War of the Wisps

They were very cautious that night, none of them going to sleep until Jarnvaror returned with his kill. Even then, the dragon stayed awake to watch until dawn, when he finally decided to sleep throughout the morning. Always, at least one of the three was keeping watch to make sure nothing approached them.

In the meantime, Anna continued to practice her magic. She introduced the same training method she’d developed with Peter to Andrew. He thought it was a good idea and joined in when he wasn’t on watch. The practice became an evening ritual for the three, Anna casting waves of magic wind at the brothers. All of them improved, and it was only on the night before the reached Frostlake that Peter managed to reach Anna without getting hit by the gusts of wind at all.

Anna sat down, panting with exhaustion. “Aw! I thought I was doing so good!”

“You were,” Andrew said, breathing hard himself. “We’ve just caught up a bit.” He looked out over the empty fields. It had gotten a lot colder since coming north. “I think we should save the rest of our energy for tomorrow.”

The other two followed his gaze. “There’s no way the Mottled beat us there,” Peter said.

“I’m not worried about the group we saw in the village. I’m worried a different group is already there.”

“We should be able to avoid them on Jarnvaror,” Anna said. Peter nodded in agreement.

“Avoiding them may mean not taking a look at the ruins at all,” Andrew pointed out. Then he shook his head. “Let’s get some rest. We’ll find out one way or the other tomorrow.”

Early in their flight the next morning the eastern mountains came into view. The barrier marked the eastern border of Grealand with Ryukyuu. Snow still frosted the peaks, which glistened in the spring sun. Jarnvaror turned to follow the mountains north, as they’d planned. Frostlake would be at the end of the mountains, marking the edge of the world either country could inhabit.

As they flew it was clear, even to Andrew that the mountains were grew shorter and shorter the farther north they went. Even before noon, he thought he could see the end of them. A mountain rose from the earth at the end of the line, just a little higher than those near it. And beyond was a flat plain. As they got even closer, Andrew was able to make out Frostlake itself.

It seemed more like a small sea than anything else. It wasn’t far from the base of the mountains, and it stretched from east to west as far as the Iron Valley itself. From up in the sky, he could see the whole thing, but he knew if they were to land on one of it’s banks, the far shore might disappear.

His brother turned around in the saddle and shouted something. A few moments later, Anna had cast her spell to protect them from the winds. “What was that, Peter?” Andrew asked.

“Jarn says he sees a lot of people down by the lake,” Peter said.

“People or mottled?” Andrew asked.

Peter double checked with the dragon before reply. “There’s a few different groups. There are some normal looking people riding along the banks a little ways from the ruins. Inside the ruins, though, there are a bunch of camps of the weird looking people.”

“They’re inside the ruins?” Anna asked.

“How many?” Andrew said.

“From the sounds of it,” Peter told Anna before putting Andrew’s question to the dragon. He looked back at the other two. “A lot. Mostly around the edges and the lake, though.”

“We can’t go into that,” Andrew said.

“Wait!” Anna cut in. “You said there was a group of ordinary people riding, right?”

“Yeah,” Peter said.

“We need to warn them,” Anna insisted. “Before they get attacked.”

Peter translated the statement for Jarnvaror. Andrew felt like his stomach was left behind as the dragon dipped into a dive toward the eastern edge of the ruins. Anna’s spell slipped away, and for several seconds, he felt the full force of the northern wind battering him, chilling him through the extra clothing he’d worn in anticipation of the region’s weather.

Soon, he could see the group of travelers Jarnvaror had mentioned. At first, they were little more than a column of horsemen. As they got closer and he could see more, he realized they were more than that. The horsemen rode three abreast in an orderly fashion. There were easily between forty and sixty of them. And each were armed with something like a bladed spear and… were those bow and arrows?

By the time he’d registered the thought that this may not have been the wisest idea, Jarnvaror had landed close by to the column. The horsemen had halted and—yes those were bows— knocked arrows. “Hold on!” Peter called out to them. “We come in peace!”

Andrew wasn’t sure if the men had even heard Peter at first. Then one of them rode out a little ways from the column of horses. At first, Andrew thought he was armored like a knight. Then he saw that it was much lighter mail, and with a wide fringe protecting his face and neck. In addition to the bow and polearm, two swords hung from his waist. When the man spoke, he was certain by his accent that the party must be from Ryukyuu.

“Who are you? What do you want with us?” The man’s voice was low and calm, his accent flat and unchanging.

“You’re marching into Mottled territory,” Peter called. “Thought we should warn you.”

The man waited, as if they might have more to say, then replied, “We know.”

“You know?” Anna gasped.

The man nodded. “Raids against our northern villages have been more frequent the last few months. It is past time we discourage such behavior. And who are you? You sound like people of Grealand. But you ride a dragon. Why are you here?” “We were planning to investigate the ruins by Frostlake,” Andrew said. “We hadn’t realized the Mottled had moved this far south in such numbers.”

“Have they been raiding in Grealand as well?”

“We found a village destroyed by them a few days ago, far to the west by the Crimson Wood,” Andrew called. “But we were looking into a separate issue.”

One of the other riders separated from the column to ride up next to the first. He whispered something to his companion. The first man nodded, then called out. “Perhaps we may be of some use to one another.” He turned and shouted over his shoulder, “At ease! We shall stop here for a little time before moving on.” Then he dismounted and looked at the three dragon riders.

“I think we should dismount, too,” Anna said. Both brothers agreed. A few moments later, the three of them stood in a semi-circle with the commanding officer and three of his men.

“I am captain Yamada Shigeru. These are my vice captains, Iwata Fujio, Ban Jiyu, and Lee Chiho,” the leader said.

“I’m Andrew. This is my brother Peter, and our friend, Anna,” Andrew replied. The commander raised his eyebrows, though he said nothing at first.

“And this, of course, is Jarnvaror,” Peter added.

“I see,” Captain Yamada said. He looked between the three, until his gaze settled on Andrew. “You say you are investigating something in the ruins. We have been there before on other raids against Mottled. We may know details that would assist you in your mission. What is it you are investigating?”

Andrew exchanged a quick glance with Anna, who shrugged and gestured for him to go on. “We’re looking into events related to the Wisps,” Andrew said.

“What does this have to do with the ruins?” Iwata asked.

“Our research suggests it is one of several places that Wisps often congregate. We think if we learn more about the ruins, we might learn more about the Wisps themselves.”

“Is that necessary?” Lee asked.

“It may help us deal with them,” Andrew said. He glanced at Anna. “Or to live with them. They’ve… become more active, recently, and we needed to do something.”

Again, Captain Yamada’s eyebrows shot up. “In Grealand as well? I’ve been hearing rumors all around Ryukyuu of Wisps making a nuisance of themselves more regularly, and being a part of more ominous events. This is happening over the mountains as well?”

“It is.”

“And you’ve taken it upon yourselves to solve this?” the captain asked.

“Kind of,” Peter said.

“We began by seeking assistance from the King and Queen,” Andrew explained. “Because we have him,” Andrew gestured to Jarnvaror over his shoulder, “they decided we would be best suited to seeking out any information on the subject for them as well.”

“How did no-name commoners get a dragon?” Ban muttered. Yamada shot him a dangerous look, but Peter laughed.

“It helps that I can talk to him,” he said.

A light of understanding seemed to come over the four foreigners as they examined Peter. “That is a useful skill,” Captain Yamada said. “I take it that he is the one who saw us first?” Peter nodded. “Excellent. This brings us to how we might help each other. He saw us from the sky, and I take it he saw the Mottled and their camps as well?” Again, Peter nodded. “If you can give us their locations, we will answer any questions we can about the ruined city. We may not be able to help with the specifics of your search,” he added, “but we know entrances to some of the underground ruins, and a few locations the mottled tend to avoid.”

The three Wisp Seekers exchanged a look, then Anna said. “That’s wonderful! We’d be happy to help!”

“Hey, Jarn, can you remember where all those camps were?” The dragon rumbled for a few moments in response to Peter’s question. Peter closed his eyes and nodded a few times as we listened.

“I’m afraid my brother won’t be the best at specifics,” Andrew said in a low tone.

Yamada smiled. “I have met a beast tongue once before, and he too had a wandering mind. Still, even a few vague memories from your beast will save us time and effort we might have spent tracking the monsters, and choosing routes to avoid detection.”

“In the meantime, what can you tell us of the city?” Anna asked.

Captain Yamada thought for a moment. “We have no detailed maps, but I may be able to draw it for you.” He said. He reached down to his belt and unclipped one of the scabbards holding what was either a very short sword or a very long knife. Keeping the blade in its sheath, he used it to draw a wide circle in the rough soil at their feet. Then, he drew a smaller one inside it.

“This is the wall around the ruin. Most of it is destroyed. This central structure is still recognizable as a great citadel of some sort. These,” he added five lines leading out from the citadel to the walls, “are the main roads. This one is north, by the lake. Mottled tend to avoid the Citadel itself, along with a few places around the city. About here, here and here.” He made three dots elsewhere in the city. “And the hill that’s here,” he added, drawing a semicircle around the south western edge of the city, “contains ruins. The entrances should be about here and here.”

Andrew tried to memorize the layout as he watched the captain draw. “When you say the Mottled avoid those places…” he began.

“When we’ve been in the city before, we noticed that they would travel wide around those places. But none were a refuge if they spotted us.”

“Is there something about those places?” Anna asked. “Are there Wisps there?”

“Perhaps. I have seen Wisps in the city plenty of times, and I give them a wide berth. These locations may be where Wisps congregate, as you say. And the last time I traveled here, I had a mage with me, who said he could sense old spells throughout the city. He doubted any could still function, of course.”

“Is there a fountain with a tree in any of them?” Anna asked.

Yamada blinked at her, then pointed to the first mark he’d made, close to the citadel. “Here. Have you been to such ruins before?”

“Only the fountain itself is left at the one we’ve visited,” Anna said. “But it was the specific place where the Wisps gathered.”

Captain Yamada nodded. “I see.” He looked up from the map. “Is there anything else you would like to know?”

Andrew thought for a moment, then shook his head. “No. thank you. We have a place to start now, and more information than we could find from the sky.”

Captain Yamada bowed. He glanced at Peter, who was trying to translate Jarnvaror’s direction to the various Wisps by drawing a map of his own for the Vice captains. “As related to your dragon. The Mottled are bestial, but not blind. They will see you land. They pose little threat to him. At least, so long as he remains in the sky. But they are not wise enough to know it. His presence may draw the Mottled closer to you.”

“I’ve been worried about that,” Andrew said. He glanced at Anna. “It may be better if we wait for the mottled to move on before trying to investigate the ruins.”

“We’re so close!” Anna said. “I’m sure if he were to land and take to the air again, they wouldn’t come looking for us. He might even be able to draw them off. It’s not like he’ll fit inside any of the ruins.”

“That is something you will have to decide for yourselves,” Captain Yamada said. “As for me and my men, we shall go and make use of the information you’ve given us!”

He gathered his men together. His vice captains told him what Peter had told them. Andrew hoped Peter had translated the dragon correctly. Within minutes, the column was moving again, and the dragon riders were mounted. Andrew glanced at Anna. “Are you sure you want to go in right now?” he asked.

Anna nodded. “We’ll be fine, as long as we’re smart. Jarn will see if there are any of them nearby before we land.”

Against his better judgment, Andrew agreed.