W. Fairy Wings - Part 13

Schmitt strode down the corridor still fingering the money in his
jacket pocket. He was ninety percent certain he had made the right
decision. The Nymph ran up and leapt in front of him, he kept moving
but even walking backwards she easily matched his pace.

"You made a mistake there." She said.

"I don't think so."

"What did you think you were getting for so cheap a price."

"I though I was getting a bargain."

"There is no such thing." She said. "I know. There is always something
else you have to give."

Schmitt stopped. "Like what?" He said.

"A slight risk." She said. "The tiniest risk that Wallace lied to me
and the fairy is not stolen. But I do not believe it is."

"Why not?"

"Because fairies are rarely kept intact." She said. "Because even when
they are their clothes are immediately ditched and the bodies washed.
Because I doubt Wallace is that good a thief. And Because I trust
him."

"I do not trust him." Said Schmitt. "I know better than to trust any
Gnome, they are all thieves."

"They are pilferers." Said the Nymph. "Pickpockets and petty burglars.
To risk stealing a fairy requires the greed of a human."

"Yet you lied to me." Said Schmitt. "The whole thing stinks."

"We lied to protect you." She said. "So long as you were buying from a
Nymph no court in the land would convict you of receiving stolen goods.
Everyone knows Nymphs catch fairies."

"I can no longer claim that."

"That is the other Gnome's fault. Dimitri."

"Who is he?"

"He is a fool." She said. "He is using a hold over Wallace to weasel
himself a percentage."

"What hold?"

"Money. What else."

"That is sad." Said Schmitt. "But it does not help me." He started
walking again forcing Adrielle to leap backwards to keep up with
him.

"Wait." She said. "Where else are you going to get a better deal? Where
else are you even going to get another fairy?"

"I will live."

"We will drop the price?"

"To what?"

Adrielle stopped, forcing Schmitt to stop. "Half." She said.

Walking back with Schmitt. Adrielle could smell the fairy clearly and
hear the conversation in the launch room. Wallace pleading with Dimitri
about money.

"But that's ridiculous." He wined. "It's worth ten times that."

"Like all things." Said Dimitri. "Fairy is worth what will be paid for
it. And I will only pay ten thousand."

"Then I will not sell." Said Wallace.

"Then I must ask for first instalment of debt." Said Wallace. "Five
hundreds Marks."

"I do not have that here." Said Wallace. "Give me a day."

"Then we must extract penalties Wallace."

Adrielle quickened her step, beckoning for Schmitt, who could not hear
a thing, to keep up.

"No." Said Wallace. "Take the fairy."

"Okay Wallace. If that is what you want, I will buy fairy from you. But
remaining debt still needs paying."

"I know."

"You see what you get for trusting Nymph whore Wallace."

Adrielle opened the door just in time to see Wallace punch Dimitri on
the nose.

Dimitri howled and staggered backwards. The two larger gnomes went for
Wallace. One punched him in the gut and then the other picked him by
his hair and started dragging him towards the window.

"Chug im oud." Shouted Dimtiri.

Adrielle leapt the length of the room in a single bound, landed on the
shoulders of the gnome who was pulling Wallace, and sunk her teeth into
his face. He screamed, dropped Wallace, and reached up and grabbed her.
Adrielle seemed to instantly twist within her own body space and
wherever the gnomes fingers grasped for her they found only her teeth.
He thrashed wildly but she quickly got a solid grip on one finger and
bit it off in one clean snap. Spitting it across the room to land with
a wet sliver at Herr Schmitt's feet. The second gnome appeared and
swung a chair into her back. She was knocked clean across the room but
twisted in flight to land on her feet facing the gnome and immediately
sprang back at him before he could ready the chair again. He staggered
backwards under a pale green blur that scratched and bit before falling
to the ground.

Wallace shouted. "Stop!" And the blur went still. Adrielle was crouched
over the gnome holding it down and with her bloodstained teeth bared
around its throat. Her canines just pressuring the skin, her eyes
turned to face Wallace. The gnome struggled but she held him firm, his
Adams Apple bobbing up and down between her jaws.

Wallace held up the fairy. "It's okay." He said. "I've got it."

Slowly, reluctantly, Adrielle moved her jaws away from the gnome's neck
but still held him prone beneath her. She swallowed the blood in her
mouth, savouring the taste, and wiped her teeth with her tongue. She
was calm, calmer than she had been for years. She knew the precise
position of everyone in the room, she could hear Wallace's heart
beating fast and smell his fear. She could kill the gnome under her at
any time. Kill the rest in seconds, first the one behind her clutching
the stump of it's finger and sobbing, then the one Wallace had punched,
then, if necessary, Wallace and the human that stood between her and
the door. Only the human presented a challenge, but it was old and fat
and slow, and she could have its windpipe between her teeth before it
knew what was happening. She could be out of the tower in minutes, back
in the forest before the bodies were found, and then she would be
beyond them all and their law.
Pauline Brown, her social worker, had told her this would happen. That
one day she would resort to violence and all her feral instincts would
return, and at that time she must control herself, even though she did
not want to. She told her to remember what mattered to her, if she must
fight, and one day she would have to, to remember what she was fighting
for.

Wallace held up the fairy. "I still have it." He said.

She looked at the fairy, and she looked at Wallace. "Herr Schmitt has
agreed to buy it." She said. "But at half the price."

Schmitt looked across at the room, the blood splattered on the walls
and the poor gnome nursing its severed finger. He said "I may be open
to negotiation."

At that moment the door was flung open and Brian son of Prince Ewan the
unusually tall stood in the entrance way, beside him was Bonwyn, and
behind them the entire technical team, Kevin, Langton, and a very
sheepish looking Jim. They were all carrying hammers, spanners, or
crowbars and they looked like they meant business.

"Is there a problem Wallace." Said Bronwyn.

"I don't think so said Wallace."

He looked back at Adrielle, still perched over her victim and holding
him down. He gestured to her to be calm. He looked at Dimitri, holding
a bloody handkerchief to his nose.

"How much do I owe you, exactly?"

"Thirdy nine thousand."

Wallace looked across at Adrielle and said. "And you want three
thousand five hundred right?"

She nodded.

"Herr Schmitt." Said Wallace. "I will sell you my fairy for forty two
thousand and five hundred marks, and not a fenig less."

"It is a deal." Said Schmitt.

Schmitt took the money from his pocket and counted it out.

"Herr Schmitt." Said Adrielle.

"Yes." Said the human.

"I will buy the body of the fairy from you for three thousand five
hundred marks, you may keep the wings."

"You want the body?" Said Schmitt.

"You want the body?" Said Wallace.

"It's all I've ever wanted." Said the nymph.