* * * * * * *
Oh what is this that has happened? I can barely catch my breath!
I must try to be calm; I must try to record this strange event, to understand its meaning. Disaster!
Only disaster can follow!
At sundown, my men and I were marching across Market Square, heading directly for Tower Road. Halfway across the square, we were met by an old man, huge and fierce as a bear! Light blazed from his eyes and from his mouth. He grabbed me by the shoulders, lifted me clean off the ground and shouted in my face: “OPEN THE DOOR! OPEN BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE!”
I was so overcome, I turned tail, ran straight back here to my office, and have locked myself in.
Surely Palace guards will come for me now—is that them?
There is a pounding at the door! They will break it down!
No. The pounding is in my head—is it?
Oh, what have I done!
I must let them in.