[rework] Minglings - chapter 22: Inner turmoil

Jake shot through the dark water like a rocket, leaving a trail of tiny bubbles that quickly dissipated. Some curious fish hightailed it out of his way, but he ignored them. Two shadows stood beyond the waterline, sticking out against the moonlit sky. He recognized them both and stuck his head out of the water.

"Let's go!" he hissed, hoping it wasn't too loud.

Sandra spun around, her eyes almost instantly locking onto him. She pulled Willson's blue-scaled arm, and he stumbled.

What... Jake thought as his joyful feeling evaporated, and he inspected Wilson for wounds. He quickly closed in and supported the soldier from one side.

"What happened?" he asked when he didn't see anything.

Sandra hissed and shook her head. "Not now. We need to get out of here. Someone followed him, and we need to disappear before they get here." She dragged Willson deeper into the water until they couldn't touch the bottom, and Jake moved to her, quickly taking the heavy burden from her.

"Bring him to the cave. I will follow behind as fast as I can," Sandra said before diving into the dark water.

"Can she even hold her breath that long?" Jake hissed, shaking his head in wonder.

"She will surface again if she needs to, but we have to make sure that nobody sees where we are heading," Willson replied in an out-of-breath voice, waving at the jungle behind them. "Now, quickly, go down."

Jake nodded and drew him underwater while feeling annoyed he hadn't thought of that himself. He started swimming towards the cave as fast as he could. In front of him, Sandra was swimming far more gracefully and faster than Mason had. The motion of her shapely legs distracted Jake, and he was annoyed at the unwelcome reaction from his lower half.

Dammit, cooldown, he thought as he focused on something else, then realized something he should have before.

He sped up past her, grabbed one of her arms, and towed her along. It weighed him down, but he was still much faster than her.

Almost at the entrance, he slowed down and looked at Sandra. "Do you need air?"

She shook her head, seemingly unfazed by his muted voice or the fact that he was breathing comfortably. Jake hoped she was right, but based on what Mason had said, she should be fine. He dragged both her and Willson through the winding paths towards their hideout.

Two minutes later, Sandra broke through the water's surface into the cave, coughing and drawing ragged breaths. Jake and Willson surfaced some distance from her and headed towards the small ridge.

Jake gestured at Mason, "Pull him up. He is injured!" Together they carefully maneuvered Willson next to the other soldier, after which Mason reluctantly slid back into the cold water.

A disturbance next to him was followed by Emma bursting out of the water, splashing Jake and Mason.

"Jake, there is a small exit at the top, but nothing else! And this is the only dry place we can reach," she said, sounding happy and content, but as Jake looked back about to say something, he saw her eyes flicker around and the tense muscles in her neck. Jake sighed and closed his mount as he felt an odd sense of protectiveness. He didn't know if it was due to his dreams or his change, but he guessed this was what it must be like to have a sister. He decided they should keep her close to him in Mason. And in the water. The last few days could not have been good for her mental health, and the water seemed to help alleviate that.

Rubbing her head and ignoring her scowl, he laughed. "Good job, Emma. Now go down to the bottom and keep an eye on the exit down there, okay? If you see anything move, no matter how small, warn us."

The little girl sniffed, trying unsuccessfully to hide a content smile before nodding. She dove underwater, quickly disappearing into the shadowy depths. Seeing her shape disappear, Jake examined the moonlight pouring in through the small holes. If the light went, they would have almost no vision in these caves, and although he could see incredibly well in the water, even he didn't see everything if it was fully dark.

"Jake, Mason. We need to decide what to do quickly. This place will only hide us for so long, and it is poorly defensible," Sandra said as she hung onto the edge of the ridge. Her face showed her obvious reluctance even to discuss this, and Jake had the feeling she'd have rather just ordered them what to do.

Jake swam closer, about to respond, when muffled shouting entered the cave through the holes. Everybody held their breath, trying to hear what was said, but it was in vain as the distance was too far to make out individual words.

"Damnit, they have found where we went. Do you think Bolyr might have won?" Mason asked before looking at Jake questioningly.

"Do you want to go out and check? Come on, the last thing we saw was that he was surrounded," Jake shot back, wondering if the water was getting to his friend's brain.

All of a sudden, everything went still.

Jake saw Mason's mouth move, but he heard no words. A moment later, everything went black, and he heard growling and snarling. His vision returned with jarring pop, and the first thing he saw was a brown reptile slithering toward him, coming out of a dark, partially hidden cave.

His mind somersaulted as memories jumbled around before refocusing.

How could he forget that he was fighting? What was wrong with him? He growled and glared at the bloody maw closing in on him. The ground behind the beast was slick with blood, and small scaly bodies lay scattered amongst white eggshells.

No!

He hissed in disbelieving anger while uncoiling his tail and neck, crunching stones between his talons. How dare this mindless thing! At the same time, he felt the pain of loss. He had protected them for so long, and in the end, he had failed!

Before the reptile could reach him, he jumped forward, using his bulk to topple the other. He slapped away the snapping jaw, tearing out an eye, and ripped at the other's neck when everything froze, wobbling oddly.

The image snapped like a soap bubble.

Jake looked in horror at his hands wrapped around Mason's neck. His friend was struggling to get free, clawing at the surface a foot above, while Emma's small fists pounded against the back of his head.

What?

He let go, surging back in horror. What just happened? He watched as Mason struggled for the surface while Emma looked at him with abject terror in her eyes. He tried to recall what had just happened. He only remembered pain and loss and tearing at something's throat. A tinge of red drifted passed his vision in the water, and he followed it to find tiny slivers of flesh, scales, and blood on the tips of his nails.

No! Mason!

Jake swam up, a horrid sensation taking hold of him. As his head burst out of the water, he saw Sandra inspect Mason's head. "What the hell is wrong with you?" she growled. Mason tried to say something, but she hushed him. "Let him answer for himself!"

"I don't know! Something happened and..." Jake tried to explain but wasn't sure how to.

"He is changing, isn't he?" Emma's soft voice caused the others to stare at her abruptly. The little girl backed up under their heated gazes but didn't stop talking. "It is like they said? He will disappear and come back as a dragon?"

Mason pushed himself away from Sandra, holding on to the ridge before gingerly touching his neck. Jake felt horrible seeing the bruises and scratches, almost like a savage animal had attacked Mason.

"That can't be. It's too fast! They said he had some time left, right?" Mason said, voice ragged as if he had a bad cold.

"It doesn't matter. It means we don't have any more time left. We can't stay here, we can't stay on the island, and we can't stay in the sea. The only place we know that might have other people from Earth is that first bloody island we came from," Sandra said, her voice turning cold and distant.

"You can't be serious!" Jake almost forgot what just happened as he gaped at her. At the same time, Mason moaned.

"Of course she isn't, because neither she nor I can breathe underwater!" Mason retorted.

Sandra said nothing, looking at Jake without blinking. After a few seconds, Jake moaned and rubbed his head. "So how the hell would we even find our way back?"

"You're not going to like it... We have to find a way to wake up Tergin and get him to tell us the location of those plants that let us breathe underwater. Then you have to go find some, after which we backtrack to the other island." As she spoke, Sandra drew herself on the ledge, carefully standing over the soldiers and lowering herself next to Tergin.

Nobody said anything, but Jake stared at Mason and shook his head in horror. A short exchange passed between them. Mason visibly steeled himself and shrugged. "We don't have any other choice." His words hadn't left his mouth when another burst of muted shouting came from outside.

Sandra began examining Tergin and cursed under her breath. "He is barely breathing. I don't know if I can wake him up like this..." She began doing something Jake couldn't see, and he moved closer to the ledge. Mason blocked his way, a pained expression on his face. "Don't, bro. You don't want to see this."

A short, pained groan interrupted him, and as they watched, they saw Tergin's arms flop around as if trying to defend from something.

"Tergin, can you hear me? We need more of the underwater breathing plant," Sandra hissed while gripping one of his broken fingers and gently twisting it again. Jake felt his blood go cold as he saw it, and Mason didn't even look. Another groan and a mumbled whisper came from the broken form. Sandra placed her head near his mouth, the dangerous red-stained row of teeth inches from her ear.

After a moment, she nodded and got back up, releasing Tergin's finger.

"Jake, you need to go into the reef outside and look for long purple fish. He didn't say anything but those words, but I can only assume the fish will lead you to the plants."

Jake felt a surge of fear at the prospect, looking at Mason and Emma.

"Don't worry, Jake, we will be fine. But the longer you wait, the more dangerous it gets!" Mason said, his voice shaking a little bit.

"I can go with you!" Emma stated, but her voice shook, and she was still staying far away from him.

"No! You need to stay and guard the tunnel entrance. Or we won't know if someone is sneaking up on us," Sandra said quickly before looking at Jake.

"Go fast. We will stay here if we can."

Jake looked at Mason, who was urging him to go. They are afraid of me, he thought, feeling a stab as he scanned the others. Nobody had ever looked at him like this. He swallowed and blinked a few times before nodding. He waved, feeling miserable, and dove, quickly swimming down and through the dark tunnels.

They don't trust me anymore... The thought almost caused him to choke, a weird sensation while breathing water. As he tried to focus on finding a purple fish that he hoped was real, he disappeared into the dark water.

--

Mason stared at Sandra, a hard look on his face. "You could have been a bit easier on him."

"No. I couldn't. Right now, Jake is dangerous and unpredictable. But he is also our best bet to finding that plant."

Mason couldn't contain the low growl as it bubbled up in his chest and rippled through his throat, but he managed to hold back his anger. Instead of shouting or doing something even more stupid, he turned away from Sandra and started swimming along the side of the cavern. Intellectually he knew it wasn't wholly Sandra he was angry at, and that they did need the plant, but that didn't change the fact that the guy he'd grown up and loved like a brother was now swimming down into a dangerous sea, alone and feeling abandoned. Mason barely contained a roar of anger as his body shivered. He focused on the wall, trying to locate anything out of the ordinary.

When Emma's head popped out of the water, he had examined every inch of the place twice but barely calmed down.

"Something is moving in the tunnel!"

"Is it Jake?" Mason hissed as she swam towards her, looking into the dark water.

"We can't be sure! Get ready for anything," Sandra ordered as she held onto the ridge and stared into the dark water.

A blurry shape shot up from below, then Jake's head appeared. Mason let out a relieved sigh. Then he saw the worried look on Jake's face.

Jake waved a bundle of green goo around. "I have it, but we are in deep shit. There are dozens of Kobolds swimming around, and I'm pretty sure I recognized one of Vestr's goons. Worse, a few are searching the tunnels close to us."

"Then we've gotta go now." Mason urged, swimming towards Jake and gripping his arm. "You okay?" he whispered, staring into his friend's eyes. He felt a jab when Jake seemed to lock up, then took a deep breath.

"No. Not really. We need to get back to that island and find a safe hiding spot before I change completely," Jake said as he handed Mason most of the stuff.

Mason quietly watched Jake give some to Sandra, who said nothing at her obviously smaller portion.

"Eat it and put the others back in the water. Even if you guys can breathe now, you are slow. So give Tergin and Willson to me. Emma will take O'Reilly, and you two try and keep up," Jake said, staring coldly at Sandra.

Sandra nodded expressionlessly before dragging Willson to the edge and handing him to Jake. A few moments later, they were all in the water, Emma handling O'Reilly's bulk with ease, though she seemed uncomfortable handling the much bigger, unconscious man.

Mason had been keeping an eye on Jake and was glad to see he was keeping his cool, but the way he was acting wasn't at all like him. He was the worried, cold, and detached one that exploded with anger. Not Jake. Jake was joyful, laid-back, and easy to get along with.

What the fuck is happening to us, he thought as he chewed down some of the bitter leaves, wishing none of this shit had happened.

"Okay, give them to us for a moment, and scout the entrance," Sandra said, pointing at the two unmoving bodies Jake was carrying.

Jake looked at her, and Mason almost thought he would tell her no. Then the moment passed, and Jake nodded.

"Carefull," Mason whispered, and Jake nodded, grimaced, and dove down.

"I'm never going back into the sea again," Mason muttered as he stared at the water.

--

Jake ignored the worry he had seen in Mason's eyes. Instead, he calmly swam through the tunnel, stopping just before the exit. His eyes widened when he heard angry cries and shouting. Poking his head out, he saw a raging battlefield. Kobolds were swirling through the water like ballet dancers, cutting and slicing at each other while blood tinged the dark water. Dumbstruck, Jake looked around to see if he could locate Bolyr or anyone else he knew, but to no avail.

All he saw were warriors trained in underwater warfare displaying their prowess while stabbing and slicing at each other.

As he watched, entranced to the point of forgetting why he even came here, he saw many Kobolds motionlessly drift to the sea bed. He lost track of time and was startled when someone touched his shoulder.

He swirled around, claws raised to see Sandra's furious face inches from his own. For a moment he felt he did when his mother had caught him with something, then his anger returned. He shook his head and pointed outside while moving out of the way so she could see. She took a single peek before turning back, looking at Jake with resignation before signaling him to stay put.

"Do you want me to stay here while you tell the others?" he whispered.

Sandra flinched and hushed him to be quiet. She seemed to think for a while, then nodded before disappearing inside the tunnel again. Jake turned back to the battle and tried to find out which side was winning and who they were. After a short while, he recognized a scarred Kobold minion of Vestr, missing an entire ear, whom he had seen at the party, and he began to make out the two sides. The battle escalated, and more Kobolds drifted motionless in the water. His worry grew as he began to see Vestr's minions seemed on the winning hand.

The entire battle lasted only a few more minutes, although, to him, it seemed much longer. It ended when the remaining part of one of the groups fled back to the island, and the others chased them.

Now, Jake thought as he turned around to see the others staring at him. When did they get back here?

"We can leave now if we hurry. The two groups are chasing each other," he whispered.

Sandra shoved him out of the way and looked outside before nodding. Ignoring his scowl, she signaled Jake to take Wilson and Tergin. Emma was pulling O'Reilly along, who had awoken but seemed more hurt than before.

Jake didn't get a chance to check what was wrong with him as Sandra tapped his shoulder. She pointed out and, flanked by an angry-looking Mason, began swimming forward, out of the hole and towards the reef.

They reached it without incident but quickly found it was too small to move through. Following Sandra, they swam in a straight line away from the coast, towards the distant, larger reef. As if by miracle, they made it there, and soon the pillars of plants and growths were taller than they were, hiding them from view.

Sandra kept her position at the front of the group, purposefully moving through the maze. As much as he hated the way she had made him feel before, Jake was impressed with the certainty she projected.

Now, I hope she knows where she is going, he thought, because he was completely lost.

--

Hours later, the bright light of the sun was filtering down towards the seafloor, and the schools of colorful fishes had disappeared to sleep the day away.

The small exhausted group was sitting beneath an enormous overhanging piece of algae. Mason was glaring into the depths, still not used to his inability to voice his opinion. Sandra was close by, trying to converse with O'Reilly through hand gestures, while Emma lay curled up next to Willson and Tergin.

Jake sat at the edge of the group, looking outside, a lot less tired than the others. He felt as if the water sucked away all his stress and physical discomfort, leaving him always at the peak of his abilities. He felt like he could continue swimming without rest for another day or two. Well, if he didn't change into some murderous dragon all of a sudden.

They rested until the sun stood straight above the water, creating weird shadows from debris and foam that floated on the surface. Except for Sandra and Wilson's mute gestured conversation, nobody had talked, and slowly, a sense of quiet beauty had descended on the world around them.

With Sandra in the lead, and Mason at the back, they began moving out again. Jake, in the middle with Emma, took another look at Tergin. The small Kobold was barely breathing, and he looked worse than when they were split from the rest a few days before. As memories of that period flashed through Jake's mind, he stopped swimming, causing Mason to bump into his outstretched foot, frowning at him.

If we can find one of those dragon-blooded things, we can heal all of them! He hesitated for only a moment about telling the others, then decided that their immediate problems outweighed future issues with other Kobold tribes.

Beckoning Mason to follow, he swam towards Sandra. Without the ability for them to talk back, it took him only a few moments to explain what he knew. When he finished, Sandra and Mason were staring at him with mixtures of wonder and anger.

Jake had no idea what Sandra was thinking, but he could read Mason's question from his face. 'So, you killed and ate a Hydra and forgot to tell me about it?' he could almost hear him snap.

Jake shrugged.

"Tergin warned me not to tell anyone because if any Antraci had overheard, we would have been in trouble..." he stopped lamely. In the end, they had still gotten into trouble.

Sandra squinted her eyes before she began searching around. After a while, she signaled to head back to their spots in the line, and she continued forward.

Around an hour later, they found a piece of dead coral with large-enough holes to hide in, and Sandra beckoned Jake over. Raising an eyebrow, Jake wondered what she wanted. She pointed at her mouth and made chewing motions.

Jake only needed a second to realize she didn't mean the underwater plant. "You want dragon meat so that we can heal the others?" he asked.

Sandra nodded before pointing at him and then waving around. Resigned, Jake looked at the brightly lit, horribly dangerous coral reef and sighed. "And you want me to go find it. Alone." He was about to consent when someone grabbed his shoulder, jerking him around.

Mason's face was inches from his own, angry and frightened. He shook his head, poking Jake in his chest before glaring at Sandra. What followed was a horrible effort at communication that would have been funny had it not been so severe. Mason telling Sandra to go stuff, it while she said there was no other choice. Over and over. After a few minutes, Jake sighed, feeling the inevitability of it all.

"It is fine, Mason. I know you don't think I should go, but she is right. If we have to fight in our current condition, we will lose. Only me and Emma can fight in the water, but if we can get the other three up, they can help. You and Sandra..." Jake grinned, "suck horribly at this swimming thing. We need Tergin."

"Jake, I can come with you!" Emma suddenly said, staring at him, thinly hidden fear and worry on her face. She had been quiet most of the journey, just sleeping or carrying Wilson, but Jake had noticed she had been keeping her distance from him ever since he'd attacked Mason. It hurt, but he couldn't blame her, and the fact she wanted to come and help him now made him feel warm.

To the side, Sandra was shaking her head, and for once, Jake fully agreed with her. He forced a grin, surprised that it came relatively easy. "No, you are the only one besides me that can speak underwater. You need to keep these two in line!"

Emma seemed relieved at his reply, nodded quickly, and turned to check on the wounded Kobolds. Jake kept a lid on his own worry as he turned back to Mason. Seeing his friend struggle with his emotions, Jake grabbed his shoulder, squeezing it. "Don't worry. I was down here on my own before, and I had to drag Tergin around all by myself. If I can survive that, I'll be fine now!"

Mason shook his head, grabbed his shoulder, and squeezed almost so hard that it hurt.

"Of course, I'll be careful," Jake said, trying to project as much confidence as possible. Then he quickly turned around before Mason could call his bullshit.

He swam backward a little, looking at Sandra. "Take care of them while I am gone!" She nodded, but Jake turned around to ensure they wouldn't see the look on his face. He shot forward, moving as fast as he could to ensure Mason wouldn't follow him, dodging around corners and disappearing into the labyrinth.

--

Mason kept his gaze unwavering on Jake as he disappeared into the reef, one of his hands raised as if to grab him and pull him back. After a second, he lowered his hand, blinked, and scowled at Sandra. The look of pity she gave him made him want to strangle something.

Damn her, and damn this whole shit, he thought before moving beside Emma.