War of the Wisps

They found, once they were back outside, that Jarnvaror had flown off with the bronze dragons. Anna turned to Peter, but he only shrugged in response. “They’re probably not going to let him get away for a while,” he said.

“I can provide horses,” Lord Arden said. “A guard as well. But we must hurry.”

Anna slipped her hand into her pocket and around Sol’s note. If they were riding horses, she might have a chance to read it.

“Would a guard be useful with the Wisps?” Andrew asked.

“What? Oh, um…” Anna thought for a moment before answering. “No,” she decided. “Having more people might just mean more emotions to spur the Wisps on.”

“So just the four of us, then” said Thornwood gesturing for a soldier to run to the stables for them. “I assume miss Anna will be riding with one of you?” Anna nodded. The dwarves only ever used ponies and donkeys, but after riding Jarnvaror, she was sure she could she could keep her seat if she was sharing it with one of the brothers.

“It should probably just be the three of us, actually,” Andrew said. “With all due respect, since this is your son—”

Lord Thornwood cut him off with a wave of his hand. “I appreciate your concern. But this is my son. I must go and aid him. So we will be four.”

“No, five!” Hannah said. “I want to go as well.”

“This will be dangerous Hannah,” Thornwood said in a gentle tone. “You must stay here.”

“He’s my brother!” the girl shouted. “I want to help!”

The lord’s features hardened. “No. This is not up for discussion.”

Anna did her best to block out the family argument. Though it was never over something as dangerous as this, she remembered having public arguments like this in front of the other traders, and she always regretted them afterward.

“Wouldn’t her wanting to save her brother so much help her with the Wisps?” Peter asked.

“It might help her keep her head but it would do nothing to calm them down,” Anna replied.

“And we’re going to need them as calm as possible if Halcyon’s going to pull them out of their fervor,” Andrew noted.

“I know it’s frustrating,” Arden was telling Hannah as the soldier returned with horses. “But there’s nothing you can do. You would be putting yourself in danger for no reason.”

“There must be something I can do!” the girl insisted. She turned to Anna for support. “Surely there’s something?”

Anna found herself unable to answer. Tears welled up in Hannah’s eyes. But, as far as Anna could tell, the girl’s father was right. Andrew came to her rescue, stepping forward. “When dealing with the Wisps, everyone should be as calm as possible,” he said. “I’m sure if you stayed here, where it’s safe, you’d be helping your father with that.”

The girl’s face flushed. Then she turned around. “Fine then,” she muttered, voice barely audible. “I suppose I’m no use to anyone at all, then.” And she stormed back inside.

“I apologize,” Arden said. “The last few days have been an ordeal for her.”

“I’m sure it’s been hard for everyone,” Anna managed to reply. She felt herself shaking, though, with Hannah’s words echoing in her ears. She glanced at Lord Thornwood as well. Andrew had told Hannah her safety would help keep Arden calm. She suspected Andrew just didn’t want another family member there to panic when they saw what had become of Jeremy.

Arden turned and mounted the largest of the horses. “Enough wasting time. Let’s be off.”

The other three followed suit. Anna ended up sharing Andrew’s horse as they began to canter off down the road. She felt a stab of disappointment as the jolting pace made it very clear she wouldn’t be able to read the note at all during the ride.

Once High hill had shrunk behind them, Lord Thornwood called to the others, “So, what is your plan once we reach my son?”

Anna found herself pulled out of her own thoughts again as she considered this question. “Well, normally Halcyon, the, uh, Wisp that travels with us. He is able to shield people from the influence of other Wisps.”

“Normally?” the lord asked, a note of worry creeping into his vice.

“We’ve never had to try with as many Wisps as you mentioned before,” Anna explained. “At least, not with someone who had already been Wisp taken,” she added, thinking of how he’d guarded them in the Crimson Wood. But there, he had kept them safe while they were on the fringes of the Wisps’ gathering. She was sure that here, someone would need to go in to get the Lord’s son out.

“Of course,” Andrew added, “Halcyon has always done that sort of thing alone. The other Wisps dind’t help outside of Prohr or in the Crimson Wood.”

“Other Wisps?” The Lord asked.

“Oh, yeah,” Peter said. “We really only see Halcyon, but Anna has dozens living in her bracelet now.”

“Fifteen,” Anna corrected him.

Peter waved the objection aside. “Still. I bet if they all worked together, calming this group down would be a snap.”

“But the others don’t do anything,” Andrew said. “We can’t rely on them.”

“Can this… Halcyon of yours control the others on his own?” Lord Arden asked.

Anna voice didn’t seem to come to her at first. Then she managed to respond. “I’m not sure. Even with the smaller groups, he’d only ever approach them one at a time.”

“That’s it!” Andrew burst. The others turned to him. “Sorry! I was just thinking though. Remember the Elven mage in the Crimson wood? She could catch Wisp’s in her magic nets. Anna, what if you did the same thing? Catch them one at a time and separate them out from the others so Halcyon can do his work.”

“Yeah! That sounds good!” Peter said.

“Would it take a while?” The lord asked, looking from the brothers to Anna.

“Probably, but it’s probably the only thing that would work,” Andrew said.

“Hold on!” Anna interrupted. “I’ve never woven a spell like that! I’ve worked with others, but I’ve only ever woven a few spells of wind to practice when Sol told me too. I don’t know if I can just control the Wisps themselves.” Even as she spoke, Anna saw the Lord’s face fall, and she felt a twisting in her chest. “B-but!” she stammered quickly. “But it’s probably the best idea we have. I can try it with air. They might respond to it.”

“Very well,” Arden said. “While you try and detach the Wisps, what should we be doing?”

“There’s not much we can do, is there?” Peter asked.

“We can watch her back,” Andrew said. “There’s no telling what Lord Thornwood’s son could be made to do while under the control of the Wisps. We’ll need to keep his focus away from her.”

“Oh, so we all get to be bait?” Peter sighed. “I was bait last time, too.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Andrew said. He turned to Lord Thornwood. “We can handle this, if you want to stay by Anna.”

“No, I can join the two of you,” the lord said.

“One of you will need to stay with me, along with the horses. I don’t think they will handle the Wisps’ presence very well, however good their training was.”

“Right,” Arden said, nodding. “Then the elder brother and I can serve as a distraction, while the beast tongue handles the horses.”

“What?” Peter burst.

“It’s a good plan,” Andrew said, giving Peter a sharp look. Peter opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again. Andrew looked back at the lord and began working out a strategy for avoiding too much influence themselves. Arden asked a few questions about the Wisps, how they might recognize the influence and other details, and Andrew would explain.

After a little while, silence fell on the group as they continued to ride along the road. It was peaceful. The grass along the sides of the road grew up almost to the horses knees, and it swayed in the breeze. The mountains here were not as tall as those in the north. Trees rose all the way up to their peaks, making them look much more like fuzzy mounds. The sound of water bubbling in a stream could be heard however far they traveled. Every so often they would cross a bridge that passed over the winding creek. In the distance, smoke rose from the chimneys of a village at the base of the mountains.

They were almost level with that village when Peter pointed out the person riding toward them. A moment later, Anna could make out the green surcoat over chainmail that marked him as a soldier of the Vale. Arden hailed him a few moments later. “Rider! What news do you have?”

“My lord?” sputtered the man, tugging on his horse’s reigns. “I thought you would be at High-“

“What news, lad!” Barked the lord.

“Right,” the soldier stiffened, and Anna realized he was probably somewhere between Andrew and Peters’ ages. “I was on my way to update you on lord Jeremy’s movements, my lord. He is still making his way deeper into the valley. We’ve had the villagers evacuate from both towns near the pass out of the valley. He’s gone close to both of them.”

“Is there any pattern to his movements?” Andrew asked.

The young soldier looked to him, then back at the lord. “Um… Not that we can tell… sir? Right, Only that he keeps turning back to head northwest, sir.”

“We already knew that,” Lord Thornwood told Andrew. “We assumed he was moving in the direction of High Hill.”

“I think that might be a good sign,” Anna said, hoping to give the Lord of the Vale a little more hope. “If he’s really moving toward the castle, then Jeremy might be trying to get home through the influence.”

“He would lead them there?” Arden asked.

Anna shook her head. “He shouldn’t be able to think that clearly,” Anna said. “It would all be instinct. The castle is his home. It’s safe.”

“Right,” Lord Arden said. He turned to the young soldier. “What’s his exact location?”

“I left him about fifteen minutes ago,” the soldier replied. “He was just off the road, past Willow Bridge.”

“Then Let’s go!” Arden said. He snapped the reigns and his horse charged down the road. The others followed suit, and Anna found herself jostled in the saddle worse than while dragon riding.

It wasn’t long until they could see the lights over one of the hills. More than two dozen red lights, bobbing together, rotating in a dome off to the side of the road. As they approached, Anna made out the figure stumbling in the center, moving slow, and looking around as if he expected the whole world to erupt around him any moment.

“Jeremy…” Arden whispered as they cantered closer to the young man. His voice was filled with pain. Anna found herself wishing she could offer the man some comfort. Halcyon responded, a comforting blue light beginning to shine from her bracelet. His influence was like a cool breeze. She saw the man relax, though only a little. He turned to Anna. “Can you start weaving your spells from here?” he asked.

“I can try,” Anna said. “It will be easier if we get a little closer first.”

“Oh, that’s good,” Peter said. “Because it looks like our friend there is headed this way.”