War of the Wisps

The ship needed towing back to Prohr, and the sailors were very grateful that they had a dragon willing to help. Even before that, Jarnvaror helped fish the men out of the water. Most had survived the spell, though everyone was battered and bruised. Five were dead. The force of the spell had knocked two men – one soldier and one pirate – onto the blades of their opponents. Two other pirates had been sucked into the sky alongside the mage. Jarnvaror found their broken bodies floating close to the boat.

Still, even under oars and with the dragon’s help, it took them the better half of the next day to reach the city again. Anna wanted to talk with Peter and Andrew about what the mage had said. But, when she tried to bring it up, Mac’Neil stopped her. “We don’t know anything for sure,” he said. The commander had managed to get back to his feet after the wound the mage had given him, but it still seemed to pain him. His eyes roamed over the surviving pirates. Since the fighting had stopped, they’d kept them as prisoners. Even trying to shove all of them together around the broken mast, the ship felt crowded. “Wait till we can be somewhere private,” he said.

So, they waited. The ship limped into harbor, and a small crowd gathered to greet them. They received a tentative welcome at first, with many worried about the state of the sailors and knights. But, when Sir Mac’Neil reported the death of the pirates’ mage and the destruction of their fleet, the people erupted in to cheers.

Lady Nonell and her butler burst out of the crowd, beaming at the group. “Oh, my! My ship!” Anna shivered. She had no idea how they would respond if the noblewoman demanded they pay for damages to the vessel. But she just turned back to them and shrugged. “Is the crew alright?” she asked.

For a moment, no one was able to speak. Commander Mac’Neil shuffled over and described what happened with the mage. The noble woman shuddered at the description of the mage’s spells. “Cutting with the wind,” she said. “But he’s dealt with, right? We won’t have to deal with him any more?”

“Nope,” Peter said. “Anna blew him up.”

“I didn’t blow him up!” Anna objected as Lady Nonell turned to her in shock. “I just… broke his spell.”

“You ended the fight with that,” Sir Mac’Neil said. “I doubt we could have won, otherwise.”

“Then you saved all of them,” Lady Nonell said. She bent down and hugged Anna. “Thank you! Thank you so much!” Anna felt her face grow warm, and she had to cover her bracelet with her hand to keep Halcyon from popping out to calm her down. She nodded.

The noblewoman moved off to speak to her captain. Mac’Neil turned to Andrew. “What about your own mission?” he asked.

Rather than giving him an answer, Andrew turned to Anna. She took a breath and said, “We still need to retrieve the Wisps they had stashed away along the coast,” she said. “Then there are the other Wisps we need to find. And… well I don’t know about… about dealing with the captain’s informants.”

“I don’t think we’ll be able to track down the Wisps the Mage had with him,” Andrew said. “They flew off last night, and we have no way to follow. As for the informants… How do we find them?” he asked, turning to Mac’Neil.

The commander pondered that for a moment. “I believe tracking down any of his regular informants will be our job. I’ll check with Lord Mac’Fureigh. He’ll know how to handle the situation from here. We won’t be much help with the Wisps themselves I’m afraid.” He paused, rubbing his chin. “As for… the other one… I’m not sure. I don’t know how anyone could have known you were coming. Hopefully we catch him with the rest of the informants. If not, it's best you let people in the capitol know as soon as you can.”

“Then we should probably get going,” Andrew said.

“You’re headed off already?” the ship’s captain asked, approaching them. He was hurt less than most of the crew, though he would probably still have a few new scars.

“We have to bring news back to Woadrok,” Andrew said nodding.

“Feel free to stop by my estates any time,” Lady Nonell said. I’ll try and have room for the dragon, too.”

“Sounds fun!” Peter said.

“Thank you for all your help,” Anna said to both the captain and Lady Nonell.

“Think nothing of it, Ma’am,” the captain said.

The trio bid farewell to all the sailors as they climbed into Jarnvaror’s saddle. The dragon walked along the beach till he found a suitable place to talk off. As they moved, Andrew said, “We never did learn how the mage cast his spell on the Wisps. Are you sure you’ll be able to free them?”

“No,” Anna admitted, her voice just as low. “But I have to at least look at it again.”

Andrew didn’t reply to that. The dragon took off and flew back to the little cove with its rock spires. The tide was just beginning to flow out again, which Anna was very grateful for.

“I’ll come too,” Peter said, sliding off Jarnvaror’s back. “I didn’t get to see them at all last time. You don’t mind waiting, do you Jarn?”

The dragon grunted and leapt up to the top of the cliff, where he curled up. Anna looked at Peter. “Are you sure? What about your legs?”

He nodded. “I think I might be able to navigate around it.”

“Don’t blame us if you slip on your face, then,” Andrew said. Peter only grinned and followed the pair into the cave.

Like last time, they wound their way through until they reached the chamber. Peter moved slow, and they nearly left him behind as he tried to squeeze and scrunch his way through the tunnel. But he was able to make it all the way to the back of the chamber. The Wisps were still there. Six orbs of yellow light, hovering over the stone. Again, Halcyon rushed out of the bracelet to one of them, and Anna could feel his urgency mixing with the fear the others all radiated.

“So,” Andrew said. “What’s your plan now?”

“I’ll need to be able to concentrate,” she said. She walked over to Halcyon. All of the Wisps’ influence increased. She focused on her friend. “I’m going to try and free them,” she said. “I’ll need your help. And the help of the others,” she said, holding up her bracelet. She tried to put out that feeling of needing help, to make it clear she needed a lot of help. So far, Halcyon was still the only one of the Wisps that would listen. She hoped that for this at least they might join in.

The others in her bracelet ignored her. But Halcyon seemed to return to his normal self again. She held her hand out to him. Her right hand, without the bracelet. He floated down and rested on it. She’d never touched any of the wisps so directly before. He was warm, and the creature’s touch sent odd tingles down her arm. Not painful or uncomfortable, but an uncanny sort of vibration. It was like the rapid heartbeat of a small animal.

She let herself draw on his influence for a moment. Her own heartbeat slowed. Then she reached out through her Anchor, sensing for the spell that bound the wisps to these treasures.

She found it right away. It was very different from the wind spell the mage used, and even more so than the spell Sol had shown her. But it still seemed just a little familiar. She’d examined several of Sol’s enchantments before. She didn’t know them nearly as well, of course. She couldn’t tell what any particular knot in the spell’s net was for. But she spent a long time just examining it, trying to see if there were any patterns she recognized.

“Are… Are you doing anything?” Peter asked.

“I’m focusing. Trying to read the spell,” Anna said.

“What have you got so far?”

“Not much.”

“Peter, let her concentrate.”

“What? We’re just watching now. Maybe we can help.”

“Sorry, but I’m not sure either of you could help for this part.”

“See? Just be quiet and let her work.”

“Okay… Hey, are we sure these guys won’t go berserk like Ironhill’s Wisps?”

“Peter!” Andrew and Anna snapped together. The younger man held up his hands, but remained quiet.

Anna focused back on the spell itself. The whole thing seemed opaque. It was woven tight, like a ball of yarn, with dozens of strands and hundreds of knots. She didn’t like the idea of magic going wild in such a confined space.

She felt a shiver of excitement run through her, and realized it was coming from Halcyon. She focused on him, trying to see what he saw, to feel what he was feeling. As she did, the spell seemed to take on a completely different shape. As if she was inside of it. It didn’t seem so much like a net anymore. More like a cage. A wooden cage, containing six flames, surrounded by bricks. The fire couldn’t get out. But if she could move the bricks.

Her senses returned to normal. The spell was a ball of yarn again. But now, she saw a few strands a little differently. Part of the spell was designed to keep the Wisps from interacting with it themselves. If she could loosen that, the Wisps should be able to free themselves.

She focused on those strands. They were deep in the spell, surrounded by many layers of magic. It was difficult to affect them at all. But she tugged at them.

“Oh, I don’t like that sound,” Peter muttered. The stones around the chamber were beginning to vibrate.

“Yeah… Anna, are you actually trying to unwind it, now?” Andrew asked.

“No,” Anna said. “I just need to loosen it a little”

“Um… What does that mean, magically speaking?” Andrew asked.

Anna didn’t answer. She tugged again on those inner parts of the spell. She didn’t want the knot to come undone, destabilizing the spell. She just wanted it loose. Just a little looser. A little more.

The yellow wisps flared. Their influence grew, and the spell seemed to slide off of them. They began spinning around the chamber, moving like shooting stars. As Anna examined the spell, she felt a tugging. Her strands of magic were pulled in as the spell closed down on nothing, it’s targets gone. It collapsed, and Anna felt a twinge in the back of her hand as her Anchor cracked in two. A loud rumble filled the room as the stone in the middle did likewise.

“Hey, should we run?” Peter asked.

Anna stumbled back, looking at the yellow Wisps orbiting a stalactite overhead. “No. No, It’s done now.”

Halcyon shot out of her hand, flaring yellow himself for a moment. But it wasn’t the same pail yellow. It was a rich marigold, and she felt joy dance through as well. Then he turned blue again, as the Wisp began his work of helping his own.

“Awesome,” Peter said, sitting down next to Anna. “So. Mission accomplished, right?”

“Pretty much,” Anna said.

“We didn’t get enough information from the mage,” Andrew said.

“Did he really have any?” Peter asked.

Andrew looked down at him. “He knew we were coming to the city,” Andrew said.

“So? It’s not like our missions are secret. We sent birds ahead to let them know we’re coming.”

“And we beat the birds here,” Andrew pointed out.

Peter frowned. “Right. But then… oh. Oh, that’s not good.”

“Yeah,” Andrew said. “You get it now?”

“Someone in the capitol would have had to send their own message. By magic,” Anna said.

“Or someone knew this would be our mission before we did,” Andrew pointed out.

“I didn’t catch the magic part, but… Yeah, someone in the capitol warned the pirates we were coming.”

“Which means whoever is capturing the Wisps and giving them to bandits and rebels has someone in the city,” Andrew said. “Watching us.”

“Who?” Peter asked.

Andrew and Anna exchanged a glance. Then they shrugged. “It could be anyone,” Anna said. “Someone in the palace, maybe. Another rebellious noble. Maybe one of the servants is a spy for the group. We weren’t able to ask the mage any questions about it.”

“Oh…” Peter said. He looked up at the Wisps circling in the ceiling now. “What does that mean for us then?”

Anna followed his gaze and saw that one of the six had joined Halcyon in helping the others. She smiled. “I’m going to keep trying to save them.” She said. There was a moment of silence, then both brothers started to laugh, Peter loud, and Andrew a low chuckle. “What?” Anna demanded.

“I mean, that’s obvious,” Peter said.

“We’re committed, now,” Andrew said. “I don’t think the king would let us back out, even if the others would.

Anna smiled at them. “I’m glad I found you two. I’d hate doing this alone.”

As she spoke, the wisps descended from the ceiling, now all glowing in brilliant shades of blue and green. They dissapeared into the opal on her bracelet. Halcyon was the last. He rested over her hand for just a moment. Then he vanished inside.