K. J. Parker - The Hammer

Copyright 2011 by K. J. Parker

Excerpt from The Folding Knife copyright 2010 by K. J. Parker

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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First eBook Edition: January 2011

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ISBN: 978-0-316-12210-8

Sometimes its not easy, but generally I manage to cope. But its hard enough as it is without you pulling stunts like that. Do you understand?

Hed have said anything to get the hand off his shoulder before he choked to death. Yes, I understand. Im sorry.

Stheno held him just a little longer; just a little too long. Then he let go, and all Gignomai could think about was breathing. I can see why you did it, Stheno said, not at all unkindly. In your shoes, probably Id have done the same. But you dont have that luxury. Right?

Right.

Stheno nodded. A curt nod that said, quarrel over, lets not bother with grudges. Glad youre back, he said. I was worried.

Stheno?

Yes?

The sword, Gignomai said. I lost it, in the woods. Really.

Stheno frowned. I suggest you find it, he said, else, Fatherll kill you.

Thats what I was thinking.

I have reviewed books before that I thought might someday be found to have achieved greatness K. J. Parker is writing work after work that demands to be placed in that category.

Orson Scott Card

Blends gritty military fantasy with the 18th-century island story tradition. Parker carries the reader on a headlong gallop to the powerful conclusion.

Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Imagine Lost meets The Italian Job a masterfully planned and executed book, one that builds on ever-revealing characterization and backstory, leading slowly yet inexorably to its final conclusion.

SFF World

Its a dark, bleak and fiercely intelligent portrait of the human condition

SFX

A deftly paced mix thats brimming with psychological insights.

Library Journal

The whole thing is brilliantdisturbingly so, since these fantasies (without a whit of magic) explore the human condition and reveal it all, brain, heart, guts and bowels, with a startling precision.

Locus

Parkers intricately plotted and meticulously detailed book moves as deliberately and precisely as an antique watch.

Entertainment Weekly

An audacious, utterly captivating novel Parkers prose glitters with intelligence and precision one of the most entertaining novels Ive read this year.

Realms of Fantasy magazine

K. J. Parker is more of a hurricane than a breath of fresh air.

Dreamwatch magazine

Its a splendid story, full of turmoil and conspiracy.

blogcritics.org

As efficient and well constructed as its protagonists well-oiled machines.

Starburst

Colours in the Steel

The Belly of the Bow

The Proof House

Shadow

Pattern

Memory

Devices and Desires

Evil for Evil

The Escapement

The Company

The Folding Knife

The Hammer

For Ian and Angela Whitefield and Jim Alcock,

An everyday story of country folk

When Gignomai was seven years old, his brother Stheno gave him three chickens.

Theyre not yours, of course, Stheno said, youre just looking after them. Food and water twice a day, muck em out when the smell gets bad, make sure the fox doesnt get them. No big deal. Father thinks its time you learned about taking responsibility.

Oh, Gignomai said. How about the eggs?

They go to the kitchen, Stheno said.

For a week, Gignomai did exactly as hed been told. As soon as he woke up, he ran out into the yard, being careful not to slam the door in case it disturbed Father in his study, and went to the grain barrel, where he measured out a double handful of wheat into the battered old pewter cup hed found in the barn. He scattered the grain all round the foot of the mounting-block, filled the tin pail with water, counted the chickens to make sure they were all there and made a tour of inspection of the yard palings. One paling was rotten at the base, and Gignomai was worried that a fox could shove against it, break it and get in. He reported his concerns to Stheno, who said hed see to it when he had a moment. Nothing was done. Two days later, something broke in during the night and killed the chickens.

Not a fox, his brother Luso said, examining the soft earth next to the broken palings. Luso was a great hunter, and knew everything there was to know about predators. Look at the size of its feet. If I didnt know better, Id say it was a wolf, only we havent seen one of them for years. Most likely its a stray dog from town.

That made sense. Town was a strange, barbarous place where common people lived, barely human. It followed that their dogs would run wild and murder chickens. Luso undertook to patrol the woods with his gun (any excuse). Stheno told Gignomai not to worry about it; these things happened, it wasnt his fault (said in a way that made it clear that it was, really), and if you kept livestock, sooner or later youd get dead stock, and there was nothing more to be said. That would have been fine, except that he then issued Gignomai with three more chickens.

Try to take better care of them, he said. The supply isnt exactly infinite, you know.

For three days, Gignomai tended the chickens as before. For three nights, he sat in the bow window overlooking the grand double doors of the hall. He was too young to be allowed out after dark, and from the bow window you could just about see the far western corner of the yard. He managed to stay awake for the first two nights. On the third night he fell asleep, and the predator broke in and killed the chickens.

Not your fault, Stheno said wearily. For a start, you wouldnt have seen anything from there, and it was dark, so you wouldnt have seen anything anyway. And even if youd seen something, itd have taken too long. Youd have had to come and wake me up, and by the time Id got out there, the damage wouldve been done.

It was the same large, unfamiliar paw print. Luso still maintained it was a dog.

You didnt mend the broken paling, Gignomai said.

I will, Stheno replied, soon as Ive got a minute.

Custody of the remaining dozen chickens was awarded to one of Lusos huntsmen. The paling didnt get fixed. Two nights later, the leftovers from two more hens and the cock were scattered round the yard.

Well have to get a cock from one of the farms, Luso said. The metOc didnt condescend to trade with their neighbours, but from time to time Luso and his huntsmen went out at night and took things. It wasnt stealing, Mother said, but she didnt explain why not. Stheno tied the paling to the rail with a bit of twine from his pocket. Gignomai knew why he hadnt mended it: he had the farm to run, and he did most of the work himself because the farm workers were weak and lazy and not to be trusted. Stheno was twenty-one and looked like Fathers younger brother rather than his son.