The Selkie

On a rocky, boulder-strewn coast, Campbell, a rugged sealer, stands over a seal and raises his wooden club. He’s ready to strike when a lance-wielding Islander, with sleek black hair, dark eyes and sealskin clothing, orders him to stop. New arrivals must report for processing as the creatures are the last of their kind. Campbell has come too far to leave empty handed, so he follows the Islander to a row of stone huts and a large wooden shed. The Islander explains that the island was named after the seals of Celtic legend that shed their skin to live as men. They ask only for a small contribution to ensure the survival of the species in the face of the unchecked slaughter. Hatch thinks it’ll be no skin off his back. Inside the dark shed, a black-eyed slaughterman hunches over a low wooden bench where a fresh seal carcass lays. Campbell demands to know the price he must pay or he’ll have his hide, then looks on in horror as the skinless Selkie rises from the carcass. Its lower body splits into two powerful legs, its muscular arms end in clawed flipper-like hands, and pitch black eyes and sharp canine teeth gleam from the Selkie’s hideously exposed, muzzled face. The Slaughterman holds his bloody flensing knife at the ready as the Islander raises his lance from behind. They’ll have his hide!