Baylan and the Hag: Fairytale Romance (Legacy of the Hag Book 1) by Nicky Carter

Author:Nicky Carter [Carter, Nicky]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-06-09T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

◆◆◆

Baylan had no idea how to hunt fairies. After much consideration, he decided the best approach was a more passive approach. On the farm, they often had trouble with predators like badgers, and often the best way to handle them were traps.

After a restless night, listening to the hag whimper in pain whenever she moved, he knew the fairies needed to be dealt with. The hag, despite her reputation, struck him as uniquely vulnerable and he wanted to make sure she was safe.

It was such a strange compulsion, one he didn't stop to question.

"And what will these do?" The hag helped him bend small branches to create the bars for the traps.

"The fairies come in the trap snaps shut. At that point, they are stuck, and we can kill them at our leisure." Baylan demonstrated on the prototype trap he'd built to show her how.

"They're not stupid creatures, not entirely, why would they enter your very obvious trap like contraption?" She sneered.

"We'll disguise them, and we'll have bait."

"Bait?"

"I have something in mind," he murmured.

She probably would have pressured him for an answer if at that moment Theo didn't caw rather loudly. He rested on a branch nearby.

"What is it?" She set her work down and limped off to consult her bird.

Baylan kept working. What bizarre timing. The thing was the bird was the bait. It was the only thing he knew of that the fairies had shown any interest in. He hadn't quite decided if they would throw the whole bird in or just feathers or maybe a Theo-looking doll but the bird was the bait. It had to be.

He could have used a chicken too but they still didn’t know if it was the fairies or something else that snatched that chicken earlier.

As he continued working, he found himself watching the hag.

He barely knew her story. What had she done that made her deserving of this truly wretched punishment?

His mother, foolishly perhaps, used to whisper stories of magical creatures to him when he was a child. He remembered only bits and pieces of her stories. He wished now that he had paid more attention. He only barely remembered the stories of the hag and it bothered him. He wanted to know more. He just didn’t know how to ask without angering her again.

The hag returned to his side, and he refocused his attention on building the traps.

~*~

They finished three traps before nightfall.

"What now?" The hag asked as he placed the third trap close to the door of her hut.

"We sleep. There's no time to prepare the bait."

"Bait?"

"The only way to get any creature into a trap is with bait."

"I know that." She snarled, "But what is the bait?"

"I only know of one thing that they seem interested in. Well, three. Their circle, me now that I wrecked their circle, and … well, the bird." Baylan looked at Theo, who was resting on the hag's shoulder.

Theo looked up as if he understood.

The hag nodded, "The traps are a bit small for you to fit in.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.