Today was a most difficult one. I was moments away from failing to save a young boy hardly old enough to leave his mother’s arms. Though it was, in the end, a happy occasion; I cannot help but think what may have happened if I had been a few moments longer on my way. Nor can I rid my mind of every venture ended when none were around to intervene. Thus my writing today highlights the dangers of the Kelpie, a creature responsible for many deaths.

Born of water and malcontent, these beings are the incarnation of loathing. This I do not say lightly, as I know many across the worlds are quick to cast many of our elemental friends and neighbors into a demonic classification. As much as I withhold from speaking such words normally, I shout them most seriously at the Kelpie.

None have seen this beasts true form and lived to tell the tale. It possesses the abilities of a morph and will only show itself to humans in the form of a dark horse at the water’s end. Rarely, it will also take the form of a human woman; unclothed and voluptuous. This form is where the questioning sprang from in the pursuit of determining the personhood of the creature. It was quite quickly determined that there was no such thing to find in these monstrous beings as they quickly slew all who would draw near; dragging them into the water that they call home.

Though distasteful in my sights, the scholar in me cannot rightly fault them their ways. Determining that there is no person in the mass of agitated water in the form of a beast removes the possibility of true malice behind its actions. Indeed, like any creature it is only hunting for its next meal. My bias, perhaps, comes from the way its methods taste like trickery and frequency humans find their way into its clutches. There is also the void of mystery which envelops the beast as once it has disappeared into the murk of its lock there is no sign of how it looks or acts.

Kelpies are, in my own opinion, quite easily spotted. They will take the form of a horse on the edge of a body of water as their lure. The horse is always dark grey to black in coloring, with murky blues in its main and tail. There is a distinct wildness, an unkemptness verging on sickliness, to the look of them. Their tails are exceedingly long, and always touch the surface of the water. It may be that the tail is one with the water as the creature is known to be unable to leave whatever area of water it inhabits. If, by brush or other obstruction, you cannot see the tail, there are still more oddities to spy due to its morphing nature.

Morphs of all kinds always have a tell. With the Kelpie, that tell is twofold. Its feet are in every instance backwards. Whether hooves or feet on a human-like form, they will face the improper direction. The other tell is their glowing red eyes. Some, perhaps through limited trial and error, have discovered that humans do not take well to the sight of such ocular oddities and do their utmost to cover the glowing orbs. However, they are not free thinking and are quite easy to trick into revealing that trait as they know not the reason behind the apprehension.

This trial learning is most likely too why Kelpies are far less likely to appear in the guise of a woman. Less a tell and more an inability to grasp the niceties of human expression and thought, the face on a Kelpie woman has been explained as fleeting in beauty. Indeed, it could be there was no beauty to be had above the bust line and that fleeting was more of the guidance of grace guiding their eyes up and away from the temptation of base objectification. Whatever the case, fewer and fewer travelers fell victim to their human form and the Kelpie has in many cases abandoned such a form.

Kelpies thrive upon children and the elderly: children due to their innocence and love of all creatures, the elderly due to their lack of vision. Even these will likely determine the truth of the creature’s identity upon inspection. However, by that time it is normally too late. This is due to the sticky substance that is present on the skin and mane of the creature. Once a hand has been placed on the neck to stroke the mane, the trap has been sprung. Nothing save white hot iron is able to cleave the hold of the beast and it takes the entirety of a community to hold the victim in place while the fire is stoked.

The simple solution is to avoid a horse by the waterside at all costs. Call it to yourself inland should you wish to approach it. This is a task the Kelpie could not achieve even if it had the sense of a man. And, in all things, practice caution and prudence so you may reach home from your journey alive.