Then, it broke through the cloud, and was visible to everyone present on the shoreline. A single ship, a kind of wooden sailing vessel known as a high-charged carrack, hove into view, turning to where it was paralleling the coastline at a distance of about five hundred yards from the nearest shoreline.
The vessel was large, larger than anything any man or demon present had ever seen, and a general murmur ran up among the troops.
"More vessels sighted!" yelled another lookout, and then another, their telescopes swinging back and forth from the horizon. A second ship emerged from the mist, then a third, then a fourth.
Soon, they were dotting the ocean between the beaches and the mist. When the ships stopped appearing, a final count placed the enemy at three hundred vessels in total, all of them very large and very menacing looking.
The enemy’s discipline appeared to be high, for the vessels were sailing in line ahead formation, one vessel behind the other, sailing in a perfect row up the beaches.
"See there? The enemy is afraid to approach,” said Koga with a confident smirk on his face.
"I don't think so. I can sense neither fear nor hesitance among those demons and humans out there. No, they are planning something,” replied Sesshomaru, his eyes glancing from one vessel to another.
The lead vessel began to raise a flag, one that seemed familiar to Kagome somehow. She knew that she had seen it before, but from where, she had no idea.
Then an image came into her head. The modern era, a field trip that her class had taken to the United Nations embassy in Tokyo. An array of flags standing in the NATO section. They had been taught which country each flag had represented.
"The Union Jack..." Kagome breathed, not quite able to believe it.
* * *
"Lord Cunningham, are the ships under your command prepared for action?" asked the fearsome looking being towering over the little human next to him.
But that human displayed no fear or intimidation at standing next to such a being, one of the many reasons that the demon elevated the human to his position.
"Yes my lord. We can begin the bombardment at any time you wish,” replied Cunningham.
"Good. Send the flag signal...Initiate bombardment." ordered Lord Drake.