"Are you telling me they dropped over three hundred soldiers on our shores with no sign of a single vessel?!"
High constable Taureed slept in an age-beaten, pillowed chair most nights.
"Sir, they weren't..."
He dreamed little and woke often.
"Were you smoking your pipe flag, maybe drinking a bit or just taking care of the business your wife couldn't finish last night?!"
Never the less, he cherished his sleep.
"Constble, they weren't dropped..."
The chair sat collecting the scent of burning ashwood near the fire place at the top level of North Tower. Often a flask of spirits or bottle of wine would be near by and partially finished on the floor.
"What are you telling me?"
Taureed stood from his chair wiping sleep from his eyes and hastened past captain Shraffe who was thankful the constable didn't start beating him with the pommel of his sword. Taureed took the tower stairs two at a time, fastening his sword belt as he went.
"Sir, it's like I told you," said Shraffe as he attempted to keep up with Taureed. "They walked out of the ocean, climbed our docks and attacked the dock watch."
Taureed stopped abruptly without fully turning, Shraffe came close to knocking right into him.
"No skiffs, no dinghies, no vessels of any kind?"
"No sir. None in site. If there are ships out there, they're hiding in the fog bank couple miles off shore and with the moonless sky..."
"How far in have they advanced?" Taureed said as he continued down the stairs.
"Last I heard they got past the dock watch and spilled into Jacobie Street. But that's not the half of it sir."
"What in hell are you talking about Shraffe?"
"Constable Aberdeen managed to get archers to the walls and let loose a few volleys ," Shraffe's voice began to betray a touch of worry. "But every single one of those bastards which got hit kept coming. Some of them weren't even inconvenienced by a bolt in the chest and just kept on walking."
Taureed stopped again, this time turning fully to face Shraffe.
"Arrows didn't stop them?"
"No sir. If they fell, they'd get right back up and some of them got hit more than once."
"Great gods. First the north country then the capital, now this." said Taureed. "If we're dealing with what I think we're dealing with, we're going to need a hell of a lot more than town guard to stop it."
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