A Hero is Airborne

"You know how to swing that sword?" Dismas asked.

Abel hopped over a gnarled root. "Pull it up, bring it down?"

The cleric sighed. "More to it than that. Tell me why he's coming, again?"

"If we took him to the orchard, we'd have to go into the forest at dusk. And I don't want to leave him in the village or make him go home alone."

Dismas grunted. "Just stay behind us, boy."

"My parents were warriors! They didn't stay behind. I'm gonna fight!"

"Were warriors. Stay behind, maybe you'll grow up to be one someday."

You turned to see Abel, his lips quivering. He had been skipping over roots and rocks when you had first entered the forest, and now he moved sluggishly.

"A bit harsh, don't you think, Brother Dismas?"

"Medicine is bitter."

"But healers should be kind."

"I'm the kind of healer who kills them with kindness."

The three of you trekked deeper into the forest. Sunlight danced through the canopy, dappling the rich earth with warmth. Life played its symphony of rushing water and birdsong. Yet, the tranquility belied a sinister scent in the air - the smell of rot. Here and there were corpses of deer and rabbits, left uneaten by their killers and untouched by scavengers. Wasted.

"What's a man like you doing work like this?" you asked Dismas.

He didn't answer for a while. "I was a thief and a thug. I became desperate one day. I broke into one of Hann's houses in the dead of night, stole everything. Gold, silver, relics, food. Then I pulled Father Ham from his bed and forced him to give me all he had on him. I left him without a copper to his name, and without a single icon for Hann's house."

"You're mean," Abel said.

"I know," Dismas replied softly.

"And now you work under him," you said.

He nodded. "A few years later, my gang left me for dead. We held up a caravan, but they were more experienced than we'd hoped. I was bloody and broken, leaning against a tree knowing Old Man Hunh was going to claim my life. Then, Father Ham came. He knelt by me, and said he remembered me. Do you know what he did?"

"What did he do?"

"He apologized, saying he had lied the night I robbed him. He hid two copper coins from me but said he'd given everything." You noticed Dismas crying. "He healed me, took me with him, and gave me those two coins."

Dismas pulled his collar down to reveal a necklace with two coins dangling from it. "I've been trying to repay him ever since. But I know no amount of gold or silver will ever amount to these copper coins."

You put a hand on his shoulder. "Then repay it with good deeds and kind words. Let's make this place safe again."

"Peekaboo."

The tent's startled occupants gasped. Each of the ten prisoners were stick-thin and rag-clad, and light from the opening you made illuminated stained, pained, and strained faces. You put a finger on your lips.

"Come on, before the orcs notice."

Slowly, the prisoners began shuffling forward, their eyes steadily filling with hope as they neared freedom. One, a homely girl, was last to scramble out the tent. She managed a weak, tusk-toothed smile.

She had barely took a step out the tent when an orc squealed in rage. You darted out, raising your bow and scanning for a target. A pair of the pig-men were charging at the escaping prisoners.

They tripped and tumbled dead as you loosed two arrows in quick succession.

A clang rang out. You saw Dismas clobber an orc's raised shield with a mace, brooking no retaliation. Another crept behind him, raising a jagged sword to strike Dismas' back.

Instead, it went down on one knee. Abel stood behind it, his sword red from having sliced behind the orc's knee.

You loosed a volley of arrows at the rest of the orcs, whose onslaught grew fiercer with every passing moment. Despite your arrows, which could pierce through armor and shield, you couldn't fire fast enough before they would arrive.

Beads of sweat raced from your brow to your chin. An orc darted ahead of its ilk - it raised an axe.

Suddenly, the orc and those behind it were bathed in flames. You turned and saw the homely, tusked girl from earlier - her arms were outstretched, thumbs connected and fingers spread. Fire flew from her burning hands.

The orcs were whittled down to a handful. Beaten, they panicked and fled deep into the forest. Once again, your bow wouldn't draw nor fire at the fleeing foe.

You took stock of the situation. Dismas dispatched a downed orc; Abel looked on with pity. The released prisoners were watching from the tree-line. The girl who could summon flames hadn't moved.

She wept at the sight of the orcs' smoldering remains.

Sleep was hard to achieve last night - the answers were a dawn away. However, your body didn't share that enthusiasm. The day's travails had wearied you to the bone, and when morning came you found it equally hard to get out of bed.

You went down the stairs to the house's main room, where the injured lay. Father Ham was already up, tending to one of yesterday's rescued prisoners. He smiled when he saw you.

"Good morning," he said, standing. "I trust you had a good rest?"

"A very good one, thanks. When you're not too busy, do you mind me asking some questions?"

He nodded. "Of course. With the orc threat dispersed, the village folk aren't so fearful. A few have left their farms to offer aid here. Come, follow me into the other room."

Father Ham led you to an adjoining room where Dismas was serving breakfast to Anne and some of Father Ham's helpers. He nodded good-morning. The tusk-toothed girl stared sulkily into her soup.

There were two chairs in the corner of the room, by the hearth where the soup was cooking. Father Ham offered you a seat and took the other himself. Dismas came and gave you both a bowl and went to eat himself.

"What bothers you, my child?"

"Well, you might not believe me."

He chuckled softly. "Trust me, I've some unbelievable stories of my own. Go on, ask."

"My memory's a bit fuzzy on this, but Abel confirmed it. For me, at least. I, well."

"Well?"

"I fell from the sky," you said quietly, so as not to let the others hear you.

Father Ham arched a brow. "Hm. Now that is a strange story. Do you remember how you got up there?"

You shook your head. "I just... got there. I don't remember anything before that. Nothing at all."

The priest deliberated for a while. "In my travels, I've studied under all sorts of strange masters. I've learned a great deal I will probably never need to know. But the only mention of people falling from the sky..."

"Yes?"

"Sometimes, the elves say, Hann sends a messenger to us. Hennaha, they call Hann. They say, he sends a messenger to prepare us all for some great change. Perhaps, you are one such messenger."

"But, I don't remember any message. I don't even remember my real name."

"Perhaps the message isn't one of words. A message of action. Your deeds herald something. Perhaps something great."

You sat there for a while. You realized the soup was getting cold, but you had no appetite. "How can you be sure?"

"I'm not," he said. "That's simply the closest thing I can think of. I'll tell you what, I'll research more on this. Give me some time."

You nod. "There's something else. What can you tell me about this place?"

Ham smiled. "Now that, I can give a fairly certain answer. This is Starting village, founded by the great hero Stefan Starting. This is a fishing village, and the catch is salted and ferried south to Firston."

"Firston?"

"Yes. It's the capital of the Kingdom of Kingdom. It was the first town established, hence its name."

"The Kingdom of... Kingdom?" you said skeptically.

"Yes," he repeated, seemingly oblivious to the redundant name. "It was founded by a great warrior king - King Dom. In fact, the two other kingdoms that neighbor us share this root - Kingdomia to the East, and Kingdomland to the West."

"I heard they were at war."

"Are. They are at war, to this day. Tensions had been high ever since the days of King Dom, but the Beast of the Black Wood's coming brought it all to boiling point."

"What is the Beast? It killed Abel's parents, didn't it?"

"Yes," he said quietly. "It killed a great deal of people. No one knows where it came from, or why it kills people. It just appeared one day."

"Like it fell from the sky?"

The two of you stayed silent for a while. "Who's this Lord Wooden?" you asked, steering the conversation elsewhere.

Ham perked up. "Ah! He's a good man who cares for his people. He owns these lands, and the Wooden Forest around us. That reminds me, about that reward I told you not to go after. You should speak with his reeve, Arthur, and get a bit of money from ridding Starting village of those orcs."

"I'll keep that in mind, thanks." Money would be good; that way, you wouldn't need to feel bad freeloading.

"Something else, Father. Who is Hann?"

Ham beamed. "Finally, my area of expertise! Hann is the maker of everything, just as Everything made him. He is the lord of men, elves, dwarves, halflings, and all the strange races of the world. Even orcs, though their worship is cruel and twisted."

You started eating your cold soup, and regretted not eating it earlier.

"To us, he is Hann. Righteous, kind, and wise. To the elves, she is Hennaha, the first flower from the first garden. To the dwarves, they ascribe him the runes HHN. To them, HHN breathed life in the mountain rocks and animated the first dwarves. The halflings, being children who've abandoned adulthood, still know him as Hann. Though to them, he is a god of joy and play."

"And the orcs?"

"The orcs call him Hruhn, from where we get Old Man Hunh. A god of war and death."

"Which version of him is true?"

"All of it. Hann made everything. Good and evil are things we've superimposed on his creation. He does not have many faces; simply one face looked upon from a thousand thousand angles."

"One last thing, Father."

"Feel free."

"Do you know how I might regain my memories?"

Ham scratched his chin. "As before, I need some time to do research on this. You are a truly intriguing woman, Iris. But I think I can still be of help. I have friends in Firston, learned men whom most call 'wizards'."

At the mention of wizards, Anne the tusked girl perked her pointed ears.

"Seek them out in their tower - you can't miss it," he laughed. "Tell them what you told me, and I'm sure they'll be glad to help."

He stood, rolling his shoulders. "Anything else?"