I’m sorry this update is so late. Life interfered yet again, and I had a major block on what I wanted to happen next. Two scenarios kept playing in my mind. In the end, it morphed into something completely different. I hope you enjoy it. More Kelpie and cousin fighting and then a touching scene.
~~~
Kelpie’s Trap Part II
Lydia's hand on her pen slipped, scratching through her notes, as a huge BANG echoed out. The cry of horses ripped through the afternoon. Lydia blinked, springing to her feet and running to the window. Gasping, she ran to her door.
Outside, Nico backed even deeper into the bushes.
The dusty white mare backed up, biting at the black stallion which nearly reared a second time. The white mare's eyes glowed with a dark red light, while the black stallion's eyes were dark with a strange glimmer in the center. Ears back against their skull, the two horses circled each other. The stallion snorted, tossing his head. The mare huffed then snapped at his heels. The stallion closed in. Once more, the thunder of their hooves echoed out over the yard as the two bodies slammed into each other, neither one giving way. The stallion broke free and reared up, nearly catching the mare on her shoulder. Tail swishing, the mare sidestepped and bit at the stallion's leg. Flanks pushed against each other, trying to make the other fall first. Their shrieks of challenge rose higher.
A shout rang out. "STOP THIS AT ONCE, KELPIE!" The black stallion broke free of the mare, trotting a few feet away.
Lydia gasped from a doorway, hands on her knees. "What-kind of behavior is this?!" she huffed, "on the Edgar's grounds too..." She sucked in a breath. "You can't-break anything here."
"Lydia!" Nico squawked. "It's dangerous. GET-GET AWAYYY!" he hollered, waving his hands from his hiding spot.
"No," Lydia barked back. "Kelpie, that is enough," she said, eyes on the stallion.
For a moment, the two eyes remained locked, then the shape morphed. Kelpie folded his arms. "It wasn't my fault, Lydia. She called me out by using one of the worse insults you can give a kelpie." His shirt and pants were ripped in places, and a cut had opened on his cheek.
"You deserved it," his cousin spat, a few away, likewise back in her form. Her eyes still glinted underneath her ruined hairdo. She swirled around in her ripped skirt. "And I won the fight."
Kelpie turned around. "No, you didn't. You need to lift the flimsy shawl around your arms," he stated, voice neutral.
"Wha-what?" She hissed, as blood slowly began dotting her lacy shawl.
"You are bleeding more than me; therefore, I win the challenge."
"Noooo," she whined. "This was one of my favorites." She whirled on Kelpie. "You-you beast!"
"Save it for another place, Annette. I won't fight again if Lydia has forbade it," Kelpie murmured, voice almost bored. He walked over to Lydia. "I apologize for our destruction."
It's okay," she said gently. "Annette?"
"Yeah, one of the names she uses nowadays," Kelpie replied dismissively.
"You need names to travel around in public, idiot," his cousin spat, "and don't go using them as you please. I don't need to remember your voice uttering my name."
"With a brain like that, I'm shocked that is even an issue."
"You--"
"So you're Kelpie's cousin?" Lydia blurted out, cutting off the incoming battle. "I'm a little surprised. I thought kelpies were solitary faeries."
Annette opened her fan again. "We are. We have to be." She sighed. "Don't you realize what most of us eat? If we lived in groups, we would have been found out long ago." She scoffed, tossing the shawl into a pool, where it dissolved, "and you're supposed to be a fairy doctor."
"I am a fairy-"
"I won't insult you like that. My cousin will have an issue," Annette interrupted, "and kill me when he returns."
"Returns?" Lydia blinking, turning, and sighed. Kelpie had disappeared again. She had wanted to thank him properly. "He would never do that."
