The
Fairyhunter
Part
8
He
looked back at the trap in his hand again and shook his head. Strangely enough,
as much as he felt a better sense of focus when he hunted alone, his mind was
wandering today, just as it had been ever since the night before when he heard
the sprite speak to him. There were quite a few topics it was fraught with,
too. It began fairly simply…who the hell WAS she? God, she'd been beautiful,
he had to admit. Not beautiful in that ethereal, fairylike sort of way, but
more in that athletic, tomboyish way. The determination and attitude she
sported had done nothing to hide her natural curves, her voluptuous little legs
and that tight little…
He
gritted his teeth, trying to focus again as he placed a small sapphire inside
the trap as bait. She was a BUG, for cryin' out
loud, not a woman! She was prey, a gold piece or two and nothing more,
regardless of how she looked or what she said.
Which brought him to the hardest point to deal with…what she said.
Or worse yet, the fact that he could understand what she said
at all. There was no denying that she'd spoken to him. Even if she
hadn't used human speech, he'dve had no problem
catching her drift. He grinned, remembering how she'd threatened him, even as
he stood above her, boot close enough to assure her messy demise. She'd even
been cute then, he thought. Not a nervous little gnat like the flower
sprites were, or a snarling animal, like the wild sprites and elemental sprites
tended to be. She was…well, like he'd be if someone had captured him. Too proud
to show any fear.
He
honestly hoped she was all right. Since he personally wasn't made wholly of
magic like the Fae were, he'd never had the
experience of crashing into a magic force field. He did, however, remember the
stunned look on many a fairy and sprite face after having come in contact with
it and knew it couldn't feel too good. In fact, he thought, if magic
for them is like flesh and blood for us, it must be excruciatingly painful.
The poor kid…!
He
sat back on the ground, a little harder than he'd intended. His own thoughts
were stunning him at this point. How could he be this shaken up over a sprite?
If he was going to get like this over every one of them, he'd never be able to
catch one again. She was a bug, not a woman, he repeated to himself.
He
wondered how many times would he have to remind
himself of that before he believed it again.
A
strange feeling that he was being watched hit him and he took a shot in the
dark, hoping more than a little that he was right.
"You're
back," he said simply. There was a long silence before he got a response
that made him smile.
"Should
I be impressed that you noticed?"
"Yeah,
you should," he grinned. "I'm fairly impressive." He turned to
look in the direction of the tiny voice and waited. With a sigh, she appeared,
sitting rather casually with the slightest of smirks on her face.
"Not
from this vantage point," she retorted, looking pointedly at him. Is
she flirting with me?, he wondered. Let's find
out…
"That's
not the opinion of most women," said he, knowingly.
Her
smile broadened, even softened a bit. "I'm not most women."
Oh,
yeah, she is, he smiled. He'd understood, after his head had cleared, that
magic had been what was attracting him to her before, but none of that was
present now. Something in him desperately wanted to talk to her more, to keep
her sitting there flirting with him, almost like a preteen crush.
"No," he finally answered, his smile softening a bit, too.
"You're nothing like most women."
His
honesty seemed to unsettle her for a moment. "Well…yeah. I know
that," she said, faltering a bit.
They
were both quiet a moment, until finally
"What
are you talking about?" she asked skeptically. "It's not like humans
speak a real complex language."
"I'd
say it ranks higher than that babble you little bugs do," he retorted,
just as disdainfully.
"Oh, really? Then why can't YOU speak it?"
"Not
if you don't speak it," she smirked. "Isn't it sad that a fairy
hunter as 'fairly impressive' as you has NO idea how to speak Faerie, a
language older that his entire race of people? How truly inadequate you must
feel. I know I'D feel pretty stupid if something so easy to catch was so hard
to understand. What must they say about you at the guild meetings?"
He
looked at this little creature with a wry, yet steady gaze. Much as she was
working his nerves, he had to admit she was right. Was he the first to find out
sprites and fairies had a language, or just the slowest? "Ya done?" he asked.
"Actually,
not quite," she replied smugly. "While we're riding your case, you've
been doing a pretty shoddy jobs setting those traps of
yours lately."
"And
what would you know about it?" he growled. Calling him stupid was one
thing, but mocking his work was another.
"Everything! I've been tripping these things for years.
Unlike a human, when I study things, I actually take the time to find out ALL
about them." He blushed a bit, knowing she had a point. "How you and
your crew stayed in business this long, I don't know, but I've already disarmed
everything you've set today and it's barely noon! Where ARE
the rest of your crew, anyway?"
"You
don't even know where all my traps ARE, mothwing,"
he snapped, ignoring her question.
"How
much you wanna bet?" she demanded, placing her
hands on her hips defiantly.
"As
if there's any traps I've never seen!"
"And
if you lose, you get to STAY in a trap you've never seen before."
"What
kinda bet is THAT?"
"The
kind you can't refuse because you KNOW you want to see this trap now. So, is it
a bet or not?"
She
glared at him, the slightest hint of worry on her face and something in him
melted a little. He was just about to offer to show her the gem trap in his
pocket that he'd been working on without her having to prove anything when the
brat in him spoke up. "Or are you too SCARED, little one?"
"STARTING
with the Alchemist's Aide box trap with the runic seal on the front and the
ebony inlays on the sides that's under the tree limb about 10 feet from where
you're standing, I disarmed that one about 5 minutes before I saw you. Moving
on to the Merlin 480 gem back by the stream…." She fluttered up and headed
toward the next trap, leaving him standing and watching her in surprise. He
smiled a little again, watching her intently as he followed her. She was so
sure of herself, this one, and judging from the way she was springing his
traps, she had reason to be. This was definitely the sprite that everyone had
been cursing about for years back in the guild. She was better than smart,
too--she was sneaky, like himself. She knew where a
fairy hunter's trapping instincts led him and was using that knowledge to do
more than just spring traps. From what she was saying, she had been telling all
the other sprites where the traps were at, making them avoid the area as if no Fae were around at all. This was better than rescuing them
after they were trapped, since a trap that had been sprung meant your prey was
about, but just smarter than the trap you'd placed. A good hunter knew to stay
and just change traps in that case. But if you got nothing, you packed up and
continued the hunt elsewhere.
For
a moment, he considered what an amazing catch she'd be, the trophy to end all
trophies, a story that would make him even more legendary than he was in the
guild. But as he listened to her confidently describing all the tricks of his
trade, he realized what a waste capturing her now would be. I catch and sell
her and it's a one shot deal, he thought, but if I keep her around and
learn what she knows, maybe even tell her what I WANT her to know, she makes me
MORE money. Besides, if I bring her back, they'll ALL know she talks and then
she might like one of THEM…
He
shrugged off this last possessive thought, realizing it almost made her seem
more human than sprite. Although, he thought, watching her bend over
another trap, entertaining the idea might be rather…entertaining. He
wasn't sure how entertaining she'd be later, but she HAD, after all, been
flirting with him before. There wasn't much he could do about her size, but the
thought of having that lithe little body running naked across his own with her
little wings brushing up against him was enough to bring him to full attention…
Again,
he shook this thought off. He had to figure out a way to get this sprite on his
side. With her helping him, there wouldn't be a safe winged person left in the
woods.
Not
even her, he thought, watching her bend further over with a dreamy smile…
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