Aqua Equus

It was the death that had drawn me to the island. Sanguinis Insula was famous for it- hence the name 'The Island of Blood'.

Most people were drawn by the horses. The animals arrived every autumn, when the sky became stormy and the sea choppy, rising out of the sea and ravaging the land.
Scientists had tried to explain why they only ever appeared on that particular island, writers had included them in literature, and the creatures had worked their way into mythology from around the world.
The Aqua Equus. Caught in October and November, trained throughout the winter and spring, and raced throughout the summer.

Some were raced until they died, some were kept on land, some were returned to the sea. Some would turn on their 'owners', and those people were never seen of again. The only sign of their fate would be a trail blood heading towards the sea; blood which would wash away with the next rainfall.

The smell of the sea turned them wild, and more violent than anything anyone could imagine. Only the idiots and the foolhardy would race them on the beach, the sand turning red with blood.
The island stank with death, but Mors flitted amongst the population, unseen.

And so, I made a life for myself on Sanguinis. The island wasn't big, but had quite a few farms, and several small villages. The farms supplied the majority of the island's food, but most of the income came from tourists, who came in the summer to see the horse races. Some came during the autumn, to watch the horses arrive from the sea, but many were put off by the danger.

But no one told them to avoid the boys with the sea in their irises. How do you explain to humans that something that looks like them couldn't be more different? And so, even in the summer, unsuspecting visitors swimming in the sea would be dragged down to their deaths.
Yet, the world's fascination with the Aqua Equus was not diminished.
And we lived with them in every aspect of our lives. Everyone knew someone who had been lost to the sea, yet we would all watch at least one race a year.
Every girl on the island was warned about the boys that would turn back into horses as soon as their prey was drowned.

The normal horses on the island would quite often have some Aqua Equus blood, and the ones at the stables where I lived and worked were no different. The more Aqua Equus blood they had, the rougher they were, and there was a certain thrill to be had by riding horses directly sired by the violent creatures along the top of the sea cliffs.
But I had never ridden a pure Aqua Equus.

I cantered along the path by the clifftop, Sea Dragon raising her nostrils to the wind coming off the Ionic Sea. It was early September, and the storms were nowhere in sight.
I wanted to catch myself an Aqua Equus.
I urged my horse on, down a rocky path to the beach. Her nostrils flared, but I wasn't worried. She was only half Aqua Equus, well trained, and death didn't bother me anyway.
We galloped across the beach, her hoves throwing sand up behind us. I turned her towards the water, and soon we were moving through surf, and then the water was steadily creeping up her legs, until my un-stirruped, bare feet were trailing in the sea.

I pulled her up short when I noticed a shape in the water, the memory of blood frothing and dripping from a horse's mouth flitting across my memory.
We stayed completely still for a while, watching the shape.
A human head broke the surface, gasping for air before disappearing under a wave.

I urged Sea Dragon on, until she was swimming, and my fate lay in her not tossing me to her kin.
I pulled the boy onto Sea Dragon, just behind me, and with his arms around my waist, I steered her back towards the shore.

When we got there, he collapsed on the sand, gasping.
"Thanks." He muttered, just before turning over and throwing up. He had obviously swallowed quite a bit of sea water.