The Sprite & the Fairyhunter:  Quality Time

 

Room 2

 

"So?" Adrian asked his wife, still not entirely willing to give up his grudge. She grunted at the lock she was picking in response and he rolled his eyes with a small grin. Despite the fact that she was a fairly consistent buzz kill, he had to admit that she was cute when she got all intense like this. Unlike most sprites he knew, Neena stayed focused for long periods of time. This was no small feat, what with a sprite's natural gullibility and distractibility with things like sweets and bright colors to overcome. She'd had a natural advantage being part dryad, but the rest came from her own determination in training as a rogue and an assassin. Even now, she was easily avoiding the panic inherent with enclosed spaces. "You sure it's not trapped?"

"The LOCK isn't," she murmured, sighing as she put her picks down.

Adrian knew that look. It meant Neena was about to go sprite-sized, something she truly hated. He put his hand out and made an exaggerated attempt to look the other way until he felt tiny feet on his fingertips. He looked back again to find her reaching into the lock with one arm, fiddling around with the same intent look on her face. Force of habit made him lean sideways to check out her backside as she bent over, but he looked away again. He was hardly going to give her the satisfaction of knowing he was checking her out. Within seconds, he could hear the telltale click…she was definitely good. “Done?”

            “Shh!” she hissed, ear to the lock hole. “Hear that?”

            He paused, trying to let his human ears pick up whatever her sprite ones were sensing. “Hear what?”

            “Listen…that clicking sound!” Now she turned to look in the room through the keyhole, trying to see whatever was on the other side.

            “I thought that was the lock?”

            “No…well, yeah, the first click, but the rest…okay, now I hear a whirring sound.”

            “O…kay? Something mechanical? In a dungeon?”

            She frowned, looking up at him. “I didn’t say it made sense, I just know what I HEAR.” She jumped off his hand and, as usual, he restrained the urge to catch her as she fell. She always grew back to 5 feet a split second before she hit the floor, but the fear she might not make it never quite left him. “Alright,” she began, taking charge. “The door’s unlocked. I’m gonna get invisible, then nudge it open. YOU are gonna shoot it when it comes at you and I’m gonna backstab it.”

            “Back up to the part where I’ll be letting it come at me…?” he said as she faded from view.

            “While you shoot it,” said her disembodied voice.

            “While it COMES at me!” he repeated.

            “So shoot it BEFORE it GETS to you!” she snapped. “Do I have to do everything?” There was a pause as he searched for a suitable retort, then she added in a slightly gentler tone, “Just…just be careful, that’s all.” He felt an invisible hand grasp his for a moment, then let go.

            And almost as quickly, he was diffused. It was impossible to stay hacked off when she showed emotion. “Open the door,” he grumbled, nocking an arrow into his bow. He made a silent prayer of thanks to Turlock for having taught him how to fire off arrows in rapid succession as the door slowly creaked open to reveal a perfect rectangle of darkness. Peering into it, he tried to see what could possibly have clicked and whirred in a dungeon of his deity’s making. He heard it skitter past the doorway, fired twice and missed before he paused to see what he’d tried to hit.

            A miniature Death Star on legs was NOT what he expected.

            “Judas Priest off his STOOL!” he yelped as a dart flew out of the two foot sphere and made for his head. Its aim was off, but as he saw the dart embed itself 4 inches into the wall behind him, he was certain he didn’t want it to have time to correct the situation.

            Suddenly, the sphere flew forward and gained a sizable dent in the back, as if something had just taken a golf swing at it. “INCOMING!!!” came his wife’s gleeful disembodied voice again.

            With a grin, he dropped his bow and swung his lute off his back. “And here’s the pitch,” he drawled, taking aim. With a twang of strings and the satisfying crunch of metal, the little mechanical monster flew back into the other room solely on the power of Adrian’s swing. “And it’s going, going…GONE! The crowd goes wild! Victory lap!” Cheering in a whisper to simulate a stadium crowd, he took a quick jog around the dungeon cell, waving at imaginary fans until he saw Neena standing in the doorway, arms folded.

            She arched an eyebrow at him and for the moment, he was reminded of their early fight. This definitely fell into the category of not taking things seriously. Just as he was about to give a quick embarrassed cough, he caught her slight smirk. “Ohhh, come on…you KNOW I earned that!”

            She rolled her eyes and turned away to check out the remains of the machine, but couldn’t disguise the full smile. “Idiot.”

            “But I’m YOUR idiot!” he replied, replacing his lute as he would a rapier, then arching his eyebrow and standing with his feet apart and fists on his hips in an overblown mighty stance. He basked in his own glow for a moment, then followed her in.

            “How’s the lute?”

            “I dunno, I thought you were looking for it,” he said, watching her nimble fingers search through the debris for parts of value.

            “I meant your instrument, not what this thing’s got on it,” she explained.

            “Oh!” he said, checking his instrument for scratches. “Untouched, as usual. Man, when they say indestructible, they ain’t kidding. Okay, now you…how’s the loot?”

            “Not bad,” she nodded. “It’s like some creepy piñata. There’s 40 platinum pieces in here and this chunk of obsidian.”

            “Not bad at all,” he agreed, sitting down next to her. “You okay? It didn’t get you, did it?” She shook her head as she raked everything into her bag of holding for later. “Alright, so…next door?”

            Another door stood in front of them this time made of stone. “Next door,” she agreed, getting up.

            A sudden thought occurred to him and he chuckled. “Hey, babe?”

            “Yeah?”

            He paused, then grinned wider. “I CLOCKED it!”

            She made a sound that could easily have been mistaken for a stifled giggle, but said nothing as she checked the next door for traps…

 

Back to The Sprite & The Fairyhunter Page

Back to Home