Spriggan

 

“You go in!” A young woman gestured at the ruin to her companions, pushing one on the arm to egg them on.

“I’m not going in there. You go!” 

“Pft. You’re the one that found it! You go in there,” a boy who was almost a man said, touching the woman’s arm. “Since you’re the brave one, as you say.”

“I think I see treasure. There’s something glinting in there.”

“We could all use that,” one murmured to the others. 

They stared at each other in quiet understanding. Poverty and desperation combined with youth often led to terrible conclusions. They stood outside an ancient ruin, a giant crack in the wall large enough for a human to crawl in. Strangely, a fire rested within, teasing light enough to see the glimmers of gold or treasure that were half hidden beneath the earth.

I stepped behind the youths, tilting my head to glance within. The gold pieces and few gems visible weren't half hidden, but rather, placed on the dirt. My brows furrowed at the perfect angle the fire caught them at, ensuring any passer-by would see it. Every part of it was a trap cleverly designed for mortals who needed or wanted gold.

“That’s bait,” I said softly, standing behind them.

The group jumped then turned to look at me, eyes wide with the fear of the unknown. I raised a brow, gesturing soo they saw my empty hands. 

“Who are you?” one asked, their eyes glancing over me with a sense of dread.

“Just a traveler,” I answered calmly. “But that,” I nodded to the opening, “Is bait.”

The woman raised a brow. “Maybe you just want it for yourself.”

I shrugged. “Maybe. But maybe I also don’t want you to get hurt. Or worse, have you hurt something else because you’re afraid.”

“How is that worse?”

“Think about the number of things that die because humans are afraid.”

“You say that like you aren’t one of us.”

I smiled. They exchanged looks of doubt and fear. 

Thunder cracked in the air and rain began to fall to the ground. I turned my head, looking up at the sky. Clouds rolled in, hiding the setting sun behind dull grey and green. The rain began to come faster, threatening to pour as the thunder rumbled, lightning brewing within the sky. 

I moved my hand out, catching some of the drops. “This is probably also part of the trap.”

“What are you talking about?” the man asked, pulling his cloak over his head. “It’s just a storm.”

The sky darkened, turning day to nearly night. The wind picked up, swirling around us and chilling the humans to the bone. I took steps out, looking at the sky where the green and purple began to shift, forming the beginning of a funnel. Crops waved beneath the pressure of the wind. Thunder boomed when I took one more step and the rain came in a wave of anger.

I nodded. “Part of it.”

“We need to warn them!” one of them said, their eyes wide when they looked at the cloud above the crops.

“Best be quick. And get indoors.”

The woman looked at me. “We could hide in here.”

“But then your village will suffer,” I answered evenly, looking into her suspicious eyes. 

We stared at one another. In one moment of tension, lightning cracked, hitting a nearby tree. The youths ducked, flinching away before running out into the road towards their homes. The woman paused, giving me a curious look before she joined her friends in the storm. I watched until they faded from sight, disappearing into homes. 

One by one the village shut its doors, curtains pulled back from the windows so they could watch the tumultuous weather as the sky opened up and threatened disaster. I sighed, pulling up the hood of my cloak, arms folding in front of me. I watched the village huddle, afraid of the unnatural storm that brewed on top of them. 

The ruins were old, old enough to contain things that did best far away from humans. The village was new, perhaps less than a decade old. I grimaced and turned, looking back towards the crack in the once castle, now nothing more than a stone room hidden in dirt and trees. I shifted and walked to the crack, peering in at the jewels and gold.

More of them were there now, a promise of wealth if I dared to come inside. I sighed and stepped within, staying just inside the opening and avoiding going deeper. The room was large, a fire half alive in the hearth. No furniture survived time, but it was clear the room had once been used for study. Old bookshelves were barely visible, the wood molded and rotting, as the ground swallowed the remains of what once was.

“I know you’re there,” I said to the darkness, refusing to move towards the gems at all. “There’s nothing for days from here. If you ruin their crops, they’ll starve, not flee.”

Silence. The fire cracked merrily before flickering. The flicker was faint, mostly likely unnoticeable by most unaccustomed to the presence of the unnatural. From the wall, a hand came, thin and gangly, with aged around knuckles and broken fingernails. The skin was rocky and filled with marks and imperfections.

I turned, watching as the creature pulled itself forward above the fireplace, another hand coming through the wall to grasp its edge. A leg came in, booted with stone boots and a strange wooden like fabric that led to hips and a chest. The creature hopped out, landing on his feet. 

He was small, half my height, with a face marked by time and age, wrinkled, and with a glowering expression of malice in the lively eyes. We watched each other, the air crackling with his magic. He shifted, standing taller but still short, and appraised me with knowing eyes. 

“Aren’t you cute. You know I’m here.” He spoke with a mocking voice, gravely and ancient. 

“I saw you,” I chided, brow raised. “Offering fae gold to unsuspecting humans. They were barely grown.”

“Grown enough for greed. An easy human trait.”

The spriggan turned, walking away from me to scoop up the wooden gold and jewels, tucking them into his pocket. I watched him, lowering the hood of my cloak. He busied himself by the fire, adding a dry log to it from his other pocket. 

“Treasure?” I finally asked, nodding towards the old earth. 

“Piskies,” he said, a hint of sorrow in his voice. “They’re beneath the earth in a trunk some human buried them in.”

“You can’t?”

He turned, gesturing with anger. “You know what I am, snoop.”

My lips pressed together. “What curse keeps them bound?”

“The one we can never break.”

“To be alive?” I asked, taking one step closer to him before lowering down to my knees and sitting beside him near the fire. The heat was as fake as the gold, the fire providing nothing but the look of warmth. 

“That’s very rude,” he countered, turning his head to look at me sharply. Yet he offered a teacup. 

I took it gingerly, knowing better than to drink from it. “Thank you. I had heard you were ghosts.”

Hee sighed. “A living spirit of giants. But the curse is based on lust. Knowing us the ugliest of beings, the piskies cannot be freed.”

I reached my hand out and touched his shoulder. “Whoever cursed you knew nothing of your beauty.”

The spriggan laughed. I moved my hand, touching the gnarled face. He froze, eyes watching mine with hatred before sliding closed, a sigh of relief escaping his lips. I scooted closer, moving my hand down his cheek to caress his jaw and lips with my thumb. 

The eyes snapped back open. “I don’t want your pity.”

“It isn’t pity. I can’t feel sorry for someone who’s going to murder people for amusement.”

The spriggan shrugged. “Fair. Then why?”

“Because you’re dedicated, loyal, and fierce. You’re here to protect people you love. For hundreds of years. Not giving up. That’s such intense care, friend.”

“You admire these actions and so you’re here to what? Tell me to give up on them?” He turned his head away. “That this ugliness will never be cured.”

“It isn’t ugly. You aren’t human but you’re striking. You’re strong, noble, and beautiful. Don’t let humans define what is beautiful. They can’t see past themselves.”

He turned, gazing at my face. “You can say that because you look like them. I bet it’s still a human you fuck at night.” He paused. 

“I fuck a lot of people. None of them human.”

“Ha! I’m sure. Elves.” He gestured dismissively.

“And red caps. Nuckelavee. Draugr.”

The spriggan blinked, turning his head to look at me. “You don’t find them hideous?”

I shook my head. “Not at all.”

His hand moved, lifting from the earth to touch my face. His caress was rough, skin like stone. I leaned into his hand, closing my eyes to embrace the touch. The fingers wandered downward, stroking my throat and then falling lower. The small hand cupped my breast, squeezing and kneading.

A moan slipped from my lips. I moved my hands, pulling my cloak and dress off, kneeling suddenly naked before him. He watched, eyes moving from angry to suddenly fascinated. I reached over, taking his hands and putting them on my breasts again,

He hesitated and then began to pinch the nipples, pulling gently. I shivered at the rough touches, groaning at each pinch and tweak. Every sound I made encouraged him, bringing him closer to me as stone lips touched my throat, his body pressing against my own with each caress.

I reached out, running my hands over his chest and down his stomach to his hips, gently tugging at the wooden clothes he wore. With his own magic, he waved them away, gnarled and naked against me. Lips caressed my shoulder, teeth nipping at the flesh in urgent hunger, a passion never seen before. 

My lips moved up his chest to his jaw, tasting the earth and stone of his body. Our mouths found each other, rough kisses filling our senses as hands wandered and explored. Moans came from each of us, colliding together into lustful music that was swallowed by the thundering outside. 

I moved back, looking into his eyes. “Is this okay?”

The spriggan nodded, mouth slightly ajar. “Yes. Is this… for you?”

I nodded, bringing my lips to his chest and raking my teeth over his stone flesh to his neck. He moaned, holding my head against him. “More,” he whispered, moving my head downward. I crawled onto my hands and knees, head level with his hips.

Fingers closed in my hair, pulling me to his length, as hard as his body was. The stone tasted of wild magic, the storm still thundering outside, as his hips gently rocked. My tongue explored him, flicking over the surface and back, tasting every inch that he offered. I moaned when he began to push forward, sliding his roughness into my throat. 

We moved together before his faery fire, moans and groans creating an unnatural song. He cried out, fingers digging into my hair. I pulled back, moving my hands to push on him, knocking him to the ground. 

“Not yet,” I whispered, climbing atop him. “Soon, though. I want to feel you inside me.”

My hips aligned with his, bringing me over his stone hardened length. He stared up at me, hands touching my hips and moving up to my breasts, caressing the flesh with teasing nips and pinches. I moaned, arching my back before slowly lowering down atop him.

“Yes,” he groaned, head falling back at the bliss of our bodies connecting. I rested, staying atop him, waiting for the coldness of his stone body to adjust to me. When he began to warm I  started to move, rocking slowly on his length within.

He shuddered, raising his head to look up at me. “I can grow,” he muttered.

“What?” I gasped, moving faster on him.

“I was once a giant. I can expand. Become bigger.”

I shook my head, pushing my hands onto his chest to pin him down. “Don’t you dare. I want you now. Not who you were in the past.”

He cried out, fingers digging into the earth around him with each rocking motion I made, his hardness moving in and out of me with each movement. We cried out together, the pressure building with me matching his writhing, thrusting mass bellow. 

His hands grabbed my hips, impossible strength for his size holding me down atop him as he shuddered and twitched within, releasing no seed but feeling the rush of pleasure that came with climax. Beneath me, he panted, holding me still as I shivered, a soft moan rolling from my mouth.

I moved, letting him slide out of me before laying beside him in the faery realm. Around us small lights began to dance in the fake firelight, flicking here and there. The spriggan laughed,  gesturing with a hand to the small fairies moving above us.

“Piskies,” he chortled.

I kissed his forehead. “One very attractive spriggan was all it took.”

The spriggan laughed and looked at me. If he could blush, he would have. I caressed his face. “The storm is still going.”

“Well you’re delightful but you’re not that distracting.” 

I moved down his body with my fingertips, caressing his chest and sneaking lower. “Then I’ll have to try harder this time.”