Someone Else's Kingdom, BOOK II - Scene XXVII

In the Maiden Lands there was a nervous quiet. A calm foreboding. The building goliath from the mainland was slowly growing like a giant stepping stone on the water. An exponential force, all number and no heart. A few ships had left Maiden's Tower and not returned. Others had returned with tales of defeat, on ships like tattered rafts, lucky to limp home.

A young man sat edgily on the cliffside, his eyes searching out across the menacing blue. A spyglass by his side. Amidst the grey clouds grey-brown boats intermittently hemmed and skated on the ocean top. Their sail and flag like specks of gold in frothy water. The eye, either naked or through the glass, begging for the prospect of a clearer view. As the young man spied one growing smudge in the distance he leapt to his feet with eagerness. His excitement increasing as he raised the glass to his eye and saw the clear spectre of several large ships.

He lit the fire that was next to him then ran down the hilly cliffside. His feet sliding and braking against the grass and mud as he tried to rein in his downward momentum. Finally, he reached the hut and banged open the door. The older gentleman that was sat eating reacted at first with annoyance, but quickly awakened to the alarm. He instinctively belted his sword around his waist as he followed the young man back toward the sea edge.

With equal spryness the two climbed the hill. As they reached the cliff summit the older man grabbed the glass and aimed it in the direction of the imminent smudge.

..Alas, it was a false alarm. The invasion would not be coming that evening.