Journey of the Horn

Chapter 17

I woke up the next morning and the kelpie was still staring at me. I sat up with a bit of a groan, the wound I had from removing the arrow was still angry and red. I rolled the hide up and shoved it in my sack. I then turned back to the kelpie who hadn't moved an inch, but its eyes were closed. I moved with extreme caution and didn't look away from it. It snorted in its sleep like a frustrated horse. I threw my sack over my shoulder before sneaking as close to the caves as I could. The rocks that separated the paths were narrow enough that if it woke the kelpie could just drag me into the water itself. I felt I knew which path to take. But was it the right one? I stood for another moment or two. I needed to get out of here before the kelpie woke up. The only way to get to the paths were to jump over the water. I knew which path I wanted to take, but there were two platforms I had to jump over before I could get to it. I prepared myself for a mad dash of a jump. I knew that the kelpie is fast and that it wouldn't hesitate to jump up and grab me, dragging me to a watery death.

I closed my eyes in attempt to focus before running and jumping trying to land as softly on the platform as I could. But even still my hooves clopped on the rock. The kelpie stirred in its sleep as if starting to wake up. I stood as still as I could, not even breathing. It stirred more until suddenly, its eyes opened. But it was like it had a third lid over its eye that didn't slide over, it made it look as if the eyes of the kelpie were all grey instead of bold red. I froze in my place, I knew that if I didn't move it wouldn't be able to sense me. The kelpie stared for a moment before shaking its head and snorting, closing its other eyelids again. I finally let go of the breath I was holding and stood up straight once more. I prepared to jump again, and then run for my life. I stepped up to the edge of the ledge ready to jump. I took another deep breath, hopefully not my last. I Jumped, but when I went to take off. My hooves slipped and I ended up falling half way into the water. The kelpie's eye struck open faster than the fastest arrow. It let out a roar as it dove under the water and swam right towards me. I gathered all of my strength into my arms as I pulled myself up onto the ledge, just missing a bite from the kelpie. I tried to regain my balance, for the kelpie had roared so loud the entire cavern started to shake. I finally gained enough balance to take the last jump I needed to take. This time without hesitation I took off from the ledge, just as the kelpie jumped out of the water. It tried to grab me by the leg, but I was too quick for it and I kicked it in the nose. I skid to a stop when I landed on the ledge, but there was no time to rest. The cavern had started to cave in. I ran into the tunnel archway and made myself flat against it. The stone roof of the cavern came down just in time, for the kelpie had jumped up and was trying to grab me to drag me into the water. But it soon regretted it as the cavern caved in and crushed the kelpie.

The kelpie let out a moan of pain. The cave in had crushed its body, but it was still alive. I couldn't just leave it there to suffer. I had to do something. I took my hunting knife out of me sack. It was sharp enough to cut through stone. I looked over at the kelpie. "I won't leave you, not like this. You may have been trying to kill me and eat me but you had reason. I won't let you suffer, you are innocent." I slowly walked over to the kelpie, speaking calmly and softly the whole time. I placed a hand on its cheek. All of a sudden I could see a little baby kelpie playing in a sea of pink kelp with the light shining through like it was a golden sunset. The baby kelpie was just chasing around a few sea horses. They were playing, this creature meant no harm to anything or anyone. I removed my hand slightly horrified. What could have happened to this poor kelpie. "I'm sorry you ended up like this, but now...now you can go home. Now you can be happy again. I will show you that one last act of kindness." I placed the blade of my knife over the kelpie and stabbed it right in the head. It didn't feel a thing, it didn't hurt anymore, they were at peace.