Mid-Week Flash Challenge - Week 119

This weeks picture prompt was taken by Sergey Nesterchuk, a Ukrainan photographer. Sadly he doesn't say where this is. 

This week I have returned to a character I created in my story for Week 77 called Tricky. I enjoyed returning to her and might have to ponder on a bigger story for this one. Could even be a book in it. If I can fully work out what Tricky's full story is - some more gestation is required I think. 

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There is also a Facebook group for Mid-Week Flash, if you fancy getting the prompt there.

Tricky Trickster

I scuttled along the jetty, eager to get inside, ever conscious of prying eyes. Some might call me paranoid but I knew better. I know what lurks in the dark, and in the shadow – and also in broad daylight. 

He’d taught me that much. I thought I’d been wise when I’d sought him out to return his potent creation. The Great Magician they called him, but that was purely a facade. He’d since been overcome by his own power and started using it for control, over everyone. I’d hoped for a piece of that, or even collaboration, but he wasn’t having any of it! I might be Tricky, I might be the old crone that conjured, I might wield more power than most, but he thought I was a gnat pissing in the wind compared to him! 

He’d sent his spies to keep an eye on whatever I was up to. There was no place I could hide from him, except in my own shack. He might be talented, but so was I. 

I’d moved my little house into a place out of time, more difficult than a simple invisibility enchantment, but less easy for him to break through. He hadn’t managed it yet. 

He’d tried; haha, oh yes, he’d tried. It didn't use to look quite so run down as it did now, with it’s crumbling brickwork and crooked roof. And trying to get any plants to stay alive around it had become quite impossible. His continued attempts had drained much of the life force around it, but he hadn’t managed to gain entry – not yet. 

As I snuck into the only door it possessed at the side, I relaxed a little, relieved to have finally returned and find my little hovel in one piece, still containing the few items that mattered to me. 

And he’d love to know what they were. He thought them something exceptional, something that he needed, and I let him think that. I mean, why not? What’s life without a bit of fun or taking risks? Although some might call me a fool - in fact I might call me a fool! Why was I letting him think there was something to have? What did I hope to gain from it? Respect that’s what! 

While he thought I had something he didn’t, I was worth something to him. He gave me room, he even gave me power. Haha! They didn’t call me Tricky for nothing. I knew how to be a trickster. 

But the question was, how much longer could I keep playing with him? I smiled to myself. A bit longer I think.

I opened the chest at the back of my little cottage, and pulled the bed linen off my treasure. I carefully lifted the glass and peered into it’s round spherical surface. It was cloudy, but there were sparks. Soon, it was saying, soon all would be revealed. The clock was ticking for him.