[rework] Minglings - chapter 42: Hidden potential

"You will all listen to Tergin and do as he-"

A loud shouting from the edge of the lake interrupted Jake. The two hours weren't over yet, were they?

He turned to Tergin. "Alright, hide on the bottom and wait. If the water becomes quiet again, I'll be out of energy. You need to kill as many as you can before they get to land. We have the advantage in the water."

The blue-green Kobold nodded, and he signaled before turning to the water. The over a hundred Kobolds that could breathe underwater followed him.

Jake waited until they disappeared into the water, suppressing the pain he felt. In the end, he knew they couldn't leave here, not with what it meant. Even if he wanted nothing more than to save Tir and Melissa...

Pushing the pain away, he looked at the yellow and green Kobolds rushing to make weapons from branches and sticks. Hoping it would be enough, he turned and jumped into the water. As he swam, he drew in as many energy particles as he could while staring at the jungle ahead.

The Orc stood on the edge of the lake. One of his feet planted on Melissa's chest, crushing her into the dark mud. The Insectoid was standing next to him again. Tir hung in his hand, her limp body dangling down. Jake felt a stab of pain, and he started preparing.

"So, some of you were smart enough to leave! The rest is staying behind as a snack?" The Orc seemed content about something, and Jake held back. Something was different. The Orc was less angry- too sure of himself. Thinking for a second, he forced a sad look and shook his head.

"The rest will leave if you hand over the captured Kobolds and the lizard," he lied.

The Orc sniggered, and Jake saw him glance at the sky quickly. What the... Cursing himself, Jake looked up. Dozens of insects were flying high above them, heading toward the island. Two per, they carried Goblins like bombs.

"Too late! It's a shame those insects didn't come sooner, or we could have prevented all of you from getting away!" The Orc grinned, raised his foot, and stomped on Melissa's chest.

Ribs cracked audibly, and Jake roared. The energy he gathered infused him, and he used it. The water near the bank receded, revealing a mud-covered slope with water plants and a few small fish. The Orc's mouth fell open while his eyes turned around, Melissa forgotten under his foot.

Within a second, the water swelled back until it gathered twenty meters away into an enormous wave. Jake stood ankle-deep in the mud in front of it and roared as he jumped into the air. The water surged forward, and more flowed towards it from the other side of the lake to increase its height.

"Shit!" the Orc cursed and turned away, running towards a nearby tree as the water came crashing towards him. The Insectoid was close behind him, Tir still dangling from his three-fingered hand.

Jake shot forward, ahead of the water, and at the monstrous humanoid insect. He crossed the ten meters like a blue lightning bolt and slammed into the Insectoid. It barely managed to raise a limb and let out a surprised clacking. Then Jake griped the ugly green head and crushed it. In a single move, he picked up Tir and turned. The tiny lizard body in his arms was limp, but he could detect a minuscule movement as her chest went up and down.

Everything had taken but a moment, and he was just in time to see the wave of water engulf Melissa. Cradling Tir, he turned his back to the wave, which hit him like a truck. He was knocked forward, dragged away by the water, and slammed against a tree.

Melissa!

It took precious seconds to get his bearings in the torrential water.

The mud and vegetation made it hard to see through the water, but he saw a dim purplish shape float in the water and swam toward it. It was Melissa, and he grabbed her around the waist before propelling them back to the lake. He had no idea if she had survived, but he couldn't look now. Swimming against this current was hard, even for him. The water still rushed out of the lake, but he couldn't stop it, or the Goblins would jump him. A quick look back saw that they had climbed into the trees gaping at the muddy stream of water below.

It took only a few seconds, but with the desire to get Tir and Melissa above water, it felt like ages until he finally reached the lake. As soon as the lakebed dropped below him, Jake stopped feeding the wave with energy. There was a dizzying rush of fatigue. He forced himself to ignore it, surfaced, and raised his two friends above water.

"Melissa, Tir! Can you hear me? Wake up!" The two were limp and not responding, and he wasn't sure if they were even breathing. "Come on, come on, you have to wake up," he said, nudging Tir.

Screams and roars startled him out of his growing panic, and he snapped back to reality. The Insectoids had dropped the Goblins on one side of the island before hovering above them. There was a moment of shocked silence, then the Goblins and Insectoids rushed the Kobolds.

Jake surged forward, cradling Mellisa and Tir.

They won't make it!

Many of the Kobolds were tired and malnourished, while the best weapons they had were clubs. The Goblins, smaller though they were, held spears and knew how to work together. They were rested and angry, and before Jake got halfway, he saw the first Kobolds drop. Screams of pain echoed out across the lake.

For a second, Jake thought about fleeing for the sea. Then he shook the feeling away and increased his speed. He aimed towards the area with the most Kobolds and, moments later, surged out across the bank and into some bushes. Although some Kobolds were panicking, more seemed to give in to their new inborn instincts and roared as they fought with claws and teeth.

Seeing Bert standing behind the others and roaring orders that nobody listened to, Jake ran towards him.

"Stick together, grab their spears, jab them," Bert screamed as Jake moved beside him.

"Shut up! Help them, or I will rip your head off!" Jake screamed into his face.

The Kobold staggered back, his eyes wide of fear. Jake was about to snap again when he saw Bert's gaze drift to the unmoving body of Melissa and the small lizard. Bert's mouth shut with a click, and with no regard for Jake, he jumped forward and began inspecting them. Checking their pulse and placing his ear on Melissa's chest, he suddenly seemed transformed into some field medic.

What? How? Jake thought as he blinked in surprise at the efficiency of Bert.

"They are breathing, just unconscious. The lizard might have internal injuries, but I can't be sure. Melissa has superficial wounds and broken bones but will be fine," Bert said as he looked up at Jake. He blinked twice before looking back at the unmoving bodies.

"Go, they will be fine with me! I'll explain about my past profession later, but now you need to help the rest!"

Knowing the other was right, Jake turned around to examine the state of the battle. To his surprise, the Kobolds were giving as good as they got. Although poorly armed, outnumbered, and tired, many seemed to have gone into a frenzy. Screaming and raging, they jumped the smaller Goblins, biting and clawing like maniacs. Especially those with yellow scales seemed unrestrained, and he realized that if no more Goblins came, they might win!

Looking around for where he would be most useful, he saw a group of Kobolds cut off from the rest, surrounded by Goblins ready to spear them. With a roar, he sprinted along the mud-covered edge of the water. The Goblins saw him moments too late, and like a bulldozer, he barreled through them. Resilient as roaches, the Goblins crawled and scrambled back up, but the Kobolds didn't give them a chance. Grabbing the dropped spears, they stabbed the Goblins while Jake trampled around.

As blood splattered around, some ended in his mouth, and he felt his mind turn foggy. In a rage, he toppled Goblins with his tail, crushed their skulls, and bit their heads off. After a while, he saw no more Goblins nearby, and the Kobolds ran back to the rest. Shaking his head to clear it from the tired haze threatening to swamp him, he knew he was forgetting something, something that was on the tip of his proverbial tongue.

The water!

He turned around and saw hundreds of Goblins swim toward them. Some let out terrified screams as something dragged them underwater, and he knew that had to be Tergin and the others. But for everyone they killed, ten jumped into the water, swimming towards them. It felt like a source of Goblins was spewing them forth from the edge of the jungle.

Jake ran along the muddy bank and jumped into the water. The crystal-clear liquid invigorated him, but he knew it wouldn't remove the real fatigue. Not entirely. But that would be a problem for later. If they survived.

He focused, and blue particles of energy swirled towards him, slow at first but quickly speeding up until he couldn't see the individual ones. As a feeling of power grew in the pit of his stomach, he gritted his teeth. For what he wanted to do, he needed more! Soon he felt bloated, and something resisted as if he couldn't hold anymore.

This will have to do, he thought.

The energy bubbled inside him, ready to be used, and he had only a precarious hold on it. It seemed ready to burst out of him at any moment, and suddenly he had to struggle to keep it contained. Had he overdone it? He quickly closed his eyes and focused on the surrounding water. As he spread senses that he barely knew he had, a mental image of the lake formed. He could feel Goblins disturb the water's surface and Kobolds rocket around, dragging them under. He even sensed the water rush into the lungs of the Goblins, their struggles stopping as they drowned.

A shock ran through him as energy blotted out his conscious thought. Driven purely by the instinct of a natural-born predator, he began utilizing the energy, moving it around by sheer force of will.

If he were still capable of it, he would have gasped at what was happening.

He'd vaguely planned to create a massive whirlpool, but the Dragon instincts would have none of it. Instead, somewhere in his mind, connections were made, forcing a change in his body and the water around him. A wave of light boomed from him, visible even behind his eyelids which snapped open. The torrential energy inside of him turned syrupy, slowing down, and some specs sparkled with a silverish light.

The movement of the water grew sluggish, and a ripple moved from him, spreading out and up. As soon as it reached the surface, waves froze over, turning solid and gleaming. The water in the air above turned to ice and fell on the thick sheet like hail.

Jake didn't notice.

Channeling the immense amount of energy, the water around him turned to ice and encapsulated him.

Within moments he was a hazy dragon shape inside a column of ice that stretched from the bottom of the lake to the frozen surface.

Moans sounded everywhere. Goblins that were partially stuck in the frozen water struggled weakly and in vain. The plumes of air they breathed out soon stopped as the ice continued to expand and thick. Mere minutes after it started, a thick layer of ice covered the entire lake.

The fighting Goblins on the island had stopped. They stared in shock at their dead kin while the Kobolds roared around them. They backed up, away from the fighting. Slow at first, when one of the Kobolds charged, a few turned, running across the ice. Like a dam that had breached, the others followed, leaving the Insectoids alone. Without their help, they had no chance. Dozens flew up, but Kobolds jumped many, dragging them to the ground and slashing them apart, ignoring any resistance.

A loud victorious roar came from the Kobolds, who ran to the edge of the ice before stopping. Slowly the magnitude of what had happened set in, and they calmed, staring at the ice. Dark shapes moved below the sheet.

--

Tergin floated in front of the column, worry etched on his face. The Kobolds with him hovered behind him. He could almost smell their fear, and he didn't blame them. There was no way out of the lake, the solid layer of frost only growing thicker above them. Many also shivered while small ice cubes drifted up from the frozen lakebed.

After long, silent minutes, one of the Kobolds swam toward Tergin.

"Do you... do you know what's going on? How we can get out?"

Tergin just looked at him and shook his head. "If he doesn't wake up, he will die. And he will drag us with him."

Gasps of fear came from the Kobolds, and they all stared at the column of ice.

Come on, Jake. Wake up, Tergin thought as he ignored the fearful chatter.

--

"Where is Jake?"

Bert started and turned around. Melissa had propped herself up on an elbow and was staring at him. How she was even conscious with bones sticking out of the wounds in her arm was beyond him.

"You need to stop moving! You're gravely injured."

Melissa snarled at him. "Shut up. Tell me where Jake is!"

Bert flinched. "We don't know. He froze the entire lake, killing the Goblins, and those here fled. But that was hours ago. The ice is still there, and we have no idea what happened to him and the others."

Melissa made to get up, and Bert shot forward. "Please, stop moving! If you move too much, you might perforate a lung!"

"She won't listen to you. She is too stubborn for that," a voice snapped.

Melissa stopped moving, staring behind Bert, who quickly turned around. Sam stood there, shaking her head.

"I told you not to get too close to that guy! Look at you. You can barely stand, and still you want to search for him. And for what, a Dragon? Fool."

Melissa blinked, the corners of her mouth dropping. "This has nothing to do with him," she snapped as she lay back down and closed her eyes. "It was my stupidity that got us caught! The only reason I am still alive is that they somehow found out I was close to Jake." Melissa pursed her lips, a sad look in her eyes.

"They used me..."

Ben moved a few feet away, feeling awkward.

Sam sighed loudly and moved closer. She sat down next to Melissa. "So, what happened to the others?"

Mellisa shook her head, but the sad look slowly faded. A snarl replaced it as she looked at Sam. "They knew things, Sam! Our route, who I was!"

Bert had backed up a bit, but now he stepped forward. "Did you find out how?"

"No. The Insectoids grabbed us halfway here, and ..." she hissed, shivering. "They ate them, Sam! While they still lived! Made me watch!"

Alive? Bert thought as he shivered, barely able to comprehend what that must be like.

Melissa lay back down, staring at the green and purple canopy of leaves far above them. Small tears formed in the corners of her eyes.

Sam scooched closer, the angry look replaced by one of worry and sadness. She placed a hand on Melissa's shoulder and shook it slightly.

"This isn't your fault. You know that, right?"

Melissa didn't respond, and her eyes slowly fell closed while her breathing eased up.

Sam swallowed, a worried look spreading across her face. "Is she..."

Bert stepped forward and shook his head. "No, but she's lost a lot of blood, has internal injuries, and is in shock. She needs rest and a proper doctor."

"I've heard that there are a few people with medical knowledge. I'll see if one survived and send her here," Sam said.

With a last look at Melissa, she got up and headed toward the edge of the frozen lake.

Groups of Kobolds stood around, looking at it, whispering amongst themselves. Many were wounded, favoring arms or tending to small cuts and stab wounds.

Sam looked at the Goblins partially embedded in the dark blue ice resembling a macabre statue park.

"Damnit, you stupid Dragon. You better not die on us now!" she growled.

--

Jake felt the cold around him, comforting and still. Half of the water-energy particles had changed into silvery snowflakes, moving through the ice as effortlessly as the water.

He couldn't move, but there was no fear. Instead, his mind was rapidly gradually clearing up. As it did, he realized that his body had changed. He wasn't exactly sure about the details, but he could see part of his tail. Where it was first mainly blue, with some silvery highlights, the silver scales had spread, creating a smoky pattern that covered the top half of his tail. The blue scales had darkened, creating a strong contrast.

Besides this visual change, there was the fact that the cold didn't bother him. Instead, it cleared his mind and refreshed his body. The always present hunger was still there but lessened as if behind a curtain. Without the ability to move, his mind calmed rapidly.

The events and actions of recent days cropped up. Cold and almost clinical, Jake analyzed his recent actions and realized how much he had reacted on impulse and instinct. Almost everything he did had been based on the fear of losing his friends, or when that eventually did happen, the pain after. There was also the desire to leave, partially subdued by the reluctance to abandon the other Kobolds to their fate. His emotions had decided everything, with barely any rationale being used.

Now though, everything seemed so obvious.

I guess this must be how a Vulcan wants to think. He snorted mentally. He was happy that his humor had survived whatever had happened.

A soft crack in the ice sounded like a cannon firing, shattering the peaceful silence around him.

The icy energy seemed agitated by something and moved around erratic. With the sound of a water drop falling on a bucket, one of the snowflakes disappeared. In its place was a blue water energy particle that rushed out of the ice as if afraid. A second later, another snowflake vanished, then another, and suddenly it sounded like it was raining. Blue energy shot out of the rapidly melting ice.

As the layer surrounding him became thinner, more light filtered through, and soon the peaceful darkness was replaced by a glittering light. Shadows moved beyond the ice, and Jake quickly deduced that it must be Tergin and the others. The connection he felt to the ice was fading but didn't disappear. He knew that he could freeze the water around him if he wanted to.

Experiment later, he thought as he let the process continue.

When the last energy flakes dissipated, long cracks shot through the ice, obfuscating what was behind it.

Jake moved his jaw, causing the ice around his face to crack and shatter. Blinking away the remaining layer, he flexed his body, and the entire column of ice ruptured, pieces of ice shooting out like shrapnel before slowing in the water and drifting up. Water surged to replace it, slamming into him. With it came the familiar energizing feeling but also the return of his emotions. As if floodgates opened, they surged to the fore; fear of what had happened to Melissa was prime, rivaled only by the return of the hot pain of Emma's recent loss and the dull ache of Mason's unknown whereabouts.

However, unlike before, a cold calm underlined it all, balancing it.

With some effort, he resisted the urge to rush to the surface and find Melissa. Instead, he closed his eyes and stretched his body, feeling the strength in his long limbs. His ability to sense things in the water around him had expanded, and he felt a large group of things swim toward him.

Eyes snapping open, he looked at the dozens of Kobolds.

Tergin was in the lead, a stunned look on his wide-eyed face. As he stopped a few meters away, Jake realized two things immediately. Tergin looked small, meaning that he had grown a lot, and he was ravenous. Again.

"Are you alright?" Tergin asked.

Jake heard the awe and smiled, wondering how much he had changed for Tergin to stare at him this much. "I am fine. We need to go up and find out the situation."

With a tail flap, he swam up, feeling small bits of remnant ice hit his scales. They were floating up from the rapidly thawing bottom of the lake. The layer of ice above him was cracking but still thick, and eyeing it, a childish idea sprouted. He shot forward using only pure muscle power, rapidly outpacing the shocked Kobolds.

--

"The ice started melting an hour ago, but at this pace, it will be a day before we can get through," Bert whispered as he helped Melissa stay on her feet. "You need to lie back down. If that old nurse sees you up again, she will take it out on me!'

Melissa didn't respond but leaned forward. "Look, I think something is coming up!"

She pointed at a quickly growing dark shadow that moved up from the bottom of the lake.

"Uh, perhaps we should back up," Bert shouted, his voice rising two octaves.

He pulled Melissa back. They barely got three steps away from the icy edge when the ice burst outwards with a thunderous crack. A silvery blue shape shot up like a blur while thick chunks of ice crashed back on the wobbling sheets of ice.

Terrified screams and worried shouting came from deeper within the overgrown island.

"About time..." Mellisa whispered as she stared at the car-sized Dragon.

She was sure it was Jake, but only because there wasn't another Dragon around. He had changed so much! Dark blue scales lined the bottom of his belly, tail, and the insides of his legs. Hand size, silver scales covered the other areas like a shiny coat of armor. The frills, blue and silvery before, had hardened and turned to a dark silver collar. Three small horns grew from the back of his head.

A low rumble echoed across the area, and she laughed when she saw Jake hold his stomach and fold double.

"Glad not everything's changed," she muttered.

Her voice must have carried because Jake's head snapped in her direction. She thought she heard him murmur her name, but she could be imagining things. As he walked towards her, one of the places of ice below his feet shifted, and with a muted cry, he disappeared back underwater.

"Okay, you can bring me back now. He seems to be fine, and I think I will go unconscious in a moment."

She had barely finished when she slumped against Bert, who groaned as he kept her from collapsing. Shaking his head, Bert yelled for some help as he carried her along a trampled path.