Molyneux Rising

[Arden]

“We are able to harness the Tap. We are bound to one another in a way even we don’t truly understand. We have always fought for change and prosperity, and now we are free of the Forgotten One who made us this way our hearts remain on the same task.”

The captain looked back and stared intently at the swordsman. He turned the wheel a full rotation and began to steer the ship in a wide arc towards the shore. Gulls circled overhead, a sign that their brief jaunt onto open waters would soon come to an end.
“Forgotten One?” He had heard the name only in passing but found himself intrigued.

“Old evil, now dead. He made us puppets and through us controlled the fates of millions. We broke free, just like you did of your fate in the tower.”

“Hey, now, I was never in danger there.”

“We all were. If we were a second late with the helmet the city wouldn’t be standing. Moments like that must change you. Don’t you wonder about it?” Arden tried to sound sincere but only made himself more condescending.

“No. Never.” Killian sighed. “That was what, thirty years ago? I’ve done, and seen so much since one brush with death blurs into the next.” He grits his teeth. “Living a long life doesn’t make you any more or any less of a man than I.”

“That’s not what he’s suggesting, Killian.” Lilith struggled to find the right words, but remembered something her absent sister said to her in times of trouble. “We might be immortal, but it’s only through the songs people sing and stories they tell of our lives that make us truly ageless.”

“Will you tell my story, if I did?”

Arden chuckled.

“Captain Jeremiah, scourge of the Innari will be our best play yet!” He spread his arms in dramatic style.

“Don’t be cute, we’ll come up with something far more highbrow if you die here today.” Lilith, sincerely worried about the captain’s mood changed the subject. “We wanted to run through our plan before we land. We’ll need to send a raven to Starr too. He won't like having to get involved.”

Killian nodded and clapped his hands. The attentive, silent knight behind him stood to attention and approached. Green eyes glimmered from behind the veil of his steel, shining helmet.

“Fetch a raven, Jakor, and tell your men we make landfall in two turns.”

Arden mouthed ‘what’s a turn’ to Lilith, and she returned a silent gesture of ‘an hour’ before Killian turned back to them.

“Go on, then. What does the Hound wish for his pack?”

“Less word play, for one.” Arden rolled his eyes. “Fire ship, pincer movement, once defeated we travel south to rear charge the siege encampment.”