The Kelpie's Cries (Completed)

The Dragon Rider

The shadows gave way to the features of a man. His expression looked rough, those yellow eyes seeming to glow even in the light, scleras sharp like a cat's and long unkempt auburn hair framing his face. He had a sharp jawline and some stubble and there seemed to be a permanent scowl on his expression. Maybe that just was his resting face?.. Yeah, she would stick with that theory. She didn't interact with grown ups as much, at least not with grown ups that looked like they thought of her as nothing more than an ant, and so she couldn't tell what his intentions of showing up were. The one good thing about the situation was that she wouldn't be turned into a human ice cream by that dragon but the bad thing was that her friend was trapped down in the lake. The fairies were God-knows-where and she couldn't run away from an adult with longer legs than her. She was helpless.

"Who are you, girl?", the man asked. His voice was rough and deep enough to make a woman stutter in her words. Obviously, said girl was too shaken up by the dragon encounter to speak or form intelligible words, she was frozen in place, legs shaking and mouth agape. So, the man asked again, wanting real answers that wouldn't be answered by body language; he was hoping for a verbal response.

"U-um...", the girl couldn't quite process the situation but she got herself to look around to see if the fairies had come back yet from wherever they had flew off to. Sadly, the only light she could see was from above the trees and their entangled branches.

"Speak up", the man said and she heard the dragon growl from behind her. The atmosphere had become so overwhelmingly scary that tears started to flood her eyes and soon she was crying -so loudly, in fact, that the man had to put a hand over her mouth and tell her through gritted teeth to quiet down or she would die. Those words only made her cry louder though and the dragon began to panic as well, looking all over the clearing and watching every tree as if it would move. She could hear the Kelpie over her crying, neighing and trying to shatter the ice that surrounded it with little to no success.

"Girl, listen to me!", he shouted and grabbed her by the shoulders, making sure that she looked him in the eye. Of course, her wide eyes met his yellow irises with shock, fear and something else that she couldn't really describe. Her crying quieted down but she still whimpered and occasionally let out a small wail accompanied by a small sniffle. "If you make another sound I will rip your tongue out, ya hear?".

If her eyelids could go further up, they would and if her eyes could pop out of their sockets without injury, they sure would. Cut out her tongue? Just because she was crying? Well, now she was having second thoughts about returning to her father and her own home. Was her mother referring to this kind of person? Was he supposed to be good? Because he sure didn't look the part if he was. She quickly nodded her head to his words and he sighed in relief even if tears were still rolling down her cheeks, staining them and falling off her skin to wet the grass beneath their feet.

Then, the man nodded at the dragon that was sat behind her while they were exchanging looks and almost immediately, it stood up on its strong-looking legs and went over to the lake. There was a shattering sound, followed by the sound of waves or that of a tsunami crushing violently into a big building -though she had never heard that sound and she wondered if a tsunami really did sound like that in reality, outside of her imagination. Looking at what the dragon was doing, she found it biting off pieces of the ice prison and throwing them at the side to melt on dry patches of soil. The lake was at its original state in just a few moments, water shimmering in the moonlight and calm like before the fight. The dragon returned and so did the Kepie after a few seconds, climbing out of its home and galloping towards the other two in a panic.

The girl ran over to him as well to meet him halfway and took his head into her arms in a sort of embrace. She was glad that he was well and unharmed but with that beast that towered over them like a giant, the one that had been chasing the two of them, how long would that last for? It was a worrisome subject, one that she wanted to believe would have a positive ending and nothing negative. No death, no trauma or anything of the sort. Well, she could only hope and pray for that.

"Who are you?", the man tried again, this time trying a different, calmer approach. Once again, he received no answer. Her mother's words kept playing in her head to not tell anyone her name and that was what she would do. Turning back at the amber-eyed man, she shook her head and looked down at her feet. The Kelpie seemed intrigued by the question as well since he didn't know of her name even though they had spent a good amount of time together -it wasn't like he could ask for it anyway.

"Do you not have a name, girl?", he continued, the dragon came to his side, its eyes looking everywhere but at the small group next to it. The girl shook her head, wanting to see where this assumption of his could get her. A name change wouldn't be bad! It would be temporary as well, she would have to leave the forest at some point, right?

"That is very weird and unnatural of humans to do" -he narrowed his eyes- "I guess I'll just stick with 'girl' for now until you reveal your name to me".

Does he know that I lied?... How?... Even so, she wouldn't tell him her real name, maybe when she would learn more about him, if she believed she could trust him, she would tell him.

"Come, it's not safe out here for a creature of your kind. You'll be shred to pieces if the wrong person finds you", and with that said, he pulled her by the arm and dragged her to the dragon. Confused and saddened by his words, she held little to no resistance and for once cooperated. She looked back and found her friend following suit before the man stopped. The dragon was still looking around the treeline for an unknown reason.

"Össur, down"

The dragon, Össur, lowered his head in an instant at the command and allowed the two of them to mount his back. Sadly, the kelpie was unable to follow them onto the shiny scales of the other creature since his hooves could not grip onto anything like claws nor grab onto something like fingers. He remained on the soft soil, tail flicking as he waited for some sort of instruction -he would follow suit from the ground if he had to.

"What about him?", the girl asked, pointing a finger at her friend with worried eyes. She was sat in front of the man to insure her safety and so it was easy to see what she was referring to. He hummed and looked the white creature in the eye.

"Try to keep up with us, kelpie", was all he said before giving Össur the order to take off .