Mighty Hammer Down (10 page)

"Seven men were unable to defeat two?
And one of them a woman?"

"I don’t know what happened, it was
all a blur. This Tirinius is no amateur. He is strong and quick.
The girl fought with a passion I have never seen
before."

"You fool. He saw your hooded men on
the road to the cliffs, and you attack him again under hood and
cloak? Are you so stupid as to not know that the best tactic is to
attack him without the conspicuous robes?"

"I’m sorry Red Master. I did not think
to do that. We needed to hide our swords."

"And what reason have you for
attacking him next to the busiest street in Brinn?"

"He is hard to track, Master. He
leaves the city and goes into hiding for hours, often in darkness.
We have no way of knowing where he will be at any time, day or
night."

Uritus let his rage flow
into the room. The torches began to burn hotter and brighter, as if
the room felt him flexing his anger. The man in front of him and
even his two silent guards began to quake with fear. This was the
first time Uritus showed anyone that he had control of
magic
¾
real magic.

A small smile came to his face beneath
his hood as he realized how much he frightened this man. He was
loyal, and did whatever he was told, but he had failed him on the
most important task in the history of the Mages. He had to make an
example of this man if he was ever to command the full respect of
his followers.

"Blue Master," he said quietly, "you
have failed me. You have not completed the simple task of cutting
the flesh of one man. The sword only required you to graze his skin
with the blade, and you could not do even that. You did not think
to remove your robes, thereby alerting Tirinius to your intentions.
You were given a great honor, and you have disgraced yourself and
this Order. I hereby sentence you to death beyond pain. I shall
send you directly to Inshae. Perhaps he will be able to find a
better use for you." He stretched out both of his arms toward the
man.

"Please Red Master," he pleaded,
"please do not do this. I will not fail you again."

"No you will not," Uritus answered
coldly and his outstretched arms tightened and flexed. The man
arched and contorted standing there before him. A scream left his
throat as his body lifted slightly from the floor. The shriek grew
quieter as if it was coming from a great distance and a purple glow
began to burn around him. Suddenly a thunderous boom shook the very
foundations of Brinn. The torches had gone out, and one of the
guards collapsed to the floor from the violent rumble.

From the darkness came a small purple
flame. It came from the upturned palm of Uritus, and both men bowed
before it. He closed his hand over the fire and the torches sprang
to life with the same purple glow. The eerie light lit the room,
showing the guards that the screaming man had vanished without a
trace.

"Rise," Uritus commanded the man on
the right. "The honor is upon you now. Take the sword of Arius and
slay Rommus Tirinius. Do not fail me."

The man stood and then bowed deeply,
taking the sword from the floor and leaving the room.

Uritus turned to the remaining guard.
"Assemble the Purple Mages for the morning. I must go now. I have
somewhere I need to be."

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

Alana awoke to a strange vibration.
She thought maybe it was thunder, but looking out the open window,
she saw only a few wisps of clouds curling through the sky in their
futile attempt to hide the stars. Perhaps she had just dreamed the
feeling. She often had strange dreams when she slept anywhere
unfamiliar, and she had apparently been asleep in Rommus’s bed all
day and night. It was dark, but a single candle burned on a small
workbench across the room. She heard a muted clanging through the
floor beneath her.

Soon the noise stopped, and she heard
boots scuffing the wooden stairs. Rommus appeared with some water
and sat it on the table next to her. He smiled at her and her heart
jumped. He was the kind of man that she had always dreamed of when
she was a little girl. Seeing him there in the dim light made her
imagination run wild with thoughts of other bedroom scenarios by
candlelight. It was a shame that the situation she had gotten
herself into would not allow them to ever be together. Her
fantasies fluttered away to the ground like the dry leaves of
fall.

"Did the noise wake you?" he
asked.

"The rumbling feeling woke me, not
your banging. What on earth are you doing down there?"

"I was finishing an axe for a
Nobleman. I didn’t make that rumbling, I thought it was thunder
until I came up here and looked out the window. There are no
windows downstairs, only vents."

"What could it have been then?" she
asked as she scratched her side and pulled herself up in the
bed.

"I don’t know. It was something big
though. Maybe something fell over nearby. Maybe a statue or part of
a building; although I can’t imagine that sort of thing making
enough of a boom for me to feel it while working steel downstairs.
Maybe it was thunder coming from the south and we just can’t see
the clouds from these windows yet." As he spoke he opened the
drawer of the table next to the bed, removed a small velvet bag,
and lit a candle there on the table.

"What’s in the bag?" she
asked.

"It’s a secret."

Her shoulders slumped with
disappointment as she looked into his eyes. Then she realized that
he was going to show her what it was.

"You wouldn’t have lit the candle if
you didn’t intend to show me."

"You sure are a clever one," he said
with a smile as he dumped the bag into his hand. "This isn’t for
you this time, so don’t get your hopes up."

She playfully smacked his arm at the
comment, and sat there waiting for him to show her the treasure. He
held out his hand, palm down, and she held out hers, taking the
item. When he moved his hand out of the way, she could see what it
was. Her mouth hung open with astonishment.

"It’s my first attempt at jewelry. I
figured it can’t be much different than weapons, except it’s
smaller and not sharp."

She smiled at the ridiculous
comparison. "Rommus I am amazed. I am not one to wear jewelry
really, but this makes me wonder if I should reconsider." She ran a
finger around the intricate markings on the golden pendant in her
hand. "Is this for –what was her name?"

"Mirra. Yes. I have been working on it
on and off for about a month in my free time. You think she’ll like
it then?"

"If she doesn’t absolutely love it,
you need to find yourself a more appreciative woman." She cursed
herself, fearing he might consider the comment rude.

Instead of reacting to her remark, he
reached down and flipped over the charm. "I carved this on the
back. It’s our rock. You remember it. It’s where you and I met the
first time. She and I sit there for hours sometimes and laugh and
talk and watch the sun set."

The carving was done amazingly well
for being so small. He had even gone to the trouble to carve rays
from the setting sun, and seagulls in the air. "Oh Rommus, you are
so thoughtful. She is lucky to have a man like you who cares so
much for her."

A sadness came over her and she felt a
stab of jealousy in her heart as she thought about this wonderful
man who she could not have. She hoped that he would be happy with
Mirra the rest of his life. Suddenly guilt tipped the scales of her
emotions because of what she had tried to do to his father. She
began to cry.

"What’s wrong?" he asked, sitting on
the side if the bed.

"Nothing Rommus, I’m sorry. It’s just
so sweet of you, that’s all."

She hoped he would believe her little
lie and not ask any more questions. She wiped her eyes and did her
best to flash him a smile, handing the pendant back to
him.

"Well, I am going to go see her now
and surprise her with this. I came up here to check on you and make
sure you didn’t need anything. You’re free to stay as long as you
like, and I don’t want to hear any complaints about how you’re
intruding and taking up all my time. How does your leg
feel?"

She moved her leg to test it. She had
honestly forgotten all about the wound, and it didn’t bother her to
move it. "Actually it feels pretty good. I’m lucky that it was
mostly just skin that got stabbed and not muscle. I don’t want to
rip it open, but it doesn’t really hurt. It just feels a little
achy and numb."

"Very good," he said as he stood. "Is
there anything else I can get you before I go?"

"No, I think I’m ok. You tell her if
she doesn’t love that thing then she has to answer to
me."

He smiled down to her. "I’ll let her
know. If she’s wise she’ll avoid any trouble with you. I’ll be back
in no more than two hours. Oh, before I forget, I found the sheath
to the dagger. It’s here on the table next to it." He turned and
went down the stairs.

Alana cried a little louder once she
knew he couldn’t hear. She wanted to tell him how sorry she was,
but she couldn’t very well tell him the truth. She pulled in ragged
breaths between sobs, unable to see clearly through her watery
vision. Wiping her eyes, she decided that she wanted to go to the
window to watch him walk away. She hoped that he would use the
streets and not the alley where she couldn’t see him. Being careful
not to tear her stitches, she got out of bed, taking her dagger
with her, and hopped on her good leg over to the window.

A moment passed before she saw him in
the street. The moonlight was not bright enough to make out any
details, but she could tell it was him by his determined, imposing
stride. He was a man that could strike fear into anyone with only a
glance, and yet he made no attempt to intimidate anyone. If
anything, he showed only kindness—at least as far as she could
tell. Suddenly she felt an overwhelming urge to follow him. It was
a stupid thing to do in her condition, but her heart sang when the
idea came to her head. When she was very young, her father told her
to follow her heart. It was just a saying until she met this man.
Her soul filled with a hot determination. She would go and see
where this Mirra lived.

A quick final glance through the
window showed the street Rommus turned onto. Suddenly a figure
appeared from the shadows and followed behind him. Icy terror
flooded through her as she rushed down the stairs, ignoring her
painful wound.

Chapter 10

With all the trouble he
had seen in the last two days, Rommus decided to bring a sword with
him this time. This one was his favorite, wide and well-balanced;
better than any he ever saw in the army. People were allowed to
carry swords in Medora, but it was looked down upon in the cities,
and a soldier in a bad mood might take out his frustrations on
someone who so openly disobeyed the law
¾
albeit unofficial and
unwritten. He knew that no soldier would bother him though, since
he was son of the General. In addition to a sword, he carried the
axe he had made for the Nobleman, which he intended to deliver
before he saw Mirra.

He turned a corner and started his
decent down the street leading to Mirra’s, hoping she was home. She
had probably slept the better part of the day away, so there was no
telling if she was still there or not. It could be very boring to
not leave the house all day and all night, and he thought she might
have gone to visit a friend or maybe her mother. That thought made
him think about what he was going to do to entertain Alana while
she stayed at his house. He didn’t want her to suffer any boredom
either.

He passed the Emperor’s Hall and waved
to the guards standing in the shadows of the great columns. They
looked at him and then to each other, but they did not respond.
Rommus had forgotten that Gerik had been standing guard there since
before sunrise, and was probably sound asleep in his bed by now.
These guards had no idea who was waving to them. He felt silly and
decided to try not to wave at anyone anymore if he could avoid
it.

After passing the massive Hall, he
entered Pike’s Row, where most of the Nobles lived. Unlike most
houses in Brinn, most of which were connected to each other on
straight streets, these houses were larger and separated, on one of
the curved roads surrounding the Emperor’s Hall. The men who lived
there were wealthy enough to light their homes at night like the
temples, and did it often to flaunt their affluence. Rommus walked
up to the second house and knocked gently on the door. After a long
silence the door opened. A fat man stood inside glaring out at
him.

"I’m sorry to come so late, sir, but I
have finished the axe you requested."

"This was supposed to be finished
yesterday. And how dare you knock on this door after dark,
Tirinius?"

"You’re mistaken sir. Today is the
right day, and I informed you that I would be coming after dark
more than a week ago." The expression on the man’s face made Rommus
think that maybe he made a habit of drinking sour milk before
bed.