Verik picked up a stack of four books off the corner of the counter and carried them past his sleeping friend. He positioned them on the counter in front of him. He took a pen and inkwell off a nearby shelf. Carefully he sat in the chair next to Apiecie. He placed the writing materials next to the books. Hearing his old friend snore made Verik smile. He reached over with his left hand and lightly scratched Apiecie’s head between the ears.
With his right hand, Verik redrew the four rectangles. He settled into his chair and pulled the screens into an arch around him. Instantly they crackled to life with the sceneries of the realm. He turned his attention to the screen to his far left.
He pulled the screen closer. The red frame lit up and the red book on top of the stack lifted and placed itself in front of Verik. The booked opened to a blank page.
While the book was opening, the top of the inkwell unscrewed itself. The pen lifted and dipped into the ink. On its own, it moved into the proper writing position.
The view was being projected by the sight of a Giant Grey Stone Eagle, the largest bird of the realm. The wingspan of the great bird, over twice the arm length of an average man, easily picked up the slightest breeze. It could effortlessly soar for hours without spending much energy. A perfect choice, Verik thought, for scouting the land of the far north of the realm.
Today the eagle was not soaring. It appeared the giant bird was perched in his nest high in the mountains. Verik scanned the view from the eagle’s eyes.
Nothing seemed amiss.
The was snow remaining on a few of the higher mountain tops glistened in the afternoon sun. The shadow of the mountain the eagle called home, was slowly creeping into the valley.
The pen eagerly wrote down, in great detail, everything Verik saw. It paused only to get more ink.
Verik closed his eyes to attempt to make a telepathic connection with the great bird. The bird squawked when the connection was made. Verik tried to persuade the bird to take to the air. The great eagle had no interest in moving. Verik tried the connection again. Again, the eagle squawked and did not move. Verik let out a sigh of frustration.
One last time, Verik thought.
The eagle squawked, shook its head then closed its eyes.
Verik opened his eyes and started to rub his temples with his index fingers.
“Damn bird,” he mumbled. “Must be his nap time too.”
He pushed the red trimmed screen back.
“Let’s go south,” he said, pulling the screen to the immediate right of the red trimmed screen closer.
The screen’s trim turned a deep blue.
The stack of books raised to let the blue book off the bottom. It passed over the red book as they swapped positions. Once in place, the blue book opened to a blank page. The pen readied itself for more dictation.
The screen blinked twice then came alive with a view of the open ocean provided by the sight of a high soaring Blantiff Gull, more commonly known as a Ghost Gull. The gull’s sky-blue plumage made it almost impossible to see once it had taken flight. Its keen eyesight allowed the gull to see the outline of fish from great altitudes. This bird too, could soar for hours without using much energy. Verik intently watched the screen, and the pen wrote frantically.
Verik had been contacting this bird since it was a fledgling. Once contact was made the bird automatically cut of its fishing and started scanning the area for anomalies in the routine. Verik saw as the gull saw:
The ocean looked calm. Small waves slowly crawled to the white sand shore. A look to the right revealed the miles of white sand and in the far distance, the white granite mountains. A look to the left, nothing but deep blue ocean and black dots.
Black dots.
The gull needed no prodding to slowly bank and soar towards the black dots. It was not long before the gull’s superior eyesight picked up the outline of ships. Slowly he circled the mass of ships, gradually reducing his altitude to get a better view.
They spied all sizes of ships, almost as far as the eye could see. A few feet closer, and they could make out men, large men walking on the decks. Some decks had something extremely large tied down and tarped. The largest ships had a multitude of what looked like soldiers.
Invasion force!
* * *
For the bird’s safety, Verik broke off the connection. He did not want to confuse the gull with all the questions he was asking himself. Verik had witnessed, too many times, the erratic behavior of the “Pet” and the sad outcome when a Warmage did not break contact. Verik stood up and drew a line in the air.
With a slight motion of his hand the line raised well above his head. He reached up as far as he could and pinched the air in middle of the line. He pulled down. A second line separated and followed his hand to just below his hip. With a couple blinks of light, an exquisite, animated map of the southern quadrant appeared.
Verik motioned to the gull’s screen to join him in front of the map. The screen followed his instruction precisely. He drew a line to connect the map to the screen. For a moment, the map went black then came to life as it made its connection. Verik watched the map intently as it swiftly searched for the origin of the signal.
The gull was continuing to circle the invasion force. The map turned completely blue except for the black outlines of the enormous invasion fleet. Verik motioned to the map to zoom out. He had to calculate how far away the invasion fleet was from shore. It took three zoom outs to do the calculations.
“They’re still three days from shore,” Verik said out loud. “Whoever they are. I do not recognize sail nor flag.”
A second pen, inkwell and a book of blank pages leapt off a shelf and swiftly arranged themselves next to the blue book. Their task, to give some relief to the blue book and pen. They would record everything Verik said while the blue book and pen continued to record all the gull observed.
“They must not be familiar with our lands,” Verik continued. “Attacking from the south makes no sense. Nothing but desert and the Dunialli for weeks. It will take days to get that large of a force through the pass.”
Verik paused and gazed at the gull’s screen. He rubbed his scraggly bearded chin as he studied the gull’s screen. Ship after ship filled with soldiers.
“The Dunialli won’t attack a force of that size, but they will raid it for supplies as long as they deem it safe to do so. Time to call the Charges and discuss a plan.”
Verik walk to the far wall and waved his hand. Two iron-framed glass doors appeared through the rock wall. With a wave of his hand the doors opened outward. He stepped into the middle of the spacious balcony. He took a deep breath and raise his hands to the sky.
A slimline of green mist began to circle his feet. Six evenly spaced circles around the floor of the balcony began to glow bright white. A thin green veil began to form around Verik. Green tentacles of mist slowly crawled toward the glowing circles. Dark grey clouds began to boil above the balcony.
Verik did not let the low rumble disturb his concentration. He opened his eyes and saw the clouds spinning. He lowered his arms to his side. A light rain began to fall.
“I, Verik Burn, Grand Watcher of our land, call on all the Charges of the land to meet for a Protectorate.”
He raised his arms skyward again. A ball of electric sparks began to form in his hands. The tentacles of green mist had reached the glowing circles. He pushed the ball skyward. It slowly floated away from his hands and hovered for a few seconds. Without warning, it left in a flash leaving minute particles of electricity floating in its wake. The ball had traveled almost out of Verik’s sight when it exploded.
The blackened sky was filled with tortured branches of electricity. A deafening clap of thunder quaked the balcony. Verik struggled to keep his balance. The wind had turned ferocious. Rain pelted Verik as he labored to stand. He heard a strange sizzling sound before everything turned a vivid blue.
He looked up just in time to see a blue bolt strike at his feet.