Chapter 916 — A Ship from the North
Blade of Dawn · Page 4 of 4
"It should be about time now..." Wenna muttered, as though to herself.
"Yes, Chief," said a human in a brown robe, a silver circlet on his head, nodding. "The last signal said they were only an hour's journey from the harbor, and the watchtower to the north also reports sighting a ship on the sea—they should be arriving soon."
Wenna murmured an acknowledgment and turned to look at the open ground not far off—a group of technicians had gathered there, clustered around a brand-new magitek machine that looked rather valuable, the crystal apparatus mounted atop it glittering in the sunlight.
The machine made the grey elf chief a little nervous, but she easily smoothed away that unease. She knew her figure must already have been captured by that wondrous device and transmitted back to Windsong City deep in the Mosswood, and to Sambitok in the eastern part of the woodlands—the only two cities in the Mosswood that had established a maginet and been linked by communication devices, and the "maginet pilot" of the entire Augury tribal kingdom. As the chief driver of the whole project, she knew she had to appear sufficiently flawless and outstanding today.
"I hope the citizens of Windsong and Sambitok won't be too nervous when they first see a maginet broadcast," she said softly, in a voice only the advisers beside her could hear. "This thing is not like the magitek machines they have encountered so far."
"New things always make people a little nervous. The Cecil folk gasped the first time they saw a maginet broadcast too," answered the human adviser with the silver circlet, likewise in a low voice. "But after the nervousness comes the brave and the curious. All we need do is encourage them and guide them well, and the new thing will grow up swiftly."
Wenna gave a soft hum, lifting her head once more to gaze at the distant sea, yet her attention was fixed on the modest pier that lay within her line of sight.
It was but a small harbor, and had it not been for the recent urgent repairs and expansions, its current state would have been far worse.
After all, its original purpose was merely to moor small boats for local fishermen, vessels whose farthest voyages never crossed the boundary of the inshore waters.
"Whitefeather Harbor is but a fishing village..." Wenna murmured softly, "but perhaps from this day onward, it will no longer be just a fishing village..."
A piercing whistle, as if cleaving through the very sea itself, suddenly rang out from the waves, reaching the ears of every soul present.
"They're coming! They're coming!"
On the harbor, onlookers cried out in excitement, and even the gray elf delegates on the pier and the dwarf representatives who had traveled from afar craned their necks in unison, their gazes turning as one toward the glimmering expanse of water. Amid the rolling swells and the dazzling play of sunlight upon the waves, a vessel forged of steel, sheathed in a shimmering magical barrier, with strange wing-like plates spread wide on either side, was cutting through the wind and waves, sailing straight toward them.
A ship came from the north.