Face pressed upon the ground, the smell of the grass and fresh morning dew did nothing to calm my racing heart. Normally, I would not mind the coppery taste in my mouth; yet to taste ones' own blood was unnerving.
Is this what fear smells and taste like?
Although my vision started to blur, I could clearly see those red eyes and giant pinchers. I called for help, but knew none would come - our kind kept great distance from one another, there were no other kelpies nearby to hear my call.
And so, this is how it should end. My life flashed before me ... I could never claim to had lived a long and fruitful life; yet I did live.
I was born in the far north in between what was known to be Drumnadochit and Inverness. This place was my mother's lake - humans who ventured here would call her Nessie. It was a crude name, one that was not even her true name. My mother had always loved to take the form of a sea serpent; this form never failed to startle and scare the humans who would venture near her lake.
My father had always disapproved of mother's playful manner in handling humans, but I shall not discuss him for now - I had never known him during the first eight years of my life. Given my parents' distaste for one another, I sometimes wonder how I came about...
Mother was a lake kelpie, whereas Father was a river kelpie. Most humans could not tell the difference, for kelpies looked the same – the same cat-like eyes, the same sharp teeth, the same capabilities, but each of our abilities were used at varying degrees. Our capabilities would depend on what our parents taught, although some of the tricks we would discover on our own. However our strength depended on the body of water that we chose to reside on. Our colouring had no bearing on our choice of residence. Female kelpies usually sport a white coat; males black ones.
A willowy white mare nudge a black colt gently, "Seidon, it's time to wake up. There's a human wandering about the shore."
The young one yawned and felt a bit cross at being disturbed for something as trivial as a human. "Mum, why does it matter?"
"Little one, you still have so much to learn," she bent towards her child and rubbed her muzzle on his head. "We kelpies, value strength and our strength is best measured by the number of humans that we scare."
My mother had taught me the art of shape shifting; during my years with her, I had become adept at taking the form of a sea serpent and that of humans.
The young colt watched an eagle soar above him on the clear blue skies above. "Mum?"
"Yes, Seidon?"
"Could you teach me how to take the shape of a bird?"
Seidon had never seen his mother look so appalled. "Why would you want to do that?"
"Flying seems interesting. I'm want to know how it would feel to soar with the wind."
The mare shook her head emphatically. "When in the air you are vulnerable. Water is our source of life and power. A sea serpent is the most acceptable form. We sometimes take the form of a human to disguise ourselves, because humans are dangerous creatures – they are less likely to harm their own kind. Though on some occasions, they do harm their own kind -"
"You mean taking the form of a bird cannot be done?" The young stallion asked.
"Of course, it could be done. But why should we bother? We, kelpies are capable of that, we are capable of almost anything that other creatures are capable of." She tossed her head proudly at the statement.
The young kelpie stared despondently upon the sky above; his mother decided to shift the youngster's attention away from those frivolous and extremely foolish notions.
"Kelpies need not fly to see things. Why would we choose to watch at such an unsafe distance and height? Especially when we could easily get a closer and more concise look from here."
This piqued the interest of the youngling. "How?"
The mare scanned the area and her eyes landed upon a shallow puddle. She approached this puddle, her son followed her closely; she tapped her hoof upon it. Young Seidon's eyes widened in surprise and interest as the bluish glow around the puddle cleared to reveal an image; the image of a fisherman who had often visit their lake, the man was with a female human and two smaller ones.
Little did his mother know that in veering her son's interest away from the dangerous idea of flying, she had awakened an interest towards more dangerous creatures, creatures known as humans.
I saw humans in a different light that day. I saw that they were not mere simpletons that we aim to scare, I wanted to know more about them; they intrigued me.
You see, we kelpies are solitary by nature; we do not wish to share our habitat for long periods of time. Young kelpies needed guidance before they could set forth to find their own rivers or lakes. Each parent would take their turn on rearing their young. I spent my first eight years with my mother and would be spending the next five with my father.
My mother frowned upon harming a human unnecessarily; my father believed quite differently, he saw humans as threats that ought to be neutralized. No, my father was no mass murderer of the human kind, but he prefered that they stay away from him and took any means necessary to ensure this.
It was my first time to see something like this, the swirling blue waves seemed to have opened up and possessed a strange blue glow. I took one last look at my mother and the lake that was my home for the past eight years. She turned away, changed into her favoured form of a sea serpent and sank into the deep waters below. I wondered... Was she sad to see me go? Or was she relieved that she no longer had to share her lake with another kelpie? I would never know the answer to this, for I doubt that I would ever see her again. Into the swirling blue waves I entered to meet my father and my new home.
The River Ure at Middleham, so different from my mother's lake, yet this was a place of picturesque beauty. The clear waters flowed steady, the feel such strong currents was unfamiliar but refreshing at the same time. My eyes were drawn upon the north of the riverbank where strange stone structures stood. Up until the present, I still wondered on their purpose.
"Welcome Seidon."
The young black stallion turned to face Acheron, his father. They possessed the same countenance, yet Acheron somehow appeared colder and fiercer.
"Father, what's the purpose of those strange structures?"
His father snorted his dismissal, "Creation of those humans. They need not concern you. We kelpies, do not concern ourselves with trivial human matters," he eyed the sinking sun and cocked his head towards the shore. "Come, it's time."
"Time?" The young kelpie followed his father towards the shore and stopped by the banks.
His father nodded. "Once a cycle, I would hunt down a human, a reminder to their kind of my presence in this river; a way to sow fear into their hearts and keep them away."
The younger kelpie did not move from his place by the banks to follow his father.
Acheron impatiently tapped his hoofs on the ground. "Well? Hurry up."
"I thought we ought not venture far from our waters."
Acheron grunted his disapproval. "Your mother believes that putting a human in their place would only require for her to show up as a sea serpent once in a while. It's no wonder that humans soon forgot to fear her, some even made her an object of curiosity," he paused and studied his son carefully. "Come, I shall show you how to properly sow fear into the hearts of those humans."
"You mean it would be all right for us to venture away from the water?" The younger stallion asked hesitantly.
"We need our waters to open a portal or gather our strength, but we could venture out of it anytime. A kelpie's scope is not hindered by the waters alone."
"Portal?"
Acheron sighed. "I can see that I have plenty of work to do with you."
To watch my father tear his human victim to shreds was horrifying; the two legged creature's screams rang through my ears. The sound of the crushing bones, of the flesh being torn from the victim... it was not something I relished to hear. Yet my father seemed to enjoy this; the creature's screams echoed through the night ... the sound mingled with the caws of the birds above us.
Yet it was not enough for my father the he ripped the creature apart. He would also drag it towards the river and allow it to drown. Drowning was an awful way to die, struggle to breathe they would, yet unable to scream as my father would continue to rip them apart; the water would flow into their mouths - silencing their cries.
In all my years with my father, I had watched as he went about this task for countless of times; sometimes he would attack directly, other times he would try to charm and tempt the humans to ride on his back before he would drown them. The familiarity did nothing to quench my horror at those acts. Always, he would leave upon the bloodstained grass, a liver.
Seidon finally recovered enought to ask Acheron, "Father, why leave the liver behind?"
Acheron lifted his head arrogantly, "So, the humans would know that it was I who did this."
I could never condone myself to disregard human lives as my father does. My mother harmed them not due to the fear of retaliation. Unlike my parents, I neither fear humans, nor do I see as them as a threat. Was this foolishness in my part? Maybe it was foolishness, yet I felt that these humans were not mere creatures... There has to be more to them, I know not what, yet maybe I will in time.
My father taught me how to open portals, a kelpie's way of long distance travel. However, the more important lesson he gave - one that I would always be grateful for, was that he showed me that we are not confined in our waters. The simple knoweldge that I could move about in land, would enable me more freedom, enable me to take a more active role in my study of these humans...
Facts:
1. Per the HP Lexicon: the Lochness Monster is believed to be a kelpie
2. The River Ure is located in North Yorkshire, it was believed that the kelpie that resided in the place takes a victim once a year
3. I'm basing the kelpie's appearance and abilities on various Scottish lore. The lexicon said very little about them for me to work on. I took the liberty of placing some limitations on their capabilities.
4. There's two versions of a kelpie. The Scottish highlands believed that they live in lochs/lakes or the sea' whereas the low lands believed that they lived in running water like rivers and streams. However, everything about them (appearance and abilities) are the same. Thus my differentiation between the river and lake kelpies.
Next Chapter: The young kelpie’s bold attempts to help, scare, and know humans.