Getting out of the building was fairly easy. Peter went first, cracking the door open first to look around the room. There was actually only one guard at the far door. Instead of their being a second, he was talking with the clerk who was still managing papers. No one else was in sight. Peter burst out, grabbed his swords from the table where’d they’d been abandoned, and rushed at the two without bothering to draw the weapons from their sheaths while Anna and Andrew followed behind and scooped up the rest of the gear.

  The guard went down after a single bash on the head, while his companion backed away, hands up, and let them pass. Once they were outside, however, things became more difficult. Knowing the Wisps could only tell her so much, Anna tried to keep them focused on informing the group if there were any more guards that they’d missed while they were confined to the one small room. It took them a while to realize what she was asking.

  Once they’d caught on, they revealed a trio of Guards had remained around the main entrance, a little outside their range from the back room. Anna was about to inform Peter and Andrew of this, when one of these guards opened the door. Through the Wisps, Anna knew he was curious about the thud he’d just heard, but not suspicious yet.

  Luckily for the trio, Peter reacted faster than the Elven guard. In two quick steps, he thrust out, punching the Elf in the face with the sheathed tip of a sword. There was a nasty smack as the guard stumbled back.

  “There’s two more!” Anna shouted, making sure Peter didn’t relax.

  Peter nodded. Kicked the door all the way open, and began hammering at the other guards.

  “That’s not good for his equipment, is it?” Anna asked.

  “No, but I don’t think we want to kill them, either,” Andrew said. He turned to the clerk. “You wouldn’t happen to keep guard uniforms here?” he asked. The clerk shook his head.

  One of the guards managed to shout a call for backup before Peter cracked him over the head and he stumbled back. Peter smacked him again, to keep him down before looking over his shoulder at his companions. “I don’t think we have time to grab cloaks.”

  “We do not,” Andrew agreed. “Let’s go!”

  The trio started running through the town. Well, Anna was running. Andrew took the lead, his head on a swivel as he tried to get them headed in the right direction. Peter stuck next to Anna, getting his blades belted on, so he could draw them at a moment’s notice. They heard the shouting behind them, but they had a pretty decent lead on the Elven guards coming for back up.

  “This way,” Andrew hissed, cutting through the low growing plants that grew between the small tower homes on either side of the path. They came out on a different road, Andrew slowing them to a walk, facing forward.

  “What are we doing?” Anna asked.

  “Trying not to be spotted till I figure out what direction we’re facing,” Andrew replied.

  “How do we… not get spotted?” Peter asked.

  “Don’t act suspicious,” Andrew said.

  “Oh, yeah, great advice,” Peter muttered, as he shot a look to an Elven woman who was watching them.

  “Don’t look at her,” Anna said, trying to take her own advice. “She’s just getting more suspicious.” It didn’t work. Anna could tell they were locked in the woman’s memory, now, just from how much concern the Elf felt looking after them. But she didn’t call out.

  “Do you think we lost the guards?” Peter asked.

  “Let’s hope so,” Andrew said. “But don’t let up until we’re on our way to Jarnvaror.”

  Peter nodded. The group continued, lost in the Elven city for another half hour as they tried to make sense of the directions. Twice Andrew spotted the guards at a distance, at which point he had the group dip into the forested yards of the houses around them, coming out on another road, and starting again.

  They moved around this way until, for the second time that day, they found themselves standing in front of the same familiar carpentry shop.

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  “Oh, I like this place,” Peter said. “I can remember where to go from here.”

  Andrew nodded. “At the very least, I remember how to get to the fountain from here. You can call Jarnvaror from there, right?”

  Peter nodded.

  Anna felt relieved. They’d be stopping by the fountain after all. Even as they walked, she started trying to coax the Wisps out, to talk with them, hoping they’d encounter another point where one would come out and show her another vision.

  “We’re going to need to head out right away,” Andrew said. “It probably won’t take Sallowain long before he decides to send more guards after us.”

  “Wait, what?” Anna asked. “What about going to the fountain to help the Wisps?”

  Andrew didn’t answer right away. “Anna, I was thinking about that on the way here. Do you really think they’d react to anything here?”

  “We don’t know,” Anna said. “That’s the whole point.”

  “I’m not sure it’s worth the risk, then,” Andrew replied. “Maybe the location maters, but this place? Wouldn’t it have already triggered something for them?”

  “Maybe it has, but they haven’t been able to communicate it before, since no one was around,” Anna said. “Or maybe they did, and people thought they were just mad visions.”

  “It did feel a lot like mad visions when I was caught up with them,” Peter noted.

  “You’re not helping,” Anna said. “The point is, we need to try.”

  “We may need to come back another time,” Andrew said. “Who knows when the guards will catch up with us. I want us to be on our way to Sheil’s family before the Elves here send word out, if possible.”

  “Half the reason we came here was for this,” Anna said. “I won’t just leave without trying.”

  “I can keep watch for you,” Peter offered.

  “Thank you,” Anna said. She looked back at Andrew. “See? This will be fine.”

  “Okay, but we can’t take too long. If none of the Wisps… call to you, or however you want to describe it, we make a beeline for the lakes.”

  Anna agreed.

  Not long after, they made it to the basin, where the fountain was. There were no Wisps around, and the tree growing from the fountain looked pale and lifeless compared to the red of the forest surrounding it. Anna placed her hand on her bracelet, working as she had at the dwarven ruins to wake up the Wisps and see if they would react to anything nearby.

  Several responded with some sense of recognition to the place, followed by some confusion. She guessed these were one’s that had been captured here by Sheil. She shook her head without thinking about it, only trying to feel a reassurance for them that Sheil wasn’t nearby this time, and that they weren’t here for any of the reason’s she’d been. She could feel Andrew’s eyes on her back, telling her to go faster. Still, she tried to give off an air of patience.

  Hoping to feel the words as she said them, she whispered to the Wisps, “No, it’s not that. Think like before, in the ruins by Highkrag. Remember. Remember.”

  She walked right up to the fountain. The tree growing out of it looked dull. It was the only tree not to have changed with the season yet. Without the Wisps nearby, its grey leaves and spindly branches made it look dead. The wisps calmed her worry as the emotion welled up inside of her because of the thought. She pushed it away, trying to focus on the Wisps themselves.

  “Anything?” Andrew called.

  “Not yet,” Anna replied.

  “We should hurry,” Andrew said.

  “I still don’t see anything,” Peter said. “She should have some time, right?”

  “But will it be enough to get away if the Elves catch up with us?”

  Peter just shrugged at that.

  Anna decided it would be best to wander around the basin. The fountain, perhaps, was too public a symbol for any of the Wisps to have that strong of memories attached to it directly. “Remember,” she begged the Wisps.

  They seemed to be trying. Maybe they were only responding to her desperation, but they seemed to be reaching out into the environment around her. Halcyon was coaxing all of them into participating.

  With a jolt, one seemed to come more awake than the others. “Got it!” Anna burst. She didn’t bother turning to see the brothers’ reactions as she started trying to follow the Wisp to the point that he remembered.

  “Um, Anna?” came Peter’s voice in a whispered shout. “Probably shouldn’t have raised your voice like that.”

  “I’m almost there,” Anna said. And she was sure of it. The Wisp was so close to recalling something. But the others were starting to pick up on her excitement and trying to help her calm down. Peter’s next words didn’t help.

  “Yeah? Well, so is that group of guards.”

  “We need to go.” Andrew’s voice came from right next to Anna, startling her. He took her wrist. “I’m sorry.”

  Anna wanted to protest. She wanted to reach the point where the Wisp showed her her memory. In those brief moments, she’d become certain the Wisp was a her. Not just a her, but a child of the High Elves. But she hadn’t found the memory itself. Within her bracelet, the Wisps were becoming more riled. Suddenly, the little Wisp, as she’d started to think of it, lost track of the memory.

  Anna ran after Andrew. They ran through the brush between the trees, hearing the boots of the Elves behind them. Hearing their voices.

  “How much farther?” Anna asked.

  “Too far,” Andrew muttered. “Peter! Call him!”

  Peter did. He called up the dragon’s name into the sky, twice. They heard the guards behind them shout, certain now, that they were on the path of their quarry.

  Anna glanced over her shoulder and saw one of them catch sight of the trio. “Run! Faster!” she said. She felt Andrew yanking on her arm as he picked up the pace.

  The guards were only a few paces behind when Anna, Andrew, and Peter tumbled into the lake clearing, splashing into the water. Right underneath Jarnvaror’s protective wings.

  The Elves slid to a halt as Jarnvaror glared at them, his muzzle dripping wet from the lake water, making his teeth gleam. Peter barked a laugh at the guards. “Well, this seems like some good timing. He says he’s willing to let you go if you leave us alone from now on.”