[rework] Minglings - chapter 16: Heading out

As the last of the sun sank into the ocean, a cool breeze from the sea blew away the day's sweltering heat. A loud, annoyed chatter came from a small group of Kobolds sitting around a campfire at the edge of the jungle.

Bolyr and his two archers were having a rapid-fire argument. As they spoke their native language, even Jake and Emma didn't understand what they were saying, but it had been going on for a while now.

Sandra looked at them from her spot further away from the campfire. She needed time to think without those juvenile delinquents and their witty comments. Scanning around, she saw Tess sitting with Emma, and they seemed to be happily chatting about irrelevant things. The fact that a scientist could be talking about the best way to create a ball from a bunch of leaves and fruit both surprised and annoyed her. Then again, she knew Tess was keeping up appearances, trying to act like something she wasn't. She'd have to keep an eye on that one.

Switching her gaze back to the three indigenous Kobolds, she wished she knew why they were arguing. It had started when the quiet, hissing one came back. He had left for hours, and Bolyr hadn't wanted to share why. Now he was back and upset, but Bolyr still ignored all her questions. Still, unless she was seeing too much into his glances, it had something to do with them or the Goblins. Just thinking of the Goblins made her shudder when she realized all of them had been soldiers only days before. How could they have changed this much? From a well-oiled machine with human parts into chaotic monsters. She wished they would have been the ones to disappear instead of so many others.

Like Herandez. She suppressed the bestial growl that tried to wriggle itself free from her throat. Not the first time. Of all the people that had to disappear during the merger, why did it have to be her? As emotions bubbled up from the dark hole she normally pushed them into, she quickly looked around for a distraction.

The first thing that caught her eye was Mason, the annoying bastard that had stopped her from becoming the de facto leader of the earthlings. Not that she wanted to lead a group of civilians that had no idea what they were doing. But she was the best person for the job! How was some prepubescent child allowed to join in decision-making? A savage fury began rising, and she tried hard to squash it. Something was wrong. She just knew it. What the hell was going on?

She shook her head to clear it, then glimpsed the blue Kobold, and the anger returned with a vengeance. Mason and Jake? More like Humpty and Dumpty! Some unknown abilities did not change the fact that he had no real-life experience in precarious situations. Especially not if he couldn't control them! No. These two should just do as she said before making things worse!

A small growl escaped her, and both of her targets looked up. Jake looked back with a curious expression on his face. But the big lug dared glare at her for a second, and then his dirty eyes wandered lower. How dare he? that filty.... She could feel herself slipping, giving in to the fury and about to give in and rush Mason when her long hours of training kicked in. With a shudder she froze, half raised. No, something is wrong, she growled to herself as she sensed a strong internal conflict as she subconsciously fought the extreme desire to be aggressive. Moments stretched on, and she slowly panicked when she found she couldn't breathe. The fear powered her on, and she pushed harder. Finally, something snapped, and she flopped back down, breathing raggedly.

A soft noise in the sand made her look up, and she saw Ensir scrutinizing her from less than a meter away. She had no energy to ask him what he was looking at and was about to close her eyes when he spoke, causing her eyes to snap wide open in horror.

"You have a nasty brain parasite. If we don't get rid of it now, you might kill us all in our sleep," Ensir said. Then he turned and barked something to Bolyr.

The other Kobold surged upright, asking a quick question before calling the other archer over. Then Bolyr walked towards Jake while Sandra tried to understand what Ensir had said. Brainbug? Did he mean that literally? He couldn't, right?

--

Jake stared at Sandra with worry and incredulous disgust. Did she actually have some insect in her head? He swallowed, seeing how her face slightly relaxed. He sensed Bolyr step next to him, his eyes never letting go of Sandra.

"She has a brain bug. It is a nasty one that will cause her to fly into an uncontrollable rage, and she will end up trying to kill us."

Jake felt his hackles rise and quickly translated. Then he looked at Bolyr. "How the hell did she get that?"

Bolyr shrugged before pointing at the jungle. "It has to be from there, though they are exceedingly rare and usually only infect the weaker races like Goblins. But we have no time. We need to hold her down and cut it out," he said as he drew his dagger and moved towards Sandra.

Jake saw Sandra's eyes widen, and she tried to jump up, but her legs gave out, and she fell back down. The three soldiers rushed up to her but stopped when Bolyr growled, hovering nearby and looking around at the others as if deciding who to attack first. Jake saw Bolyr signal him, and he knew what the other wanted.

"If we don't help her now, she won't live long. He says to hold her down, so she cants struggle. The brain bugs nest underneath the scales at the base of the skull," Jake quickly translated.

The soldiers hesitated, and Mason, who had been hovering nearby with a frown, suddenly stepped forward. "Move, dammit! Do you want her to die?" He growled as Bolyr had, and the soldiers jumped out of the way.

Mason and Tergin shared a look, then jumped Sandra, who tried to struggle but failed. They held her down under the watchful eye of the rest. Sandra was breathing raggedly and seemed ready to pass out at any minute.

"Interesting, she is resisting the parasite. I didn't know that was possible," Bolyr said as he motioned Ensir to start.

The Kobold nodded once before crouching down behind Sandra pushing her thick, coarse hair back to reveal the scales on the back of her head. They were darker than the others and seemed softer. Without any warning or evening a heads-up, Ensir ruthlessly sliced the scales off. Underneath, blood began oozing out, a thick coppery red.

Jake leaned forward, both curious and disgusted. What would a brain parasite look like? He suddenly wondered if he even wanted to know. A second slash followed, and as the dagger tip ripped through the flesh, there was a silverish grey slime pierced on it, one end still embedded in the deep, heavily bleeding gash.

A high-pitched scream made everyone turn to Emma, who was staring at the thing in panic. Tess quickly knelt beside her and averted her head, whispering to her.

Ensir cursed and drew out a second dagger. He sliced again, and a second, deeper cut appeared on Sandra's neck. Another bit of grey sat on the second tip as blood sprayed out. Ensir didn't seem to care as he got up, keeping his daggers as far away as he could. Something that resembled a cross between a slug and a scorpion hung between them, slimy and still struggling to get free. Ensir backed up to the fire and dropped both knives in with a disgusted look. A wet plopping sound followed, and a bit of silvery liquid appeared in the fire, then rapidly turned dark.

Jake swallowed back some bile as he looked at Sandra. Mason and Tergin were using some cloth to stem the flow of blood. Before they could do anything else, Sandra's eyes shot open, and she yelped. Then she raised a hand to the back of her neck. "What the hell? I have a bloody hole in my neck!"

Next to her, Mason snorted. "Yes. Ensir just pulled some gross snot lobster from your head because it was fucking with your mind. Feel better?"

Sandra looked at him in confusion before she followed his pointing finger. The archer was ruefully looking at his daggers in the middle of the campfire.

Roughly ten minutes later, when everyone recovered from the weird ordeal, Jake was gazing at Bolyr. The blue-armed Kobold had been talking with Ensir again, which quickly dissolved into a loud shouting match. In the end, Bolyr had broken it off, ignoring the smaller Kobold as he turned to him and the others.

"Ensir met up with two others of our tribe, who were sent to check on us. After hearing about your existence, they decided that we should bring you to the elders. They wanted us to leave immediately, but we will not," Bolyr said, stretching the last words while looking pointedly at Ensir, who shook his head, an annoyed look on his face.

"We will leave in the morning, so we have the least risk of coming across Hydraci patrols. Rest well, we will need to traverse the sea to our home island, and there is a chance that we will need to flee from deep-sea serpents or other predators."

Bolyr glanced at Sandra before walking off towards the sea's edge, signaling Ensir to follow him. The disgruntled Kobold did as requested, but  Jake saw him dragging his heels as he followed.

"I have a bad feeling about this…" he whispered in the shocked silence.

--

"I suggest we have a little chat."

Tess' husky voice caused everyone to look at her in surprise, and Jake frowned. She had barely spoken a word since they had met the native Kobolds. Now she was the center of attention, but she barely reacted as she looked at them, her eyes momentarily meeting his.

"Okay. What do you want to chat about?" Sandra asked, her hand still on her neck.

Tess sat down, motioning the others to follow. "I don't think it is a good idea to go with them. And I for sure won't be going."

Jake looked at the Fiend and instantly knew what she was getting at. If she came with them, the other indigenous Kobolds might capture her or worse.

"I understand why you don't want to. But what is the alternative? Even if what they told us about the Goblins was a lie, how would we survive here?" Sandra said.

Tess looked back, her lidded eyes and emotionless face not betraying any of her inner thoughts.

"There should be more Fiends in the jungle. I will go and find them. At least that way, I don't have to worry about being locked up like some animal," she said.

A soft gasp startled Jake, and he looked to the side. Emma was gazing at the Fiend in disbelief, then stepped closer to Jake, grabbing his hand.

Tess took a step forward but stopped when Emma hid behind Jake. She sighed softly while the rest looked on. Jake somehow realized he didn't at all feel sorry for her, which surprised him. She hadn't really done anything to harm him. Perhaps it was due to David? A quick look showed that none of the other Goblins seemed upset.

"I am sorry, Emma. But I can't go with them," Tess said softly.

Emma didn't react but hid further behind Jake, which surprised him even more. Why did Emma react like this?

Tess sighed, then turned back to Sandra. "Sergeant, you shouldn't go with them. You have no idea where they will take you and if what they said about the Goblins is true. They may want to lure you somewhere for malicious reasons."

Yeah, Jake thought as he nodded. He had been thinking the same thing.

He heard the soldiers begin whispering behind him, but Sandra just shook her head. "I don't think they lied. If they wanted to harm us, they had plenty of opportunities. What we need is more information about this world. If we can't go back to Earth, and everything seems to point to that, we need to gather all the intel we can."

"What about everybody else? There should be more people from Earth on this island. We don't know if they are all like the Goblins, but it's safe to assume they aren't. What about the other Kobolds?" Everyone fell silent and looked at Mason.

"We can't help them right now. We can't even help ourselves. There are monsters in this jungle, and..." Sandra fell silent, touching her neck and cringing, "other things we don't know."

"So, what then? We go away and leave Tess alone?" Emma asked as she looked at Jake, her reptilian eyes reddish around the edges.

Jake frowned as he knelt beside her and put an arm around her shoulders. "Sandra is right, but so is Tess. We can't stay here, and Tess can't come with us."

Emma sniffed again, then looked at Tess for a second before running off towards the sea.

"Leave her be for a while. We need to make some plans if we go with them," Sandra said just as Jake was going to go after her.

Jake hesitated, shared a quick glance with Mason, who gave him a shrug and a nod, then remained where he was.

"Fine. Let's plan," he said, keeping an eye on Emma.

---

Hours later, Jake dropped down on his back, causing sand to fly around and into the campfire. Next to him, Mason and Emma sat down. The small Kobold had come back before they finished planning and quietly sat between him and Mason.

"We haven't had much time to talk about what happened… You okay?" Mason asked, looking at Jake, while Emma curled up between them, yawning and stretching like a cat.

Jake looked up at the stars realizing he had been so preoccupied with other things that he hadn't had any time to think about how he was feeling. Though he knew Mason had probably meant how he was doing mentally, something else drew his attention as if called out by Mason's question. Deep inside his chest, just above the pit of his stomach, a strange new muscle contracted, feeling sore as if he had used it too much in a short amount of time. As if he had done so hundreds of times, Jake relaxed it, and immediately he felt himself grow sleepy.

Drifting off, memories of the day began playing through his head like a slow-motion, muted movie. Tiny energy particles in dozens of variants of blue roamed around him as he felt his body react. As his dream-like self swam through the sea, the muscle flexed and pulsed like crazy- almost like a beating heart. At every pulsation, the glowing energy particles in the water drew towards him, and he felt them absorb into his body. It almost felt like he was a vacuum cleaner, removing the tiny energy from the sea en masse.

As the memories kept playing, he felt himself slowly drift asleep.

"Jake?" Mason's voice startled him back awake, and he blinked, struggling to keep open his weary eyelids. When had those closed? He looked up to see Mason staring at him, worry written all over his face.

"Don't worry. I'm okay," Jake said, attempting a smile but butchering it with a yawn. He turned his gaze back at the stars.

He heard Mason sigh in relief before lying down. "So? Wanna tell me what happened? Are you some sort of mage now?"

"Didn't you say it wasn't magic?" Jake replied, grinning. Then he sighed, controlling his thoughts. "It's hard to explain. Do you remember those energy specs? I think I can use the blue ones from the sea..."

"Yeah, I kinda got that part. Can you control it, though? So you don't fall into a coma again?"

Jake shuddered, then he recalled something from the daydreams. "Probably… Is Emma sleeping?"

Mason looked at the small form between them for a while.

"Yes. Out cold that one. Must be exhausted after all the swimming she did.

Jake laughed harshly. "Yeah, I don't know about that. She was absorbing the energy almost as fast as me. I don't think she knows what she is doing, but neither do I for that part."

"She was able to absorb the same energy as you could from the dead monster and now from the sea. It looks like I need to find myself a yellow ocean…" Mason said. "You know? Just like with Bob's birthday?"

Jake groaned at the mental image of Mason swimming around in a sea of urine. "Seriously, dude, I didn't need that picture… But you bring up a good point. Ensir said four of us are different. Going out on a limb here, I'd say that would be; you, me, Emma, and Sandra."

Mason chuckled. "You don't say, professor, obvious."

Jake ignored him and continued. "If we go by what we know, id say some Kobolds have an attunement to some element. Based on what we've seen, Emma and I are water. Do you have any idea what you got from that cat back in the tunnel? What did it feel like?"

"Not really. But I can tell you that it wasn't fire. I have been staring at that bloody campfire for the entire evening, and I haven't spotted a single piece of energy inside,"  Mason said, and Jake could hear the regret.

"Too bad… I guess Sandra can't either. We would have noticed if she began drawing in fire energy. Maybe..." Jake sighed as his gaze drifted across the starry sky.

--

"Think she can hear us?" Mason whispered as he rose on one elbow to look across the fire.

On the other side of the fire, less than two meters away, the soldiers were lying on the ground. Only Sandra was sitting upright, staring into the fire, seeming lost in thought. Perhaps hearing something, she looked up, seeing Mason observing her. She raised an eyebrow, and Mason grinned before lying back down.

"She can hear us, and I think she is trying to find those fire energy… That or she wants to hypnotize a lump of coal".

A burst of faint laughter came from the other side of the campfire.

"See?" Mason whispered. When he got no reply, he looked over. Jake had his eyes closed and was snoring softly. Mason realized that even though there were no thin lines or other old markers, he could recognize the stress was gone from his friend's face. Something about the way the scales on his face aligned with each other, maybe.

"Great… Guess it's time to sleep then," he muttered.

Mason rolled onto his side, looking at the forest with his back turned to the fire. He wondered if he could ever fall asleep, knowing all those creepy things were lurking deep inside. Remembering the squirming thing they had pulled from Sandra's head, he shivered.

--

"What do you mean? We need to swim?"

Sandra's loud and angry voice caused Mason to bolt upright, wide awake. Confused, he looked around, quickly spotting Jake and Emma sitting to the side. They were holding something bloody, taking occasional bites from it.

"Finally woke up? Took you long enough, you sleepyhead. Look! Ensir brought breakfast!" Emma's chipper voice was followed by something wet, hitting him in the chest. Mason scrambled to grab it and barely managed to catch it before it slid to the ground.

"Don't ask what it is. Just eat, "Jake said, taking another bite. Blood covered his lips, darkening the azure color and tainting his teeth.

Seeing Mason sniff the meat before taking a small bite, Jake sighed and took another bite of his own chunk of stringy, gangly meat. The salty water didn't help the taste. According to Ensir, they had caught it a few days ago, and it should still be fine. Jake wasn't so sure, but the native Kobolds had eaten from the same meat, so it should be fine. According to them, it was best not to cook or roast it to get the most benefit. Before his first bite, Jake had wondered what benefit that was. After his first bite, he knew he didn't care what benefit it was. It tasted horrible.

Swallowing down the last bit, he moved next to Mason until he was out of earshot from Emma. "Tess disappeared. We think she left in the middle of the night or early this morning. I tried asking Ensir, but he said he didn't see her leave. I wonder about that because they always have someone on watch."

Mason shook his head and took another bite out of the meat. "It might be better this way. Besides, you know what? I don't mind so much... It's almost as if some part of me is happy she is gone. Do you think it's because she isn't a Kobold?"

Jake didn't reply. He had noticed the same thing when Ensir told him. He'd thought about it a bit and realized it wasn't just the Fiends. For some reason, he also had difficulty feeling sympathy for the humans that had changed into Goblins.

"Are you crazy!" Sandra's shout made him look up.

Sandra was facing off against Bolyr, showing she was actually a little bit taller than the yellow-armed Kobold. Ensir was standing a bit to the side, a big grin on his face.

Bolyr didn't seem amused, instead letting out a tired and weary sigh as he muttered something Jake couldn't hear.

Sandra shook her head as she pointed at the sea, saying something.

Jake looked at Mason, who only shrugged as he continued biting down in his chunk of meat with very obvious distaste. "Gonna see what's going on," Jake said, and he walked over, stopping when he was next to Ensir.

"What are they arguing about?" he asked.

Ensir kept his eyes glued on the scene before him, sniffing softly.

"Bolyr exssplained to Sssandra that we can't usssse a boat to cross the ssea. We have to ssswim underwater."

Jake blinked a few times, then looked at the smaller, well-armored Kobold standing next to him.

"Why can't we use a boat?"

Ensir stared back at him before snorting and turning his attention back to Sandra and Bolyr.

"Becaussse the Hydraci will sssseee, and attack usss."

Jake shook his head, getting the feeling there was more to it. "And they won't see us if we swim?"

"Not if we ssstay close to the giant sssea serpentssss," Ensir bit back before walking towards where Tergin was standing at the edge of the sea.

"Great. Giant sea serpents, that doesn't sound ominous at all," Mason muttered, standing next to Jake while munching on his last mouthful of meat.

"Before we even get to that point... how are you guys supposed to stay underwater that long?" Jake gestured at Mason and then towards Sandra.

--

"So you are telling us that eating this stuff will let us breathe underwater?" Jayden, the only soldier without blue scales, asked. He was eyeing the seaweed-like plant in his hand with a frown.

Sandra and Mason, standing next to him in the knee-deep in the beautiful turquoise sea, didn't answer. In front of them, Bolyr was patiently looking at them, as he had ever since explaining. Jake, and Emma, were further in, diving around and reveling in the fact that they could breathe underwater just fine. Tergin and Ensir hovered close by, also below the water. All of the Kobolds with blue scales seemed to have this ability.

"Yes. Because you have none of the blood of the sea dragon flowing through your veins, you cannot breathe underwater. The Sairion plant will supply you with air for around a day. But they only grow along the coast, so you will probably die if it wilts before we arrive at Antraci island. They are quite rare..."

Mason looked passed the rugged Kobold and saw Jake and Emma playing some form of underwater tag. Sighing deeply, he put the plant inside his mouth, closing his lips firmly as instructed.

Ignoring the others, who were looking on with interest, Mason steeled himself before plunging headfirst into the cold water. Feeling his heart beat against his chest, he blew some air from his nostrils and hoped he wouldn't get a mouth full of seawater in a moment. Before Mason could worry, fresh air rushed out of the plant and into his mouth and lungs. Startled, he blew some through his nose again, and as soon as there was more room, more air filled his mouth.

This is awesome, he thought as he began swimming towards Jake.

--

Sandra looked at Mason's blurry shape in the water and at the air bubbles that floated up to the surface. Was that stuff actually working as Bolyr said? All of a sudden, Mason began flailing around, and he raised his head above the water, having a coughing fit.

"It didn't work?" she asked, both worried and curious at the same time.

Mason shook his head, coughing some more before replying.

"It does, but why don't you try breathing like that? It's bloody hard!"

Sandra shook her head and bit down on the plant. Then she sat down on the sandy ground, her head under the water. After a moment, a steady stream of air bubbles traveled to the surface. A minute later, she stood back up and turned to Jayden.

"It is similar to scuba diving. Just make sure you don't open your mouth." Then she dove back under, and her blurry form began swimming towards where the others were waiting in deeper water.

Jayden and Mason looked at each other for a moment before shrugging and placing the plants in their mouths. When they dove under and started swimming towards the others, Bolyr sighed.

"Like children…" he said as he lowered himself below the water and surged forward like a rocket, quickly overtaking the others.

As the watery shapes disappeared, one of the bushes near the coast split apart, and Tess her head poked out. She watched the Kobolds disappear, and a creepy grin surfaced on her face. Then she sneered and turned around, vanishing into the jungle.