Page 68 of Whispered Warnings: Part One

My breath is running out, and I need to escape. I can’t just stay floating here and fighting. I guess that my sword can somehow understand what I want, even though I’m not saying anything out loud, because it lets off a sudden pulse of magic, lighting up at the same time. I have no idea what it does, but the kelpies are suddenly nowhere to be found, and I realize that the murky water was being created by them, and the water is actually pretty fucking clear.

I start to swim for the surface when something catches my eye on the bottom of the floor. A kelpie is thrashing around, making an awful, pain filled noise that I can somehow hear even though we are under the water. I quickly realize that its tail is caught between two rocks.

Don’t do it,I say to myself and then roll my eyes as I turn around, and instead of heading for the surface, I head deeper underwater. My lungs are burning as I swim toward one of the creatures who just tried to drown and eat me.

I can’t believe that I am fucking doing this.

The other kelpies could come back at any moment, and I have no idea if my sword can let off another magical blast like that again. Both of those are really good reasons to leave the dark blue kelpie to its fate, and yet, I still swim toward it.

It sees me approaching and starts to thrash more, clearly thinking that I’m about to hurt it. I can’t talk to it to reassure it that I’m only trying to help because we are underwater, and talking doesn’t work for humans or whatever the fuck I am underwater. I also realize that I’m going to have to set it free and swim like hell, hoping that it’s still too injured to chase after me and eat me.

I really shouldn’t be fucking doing this.

It’s too late now.

I start to pull at the rocks keeping it pinned to the floor, and then give up and use my sword to leverage them out of the way.All the while, the kelpie is twisting and turning, snapping at me, and trying to eat me. It should be obvious to the kelpie now that I’m trying to help it, but obviously, that doesn’t matter to it at all, and as I change my angle so that I can move the rock squashing its tail, I inadvertently put myself too close to its snapping jaws, and I feel it clamp down on my arm.

Pain sears through me, and I have to clamp my mouth closed tightly as I fight the urge to yell out in pain. The jolt helped to dislodge the rock and move it away from its tail, and the surprise of being freed made the creature let go of my arm.

I don’t hang around. I push myself off the bed of the lake, ignoring the stinging pain in my arm as I swim as fast as I can to the surface. My lungs are burning like fire as my head finally breaks the surface of the water and I take a deep breath, finally able to fill my lungs with much needed oxygen. I don’t have time to relax though, I’m sure that kelpie will be coming after me as soon as it’s gotten over its shock of being freed. With this in mind, I swim, my sword making it slower than I need it to be, but I refuse to drop it.

Again, it somehow hears me and disappears from my grip, and I momentarily panic until I feel its weight settle on my back.

That’s fucking handy. With my hand now free, I put all of my exhausted effort into heading to the shore, which I can see, which means they didn’t pull me in as far as it felt. I am very aware that I am bleeding and that my blood is no doubt attracting the kelpies, and I’m like a beacon screaming eat me right now. There is fuck all I can do about it. The only thing that I can do right now to get out of this situation is to swim and get to the fucking shore.

The closer I get to the shore, the more certain I feel that I’m going to be dragged back any second, like they are just toying with me by making me think that I have managed to escape them, when really, they are right behind me. I swim harder, andfinally I feel the rocky ground beneath my feet, and I push up, wading through the last of the water until finally I’m free and on the rocky beach. I just need to get away from the water. I don’t know much about kelpies, but one thing that I do know is that they can’t go too far from their water source, so if I can get far enough away from the lake, then I will be safe.

In theory.

I start to run, my goal the tree line, but before I have gotten even a meter from the edge of the water, I feel something wrap around my foot and I hit the ground hard. Blood splatters the rocks from my arm, and pain spears through me from the bite on my forearm all the way up to my shoulder. I have no time to worry about it though, as I grit my teeth against the pain and grip tightly onto some big rocks that are buried in the beach.

The vines pull me, and my fingers start to lose grip on the rocks, any minute now they are going to give way and I’m going to be pulled back into the depths of the water. I doubt that I will be lucky enough to escape from the kelpie’s a second time. I instinctively know that if I go back into that water, then I will not be coming out again.

In a snap decision, I let go of the rocks, the only thing stopping the kelpies from ending me, and I reach for the sword on my back. The blood from my arm drips through my fingers and covers the hilt. The sword warms in my grip, taking some of the pain from my arm just like it did for my shoulder. I am really starting to like this sword. I swing, slicing the vines that are holding one of my ankles, and then scramble to my feet, turning to face the creatures pulling themselves out of the water.

As soon as they get their front feet on land, magic engulfs their tails, and they get back legs, making them look much more like horses. You know, except for the razor-sharp teeth, murderous tendencies, and weeds for manes and tails. I briefly glance at the trees behind me but dismiss the idea of making abreak for it. With their vines they are more likely to trip me up and if I go down then I am at a serious disadvantage, especially since I’m getting tired.

Stay and fight it is.

They charge me, giant beasts with thundering hooves, and vicious snarls, and I second guess my decision not to run before. I start slashing with my sword, making them bleed black sludge-like blood and causing them to make the most horrifying sound. It’s a cross between a screech and a cry, and it’s not a sound that I am likely to forget any time soon. I realize too late that they are surrounding me, cutting off my exit to the woods and herding me back to the water. They know that their biggest advantage is the water.

I double my attack, my adrenaline pumping through me and pushing back my fear. If I allow the fear to come forward, it could cause me to make a life-ending mistake.

I’m slicing, ducking, and darting around in the small space that is left for me in the center of these terrifying creatures. I’m drawing blood and avoiding the vines and their teeth, but I don’t know how long I can keep it up for, I am absolutely exhausted. From being injured, from swimming in all of my clothes, and from already fighting the fuckers off once. I can feel my energy waning, and that heightens my panic.

Shit.

I start to slow, and as they all move closer pushing in on me from all sides, I think that I am done for until there is a loud roar of sorts. It’s not quite a roar in the traditional sense, but it’s animalistic and mad as hell, so a roar is pretty much the only way that I know how to describe the sound. A dark blue kelpie charges through the ones surrounding me, it’s bigger than the others which I didn’t think was possible.

Great, this one doesn’t want to share and wants to eat me all by itself, fantastic.

Raising my sword and preparing to attack, a zing of intuition zips down my spine and I watch more closely what the kelpie is doing. It’s moving around me in a tight circle, biting and snapping at any of the kelpies that are trying to bite me, and it’s forcing them to back up. He is so close to me that I could reach out and touch his slick-looking side, but as I raise my hand, I realize what a stupid fucking idea that would be, and I snap my hand back, rolling my eyes at myself.

It's nice to know that even in this situation, where I’m most likely going to die, my own stupidity can still astound me.

The kelpie is protecting me, although to what end remains to be seen. Is he protecting me because he wants to eat me, or is protecting me so that I can escape?

I really struggle to believe that he is protecting me so that I can escape. In all of the lore that I have actually read about kelpies, which admittedly isn’t a lot, they never ever spare a victim. I know this, and yet even as he starts to push them all back to the water and a gap to the woods opens up, I can’t seem to make my feet move. They stay rooted to the spot as I watch him force every single last one of the kelpies surrounding me back into the water.

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