Julina became aware that several pairs of eyes around the table were focused on her. "Palindor!" she whispered angrily and ineffectually, painfully aware that her face was flushed scarlet, "sometimes you are a beast!"
Palindor was about to respond when Baldric entered the hall, and all rose to acknowledge him.
Baldric sat in his chair at the centre of the table, and for several long moments he remained ominously silent, head bowed. At last, as though coerced into performing against his will, he raised his head and muttered, "Please be seated."
When all was quiet, he considered the faces turned towards him, their expressions ranging from expectation to fear, from anticipation to dread, from tired resignation to weary recognition. He closed his eyes a moment. `One mind, one purpose, one body,' he thought to himself. `That is what must be achieved here.' And then, he began speaking.
"We are gathered here at the Feast of the Steward, which until now had been a celebration marking the gathering of council members from the farthest reaches of the Four Kingdoms, prior to our making decisions dealing with the mutual problems we faced.
"Yet conditions have now changed. We have not met here to plan how we shall deal with various threats to our lands, and never shall again.
"We have just received a report of a major buildup of the enemy to the east, on the Burning Lands, just beyond the Valley of Baruk. This is no minor skirmishing force, but rather a great army. It appears that our east gate will soon be under seige.