The Homecoming 74.

Airship...

Tarong the troll has to duck down low to avoid hitting his head. One of the disadvantages of being ten and a half foot tall, is that below decks on an airship isn't the ideal place to be.
The former mill worker follows behind the man named lord Farque who seems to know where he's going.
Suddenly the large, well large for a human at least. Heavily armoured man comes to a stop. And the troll who was previously living and working in the fief of Almaeré. Looks around him.
Tarong spots a man standing at the end of the passageway facing them. And though it's dark below deck. The troll can easily see the man, who is fairly young. Is wearing pretty nondescript clothing. Similar to what the dead dark druid was wearing.
The troll nods his head, and crouches down even further, when infront of him, lord Farque quietly says in trollish "Keep low".
The next instant, there's a bright white light in the passageway, and Tarong is forced to briefly close his eyes. He feels extreme heat just infront of him.
Then the troll who until recently was living in the very northwest of Druvic. Hears a gasp of surprise, followed by a grunt of pain. Tarong opens his eyes to see what's happened.
He finds lord Farque at the end of the passageway standing over the body of the man, Tarong guesses is another dark druid. The troll, in a low crouch, walks ahead when the large, heavily armoured figure of lord Farque waves him forward.
When the former forester and former mill worker gets to the end of the passageway, where he steps over the dead body, lord Farque gestures to around a corner. Down another short passageway, that leads to the door of a cabin on the port side of the vessel, that's still rocking from side to side. Far more pronounced than it was previously.
Lord Farque holds up a hand for silence as they go down the short passageway. Tarong moves as quietly as he can as he follows the large, heavily armoured human.
Who stops just before the cabin door, and is looking at the wall on the right.
The troll from the northwest of the kingdom slightly frowns as he watches lord Farque, who is moving his full helmed head as if he's watching someone on the otherside of the wall.
Tarong sees him slightly shift so that he's standing at an angle to the door as he continues to move his head. Then the former mill worker hears him whisper in the troll language "Stay behind me" he follows that whisper, with another and he says "Infact, stay out here until i call you".
Suddenly the large, heavily armoured human moves. Tarong isn't too sure, but he thinks lord Farque punches the door just below the handle.
The entire door goes flying inwards, and the troll blinks. For one moment he sees lord Farque standing infront of him. The next moment he's gone. Tarong assumes he's inside the cabin if the yelling and screaming from in there is anything to go by.
Just a couple of moments later, and he hears lord Farque call out in trollish "Troll get in here". Tarong ducks down and enters the cabin. And is totally surprised at what he finds.
On a table is a child strapped to it. Lord Farque is undoing the ropes that are holding the child to the table. A child who seems to be dazed, but fine.
The troll spots another human child. This one a girl of about eight years. Sitting on a small bench in one corner of the cabin. She's bound, and has a gag in her mouth. She seems to be more coherent, and though she looks frightened. Tarong sees that she also looks to be relieved.
The former mill worker takes a step, and stops short when he suddenly notices the body on the floor next to the table in the center of the cabin.
It's a man, who he assumes is another dark druid. He lies there dead and bleeding with a dozen daggers stabbed into his chest and face.
Tarong isn't too sure, but the daggers look to be more ornamental than practical. The troll nervously swallows as he realises such weapons would be perfect for druids, in particular dark druids, and their rites. Which he's certain, involves sacrifices. Well, that's what he's heard about the old ways.
The troll who can't believe how quickly lord Farque must of stabbed the dark druid with those dozen daggers. Looks away to the left, and sees the remains of the cabin door.
Tarong frowns, as he sees another body lying beneath the door, that must of broke apart when it slammed into the inside of the hull.
"Here, take these two" says lord Farque to the troll who was until recently, living and working in the fief of Almaeré. The undead warlord who is speaking in common, and has just undone the ropes that have bound the girl on the bench in the corner.
And as he unwinds the cloth wrapped around her mouth, then she spits out the cloth shoved into her mouth, he tells her "It's okay, we'll get you out of here".
Tarong picks up the dazed boy lying on the table, and the undead warlord carries the girl over to him. The heavily armoured deathlord says to the child "This is Tarong, a troll" the lord and ruler of the lands Farque continues with "He'll get you out of here".
As the troll carries the dazed looking boy in the crook of one arm, the girl clings onto his neck and left shoulder, when he says to her "Hold on".
Just then, the airship violently swings, then swings back and slams into the side of the dock it's tenuously still moored to.
"Shit" mutters the undead being who is also known as Draugadrottin to the people of his lands, who then says "Time to go".
Tarong is glad he's crouching down so low, for he's pretty certain he'd be knocked off his feet if he wasn't otherwise.
As the troll goes to turn around, lord Farque tells him "No time for that". The undead warlord walks to the port side in the cabin, where he does a spin kick.
Tarong blinks in surprise as the hull basically explodes outwards from the kick by the large heavily armoured human.
"Out and up" says the deathlord of Farque who points to the large hole in the side of the airship he's just created.
"Er?" says the troll who is a former mill worker as he steps forward and looks out the breach in the side of the twin masted vessel. And sees it swinging towards the airdock it's still tenuously tied to. It slams into the dock, then slowly swings out from it again.
"Reach up, and grab the dock" says the undead warlord who is also known by the name of Draugadrottin by the people of his lands.
"Once you've got these children to safety, met me down below on the ground" continues the lord and ruler of the lands Farque, who momentarily pauses before adding "Somewhere".
"Somewhere?" asks Tarong, who still has no idea how he's going to get up on the dock, which he might be able to reach from down here. But not with the two children he's carrying. And definitely not with an airship repeatedly swinging back and forth, slamming into the side of the airdock.
"Where ever this ship lands" dryly says the heavily armoured deathlord in the troll language, which causes Tarong to blink in surprise.
The troll is about to ask something else, but lord Farque's hand on his back, pushes him forward towards the hole in the side of the airship.
"Reach up for the dock" says Des'tier as he's known by, to an older generation of elven kind who might know who he is.
The troll's eyes go wide as he sees that the twin masted vessel is swinging back in towards the airdock as he looks out the sizable breach in it's port side hull.
"Up troll" commands lord Farque, and Tarong reaches up with his free hand, while a dazed boy sits in the crook of his other arm, and a little girl clings onto his neck.
Suddenly as the dock comes closer to the swinging airship, the troll feels himself being lifted up. Infact it feels like he's being thrown upwards through the air.
He kind of regrets having naturally enhanced eyesight, as he can see in the darkness with the minimal lamp light around. He can see dock he feels like he's going to smash in. But he goes up by it, then comes back down, landing on top of the dock, on two feet after the airship slams into the side of it once more.
Tarong stands there completely stunned, then he murmurs in his native language "What the fuck?" followed by "How the fuck?".
Then he regathers his wits, when the girl clinging onto him, says "We should go".
"Right" says the troll who until recently was living and working in the northwest of the kingdom of Druvic. He spares a glance at the twin masted vessel, that has just two of it's mooring ropes still attached to it.
Tarong hurries along the top of the straight dock, heading towards the steps. As he he gets to the steps, another of the tie lines snaps, and the airship swings out wide from the airdock it's precariously still attached to.
Onboard the warship out of Leeabra, lord Farque who is still below deck. Is making his way forward to the nearest ladder. The undead warlord who senses one remaining dark druid onboard. Also senses that Mira Reinholt the mage is on the warship as well.
As the heavily armoured deathlord leaps up the ladder, landing on the deck, he senses the once powerful mage near the bow, below deck. Near where the last dark druid is located.
A dark druid who is most likely in a panic, as he's certain to of sensed the death of his four fellow druids of the old ways.
The lord and ruler of the lands Farque runs across the deck of the airship in the Druvician aircorp, grabs an officer who has been knocked off his feet. Who is the only remaining crew or passenger onboard, apart from the the dark druid, below deck near the bow.
Draugadrottin hauls the officer, who is the ship's captain up off the deck. And flings him overboard, over the port rail. To the airdock, which is now a good thirty feet away. As there's just a single mooring line attached to it, near the bow of the warship.
The captain lands on the dock with a thud, he moans in pain. But he's still alive, and after a few moments he gets to his feet, and limps towards the steps when the last mooring line snaps. This one with no assistance from the mage Reinholt. And the warship starts to drift away in the night sky, just forty feet off the ground.
Meanwhile onboard, lord Farque has gone back down below. Going doing a ladder beyond the forecastle. The heavily armoured deathlord hurries towards the forward cargo hold of the warship.
Cargo holds on vessels like these being particularly small. As below deck is for crew quarters. And decking for magetubes. Which the undead warlord passes as he makes his way to the forward hold.
Des'tier slows down, and enters the hold, where a small magical ball of light is floating in the air. He finds the mage Reinholt in the cargo hold, standing over the last dark druid, who is unconscious.
"Thought he could answer some questions" says Mira Reinholt the mage, lord Farque nods his full helmed head in agreement, and the exiled Vexilian mage adds "Besides i could do with some power, since I'm low on it at the moment".
The spellcaster, who is also a highly skilled swordmaster takes hold of the unconscious dark druid, and drains some of the power from him.
As he does, the lord and ruler of the lands Farque says "First thing first" the lord of the death realm continues with "Time to get off this fucking ship, because it's going to crash" as he can feel the warship is heading down towards the ground, though very slowly as it drifts away from the airdocks of Pasemár.
The undead warlord picks up the unconscious dark druid who the mage Reinholt easily subdued.
Draugadrottin points at the hull and says "Make a way out". The Vexilian mage in exile nods, and blasts a hole in the side of the warship.
The spellcaster who is also a highly skilled swordmaster extinguishes his magical light. Then without pausing he runs, then jumps out of the hole in the side of the vessel he's created.
In mid air, the mage Reinholt casts a levitation spell, and drops smoothly to the ground. Landing in alleyway just behind the airdocks of Pasemár.
Lord Farque with the unconscious dark druid over one shoulder, steps out of the hole in the side of the airship. And drops to the ground. Which is only thirty feet below.
The heavily armoured deathlord lands on his feet in an empty street that the swordmaster Reinholt walks out onto after making his way from the alley.
The undead warlord points to where he can sense Tarong the troll back near the city airdocks.
The two of them head that way, not even bothering to look up at the night sky, and the doomed warship that passes slowly by overhead as it continues to drop towards the ground, where it will eventually crash into the streets of eastern Pasemár . . . . . .