Thy Bog Overfloweth

Chapter 14

On Sunday, May third, Sarah Williams woke up feeling very strange.

... Stranger than usual, anyway.

Which was, indeed, saying something. Sarah, as a Friend of Goblins, was used to waking to find wierd situations occurring, but she was fairly sure her nose wasn't supposed to be flat and dark grey. Or that her vision was supposed to sharpen and change range, or that her ears were supposed to twitch. Or that her neck was supposed to be so long, or that she was supposed to have cloven hooves in the place of her hands. Or that she was supposed to have a long, silky mane instead of hair, or that she was supposed to have soft, water-tight, grey skin. Or, most importantly, that she was supposed to have a long, pinnipedal tail.

The air was thick around her, and when Sarah moved her head, the mane floated around her face, wrapping itself around her muzzle and getting in her eyes. She tossed her head irritably and heard a chuckle from somewhere off to her right.

Another creature swam closer, forelegs pulled up to make him more aqua-dynamic, his tail not horizontal like hers but vertical, like a shark's. The analogy was well placed, she thought, seeing the fangs in the horse's head. He circled closer with one more sweep of his tail propelling him forward, moving around Sarah to stand before her. This creature, like her and not, was jet black with a white-gold mane and oddly familiar eyes...

-Enjoying yourself, Sarah?- The voice was, quite distinctly, Jareth's; Sarah tried to speak verbally to respond, but found herself mute. Irritated, she tried sending a thought to him, quite surprised when it worked. Though the thought had only been two words (and two rather impolite ones, at that), Jareth laughed again.

-You might want to work on volume control, Sarah. I'm not so far away that you need to yell-, Jareth informed her. Sarah cussed at him some more, then, testing, turned using her front legs and kicked with her tail.

Sarah was shocked when she shot forward, and nearly ran into Jareth as he smoothly kept pace with her. -Keep at it-, he encouraged. -You'll get the hang of it soon enough.-

#Just what in hell's name are we?!# Sarah demanded. Jareth shouldered her to steer her around a rather large mound that looked suspiciously like black coral. #And where?#

-We are, at the moment, Kelpies-, Jareth replied. He swam ahead of her by a pace, looping up and around to swim by her side again. - As for where... We are in Loch Akkesha'nebb... Translated, Lake Grey-Realm. It was named by the Mer--the Kelpies who live here have never seen a need to name the wild places.

-And before you ask why... It's what you wished for, dear mortal. Or dear Kelpie, as it may be. By the bye, you do make a lovely Kelpie. Just think of all the mortals you could tempt to Mizut'kai!-

#I am not going to kill people! I don't care if I am a Kelpie, I refuse!#

-Sarah, Sarah, Sarah, did you learn nothing during your trip through the Labyrinth? Nothing is as it seems. Only those mortals with an affinity for magic can see a Kelpie, Mizut'kai is a haven for mortal magic practitioners. One of the most famous to have been brought there is Arthur Pendragon.-

#But he was taken by the Lady of the...# Sarah stopped, both her thought and her motion. #Lake.# The last word of the thought was barely a whisper.

-Caught on, have you? Kelpies are shape-shifters, Sarah. We-- well, they, but we while we are among their numbers-- can shift into many forms other than that of a lost pony or horse. It is one of our-- their-- favorite forms, but we--they-- can become almost anything. Including people.-

#Is it their favorite because they are closer to horses, biologically?# The curiosity, always a determining feature in Sarah's actions, had started to take over, and Jareth tossed his head with a grin... Well, it was a grin, but it looked more like a bearing of the wicked fangs that were a Kelpie's teeth.

-Honestly? Kelpies are closer to cats than to the modern horse. But one of the horses' ancestor evolved from the offspring of a Kelpie and another of their ancestors... the creature spawned was labeled merychippus by your scientists. That was long, long ago, however.-

#How do I work this thing? I can go straight, but I don't know how to turn.#

-Lean whatever direction you need to go, I'll guide you through the rest-, Jareth said. He spent the next half-hour teaching Sarah to turn without rolling upside-down, and another hour after that teaching her the use of the forelegs--balance. She kept tilting while swimming, and though he found it highly amusing to watch her slip sideways, Sarah wasn't so pleased. She made this known by biting him, and she was pleasantly surprised to find her teeth as sharp as his.

-This way, Sarah-, Jareth called to her as he glided ahead. He proceeded to lead her through the water to a forest of kelp, watching as she weaved her way carefully through the long leaves. The kelp, too, was a deep grey, Sarah noted. Everything here is so murky, she mused. I wonder why... Before she had a chance to ask him, she realized Jareth was nowhere to be found.

Sarah looked around uncertainly, wondering if he was playing some sort of game. She felt something tap her shoulder, and turned to see an old woman floating beside her. She reached out with a thought, cautiously.

#Who and what are you?#

'This was not what I imagined doing,' Jareth groused darkly. He motored after the kappa, a water goblin and thus under his jurisdiction, heading towards the tribe's caves.

-What is it you need, Kappa?- The irritation was very clear in his thought, and the Kappa flinched, but didn't stop swimming.

"You need to see this, Sire," the Kappa said. Its voice was slightly muffled by the water, but it was audible in a way no mortal voice would have been. "It's... not... Well, you just have to see it, my King." The Kappa shot ahead, turning sharply. Jareth, as a Kelpie stallion, followed close behind, turning agilely where the Kappa had, and stopped short at the sight before him.

#I'm sorry. Is Jenny Greenteeth who you are, or what you are?# The old lady laughed at Sarah's tentative question and held up one spindly finger. With it, she gestured Sarah to follow.

:Your Kelpie-King is this way:, Jenny crooned. :Won't you go to see him?:

Sarah paused for a moment. Should I trust her? #He's not my King#, Sarah quibbled, and Jenny waved off her comment with her long, bony hand.

:Your Kelpie-King,: Jenny insisted. :Follow, follow, you must follow!:

Major bad feeling here... Something's not right! Sarah kept this thought to herself. #My Kelpie-King#, Sarah agreed, baffled. #Lead on, if you would.#

The Kelpies are, by nature, not very social. There were a great deal of Kelpie within Akkesha'nebb, but one could wander for days without meeting a single one, much less the hundreds gathered at the reef before him. Usually, you could find a couple dozen at Mizut'kai, but not in these numbers.

-Araskuro!- Jareth sent out the call wildly, sweeping forward, staying a good ten feet above the passel of Kelpies. The seemed a mass of grey or black bodies, broken up only by the rainbow of manes, each mane being a different shade or even shades, as some were streaked.

Jareth, the answer came. What brings you here, air-beast? I'd think you'd be more likely to attend your Kappas' meet than to a Kelpie congregation.

-I brought a friend here to show here more of the Underground, and one of the Kappas dragged me away to see what was going on here. Which reminds me...-

There's been an increase in grindylow attacks, Araskuro rumbled. We plan to hunt them down. Where is your friend? We'll retrieve him before the hunt commences.

-Her. I left her in the forest of kelp to the west... Oh, no. I know that look. I left her at the grindylow den, didn't I? Damn it, I was taking her here to the reef, but I wanted to watch her get tangled up in the kelp...- Jareth had already turned and started racing back to where he'd left Sarah.

Kelpies! Follow and attend!

Now Sarah knew something was wrong. Jenny had lead her deeper into the forest of Kelp, not further, and it didn't make sense for Jareth to have come this way. She was smaller, more nimble if less graceful, and Jareth's larger Kelpie frame would have gotten him tangled in the kelp by now.

Sarah hung back a little when Jenny Greenteeth rushed ahead. That hesitation let her see the grindylows rush out from the kelp. With a yelp--strangled by the water-- Sarah turned tail (literally, she thought, a tiny but hysteric) and fled through the kelp.

The grindylows followed her as she weaved through the long strands of kelp, and a few snarled as the kelp grabbed at them. Sarah desperately tried to remember any spell to aide her, but the only spells she knew how to cast without a rune was for summoning Goblins and tying shoes...

Hadn't her Japanese teacher told her about water-imps when they covered a unit on mythology?

She half-prayed, half-wished for luck as she altered the spell to summon water-Goblins, and then she unleashed the spell. In her hurry, she decided to add the shoe-spell, just in case... Sarah heard something happen, but she kept swimming, angling up and kicking her tail as hard as she could, given the circumstances.

Sarah was shocked when she shot out of the kelp and into Jareth and another Kelpie.

I take it this is your friend, air-beast? The strange Kelpie sounded amused, and Jareth really couldn't blame him.

-Yes, this is Sarah.- The Kelpies on the hunt swarmed forward into the forest of kelp, and the water soon rang with the sound of laughter.

What in the Underground is going on? Araskuro queried. Follow, Jareth and friend.

#Hey! I have a name, you know!#

-Right, I forgot. Eh, Araskuro, Sarah, Sarah, Araskuro. He's the Guardian of the Kelpie, somewhat like a King. Araskuro, I warn you, she's a little edgy about names, and she figured out biting while I was laughing at her earlier...-

The Guardian snorted and moved through the kelp. He halted when he reached the other Kelpies, as did Jareth and Sarah, who'd followed him.

Who did this? Araskuro sounded frankly admiring as he looked at the knot of furious grindlylow and the Jenny Greenteeth caught by the kelp. A band of armed Kappas circled the giant knot, growling at the grindlylows when the captives struggled too fiercely or lashed out at the laughing Kelpies.

"She did, sir. Hello again, Sire," the Kappa from before answered. "They were like this when we got here about a minute ago, but we thought we should keep guard, Sire."

-Good thinking. Speaking of thinking, what were you thinking, Sarah, to go further into the kelp like that?- Jareth turned to Sarah, voice deceptively mild.

#Some lady told me to follow her, and she'd take me to wherever it was that you'd disappeared to#, Sarah snapped, irritated. Araskuro watched the two bicker for almost ten minutes before he interrupted.

Jareth, you said you'd brought your friend, not your mate.

#What?!#

-Just because we fight like an old mated couple doesn't mean we are-, Jareth protested.

If you say so. Are you going to show your lady-friend the reef while the rest of us clean up this mess? You're wlecome to stop by Mizut'kai, too.

-Thanks, water-horse. We'll be doing that, then.- Jareth started herding a still-sputtering Sarah toward the reef.

See you around, air-beast.

"How did it go?" Chame asked Jareth as they stopped by her court to pick up Faolan and Izzi. Izzi had already twined herself into Sarah's hair, seemingly suffering from separation anxiety. Who'd've thought that the it suffers from co-dependency as well as mania and misandry? Jareth wondered.

"You know Sarah, she's always the heroine. Not three hours there and she goes and solves the local grindylow problem after getting lost." Faolan leaned heavily against Jareth, and Jareth reached down to rub the wolf's ears. "How did Faolan and the it behave?"

One of Chame's lady-in-waitings giggled. "Faolan is still learning to use his wings, isn't he? He crashed into the same tree three times while chasing Izzi!"

"And Izzi was marvelous, except for when your father dropped by and she felt the need to bite him."

"And the emmisary, my Queen," called out one of the courtiers.

"And the Duke of Retroze," cried another.

"And the chef."

"And the Knights..."

"All nine of them!"

"Izzi," Sarah scolded. "You know better than to bite people." Izzi just thrummed smugly, and Jareth shot Sarah a Look (a Look is akin to a glare, but it isn't as powerful; it is more powerful than a glance or scowl, however, because of its lovely capital). Sarah sighed.

"It's late Aboveground and you two have had a long day, you two best be going back," Chame said. She embraced both her Fae son and mortal co-conspirer and sent them back.

"A very busy day you've had," she mumbled as she fingered the letter Sarah had slipped into her pocket, "and a very busy couple of weeks before you, unless I miss my mark."

Oro: And we race head-first towards the end... (sighs) Ah, well, I'll draw this out five more chapters or so, I reckon. How many of you thought Jaret would say, Screw it, I'll make her a Goblin? C'mon, hands up, people... I almost turned her into a hat like the Wise Man's. It was very tempting.

In case HRH's logic isn't clear to you, he decided that Sarah enjoyed gambling so much, she should become something that can actually race. Yup, his mind is wierd like that.

Sarah: Agreed.

Jareth: Hey!

Oro: Anyway, not as much humor in this one, but it was fun to write. Just a heads up: pinnipedal is the type of tail seals have, it's the scientific term. Merychippus is an extinct ancestor of the modern horse. Kappas are Japanese water imps (taken from ka, river, and pa, an alternative way to read the kanji for child), Kelpies are water-horses (the line about killing people reffers to how Kelpies are said to drown their riders), grindylows and Jenny Greenteeth are English water-beings said to eat people.

Quill: She owns the plot, some of the characters, the names of the places, and nothing else. She doesn't even own herself. But shh, don't tell her that, she thinks she's free...