Hypathia's shrike ship moved swiftly through Solaris. The arcane wanted to make as much time as possible en route to Refuge. So far, everything was on schedule.
She sat quietly on the small ship's open, upper deck, trying to make sense of everything that appeared to be happening. She glanced up and saw a cluster of small worlds in the distance. These were the Playards, a collection of six small worlds that had been fighting among themselves since the beginning of recorded history.
Her thoughts were drifting back to the actions of the GATH when the tiny shrike ship was struck by catapult fire!
Frantically the crew of the small ship ran for the weapons and prepared to fight back. A cloaked man-o-war had attacked them, and now the ship was bearing down on them with everything it had. The shrike ship was breaking apart faster than Hypathia and her crew could react.
Hypathia had made certain that her route through Solaris was secret. Somehow, someone had known that she would be coming this way. None of the warring factions in the Playards had ever attacked ships that passed outside the cluster world's threshold, so the only logical conclusion was that once again, someone was trying to kill Hypathia, to keep her from reaching the Conorg.
The man-o-war came along side the crippled shrike ship. The small ship had no choice but to surrender to the elves. Hypathia looked at the markings on the elven ship, which showed it to be part of the Green Sash. The name of the ship was Impaler. Quickly she prepared her magic to escape, but soon found that it wouldn't be necessary.
Three other ships, gnomish whelks, had appeared from nowhere and attacked the man-o-war. The Impaler quickly turned aside to engage its attackers. Two of the whelks turned with it, while the third came along side the shrike ship. A single gnome stood on the battle deck and yelled through what looked like a large cone...
"Hurrygetonboardall ofyoubeforethoseelves comeback!Wedon'thave muchtime!Hurry!"
Almost without thinking, Hypathia opened a dimension door to the whelk and went through. The survivors from her crew did the same, with Pyr being the last to leave. The whelk quickly started for one of the small worlds ahead, while its companion ships kept the Impaler at bay. After a few minutes, huge flashes of light appeared in front of the man-o-war as the two remaining whelks turned away fast and followed the lead ship.
The three whelks were within range of the planet within minutes. The Impaler was too far behind to give chace.
Admiral Falconbane was furious. Hypathia had escaped, just as she had escaped Quan Dien. The admiral didn't like how Quan Dien would take this. No doubt, the humanoid will humiliate the elven commander to no end.
It wasn't like Jamian Blackleaf to fail on a mission, but everyone has a bad day now and then. But then, what would it matter? Before long the Playards would be no more, and Hypathia would be destroyed along with them.
Admiral Falconbane walked through the corridors of his flagship, the armada Cecropia Dawn. The navy had given him, and the Green Sash, free reign over Solaris, while they hid... in the Playards. They never withdrew from the sphere, like everyone had said. They simply decided to lay low.
The navy planned to hide in the Playards, and let the Green Sash deal with things in their tell tale manner. Once the situation in Solaris was to their liking, the navy would re-emerge and begin their wars of conquest. The days of deceit and intrigue were over for the elves of Solaris. They would conquer the sphere by unrelenting, brute force.
The elves also planned to make a new base in Solaris. They had chosen the Playards, but before they built their base, they had to make some changes. The changes would be swift, unstoppable and irreversible.
Far away, two days travel from the Playards, a dwarven citadel drifted through Wildspace. The dwarves had abandoned this citadel many years ago. Now, the elves were using it as a secret base. Deep within the confines of the citadel, the elven mages were creating their ultimate weapon. In huge, magical vats was stored a strange, soup-like mixture that pulsed with an eerie, yellow light.
Admiral Falconbane thought about the work being done on the citadel, and he was elated. Finally, he thought, we can use the weapon. This time there was no dissension among the ranks. This time, the navy was prepared, in fact eager to face the consequences of destroying entire worlds almost at will.
They would use the magical matrix known as Mosaic. The first worlds to go would be the Playards.
The Playards...
Hypathia the arcane slowly woke up in a cramped, but somehow comfortable hut. The ceilings were very low, and the air smelled like mesquite. The air had a distinct tang to it, implying a recent rainfall. Hypathia started to get up when she felt a terrible pain in her back. She felt around her back and realized that she had several bandages on. Apparently she has suffered some kind of injury while fleeing the shrike ship. Then she remembered the elves who attacked her, and the gnomes who saved her.
She listened outside and heard several people walking about, and speaking in very fast voices. Apparently she was on one of the Playards, in a gnomish village. She rose slowly and walked out of the hut into a narrow walkway covered with wood chips. The trees in the area were very high, almost like that of a rain forest. When the arcane entered the walkway, two very excited gnomes called someone from one of the other huts.
After a few moments, a hefty gnome emerged, wearing well tailored work cloths and a neatly trimmed beard.
"M' Lady?" he asked. His voice was also quite fast, but not as bad as most other gnomes.
"My name is Timmons," the gnome said, extending a hand.
"Hypathia," the arcane answered.
"You must be hungry, come on," the gnome said quickly.
"Wait, I..."
"I'll answer your questions soon enough, but first, breakfast."
At that the gnome hurried off toward an open structure that looked something like a pavilion. This building was large, with a cooking fire in the center, and an opening in the ceiling for smoke to escape. Several gnome children were playing amid the chopped firewood that lay in a sloppy pile beside the pavilion. Hypathia sat down on a low bench as Timmons produced a bowl of thin stew. Hypathia found the taste bitter, but she was too hungry to care.
"Let's keep things simple," Timmons said. "We saved you up there."
"I know," Hypathia said, somewhat embarrassed. "You have my deepest gratitude."
"Someone tipped the elves that you were going to be passing through here," the gnome added.
Hypathia became alarmed.
"I saw too it that my flight plan was kept secret!" she exclaimed.
"Then clearly you had a snitch on board," Timmons said.
"How do you know that?"
"Because our snitch caught on to their snitch, and told us that you would be passing by. The original plan was to fly several ship lengths behind you, cloaked of course. If nothing happened, they we would simply turn back and you would have passed by the Playards without incident."
"So you were watching for me?"
"Yup. Good thing to, 'cuz the point ears were about to make mincemeat out of you. We forced them to abandon that plan."
Hypathia paused for a moment. This was the second time that someone had tried to kill her on this mission. Apparently someone was following her, and alerting her enemies accordingly. Either that, or her opponents had spies everywhere and anywhere.
"Tell me about the elves," Hypathia asked.
Timmons groaned.
"We have been battling them since before my parents got horned, and that's close to one hundred years. We gnomes used to live peacefully in the forests of these small worlds, using the whelks to trade with other peoples when the need arose. Then the elves decided that the Playards were perfect for them, so they started setting up outposts. From what my pop told me, it was low key at first. A few here, and few there. They even traded with us from time to time, but they got greedy, and decided to take over the whole place. We've been fighting to maintain our freedom ever since."
"Were these elves from the Imperial Navy?" Hypathia asked.
"Yup," Timmons answered. "Let me show you something." The gnome walked over to a stack of boxes covered with some kind of sheepskin tarp. He took one of the boxes and returned with it. He opened the box and showed the contents to Hypathia. It appeared to be small, personal spelljamming equipment.
"We looted this from one of the elven ships," Timmons said. "Explained a lot of things. The elves have been getting their toys from some group called the GATH."
Hypathia spit some of her soup on the ground and dropped her bowl in shock.
"Would you like some salt?" Timmons asked.
"The elven navy has the support of the GATH?" Hypathia asked.
"They sure do," Timmons answered. "That's why we've been having so much trouble lately. What's more, the elves have become more numerous in recent months. It used to be you could fly around the Playards for weeks and not see a single ship.
Now, if you're not careful you'll bump into one before you reach the next rock."
"...How many ships?" Hypathia asked quietly.
"Hmmm, I'd say perhaps three dozen of the battle cruisers, perhaps eight of the really big ones, and a handful of those medium sized scout ships."
Hypathia was flabbergasted. That constituted over three complete flotillas! Timmons continued to talk, but Hypathia gradually lost what he was saying. The elven navy has never left Solaris, as was commonly thought. It was a ruse. They were merrily hiding here, in this backwater cluster of worlds. Apparently they were waiting for something. But for what?
Now she had some answers. The Grand Arcane Trading House was apparently controlling, or at least aiding the Imperial Elven Navy in their conquest of Solaris. She also knew that the elves were prepared to go to any length to fulfill their agenda, whatever that was. They had even started a war with the Muldravians over it. There was also the fact that someone was tipping people off where she was, and whoever this person or persons was, they were willing to work for both sides. The first attack on her life had been at the hands of the humanoid fleets under Quan Dien. This second attack had been through the renegade elves. The two had nothing in common, except the fact that they both wanted her dead.
The political situation in Solaris was getting uglier and more complex with each passing day. Hypathia began to wonder just how much uglier the situation would become. All she knew was that somehow she would have to get a message to those on the outside, but with the elves hovering overhead like vultures, she wasn't sure how long she would be trapped on this small world.
Late that night, unknown to anyone in the gnome village, one of the survivors from Hypathia's ill-fated shrike ship, traveled to the edge of the village and released a hummerfly.
Wildspace, about ten days from Beacon...
The Eternal Wanderer's flight through Solaris had, so far, been quiet. However, time was important. It had been a long while since the ship had taken on provisions, and while there was still several weeks of air on the ship, it was beginning to feel musty, and the crew was becoming lethargic. Tempers were also beginning to flare up. While the Wanderer was a large ship, it wasn't large enough for seventy three people to co-exist indefinitely.
Onestar was sitting on the top observation deck, enjoying the view. The enormous nebulae, apparently called the Cumara Nebulae, could be seen from almost any point in the sphere. The nebulae was reported to be as large as Realmspace, but no one had ever attempted to verify that story. What was known was that the nebulae "sang" a low pitched song that tended to lure people into it. Once inside, they became so enamored with the song that they never left. In time, they either suffocated or starved to death. Stories talked of the nebulae being filled with ghost ships of all types.
The Cumara Nebulae was something best enjoyed at a distance.
While Onestar was enjoying the view, Belieth came up to the deck and joined him. She looked a bit flustered about something.
"How are you this evening?" Onestar asked, innocently.
"Tell me about Maria Darnath," she said. From the look on her face Onestar could tell that she and Hall had just had a fight.
"What... would you have me tell?" he asked. In truth, he had no idea what Belieth wanted to know.
"What did Hall see in her, and why did he have a fling with her?"
"Belieth..." Onestar was at a loss. He wasn't very good at this kind of thing. "Hall was sure you were... dead, and..."
"He knew I wasn't," she said with a definite tone of contempt. "If I had died he would have felt it. But instead of looking for me, he left Krynnspace, took off with you, and shacked up with some wench from Greela. I understand you took up with her twin sister?"
"Belieth," Onestar said, now a little alarmed, "I'm a bit surprised at this. Is your ESP link with Hall mixed up or something?"
Belieth started to protest, but Onestar cut her off.
"When Hall and I first met, he was a wreck. I know for a fact that he combed half of Krynnspace looking for you, and he only gave up because he was so distraught he couldn't think straight any more."
"I wouldn't talk about being mixed up in the head if I were you," Belieth hissed. "Yours is one of the most mixed up heads I've ever seen."
"Who's on trial here, me or Hall?"
Belieth just groaned.
"When he and I were working for Uncle Kirisaki, he would stare into the night for hours at a time. He was convinced you were dead, and since we now know that you were cooped up on a dwarven citadel, petrified no less, he had good reason. It tore him apart, but he did his best to cope."
"At least he waited a year out of respect for the dead," she said sarcastically.
"Maria was, for him, a distraction," Onestar said. "It wasn't long before he cut her off cold, because she simply wasn't you."
"Do you expect me to believe that?"
"Frankly, yes. He tried to move on, realized he couldn't, and did the best with what he had. When he finally had a lead as to where you—or your body—might be, he acted on it. He dealt with the hole in his life much better than I did with mine."
Belieth sat, drumming her fingers on the arm of the chair for a moment.
"What brought this on?" Onestar asked. "Usually when you two fight, ten minutes later you're loving each others brains out."
Belieth scowled at Onestar for a moment, then her face softened.
"Hall and I have been talking about the past lately," she said. "Since entering this sphere, we've been wondering what things would be like at home. Apparently Hall and Gordon parted on very bad terms, and..." at that she just sighed.
"What happened between them?" Onestar asked.
"I don't know, he doesn't want to tell me, and that makes me rather upset. All I know is that every time I mention Gordon his thoughts become filled with sadness."
"So instead of confronting him about that, you chew him out over a past indiscretion?"
Belieth looked at him hard.
"He has you trained pretty well, doesn't he?" she asked.
"If you like," Onestar said. "Now quit asking me to explain things that I can't explain. I expect to hear noises coming from your cabin later," he added with a smile.
"You and Crystal have your moments too, you know," she said.
"Belieth," he said, exasperated, "you... never mind." I'll never understand women, Onestar said to himself.
"You're not getting off that easy, buster," she said, "I..." she stopped short and stood up.
"What?" Onestar asked.
Belieth pointed toward starboard. Onestar lifted his binoculars and looked in the direction she was pointing in. He saw a sea of wrecked ships.
"Damian," he called, "full starboard."
[Aye sir,] the drow's voice said, coming from Belieth shoes.
"Let's alert the crew," Onestar said. "This could be important."
"It could also be nothing," Belieth said.
"That's what I'm hoping for," the samurai added as he started through the hatch and into the main part of the ship.
Some time later, the Eternal Wanderer was working its way through a collection of wrecked ships. Most of them appeared to be neogi, and the wrecks were fresh. One of the wrecks was even burning, although the fire was very low.
From the muster deck, Onestar and the other officers were looking at the wrecks.
"Fresh kills," Kath said, "no question. They look like they have already been striped."
Phantom was looking at a wrecked deathspider through a special telescope.
"Kath's right," he said. "Whatever happened here, we missed it."
"Look at that one," Tabatha said, pointing at one of the other wrecks. "That's a marlin." The wreck was in fact a Muldravian warfish. It's piercing ram was impaled in a mindspider, and it looked like it had recently been extensively burned.
Karramon was looking at the wrecks, getting an estimate on the battle that produced all of this.
"I'm guessing greek fire," the giff said, "perhaps some bombards. That would explain all the extensive burning."
[Captain!] Damian called, [I see what looks like a pyramid ship to the port!]
Onestar looked to port, and saw a pyramid shaped structure. It was enormous, the size of a small asteroid.
"That's no pyramid ship," Onestar said.
"No it isn't," Blaise said. "That's a neogi base star."
Everyone looked at the arcane for a moment.
"The neogi use them from time to time," he explained. "They rarely have the resources to build one, and they require dwarven architects to design them, so they are rare. I've only seen one before, and that was in Clusterspace. The neogi had converted it into a trading center; a place called Ironport."
"Damian," Onestar said, "move us in closer to that pyramid structure. I want to take a look inside."
"With all due respect..." Phantom started.
"Call it a hunch," Onestar said in self defence. "Something tells me I should take a look inside. Besides, if there was anyone left around here, we would know about it by now. Phantom, assemble a team of your best people; we're going to board that thing."
Phantom reluctantly agreed as the Eternal Wanderer grew closer and closer to the ominous pyramid before them.
