The Sprite & The Fairyhunter

The Hunter & The Hunted

 

The Fairyhunter (Part 8)

 

    Adrian looked down at his Mothwing with a quiet horror. What in the world had they DONE to her?, he thought, cupping her to his chest protectively. The Neena he knew would sooner die than be caught sobbing like this in a fairyhunters' guild. She didn't LOOK injured, just roughed up, but that shouldn't have brought her to tears, either. "Hey, hey, it's okay, hon...I'm here. It's alright, shhhh..." He gently stroked her quivering wings with his thumb, hoping the soothing action would calm her while he went through another bout of personal guilt. He'd always known about Fairyland in the guild, but had never taken advantage of it himself. At the time, it seemed too strange to think of fae as people, but his friends had always said getting off with a sprite or fairy was some of the best sex money could buy. After being with Neena, he was certain he understood the attraction, but was horrified to think of how these little ones must be used. After all with fairies, they could get bigger, so you could get in them. With sprites, you'd have to get...creative.

    Adrian looked down at the still shivering sprite in his hands and noticed with growing rage that someone had been creative all over her and her see-through outfit. 

    There would have been no way she could have stopped them at this size and if they'd used that stupid pleasure spell, she might even have done things she wouldn't WANT to remember all on her own. It was all he could do not to put her down and lay a torch to the place that very instant. 

    "They're not gonna touch you ever again. I give you my word," he said, controlling his anger enough to let the words slip out in a tone that he hoped wouldn't frighten her. It still sounded far too threatening and ominous to him, but slowly, her shivers stopped and her sobs began to sound more like tired gasps. He pulled her away from his chest and closer to his face to check on her, amazed at how beautiful she was when she was vulnerable. With her tearstained little face tilted up toward him and her body clad in that djinni outfit, she looked positively innocent. She gestured to him, arms outstretched like a child wanting a hug and he leaned in further to make sure he'd be able to hear her.

    The moment he was within reach, he felt her tiny hand connect with cheek. He jumped, startled by the resounding smack and backed up to stare at her.

    "Wh-Where the H-HELL have you been, flyboy?" she demanded, using what little control she had back to scold him. 

    Adrian laughed aloud and held her gently to his chest again in relief. "Oh, gods, THAT'S my girl. You're back." He pulled her away and started to check her over. "They didn't...hurt you, did they? Is everything on you okay?"

    "I'm fine," she said accusingly, pushing his fingers back to look up at him,  "and you still haven't answered me. Where the hell have you BEEN? You've been gone for months, and..."

    "And you didn't trust me? I told you to stay home and I'd be back.”

    "No, I was WORRIED about you, but THEN I saw you in the alley by the crystal merchant's. What was THAT about?” 

    Adrian winced, the guilt clear on his face again until the curtain pushed aside on the room. Quickly, he resumed his disguise before another man entered the room. "This booth taken?" he asked gruffly.

    "THAT'S the guy I saw you with!" Neena exclaimed angrily. 

    "Well, now, there's a sprite I'd be interested in havin' back at my place," the man said in a strangely familiar voice. Suddenly, his face also shifted and Neena realized the man in front of him was none other than Turlock MacBaene.

    "Took you long enough!" Adrian said to him, letting his own disguise down.

    "Had a big of trouble at the door," Turlock shrugged. "Apparently, I let my guild membership lapse." He pulled out a new guild badge and smiled. "I bought the 3 year package."

    "Oh, that comes with unlimited access to the back rooms," Adrian said with a grin.

    "Aye, and I'm liking the space these back room provide," Turlock replied, a matching grin on his face. He looked back at Neena and sighed. "Now, as for you, I'm pretty sure I told at least ONE little sprite that she'd be a liability if she came out looking for her beau, now didn't I?"

    "But...but you guys were...you bought sprites from him!"

    Turlock looked at Adrian, who was blushing furiously, then shook his head. "Well, he's been bringing me all the sprites he's found since he a month after he left, Neena! I've been taking them to a mage I know who's been restoring them. Your stubborn young man here was taking them to his own mage, who was charging him an outrageous price to restore each one, and..."

    "And I ran out of money," Adrian burst in, suddenly unable to stay quiet anymore. "I didn't even have enough money to send you messages anymore. I didn't want to take any charity, so when Turlock ran into me here in town, he offered to start buying the sprites off me. It was the closest I could get to earning this money honestly.  I'm sorry, Neena, I just didn't want you to know I was broke. I had money when you met me, but I got all of it fairyhunting. I’m never going to do it again, of course, but right now, I don't do ANYthing that makes any money. I just try to get all these sprites back." He sighed, finally having gotten his poverty off his chest. "I'm sorry, Mothwing. I shoulda told you right out, but I...I didn't know how you'd react."

    "And you didn't TRUST me?" she demanded.

    "No more than you trusted me," he replied with a wry smile. "Why didn't you say something to me in the alley when you saw me?" 

    Neena looked at him with a glare that was turning into a guilty wince of her own. "Because...'cause I thought you'd gone back to fairyhunting and I was gonna ruin you," she replied grudgingly.

    Turlock shook his head with a laugh. "The two of ye are made for each other. Stubborn as mules with a hidden good streak a mile wide." He stood up to look out in the hallway, while both Adrian and Neena mouthed the words, "I'm sorry" to each other. "Alright, shall we go, then? I don't want ta be around when the place starts burnin' to the ground."

    "Burning?" Neena echoed. She looked at Adrian, who'd grabbed a lantern from off the wall.

    "Yeah, it's what happens when oversexed fairyhunters knock lanterns over in the back rooms," he grinned. "Are we ready?"

    Turlock nodded. "Aye...I think I've got the firebane spell on the building removed...guild should go up like a great hall fireplace." He returned his disguise, then stepped into the hallway again.

    "Right, then. We'll get this room going and take off in the the confusion. Neena," Adrian said to her, "I'm gonna have to put you in my pocket for a bit to keep my hands free and you safe." Before she could protest, he added, "We HAVE to be able to fight if any of the guild decides to stay and figure out what's going on. If you get panicked, you can pull your head above the edge...it's not that deep a pocket." Gently, he lifted her to his lips and placed a gentle kiss on her head, then tilted his hand against the upper pocket of his vest so she could slide in. Holding the pocket open, he peered down at her to be sure she was alright.

    "I'm fine," she nodded. "Just hurry."

    "I love you, y'know that, right?" he said softly.

    She smirked. "I know."

    He shook his head with a chuckle. "Be a lot easier to play it cool if you didn't give off that telltale glow." He caught a last glimpse of her jaw dropping open in embarrassment along with her pink glow before letting his pocket go and following Turlock out of the room. Adrian took the lantern and flung it back into the room behind him, watching to be sure the oil spread everywhere, lighting everything almost immediately. 

 

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