The Sprite & The Fairyhunter

The Hunter & The Hunted

 

The Sprite (Part 1)

 

"Something's wrong," Neena muttered.

The Highlander below her sighed heavily and looked up from the scroll he was examining. "Neena, ya've said that every day for the past week. Now, ya can't know if Adrian's in trouble, but he doesn't look like the type that gets into it terribly often. Let it go…he'll be fine." Turlock squinted back down even harder at the scroll, then added, "And for heaven's sake, sit right on that, ah…air."

Neena stopped hovering upside down and righted herself in front of him. "Not if they find out what he's up to," she replied. "Fairyhunters don't just up and quit any more than thieves guild members do. What if they come looking for him and try to do something to him?"

"If all he's got to worry about is grown men who chase little winged people, I'd say he's got fairly little to worry about." Suddenly, Turlock looked up at her, his green eyes' sparkling with mirth. "Fairly little…oh, now that IS funny, eh, lass?"

Neena rolled her eyes, fluttered to the floor and grew back to human size by muttering the word "mothwing" and flipping her amulet. Adrian had done this before he’d gone away so she wouldn't have to take the amulet off anymore to get sprite sized. "It'll save you some time in a pinch, Mothwing," he had told her as he readjusted the enlargement spell for her. "It's not much, but I want to know you've got another advantage while I'm gone." And what advantage does HE have now? she wondered. He's out there alone, trying to find and return every sprite he's ever sold, as if that won't arouse suspicion. People don't like to have their minds changed for them. She thought of how angry even Adrian had been at the realization that his livelihood, fairy hunting, was immoral and horribly cruel and wondered how open-minded the other fairyhunters were bound to be over it. After all, HE had had the benefit of good sex to help soften his attitude. All THEY would have was his say and the loss of revenue to change theirs. If they decided to turn against him…

Neena started to pace the floor. "I think I should go look for him," she began.

Turlock sat back in his chair and threw his hands up in resignation. "Here we go…"

"I'm serious! He'll need my help. There isn't a fairyhunter out there that I haven't escaped or eluded and…"

"And that's bound to make them a bit vengeful, wouldn't YOU say?" Turlock retorted. "Now, d'ya think yer beau wants to be forced back into this to save the woman he loves, who's accidentally gotten herself captured by the lot?"

"I wouldn't get…"

"Oh, yes you would. You're not thinkin' clearly now. You'll be thinking of saving him and you won't be able to keep your wits about ya. It isn't a game anymore, Neena. Ye need to stay here where he won't have to worry about you as a liability."

"A liability???"

"You heard me. Do ya need the definition, or can you remember what the word means?"

She started to argue, but silenced herself. She knew exactly what the word meant and how it applied to her. "'m going to bed," she mumbled, turning away. "Your glasses are on the stand beside you."

"I think that's best," Turlock said, returning to his scroll. "And I don't need those things…can see just fine."

As Neena left, the tapping of a feminine foot sounded behind Turlock. Without even turning around, Turlock sighed again and put the spectacles on, then turned to look at his currently elven sized sprite wife. Naomi burst into merry peals of laughter at the owlish look the glasses gave him and he frowned back, looking even more comic.

"There are days I wish you DID suffer some human grievances, my little sprite," he said, trying to sound stern, but unable to look serious with the sound of her childlike merriment.

"Oh, you don't mean that, Mr. Owl!" she chided, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing his face in delight. Shaking his head, he turned back to the scroll…then turned it right side up (to the added giggles of his wife) and began to read…

 

 

Neena barely took the time to throw things into a bag before heading out the window in her room. She wasn't about to be told what to do now that she could definitely say she was in love. Adrian should have been back by now, so she was going to help and that was that.

A pang of doubt hit her as she turned back to look at the little cabin in the woods, one that nearly made her turn back. What if Turlock's right and he's fine and I come out there and embarrass him? Or worse yet, I get him into trouble myself? Or what if he…

She shook this thought from her head as she realized he would come for her if she'd been the one who'd been gone for 6 months without a word. And her last thought, the one she had been trying to erase before thinking it, she stuffed back down into her well-concealed emotional ball of insecurity. The man HAD said he loved her and promised to come back. She'd known many a liar in her time and driven many a man to riot, but never to honesty and tears.

So, he needed help and she had to be it. She knew that most fairyhunters, except the ones who specialized in elemental fae, stayed out in the field during the spring and summer months. They returned to town in mid-autumn when the nature sprites started to go into winter slumber with all the things fairy folk took care of, like mice and leaves and such. By now, all of Adrian's old guildmates would probably be back in towns around the area, cashing in their catch and burrowing in for the winter themselves. Her best bet was to head into Tenkin, the city where the main guild was and hope to find out more there. There were shops all around that dealt in such trade, so she knew finding where he had and hadn't been wouldn't take long.

Finally having established her game plan, she headed off into the woods, entirely unaware of those watching her…

 

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