Bright Swords of Serena

Chapter 6

 Hollander wormed his way closer down into the top of the sand dune and tried to refocus his telescope. The problem was that it wasn't dawn yet, or at least that there was only the faintest of pink streaks in the sky behind him. When the sun came up, he realized with surprise, it would be the spring equinox. He'd been so busy since the mobilization vote that he'd lost track.

Fanning, lying on her belly next to him, said, "You see anything?"

"Something black, then something else black. You?"

"Same thing."

"Uh."

Five minutes passed. Hollander checked briefly behind him. The pink streak had grown to a deeper shade and now took up a minutely greater arc of sky. The pre-dawn breeze had chilled him, and he wished for something hot to drink. Cider, tea, anything. He consoled himself with the fact that he and Fanning and the scouts with them would be the first Tymarians to see the interior of Aethir in fifteen years, except a few Private Fleet agents. The interior of this part of Aethir, anyway. Mostly Tymar raided on the north coast—the Channel coast—and here they were at the extreme northeast, due south of Lilo port at home. He hoped it would work better this time; last time they had come this way they had nearly broken themselves with the bad raid that had led to the Northcounty revolt, the crisis, the negotiations, the treaty... then he wished he hadn't thought that.

But this time we've got the whole army, all their gear, the entire fleet... although many of the ships would depart after landing the army, for the home coasts still needed guarding and the fishing fleets still needed protection. Then he wished he hadn't thought that either, because it led to thoughts of Caroline, whom he hadn't seen since the previous autumn. He sighed to himself and refocused his telescope again.

"Nicky," he said suddenly. "Over there."

She looked where he was pointing, and said, "Yah. Sergeant!"

"Ma'am?"

"See that gray thing on black?"

"Sort of, ma'am."

"Well, we're in the same boat, then." Fanning turned back to Hollander. "It's getting lighter."

It was. The pink streak had nearly evaporated, giving way to a pale, cloudless band of orange stretching further up the sky. Limbs of yellow crept up from the eastern horizon, illuminating the golden sands below. The great beach at Kerndean Head had many valuable qualities—length, mild tides, and a steep underwater dropoff a few yards from shore so that the transport ships could creep in close to land, their masts dropped so they wouldn't be observed from the far side of the dunes. But Kerndean was also stunningly beautiful.

On the beach, sailors and soldiers and all had stopped working and put their tools down, waiting for the imminent sunrise that would tell them that winter was over and spring begun.

And what a way to begin it... well, this is what we all signed up for.

Hollander turned back to duty again and a moment later elbowed Fanning in the side. She nodded. The climbing light had begun to reach over the high dunes and illuminate outlines on the other side—gray shapes of small stunted trees growing in the sandy soil, pines and aspens and miniature birches. Hollander couldn't see all the details, but his memory of the last excursion to these beaches filled in some of them, and his imagination took care of the rest.

And there, as the light became that much stronger, there it was, what they'd been looking for. Perhaps a mile away to their northwest, a faint spire of smoke, gray in the morning. Hollander again refocused his telescope, then scanned around as he saw other columns of smoke. Hearthfires for sure, cooking the farmers' breakfasts as they prepared to go out to the fields. He nudged Fanning again