Minglings - Book 3 chapter 25: Iceberg

"We can't go back," Mason said with an angry sigh.

His gaze was stuck on the distant mountain range behind which he knew the ruined city was.

None of the others responded, but Faelina was staring at the mountains, her slim-scaled snout covered in a mixture of fear and anger.

"Are all of them inside… like that?" Siobahn asked.

She was sitting beside Faelina, the only one that didn't show any signs of fear, instead looking thoroughly confused.

"Probably," Mason said as he turned to Clankrin.

The red dragon seemed the least affected out of all of them, and Mason frowned.

"You knew something was going on. That's why you wanted to leave," he said, staring at the other.

Clankrin's eyes gleamed as he looked up but said nothing.

"How did you know?" Mason asked before he thought about Sandra, and his smoldering anger grew. "Why didn't you tell anyone?" he snapped.

Clankrin stared back at him, a surprisingly cool look in his burning eyes.

"I didn't know for sure. It was just. I've been struggling with my rage for as long as I've changed, and I noticed how much worse it became back there. At some points, it almost felt like something was pushing it onward."

Rage issues, Mason thought as he felt his own bubbling anger. Still, as angry as he was, he could clearly sense the difference between how he felt now and how he'd been feeling the last few days."

"Should we warn them? Send a message?" Baudron asked. He was sitting beside Maru, who was still rubbing her head.

"I wouldn't know how," Mason said as he glared at the mountain. He tried imagining going back in, and a twinge of fear made him shiver before he shoved it down.

"Who is doing it?" Faelina muttered.

"Either the Hound or those Bats," Mason said with a snort. "If I'd have to put money on it, I'd go with the Bats."

"What? Those things are nothing but a nuisance unless you find a large group! Why?" Clankrin asked, looking at him in surprise. "Wouldn't it make more sense for it to be the Hound?"

Mason shrugged. Clankrin was right, but somehow after the Hound had looked at him and after he'd heard that voice, he didn't buy it.

"No, the longer I think on it, the more I think it's the bats… or something else we don't know yet," Mason said.

Everyone was quiet, staring at the mountains.

It was Baudron who finally asked the question Mason knew they had all been thinking about.

"What do we do now?"

Masson glared at the mountains. He wanted nothing more than to head back, tell Sandra what was going on, and leave as fast as he could. Should he try and go in? See if he knew what was coming and if he could resist it.

As soon as the idea popped up, he knew he had to try. If he didn't, it would fester. Which meant he had to do it. Which meant he needed to make sure Clankrin remained here as he needed him to find the place up north.

Then a lightbulb went off in his mind as he recalled his previous encounters with Clankrin.

"Stay here for a moment. I'm going to see what happens if I fly back in," Mason said.

There were gasps of surprise and worry, which he ignored.

He turned to Clankrin before anyone could even say anything. "Stay here and guard the others."

Clankrin nodded slowly, a tiny grin coming to his face. "Of course, I will!"

Mason nodded, then looked at Baudron. "I'll be right back."

"Are you sure this is wise?" Faelina asked. "I was there for a long time, and I never noticed anything wrong. I even left the range on numerous occasions without anything like this."

"Which would be a point for it having something to do with The Hound," Mason said. "And yes, I'm sure. Wait here."

He jumped up, flapping himself into the air with such force any comments were drowned out.

As he rushed back to the mountains, he tried to sense anything that might change with him. Anything that felt wrong, anything-

Bah. It's not like Sandra will thank me for it! She's probably just going to laugh.

Mason blinked at the sudden thought accompanied by derisive emotions and anger. He forced it down, but it felt like wrestling with an oiled eel.

It's all fake, he thought, trying to force himself to believe it. As he did, he sensed the bubbling emotions begin to grab hold of him, and with a bout of fear, he turned midair, shooting back away from the mountains. When he was nearly back to the others, his emotions calmed down, but it wasn't until he landed that the same jarring release happened.

"So.. didn't go well?" Faelina asked as she looked at him.

Mason could see the barely concealed fear in her eyes, and he sighed. She was using a bit of anger to cover up her own angst.

"It was… not good," he said, smiling bitterly.

Faelina looked at him in surprise.

"So, we leave?" Clankrin said as he gazed at the mountains thoughtfully.

Mason nodded, feeling sad. What kind of world was this, that he couldn't even go and warn his friends about danger?

"While you were gone, I had an idea," Faelina said, drawing his attention.

He wanted to make a snarky comment, then decided against it and simply nodded at her.

"When I was young, my mother told these stories about different types of dragons… monstrous, disgusting drakes, she called them. She had all these stories about different colors and what they could do, and there's one… the purple ones! They are rumored to be able to use mind control. It could be nothing more than a horror story. They tell nestlings to make them do their chores and go to bed without too much fuss, but if you can control someone else's mind, you should be able to keep control over your own. Right?"

Mason frowned. Seeing as different dragons had different abilities, it wouldn't surprise him, but how was that helpful? He hadn't seen one…

Wait? Wasn't there one back on the island? She was always hanging around Jake…

He recalled the purple female Kobold, trying but failing to recall her name. It felt like it was decades ago.

Well, I can't recall seeing another one like that, he thought, shaking his head at Faelina.

"So, you know of one?" he asked.

Faelina shook her head. "No, but at least we know what to look for?"

We?

Mason looked at her, not sure what to say.

"Alright, so can we go now? I'm a bit done with sitting around here, and I'm hungry. Let's go!" Clankrin said, sounding exasperated.

"You're right," Mason said. "Lead on."

Clankrin blinked, then his eyes gleamed as he jumped up.

"Follow me!"

Mason took a final look at the mountains, then followed the others.

I wish Jake was here, he thought as he followed the group.

–

Jake swam through the water outside the city, quietly watching Emma. She was playing around, almost like she had when she was a Kobold, chasing after fish and laughing loudly.

Another two weeks had passed after the first time they had come out here, and since it had become a favorite past-time of Emma. Every day after school, she'd return, running around him like a dragon-sized puppy until he gave in, and they went again. Sometimes she even brought some others, and Jake was glad to see she was making friends.

Jake enjoyed the feeling of water all around him as he recalled his conversation with Lady Talia the day before.

I'll have to go, he decided as he absently raised his hand, causing three fist-sized orbs of ice to appear and spin around above his clawed fingers.

An iceberg had appeared around the fringes of the massive underwater empire, and a group of Dragons and Kobolds from Azurill's explorer's guild were going to search for rare resources. Talia had explained to him some of what could be there, none of which meant anything to him. What had was when she asked if he'd wanted to join them. From what he had gathered between the lines, that wasn't the regular way of things. Either way, she had made it so he could join them if he wanted to.

Which he did.

I'll have to tell her I will try tonight, Jake thought as he watched Emma.

She would have to remain here, meaning he was going to break his promise. The thing was that after having remained in Azurill for so many weeks now, he'd understood something. It was safe here. Safe compared even to many places back on Earth. The only dangers came from outside, and compared to what he'd read in some of the books, the dangers of the deep sea paled compared to the troubles faced across the lands above.

Still… he knew Emma was going to hate it and probably be angry with him. He hoped that the fact that he'd managed to keep the apartment so she could stay in it would help a bit.

Looking to the side, where the sprawling city lay, partially hidden by the enormous coral reefs, Jake sighed.

As much as he enjoyed peace, good food, and rest each day, his worry for Mason grew. While he enjoyed himself, what was his friend doing? Fighting for his life?

No… what he needed to do was grow strong. And he had a good idea of how to do that.

Snapping his hand shut caused the ice balls to explode in fragments that then spun above his hand as a tiny vortex. He felt his energy dwindle rapidly as he focused on the group, controlling them. After a few moments, he dispersed it, letting it drift away like a cloud of rapidly melting ice flakes.

He was sure that if he reached the iceberg that he would sense some type of… calling. He definitely wasn't just a descendant of Lauruna. That meant part of him had another ancestor, one that dealt with ice, and by the ease with which he used it, he had the feeling he was more inclined to that.

He would find his ancestor, learn more about the trouble Lauruna spoke about and become far more powerful in the process.

And hopefully, figure out how to become a kobold.

Ever since he'd heard that he could possibly gain the ability to switch shapes, the idea had played through his mind. As much as he enjoyed his dragon form, having a more normal shape and being able to do the things he'd done before; like sleep in a bed or read a book at a table, had become a potential possibility again.

Checklist… tell Emma to find the iceberg, practice with ice, determine the pull, if there is any, go there, find out what's going to happen in the future, become stronger, and find Mason.

It annoyed him that finding his friend had to be the last step.

"Jake! Jake! Look, it's got two tails! Can I eat it?"

Jake looked up to find Emma swimming toward him with something wiggling between her jaws.

He grinned and pushed his list to the back of his mind.

–

Two days later, Jake was flying to the central tower. Lady Talia had told him the expedition would be leaving from there.

"You have to promise you won't be gone too long! Or I'll come and search for you," Emma shouted.

She was flying beside him, the surly look she'd had ever since he told her he would be leaving for a while still on her face.

"I promise," Jake said, not for the first time.

"I'll come and find you otherwise! I'm serious!' Emma shouted.

Jake didn't respond. He could see from her glare that she was serious.

They reached the top of what he'd come to think of as the city's castle. The top floor had walls, but they were nearly completely open, allowing dragons to swoop in from all sides. A dozen Kobolds stood in the center, three massive dragons behind them.

"I'll be back soon," Jake shouted, smiling at Emma.

"You better!" she shouted back before she flew away. A vague, be careful, drifted back before she was gone.

Lady Talia said on what Jake could only think of as a throne, a massive white marble thing with gaudy blue gemstone inlays.

"Honorable Ice dragon," she said as she rose and inclined her head at him.

Jake smoothly bowed back. It had taken some getting used to, but by now, he nearly felt it was normal.

As he looked back up, he saw that the two dragons and the kobolds were looking at him with mixes of awe, interest, and annoyance. The latter came from the central Kobold, a dark blue one with teal highlights across his cheeks, wearing dark leather armor. Everything about him spoke of a readiness to do battle, and the empty loops on his belt showed that he likely had weapons there. As the Kobold locked eyes with him, he stared back cooly for a moment before nodding and turning back to Lady Talia. Everything about him screamed that he was the leader of the group.

Wondering what that had been about, he focused on Lady Talia.

"Thank you again for allowing me to join this expedition," he said, more for the others present than Lady Talia.

"You are welcome, but any thanks should go to the members of the explorers guild," Talia said with a nod to Kobold. "However, do be careful. This isn't the first or only iceberg to float towards us, but even then, we know little about them or why they come here."

Because they break off some glacial region, probably the north pole or something, and drift downstream, Jake thought.

He kept that to himself, though. For some reason, they seemed to think it had something to do with magic, and who was he to say they were wrong? For all he knew, there was some giant turtle spitting out ice cubes somewhere.

"Now, the dragons that spotted the iceberg said there was no sight of any Hydra or Hydracii," Lady Talia said as she looked around.

Two of the Kobold began whispering excitedly, only stopping when their leader glared at them.

Did they just say something about becoming rich? Jake thought. If that was an option, why didn't more people, kobolds or dragons, go there?

"I shouldn't have to explain to you all that this doesn't mean there isn't something dangerous there. The iceberg is larger than most we have found so far, so be careful when exploring it."

"Lady Talia, my guild has more experience exploring than anyone. We will be fine," the Kobold with the dark leather armor said.

Even though he didn't look at him, Jake knew the pointed way the other had said, we, was a jab at him. Lady Talia showed no reaction, but as the quiet lingered, soft padding became audible from the side, and slowly, a wide smile appeared on her face.

A quick look showed a tiny staircase, the only other entrance to the top floor besides flying in.

A moment later, a familiar head popped up.

"Sorry, I'm late, sorry! I had to gather some more books and-"

Calips? What is he doing here? Jake thought as he gaped at his magic teacher.

"Dear Calips, it is fine," Lady Talia said as she smiled and beckoned the rapidly apologizing Kobold. "Now, as you are here, I think it's time for you all to set out!"

Calips nodded as he moved to stand beside Jake. He was carrying a massive pack, and as he closed in, Jake saw his blue eyes dart across Jake appraisingly.

The members of the explorers guild were muttering amongst themselves, even the two Dragons having their heads together, while their leader was frowning as he gazed at Calips.

"Please be careful, and I wish you good travels," Lady Talia said.

She moved away from the throne, and as she did, her form rippled, quickly expanding. Within moments her tall and beautiful Kobold form had changed into a towering Dragon, bigger than the others present.

There was a hushed silence as everyone waited for her to leave, and only when she vanished with a thunderous flap did the kobolds begin talking again.

"Hello, Jake!" Calips said, stopping before Jake.

"Why are you here?" Jake whispered back.

"What? To continue teaching you, of course," Calips said, seeming confused. "Imagine how much we could learn about your magic when we reach that much ice!"

Jake laughed as he saw Calips eyes gleam in excitement. It was obvious that it wasn't just the training that had Calips looking like a little child getting a new toy.

"Jake?"

Jake looked up to see the leader of the explorers guild walk towards him.

"Yes?"

"My name is Eagin, and I'm the commander of the main branch of the Explorers Guild. Lady Talia asked us to take you along. We are happy to do as she asks," he said, his voice calm and his face emotionless.

"However, please realize that as soon as we leave the city, you will follow my orders. You have little to no experience in these parts, and as much as I respect the Lady, she has barely any either," Eagin said.

Jake raised a scale eyebrow as he gazed down at the much smaller Kobold. He'd not seen any of them act like this toward a dragon, and he wasn't sure if he was amused or angry. A bit of both, perhaps.

"As long as you don't ask me to do anything suicidal," he said. "I'll comply."

Eagin frowned. "And how will you decide if something is suicidal without knowing what we are doing, Frost Dragon? What if we reach an Immolation Vent, and I tell everyone to jump inside? Will you stay behind to die?"

Alright. Angry now, Jake thought as he felt his annoyance grow.

"Something called an Immolation Vent doesn't invite one to jump in," he said.

"Indeed. Which is why it's the safest place to hide from certain dangerous monsters beyond the safety of the cities," Eagin snapped.

Jake lowered his head, his frown deepening. He noticed the two dragons behind Eagin fidget but ignored them.

"You seem to be angry. Why?" he asked.

"Because the last time I was asked to bring someone, that someone died. Now, I couldn't care one bit about that, but he also got two of my fellow guild members killed," Eagin snapped. "So. I'll ask you again. Are you going to follow orders?"

Jake was about to snap back something quick and angry when he realized what was happening. The other was riling him up… on purpose. Without a second, though, he moved into his icy state, something that came as easy as breathing now. Instantly, his anger vanished. He noticed tiny flickers in Eagin's eyes and the tension in his shoulders.

He is afraid, Jake thought. He'd thought the other was angry… how had he not seen it?

Anger clouding my judgment.

Things weren't even that difficult.

"Do you have ill intentions toward me?" Jake asked.

His previously heated voice had turned so cool it might freeze water.

Eagin's eyes widened, then he set his jaw.

"No. Why would you think that?"

"Would you send me to my death if it would save you or your men?" Jake asked, ignoring the question.

Eagin took a step back, mouth opening, then closing. He finally frowned and didn't answer.

Jake nodded. "I will follow your orders, but if I feel like you are misusing my trust, it will stop."

By now, all of the Kobolds had stopped whispering, and the entire group was staring at him. Even the two dragons had looks of stunned surprise on their scaled snouts.

Eagin gazed at him, then nodded.

"Fine. But if you hesitate, don't be surprised if I leave you behind."

Without another word, the armored Kobold stomped off, beckoning the others to follow him.

"We leave in one hour from the North gate," Eagin said. Then he climbed atop one of the two dragons, followed by the others, and they jumped from the edge.

"So, that went well!" Calips said happily.

Jake looked at him, even his cold, slightly surprised. "You think?"

"Definitely!" Calips said. "Eagin usually is far less easy. Now, let's go! Err… could you carry my stuff? And me?"

Jake blinked, then sighed.

"You wouldn't happen to have brought something so I can carry all that?" he asked.