Chapter Four:

"She's been up there for fifteen minutes and there's not even been a ripple in the water." Jeremiah commented, rather loudly, considering that he was having to talk over Shiirai's screaming. Her hands were bound and she was tied up round the middle on a thick rope the innkeeper had lent them which was wrapped loosely around a tree branch that hung well out over the kelpie's lake. Shiirai was twisting and flailing and screaming loudly, enough that her voice had gone hoarse already. She had run the gambit from threats to cries to pleads to just...panicking.

Taelia was sitting nearby with Permian, her head rested on her brother's shoulder. She had a single brow raised and was watching the twisting elf boredly. "Well. I never said this was going to be quick. It may take some time before the Kelpie raises himself up to take a chew at her. I don't know. I've never hunted Kelpie before. But the innkeeper said young and blonde and Shiirai definitely fits that. Although he didn't say anything about loud."

They remained there for the better of two hours, just idly switching positions in the camp as time wore on until finally either the lure of fresh meat or the sheer amount of noise the Shiirai incessantly made drug the kelpie to the surface. Taelia smacked Jeremiah's arm and stood up slowly. Together they crept over to the nearby bushes, whereas Permian sat where he was and looked past the bush idly.

Shiirai had the misfortune to look down as the grey green horse head emerged from the water and snarled up at her, it's black eyes shining like pale lamps in the dark. It's mane was weighed down with kelp and bulrushes that made it look no prettier than it was and it's teeth were not like a horses at all, but sharp and menacing.

This provoked Shiirai to begin shrieking loudly and thrashing in her ties again. She began to curse at her companions in the bushes again, beginning with "You've doomed me to die at the hooves of a demonic horse, you bastards!!" Jeremiah stood upright, catching the kelpie's attention as he shot off a procession of three bolts in its general direction.

One was smacked away and the other two simply didn't penetrate the animal's thick hide. Jeremiah cursed savagely and ran back to gather more bolts. The kelpie caught one of Shiirai's feet in its mouth and jerked savagely, which only caused her to carry on more.

It pulled harshly enough that it snapped the rope and Kelpie, Shiirai and excess rope fell into the lake with a splash. Taelia shouted, as it didn't seem that her lower voice was really screaming. Permian however leapt forward and went charging into the water, the lack of skin and muscle making it easy for his bones to wade through quickly.

Once upon the creature he began to beat upon it with his fist and eventually a large stick floating about. This created a strange fight as the kelpie tried to hold off the skeletons advances and keep it's meal in hand. Shiirai thrashed about and made this fight no easier by any means and did everything but bite the creature.

Taelia scrambled back towards her bag and began throwing vials and potions out of it until she found one that looked right to her. It was a terrible bright fuchsia and smelled remarkably like something that would burn the metal right off Brillo pads. She snatched a bolt from Jeremiah and dipped the end of it into the bottle before handing it back to him.

"Don't let it touch your hand, it'll remove everything down to the bone!" She shouted at him as she ran off into the water with her staff to aid her brother. Jeremiah quickly removed his hand from near where the liquid was searing the wood. He loaded it quickly and aimed carefully at the kelpie's long delicate neck. Shiirai moved her head away just in time to only singe her hair when he fired the bolt.

The kelpie relinquished her and screeched loudly and began to dumbly smack at it's throat with it's hooves. The liquid was some combination of an acid and a poison that rather quickly killed the Kelpie. Taelia dove under the water as her brother brought the creature's corpse up to the bank and retrieved the still struggling Shiirai back above the surface of the water. She was still cursing and struggling and threatening to beat people with objects.

She carried on this way halfway back to the town and had calmed down by the time they came across the people that dwelled there. They had congregated in the street with pitchforks and other farm utensils that could be used as weapons, fearuflly eyeing the path they walked up. There was a collective sigh of relief and some small cheering when they saw the small party come up the hill and not the kelpie that had haunted them for so long now.

The innkeeper and his wife came running forward with a blanket for Shiirai, who was covered in lake muck and the shiny blue black blood of the kelpie. "Don't worry child," the wife was cooing at her, "we'll get you back to the inn and you can get a nice hot bath..." This at least made the elf smile and she leaned lightly into the innmaid, however careful to not cover her in muck.

She was more than happy to sit in her bath for a rather prolonged period of time. The innkeep's wife had brought her a lovely little bottle of frothy pale green bubbles that seemed to never thin or diminsh as long as they had water beneath them. They smelled lightly of juniper, which was pure heaven to her. She had already washed off the muck from her pale skin and her long white blonde hair, but she felt compelled to sit and enjoy the warm water and fragrent bubbles for a short time more.

There was a soft knock at the door and Taelia wandered in. She had stripped out of her usual attire and was in a long, flowy dressing gown. She had a small tin in her hands, which smelled strongly of a combnation of herbs she knew to be good for healing. "You were not seriously hurt were you?" she asked, a rather concerned look coming across her face.

It made her much easier to forgive. "My foot is a bit sore where he bit me..." she mentioned and pulled the offending limb from the water. There were two thin rows of small punctures where his teeth had clamped down around her ankle.

Taelia frowned slightly and set the tin to the side. "Put this on it before you go to bed and wrap it in a bandage. It should feel much better by morning. Good night." Then she excused herself from the bathroom and to bed.