Rich Wulf - Rise of the Seventh Moon

Zed tapped out his pipe on the rail and tucked it back into his coat. Suddenly he didn’t feel much like smoking anymore. The sun finally vanished behind the horizon. Gentle moonlight illuminated the plains.

“It isn’t that simple, Gerith,” Dalan said.

“Oh?” the halfling said, glaring up at the guildmaster. “Why isn’t it, Dalan? It seems pretty simple to me.”

“Gerith is right,” Zed said, standing up straight and steadying his sword over his shoulder. “We have to make a stand.”

Dalan glanced at Zed, looking quizzically at the amulet that hung around his throat. “Peculiar time for you to find your faith, Arthen,” Dalan said. “This is a time for logic, not emotion.”

“No, Dalan,” Zed said fiercely. “This is the perfect time for emotion. Don’t you remember why you got involved in all of this?”

“Because I wanted to claim my uncle’s research for myself and use it to seize control of House Cannith,” the guildmaster said. “I’ve confessed to my reckless ambitions and done my best to atone.”

“That’s not what I mean,” Zed said. “When you learned what Marth was doing, why did you keep hunting him? Seren, when Dalan told you to go home, why did you refuse? Eraina, when your superiors told you that searching for Grove’s murderer was a waste of time, why did you argue?” He looked at each member of the crew. “I could go on with this for each one of you, but the answer is always the same. We’ve all faced times when it would have been easier to stand aside, but we didn’t. Why?”

“Sometimes the worst thing you can do is nothing at all,” Seren said.

“We are close now,” Omax said. All eyes turned to the warforged. “As we draw nearer to the Boneyard, the more certain I am that Markhelm’s journal is at least partially true. I can sense the Timeless, as I could each time the Legacy was activated. Deep in the Boneyard, he stirs. He seeks the missing parts of himself.”

“The power that was released each time the Legacy was used,” Tristam said. “We still don’t know what happened to it.”

“Zamiel has been gathering it, somehow,” Omax said. “I can sense … a swell. The dragon is nearby. He has used the energy he has gathered to draw the veils between the planes wider. He intends to guide the Timeless as it enters this world.”

“And twist it the same way he twists everyone else,” Seren said.

“So it’ll be Marth all over again, but with the power of a god this time,” Ijaac said. “Marvelous.”

“If we’re going to do this, we all need to be together,” Tristam said. “We can still land long enough to drop off anyone who doesn’t want to fight.”

“I’m with you, Tristam,” Zed said.

“As am I,” Omax said. “We cannot allow this to happen.”

“It ends with us, Xain,” Eraina said. “I am with you.”

“I’m still your dwarf, Tristam,” Ijaac said gruffly.

“Me too,” Gerith said. “Well, not a dwarf, but you get the point.”

“Can’t fly the ship without its captain,” Pherris said with a smirk.

“I will help put this right,” Aeven promised. “The ship’s elemental wishes to see this through as well. She does not comprehend the details, but she knows Zamiel is a danger to her friends. Karia Naille only wishes there was a way to fight by your side.”

“Can’t turn back once you start, or you’ll never finish,” Seren said, attempting to smile bravely.

Tristam turned to Dalan.

“I don’t see what help I’ll be,” Dalan said quietly. He plucked the cap from his head and rubbed his eyes with one hand. “I’m just a fat old politician. I’m certainly no hero, and I’m more than a little afraid.” He looked up at Tristam, his gaze steady. “But I’m staying.”

“Good,” Tristam said, smiling broadly.

“So what’s the plan, Tristam?” Zed asked.

Tristam nodded. “If we can’t stop Zamiel, maybe we can at least use the Legacy to close the veils and shut the Timeless away from this plane forever. Omax, can you guide us where we need to go?”

“Yes, but I’m not sure that-” The warforged cocked his head suddenly. His eyes shone bright.

“Omax?” Seren said.

“Beware,” he said.

The airship shook violently with the explosive sound of shattered wood. Zed staggered against the rail, nearly falling overboard. Eraina caught his arm, steadying him.

“Pherris?” Dalan cried out. The guildmaster lay sprawled upon the deck. “What was that?”

“Something hit us,” the gnome said. He struggled with the ship’s controls. Around them, the ship’s elemental ring flickered an angry purple. “We’re losing altitude!”

“Port!” Gerith said, pointing at the sky behind the ship and to the left.

Zed looked up and immediately wished he had not. A large, reptilian beast soared through the sky away from them. Its skin was covered with coppery scales, burning brilliant red in the sunset.

Zamiel.

As the Mourning Dawn began to plummet, the dragon circled about and soared toward them once again.

If there was a single thing in all the world that irritated Dalan d’Cannith more than anything else, it was panic. Panic ruined the finest plans and laid the most confident individuals low. No matter how hopeless things became, he always struggled to keep a cool head. Whenever his schemes veered from his original track, he always tried to make the best of it, to fight to keep his nerve and turn failure into victory.

But now, seeing the enormous copper dragon soar toward his crippled airship, Dalan felt panic rising inside him. He huddled among the barrels stacked on the airship’s deck and clasped his hands around his head, shivering in terror.

“Tristam!” Pherris cried out. “Damage report!”

“Aye, Captain,” Tristam said, limping toward the ladder. “Dalan, help me!”

Dalan looked up at Tristam weakly. In the distance, he heard the dragon roar.

“Dalan, help me, damn it!” Tristam swore. “I may need your dragonmark!”

Zed hauled Dalan to his feet by one arm. The guildmaster mumbled apologetically as they led him to the ladder.

“Aeven, we need a storm!” Pherris cried. “Slow that beast down any way you can!”

The sky above them crackled with a sudden peal of thunder.

Dalan stumbled into the cargo bay. Tristam opened the bay hatches and leaned out. The expression on the boy’s face told the guildmaster everything he didn’t want to know.

“We’re going down,” he whispered, “aren’t we?”

Tristam glared at Dalan. “Pherris, the keel strut is barely hanging on!” he shouted. “I can’t fix it from here. We need to land!”

“Tristam, the dragon is coming back again!” Gerith shouted.

“Damn.” Tristam slammed the bay hatches closed and climbed back up the ladder.

“What do we do, Zed?” Dalan asked, looking at the inquisitive. “How do we fight something like this? We aren’t even going to make it to the Boneyard.”

“Get it together, d’Cannith,” Zed said through clenched teeth. “I know you’re not as weak as you make out.”

The inquisitive climbed up the ladder. The guildmaster stood alone in the shadowy hold, still clutching his cap in one hand. He should have remained behind. He was no use to them anymore. All his wealth, all his cunning were nothing against an enemy like this. He was only getting in the way.

“Don’t hide down here and wait to die, Dalan,” he chided himself. “That drunkard paladin is right. A Cannith is better than this.” He plucked up a sharpened pick from a stack of supplies, likely part of Ijaac’s extensive weapon collection.

Dalan climbed back on deck just in time to feel the airship bank heavily to one side, followed by another violent crash. He saw the dragon’s massive wing-big enough to eclipse half the deck-as it flew past. The airship’s elemental ring took on a red hue. A dreadful wail rose from deep inside her.