War of the Wisps

The others all turned to see where Peter had pointed. Sure enough, Jeremy had begun staggering toward them. The Wisps spiraling around the young noble crackled like a storm cloud. Petere remembered what being in the midst of five had been like. As far as he could tell, there were at least seventeen surrounding the young man. Worse, he remembered how much power those five had given to Sir Ironhill. He wish he’d asked the bronze dragons to come with them.

“Dismount!” Andrew barked, sliding off his horse. Peter and Anna followed suit right away. The lord wasn’t as quick to follow orders, but he dropped to the ground next to them and handed Peter the reigns.

“And now?” Lord Arden asked.

“You and I get a little closer and try to draw his attention,” Andrew said. “We keep him where he is so Anna can pick the Wisps off one at a time.”

“Don’t get too close,” Anna said.

“Pretty sure they know that,” Peter said, adjusting his grip on the reigns for the three horses. It seemed so wrong that even now that his legs were working again, he couldn’t manage to do anything. “I’m surprised we don’t already feel it,” he added, looking at the swirling lights. But Anna shook her head.

“No. Their influence will all be mixed,” Anna said. “You remember how it’s worked before? It all hits you at once. There’s no build up. And with this many…”

Andrew’s face went white. But he stood up straighter. “We’ll be careful,” he said.

“Anything to get him out of there,” Lord Adren said. He and Andrew moved off, strafing the young man and his swarm off Wisps on either side. They were still more than fifteen meters away, but Jeremy paused, looking between the two of them. The Wisps around him began to rotate faster, which Peter found very disconcerting.

Halcyon’s influence increased as the Wisp came out of Anna’s bracelet. It brought him calm and focus. It was a shame all he had to focus on was holding the horses’ reigns. As he watched, Halcyon began to drift toward the whirling mass of other Wisps. “No!” Anna said, a note of panic in her voice. “We need you with us!” The Wisp paused. Then he drifted back over to her shoulder.

Anna took a deep breath and began working her magic. Peter could only tell because the other gem in her bracelet began to glow as well. But there was no sign of the actual spell she was weaving. Then she flung her arm forward. Peter felt the air stir all around them. The grass of the field flattened as the wind rushed toward Jeremy. Then, one of the Wisps stopped rotating. Jeremy’s head snapped back toward Anna. “You caught it!” Peter whooped.

Anna didn’t answer. Her face was strained as she held on to the spell. “It’s not working,” she managed. “I can’t reel it in.”

“Maybe try again?” Peter suggested. Anna nodded. She visibly relaxed as the spell vanished. She took a breath once again. Peter turned his gaze back to the young man. Jeremy’s head was swinging from side to side, looking at the two flanking him, and at Anna. Arden was calling to him, while Andrew made a series of sudden movements to try and hold his attention. The young man stumbled as he turned from one to the other. He reached up and clutched his head.

Anna cast her spell again. And again, one of the Wisps stopped rotating around the young man. Anna drew her hand back, and the Wisp began to drift away from the others. “That’s it! You’re getting it!” Peter said.

Then Jeremy yelled. His voice seemed to crack through the sounds of nature, amplified till it was almost as loud as Jarnvaror’s roar. Peter and Anna both fell back as wind struck them. “What is that?” Peter asked.

“They didn’t like the spell!” Anna said. “They don’t want me using magic on them!”

“That didn’t stop the other mages from taking them!” Peter said.

“I don’t know how they did that!” Anna protested.

The two scrambled to their feet, and they saw that the young man had turned his focus on them. He was marching closer.

“Right, so, that’s not working,” Peter muttered. “What’s next?”

“I don’t know!” Anna said. “If I could get the other Wisps to listen to me, we might be able to just let them handle it. As it is…”

Andrew saved them. He threw a small rock and Jeremy from the other side of the dome of Wisps. The young noble flinched and stopped. He turned around to find the source of the little rock. Now that he was closer, Peter saw the face of Jeremy Thornwood contorting between rage and fear and confusion.

“We’ve got to get him out of there,” Peter muttered.

“I’m trying!” Anna shouted back. Jeremy’s head snapped back toward them. Halcyon started drifting toward the swarm again. Anna stared at the Wisp, her eyes wide, and he stopped moving again. But Peter felt a pang of confusion ripple through the blue Wisp’s influence. Anna clutched at the opal in her bracelet. “Come on,” she whispered. “I need you with me… Can you get the others to help?”

“What if you just send Halcyon in to pull them out one at a time?” Peter asked. “That’s what he wants to do, isn’t it?”

“I don’t think he’s strong enough,” Anna said. “He’s… He’s trying hard just to be stable for all of us. I don’t know what would happen if he ended up mixed in with all of that! If he just… turned into a normal Wisp.”

“Well, we’ve got to try something,” Peter said. “Maybe I could try running in and grabbing the Wisps.”

Anna looked at him like he was insane. He felt insane for suggesting it. “You wouldn’t last a second in that mess without a Wisp’s help. Besides, I don’t even know if you can touch them like that.”

Halcyon’s influence seemed to waver. Peter watched the Wisp as he bobbed back and forth between himself and Anna. Jeremy was still spinning in place and clutching his head, trying to focus on the two flanking him at the same time. Sparks spun out of the Wisps around him as they rotated faster. Anna looked at Halcyon. “What do we do?” she asked.

Jeremy let out another earsplitting yell. This time, instead of a rushing wind, the earth shook. The ground seemed to roll under their feet. Peter’s hand slipped as the horses started to panic. He grabbed for the reigns, but they were already bolting. Peter lunged after the beasts, but he wasn’t able to keep up, and he didn’t want to leave Anna on her own with the Wisps. Not if her own confusion was seeping into him.

Andrew ran back up to them. “What’s going on?” he asked.

“The spell’s not working. I think it just put the Wisps on their guard,” Anna replied.

Andrew cursed. “We’ll need to go back and regroup, then.” He turned to Peter. “Do you think you could bring them back?” he asked, gesturing to the place the horses had stopped almost a hundred meters away.

Before he could answer, the earth shook with another of Jeremy’s screams. Peter saw rock ripped from the ground in a line, heading straight for Lord Thornwood. The Lord threw himself to the side, and the rock missed him.

“I can’t do it,” Anna whispered. “I can’t get the others out. I can’t use the right spells. I just… I just can’t.”

Then Peter felt it. Halcyon’s influence seemed to crack. His determination, his calm, all of it seemed to just fade. The rich blue Wisp darkened to a deep violet, like the color of grapes. Gloom flowed out of the little creature now, the weight of a mountain. Anna gasped and sank to her knees.

Peter hissed, feeling the weight in his head. But Halcyon’s was still the only influence he could feel. Jeremy wasn’t close enough yet. He blinked. Hadn’t Anna once noted that they could influence the Wisps as well. Straining, he rushed around Anna to the now violet Wisp and put his hands around the glowing light.

“Don’t you go down on us!” he yelled. “You’re the toughest Wisp there is! Come on! You can do this!” he turned to Anna. “You can do this!”

“It’s not working!” Anna said. “I don’t know what else to do!”

“Then we try something else!” Peter said. He turned back to Halcyon. The Wisp seemed to pulse in his hands. Almost with a start, he realized he was actually touching the creature. There was pressure coming from the light, and warmth, like that of a small cat. Peter lifted the Wisp up to eye level. “But we need you back! Didn’t you want to help those ones?” he asked.

He had no idea if talking was helping at all, or if it was just his thoughts getting through, but Halcyon’s influence began to change again, to change back. The violet light softened to pale lavender, then became blue again, before shifting once more to cyan.

“Great!” Peter said. “Anna, keep trying to get the other Wisps out. We’re going to go try and free Jeremy.”

“Peter?” Anna asked. “What are you thinking?”

But Peter was already sprinting into the whirling mass of Wisps.

He knew the other Wisp’s influence would be stronger than he’d faced before. He tried not to dwell on it. Halcyon seemed stronger, and more focused, now that he was feeding on Peter’s emotions. He just had to go in, grab Jeremy, and drag him out of the dome before—

Crossing into the influence of the dome of Wisps was like stepping under a waterfall. It didn’t even register as rage or terror. It was just a swirling mass of pressure, trying to make his head implode. He stumbled, but clutched Halcyon closer. Halcyon’s special calm was paper thin. The little Wisp didn’t waver, though. He moved in sync with Peter, almost automatically, jumping and dodging as Jeremy sent wave after wave of wind and earth at them. Peter’s ears ached, and some part of him knew it was because of the amplified sound of the young man’s wails, but he refused to stop.

Then they were in with the other Wisps. Pain shot through him as he absorbed the bolts of lightning crackling between the Wisps. He stood right next to the young nobleman, now. He looked at Peter, confused, his eyes swimming with red light. But it was wavering. He slumped, though lightning continued to dance through the air around them.

“You can do it!” Peter said. He forced himself to stay focused. Halcyon needed it. This kid needed it. Anna needed it. “Anna! You can do it!”