Thursday, April 26, 2012

Creepy Hollow Fae: Will-o'-the-wisp


Year of study: third
Assignment type: paired (with mentor)





“Here’s what I think,” says Jasmine between chattering teeth. “If these humans are stupid enough to go hiking in this—” she gestures to the thick mist swirling around us “—then they deserve to be led into a marsh and drowned.”

Nearby, I hear a sigh from our observing mentor, Bran.

“Well, here’s what I think,” I tell the girl who can’t seem to think of anyone but herself. “Firstly, we would fail our assignment, which is a big deal. And secondly, people would die, which, you know, is also a big deal!”

“But it’s cold!” complains Jasmine, as though that should be reason enough for letting a bunch of human hikers be led to their deaths by a will-o’-the-wisp.

“So shield yourself! You are in possession of some magical abilities, remember?”

“Oh. Yeah. I forgot.”

I’m about to ask Jasmine why she even wants to be a guardian when I see it: a bobbing light gleaming faintly through the mist.

“Hey, there’s someone else out there,” shouts one of the hikers we’ve been keeping up with.

“Okay, you ready?” I say to Jasmine.

“Wait, what are we doing again?”

I force down the almost overwhelming urge to strangle her. “We create our own lights, remember? We draw the humans this way instead. The will-o’-the-wisp gets jealous, follows the humans, and we catch it. Any of that sound familiar?”

“Uh, sort of.”

Sort of? SORT OF?

I turn back toward the will-o’-the-wisp, wondering if any trainee has ever killed their assignment partner before.

~  ~  ~

Like this flash fiction? Find out more about the Creepy Hollow series.
If you'd like to know more about my A to Z flash fiction pieces, read my A to Z Challenge Theme for 2012 post.


10 comments:

Anonymous said...

A few of my favorite adventure video games have had these show up. Most notably Quest for Glory IV and Veil of Darkness. Thanks for reminding me of them.

Cherie Reich said...

LOL! Fun story!

Trisha said...

Great story! I love this Creepy Hollow world :)

Anonymous said...

I didn't think Jasmine was THAT irritating :)

Unknown said...

Lol, unfortunately for Vi she's known Jasmine a lot longer and had plenty more time to get tired of her!

Claire Hennessy said...

Oh this was great - will have to check out some of your other A-Z posts.

Gwen Gardner said...

I'm loving the descriptions of all your creatures, Rachel! You've created an awesome world:)

Mina Burrows said...

At minimum at least smack her. Good lord. Great clip as usual.

Matthew MacNish said...

One of the best creatures to ever come from the swamp!

Fairview said...

I'm really loving Jasmine. She's a great character! Hope you put her in some more stuff!