The Sprite & the Fairyhunter:  Quality Time

 

Room 3

 

            Neena examined the next door from a safe distance, looking for traps. She was fast enough to avoid anything that could happen, but there was no point in getting hurt unnecessarily. It was a pretty simple stone door without a lock on it, but as her eyes followed the lines of the stones in the floor, she caught a glint…

 

            “So, are we good, then?” Adrian asked, strolling toward the door. “Not locked or anything…?”

 

            “Adrian!!!” she shouted.

 

            “What, I didn’t touch…”

 

            “Don’t…move…a muscle.” His eyes followed hers to the floor and froze.

 

            “Pit trap?”

 

            “No,” she said, returning to sprite size and flying toward the nearly invisible seam in the floor. “Spiked pit trap.”

 

            “SOOO much better,” he almost whispered. “Why does he let me walk into trapped doors?”

 

            Neena watched her husband’s face contort in almost comedic panic and tried not to laugh again. Things like this were always happening to Adrian. It really was no wonder he couldn’t stay serious for long…with as much as he’d survived already, he’d have killed himself from the stress alone. She had the feeling that Olidammara actually enjoyed watching him flounder through near death experiences, if for no other reason than the funny faces he made while doing it. “If you mean Olidammara, I think he gave you more than just luck at birth…I think you’ve got that special kind of luck that only kicks in when you’re about to die.”

 

            “Then why…?”

 

“Because falling and getting stabbed by a bunch of spikes wouldn’t kill you outright. You’d have time to get fixed up. Plus, I’m here, so you won’t have to fall at all.” She slipped a hand gingerly into gap between the dungeon floor and the pressure pad for the trap and wiggled the catch free. “Okay, you’re good.”

 

            He nearly sagged to the floor in relief. “Good is a VERY subjective term, hon.”

 

            She laughed in spite of herself and walked over to the now completely safe stone door. Moving as silently as she could, she leaned into it to open it just a touch. Despite its size and bulk, it pushed back as easily as a regular, well oiled door might have done. She peered around the edge of the door and gasped in surprise.

 

            In front of her was one of the most beautiful creatures she’d ever seen. Its silvery gray hide and pale blue mane made it look as though someone had plucked a piece of the sky to place into this dungeon. She watched it in complete awe for a moment, stunned by its beauty until Adrian’s nudge from behind brought her back to harsh reality.

 

            If Olidammara had placed this beast in here…they were going to have to kill it.

 

            Heart sickened, she turned away and drew her dagger, reminding herself that she didn’t want to, she HAD to.

 

            “What’s in there?” Adrian mouthed, making sure he couldn’t be heard.

 

            “Look and see,” she mouthed back, moving away from the door. She had to steel herself for this. Adrian certainly wasn’t going to have the stomach to plunge anything into such an ethereal being. She wasn’t even sure that SHE could until she remembered that they couldn’t leave this dungeon until it was clear.

 

            She could tell that Adrian had come to the same conclusion when he turned away from the door. He pulled her to the far side of the dungeon and whispered. “We can’t kill that thing! Did you see it?”

 

            Her heart sank…deep down, she’d actually hoped Adrian might just do it himself so that she wouldn’t. She shook her head and steeled herself again. “I saw it and it’s not like it’s that hard to kill. We just go in and stab it.”

 

            “Neena, I’m NOT gonna STAB the pretty pony!” he said incredulously.

 

            “Then I’LL do it,” she said, moving forward.

 

            He spun her back around to face him. “You can’t do that!”

 

            “Yes, I can!”

 

            “You could stab something that’s never done you any harm?”

 

            “We’ve killed LOTS of things that never did us any harm, Adrian, they just didn’t look as…”

 

            “Beautiful? Innocent? Non-evil in every way? Take your pick! You can’t DO this,” he repeated.

 

            “No, YOU can’t do this, but I can!” she grimaced, looking at him.

 

“Could you do this to Lothian?” he asked. Lothian was Turlock’s black war stallion and had never done harm to anyone but those who tried to harm the family. They all loved the huge horse, but Neena could see where this line of thinking would lead.

 

“Yes, I could,” she said steadily. He looked down at her, almost as if seeing her for the first time, and she felt herself wincing inwardly under his scrutiny. She had never felt so cold and evil in her life, yet it sparked a defensive rage in her. This wasn’t fair! She was constantly the bad guy, constantly the one doing the dirty work. “Don’t look at me like that! If it meant we could get out of a dungeon that we’d be stuck for the rest of our lives in, then YES, Adrian, I’m prepared to kill anything! Personally, I’d like to get back home and take care of our children instead of leaving them with Naomi and Turlock forever wondering what happened to us. What are YOU ready to do to get back to them? Stand back and judge me while I get us out of here? What’s YOUR big plan?”

 

Adrian stood silently looking down at her, then frowned. “I don’t know, but I’m not ready to let my wife sell her soul just to please a god, even my god.”

 

“It’s not like we can just walk past it, Adrian. That’s cheating.”

 

“No, that’s creative problem solving,” Adrian said, looking thoughtful.

 

“The point is to go through and kill everything we encounter.”

 

“Maybe. He IS the god of trickery, too.” He was silent a moment, then added. “Stay here.” He turned and walked toward the room, taking off all his weapons as he went. “I don’t know if this is what he expects, Neena, but this is what he’s getting.” He pushed the door open and disappeared inside.

 

She gaped after him, the anger flowing out of her as fast as it had come. What was he going to do? If that thing came at him and she wasn’t there to help…? “Adrian, wait!” she called, running after him. “You’re gonna get…” She skidded to a halt again as she heard him strum the lute once. Oh, no…

 

When she got into the room, he was talking and strumming at the same time and advancing on the beast. Adrian’s voice alone was enough to spellbind people, she knew, but if he wasn’t going to sing…?

 

“Not gonna hurt you,” he was saying, “Just want to get to the other side of the room, that’s all.” He stopped suddenly, giving her a startled look. “Cut that out!”

 

“Cut what out?” she asked.

 

“Quit messing with my head!” He frowned and looked back at the beast. “Just wanna get through the door…”

 

“Adrian, this isn’t gonna work,” she sighed. “We need to just…”

 

Are you his mate?

 

The voice was as clear as a bell in her head and she knew where it came from. She looked directly at the creature and its eyes were right on her, waiting for her answer. “Y-Yes,” she replied aloud.

 

You must both be careful. There is a mechanical beast on the loose in the room you have come from. It is much like a spider, but made of metal…the name eludes me…

 

Adrian whirled around to face her. “You heard that, too, right?”

 

She nodded, but couldn’t speak. She’d been ready to stab this creature and here it was trying to keep her safe.

 

“That creature you speak of is gone,” Adrian explained. “My wife…er, mate and I destroyed it.”

 

Is this true?

 

“Well, yeah, I clocked it,” he replied, with a grin.

 

Ah, yes, a clockwork horror! That was the name! Very disturbing creatures…so unnatural. I did not dare leave this room.

 

“Well, the pieces of it are around the corner here, if you want to see…?” Adrian walked to the door and the beast followed him, sniffing the air as it went.

 

Then I am free?

 

“Well, sorta,” Adrian shrugged. “There’s not really an exit that way, just another room and a dead end. The only way out is through that door, which is why we needed to get through here.” He shrugged. “You’re more than welcome to join us.”

 

The beautiful creature turned its crystalline blue eyes upon Neena and she winced again. You are sure I will not come to any harm?

 

“Yes,” she whispered. “We…I won’t do anything, I promise.”

 

The eyes seemed to smile. That is a good thing, then.

 

“A very good thing.” Neena looked up at Olidammara’s voice and found him standing next Adrian, who gave him a disappointed shake of the head.

 

“You oughta be ashamed,” Adrian said, half smirking. “Putting the pretty pony in here like that…! Bad god…no biscuit!”

 

Olidammara chuckled. “Not so bad, really, just testing you.” He looked Neena over and added, “There’s still a little warmth left in you yet, Neena…surprising. I thought the assassin’s guild had weaned that out of you years ago.” She gave him a weak frown, but said nothing. It had been way too close a call to quibble about now.

 

“So did we pass?” Adrian asked.

 

”You pass. Ready to go?” he said, this time speaking to the silvery beast. It nodded, nuzzling both Neena and Adrian as it passed them. She felt a huge sense of relief, but still found herself puzzled.

 

“Wait! What would have happened if…” Neena began.

 

“You’d stabbed the pretty pony?” Olidammara said. “Well, I’dve been a bit disappointed. I’dve brought it back to life and taken the two of you out of here.”

 

“Taken us out of here? As in, taken us home?” The god nodded and Adrian began to look confused himself. “So…we did bad or good?”

 

“Well, I guess that all depends on how you feel about what’s on the other side of that door,” the god said, his smirk identical to Adrian’s previous one as he pointed to the other side of the room.

 

Neena frowned. “So, we coulda gone HOME if…” But he was already gone. “See, I KNEW we should’ve STABBED it!” she raged, furious at being toyed with.

 

“Oh, come on, Mothwing,” Adrian chuckled. “Y’know what’s on the other side of that door? Me and you getting to do some more adventuring. And I’m feeling pretty good about that. I mean, we used to do this stuff all the time before the kids.”

 

“Yes, ages ago…that’s the whole POINT!” she exploded. “I’m HAPPY not having to run around trying to grab gems out of ancient idols or gold out of trapped chests or owlbear claws out of your leg and guards’ arrows out of my shoulder and…”

 

“Neena, you HATE getting soft,” he reminded her, kindly not pointing out that she was lying to his face. “You’re always talking about how we’ve gotta stay alert and in shape and how we never DO any dungeon crawling anymore.”

 

She knew this was true, but wasn’t ready to concede the point. “Well, it’s not like I STILL don’t have to take on the hard stuff, anyway,” she muttered, then stopped, folding her arms to prevent herself from saying more things she was going to regret. Adrian certainly couldn’t help being softhearted with their children. His life hadn’t been nearly as difficult as hers and she knew deep down that she loved him for being the lighthearted man he was.

 

He sighed and came over to her, kneeling down and taking her hands. “Look, I know I’m not the most serious guy in the world and that’s made it so you’ve had to do a lot of ugly stuff and not just here. If I laid down a little more law at home, you wouldn’t HAVE to be this big buzz kill. But, if I took everything as seriously as you, there’d be no balance at all in our lives and we might be feeling REALLY bad about ourselves over the death of that creature. I’m not that evil and neither are you, despite what you think.” He put a hand on her cheek and she found it hard to keep back tears.

 

“NOW you’re being serious?” she demanded, her intended sharpness coming out more like a wail.

 

 “And at LAST the ice queen melts,” he grinned, wiping a tear from her face. “Now, I promise to get a little more serious about stuff if you’ll promise to trust me a little more when I say LIGHTEN UP. Okay?” She nodded in response and he stood up. “Okay, then….next door?”

 

“Next door,” she agreed, drying her face and walking over to examine the door at the far end of the room…

 

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