Sprite

Pup leaned back in satisfaction, keeping a sharp eye on the soldiers massed below him. The leader, Marks, had finally dismounted. He watched as the hunters who had lost track of him pushed their way to the front to report their failure.

“One task, one task I gave you,” Marks said through gritted teeth. “And you let the mutant escape. I never should have let Atwater talk me into taking your group with me. You don’t know how to follow orders.”

The hunter who had been responsible for Pup huffed in indignation at Marks’ censure. “I told you we shouldn’t have taken the irons off him. Nothing else holds those creatures.”

Marks stared down the unruly man, hard to do since the gruff hunter towered over him, but the leader managed it. “You let him get away,” he reiterated, and the hunter backed down, turning away with a muttered curse. “Find him!” Marks called after him.

In the tree, Pup smothered a laugh, which quickly turned into a frown as the more canny hunters peered upwards trying to see through the branches. The soldiers had stopped on the main roadway, little more than a wagon path, but it led directly to Hanan’s seldom-used southern gate. With any luck, the Sprite Pup had sent ahead had by now alerted Hanan’s men and they would be massing at the gate to stop the intruders. Pup had done all he could. He ought to leave and join up with Hanan’s men before he got caught for real.

“There he is!”

Pup froze as a hundred eyes swiveled up trying to catch a glimpse of him. When the first silver ball of metal flashed by him, nearly winging his shoulder as the soldiers fired wildly into the branches, he scrambled forward. Being spotted while moving was a much better option than keeping still and hoping that a random bullet wouldn’t find him. Pup swung away from the main path, hoping that the dense brush below would hinder his pursuers—or perhaps not. He slowed down so they had a chance to catch up, shaking the branches a little to reveal his general position. When a gunshot echoed, he moved quickly forward again. Perhaps being spotted was not such a bad thing. The hunters floundered after him en masse, enraged that a mutant had the temerity to escape them. If they were chasing him, then they were not moving towards the southern gate! Pup was fairly confident he could keep well ahead of them.

Occasionally another bullet whizzed by, shot by the more experienced hunters who had had no trouble navigating the overgrown paths of the forest. At least fifty of the main force had plunged after them, leaving the leader, Marks, with only half his original force. Pup smiled in satisfaction.

He put on a burst of speed. This is what he and his Sprites were famous for—luring hunters into the depths of the forest. The experienced hunters knew it, too. They raced below him with one eye to the side watching for possible allies who might lie hidden in the brush. Unfortunately, Pup had no one but himself this time to pull off the trick. He spotted a faint glint of water in the distance and headed towards it, playing to the hunters’ superstitions. Let them think he was a magical sprite, and not just a mutant as Marks evidently believed.

As he got closer he slowed, recognizing the pond, or rather, twin ponds that shone ahead of him. One looked normal enough, but the other was shrouded in fog although the day was bright with dappled sunlight slicing down through the trees. Pup slowed down, suddenly unsure if coming to this particular pond was wise.

A shot rang out and Pup grunted, tumbling out of the trees to land half-in and half-out of the nearer pond. Blood spread out in a wide circle on the water.

X x X x X x X x X x X

“What was that?” Norah pulled her hand from Breyan’s, pausing to listen.

Breyan shook his head. -It came from that direction.- He sent a quick query up ahead to Neistah who had kept pace with Avery on his horse. -Neistah says to go find out. Shall we?-

Norah hesitated. She wanted to be with Avery when he confronted the intruders, but she had a bad feeling about the noise she had just heard. It had sounded like a gunshot. -Yes. Neistah, take care of my grandfather,- she sent, reassured by his amused consent.

They moved at an angle to the road, Norah grateful she was wearing her long sleeves as bushes snagged her hair and clothes at every step. Her unease grew the farther they moved from the road and Breyan, sensing it, moved them faster, his steps sure and silent despite the heavy undergrowth. After a long while, he pulled her to a stop, putting a finger on her lips when Norah started to speak. -We’re not alone,- he cautioned. Norah nodded, eyes wide, and followed Breyan’s lead as he moved quietly ahead.

Norah heard the men long before she saw them. There were a lot of them, too many for this dense piece of forest. Had the scout who had given them Pup’s message been wrong? Was Atwater’s army here instead of on the south road where Neistah and Avery were now headed?

Breyan looked at her, the same doubt in his mind. -Careful, - was all he said as they crept closer. There was no question of going back to find Neistah and Avery first.

Men’s voices were raised in argument. Norah and Breyan could sense water up ahead, and Norah sensed a subtle wrongness about it, a shifting that usually indicated the presence of a gateway, but this was like none she had ever felt before. -Do you feel it?- she asked Breyan.

He nodded. -It’s Neistah’s pond—and Valin’s. What are humans doing here? It isn’t safe.-

-Because there’s a gate?- Norah asked, remembering her lessons on gateways. Humans could fall through a blood gate because blood gates tore great rents in the fabric of the universes for the short time before they stabilized. They usually did not survive the trip, and their very blood damaged faerie as well.

-Not a blood gate,- Breyan replied absently, his attention focused on the humans gathered by Neistah’s pond. -What are they looking at?- He stiffened as he saw the body lying partially submerged in the water when one of the humans squatted down and prodded it with his hands.

“Don’t touch him! He’s a Sprite, he’ll drag you under the water!”

Norah and Breyan looked at each other. -Wait here,- Breyan sent, dumping his bag and springing up to weave among the humans before any of them even registered his presence. He slid into the water and solved the problem for the indecisive humans. Moving with inhuman speed, he dragged the body the rest of the way under the water just as the humans had predicted—only it wasn’t the Sprite they had thought. Blood poured from a wound in his side, slowed only a little by the cold water. Breyan didn’t want to even think the man’s name, for if he did . . . .

“Pup!” Norah’s horrified scream cut across vocal and subvocal bands. A silence, and then a splash, and a very naked Norah swam into Breyan’s view. He had been holding Pup’s nose above water near the far end of Neistah’s pond, uncomfortably close to where it joined Valin’s. Mist seeped across the narrow channel that connected the two ponds.

As had happened before, each and every human within hearing range of Norah’s voice had frozen into immobility. Breyan breathed a sigh of relief. They were safe for the moment. -Here, hold him to you and breathe for him. The water helps his wound.-

Norah tenderly took Pup from Breyan and molded her mouth to his. She spiraled down with Pup in her arms to gently cradle him at the bottom of the pond.

Norah had frozen fifty men. If she left them like that, they would all eventually die of starvation. Breyan swam slowly to the bank where the humans lay, felled like logs where they stood. Of course, if Norah let her attention lapse, they would all come back to themselves and start firing their iron missiles into the pond. Breyan shuddered as he thought of the iron bullet tearing through Pup’s flesh. It did not matter if Pup was immune to the iron sickness. The missile had done its damage anyway. Breyan suddenly made up his mind; he would not even tell Norah about the soldiers. As long as a thread of her will kept them frozen as they now were, Breyan was happy to leave them to their just fate. He had a feeling that Norah could have stopped Atwater’s entire army in exactly the same fashion if she had the desire to do so. She was that powerful.

Breyan swam back to Norah. Her tears washed away in ribbons like Pup’s blood. Pup lay pale and still in her arms, although she drove breath after breath into his lungs. -Is he gone?- she asked Breyan as he circled tightly around them both. She couldn’t tell.

-He still lives,- Breyan said, spying the minute movement of Pup’s chest. -But he’s lost so much blood. I don’t know if he will survive much longer. We should get him to land.-

-I’ll kill them all!- Norah sent viciously, making Breyan realize that she had known all along what she had done to those soldiers. -Hunters,- she spat.

Breyan didn’t argue. He moved beside Norah, helping to support Pup as she continued to breathe for him until they hit the surface. He lifted Pup carefully out of the water near the spot where the two ponds joined. Norah had deliberately avoided going to where the humans lay unmoving. A thick fog enveloped the air and Breyan cast an anxious glance at Valin’s pond, nearly invisible in the shrouding mist. Neistah had warned him of it—and where it led.

Norah made a bed of pine needles and soft fragrant leaves while Breyan left to fetch his bag and Norah’s discarded clothes. She tore her shirt in strips to wrap around Pup’s wound. He still had not opened his eyes, although she could hear his shallow, rapid breath now. -That isn’t good, is it?- she sent to Breyan, all the while her eyes remained on Pup’s pale face.

Breyan shook his head. -No.-

Tears flowed down Norah’s cheeks as she repeatedly pushed Pup’s hair away from his face. -It’s not fair,- she sent unhappily. -You all say I hold the land, and I couldn’t even stop this.-

Breyan wisely didn’t mention the fifty frozen humans across the pond.

-I wish Anais were here,- Norah continued. -She would know what to do. I’m not ready to take her place.-

Breyan’s eyes widened at Norah’s words. Words had power. She should know that by now. The trees stirred as the fog lifted and Valin’s pond slowly cleared. A pulse of power made Norah look up in surprise. Twin shadows streaked across the lightening pond to coalesce into recognizable shapes by the time they reached Norah, Breyan and Pup on the opposite shore.

Norah stared, aghast. “I thought you were dead!” she shouted out loud.

Anais lay her hand in her consort’s as they stepped onto the land. -Dead?- she sent quizzically.

-What gave you that idea?-

Breyan coughed, and Anais turned to him with a frown. Valin glared at him. -I was only teasing,- Breyan protested. -I thought she knew. I told her we don’t die,- he added lamely, knowing it wasn’t enough. He looked beyond Anais and Valin to the now still pond. -Is—er—will anyone else be joining us?-

Anais ignored Breyan as she swept past him to kneel by Norah’s side. -Oh, the poor thing. This is your human lover, isn’t he?- She lay her hands on Pup’s chest. -So much blood lost . . . so little time . . - She looked at Norah. -You want him to remain in this world a little longer? Put your hands here, like mine.- She waited until Norah mirrored her actions. -Now, tell him.-

“Stay with me, Pup,” Norah whispered. “Don’t leave. It’s too soon. Don’t leave me.” Her tears fell hot onto her hands where they pressed against his chest, and trickled down to wet the skin beneath. Norah felt a stirring under her fingertips and she looked down to see Pup watching her, an amazed expression on his pinched face. Her startled laugh turned into a sob of relief, and she bent down to touch her lips to his. Pup smiled and his eyes drifted shut as he fell into a natural sleep.

Norah turned to Anais. -Thank you,- she sent, moving to give Anais a hug. -I still can’t believe you are here! And I’m so glad you’re alive—both of you!-

-Because of you, we can finally make peace with my brother. We did not die, but we have gone to the bright fae realm to be with Rellan.-

-Rellan!- Norah found that hard to believe. -But he is so—so—evil!-

-Not in his heart,- Anais said. -He is different—as different as sprites are from humans perhaps—but no worse, and no better either. I love him. I’ve missed him.- She smiled at Breyan. -And no, Rellan will not be joining us in the mortal world. Norah has still banished him, and the gate we use is beyond his powers. He cannot cross the waters as we sprites can.- Her eyes twinkled merrily.

-Will you stay here for a while?- Norah asked.

-Dearest grandchild, we will always answer if you call, but you do not need us. You hold the land now. Be gentle, be firm, and do what you think best for all your people.-

Valin and Anais both hugged her, and then they hugged Breyan too, startling the sprite badly. They laughed, and Breyan reddened.

“What are we going to do now?” Norah asked after the two sprites had gone back to the bright fae realm. “Pup is still too weak to be moved, and we have to get back to my grandfather before he does something to make this whole situation even worse.” Her eyes drifted to the helpless men across the pond. -I can’t leave them like that, can I?-

Breyan shrugged. -Maybe not forever,- he said with a wry grin. -But for a day or two . . .-

Norah grinned back. -For a day or two,- she agreed, reaching down to stroke the hair away from Pup’s face. -Will you stay with him? I need to go back to my grandfather and settle this.-

-Is that your wish, my Lady?- Breyan asked, smiling though his tone was serious.

-It is.-

-Then you’d better put your gown on. Humans are a bit touchy about things like that.-