On The Anvil Of War by Jason M. Green (best books for 20 year olds .TXT) 📕

I
Krow

Anstrom paced the floor of the chamber in which he had spent almost every hour of the ten weeks that he had been at the king’s ancestral fortress. As he paced, he talked incessantly to the creatures that he had men gather for his experiments, and the creatures only stared at him, as he ranted about how badly his progress was going. As he finished his current tirade, he grabbed the leather-bound book of incantations he brought with him from Avnadele, found another spell that cryptically claimed it could grant a type of immortality by freeing a being’s soul, and decided to try it.
Anstrom cleared his throat and recited the words of an ancient language, one whose original speakers he knew had long since faded into the mists of memory. He concentrated on the white hare he had chosen as his subject for this particular experiment, and it started to glow, as he got halfway through the incantation. Unfortunately, when he was finished the hare began to writhe and cry in pain, as its flesh began to sizzle and its hair began to curl and blacken. Less than a minute later, it cried its last breath, as its skin split open to reveal the charred, mutilated flesh beneath.
Anstrom stared at the smoking pile of flesh in amazement and muttered to himself, “It would appear this spell frees the soul by destroying the body in a particularly painful fashion.” He then shook his head saying, “I am sure I could find a use for it, but it is not what I require for my current purposes.” With a sigh, he pulled loose a chunk of the blackened meat and hesitantly placed it in his mouth. After chewing and swallowing the piece of meat, he said to himself in an amused tone, "At least I’ll not have to tell a servant to bring me food for a while." Then as he reached for another piece, he heard a rapping at his door, which continued to get louder. Muttering a curse under his breath, he walked towards the sound. "Who is at my door?" he asked impatiently.
"Your king is at your door, and he wishes to have words with you."
Anstrom muttered something profane in one of the many languages he knew and opened the door. "How may I be of service to you, my Master?" he asked humbly.
The king's nose twitched, as the smell of burnt hare drifted through the open doorway. "Are you cooking something in there?” He took another sniff, and then said, “It is of no importance if you are. I was just going to ask if you would see the queen, and try to improve her condition."
Anstrom thought of the spell he had just tried, but cast that thought from his mind. "I will do as you ask immediately."
"Splendid," said King Malifesh happily.
Anstrom followed King Malifesh through the hallways of the fortress and stopped at a large wooden door. The king opened the door and told Anstrom to enter, which Anstrom did somewhat reluctantly. He saw the queen upon a bed against one wall, and he noticed she was still smiling, though her eyes remained closed. Anstrom kneeled beside her and said a few words in a variety of languages he knew the king could not understand. After he had finished his litany of nonsense, he turned to the king. "I can do nothing more for her. She must do this part of the healing on her own."
King Malifesh nodded slowly. "I am sorry to have disturbed you."
Anstrom smiled as politely as he could manage and left. He returned to his chamber and returned to his work of finding a spell that would do what he wished without causing any permanent damage.

º º º º º

Krow rose from his bed, stretched a couple of times, and then began to pull on his clothes. He selected clothes made of sturdy leather, since he didn‘t know what kind of danger he might face after leaving the ship, and he pulled them on as quickly as possible. Then he walked over towards a large sack in the corner of his cabin, and removed a vest of mail from the sack, which he pulled on over his tunic. Satisfied that his mobility was not hampered by his choice of clothing, he began to grab his weapons, starting with his trusty axe. He debated momentarily over procuring a shield or some weapons that would give him greater range, but decided to stick with his usual combination of sword, dagger, and axe, since it was what he was most comfortable with.
He checked to make sure his sword and dagger were loose enough in their sheathes to be drawn quickly, then he left his cabin, and went straight to the hold to find his horse. It did not take him long to reach his horse, and as he gazed upon the magnificent black stallion, who was named Wotan, he thought back for a moment to defeating the man who used to own the horse. He remembered how he lost his own horse in the fight, which prompted him to steal his fallen adversary‘s steed, and he remembered happily claiming the stallion as his own, along with his opponent‘s arms and armour. He pushed the memory aside, and quickly saddled Wotan. Then, after making sure all of his gear was on Wotan, he led the horse up a ramp and onto the deck. Then he had a cabin boy go below and spread the word that all of his men were supposed to join him on the deck immediately, and by the time the boat docked at a small fishing wharf less than a mile from Harrvall, they had finished assembling before their leader. While some of the crewmen lowered the anchor, and a few more readied a gangplank to lower down to the wharf, the warriors rushed off to finish their preparations for leaving. When the ship finally came to rest near the dock, Krow thanked the captain and told the men under his command to follow him.
As they rode down the gangplank and onto the wharf, Krow issued instructions for his men to ride to the top of the hill that overlooked Harrvall, and to wait there for his return. They followed his command without question, and rode towards the hill, as Krow rode off towards Harrvall.
Krow crossed the border of the small town and rode down the nearly empty streets, straight towards The Arrow. As he approached the inn, he saw many horses bearing the emblem of King Malifesh, and an idea came to him. Krow rode to the front of the inn, dismounted, and told Wotan to stay where he was. Then he quickly unbuckled the saddles on each horse marked with the king’s emblem. Satisfied with what he’d done, he walked towards the entrance to the inn, and noticing that Vega’s horse was nowhere around, he wondered where his friend might be. Out of the corner of his eye, he also noticed that the sign instructing everyone to leave their weapons outside was gone and one detailing a curfew was in its place.
Once inside, he noticed the inn was filled with loud people, most of them soldiers. He ignored them as he passed, and they appeared equally oblivious to his presence, except when it became necessary to shoulder his way past one of them. Krow reached the bar and found Vega mixing a drink. "Let us leave this place, my friend. It has become overrun with vermin, and very noisy vermin at that,” he declared loud enough for his friend to hear over the noise.
Vega looked up and grinned weakly. "I've an inn to keep in business, and that means I cannot leave until after my customers have left." He put a mug of beer in front of Krow without waiting for his friend to ask for something to drink.
"I disagree with you. Only half of this inn is yours, and you shouldn't have to deal with all of the problems." Krow hoisted the mug of beer and drained it in a few gulps, then he set the empty mug on the bar and said, "You should be with your family instead of here serving these fools your impressive brews."
Just then a man burst through the door, and forced his way through the drunken soldiers. As he made his way up to the bar some of them cursed at him, but he ignored them, as he forced his way towards Vega. When he reached the bar, he breathlessly declared, "There is smoke beyond the trees. It appears near to your home."
Vega dropped the drink he was mixing, before effortlessly leaping over the bar and running towards the door. A soldier who stood in his way was knocked over, and he hit the floor swearing vividly. When Vega got outside he remembered that he had to spend the last few nights in one of the rooms above the inn and Attilla had led his horse home when she left a few days before.
Krow stepped out through the doors and declared, "You can ride with me.” He then mounted his horse and gestured behind him.
Vega nodded and climbed onto the horse behind Krow. "Let us hurry. My home may be on fire at this very moment."
“Let us hope that’s not true," Krow said, as he put his heels to Wotan’s flanks and they galloped down the street, the horse effortlessly carrying Vega’s additional weight.

When they neared their destination, the first thing they saw were flames leaping towards the sky, as they devoured the buildings in the large clearing. Barn doors were kicked open and horses started galloping away from the flames as fast as their four legs would carry them. Vega saw this, and leapt from Wotan’s back, while shouting for Krow to get water. He ran inside his home and looked around frantically for any sign that his wife and child were still inside. Suddenly, he felt a hand grab his arm and spin him around. His eyes met briefly with the eyes of a stranger, and then he was thrown backwards onto the kitchen table.
He skidded across the surface of the table, and as he hit the floor, he saw the stranger, whose uniform marked him as a soldier, drawing a long knife from a sheath. The soldier rushed towards him, and Vega grabbed a chair to use as a shield. The blade glanced off the edge of the chair and grazed Vega's arm, splitting skin and causing blood to trickle. Vega dropped the chair and leapt to his feet, but he soon was dodging out of the way, as the knife was again swung towards him, falling back in the process and knocking a rack off of the wall. The soldier feinted with his knife, and then punched Vega in the face with sufficient force to knock him to the floor.
Vega struck the floor, and his vision blurred for a moment upon impact. When his vision cleared, he saw that the soldier was now over top of him, getting ready to deliver a killing blow. As the knife came down, Vega grabbed the soldier’s wrist to keep the blade from reaching him. The soldier tried to use his own weight to force the knife down, and Vega knew that he could resist for only so long, so he used his other hand to find something to help him. He ran his hand across the floor and felt his fingers touch something solid, and then he wrapped his fingers around what he had found. Not wanting to waste another