"Sounds like a flame grenade", he says, "Only used by the Legion. And only made by the Karazthan.

At that moment their attentions are distracted by a beam of coherent light coming from the airship. The artillery weapon!

This time, the target seems to be the Academy of the Mind.

Kolath

He nodded his agreement but then whirled, then froze when he saw the beam weapon being shot, apparently at the Academy of the Mind. Kolath left in a rush, his long legs eating up the ground as he headed for the aimed point of the weapon.

"Send a squad to help me," he called back over his shoulder.

"Kolath! Wait!", says Nir-Urileyr Karvarluis. "This is an order! You're not having a squad unless you tell me what in The Guardian's names you're going to do with it! I cannot sanction a frontal assault on the dome".

Kolath

He skidded to a halt and turned to face his superior officer.

"I intend to get to the bottom of this. Find out what Guruinath is trying to hide. Find out what it is Batendal knows. And recover Hollis from their grip."

Jorlak

The priest hurries to catch up with the Legionaire. "This looks like the reason Zardor sent me."

Kolath

He'd just stopped in response to Nir-Urileyr Karvarluis' order when Jorlak rushed up to him and held up a hand, then frowned briefly.

"Zardor?"

The legionaire's eyes widened as a thought occurred to him.

Jorlak

"Yes. He had little detail for me, but this seems to match his description."

Kolath

"Nir-Urileyr Karvarluis," Kolath spoke almost formally, "is the artillery piece upstairs still in working order, Sir?"

"You're going to try and shoot down the airship?", the officer replies, "Yes, we completed the service yesterday; it should be ready to go as soon as it's charged up"

"Are you absolutely sure that Guriunath has gone rogue", he continues, "The consequences of attacking the Karazthan itself don't bear thinking about if you're wrong".

Kolath

Kolath grinned, a bit crookedly.

"I am sure, Sir. The possibility still exists that I am not accurate in my assessment, but I am sure."

"You have my permission to take charge of the artillery piece", he says.

Kolath has no idea what happens to an airship when it's hit by an energy bolt, or where the wreckage might come down. It's anchored above a densely populated city. There's an east wind, which means it might come down in the river. Bit on the other hand, it might not.

Kolath

"Thank you, Sir," Kolath said. He left the room and then made his way up the stairs until he reached the top floor where the artillery piece was mounted. He turned it until it faced the airship and carefully sighted on the craft. Noting where it was located over the city, he paused, frowning, and checked carefully to see in which direction it was moving if it was moving at all.

Jorlak

The priest isn't sure what caused the legionaire's sudden change of direction, but he understands enough of the conversation to decide that he might be better off outside observing.

Suddenly a coherent bolt of light emanating from a tower within the barracks spears through the sky. It scores a direct hit on the Karazthan airship, which had departed the dome is slowly moving towards the west.

The craft bursts into flames, and rapidly begins to lose height. From his position outside the barracks, Jorlak doesn't have a clear view of where it's likely to hit the ground. For that, he's have to move towards the river.

Jorlak

The priest doesn't think he would be allowed to enter the tower and climb high enough for a good view, so the area of the river looks like a better destination. He proceeds in that direction.

Quite a crowd has grown by the dockside; all work has come to a stop as dock labourers gawp at the spectacle. The huge flaming wreck slowly descends, it's lower part intact, engines still turning, the upper part consumed by flames which work their way downwards.

It hits the ground on the west bank, where the vast bulk collapses in itself, momentum carrying burning wreckage across the street, engulfing several buildings. The flames consume the remains of the airship very rapidly; leaving several waterfront buildings ablaze.

"What happened?", asks one of the crowd, "Why did The Legion fire on it?".

Jorlak

The priest opens his mouth as if to answer, then realizes that he still doesn't understand why Kolath changed from planning a visit to the Academy of the Mind to returning fire against the airship.

The crowd have various ideas as to what had happened; some who had seen the airship fire on the Academy of the Mind earlier have concluded that the wizards are up to something evil, and they've obviously mind-controlled someone in the Legion.

Those that trust the Karazthan rather less seem to think the fact that the Legion opened fire means it's the Karazthan that are up to bad things. Jorlak hears a sailor saying that they've discovered something apocalyptically evil near Calbeyn, and are killing to keep the secret.

Jorlak

The rumor from Calbeyn might be based on actual information from there. The rest suggests that Jorlak knows more about the situation than anyone else here. Still, the consequences of the crash are likely to be enlightening.

"You!", says a youngish Kandar man Jorlak doesn't immediately recognise. "You were in the Dancing Fish just before it burned down, weren't you? This is all connected, isn't it? I've heard one of the Karazthan top people was in there, and he didn't make it out. Do you know anything?".

Jorlak

If Jorlak were more experienced at this sort of thing, he would probably be nervous about this turn of conversation.

"I was there, and I heard the same thing. At least, they seemed to be referring to him as if he were important.

"I came here to see if I could figure out why something happened to that airship."

"What happened to The Fish?", is the reply, "Why did it burn so quickly? It wasn't an accident, I'm sure".

Jorlak

"The Legion would know how to describe what happened. That was all outside my experience."

"The Legion?", he says, "So it was a weapon? What did you see?".

Jorlak

"I saw a bright flash, and then it was burning."