[rework] Minglings - chapter 13: Forced bonding

Soft shuffling broke the gloomy silence of the jungle, and the occasional startled shout was cut short. A group of ten Kobolds and a tall pale Fiend moved through a wide game trail that led through the jungle. Although wide enough for perhaps three people, they walked single file, staying as far from the thick green walls of leaves as they could.

"Glad they know where we are going because I am completely lost," Mason muttered from behind Jake.

Jake sighed and wished Mason would stop talking. How could that knucklehead forget so quickly? He had been warned twice already to be quiet. However, his friend seemed to be in one of his rebellious moods. Even after being scolded by Bolyr twice, he had ignored most warnings and advice. Then again, Bolyr had been whispering to Emma a lot, making his warnings dubious at best.

Mason sniffed once before trudging along silently, probably realizing Jake wouldn't humor him.

Jake sighed in relief. He had a good idea why his friend was getting anxious. They had been traveling through the gloomy jungle for the better part of a day, and there seemed no end to it. Based on the sun, they had been walking north, north-west, and Jake knew they should have long since reached Dardil Mountains. Either the mountains were gone, or-

Jake tried to suppress the worrisome thoughts that began popping up again, but this time he failed.

We aren't on Earth anymore, he thought, feeling his worry seep through the layer of instincts that now governed many of his thoughts and actions.

The warning had spoken about the Central Dimension, and he looked around. We're on our own... he thought as his parents' faces cropped up. Where would they be? Would they have survived? What type of race had they picked? Or had they been with the group that never woke up? The host of questions without answers caused his worry to grow as he imagined trying to find them in this new world.

A quick look at Mason showed his friend staring at the ground before his feet, eyes unfocused. Probably worried too, Jake thought as he continued slogging on.

Time continued to creep by ever so slowly.

A loud burst of animal screams snapped Jake from his worries, and he looked around in fear expecting something to jump out of the jungle. The thick layer of leaves rustled quietly. Besides Bolyr and Emma in front of him, there was nothing moving. The yellow Kobold continued as if nothing was wrong, at the same time chatting with Emma. Mason raised an eyebrow as Jake turned to look at him, then grinned. He was about to say something but cut him off with a quick shake of his head, grinned, and looked back ahead.

He needed to stop letting his mind wander, or he would have a heart attack for no good reason.

Something moved in the corner of his eye, and Jake stopped and jerked his head back in a single fluid motion. One of the branch monsters passed through the air inches from his face, vanishing on the other side of the trail. Mason cursed, grabbing his shoulder and pulling him back a bit more.

"Incoming!" Sandra's voice echoed through the jungle.

Jake saw Bolyr spin around, hissing and gesturing for them to be quiet. He was too late. The leaves around them started rustling and swaying, and living branches of different sizes jumped out.

More feeling than seeing something attack him from above, Jake shoved Mason back and leaped forward, hearing something drop to the ground behind. He spun around and saw four small and one giant branch monster, moving around jittery as if searching for something. They had multiple limbs all across their body and a large central slit that loomed dark and foreboding, sucking in all the light. Behind them stood Mason, looking at him in dismay, and further back Sandra and the soldiers. Jake took a step back, and the monsters turned and jumped toward him.

"Jake, stay with Bolyr and Emma!" Mason shouted.

The monsters stopped a foot from Jake, spun around, and rushed towards where Mason stood.

The large golden-red Kobold backed up until he stood back to back with Sandra and her soldiers. The branch monsters rushed at them, slashing with long limbs tipped with sharp points. Mason kicked the smaller ones while the other Kobolds were fending off the living wood with talons and claws around him.

Jake looked up and searched for the archers, then saw them disappear from view into the tree canopy.

Growling in anger, he was about to rush to Mason when he heard a soft scream behind him. Turning around, he saw Bolyr wrestling with a massive branch monster at least three meters tall and almost as thick as the yellow Kobold. Emma was using her small claws to try and get the thing off, but the sturdy wood barely showed any scratches.

Jake moved without thinking, running to their aid. Three steps in, there was a rustling in the bushes from the left. He leaped forward and rolled across the ground causing small branches to snap and crack. Rising on a knee, he saw two little branch monsters rushing him.

Hot anger bubbled up. How dared these thinks attack him? A dangerous and challenging growl burst from his throat, and Jake jumped to meet their charge. Part of him, deep inside, yelled to be careful, but it was the part that wasn't in control. Without any care for his safety, he grabbed both branch monsters just below their mouth slits, planning to snap them. Pain flared from his hands as thin teeth gnawed on his hand, and with a roar of anger, he hurtled the monsters into the ground. Wooden limbs snapped, but the two monsters clambered back up instantly.

Jake's anger grew, and with it, a red haze began spreading across the world. Without another thought, he jumped forward and grabbed the nearest monster around its top and bottom half. He ignored the snapping in his hand or the thudding against his leg from the other one as he snapped the struggling branch monster across his leg. Pain, distant and seemingly unimportant, came from his leg. A greenish syrupy liquid oozed from the two halves, and the branch turned rigid.

The second monster had stopped clawing at his leg and now bit at him with a large toothy slit. Jake dropped the cracked one and slashed his attacker with a clawed hand in a single, blinding motion. Had he paid attention, he would have seen that his nails were longer than before, extending two inches passed his fingertips and gleaming wickedly sharp. Now all he knew was joy as they sheered away the monster branch's top, causing more thick green fluid to spray around.

Jake's breath came out in ragged bursts as he looked around for more things to fight. The broken parts of the monstrous branch he had snapped in half lay unmoving on the ground, but the other one was still twitching. A soft voice inside him tried to gain his attention, but Emma screamed, and the red haze spread again.

Jake swirled around, his claws slashing through the plants around him. Bolyr was straddling the largest monster, more a tree trunk than a branch. He seemed to have the upper hand, but behind him, multiple small branches were stalking closer. Emma was holding them off, scratching and hitting them as she dodged around like a cat. Jake knew she wouldn't hold out much longer.

Jake leaped forward, landing in their midst, and immediately grabbed one of the branches. Throwing the wriggling snake-like thing on the ground, he held it there with his taloned feet and began slashing at the trunk. His nails carved out long gouges in the wood. As soon as he cut across the mouth area, the tree started wriggling louder, some of its limbs retracing back in the main branch. Something bit him in his leg, but he sliced until the one he had pinned down stopped moving. Through the red haze, Jake felt a dull pain coming from his arm, and he saw one of the branches had latched on. Thing, black teeth sunk deep, it seemed to be drinking his blood and growing longer and thicker.

"Get off, leech," Jake growled as he ripped it off. A chunk of his flesh, scales and all, was torn free.

The dizzying pain was what finally snapped him out of his battle frenzy.

Jake stared at the horrible thing strung tight in his hands and felt pockets of pain from different parts of his body, screaming for his attention. His hold on the thing slipped as he felt fear overtake him. If those things managed to swarm him, they would drain him like a blood sack!

With both hands preoccupied, and panick rising, he growled and bit down on the branch. Wood splintered between his jaws. A pungent aroma filled his mouth, and he almost gagged. Resisting the urge to spit the thing out, he began mauling with his teeth, trying to imagine he was chewing on uncooked pasta.

As the two sides snapped apart and stopped moving, he spat out the wood, almost vomiting. With the immediate threat dealt with and mostly clear-headed again, he looked around. The ground around him was littered with unmoving branch monsters.

The two Kobold archers stood nearby, staring at him in awe. Their bows were gone, exchanged for long, vicious-looking daggers.

Further away, Mason and Sandra finished the final monstrous branch, and everything turned eerily quiet again.

"Spit everything out as fast as you can!" Bolyr snapped as he stepped forward.

The yellow Kobold moved beside Jake like a ghost and began patting him on the back, a concerned look on his face. Jake took one look at the worried face and quickly began spitting out tiny splinters before rinsing his mouth and tongue with his fingers. One of the archers handed him some green leaves, and he promptly used those. They tasted bitter, like fresh coffee beans, but they seemed to remove the horrid taste from his mouth. As soon as he finished, Jake breathed in some fresh air and looked at the archer who had handed him the leaves.

"Thank you."

The archer nodded, still eyeing him with a weird look. Then he turned around and followed the other archer, disappearing inside the foliage.

"Tell me immediately if you feel dizzy, sleepy, or anything else that feels wrong," Bolyr said, looking up at him.

Jake nodded, surprised to find he was taller than Bolyr. Somehow, he had thought it was the other way around. Emma stood next to Bolyr, nodding sagely as if she knew exactly what the native Kobold meant. Jake quickly checked her for injuries, but she only had a few bruises. He raised an eyebrow, wondering what she knew.

"Those branches are poisonous. It is one of the things Boloyr told me. He said you should never fight them barehanded," Emma said, sounding happy she could explain. "And definitely not bite into them!"

Jake sighed and shook his head.

Of course they had to be poisonous, he thought, turning around.

Mason was talking with Sandra, seeming impressed by something. Around them, wood fragments littered the ground where they stood.

"I guess fighting a common enemy helps to bond.," Jake murmured as a smile crept on his face when he saw Mason laugh at Sandra. He recognized his friend's fixation instantly.

--

Hours later, they were still trudging along the old game trail, which seemed to go on forever. From some tracks Jake had seen, the jungle creatures that used it were probably things he didn't want to meet.

He scratched the itching scab that covered the deep wound in his arm, still unable to believe how fast his healing was.

All of them had been left with some wounds after the battle, but Bolyr had only taken a glancing look and said they would be fine. Only one of the soldiers had gotten a more prolonged examination. Though he had a similar wound as Jake, his didn't heal nearly as fast. It had surprised Jake, but Bolyr had told the soldier to chew on some odd purple roots. Tess had gotten a dozen bitemarks in her arms and legs, but Bolyr had ignored her after a single disgusted look.

A soft laugh caused Jake to look up. Emma scrambled down a tree, a large grin on her face as she looked at one of the archers above. Bolyr had wanted them all to climb up through the dense canopy and travel along the branches, but the wounded soldier and Tess hadn't been able to. Eventually, even Bolyr had to accept that it wouldn't work, and they continued traveling on the ground.

They had made some changes, though, now walking two-file. Mason was walking beside Jake, both behind Bolyr. Behind them were Sarah, the three soldiers, and Tess. One archer covered the back, while the other was hidden in the branches above them.

In front of him, Emma moved next to Bolyr. The little girl seemed incredibly interested in what the burly Kobold had to tell, and she kept pestering him with a seemingly unending stream of questions. Jake wondered why, even though Bolyr seemed annoyed by the little girl's constant jabbering, he answered almost all of her questions.

"We are almost here. I am going to scout ahead on my own to see if the camp is secure. Stay here," Bolyr said before rushing off, almost as if he was fleeing from someone.

Jake and Mason shared a grin before they beckoned Emma over.

"So, what did you two talk about so long? Are you ready to adopt him yet?" Mason asked, the corners of his mouth twitching.

Emma's tail shot forward and slapped him on the leg, and Mason faked a yelp before rubbing his leg. Jake grinned as he saw Emma, seemingly very pleased with herself. Her tail drifted back up, and she used it to scratch between her shoulder blades.

"Stop playing around, you two. Did that guy tell you anything useful?" Jake asked, making sure not to use Bolyr's name. He looked pointedly at the little Kobold. Behind him, Sandra's footsteps closed in, and he guessed he wasn't the only one curious.

A serious look crossed Emma's young face, almost making Jake burst out laughing.

"He told me that those things in the water were Hydraci and some of the names and uses of plants we passed. For the rest, he kept asking questions."

"What kind of questions?" Sandra asked as she stepped next to Mason, who just glanced at her.

"He asked why we are all unbound, what the name of our…" A confused look crossed Emma's face before she continued. "Progenitor is."

"What the hell is a progenitor?" One of the soldiers whispered.

"I have a feeling he is talking about the Dragon whose blood we carry, which is going to be trouble seeing as none of us have any idea about that," Jake said slowly.

He frowned as he looked at where Bolyr had disappeared moments before. Something moved the branches, and the large Kobold stepped out from the jungle and beckoned them.

"Let's talk about this later," Sandra said, more an order than a request.

Jake watched her move towards Bolyr, her soldiers close behind and, as always, constantly at high alert. He shared a look with Mason, who shrugged before following them.

Minutes later, they arrived at a small open spot entirely round and lined with hanging branches that gave Jake the creeps. Before he could even say anything, both Emma and Mason jumped back on the path.

"That's one of those killer trees!" Mason hissed as he looked around for a way to flee.

A burst of startled laughter came from behind them, and they turned to find the archers shaking their heads while grinning. Jake gave them an annoyed look. One of the Kobold archers, the one with a massive scar where an ear should be, walked forward.

"You worry for nothing. We have cleansed the sickness from this heart tree. There are no more Brachir here. It is again safe to hide below, as it should be!"

As if wanting to prove it, he walked further inside the open space and patted one of the hanging branches before moving through the triangular opening. There was no reaction, no rattling.

Jake quickly translated for Mason, who had looked ready to pounce and finally relaxed.

"I need a vacation from this crap," Mason hissed before straightening and walking inside.

Jake gently took Emma by the shoulder, pulling the still reluctant girl with him. He followed Mason, trying to remember how long it had been since the summer break. He barely believed it when he realized that it wasn't even two weeks ago. It felt like a year or more ago.

When the entire group, except for the archers, was sitting in front of the center tree, Bolyr looked around. Above him, the two archers were following everything with sharp eyes.

"I think it is about time you tell me who you are and from whence you come. Obviously, you don't belong here, and I have never seen an unbound adult. That leaves only one option. Are you from one of the undiscovered continents?" Bolyr fixed them with his eyes one at a time, and it was evident he wasn't interested in any more small talk.

From up in the tree came the sound of bowstrings drawn.

Jake looked up, startled when he saw that the two archers were again pointing arrows at the group. One of them was targeting Sandra, while the other had an arrow aimed straight at Mason.

"Shit, they gone and tricked us," one of the soldiers said with a deep growl.

Sandra was the first to recover, and she looked at Jake. "What did he say?"

"They want to know if we come from one of the other, undiscovered continents. And Bolyr seems upset that we are unbound, whatever that means," Jake said, not taking his eyes from the archers.

"Great, that is just fucking great. So what are we supposed to say? That we are from another fake world that is now merging with this one? I wouldn't believe that if I was him! No, scratch that, I still can't believe it myself!" Mason said as he slammed a fist into the ground.

"Calm down! I don't know, but..." Jake was about to tell him to cool down when another voice interrupted him, startling everyone.

"Another world?"

Everyone looked up at the tree where one of the two archers was gaping at them, bow lowered. Before anybody realized what had just happened, he began talking to Bolyr.

"What is he telling them, and how the hell did he understand us?" Sandra asked, glaring at Jake and seeming about to lose her cool.

"I don't know! They're talking in one of those languages I didn't understand," Jake replied, annoyed when the panic caused his voice to jump up an octave.

"How can he speak our language?" Mason hissed, fidgeting on his spot, looking around as if he wanted to get up and attack something.

Before anyone could respond, Bolyr finished listening to the archer and looked at Jake again.

"So you are from a shadow world. How did you come to this one?" Bolyr said. His voice had turned harsher than before, and he seemed somewhat uncertain. When Jake translated his question, he growled softly.

"How the fuck are we going to answer that if we don't even know the answer," one of the soldiers whispered when Jake translated. The others were looking around with a mixture of barely contained anger and panic, all but the Tess that was.

"Tell him the truth. Our shadow world, as he called it, is collapsing, and for some reason, we ended up here," Tess said, keeping her gaze on the archer that seemed to understand them.

A hesitant look came across the archer's narrow green face before he turned to Bolyr and translated what the Fiend had said.

Bolyr stared at the Fiend for a few seconds, bewilderment and disgust warring on his face. Then he turned to Jack. "Why do you let your slave speak? You should punish her harshly before she gets the wrong idea."

The cold, callous words caused Jake to feel his mouth go dry. He stared at Bolyr, trying to determine if the other was making a distasteful joke. The penetrating stare showed him Bolyr was completely serious. He swallowed and looked uncomfortably at the others waiting at him for a translation.

"They think she is our slave," he said, pointing at the Fiend, whose eyebrows raised when she heard it.

There was a moment of silence as everyone seemed to let the information sink in.

"And..." Jake began, falling silent for a moment, looking at his feet, before looking at Tess. "He said I should punish her for speaking."