After a momentary pause, another sensation swept across me.An image formed in the back of my mind.It looked like an anteater, of all creatures, with golden skin and steel-like claws.The image was startling in its clarity, and I had no clue what it was.
What is it?
Once again, the answer came in the form of images.I saw the creature going after the will-o’-the-wisps, sweeping them up through its long proboscis, like a vacuum sucking up marbles.Whatever the creature was, it fed on them, going after them like bees going after nectar.And that momentary flash, however, revealed a second truth: these werenotwill-o’-the-wisps.
They didn’t have the same feel, and although they could lure with their song, they hadn’t been the ones to kill those other people.Perhaps the others had been actual will-o’-the-wisps, but these?They were different beings entirely.I wasn’t sure if they were from the realm of Fae, but they weren’t the same thing as the corpse candles.
What do you call yourselves?I wasn’t sure if they’d be able to answer with the way we were communicating, but it was worth the chance.
After another pause, the wordswhisper lightsflickered through my mind although it wasn’t spoken in English.I couldn’t pronounce the name they gave me, but it transferred over to mean the same thing.And these creatures were not Fae.Nor were they forest devas like the will-o’-the-wisps.They were from the etheric plane, and their closest relative seemed to be the bioluminescent plankton that floated in on the seas.
I asked them to wait for a moment, then turned back to Herne and Viktor.
“Whisper lights?”Viktor asked.
I nodded.“The best I can figure is that they belong to both the water and air elements.They’re etheric, rather than astral, and they don’t naturally belong to our realm.They seem similar in nature to will-o’-the-wisps, except they aren’t malign.I’m not sure if they understand that it’s manipulation when they lure others out to the forest.And I honestly don’t believe they killed the other hikers in the park.Those attacks might have actually come from will-o’-the-wisps.”
“What about Nalina?”Herne asked.
“I believe they are trying to communicate with Nalina because they need help and because they could connect with her Fae nature somehow.There is a certain nuance to the glamour that comes with being Fae, even if it’s just a small part of your lineage.That glamour, however slight, can attract astral and etheric beings.”
“What about this other creature that you mentioned?A golden anteater?”
“I have no idea what it is, except it feeds on these creatures.It siphons them up.And there seems to be one in the park because they are looking for help.I don’t know if the…anteater…is evil.But it’s after them for food.They’re terrified.I don’t understand why they don’t just leave.But for some reason, they seem unable to get away from it.”
“Well, what do we do now?”Viktor frowned and scratched his chin.“They aren’t evil, but if the other creature isn’t either, are we going tokillit?It seems like we’ve encountered a new level of the food chain.Do we eliminate one in favor of the other?”
It actuallywasa moral dilemma.I wanted to help them, but what about the other creature?Was it also intelligent?I hadn’t sensed any malignance coming from it.How did we choose whom to help?I turned to Herne, waiting for his opinion.
“We need to find out more about both of these creatures before we make any decision.But the Whisper Lights have to stay away from Nalina.Maybe we should put her in one of the sanctuary houses?We could call Ginty,” he suggested.
Ginty McClintlock, a dwarf, owned Ginty’s Waystation Bar & Grill, a bar which was actually the cover for a sanctuary house.Sanctuary houses were places where no government could interfere.Should someone claim sanctuary, they would be protected until the Grand Council made a decision whether to grant them asylum from whoever hunted them.
Ginty and his wife, Ireland, had twin daughters.Ireland was resilient and efficient, a natural-born leader, and Ginty was shrewd and loyal.
“That’s a good idea.Why don’t you call Ginty, while Viktor—help Nalina gather what she and Muffin will need for a few days.I’ll try to talk to the Whisper Lights again.”
Viktor headed inside, while Herne moved off to the side to call Ginty.I went back to the lights.I had to stop calling them will-o’-the-wisps.They weren’t, and I didn’t want to offend them.
Settling on the bench again, I drifted back into a trance.The purple orb hovered back over to me, landing on my fingers again as I held out my hand.I once again focused and sent the message,We’ll do what we can to help.But you need to leave Nalina alone.I envisioned her rather than used her name, because I had no idea if names meant anything to the Whisper Lights.
After a moment, I felt the faint sensation of a promise, and then the orb floated off, and the group began to return toward an opening to the park that was about twenty yards away from the house.I let out a long breath and stood as Herne returned to my side.
“Ginty said bring her over.He has room.”
“I guess we’re back in business as per usual,” I said, giving the orbs one last glance over my shoulder.“We need to find out what that anteater-like creature is, or they’re going to continue to look for help, and that could lead to disaster.What if the person they seek help from decides to wage war on them?”
“Given all the Fae in the area, that’s a likely scenario.Okay, let’s grab Viktor and Nalina and head for Ginty’s.
And with that, we returned to the house, collected Viktor, Nalina, and Muffin, and headed for Ginty’s.
It wasgood to see Ginty’s Waystation Bar & Grill open again.The bar was far larger inside than outside, primarily because it had access to an interdimensional space where those seeking sanctuary stayed.Nobody could get in there without Ginty’s permission.The building had a lodge-style look, with warm wood tones and a comfortable ambiance.
Ginty himself was a handsome dwarf, four-foot-five, burly and muscled, with a long blond braid and cool blue eyes.He had a step built behind the bar that allowed him to greet customers at eye level.I glanced around, wishing Wendy were back.She’d worked for Ginty for years before coming over to the Wild Hunt, and then, when her family needed her, she headed home.She was now the ruling matriarch there, and she reluctantly told us she wouldn’t be coming back except for visits.
We wandered in, and this time, the security guards didn’t stop us.Before the dragon attacks, we had to hand over our weapons while in the bar, but one of the bouncers—a massively muscled and six-five dude—looked at us and nodded for us to go in.
“Ember and Herne are here,” he called out over his shoulder.
