The Adventures of Brian Hammerhand
PROLOGUE
Landfall at last!
Dont get me wrong, now, chum. Shipboard life can be enjoyable.
You meet a lot of interesting peoplethieves, exiles, fugitives, and the
likemost of them as willing as Ito gamble a weeks wages on a cast of the
bones. And so far as I can tell, being swallowed by a sea serpent cant be much
different from being chewed up by any of the foul creatures on Gebs good earth.
Its just that Im infantry born and bred, and you cant ground your spear
against a charge at sea. Besides, this leather armor may float all right, but it
wouldnt stop a wasp sting, much less a pirates arrow.
Staggering down the gangwaymy legs yet unaccustomed to treading a
stable surfacemy ears were assaulted by raucous mixture of music and shouting
carried downwind from the only tavern in evidence. Our port of call was a poor excuse for
a hamlet, it appeared, but at least it didnt pitch and yaw every time the gods of
the sea got playful.
When I moved closer, I saw an inscription on a worm eaten piece of
planking hanging above the open doorway: The Wallowing Whale Tavern. From within the
shabby, red clay building at odd intervals bellows of Ale! Ale! rose above the
din. With the luck of the dice running against me lately, I was just about down to my last
copper. Still, I was thirsty, and my purse would get no fatter without help. Shrugging, I
went in to see what passed for a drink in this forgotten armpit of the continent.
As I expected, the place was no better inside than out. Half-barrels
served as tables, and the seating ranged from milking stools to shipping crates to the red
clay floor itself. Nestling into the red powder at a table occupied by an unconscious
seaman, I peered through the gloom and smoke for the serving wench. I spied her slowly
wending her way through the press, and staggering under the weight of two over full
serving trays. Comely once, I guessed, she now looked as run down as the tavern itself.
As the wench neared my table, I cried, Ale! My voice, loud
enough to be heard, was echoed by a moan from my unconscious companion. flipping one of my
last copper pieces down her bodice, I reached for the only clay mug with no flies on its
rim.
I was intercepted in mid reach by a massively thewed arm thrust toward
the tray by a giant of a man sitting at a nearby table. In his haste, the fellow succeeded
only in upsetting the tray showering us both with ale. Cursing the clumsiness of the
serving girl, he leaped to his feet and struck her. Bone yielded with a snap, and her arm
hung limp. A drop of blood welled where her teeth held her lip, but she made no outcry.
"Geb's beard," I swore grimly, as he still berated her.
"Wouldst care to try that with one less frail, chum?"
As all eyes turned to me, I studied my opponent briefly ere he lunged.
I saw no promise in assaulting either the huge hairy chest or the treestump hairy legs, so
I ducked under his outstretched hairy arms and smashed my gauntletted fist into the side
of his snarling, hairy face as he went past. His momentum carried him over my table and
head first into the wall. The old building shook. He bounced halfway back to his feet
before sliding slowly down to rest cheek to cheek with the drunken sailor, who greeted him
with a belch.
"Anyone else?" I asked the crowd. There was a deal of
talking, but none stepped forth. "Not against a man with a hammer for a hand,"
one muttered.
I bent down and tugged loose a heavy purse from the hairy man's belt.
Turning, I flipped it toward the serving maid's good hand. "Take a holiday," I
suggested, as she caught it. She nodded, still without speaking, and I took myself off
before the fellow's friends if he had any could gather their courage.
I was walking toward the docks, half regretting giving away what felt
like a goodly sum when my own purse was near empty, when I heard footsteps behind. In a
heartbeat I was flattened out behind a building, my dagger in my hand. The wisp of a lad
who turned the corner jumped when he saw me waiting. He looked as harmless as a heifer,
but I growled, "Well?"
Eying the scowl on my face and my naked blade, he suddenly burst out,
"Yawannagitrich?"
"Geb's beard," I muttered, sheathing my dagger. "Who
doesn't?"
As we strode off down a dirt lane, he elaborated on his proposition. I
was silent until we stood before the gate to a well kept yard fronting a small, wooden
shack. "We're there," said the lad.
After a time, I shrugged and give him my last two copper pieces, It was
little enough, and, if the tale be true, I wouldn't miss it. If not, I'd take it out of
his hide, if need be and he knew it. I left him then and strode up to the house of Merlis,
a mage of little account (so said the boy) and what passed for the wise man of the village
now that priests of Geb stayed away. It was Merlis who told me the rest....
THE LEGEND OF THE RUINS OF APSHAI
For more generations than any man now living could
count, this entire corner of the continent was devoted to the worship of Geb, god of the
earth. Into the area came worshippers of Apshai, the insect god, who claimed knowledge far
in advance of that possessed by the followers of Geb. However, it was widely known that
this knowledge came from dark and sorcerous practices, and the Gebite priests, fearing the
results of their grisly rites, led their people to drive the outlanders from the village.
Fleeing south, the Apshaians were shortly halted by a vast, uncrossable
swamp. Unable to return to the Gebite village, and unwilling to essay the perils of the
swamp ahead, the high priest of Apshai prayed to his patron for guidance.
Scarcely had he begun his devotions when he was interrupted by the
intrusion of a young girl who said that her brother had fallen into a pit and did not
answer her calls. Although the priest was wrapped in his own concerns, he did direct some
of the others to search for the youth, but they returned at nightfall, defeated, convinced
the pit must be bottomless. Nor had Apshai seemed to respond to the priest's prayers.
Then, shortly after dawn the following morning, the boy wandered into
the pilgrim camp, cut and contused, but without serious injury. Not only had the lad
returned safely, but Apshai seemed to have used him to give the solution to his people's
plight.
The pit may indeed have been bottomless, but the boy had landed on a
shelf not too far below the surface, unconscious. He had come to after nightfall and had
wandered in the dark through a series of caves, eventually coming upon a larger cavern
with a salt water beach. There he had collapsed to the sand, too weary to continue. He
awakened to a light touch only to see a six foot long ant towering over him. Despite his
beliefs, he fled this manifestation into the water
As his swimming brought him nearer to the furthest wall of the cavern,
he noticed the water had assumed a greener hue. Beneath him a glow spread into the murky
depths within the cavern. He dove and swam into the brightness.
When he surfaced, drawing in great lungs full of fresh sea air, he
rejoiced in the restoring warmth of the sun. As he climbed the rocky face of the
overlooking coastal bluff, he noticed that the water was receding. The clump of red
seaweed which had caressed him as he swam out of the cavern was now hanging limp from the
cliff face.
The boy led his people back to the spot. Behind the drape of seaweed,
they discovered a narrow cleft in the rock. They had found their new home.
In the caves beneath the coastal bluff, the Apshaians set to planting
the strange crops they knew would flourish in the underground environment. They hewed out
new passages and reaped the harvest of gems and gold they found in their new cavern
kingdom. They prospered, and their numbers swelled. The power of Apshai grew in the land.
Finally, they were even accepted by the Gebite priests, who were won over by the tribute
of gems and incense sent to them every year.
The Gebite people, however, grew sorely fretful. While none knew the
details of the dread Apshai rites, dark rumors abounded, and every year young people
disappeared. The priests of Geb, well satisfied with their new wealth, ignored their
pleas, for nothing could be proven. By themselves, the people prayed for three years while
the temple of Apshai was constructed within the cavern by the sea. They prayed for two
years more while a plague of insects from the swamp beset them. They prayed for five years
more, while the priests of Geb continued to burn Apshaian incense moss during the Gebite
rites, even though crops failed and animals were barren.
Finally, the people's prayers were answered.
One morning, as the priests began their regular devotions, the earth
trembled beneath them, and a deafening roar was heard throughout the land. Stumbling out
of their tottering temple, the shaken priests were greeted by the tumbled ruins of what
had once been their town.. Following the cries of the villagers, they hurried to the shore
and ran up the beach toward the coastal bluff. When they reached the entrance in the cliff
face, a thin streamer of dust was filtering from within. They peered in and, where the
mighty temple of Apshai had stood against the far wall, they now saw only a vast slide of
fresh earth.
Over the years, the village was rebuilt, and the Gebite priests renewed
their power over the common folk. For many years the caverns remained seldom visited and
always undisturbed, Generations passed, and memories faded into legend.
Then, during the reign of high priest Nemdal Geb, a movement was begun
to excavate the old temple in search of the legendary gems and gold of the Apshaians. A
noted engineer was hired, and first the ancient temple and then the ancient passages, one
by one, were cleared. The underground gardens, with their strange, sunless growths, were
rediscovered, as were the shops and, finally, the mines of the Apshaians. Nemdal Geb
decided to continue the excavation in hopes of recovering the lost knowledge of the
Apshaians. This proved to be an ill fated decision indeed,
Shortly after the fourth passage was cleared, work parties began to
disappear Soon no one would enter the fourth passage, and eventually the other passages
and the temple cavern itself became unsafe. Commerce dwindled, and the population waned.
The town was again facing disaster In response to the people's out cries, Nemdal Geb led
the other priests of Geb and the strongest warriors of the town in a quest to end forever
the curse of Apshai. They entered the fourth passage, and none returned.
EPILOGUE
"And now, my friend," Merlis continued, "only the
bravest or most foolhardy dare enter the cavern under the coastal bluff when the tide is
at its ebb, and few of them return. Those who do grow in legend to proportions men of mere
flesh and blood could never hope to realize. My friend, this village is dying, and its
people with it. Soon the last will fall to the curse of Apshai, and only the doers of
great deeds shall be remembered." He turned his gaze to me. "Dare you join them
in search of the lost wealth still, if the legends speak true, hidden there?"
"Geb's beard," I murmured.