built
by elementals, were far more glorious than any she had thus far
seen here but perhaps there was even more to the place than had
already been revealed.

“Slow moving,” said Brogus. “He always
thought things through; too much I used to tell him, he’s like a
tree that way.”

“But he’s not anymore,” said Milli. “That’s
my point. Right, Petra? You’ve seen him. He’s rash now, angry, in a
hurry to get to the five volcanoes. He wasn’t like this
before.”

Petra shrugged her shoulders, “He has a quest
now, what did Manetho call it, a See. In the past, once he made up
his mind, did he move quickly then?”

Milli thought about it for a little while and
then shrugged her shoulders and nodded her head, “I suppose so.
Once he gets moving he’s active enough. But he still doesn’t seem
the same. I’ve never seen him get angry before. Not really angry
like this.”

“He’s out of Craggen Steep,” said Petra and
patted the girl on the back. “He’s in a new place. It’s bound to
make anyone a little a different. I wouldn’t worry about it. He’s
still steady enough.”

“I suppose,” said Milli with a little sigh.
“Now, Brogus, we’re relying on you to figure this place out, to get
us out of here. I’ll find the horses. They have to be somewhere
outside right? They need grass to eat and that doesn’t grow
underground.”

“They could feed them mushrooms,” said Brogus
and blinked lazily twice.

“These aren’t stupid mules,” said Milli with
a starry look in her eyes. “These are desert stallions. They don’t
eat mushrooms.”

Brogus shrugged, “Did you get any more
beer?”

Milli put her hands on her hips and stared at
him, “Weren’t you supposed to be doing something?”

Brogus looked at her with a puzzled
expression on his face, “Like what?”

“Like finding us a way out of this place. You
can’t be this stupid.”

“How long have you known me?” said Brogus and
squinted at her.

“Okay, you can be this stupid but here’s
something for you. If you don’t figure a way to get out of this
place and back on the road then Dol will start to get very upset
and he’s not going to take it out on me or Petra!”

“That’s true,” said Brogus pursing his lips
and looking keenly at the halfling girl. He rolled on his side,
back and forth, gaining momentum and then finally fell out of the
bed and landed on the stone floor with a thump. “Aha!” he shouted,
sprang to his feet, and looked eagerly around the room. “Now,” he
lifted the bottom edge of a dark painting on the wall that depicted
a massive rat-like creature with a bunch of baby rats scattered
around at its feet and looked behind it, “any map here?”

Milli shook her head, rolled her eyes, and
turned to Petra. “We’ll be here forever.”

“You let them escape!” Tahnoon glared at
Manetho and at the snap of a finger two fearsome warriors with sand
scarred face drew long knives and approached. A hundred nomadic
horsemen were in their saddles all around the Broken Pyramid
although there was no sign of the Black Rider; the sun stood high
in the sky its tremendous heat bearing down on them.

Manetho shrugged, “What real value did they
offer, Tahnoon?”

“That is not for you to say,” spat out the
rotund nomad as he shook his finger in the face of wizard as sweat
and spittle rained down. “You are a servant of Sheikh Ming; you are
a servant to me. You will follow my orders and they were,
specifically, to hold the prisoners here so that we might
interrogate them away from the city.”

“You meant to torture them,” said Manetho
with a steady expression on his face.

“So what if I did?” said Tahnoon and stomped
his foot onto the hard packed sand around the pyramid. “It is my
decision as how to dispose of prisoners, not yours. You allowed a
terrible danger to the Black Horsemen to escape. I might well call
you a traitor to our people.”

“Your decision?” said Manetho with raised
eyebrows. “I think not.”

“You dare!” screamed Tahnoon and raised his
hand to the two warriors who moved quickly to the side of Manetho
with knives in hand. Their eyes watched the wizard closely although
they did not make any move to restrain him. “I can have you killed
right now. These are my nephews and they will obey my every
command.”

“The bonds of family are strong among our
people,” said Manetho, “this is true. However, if you order them to
kill me then you will live with the consequences. I will be dead
and beyond the punishment of Black Rider. You, on the other hand,
will not.”

Tahnoon’s face seemed to contract on itself
with a terrible grimace and spittle danced on his lips as he gazed
at the wizard. “I should do it just to see the surprise on your
face when the knife slides into your flesh.”

Manetho stood quietly.

“Have it your way then,” said Tahnoon,
spitting on the sand and dragging his left boot through it. “You
will have to face Ming and explain yourself. He will be here within
the day.”

“I am prepared to do so. Now, if you do not
mind, I have work to attend,” said Manetho who gave a short little
bow and walked towards a yellow tent with a red banner depicting a
black horse flapping in the strong desert breeze.

“It’s good to be on the trail again,” said
Milli as her long blonde hair flew out behind her.

“You have me to thank for that,” shouted
Brogus over the wind that danced past them as their horses galloped
over the grassy plains.

“I don’t think we’ll ever hear the end of
that,” yelled Petra with a wide smile on her face as her own horse
cantered up near the two.

Milli laughed and it sounded like musical
accompaniment to the thundering of the hooves along the turf as
both the witch and Brogus immediately joined in. Dol rode his own
steed a dozen yards away his eyes fixed ahead and apparently
unaware of the merriment of the others.

Ever since their escape from the dwarf
stronghold they rode south towards the lands of Shandoria as
indicated on the map that Brogus somehow managed to connive away
from a gullible young dwarf maiden. The map, while certainly
colorful and filled with hints of danger, did not have an accurate
legend which they discovered when it took them five days to travel
between two landmarks that appeared right next to each other. At
the time they thought that meant their journey was far from over,
but they encountered the next landmark within hours and this was
yet further away on the map. This left the foursome in a complete
quandary as to the actual distance remaining in their journey. The
map indicated a large town called Ndra lay somewhere ahead but two
other mapped towns already failed to materialize and Milli, more
than once, expressed an interest in throwing the thing away.

Nevertheless, the group charged over the
plains on their desert horses at a tremendous clip and all with
smiles on their faces except Dol. Late in the afternoon they
stopped near a fast-flowing creek and Petra got out some fishing
gear she had thought to pack so long ago. She walked a ways
upstream while Drogus and Milli unpacked the horses and set up
camp. Dol, as was his want of late, simply sat by the fire and
watched the flames flickering and dancing.

Brogus looked over at Dol and motioned in
that direction with a nod of his head, “He’s at it again.”

Milli glanced over her shoulder at Dol as she
continued to unpack the horses, “What do you want to do about
it?”

Brogus shrugged his shoulders and raised his
eyebrows, “I don’t know. I’m the one who got us out of Temin, you
figure it out, Milli.”

“He’s so intense now, I mean, he was always
quiet, a thinker, but now there is a look in his eyes. I make up
excuses not to talk to him,” said Milli, her finger coming to her
lip as she began to chew on the nail. “He’s scary now and he never
lets go of the hammer. Do you think it could be … influencing
him?”

Brogus shrugged, “I don’t know. Could be,
maybe not though. I know some powerful weapons are said to be able
to corrupt the soul.”

“I know, I know,” said Milli shaking her head
and tossing her long hair. “Fine, you keep unpacking and bring out
the fish pans, Petra will catch something for sure. She’s good at
that kind of thing.”

“The fish are different here,” said Brogus as
Milli walked towards the fire.

“What was that?” she said and turned to look
at the stout dwarf.

“Nothing,” he replied and continued to
rummage around in the saddle bags. “You’d think after doing this
ten times I’d know where everything was.”

“Hey Dol,” said Milli taking a seat on her
haunches next to the dour dwarf. “See anything interesting?”

Dol tore his gaze away from the flames for a
moment and looked at the pretty halfling girl, “It’s beautiful, the
fire. I never really noticed before. The way the flames dance and
weave.”

“I’ve never known you to be poetic, Dol,”
said Milli and put her hand on his back. “Is this a new side of
you?”