The Hekamon

By

Leo T. Aire

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Copyright © 2016 of the author

Alyssa searched the earth around her, feeling for any
sign of it. "Kormak, where is it?" She whispered.

"I don't know, more leaves have fallen since the
last time I was here, keep looking."

The two of them continued to search through the dead
leaves and twigs. It wasn't helping that they had nothing more than
starlight to search by.

"Is this it?" she whispered, as
her hand closed around something solid and cold to the touch.

Her brother scrambled over to where she was crouching.

"Yes," he replied, taking the ring from her,
before trying to stand and raise the door, but without success.
"Move."

Alyssa hadn't just found the trapdoor, she was standing
on it, and obligingly stepped to one side so her brother could try
and lift it again. This time it did start to rise, dislodging the covering of earth and leaves to reveal a dark hole the
ground.

Kormak held the door open and looked around furtively.
Then, with a subtle movement of his hand, he motioned for her to enter.
Alyssa shook her head, the way looked forbidding and she was
reluctant to go first. Seeing her reaction, Kormak nodded his
understanding.

"I'll lead, hold it for me."

Alyssa took the weight of the door and looked on, as her
brother moved to the edge and dropped
down into the darkness below.

Once in, he paused to give her a moment
to size up its depth, which, at six feet, was as deep as
he was tall. Before turning, crouching down and crawling into
the tunnel, disappearing from view as he went.

A whispered voice came out of the darkness, "Follow
me."

Overcoming a strong urge not to, Alyssa climbed in, and
immediately saw why her brother had suggested she go first. Squeezing
herself under the closing trapdoor, she had to bear its full weight,
firstly on her shoulders, then her head. It proved awkward but she
managed.

With the door closing above her, what little light there
had been faded to black, while the dull thud of it shutting was their
signal to move on. The shuffling sound ahead of
her was her brother crawling along, and she followed.

Moving on hands and knees, Alyssa felt her way in the
darkness. Bare, compacted soil beneath and wooden beams above, held
up by posts on either side. She took care not to bump the
support posts as she went by them, as even the gentlest touch seemed
to disturb the earth and threaten a collapse of the tunnel.

After crawling for a minute,
there came the sound that signaled they'd reached the other
end. It was the sound of knocking.

Three times Kormak knocked, and each time
Alyssa felt a drizzle of earth rain down on her.

It was followed by silence.

She heard her brother shift uneasily and understood his
apprehension all too well. It would be more than a little difficult for them to
turn around in this tight space and after coming this far they
didn't want to have to go back now.

In the darkness, Alyssa sensed her brother was trying
move whatever it was blocking their way, by pushing and leveraging
his weight against it, seemingly without success.

Her brother
knocked again, on what she could only imagine to be a door,
presumably one in the more usual upright position, and much more
loudly this time. Each bang bringing down a flurry of soil, small
stones and
things
.
What things, Alyssa tried not to think about, but they scurried away
quickly, much to her relief.

Still no response.

"I'll try louder," he called back to her, perhaps
warning her to expect an even earthier shower of detritus from above,
but she stopped him.

"Wait, I can hear something."

From beyond the barrier ahead of them, there came the
sound of movement; a door opening, footsteps on a stone floor,
followed by the faint click of latch. This sound heralding the
unlocking of the small hatch that had been obstructing the tunnel, which opened
to reveal a dimly lit space beyond.

Alyssa's view of what lay ahead was obscured by her
brother, but as he shuffled out of the tunnel and into the room
before them, she could start make out a few details.

The logs that
were stacked up against the far wall, a scattering of sawdust and
wood chips on the floor, showed it to be a woodshed.

"Come in, come in," came the insistent voice
of a man, beckoning them inside.

From her position in the tunnel, only the man's legs
were visible and she saw him step back, so Kormak could shuffle into the woodshed and stand.

"And your sister?"

"Yes, this is Alyssa," her brother said,
helping her out so she could stand as well.

Once at her full height, she was almost as tall as her brother, and the pair of them towered over the small, portly man who
greeted them. She untangled some twigs from her long brown hair,
before exchanging greetings with the balding man.

"Pleased to meet you, Alyssa. I'm Tansley, trader
in goods for the discerning and percipient traveler, happy to be at
your service," the man said, picking some dead
leaves out of her hair.

"Hello," she replied shyly, dusting off her
clothes.

The close-fitting, woolen jacket and tights she wore were
warm, but they attracted much to them that she would like to brush
off.

At least the mottled green and brown color of her
clothing didn't show the dirt much. If anything it improved the
camouflage, an attribute that was just as important to her as the
warmth they provided.

Kormak, similarly attired, also dusted himself down. While the tradesman closed the hatchway to the tunnel, before leading
them into the main part of the trading post and over to a counter on
the far side of the room.

"So," Tansley said, "do you have…?"

Wordlessly, Kormak reached inside his jacket and
produced a rabbit skin pouch. He examined it momentarily, before
handing it to the merchant. Tansley smiled, took the pouch and opened
it.

Inside were a number of clay vials, each one about the size of
the man's thumb. They were covered with gauze and fastened with
string.

The merchant took each vial and carefully
sniffed every one in turn, checking the runic writing on each as he
did so. Alyssa doubted that the man could read the runes, but he
seemed proficient at determining the contents by smell alone. Not
that it required much skill, the odors were distinctive enough.

"Well this seems to be in order," Tansley
said, seemingly satisfied that the agreed to herbs and quantities
were there. He closed the fur pouch and placed it on the wooden
counter. "So, what can I interest you in?"

Alyssa noticed that her brother had started to allow his
eye to wander around the shelves of merchandise. He'd already told
her what to expect from his earlier visits, and by the light of the
lantern hanging from the ceiling, she could see that the room was
much as he had described.

Oak beams and floorboards, with a counter in one corner
and next to it, two doorways. One that lead into a hallway while
another was curtained off. Along the walls, there were shelves of all
manner of worn leather armor, while racks beneath them held various
types and styles of weapons, mostly rusted steel and patinated
bronze.

Since her brother was here to find equipment for their
patrol, there was good chance he would find the kind of items he was
looking for, if not the quality.

"I'm looking for some pauldrons, swords and maybe
helmets, oh and bracers, too." Kormak said.

The man gave a friendly laugh and tapped the bag, "It
may not stretch that far but let's see what deal we can put
together."

"Okay, let's start with the swords."

"Swords? Gladius, spatha, krefeld, anything
particular in mind?" Tansley asked, before leading Kormak over
to the other side of the hut, where a few racks of some rusty and worn
swords rested forlornly.

Alyssa watched, as her brother picked up a sword and held
it for a moment, before putting it back, seemingly unimpressed.
Seeing his reaction, the tradesman selected a different weapon.

"Try this one," he said, handing it to Kormak,
"Its nicely balanced, don't you think?"

With the pair of them beginning what Alyssa expected to
be a long conversation about the merits of curved blade against
straight, she started to make her own way around the trading post.

On the long walk here, her brother had told her about
the correct trading post etiquette on this part of the Regis Highway.
About how not to touch things, and to leave the talking and
negotiating to him.

So she dutifully walked around quietly, keeping a
respectful distance from the halberds, pauldrons, greaves and other
military paraphernalia this trading post seemed to specialize in.

She was about to move back to where Tansley and her
brother were talking, and feign interest in their discussion, when
something caught her eye.

At first glance, the brown leather bag sitting on a low
shelf didn't seem particularly intriguing. The cracked and crumbling leather
suggested that, whatever it contained, it might be even older than all
the other worn and rusty pieces on display. Maybe it was the emblem
of an eagle embroidered with great detail, or the fine silver thread
that gave particular prominence to its talons. Whatever it was, Alyssa
had a feeling the bag contained something important.

Leaning forward to take a closer look, her silver
necklace slid out from the top of her jacket. She felt it move and
reached up and held it with one hand, while stretching out with the
other to touch the bag.

Alyssa
was instinctive by nature, and trusted her intuition above all
else.
This was
something.
It
seemed the merchant was intuitive, too.

"Can I help you there, miss?" She heard him
say, interrupting Kormak in the process and walking over to her.

Her brother gave her a look of irritation, which turned
to one of curiosity when she gave him a defiant look back. They both
knew she had an uncanny knack for finding things, and this was a
find.

"Can I see what's in the bag?" she asked
politely, while slipping her necklace back inside her jacket as
the merchant approached.

"Ah, this was just in today." Tansley replied,
his gaze shifting from her necklace to the bag, which he picked it up by its
strap and carried over to the counter. "A Coralainian gentleman,
heading north, stopped by to offload some heavy and unwanted armor in
his possession. He sold me this to lighten his load and raise some
money for lodgings and the like on his journey." Tansley
unbuckled the bag and opened it.

"An impressive pair of gauntlets, don't you think?"

Their appearance immediately aroused her curiosity.
These were unlike any of the other surplus and unwanted cast-offs
that filled the shelves of this trading post.

The man had called them
gauntlets but she would call them iron grippers. With expertly
embroidered leather, exquisitely engraved metal carapaces and
inscription adorned straps. Undoubtedly a military item, but
beautiful, too.

"How much?" Kormak asked, so quickly, and so
insistently, that he gave up any chance of negotiating a fair price.
She shot him a glance at his clumsiness, but her brother only had
eyes for the iron grippers.

"Not so fast." Tansley chided gently, "If
this is all you've got," he said, patting the bag of herbs, "you
don't have enough."

"How much?" Kormak said again, looking
intently at the storekeeper who seemed to be making some mental
calculations, while her brother did likewise.