Master Maker

Chapter 21 - Sprites

Lucis and I walked through the tree line, the leaves were all kinds of colors ranging from green to orange to red to brown. Amanda and Justin had made their way in front of us, every now and then Amanda would look back at me and smile. The other three that had joined us on the hag hunt had gone their own way. Lucis had thought it a good idea that we took it easy as we made our way to the next quest. My leg was half-healed and I wasn’t limping as much anymore. Lucis however used it as an excuse to have his arm around my waist holding me tightly to his side. The cuts down my arm and face had healed already although Lucis had brought up that I had a slight scar on my face now. hearing that, I thought of bringing the hag back to life and killing her again.  

“The last one, then we log off am I clear?” Lucis said half hugging me to him before he kissed my forehead

“fine” I smiled “but then I want something else” I smirked and pulled away from him and swished my hips side to side. He grabbed my arm and turned me so that I was facing him. I looked up at him from under my eyelashes

“don’t look at me like that little demon” Lucis warned

A roar cut through the air, I looked up to see Draco soaring through the cloudy sky

“what's his problem?” Justin’s voice made me jump

“stop sneaking around” I hissed at him, still looking up at Draco as he flew in a circle. I whistled and he started making his way down to where we were. He extended his wing as he touched the ground. I climbed up on his back reaching for Lucis to join.

“be back in a sec,” I told Justin as Draco stood up and took flight. Draco took us back up to where he had been before, the sky in the distance looked dark and light up every few seconds.

“looks like rain,” I said not looking back at Lucis

“It does indeed” Lucis’ face was close o the back of my head, I heard him inhale deeply. That made me look back

“what are you doing” I smiled touching his face

“First time I am actually alone with you, I miss your smell” I turned to look kiss him, but Draco interrupted me by rushing forward. Moving closer to the dark cloud. He raced around the dark cloud in a half-circle the rumbling thunder vibrated inside of me as it boomed. I clenched on Draco’s win base as he flew down towards the ground. Lucis got off holding his arms up to help me down, Justine and Amanda ran up from behind. As my feet touched the floor Draco too off again leaving us on the ground as he flew in the opposite direction. I looked up to watch him go. I felt a pang of hurt as he flew off.

Thunder boomed overhead as lightning lit up the darkening world. I looked to the front of me. The high trees seemed to rattle as thunder boomed over and over again.

“There is something there,” Amanda said pointing towards a huge tree. We walked closer to the tree. In the trunk, there was a small door, you would have missed it if you didn't know what you were looking for. Justin knocked on the door. We waited.

And waited

And waited.

I looked up at the sky counting the seconds between the lightning and thunder.

“knock-in between the lightning and thunder” I whispered Lucis looked up at the sky signaling to Justin to hold. The lightning flashed through the air as Justin was given the go-ahead to knock.

He knocked three times before the thunder boomed. The door opened a bit and out popped a small head. The face was very pretty, with a pointed nose and small pointed ears. The eyes were big and doe-like but held no color what’s so ever, depending on the light, the eyes of the creature looked black, in the flash of the lightning they looked white.

“who? Who are you?” the voice was high pitched, the creature moved so that everyone could see its whole body. It was small and dressed in flowers. I guessed to say it was a young girl, of whatever creature she was.  Lucis jumped from him to Justin to Amanda introducing them as he went

“what about the scary one” I had been looking around me when she had said that, making me look down at her. I went down on my knees to look at her

“I’m Lilith,” I said softly, taking into account the way Lucis had spoken to her, she nodded and looked towards the darkened forest

“come in,” she said slipping behind the door again. I looked at the other three with a frown on her face

“is she kidding?” Amanda asked, looking down at herself she was a small girl but the deer's body was the size of a normal deer.

“I somehow don’t think so” I opened the door more moving closer as I started to squeeze through the door. Suddenly the door grew bigger and lead to a staircase. I looked back at Lucis wh nodded and I walked down the stairs, the others close behind me. The stairs lead to an underground room, the small creature was standing on a table as she watched us walk-in. her dark eyes were unblinking,

“he will be with you in a second,” she said and jumped down and walked off into another room,

“who is he?” Justin asked looking at Lucis who just shrugged his shoulders, Amanda was standing by the door her face peeking out from the doorpost as she kept her distance. I walked towards the door the little creature disappeared through. The door leading to the kitchen and, boy, was it busy inside, extremely busy, there were more of the little creatures busy doing things around the kitchen, the smell of baking bread was wafting around the room. I looked closer seeing a small creature with the same black eye stirring a large pot, then the only difference with this one is it had what looked like leaves tied around its waist.

“remarkable aren't they?” the old sounding voice caught me off guard and I spun around to see an old-looking man standing in front of me. I frowned at Lucis who held up his hands as if to say he didn’t see the old man enter the room

“Forgive me,” the old man said trying not to laugh, he had long white hair but his face was clean-shaven making his wrinkled face look fore defined. He wore what looked like an oversized dress

“Please come sit,” he said gesturing towards the table the little creature had been standing on.

“Christa,” she said softly, please bring out dear animal guest a pillow,” he said smiling at Amanda. I huge thick pillow came floating by and settled at the end of the table,

“Please,” the old man said holding out a hand. Amanda slowly came out from behind the door and made herself comfortable on the pillow. The rest of them had sat down, leaving me standing by the kitchen door

“it's so nice to have company,” the old man said sitting down as well, the sprites are the only company I have had in the last 10 years

“sprites?” I asked looking into the kitchen again

“yes, I rescued little Christa from a wolf, and as a reward, she and her little friends have decided to stay here, they help around the house while I offer the protection they require”

“and they have been with you for 10 years?” I asked coming to sit down with the rest

“they come and go as they please, except little Christa, she stays here and takes cares of my needs, bless her little heart,” he said smiling and taking a sip of whatever the small sprite put down on the down in front of him, other little sprites came out holding glasses and placing them down in front of us.

“now, to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?” the old man sat back in his chair and beamed at the people sitting at his table.

“we, we were hoping you could tell us,” Amanda said looking at the drink that was in her hands before she took a small sip “her dragon brought us here” she nodded towards me

“a dragon” the old man exclaimed “my dear, how on earth did you get such an extraordinary creature”

“Just lucky I guess” I smiled at the old man and crossing my arms over my chest “but I’m assuming you were expecting us,” I asked looking at him

“ah,” she said as the sprites poured out the kitchen two by two holding plates and large dishes filled with food, three different kinds of meats, vegetables of different kinds, and fresh bread.

“Please, eat,” the old man said looking around the table, “then we talk” his smile disappeared as he looked at me