Death Or Fortune (4 page)

    
Our first real day together and we were nearly finished by a molithin.  A
magical creation brought about by mages looking for an easier way to dig
tunnels.  A type of giant mole that can dig with the use of its massive
claws and it also has the ability to produce acids from one of its many
stomachs to deal with dense rock or metals.  While in most cases a
molithin is harmless, it can be highly aggressive if startled.  It will
stand on its rear legs and charge at what it deems as a threat, while waving
it’s claws and letting out a high pitched cry.  Doing the first thing I
could think of, I thrust my sword into the belly of the creature.  I then
watched as my sword blade started to disintegrate in my hand from the acids in
the creatures’ stomach.  Soon the only part left of my weapon was the
hilt.  The only thing worse than watching my sword blade dissolve in the
dying creature was watching Pare pet the molithins head while in the final
moments of its life.
     After a bit of heated discussion we decided to head
back to town for the night, get new equipment as needed, get a good night’s
rest and head back before dawn. Hetaron also wanted to see the area where the
bodies were found, we had passed it on the way to the ruins.  More than
anything, I needed to find a new sword. I did not mind using the weapon Hans
gave me but I did not feel right using it. Almost as if I was not worthy. 
He told me it was older than the hills and well loved. Why he had it with him I
didn't know at the time. Today I could tell you that it had been passed down
from father to son for over five hundred years and Hans was the last of his
line.  The day Hans enters into the final embrace of death, he will carry
that sword with him.

    
We left Hans and Pare at the inn once we returned to town.   Hetaron
and I were going to the market district.  His master ran a shop there and
I needed to find a blacksmith with weapons on hand.  There was some kind
of buzz in the streets.  People were rushing about, speaking to each other
in hushed tones.  As if they had said the wrong thing to loudly they would
have been carried off.  Which looking back wasn't far from wrong.  I
on the other hand was oblivious, for the moment.  Hetaron pointed out a
blacksmith's shop that he had seen the day before.  For some reason he
insisted that I wait for him to return before going back to the inn again.
 I waved him off but agreed to wait, he was in a queer mood and I did not
really care why.  In those early days he was worse than a woman.

    
The shop I found myself in was dark and warm.  Very warm as if I was in
the same room as the blacksmith's forge.  Not that it was but Boris kept
his shop and home very warm at all times. Weapons and armor lined the walls of
the shop, each displayed with great love and care.  If not a little low to
the ground.  Boris Sparkcatcher was the first and only dwarf I had met
since I had arrived in Arcadia.  I can tell you today that he is beyond
all doubt the finest blacksmith in the entire sister kingdoms but he is crazy
as a loon.  Once I told him what I was looking for he showed me around the
shop.  Pointing out each weapon, telling me their names, where the ore had
come from and the day he first started to shape the blade.  All of them
fine weapons but not quite what I was looking for.  When he asked me which
one it would be I took my coin pouch out and set it on his counter and told him
I was looking for something special.

    
Once he stopped laughing at me he saw that I had meant what I said. I explained
to him that I was on a mission from the king, small lie but he didn't need to
know that.  I then took the hilt of my now destroyed blade out and showed
it to him.  He quickly took it from me and licked the melted end of the
blade. ‘
Damned diggers always eat the good ore.’
He quickly dropped down
a trap door behind the counter and told me to hold fast.  Hetaron came in
near the same time and told me to hurry up.  He said he had to show me
something.  At that moment I thought he might want to show me a group of
children he sacrificed to some dark god.  Boris came back as fast as he
went down the hole.

    
"Here we go.  Five years ago I was out at night for a bit of sport on
Lake Gill.  The fish in town is almost never fresh.  I had just laid
my line in the water and took a good long pull of my ale when I saw it.
 At first I thought I had fallen asleep and I was seeing the coming of
dawn.  The light lit up the surface of the lake as if it was ready to give
birth to the sun.  Then it got closer.  A great ball of fire was
coming towards me from the heavens.  I thought my world was about to end.
 Then it touched down in the water.  Steam erupted like a geyser from
a hot spring.  A hundred feet in the air if not higher.  After an
hour I could see a warm orange glow under the water, not far from shore.
 Dead fish had started to wash up, I knew my stomach was going empty that
night but I did not care.  I took my fishing pole and rammed it in the
soft ground on the edge of the lake pointed towards the rock.  I sprinted
back to my home.  I would need my wagon and horses.  It took me the
better part of the whole next day to secure the great space rock.  For
over a year I worked on the ore found in that rock. Any one less skilled than I
would have wasted it.  It was another two before I could shape it into
something I could use.  Today I give you the Nameless Blade, forged from
that great space rock.  It will never go dull, never rust and never fail
you."

    
I was impressed but he also told me after that story that no one in town would
buy it from him.  No matter how low he drove the price, not a soul would
touch it.  They thought the dwarf was insane or not far from it. 
Many folks would not deal with him at all. Some of the human vendors in the
area spoke badly of his work, even if he was better than most.  Not that I
knew this at the time, I was lost in his story, holding the blade, looking over
every inch of it.  I wasn't sure if I would have enough so I asked him how
much he wanted for it and set the blade back on the table.  He asked for
three hundred gold pieces, which was most of what I had, not that I let him
know that.  When I felt Hetarons hand on my arm, so cold was his touch I
felt as if my soul was being sucked into a grave.  He pushed in front of
me and waved a hand over the length of the blade, it began to give off a faint
purple light and then it grew dim.  He turned to me and said "
pay
him whatever he wants
".  His rotten breath had nearly made me
sick but I nodded my head.  I gave Boris what he asked for and told him if
the blade was true I would come to him again.  To this day, he has taken
more of my gold than anyone else in the world.  I trust him that much
today.  The Nameless Blade rested on my hip for many days after that.
 Never before had I held a finer weapon.

    
Once the money had changed hands and the blade was mine Hetaron was rushing me
out the door. "
You must see this
" he kept telling me.  We
were in the lords’ district as I know it today. Rushing through the crowds,
pushing people aside to keep moving.  I had not thought that Hetaron
possessed this much fire.  Soon we were moving past the people as a snake
does blades of grass.  Pressed all around yet we still moved on, never
slowing down.  Before long we stood in front of the king’s castle.
 There in front of the gates was Captain Nikle, trying to calm the people
who were asking him questions.  He had more than a dozen of the city guard
standing with him. I then saw inside the gates, Captain Turk, Man-at-arms to
the king and leader of his personal guard.  I going to ask just what it
was I was supposed to be seeing when I felt him tugging my arm again. "
This
way
" is all he had to say.
     He took me around to the north side of the castle and
pointed towards the wall.  An even larger group of people was standing
here, most of them whispering amongst their selves.  A squad of the city
guard was standing near the wall, holding back the people from getting too
close to the wall.  I've seen many things in my time but none of them
stand out as much as this one single moment.  Giant red letters, fifteen
feet tall.

S.O.M.A.
      It was written in drying blood on the castle
wall.  Each one of the dots was a head once you looked close enough.
 Held to the wall with an iron spike driven into the mouth.  Two of
the heads were children, one a woman.  Who could have done such a thing,
we did not know.  What did SOMA stand for, we had no clue.  How did
they do this without being seen, we know today but not so then.  I can
feel my bile rising again as I write this, as it did on that day.  When I
could no longer stand to look, we turned to leave.  Once we tracked down
Hans and Pare we told them of what we had seen.  We all agreed that
instead of going back to the ruins we would seek out Turk and see what he had
to tell us if he would see us at all.

    Later that night
as I lay in my bed I heard Hetarons voice.
"My master has seen what is
coming and he is planning to escape.  I don't know how long I will stay
with you, I promise nothing.  Death is coming to Arcadia Kromwell, mark my
words death is coming for them all. "

     At first
light the four of us made our way to the office of Captain Turk. We were made
to wait outside and from the sound of the voices screaming at each other it was
clear that Turk had his hands full. Three voices, all of them angry. Three
voices, none of them giving ground to the other. The guard at the door looked
like he was about to come undone. I started to make a comment about how we were
wasting time when I heard a fourth voice, not from inside but from beside me.
     Hans was lost in prayer. I do not know what he was
asking from his god but when he raised a single finger, pointed to the guard
and said "
Walk"
, I got a slight chill.  As if he was
being pulled by a string he walked away, not looking back and without a care in
the world.  Hans then tucked his holy symbol back inside of his robes and
made a break for the door.  His god was clearly with him at this moment.
You could feel the power rolling off him in waves.  I was a step behind
him as we walked into the chambers of Captain Turk.
     Turk was standing behind his desk, Captain Nikle was
on the other side.  The two of them were nose to nose over a pile of
papers screaming at each other until we walked in. To the left of Turk but
behind the desk still was another man. Uniformed as another of the Kings guard,
today I know his name was Hogan Rothchild.  I would not know this until
three days later.  His face was red, filled with rage and all of it
directed at Nikle.  For a moment, one small moment I thought for sure Turk
was going to have his man attack us.  I stepped forward, gave a quick
salute and told them I was there to give a quick report on our status.  I
kept speaking so as to take their minds off what they had been saying to each
other.  Yes, someone was using the old ruins. Repairs had been made to
several sections.  New doors were placed in various areas, we slaughtered
near thirty goblins.  None would talk but they were working for humans.
 We had only scouted out a small section. Supplies would be needed to
finish.
     Then I asked about the art work that was left on the
north wall of the king’s castle. It was all I had the breath to ask about.
"Kromwell,
come see me within the hour"
was all Nikle said to me and then he
turned and left the room.  He slammed the door we just had rushed in on
his way out. I then turned and looked into the eyes of a man whose world had
been turned upside down.  I could see the fear in his eyes.  Fear of
the unknown, fear of not knowing what was to come.  If he did not know,
neither did the king.  He let out one long breath and asked if we knew
anything more about who was in the ruins.  I could feel the hair on the
back of my neck stand as Pare's voice filled the room.
    
"Oh I know, he is a big mean wizard. No
offence Hetaron. He comes and goes at all hours and for the life of me I can't
track him. One minute he is there, the next he is gone. I suppose that is a
wizardly thing to do but it seems rather rude. Oh and he likes big locks, hot
locks, burn fingers and melted my good picks..."
Each word came out of
his mouth faster than the one before it. When his little face started to turn
red I clamped my hand down on his shoulder and reminded him of his need to
breath a bit more. The embarrassment I felt was only mirrored by the puzzled
look on Turks face. I tried to assure him that we had seen no wizard but I
wasn't even sure he understood what Pare had been talking about.
    
"If this were normal times I would march my
men out there, clean the place out myself and be done with the whole mess. As
you can see, this is far from normal times. I dare not let one of my men go.
The safety of the king and the throne is my highest priority. The windbag Nikle
will also not send a single man. He thinks this is all a ruse of some kind and
thinks the city may be attacked. If that was the case my scouts would have
reported troop movements to me. Problem is that I don't expect a single man to
report back in for another week. So as of this moment, you are all we have
Kromwell. I want you to go see a friend of mine. More of a mentor really,
Arturo will give you all the supplies you need. Give him this."
Turk
handed me a ring unlike anything I had seen before.  A steel ring with a
crest, two crossed swords with blades of red under a single crown. There was
some kind of writing under the blades but age had made it impossible to read.
As I looked down at the ring in the palm of my hand a feeling began to rise in
me. Something I had never felt before, trust. I then looked Captain Turk in the
eye and saluted him in earnest.
     Captain Nikle was another story. He wanted us gone,
told us to forget about the ruins and to return to our inn. He would summon us
when he required our service. I still held the ring in the palm of my hand,
clenched tight in my fist. I did not trust Nikle. He thought he was better than
us, better than Turk. There was a clear division between the city and royal
guard. It started here with him. When we left his office there was no question
on what we would be doing.  Ignoring everything he said and going to see
this friend of Turk's.
     The first time we entered the shop of Arturo Son of
Agathar is a day I will never forget for as long as I live. As sure as I am
breathing today, this man was a hero. Well more than twice my age Arturo had an
air about him that demanded respect and honor.  Not that he expected it,
you wanted to give it to him.  I only hope that I can inspire someone the
way he did me.  It told him who we were and why we were there.  I
then handed over the ring that Turk had given me. As he looked at it something
passed over his face.  As if he was transported to another time and
another place.  He said only one thing in that moment.
"This does
not bode well."
     He was quick to give us whatever it was that we
wanted.  He opened the store to us and gave us free pickings.  Once
we had everything we wanted and packed them onto our horses I took a moment to
look around.  This is why I came here.  This is what I wanted.
 I was doing something with my life, something my father had no control
over.  I was making a difference in the world.  I thanked Arturo for
everything and told him I would see him soon.  Still not sure why I did
that but I knew we would be spending quite a bit of time together, I wanted to
know him.  We arrived back at the ruins without incident, without seeing
another soul.  As we once again descended down the old stairs I took one
last look back at the sky and then at each of my friends.  They were ready
as was I.  We did not see the sky again until three days later.