Cobalt (? PC – 421 AC?) was a blue dragon who swore allegiance to Sara Dunstan and served her during the formation of the Legion of Steel. He was 45 feet long, muscular, and well built with a thick tail and a spiny frill around his head. His horns resembled burnished blued steel. His body was bright sapphire blue along his head, neck, and shoulders, and deepened down the extremities of his body to a dark, almost greenish blue on his tail and feet. He had several parallel scars across his shoulders and a slight lump on his right foreleg from a broken bone.
Although he was deeply devoted to Sara, he stayed aloof from other people, responding only to the original five young knights who left the Dark Knighthood with Sara, and with Linsha Majere, whose empathy for dragons touched even his introverted heart. Cobalt once had a conversation with Silvara about a bond that existed between dragon and rider where love can be. Cobalt told Silvara that she only had a weak spirit, and that is why she fell for an elf.
A fierce fighter, he was stubborn when confronted and utterly loyal to his rider. Once in a while he revealed a sense of humor and fun.
Early Years[]
Cobalt was the nestmate of Flare, the blue dragon Sara trained and turned over to Steel Brightblade. Cobalt was also trained by Sara at Storm's Keep before he moved on to carry the Dark Knight, Sir Vincit Cathard. Cobalt was a Dark Knight’s dragon, trained for battle, and pledged to the service of Takhisis.
Chaos War[]
During the Chaos War, Cobalt and Vincit served in a wing in Northern Ergoth, laying siege to a Solamnic fortress at Gwynned. When the Dark Knights lost the Vision and all contact with Lord Ariakan, the officers abandoned the wing, leaving the younger members to fend for themselves. The remnants of the group tried to survive and find a way to flee the island, but eventually they were caught in an ambush. Most of the knights were killed. Vincit and Cobalt barely escaped. Filled with anger, Vincit urged Cobalt to attack a small group of Solamnic Knights near the coast, without taking into account the presence of a silver dragon with the party. The silver dragon mortally wounded Vincit and injured Cobalt. Cobalt fled across the water to the western coast of Solamnia. Vincit died on the way. Alone and badly wounded, Cobalt crawled into a cave to die.
Post the Chaos War[]
Cobalt’s heart may have sought death, but his mind and body did not. His grief and pain manifested themselves in dreams that reached out for help to any mind receptive enough to receive them. Sara Dunstan, still in exile from the Knights of Takhisis, saw the dreams in her own mind and resolved to find the source of the grief and pain. She still harbored an affinity for dragons and could not stand by to see one suffer. She tracked down Cobalt and found him, sick, wounded, emaciated with starvation, and deeply depressed by the death of his knight. He would not respond to her at first, but with patience, warm food, and her common sense attitude, she healed his body. His mind soon followed.
Although he was a blue dragon, sworn to the service of the Knights of Takhisis, and even though Sara told him honestly that she did not believe in the sovereignty of evil and hated her time of servitude in the Order, Cobalt changed his allegiance to her. As Cobalt explained, the Knights of Takhisis no longer existed as a viable organization. The Dark Queen had abandoned the world, Lord Ariakan was dead, and most of the order was either dead or missing. When Vincit died, a part of Cobalt died with him. With Sara’s arrival, Cobalt was reborn. From then on he cared only for her and vowed to serve her until death.
As soon as he was well enough to fly, Sara took Cobalt back to Connersby, the small village where she lived and hid from the Dark Knights. She knew it would be difficult to keep a blue dragon in hiding in the mountains around the village, but she did not know what else to do. Then, she began to hear dismaying rumors that the Knights of Takhisis were reforming in Neraka under the leadership of General Mirielle Abrena. Sara debated about going to Neraka to see for herself, but she was reluctant to expose herself to possible discovery by the Dark Knights, and she hesitated about what to do with Cobalt. When the villagers finally discovered Cobalt, Sara made up her mind to go. Cobalt agreed to fly her to Neraka and to participate in her clandestine activities because he hated Mirielle Abrena. The self-serving general had been one of the officers in command of Vincit’s wing in Northern Ergoth who had abandoned their men.
Cobalt flew Sara to Neraka where he helped train young dragons and squires and helped convince the new leadership of the Knighthood that “Sara Conby” was a Knight of Takhisis. He carried Sara to Solace to look for Derrick when the young man ran away, and he took her back to Neraka to tell the young squires about the Legacy. When Governor-General Abrena learned of Sara’s true identity, Sara challenged the general to a Trial by Battle. Cobalt carried Sara into the battle and fought an older, larger blue dragon named Cerium. Cerium died in the battle and Cobalt was injured, but he and Sara were victorious and accompanied the five young knights to Solace. For the next thirteen years, he served Sara while she struggled to establish the third order of service in Ansalon, the Legion of Steel. As soon as Cobalt decided to follow Sara, he foresworn Takhisis. For his betrayal to the Dark Knights, he was stricken from their records. They also offered a huge bounty for proof of his death.
In the year 398 AC (15 SC), Sara died. Even though the years they had been together were short to a dragon, Cobalt was devastated by her death. He had never completely recovered from Vincit’s death, and now he had lost his second beloved rider. Consumed with grief, he left the Legion and flew down to the most desolate place he could find, in the southern Plains of Dust. He found a cave and settled into hibernation, thinking he could sleep long enough to forget his pain.
The War of Souls[]
Cobalt woke earlier than he intended. A strange vision of Sara intruded into Cobalt’s sleep and woke him in time to fend off an attack by frost wights. He was badly wounded in the attack and lost the use of one of his wings. Lost in pain and confusion, he struck north and west along the Kharolis Mountains, desperate to find Sara, whom he believed was still trapped in the world with the spirits of the dead. Eventually, hungry and on the edge of insanity, he found and rescued Kelena Athelen, the last surviving member of the original five knights who deserted the Knights of Takhisis to form the Legion of Steel. Kelena recognized Cobalt and convinced him to help her rescue a party of Legionnaires and refugee elves that was about to be attacked by the Dark Knights. Although he was reluctant to turn from his quest to find Sara, he agreed to help Kelena. He carried her through a heavy snowstorm in pursuit of the Dark Knights and caught up with them just as they caught the fleeing elves and warriors at the head of a canyon. In the wild blizzard, Cobalt attacked the Knights and killed most of them. Then the Talon leader tried to ride down Kelena. She called for help, and Cobalt responded. Calling to Sara and telling her to wait for him, he grabbed the Dark Knight Officer and threw himself off the top of a cliff into the raging wind and snow. The last Kelena saw of him, he tumbled into the darkness of a ravine.
His body was never found, and Cobalt has never been seen again.
References[]
- Bertrem's Guide to the War of Souls, Volume 2, 'A Legionnaire's Journal', p. 171-178
- Legacy of Steel, p. 17-22, 25-26, 28, 40, 42-43, 78, 274, 301
- The Odyssey of Gilthanas, p. 224
- Return of the Exile, p. 101, 305
- Knightly Orders of Ansalon, p. 98