There was a heavy sigh behind her. “Well this pair doesn’t work either apparently. Unless you are no longer on the roof, that is.” Sovann grumbled followed by the sound of him shuffling through his possessions once more.
“Sovann,” Emily called a bit louder, her eyes still intent on the approaching soldiers. There were more visible now and judging by the speed they were progressing they were mounted, though they were still too far away to tell for sure.
“Well at least you are still here,” Sovann said with a sigh. “Two more pairs to go and then it’s back to drawing board for both of us.
Emily turned with a disgusted sigh to stare at the mage as he pulled a pair of goggles on. The lenses were shaded so dark she doubted he could see the sun if he stared right at it. The lenses themselves were not the project however, the runes carved into them were. Those combined with his magic and her blood had been what they had spent countless days attempting to perfect. “Sovann!” Emily snapped loudly, attempting once again to get his attention. When he was focused on his work it was like talking with a wall.
“Emily! They work!” Sovann crowed happily, still oblivious to her attempts at gaining his attention. “I see you perfectly. You are right on the ledge. Well not perfectly, per say, but I do see you! Emily, why are you not wearing clothing?” Sovann’s voice trailed off into puzzlement with the last but he was still staring right at her.
“Sovann! If you can see me then look at what I’m pointing to!” Emily snapped and whipped her arm in the direction of the approaching soldiers that were close enough now to tell that it was far more than a patrol.
“Actually I can’t see anything other than you. I made the lenses dark enough that I wouldn’t be distracted by others while attempting to see you. You didn’t answer my question however. Where in the bloody hell are your clothes?” Sovann said, his voice holding more distress than she thought was actually called for over such a trivial thing as clothing.
“Jail said I should be comfortable and I am, but Sovann take off the damned glasses and look at the northern road,” Emily said in exasperation as she turned back to scan the town for Neph. By the calm mood on the streets no one else had noticed the approach yet.
“Soldiers.” Sovann said in a stunned voice as he moved to stand behind her. “Why didn’t you say something sooner? Neph must be warned, go find him quick.”
“And Jail wonders why I wanted to knock you in the back of the head,” Emily grumbled as she stood and dropped down from the ledge of the roof. There were only a couple of places Neph was likely to be at this time of day. Without so much as a glance behind her, she sprinted toward the closest of them.
“I said, raise the god damned timber, not drop it on my fucking head,” Neph snarled ahead of her and she felt herself break into a smile. While his constant snarling did make her want to knock him in the head as well, it did make him easy to find. She slowed as she rounded the corner and paused long enough for Neph to secure the beam of the house into place with his magic before moving up behind him.
“Neph,” Emily whispered, trying to get his attention without alarming the men working with him on the construction.
“I’m busy, find Jail,” Neph grumbled quietly.
“Jail is with Wisp in the fields while she restores the land. This requires you, anyway,” Emily replied in a slightly louder voice and jabbed him in the back with a talon to emphasize her point.
“Everyone take a break, there is something I must attend to,” Neph said loudly to his work crew. “Like breaking your damned finger. Now what is more important than this?” he added in a much softer voice as he turned away from his men.
“There are soldiers approaching from the north. I have no idea whose they are but there are a lot of them,” Emily explained quietly.
Neph’s expression changed at once. With a muffled curse he dropped the blueprints he had been holding onto a stack of wooden beams and moved off quickly toward the northern side of town. “How many would you estimate?” he asked quietly.
“Well over a hundred, all mounted,” Emily replied without hesitation. Normally the fact that he knew she was still around would have annoyed her into sullen silence, but somehow it didn’t bother her at the moment. Perhaps it was simply her preoccupation with the soldiers approaching, or maybe Jail was right and she was getting used to Neph’s personality.
“Did you see any banners?” Neph asked, his strides lengthening as they grew closer to the northern road.
A small crowd was gathering at that end of town. The soldiers were close enough now that the sound of hoof beats and clanking armor echoed through the streets.
“By the size of the dust cloud, I’d say we are looking at close to three hundred, if they were riding two abreast? Were they?” Neph said, a bit distracted as he shook his head at the gathering people. “Idiots, if it’s a hostile force they have lined themselves up for the slaughter.”
“I didn’t see any banners. They weren’t wearing red and gold like the Avanti. They wore silver armor and yes, they were riding in two ranks,” Emily answered quickly before they reached the onlookers. Once they were among the people she would have to fall silent again. After seeing Devony’s fear at her disembodied voice she didn’t care to think how the average citizen might react. Devony was Elder Blood and should have been used to the unusual simply from the amount of magic she had been subjected to in her life. The majority of Merro’s common folk had witnessed very little magic and had a plentitude of horror stories about the Blight infestation that would guarantee her a painful death if they found out about her.