Andrew followed Anna down into the basin. Her little blue Wisp bobbed forward, moving slow. His influence formed a little bubble of calm around the three of them. Still, Andrew could feel the weight of the other Wisps pressing in on his mind, like a gale of confusion. Halcyon shimmered, turning pale for a moment.
“It’s okay,” Andrew heard Anna whisper to him, and the pair stopped.
“Wouldn’t it be better if we had your other Wisps helping before going into all of that?” Andrew asked.
Anna blinked, then nodded. She brought her bracelet up to her lips and began muttering to it.
“Can they even hear you?” Peter asked.
“I don’t think so,” Anna replied. “But it helps me focus.” She continued her pleas to the Wisps in her bracelet. Several minutes later, Anna shook her head. “Nothing. I can’t get through to them.”
“Maybe we should leave, then,” Andrew said. “Get farther away. There’s too many of them here.”
Anna shook her head. “We’re probably only feeling the influence of about ten of them,” she said. “The most well documented aspect of Wisps is how far their influence can spread and mix.” She pointed to the group. “They aren’t bunching up, so their influence isn’t mixing together in the way it does with Wisp taken. Remember how strong Charles’ Wisps were, even with Halcyon’s protection?”
Andrew and Peter both nodded. As she pointed it out, Andrew realized that even with so many, the Wisps didn’t feel nearly so strong as when they were up against the five of Ironhill’s. “So even with more of them, it’s safe?” Andrew asked.
“Only so long as they don’t start focusing on us,” Anna said. “I think that’s most of what Halcyon is doing right now. Keeping them from recognizing us as something other than Wisps.”
“I’m still not sure we should push it,” Andrew said.
Anna’s face fell. “But that tree, that fountain is the first clue I’ve ever found about Wisps. I need to take a look.”
Andrew looked up at the whirling Wisps. He had a mental image of the whole group descending on them once they were in with the fountain. Then he looked back to his companions, saw Anna’s pleading expression. “Alright,” he said. “But let’s be quick.”
Anna nodded. She started moving again, and Halcyon continued along, bobbing at her shoulder. As they approached the fountain, the leaves of the small tree faded to purple, then blue as Halcyon approached. Half the tree remained a shifting pattern of reds and yellows, but the part closest to them was glowing blue.
Anna walked around the whole fountain studying the design, the patterns cut into the stone, the tree inside of it. It was cracked and weathered, but Andrew could still make out some of the symbols himself. The outer base of the fountain was a relief. Shapes that must have been people stood in the front of what could have been mountains or towers. Symbols were made over these with deep, deliberate cuts. Andrew was sure they were words, though he doubted he’d recognize the language even if cracks weren’t running through them.
“Can you tell what this is?” Andrew asked.
“I don’t know the script,” Anna said, brushing her hand over the words.
“Could it be Elvish?” Peter asked.
Anna rubbed her temples together. “I don’t think so.”
“Why not?” Peter asked. But Anna shook her head and gestured for them to go back up the hill. Even reaching the tree line at the edge of the clearing brought them a lot of relief. When they stepped out of the clearing, Andrew felt something like his ears popping, and the forest seemed quiet again.
Anna sighed and looked back over her shoulder, before turning to Peter. “The Elves across the continent have a few languages,” Anna began, “but as far as I know, everyone uses the same few scripts. Grealand and most of the Elves and Dwarves share one with the Nordar. Selasem and the Desert Cities have one. So does Ryukyuu in the east. But this isn’t any of those. I think this is something left over from before the Catastrophe.”
Peter whistled, and Andrew frowned. “Aren’t all those ruins underground?”
Anna shrugged. “Most of them,” she said. She pulled her notepad and a charcoal pencil out of per pack. “We’d need someone who knows more. I should go back and copy as much of it down as I can. I can ask the Sol about it. Or the locals.”
“What, already?” Andrew asked.
Anna nodded. “If they don’t, maybe Sol will,” she added.
“Does the writing really have anything to do with the Wisps though?” Peter asked.
Anna shrugged. “The place certainly does. If we can figure out what it says, then maybe we can figure out why.”
“And you’re sure you want to go back in now?” Andrew asked.
Anna started to nod, then her eyes caught on Halcyon and she paused. “No, you’re right. Besides, I don’t want to leave you so close to the fountain without Halcyon or one of the other Wisps watching your back. Maybe I can try and get them to come out while we wait.”
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Andrew nodded. “Alright. Once you’re done with that, we can head back and—”
“Hold on,” Peter interrupted. “Aren’t we supposed to be waiting to see if some Mage shows up or something?”
Andrew felt suddenly on edge, remembering that part of the task. “Right. But if there is a mage, they weren’t here now. It would be better to wait in the city.”
“We might miss them, then,” Peter pointed out. “What if the mage only pops by for a few minutes to handle the Wisps before leaving.”
“I doubt it will only be for a minute or two,” Anna said. “If we are dealing with a mage, they might be the person steeling Wisps and offering them to bandits. And if they’re doing that,” Anna added, “they might be coming at night.”
Andrew groaned. “We’re going to have to camp here, aren’t we?” he asked.
“It’s looking that way,” Anna said. “You may need to run and tell Jarnvaror what’s going on.”
Peter grinned. “Oh, I should be able to call him here.”
Anna blinked. “Call him?” Anna asked.
“Dragons can still hear across vast distances,” Andrew said. “Part of how they communicate.”
“I tested it with Jarn once,” Peter said. He left me at the top of the mountain and flew halfway across the valley before he couldn’t hear me anymore.”
“No wonder he can still hear you while we’re flying, then.”
Peter grinned. Andrew shook his head. “Either way. If we are going to be staying for a while, we probably don’t want to rest quite so close to the basin. I don’t fancy sleeping with Wisps floating by every few minutes, Not to mention if there is a rogue mage, we don’t want to be spotted. The other two agreed.
Finding a place to camp didn’t take them long. Still, the forest was dark, by the time they’d set up and were ready to turn in. Andrew watched his brother scramble up a tree to begin shouting for Jarnvaror. Sure enough, a few minutes later, wind began shaking the trees around them. The dragon spent a minute or so hovering over the trees before flying off again and Peter made his way back down the tree.
“What did you tell him?” Andrew asked.
“I just let him know we’ll be out here for a bit,” Peter said. “You can see the Wisps from the trees here. Just as little lights. I pointed them out for Jarn, then told him if he felt like hunting, he’d be alright, and we’d meet him back at the clearing outside the Elf city in a few days.”
It occurred to Andrew that the Elves wouldn’t be too happy for the dragon to keep coming and going. There didn’t seem to be anything he could do about it, though. The thought nagged at him for hours.
They went back to the basin once more that day. Anna copied as many of the symbols on the fountain as she could into a notepad. She fussed over them inside the Wisps’ influence longer than Andrew was comfortable with before the trio moved to stake out the location until dark.
None of them were keen on staying by the basin the entire night. When Andrew pointed out that Halcyon would be spotted instantly in the dark, regardless of distance, the others gave in, and they slept the night through. Early in the morning, they returned to the Wisps’ basin and found that there were quite a bit fewer Wisps than before. With them moving, it was always hard to tell for sure. Before, though, it had seemed clear that there were about a hundred. Now it seemed closer to seventy or eighty.
“Their influence isn’t as strong either,” Andrew noted
Anna nodded in agreement. “I wonder if I can find any new details if we go in today.”
“It might be easier to do that once the all the Wisps have left again,” Andrew pointed out. Anna shrugged.
“Think maybe whatever drew the Wisps here is ending?” Peter asked.
“From what the Elves say, I would guess it cycles. Sometimes a lot more Wisps come. Sometimes less.”
“Are we planning on waiting until they all leave?”
“I don’t think so,” Anna said. “We don’t know if it ever drops that low.”
“Besides,” Andrew added, “We could get called away on a different mission. Even if we’re not, we’re only supposed to examine the place for a little while. Once we’re sure no one’s poking around, we should head back to report.”
“How long will that be, though,” Peter asked.
Andrew and Anna exchanged a look. “Depends,” Andrew said. “How long do these events normally last?”
“Four or five days,” Anna said.
Andrew nodded. “Yesterday was the second day at the earliest. So maybe three days?” Andrew said. He sniffed. “If we’re still here in the morning, we’ll have to go back into Kalligair to buy food.”
Peter shrugged. “We could always set some snares,” he suggested.
They waited another few hours, watching the Wisps dance around the glowing tree. Anna convinced them to go out one more time, so she could take more notes before settling back into the bed of leaves they were using to watch the basin. Peter had gotten very into the idea of spying for the mage, and kept his attention focused on the Wisps. Anna skimmed through her notes.
“I still feel like I’m missing something,” she muttered.
“Your notes look pretty thorough to me,” Andrew said. But Anna shook her head.
“It’s the other Wisps. Each time we’ve gone into that,” she gestured at the basin, “I’ve tried getting them to come out. But they don’t seem to listen.”
Andrew shrugged. “Halcyon seems to be doing alright,” he said.
Anna shook her head. “I… If there is mage, I want to be able to do something useful. But right now, the only thing I can do is ask Halcyon to calm him down.”
Andrew shrugged. “You’ve only just started using magic. Don’t worry about it,” Andrew said.
“Maybe,” Anna said. “It just seems like if I can communicate with Halcyon, I should be able to with the others, too.”
Again, Andrew shrugged. “You’re the expert,” Andrew said.
“Doesn’t seem like it,” Anna replied.
“Guys, shush!” Peter whispered. “Something’s moving over there!”
Andrew felt himself snap to attention as he faced the way Peter had indicated. A figure was walking down into the basin. The figure was slim and tall, wearing a dark grey cloak that concealed any details, save the staff, a straight rod with a crystal on the end that glowed red in the light of the Wisps. The figure circled the fountain. Every few steps, Andrew heard a click, and saw something had been set on the fountains edge.
Even Halcyon seemed to pay more attention as the figure stopped, back to the group. The blue Wisp drifted closer to the clearing. His light grew brighter along with his influence. “No!” Andrew hissed at the Wisp. “Anna make him stop!”
“I don’t know how!” Anna said. “Panicking will only make him try harder, though. Take a breath or something.” Andrew tried that, and Halcyon seemed to catch the message. The Wisp’s influence weakened, and his light dimmed. Andrew looked back into the basin. As far as he could tell, the figure hadn’t seen them yet, so he waited, watching the clearing to see what would happen.
A moment later, the figure raised his staff. There were no words, but Andrew was sure the mage was preparing a spell.
Andrew felt his stomach lurch, as Anna whispered aloud the thought he’d just had. “They’re going to capture the Wisps!”
“Should we stop them?” Peter asked.
“We aren’t able to—”
Andrew stopped as the air thudded. He turned back to the mage, who held out his staff. Eight lights glowed around the fountain. The air thudded again, and a wave seemed to appear in the air around the basin, pulling light into the eight points. Andrew felt the wave flow through him. Then in horror, he saw Halcyon flowing with it.
Anna let out an involuntary cry.
Then Andrew saw Peter charging after the Wisp.