The Hammer of Fire (28 page)

Dol looked down at the ground and pursed his
lips making a little sucking sound, “She’d be alive.”

“Maybe, maybe not,” said Brogus. “You can’t
see the future any more than I can.”

“I see fiery death for us all,” said Dol.
“You haven’t held the hammer. It was forged in the heart of Craggen
Steep and I feel the heartbeat of Gazadum. I see what waits for us
in the volcano. It’s isn’t life and it isn’t pretty.”

“Then let’s all turn back,” said Brogus
putting his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Or even just stay here
in the south, explore, make a name for ourselves. With that hammer
we’ll be heroes in no time. Why kill ourselves fulfilling the
mission?”

“Because that is what I’ve set out to do and
that is what I will do whether I live or not. I’ll take the hammer,
I’ll battle Gazadum, and I’ll most likely die in the attempt. I
just don’t want you and Milli to die with me.”

“And Petra,” said Brogus.

“And Petra,” replied Dol nodding his head.
“It doesn’t matter to me anymore.” Here he looked up from the fire
and directly at Brogus with his eyes burning a dull red like the
last coal at the center of the fire long after all the rest have
turned to ash. “I know my fate. Now you know as well. Make your own
decision, Brogus.”

“I’ve made my decision,” replied the dwarf
with a broad smile as his hand went to the heavy axe at his side.
“I’m with you, Dol. To the end, wherever that takes us. To the
volcanoes, to Gazadum, to glory, or to death, I’m with you and
there’s nothing that will sway me, not even the fiery gaze of
Gazadum himself, if he is still around, which I doubt anyway.”

“Are you boys done deciding the rest of our
fates yet,” said Milli, suddenly standing over them with her hands
on her rounded little hips and a wry grin on her face. “Petra knows
everything now and she’s going to stay with us. So, Dol, it doesn’t
matter what you think or what you do, we’re coming along all the
way. To the mountains, to Gazadum, to death if that’s where this
road leads. We’re all in this together!”

Brogus rose to his feet and joined Milli and
Petra as they put their hands in the center of the little circle,
“Together until the end,” he said.

Dol sat by the fire and turned his gaze back
towards the flickering flames and said nothing at all.

“We’re lost,” said Cleathelm as the little
road they followed for days eventually trailed into a babbling
creek and did not emerge from the other side. There were only two
of them now that Rogu ate the poison mushrooms. They had left him
on the road yesterday when he proved incapable of going on.

“What difference does it make?” said the
Blaggard with a shrug of his shoulders as he unstrapped a canteen.
“Look, there’s a volcano over there,” he went on while pointing up
and to the right.

“I see it,” said Cleathelm looking in
directly the opposite direction and pointing that way.

“No, over there,” said Blaggard pointing, but
as he tried to correct the dwarf he saw the second volcano also.
“Well, ain’t that spit and vinegar.”

“What?” said Cleathelm and turned to the
little goblin with a scowl.

“That makes two lone volcanoes, at least. I
suppose one of them might be close to the group of five. Which way
should we head?”

“How am I supposed to know?” said Cleathelm
looking back and forth between the two mountains that were nearly
in opposite directions from one another. “This place is
stupid.”

“I see smoke over there,” said Blaggard
pointing in a third direction. “Could be a town, could be more
volcanoes.”

“Even more?” said Cleathelm with a shake of
his head. “We’ll never find Dol and the hammer blundering around
like this.”

“We’re ahead of them, remember that,” said
Blaggard. “That mage said Dol and his group went to the desert
first and from there would have to find their way here. Your uncle
said the First Edos told them about the five volcanoes. One of
those is where Gazadum is hiding. A creature that big can’t keep
hidden for long. People have to know about it. We’ve got time to
find where Gazadum is holed up and then just stake the place out
and wait for Dol and the others to arrive.”

“Yeah, I guess,” said the dwarf and looped
his axe on his belt. “We go that way,” he said pointing towards the
volcano he spotted first.

“Why not head for the smoke?” said Blaggard
looking in the other direction. “It could be a town. They’ll know
if a giant fire elemental is hiding in a volcano nearby, at least
you’d think so.”

“Because I’m in charge,” said Cleathelm and
shoved the little goblin. “We go where I say we go.”

“What about Rogu?” said Blaggard as he
staggered a few steps back from the dwarf but managed to retain his
balance. Blaggard wore heavy leather boots with steel tipped toes
and he thought about a swift kick to the dwarf’s knee but decided
against it. There would be plenty of time to kill Cleathelm in his
sleep and take his gold. Better to bide his time and take the dwarf
down when the odds were more in his favor. He’d seen the coin purse
that Cleathelm carelessly showed back in Das’von to the mage that
sent them through the portal. Out here in the world that kind of
gold could keep him in slaves and girls for many, many years. The
stupid dwarf had no idea of the value of the gold in his pockets.
“If I’m lucky,” thought Blaggard to himself, “someone will kill
Cleathelm for his jewelry and I’ll take the rest.”

“What are you looking at?” said Cleathelm
noting the intent gaze.

“Nothing, I was just wondering about Rogu. He
might get better and catch up to us.”

“No, let’s go.”

“Maybe put down a sign in the grass or
something,” suggested Blaggard digging into the turf with the toe
of his boot. “If Rogu catches up to us he could be of some
help.”

“No, he’s a deader for sure. You saw his face
was all purple. He never should have eaten those mushrooms. You
warned him. He was an idiot anyway, otherwise I would have waited
longer.”

“A well-paid idiot,” murmured Blaggard to
himself. He’d made a private arrangement with Rogu for a fair split
of the money once they got rid of Cleathelm but that was no longer
possible. To add to the misery he’d paid the burly dwarf and
Cleathelm took all the gold and jewelry before they left him to die
beside the road.

“What was that?”

“Nothing,” said Blaggard. “I’m just
thinking.”

“Goblins don’t think,” said the dwarf with a
smirk. “They simply stab in the dark. That’s your job. Stab them
when they ain’t looking.”

“Of course,” said the goblin with a smirk.
“We little goblins must obey our dwarf masters.”

If Cleathelm heard the sarcasm he gave no
indication as such and immediately marched off in the direction of
the first volcano. His heavy wool jerkin and heavy chain armor
immediately began to make their weight felt in the hot sun of the
southern lands and it wasn’t long before he pulled a flask of water
from his hip and guzzled nearly half of it in one massive swig.

Blaggard, wearing only a light leather
jerkin, pulled out a similar flask, took an easy pull from it and
stoppered it carefully back up.

Cleathelm wiped his brow with the container
still open and water slopped out onto his hand and dripped to the
ground, “Blazes hot out here. I don’t remember it being near this
hot on caravan duty especially in the middle of winter.”

“I don’t think it is winter,” said
Blaggard.

“Of course it’s winter, you dolt,” said
Cleathelm with a snort. “Goblins, little heads, little brains. What
else would it be?”

Blaggard shrugged.

Cleathelm got up right in the goblin’s face
and smirked at him, “Was it winter when we left Das’von?”

“Yes,” said Blaggard impassively, he’d
learned that arguing with someone certain of their position and
also absolutely stupid was a losing proposition.

“And somehow you think it magically became
summer?” said Cleathelm with a little shake of his head and a
snort.

Blaggard shrugged.

“How did that happen?” asked Cleathelm.

“The evidence points to it being summer,”
said Blaggard maintaining the quiet tone.

“The evidence points to it being summer,”
mimicked Cleathelm in a nasally sort of voice. “That’s stupid. It
was winter when we left, it’s winter now. How much of a genius does
it take to figure that out?”

Blaggard shrugged again and said quietly,
with little hope of penetrating the thought process of the dwarf,
“The days are long, it’s hot.”

“What was that?” said Cleathelm.

“The days are long. The temperature is hot.
That is evidence that it is summer.”

“I asked you before, dolt, was it winter when
we left Das’von?”

“Yes,” repeated Blaggard.

“There you go,” said Cleathelm. “Once again
the superior dwarf mind comes to the right answer. I don’t know how
anyone could be as stupid as you.”

Blaggard shrugged again, he considered
renewing his argument but decided against it, “I can’t argue with
logic like that.”

“Exactly,” said Cleathelm with a smug smile.
“I can’t believe how stupid you goblins are. It’s not winter, it’s
summer,” he mimicked in a high pitched imitation of the goblin
half-breed.

Blaggard rolled his eyes. “They might have
supplies in the village. Beer.”

Cleathelm stopped and looked back at the
little half-breed goblin and nodded his head, “You have a point
there, my little friend. Just because I’m smarter than you doesn’t
mean you can’t come up with a good idea now and again as long the
concept is simple, like eating and drinking. Just to let you know
there are no hard feelings we’ll head for the town. How does that
sound?”

“Thank you for your generosity and I’m glad
my feeble brain can contribute in some small way,” said
Blaggard.

“Ha! You’re welcome,” said Cleathelm and
slapped the little goblin hard on the back. “You’re quite welcome.
You keep thinking about the little things while I focus on the big
issues. Summer, ha!”

A few hours behind them Uldex and his
companions continued to follow the trail of Cleathelm and his
goblin companion. Uldex now wore a light-weight jerkin purchased
from a small merchant caravan they encountered a day before and
kept his heavy chain shirt well packed. His companions nodded their
heads and the little one gave a grin, “I still think we should just
kill them like we did Rogu and put an end to it. What are we going
to learn by following them except that they’re idiots?”

Uldex shrugged, “We’ve been over this before.
They are to stay alive unless they try to take the hammer.”

“Then why did we kill Rogu?” said the little
dwarf as he licked his thick lips and ran his hand through his
heavy blonde beard.

“He was dead already, poisoned. We were doing
him a favor.”

The little dwarf smiled and closed his eyes
in memory, “It was fun anyway. This old game trail isn’t going
anywhere, Uldex. See the smoke trail from over there, that’s a
village not a volcano. They have to go there. Let’s just head there
and pick up supplies. They’ll catch up to us.”

Uldex stood for a long moment and watched the
smoke wafting gently in the air as he glanced back to his left and
the game trail that Cleathelm and his companion took a few hours
before. “We do need supplies.”

“That’s what I’m talking about,” said the
smaller dwarf with a grin. “Girls too.”

Uldex nodded his head but couldn’t keep his
thoughts from turning to Milli and her golden hair. “Yes, girls
too.”

“I know what you’re thinking,” said the
bigger of Uldex’s two companions.

Uldex shrugged, “Yeah, so?”

“You can’t let that get in the way of our
job. We’re Blackirons and that’s what matters. You’ll have to take
the hammer from Dol eventually, one way or the other.”

“I know,” said Uldex.

“And that means taking it from the halfling
girl as well; she’s with Dol, she hasn’t come all this way to
fail.”

Uldex shrugged again, “You think I don’t know
that?”

The big dwarf moved closer to Uldex and
stared at him directly in the eyes, chin to chin, “You may say you
know it but when push comes to shove you might not have it in you
to do what’s needed. If you don’t, I’ll have to do it.”

Uldex stared back his dark eyes glowing with
intensity, “You’ll do what I tell you to do and nothing more.”

“I’ve got orders from Borrombus that you
don’t know anything about,” said the stout dwarf not backing down
an inch from the baleful glare.

“You’ll do what I say, when I say it,” said
Uldex as the two glared at each other nose to nose.

“Not necessarily,” said the dwarf with a
little shake of his head.

“Cross me if you dare,” said Uldex and put
his hand on the long knife at his side.

The big dwarf tilted his head down so that
his eyes looked at Uldex from under his heavy brow and gave a low
snort, “You think I won’t?”

“I hope you will,” replied Uldex.

They stared at each for a long moment before
the big dwarf made as to turn around but then grabbed at his axe
and spun towards Uldex with the blade whistling towards his
head.

Uldex took a step forward and bumped heavily
into the chest of his opponent which forced the axe to swing behind
his head and his opponent’s wrist to smash into his skull.

“Aaghh,” said the big dwarf and took half a
step backwards and prepared to swing again. That’s when he noticed
Uldex’s fist under his chin and felt the searing pain of the dagger
that had just penetrated his lower jaw and pierced his brain pan
from below. Uldex raised his left hand to control the weapon hand
of his opponent which began to spasm rhythmically and then lowered
the big dwarf slowly to the ground.

“You’ll remember I didn’t intervene, Uldex,”
said the small dwarf as he stood behind Uldex, his own axe in his
hand.