"Maleficus," Tamara snapped, raising an arm to send the spell on its way. The little sprite once more found itself prostrate on the carriage seat. It glared at Tamara, but did not try to escape again.
"Ye are mighty powerful witches and we will not fight ye," the little sprite intoned in its trilling voice. "We will give ye what the ghost asks, but nothing more, no nothing more..."
"What is your name, sprite?" Tamara asked courteously. She knew from many hours spent poring over magical texts that it was hopeless to rely upon a sprite unless she had befriended it first. A sprite would talk in circles for hours, leading you to one dead end after another, if you let it. She only wished she had thought of that before hexing it.
The sprite tensed, then gave Tamara a cunning smile. "We are called Serena, my lady witch. And if it be rumors that ye seek, than we shall tell ye every one." The sprite began to launch into a telling of all the woodland gossip, but Bodicea cleared her throat and the sprite shut its mouth.
