Chapter 1: Boarding the Air Ship

Sweat dripped from the forehead of of the slender human Kelevmor VanCleef as his sky blue eyes looked over the parchment with his writing on it. Surrounding the young man-who despite being only twenty five had gray hair went just to his ears-were several empty desks with quills and papers scattered over the tops, and chairs pushed to the side, as if abandoned by their owners before they left for the day. On the wall to his left was a window that overlooked Stormwind City's Trade District.

Kelevmor took his eyes away from the paper and looked over te rest of the Stormwind Herald's newsroom, noticing the goblin Nixxle looking back and forth between four parchments he held in his hands. When the editor in chief noticed the human looking at him, he asked in his croaking high pitched voice," You finish that story Kel?"

The human looked over the paper once more, noticing two punctuation mistakes at the bottom paragraph he had missed before. After fixing them with his quill, he walked over and placed it in the goblin's hand.

"Right here chief," Kelevmor said as he stepped back. "I will be honest, it was interesting doing a story on those dock workers catching that giant cat fish."

Nixxle nodded as he looked over the reporter's article. "Just a couple nit-picky things, you forgot to space in the second sentence of third paragraph and it looks like you have an awkward sentence. Other than that it looks good. I'll fix it up before I go home."

Kelevmor smiled. Whenever Nixxle said he was going to make corrections to a story, it meant he would use an ink spell he learned at a younger age to magically altar the writing on the paper to erase the mistake before it went to print.

"So Kel, do you have any holiday plans?" continued the editor as he put the papers on the desk next to him. "Think you're going to visit that brother of yours?"

"If I could make it past the vast number of Defias, I'm sure Edwin would love to have me over for holiday dinner." Kelevmor folded his arms, thinking of his brother Edwin, who for many years had been the leader of the murderous Defias Brotherhood. Although he knew his brother was one of the most wanted men in Stormwind, Kelevmor never felt compelled to go after him, even though the reward for Edwin's capture, or death, increased day by day.

Kelevmor picked up his overcoat from his chair and threw it around his linen shirt and leather breeches. "To answer your question, I am going on a two-day cruise on the Crimson Angel. I should be back on Sunday morning with a new piece for Tuesday's paper."

"Doing a story on the ship?" Nixxle asked with a hint of curiousity in his voice.

Grabbing his tan fedora, Kelevmor said," I hear there's going to be Horde on board. So my plan is to do something on how the passengers interact with one another. Maybe because it's the holiday season, everyone will react differently to each other."

Kelevmor stretched his arms as Nixxle said," Good luck my friend."

"Thank yo Nix," the human responded with a smile. "Don't work too hard."

"The same to you."

* * * *

Under the cover of dusk, with thousands upon thousands of snowflakes descending from the sky, Kelevmor left the Herald's office, which was across from the Guilded Rose Inn, and walked over to his apartment building across the street from Stormwind's Auction House.

As he walked into the door of his studio apartment, he whispered," I really should clean up." He scanned the floor that was cluttered with dirty clothes, empty ale flasks, and medals he had received in during his days in the Alliance army before becoming a reporter.

Kelevmor paused walked over to the closet where he kept his armor; composed from a thin plate that provided much protection but didn't hinder his speed. After putting on his armor, he placed his two green hilted long swords onto his belt.

As he placed on his green dark red cloak with yellow stitching, he turned to see his silver haired tabby cat finishing a hunk of old cheese. "Baxter what are you doing?"

Baxter walked over to his master and watched him pick of his backpack. It was then Kelevmor saw a glimpse of shame in the cat's yellow-green eyes. "I'm not mad Baxter. If you don't get sick I'll be impressed. Now come on, we have to get going."

The tabby looked at the messy floor, then back up at his master, who replied with a shrug," We could always clean up when we get back." When the human bent down, Baxter ran up his left arm, climbed his shoulder and lay in his usual spot on top of the human's head.

After he locked the door and left the building, Kelevmor walked down the street, proceeding towards the docks.

* * * *

With Baxter settled on his brow, Kelevmor arrived at the docks just as the stars appeared visible in the sky. He passed the surly dock workers who he had interviewed days before when they were fishing, now carrying in their arms either large loads of lumber, or barrels of alcohol.

"I'm not sure which one is our ship," Kelevmor said to his cat as they walked over to an area where a dwarven couple and a black haired gnome were talking. "Excuse me," he asked the dwarves as he approached them," Is this where passengers are boarding the Crimson Angel?"

The dwarves turned to Kelevmor with smiles on their faces, while the gnome twirled with a strand of her hair as if she was oblivious to everything and everyone around her.

The female dwarf, whose long mustard yellow hair and thick fur coat blew with the wind said," You're Kelevmor VanCleef. Honey, this is Kelevmor, the reporter from the Stormwind Herald."

The male dwarf, whose figure was covered in a white silk robe and leather overalls, stroked a strand auburn colored beard. His hair was cut in the shape of a bowl and he sported silver monocles. "Kelevmor VanCleef," he said in a voice that was soft, but rich with his dwarven accent. He extended his hand, to which Kelevmor shook firmly. "My name is Monteray Octobrew and this is my wife Jools."

Jools gave a mock curtsy. "We are such fans. Is it true you actually participated in one of Nesingway Jr.'s hunts in Stranglethorn?"

"Of course it's true woman," Monteray replied before Kelevmor could say anything. "He gave such an accurate description of bagging that tiger. Anyways to answer your questions lad, this is where the Angel is picking us up. To tell you the truth we didn't have to pay a copper for these."

Kelevmor tilted his head, assuming the dwarf was trying to make conversation. "You didn't have to pay? How exactly did that happen?"

"Monteray went to the auction house to buy me a new war hammer," Jools said in a proud voice. "He is such a dear. Anyways, after he bought the hammer, some elf maiden dropped her books and my Monteray, out of the goodness of his heart, helped her."

Jools' husband shrugged modestly. "I couldn't just let her books get ruined in the snow. So I picked them up and carried them to the mage tower."

The lady dwarf kissed her husband's cheek and continued," Come to find out, the maiden was Elsharin, one of the mage trainers. For his kindness, she gave him two tickets to ride the Crimson Angel."

Again Monteray shrugged. "I tried to refuse, but she insisted. Said she was going to turn me into a frog if I said no. How did you get yours Kelevmor?"

The human's eyes looked up as he said," Me? I just paid for mine. I figured this would be a good excuse to take a few days off."

A look of concern washed over Jools' face. "You poor dear. Are they working you too hard at the Herald?"

"No, not really. I mean will be doing some work during the cruise."

The dwarven couple sighed in unison. "You know lad, it wouldn't hurt you to relax while you're on board," Monteray suggested.

"Thank you," the reporter answered as his eyes looked over at the gnome, who red robes began to emit a soft glow "Is she with you?"

The Octobrews followed Kelevmor's eyes over to the female gnome. "All she told us was she was going to cast a spell that keep herself warm," answered Jools. "She said she'd introduce herself to us on the ship."

Monteray let out a snort. "If only that ship would get here." Baxter let out a meow, showing his agreement with the dwarf.

A loud horn blased through the skies over the dock as a massive wooden ship, the widest and tallest Kelevmor had ever seen, floated above them. Painted in red on the mast were the words The Crimson Angel.

"It's a flying ship," Kelevmor whispered in awe. He glanced over at the dwarves as they held one another.

"Good evening passengers," echoed a loud and deep voice coming from the ship. "If you would just relax we will bring you on board."

"Did he say he was bringing us on board?" Jools asked in a somewhat frightened voice. "How does he plan on doing that while being in the sky?"

"Probably by teleport," the human said in hopes of calming the dwarf woman.

"I hear there are Horde on the ship," Monteray said in a cautious voice. "Best watch our backs."

With that, a purple translucent bubble formed around the four-five counting Baxter- and seconds later they disappered from the Stormwind docks.

* * * *

Kelevmor and the others found themselves in a vast lobby filled with beautiful tables and a large neatly decorated Winter Veil tree that seemed to touch the ceiling, glowing in red, blue, green, and yellow colors.

The Herald reporter scanned the occupants in the lobby at each table, noticing the various races of both Horde and Alliance. One site that caught his attention was an undead woman with stringy purple hair, talking to a tauren female in druidic vestments made from hide, thin leathers, and green leaves. A tall, muscular orc walked over to the newly arrived passengers. Adorned in his thick red coat and black hair, he said," I am Captain Enaris Bloodfang and welcome to the Crimson Angel, Azeroth's first air ship." He pointed over to a muscular black haired and tauern, who had one horn bigger than the other wearing a large white swashbuckler shirt and an eye patch. "Over there is my First Mate Kenai. If you have any problems or concerns, feel free to address the staff, myself, or him. Your room numbers should be on your tickets. Dinner will be served in one hour."

The dwarven coupe glanced at each other, then made their way to their room. Kelevmor stepped over to Enaris. "I''m curious. How does the ship manage to stay in the air?"

Captain Enaris let out a friendly smile. "With collaborating with goblin and gnome engineers, and wizards, we've managed to harness the powers of crystals from Draenor. Although we only employ only a handful of staff members of both the Horde and Alliance, the ship itself requires little maintenance."

"Interesting. That sounds expensive."

"And it is," the orc answered in a gleeful voice. "However, our benefactor Randolph Willim has taken care of the financial arrangements." Captain Bloodfang pointed to a portrait of a gray haired man sitting in a leather chair.

Kelevmor stared at the portrait, while Baxter, who had just woken from a brief nap, let out a soft meow.

"I know Baxter, he looks familiar," the human said, feeling his cat's claws dig slowly into his scalp.

Kelevmor took this as a suggestion from Baxter to go to their room and unpack. After taking one last look at the portrait, he glanced at the room number on his ticket then journeyed to his room.