B.T.V. -- Session 06 Epilogue: Dragon's Kin

A Veer Family reunion


Asher Zi and Axewing were standing just outside the cave entrance to the Chamber of the Marillion, Prince Elric and the Marillion he had summoned, Foreve, having strolled away for a private discussion.


Zi, concerned about the mighty endeavour ahead of him, questioned the immortal about how long he might have to accomplish that, given indications from the Doctors, via Elric, that Axildusk had only so much time to play out.


Axewing was confidence embodied, assuring Zi that whatever the time available, they would certainly accomplish what they must. Zi wondered at this but assumed that, as an immortal, his new companion must have been through similar experiences before.


Then the two Veer returned, and Forever walked over to greet Axewing.


“It has been some time since we met,” she told him. She recalled him as being of orange in the past, at a time when Colours and the Array had been central to whatever realm had existed outside Axildusk.


Axewing allowed that encounter had been at a Conclave of the Array, and that he had given a speech about what should be done to punish those who tampered with the sites of such gatherings.


Foreve admitted she was somewhat in disguise at the time, posing as a human, concealing her membership in the Principal family of the Veer.


Axewing then spoke of the “crimes of the Veer,” by which he meant the rise of the Cadavivva.


She allowed that was true though, in Axildusk, that crime had yet to be committed. However, she said, the Cadavivva were the reason she had probably been the first of her family brought to Axildusk, along with her sibling Annatar, and why Time and Shadow had brought forth the Ark of the Veer.


“They have already committed atrocities,” she allowed of the Draegeran empire, and perhaps she would seek restitution of a sort.


Axewing said he was glad that Foreve had chosen to stay, rather than Annatar, in that he viewed her as an ally.


“I am glad you do,” she replied. She now had to determine which others of the Marillion should be brought to Axildusk. Bringing too many might upset a balance of power, she cautioned, but she and her siblings had to take a hand in preventing the rise of the Cadavivva.


Axewing admitted, “One must also admit the problem cannot be put solely on the shoulders of the Veer.”


“Certain, but it lies at our feet,” and could not be ignored, she replied. And, should the Cadavivva rise, humans, Rakshasas and the Vast would come to greater harm than the Veer themselves.


She then beckoned over Zi.


“Between the two of you, you must have an understanding,” she said. Foreve admitted knowing Axewing, but not Zi, though she recognized the latter’s title.


“There is a small confusion in my mind about you. Not one, but two, seem connected to Zi.”


Axewing said he had mentioned Tuan Zi to Asher Zi, but that was not what Foreve meant.


“I speak of the other in this situation. He is Outremere. He is known as Sybermane.” Axewing confessed he had recently been told that Sybermane was under threat.


“He has a destiny to play in these matters,” Foreve stated. Sybermane should be kept in mind, for more than most he was closely connected to Axildusk, despite being Outremere. “He bears an artifact that is most important.”


“Tuan was a person of good and noble character, striving to save the human race,” Axewing declared. “Would this not make Sybermane our enemy?”


Foreve explained that, while Tuan Zi and Sybermane could not have co-existed, this did not necessarily make them enemies.


She added that each of the six Outremere bore an artifact “important to the restoration of the realm,” and in Axewing’s case it was his armour.


“I imagine Sybermane will make his presence felt,” she said.


In response to a question from Asher, she said that Sybermane’s artifact was the Corne of Moonlight. Corne, she noted, was an old world for horn.


Axewing, changing the subject, noted he had known both Corum, a champion of the Veer, and another known as Hawkmoon.


Foreve mentioned that that the fate of the latter, who had always been more interested in humanity that the former, had made this realm possible through his death.


Axewing stated that, in the past, he had always seemed to find greater success when he was in association with members of “others of the Loreds' creations” than humanity, and that he would seek to do so again.


“That seems a reasonable course,” Foreve replied, then added she would like to know more of the Outremere.


The Obsidian of the Outremere, to which Axewing belonged, was a small group in comparison to Amberites or the Marillion, and she didn’t know if they even had a Solitaire.


“We are all Solitaires, in a sense,” Axewing allowed.


Foreve continued that groups such as the Alchemists, the Kernans and the Astra all had connections to Axildusk, a fact which made it not just a world but also a realm.


Of the Six of the Obsidian, she added, she knew little of Sybermane, Asmodeus, Dantalion or Asurbanipal, the last a sailor who controlled the Wheel of Destiny. The other of course was Jack of Shadows, she noted, who has the Arcanum. She also told Asher that the Doctors belonged to the Outremere, and not humanity, so they might have an agenda separate from Zi’s.


“It is not a simple world, Axildusk.”


Foreve then announced she would bring those of the Marillion who she believed would be of use in Axildusk.


Asher and Umm and Axewing and Defiant then carried Foreve and Elric to the plain above the canyon they had been in.


Axewing, noting that Elric’s ascendancy to the Draegeran throne was essential to everyone’s interests, asked for his battle plan to do so.


“Can you simply take the throne?”


The Melnibonean replied he could not, having no armies to call on, though he did have some assets he could use. To that end, he intended to reclaim his patrimony on Elde Island.


Peloi of Banners was his most vocal opponent in the House of the Dragon in his quest to be Emperor, Elric continued, so the region they were in stood against him at this moment.


Axewing said that, if he and Asher were to continue to find ways to support Elric’s claims, they should be accompanied by a representative of the Veer.


Elric agreed to consider this, adding that the fall of the Rakshasa, which seemed to have already largely taken place, was also of great concern to the future. Of the Principal family of that race, only Shier Khan survived.


Axewing said one of the Doctors had told him this as well, but persisted in asking Elric could name a Veer to accompany him and Zi.


Foreve said she had a device with which she could summon members of the Marillion in a process superior to decanting, as well as Veer.


Axewing suggested one named Cabillion, who was his friend. “He is an assassin of assassins.”


Foreve allowed she would do this, but only after she had first revived fellow members of the Marillion who could be of use on Axildusk.


She summoned an elaborate stone house and disappeared within it.




The first to emerge is a dark-haired Veer called Deleveen, who Asher especially noticed was surrounded by strange spirits and ghostlight. 

He briefly considering borrowing some of the latter, then decided that might be considered hostile if done without leave. However, he did allow himself immediate hope she might be able to help solve the ghost plague on Axildusk.


“Ah,” Deleveen said, after being introduced by Elric. “It is Axildusk. I have been returned. I was banished for a time.”


Elric explained that two Dragons, Time and Shadow, their names Typhon and Shayyyuusss, “have made Axildusk a stage upon which you can act.”


“I have seen Foreve,” Deleveen stated. “I see no others here.”


Elric, noting more of the Marillion were to come, said that process would take time, and perhaps they should prepare food and drink for a gathering.


Defiant flew off and returned shortly with a cow, which Axewing butchered and built a fire to roast. Asher, meanwhile, kept a close eye on who emerged from the house. The next was Rama, 

whose skin was tinged blue and carried a bow that seemed of technological origin, its string crackling with energy. A scowl was etched on his face, and seemed unwilling to depart.


“I do not know you,” Rama pronounced, seeing the two humans and Elric.


Axewing said he had served the Veightal in the Pantheonic Wars, and knew Rama from there, as well as a descendant of the Marillion, named Aunar.


“He was one of my advanced descendants. For a time, he bore the Corne of Moonlight.” Axildusk, Rama had already determined, was a place conduce to his powers. He took himself apart from the others for a time, seeing something interesting on the horizon, but later he returned.


Elric, after Rama left, said the Marillion was most talented with his bow, and was said to be able to strike any target within his horizon.


Agravaine was next to come from Foreve’s house, or the Ark more properly. 

He carried no obvious weapons, nor did he seem dressed for battle, and his expression was genial.


He turned his attention first, not to Axewing or Elric, but to Asher.


“I have met you. Not on this world, but another world.”


“I and Zi travelled together for a time,” he explained to the others. “We met a beauteous monk.”


Asher explained that, while he was Zi, he was not the Zi who Agravaine had met, and that that Zi no longer had existed.


“Ah, I understand,” the Marillion acknowledged. “Foreve told me within, but I did not understand.”


Turning to Axewing, he commented, “And you…this armour is interesting. It is as if the wheels of the cosmos are at your heart.”


“I do know you,” Axewing replied. “We met when I was Renaissance.”


Agravaine allowed he had found something familiar about Axewing. “You must have a noticeable helm at all times,” he commented, and Axewing took the opportunity to doff it.


Agravaine continued, “It is something of a relief for me to be here,” rather than on Miranse, the World of Conflict, where last he had seen Axewing.


“I greatly appreciated your foresight and lack of obstinance,” the latter observed dryly.


“It seems your kind and mine must stand together in difficult times,” Agravaine stated.


The next Marillion is Cingol Gorien,

who emerges bearing what appears to be a sword of cosmic power.


“Ah. Child of mine,” he said to Elric, who drops to one knee and gazes at Marillion with something looking suspiciously like awe. “You have been brought forward to do your works again.”


“But without the sword, Lord,” Elric answered.


“Why are there humans here?”


“They are allies in the coming struggle.”


“Come. Stand. You are a king, not only my servant.”


Gorien inquired if Elric desired a sword, but the latter demurred.


“I haven’t had much luck with swords. I had thought my days of wielding a sword might be left behind me.”


“The days, perhaps,” Gorien answered cryptically. He draws his own sword, then hands the scabbard to Elric, who accepts it in both hands and bows. “These humans will act as witnesses to it.”


Turning to Asher, he stated rather than asked, “You are the Zi of humanity.”


Asher allowed he was.


Then Artiriel emerged from the home,

a bow seemingly part of or replacing his left hand, and made of energy. His hair is blond but his skin dark, his helm of Veerish origin but strange compared to other such helms.


“I thought there would be dragons,” Artiriel lamented.


Elric offered that while Axildusk had many types of dragons, but the only one present was the drake Umm.


“I meant others than he,” Artiriel corrected, “And I thought there would be soldiers.” He recalled how he fought against the Mule in his own kingdom when that one was new.


“You have no armies about. This is not good.”


Elric asked, “You are a trainer of armies then?”


Axewing suggested that Elric would have armies at his call when he assumed the throne to the Draegeran Empire.


“I will raise armies before he takes the throne,” Artiriel promises.


Elric, noting the technology borne by Artiriel, said he would be of much use in the fight against the Jenoine.


To Axewing, Artiriel commented, “My armour, like yours, is special. Perhaps not quite as special, but it is particularly useful against the Mule.”


Axewing noted an orangish disc on Artiriel’s breastplate that seemed to remind him of the Phoenix.


“I was and am a loyal servant of the Phoenix,” Axewing said. “I look at your armour, I see something of the Phoenix about it.”


Artiriel replied that was a story he might someday tell Axewing.


After Artiriel departed, Elric observed with admiration, “He is a formidable antagonist.”


Foreve then comes out of the Ark, with Oranthiel, with blond hair and fiery arms who despite that, to Asher, seemed more grounded than the other Marillion.

“You are the one who bore the Armadex,” he said to Axewing. “The arm that bore it is gone.”


He gestured to his right arm, which seemed not quite attached to his shoulder and definitely not one he had been born with.


“These things can be mended. He struck you with Mournblade.”


Axewing put his remaining hand on his left shoulder, in remembrance of that blow.


“This lady who has summoned me can create something for you.”


Axewing replied he would not see Foreve expend her power for that purpose when so much else needed to be accomplished.


Oranthiel, who Axewing realized had a strong sense of the Rakshasa about him, bowed to the man. “You are very human. I will need your help, Axewing. I am a worldly Veer.


“With your permission,” he continued, meaning Zi, I will need access to your lands, as will Shahasans.”


That Tribe was important to the Amethyst, he offered, but also to his own kindred. Oranthiel vowed he would not abide what had happened to the Shahasans, and that he would seek restitution.


Foreve then told Axewing she would turn her attention to Cabillion.


“And Aunar, if you will,” Axewing called to her.


“Is this wise? A rival to the Corne?”


She looked to Zi who, after a moment’s deliberation and consideration whether Axewing’s friends would actually be helpful in the coming struggles, realized he had no way of telling and relied on the advice of his new companion, and told the same to Foreve.


She seemed disturbed to be summoning Veer for Axewing but not Asher, but he told her that, being of Axildusk, he knew nothing of ancient race on his world. Still musing, Foreve returned to the Ark, and soon after Cabillion came out. He had dark hair and a moustache.

“The lady within told me I would meet an old friend, but I did not imagine this. And who are all these?”


Axewing, who seemed happy to greet his old friend, answered, “These are allies from amongst your kind, the Marillion.”


“I don’t trust them, especially that one over there,” Cabillion stated, indicating Agravaine though with what seemed an ironic tone. “I have often worked to that one’s purposes.” He related that Agravaine could be a bountiful source of information.


“This is the Zi,” Axewing said, pointing to Asher, “Or the inheritor of this title. My days of thrones are past me.”


Axewing suggested his friend might want to speak to some of the Marillion, but Cabillion refused, saying he would not dare approach one unless invited to do so.





Dagnyr Perildar,

was momentarily confused by his new surroundings, but his training didn’t let that distract him as he took in the woman before him, obviously a sorceress though he couldn’t say of which Veer, that had seemingly just summoned him. Well, perhaps a bit. She was very beautiful.


His last memory, he realized, was of being with Renaissance, the human immortal, on Logresse.


“You have a role to play here,” the sorceress said, “Should you decide to.”


Dagnyr had enough experience in such matters to understand that acceptance was pretty much the only choice, but at least she was polite enough to offer him a choice. “I am Foreve of the Marillion.


Dagnyr had heard of the Marillion, but in the same sense as he had heard of other ancient legends.


“I have chosen one of your kind I do not find prepossessing,” she continued. “You will stand with one who is not of the Veer, if you accept.”


Hardly a problem, Dagnyr thought, but he couldn’t find a way to say that without sounding sarcastic and, while he had no fear of this woman, he did respect her power. “That will be your penitence, if you feel in your heart you have something to feel penitent about.”


She might be an ancient Veer, he thought, but she didn’t know the Olo Feradir. He let that pass, too.


Foreve told him she could have brought a Delve who was one of the Marillion, but chose not to. “You will be tried, and found sufficient or wanting.


“Your new master will be Asher Zi. You will serve him best remembering he stands for humanity. You must act as his liaison in matters of Veer society.”


He accepted her offer, and she points him out of the Ark, where he sees Zi, dressed in green as she had described, and goes over to them.


Dagnyr introduced himself in a few words, and was forcing himself to say more, when he was distracted, this time by the other human present. Something familiar about that one, he thought, and then he realized from where.


“Renaissance?” Dagnyr asked. “Is that you?”


“It’s Axewing now,” Ren answered, though perhaps with a hint of warmth to his tone. Dagnyr stepped over and offered a soldier’s handshake to his former comrade. Before he can speak further, Elric points out that Artiriel is gesturing to the Delve to come over, and seemed impatient. Dagnyr grimaced, an expression fortunately hidden by his scarf. The Delve goes to the Marillion, but makes a point of not hurrying, though toward the end he gets a good look at Artiriel’s bow and is intrigued by it.


‘You respect my weapon more than me,” Artiriel stated. “I can appreciate that.”


The Marillion seemed to think the Delve should seek out his master, but Dagnyr told him Foreve had not summoned the Marillion of his race, which seemed to startle Artiriel. After a few more terse exchanges, Dagnyr returned to his new assignment, Asher Zi.





In the interim, Aunar, summoned by Foreve, has emerged and been greeted by Axewing. 

This blue-skinned Veer has a prominent chin, and wears a strange quilted hat resembling a tea cozy as much as anything. He carried a rifle on his back, which Zi recognized as such.


“It may be the last of battles were are engaged in,” Axewing told his friend.


“That has been said several times, yet here we are,” Aunar replied archly. He repeated Cabillion’s earlier words. “I don’t trust any of them.”


“Fucking right,” Dagnyr murmured.


“I understand you bore an artefact for a time, the Corne of Moonlight,” Axewing stated. “The more that is said about it, the better,” Aunar replied, though perhaps he meant the reverse.


“Sybermane now bears it.”


“It was found?” Aunar said, seeming surprised.


Axewing confirmed it had, and that Sybermane, like him, was an Outremere and of the Obsidian.


Aunar said to Asher, “I do not know you, but it might interest you to know when I met Axewing, my assignment was to kill him.”


He had chosen otherwise, he added. Then, “Who might you be?”


“Asher Zi.”


“I respect the colour you wear.” Then he, too, went off to consult with his “superiors.” The Marillion Gorien approached, and asked if Zi and Axewing would be supporting Elric’s claim for the Draegeran throne. They confirmed they would.


“For this, I think you. While grateful, I am not beholding to you. I find the present is the most important part in my make-up,” he added cryptically.


He urged the humans to act quickly, and said he had asked Rama to find a suitable place for them to do so, and found one in Dulisse, a community some miles north of where they were.


An engagement was about to occur there, Gorien explained, and they should leave as soon as feasible.


Oranthiel then approached Zi, asked where might be a useful place for him to investigate, and Asher suggested Aeglesnakt.


Zi, accompanied by Umm and Dagnyr, and Axewing, along with Defiant and Cabillion, then flew north to Dulisse, perhaps 20 miles away. As they approached, they could see fires burning in parts of the community, and that some of the buildings had been destroyed. Sailors appeared to hold positions along the waterfront, and a mixture of Dragons and Dzur, the latter in archery units, held the town and were massed at the north end, where they were confronted by Brunyas and, concealed among trees but visible from the air, Leonaedes.


Axewing lands by the Leonaedes, and Zi follows suit.


“Why have you come here?” a Leonaedes, his fur all black, demanded.


Axewing, in turn, asked, “Why do you fight them?” The Tribesman turned and led them to the leader of the Leonaedes, Arruth.


Arruth admitted he was uncertain how to proceed. He would not usually trust a Draegeran, but he had experienced a vision sent by one, forecasting the arrival of Zi and Axewing, almost to the very second.


“We are supporters of prince Elric and his claims to the throne,” Axewing explained. Arruth said his Leonaedes and the Brunya had come to support Shahasans who had come under attack, but the Tribesman arrived hours too late.


“They came in ships from the sky,” Arruth explained. The Brunya, he added, were not yet aware of the presence of the Leonaedes forces.


His own followers, he admitted, were trained but untested in battle. Axewing began to devise a plan of battle, and proceeded to the northwest, where Dragons held a hilltop.


The battle was looming….

Transcribed by R.Perry