Minglings - Book 3 chapter 24: A clear wind

Mason lay to the side of one of the buildings while Sandra prowled around, a dangerous glare in her eyes.

Most dragons were now hanging from rocks near the distant tunnel entrance, with only a handful sitting nearby. Midnight had his eyes closed, and Mason wasn't sure if he was sleeping. Holding back hundreds of smaller dragons from committing suicide seemed to have drained him.

Baudron, Clankrin, Salvo, and Glarissu lay nearby, together with a few dragons he'd never seen. Sandra had rapidly introduced them, but he'd not been able to remember any of the names, mostly because he hadn't even tried.

No, he'd mostly been thinking about what the Hound had said to him.

Spawn of Scorchador.

It obviously meant something important, but what? Was it the dragon his new body descended from? It wasn't the only question he had. What had The Hound been doing? It almost looked like he was awakening, but how did that work? Was he like some vampire that ate other dragons? Thinking of vampires, he recalled the massive flock of bats that had been there. What had Salvo said? Something about them being scavengers attracted by blood? That didn't match with what he'd seen when they entered the mountains. Unless there were two types of bats.

As he split his attention between the tunnel exits and this spinning mind, he barely noticed what else had happened.

When the distant rumbling finally settled down, he looked around. Had The Hound left again?

Sandra finally stopped pacing and turned to him. From her narrowed, glinting eyes, he knew she wasn't in a good mood. Was she going to argue?

"Midnight told me what happened and said that you roared them out of whatever The Hound did that made them fly towards him like flies to a dung pile. How?"

Mason calmed down as he gazed back at her. He wanted to make a stupid joke but clamped down on the desire. "Not sure," he said. "I pulled energy-"

"Mana-lits," Sandra grunted.

He frowned, then continued as if she had said nothing. "-from the muscle down here." He tapped his stomach. "Then I just channeled it into my chest and throat before roaring as loud as I could."

"That's it?" Sandra grunted in disbelief.

Mason shrugged. What else did she think he'd done?

"It's what Jake did back on the island, remember?"

Sandra didn't answer, but he saw her gaze drift to the ground below her front claws. He wondered if she was trying it right now. If she was, he hoped that she would figure it out without his help. He didn't really want to think back to that particular moment right now, because as soon as he did he saw the image of a still dragon bleeding from its ears.

It would make for a great attack, a tiny part of him said.

Mason didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but after a few moments, he pushed the lingering sadness away. He had killed and would kill far more things. That much he was sure of.

A deafening, bone-rattling roar caused him to jump up and out of the way as he looked around, his mind suddenly crystal clear.

A stunned silence was followed by startled cries as Dragons came flying toward them. Everyone gazed at Sandra in stunned silence, as she rubbed her chest, her anger changed to a look of surprise.

"I'm awake, awake," Midnight muttered, standing and blinking. "Where's the enemy?"

His weary voice caused the tension to rapidly dissipate.

I wonder how she did that so fast. Or how I did, for that matter, Mason wondered, staring at Sandra. What was she going to do?

He watched as she turned to Glarissu.

"Get some of the prospects and try to teach them. It's… as easy as he said, though I'm not sure how many are able to move the mana-lit energy as smoothly as is required."

"Alright, Sandra."

Seemingly satisfied with that, Sandra turned to him, and Mason had a feeling what she was going to ask.

"Do you still want to leave? Even after what you've seen?"

Mason wanted to reply instantly but managed to hold back at the last moment. Staring at the ground, he rapidly gathered his thoughts, some he hadn't even crystalized to himself yet. When he got them all together, he slowly started talking, still sorting them.

"Between everything you've shown me, what I've seen since coming here, and what's happening outside, I've got the idea our arrival has triggered something. I'm not sure what it is, but I've got the feeling if we want to survive we need to become much stronger, as fast as we can. Not to sound to cliche… a storm's brewing," Mason said.

He'd tried to lay it on a bit thicker than he really thought the problem was, but not a word of what he said was a lie. From all he'd seen, something was going on, and they had zero ideas what, and they seemed to be the lowest on the run right now. He hated that, and magic should change it.

Sandra was quietly looking at him, and as she did, Mason suddenly realized something. He didn't care what she thought. Who was she anyway? They had had some fun before, but she wasn't family. Not like Jake. Why was he even bothering about it so much?

Something must have given away his thoughts because he saw Sandra's scaled and heavily muscled jaws clench. A grinding sound followed, then she let out a heavy sigh.

"Fine. I can't say I agree, but I can see that it doesn't matter anymore. I'll have someone bring the dragons I told you about," she said.

Mason nodded, feeling a weight of some sort drop from his mind. As it did, he shivered and sensed an odd sensation, as if something was flying away from him. He didn't see anything or hear anything, but he still felt it…

What was that?

He rose to his feet and looked around, but there was nothing except for the masses of distant dragons looking at him and Sandra and the others.

"Mason?"

Mason looked at Sandra, noticing a slight worry poorly hidden below her annoyance. Had that been there before? He couldn't recall.

"Nothing, just someone walking across my grave," he muttered.

"What?" Midnight grunted as he looked at him wide-eyed.

"Just a saying from where we are from," Mason said quickly.

He absently noticed Sandra moving to Glarissu, then noticed Clankrin grinning.

"Get those two dragons you want to bring," Mason said before turning to Baudron.

"I'll be heading out. Did you want to come along?"

Baudron instantly nodded, a look of relief on his face.

"Yes. I'll go and see if Maru wants to come along!"

Before Mason could even wonder about that, Baudron leaped up and created a small whirlwind and thunder as his massive wings propelled him into the air.

As things began moving along around him, Mason lay back down and began scanning the area.

Something… was wrong, he just couldn't put his finger on it.

–

A few dozen tiny black eyes gazed down from the ceiling, looking at the group of dragons far below. The distance was so far that it would be hard to make out details to anyone else, but the one to whom these eyes belonged could make out the tiny confusion in the golden and red monstrosity.

Master, be happy… dangerous one, leave! I be rewarded. Yes, yes! I did gooooood.

The crooning thought was multifaceted as if a dozen things were shouting it in their mind as one. If one of the dragons had looked up, they would have seen a shadowy flurry of motions. It lasted for a mere moment before settling back down.

Will get more. More to spread mind! Clear thoughts! Yesssss!

As the happiness grew, the chaotic being focused its ability on the shadowy energy inside it. Instead of focusing on it, it let it slowly flood out of it, contaminating the air.

–

It took longer than Mason liked to gather everyone, and the group was bigger than he had thought it would be. Eight dragons, including himself, stood before Sandra and Midnight. More confusing was that Clankrin brought two female dragons while Sandra added two more. If he wasn't pretty sure everyone around knew Dragons couldn't mate, he would have thought they were sent off to create a new roost somewhere.

The two dragons that Clankrin had brought were nearly fully red. One of them, Roisille, remained very close to Clankrin, and Mason was pretty sure those two were together. Which begged the question, what was the other one, Drayana doing with them?

Sandra's two rejects were called Faelina and Siobahn, and as they stood there, Faelina had been glaring at Sandra non-stop.

Lovely. Who exactly is she sending along with me? Mason thought. For a moment, he thought about telling Sandra to keep them.

"Are you really sure we should go?" Maru asked, staring at Baudron.

"I will go, and I'd like for you to come," Baudron said.

Maru snorted, then gave Sandra a look that seemed to indicate she thought this was foolish, but she had no other choice.

She must really like Baudron, Mason thought as he looked around.

"All ready?" he said.

"Salvo scouted ahead, and there was no sight of either The Hound or any remnant Sorcerers," Sandra said. "Be careful, and if you do find a safer place or learn magic, come back?"

Mason nodded, wondering why it felt like the question was an order.

"We will be fine," he said, wondering if that was true. "You be careful! And if Jake shows up, tell him where I went?" he added lamely.

Sandra nodded and stepped.

"Finally, time to leave," Clankrin shouted as he jumped up. "Let's head out!"

Mason frowned. He hoped Clankrin wasn't going to try and act like some boss of the trip. If he was, he could just bugger off.

No… I need him to find those ruins, he corrected himself.

As the others around him followed Clankrin, he shared a look with Sandra, wondering why he felt she looked lonely. It must be my imagination.

He jumped up and flew after the others. While flying to the exit, he looked around the ruins. Just seeing them made him feel like he was watching something old and dead, which made him feel uncomfortable.

I wonder if we can get out of these bloody mountains without seeing The Hound, he thought as he followed the others into the tunnels.

–

Sandra sighed as she saw Mason fly after the others watching him vanish in the tunnels. She struggled hard to keep her anger under control, and as she did, she could almost hear her grandfather's voice chastising her.

Never let your emotions cloud your judgment if anything more than candy is on the line.

It had been one of his favorite sayings, and as she turned back to Midnight and Glarissu, she knew she hadn't been able to abide by it.

Why don't they just see that I'm right? she thought before shoving a lingering sadness and anger away.

"Glarissu, keep extra watches on all of the tunnels both inside and out, then tell Salvo to halt his more distant patrols for a few days. Midnight, could you stay here just in case some of those kobolds managed to survive?"

"I will remain here," Midnight said, lying back down.

Sandra noticed that, unlike before, he kept his eyes open this time, focused on the tunnel system.

–

Hundreds of dark eyes were focused on a distant mountain. From this far, it was no more than one of a seemingly innumerable number of peaks. Still, the many-eyed gaze had no trouble following a group of tiny specs flying away from the mountain towards the far left east.

Finally, the troublesome one left.

Hundreds, perhaps even thousands of voices thought as one, seemingly to itself.

Two groups of Justborn will be plenty to keep them troubled, it thought as it felt instead of seeing a tiny group of bats chase after the dragons.

After following them for a long while, a swirling mass of wings erupted from the mountainside.

We will wait for one more day… then it is time to move. Disperse for now!

The thoughts splintered as smaller groups of enormous black bats split apart and vanished within the numerous cracks, gullies, and other hiding spots along the mountains.

–

Mason felt the entire day pass by in a blur of flying and constantly being on the lookout for The Hound. They came across a few groups of Etags, devouring them all.

It was getting dark when they finally found a gray mountain with caves free of spiders and decided to rest for the tonight.

Mason found a spot atop a deceptively wide ridge in the crooked cave they shared. Lying down, he saw that Baudron and Maru had moved to a large flat rock nearby. Clanrin and his two followers were nestled close together while the other two lay down on the far end of the cave.

I wonder how this is going to go, Mason thought as he let his gaze wander across the others.

They had barely spoken during the trip, and he was starting to wonder if he wouldn't have been better off without any of them.

Well, I still need Clankrin to tell me where that place up north is.

He slept light that night, keeping half an eye open. Except for a loud, distant rumbling, little happened, and when he moved, he noticed that Faelina was sitting near the cave entrance, staring outside.

Fine, let's see what made Sandra kick her out, Mason thought as he glided to the entrance.

Faelina looked up, scanned him, then turned back to the vista outside.

"I thought I saw some bats," she said, turning to stare hard at the opposite mountain. It was far enough that Mason could hardly see any details.

After looking around a bit, Mason grunted.

"I don't know a lot about those…"

"Few do," Faelina said coolly. "They get more dangerous if they flock together. Just a few, or even eight or nine, aren't much of a problem for someone like you. But things get complicated if they are with a dozen or more."

"It's always hard fighting groups," Mason said, recalling his fight against Bigbird's minions.

"That's not it. They get smarter when there's more of them."

"Smarter?" Mason asked, surprised, turning to look at the brown dragon.

She was far darker than Baudron, with blood-red highlights and yellow dots that reminded him of freckles. If it hadn't been for her sharp and cold features, she could be pretty.

Mason blinked in surprise at his own thoughts. He'd seen a few female dragons so far, and he'd noticed that there had been some… deep desire inside him each time. Why? They couldn't even make more dragons, right?

"You alright?"

He looked up to see Faelina frown at him, and he realized he'd been staring at her.

"Yes, I was thinking," he said. "What do you mean, exactly, with smarter?"

Faelina looked at him for a few more moments before turning back to the mountain.

"Exactly what it sounds like. Instead of just swarming you, they begin using bait-and-switch tactics, and if some get injured, they pull back while the others back them up. Four or five you can kill. Twelve, and you might be lucky to get out alive. Besides, they are fast on short distances."

"Can they speak?"

"Not that I know of, but I wasn't able to research them enough when-"

She broke off, her eyes turning colder.

"Never mind. The others are awake, I think we should leave?"

First Clankrin, now her, Mason thought as he turned and noticed she was right.

"Let's get moving," he said, his annoyance deepening his voice. "I want to get out of these mountains as soon as possible."

Clankrin looked at him, then at Faelina, and he grinned but said nothing.

Five minutes later, they were all out, flying after Clankrin, who seemed to know exactly where to go.

The second day passed, mostly like the first day, with them decimating another group of Etags. As he flew forward, Mason contemplated what it would mean for a world if too many dragons roamed free, eating as much as they wanted.

These mountains might hold a dozen dragons, but any more and over the years, they would destroy the local wildlife, he thought as he gazed around the barren planes.

After I find Jake, we need to figure out a way to find enough food for long periods.

Wondering how the ancient dragons had handled this problem, he kept his eyes open for any movement. He'd not spotted any of the bats Faelina had spoken about nor seen even a sign of The Hound.

Another pair of uneventful nights and days later, Mason finally saw something besides more mountains. A brown and green bog appeared between two distant mountain peaks.

"The Granich bog," Clankrin roared from ahead. "We will arrive in the afternoon!"

Mason felt a slight relief as he looked around. He couldn't help but feel like he was being stalked, and even though he knew it was probably just in his mind, he wanted to get rid of the feeling.

A few hours later, they glided down a mountain slope with only a few more hills in the distance. They were covered in spread-out sickly-looking trees while a mottled brown-green swamp sat around them. Further in, more of the dark trees appeared, some even growing inside the swamp.

After a while, Clankrin dove down, landing atop one of the hills.

Mason and the others joined him, and as they folded their wings, a silence hung around them. The temperature had dropped while the humidity had risen, and Mason felt itchy as he looked at the swamp below.

"We need to head across the swamp so I can determine where we are," Clankrin said, turning to Mason. "It shouldn't take more than a day or two until we reach the coast, and from there, I'll be able to find the volcano. Are you still sure you want to see that? We could take over a town or hunt down some sorcerers first?"

"I want to see what you saw," Mason said without hesitation. He had no idea how long their group if you could even call it that, would stay together, and he could find towns on his own. That barrier-covered entrance, however? That might be harder.

"Fine, fine," Clankrin said as he looked around. "Everyone else agrees?"

Mason's full attention was back instantly as he stared at the red dragon. Why had he asked that? The two of them were supposed to be in charge, right? Was this some-

"I want to see it!" Baudron said, sounding excited. "I've heard about relics from ancient times but never seen any. Well, I saw the ruined city of Queen Sandra, of course…" he trailed off, then grinned at Maru, who was smiling back.

Faelina looked at Clankrin, then at him, and Mason saw a glint in her eyes.

"Well," she said. "I haven't heard anything about a volcano yet… perhaps someone could explain?"

Mason was about to snap at her when a soft breeze came from the bog, and with it, a fog seemed to lift from his mind. The constant annoyance and irritation faded, and he blinked around stupidly. Faelina let out a dull grunt as she staggered while Clankrin sat on his haunches, rubbing his head.

"What, by The Hound, was that?" he grunted.

Mason's mind was clear as day, and he knew instantly something had been tampering with him. With everyone. Then he realized what had happened. He'd left! Just after he'd found Sandra! Why had he done that?

"What the hell is going on?" he muttered, looking around and seeing confused and worried looks all around. Then he turned back to the distant mountains, and as he did, he shivered.

Sandra…