Although the king had heard Peter’s rendition of their journey, he still had a few questions for the Wisp Seekers. He mostly wanted clarification on a few points, such as how they knew Daniel was the culprit and why he was bothering to break the peace they’d had before. Andrew took over answering these questions, letting his brother translating for Jarnvaror.

  It didn’t take long to explain their speculation about Daniel’s main motive and how they’d learned it. The king listened in silence, a thoughtful expression on his face. “You believe he broke the peace for personal power?” he asked when Andrew had finished.

  “I believe he thinks he’s correcting an injustice,” Andrew said. “We don’t know why he wants to make war to do it, though.”

  “I see,” the king said.

  “You’re saying that we aren’t fighting Grealand, but rebels who took over?” asked one of the Ryukyuujin officers.

  “In essence,” Andrew replied.

  “Between the three great continental nations, Grealand benefits the least from War,” the king said. “They’ve had more territory for some time, but they’ve always had less stable politics than Ryukyuu and Selasem. A third party provoking war to sabotage Grealand is certainly reasonable.”

  “You believe them, your Excellency?” the officer asked.

  “I trust they are being honest,” the king said. “We are still at war with Grealand, because they’ve been taken over. It would be foolish not to make allies where we can. Especially from those who’ve been dispossessed or expelled by this new regime.”

  The king spread his hands. “Right now, there are only two forces on the continent who can deal with the Wisps. These three, and the apparent usurpers. If they offer us their aid, let us not refuse.”

  “Thank you,” Andrew said. He bowed at his waist, which was a little awkward given the way he was sitting, but the others seemed to find it acceptable.

  “Think nothing of it,” the king said, a sly smile touching the corners of his mouth. “After all, this means I get to put you to work solving a problem we’ve had for some time now.”

  Andrew nodded. “The Wisp Stealers?” he asked.

  “I believe so,” the king agreed. “It’s a small group. Perhaps as few as twenty men. But several of them are equipped with weapons that empower them through the Wisps.”

  Andrew didn’t say anything as his eyes flickered around the military camp. He caught Peter looking around as well.

  “That sounds like it would be a pain, but with the whole army here, plus mages, you should be able to pin them down, right?” Peter asked.

  Andrew hadn’t expected his brother’s response to be so considered. It was close to what he’d been thinking when the king had mentioned the enemy numbers. For his part, the king nodded in acknowledgement of the question.

  “In most other situations, yes, we could,” the king agreed. “However, they are more than simply strong fighters.” He looked over his shoulder. “Captain Yamada. Please, give them the details.”

  Yamada stepped forward. He bowed once to the king and once to the trio before answering. “They have the aura of fear and madness that most Wisp taken have, similar to reports from Borac. In addition, they are taking advantage of the geography in a way we cannot. The forest has been allowed to grow too close to the road, meaning as the army passes, these warriors may assault our flanks, then retreat to the cover of the woods before we are able to organize.”

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Normally this wouldn’t matter for such a small group. But in their current state, it is nearly impossible for any to kill them in close quarters combat.”

  “What about your own mages and archers?” Andrew asked.

  “There are two issues with archery. Our archers must be careful not to fire on our own men during the skirmishes. Worse, when we send arrows at them as they retreat, we see the arrows halt in the air and fall to the ground. We believe it to be an enchantment on some of their gear. As for our mages…” Yamada sighed. “We do not have many. Combat magic has never been Ryukyuu’s specialty. They are spread thin, and we haven’t the numbers to handle these hit and run tactics. Especially when our magic users are singled out.”

  “They’re targeting the mages?” Anna asked.

  Yamada nodded. “When they are spread out to guard strategic points along our line, they are targeted in the raids. When they group together for defense, whatever strategic point they have left without as much magical protection, usually the supply line, takes the attack instead.”

  “Which forces you to slow down in their territory as you deal with their attacks, opening you up to more attacks,” Andrew concluded.

  “It seems like this is because the forest is too close to the road,” Peter wondered aloud. “Why is that?”

  “Banditry, we think,” Yamada said. “Or perhaps sloth. Our foresters are supposed to keep it much clearer. But, whether it is due to corruption or attacks by thieves over the years, they failed to do so. It was a known problem, but one we considered low priority. Our peace with Grealand was, until recently, stronger than our peace with even Nordar or Selasem.”

  Andrew exchanged a glance with Anna. He was sure that she was wondering the same thing. Could Daniel have organized this that far in advance? Or perhaps he was just the current leader of a much older group.

  He shook his head. Questions such as that could be asked later. Right now, he needed to focus on dealing with the threat in the forest. “You say twenty men,” Andrew said. “Are they all empowered?” he asked.

  “More than half of them are,” Yamada said. “We believe they trade weapons, so that their whole force is not in the field at the same time. It could be more than twenty, though.

  “But still the same number of raiders empowered by the Wisps?” Andrew asked.

  Yamada nodded. “We are certain they have no more than fifteen pieces of gear enchanted by Wisps.”

  Andrew crossed his arms. “You mentioned enchantments. Do they have a mage?”

  Yamada shook his head. “We’ve never seen one. Only the enchantments, which suggests that if their mage is present, he is not specialized in combat.”

  Andrew nodded. “Then I think the plan is fairly simple. Once we find out where in the forest they’re hiding, a strike force goes to hit them before they raid again, this time while Anna is protecting them from the Wisps influence.”

  “That is quite simple. Are you ready to put it into action?”

  Andrew frowned. “Don’t we need to find their location, first?” he asked.

  The king grinned, and for an instant, Andrew saw in the older man an uncanny resemblance to Peter. “Oh, my friends and I can discover that very quickly. They cannot help us much in any other way. But give me half an hour, and we should know their location.” As he finished speaking, he turned and whistled into the woods. Andrew waited for a moment as nothing happened.

  He only saw the cats when they were already quite close to the king. Over a dozen of them, all looking like long haired tabis the size of small dogs. He watched as the king spoke to the animals in a soft tone, giving them instructions. Then with a wave of his hand, they turned and shot off back into the forest.

  “I’d forgotten he was a beast tongue, too,” Andrew muttered, looking over at his brother. He blinked, not recognizing the expression on Peter’s face. His eyes were wide, and his mouth hung open. He seemed to lean forward, as if he wanted to say something to the king.

  “Yeah, I did too,” Peter managed after a moment. He looked at Jarnvaror. “That’s it, though, Jarn. The idea I’ve been working on.”

  “Your idea?” Andrew asked. “What idea?”

  Peter only grinned at him. “Later,” he said. “I don’t think there’s time till after this.”