Thump. Thump ...
He fumbled in his pocket and found the hare's paw.
Thump. Thump ...
He returned the call. He didn't know what lady hares did when attracting a mate and didn't care. Someone was summoning him and he knew who it was. He bounded up the stairs, two at a time, and reached a door.
The light was the first thing he saw. The next was Adrina. She sat on a pile of sheepskins. A circle of lamps flickered above her head but the light that surrounded her came from a different source. It was unlike anything he had seen before ... a light that cast no shadows.
Adrina sat motionless. She wore a low-cut dress and her long black hair hung down seductively. Tom recognised her as the young woman who had given him the hare's paw at dinner. Her appearance was now changed. It was as if everything exciting, desirable and female had been reduced to an essence and brought together in one person. He felt as if he was in the presence of something sacred.
The room was like a shrine to a goddess. He hesitated, wondering if he should enter. Then Adrina's rigid composure dissolved and an impish smile appeared.
'Sky Warrior, I've been expecting you.'
The light in the room was normal now. The young woman looked less like a statue and more like a real person. She patted the sheepskins and invited him to sit down. Her manner exuded confidence.
Tom ran his eyes over her. Adrina was about the same height as Alison and a bit older. While Tom regarded Alison as little more than a child, his feelings towards Adrina could not have been more different. She took his arm and squeezed it playfully.
'I've been waiting a long time for this meeting.'
Tom peered down the cleft in her dress.
'You knew I was coming?'
'Of course I did.' She imitated a little girl's voice. 'It was little me who brought you here ... wasn't it?'
'Of course it was.'
Tom slipped his hand round her waist.
'How did you know I brought you here?' she whispered.
'Because I wouldn't go on a hazardous journey between realms if I didn't think a beautiful princess was waiting for me on the other side.'
He stroked her arm and she pushed him away.
'By the Great Poof's arse. You do speak a lot of turdish twaddle. You came here because I arranged it.'
'You're saying you brought me here?' Tom squeezed her arm playfully. 'Just you ... all by your little self?'
Adrina reached for the image that hung about her neck.