Sprite

Two hours later the mutant boy was awakened by a violent kick to his ribs. He rolled up into a crouch, holding his side as he glared at the newcomers. From beneath the dark water three sets of eyes watched unblinkingly.

“You got something for us, freak?” One of the newcomers, a scruffy-looking hunter, sneered as he loomed over the cowering mutant.

“I’m supposed to talk to Councilman Atwater,” the boy mumbled under his breath.

The hunters exchanged glances, and the one who had kicked the mutant spoke. “The Councilman doesn’t have time to speak to the likes of you.” He grinned, showing rotted teeth. “He sent me instead.”

“So stop wasting our time, freak,” said the other hunter. “Tell us what you know.”

The mutant hesitated, glancing once back at his rowboat. He took a deep breath and began speaking, telling the hunters about Pup, and about the rendezvous with Pup’s Sprite friends. The hunters questioned him sharply, making him describe the Sprites over and over before they were satisfied. “So you’ve only got three of them?” The first hunter raised his boot and the mutant boy scuttled back towards the river. “That’s the big news?”

The boy nodded, speaking rapidly as both hunters rounded on him. “They can lead us to the others. They know things.”

“You’d better hope so.” The hunters took turns kicking him before they dragged his boat back into the river and let it fill up with water. They left, laughing as the mutant writhed on the ground.

-Should we go help him?- Norah sent as the hunters voices faded.

-Why? He’s not dead. We should follow the hunters instead.- Neistah rose from the water and glided past the boy, his eyes on the path the hunters had taken.

Norah knelt by the boy, a vision in water droplets and wine dark hair.

-Leave him,- Breyan sent, taking her hand. Reluctantly, she stood. At least the boy was breathing easier. She followed Breyan into the forest, leaving the mutant boy staring after her doubting the evidence of his own eyes.

The hunters headed north towards Datro, stopping briefly at another way camp where more hunters gathered, awaiting further directions. But from whom? Neistah decided to follow them to their source. -You two go back and warn Pup,- he sent. Datro’s iron would just weaken Breyan, and his first duty must be to the Lady in any case.

When Norah would have argued, Breyan took her arm and steered her back the way they had come. The mutant boy was just getting to his feet. He stumbled to the river just as they got back. Norah and Breyan slipped into the water and watched him futilely attempt to salvage his sunken rowboat before turning away to follow the course of the river on foot.

-We have to help him,- Norah sent when Breyan would have swum away.

-Is that your wish?-

Norah nodded. The boy was headed back to Pup also. They could follow him from the water and make sure he didn’t get into any trouble.

He didn’t make it as far on foot as he had in the rowboat, and when it got too dark to see, he stopped to make camp for the night. He did not light a fire, which was prudent as far as Breyan was concerned. Perhaps he didn’t have the means. Hours later, he fell into a fitful sleep, his back braced against a tree trunk.

Norah knelt beside the sleeping mutant. He really was very young, and had gotten a rude awakening when the hunters, whom he’d expected to be his allies in this, had beaten him instead of giving him his promised reward. Nothing had changed. Norah caught wisps of his dreams and reached out to stroke the fear-damp hair away from his forehead.

The boy started awake, his eyes going wide as he beheld the creature in front of him.

X x X x X x X x X x X x X

The hunters met with their masters in a small farmhouse just outside Datro. Neistah was just as glad they had not gone into the city proper. He could tolerate iron much more easily than could Breyan or Lara, but that didn’t mean he enjoyed it.

Neistah crouched in the bushes behind a barn and watched as two wagons stopped at the farmhouse, discharging passengers before moving on to pick up loads of vegetables and meat for the city markets. The hunters had already gone inside. Neistah needed to get closer. He had not seen Avery yet, which bore out what Pup had reported. But then, who were these other city councilmen and what was their interest in the forest, besides greed? Why send a group of mutant children out alone to lure the established changelings out for these hunters?

“You what?” One of the councilmen raised his voice. “Did you at least kill him then? We can’t have him get back to the others and tell them what you’ve done.”

Neistah strained to hear the hunter’s answer, putting a little power behind it, but these humans were too weak to broadcast their thoughts so clearly. The voices subsided to a murmur once more. Neistah crept a little closer.

The farmers, whose house had been usurped for this meeting, were busy loading up the wagons. Even the woman had been sent away after she laid out refreshments for the visiting dignitaries. Neistah heard her muttering to herself as she went about her daily chores in the barn. She was not happy; she thought the dignitaries from Datro had no business interfering in their lives. She had a mutant grandchild whom she’d sent out into the fields when the hunters first arrived and worried that he would be discovered and taken away from them.

Neistah entered the farmhouse through an open window in the back of the house. He could hear the voices clearly now. There were three councilmen besides the two hunters, and it became evident that they had no intention of letting Avery get all the benefits from colonizing the vast empty regions of forest. This experiment with a group of mutants, gullible and expendable, would hopefully net them some of the famed Sprites that were said to roam the forest. These Sprites, rumor had it, had mysterious powers. If the council could control them, they would control the forest. Why should Avery be the only one to profit?

Neistah felt his blood run cold. They were talking about sprites—his people—Lara, Valin, Leane, Breyan, Norah. Especially Norah. They must have heard about Avery’s obsession, maybe even about his own capture and escape. Through his own arrogance, he had allowed himself to be seen far too many times in this world. Now Norah might have to pay the price.

So would his Sprites, his human changelings who followed his example. The human hunters were still unsure of the differences between them, and his changeling Sprites would inevitably pay the price as well.

“The men are all in place?”

Neistah stopped short in the act of moving into sight with the intention of capturing them all with his gaze. Killing these men would not end it. He had no way of knowing if these three were the only council members involved, if Datro was the only City involved. He listened.

“They are set to march to the site where we set up the mutants. We sent scouts ahead. They should be there now.”

Norah, Neistah thought. Breyan.

X x X x X x X x X x X x X

Breyan caught Norah around the waist and spun her away from the mutant boy. -I thought we were keeping our distance,- he sent mildly. The boy, meanwhile, had scrambled to his feet and looked as if he were about to bolt.

“We won’t hurt you,” Breyan said, and then, as an afterthought he added, “although we should. Sit down, boy. What is your name?”

The boy sat, although his whole body shook. Norah reached out to touch him once more and the boy jerked back from her. “Stay away from me,” he spat. “What are you?”

Norah, clothed in her own glorious hair and nothing else, did not reply but her body spoke for itself. The boy stared at the delicate webbing behind her ears and between her fingers, and saw the same webbing on Breyan, and he began to tremble even more violently. Breyan grinned, revealing teeth just a little too sharp, and replied, “I think you know, Billy,” plucking the boy’s name right out of his head. “We’re sprites.”

Breyan caught fishes from the river, and laid a small fire in a pit lined with river rocks. He placed the fish on the rocks and covered the whole thing with wide leaves, letting the smoke cook the fish. “Eat,” he told the boy. “We need to get back to your village quickly, and you’ll need your strength to hold on.”

“Hold on?” The boy was hungry enough to forget his initial fear of the two sprites, but he paused in the middle of eating to look at Breyan warily. Breyan grinned, and that was enough to make Billy look away again. He looked at the girl sprite, Norah. She was easier to look at. She was kind, too, like an angel.

They buried the remains of Billy’s meal and walked on towards the river. The sun was just coming up, and mist rose from the river, turning it an insubstantial gray. Much to Billy’s horror, Norah slid into the water, disappearing completely for several seconds before her head reappeared. Then Breyan stepped towards the water. Billy, finally understanding what they wanted of him, shook his head over and over. “No, no. I’m not getting in there . . .” He trailed off before he could blurt out the rest of his sentence—with you.

Breyan laughed, as if he had heard the unspoken part anyway. “Ah, but you are,” he said, darting back with inhuman swiftness and all but throwing Billy into the water. “It’s faster this way,” Breyan said, his inexorable grip dragging the terrified mutant under. “Close your mouth.”

-Breyan.- Norah circled around them under the water. Billy could see her there, an indistinct shape like a fish, but more graceful. She was beautiful. Suddenly he was free and flailing for the surface. He sucked in a great gulp of air as two sleek heads surfaced alongside him.

Breyan smiled ruefully. “It seems I frighten you,” he said. “Norah will carry you on her back. Now, hold on. If you fall off, then I get you again.” The gleam in his eyes was wicked.

Billy quickly put his arms around Norah’s neck, realized once again that she was naked, and almost let go before a mocking laugh from Breyan convinced him to hold on tighter. Norah moved off gently, encasing Billy in her long, flowing red hair. This, he could do.

X x X x X x X x X x X x X

Pup left the two changeling Sprites in charge of all but the mutants he had set up as lookouts around their very visible ‘village.’ They had the boys as well as the girls out learning how to navigate the nearby woods, teaching them what to do and what not to do in various situations.

Pup still carried Norah’s multi-colored gown with him in his pack. She would be looking for it when she returned from wherever it was she had gone with Breyan. With him, she could go where Pup could not follow, down into the cool depths of the water. It was only on land that she wore the gown, and only when she was trying to fit in with the rest of the humans. Pup smiled to himself. She was so exotic she would never pass for merely human, and he wouldn’t want her to. Sometimes he wished he was a sprite like Breyan, or even a changeling one like Andy, so he could be with her in her underwater world. Norah would stagnate on land. She was only truly herself in the water. Pup realized that, and he could not begrudge her the time she spent there with Breyan. He took out the soft, silky material and inhaled the slight scent of Norah that still clung to it.

He froze at a slight sound to his left. Hunters, more than one. Melting into the trees the way Neistah had taught him, Pup trailed them back to the deserted mutant village. The hunters had almost made it when Pup attacked. He moved swiftly, taking out one hunter with a slash across his neck, and then throwing his knife at the other one before he could bring his gun up. He finished the second hunter off and faced the third, who by this time had his gun out and pointed straight at him. This would be tricky. He dove for the side just as the third hunter shot, the noise deafening in the silent forest. Unfortunately, Pup was certain it would bring other hunters as well as the rest of the mutants who were out with his Sprites.

And he was not out of danger himself quite yet. The man was aiming another shot at him, although he hesitated for some reason. That hesitation was enough to send Pup springing to his feet. He rushed the last hunter, tackling him around his knees while the man still held off shooting him. Pup knocked the gun out of the man’s hand and sat on him. “Why didn’t you shoot me?” he growled, putting a little weight onto the man’s chest.

The hunter’s eyes were round as saucers. “You’re one of them,” he whispered harshly. “A Sprite.”

Pup frowned. He reached over and picked up the gun where it lay on the ground. If anything, the hunter’s eyes widened even more. Pup began to suspect the hunter knew more than he should about sprites, and not Pup’s kind. “What do you know?” he demanded.

The man glanced at the gun Pup held casually pointed at him. “That’s supposed to burn you,” he said. “They said you Sprites couldn’t tolerate the touch of iron.”

Pup laughed. “Oh, how wrong you are,” he said, hoping to defuse that particular rumor which held much too closely to the truth. “You’ve been misled.”

The hunter’s shoulders sagged, and his whole body seemed to slump in on itself. Pup got off him and cautiously motioned him to his feet. He really should finish the job and kill this one too, but he had let it go too long.

“You’re too soft.” Breyan strode out of the woods, followed by a very nude Norah and---Billy More, the mutant who had left the village a few days ago. Breyan went up to the hunter and grabbed his chin, forcing the man to look into his eyes. “Tell this Sprite why you are here.”

The hunter gasped before his eyes glazed over and he began talking. “We came in advance of the main group of soldiers. They’re coming to get the Sprites.” His eyes flickered over Breyan in confusion. “Are you a Sprite too?”

Breyan’s lips twitched, but he stared intently at the hunter. “Go on. Why do you want Sprites?”

The hunter spoke mechanically as Breyan strengthened his silent command. “Sprites have powers. Whoever controls the Sprites controls the forest.”

“What powers?”

“They can swim underwater for great distances, and make people do anything they want. They’re strong, and maybe not even mutants. Maybe something else. We have to be careful, but we need to capture one so we can find out all that it can do.”

Breyan walked a short distance away, beckoning for the enthralled hunter to follow. “Come with me and I’ll show you what a sprite can really do.” Obediently the hunter followed Breyan.

-Are you going to kill him?- Norah sent. She had been silent during the entire exchange, and wasn’t sure whether she wanted Breyan to kill the hunter or not. She was relieved she didn’t have to make that choice.

Breyan grinned back at her. -I’m taking him for a swim,- he answered ambiguously, saving Norah from having to know for sure. Pup knew, he could tell. He gave a nod to the Sprite as he led the hunter past. Pup nodded back grimly.

After they left, Pup pulled out Norah’s filmy gown from his pack and handed it to her. He ignored Billy except to stare coldly at the boy for looking at Norah. “I thought you might want this back,” he said.

“Oh, Pup!” Norah, the gown clutched in her hand, rushed to Pup and threw her arms around him. “Thank you. I thought I’d lost it.”

She still hadn’t put it on. Pup gently put his hands on her shoulders and stepped back. Billy was there, and Breyan was just beyond the screen of the trees. “Norah,” he began, at a loss for words.

She kissed him. Pup closed his eyes and breathed in her scent.

X x X x X x X x X x X

Will dropped the two mutant spies at Earl’s village, quietly explaining to the older changeling why they were there. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of them,” Earl said, eying the two boys who waited nervously by a cooking fire. They walked back slowly to the fire. “Don’t you have a house to build?” he asked Will. “That woman of yours won’t be too happy if winter comes before she has her own place, I’m betting.”

Will laughed. “She has the baby to keep her occupied. And we still have a few weeks of good weather.”

Ronald, the older mutant, looked up. “A baby?” he asked. “You have a baby? How is that possible? You’re a mutant!”

Earl shoved him hard. “His woman’s not.” His eyes sought Will’s. “She’s not, is she? I know she told us she could read minds but that was just so we’d let her stay here and wait for you, wasn’t it?”

Will nodded. “That’s right. My wife doesn’t have a visible mutation, and yes, we have a daughter.”

“Is she--?”

“A mutant? Not that we can tell,” Will answered. “But even if she was, what difference does it make? You two don’t get it, do you? Here in the forest we don’t think the same way they do in Datro.”

The two boys exchanged glances. “Can we meet them? Your wife and daughter?”

“Not yet. Stay here with Earl’s people for a while. He has a lot he can teach you about living in the forest. After that, if Earl thinks you’re ready, we’ll see.” Will got up to go. “It’s not a bad life here,” he said in parting.

Earl shuffled after him to the edge of his newest hidden village. “I’ll send ’em out with a few of the Sprites Pup left with me. Let ’em get a taste of what hunters are really like. “Do you think they’ll change their minds and want to live in the forest for real?” He shuddered. “Even if Datro suddenly opened its arms and welcomed us back as their long-lost brothers, I don’t think I’d go back.”

Will nodded his agreement. “Me, either.”