The Return of the King

Concordia, Six Hundred and Eighty Years Before

The changing mood of the crew as they left open ocean for Concordian waters alerted Thaelen and Harithen that they were close, and they left their cabins to stand on the top deck as captain ran up the Greibron and Alden trading flags under the Estreau flag. The sky was overcast and grey, but not all the cloud was weather. Smoke rose from the land in thick plumes.

There were many ships flying the Alden flags in the waters around them, and the water was littered with debris. Thaelen could see the cause - a ship slowly slipping into the water. He heard the outcry of the sailors as bodies washed up against the hull.

A vampire, clinging to a half drowned human child, caught hold of the netting over the side. “Help me!” She pleaded.

They hauled as many survivors as they could aboard as the Alden ships drew closer.

“Take them below,” Thaelen told Harithen. “Into the holds. Out of sight.”

“They would have seen us pull them on board,” Harithen rep