Journey of the Horn

Chapter 16

I woke up to the sound of a fire. My side felt like a thousand or more Bullet ants were eating away at my flesh. I was somehow up right barrelly able to move my arms, and not at all from the elbow up. My vision was still a bit hazy. But I could make out what looked to be a camp fire in the middle of a fairly large cavern. I tried to move, but a sharp pain hit my hard in the side. I tried to russell my arms. But they were bound by a very scratchy rope. "Oh brother, don't you know brother. It is not wise to squirm with a wound." I looked in the direction of the voice. My vision still blurred but I can still make out a the shape of my brother. "What are you doing? Let go of me!" He shook his head disapprovingly. "Tisk tisk brother. I saw the stunt you pulled at the beginning of Roshfire. Very clever, make everyone think you're dead to increase your shot at the ring." He sharpened his sword on a stone. "You know very well that's not what I wanted. I wanted to walk these woods without all of you trying to kill me." He stood from his sharpening stone. "Oh, is that right? Well if that is what you wanted. Then I have no other choice other than to finish the job that our brother didn't." I looked at him in slight fear, but I was not afraid for me. I was afraid that my brother, the one that I practically raised, became such a monster. If this happened to him, what is to stop it from happening to my children? "Go on, kill me. But mark this. My death won't make it any easier on you, in fact it may make it harder. For big brother would no longer be there to protect you."

He just laughed as he went to slice my shoulder. But as if out of instinct I shifted under the ropes just enough that he cut the ropes instead of me. By then my vision was clear. I saw a look of stone on my brother's face as I punched him in the nose. He bent over holding his nose in pain. " Tá tú mac soith!" I then grabbed his bow and shot him with a arrow. I recognised these arrows, they were sleep arrows. They knock you out within a matter of seconds. He cursed but not even a moment later he was as still as a stone as he layed on the floor of the cavern. "Sleep tight brother." I whispered to him with strain in my voice. The more I moved the more the arrow stuck in my side hurt. It had struck between two major arteries that ran down my side. That was why he didn't pull it out, because he knew that if he did I would bleed out before I even woke up. He wanted to kill me himself. I looked around for Connall, but I couldn't find him anywhere in the cavern. Did my brother kill him, did he put him somewhere else, or did he just leave him to suffer and die on his own and all alone? I didn't know the answer to that, but I new Connall was alive somewhere. I felt it in my heart. My heart which was getting weaker and weaker by the second. My brother had dragged us deep into the caverns, so deep that I couldn't find the entrance. I was able to grab my things and a little bit of food my brother had cooked. I wandered the caverns looking for a way out. I stopped in a large open area like the cave I found Connall in, only instead of a single hole in the ceiling there was a giant split down the middle. The melting snow dripped down through the crack and collected itself in a pond that trickled down a few other narrow passages. The walls and ceiling of the cavern were covered in what looked to be Ivy. While the boulders and parts of the floor on the inside of the cavern were covered in soft, damp moss. I laid my things down by a medium sized boulder and sat up against it. I looked down at the arrow and tugged just a little, but it was to my regret. I let out a yell of pain. The arrow head was barbed. If I wanted to get it out, I would have to cut it out. I grabbed a hunting knife from my bag I looked to see if it was sharp, then sharpened it on a smaller stone.

I looked back down at the arrow with the blade in my hand. I was slightly shaking. I braced myself for the pain, the most pain I would ever feel in my life. At least in battle, whether it be an animal or another person, you have the adrenaline to numb the pain. I cut and pried for what seemed to be hours. The small stream closest to me ran red with my blood. Once I was able to get the arrow out, my vision was starting to blur from the blood loss. I grabbed out a needle and thread from my bag. Luckily I was able to avoid the arteries this long. I quickly stitched myself up and leaned back on the boulder. Blood was still running down my side, but I didn't feel a thing. The pain was gone. I was trying so hard not to fall asleep when I heard something come out of the water, and it said in a low, slow voice. "Follow the nearest path of your heart, follow to where it takes you. Make a wish, make a wish upon the wishing stone. A wish of where your heart most wants to be. Never give up, never lose grip. For if you do you'll surely slip."

I look over at the stream, and when I did. A beautiful white stallion with everything below his chest submerged in the water. Its mane was soaked and it had drops of water running down its nose. "Follow the nearest path of your heart, follow where it takes you. Make a wish, make a wish upon the wishing stone. A wish of where your heart most wants to be. Never give up, never lose grip. For if you do you will surely slip." He repeated. I looked at him confused yet not at the same time. "Why are you in the water stallion? what are you doing here?" I asked, but he just kept repeating. "Follow the nearest path of your heart, follow where it takes you. Make a wish, make a wish upon the wishing stone. A wish of where your heart most wants to be. Never give up, never lose grip. For if you do you will surely slip." I cautiously moved closer to the water. The closer I moved the more intensely the stallion spoke. "Follow the nearest path of your heart..." I had no idea what that meant. Could it be a omen? Or was it directions? I thought to myself. "Follow the nearest path of your heart..." I looked up at the caves to my left. It was then I realised that they had symbols at the top of each arch. One was a arrow head, the other side a unicorn, while the one in the middle was the biggest and was higher than the others. It was a griffon. I couldn't help think of Connall, I hope he is okay. I turned back to the stallion, But once I looked closer I realised it wasn't a stallion at all but rather...a kelpie. I jumped back from the water like it was acid. The kelpie looked at me with a menacing stare. It knew that if I wanted to choose any of the paths to follow, I would have to cross its waters, and if I crossed its waters...I would almost surely die. It wasn't giving me directions at all. It was telling me to get in the water, then pray my soul ends up in the good afterlife rather than the bad.

I watched its gaze as it followed my every move. "You won't trick me you slimy kelpie. I would sooner kill and eat you than fall for your tricks." I spat out, but the kelpie just continued to watch. Its eyes changed from a pale blue to a glowing red. They seemed to follow your every move like a tigress on the hunt. I laid my back against the boulder once more. I was starting to regain color and I was less woozy than before. I stared at the kelpie, but I found safety in the fact that it was to cold for them to leave their watery home. The kelpie stayed silent, almost to silent. Silent enough that you could hear the snowflakes hit the ground. Night was starting to fall, but it was to stormy to see any stars. "Well, at least I don't have to worry about finding shelter tonight." I said between chattered teeth. I rummaged through the things that I had in my sack and took out the fur from the oxen Connall and I hunted and put it over myself like a blanket then took out some dried meat I had taken from my brother. I looked back at the kelpie. "Well I guess that since I'm not going to let you eat me." I threw a piece of the meat which the caught in their mouth. I smiled, it reminded me of the hunting dogs back home. We mainly had Norwegian elkhounds and Irish wolfhounds. But the greatest I've had was named Keeshund. That dog was to protective and loyal for his own good, he got himself killed trying to defend me from a ursa. I vowed that if one day I got a pup that I thought was meant for greatness, that I was going to name them Keeshund.

The night grew darker and darker until you couldn't see anything in the cave except for the glowing red eyes of the kelpie. I just rolled over to face a wall with the fur still draped over my side. "You know you can stop staring at me." I complained. It was hard to fall asleep with something staring at you. But the kelpie said nothing. My eyes were so tired that I didn't even care anymore as I blinked and fell asleep.