Cornal was tired. He had just came down from Dragonhaven on a barge with a load of marble for an order and had to load the darn thing on a ship almost by himself. It was getting on towards evening and the merchant ship was almost ready to weigh anchor. Seems the ship was short handed, or so the captain said. Still, it was loaded now, with the help of two of the crew. He turned away from the galley and wandered to the end of the dock. He wasn’t going home tonight, he probably needed to get moving and find a room at one of the local inns.

  He stretched his back muscles and rubbed his eyes, looking out over the water. He knew he was tired now, he was seeing spots. He stared at them for a few minutes… they didn’t go away. As a matter of fact, they seemed to be getting closer. He rubbed his tired eyes again and they came into focus.

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“Ships on fire! Ships on fire!”

  He ran for the edge of the harbor. Behind him he heard the call taken up and the harbor came to life. He got to the edge in time to pull a sailor from the water, badly burned and half unconscious. Yelling for a healer, he looked up to see people jumping from the burning ships. Three ships all burning. Looking back out to where they had came from, he saw a large cluster of ships in the late evening light. One launched a flaming ball at what looked to be another ship that was trying to reach the harbor. He stared at it not knowing what to do.

  Michael. The dragon would know. He ran for the call stone, then realized he had no clue how to make it work. He beat on it in frustration. Then he screamed at the top of his lungs;

“Michael! Get yer scaly ass here damn it!”

  The stone lit up and he almost passed out from relief. Shaking his head, he turned back to help pull the survivors from the water, keeping an eye on the approaching fleet.