“As I told you,” Barrow said. “You’re a clever lad and a brave one. I’ll need you to be brave again. Can you do that?”
Gordon looked into Barrow’s face and nodded.
“The kelpie will be angry that you escaped,” Barrow continued. “It will want to hunt you. If it comes for you, we can kill it and your village will be out of danger.”
Ember’s brow knit together. “You aren’t seriously going to use Gordon as bait?”
Barrow stood up and took her by the shoulders. “You are here to watch and learn. We have no choice but to lure the creature with Gordon’s blood. If we don’t, it will carry more villagers to their deaths beneath the waves.”
Gordon was eyeing Barrow’s saber. “You’ll kill it with that?” He pointed to the sword.
“I will.” Barrow smiled grimly. He turned to Ember. “I need you to hold the horses—they’ll want to bolt when the kelpie comes, and we need them to get us home.”
Ember glared at him. “You don’t think I can fight.”
“You’re a fine fighter, Lady Morrow,” Barrow snapped. “You’re also impetuous and bullheaded. You don’t have proper training or a weapon.”
“I have my dagger,” she argued.
“Stay with the horses,” Barrow said grimly. “I’ll not tell you again.”
She swallowed her next retort but stomped back to the horses, who were tossing their heads and whinnying their anxiety. Taking the reins firmly, Ember watched as Barrow led Gordon to the water’s edge. Her blood went cold when Barrow unwrapped the bloodied linens from the boy’s hand. Gordon stretched his arm out over the water and his blood spilled into the lake.
Holding her breath, Ember watched the surface of the loch, which despite the blustery gale had gone eerily still. Gordon was also standing perfectly still while Barrow crouched behind a boulder on the loch’s edge. Barrow was right. The boy was incredibly brave.
A movement in the water drew Ember’s gaze. The ripple was subtle, but slowly it stretched out over the gray surface like a dark ribbon unfurling. The shadow moved swiftly toward the shore, its shape undulating like that of a serpent.
Toshach and Caber whinnied, fighting to pull free. Ember held them in check, trying to soothe them. The creature’s head broke the surface of the water. At first it appeared to be reptilian, like she’d pictured a dragon, but as it rose, dripping, its features changed. What had been serpent-like became equine. Gordon began to tremble but didn’t flee as a black horse with a coat that shone like sealskin stood facing the boy in the shallows of the loch.
The real horses panicked. They began to squeal and dragged Ember back several steps. She fought to keep hold of the reins. The water horse turned its head to gaze at the frightened mounts. Its eyes were like burning coals. Ember gasped when she saw two pale objects hanging from its dark mane. Gordon’s severed fingers were still clinging to the kelpie.
With the beast’s attention turned to Toshach and Caber, Barrow hurled himself atop the boulder and leapt from the rock. The kelpie, sensing danger, wheeled to face the flying knight. When it pranced, the loch’s water frothed around its legs. The water horse reared, but Barrow’s saber was already slicing down. The curved blade passed through the kelpie’s neck as if it were made of air. Barrow crashed into the water, rolling over and finding his feet again. He whirled to face the beast once more.
Ember gasped when the kelpie struck out with its hooves. Wicked hooked talons protruded from its slime-covered legs. Barrow jumped back, but not quickly enough. The kelpie’s claws tore through his tabard and shirt, slicing into his abdomen.
Large flaps of cloth dropped to the beach, leaving his flesh exposed, and Ember cried out at the sight of blood pouring out of his skin.
“Keep the child safe!” he shouted, not looking at them.
Though she knew he wanted her to stay away, Ember couldn’t stand by while Barrow fought. Her blood drummed in her veins, its beat spurring her to act.
“Stay back and stay quiet,” Ember told the boy, pushing him behind her. As Barrow continued to dodge the water horse’s attack, Ember drew her dagger. Taking aim, she hurled the blade at the kelpie with all the force she could muster.
The creature screeched when the dagger buried itself in the dark hide of its flank. It whirled to face the new attacker, giving Barrow the opportunity to strike. He pivoted, bringing his saber down in a broad arc.
For a moment Ember thought the kelpie had transformed itself into a spirit as a means of defense, that Barrow’s blade had only cut through air and not flesh. But the water horse didn’t turn on him. Its head tipped forward, cleanly severed from its neck, and fell to the water with a splash. A moment later the kelpie’s body crumbled, becoming a heap of seaweed and foam on the shore.
Gordon gave a whoop and ran over to Barrow. “You did it!”
Barrow nodded, laughing when the boy threw his arms around the knight’s broad shoulders. “Without your help I would surely have failed. Yours and the lady Morrow’s.”
The look he gave her was stern. “I asked you to keep out of the fight.”
Ember set her shoulders, defiant. “You’re wounded. I thought I could help and I did.”
“Yes, you did,” Barrow said, wincing as he touched the gashes in his abdomen. The torn flesh wrapped around his lower back like a wicked girdle. “I’m indebted to you for ignoring my order. Though I’d prefer you didn’t make a habit of that.”
Ember laughed, but her smile faded when Barrow dropped roughly onto the stone-covered shore.
“How badly are you hurt?” she asked, kneeling beside him.
“The wound isn’t deep,” he told her. “But water horses have venomous claws.”
Ember’s mouth went dry.
Seeing her distress, Barrow smiled wryly. “Don’t mourn me yet. There’s a salve in Toshach’s saddlebag that will stop the spread of the poison. I’ll need you to get it. The linen bag tied with blue ribbon.”
Ember ran to Toshach and rifled through the saddlebag. She was surprised at the number of parcels Barrow carried with him. Was there a remedy for every injury here? And who had made them?
She found the linen bag and returned to Barrow’s side. He was using his shredded shirt to stop the blood flow.
“Take the jar out and rub the salve into the wound when I take away this cloth.”