The Sprite

Part 1

Neena peered cautiously out of the door of Naomi and Turlock’s cottage, then silently tiptoed out and around the corner of cottage. Twilight had settled in and the woods were shadowy and full of danger…she couldn’t POSSIBLY have asked for a better night. She’d have plenty of cover to hide in from anything that came at her tonight. She checked all her weaponry to be sure she’d brought everything, her boot daggers, her sleep bombs, her favorite all purpose stiletto and various other defensive items. All she had to do was get out of range of the cottage and a lecture from…

"Where ya headed, lass?" The thick Scottish brogue halted Neena in her tracks with a deep sigh. She turned to find the 6 foot wall of Highlander human she called Turlock McBaene leaning against the opposite corner of the cottage.

"Ah, no place, big guy, just out for a stroll," she said brightly, hiding her stiletto behind her back.

"In these woods at this time of night? Really, Neena, ye’ve told better lies than that for lesser things." The Highlander strolled over to her, looming a good 2 feet above her as he fixed her with an intent stare. "Hunting the fairy hunters again, eh?"

"Maybe," she replied sullenly, not looking up at him.

"Maybe," he repeated with a smile. "Well, maybe you should know a new lot of them set up camp about 2 miles south of here. They haven’t much going yet, but I don’t have time to dispense the usual threats o’violence if they touch my family." Turlock shrugged, looking up in the direction the hunters were, then back at the cottage where his sprite wife and half sprite children lay in bed asleep. "I’m not worried, though. There’s talk of a renegade sprite in the area that’s springing the traps and mucking up the works for fairy hunters these days. They’ll not catch a winged body among ‘em with that reckless lass about." Here he gave her a sidelong glance, smiling a bit as she fidgeted uncomfortably.

"Wouldn’t call her RECKLESS," she muttered. "Heroic, brave, good looking…"

"An easy target," he added. "If ya see the little mothwing out and about in your travels tonight, ya might warn her to watch herself. She’ll get too cocky and get caught someday if she’s not careful. These particular hunters seem to be a bit more on their game than most. Plus, if she happens to be nanny to a few half sprite, half ruggedly handsome human children…well, they might miss her if she got turned to crystal by some hotshot wingseller."

"Yeah, whatever…"she grumbled, but she took heed. Turlock always bugged her, but he never spoke anything but the truth. If he said these new hunters were good, chances were they were some of the best. "I gotta go…I’ll be back tomorrow night."

Turlock nodded, looking up at the moon piercing through the pines as she disappeared into the shadows of the forest. He listened for her footfalls or wingbeats, then satisfied that he heard neither, bid her a silent farewell and turned to go back inside.

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