“... and we cannot find any fuel any longer, since there is nothing below our hooves but snow, ice and rock, and digging takes too much power. We are now using the oil burners to cook, which means we have started to use up the meager oil supply. Though we could dearly use more heat, since it is now so cold that everything but the oil and vodka freezes during the night, we cannot use the burners for heat only, since we have brought too little oil and need it for the return journey as well. In our goahti, we use Mr Kvalhissir as a radiator, since his big body gets very warm. Everyone tries to sleep in a big heap.
Spike doesn’t take the cold well, and sleeps wedged between me and Mr Kvalhissir. He falls asleep very early in the evenings, which is why I am writing this myself and will have him send it in the morning. You probably realize this from my hornwriting, which is not as neat as Spike’s.
The reindeer say that this is the worst cold they have ever experienced. For light everyone is very grateful for the starstones you provided us with, Princess Luna, but unfortunately they provide very little heat. Yet we keep them stuffed under our caps and blankets for what little warmth they can give.”
Princess Luna raised her teacup to her lips and took a sip. The weather was bad where she was as well, but not like Twilight’s letter told her. Refugees had been trickling into Sarvvik all autumn, but now they were a steady stream. Every family with recognized relatives in the Grazer herds had their homes filled with rather unwelcome guests. The soup kitchen in Skinfaxi’s temple was emptied of lichen soup and sedgebread an hour after it opened. The King was shaking his spear towards every innkeeper and hotel owner in town, forbidding them to deny anydeer entry.
“And you said she wouldn’t need any starstones, Tia,” Luna mumbled and continued to read. The long letter continued with a mix of Twilight’s daily schedule and scholarly study of The Customs of the Tarandroland Nomadic Reindeer During Winter Journeys.
“We have met no more animated corpses, though hraesvalgs can be Seen in the winds every day. Several more times we have heard Skoll howls. Nopony speaks their language, but Jarl Vidar says he knows enough of their howls to know what kind they are, and claims it must be messages of sorrow. Apparently the Winter is harming even them somehow.
We have also passed several Skoll tunnels, all collapsed. Jarl Vidar says they do this deliberately unless they know they will use them again, soon, as they can dig through snow as fast as a deer can run on top of it. Of course, since running in deep snow is actually quite laborious, that doesn’t seem that fast. In any case it seems like most Skolls have abandoned their native mountains. As horrible as it sounds, we hope they have all left for the forests to the South in search of prey, so we don’t have to face them.
The most worrying encounter was one we didn’t have. By sheer luck we avoided three enormous ice elementals, and only watched them at a distance. I suppose you have seen them, Princess, but to me and Spike they were amazing: living icebergs, moving like slow spinning tops over land, grinding their way across the landscape. Normally, most of them break off Joukulvakt and tumble down into the sea, with only a few leaving for land and those breaking apart quickly. They must be more numerous this year, and I shudder when I think what this must mean for shipping.
As they move, pieces break off and are scattered over the landscape, but at the same time they seem to absorb snow and repair themselves, adding scraped-up turf and rocks seemingly by mistake. Jarl Vidar claims, and it has been observed in our time by others, that the colder it is the faster they regenerate damage, and they can even grow in bad enough weather. That must be why they are so big now...”
Luna put the scroll down on the table and stretched out on the bed. She had already read it twice. She just needed to determine what to write back to Twilight. There were no dire news in the letter. Things were bleak, but both Luna and her often pessimistic hosts had mostly anticipated them, as things were going.
At the gentle knock at the door, Luna said: “Please enter, Dark Clouds and Shadows Gather.”
The bat-winged pegasi did so, then bowed. Luna smiled mischievously when she saw the look on their faces.
“Learning to distinguish hoofsteps is a pretty quick matter,” she said by way of explanation. “Besides, you used your wings a bit, and they have a very distinctive sound. At ease, my children.”
“We come because the King’s companions asked for a tour of the camp for the Equestrian volunteers,” Dark Clouds said when he rose from his bow. “Sir Oak Wreath said it was ultimately Your Highness’ decision and responsibility, so we came here at once.”
“Can they do it now?” said Luna and rose from her bed.
“What?” said Dark Clouds. “Like... now now, Your Highness?”
“Yes, might as well get it over with,” Luna said. “The volunteers have worked for some time now, so there should be something to show, at least. I’m surprised the King didn’t ask earlier, but... Alright. We make this an impromptu inspection. If they can accompany me now, they do. Otherwise we set a later date. Who was it that talked to you?”
“The King’s bard, Your Highness,” he said.
“Kol the Singer,” Luna mused. “Very well. Dark Clouds, search him out and tell him we can do it now. Shadows Gather, attend to me. I need to don my armor.”
“Yes, Your Highness,” said both guards, but they sounded less than convinced. Shadows Gather approached the box that held the armor pieces with apprehension.
“I’ll instruct you, soldier,” said Luna.
“Permission to speak freely, Your Highness,” said Dark Clouds.
“Go on, soldier,” said Luna with a frown.
“Will they be okay with... proceeding so quickly?” he said.
“Oh, Tarandrian society might be lacking in some areas, but the court can be refreshingly flexible in some ways,” Luna said. “If the King thinks he’s too busy he’ll tell me, and we’ll just make this a regular surprise inspection.”
Dark Clouds saluted and left.
Heikki gasped and threw his bulk at Skiold, put one front leg around his neck and pointed his head down the hill they were descending.
“Look, Skiold!,” he shouted. “Those soldiers! They’re not ponies!”
“Gosh,” the other reindeer said and rolled his eyes. “I didn’t notice. I’m so glad you told me!”
“Yes,” added Mustikka wearily, “you should be the scout instead of me.” He was walking right behind them, with his King and the pony princess in tow. The Princess’ guards flew above or walked beside her.
“Oh no,” said Heikko, “I couldn’t do that! It was probably just a lucky fluke that I noticed!”
The other reindeer groaned.
“What Sir Heikko clearly meant,” said Luna diplomatically, “was to point out that there are some Equestrian troops who aren’t ponies, contrary to expectations, and that’s who we’ll look at now.”
So far the tour had been adequate. Most of the Equestrian volunteers were camped outside Sarvvik’s western gates, filling a mix of Vanhoover-made winter tents and portable goahtis lent to them by the King’s own estate. They had shown good behaviour, even if there had been some gaffes, mostly too casual magics from the unicorn knights. The troops were miserable in the snow and cold, but the King had liked what he had seen of the engineering attempts to protect the nearby city from both winter monsters and insurgents. Snow filling ditches and moats was the biggest problem.
“Some of our non-equine soldiers are big enough to use Urox weaponry, and I’m proud to show you how quickly they are adopting to it, Your Majesty,” Luna said.
Ukko frowned.
“‘Urox weaponry’?” he snapped. “Isn’t that just horns and bulk?”
“Special equipment,” Luna said, “to fight nidhoggs and other winter beasts.”
Ukko looked at his companions.
“Do you know what she is talking about?” he said. “Skiold! You gave the cattle a place to set up camp and arranged for their provisions.”
“I have no idea,” Skiold said and shrugged. “They asked be for firewood and water, I didn’t hear anything about weapons. I didn’t ask about them either. I just assumed they had what they needed.”
“I am sorry, Your Majesty,” said Luna. “I thought you knew, since they were your subjects.”
“As far as I know, the Urox are farmers,” snorted Ukko.
“They can be more than that,” said Luna diplomatically. “Let’s get down into this camp, and we’ll show you.”
A motley crew of mostly cattle equally interspersed with non-pony ungulates stood at attention when the two royals and their followers trotted down the slight slope into the camp. Banners were held by a cow and a ram flying the colours of the regiment.
“At ease!” Luna shouted as she removed her helmet and let it hover next to her magically. She turned to a medal-hung cow in a deep green, snow-flecked uniform.
“Colonel Raspberry, isn’t it?” she said.
“Yes, Your Highness!” the big cow boomed. It was rare for Luna to be eye to eye with her subjects, but here she was.
She must be part zebu! Luna thought.
“Give King Ukko a demonstration of the Urox weaponry,” Luna said. “Use what hooves seem fit.”
“Yes, Your Highness,” said the cow-colonel. “YOU! SECOND COMPANY, FOÚRTH PLATOON, FOURTH SQUAD! DEPORT FOR TRAINING FIELD FOR FIRETHROWER DEMONSTRATION!”
As one group of the soldiers started running around to gather the gear, the cow turned to Luna.
“We should move to the training field so you and your guests can watch clearly, Your Highness,” she said. “It is just beyond the camp.”
“Alright,” said Luna. “Gentlestags, follow me if you please!”
“Firethrowers?” said Mustikka as he and the others started to trot in the direction given by the cow. “Where did the cattle get firethrowers?”
“Excuse me, but what’s a firethrower?” said Kol.
“It is like a smaller version of the fire-cannon used on some ships,” said Luna, “and it does exactly what it says on the package: it throws fire. And as for your question, Sir Mustikka, do you know how the Urox prepare the land for farming?”
“They... burn the trees...” said Mustikka.
“Exactly,” said Luna smiling. “They practice slash and burn agriculture. They use devices to spread and control the fire. When they were threatened by winter monsters because their liege lords didn’t protect the well enough, they rebuilt them into firethrowers and reinforced the protective gear with scrap metal to make bladed and spiked armors.”
“Bladed and spiked?” said Mustikka. “How can they move freely?”.
“So the nidhogg won’t bite you, I guess,” said Ukko. “They are fewer and bigger targets; they can’t get a spearwall to protect them. Clever...”
“Exactly,” said Luna, again. “They used it to scare away nidhoggs and the like. Now, some of my hooves are cattle, and if not as hardy as the Urox they are often stronger. In addition, Equestrian cattle have one advantage Poatsulan cattle don’t...”
They had reached the training field, where two cows were putting on crude barding, covered in blades and spikes as Luna had described, while sheep, pig and goats were helping them strap big tube-like devices to their backs.
In front of them were three logs joined by chains hanging from a huge crane like a z-shaped snake. They were covered in snow, but below it the wood was painted white and grey, then scorched.
“What is that thing, colonel?” said Luna and pointed to the logs chained together.
“The target dummy, your highness,” said the cow. “It’s not very good, I’m afraid. Once the hooves in the crane get it to work it will at least move, but...”
The reindeer were staring. So were Luna’s guards, who really hadn’t fraternized with these soldiers that much.
“I don’t think any Equestrian yeomanry regiment really uses firethrowers,” Luna said, “so we are not as efficient as the Urox. I assure you the soldiers are doing their very best, King Ukko.”
“I believe you,” the king mumbled. “But... what did you mean by your cattle having an advantage over mine?”
“Well, you can see for yourself: They don’t have to aim with their backs” Luna gestured to the two cows who now had donned their armor and their back-mounted fire-gun. Behind each gun sat a smaller ungulate. One pig, and one goat.
“They have a gunner!” Luna smiled triumphantly.
The crane started moving and the fake nidhogg with it. The soldiers moved around and tried to hit it with gouts of fire. Suddenly it bellowed.
“That was not a nidhogg,” said Mustikka critically.
“No, sir, we couldn’t find a recording of a real one,” said the colonel. “It’s a sea serpent, closest thing we could find.”
“Just where did you find a recording of a bellowing sea serpent?” said Luna
“It was one of the boffins, your highness,” said the cow. “Relaxation tape.”
“Well, better than we thought!” said Skiold. “Seems Sarvvik is safe, at least.”
“As long as the enemy attacks from the west, yeah,” said Mustikka, as they trotted back to Castle Muorra through the city. "I'll guess we'll just kindly ask them to do that."
“That’s where we do expect the enemy to attack though, if we’re talking the dissidents,” said Skiold.
“Yes, this is shaping up better than we imagined,” said Kol. “Reinforcements are arriving, the population is under arms, the war chest is not full but at least not emptying anymore... You still look glum, my friend?” He poked Ukko. The King sighed.
“No joy lasts,” he sighed. “We still have to target attacks against Winter, and that is yet not possible, we don’t know when or how. If we just retreat here until spring - if that comes at all - more than half the country will be devastated.”
“King Ukko is right, of course,” said Luna. “But at least we have the passive defenses in a much better shape.”
“I know!” said Heikko who had suddenly stopped in front of a hot pie stand. “I have a plan!”
“Spare me...” said Mustikka.
“Listen, we just have to trick all the Winter beasts and demons to come to the defenses we made west of Sarvvik! With the traps and explosives and trenches and Urox flameguns! Then we don’t have to find them!” Heikko said enthusiastically.
“How?” said Mustikka. “Heikko, they are dumb beasts! They’re not an army and don’t have a leader, so no stratagem works on them!”
“Can’t you just use bait, like when you trap normal animals?” Heikko said.
“No, because they eat different things!” said Kol gently. “You cannot set a trap to catch both squirrels and wolves. Besides, you’d have to use something that smells all over Poatsula, old fellow.”
“Could you use... a spell?” said Heikko. “I’ve seen Galder summon spirits thousands of times and Princess Hrimfaxi here can summon animals?”
“I think if anydeer knew a ‘Summon All Winter Monsters In Poatsula To Me’ spell they’d have to use it at least once to test it and then they’d be dead by now!” said Mustikka. “Please keep serious for once!”
“Actually, I think Sir Heikko is onto something,” said Luna. “Nothing that drastic, of course, and I know of no simple spell which could do something like that, but it is a valid strategy. Attract the beasts to our positions magically! That removes one of the biggest stumbling blocks to our campaign!”
They all stopped.
“While reporting about today’s activities, I’ll mention the possibility to the Temple of Hrimfaxi, my sister and her scholars and my sister’s student,” Luna said.
“Very well,” said Ukko. “I trust you that you know what you’re doing even when you listen to Heikko.”
“It’s too bad we have to use Twilight for that quest, but I can at least get her advice,” Luna thought.