Minglings - Book 3 chapter 26: Crunch!

The enormous reef continued ahead, seemingly without end. Enumerable fish, eels, and crustaceans surrounded towering heat vents that billowed out dark plumes.

"Do you think they will allow me to investigate one of those heat vents when we stop to rest?" Calips asked, leaning so far across Jake's side that he seemed about to slide off to tumble through the turbulent water.

"Probably not," Jake said.

He was the only one with a single passenger, while the two other two explorer-guild dragons carried four and five travelers each. Their leader, Eagin, was riding the lead dragon, who Jake still didn't know the name from. In his head, he'd started calling him Bluespot because of a dark blue spread of scales across one cheek.

"I hope you are wrong. Then again, you were right yesterday and the day before," Calips said as he continued to gaze around excitedly.

If I didn't know better, I'd say he has never been outside before, Jake thought while keeping an eye on his surroundings.

They had long since left the city's perimeter, passing the last town early that day.

The trio of dragons continued ahead, swimming effortlessly throughout the day. Although the day was stretching it a bit. It was a perpetual gloom all around, and without their dark vision, none of them would have likely been able to see more than a few dozen feet around.

They rested in a burrow below a large bit of the reef before continuing the next day.

Another three passed with only one noteworthy thing happening. During the evening of the second day, just before they were about to stop when one of the Kobolds said they were about to encounter a group of Hydracii. Jake couldn't spot them, but the Kobold had been sure and had guided them around, seeming able to detect where they were without actually seeing them.

Eighty days after they left, Azurill, the lead dragon carrying Eagin, slowed down, and Jake copied him. He was mostly bored. Calips had said they should arrive soon, and he hoped that was the truth.

Odd how traveling thousands of leagues below the sea together with a group of kobolds and dragons can become boring, Jake thought as he swam beside the lead dragon.

"We are almost there," Eagin said. "That means we have to start going up towards the surface, which means there's a chance of us encountering problems."

"Hydracii or Hydra's?" Jake asked.

"Yes, or one of those ancient sea behemoths," Eagin said.

"Sea behemoths?" Jake asked as he looked at the Kobold.

"He can explain it," Eagin said as he turned to the other dragon. "Time to surface. Prepare for potential action."

Without giving him any more attention, Eagin directed the other dragon up, and Jake followed after them. Part of him was excited, as this would be the first time he'd go back up since leaving the island he had arrived at.

I wonder how the others are doing, he thought as he pictured the island. They should be fine with the help of the Antraci, though he hoped the native Kobolds hadn't forcefully taken control.

They swam straight up, quickly piercing through the bubble that separated the bottom layer of the sea from the dark abyss above. Minutes passed by, and soon they were within a seemingly endless ocean of blue. The above was only determinable due to it being a fraction lighter.

"So… what are Sea behemoths?" he asked after half an hour had passed.

Even though he had spoken softly, his voice seemed excessively loud in the silence. He saw one of the dragons look back with a disapproving glare.

"I'll explain when we get above," Calips whispered.

Jake nodded, keeping quiet.

Time continued, and soon it seemed like they had been swimming for hours. The water above was now a pale blue, and sometimes Jake thought he saw shadows move in the distance. The pressure of the ocean around them reduced rapidly, but even then, Jake wondered how the Kobolds could even survive this. Any human would have died within moments.

When the water above turned clear enough to see a great distance, Jake sensed a massive push from the side. Memories of long before, when he'd traveled through the sea with Tir and Ter, played through his mind.

Is it one of the Sea Titans?

"We need to get up!" Eagin shouted.

Great!

Jake didn't bother wondering what it was. Instead, his mind turned icy calm as he increased his speed. He quickly drew aside the other two dragons, who were either slower or had trouble carrying their heavier load. He remained beside them, holding back slightly. Sometimes being in the front was as dangerous as being in the back.

A dull rumbling came from the side, and looking toward it, Jake saw a massive shadow head toward them. Although it was too far to make out any details, what he did see told him that if it had a mouth and was angry, it could easily swallow them whole.

"Hydra," Calips shouted behind him. Pure panic caused his voice to rise.

"Faster!" Eagin shouted, and the dragon carrying the leader began to speed up.

Jake matched its speed and quickly saw that the third dragon was being left behind. Looking down, he saw the massive shape was catching up rapidly. For a moment, he contemplated using his ice to create barriers. Then he shook his head as he could finally make out the individual heads. They were so much bigger he felt a surge of fear bubbles up below his icy calm.

Nothing I can do!

No longer holding back, he sped up and quickly passed Eagin, now calm of mind.

"Hang on," he ordered.

Calips didn't respond, but Jake felt him clutch on tighter.

Seconds passed as the pale blue water above grew brighter. Suddenly a strangled scream came from behind.

"Nooo!"

A roar of fury came from Eagin, punctuated by a scream of pain that almost instantly went up a notch.

Shit!

Jake looked back to see a maw the size of a small building clutch the slowest of the other two dragons. A cloud of blood bloomed out as the dragon began to spasm, clawing forward as if to drag himself free. His eyes were wide open, and more blood billowed out of his mouth. The Kobolds tried to flee, but before they could get anywhere, more heads shot out, swallowing the tiny Kobolds whole.

Jake felt the anger and fear bubble around the cold calm of his frozen mind. If he hadn't already gone ice-cold, he'd have done so now. A tiny bit of him also wondered if the icy calm was the reason he hadn't tried to do anything yet. Even if it was futile, shouldn't he have tried?

Eagin and Bluespot were halfway, and he saw that their leader's eyes were wide as he seemed ready to jump off and swim back. The other kobolds were holding him. Jake gazed at the other dragon as he continued swimming forward and saw a look of fear in the wide blue and green eyes. Behind it, the Hydra showed no sign of slowing down, the slowest dragon dangling from one of its maws like a mouse in the maw of a cat.

It's going to catch up, Jake thought as he turned his focus back ahead.

Should he act? If he used too much energy and fainted as he had back then? This Hydra was so massive the chances of him getting away or tricking it seemed nihil. Besides, he didn't think it was likely someone was going to save him again. Still… he did have far better control, and he had the idea that he could create far denser and larger ice sheets with less energy.

He hesitated, then made up his mind. Although he felt little for Eagin and the others, having their help would be incredibly useful. Besides, he didn't want anyone else to be eaten by those Hydras.

"I'm going to try something," he said as he pulled as much toward him as he could, no longer holding back in the slightest.

He had sensed the enormous amounts of watery energy all the time, but now he began pulling it all in, causing a rush of mana-lits to streak toward him. After having so carefully controlled his intake for so long, it felt like putting his fingers in an electrical socket.

Looking back, he saw the Hydra was rapidly catching up to the other dragon while nothing remained of the one it had snatched up. With a little flex, Jake caused an enormous pane of ice to appear right behind the other dragon. He was stunned by how little effort it took, and he began thickening it as much as he could while also making it mirror. He'd planned to create dozens, like before, and try to trick the Hydra, but as he sensed its approach, he decided to go for another approach.

Using all the energy he had, he created the most massive sheet of ice ahead of him that he could, leaving only a small hole, just large enough for himself to go through.

A crack followed by a rippling roar came from behind, but Jake ignored it. He knew the Hydra would be able to break through. Instead, he continued to focus on the distant sheet of ice. As he did, he suddenly noticed that it was slowly rising in the water. He hadn't even thought about that, but after another moment ignored it. It wasn't rising faster than he swam, so it wasn't a problem.

He continued to thicken the sheet, and before he even reached it, it was dozens of feet thick and hundreds of feet wide. As he fed it more of his energy, he sensed a shiver go through the ice mana-lits, and a surge of more began pouring in from above. Within moments the sheet's growth exploded.

It has to be the iceberg, Jake thought, his ice-induced calm unable to stop his own surprise from growing as he felt the immense energy surge into the sheet.

For a moment, he thought about stopping his own efforts, but then he sensed the uncontrolled power of the external influx. It was as if it was following his own movements like water moving around in the bath when he moved his hand. If he stopped, he had no idea what would happen, so he continued.

"What is that?"

Jake ignored the shout from behind.

"Callips, hold close to me," he snapped before taking a quick look back.

Eagin and the other Kobolds were shooting tiny bolts of blurry water toward the Hydra, which simply ignored them.

They should reach it, Jake thought as he quickly checked on the distance to his still-thickening ice sheet.

A slight headache was growing as even his greatly increased ability was being stretched.

"Follow me," he roared, locking eyes with Bluespot.

He got a panicky nod and hoped the other dragon would even be fast enough. Then he turned and nearly started. The sheet of ice above him was massive, seeming to grow beyond his vision, while the hole now looked like a tunnel. As he saw it, he also felt his headache grow, and he slowed down and nearly stopped controlling the still-growing ice. By now, all he was doing was going through the motions, hoping the foreign ice energy would continue for as long as he needed it.

As he reached it, he saw that the hole was bigger than he'd thought. Not big enough for the Hydra, but it might be able to stuff one of its heads in.

Wait… if it does that, maybe I can cut it off! Jake thought as he imagined rapidly growing the ice across the end of the tunnel. Would it grow fast and powerful enough for that?

He reached the hole and shot through, almost feeling like he was swimming through a tube.

"So much ice," Calips muttered.

Jake agreed.

If I'd known this, I'd have made it much more massive and created a trap, he thought, imagining creating a hollowed-out ice cube and luring the Hydra inside. He could have grown massive ice spikes inside and skewered the thing.

"Are the others inside?" he shouted.

He couldn't look, and he was still having too much trouble controlling the mana-lits to sense what was going on around him.

"They are, but the Hydra! It's sticking its-"

Jake focused his full attention behind him, dropping all other things he was doing, even slowing his swimming. As soon as he felt the edge of the ice, he forced the hole in the ice to close. An immediate resistance came, which he ignored. He sensed the ice shatter as it tried to slice through whatever was there and failed.

Not enough energy left, Jake thought as he felt his headache grow.

He was just about to stop when the foreign ice energy surged forward and slammed into where he was trying to grow the ice around what he hoped was the Hydra head. There was almost a sense of agreement, then the resistance lessened.

An ear-piercing screech rippled through the water, and without his ice-induced calm, Jake would have let go due to the pain and shock. As it was, he felt something pop in his ears, then a high-pitched whine and dull roaring came.

Eardrums ruptured, he thought, as calm as ever.

The massive energy continued to cause the ice to grow, and after a moment, the hole behind him closed. Growing closer toward him to make sure nothing would go wrong, Jake finally relaxed and focused on his direct surroundings.

Eagin and Bluespot were hovering behind him, staring at him with wide-open eyes.

Jake ignored them for now and looked past them. There was only ice there, the tunnel closed up to a few feet behind Eagin.

"It left after- after- after you crushed its head," Calips muttered.

Jake looked over his own shoulder to see his Kobold mage trainer look at him with wide-eyed wonder. Somehow, even amidst his calm, he felt a twinge of joy that there was not a single hint of fear in Calips's eyes.

"Is it safe to stay here?" Eagin asked.

His voice was dull, and as Jake looked at him, he saw a mixture of awe, fear, and barely concealed rage.

Jake didn't doubt he was going to ask why he hadn't acted before and potentially saved the first dragon. He also knew he didn't have an answer that would satisfy Eagin. Just saying that he didn't want to risk it before would probably infuriate the Kobold.

So, he just stared back, holding the others' gaze until Eagin looked away.

"Yes, we can stay here until we reach the surface," Jake said.

Although he had stopped controlling the ice, and it wasn't growing anywhere, he knew the massive sheet wouldn't melt anytime soon. More likely, it would create some odd island when it finally surfaced.

They remained inside the tunnel, and slowly everyone relaxed.

The light from above began becoming brighter until clouds began popping up. As they rapidly grew clear, an enormous shadow appeared further away. Tiny amounts of silvery mana-lits began appearing, but before Jake could try and pull some toward him, a roaring came as the ice sheet burst out of the surface of the ocean. Water sprayed in the air high above the tunnel they were in, and they were shaken around, slamming into the icy walls.

When things settled down, Jake looked at the others, then swam up toward the sun. Sticking his head out of the water and feeling the warmth of the sun, Jake smiled. It had been a long time since he'd felt the sun on his scales.

Bobbing up and down in the narrow tunnel, Jake dug his claws into the ice and began climbing up. The ice had risen considerably, and it took him a minute to climb out of the tunnel. As he crawled over the edge, he was stunned by an unbelievable sight. For an enormous distance around them, a glistening sheet of ice sat, while not too far from one of its brothers, an enormous mountain of ice grew up toward the sky. Innumerable silvery mana-lits floated around.

"This is incredible," Calips said excitedly, and Jake felt him move across his back.

"Don't get your writing stuff yet," he said as he rose further up and looked around.

"What? Why not? I need to write this down," Calips exclaimed.

"Because we might have to fly or swim in a few moments," Jake said.

A struggling and thudding from behind made him look to see Bluespot climb up. As soon as it was standing on solid ice, Eagin jumped off, the nails on the claws of his feet scratching across the ice. Jake saw him stare at him, his jaw clenched and hands opening and closing. Finally, he snarled and turned to the distant iceberg.

"Let's go and head out to see what it's about. We will need to remain here for at least a few weeks until that Hydra leaves," Eagin growled. Then he began walking away.

Jake saw the others look from him to Eagin, then back, and finally follow Eagin.

"Weird… they seem angry," Calips said.

Jake saw Eagin's step falter before the angry Kobold continued.

"They think I should have helped sooner," he said as he sighed.

I need to deal with this now, or this is going to cause problems.

"Sooner? What use would that have been? We were nowhere near that iceberg yet!"

Jake looked at Calips, who was shaking his head.

"As if you could have made anything this big without energy to feed it. No, no, impossible."

He's right, Jake thought.

He was about to act when he stopped. His emotions… Having them this cold was beneficial in a lot of situations, but there was one problem. He lacked empathy.

After a short hesitation, he turned and released his hold on the ice, and a host of emotions rushed him: lingering fear of almost getting eaten or chased across the sea. Anger at Eagin's reaction and a worry that Kobold was going to cause major issues down the line.

Taking a few moments to calm himself down the normal way, Jake finally began running across the ice. It only took a minute to catch up to the others and stopped straight across from Eagin.

The Kobold was glaring at him, and Jake felt his anger grow.

"You have something to say?" he snarled.

There was a hushed silence from the other Kobolds, and Bluespot inched closer toward Eagin.

Eagin's eyes widened, and he growled.

"Think I could have saved the others?" Jake continued lowering his head.

"Look around! Do you think I could have done anything like this without the mana-lits from the ice of the iceberg?" he shouted, not caring that he practically used Calips's exact words.

Eagin blinked, then shook his head. "You used ice before we got higher up!".

"A tiny sheet which the Hydra burst through effortlessly," Jake snapped. "Why do you think I created the other one way up? It took time and energy to grow it!"

Eagin blinked, and as his head lowered, his eyes staring at the ice unfocused, Jake felt sorry for the Kobold. He obviously cared greatly for the people of his guild. The fact that he might have been able to do something, even if it would have been useless, didn't help.

"I…" Eagin said. Then he took a deep breath and looked back up. Jake saw him struggle before the anger faded, though a bit remained, simmering deep in the blue eyes.

"Thank you for saving us," Eagin said. "My apologies for implying you let them die."

Jake didn't say anything but sighed. He could see the massive willpower it had cost for the other to speak up, and his anger vanished.

"I am very sorry that your friends died," he said.

Eagins chin dipped a look of pain so deep it made Jake wonder who had been amongst those that died. It hadn't been-

"My cousin knew what he was getting into," Eagin whispered. "I just wish I'd not allowed him to come or forced him to ride with me."

Shit…

Eagin shook himself, then looked up at Jake.

"Let's go and see what's in that iceberg."

Jake nodded, watching the Kobold turn and stride off.