They hauled the wounded sailor and the prisoner back to shore. By then, the chief and the doctor who'd first treated Arlen had arrived to gape at the bizarre horde of foreigners and their ships. The doc got busy right away, asking few questions.

The lead captain had more. He barked for Joop to come over and explain. Arlen went with him, and pointed to the culprit that the doc was tending for his own slashed. Arlen said, "He's yours. Do what you want."

The captain -- Joop was calling him Huygens -- fumed. He paused, listening to the tale, and finally waved off the offer to keep the prisoner for his own justice. "Yours."

After the immediate tension broke up, the sailors and islanders still kept their distance. Probably wise. Opaline's chief got the full story from Arlen, then said, "The cross-island road helped. You really gave them a palace?"

"A barren one, chief. Trying to keep them there, as I said." He mentioned the secret tunnel and added, "But it's your island. What do you want to do?"

"They seem to care a lot about gifts. The head of their monster-ships was passing out shiny metal trinkets like we're a bunch of hoarding rats. So I want to give them something good in return."

"I left some iron at the forge if you want to present that."

"Good. Now... are you expecting us to sicken and drop dead?"

Arlen winced. "I doubt it, but let's make sure any harm is contained to Opaline. Nobody should leave the island for a few days, now that we've come close to the outsiders."

The chief said, "They somehow have magic, but how much? You revealed that you're tougher than an ordinary man, considering they have a weapon like your wondrous metal-shooter."

Arlen had forgotten that detail. He'd taken an ugly bruise but was only limping and would recover. "That's true. The good news is, their version probably takes a long time to load after it's used once. Watch out for anybody carrying more than one. Iron shields will probably block the shots, and the accuracy is bad."

They brought the doctor over to consult with them. He said, "What I've seen and heard so far is that some of these people can cast a few spells like ours including healing, but the technique is different from anything I've seen. If they're more powerful or like you and Voz, they're hiding it. I'd like to compare."

"Maybe a contest?" said the chief.

Arlen said, "Good idea. Might learn something."

The outsiders seemed eager to arrange one, for the same reconnaissance reasons and to defuse the tension. Arlen watched. There seemed to be over a hundred explorers from the two ships, most of them now ashore. Of these, fifteen came up to demonstrate elemental skills of water, wind, stone... and fire, and wood.

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"How?" said the Opaline chief at Arlen's side, as startled as most other natives.

Arlen had been wondering at the "missing" fire element, because of his background, and apparently the whole truth wasn't the four-way system he found most familiar. "The outsiders are willing to reveal that. Hmm."

The teams were playing something like volleyball now, knocking a ball around with spells. The priest approached Arlen and said, "What about you? What can you do?"

Arlen shrugged and demonstrated the basic ice spell again. Then hesitated, and showed off a hovering stone. "I'd like to learn more about how magic really works."

After some frustrating translation the priest drew the fort. "You made this?"

Arlen had been caught. Too many people had been talking, for him to conceal everything. He demonstrated shaping the rock he held.

The priest, named Singer Alfons, managed to say, "I'm not sure Captain Huygens or Captain Joop knows. I want to know, have you seen marks like this?" He drew writing, in something like the Builders' octagonal glyphs.

"You have!" said Alfons, seeing Arlen's interest. "Where?"

Arlen said, "There are places." Without specifying, he began using writing on the sand to gauge the similarity. The priest allowed himself to be distracted from asking about ruin sites, maybe so that he could get more general knowledge. The comparison of old Builder and modern Mariv was good enough to help with an awkward translation. He asked something like, "What get you here?" As in, "Why are you here?"

Alfons answered carefully. "I get more of this." He tapped the writing. "I see things here, and I tell my people."

A discoverer, then, or a scholar. Arlen asked, "And Huygens, and Joop?"

The priest sighed. "There are... groups of people. Some Singers, like me. Captain Huygens is a sword-man. Captain Joop is a... has-things man."

Arlen laughed. "Shaman, warrior, trader." He mimed trading.

Alfons nodded. "Bad things happened to Huygens in sword work. He wants to tell my people he did brave things here, so they will speak good about him. Joop wishes to be... chief of the islands."

Arlen calculated what the real situation was. Social classes, trying to prove themselves and seek personal gain, including the priest. The head captain was apparently trying to redeem his reputation after some failure. Alfons' willingness to fill Arlen in suggested they weren't quite on the same team.

Arlen thanked him, and kept trying to swap words.

#

That night, there was a public dinner around a fire, as usually happened. This time much of the crew joined in and contributed the terrible hardtack and preserved vegetables they'd brought. From what Arlen had gathered, the kingdom was about two weeks away by sea and these islands had been a navigation landmark, what with the big obvious storm in a fixed location. There was an evil empire not too far from the holy kingdom of Mariv, and a land of savages with fine wood and furs in the other direction. When Arlen asked for a map, they seemed surprised he'd thought to ask.

Joop was the most enthused about providing one. He had actual paper, far better than the improvised chalkboards and papyrus-like stuff local to here. He showed off an ocean map, then asked Arlen to draw the Echoing Isles and point out all the interesting places.

Arlen deferred to the Opaline chief, whom he'd quietly updated on what he'd learned. The chief grunted and took Arlen off the hook, saying, "Ten days. Then maybe we show you."

Joop said, "Come, man, it's a trade. We offer things, yes?"

"Soon."

Captain Huygens seemed to pay more attention to Arlen than to the chief. With some trouble he said, "Do you have enemies here? We can fight them."

Magellan had tried to impress certain islanders in the same way. Didn't go well for him. Arlen said, "Yes. Maybe the Mirefolk, and the ghosts. The... angry dead men."

The three foreign leaders struggled to understand. Huygens wanted to know where, Joop who, and Alfons why.

"We believe some were the Builders. The people who made these signs." Arlen pointed to some writing. "Where did they go? We don't know."