The darkness was receding, the light of the sun peeked out from the valleys of the mountains. The clouds seemed to be spattered with a artist’s paints, leaving blotches of pastel colors in the morning sky. Trees stretched their branches and the grass had been misted with a light dew.

Noelle lay there in the comfort of her own bed, dreaming as the world was waking up around her. Wild adventures plagued her mind. That was the life she wanted to live, but unluckily for her a 17 year old girl who lived alone could not go on such adventures. Her parents had disappeared years ago, and her hopes were high to the idea that they might return. Alone, she wished for someone to pick her up and free her from this place. If only that day would arrive. If only it would arrive soon.

Noelle shot up, the cries of frightened horses echoed through the valley. She jumped out of bed, tying her long black hair in a bun before slipping on her mothers galoshes. She ran down the stairs, skipping a few and jumping down to the floor below. She ran out the door and continued her quest towards the stables. As she swung the rotting barn style doors open and peeked into the rusty old stable she noticed something, a horse she had never seen before. She took a few steps forwards, her hands out in front of her testing to see if the horse was tame. Multicolored light shined through the cracks in the barn’s roof, creating shadows on the walls. The other horses seemed to be frighted of this new comer, and were desperately trying to break free of their inclosure.

As she neared the horse, it became more and more apparent that this, was not a horse at all. Its skin consisted of large black overlapping scales, algae was growing on it and made up most of its mane, its hoofs were spread out like fins, and a pair of fish gills rested on the side of it’s neck. Noelle noticed this creature from a book she had read, Kelpie she remembered it being called. She thought it odd, for this creature did not exist but in fairy tales. The body of one of her horses lay on the ground in a bloody heap of skin and muscle.

The kelpie cocked it’s head in question. Noelle noticed a few needle-like teeth poking out from under its lips. She swallowed the pool of saliva that had grown inside her mouth, and slowly recoiled . The kelpie sensed her fear and made a daring leap towards her, landing with its head low to the ground like a snake sneaking up on an unsuspecting mouse. It turned it’s gaze upwards and stared at Noelle with its large, black, lidless eyes.

Noelle turned and ran from the stable. Breathing heavily as she tried pushing the barn doors together so that she may lock them, trapping the kelpie inside. The kelpie ran forth charging the door, breaking it clear off its hinges and sending Noelle flying to the ground. As she scrambled to her feet the kelpie charged again, this time ramming Noelle in the stomach and sending her rolling down a hill into a pond. She swam to the surface and took a deep breath of air, trying to shake off the feeling of having the wind knocked out of her. The kelpie stood at the edge of the pond, as if afraid to jump into the water. It looked down at her, its scales started melting off to show the pale blue skin underneath. The figure of a man arose from the melted scales of the kelpie. An in human heckle arose from his throat and pierced Noelle’s ears, she clenched her teeth, trying to free herself from the eerie laugh of the kelpie.

Hands shot up out of the water and wrapped around Noelle, pulling her close to the creature they were connected to. Cold air stung her neck and she realized that whatever it was that had a hold on her had her tight to its chest. She could feel its breasts pressing against her back and its scaley hands rubbing her arms. Noelle looked up at where the kelpie stood. It was grimacing and staring towards the wood ,one of his hands was clasped around a sword. She looked in the direction of his gaze, only to come face to face with what was binding her.

Dark sunken eyes stared at her, its skin tight against its skull. A rack of large teeth enabled it to close its mouth. She cried out and in that very instant was pulled underwater. She kicked to free herself from the grasp of the hideous creature, but it held her even tighter with every attempt to push free. A large mass of brown fur swam over her. It was the end she thought as she struggled to hold her breath, a sharp pain shot up her chest and into her skull. She opened her mouth and let out a legion of bubbles. The creature did the same, dark blood started to wrap around them. Noelle kicked one last time and freed herself. She reached for the surface and grabbed a hold of a thick root. As she looked down at the water the pond was now an ocean of blood. Something broke the surface and Noelle desperately tried climbing the root, only to fall back down th the water. She tried again, this times she was able to get a firm grip on the root, but no more than that.

The kelpie was gone and the sound of swords colliding filled the morning air. Noelle listened to the clash of swords, visualizing a duel between two knights. Her concentration broke as the body of the human-like kelpie tumbled into the water sending a wave of blood toppling over her. After a second or two someone appeared before her, holding it’s leather bound hand out towards Noelle. She looked at the figure, unsure wither to trust it. Impatiently the figure grabbed Noelle’s hand and pulled her up onto the bank.

“Milady are you alright?” a female voice sounded. Noelle wiped the diluted blood from her face and focused her eyes.

“I... I’m alright” Noelle said taking in the brisk morning air in between each word. “Shaken, but alright.”

Noelle’s rescuer smiled. “We need to get you out of those wet clothes, do you live near here?”

“Yes” Noelle nodded, “just up that hill” she pointed up the steep hill which she had rolled down just minuets before. The woman nodded and helped Noelle to her feet, stretching one of Noelle’s arm over her shoulder to keep her from falling down. As they made it up the hill the woman let out a high pitched whistle, not soon after a large brown and grey dog ran to her side and rubbed it’s head against her leg.

“Good girl Nimbus” the woman whispered reaching down and scratching the dog in between it’s ears. The woman’s auburn hair sat in long braids against her chest, ribbons of gold and black seemed to be holding the braid together. An Olive green vest covered a faded tan tunic that stretched down the woman’s arms. The vest seemed to have small golden stars woven into its pattern, along with what seemed to be words written in calligraphy.

There was something tragic about this woman, Noelle thought. Maybe an event that had forced her to travel this way, or possibly she was lost, either way they were destined to cross paths... But why?