06/03/05

The Battle of Sky Mountain - Page 2

The journey to Kratas took three weeks, and each of them were put through severe trials by their masters. Buulgath learned to speak with the spirits of the dead, and weave threads and cast spells. Phylinius was given a small lute by Jacob, and had to begin memorizing songs and stories, as well as learning how to influence others and use his natural charms. Nazeer spent much of his time running through the woods, sometimes being chased by Gram, other times trying to catch him. Gram was not a gentle tutor, but Nazeer was not a fragile pupil, and by the time they arrived, all three of them had achieved the First Circle in their Discipline.

They entered the city together, but were left on their own by their masters, who went to find the scholar that Jacob knew. While wandering around, they encountered a talisman seller, who told them that he knew where they might find the individual they were looking for. However, he sent them to a tavern on the far side of town, where they were ambushed by thieves. Their talents and abilities won through, and they escaped with their purses and their lives.

Later that evening, they met their masters in another tavern, where they had been instructed to meet. The three had found that the scholar had moved across Barsaive, to another township. Even worse, the Therans were in Kratas, and were looking for anyone that might be asking about Marac or the scrolls. They had only narrowly escaped, and needed a fast way out of town. That fast way walked into the bar only a few moments later: Captain Hanso K’Tanga, the famous T’skrang Air Sailor.

Jacob, Obrulon and Captain K’Tanga spoke for a short while, but it did not seem they were on good terms: Captain K’Tanga refused to help them, and told them they were on their own this time. She turned to walk out the door, and found herself facing half a dozen armed Therans, who were just coming in to search the tavern for the three masters. They accosted Captain K’Tanga, who told them just where they could go, and they decided to “arrest” her for her lip. She drew her sword, and was immediately joined by Gram, Jacob, Obrulon, and their three students, and the battle was on.

Fighting their way out of the tavern, Captain K’Tanga decided that she hated the Therans more than her old comrades, and led them to the bay where she was docked. They boarded her ship and left Kratas as quickly as possible, narrowly escaping a pursuing Theran vessel over the Servos jungle.

Three days later, they arrived at the location of the township where the scholar had moved. At least, they were pretty sure this was where the town was, only there was nothing there: the town and everything around it had been completely obliterated. There wasn’t even any rubble or grass, just dead bare earth. Buulgath discovered that the earth was tainted somehow: it seemed a Horror had done this. Suddenly, a pair of kilas appeared from nowhere, seeming to just pop into view overhead. Captain K’Tanga rallied her crew, but they were no match for the pair of stone airships. Against their will and better judgement, Nazeer, Buulgath and Phylinius were hidden inside crates in the hold of the airship with the Maracan scroll, and told to wait there until the battle was over. There they stayed, remaining hidden even when the Therans confiscated all the cargo, and carried them boxes and all off the ship.

When they finally stopped moving, they took a chance and decided to look around. They seemed to be aboard a kila, or so they assumed from their surroundings. They were in a supply hold, in a lower level of the ship. They began looking around, Nazeer sneaking past guards, Phylinius disguising himself as a Theran officer and Buulgath as a prisoner. During their wanderings they determined that they were in fact on a kila, but it seemed to be part of something else, somehow attached to a mountain which is turn was floating through the sky. How something like this could travel unnoticed through the skies of Barsaive was a complete mystery. Even more mysterious was the constant low thrumming that echoed throughout the ship, sounding like a tremendous heartbeat. Disturbing as the sound was, they used it to their advantage while sneaking through the ship.

As they snuck through the halls, they overheard the guards and officers talking. They mentioned Throal as their destination, and overheard more than once that each soldier was to be issued a Pendant. The Pendants were strangely shaped stones attached to simple cords or chains. They had magic of some kind within them, though Buulgath was unable to determine what. It was apparently important that each soldier be equipped with one, before the mountain reached the dwarf kingdom.

Eventually, they found their way down to the prison cells, and discovered Obrulon and Captain K’Tanga in chains. They told them that Gram and Jacob had been killed in the fighting, and that the kilas had landed on the mountain, somehow joining with it. Obrulon had a plan for his escape: he cast a spell that put him into a deathlike trance and Phylinius, disguised as an officer,  ordered his corpse disposed of. Nazeer and Buulgath joined the slave party to dispose of the “corpse”, and followed the group up to the top of one of the highest towers, where Obrulon's body was dumped into a hatch in the wall. The thrumming noise was terrible up here, and they were soon to discover why…

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