A Kelpie of Rowan

Chapter 47

Rowan steps back into the river. The Ghillie Dhu hiss in anger and displeasure. They lunge for her, but Rowan is already moving into the centre of the river, where the water is the deepest and the fastest. She stands there for a second, water raging around her. Then the water surges at her feet and she stumbles. It carries her away, white water surging around her. She gets close to a rock and pivots, trying to point her feet at it.

She hits the rock and pushes away from it with her toes, letting the water sweep her away again. Unlike when she travels between this world and the pocket realm, she is soaked by water. Rowan shivers and positions herself for the next boulder. Her left hand emerges from the water and the bracelet shines through the water around it. She frowns, momentarily surprised that it hasn't been torn off her wrist yet.

It brightens, the gold stones shimmering brighter than the rest of it. What's going on? Rowan glances up from the bracelet and realises that she misjudged her positioning for the next rock. She hits it in the side, hard. Something cracks on her shoulder and she cries out. The river around her roars, but it is loudest from up ahead. Rowan gulps as she gets closer to it. There is no other thing it could be but a waterfall.

She tries to move to the side, towards the shore. Her shoulder screams at her to stop, but she can't.  The Ghillie Dhu are waiting along the edge of the water, eager for her to attempt to escape. The moment she leaves the water, they will capture her. There is a boulder ahead of her and Rowan swims for it, trying to block herself from reaching the waterfall. She slams into the boulder with her injured arm, but she stops moving.

The water pulls at her, trying to carry her off again. But she's stationary, for now. She doesn't know for how long though. At some point, she will lose her footing and the water will take her again. There is another sound, louder than the river. Rowan looks around the boulder, planting her feet together. The waterfall is only about ten meters away from where she is, so unless it's coming from the water below, the sound is not from that direction.

She looks up the river. There is a black spot in the middle of the river, spearing for her. The noise comes again and Rowan almost laughs in relief. It's the whinnying of a horse. Andrian. He surges for her over the top of the water. She blinks. How is he running above the water? Is that kelpie magic? He stops in front of her and tosses his head. He whinnies again.

Get on!

Rowan reaches for him and manages to get her right hand over his neck, but her left arm won't move. Of she tries, pain flares up through her, intense as the sun. She winces and his head swings around to look at her, his eyes full of concern. He shifts for a moment and grabs her, careful not to touch her injured arm. He shifts back, leaving Rowan sitting on his broad back. She grabs onto his mane with her good hand, tightening her fist around the hairs. He looks back once to make sure she is secure before he plunges up the river. He leaps over the boulders, his hooves pounding on the white water of the rapids. Rowan blinks, the world going fuzzy.

"Andrian?"

He looks back at her and nickers. What's wrong?

She blinks and shakes her head. "Something doesn't feel righ-"

She cuts off, her head swimming. She leans forward, trying to curl an arm around Andrian's neck. His skin is slippery, she can't hold on very well. He whinnies at her. I need you to stay with me. Can you do that?

"I can try."

We're almost there.

Rowan nods and lays her head on his neck, feeling the movement of his body as he gallops up the river. His speed picks up and his body arcs. Rowan starts sliding down and she tightens her grip as best she can. He plunges forward, into the water. The passage swirls open around them, all green water and kelp. The river streaks past them, trying to pull them back. Rowan manages to glance behind them without lifting her head and she gasps. There is a vinelike branch coming through after them, poking through the tiny pinprick of space that is the end of the passage. One of the Ghillie Dhu is trying to follow them.

"Andrian!" her voice is muffled in the passage, but he manages to hear her.

He looks back and snorts in alarm, panic filling his eyes. Rowan glances at the Ghillie Dhu again to find that it is right behind them. It reaches back and grabs onto her ankle. The Ghillie Dhu yanks her off of Andrian's back and starts reeling her back out the passage. In front of her, Andrian has stopped and turned, trying to follow her back. But the Ghillie Dhu is faster, despite its lack of experience in the passage.

Rowan kicks out at the Ghillie Dhu, trying to force it to release her. Its grip tightens, cutting into her ankle. It doesn't care if it hurts her, not like the trees in Darach's clearing did. Rowan takes a gasping breath, trying to focus. The pain in her arm has dulled, but it is still horrible. It steals her breath away. She frowns. She can still breath. Her magic manifests as fire, and she still has air. Fire needs air to exist, and wood is flammable. the Ghillie Dhu are tree spirits, they're made of wood.

Rowan summons the flame to her palm and claps her hand onto the branch wrapped around her ankle. The Ghillie Dhu screams in pain and releases her, retracting its branch-like arm. Rowan grins. She's free. The passage closes up behind the Ghillie Dhu and then comes surging for her. Rowan's eyes widen and she looks for Andrian. He is still too far away, the passage will close around her before he reaches her.
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What happened to her arm? Did she get rid of the Ghillie Dhu the right way? What's going to happen now that they're separated in the passage? Tell me your thoughts!

Happy reading and I'll see you next chapter!

~Goddess of Fate, signing out.