The Sprite & the Fairyhunter:  Quality Time

 

Room 9 (The Hippogriff)

 

There wasn’t really a whole lot of point in telling Adrian. After all, he’d just pick at it and then it would get worse and drive both them crazy…

From the moment he’d had begun his rant entitled “Why St. Cuthbert Totally Rocks” and begun with “Reason 1: Does NOT sleep with all female members my family!”, Neena had sensed there was a little more to all this. Her husband didn’t spend this much time being angry unless he was REALLY worried about something. Oh, he was always mildly irritated by the fact that Olidammara had once had a pretty intimate relationship with her and was having a fairly torrid fling with Adrian’s sister, but Neena suspected he was secretly proud of the fact. For him to spend this much time on it again meant something more was up.

She figured it out as she was examining the next door. If Adrian had been this unnerved by the conversation, then Olidammara must have either really teased him, really worried him, or both. She couldn’t picture just simple teasing being enough to set him off, so the second option came into focus.

Was Olidammara not in control of their immediate fate anymore?

“We’re not getting out of here, are we?” she asked quietly, so quietly that she was sure he hadn’t heard.

Miraculously, his shouts were immediately silenced. “He didn’t say that,” Adrian muttered.

“But you must have thought he meant that or you wouldn’t be this worried,” she replied, not turning from the doorway.

Adrian paused. “He was tuning my lute.” Oh, gods, she thought. That’s never good. Adrian sighed and told the rest of it, ending with: “He said he just couldn’t tell us what was up, but that he wasn’t going to let us go in without some protection.”

“And what did he give you?”

“Um, A rundown on all our defenses, plus the news about my mom.”

“He’s kidding, you know.”

“Yeah, well, STILL…!”

“Let it GO!” He frowned and they both grew silent. Don’t tell him, she thought to herself. Don’t tell him you’re worried about him tripping into the next monster and dying because his deity might not be able to provide him with the luck to trip into said monster and come up the winner. Don’t tell him you’re actually afraid his luck has run out in the WORST possible place. He’ll just pick at it and pick at it until he’s too nervous to do anything...

“We’re gonna be fine,” he said, reaching to pull her into a hug.

“I know,” she said, hugging him back. Because I will personally make sure of it, she thought to herself. “Door’s open.”

“Then let’s go forth, Sally,” he grinned crookedly, reaching for his bow. She shook her head…despite the many times she’d heard it, she still had no idea why he found it so funny…

Seconds later, he was sending two arrows into the room to the sound of enraged squawking. He stepped back smoothly and she found herself transfixed. The beast came directly at him, swiping a claw across his chest while beating its wings furiously. Another claw raked past him, barely missing, and her heart was in her throat. What if…?

Without thinking, the magic left her hands and flew into the beast’s rump, causing it to falter heavily. Before it could turn on her, Adrian threw down the bow and plunged his thinblade into it. With speed even she couldn’t detect, a second blow removed the birdlike head from the feline body. She stared at the body as it hit the floor, not sure what to do next, but not sure how to look away…

“Mothwing?”

Neena found herself breathing hard, as if she’d personally attacked. Her eyes hurt and she realized how hard she’d been staring. She turned to face her husband with a bewildered look. “Huh?”

“Did you…zap that thing?” He peered down into her face with a cross between worry and amusement on his face. “I mean, you HATE using magic…”

“What? No!”

“Okay, let me rephrase that…you ZAPPED that thing!”

“I did not!”

“Honey, I saw the magic leave your hands…”

“I…”

“Honey, I SAW the magic leave your HANDS…” he repeated loudly, making sure his eyes met hers to prevent protest. He searched her face and she felt distinctly uncomfortable as the dawn of comprehension crossed his face. “You were really worried about me!”

She shook him off and stormed toward the next door angrily. “So I let a little magic go…so what?”

Without a word, he came up behind her and put his arms around her. She stood stock still staring at the door in anguish. Finally, she tried to explain. “I just…”

“Don’t really know what I can do without luck, I know. The thought has already crossed my mind more times than I can count. In fact, if I thought a lot about that, I could get pretty upset. So, I’m just not gonna think a lot about that.”

She gave a wry chuckle. “That easy, huh?”

“That easy when you stay busy,” he replied. “Next door?”

With a deep sigh, she steeled herself again. If he could be strong, so could she. “Next door,” she replied.

 

 

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