Love & Sprites

Chapter Four - Lady and the Sprite

  "You're awake." The woman said as she rose to her feet. Her furry cloak streamed down behind her like a waterfall.

She banged the little pestle on the rim of the little mortar, having finished grinding something in it. Then she struck rocks together and set the content on fire. It burnt gently with wisps of smoke snaking into the air. Now, she held the still smoking calabash in her hands and brought it to my nose.

"Hold still—"

The powerful minty scent rushed to the back of my nostrils. Flooding my eyes; awakening my senses. I jerked up with an unknown strength and sneezed a cloud of black dust. Tiny stones twirled in it and settled into nothing. I coughed hard and uncontrollably, black saliva dripping on my fist and on the animal skin over me.

"Easy—" She said, holding my shoulders. Then she took a gourd from her side and filled a calabash with water. "Here." She said. "Drink it."

She held the calabash with clawed fingers between my lips. It smelled stale. I looked at her over the rim.

"Go on." She said.

She emptied the content in my mouth impatiently before I could protest about the horrible, bitter taste.

I choked on the concoction and coughed again to clear my throat. The back of my throat now tasted sour. I wiped my lips with the back of my hands. The calabash now sat beside me. Its black dregs crawling down the rim like slime.

I realized I was sitting on a flat stone cushioned with furs. Its strands stuck to the back of my neck and my arm. I dusted them.

"Found you in Aàla—"

I scanned the barely visible cave-like room for the woman and found her sitting by a rock in a corner, chopping vegetables in a clay pot. Behind her was a bubbly boiling cauldron over crackly, burning firewoods. The steam rose to the air and seemed to warm the room.

"—you had sniffed the Tricky Pollen like snuff which caused your nightmarish hallucinations. So, I helped you on an egbèrè's worn-out flying–mat all the way here." She said then chuckled. "It was a little difficult though because those sprites cut their mat according to their dwarfish size."

"Thank you." I muttered, holding my head; still recuperating. "For helping me. On the egbèrè's... mat?" I'd never heard of a sprite that rode on magic mats before.

"Hungry?" She asked. I was famished.
She tossed a piece of meat to me unawares. I caught it in my arms—too tired to focus— and examined the body. I couldn't tell what part it was or the animal. It would be rude to ask. But, It was well roasted and I was starving. Sniffing, it smelled delicious and spicy. I tore a bit with my teeth and chewed slowly. It tasted great— like goat meat over fire.

"Thank you." I said, taking another bite. And another.

"Thought you'd hate the rompo meat." She said. "I never thought they'd have nutrients for those creatures feed only on the dead and rotten and all the horrible things they could find consumable in the forest—"

Quickly, I spat out the meat I was chewing. I retched, trying to get out the one left in my throat.

"Hey," She protested. "That's good meat you're wasting. Did you know how long it took me to hunt and skin and cook? Where do you think you are, Mortal Lands?"

"Sorry, but no sorry." I gagged. She could have at least given me a warning first. She snorted and grumbled as I carefully placed the meagre remnant in the calabash.

I wondered if she was a Shifter? There were reports in the third village that some men could shape-shift into a hyena at will by simply rubbing a magic stick around their body. Then by night they dug open graves and stole corpses for supper.