He headed off to the lower markets.
The street vendors and shops had all manner of goods for sale. One shop sold freshly cooked strips of meat. Another sold stoneware for serving food. Finally Theros found what he was looking for. One shop had an assortment of weapons. He checked the quality and inquired within.
“Excuse me, sir. I was wondering if you could tell me the name of the smith who made the weapons that you have on display.”
The shopkeeper was gruff. “You would be looking for Hrall, slave. He charges too much for the damned things.
Still, with this new elven war and all, I may make some money on them yet.”
Theros thanked the minotaur and headed for the area of the city where smiths, leatherworkers, cobblers and coopers lived and worked. He stopped at the first smith.
“What is it you want, slave?” the minotaur smith asked.
Theros looked around the shop. It was clean but small. The metalwork being done was for all manner of implements and tools except weapons.
“I was looking for a smith named Hrall. He is a weapons-smith.”
“You are right, human. He is at the end of this street. His forge is a good one.”
Theros bowed slightly to show his respect and left the shop. He found the smithy and entered.
A huge minotaur had his back to the door. He was pounding the blade of a long sword into shape. As he pounded, sparks of steel and fire leaped from the weapon. The smell of the fire, mixed with that of oiled leather and wood smoke, was a whiff of nostalgia for Theros. He missed working in a smithy and, especially, he missed his friend Hran.
The minotaur put his tongs and hammer down and turned around. Theros nearly jumped out of his skin.
In front of him stood Hran! It was as if Theros had conjured him up. He had just been thinking about Hran, and there his old friend stood, right in front of him.
The big minotaur cleaned his hands on his apron. “What is the matter, slave? You look as if you had seen a death knight!”
Theros bowed. “I am sorry, sir. I thought that you looked like another minotaur that I once knew. He was also a smith and a very fine one.”
“You must have met my brother, Hran. I am told that he is dead now. It is left to me to carry on the family name. Where did you know Hran?”
“I was an apprentice to Hran in the Third Army. I was there when he died. I buried him.” Theros said quietly.
“You were there? You buried him? Tell me, did he die like a warrior? Did he die with his axe in his hand?”
“Yes, sir! He died fighting the elven cavalry that raided our camp. They finally overran us, but he killed eight elite warriors, the ones with the plate armor and barded horses. They fell surrounding him. He died with his axe in his hand, a true warrior. You should be proud of him! He fought well!”
Hrall grunted. “Do not think I am surprised. I am not. He was truly a great warrior, and a great smith, too. We did not get along well, my brother and I. He decided to take the path of military service. I decided to make weapons as a commercial venture. My fighting is done in the Circus. He decided to do battle as a soldier. But he still wanted to be a smith. He achieved his goals, I achieved mine. We didn’t see each other much. I am sorry now that we did not. Truly sorry.”
Theros had no idea what to say to the minotaur, who was obviously deeply affected by his brother’s death.
“You were a slave in my brother’s shop, were you?”
Theros nodded.
“Fine. You will work here. I will buy out whoever owns you now.”
Theros produced the coin that Huluk had given him. “Sir, I am a free man. I am owned by no one. I am now a member of the Hrolk Clan. And I was not Hran’s slave. He made me his apprentice.”
Hrall was surprised. “I had no idea that they were still freeing slaves these days. This makes things different. I would have to pay you, and I cannot do that. I do good work, but I do not make enough money to hire someone else.”
“Sir, if you could hire me, I would work for just food and board, at first. Hran taught me well. I will bring in enough work to make you more money. When your business grows, then you can pay me.”
Hrall peered shrewdly at the young man. “You say you were my brother’s apprentice. Are you any good? Can you do leatherwork?”
“I am not new to smithing, sir, but I am not a master smith, either. I can do the small jobs that require doing, so that you can concentrate on the bigger and more demanding pieces. And I can sew leather.”
Hrall had heard enough. “You are hired. You can live in the back shed behind the shop. You’ll have to clean it out yourself. I have never been able to work leather like my brother could. If you can work leather, I will teach you the trade where my brother left off.”
The minotaur and the human shook hands.
* * * * *
Theros returned to the Supreme Circle chambers to find Huluk, tell him that he had a job. Theros waited for Huluk for hours. Nobody bothered or even noticed him. He was human, and might have been a bug as far as the minotaurs were concerned.
Suddenly, near nightfall, the bells in the tower crowning the Supreme Circle building pealed out.
From all directions, minotaurs came rushing up the street. They crowded in front of Theros, shoving him out of the way. Their attention was fixed on the large wooden doors at the top of the stone stairs. More and more minotaurs poured into the streets.
“What are they all here for?” Theros wondered uneasily if this had anything to do with Huluk.
Nearly a hundred minotaurs were waiting when the doors finally opened. Two guards in ceremonial garb came out first, followed by the eight minotaurs of the Supreme Circle. Lastly, several other military officers, including Huluk, walked out. Huluk was easy to spot because of his limp.
The crowd grew silent out of respect for the Supreme Circle. One of the eight took two paces forward.
“Minotaurs of the Empire! We of the Supreme Circle have found Klaf, now-dead commander of the now-dead Third Army of Minotaurs, to be guilty of grievous errors in judgment. He put the entire colony in Silvanesti, as well as the lives and honor of warriors of the highest order, in jeopardy. His clan will be stripped of its honor, and must regain their honor in the Circus. The clan shall be known as Nar-Klaf, until it has proven itself worthy.”
The crowd roared its approval. One minotaur, standing near Theros, shook his head from side to side. Someone, spotting him, pointed and shouted. “Bastard Nar-Klaf!” This minotaur turned and ran, perhaps to warn his family. A few minotaurs tossed rocks at him, but most turned again to listen to the speaker.
“To take Klaf’s place, we appoint Huluk, surviving officer of the Third Army, to be its new commander. He will raise and train a new Third Army from veterans and recruits. We will not be going back to the land of the elves, at least not in the short term. We will, Sargas be praised, have our vengeance on them, but now is not the time.
“This concludes the announcement of the Supreme Circle. Let all know that its words are law, by the grace of the Emperor.”
The minotaurs stepped back, and it was Huluk’s turn. “Warriors of the Minotaur Empire, I call upon you to join the new Third Army! For those of you whose clan members participated in Nar-Klaf’s slaughter, hear this! All clans, save the Nar-Klaf clan, are hereby absolved of the defeat in Silvanesti. I personally witnessed the honor and courage of the combatants, and how they sacrificed themselves.”
Nods and praises to Sargas were whispered through the crowd. Every clan in the capital had a member in the Third Army.
“The warriors held prisoner by the elves will be released and transported back to Mithas in one month’s time. That is all.”
Huluk stepped back. The members of the Supreme Circle turned and re-entered the great hall. The officers followed, then the bodyguards, who closed the doors.