Mighty Hammer Down (55 page)

"I’m supposed to hold to my beliefs
about the Land of the Gods, but I’m supposed to change how I feel
about this Vindyri who tried to kill me?"

Alana stepped forward. "I changed my
beliefs about you General Tirinius. I ask you and your son for
forgiveness, but I do not expect it. When you captured me I kept my
name a secret, fearing that you would remember the names of my
father and brothers and know that I was seeking revenge. I was very
young when they were killed in battle, but that loss has made me
who I am today. With every negative there is a positive. Everything
is built on balance."

Remarkably, a smile came to Tannis’s
face. "I forgive you, Vindyri. You have proven your worth since
your mistake. You’ll have to forgive me as well, for I do not
remember those names; I can hardly remember the names of my own
Commanders.

"But I must correct your logic.
Nothing is built on balance. You will hear the endless echoes of
empty-headed philosophers and self-righteous fools who preach about
balance being the key to everything, but they know nothing. It is
imbalance that allows the wolf to kill its prey. It is imbalance
that allows an army to win a war. A world that is balanced is
stagnant; imbalance is progression."

Her eyebrows knotted. "But what about
the balance between predator and prey? What about how the predator
eventually dies and feeds the soil so that the prey has food to
eat?"

"You really think that one dead wolf
makes up for all the animals it kills in its lifetime? Think about
it; the only things that matter are things that end up tipping the
scales in one direction or another. It’s how problems are solved
and nations are built. There is no balance in this world, no matter
what philosophers tell you."

Rommus cleared his throat loudly.
"None of this has anything to do with what I am trying to show you
father."

"And what is it you are trying to show
me, my son? That the gods are real and these portals are proof? I
need no such display to reinforce my faith."

Rommus looked in his father’s eyes for
a moment, half impressed with his unwavering faith and half
saddened by his blind devotion. He had no idea what the truth was,
and yet here he was, standing tall, certain that his way was the
only way. It was going to hurt him to find out that things were not
as he thought and that his son was now a god. Rommus didn’t say
anything but walked down the row of columns, looking for the portal
to Brinn. When he found it, what he saw made his eyes go wide and
his stomach drop. He ran into the glowing portal, hoping that the
others sensed his alarm and followed him.

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

"We have regained control of the
Thrahks Zidaoz," Lohken said. "Your army is still in some kind of
panic, and they are scattered about. It will take some time to
regroup."

"They lack faith. I will need to show
them something to make them believe again. We must not let the
nonbelievers fool them with their false gods. What we saw today was
nothing but a trick used to shake the will of our people. I must
show them that what they saw was not really a god."

"I know that what we saw was not a
god, and yet the man somehow used the powers of a god. I could feel
it in the air."

"No, it is just a trick," Zidaoz
snapped. "How did you fail with the Thrahks?"

"We did not fail, Zidaoz. The Thrahks
did exactly as we trained them to do; they followed orders from the
Dirujen. Unfortunately one of our little rebels, Vohlhemoneer,
found his way to the battle and ruined our plans. I have already
sent some of my men to find him. We have a special punishment
planned for him."

"I do not want your problems in
addition to my own. Find him and get rid of him. I do not want any
more excuses. The spread of the word of Rohni must not be slowed or
stopped. All mankind must bow to him!"

"Of course Zidaoz. Have you contacted
the Medoran and told him what happened in battle today?"

"No, by now he knows that I have
altered the plan. He will be enraged."

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

"I missed it," Tannis said as he
fought to hide the tears coming to his eyes. "I should have known
that it wasn’t the Bhoors making the dust clouds the morning we
left. I have failed the Empire."

All of them stared, totally shocked at
what they saw. The city of Brinn was in ruins. Many of the stone
buildings had been knocked down, and anything that could burn was
either on fire or smoldering. It must have been a great effort to
pull down the columns and walls all over the city; a feat difficult
to imagine. The cobblestone streets were peppered with the dead
bodies of Vindyri soldiers; their black armor blending into the
shadows of the coming dusk. There were also countless bodies of
Medoran citizens ripped apart and slain mercilessly by the black
wave of Vindyri soldiers that must have crashed down upon the city
earlier in the day.

"They had this all planned from the
beginning," Rommus said. "They betrayed us."

Vohl swept his cape behind him. "You
mean that the very same people you were helping came here and did
this to your city?"

Tannis surveyed the damaged city as he
spoke. "Yes, they fooled us. I had wondered why I didn’t see any
Vindyri soldiers in Vindyrion, but I just assumed the Bhoors had
destroyed them. They must have crossed the mountains to the north
to elude us and attacked the city when they saw all the soldiers
leave. We are in a great deal of trouble now."

"Why?" Vohl asked. "The damage has
already been done."

Rommus answered when Tannis was
silent. "Now we have both the Vindyri and the Bhoors to fight. Our
Legions already took a great loss today. The army is not strong
enough to fight the rest of the known world."

Tannis descended a few steps and ran
his hand through his hair. "I should have seen this threat. I
should have seen it coming."

Alana approached him and put a hand up
on his massive shoulder. "But Tannis, you can’t live your life
always thinking that danger is around every corner. It’s not your
fault."

"It is my fault, Vindyri. There are
those who live their lives blindly searching for happiness, and
there are those like me who make sure those people are safe. I
cannot miss any detail. It is my duty to protect. I do not expect
ordinary people to see all the signs, but you must understand the
danger of ignorance. We have been warning the people for a long
time, and they refused to listen. Those who ignore the threat are
as dangerous as those who threaten."

Vohl took a step down towards them.
"Master Tannis is right, Alana. There is no greater danger than
opening yourself to your enemies. Pretending that they do not wish
to harm you is a mistake of the highest order."

"General!" a voice called from the
foot of the steps. Pirius stood, holding an injured arm. "General
they came this morning. The Earth and Moon Legions have left us
unprotected. The Vindyri attacked the citizens and destroyed both
Brinn and Taburdum."

People began emerging from the
buildings as they heard Pirius yelling up the steps. Many of them
stared in awe, obviously confused by the red armor reflecting the
orange rays of the setting sun. Most of the men were injured, and
some were not able to stand without assistance. The women were
crying and were even nursing some injuries of their own. Both the
men and the women still held tightly to the handles of swords and
knives, obviously fearing the Vindyri would return.

"Where is the Emperor?" Tannis asked
in alarm.

Pirius’s eyes filled with tears along
with many of the eyes of citizens gathering at the foot of the
temple. "He is gone General. He was killed shortly after you
left."

Tannis looked enraged. "Then where is
your brother?"

Pirius shook his head. "I do not know
General."

Rommus looked down in his hand at the
golden pendant he still held. He knew where Uritus was; or at least
he knew where he was a short time ago. All of the destruction, all
of the death, all of the innocent people suffering all around him
was doing something to him. He felt sorrow and anger searing his
soul as he thought about the things he had lost: the Emperor,
Mirra, his city, his normal life. He felt that strange feeling in
his blood boiling inside him, burning him like a weapon in a hot
forge. He thought of Uritus betraying him, Mirra betraying him, his
nation left unprotected by the selfish new Emperor; that Emperor
who wanted him dead.

He found himself screaming. It was not
a scream of pain or rage, but more like a battle cry. He arched his
back and looked to the skies. Dark clouds tore across the sky at
incredible speed. A cold wind whipped through the trees and the
people in the streets. Black lighting came down all around him as
he rose slightly into the air. Thunder shook the ground and
shattered parts of the already ruined city, sending marble chips
and dust flying.

When his lungs were finally emptied,
he returned to the ground and the clouds and wind had vanished. To
his amazement, no one was staring at him. Instead they all were
bowing to him; even his father and friends.

"Get up," he said. "Don’t bow to me,
for while it is true that I have become the god of war, I am only a
man." When no one rose he repeated himself louder. "Get
up!"

His father rose and some of the people
followed his lead. "Is it true son? Have you somehow found a way to
become a god?"

"I found nothing. I did not ask for
this curse," he said as he scanned the crowd of people. "Get up I
said; all of you. Look, I am just a man."

He took of his crested helm and put it
under his arm. The crowd was shocked, but soon the wide eyes turned
back to the ground. Everyone in the street fell to their knees
again.

Alana stood up. "You’re here to save
them; god or not. Can’t you feel it in the air? You’re a hero to
them Rommus."

"Hero? I have done nothing for these
people. I am no hero."

"You inspire them and they feel safe,
Master Rommus," Vohl said as he stood and brushed the dust from his
knees. "And I saw what you did on the battlefield today. You are a
hero if I ever saw one."

Rommus shook his head to get rid of
the thought. "What about you father? Are you angry about this?
Things are not how you believed them to be. I have met the gods,
and they do not even bother to listen to your prayers. They are
nothing like what you imagine."

"It does not matter, my son. I still
know the difference between good and evil in this world, and I will
continue to fight for freedom and for my people. I will not change
who I am."

Alana hooked some unruly hair behind
an ear. "What about you Rommus? Now that you have found that the
light at your horizon was nothing but an empty trick that the gods
played on you, what will you do?"

He looked out at the glorious sunset
over the ruins of the city of Brinn; the orange flames of clouds
burning his eyes as the ocean seemed to extinguish the sun at the
horizon. "I have a light to follow now. I have something that
drives me; something that gives me purpose. My enemy is now my
light, and I will not rest until we destroy every last one of them.
We have a war to plan."

T H E E N D

###

Dear Reader,

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book resonate with you, please help to spread these messages by
recommending
Mighty Hammer Down
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Thank you,

David J. Guyton

Visit www.davidjguyton.com for
information on the next book in the series.