Sachin the Builder briefly discussed the details of this treatment. Arlen said, "I've brought several of the newcomers. Would you like to meet them? I'd prefer that you not discuss the shaper field."

Sachin's voice grew tense. "Non-local life forms? Civilians aren't authorized here, even if they're using some terrible dialect of our language. It could be the enemy, barely learning it!"

"Probably not the enemy, no."

The Builder had worked himself up anyway. "They're a security risk!"

"All right, all right. I'll keep them away from anything important like this lab. I'll distract them if I need to."

"Fine. I'll log the intrusion. And Arlen... How is it that you understand these things as well as you do?"

Arlen bowed his head. "I come from a culture that has hard-won experience, and I haven't turned my back on it."

He left the lab. The door sealed behind him. He went back out to find Huygens and his men impatiently keeping watch in the forest. "Looks safe enough," he said, and gave them a tour of all but the most important part.

The sea captain marveled at the ancient machinery but hardly recognized it. "What was its purpose?"

Arlen tried to find the right words. "A kind of alchemy. From looking at this place again, I have an idea about the medicine we need."

"This stonework looks new. Someone was in here recently. Why?"

"Exploring."

"Are those bones, sealed off in the corner?"

"Looks like it."

Huygens looked over one shoulder at Arlen. "I can take it no longer. Why are you hiding it? What's your game?"

"Why are there cannons in the fort I gave you?"

The captain glared. "Our safety."

"Safety, yes."

"You can shape stone, quickly. Did you make this road? And the fort?"

There'd been enough hints that Arlen didn't bother denying it now. "I did. Good, because we're friends, yes?"

#

For the captain and company, the trip was only sightseeing. They went back to their ship looking rattled by how dangerous their "friend" was.

Arlen asked for a barrel. He put his hands into the swamp water and magically felt around, sensing something new in his library of creations. The liquid frothed and discolored, working with his own limited water-control power to create a trickle of some new, orange-tinged chemical that flowed into the keg. He was a one-man chemical factory!

Using a specific recipe that he didn't know, coming from a guy specialized in chemical warfare. Sachin tolerated the "native life-forms" and had no clear reason to betray them, and Arlen was his key to getting the factory running in any way he'd value. So Arlen was going to trust him, warily, by administering this drug.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

He collected what should be enough for over a hundred people, for now. The barrel went aboard Arlen's little sailboat, he explained the situation to some Mirefolk onlookers, and they set off again for Opaline.

Back there it seemed that the worst was over. Voz had gotten better with his healing and several lesser mages were imitating his techniques with less power but growing expertise. Arlen reported to him with the drug.

The high chief had taken up residence in a hut next to the hospital, near the island's center. He'd made no effort to enrich himself with the shiniest objects, and looked ragged from the last few weeks of fighting and desperate work. He said, "Good. We'll try it on the worst-off first, just in case. I'll need you to get more as the problem spreads to other islands. Hmm... the outsiders know by now about the spirits' homes, and want to speak with them. Instead, I propose that you take their shaman Alfons off to see Newshore."

"Isn't he important to the medical treatment?"

"He is, but the outsiders are still dangerous. At this point I want Newshore's fighting men exposed and recovered as quickly as possible. Keeping our moment of weakness short. Their religious man will help you get that done, and you can show him the ghosts to impress him with where a big fight might lead."

"How much of a problem is Captain Joop?"

"He's been talking with the younger people, telling them about their distant chief and how much better life will be once the isles are under his rule. I'm tempted to make sure he has an accident."

"Most likely the rest would use that as an excuse to attack us."

The high chief nodded and his ears flicked low. "They showed off, while you were gone. They built a fake hut, then blasted it to splinters from one of their ships! In the long run, what can we do, if they have many more ships and men and weapons and they want to take over?"

"I could arrange a demonstration of my own -- but I'm just one man that they might kill with a knife in the dark. The best way is to make sure they gain more by peace."

"Ha; the war chief says this?"

"Call me lazy."

#

Arlen sailed again with Righteous Arrow and two boats. Singer Alfons and Captain Huygens were along this time. The destination: Newshore.

The arrival was another cautious one. Arlen approached alone, swimming up to his old attack jetty. He warned of the sickness and advised that only a few locals come close and be prepared to isolate themselves. He'd brought most of the questionable drug from the Mire, to reduce any danger.

"Medicine, from the swamp?" scoffed one of the former prison guards.

"Strange, isn't it? Their poison proved to be good for killing foul things."

With that settled, the tourists came ashore in one of their rowboats, leaving only a few guards aboard out of suspicion. Arlen had to quell some fear among the natives too, what with their first sight of the huge ship.

Alfons practiced his mastery of islander language. "You see monsters here?"

The greeting party said, "Come, look." They led him and the rest to the wall. Deep mist filled the interior. From the parapets they talked about the undead and boasted about pushing them back by the week. "There's one!"

Alfons startled. Deep in the woods, a blurry human shape drifted. The priest made a holy gesture like an upward arc across his chest. The captain and crew imitated it.

Huygens said, "It can't be."

Alfons told him, "You practical men see what you want to."

Arlen asked, "Have you seen such things before?"

He looked shaken as he watched the monster in the distance. "In terrible places. These will need to be purged, in the gods' name. I'll help."

Arlen turned to the soldiers who'd risked getting near the foreigners. "How bad is it today?"

"It's awful, war-chief. Almost as bad as we've ever seen it, once you get out of sight from here. These days we rarely see the ghosts get close enough to point out like this, but today... don't go deeper unless you're ready to fight. Our scouts this morning barely made it back."

Another soldier asked, "Maybe they're stirred up by these outsiders."

Arlen rubbed his chin. "Could be. How about if we train today, pick off any that get close, and see how things look tomorrow?"

The Marivs were all right with that, even Huygens with his eagerness for battle. Observing the enemy and making very short patrols beyond the wall was enough for him today.

That meant introducing them to the Walker In Shadow. The fighters had learned to lure it with meat. So when it showed up, rumbling low enough to make the wall vibrate, the foreigners drew back in fear.