Children Of Myths, Act One: Scotland

Bakhur

Staying still, silent and pray.
It was the only thing the four could do, hoping that none of their pursuers would look up.

The young man had stifled a gasp as soon as he laid eyes on that group of humanoid and equine abominations, immediately silenced by the three girls. The glare they gave him had broken down every language barrier. They'd just stay silent to get any useful info.

"Is Neivers alone or does she have others with her?" One of the cultists tapped his foot nervously, both because the situation was serious and because he seemed to be quite uncomfortable in the presence of the Finfolks and Kelpies.

"No" Hissed the first one to speak "There is an Elf and a Leannan Sidhe with her."

The adepts cursed through clenched teeth, the Elves were tough, but the Leannan Sidhes were unpredictable, fickle and cunning, not easy to deal with.

"Then go and find them at once, do whatever you want with the two females and the Saracen, but the bastard child belongs to Him."

The Kelpies growled and pawed at the ground with their hooves, the others stepped forward, eyes narrowed and making menacing noises.

"We don't answer to you, human."

"But you are doing our Lady's will, so obey."

A female lunged forward and pointed a claw to his throat. "Watch your tongue. We are His court. You, the servants."

The man raised a black icy spike next to the beast in response "But we are the ones who carry out the plan of the Prophetess He has chosen. All you do, instead, is slacking in your abysses hunting fish and fornicating with your prey..."

The Finfolk female snarled, outraged "How dare you?!"

They were separated by another male and a soldier before they butchered each other and then reprimanded since the situation was bad enough, given what she had managed to do a month earlier at Ben Macdui.

"There are only three of them and the lad is chained up, they can't have gone far. Let's think about finding them instead of wasting time!"

The quartet in the tree stiffened as the man looked up to look at the sky to see if they were flying or hiding on a tree.

Artica immediately created an icy sphere in her hand and threw it away to attract the attention of enemies in that direction. As soon as the latter were far enough, the group was finally able to sigh and relax their tense muscles...

"Fucking freaks..." Saraide pushed her hair back "We could have never imagined that they'd come to terms with human beings."

"What the fuck are those... things?"

"Monsters that infest the waters. Kelpies disguise themselves as ordinary horses or even people to hunt humans. Instead, the Finfolk are mainly marine, and their favorite hobbies is kidnapping humans or other Sidhe, give them the ability to breathe underwater and... have children with them."

Artica listened in disgust, swallowing at the thought that one of those abominations had tried to force a kiss on her. Being relatively calm and clearheaded again made her wince as she realized what a horrible fate awaited their kidnapped comrades...

Saraide stared at her dangling legs and covered her face "I've been a fool..."

"You couldn't have known that" Riannon tried to console her but the Elf gave her a look full of frustration and guilt "None of us knew that those monsters would actually strike a deal and take orders from humans."

"I am the leader, the responsibility is mine, Riannon!"

She took a series of long deep breaths to calm down and reorganize her thoughts to come up with a new plan, it wasn't easy with that scum around the woods that would have hunted them as soon as they set foot on the ground.
One thing at a time, first they had to try to make themselves understood by the lad, still shivering against the trunk and wrapped in the woolen shawl as tightly as possible.