Only half of the noble teenagers had chosen to come along with Kassen on this insane venture. Most were boys. Hattie maintained a couple of feet between herself and them, remembering her mother's lessons on trying to walk gracefully while in riding boots, and aware her dress was possibly stained with sweat. Good thing she was small and slight. Today, to be overlooked felt like a saving grace.

Luckily, none of the boys had eyes for her. Every attention was on the paddock down the road.

Hattie had only seen Kelpies from a distance, or safely overhead while riding on her mother's fat pegasus. Not many men were Kelpie-Kin, both because Kelpie's didn't normally wander out of their paddocks to seek their other half—they relied on those foolish enough to come and test them, and because people with true murder in their hearts were thankfully rare.

From afar, the Kelpies looked much like cart-horses. Powerfully built beasts, but unremarkable. Even a little drab in color; grays, dun, and a few off-white.

As Hattie came close, she took note of the Kelpies hooves, which were turned backwards from a normal horse. Their manes and tails were odd as well. What she had taken for dirty streaks of dark from afar were actually living river weeds growing within the hair. Many of the beasts were busy feeding from the corpse of a dead pig, left in a trough by the palace groomsmen. Their sharp teeth sank as easily into flesh as if it were butter.

Then her eyes fell on the new stallion. Hattie inhaled a surprised breath.

He was easy to pick out. Standing apart from the others, he was the largest of them all. At least eighteen hands tall, he was taller than any of the draft horses which pulled the king's cart. His coat was a smooth brownish gray, mouse-colored, which blended into black legs, mane, and tail. He stood with his head up and alert, surveying the paddocks with intelligent sea-green eyes that seemed to glow with unearthly power. A king of his own paddock.

The boys clustered to the fence. Hattie and the few girls who had come along stayed carefully back. It was unladylike to push in with the boys.

Oddly, she didn't feel the Kelpie fever she'd been warned so much about. The one that was said to give an irresistible urge to young, foolish children to hop over the fence and ride a Kelpie.

The Kelpie were magnificent, the stallion most of all, but Hattie knew deep in her heart that to ride one would be to offer insult. And what right did she have to do such a thing? To offend one's Kin was to offend the person—the other half of its soul. And the people who bonded to Kelpies were the most elite, the most fearsome and cruel warriors.

So Hattie stood demurely back and drank in her fill by sight. The others did the same. She thought that this would be all. That eventually someone (Prince Kassen) would try to tempt the stallion to come closer to the fence, and fail. No one would laugh, at least where the Prince would hear, but word of his failure would round the royal court as this week's gossip.

It seemed Kassen had other ideas.

Peeling from the fence, Kassen marched right up to the gate and the two soldiers who stood guarding it. The Prince raised his chin imperiously. "Stand aside."

The palace soldiers exchanged glances. "I'm sorry, my Prince," one soldier said. "You know we cannot allow you to enter. It is far too dangerous."

"What is your name?" Kassen demanded.

Oh no, Hattie thought. She had seen this play out before in the classroom and knew exactly where it was going. It would not be pretty.

The soldier who had spoken, blinked. "My name is Tollian, my Lord. Kin to Sprigna."

"Well Tollian, Kin to Sprigna, if you do not stand aside, I will see to it by evening that you are homeless and jobless. Your children, if you have any, will be forced to beg on the streets for their meals. And, if you continue to stop me from bonding with my Kin, I will make sure that they become orphans, too." Kassen's smile had turned from jaunty to that sickly sort of confident which always showed when he was on the verge of getting his way. "Now, move aside. I'm going to meet my soul today."

"Kassen, don't." It took a moment for Hattie to realize that she was the one who had spoken. She, who had never murmured more than occasional greetings to Prince Kassen, had just addressed him directly.

She felt the eyes of the other noble children on her. But if they weren't going to speak up, then she would. Swallowing, she stepped forward. "You're feeling the Kelpie-fever. It's part off their terrible magic. They want you to ride them, so—"

"Hatrice, isn't it?" Kassen turned his gaze to her. Frankly, she was surprised he even knew her name, but whatever else was said about Prince Kassen, he wasn't unintelligent.

She curtsied low. "Yes, my Prince. Though my friends call me Hattie." It was a bold move, but less so than trying to talk Kassen out of something he wanted to do.

To her surprise, the Prince took up the unsaid offer. "Hattie, then. I've never heard you presume to know what I'm thinking, before."

Hattie glanced around and noticed the other noble boys and girls had stayed back. Cowards. She took a measured breath and picked her words carefully. "I have never before felt the need to speak up," she said, honestly. "I fear for your safety, my Prince." She looked down to her feet, trying to seem as demure as possible. That was one of her mother's lessons. Apparently, it had saved her a time or two when her Mother had fallen under the King's baleful eye.

To her surprise, Kassen held out his hand for her to take. "Then come with me. You may pull me back if things do not go as they should."

Hattie took in a sharp breath. He wanted her to go in with him into the wet paddock? She could refuse, of course. But it would be seen as a grave mark against her family. To speak advice to royalty and then not follow through bordered on insult.

She cast a glance to soldier Tollian, who looked somewhat frightened and irritated. He wore a Thunderbird Kin badge and would be loyal to the royal house to a fault. Off in the distance, Hattie heard the Thunderbird's rumbling call to him. The air thickened with moisture at its displeasure. Whatever Tollian's Kin said to the man, he must have agreed.

"My prince, if you truly feel your Kin is inside, I cannot stop you. But the girl…"

Kassen's hand closed over Hattie's wrist. Strong and unbreakable. "You heard her, guard. She wishes to keep me safe." He looked to Hattie, smiling again. "Won't you, Hattie?"

How many times had she sighed with Maya over that smile? Or wished it had been aimed her way? Suddenly, she didn't find any attraction in it.

Her mother always told her that in the royal court, people threatened with words. Not knives.

Disgusting. An unclean way to fight.

The thought drifted in and out of her mind, unbidden. She frowned, but Kassen was staring at her expectantly.

"Yes, my prince," she murmured, looking down. She wished he would let her hand go. His grip was tight almost to the point of being painful.

Kassen looked at the soldiers. "Well, then, what are you waiting for?"

The soldiers stepped aside, reluctantly, and bowed them in.

Hattie glanced over her shoulder, silently pleading for help from the other noble boys and girls. None of them spoke up, just like none of them dared stop Kassen when he bullied his tutors the same way.

I never stopped him then, either, she thought with rising self-disgust. And Kassen has only grown worse. Now, he may get me killed.

The ground turned soft underfoot, from carefully cultivated grass to prickly reeds and thorny vines. It was an unpleasant place, and the water looked cloudy enough to carry leeches.

The stallion watched them approach, like a Lord surveying his surfs.

Hattie's heart pounded so loud she could hear it in her ears, and she knew her palm was sweaty against Kassen's. "What do you intend to do? Just approach him, and see what happens?" she asked. Since he was putting her life in danger, she thought it was her right to be bold.

Kassen cast her an amused look, all good humor now that he had gotten exactly what he wanted. "Don't be afraid, Hattie. I will ride my Kin, and you will witness it. Your mother is Kin to a Pegasus, is she not?"

"Yes."

"And your father?"

Kassen had to know already. But either he was playing a game, or perhaps trying to make her feel at ease. Either way, she answered. "Phoenix."

"Ah, that's right. He passed three winters ago, didn't he?"

She couldn't find her voice. Only nodded.

For once, it wasn't grief she felt at thinking of her father. It was a carefully banked rage. Yes, her father collapsed clutching his left arm on the great steps of the palace. The King's healers had been summoned, but Father's Phoenix-Kin had burned to ash before they could help. There had been no point in reviving him. Not without his soul.

Her father had left them alone. And Hattie's flighty mother had burned through the family's savings as if she had a soul of fire and not air. Now her younger brother and her mother depended on Hattie to bond and marry well. To be queen would solve all their problems. She wondered if her mother would be happy to hear she was accompanying Kassen now.

They walked deeper into the wet paddock. A scattering of Kelpie stood between them and the stallion, taking turns to rip meat from a bloated pig carcass. Several raised their heads to stare at them. Their eyes were sea green as well, with a hostile glint within. They did not appreciate intruders.

Kassen stopped so abruptly that Hattie stumbled. “Just look at them. They aren't dangerous at all."

Hattie had no idea what he was talking about. In fact, several of the Kelpie had peeled off from the pig carcass and were ambling towards them. This wasn't the placid sort of interest of horses hoping for a treat, or the sharp curiosity she had seen in the eyes of unicorns. Every line in their bodies spoke of malice.

One of the younger Kelpie stepped faster than the rest of the herd, his neck curved in mischievous lines. The points of his sharp teeth stuck out from his horsey lips. He had nothing pleasant in mind.

Kassen noticed this one, too. He turned to it, smiling. It seemed he had forgotten all about the stallion.

"Why, I believe that this young fellow wants me to ride it."

"What?" Hattie stared at him. "Kassen, no. You can't! We… We need to go back—"

"Be quiet," Kassen snapped. He abruptly let go of Hattie's hand and reached to the young foal.

In desperation, Hattie grabbed for him, but he shoved her away. He was taller than her, and so strong she lost her balance and fell to the sucking mud.

At the fence, the other boys and girls screamed in fear. They, too, knew what was going to happen. But none dared to cross over the fence. Even the guards were yelling to their Kin for back-up, and did not charge in. They would be too late.

Kassen reached to touch the foal's dirty-white nose.

"No!" Hattie yelled, rising to her knees in the muck.

It was too late. Kassen did not hear her. With the ease of years riding, the Prince stepped to the side and swung a leg up. In a flash, he was astride the Kelpie foal's back. His fingers tangled deep in its reedy mane.

The foal gave a nay that sounded like harsh laughter and immediately turned to gallop for the pond.

Then, abruptly, it wasn't just the noble boys and girls who were screaming in terror. Kassen was, too. The spell over him broke the moment the Kelpie headed for the water. It was deliberate, the stories said. So that the Kelpies could drink in his fear. Their cruel magic kept Kassen glued to the foal's back, his hands bound in his mane. He could not dismount.

In seconds, the foal would dive underwater and drag the prince down.

"No! No! Please, don't do this!" Hattie looked around at the uncaring or laughing Kelpie. "Please! He is the Prince! He is royalty. You cannot drown him!"

"He is a foolish child, and unworthy of your affection," said a voice behind her.

The stallion had joined the group. His voice was as mellow and rich as chocolate, and his sea-green eyes were alight with power.

Hattie was too frantic to register what it meant that she could hear him. Standing to her feet, she turned to the stallion. "If he dies, the king will execute you all."

The stallion seemed to laugh without making a sound. "Let him try. He is no king of mine."

With a splash, the foal plunged into the pond. Kassen's desperate cries cut off as his head sunk under the surface.

What did the stallion mean? To speak so of the King was treason, but what Hattie said instead, locking eyes with the stallion was, "I don't want him to die."

The stallion looked straight at Hattie. It seemed, for a breathless second as if he were seeing through her. Past the shell of her body into the depths of her heart. And there, he found a place shaped perfectly for himself. “There are consequences for saving that foolish child, Hattie. Are you willing to walk that Path?”

Time seemed to stop.

The sounds of screaming from the watchers died instantly as if all had gone mute. One nearby kelpie mare had been kicking in excitement and now stayed perfectly still — frozen in mid-leap.

And words floated in front of Hattie’s face as if plucked from a scroll.

You have been offered a new Path!

This is a rare opportunity to transfer from your existing Path: (error, runtime error 5411) to a new Path: Kelpie Kin.

By choosing this new Path, all existing progress, experience points, and stats will be reset to zero.

New Path: Kelpie Kin

Animal Bond: Kelpie (Lucian)

Special Abilities:

Undrowned

You will be able to breathe freshwater as if it were air. While in a freshwater environment, you will not be negatively affected by temperatures down to freezing or experience decompression sickness. While submerged, your eyesight will be equivalent to sight on land.

+ 3 Stamina

+ 3 Strength

Permanent 25 point bonus to all health per level

Permanent 10 point bonus to all mana per level

Note: Special abilities do not extend to seawater or water with high salt content. Extended exposure will be detrimental to your health.

Warnings: Extended underwater activities will require a protein based diet to fully recover stamina.

Do you wish to accept this new Path?

Yes/No

Hattie stared in bewilderment at the prompt. She had no earthly idea what any of this meant. Special abilities? Points? Paths?

She had the vague idea this strange scroll was asking if she wanted to become Kelpie-Kin, but… that was not how it worked. Your soul found you, not the other way around.

“I don’t… I don’t understand,” she said helplessly, looking around. There was no answer. The world remained without movement, exactly as if it were frozen in time. Even the Kelpie Stallion stood still.

Her gaze darted to the pond. Only a ripple remained from where Prince Kassen had been dragged under.

The stallions words came back to her — and how odd she could hear it in the first place.

“There are consequences for saving that foolish child, Hattie. Are you willing to walk that Path?”

“Yes,” she breathed. This much she could understand. She would do what it took to save the prince. “Yes, I accept.”

The word ‘Yes’ pulsed a bright blue before it receded.

In the next moment, the time resumed and Hattie was changed.

She looked at the Kelpie in front of her and felt no fear in her heart for him. For Lucian. She extended her hand and rested her palm on his soft nose. Understanding rolled through her. A clarity and wholeness she had never imagined before.

She knew exactly what she must do, and she was not afraid.

Lucian was easily eighteen hands high, but it was nothing at all for Hattie to tangle her fingers in his reedy mane and swing up. She was astride his back, her thighs clamped to either side, and the skirt of her dress riding up to show ankle and knee. But she was secure. Every divot in Lucian's muscles built exactly for her grip.

She could hear the other boys and girls calling her name. Their high, fearful screams. They thought she, too, was doomed. Little did they know, she had never been more alive.

Turning, Lucian galloped for the water. She took a breath as he plunged in, and heard his voice as if he whispered directly in her ears.

"You walk the Path of the Kelpie. Breathe of the water as it were air."

The pond closed over her head, and the water rushed down her throat, cool and refreshing. Around her, the other Kelpie dove to follow the great stallion. As they did, their bodies elongated, darkened, back legs merging to become dolphin-like tales. Lucian's body changed too, but Hattie easily kept her seat. It was easier to hold to Lucian, like this.

She saw through the murky water as clearly as she could across an open field. Soon, she spotted the young foal and Kassen. The foal was making sport of keeping to the shallows, letting Kassen see the surface of the water inches from the top of his head. As stuck as he was to the foal's back, his hands caught in the mane, he was unable to reach air.

He was struggling sluggishly, losing the fight not to breathe. Tiny bubbles escaped his lips.

Lucian swam over. And, as if they had rehearsed it a thousand times before, Hattie wrapped her arms around Kassen's torso. Lucian pushed from the bottom of the pond. The prince screamed, losing the last of his air as he was ripped from the foal's back, leaving behind clothing and patches of skin.

They breached the surface, Kassen coughing and leaving a blood trail behind that the other Kelpie gaily lapped up.

Lucian trotted to the shore, and Hattie let Kassen free. He dropped onto all fours, throwing up water, bleeding freely from his hands cut to ribbons, the insides of his legs, and groin.

Streaming water, Hattie looked down at him. How could she have ever thought this weak, waterlogged boy as handsome?

Hattie rested one hand on Lucian's strong neck. She would never ride side-saddle again.