Sprite

“What is this place?” Rellan glanced down the debris-strewn path towards the clearing where the woodcutters still worked feverishly cutting down trees. He set Norah on her feet and stepped back. His face showed the distaste he felt for the ravaged woods. “What have you done?”

“Me! I didn’t do anything!”

Norah tried to back away without being obvious about it. She was very aware of the hunter who was still searching for her in the direction of the river, and she was running out of options.

“You hold the land.” Rellan said it like it was a fact. Norah still didn’t know what that meant. “Yet you let the humans destroy it.”

“I didn’t! They did that all by themselves!” Norah protested. “I didn’t even know about it!”

Rellan raised a perfect eyebrow. “So you did not just command them to keep on destroying the forest?”

Norah flushed. It wasn’t like that. She’d been trying to get away. She glanced at the broken tree limbs strewn all around her. What else could she have done?

“Come with me.” Rellan moved to take her arm and Norah jumped back, grabbing the blood-red pendant which swung between her breasts. If ever she needed help, now was the time.

“Breyan!” Norah screamed as Rellan advanced on her. His eyes narrowed as he spied the pendant she clutched desperately. Reaching forward, he yanked the pendant out of her grasp, breaking the string of Breyan’s hair which held it around her neck.

“We’ll have none of that,” Rellan purred, tossing the red stone into the dirt.

Her cries had brought the hunter, Sam, too. He burst through the underbrush and pointed his gun at Rellan, who flicked him a contemptuous glance. Immediately, Sam fell to the ground and stared, frozen, at the open sky above him.

Grabbing Norah by the arm, Rellan hauled her back towards the clearing, heedless of the hunter who lay as if dead on the bare ground.

“No,” Norah whispered, knowing what was to come. Humans could not resist the bright fae’s glamour. They would fall, as Sam had fallen, and if no one came along to wake them up from the trance, as Breyan had done for Pup, then they would die where they lay. “Breyan,” she whispered brokenly, trying to look behind her to see where her pendant had fallen.

But Rellan dragged her resolutely forward, and she watched the unwary humans drop like flies. Rellan walked among them, kicking savagely at their metal implements, careful not to actually touch the hated iron. All the while he held onto Norah’s arm, making her an unwilling witness to his vengeance. Once the humans were divested of their iron, Rellan methodically slew them one by one as they lay in a frozen stupor among the trees they had desecrated.

“Stop!” cried Norah, horrified as he killed one after another. These were not hunters—these were townsmen, crafters, builders. They had lives and families to return to once their job was done.

Rellan paused, turning to gaze at Norah with eyes that changed color from green to blue to black. There was no anger in his gaze, no emotion at all save possibly contempt. “You did nothing, so I took care of it,” he said, turning back to his task. But there were none left alive. The woodcutter who had lusted after Norah now lay in a widening pool of his own blood. Blood soaked the bare earth all around the clearing. “Fair recompense,” Rellan muttered, dragging her away.

“Where are we going?” Norah asked faintly as Rellan dragged her back the way they had come, away from the water. She hated herself for being so weak. First the hunter; now Rellan had easily captured her. And her with not a stitch of clothing on! Not that Rellan took any notice at the moment. He acted as though she were an annoyance he barely tolerated. She probably was, but . . . “Why did you come after me?”

Without bothering to answer, Rellan flung Norah ahead of him so that she had to catch herself on her palms as she tumbled to the forest floor. Norah scrambled to face him, half-fearing his intent. “Make a gateway. I don’t care how. By blood or--,” He loomed threateningly over her and Norah had to wonder how he could look so beautiful and so terrifying at the same time.

“I—I don’t know how--,” she began, watching his eyes narrow dangerously. “Why do you need my help? How did you get here if not by a gateway?”

“Liar!” Rellan raised his arm, in which his knife had suddenly reappeared, and Norah cringed against the ground, scrabbling backwards. He meant to spill her blood to open a gateway, as he had threatened back at Black Pond.

“Rellan.”

Rellan whirled, knife in hand, to see the Lady Anais at his back, clad in only her own glorious hair and one other thing: she held a bow leveled at Rellan’s heart. Beside her stood Valin, still dressed in human garb, his violet eyes blazing—and Breyan, armed with a second bow and a grim expression.

Rellan dropped his knife and came towards them with open arms, leaving Norah forgotten in the dirt. “Anais. At last. Valin.” He ignored Breyan. Rellan’s voice had taken on that same melodious quality which had so captivated Norah the first time she had met him. It hardened when he spoke his brother’s name, but was still musical. “I see this girl was telling the truth, then. You do still hold the land. I am glad.” Rellan made to move forward, but both Anais and Breyan brought their bows up in challenge, and he stopped.

“You are not welcome here, Rellan,” Anais said. “Why have you come?”

Norah blinked. No word about her, about her plight? Surely they had come in response to her call. Hadn’t they? She looked up at Breyan, who stood menacingly with the other two sprites.

‘Of course I came for you,’ Breyan sent, though his face did not change by as much as a flicker.

Rellan smiled. “I thought, when the ways opened once more, it was your doing, that you had forgiven me and changed your mind.” His eyes narrowed to slits as he transferred his gaze to Valin. “But I see now you still prefer my half-brother. Ah, well,” Rellan turned so he could look at Norah while still keeping the other three sprites in view. “Perhaps I’ll just keep this little one after all.”

Breyan growled.

‘Steady, Breyan,’ Valin sent warningly. ‘He means to antagonize us.’

“Leave the child alone,” Anais said. “She is not for you.”

Norah slowly picked herself up, brushing off the dirt which clung to her webbing. She gathered her hair around her and carefully edged in a wide circle around Rellan to stand behind Breyan. ‘I lost the pendant you gave me,’ she sent, glad to have this silent form of communication that Rellan was no part of. What he was, she wasn’t, and she was glad of it.

‘You didn’t lose it,’ Breyan sent back, flashing her a brief glimpse of the red stone he carried in one palm—the one that pulled the bowstring back taut.

Norah closed her eyes, unaccountably relieved. The stone was something Breyan had given her, and for that reason, rather than its attribute as a beacon, she had regretted its loss.

Rellan bowed to Anais. “Am I not to have either of you then? Is this--,” his eyes raked Breyan coldly, “—sprite to have her instead? Girl,” Rellan looked directly at Norah. “I’m offering you the realms of the bright fae, to rule at my side.”

“And in exchange?” Valin stepped forward to confront his brother. “What do you ask in exchange?”

Rellan smiled his frightening smile. “You know what I want, what I’ve always wanted. Access to all the land which, by rights, should be mine!”

“Not fair Anais?” Valin taunted. “Not our beautiful Norah?” He laughed. “What makes you think Norah would give you the land any more than Anais would? We know your kind. You have no real feelings in that heart of yours. Only avarice. Go back to your bright realm, brother, and welcome to it! You are not wanted in the mortal realm or in Anais’ fair realm either. Leave our kind alone.”

“Your kind!” Rellan spat. “Mongrels and misfits. You don’t have a kind. I would have given you—all of you—a place in my kingdom.”

“Go.” Implacable, Anais turned her green eyes upon Rellan.

“You can’t make me. The ways to the mortal lands are open once more. You cannot stop me from coming here.”

“No, I cannot. I did not open those ways. I can only bar you from our world.”

“Anais--.” Rellan’s voice broke in anguish. He had not, after all, been entirely truthful. The aloof bright fae truly did yearn for more than just the sprite’s fair realm. Rellan loved Anais—and Anais loved Rellan, too. Norah saw it in the tortured looks they both cast each other. But that did not stop the Lady from doing what was needful.

“My granddaughter can bar you from this world as well, if that is her wish.” Anais smiled fondly at Norah.

‘What!’ Norah stared at the Lady in shock.

“This girl? Look what she has let happen to the land,” Rellan said. “She may have the power to send me back, but for how long? She holds the land at your sufferance.”

Anais lowered her bow and walked steadily towards Rellan. Her free hand came up to caress his face. “That’s not true. Norah holds the land because she is the land. From the moment of her conception my tie to this realm was weakened, and that is as it should be.” She gently kissed Rellan’s cheek and went back to stand by Valin’s side. Valin put his arm around her waist.

“Anais—no. You can’t leave!”

Smiling, Anais shook her head. “I’ve no intention of fading away, my dear Rellan. I still hold faerie, and I will do so until our Norah is ready to assume that mantle as well. But she controls the borders between our world and this one, so it is she whom you must ask if you wish to remain.”

Resigned, Rellan turned to Norah. “Will you allow these gates, at least, to remain open? I should like to stay.”

“No,” Norah said firmly, although to Anais she sent, ‘But I don’t know how! What do I do?’

‘No is enough,’ Anais sent. ‘The land will know your intent.’

“No,” Norah repeated, staring Rellan in the eye. “You destroyed those men as easily as they destroyed the trees. Trees can grow again, and I promise you that I will make sure they do. But you don’t belong in the mortal world. You’re too cruel.”

Taken aback by Norah’s bluntness, Rellan shook his head. “I don’t understand.”

“I know,” Norah said sadly. Rellan was beautiful. Anais had loved him once, still did, it seemed. Yet he did not belong here. “Go home, Rellan.”

As quickly as that, he disappeared. Norah sagged against Breyan’s back as he finally lowered his bow. ‘Did I do that?’ she asked in surprise.

Anais laughed softly. ‘No, he took you at your word and returned to his own realm. But I don’t think he will find his way back here so easily. You have told him No, and that will hold him.’

There was still so much Norah did not understand. She shivered, glancing back towards where the unfortunate woodcutters lay dead. She would have to let her father know what had happened here. He would know what to do about it.

Valin caught her thought. ‘Your father should have been watching you.’

She’d meant Jim, not Neistah, but Valin was making a point. Neistah was her father. Norah had to get used to that. Whatever else she was, she was a sprite thanks to Neistah.

Breyan murmured in her ear, “I’m glad you are a sprite. Yes, let’s definitely thank Neistah.”

Norah smiled, not even offended that her thoughts were so transparent. She felt at home with these people. Her nakedness did not bother her as it did in front of humans or even Rellan. It was natural; it was part of who she was.

Breyan caught her around the waist and swung her around for a kiss. ‘I’m glad you’re naked, too,’ he sent laughingly, and Norah pushed him away, but she didn’t mean it. He caught her arm, pulling her back, and gently plucked a golden brown hair from his head, which he threaded through the tiny eye at the top of the teardrop pendant, and tied it around Norah’s neck. ‘This is where it belongs,’ he sent, watching the stone nestle within the hollow of her breasts.

Norah smiled gratefully, content to let Breyan hold her. Anais and Valin walked back to the dead mortals, but there was nothing they could do. ‘Valin, return to Hanan lands with Norah, and inform them of what has happened here. Norah is right—this is for humans to take care of.’

Norah looked up at Breyan in dismay. They were to be separated again? But why?

‘Nothing has changed, Norah. You must find your own way. Valin may be able to answer some of your questions, but most of it you’ll have to figure out on your own. The reason you hold the land here is because of who and what you are. What that means still remains to be seen.’ Anais gave her a soft kiss on the cheek in farewell.

Nodding glumly, Norah let go of Breyan. She still had the pendant. He would always come if she called. Breyan followed Anais away from the broken trees, and Valin shrugged out of his shirt, offering it to Norah. On her, it hung like a dress, but it covered her nakedness. “We’re walking back?” she asked, as the other two sprites disappeared from sight. Apparently, Valin did not have the same method of moving from place to place as his half-brother. He raised his eyebrows at her unspoken thought, but did not reply.

They passed the body of the hunter Sam, and Norah’s eyes widened as she saw the blood pooled beneath him. He had been entranced, but alive, the last time she saw him. Her eyes found Valin’s, disturbing in their own way. ‘Did Rellan--?’

Valin shrugged. ‘It’s a long way back. Be careful not to cut yourself on these branches. First lesson about gateways—you never want to make a blood gate if you can help it . . .’