The Horse That Bore Bad News

Ciaohme plucked another daisy, smiling as she ran from daisy to daisy, plucking the flowers and putting them into her basket. Her mother watched, smiling at her daughter's industriousness. The young girl saw a pony, a beautiful roan, nibbling at the grass. She ran up to it and put her hand on it. The pony looked up at her; Caiohme saw the pony smile so she smiled back. The pony threw her head back; the girl found her hand was stuck to the pony. The pony galloped off. The girl screamed. 

Her mother looked at where her daughter had been, seeing the basket on the ground and the pony racing into the tree line. She screamed herself and a group of men raced to follow the pony. Hours later, they were forced to return with empty hands and broken hearts. The scream of a mother split the still night. 

In the dark heart of the forest, a trail of hoof prints led to a woman in a blood-soaked dress sitting next to a pile of bones, hair, and other gore. "You were a sweet girl, but I hope the message was sent." The woman allowed herself to fall asleep. 

 * * * * *

Manannan stood on the roof of his home, leaning on his spear. He looked to the sea, pondering what he could do to stop the plague on his people. From the sea had come the kelpy just a few months ago and the damnable horse was killing his people. They had ten men now, but it was the two dozen children lost, usually within sight of their parents, that was the greater loss. He knew what he had to do, but there was no way he was giving in to that snake Inis Reilly. He had decided to go with something far more riskier. 

He smiled grimly to himself. Never before had a mere bridle become so important to the survival of his clan. He jumped down, hoping his plan would work. If it didn't, it wouldn't matter.

 * * * * *

In the home of Inis, a young couple were getting frisky. The young man had his father's muscle from time spent tilling the soil and swinging the sword, and the young woman was as thin as a post. He pulled her to his father's room. "We shouldn't be doing this, Niamh."

She put her finger on his lips. "Just consider it another way of breaking a horse, Liam. You do like breaking horses, don't you?" 

He smiled and sat her on his father's bed. Within moments, the kilt of the young man was on the ground and the girl smiled. She grabbed him in an embrace and that led to him being straddled by the young woman. Within minutes they were cuddling on his father's down bed. He soon fell asleep, and she got up. She made her way to a thick chest with a large lock. She took out two thin wires and proceeded to pick a lock. When the lock clicked open, she smiled. "So being among the humans has had its advantages."

She opened the chest, looked at the contents, and pulled out a small box. She grabbed its contents, put them into her pocket, then put the box back. She closed the chest, then put the lock back in place. She looked at the sleeping youth. "Sorry, Liam, but it was necessary to mate with you to get this back." She walked to the door and smiled. "Your passion definitely made up for any other deficits." She left the house. 

When she had walked far enough out of the village, she finally allowed herself to breathe normally, inhaling a full mouthful and then some. She pulled out the object: In her hands was a bridle, albeit one with rusted bits and with the leather almost rotted through thanks to exposure to seawater. She sighed. "I can't believe I let that old man find you. I was too distracted by the real prize." She put the bridle back in her pocket. "Now I can concentrate on that slattern in the skin of a chief's son." She ran off, the sound of human feet soon replaced by hoof beats.

 * * * * *

On her to the lands under Manannan, she passed a small group of men wearing the colors of an unknown clan. The horse went past them by a few hundred yards, then stopped and watched them for a few moments. The men were headed to the village she had just left. She followed them until they were just a stone's throw from the village. They then discussed who should go where looking for some sort of bejeweled bridle. Her eyes rolled and her shoulders fell.

She walked up to the men, transforming into the girl in the few steps before reaching the men. She tapped on the shoulder of one. He tried to swat her hand. She grabbed his hand and used it to force him to face her. "I'm going to save your lives, so listen well. First, a kelpy's bridle is like any other, if weathered a bit more. It is not the jewel-studded item you've been sent for." 

The man gulped. "But we were told - - "

She sighed. "Men are often told that. It isn/t." He was visibly saddened by the news. "However, the item no longer rests with the chieftain of the Reilly's. The rightful owner has stolen away with it." She sighed. "Or was in the process of doing so when she allowed herself to be distracted." She looked at the man. "One answer to a single question do I ask in exchange for letting you live. If your answer is of use, you may run."

The man gulped. "Um, sure."

She allowed herself a smirk before wiping it off. "Where is Peadar, son of the chief? I need to find him."

The man thought for a moment, weighing the known violent anger of his clan's best warrior versus the possible anger of the supernatural being before him. Given that being's recent bloody activities, the scales came down against the human. "He's hunting in the Wolf's Fangs Hills." He even pointed in the right direction. 

She bowed. "Thank you. You may want to get back home." The men saw her gallop off. They then looked at each other, shrugged, and then ran back the way they had come. 

 * * * *

Peadar, the oldest son of Manannan, had been out hunting with his warriors. They were walking through a canyon when they heard a whistle. He turned and gulped when he saw who it was. He quickly recovered, and then had his men surround the person. "We have you, Niamh!"

Niamh smiled at their leader. "Are you sure about this?"

Peadar looked at the thin slip of a girl before him. "We don't know where your bridle is, girl, and we're tired of you killing our children. So, aye; I'm sure."

She sat down on the rocks of the canyon. "As long as you're sure about it." She cocked her head. "Sounds like the roar of water."

He smiled. "This canyon has been dry for as long as men have known." He aimed his claymore at her head. "No water can save you here."

She smiled at him. "If you say so." She put her hand on the ground. "Should have picked a place further away from the sea."

He swung his sword. His blow fell short as the ground underneath him rumbled. He looked up to see a wall of water crashing into him. The water carried him and his men awry. A horse made of seaweed was in the water with them, smiling. 

The bodies were deposited just shy of the sea. The horse grew smaller and stood upright, and a dress dropped down over the form. The girl that had stood before the men had replaced the horse, and she walked over to the corpse of Peadar. 

She bent next to him. "It took me long enough to find you, you son of a rabid cow. Now I can finally get away from this squalid little paddock." She stood up and resumed her horse form. She galloped off.

 * * * * *

Manannan finished his glass. "Where is that misbegotten son of mine?" He put the glass down and it was replaced. He looked at the serving maid. "You're not Fiadh!"

Niamh smiled. "Wrong animal." She sat down across from him. "Your son will not be joining us." He allowed his anger to rise. "I would advise you to listen to why. Getting angry will not do you any good, and possibly plenty of bad."

He settled down. "Fine." He visibly debated several threats, but let them die unsaid.

She sipped from her own glass. "I shall miss this." She put the glass down. "Five moons ago, your son encountered a group of tinkers. He killed all but three women when they refused to feed him for the night." She looked at him. "They had no food due to poor hunting and no one buying their goods. Your son and his men nonetheless took what they could." She looked at her glass. "They left the women where they lay, two dying from what they did to them." She took a sip. "The third had just enough energy to summon help." She looked directly at him. "Help from a world beyond this one."

She smiled. "Me."

Manannan gulped. 

Her eyes rolled. "However, some idiot found my bridle before I could really begin and his requests gave your son a few months of added life."

He looked at her puzzled. "So Inis saved the life of my son?"

She glared at him. "Sure, at the cost of your people's lives. Everything has a cost, after all."

He crumpled. "I don't know if it's one I would havpaid willingly."

She did not let up. "I know."She sighed. "However, I seduced his son and stole my bridle back."

He sighed. "No more distractions, nothing preventing you from finally tracking him down."

She fingered her glass. "Yep. I also had one last thing to carry out: Telling you why."

He took a long drink from his glass and put the glass down. "So now I get to put him into the ground, knowing the sin that killed him."

She got up. "Yep."

She left the old chief to his own darkness, knowing he had to eulogize the son who had stolen more than mere life from a group of people who had meant him no harm. He wondered how much ale it would take to deal with that.