Mighty Hammer Down

by David J Guyton

When she and Rommus arrived again at the temple in Reyth, there was a much larger crowd waiting below them. This time Rommus did not ignore them, but raised his hands as if to silence them, but they were already silent. She figured that maybe it was just to get them all to stare and pay attention to him.

  Finally, with his cape snapping in the wind, he spoke. "People of Reyth, I know you have seen me appear in this temple. I know you are wondering who I am and what I am here for. I come to warn you, and to tell you that all of the Vindyri are in great danger. All men who are able to lift a sword must go to Burnhamheade at once. Warn any other towns nearby so that they can also send men. There is no time to waste."

  "Who are you to tell us what to do Medoran?" a man yelled.

  "My name is Rommus, but it does not matter who I am. You are already aware of the threat of the Bhoors. It is no secret that their army waits outside of Burnhamheade to attack. Either go protect your capital or die here in the flames after the Bhoors destroy this land one town at a time."

  He abruptly stopped his speech and stormed down the steps. She followed him as he cut a line through the large group of curious people standing the dirt streets. They cleared a path for him, although it was not a very wide one. When they had finally gotten far enough away from the noisy crowd, she stopped him by grabbing his arm.

  "Rommus, what are you doing? I thought that you weren't going to fight in this war."

  There was a look of anger in his eyes, but his voice did not show it. "What else is there? There are many thousands of innocent people who are going to die because the Bhoors are coming to spread the word of their god. You met the gods. You know what they are like. I will not let the Bhoors advance any cause that those gods might have.

  "The light at my horizon, the false sunset that I chased, was nothing. It was just a trick to get me to do as Oderion wanted. I do not want to live in a world where such a god controls mankind."

  "But Rommus, he created you. What Oderion wants is all that matters."

  "No, freedom is what matters. You heard him. He ignored all of our prayers. If we are so unimportant, so small in his eyes, then I will ignore him as well and do as I see fit here in this world. Freedom is what matters to me, and the Bhoors are coming to crush freedom. We must stop them; and we have no gods to help us."

  She paused a moment as she looked in his eyes. "We have the god of war."

  "No, we don't. We have a man. I do not have the powers of a god. I hardly have the power of an ordinary man."

  He looked like he wanted to say more but something in the distance caught his attention. She saw his jaw muscles tighten and flex as he stared intently. Maybe it was his new sense of purpose, or his brimming confidence, but she was suddenly even more attracted to him than she was before. He stood so calm and proud, like a statue carved to represent power and dignity. She slowly reached out to gently touch his arm but he began to walk away before she got the chance.

  "What is it? What's wrong?"

  "That man on the horse. Can you see him?"

  "I see a few men on horses."

  "The one in the center coming towards us. He is coming for me."

  "What makes you think that? There are a hundred people on that street and you can pick out one that is coming for you? He couldn't have seen you come out of the temple. He has no idea who you are."

  She started to change her mind as she saw the man bring his horse to a run. Innocent people in the street fell to either side of him as he charged up the dirt road. Rommus had pulled his sword and people near him ran for cover. She wasn't sure what to do, so she drew her own sword but backed up against the wall of a nearby shop, giving Rommus room to fight. She decided only to interfere if it was needed.

  The man's face could finally be seen as he raced closer to them. He was a handsome Medoran, with piercing blue eyes and a wide jaw covered in bristles. He wore red armor, but only on his forearms. He had a heavy sword in one hand, held out to sever the head of his victim. When the hoof beats were the loudest, Rommus ducked and swung his golden sword at the legs of the man's horse. There was a terrible crack as the animal's legs snapped and its massive weight was thrown into the crowd of gathering people. The man rolled as he fell, but stood up immediately, apparently unaffected by the fall. Many innocent people in the crowd were not so lucky, and were crushed by the wounded horse.

  The Medoran approached Rommus. "Rommus Tirinius?"

  "I am", was all Rommus said.

  "I have come for the sword and your life. Give up now and I will make it as painless as possible."

  Rommus wasted no time and brought the sword down at the man's face. He managed to block the strike but it disrupted his balance, sending him off to the side. He did another roll on the ground and when he stood, he instantly struck at Rommus. The man was tall and strong, and was obviously an expert in the use of weapons. She watched the two of them clash for what seemed like forever, their swords clanging and ringing through the silent street.

  She wanted to rush in and help, but she feared that it would surprise Rommus and leave him open for the man to kill him. Her face twisted with worry for him, but she stood frozen as the men continued to fight. Her face contorted even more when she saw the man knee Rommus in the groin. He let out a short cry from the pain, but continued attacking and defending.

  In a mighty swing, Rommus managed to snap the man's sword in half and send the blade clattering against a wall. The man simply laughed, discarding the broken hilt as he rolled again and stood up several paces away. Alana felt a strange hum in the air and noticed that the hair on the back of her neck was standing up. Even though the sun was warm, she felt an icy chill all over her body.

  The man lowered his arms some and made fists as he screamed what sounded like a battle cry. The red armor on his forearms suddenly burst into an intense red light that was blinding to look at and made her want to close her eyes. He raised his arms above his head and his whole body became enveloped in the light, accompanied by a piercing sound that reminded her of the ringing sound of a sword being drawn. There was another bright flash of light that seemed to send a shaft into the heavens, and suddenly the man was covered in red armor from head to toe.

  As the light faded she could see more clearly. The armor was a deep red color, and it was trimmed with gold accents. The helmet covered the man's face with a strange darkness that obscured all of his features. The armor shined in an odd way, reflecting only the colors of fire. Instantly her heart sank. She knew who this was. This was the real Arius, returned from the void and here to kill Rommus and take back his sword. Tears came to her eyes as she realized that she was going to watch him die.

  Arius punched Rommus and knocked him to the ground. His sword flew from his hand and landed by the feet of the crowd, but they backed away not daring to touch it. Arius calmly walked over and picked it up while Rommus shook his head to get his wits back. Rommus ducked as soon as he stood, avoiding a fatal slice from the sword. Rommus punched at the armor when he could, but it only stung his hand with pain. Arius laughed as he continued to toy with Rommus, and he even smacked the back of his head with the flat side of the sword when he clearly could have killed him. Arius soon found that he had made a mistake though as Rommus hurled his shoulder into his midsection and threw him into a nearby wall. They both fell to the ground and clawed for the sword when it fell. Rommus was able to reach it first.

  He jarred the helmet with the butt of the hilt as he used it to punch Arius. He stood up as soon as he could and swung the sword, hitting him in the chest. There was a blinding white spray of sparks when the sword touched the armor, but there appeared to be no damage. Rommus struck again before Arius could stand, this time in a stabbing motion. Again the white sparks flew, but no harm was done.

  For some reason Rommus threw the sword in her direction. It landed near her and she bent down to pick it up, taking her eyes from the battle for only a split second. Rommus was smashing the helmet against the street but since it was made of dirt, it did littl
e to hurt Arius and barely even made a sound. The two of them rolled a few times as they struggled, and finally Rommus put out a leg to stop them. He was on top of Arius, choking him with his bare hands. Alana was surprised to see the god flail and hear the crackling sounds of death in his throat. Although it seemed impossible, it looked as if Rommus was actually killing a god with nothing more than his hands.

  Soon the flailing ceased, and the hands of Arius fell away from Rommus's wrists. Rommus continued to choke for a while, but stopped when the blinding red light returned. There was a bright flash which made everyone look away, and when they looked again, the armor was gone. All that remained were the red arm guards ringed with gold, and Rommus wasted no time removing them. He placed them on his own arms and stood.

  She whispered to him as he came to her for his sword. "Rommus, what have you done? You just killed Arius."

  He breathed heavily as he answered. "Would you rather that I let him kill me? Besides, that was not Arius."

  "How can you say that? You saw the armor."

  "And while you were holding this sword were you a god? Just because the man had the armor did not mean that he was Arius. You heard the gods. Arius is dead. They told us that if the artifacts are used correctly, a god can be killed. They also said a god cannot harm another god, so it only makes sense that humans are able to use the artifacts. Besides, human Mages used the sword on me."

  She sheathed her sword and hooked her hair behind her ears. "I guess that does make sense. What do we do now?"

  "I came here to find out what the feeling was, and I have done that. It was the armor calling to me. Now that I have it, we can use the portals to travel back to Burnhamheade and maybe a few other towns to warn people about the war.

  The silent crowd in the streets parted as they walked, but this time they cleared a wide path.