[rework] Minglings - Book 3 chapter 2: Dangerous stones

Stupid bird, Mason growled as he watched the spec grow smaller in the distance. It had seen him come within seconds, then turned and ran.

He pondered for a moment if he should follow them, then decided against it. Baudron was down there without help. Taking a last look at the tiny spec, he growled and turned back down.

So far for that-

His mind stopped dead as his gaze fell on movement at the bottom of the hill beyond the one Baudron was lying on. A small group of four-legged, brown-furred creatures lay bunched together. Their long necks covered in thick horizontal folds were wrapped around each other. Mason knew them well, and his mouth watered.

Tasty, although a bit fat, with odd orange blood and a long curly tail. They were also one of the staple things he had eaten since coming to the desert.

Even better! Porc instead of poultry! he thought with a grin as he dove down, readying his fire.

The beasts must have had some sixth sense because they woke and scattered just before he could jump them.

Mason snorted and aimed for the largest one, a fat male that left a massive trail of white sand as it desperately tried to get out. Opening his maw, he blasted a torrent of fire aimed straight in its path.

The beast managed a single squeal before the flames engulfed him.

Mason dropped atop its shivering body and, with a causal pull born from experience, ripped out the thing's throat. The shivering stopped as orange blood flooded out and pooled on the ground. Seeing the liquid, Mason froze.

Blood is liquid!

He grabbed the beast's neck with his back claws and began flapping like crazy. Although heavy, it wasn't anywhere near what Baudron weighed, and after a second, he passed the crest of the hill.

Baudron lay where he had left him, his chest heaving up and down and his eyes closed. Worried, Mason flew over and dropped his burden beside the dragon. With a shock, Baudrons eyes shot open, staring at the steaming, bleeding body beside him.

"Etag!" he hissed before dragging himself forward.

Without even asking anything, he bit into the thick sacks beside the thing's neck and began gulping down the orange, pungent liquid.

Mason dropped down beside him. He blinked at the sight of the big dragon drinking from the smaller beast's throat.

Juk…

After a while, he sat down, watching Baudron, who seemed intent on draining the whole body. When the dragon finally finished, Mason lay a few feet away, eyes blinking slowly, mind close to drifting asleep.

"Ahhhh, I needed that! Where did you find an Etag? They are incredibly rare," Baudron rumbled.

He sounded far more energetic than Mason thought he should be after just a single meal. He slowly rose and blinked a few times before stepping to the body and ripping off a leg that he held up.

"Rare? There are so many of them closer to the coast! This one was sitting below the hill next to us, together with a whole bunch of others," Mason said.

Baudron looked at him as if he was insane.

Errr... perhaps they only exist on that side? Mason thought.

Not sure what to say, he began slowly roasting the leg of meat with a thin beam of fire from between his lips.

Baudron watched him for a moment longer before stretching. Seeming far to energetic, he ripped meat from the bloodless carcass and stuffed it in his mouth.

"If you can find more, I won't have to worry about dying of thirst!" he said with his mouth full, blobs and slivers of meat spraying onto the sand.

Mason continued eating until only bones lay around him.

"Do you think you can get another one?" Baudron asked as he stared ruefully at the pile of bones.

"Sure, but I think we need to get some things out of the way first," Mason said.

He sat down next to the bones, picked one up, and started removing small strings of flesh from between his teeth.

Baudron's eyes narrowed, and he opened his mouth only to close it again. After a second, he sat down with a thud.

"As I told you, I am not from here and have no idea how things go on this island. Why were those guys after you?"

"Island?" Baudron muttered, his eyes widening.

Mason narrowed his eyes, and Baudron sighed, his large chest deflating as he hung his head.

"Right, that can wait. I guess it doesn't matter anymore if I tell someone. Besides, you already saved my life," he said with a grateful smile.

Baudron fell silent for a while before raising his head and staring at Mason. For the first time, there was some fire in his eyes.

"I changed a few years ago and woke up in the middle of nowhere, far to the north. It took me a while to regain myself after that.. and..." he frowned, looking slightly ashamed. "I decided to head to the south."

Mason shrugged, not sure why that seemed a problem, and Baudron seemed relieved.

"There were rumors of a group of drakes there that flew free. Saly, after traveling around for over a year, I was captured by Har the Slaver in a moment of carelessness."

Baudron's face fell. "At first, things weren't that bad. Har found out I could sniff out the Taznir stones and prized me, making good use of my skills."

The brown drake's eyes glazed over as he gazed off into the distance, and his expression slowly changed. "Than Mosran Hasrion, that ugly pile of rotscale, heard of me and my knack. Har had no choice. He sold me…"

Baudron sighed before continuing in a tired voice. "Things stayed roughly the same at first. I worked and slept and merely got my food from someone else. Until a week ago, when I was scouting far to the east and saw..." Baudron shook his head in wonder, "something impossible!"

Baudron fell silent again, and this he seemed to doze off or relieve whatever it was he had seen. Mason waited for a while, getting more and more curious, wondering what all this had to do with how Baudron got wing-snipped and ran off into the desert.

"What did you see?" he finally asked.

"I saw a drake with eggs! I know it's impossible, but I am telling you it was real!" Baudron stared at Mason, and when Mason just shrugged, he seemed taken aback. "Don't you understand? Drake's don't lay eggs! The Hound creates them!"

"Will you cut that crap out? There ain't no dumbass Hound going around making dragon babies!" Mason snapped, causing Baudron to look up in surprise.

Ugh, need to keep calm, he thought. He didn't even really know whatever the Hound was. Probably some make belief demonic thing.

"Drakes or dragons, it makes no difference, fuck and lay eggs to make more baby dragons," he said, trying to calm himself.

Baudron stared at him quietly, and Mason cursed.

"How did you, seeing some dragon with eggs, get your wings cut off?"

Baudron's eyes widened, and a clawed hand seemed to reach for his back instinctively. For all his size, he reminded Mason of a startled child.

"I didn't tell the Mosran what I had seen, nor any of my caretakers. But I didn't have to. They never really trusted me, and I hadn't seen that one of Mosran's loyal drake guards had been following me and saw what I saw. So when I didn't speak up..."

Mason cringed inside, wondering how someone could be this dense. Of course they didn't trust you. You were their slave! But he just kept staring at Baudron until the other continued.

With a sad sigh, Baudron's shoulders hunched even further, and he gazed off into the distance again, causing Mason to gnash his teeth.

Get to the point already!

"They drugged my food, and when I woke up, the Mosran was there. He was furious and said that I should have told him. That he gave me more freedom than I deserved, but now I would be made an example. After that, they would find the mother drake and kill her! Two of his drake guards held me down, and another tore my wings off..." Baudron's voice trailed off, and he shuddered while the stubs of his wings shook.

Mason felt his anger flood away as he saw the pure and utter devastation on the other's draconic face. He shuddered as he imagined someone doing that to him. With a sigh, he moved over and put the tip of his wing on the other's shoulder. "You aren't there anymore, and they can't hurt you now! How did you manage to get out of there? That can't have been easy?"

Baudron shook his head. "After they dropped my unconscious body in my cave, they left only a single drake to guard me. But I heal fast, much faster than any other drake I know," Baudron growled as a flicker of something dangerous appeared in his eyes. "

An hour after they left, the bleeding had stopped, and I was conscious again." Baudron snarled at the sand. "They shouldn't have put only one guard there. After that, I managed to sneak out of the city at night and headed to the spot where I had seen the eggs and the drake, but..." Baudron sighed, his head hanging so low, his nose almost touching the ground.

"That Mosran guy made it there before you did." Mason completed the sentence. He had a good idea of what that Mosran Hasrion had done, and it probably wasn't good.

Dammit, evil bastards are everywhere, he thought as he felt the urge to burn this Mosran to the ground.

Baudron just sighed. "Are you sure you want to go to the Hounds eye? There are only monsters and death there..."

Mason moved off to the ridge, staring out across the vast desert. "Yes. That sounds like a great place for a roost of dragons to hide out."

Baudron sniggered before lying down. "A roost? You are a weird one…" Then he closed his eyes. "Wake me when you want to leave."

Within seconds a deep, rumbling snoring caused the sand around him to shake, single grains of sand bouncing up and down.

Mason took a look at Baudron. He sounds like a forty-ton truck, he thought, smiling. Then he sat down and gazed up at the star-filled sky.

I hope you are having more luck than I am, Jake.

----

Jake shot forward, enjoying the sensation of freedom and power. Tir sat silently and forgotten on his neck, staring around with wide eyes.

He had been swimming for days, first along the river, then through the reef while dodging patrols of Hydraci, until he had finally arrived at a chasm where the white sandy bottom dropped off into the depths and disappeared.

He hadn't even hesitated, the alluring pull from far away seemingly closer than ever and the fear of the beyond unable to jolt him from his almost hypnotized state.

That was a day ago, and by now, there was only blue water around him, going dark blue, almost black below, to bright turquoise above. Nothing moved except for the currents and the softly flowing water-mana particles. The further he went, the denser they were, and he felt them permeate every part of him.

Still so far.

The thought came with the clarity of a bell, and he was surprised when he realized this was the first thought since he had left Melissa and the others. He'd been semi-awake for a while now, but the thought jogged him back to reality, and he slowed down.

Where are we even going? he thought as he tried to figure out why he'd just kept swimming.

He quickly turned his head and stared at Tir, who was curiously examining him. She seemed awake and unhurt and much more energized than she had been in days.

Thank God she managed to hang on, Jake thought as he recalled how fast he'd been swimming.

As he looked around the almost hypnotizing blueness, his situation slowly dawned on him and any joy and exuberance he might have felt rapidly faded.

He slowed down even more until he floated in the water, drawn to one side by the strong current.

What the hell am I doing here?

The memory of the enormous being that he had met while traveling with Tir and Ter popped up, and he felt a bout of fear. Heading off like a headless chicken, he could have gotten himself and Tir eaten!

He tried to remember how long he was swimming, but his memory was hazy. Two days? Three? Somehow he feared the answer might be higher still.

He gazed up at the water above him. Although it was much lighter than where he was, he couldn't see the surface. He only saw the occasional bubbles that floated up from some unseen origin far below.

I wonder if dragons need to decompress if they go back up? he thought.

Shaking his head at the absurd notion, he turned his gaze to the darkness below. Somewhere down there should be the seabed, but how far? The direction he had to go felt like an arrow on a three-dimensional compass, and it pointed forward and slightly down.

After a moment's hesitation, he swam down, wondering how things had changed. Not that long ago, being so far below the surface while staring at this almost impenetrable darkness would have been frightening. The fact that it barely bothered him and that only the prospect of bigger predators than himself made him even remotely nervous baffled him.

How much had he changed? Not just physically or his instincts, but also his fears and anxieties? Was he even still the same person?

He swam deeper at an increasingly steep incline until he was swimming almost straight down.

Tir crooned softly, the first noise she had made since the start of their travels. Looking at her, Jake felt sadness. She used to be so exuberant, talkative, and smart. Now she was nothing more than a lizard, and he blamed himself partially for it—that and the fact that he still had no idea what had happened to Ter. Although Jake knew Tir's brother, their brother, was likely dead, he still held a faint hope that the small lizard had managed to get away unscathed.

Perhaps he was now living a simple life, hunting insects and creating a roost for himself. Jake could almost picture it. Almost.

He turned his attention back to swimming. It became darker as he went further down, but he barely noticed. The light glow from the mana-particles became stronger and more appeared. At some point, the glow from above, the last light simmering down from the surface, disappeared.

He continued for a long time. The abundance of energy seemed to prevent him from becoming hungry or tired. If that was a temporary situation or permanent as long as the energy lasted, he didn't know. Tir also seemed invigorated, snapping at the small specs of blue energy that drifted within range, her eyes shining brightly.

As Jake saw her play-swallow a cluster of blue energy, he blinked.

Can she see the energy?

He kept his attention divided between the dive and watching the small lizard happily bite at mana-parcticles she shouldn't be able to see. Or should she? Confused, Jake tried to recollect everything he had learned about the lizard siblings of awoken.

Suddenly the water pulled at him, and a strong current drew him sideways and down. He shook awake and looked around. Tir stopped moving, holding him tighter.

A dark shadow moved into his dark vision, swimming some distance past him and dragging currents of water along. It had at least two long tentacles, each large enough to dwarf Jake.

After a second, the being disappeared into the darkness, and slowly the water became calm again. Jake closed his mouth, which had fallen open, and shivered.

That thing must have been immense if it moved so much water with its passing!

It took him a while to calm down and continue down. The mental image of a giant shark swimming up from the bottom and swallowing him whole was enough to keep his easily distracted mind focused.

A long time passed when reddish dots appeared far below. The water temperature increased rapidly, and with a jarring suddenness, he swam through a shimmering line.

The world seemed to blaze alight and alive.

Jake stopped as he gaped at the sea bed below, sprawled out a hundred meters below him.

Large hydrothermal vents stood everywhere, spraying plumes of shimmering bubbles up. Enormous clusters of multicolored clams stuck to them, connecting them together into a single reef-like structure. In between, massive crustaceans, many as big as he was, moved, mulling through the patches of mud with their claws. The dirt that floated up in the water sank back almost immediately, barely tainting the crystal-clear water.

Feeling his heartbeat rise, Jake looked around. The scenery stretched out in every direction and seemed to go on forever. To his left, he saw a black and purple whale chase an enormous squid while a fish half their size with six eyes stalked both slowly. Further away, a school of dark-golden fish moved as one as they followed a smaller crustation.

Jake shook his head in wonder and swam in the direction of where his inactive compass told him his goal lay. Luckily opposite of where the massive whale was going.

Tir nudged her head against his neck, and he saw she was looking straight at a blue and silver fish that darted from clam to clam, nibbling at the small barnacles that dotted their surfaces.

"Finally hungry? Fine, let's go and see if we catch something," Jake said softly.

He grinned and turned towards the fish.

--

Mason trudged up the crest of the dune and cracked his neck. He had started to dislike walking more and more, especially across loose sand that kept sliding away and trying to trip you up.

A short distance ahead of him stood Baudron. Ever since he got to eat and sleep freely, he seemed in high spirits, moving forward as if he had a clear goal. However, he'd not wanted to talk about his time with the Mosran.

Many of his scales were regrowing, and although he scratched non-stop, he never complained.

Mason saw him staring at a thick black line covering the horizon from left to right. They had been walking towards it for a day now, and it barely seemed to get any closer. So far, he had managed to resist just flying forward because he knew that if he did, coming back and walking the distance would be even more challenging.

Not that he had to walk all of it, he thought as he stared at the small rudimentary wings growing on Baudron's back. The other had mentioned he always healed fast, but this was mutant-level fast! At this pace, his wings would grow back in a week or less.

I wonder if I'd heal that fast, Mason thought as he wiggled his own wings. Was this a dragon thing? Probably not, as Baudron had said, he healed faster than normal. Bloody understatement, that.

"Mason! Look, I think the mountain ridge is at least twice as high as yesterday! We are getting closer!"

"Yes, just one more year!" Mason shot back, glaring at the sand that led down to a sandy valley and up another sandy dune. Stupid sand!

Baudron looked at him for a second before his eyes widened. "Ah, you're joking! Almost got me. Such weird humor you have in your world! I wish I could have seen it, little scaleless kobolds flying around in cars!"

"Planes, not cars! Planes!"

Baudron ran off and skipped down the dune. Halfway, he lost his balance and rolled down, laughing loudly as he did. Ever since his wings were growing back, all he'd done was laugh, run and be happy.

Mason stared after him for a second before sniffing and spreading out his wings. He grinned and jumped forward. As the wind pressed against his wings, he glided down, picking up speed and passing the other.

"Hey, that's cheating!" Baudron yelled and started running after him.

The heavyset brown dragon couldn't keep up, and when Mason landed on the ground in front of the next dune, he was nothing but a small spec behind him.

I am glad he is feeling better, but does he have to be this cheery all the time? Mason shook his head and climbed the next dune, ignoring the soft yelling from behind.

Baudron would catch up. He seemed to have inexhaustible energy.

Before he reached the top of the next dune, Baudron stepped in line with him, the nails on his motley-scaled claws digging deep in the sand.

"Can you tell me more stories about your world?"

Mason grinned and nodded. "Sure, what do you want to know?"

"Tell me about the north pole!"

Here we go again, Mason thought with a grin as his mind drifted off.

They walked for days, Mason regaling stories about Earth that sometimes made him laugh as he told them. At other times he almost cried, having to fall silent for a while to curtail his roiling emotions. Baudron, in turn, told him the few things he knew. Sadly, his knowledge stopped with the tiny hamlet he'd lived at as a Kobold and some rumors and legends, none of which helped Mason in the slightest.

As they crested another dune, Mason was jostled out of a daydream about Christmas with his family when Baudron let out a roar of surprise.

"Taznir stone," he croaked, then he sprinted forward, his now entirely brown-scaled body glittering in the sun.

What?

Mason just saw another dune but ran after Baudron, his curiosity growing.

It's just like the other ones, he thought as he jumped forward and glided after Baudron.

Covered in white sand and with a wave-like tipped crest, it didn't stand out from the others.

At the bottom of the dune, Baudron grinned his long, broken yellow teeth at Mason. "I can't wait to see your reaction when I give you one!"

The brown dragon turned to the dune and started digging into the sand, his thick wide paws shoveling large amounts of sand behind him.

Mason grinned at the other's exuberance before moving next to him and digging down. "How far do we go?"

"Pretty deep. They are in the middle of the dune, and the rock around them is just molten and hardened sand. Don't worry. It won't take longer than a day, and it's worth it!"

A few moments later, Mason backed off. Baudron had only dug a slight hole in the sand but was already invisible, sand shooting out of a huge hole. Part of it kept falling back, and the entrance started collapsing.

"Baudron, careful!" Mason jumped forward and began digging away the sand like crazy.

Baudron's voice echoed dully from the tunnel. "Don't worry! Just wait there. I'll dig my way back after I find them!"

Mason shivered as he sat back and stared at the glistening white sand that trickled down, covering the tunnel exit.

Insane!

The prospect of getting stuck below the ground in the dark triggered a primal fear that he couldn't remember ever having had before.

After a minute, when all the sound muted to the point that he barely heard it, he couldn't hold it anymore. Flames licked along his lips. A thin stream of almost pure white fire with little orange streaks licking around the edges roared forward. It struck the side of the hole, and the sand instantly turned red hot. Within moments it melted, turning into a glass-like substance that. Softly orange glowing droplets fell down, creating hissing smoldering puddles on the caved-in tunnel entrance.

"Mason?" Baudron's scared yell came from deep inside.

"Don't worry, just trying something with the entrance!" Mason roared back before inspecting the effect of his fire.

A small part of the side of the entrance had changed, and the glass dripped away faster than the sand did. He frowned, and the beam became the size of a large flamethrower. Its color changed to yellow and orange. The sand turned into an irregular dark orange glowing mud as he torched the entire top and sides of the tunnel. As soon as the fire left a spot, it darkened and hardened, blocking the sand that had been trickling down.

There! Glass, Mason thought with a wide grin.

As he continued to turn the entire entrance into a hardened, slightly shiny glass tunnel, he barely noticed his stomach start to rumble. Only when a sharp pang of hunger came did he stop. His stomach clenched painfully but he ignored it and stared at the dull, softly glowing entrance. Only a meter or two inside were hardened, and he knew it was a mostly useless act. Still, he felt pretty good about himself and contently stared at the odd gleaming black entrance in the otherwise white dune.

He waited for what felt like hours when something moved inside the entrance. It started weak, a digging, scraping sound when something clanked.

"Wut da whell if this stubb?" Baudron's oddly muffled voice echoed out of the tunnel, sounding disgruntled. A scraping like nails on a school board followed.

Mason grinned, and when Baudron dug out of the partially filled entrance, staring at the sides, he laughed.

"Like my little handy work?"

Baudron just looked at him for a second before grinning and spitting a large mouth full of beautiful orange crystals on the ground. Angular but with smoothed edges, they reminded Mason of jewelry his mom used to wear. Natural, barely worked gems.

He picked one up, ignoring the spit and drool. They were warm and smooth, and a trickle of energy flowed from them.

"There is a good vein behind us. Not the best, but more than we could carry," Baudron said with a grin, looking at the stone in Mason's hand. "Why don't you try drawing in some of those mana particles around us?"

Baudron pointed to the side, and Mason blinked. There were plenty of white and red fiery specs, but none at the spot Baudron was pointing.

I guess he sees earth mana particles or something, he thought before focusing on a big group of white specs.

The Taznir stone in his hand heated up as if someone had poured lava into it, and specs streaked towards it and inside. A rush of energy gushed from the stone and into his body. It raged through his veins like fire, and reflexively he opened his mouth. A torrent of fire larger than his gaping maw roared out, enveloping his snout as his protective eyelids snapped shut. Sounding like a freight train passing by, the fire struck the side of the dune behind them. With a small explosion, it blasted the glistening sand away and created a quickly glowing indent in the dune that grew larger by the second.

"Stop, stop," Baudron screamed.

Mason shivered, pushing the energy away, trying to reign it in. It felt like holding a bucking horse down, and he quickly dropped the stone. It thudded on the ground, sizzling, and melting a puddle in the sand.

A soft groan broke the silence, and Mason watched as Baudron scrambled up, sand pouring off of him.

Mason looked in disbelief at the large hole he had created. As he swallowed, his throat sore, he examined the glowing amber rock on the ground. It still gleamed and glistened, but a small crack ran along the top portion.

"So, I guess those rocks boost our power?" he said lamely.