Chapter 13

After getting over the feeling of falling, Dan raised his head and peeked through his boney fingers to find himself in the most beautiful place he had ever seen. It looked like a palace floating in the air surrounded by clouds of every size, shape and color. The floor was made of marble and glass while the handrails were a shiny bronze with intricate carvings in them. Further down the walkway was a large area surrounded by pearly-white pillars that seemed to reach forever with a large dining area set in the middle.

Feeling brave for the first time in his life, Dan stepped off the light-green pedestal and made to approach the heavenly space when a gargoyle he had not seen on the wall opened its eyes and halted him. Unlike the other gargoyles he had seen, this one had friendly yellow eyes that made the skeletal Knight feel a bit welcome.

"Welcome to the Hall of Heroes: where the bravest warriors in history spend eternity feasting, singing and arm-wrestling. If they deem you worthy enough, you may be gifted with a new weapon." it said before returning to its slumber. As soon as it said 'bravest warriors', Dan couldn't help but pray that he would find Saphira here. Out of everyone he knew: it was her that deserved to come here the most when they died. Freezing at the thought, he suddenly took off in a run down the walkway and into the main area. Surrounding the large dining table were many different statues of warriors that had their own weapon, stance and shape.

Rapidly taking in the features of each one; even the ones upstairs, Dan was both growing more relieved as well as his growing dread when he couldn't find a statue that even resembled his beloved. As he turned in the direction of the entrance, he caught sight of a very familiar-looking archer. As he got closer, his suspicions proved true as he saw none other than Canny Tim; who was dressed in the same clothing as he wore the last time Dan had seen him in the Ballroom of Peregrin Castle. Confused that Tim was moving about instead of being a statue like the rest of the warriors, he scratched his skull and approached the young archer with a smile as the boy's eyes lit up at the sight of him.

"Captain Fortesque! Does the battle go well?" Tim asked as he crouched down on his pedestal. "Well…I'm still dead." Dan tried to say as Tim stood back up and held his crossbow. "A temporary set-back I'm sure Sire." he replied as Dan's eye widened in shock that Tim had understood what he had said. "Gods they were merry times: slapping off insects, downing pints of bitter Shanty, and the battles….oh! They were fun too!" he said with a toothy grin as he tossed his hat around. At the mention of battles, Dan looked up at Tim hopefully that maybe, just maybe he knew what had become of Saphira.

"How long? How long since the Battle of Gallowmere?" he asked nervously as Tim became thoughtful for a moment before answering. "If I had to guess Captain, I'd say a hundred years." he said, causing Dan's entire skeleton to feel like it had been crushed by a hammer. A hundred years? Can it really be so? He had been dead for a hundred years? All the questions in his skull couldn't be answered quickly enough before more would form. If it had really been a century since that day, then there was no possible way for Saphira to be alive. The thought made Dan want to cry, not only because he would never see her again; but because he never got the chance to say goodbye to her.

As the truth seeped into his bones, Dan silently began cursing the gods for allowing him to meet a maiden who chose to love him despite his untrue stories and cowardice, only to have them take her away from him forever. And another thing, if she wasn't here, then where was she? Surely she wasn't in hell: she had too kind a soul for that terrible place. Looking at Tim with a defeated look in his single brown eye, he voiced the question that made him want to die all over again. "And her?" he asked as Tim suddenly became somber as he looked away, not lifting Dan's spirits in the slightest. "Tim, what became of Saphira?" he questioned again as the young archer began twisting his hat in his hands, as if he was trying not to cry.

"She's brilliant you know, instead of charging right in like the rest of us: she used those claws of hers to make a rockslide, right under their feet, bringing several dozen of those demons down with it! And she didn't stop there: she caused enough of a ruckus to make the monsters we were fighting to go for her instead. She made those unholy beasts fall like rain Captain, you should have seen her…you would have been so proud. We could not believe the strength of that woman, she fought so hard that her sword broke! Then she would use her hands and feet with moves even more incredible than what she had done to Maverick: that scoundrel." he paused as Dan's eye literally popped out of his skull.

Saphira…did all that? And for a kingdom that wasn't her own? The way that Tim told the story, made him think of the way he had described himself in his own stories; difference was…she actually had done it. SHE was the real Champion of Gallowmere, not him and it wounded him deeply that he never got the chance to see her beat the enemy like water on rock. "What are you not saying Tim? Tell me, I must know." he pressed urgently as Tim sniffed and wiped his eyes with his hat.

"While she was fighting, Anderson and I...we tried to help, we truly did sir. After Zarok's Champion: Lord Kardok slayed Anderson, Lady Stormhunter she…she went mad. She was fighting more like the monster she appeared to be as she tried to protect me from Zarok, allowing me time to kill his Champion cleanly through the eye at three-hundred yards. It's all MY fault! I should never have been there! It's MY fault she got grabbed!" the archer suddenly wailed as Dan's non-existent heart dropped to his boots as Canny Tim started bawling, acting on the emotions he himself was feeling. Barely fighting back his own cries of despair, Dan shook in his armor as he held his tears back while Tim openly showed his self-inflicted sadness.

Having heard enough, the skeletal Knight turned on his heel and began heading back to the portal. If she was gone like Tim had said, then he no longer saw the point of stopping Zarok when to him, the necromancer had already won. "C-captain there's m-more." he heard Tim sniff, making Dan glance at him over his shoulder before slowly walking back over to the boy. Taking a deep breath, Tim managed to calm himself down long enough to continue.

"After he had mortally wounded me, Zarok said something to her before those….those fiends had her pinned. I managed to stay alive long enough to see her jump up and maul his face with those blades on her boots. Had I not been bleeding out, I would have cheered for her before he…hurt her." he said, making Daniel Fortesque's eye harden in a dangerous glare that bordered on a savage one at the thought of that devil laying a hand on her.

"Is there a point to this?" he all but snarled, shocking the archer into a stupor and Dan understood why: Dan usually had a kind nature, so seeing him pissed off wasn't something that was seen often, if at all. "M-my point is Captain, is they've taken her sir. They've taken Lady Stormhunter." Tim stuttered in fear of Dan unleashing his anger on him. Not needing to hear anymore, Dan turned on his heel just as Tim called him once more. "Captain please, take this. If you are going to search for her, you may need it. May it serve you well." he said, handing Dan his trusted crossbow before turning back into a statue.

Trying his hardest to hold back his pain and anger, he walked across the walkway and stepped on the light-green pedestal, once again feeling as if he were falling as the portal brought him back to the graveyard; and closer to the abomination of a human that took his beloved away from him.