War of the Wisps

Peter and Jeremy needed a bit more than a night’s sleep. The villagers were happy to offer a room at the inn for the two young men to recover, though they were a little wary of Halcyon. The Wisp never left their side. Peter slept fitfully, which Andrew interpreted as a sign of health. Jeremy, though, hadn’t stirred at all since being freed from the Wisps. He agreed with Anna that the young noble’s best chance at recovery was for Halcyon to stay by him. Even so, he wasn’t sure it was a good chance.

He spent the first day sitting n the parlor of the inn. The image Peter appearing in the midst of the Wisps holding Halcyon kept popping back into his mind. Anna had said Halcyon wouldn’t have been able to handle so many. But Peter had taken the little Wisp and rushed in anyway. He’d always been reckless. To prove he could speak dragon, he’d run into the forest on his own when he was seven, and come back with Jarnvaror. With this, he might as well have stuck his head in a hornet’s nest. Worse, for all he could tell, it hadn’t done any good. Jeremy may have already been lost.

Of course, Andrew kept his mouth shut. He didn’t want to worry Lord Thornwood. The two of them sat in silence. Though Hannah seemed intent on distracting them from their brooding. She would talk about the rumors tradesmen had mentioned the last time they were at High Hill. She’d talk about their horses. She knew all four beasts by name, and had what, at another time, might have been amusing stories to tell about each of them. She kept a smile on her face, and, every so often, her father would at least smile at one of her stories. She never mentioned her brother.

During midmorning of the second day, when Andrew and the Thornwoods were waiting in the inn’s parlor, Anna ran down the stairs to meet them. “Peter’s up,” she said. Andrew shot to his feet and was already at Anna’s side when he thought it might be bad manners to simply leave Lord Thornwood in his seat. When he looked back though, Arden had a sad smile on his face and was waving him forward. Andrew didn’t wait for anything else. He bounded up the stairs.

“How is he?” Andrew asked before they got to the room.

“He seems like himself,” Anna said. “A little tired. And hungry after sleeping for a day.”

Andrew felt whatever worry was left melt into his frustration. Food? That’s all he was thinking about at a time like this. He burst into the room. Peter was sitting up in the bed to the right, examining Halcyon with an idle look. The Wisp was hovering over Jeremy. Andrew felt his calming influence as soon as he stepped into the room. It took a bit of effort to resist the Wisp as he fixed his brother with a scowl.

Peter grinned as Andrew and Anna came in the room. Then he caught the look on his brother’s face, and the grin vanished. “Before you start—” Peter began.

“I’d ask what you were thinking if I didn’t already know the answer was ‘nothing,’” Andrew said. “You could have gotten yourself killed!”

“It was the only way to get Jeremy out,” Peter said.

“Really?” Andrew snapped. “The plan didn’t work, so you just rushed in. Couldn’t wait for us to regroup. To try thinking of anything else at all. The only way meant not thinking?”

“Halcyon needed help if he was going to go in—”

“Halcyon needed help?” Andrew repeated. “His job is helping us! We can’t do anything to the Wisps!”

“Andrew—” Anna began.

“Not right now!” Andrew said. He glared back at Peter, who was glaring right back at him. “How did you know they wouldn’t drive you mad forever? How do you know they haven’t?” Peter opened his mouth to reply, but Andrew raised his voice and went on. “How do you even know you saved Jeremy? We still don’t know if he can recover. Ten extra minutes, and we might have thought of something! You can’t always run in to fights. Remember the last time? When your legs were shattered? But I guess you didn’t take any lessons from then, either!”

“This wasn’t like that!” Peter insisted. “Halcyon’s been carrying all the Wisps on his own. The other Wisps weren’t doing anything while he was there, but he couldn’t just go off on his own. He needed back up.”

“You knew the others would come out if you took Halcyon away?” Andrew asked, incredulous.

Peter shrugged. “We had to do something.”

“No! We didn’t! Not like that!” Andrew yelled. He saw the Wisp shudder, and felt his influence grow stronger. He ignored it and went on.

“Have you ever considered what will happen when your luck runs out? You can talk to dragons. You’ve been surrounded by giant, fire breathing lizards that humor you in everything your entire life just because they find you mildly interesting. Then, when we leave home, we find that the King and Queen really like you, so you can say and do whatever you want. But none of them were there protecting you last night, and the Wisps don’t care! What’s going to happen when your instincts aren’t enough? Being lucky doesn’t mean you don’t have to think! And if it does go wrong, what am I going to tell Mom and Dad? Maddie and Maggie? How am I even going to tell Jarnvaror?”

Andrew found himself taking quivering breaths. He hadn’t realized how much he’d raised his voice. He watched Peter sink back into the bed a little more. His brother wouldn’t meet his eyes for a moment. Then he looked up. “I’m sorry I worried you,” he said.

“Right…” Andrew managed. “I just want you to think a little bit.” Peter nodded. Andrew could still feel his heart racing worse now than it had the other night. His face felt hot, and he was still shaking. But he was out of words. Taking a breath, he said, “Anna told us you were hungry.”

“Very hungry, yes.”

“I’ll see what I can get for you,” Andrew said. He turned. And he saw another pair of green eyes staring at him from the other bed. He almost jumped. “Lord Jeremy?” he asked.

“He’s awake?” Anna asked, running over to young man’s side. Jeremy looked at her. He nodded.

“Did we wake you up?” Andrew asked. Jeremy shook his head.

“Are you okay?” Anna asked. Jeremy opened his mouth and made a wordless croak. Then shook his head. Then his stomach rumbled.

“Let me take care of the food,” Anna told Andrew. “And I’ll let the others know. You stay here.”

Andrew nodded, still looking at Jeremy. He had not looked closely at the young noble since he’d collapsed. He was thin, and it occurred to Andrew he hadn’t eaten or had water since the Wisps had possessed him. No one spoke after Anna left. Jeremy just laid back on his pillow and looked up into the Wisp still hovering over him. Andrew glanced over his shoulder at Peter, who shrugged.

The door swung open again. Lord Thronwood and Hannah rushed to Jeremy’s side. The young man sat up again to look at them. Hannah fell to her knees embracing him. Her father did likewise, taking both of them in his arms. Andrew heard snuffling coming from the group, then Hannah’s voice saying, “We were so worried.”

Jeremy reached up and patted her on the back but remained silent. Lord Thornwood pulled away. “How are you feeling?” He asked. Jeremy opened his mouth, and again, a mute croak was all he could manage. Andrew saw both of the other Thornwoods’ backs stiffen. “Do… do you know us?” Arden managed.

Jeremy nodded. His father and sister both let out their breath in relief. “Maybe he just needs more sleep,” Hannah suggested.

Lord Thornwood nodded, but his voice was less certain. “Perhaps.”

“Probably should get food first,” Peter offered, and the family turned to him.

“Peter,” Andrew hissed, but Jeremy was nodding vigorously.

“Hey, I don’t know about you, but it sounded like he was pretty interested in food a minute ago.” Again, Jeremy nodded. A smile had managed to creep its way onto his face as well. Hanna noticed, and shot to her feet. “I can go grab something!” she said.

“I just asked,” Anna announced, coming back into the room. “They’ll have something soon. They said they’d bring it up in fifteen minutes.”

Hannah nodded her thanks and sat down on the bed next to Jeremy. Jermey had turned his attention back to Halcyon, who was still hovering over his bed. With the others in the room, he floated a little higher. Andrew was sure that his influence was dampening the worry Jeremy’s family felt for him. They seemed even more concerned by his silence than Anna had been.

“I’m sure he’ll make a full recovery,” Anna said. “A few Wisp Taken have, even without help. And he’s had Halcyon watching out for him.”

“Other’s never recover their sense of self,” Lord Thornwood said.

“I don’t think he’s ever been quiet like this before,” Hannah said. She glanced over at Peter. “You actually reminded me a lot of him.”

“Oh, really?” Peter asked. He leaned to look at Jeremy with a quizzical look. Then he reached up to pat down his wild black hair. He looked back at the blond boy on the bed, then back up at his hair again. He turned back to Hannah and shrugged. “Don’t know what you could mean,” he said. Hannah chuckled.

“I don’t mean that you looked like him,” she said. “You… I don’t know. You hold yourself the same way. He’d grin just like that. And the way you charged in,” she added, grinning at him.

“Can’t be,” Andrew found himself muttering. “No one’s as reckless as my little brother.”

Everyone laughed. Even Jeremy smiled again, though he didn’t look away from Halcyon. “Jeremy might give him a run for his money,” Lord Thornwood said. “He was taken because he charged in trying to get one of our guards out, remember?”

“He sounds fun!” Peter said. “Wish I could have met him before.”

“He might still recover,” Andrew said. “And you need to recover yourself.”

“You should all stay here for a while,” Hannah said. “Take some time to rest up. If this is what a normal mission is like for you, I can’t imagine it would be good for you to head back straight away.”

Andrew was about to answer that he thought they would be fine, when he caught Hannah’s glance up to Halcyon, where he hovered over Jeremy. The young noble’s eyes were fixed on the Wisp, unwavering. Andrew snapped his mouth shut and nodded. “Taking some time to rest seems like a good idea.”