Chapter 265

'TWO! I CAN SEE TWO ships!'

Lieutenant Patel looked up from the spread of maps across the table to see the Rodhite lookout officer galloping down from the cliff edge that hung over the shore meters below.

'Are they ours?' he demanded, moving a paperweight on top of the maps before ducking out of the tent and walking toward the centaur.

'They look right.' The officer offered an arm to Patel who seized it, swinging up onto the centaur's broad back. Around them the thickly spread cavalry all shifted positions, trying to get a better view. At the cliff edge the officer turned sideways. They stared out. The two ships appeared as if suspended on the horizon, perched at the edge of nothingness. Patel took the offered telescope and lifted it to his eye. It brought the ships into sharper perspective though not enough to state for sure either way.

'Can you tell?' asked the officer.

'Not yet,' Patel answered with a growl of impatience. 'Come on! Put up the sail!'

The other soldiers gathered