lower it.” I don’t take my eyes off our visitor, but I can see Vaeril pushing up into a sitting position.
The kelpie has his snout pushed through the water from the fall, his angry amber eyes glowing in the darkness of the cave. It glances between us, its eyes narrowing when it falls on the elf, and a deep rumbling comes from its chest. I want to know why it’s here, why it’s back, and to do that, I need to get closer. Handing the weapon over to Vaeril, I stand and slowly walk over towards the kelpie.
“Clarissa, no! It will drag you into the water, it will kill you!” he shouts, and I can hear the sounds of him trying to stand to pull me back, but from the cursing, I guess he doesn’t have the energy or strength to do that yet.
The kelpie does not like that comment, baring his teeth which, unlike a horse, are needle-like fangs held in a horrifying maw. It makes that deep rumbling sound again and I freeze as it lunges forward, snapping at the elf. I’m pretty sure it’s a warning shot, since he’s nowhere near the elf and I know that if he wanted to, he could easily reach Vaeril.
“Stay back, he doesn’t like you,” I order, hoping he’ll do as I ask. The kelpie turns back to me, his expression instantly smoothing out as he hears my voice.
“You came back, are you okay?” I ask softly, my mind spinning over why he could be here.
Is he hurt? Does he need help? Has he come to give me more nos weed? Or perhaps he’s just come for an evening snack? The questions play out in my head, but I push them aside, sure he isn’t here to hurt me.
As soon as I ask the question, he seems to pause, as if reassessing me. I even hear Vaeril’s shocked murmur behind me, but I don’t turn to see what has him so surprised. The kelpie moves a little farther into the cave so his front hooves are on the stone. Placing one out before him, he bends the other knee and bends his head, and I realise he’s bowing to me again. This time, I return the bow—I don’t know why I feel compelled to do it, but it seems right.
With a whickering noise of a horse, he rises before disappearing from the waterfall. Confused, I stand straight and begin to turn away when, as quickly as he went, he reappears with a splash. My eyes go wide when I see what he’s carrying in his mouth—the largest fish I’ve ever seen. Pushing into the cave again, he stretches his neck forward and gently drops the fish at my feet.
Glancing from the fish to the expectant creature, I realise he’s brought us something to eat. A huge smile spreads across my face, and before Vaeril can do anything to stop me, I place my hand on the kelpie’s forehead. “Thank you.”
With a nod of his head, he shoots one last death glare at Vaeril, then backs out of the cave, throwing himself into the water.
“He brought you food.” I finally turn to Vaeril, who is staring at the fish at my feet, his face dumbstruck. It’s not an expression I’m used to seeing on his face and it makes me chuckle.
“Don’t be jealous, I’ll share it with you,” I joke, before looking at the fish again and trying to decide what to do with it.
“Those creatures have an insatiable hunger, they never give away food.” He still sounds confused, like he’s trying to convince himself he isn’t hallucinating.
“Well…” I don’t know what to say to him, because the opposite of what he’s saying just happened. I also notice how he rarely calls them kelpies, but ‘creatures’ or ‘beasts,’ and that gets to me. “Have you ever stuck around to see what they might do?” I challenge gently, but that seems to snap him out of his fixation with the fish.
He frowns up at me. “What do you mean?”
Shrugging my shoulders, I try to determine how I can word this without insulting him. “Have you ever spoken to a kelpie?”
He looks at me like I’ve said something particularly stupid. “No, they are vicious.”
“Maybe not always.” I gesture to the fish as proof of what I’m saying. He’s frowning again, and I can tell this is going to turn into an argument, which is the last thing I want right now. He nearly died