Hagar came into the kitchen having sent Tanel for fresh water from the well. He gently dropped his bags by the door and stepped further into the room. He saw his wife feeding goat’s milk to the baby she held in her arms. She had her back to him and he watched her for a moment.
“You know he’s not human?” came Tess’ voice, breaking him from his reverie.
“I know,” he answered softly.
“He’s at least part dwarf.”
“Yep.”
“And who knows what else.”
“Yep.”
“But you brought him home anyway?”
Hagar frowned.
“He’d have died if I left him,” he explained.
“You expect me to raise him?”
“I expect us to raise him.”
She cast a quick glance over her shoulder and snorted derisively at her husband before returning her attention to the baby.
“If you’ll have him,” Hagar continued.
Tess whirled on him, the edge in her voice unmistakable even as she fought to stop from raising it.
“Of course I will, you great, grungy fool. And you knew that before you ever brought him home.”
Hagar saw the tear on his wife’s cheek, saw the way she looked at the baby. He smiled to himself knowing she was happy, despite her protests. He went to her, and she tried to keep glaring at him. But as she spoke he knew she was mellowing.
“I’m still angry with you,” she said softly.
He placed a large arm around her shoulders. She elbowed him in the ribs before melting into his arms. The babe cooed as he resettled between them.
“It’s good to have you home.”
“It’s good to be home.”
Chapter Three: Angering the Giant
Hagar and Tess named the babe Logan and chose to raise him as their own. At first, there was some controversy amongst the residents of Solan Bay when they realized that the baby wasn’t human. Unfortunately, racist tendencies flourished even in this peaceful, little community. Some felt that the community would suffer by having a member of a sub-human race in it, while others just feared anything different from themselves. For the most part, Hagar did his best to ignore these small-minded individuals. Unfortunately, this was not always possible.
By the time he was about three, Logan had become a bit of a fixture around town. His inquisitive mind made him hard for Tess to keep track of. Not that he got into trouble, exactly. Rather, he was just interested in his surroundings. Instead of fighting an impossible battle, Tess attempted to direct Logan’s adventurous spirit. She often sent him to run messages or lunch to the men at the forge, as well as various other errands for her. Logan enjoyed these ‘missions’, as his mother termed them, and performed each to the best that his three years of ability would allow. It brought a smile to Hagar’s face every time he saw the boy determinedly making his way down the village streets to the forge.
One autumn evening, Hagar stopped by the local tavern with his old master. With the fall harvest on, Hagar and his master had been quite busy repairing, maintaining or replacing the local farmer’s tools and equipment. After a long day at the forge, they had decided to wind down with a relaxing drink before heading home. A number of villagers and farm hands had also gathered for the evening after an equally hard day harvesting.
The ale flowed freely that night, perhaps a little too freely, for some. After a few too many, Sarol Tanith, one of the farmers who lived south of the village commented that the work was only going to get harder since the village had started taking in every stray it found.
“That wouldn’t be so bad if those strays could be kept on a short leash and not allowed to run wild through the streets,” the farmer continued and gave Hagar a pointed glance.
A hush went through the bar as everyone turned to Hagar, who had been sitting quietly at a corner table with his old master. Most of the men present knew Hagar as a level and steady man who rarely, if ever, lost his temper. But a few of the men had served with Hagar in the elf–troll conflict and had seen what his great size and strength could do. Long moments passed while Hagar stared fixedly down at his mug of ale. Finally taking a great cleansing breath, Hagar drained his ale and returned his attention to his master.
“I should be getting home.”
Many in the bar released breaths they hadn’t realized they’d been holding. Sarol Tanith soon felt his own confidence swelling with his next swallow of ale.
“Of course,” he sneered loudly to his companions. “Any of these strays come near me or mine and I’ll deal with the problem once and for all.”
A deafening crash echoed through the room as Hagar’s fist pounded through the wood of the table in front of him. The table split and collapsed to the floor. All eyes were on the big man as he rose to his feet and took one long stride through the wreckage of the table. For the first time in many of their lives, his fellow villagers saw Hagar as his allies and his enemies had seen him during the war with the trolls. Suddenly, he was not the gentle giant who always treated others with fairness and compassion. He was Hagar ‘the Hammer’, a creature that brought death and misery to his enemies – more of a monster than a man.
His solitary eye was the colour of ice as he scanned the men in the room. Many of those men shrank back from the intensity of his glare. No one spoke and Sarol Tanith soon found himself standing alone before Hagar. The giant stepped toward the farmer, his gaze fixed on the smaller man. Sarol unconsciously took a half step back. Hagar’s voice was the low and steady rumble of thunder as he spoke.
“Logan is my son and my responsibility. He is nobody else’s concern! Is that clear?” His eye scanned the tavern. “If anyone has a problem with that they can take it up with me.”
No one would meet that gaze. He looked back down at the man before him.
“Did you have something to add, master Tanith?”
Sarol tried to meet Hagar’s glare but failed. His eyes dropped quickly before the smith.
“I thought not!”
Hagar pushed past the farmer and stormed toward the door. He paused at the exit to speak briefly with Danas Lea, the tavern owner.
“I’ll send Tanel over in morning with money to replace the table.”
Danas smiled at the big blacksmith and put a friendly hand on the man’s shoulder.
“Don’t worry about it.”
Hagar grimaced as his friend continued.
“Besides, I think you got your point across. Shook’em up you did. It was worth the cost of a table to see’em all scurrying like mice,” Danas chuckled.
Hagar couldn’t help the smile that forced its way out across his lips. He knew what his friend said was true. No one would ever talk badly about Logan in his presence ever again, but what about when he wasn’t around? Hagar shook his head in frustration.
“I’ll send Tanel in the morning. Good night, Danas.”
Hagar moved out into the night and headed home to Tess and his family.
The next morning, Hagar sent Tanel to pay Danas for the table. Danas had said it wasn’t necessary and maybe it wasn’t, but they both knew that he would. Just as they both knew that after Danas argued, he’d eventually take the money.
In typical small town fashion, word of the tavern incident made its way back to Tess. Hades, it was all anybody was talking about and it was almost surprising that it took until noon the next day for it to reach her. Tess never mentioned it to Hagar though and he never mentioned it to her.
Of all people, she knew how careful he was about his temper. She had spent more than one evening consoling her husband as he woke screaming in the night, reliving the things he had been forced to do in the war. Those things he told her about sickened her, but she understood the need for them. She understood that there was much more to Hagar than just a series of atrocities he had been forced to commit to survive.
Hagar ‘the Hammer’ was not the man that Tess had fallen in love with. Hagar the blacksmith was, and Hagar the blacksmith had
learned early that when you were as large as he was it meant you had to be very careful in your actions. Besides, no one, not even Sarol Tanith, ever said a foul word about Logan within Hagar or Tess’ hearing again.
Chapter Four: Time to Move
Shortly after the tavern incident, Hagar suggested to Tess that they should move out of Solan Bay. Not too far away, just outside the village away from all the prying eyes, somewhere with a little space for the family. Tess was only too eager to agree. She had never really gotten used to village life. She found the nosy life-style of the village a little too close for her comfort. Besides, being a farm girl, she was just as happy out in the open.
Actually, the more she thought about it. Probably happier.
After a fair bit of searching and exploring around the outskirts of town, Hagar and Tess finally decided on a spot just north of the village. They found a beautiful clearing on the edge of the forest with a small stream running through it. It was perfect. The clearing was flat and roomy enough to build a house, the forge and a small barn with space left over to pasture a few animals and plant a small garden. The stream would provide water for both home and forge, and Tess would be able to collect her plants and herbs from the surrounding forest.
The decision made, Hagar waited until the summer planting was done and hired a few of the local men to help him build his new home and forge.
In a relatively short time, with a lot of work and a little money, they had a home they were proud of. Tanel, being a young woman of ten, now had her own room. Logan also received his own room, much to the little boy’s disliking. He had been sharing a bed with his big sister since he came to them and now that he had his own room, he missed Tanel fiercely. It took several sleepless nights on Tess’ part to get him used to sleeping alone.
In the end, everyone was happy with the arrangement. Tess got a cold room and a workroom for her preserves and medicines. Hagar finally had his own forge, though it took the better part of two months to get a new anvil and he had to make due with his master’s spare in the meantime. Most importantly, the whole family got out from under the constant scrutiny of the village.
Logan grew up working with his father at the forge. Unfortunately, as he grew his differences became more and more pronounced. By five years old he was twice as strong as any of the other children his own age. His upper body was bulky and well developed and his shoulders easily twice as wide as those of his peers. His hands were large and already becoming hard from pumping the bellows for his father.
Despite the development of his shoulders and chest, Logan was still shorter than the other children. Hagar and Tess assumed that this was simply part of his dwarven heritage, along with his width and strength. Other differences were easier for Logan to hide. Growing his black hair long allowed him to cover the pronounced point to his ears and refraining from smiling hid the slight point to his teeth. But he could do nothing to conceal the blackness of his eyes.
For their part, Tess and Hagar told their son that his differences were just part of what made him special. After all, everyone was special in their own way and they were just happy that he was healthy and strong.
Though his family didn’t care how Logan looked, the village children did. Many of the local boys took great joy in teasing and tormenting the young Logan. “Monster” and “freak” were just some of the nicer terms they used for him. Logan quickly learned to hide his feelings from these children. He learned to build walls around his emotions and that any reaction on his part would just make the teasing worse.
It wasn’t long before Logan realized that he much preferred to stay around the house or help his father at the forge than deal with his peers. This worried his parents, who didn’t realize how bad things really were for their son. They often suggested that he go out and play, rather than staying cooped up in the house all the time. But Logan was always reluctant to go.
It was after one such occasion that Hagar decided to find out exactly why Logan never wanted to go out and play. What he saw filled the big man with rage and sadness.
He followed his son at a distance, down the road towards town. All seemed normal and the walk was uneventful until they passed the last group of hedges before town. At the distance he followed, it took Hagar a few moments to realize what was happening. He moved closer as the scene began to take shape.
A group of village boys had stepped out in front of Logan. Hagar recognized the lead boy as Jonah Tane. The boy was a couple of years older than Logan and, more often than not, the centre of trouble in Solan Bay. Jonah had blocked Logan’s path, and Logan was forced to try and step around the older boy. The rest of the boys moved to block Logan’s path, half surrounding him in a semi-circle of bodies.
As far back as he was, Hagar couldn’t quite make out the taunts the boys yelled at his son, though part of him was glad of that. He didn’t think he really wanted to know what the little bastards were saying. He watched in frustration as Logan tried to step past Jonah, only to be tripped by the other boy. As Logan fell flat into the mud of the road, the air was filled with peels of laughter from the other boys. Logan pushed himself up onto his hands and knees, only to have Jonah push him back down with his boot. More laughter.
Enough was enough, thought Hagar as he marched toward the group of boys. I’ve got to put a stop to this nonsense right now.
As he closed in on the group, one of the boys noticed him and yelped. The others quickly scattered in various directions. The only one left was Logan, pushing himself up from the ground. Hagar could see the boy shaking with frustration and anger and it tore him apart inside.
Hagar reached Logan as the boy finally got to his feet.
“Let’s go home, son!”
Logan turned with a start and flushed red with shame as he looked up at his father. Hagar could see the boy fighting the tears that welled up in his eyes. Hagar extended a large hand to his son and gently led him back down the road towards home.
After several minutes of walking, Hagar had finally mastered enough of his anger to speak.
“Does this happen often?”
He could hear the shame in Logan’s voice as he answered.
“Yes, sir.”
“Why have you never told me about it?”
The boy shrugged as he continued.
“I … I thought you’d been disappointed in me.”
Hagar stopped in his tracks dumbfounded, and stared down at his son.
“Why would I be disappointed with you?”
“Because, I get so mad that I just want to hurt them, and I don’t like the way that makes me feels,” Logan confessed.
Hagar nodded slightly and smiled down at his son.
“That’s nothing to be disappointed about. In fact, I’d be more worried if you didn’t feel that way.”
Logan looked back at his father, the confusion clear in his eyes.
“But you always say that you have to be in control of your temper. Don’t you?” he asked.
Hagar placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder and they continued walking as he spoke.
“That’s right. You have to control it. And that’s exactly what you’re doing. People are going to make you angry in your life, that’s just the way of things unfortunately. The key is what happens after that,” Hagar paused. “You can lash out in anger or channel that energy into other things.”
They walked on in silence for awhile after that, but as they neared the gate to the house, Hagar stopped and knelt down to look his son in the eyes.
“Boy, I know your mother and I have always told you to turn the other cheek and not to allow yourself to be pushed into fighting. But you need to know that sometimes there are no alternatives. Sometimes you have to do what’s necessary. The hardest part is knowing when it’s necessary.”
Logan looked shocked at his father, and Hagar smiled reassuringly at him.
“Your mother would like to think that all situations can be solved without the need for violence. Don’t get me wrong, a large po
rtion of the time she’d be right, and that should always be your first option,” he said. “However, sometimes, when you or the ones you love are in danger it may become necessary to resort to violence.”
Hagar looked far away for a moment before continuing.
“When I went to war, I went to protect my family. To stop the trolls from making their push south. I fought because there was no alternative, because the trolls wouldn’t listen to reason. And in that fighting, I did things that I’m not proud of, things I had to do to survive and to protect my men. In those times, when you have no choice, no alternative, you use every tool you have–and that includes your anger.”
Hagar poked the boy in the chest.
“That anger, that rage, starts in here and has to come out. In battle, you let it out against your enemies, but you never completely allow yourself to lose control. If you can manage to do that, if you can use that rage, it will make you faster and stronger than you could ever imagine. But, if you lose control of it, you become little more than an animal with no sense or reason to your actions. And if that happens, then eventually it will tear you apart.”
Logan thought about what his father had said.
“But, what about when you’re not in battle?” he asked after a long pause. “What do you do with it then?”
Hagar smiled at his son.
“That is what the forge is for.”
Chapter Five: A New Life
Hagar built a step around his forge to allow his son to help him. And, as Logan grew, Hagar became more and more proud of his adopted son. Hagar understood that Logan would never be fast. His size would forever work against him in that regard, but his time at the forge was giving him reserves of stamina and strength that would serve him well in the future.
The Hammer's Fall Page 2
