Adventure of King Hammon

Courtyard boots drum through damp earth as Rovan keeps the riders in motion around the stone table. The maps lie open, pinned by daggers, and the first wave waits on your word. Then the star above the cliff blinks once, hard and white.

A cold rush sweeps the gate path. The seawind stiffens, and the surf beyond the walls flashes with green scale and dark lightning. Ethrosise rises just beyond the shore, his vast head turning toward Castle High Wind.

Rovan goes still beside the maps, hand half-raised over the route lines. The mounted riders watch the wall, then the sea, waiting to learn whether your orders send them into alliance, or into warning.

Ethrosise lowers his head once, a slow, severe assent. The riders turn from the gate path at once, taking the sea road under his gaze, while Rovan snaps the next orders into motion.

Rovan’s orders carry across the yard, but the wind eases as Hammon turns back to Ethrosise. The sea serpent’s lifted head remains above the surf, watchful rather than raging, the lightning thinning to a hard silver flicker.

Gromm’s stern face softens into respect. The young squire beside him lowers her chin, peering past the wall toward the dark water, as if listening for the storm to answer.

Below them, the first riders move out cleanly along the sea road, hooves striking wet stone in a steady line. Rovan finishes the final hand signals with a clipped nod, while the serpent keeps his gaze on the departing patrol, severe but no longer pressing.