Vouran was a place like few others. To some, it was a land of madness where logic and reason remained firmly outside its borders. But to Lideri it was home. The spring wind whispered gentle lies as it blew softly across the landscape. The words the wind spoke were directed at everyone and no one. In winter it would howl biting truths at any who tried to endure it. Foreigners found the speaking winds odd, they found everything in Vouran odd. To those unused to it Vouran was a mind screw but to the natives, it was predictable and comforting. Rolling hills and green fields stretched as far as the eye could see in every direction.

Lideri's band assembled around him. Twenty good men all mounted on horseback. They had once been the personal guard of a powerful Vouran noble but that was before everything had collapsed. Their lord had fallen like so many others like him. Lideri had been loyal to the last but everything he had been loyal to had burnt to ash and even those that had taken so much from him had in turn been consumed by the flames of Vouran's civil war. Could it even be called a war any more? Where once stood noble lords commanding respect there were now stood petty warlords demanding fear. There were no travelling merchants any more only brigands and bandits. Bandits like Lideri and his men had become and it had turned out they were quite good at it.

Corsali, Lideri's second in command, raised his wand with his arm straight. Light around his arm and wand distorted as his spell bent and amplified light from the distant horizon. Peering down the length of his arm at the image that had formed Corsali frowned.

"They're Jeklein alright, a lot of em' too. About six hundred people total, followers included. Looks like they recently crossed into our fair home,"

It seemed the information Lideri had heard about Jeklein moving into Vouran was accurate. That was worrying. Vouran was in no state to resist a serious invasion even with its terrain advantages.

"An army?" Lideri asked unable to keep the worry from his voice.

"That's the strange thing they've got a bunch of different uniforms, way too many camp followers, or maybe they're militia, they aren't moving as units and they have nearly no supply train that I can see. This is the most disorganised I've ever seen the Jeklein. They're supposed to exemplars of discipline but I'm not seeing it here. If this is a scouting force, they're doing it wrong. If it's an invasion they are too few and undersupplied to pose a threat even counting the ununiformed members as militia which they might not be. Frankly boss, I have no clue what this is,"

Lideri checked his timepiece. It was a palm-sized piece of wood with a moving dial on it, magic kept it moving at a steady rate. In other nations such things were a luxury, in Vouran they were a necessity. Because in Vouran the terrain moved. It could swap itself with other ground elsewhere in Vouran, changing beneath your feet. But this wasn't random. Far from it. It was predictable and happened at set intervals. Keeping precise track of the time was a great way to avoid unpleasant surprises for instance soon these green hills would be replaced with a forest. Perfect he could work with this.

"Alright lads! Our neighbours from the Jeklein empire have come for a visit. Now they've been visiting us for generations each time they were welcomed by Vouran soldiers and some of our friends from the other kingdoms. Now we're not soldiers any more but they, being the good neighbours they are, have brought us gifts in the form of supplies, goods and weaponry. I say we go and welcome them and get our gifts. We're twenty and they're six hundred so we'll have quite a bit of welcoming to do but in a few hours this will be a forest and they are ignorant foreigners who won't be expecting that. We get them into the right place at the right time it's all over for them. We're not attacking an enemy, we're not raiding helpless villagers, we're herding cattle. Still, if things go bad we break north, meet up at the nearest piece of stable terrain. Corsali you're calling shots and picking off anyone who seems like they're trouble. Drakli, Frorith, Gar, Julic you're on defence, counterspells and shields, don't bother with anything that is going to miss us. Trannis you're the loud scary thing that makes them run the way we want them. I want big noisy spells. Anything that'll get their feet moving. Ludfir and Covour you're reserve, hold back until someone needs a hand then swoop in and be big damn heroes. The rest of you we take out their outriders and corral them into one big group. There will be a lot of spells and magic coming our way so be careful. Mind your horses and be mindful of your friend's spells. It'll be a few hours before we reach them but by the time we do it'll almost be time for the terrain shift. We won't have long but that means we won't have to go twenty v six hundred very long either. Now let's go give them a Vouran welcome!"

The small band cheered loudly. Trannis unlimbered his staff with an eager grin that wouldn't look out of place on a jackal. His staff was worn and beaten from heavy use but well tested and reliable. He was the most magically powerful of the group and the only one that needed a staff. But the rest were just as battle-hardened and just as dangerous. The fires of war had burned away all these men had loved so instead they had grown to love the fire.

The Jeklein had spotted them as they approached, just as intended. It was easier to shield tight groups than dispersed crowds so they quickly gathered up into one big group. The outer members began casting shields spells. Since when two different spell threads touch the weaker spell thread breaks the shields couldn't overlap leaving gaps. The Jeklein outriders were five men on horses and six men using kinetic magic to propel themselves forward in bounding leaps. Lideri's band spread out and sped up as they closed the distance. They couldn't match the enemy in raw power, there was too many of them so instead, they split up to divide their fire. They were at full gallop when the first spells were completed. Corsali was first. He was always first, he had a quick casting time and typically a long range. A beam of concentrated light shot from his wand striking the lead Jeklein outrider in the face, leaving a mess of melted flesh. The enemy hit back with a rock accelerated to near supersonic speeds. It shot past Lideri's head and slammed into the ground behind him leaving a crater. Gar put a loose bundle of spell thread in front of a force bolt spell that was cast at Trannis. Gar's spell thread cut the spell thread of the Jeklein spell to pieces rendering it harmless. The spells started flying in earnest as the two groups closed the distance between them. Spells were intercepted left and right, fizzling and fading as Lideri's defenders did their jobs well. One of the bounding spell casters charged Lideri a spell forming in his wand, but Lideri's cast was quicker. Without slowing from full gallop he took out one of the man's legs with a tight beam of heat and trampled over him as he fell.

They were still fighting the outriders when the main group came into range. A withering hail of weak long-range spells spilt forth from behind their shields. The magic rained inaccurately down around them as Corsali tried to snipe anyone who seemed accurate or powerful over there. But the Jeklein were no fools they were rearranging their shields to protect such people. Suddenly an iron bolt the length of a javelin shot out from the enemy group flying faster than the speed of sound. With a sonic boom, it sped past Frorith and buried itself deep into the ground, narrowly missing him.

"They've got bolt casters!" he screamed as more supersonic iron bolts erupted from the enemy formation.

"Don't stop moving! Stay at distance and circle around them! We need these outriders dead yesterday! Trannis we need them moving south now!" Lideri yelled competing to be heard against the thunderous roar of the iron bolts hitting the ground around him. He struggled to retain control of his horse as it almost panicked.

Trannis was already casting, his staff held high as he rode his horse through the barrage of spells and projectiles. When he was finished a massive fireball formed at its tip. It was all volume and size but no real power. Still, it was massive. All at once the enemy's spells focused on him. Trannis' friends worked hard intercepting anything that would hit him. He cast it. It flew straight and true hitting the shields on the north side of their formation bursting into a giant, terrifying conflagration. They began falling back to the south. They must have believed that they had time. Magical battles were endurance fights and a twenty men versus six hundred fight would favour the six hundred even against powerful spellcasters. All the needed to do was buy time till the smaller group expended their spell thread. Backing off to the south would buy them more time and was the logical move. But this group was being far more panicky than Lideri had predicted. Still, they were moving south. Killing the last Jeklein outrider with a well-placed spell to the chest, Lideri signalled to his man to push the north side of the enemy. It was time to herd this cattle to the slaughter. Further and further south they moved as Lideri's men hit them with spells and Trannis cast massive impressive but ineffective spells.

His men and his horses exhausted, he ordered to break off their attacks and head north. He could almost feel the relief from the Jeklein as his men pulled away. Then it happened. One moment the world around them was grassy hills. Then the next it was mountains and forests. There was no intervening period. It was just one thing and then suddenly it was another. The forest was filled with twisted gnarled trees, devoid of leaves. Lideri and his little band were outside the forest. The Jeklein were not. The branches of the trees began moving and from the forest's dark depths the Jeklein began screaming. People eating trees, one of Vouran's many little quirks. Once night fell they'd fall still and nothing could stir them till morning and Lideri and his band could help themselves to all the goods left behind.

Trannis rode his horse just outside of the range of the tree's branches and he bellowed into the dark forest loud enough so even the screaming Jeklein could hear him "WELCOME TO VOURAN!"