Anna thought it was ironic that getting arrested was the fastest way to see the man they were here to see. Several other pairs of guards seemed to notice the group and approached while the two who’d spotted them were still taking Andrew and Peter’s weapons. Halcyon and the others had started sharing the guards’ feelings with her right away. Whenever she shifted focus from one to another, the feelings coming from the Wisps changed.

  The junior in the first pair of guards seemed to be feeling more apprehension than anything else. Perhaps he was worried about arresting well known fugitives. The second pair were both much easier to read. They were angry. Anna avoided looking at them, hoping to avoid any sort of provocation. There was amusement, fear, scorn, hatred, confusion, and so many others mixed in with the various other sets of guards.

  “What’s she doing still with her gemstones?” asked one of the Elves. Anna looked at him, and the Wisps influence caught his emotions in time to feel him change from amused to worried. She instinctively clutched her bracelet, and the Elven guards exchanged concerned looks.

  “Come off it,” said another of the guards. He was one of the angry pair, which surprised Anna. “Their coming willingly, and they haven’t done anything.”

  “She’s a mage,” said the first guard, his own anger rising.

  “One who deals with Wisps,” said the angry one.

  “Exactly,” said the first’s companion.

  The whole situation shifted in Anna’s mind. The pair who’d been angry were angry on behalf of her and the others. She focused more, and the Wisps confirmed it, revealing doubts – doubts about Daniel and Thalia, doubts about the Wisp Seekers and the Wisps in general, doubts about the whole situation – motivating the whole group of guards.

  “We only came to Kalligair to talk to Lord Sallowain,” Anna said. All eyes swung to her, and she felt herself draw back. Halcyon and the others withdrew from revealing others’ emotions to her in order to bolster her.

  “My officer here is right, though,” said the captain. “We cannot allow a wanted mage to walk through the city with her gemstones on her person.” He held out his hand to Anna. When she hesitated, one of the guards stepped forward and took her wrist.

  Immediately, half a dozen Wisps came out, and a calming influence fell over the whole area. It wasn’t enough to stop the fear Anna saw filling the guards’ expressions, but she thought it might have been reducing it from panic. They stepped back, a few even drawing swords. “You see! She’s using them against us!”

  “They’re acting on their own,” Anna said.

  “Send them back!” demanded the captain of the guards.

  “I can’t!” Anna said. Even if she calmed down, she knew they wouldn’t return until everyone was calm. They would only go back in when Halcyon was sure everything had calmed down and that she was safe. “They’re just trying to protect us. I don’t control them.”

  The guard frowned in response, but Andrew spoke before he could. “Can’t you tell what the Wisps are doing?” he asked. “They want to be close to her. The bracelet is convenient, but they’ll leave it if you take the gems away. It’s all automatic. A danger response.”

  “We can call a mage to seal them,” said the guard who’d taken Anna’s arm.

  “The boy is right,” said one of the angry pair, who looked much more composed in the midst of the blue Wisps. “They’re trying to give us all cooler heads. You can feel it, right?” he asked of the captain and the junior guard with him. The younger man nodded, but the captain didn’t look convinced.

  “We’re going willingly,” Andrew said. “We’re trying not to cause any problems.”

  “He’s right,” Anna said. “Please, don’t cause them any more distress.”

  The Elven captain looked at them for a moment. Anna wondered how much he remembered about them from last time. Did he think of them as trouble makers because of Jarnvaror? Just odd travelers? She couldn’t tell from the look on his face, and with the Wisps focusing on calming her down, she couldn’t feel his reaction to what she said or what was going on. At the thought, Halcyon slipped her something she didn’t expect. Pity. She was sure it came from the chief guard. The older man finally nodded. He walked behind her and slipped the bracelet into her bag. “It stays there, understand?” Anna nodded. She knew some mages could use magic from an anchor even if it was across the room. But most, including her, had to be almost touching it. It was a generous compromise.

  “We will be watching you closely,” he said. “As for meeting with Sallowain, yes, I imagine he will want to speak with you three again. Come.” He started moving so abruptly that his younger companion was startled into dropping some of their gear. The pair of guards sympathetic to the Wisp Seekers stooped and picked up the gear for him as the rest of the group moved off in formation around the trio.

  The troupe led the three of them to a building far larger and wider than any other Anna had seen in the forest. Its corners were the same hexagonal towers that most of the Elven buildings were. But a great hall with a steep sloping roof connected them. Trees grew right up next to the walls on all sides, leaving only the doorway unobstructed.

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  “Inform Lord Sallowain that the Wisp Seekers are at the Judges’ Hall, awaiting his attention,” the chief guard said. Then he took the three of them to a room at the base of one of the rear towers. The room was empty, save for a table and four chairs. An unlit lantern hung from the ceiling. Most of the light came in through the barred window on the far wall.

  The guard captain gestured for the three to take a seat, then he ordered the guards to various positions, including sending some outside to guard the window. The guards carrying Peter’s swords and Andrew’s bow and quiver were stationed just outside the room.

  It was almost half an hour before Lord Sallowain arrived. Some of the guards relaxed in his presence, and the overall tension seemed to break as he stepped into the room.

  “What in the world possessed you three to walk openly into a city right now?” he asked, taking the fourth seat which the captain had left open for him. He looked tired, with his hair coming loose where it was tied in the back, and an expression of weariness on his face.

  “The Wisp Stealers have launched a coup,” Andrew said. “We’re trying to stop it.”

  “The Wisp Stealers?” repeated Lord Sallowain. “You wouldn’t be accusing Daniel or Lady Thalia, would you?”

  Andrew nodded. “We were able to confirm Daniel was manipulating the royal mother after he’d tried to assassinate the king and queen.”

  “So you fled with them. That would be a justifying reason.”

  “You don’t believe us?” Anna asked.

  “I’m afraid I find it rather difficult to believe anyone at this point. Still, we need the king and queen back. My people are not happy to have been dragged into a war while our link to the humans is missing. Even in the best of times, these conflicts should be none of our business.”

  “We want to stop the war,” Andrew said.

  “Bring the king and queen back from wherever you’ve stashed them,” the Elf said. “They can do it.”

  “Daniel accused me of controlling them the same way he was controling their mother,” Anna said. “He tried to make sure no one listened to them while he was accusing the Selasi and the Ryukyuujin of starting the war.”

  Sallowain frowned. “That can’t be right,” he said. “The young man I knew would never have been so blood thirsty.”

  “He’s a good actor,” Anna said. She explained the power the Wisps had started showing. Sallowain listened in silence until she was done, his frown growing deeper. She finished by saying, “The power saved us, but it didn’t tell us why he was doing any of this.”

  “We came to you about that,” Andrew said. The Elf lord turned to him, and Andrew leaned forward. “Without knowing why he’s doing what he’s doing, I don’t think we can stop Daniel. His actions don’t make any sense, so we don’t know what he’ll do next.”

  “If what you’re saying is true, I don’t see how I could help you at all,” Sallowain said. “I shall have been just as duped as you claim you yourselves were.”

  “Maybe,” Andrew said. “But you might be able to tell us about Lady Sheil. She’s working with him.”

  Sallowain started, his eyes darting to the guards. “Sheil? What does she… no, that’s right. The mage you dealt with when you were last here.”

  Andrew nodded. “The Wisps tell us she’s very devoted to Daniel. And, while we can’t tell what it’s about, we can tell they’re motivated by a similar emotion.”

  “I told you last time I was not all that close with her,” Sallowain said.

  Andrew nodded. “I remember. If I recall, I think you also said she wanted to change something, and she was never all that happy. Why not?”

  “She wanted to change the whole world,” Sallowain said. “As for why, you’d have to ask her friends about that.”

  “The Wisp Stealers?” Andrew asked.

  Lord Sallowain shrugged. “Perhaps? I don’t know. She had friends in her home town by the eastern edge of the forest. My aunt often complained about them.”

  “Her mother?” Andrew asked, and the Elf lord confirmed with a nod. “Could we speak with her, then?”

  “I don’t think she’s interested in visitors at the moment,” Sallowain replied. “Certainly not those who come to her with so many and such personal concerns as these.”

  “We need to learn why the Wisp Stealers want war,” Andrew said.

  Lord Sallowain didn’t reply for several seconds. Anna looked at the other guards. With her bracelet, and therefore the Wisps, in her bag, she still couldn’t feel their influence as much as normal. The captain was unreadable as ever, but his younger companions all appeared to be confused. One of them even stepped forward.

  “Surely there is some way to verify this?” he asked.

  “We would need help from the Archmage,” Sallowain muttered.

  “Right!” Anna said. “Sol should believe us! We told him about sensing Daniel before we fled.”

  But Andrew was shaking his head. “No, we only told him we’d discovered Daniel was the Wisp Stealers’ spy in Woadrok. Besides, sending a message to him would be asking for Daniel to send someone else after us to keep us from condemning him.”

  Sallowain nodded. “Yes. No doubt they would. And there is the issue. I don’t know what to believe about all of this or anything about who is trustworthy. And to discover the answer, one way or the other, I shall have to take a risk that may result in greater harm to my people.”

  “How would we hurt you?” Peter asked, looking confused. “All we’ve done is talk. You sure you can’t at least give us a chance?”

  Sallowain shook his head. “If you are lying to me, then I would let the trio who kidnapped the king and queen of Grealand go free on nothing but their word.”

  Anna saw Peter taking that in. “But if we’re stuck here, and telling the truth, you let the people who tried to assassinate the king and queen get away with everything,” he said.

  “Including plunging us all into war,” Andrew pointed out. “We’re the best chance of stopping it.”

  “I doubt there’s any stopping it at this point,” Sallowain said. “News has arrived of at least three battles in the south and east already.” The Elf lord slumped in his seat, and to Anna he suddenly seemed far older. “I hate these decisions.”

  “Please, my lord,” Andrew said.

  But the Elf lord looked up at him. His face was just as smooth as ever, yet he looked old, as if there was a weight pressing down, causing his face to sag. “I cannot. It’s too dangerous to set myself up against my neighbors without more information. I will try and confirm what you have told me for myself. But I must report to Woadrok that you’ve been found. I’m sorry.”