~Eleiamae~
...Games…

I led Joseph back to my stagnant den. It was strewn with rushes and mud lined each cavity in the ground, and it was the only place I could call my own in my lands. Even though the swamps were my territory, I didn’t live there as such. And now, there was a human here. An enigma to be unravelled. And I was going to enjoy him.

Joseph smirked as he entered my lair, contempt written all over his face as easy to read as woodland signs. His glances fell on the rotting logs, the stagnant pond and the bed of rushes below an overhang of rock chiselled out of a bare cliff face with my bare claws. They were much sharper in my youth…

Shaking my head, I glared at Joseph.

“Something to say about my home, human?” I almost spat the word ‘human’, baiting him for a reaction. He didn’t take it, manners as impeccable as the first time I sensed him, but I could taste his lies.
“It’s lovely.” His eyes flicked from place to place as he decided how to deal with me.

Motioning to a pile of rushes, I gave him a tap in the small of the back, indicating that he should sit. He glanced at me, eyes veiled behind a sheet of dirty blonde hair, but I caught the foul look and smiled, careful to show all of my pointed teeth. Shrugging, he lowered himself gently onto the pile, wincing a little when a particularly sharp bulrush stabbed into his leg.

“Comfortable?” I enquired innocently. He nodded, but he couldn’t keep the discomfort from his eyes. I was pleased. This was going to be fun!

Now, to play the waiting game…the first to break was the weakest, and I had had centuries of experience. I gazed unblinkingly into his eyes, noting every detail. They were a mingled grey and green shade, tinted with hatred but with a hint of remorse underneath. Truly an enigma and I wondered when he would break.

“What do you want of me?” He demanded, mottled eyes flashing with self-righteousness. “I haven’t trespassed; I haven’t caused you any trouble. What do you demand of me?” Shaking my head gently, I glazed over my true feelings with an outer shell of icy calm and added some regret for effect.

“I only want to talk, Joseph. I haven’t had a chance to speak with Humans in a long while…” I let my voice trail away, hoping to leave him wondering about me. Glancing coyly up at him from beneath my hair I judged his reaction to me. He was startled, but hiding it, and his wondering at my species seemed to be bothering him, as if he recollected my kind from a tale he had heard at a younger age.

“I am a type of Dryad.” I decided to fill him in. This information couldn’t hurt, after all. “My power lies in swamps and marshes, which are my kingdom, but also my prison.” I let out a small sigh and bowed my head, allowing some unhappiness to spread from me.

My games all relied upon the strength of my plaything, and their ability to sense and cast off my glamours. I felt that Joseph was probably able to do this, although he may not know it yet. I could sense a slight resistance at the back of his mind, warning him, if he chose to listen.

My plan rested on the hope that he would not know how to listen…