Chapter 25

Once again, my bird's eye view widens for me to see the area. A color path projection overlays the warships with time-to-land estimates for various courses. All time projections were after sunrise with the highest probability they would sweep along our shore rather than swing out to sea again. Orange targeting rings surround the ships marking them hostile. A legend left of the view identifies Orange as standby mode, red as offline, green as engage. The view changes to the normal weather map of the sea and I note a storm east of Convey that appears to be building. The projected path is north up the Amarian coast passing Conquest Point. The storm has a low probability of swinging west over Convey.

In the morning, Tharin was eating at the shelter with Grimm at his side. One look at me, and Tharin stood. He saw my gear and urgency.

He shouted to me, "What is it, Von?"

I ran to him, responding, "Two slave ships are off the coast."

He never questioned how I knew. An older ebony concubine at the table stared at me with her mouth open. "You! Gather all the handmaidens into the tower," I commanded and she fled.

"Grimm, take command of the tower." Grimm's training sent her off in a run towards the tower.

"Tharin, armor up and meet me at the beach observation post. Find a few hunters and send them to the west hills to scout that approach. Call out the watch, full pup load outs, Coven's to leave runners in the village but send the watch to me. Send Grimm all the women archers and old men. Send the marines to the hidden platforms." Not waiting any longer I sprinted for the beach.

Looking around the beach distastefully at the lack of defenses, I cast an eye out to sea, seeing no ships. The beach was pretty in every way, sea birds gliding on the wind, villagers in the surf casting fishing nets; as I had commandeered the sailboats for today's trip to the docks. The plan was for the marines to load up and gain some experience with the craft, having one of the sea wives piloting each boat. Now I wasn't sure if leaving this morning was a good idea. Derwen's ship was sure to have arrived and would be unloading its cargo. The plan was for our departure on the evening tide. I walked to one of the hidden platforms at the edge of the woods and climbed up. A bored old eunuch wearing only a waist wrap was sitting in a crude high back chair with a spear. He was clearly surprised to see me ascend the guard post.

"Lord Solon, what brings you here?" The old man inquired.

I put on a brave face and looked again out to sea. I stopped, frowning. Both prototypes could be seen on the horizon fishing.

I sighed, saying, "We have three Caldav ships on our coast. It is possible they are visiting their river camp or perhaps just passing along the coastline, but signal the boats to return just to be safe."

His face told me he didn't think I could know such a thing.

My eyes widened and commanded, "Just do it!" He gripped the large mirror and flashed the recall signal.

"Don't stop the recall until you see them obeying," I mumbled and jumped down. Hitting the ground in a roll, I ran to the next hidden tower repeating the information and command.

Lastly, I carefully worked myself down the steep slope to the beach observation platform. "Not a good time to twist an ankle, Von," I thought.

A hurried voice of a woman asked me what was going on as I climbed the netted platform. A shiver went through me when I saw two sails on the western horizon. To my surprise, I smiled broadly at the young marsh woman. She had seen my awkward approach down the sparely covered sand hill.

Not recognizing her from the village, I asked, "Who are you dear?" She clearly knew who I was, being the only paled skinned man.

"Lord Solon, I am visiting my aunt who is out fishing. This platform was empty. Was I wrong to use it sir? Oh, my name is Willow."

I heard a scramble at the bottom of the ladder, we turned to see Sparrow popping up before us.

He caught his breath, then said "I was sent by my father to be your messenger sir."

"Likely story," I thought. I opened my mouth to send him home, but his eagerness to please stopped me.

Surveying the villagers fishing on the shore, I responded to Sparrow, "Run to each of those fishermen and tell them to collect their belongings and make for the forest."

He shifted his small bow away from the small shield resting on his forearm. Sparrow saluted with fist to heart and climbed down the ladder.

"Willow you would normally be welcome here but the Caldav are arriving on the coastline and you need to visit my wife in the tower."

I think she stopped breathing. The stark reality of slavers nearby froze Willow, so I took her hand in mine and said, "It's alright I am the White Wizard and they are not welcome here." Projecting a confident smile I kissed her hand and asked her to climb down carefully.

I focused on the distant ship sails and then our pump boats. A boat of men and a boat of women rode the gentle waves. The women were clearly paddling for the shore. The men were dragging nets in their boats. I nervously sipped my straw, letting cool mineral water wet my dry mouth. The villagers on the beach were gathering in their small nets and fishing gear. Sparrow was sprinting further down the beach to a pair of women unaware of the activity around them.

The sea breeze was light and steady, plenty of power to fill the slaver's sails. Thankfully, they had to work against the local current and prevailing winds before they could get a closer look at our shore. The tall masts would provide easy sighting of our small boats. Looking up the hill I could see the recall signal still flashing. The nauseating thought of my people captured caused a cold sweat to dawn on my face. The time ticked away in my head as the ships closed on the men struggling with a net too large for the small boat.

The women hit the beach in front of me. I called to them to carry the light craft behind the dune to its normal resting spot. I realized they looked spent. Sliding down the ladder and running to the exhausted women I lifted one side of the craft. Ordering them to all take the other side, we made it over the dune. Tharin, out of breath, in full armor with a few members of the watch with him, slid to a stop. All the men wore chain mail, helmets, loaded down with a sword and pups. Hazel was carrying my chain mail with a short bow over her back.

"Swarta's compliments," Hazel said, handing me my armor. Her entire body wet from the heavy load.

"Thank you, Hazel," I responded.

"Swarta said don't forget it next time," Tharin muttered, laughing at his mimicry of her voice. All the men smiled. The sea wives still bent over catching their breath.

Sparrow yelled from the top of the dune, "Got them all, Lord Solon!"

Looking at the poor fishing women, I loudly said, "This young warrior will escort you to the tower. He is in charge."

I winked at the women and pointed to the hill.

My escort climbed the short dune with me so we could look out over the sea again. The men seemed determined but a bit fearful of two warships. I couldn't have them getting worked up and feeling as worried as me. Expediency required I say something, my thoughts on the gun standby setting of my dream. It was clear to me some fire support was available perhaps awaiting my command. Our last pump boat was only half way to the beach and both warships now were where the women fished, but still out of bow range of my villagers.

Drawing my clan knife I said as I pointed at the warships, "Men, those ships shall not weather on my coast."

My mind determined to fulfill the odd subconscious request, I went to one knee and swung my blade down in a slash. A moment later two fire balls burned through the light cloud cover streaking towards the warships, a sonic boom followed the two strikes. Debris from both ships shot up into the air. Each ship broke in two and sank immediately. The strikes gushing two columns of water high above both masts. The beach shook from the impact on the shallow coastal floor. It knocked Tharin to the ground.

Our last pump boat rode a large wave into the beach. I felt light headed as the huge burden lifted from my shoulders as the threats disappeared under the waves. I dreaded the thoughts of what would have happened without the fire support. Everyone around me was speechless and fidgeted nervously. I felt some words of wisdom or profound statement was called for, due to the historical significance of the event.

My stomach gurgled giving me a thought "Well that is taken care of, can we go for breakfast now?"

So many questions flipped through my mind. Only a few answers enriched my understanding. An orbital gun engaged those two sailing ships. Neither ship received explosive damage, so kinetic rounds were involved. The fact sets in my head told me typical kinetic rounds were used against hardened targets that strike craft could not risk attacking. This is a primitive world so there was no such thing as a hardened shelter or shielded city. A kinetic attack is considered barbaric and the empire uses smart missiles. "Empire," I thought savoring the random memory. "What empire?" The understanding just outside of my conscious thought.

"Why not rescue me if a ship is here? Why the sudden fire support? Will they protect my village while I am gone? Was I put on this planet for a reason? Was I on a mission?"

Tharin broke me out of my daydreaming, "What was that, Von?"

I sighed, the breath going out of me. "How am I going to explain an orbital strike? How do you say I am the sole survivor of a spaceship crash and someone is watching over me?" The other three men from the village defense team still looked stunned, looking over the floating wreckage. They were going to be telling the rest of the watch I blew up two warships. My dramatic slash with the knife calling the strike a new piece of wizard legend. A misstep and I inadvertently fell on my back on the dune, tripping over someone's foot. I saw stars and the air crushed out of me, my gasping breaths surprising the men. "What a clumsy move, Von."

Tharin knelt down, asking, "Are you hurt from exerting your magic?"

Inside I was grinning to myself, thanking Von for answering his own question. Outside, I silently nodded yes and rested my eyes, sucking my water tube.

Tharin yelled at a man, "Get a blanket! We'll carry him up the hill."

The question of how far I should take this ran through my mind, as I rested enjoying the call of the seagulls and the lapping waves. Tharin stripped off my armor. The warm rays of the sun heated up my black clothes and I started to sweat, sucking my water reservoir more greedily. By the time the man ran up the hill in full chain mail and back with a blanket a crowd of men could be seen at the edge of the pine forest. Rest time was over and I stood, feeling guilty Tharin was so worried. "This is for the best Tharin. You wouldn't understand spaceman terms."

The blanketed man was exhausted from his efforts. Tharin looked at me with a deep frown in his brows and a stoic face.

"Those Burning Rocks might be a once in a lifetime thing, Tharin. That takes a lot of Moon Father energy. I am going to have to get the ladies to recharge me before the red moon is over," I said, with a straight face.

All the men looked at me thinking over my comments. "Where do you think I get all my magical energy?" I said, beaming my brightest smile, laughing at my ridiculous joke. Everyone one of the men had open mouths and blinking eyelids.

"Just joking, don't breathe a word of what I said to anyone," I mumbled, "don't want anyone taking my wizard guild card away because I am giving up secrets."

Tharin seemed to get I was kidding and his natural grin filled his face.

He hit me on the back saying, "No the lads won't say a thing, Lord Solon. Just a clan secret between us." Tharin looks sternly among the men who nodded agreement, obviously thinking I hinted at a dark secret of my power.

Tharin and the blanket man helped me up the hill. I couldn't bear to alter the little drama that Tharin mistakenly put in motion. By the time we made it to the hidden platform the entire village was there. My wives rushed me weeping.

"We heard you over exerted yourself and were dying," Swarta said, tears streaming over a stressed face.

"I am not hurt my love. All is well, a few kisses will put your magic in me," I whispered.

Tharin and the blanket man both heard. Tharin just laughed and stood back, knowing a press of women was developing. The watchman had that stunned look you have when you hit a door by mistake. I couldn't help myself, it was a certainty all the watchmen would hear his full story, including magical kisses. Palus and Swarta smothered me with kisses. With a few hugs and reassuring words they believed what they saw rather than some uninformed rumor.

My ladies looked to the sea and saw the debris. The whole village saw the floating barrels and bits of wood. The ships sunk beneath the water, perhaps even visible if you were on top of the site.

"Who saw the burning rocks?" I inquired.

Only a few men raised their hands, besides Willow the visitor to the village.

"Well those of you who saw it mark the place in your mind. In a cycle it will become a fantastic place to fish," I said loudly. Everyone nodded like I just gave out a piece of sage advice.

"I hope to take my children fishing there some day, telling them the history of our wizard's coast and how righteous it is to strike down slavery anywhere," I finished. Coven led a cheer.