The Kelpie's Cries (Completed)

Commotion

An hour had passed since Odan had taken off with his dragon to look for the rest of the hunters in the forest but so far, they had found no clues as to where they had gone. It was almost like they had vanished into thin air. Odan knew that was not the case, however, they were humans, individuals with no special powers to save their lives from the gripping roots of the forest. There was no trail of salted ground nor any empty spots that used to have more life in them. All the trees and plants were where they had grown, they had not left like the ones in the outskirts.

"Össur, let's go back to the outskirts and make sure they haven't retreated to their camp", Odan ordered and so the dragon changed direction.

The camp was empty still and there were no people moving towards it from the path the two of them had. How did they disappear like that? Odan had to ask that question. After years of dealing with invaders, never had he seen something like that. Maybe they left? There was a good chance that they had left the forest but why make such a raucous entrance in the first place if they were planning on leaving that soon? It did not make sense to the man, as it did to Össur, who noticed black smoke coming from inland. Without any hesitation, he turned and began pushing with his wings towards the puffs of black clouds, the man's eyes widened at the sight.

"How did they get that far in?", he mumbled in disbelief. A hand reached for his sword, getting ready to unsheathe it the moment they reached the burning leaves.

Blue and red flames fought for dominance in the treetops as the humid atmosphere turned ashy, dark and dry. Bark and leaves were disintegrating into dust, the ground was morphing into mountains reeking of death and sulfur. Hollers and roars sounded from the center of the commotion and a pair of crystal wings debouched from the narrow openings of the falling trunks and into the open sky, a head with sapphires and emeralds emerging shortly after from the smoke, eyes of morganite gemstones desperately asking for help. Ropes had trapped its legs to the ground and the unnatural red fire was approaching it with great speed as it ate away at the cold, blue flames. Odan didn't need to command Össur to put out the fire because he did it himself out of compassion, spewing a freezing burst of ice flames onto the hot ones. After that, the dragon changed his size and landed in the small clearing that the fallen trees had created and Odan rushed to the trapped dragon but something -or rather someone- tried to stop him.

A human, a hunter, jumped out from within the untouched underbrush that lined the arson. Another followed and then another and another. There were about a dozen of them, equipped with guns, knives and bows and anything else that could kill an animal. What was that big metal thing? A flamethrower? Odan recognized it as a hunter had used that machine a year or so back when they had attempted to enter Blue Peace. Össur roared at them but he only received gunshots as a response which tore through him like pineneedles.

"Össur, help the dragon! I'll take care of these bastards", the man shouted, unsheathing his sword and advancing towards the armed men in his path. Some had white skin, some had yellowish tones and two of them were brown who carried bags of supplies on their backs and had collars strapped on their necks. They looked to be slaves but even if they were innocent bystanders, they would be killed; no human was allowed to remain in the forest under any circumstance -even if they were invited by a fellow inhabitant.

With a swipe of his sword, Odan cut through the men in the front line and easily moved towards the rest. Bullets whizzed past him as the survivors tried to put him down, some cutting through his hair, one scratching the surface of his cheek close to his eye. One of the hunters aimed for his heart but he ducked behind a fallen tree right as the trigger was pulled and after the projectile passed, he sprang back into action, swinging and thrusting his sword skillfully towards the enemy. Screams filled the air, whether they were uttered because of pain or surprise was irrelevant as blood dripped off the blade and the wounds of the piling corpses.

Össur had made progress in freeing the other dragon from the ropes and chains it had been trapped with. However, there was not enough space for it to fly away in such a crowded place and so it helped the two of them fight off the humans. With just one breath, the dragon endowed with crystals had entrapped those who remained into spikes made of crystal.

The forest fell quiet, dead quiet as none of them uttered a single word. Well, the hunters couldn't speak because of their eternal imprisonment but Odan didn't speak because he had almost been crystalized as well as a small, thin shell had crawled over his left boot. Quickly, the man picked himself up and sheathed his red-stained sword -he would clean it later when he and Össur would be in a safer place away from the action- before addressing the dragon.

"What's a crisiant wyvern doing on the ground?", he asked.

Light emanated from the creature's core, white, blinding light that made the other two close their eyes and look away from it. Once it had died down and they opened their eyes, a man stood before them with those same morganite eyes staring at them. There were sapphires and emeralds sprinkled atop his snow hair that reached his shoulders and other gemstones were embedded into his bare skin as a form of armor. There were no clothes onto his lean body to hide any imperfection nor the sculpted muscles on his abdomen and arms. Odan had the decency to look the man in the eyes and to not let his yellow orbs travel downwards.

"Those impudents managed to shoot me out of the sky with their filthy bullets and arrows", the naked man hissed as he recalled the memory. "Then they immobilized me and carried me all the way out here. To 'lure the protector', they said".

"I see... So they were trying to get to the heart?".
"They still are. There are more out there, about ten times the amount you saw here but they hide so well that no one can see them".

Odan hummed in thought. How could no one see about a hundred puny humans roaming freely in their home? It sounded suspicious, really suspicious. And to think that they were let in by the forest itself. If they were not found immediately, no creature would be safe in Blue Peace and certainly, the forest would collapse along with the protective barrier that had kept it separated from the human world.

"Alright. Össur, down", Odan ordered and the dragon lowered his shoulder to provide access to his back for the rider. "You are coming with us", he said afterwards, grabbing the man by the wrist and dragging him to the mount.

"Huh? Why?", the other inquired, struggling to get out of Odan's grip but his efforts were futile.
"Because you know more than I do and I say we retreat to think of a plan".