𝐑𝐈𝐌𝐄

Pt 15: The Carnivorous Horse

Griffith ran as fast as he could, but he couldn't keep up with the murderous equine. He was most concerned for Kingston, as a terrible swimmer, and he was even worried for the elf. Vexx he put from his mind, knowing she would be very difficult to drown indeed. The horse slowed as if trying to get the Atlantean to climb on its back, its body longer in the middle.

"Jump!" Griffith shouted, fully aware of how panicked he sounded. He'd lowered the breathing spell on Kingston, thinking that they wouldn't be in water for at least a while longer.

"I can't move!" the librarian yelled back, clinging to the monster's neck.

"I'll catch you! Trust me!" Griffith pressed. Kingston shook his head.

"I can't move! I'm stuck! There's some kind of adhesive on it's skin!" he yelled. Vexx was freaking out, but Quentin seemed to be having the time of his life, a big grin on his face. Kingston's eyes suddenly brightened.

"The bridle!" he cried over the sound of pounding hooves and Vexx's frantic screaming. "Get the nixie's silver bridle!" The horse charged into the water and disappeared beneath the surface before Griffith could cast a spell to stop it. His legs wobbly beneath him, he ran after the nixie, into the freshwater of the lake.

"The bridle," he said to himself. "The bridle, the bridle the bridle." He wracked his memory for what a bridle was. Come on, he told himself. You rode hippocampi back home. You know how to saddle a horse. That was the bit that directed the horse, he realised. Pain jolted through Griffith's chest, and he realised the frigid water was causing the ice on his Core to spread. Ignoring it, he watched as the black horse descended into a cave. Deciding that stealth might be a better option, he waited to go inside, hiding behind a rock, counting out a full minute before moving slowly to the entrance of the cave and poking his head in. His companions were bound to a wall with old chains. Vexx thrashed angrily but was perfectly fine, and Quentin seemed to be holding his breath without great difficulty, but Kingston looked about to explode. Wishing he could cast a breathing spell, Griffith scanned the cave for a silver bridle.

A large hole in the cave roof let in sunlight, which revealed bones of livestock, humans, and even creatures such as changelings littering the ground. Kingston caught Griffith's gaze and jerked his head. Griffith stared at him quizzically, uncomprehending, and after a moment the faun stilled as the nixie turned to face its captives. Looking in the direction Kingston had been indicating, Griffith caught a glint of silver in the corner.

"Which ones of you to eats firsts?" hissed the nixie in a hoarse, grating voice. "I hasn't had venison in a long while, but yous twos is new kinds of meaty." The nixie stomped a hoof once, gesturing to Quentin and Vexx. Griffith slunk inside, moving along the back wall silently while the bestial horse decided who to eat first.

"Yous smell like fishy, but look like human," he accused Vexx. Griffith looked between the ground and the nixie, making sure he didn't step on any bones despite the lower level of gravity and that the nixie remained distracted. Grabbing the bridle, he took a couple of steps forward to jump onto the nixie and put the bridle over his muzzle when a crunch broke the silence and Griffith, biting his tongue to keep from shouting, lifted his foot from a skull. The nixie whirled on its hooves, an angry fire in his crimson eyes.

"Stupid, stupid mans!" he shrieked. "You'll be eaten along with your friends, and you can die together!" He reared up on his back feet, about to bash in Griffith's skull with his front hooves. The Atlantean rolled out of the way as the nixie came down, cracking the stone beneath his powerful feet. Water was useless against the monster and fire couldn't do anything, not that he had a way to create fire. Minerva had disappeared, and he didn't know where she had gone. Griffith refocused on the fight as the nixie reared again, darting out of range of his deadly charge. He couldn't heat his Core in order to scare the nixie with boiling water; it had too much ice on it. His fingertips were numb with cold, his hands shaking as he lunged forward in a dangerous dance to put the bridle around the nixie's face. The beast snapped at his hands, nearly biting off his thumb and index finger. Remembering Quentin's subjugation of the sea slug, he got a crazy, totally uncharacteristic idea.