[rework] Minglings - Book 3 chapter 6: Danger Goat

Mason flew at a steady pace, looking around at the purple bushes dotting the landscape. He hadn't seen the goats from below, which made sense due to the angle, but it also caused him to worry.

What else could be here? It was rocky again, so did they have to worry about more giant stone snakes like those near the continent's edge?

A sudden movement from the side caused his heart to skip a beat. Then he realized it was just Baudron.

The massive brown dragon dove down, and he saw what had triggered the other. A goat had wandered from the flock, its gaze constantly shifting about. It was larger, with a cracked horn and many scars across its back.

Shit, that's the leader!

Mason's heart rate spiked again as he recalled how deceptively strong those could be if they caught you unaware. He angled forward and shot after Baudron. If he shouted, he'd just alert the goat, potentially making things worse.

Shit, shit! Mason cursed as he saw Baudron barrel down far below.

He wasn't going to get there in time. He was about to risk a warning shout when he saw something else move. A hundred feet from the ground near the goat, red mana particles drifted up from a narrow rift. It looked like a glowing red cloud.

More importantly, he could reach it before Baudron got into trouble!

With a grin of expectation, Mason changed his course and, moments later, shot through the cloud, sucking in the specs like a vacuum cleaner. A reddish haze turned the world crimson as his energy levels -or whatever they were called here- spiked higher and higher. Barely through, he felt so stuffed that the energy overflowed, surging through his body like intense bolts of lightning.

Tiny jets of flame shot from his nose, searing the air, and with a sudden jolt h is speed increased as if he was propelled by a rocket.

Oh shit…

Mason barely managed the thought as he flashed by Baudron, then straight at the large horn pointing up in the air, aimed at his face. As he tried to change course, he saw the goat's black eyes glitter dangerously, the muscles on its shoulders and flanks rippling as it braced itself for impact.

With no time left, Mason did the only thing he knew too. He opened his mouth as a torrent of fire rushed up his throat so fast the white flames licked from between his lips in his teeth. Protective eyelids slid into place just in time for the orange and white flames to strike the goat's face. Then he reached it, desperately trying to angle his chest away from the dangerous horn. A tearing, piercing pain came from his flank just before he slammed into the hard stone ground, crushing part of the goat below him.

Ow! Fuck... Mason thought as he tried to figure out if he was going to live.

Dark blots and flickering lights moved across his vision, and he began blinking, trying to see what was happening. Something struggled below him.

Stupid goat!

Growling in anger, he slammed down with his front paws. The goat bleated, and he struggled upright, slicing down his long claws. Between the blots, he saw the goat below him. Its front paws cracked, white bone sticking out from them. The long, dangerous horn was covered in red, golden-flecked blood.

His blood.

Furious and in pain, he lunched at the purple neck biting down just below the head. The tough goat skin resisted for only an instant, then a wave of hot blood poured into his mouth as his teeth severed muscle and sinew before closing together. The goat shivered a few times before hanging limp from his mouth. Mason spat it on the floor, swallowing the remaining blood and slivers of meat as he raised his head and opened his mouth to roar. Something slammed into his head, closing his mouth, and he snapped around, his claws raised, flames licking from his mouth, ready to strike.

"Calm down! If you roar now, whatever is out here will know we are here!" Baudron hissed as he stepped away from Mason's raised talons, the lids across his eyes sliding down.

Right, right,

Mason drew ragged breaths as he stared at the other. His mind was a muddled mess, and he felt his rage flare up, trying to make him jump the brown dragon.

Baudron stepped back, his eyes narrowing as he lowered his stance, his claws gripping the stony ground. A deep growl sounded from his wide chest, causing the stones around him to jitter.

The sound finally snapped Mason out of it, and he blinked around stupidly. The fire still raged in his belly and chest, appearing ready to burn him up from the inside if it found no release. As a strange, dull pain grew, fear replaced the fury.

Knowing he needed to get rid of the flame, he looked to the side. Belching up the fire, a long flame shot from his mouth, lasting for seconds as it lay waste to a long stretch of nearby red bushes.

When it stopped, he sat down on his haunches, out of breath and so tired he wanted nothing more than to lay down and sleep. Worse, his stomach felt like it was trying to become a vacuum, pain gnawing at his insides.

"All better now?" Baudron asked, still staring at him from some distance away.

Mason grunted, too tired to speak. He knew he probably should apologize to Baudron, but right now, he didn't have the energy for it. All he wanted to do was sleep.

"You need to eat..." Baudron said, although he eyed the carcass hungrily.

"Can't..." Mason managed to croak.

"You have to! Can you even fly like that? What if something dangerous shows up right now?"

The soft bleating of fleeing sheep answered him, and Mason looked around the dark and shadowy mountain. Baudron was right. He struggled up and grabbed the goat around the neck. Raising it, he almost toppled over from the small weight. Dropping it before him, he lowered his head, slicing away the open wound on the neck. Ripping chunks of meat from it, he swallowed them whole.

From the side, Baudron kept watching as he struggled to devour the corpse. After a few bites, the empty, tired feeling faded, and he began ripping larger chunks off, sitting on his haunches as he ate. At some point, a raging hunger filled him, as ferocious as the anger from before, and he began eating faster. Blood and slivers of flesh pelted flew everywhere as he tore into the goat.

It was finished too soon, and he'd even cracked the bones to suck out the marrow. The entire goat barely relieved the burning desire to fill his empty stomach. Looking up, he saw Baudron scan the surrounding mountains.

"I need more," Mason growled, rising and searching for more goats. Someways back were the last stragglers of the fleeing herd.

"Then let's hunt! But this time, let's stick to the smaller ones!" Baudron said with a hungry grin.

You don't say, Mason thought sarcastically.

They leaped into the air, streaking across the dark, shadowy mountain toward where the goats fled.

--

Emma stared at the wall, tears running from her snout.

"So, Ter is dead, and none of the others ever came back?"

Jake looked at the small dragon, stretched his long tail towards her, and lay it against her back. Just telling the story had almost brought him to tears, so he could relate.

"That's the short of it. Although nobody saw Ter's body, so I keep hoping…" Jakes sighed, unable to finish the sentence. He didn't really believe his own words.

Emma pulled away, wiping her face with the back of her scaled hands before turning to him.

"So what do you want to do now? Just stay here?"

Her words were snappy, almost like a challenge, and Jake blinked at the sudden change. Staring into her piercing eyes, he realized she was right, even though he had no idea why she was so angry suddenly.

He had found what was drawing him, and although he still felt the urge to head down below, that should be easily solvable. Or so he hoped. What would he do after that? Staying here was the easy choice if the dragons would have him. But then, how would he ever find Mason?

He imagined traveling through the deep ocean again, alone with no idea of direction, searching for his friend. A wave of hopelessness threatened to drown him at the impossibility of it.

"So?" Emma asked, still staring at him.

"I don't know where Mason is or even the size of this world! How are we ever going to find him like this?" His own words caused him to flinch. They sounded like some little kid whining to his mother.

Emma didn't respond, seeming deep in thought. After a few moments, a smile formed around her snout, and she grinned at Jake.

"Perhaps I can help with the where."

She didn't elaborate but got up and put the sleeping Tir behind her head as she padded towards the door. "Come with me. I want to show you something!"

Jake looked around the room, spying on the meat on the table. Moving past it, he quickly snatched two large fish and gulped them down, about to leave when he realized he was hungrier than he thought. Grabbing more of the fish, he devoured what Tir had left, leaving an empty plate. As he turned to the door, Emma was staring at him, shaking her head in disapproval.

"You shouldn't always eat when you're hungry, you know? It will cause you to grow too quickly and out of control."

Stopping in front of Emma, Jake looked down at her in curiosity. "Didn't you say you learned nothing at school but fighting?"

"Fine. Perhaps we learned a few more things! Anyway, don't eat more than once a week," Emma said as she turned and shoved the large door open. "Or only small amounts."

"Once?" Jake muttered in disbelief. If he did that, he'd always be hungry!

Shaking the worry away, he followed her into a spacious, very high hall made from the same coral material as the room. A blue and purple vine covered the ceiling, with bulbous pink flowers hanging from sleek stems. The glow cast everything in a soft light. Doors sat in even intervals to the left and right, and a quick look showed him that both sides of the hallway ended in a balcony.

Emma moved to the right, still talking, and Jake quickly turned back in.

"-and when you do, eat things with the same mana-attunement as you do."

"What?" Jake blurted, moving beside Emma and wondering about the width of the hallway.

"Mana-attunement!" Emma said, and when she saw his confusion, she laughed.

"Look, you see these?" she said, pointing at a small stream of blue mana-particles that floated on an invisible current through the hallway.

Sticking his clawed hand out, Jake drew a few of the particles inside as a response.

"Well, they are blue, right?"

Jake snorted. "Yes, they definitely aren't red!"

Emma shook her head, then pointed at an empty space beside her. "And these?"

"There's nothing there," Jake said after a second.

"There is. You just don't see them. To me, purple manalits are drifting here."

Jake stared at Emma, and he shook his head. Changing his voice to a mock high-pitched version of Emma's, he drawled. "No, Jake, they only taught us about fighting… nothing important at all." Then he snorted.

Beside him, Emma burst out in a laugh that quickly increased to a full-on laughing fit. She sat on the floor, her chest heaving up and down.

Jake waited, a sad smile forming on his lips. He could see the pain, hear the loneliness hidden behind Emma's laughter. After a short while, the laughter changed to sobbing, and he stepped forward, wrapping his long neck around hers as she hid her face beside his shoulder.

They stayed like that for a long time until Emma finally sniffled and pushed herself away. Rubbing her red and puffy dragon eyes with her arm, she glared at Jake.

"You shouldn't have kept me waiting this long!"

Still sniffling, she turned, straightened her shoulders, and walked down the hallway.

Jake followed her, trying to imagine going through what she had at her age. He wasn't sure if he would have coped half as well as she had.

At the end of the hallway, Emma walked onto the large balcony, and as Jake followed her, he looked outside and froze. A thin barrier rose from the balcony edge, barely visible but holding back the massive amount of water beyond a feat he wondered if anything on earth could have rivaled.

But as amazing as that was, it wasn't what blew him away.

Beyond the barrier sprawled an immense city, as big as any he had seen back home. Hundreds of white coral pillars filled with blue and purple glowing plants rose into the dark water like massive skyscrapers. Each had multiple levels of massive balconies, and Dragons in various shades of blue and purple swam between them.

Sprawled out below was an enormous, chaotic coral reef city. Houses were hacked out on different elevations. To the left lay a giant square filled with comparatively tiny houses with spacious streets around them, and a mass of Kobolds moved through.

A soft giggle from the side caused him to look up.

Emma was grinning widely, a hand raised to her maw in a surprisingly human gesture. Then she spread out her arms theatrically and laughed.

"Welcome to Azurill, first amongst the dragon cities!"

Jake returned her grin before looking around the city. An enormous dragon, far bigger than he was, passed by, towing a shiv-like boat. It was laden with blocks of some sort of stone, and a Kobold sat on top, looking forward towards a large plateau, bustling with Kobolds dragging similar blocks from another shiv.

Mason would love this… he thought, hoping his friend was still alive so he could bring him here one day.

--

"Where are they?" Lady Talia asked.

She calmly stared at the small dragon towering above her Kobold form. Blue so dark it was almost black, and with patches of equally dark green, they almost hid the truly black scales that sat between. Guglidin was an odd one, small for his age but incredibly powerful with his rare combination of bloodlines. He'd been her spymaster for almost as long as she was in power and had been a trusted friend long before.

"They are swimming along the city. It seems Emma is showing the new one around. Do you want me to send more Shade Guardians to follow them?"

"How many did you send?"

"Four dragons and two kobolds," Guglidin said softly.

Lady Talia frowned, thinking back to the moment the frost dragon had used his ability. It had seemed practiced, and though she didn't think he would prove a danger...

"Send Zendrin," she said slowly.

Guglidin stilled minutely, then nodded. "As you say."

"Any news from the surrounding empires?" she asked.

"One of our spies says Hounda's internal conflicts are escalating. We have no idea who is behind it. A merchant made its way to the island. She said the Beastling Lords and Ladies of the Empire of Tooth and Claw are mustering their forces. Though still rumors, she said Gaub is on the move...

Talia shivered at the name, and she stared at Guglidin. How he could speak that monster's name so easily still stunned her.

"Alright, send someone to inform Libuxeria."

"She has left the Hallows?"

"Yes. She is inside her chambers for a few days. With all that is going on... send three more full-grown to guard her."

Guglidin nodded resolutely, then turned and surged away.

Talia watched as he left, knowing he wanted to know but glad he hadn't asked. Still, it was better for as few people as possible to know that a Frost Dragon offspring had found its way to them. It would not help if rumors spread, not now.

Though, if we are going back to those ancient times, she might finally wake again!

She turned towards the staircase leading down, her excitement growing.