by Billy Wong
Hammer Out A Path
by Billy Wong
Hammer Out A Path
Copyright © 2016 Billy Wong
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior written permission of the Author. Your support of author’s rights is appreciated.
All characters in this compilation are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Epilogue
Credits and author page
Sample of Iron Bloom
Chapter 1
The stocky young woman known as Cart-Dragger leaned forward where she knelt, to rest her forehead against the large shared gravestone of her parents and little sister. She sobbed, tears falling onto the flowers she had laid over the resting place of the former rulers of Galantria and their younger daughter. "I'm still so sorry I wasn't there to protect you," she gasped. "There isn't a single day I don't think about you, and picture your faces. But I hope wherever you are now, you can see me and that I've done and will continue to do you proud."
Pulling her head away from the cold stone after a couple minutes, she stood and walked over to her best friend Jen's grave a few feet away. Her loss was much fresher in her mind than that of her family, for Jen had died not a year ago. Yet she forced herself not to cry, and smiled instead knowing this was what her friend would have wanted. "Hey, Jen. It's been six months since we defeated the imperials, and the city finally seems just about well off enough that we can start to think about aiding others." It particularly satisfied her to see the crumbling walls shored up at last, making Galantria look strong and proud once more. "So I'm going to Velinthe, where Ruth said the people have been underfed and struggling for years. Hopefully we can work something out, so they can get help."
She placed a hand on the gravestone, and despite herself a tear escaped her eye. "Darn, how I wish you could come with me! What an adventure that'd be, and without the swords of the empire hanging over our heads. I miss you so much... by the way, did I tell you Gene's wife has another baby? That'll be her fourth—I wonder if I should think about having children soon? I'm about to be twenty-seven... but I'm so busy, and haven't fallen in love. I suppose twenty-seven's not that old, and there's still time. I'm probably in good enough physical condition to age better than some, too."
She was the strongest known human warrior in the world after all, able to swing around a hammer with a head the size of her torso swiftly enough to deflect projectiles too fast for most to even see. With her great maul she'd battered down magical machines as big as buildings, and elemental titans hundreds of feet tall. She had been smashing giants for more than a decade now. But after curing the pain-induced insanity of the wild elemental soldiers the empire once controlled, she hadn't needed to use those abilities since dueling the former imperial general Strength months ago. She wondered if she ever would again. Right now the most use she made of her physicality outside practice was in playing ringball, leaping across the court sometimes over a seven-foot giantess to slam the ball down through the ring-shaped goal suspended ten feet above the ground. A world where her monstrous combat prowess became obsolete was probably better. But still... she missed it a little.
"I've even started to drag around a cart less," she said to Jen. Back in her mercenary days one was needed to transport the bags of money she earned; now, bringing it with her around town seemed increasingly unnecessary. These days she often carried her hammer on her back, instead of lying in the bed of a wagon. "Soon my nickname might be obsolete too, and I'll just be Duchess Willow again." She smiled. "Although, traveling will be a good excuse to pull a cart after me again. You never know when one might come in handy, after all."
She told Jen about some other recent happenings, such as how Russ had lost weight training with Strength and Scott's procedural refinements allowing repairs to be completed faster. Then she headed back to the manor where she would meet with her friends to decide who would accompany her to Velinthe. Because they helped her govern the city, at least some had to stay behind to keep things running smoothly. On the way, she passed a creature like a thirty foot bipedal beetle with metal plates for its carapace moving rubble from the site of a wrecked building. Some of the empire's weaponized elemental God Soldiers now lent their strength and magical powers to help rebuild Galantria, after she freed them from their constant torment. Less dust clogged the air than in years past, for much of the debris had finally been removed from the city. As she continued through the streets, she spotted a pair of metallic bird-lizards flying overhead. The sight of such strange beings in her home that would've likely been enemies in the past had been disconcerting at first, but one got used to it.
Cart-Dragger reached the manor. Her longtime friends greeted her in the dining hall—chubby ever-enthusiastic Russ who led the guard, Scott the unassuming bespectacled head of infrastructure, outspoken middle-aged minister of agriculture Gene, and blacksmith guild master Mindy with her rippling arms and soft spot for children. With them were relative newcomers Lars and Ruth, former sellswords who had battled the remnants of the Red Empire with her, and Strength, one of the empire's infamous Four Virtues turned ally after Cart-Dragger proved her own "strength" by defeating her and her master Maximilian Rouge.
"So who's going with me?" she asked. She looked to well-built Lars, whose partner Allen had recently retired as a warrior due to repeated head injuries and worked filing documents now. "I assume you're coming as you always do"—she turned her gaze to Scott—"and since Velinthe is built on a man-made island, your engineering knowledge could come in handy for determining if things are stable. Who else?"
"Take me!" Russ said. "You never let me come with you when you travel." He glanced at Strength. "Now that I finally have a decent second in command, you should be able to."
"Are we sure we can trust that imperial hulk?" Mindy asked, flashing a suspicious look at the seven foot curly-haired woman who sat there with a cool expression. Ruth fidgeted a bit uncomfortably, no doubt because she too had been born in the empire. "She's only been with us for a few months, who knows where her loyalties truly lie?"
Cart-Dragger shrugged. "Considering the masterminds behind the attempt to revive the empire are dead and its surviving supporters have probably given up, I don't know who she would betray us for. I think we have a good understanding between us too." During their second fight, when Strength challenged her to a rematch which would determine if she accepted Cart-Dragger's leadership, she had gotten a sense of being kindred spirits as they tested each other's limits. "Besides, the rest of you will be there to watch over her and see that she doesn't misbehave."
"I'm not sure if any of them could stop me," Strength said in a casual tone that put Mindy and Gene visibly on edge. "But don't worry, I'll be a good girl. Although it's blatant favoritism that I'm still not captain of the guard instead of him."
"One can hardly be ousted from his post he's served well in for years just because there's a scarier-looking candidate now. And you'd better be good, or I'll sort you out when I get back. Anyway, if me, Lars, Scot
t and Russ are going, the rest of you should probably remain here. That's an interesting coincidence actually, that most of the men are coming and all you girls are staying home."
Ruth grinned. "Definitely considering I'm usually one to go out. Well, I suppose you'll have to represent our gender for us."
"I'll do it by crushing any evil enemies we meet with my hammer!" Cart-Dragger said with a laugh.
They set off, her arms happy to feel the weight of the cart as she pulled it behind her once more. On her back she wore her trusty quiver of javelins, which she used for ranged fighting and other improvised tricks. Scott regarded the wagon, empty except for her hammer, curiously as they headed down the streets. "Do you really have to bring that thing? Even if we do find a need to transport objects later, we could probably get a vehicle from Athendar or Velinthe."
Lars grinned at her almost childishly cheerful expression. "You've known her how long, and don't realize it's nostalgia for her? I bet you have some old keepsake you hang onto just because it's familiar and comfy. For her, it's the habit of dragging a cart."
"I know that. But I mean, a big old wagon is kind of an unwieldy 'keepsake.'"
It wasn't even the one she had gone on most of her continent-spanning adventures with, as that had been destroyed in the last confrontation with the imperials. But pulling any similar vehicle behind her gave her the same feeling of freedom. "It's not like I don't have strength to spare for bringing it along. I'll hardly slow you down because of it." Even with a fully loaded cart, Lars who was more used to long treks than the others had struggled to keep up with her pace when they first met. "Besides, this will help keep my body in shape."
"As if that was ever a problem for you," Russ said, patting his round belly. "Gods only know how you can eat more than me sometimes and stay so small."
At barely over five feet, she weighed almost as much as an average man. Most wouldn't think that small, though she did look a tiny bit lighter given how much of it was dense muscle under a thin layer of fat. Still, her once-lithe friend weighed over half again that much while not being nearly as solid. "I burn it to fuel my explosive power," she said with a dramatic flourish. "If you did that more, you wouldn't be as fluffy."
"Well, I have been training harder with Strength lately. I hope this trip will help me continue to shrink."
Before they could leave Galantria, they passed by the beetlelike God Soldier which had been clearing rubble before. Cart-Dragger wouldn't have given it more than a cursory glance, except that it bellowed drawing her attention. She looked to see it rear up higher, then collapse, crushing a tan workers' tent set up nearby. She hoped nobody was in there... Running over while the men stared, she asked, "What happened? Are you all right?" She didn't know if this particular elemental could talk, but some did. At least from what she saw of the flattened tent under its head, there were no flattened bodies down there with it.
It didn't move as a gravelly voice rumbled from between its mandibles, "The race... of evil..."
"What? What do you mean, the race of evil?" The creature got its arms under it and pushed itself to all fours, then rose to its feet. "Um, excuse me? What were you saying just now?"
Its head swiveled around to regard her. "I... do not know. I do not remember. But I seem to be fine now."
"That's weird," she said with a frown. Maybe it had just knocked itself silly, and in a daze recounted a phrase it heard long ago. "But I suppose if no one's hurt, we can leave others to deal with this." She turned to Scott. "You ever see something similar while managing repairs?"
"No. I'm glad it didn't land on anyone."
"Maybe it overstrained itself like humans can," Russ suggested.
"Yeah, but I've never seen that before. We should keep an eye out for any more instances of this when we get back, and try to figure out the cause if there are."
Continuing out of the city after they told some workers to report what had happened, they left the scant fertile land around Galantria behind them. The dry ground grew barren, the type of wasteland which dominated the earth and Cart-Dragger had trudged over for many years going from job to job. Though the world had become more peaceful, peace didn't seem like enough when conditions remained so rough. When she was a little girl, she heard that bright fields and lush forests stretched from sea to sea. Now, such marvels of nature existed only in small patches which struggled to survive.
"I wonder if the world will ever recover," Lars mused, "or if the empire's war has hampered it permanently."
"It'd better recover in order for life to flourish again." But though she tried to stay optimistic, she couldn't stop a frightful thought from passing through her head. What if it not only wouldn't get better, but would get worse and worse? If the world was dying, all their efforts to improve things for the survivors of humanity would be for naught. Still, they hadn't seen any evidence of that, so she probably just scared herself.
After walking for about four hours, Russ asked, "Can I ride on your cart for a while? My legs are getting tired, and my feet and knees really hurt."
Cart-Dragger shot him a flustered look. "Are you serious? You say you want to improve your fitness, yet you're already trying to get a rest?"
His face flushed. "Sorry, but you know I haven't traveled outside the city for years let alone this far. How about if I don't do it for the whole trip? Maybe I could just ride four hours a day for the first week, then two hours a day the next, and none for the last?"
"So you want me to drag you around at least part of the time for two-thirds of the way, and only carry your own weight the last third of it?"
"Four hours for five days, two for five more, and the rest all on foot? Hey, the extra weight on cart will be good for keeping up your strength."
That was a point. Getting used again to a decent load would prepare her for if her cart-dragging skills proved necessary. "Alright, get on. But you better not try and beg for an extension on your riding time beyond what you promised!"
The three week journey northwest to the port of Athendar went by without incident, the group enjoying pleasant chatter for much of the time in spite of the stingingly dusty wind they had gotten used to. Scott wondered what architectural marvels they might see at Velinthe, Russ mulled over if they would be well fed knowing the city's food supply issues, and Lars just looked forward to exploring a new place. During breaks Cart-Dragger practiced fighting with her friends, partly to keep their skills sharp, partly because of her urge to at least simulate the rush of battle. She had to hold back so much, but as she crossed weapons with the others, she recalled the titans she brought crashing down before her. For all she knew those times should never be repeated again, they'd been most exciting.
They finally came into view of Athendar, just as the salty scent hit Cart-Dragger's sinuses. She had only smelled it twice before in her life, when mercenary jobs took her close to the sea. Maybe she wasn't such a well-traveled adventurer after all, and there were still many things in this calmer world worth seeing. The port itself looked white—the color of most of its squat buildings—and pristine, lucky to escape much damage in the cataclysm that changed everything. She imagined they still had a tough time getting enough food, though, unless they were particularly fortunate in terms of nearby fertile land. She'd offered to send some of her God Soldier allies to help before and Athendar's mayor declined, perhaps suspicious she would want future favors in return. It was fine if they truly didn't require aid, but she hoped they would accept it should they need it later.
They entered the city through a simple wooden gate, the fence around it seeming like scant deterrence should anyone attack. But people were mostly too worried about surviving themselves to bother with invading others now. They walked down quiet cobbled streets towards the docks they had glimpsed from afar, Cart-Dragger examining the merchant stalls off to the sides. There were some eye-catching multicolored clothes, more interesting than the drab ones most everybody wore these days, but the frugality she had cultivated over years raising
money to restore Galantria kept her hands out of her coin pouch.
"Seems almost like a piece of the old world," Lars said, "being so intact even compared to your home."
She nodded. "Yeah, but there still aren't many ships in port."
"Not a lot of places worth sailing to. I hope one of the few will be willing to take us to Velinthe."
People stared as they passed, in part just because they were visitors, in part because of her and Lars' scars and the huge cart she singlehandedly pulled. The tarp over it no doubt added a sense of mystery, though all it covered was her hammer. Halfway to the docks a short-haired girl of about ten ran out in front of her. "Hi! Are you the legendary heroine Cart-Dragger?"
She grinned at the flattering description. "That is my nickname, yes."
"Wow, this is amazing! I thought you would be older, though." Many said she still looked younger than her age, with her full baby face. "Can you sign my sword?" The child held out a pair of sticks, tied together with rope.
"Well, I don't have anything to write with." Then she realized she spoke too soon. She drew a dagger to scratch "Cart-Dragger" into the longer stick and patted the girl's head after handing it back. "Here, your blade now has the Duchess of Galantria's seal of approval."
"Thanks! Now I can inspire my friends to train harder knowing you would want us to!" She ran off, waving her sword giddily in the air.
Scott gazed with bemusement at her. "Inspiring a new generation, huh? Too bad neither you nor them will have much chance to be warriors anymore—or not bad, now that I think of it."
"Don't speak too soon," Lars said. "You never know when a new foe might arise."
The race of evil, the beetlelike God Soldier's voice said in her mind again. It was probably just a forgotten term of old, yet she couldn't help feeling a chill.
They arrived at the docks where they saw a mere half dozen vessels, only two looking sizable enough to travel far from the coast. She had expected more fishing boats at least, but maybe they were out fishing. Cart-Dragger led them towards the nearer one, a stout old merchant ship. She saw three sinewy men on board, mopping the deck. "Is the captain around?" she called up to them.
