No Time for Cat-and-Mouse (Delfii's Song, Snippet 4)

A story fragment from the Southsong Cycle

(Click here to read Delfii’s Song, Snippet 3.)

Delfii plucked the cap off the tube and slid its contents into her palm. She stashed the letter case and cap in an open belt pouch and unrolled the little strip of thick vellum. Her fingers brushed the deep grooves etched into the beast skin. She searched out the beginning of the yarl’s message. Jecta, Palma, Cranc and others waited silently while Delfii read the runes by fingertip in the dimly lit night.

Thaen, our eternal empress has decreed the northwestern armada will make ready to embark. The land-huggers’ war threatens to boil over. Return with your crew. May you see the day of your death from afar.