Home >> Fan Fiction >> Devahammer

Devahammer by Allen Stover

For Roxanne, Kacie, Jeff

Prelude
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Epilogue

Chapter 3

Accompanied by the dwarves and his companions, Dorm traveled further down the East Road, hoping to make to the Plains of Dust before nightfall. The ranger scouted ahead and searching the grass, and keeping an eye out for dark knights who might be waiting for them along the road. After hearing Borowin's tale about the Devahammer and the circumstances surrounding it's recovery, Dorm, Roxi, and even Timber agreed to help the mystic in his quest.

The group walked a few feet behind Dorm, the elf and the bodyguards staying in front while the cleric and the mystic. Like any person who shared a kender bloodline, Roxi began to ask Borowin questions; mostly about his family and his faith. When the dwarf replied that he was a mystic and didn't fully believe in the gods, Roxilandra Shanklebee, priestess of Mishakal, went into a loud rant about how the return of the gods would be for the better of Krynn.

Borowin pointed to an eagle flying by, causing the half kender to be distracted. As she turned her head away from him, Borowin quickly moved his way past Timber and the bodyguards and up to where Dorm was scouting. "That cleric you travel with is something else," the dwarf remarked, catching his breath.

Dorm laughed, hearing Roxi praying to Mishakal from the back of the group. "That's how a lot clerics are. My mother was a cleric of Mishakal, and my father was a cleric of Gilean. Sometimes they would go debate about the gods for hours. Roxi is just passionate about her beliefs, that’s all."

"What about the elf, is he as passionate about his beliefs?" Borowin asked with a chuckle.

The ranger shook his head. "The only thing Timber is passionate about is steel, alcohol, and a food," Dorm replied with a smile. "Timber can't remember his past. Where he came from. Who his parents were. All he can remember is his days as a Steel Legionnaire. To be honest, I think he prefers it that way."

Borowin looked back, seeing Roxi stare curiously at a squirrel while Timber was telling a joke to the dwarves. "Some interesting company you keep Dorm Silverfalcon, but what about you? What's your story?"

Dorm looked down the road. " Well I was raised in Solace, that's where I met Roxi. I spent my childhood hearing many tales of heroes, and often visiting the Tomb of the Last Heroes. When I turned sixteen, I enlisted with the Legion of Steel. We weren't Knights of Solomnia, but we were good guys...for the most part."

The mystic sighed. "Sounds like a good life. I had to spend many of my early years hearing about my father and my brother. Now they are standing at the gates of Reorx's Forge, waiting for me to retrieve the Devahammer so that they can enter the afterlife."

"We will retrieve the hammer, and your clan will enter Reorx's Forge," Dorm said softly. He looked forward, spotting the most beautiful woman he had even laid eyes on.

She was dressed in white silk and had long blond hair. Her body was sleek and perfect in all the right places. "A nymph," Dorm said softly," I'm sure she'll just leave us alone." Though he was confident in his guess, doubt crept into the ranger's mind as he glanced in her direction one more time, and noticed that she was staring back him. He then spotted four small furred figures dancing around her.

Dorm held up a hand for the group to stop. Timber broke his conversation he was having with the two bodyguards and walked up to the front," Why did we stop?"

"A nymph," Borowin answered softly.

"A nymph shouldn't bother us," Timber said quietly.

"No, but those satyrs might," Dorm quickly added.

The elf and the dwarf looked at one another. "Satyrs?" they asked in unison.

The ranger nodded. "Yeah satyrs. Little men with horns and goat legs."

"I know what a satyr is," snapped Timber, looking down the path. "Great, one of those little bastards is coming towards us."

No sooner did Timber finish his sentence, that the goat man who was walking over to them, now stood a few feet away from the ranger. "Hello gentlemen. My name is Billobee, and I couldn't help but notice that you and your party were walking down this path."

Timber stepped to Dorm's side. "Spare us the pleasantries. We don't have any spare steel. Now if you excuse us, my friends and I have some very important business to tend to."

Billobee placed himself in front of the elf. "Now it just so happens that our lady Gilda, the nymph you see down the road, has some business with the human."

"Me?" questioned Dorm. The ranger glanced at the nymph, who seems to be smiling at him as she held a small bundle in her arms.

The satyr nodded. "Yes you. Gilda believes you to be the father of her child."

"What!" Dorm yelled," How is that possible? I've never met this Gilda."

Gasps came from behind the ranger. He looked back, seeing the glare Roxi was giving him. Timber slapped his friend on the back. "How long were you planning on keeping this little secret from us Dorm?" he asked cheerfully, forgetting the satyr was standing there.

Dorm blushed while the dwarven mystic and the elven thief were roaring with laughter. Billobee shook his head. "A month ago, Gilda took a nasty hit to the head by a fallen tree branch, then a fallen hornet's nest, not to mention a barrage of fallen apples and acorns. Anyways, whenever she sees travelers coming up this way, Gilda believes one of the travelers to be her father, or her uncle, or in your case, the father of her child."

Dorm looked at Timber, but Billobee placed a hand on the ranger's shoulder. "Look all she wants is for you and your friends to have lunch with us. You could choose to just walk down the road and ignore her, but it really would make her day if you came and sat with her. I'm sure your friends would love some time off of their feet. We’re not going to try and steal your food, or money, or clothes. We mean no harm. There’s plenty of food."

Timber's eyes lit up at the sound of the satyr's last word. He looked at Dorm with innocent eyes, trying to keep himself from laughing. "Oh please father, can we stop and have lunch with mother?"

Dorm turned back to the satyr with a nervous look on his face and answered," Well we could use the rest."

)( )( )( )( )( )(

In a small clearing a few miles away from the road, the four satyrs danced around while Gilda sat with Dorm, her read resting on the ranger's shoulder as she cradled the small bundle in her arms.

The cleric and Brunhilda were dancing alone with the satyrs. Timber, Borowin, and Vash sat in a circle, eating away the lunch the satyrs had prepared for them. Vash looked at the small bundle wrapped in the nymph's arms,” You really think she's holding a baby? I say it's a trap of some sort."

Borowin raised an eyebrow," What would be the trap? Getting Dorm to actually father her child?"

They all erupted in laughter, until Timber saw something slip out of the bundle that caught his attention. "Is that a tail?"

Gilda smiled and looked at Dorn. "He looks so much like his father." The nymph leaned up and kissed his cheek.

Dorm looked down at the small wolf pup sleeping sound fully in the nymph's arms. "He sure does" he said with a nervous smile.

Billobee quietly walked up to Dorm, patting his shoulder. "Thanks for doing this."

"Not a problem," Dorm answered through his teeth.

Dorm looked up at the blue sky, watching the clouds. Everything seemed calm and peaceful, until the ranger saw a dark shape in the sky moving towards the ground. "That's a blue dragon," he said softly.

"Dragon!" Gilda creamed, standing up and holding the sleeping pup closer to her breast.

The ranger quickly rose to his feet. "Gilda...take our…son and hide. Quickly."

Gilda ran back to Dorm, giving him a passionate kiss. "Be careful my love," she whispered in a sultry voice," I don't want you to lose you again.”

Dorm watched her run far, into some trees. He looked over and saw Timber, Roxi, and the dwarves armed with their weapons, ready for his orders.

The blue dragon slowly descended to the ground, bearing a rider in blue armor on it's back. "I am Samuel Helmfire and my men and I have come for the dwarf whose name is Borowin."

"Your men?" Dorm asked quietly. He scanned the clearing, seeing several men dressed in blue armor coming from all sides. One of the men emerged from behind a large tree, holding sword at Gilda's back.

"Give us the dwarf, or we'll kill the nymph, and the pup," the dark knight who stood behind Gilda shouted.

Hearing Gilda's outbursts about how mean it was for the dark knight to refer her son as a pup, Dorm drew his sword, but Borowin placed a hand over the ranger's weapon. "It's all right Dorm. I'll go with him. It's not worth risking Gilda and your child."

"But the child isn't even his," Timber whispered," and it's not even a child, it's wolf cub." Roxi hit the elf in the shoulder, her eyes telling him to be silent.

Borowin walked over to the blue dragon rider. The tall but slender, Samuel Helmfire ordered his blue dragon, Darkwing to lower his head for the dwarf to get on.

After the mystic managed to make it onto the dragon's back, Darkwing jumped up into the air and flew away.

The dark knight who held Gilda at sword point, pushed her aside and followed the rest of the knights out of the clearing. The nymph quickly ran to Dorm, tears streaming down her face.

"Oh my darling, I'm so sorry," she cried through her tears. "Your friend gave his freedom so that our son could live."

The wolf pup, now fully awake, looked up at Dorm and whined. Dorm put his arm around Gilda and kissed her softly. "It's all right Gilda, we're going to rescue him."

"I'm assuming when you say 'we'," Timber commented," you mean yourself, Roxi, the dwarves, and me. How do you propose we do that? In case you didn't see, they've got us outnumbered."

Billobee quietly stepped forward. "Well actually there's a camp of some mercenaries who had just left the town of Rigitt not to far from here. The leader's name is Lynsey Greensteel. I believe they call themselves the Jade Brigade."

The cleric's eyes lit up while Timber gave a hearty laugh. Dorm looked at the satyr. "Lynsey Greensteel? Short woman with red hair?"

The satyr looked up at Dorm. "You know her?"

"She traveled with Roxi, Timber, and me during our Steel Legionnaire days," Dorm responded.

)( )( )( )( )( )(

Unther Swordbreaker had just heard from one of the squires that Samuel Helmfire had successfully captured the dwarf who possessed the map to the Hall of Angels.

The Tablet of Time would be his sooner than he thought.

)( )( )( )( )( )(

Lynsey Greensteel as the men and women of the Jade Brigade trained. She was a beautiful woman with fiery red hair, and jade colored eyes. She wore a dark green shirt under her elven chain armor and carried a green hilted bastard sword.

As she watched her troops train, Lynsey reminisced on her days as a scout for the Legion of Steel. During her time as a scout, she had made some interesting friends and fought horrific battles. After the War of Souls ended, Lynsey left the Legion of Steel and roamed Ansalon for a while, gathering together those who had dreams of becoming heroes. After assimilating a group of able bodied men and women, she then named her group the Jade Brigade The Jade Brigade traveled all over Ansalon, defending the weak and helpless from oppressing Dark Knights of Nereka, as well as warlords and other evil.

One of the younger brigade members, a half elf named Ethann ran up to Lynsey. "Lady Greensteel, there are some people here to see you. One of them says he knows you. A man named Dorm Silverfalcon."

Lynsey raised an eyebrow. "Dorm Silverfalcon? Wonder what he wants?"
"Why don't you ask him yourself, he's standing right here," Dorm shouted from behind the leader of the Jade Brigade.

Lynsey Greensteel turned around and stared at Dorm for a moment, then she ran up and hugged him tightly. "Well it's certainly been a long time," she said in a high voice, then turned her head to the cleric and the rouge. "You're both still running around with this riff-raff." She quickly walked up to them," Timber, still up to your antics? And Roxi, you've become a cleric of Mishakal. Those robes look very good on you, though I prefer green to blue." Lynsey greeted both Roxi and Timber with a hug. The leader of the Jade Brigade spotted the two dwarves Vash and Brunhilda. "Interesting company you keep Dorm. Are you trying to reform the Legion of Steel?"

The ranger knew that Lynsey was joking. "It's a long story," he answered. Dorm walked over to Lynsey and told of how he met Borowin and rescuing him from the dark knights. He then explained about meeting the nymph and Borowin getting taken hostage by the dark knight Samuel Helmfire.

"That sounds like quite a predicament Dorm," Lynsey remarked shortly after the ranger finished his story. "These dark knights you speak of, we've been tracking them for days now, waiting for an excuse to attack their camp If you give me an hour, and I can gather up some forces and devise up a plan to take out the encampment. Your experienced blades are more then welcome of course."

Dorm smiled. He made a silent vow that he would save Borowin from the dark knights. Even if it meant sacrificing his own life.