[rework] Minglings - chapter 35: Goat for breakfast (Patreon)

Mason huddled behind two large boulders near the volcano's edge, trying to get as much shelter against the howling wind as he could. His stomach growled, but it wasn't too bad yet, and he ignored it.

How fucking long can this storm last?

He glared at the sea, nothing but towering waves, lightning bolts, and dark gray skies above. A blue bolt struck the edge of the island below, blasting stone apart. Blinking away the spots, Mason stared at the tiny crater of molten stone.

Must be metal in the ground, he thought as he suppressed his sudden anxiety. Not interested in seeing it up close, he stepped backward, dropping into the volcano. With a quick unfurling and flapping of his wings, he stabilized his fall and landed on his ledge.

He curled up, inches from the lava, and dipped the tip of his tail into the slowly moving, almost gelatinous mass of pure heat. Still not quite there yet, he grunted when he felt a slight sting of pain, like putting your finger in tea too hot to drink.

Staring listlessly at the softly bubbling lava, he groaned. How unlucky could he get? After returning to the volcanic island late at night, he had gone to sleep, planning on setting out the following day. But when he woke up, it was almost pitch black outside, and this stupidly massive thunderstorm raged.

He sighed as he saw some golden red energy particles drift by in the toxic fumes. If he had to wait, he better practice some more. Maybe if he drew in enough energy, he'd not get hungry this fast? Focusing on the grain-sized particles, he flexed his mana-muscle, or whatever the thing was.

He didn't know the official, proper term for it, but he needed to name it something!

The particles shuddered, then froze, hovering in the air below as if they'd heard a call but weren't sure where it came from. Mason frowned, increasing his focus. The tiny particles of golden red began gravitating toward him. Upon touching his scales, they flowed inside, melting like snow on the hood of a running car.

This never gets old, Mason thought. He relished in the heat of the energy streams that chaotically coursed through his body, looking for a way out.

After a few moments, he steeled himself. Now came the hard part. With a grunt of effort, he forced the energy to flow into his muscles. It resisted his efforts, seeming happy to just freely flow in his body.

Move! Mason commanded, doubling his effort.

Stuttering and halting, the energy changed course, flowing into his muscles, which twitched and then expanded.

That was faster this time, he thought as he quickly rose to his feet.

Mason's claws clenched together, the tips of the nails carved gouges in the hard black stone. Ignoring the grinding noise, he felt more powerful than he ever had, but at the same time, the energy started to buck and rebel, trying to resist his wishes.

Knowing he had little time to test, Mason moved, jumping sideways, then back before dashing from one side of the ridge to the other and back. His mana-enhanced muscles more than doubled his movement from what he could tell, and when he slammed into a rock as a test, the impact didn't at all hurt, cushioned by his bloated muscles.

He managed to keep the flow constant for almost ten seconds, and then his concentration faltered, and the mental image shattered. The energy flow stopped, replaced with a sudden bout of weakness.

Just ten seconds, Mason thought angrily as he moved the excess energy from his mouth before it could run rampant. A small ball of fire, almost entirely white save for a red haze surrounding it, shot out of his mouth and exploded into the lava. Thick drops splattered about while a deep depression slowly filled up again.

I hate these meditation-based skills, but if I can keep it up for a longer time I'll be the stronger for it, Mason thought.

Still, he'd have to take care of the weariness after, he decided as he lay down and closed his eyes.

Two days later, the storm finally stopped, leaving clear blue skies and a calm black ocean with barely a ripple. Mason stared around, stunned at how fast the storm had dissipated. From raging clouds to blue had taken less than ten minutes.

His belly felt like a big empty pit, but he wasn't worried. There were plenty of centipedes left on terror birdie island.

And after that? With a lupine grin on his draconic face, he rose on his hind legs. He stretched his long neck as far as possible and gazed in the distance at a tiny speck on the horizon. It was barely noticeable and so far away that he knew it would cost him days to reach it.

But it didn't matter! It was either land or another island.

And that meant an opportunity to get away from here and back to Jake and the others. Maybe if he was lucky, it was one of the islands he knew!

Half a day later, with a belly full of centipede flesh, he took off from the volcano's edge. A cloud of red energy particles floated around him, held there by sheer will. It was one of the tricks he had learned in the days waiting for the storm to pass. He had no idea how long he could keep them with him, but it was worth the headache. Who knew when he'd find more again?

As he soared up into the air, the volcanic island rapidly shrunk until it was no more than the size of a coin, and he felt a pang. For some inexplicable reason, he knew he would miss the place.

Probably a remnant of that lizard mind, he thought with a grin.

With a last look at it, he angled towards the distant land, or he hoped that was what it was. He couldn't see it now that the sea wasn't as calm anymore.

Conserving as much energy as possible, he calmly flew forward, every move deliberate and with the least effort. Even like this, however, he was moving so fast that the wind howled as it rushed past him. Far below, the sea loomed. Dark and dangerous. How can Jake enjoy swimming there, he thought with a shiver. No, it wasn't a realm he wanted to enter again. Even the prospect of swimming caused him to shudder.

It was hours later when he finally saw a speck in the distance. As he got closer, a lingering fear that it was some tiny island disappeared. No, this was more than that, at least big enough to be the island they had been at. He couldn't be that lucky, right?

The speck grew, and more dots appeared until halfway through the afternoon, he was looking at a line all along the horizon.

That's no island, he thought, and for a moment, he was delirious with joy. Then realization struck him.

"It's not an island!" he groaned.

If it wasn't the island, he wasn't heading to where Jake and the others were! So, where the hell was he going?

The closer he got to the coast, the clearer it became to him that he was flying towards a continent. A giant, sprawling continent with an enormous volcanic mountain range separating the part he was heading to from the sea. The landmass stretched far into the distance on both sides, seemingly endless.

Trying to suppress his worry, Mason soared forward, no longer flapping but letting gravity slowly drag him down. From this high, he saw a desert on the other side of the black mountains. It seemed to stretch indefinitely, its reflective sandy-white surface only marred by the occasional giant boulder and hill.

The mountains and volcanoes, many of which seemed active, continued on the left and right. On the left side, countless plumes of smoke trickled into the air, while on the right side was one immense volcano. The side of the volcano bordering the sea was caved in, and Mason guessed it had erupted not that long ago as he inspected the steaming swath of stone that ran into the sea.

With no clear plan, he descended further when movement and small patches of vegetation caught his eye. Yellow grass and orange bushes dotted the mountains, seeming to thrive in some areas while absent in others. One-horned goats moved between the patches of grass, easy to spot due to their orange-striped and purple hides, which stuck out against the black and gray rock.

Still a hundred feet up, Mason saw a shadowy shape slither between some boulders. It headed in a straight line for one of the goats.

Now what's that, he wondered.

Mason circled down, curious, while at the same time trying to keep his mind away from the subject of his friends. He might be here for a while, and it couldn't hurt to know what predators were here beside him.

The gray shape reached the border of a grassy patch, still hidden in the shadows of the boulders. It was roughly forty feet from the closest goat, a massive and muscular one with a scar on its back.

Now what? He is going to spot you if you move! Mason thought, feeling pity for the foolish predator. How was it going to reach-

The shape moved like a bullet from a gun, streaking from between the boulders and bridging the gap between the rocks and the goat so fast that Mason would have missed it if he had blinked. It collided with the goat, which was far too late to react.

Mason swallowed as he stared dumbly as a serpent that seemed entirely made of rough grey stone wrapped itself around the muscular goat, strangling it. If something had attacked him that fast he would never have been able to react in time.

The goat was bleating loudly, trying to angle its horn toward the snake, but it had no chance. Wrapped as it was, in three coils, its struggles ceased within moments. Under Mason's watchful eye, the snake brought the tip of its tail close to the belly of the goat. A crack appeared on the edge that opened up like a flower. Inside were rows of teeth that slid outward like stiletto knives, and the horrendous mouth began gnawing at the goat's belly.

Holy shit, that's one creepy snake, Mason thought.

Repulsed, he almost vomited when the snake wriggled the teeth-lined tail inside the belly of the goat while it still moved. Shaking his head, he wondered for a moment if he should attack it now that it was preoccupied. As if reading his mind, the head of the stone worm pulled back and gazed up at him with two rows of three closely cropped white eyes.

Mason shivered. Those eyes reminded him of the three-dotted side of a die.

"Yeah, I'll be on my way now. Have a good meal, yes?" he muttered before taking his eyes off the snake and looking for a place to land and think things through. Preferably as far from the stone snake as possible.

The giant volcano immediately drew his eye, and with a few flaps, he soared toward it. The land below flitted along below, dotted with more goats and patches of grass. He didn't see any more stone snakes, but he had the feeling that wasn't because there weren't any.

A few moments later, he flew toward the top of the volcano when a voice like a crumbling stone echoed up to him.

"And where do you think you are going, young Dragon?"

Mason stopped mid-air, flapping himself back as hard as he could. In front of him, a giant ridge of stone around the volcano's edge moved, uncoiling itself. A head the size of a dump truck reared up dozens of meters above the crater, and a larger version of the stone snake stared at him with the same solid white eyes. The corners of its rugged stony mouth were pulled up in a slight smile. Mason had never even thought it possible for a stone snake to show that much emotion, but he could swear it was sneering at him.

"So? Did your nest mother not tell you to answer your elders?" the snake asked, his voice sounding venomous.

Mason swallowed and quickly answered as his mind spun like crazy. "Sorry, elder! I wanted to rest in the volcano! If I had known it was the lair of one such as yourself, I would have gone elsewhere!"

A burst of deep, rolling laughter came from the snake, but it quickly stopped and was followed by a derisive snort. "Good with words, I see! Must be one of Vascolorin's brood. That is good, now I won't have to feel bad. I always hated that stuck-up golden-scaled bastard!"

Mason heard something from behind and folded his wings without a second thought. He dropped a dozen feet down while something rushed over his head. Looking up, he saw the tail end of the enormous stone worm, lined with teeth the size of his limbs, hove above him. Flapping twice, he turned towards the sea.

"Come back, little snack!" the snake shouted after him, sounding amused.

A whistling sound came, and before he could act, something hit him in the back of his wings. Mason let out a pained shout as scales cracked and broke. Fear threatened to envelop him as he pictured himself plummeting down, but his wing membrane wasn't penetrated. Flapping like crazy to get speed, he angled away from the sea, along the side of the volcano, rushing down. Two stone boulders, the size of his head, flew past him toward the sea.

Are you joking me? He quickly looked between his legs and saw the serpent make a sort of spitting motion. Head back forward, he dodged sideways, dodging another set of stones, and began zigzagging as best he could.

It took him almost a minute to get away from the volcano and climb to a safe altitude. Now, the stones the snake spat his way fell short.

"Fucking hell, you stupid overgrown snail!" Mason growled as pain lanced through his back and one of his wings.

He cast a final angry look at the giant snake glaring after him before turning towards the smaller plumes further away.

Let's get away from that thing as fast as I can, he thought, keeping an eye out for anything that might try and shoot stones at him.

--

Jake stared up through the shimmering surface. The edge of the island lay beyond, and he patiently waited for one of the Insectoids to make its move. A cloud of blue mana-particles shimmered in the air around him, ready to be used.

He'd been on the bottom of the crystal clear river for a while now, still like a rock. There was movement, though. Small currents played around from the Kobolds, and he looked at Garry in annoyance. The Kobold was digging into the soil absentmindedly, not paying attention to the mud that floated up or the fact that he had told the fool to stop fidgeting a dozen times already. Before he could stop him, a slender black-scaled hand shot forward and grabbed Garry's hand.

Melissa growled, an odd sound below the water, and wagged her finger at the yellow-eyed Kobold. Jake knew she would have loved to scold the other, but she couldn't speak below the water. If it wasn't that she was the only one besides him to hold Gary in line, he wouldn't even have had her here yet.

Garry made a so-what gesture but stopped disturbing the mud and turned his attention to a small rock he had dug up.

Should have left him at the base, Jake thought as he gnashed his teeth.

Then again, if he had left him behind, the obstinately Kobold would likely have stirred up more trouble.

Perhaps he will get killed during the attack, Jake thought.

He blinked in shock at his own aggressive thoughts. Since when was he this vicious? He shook his head and turned his attention back to the tree-line. From his previous scouting, he knew the insectoids would leave to hunt soon, and they had to swim through the river to get from the island to the mainland. After that, they would be gone for at least the entire morning, hopefully leaving their captured Kobolds with only a token defense, which was when they would make their move.

Jake growled as he recalled the sorry state of the Kobolds the insectoids had dragged along. He'd had to watch from a distance as he tracked the Insectoids, unable to stop them from bringing their captives to the island.

And his cool trick with the water had only worked the one time, after which the insectoids had started to travel further away from the river. But it was fine.

Grinning maliciously, he saw movements along the forest edge. The insectoids were readying themselves.

There they are, he thought. They would have no idea what had hit them!

He felt a surge of pride as he looked at the over a hundred Kobolds that hovered in the water around him. He had found or freed most of them over the last week, snatching them before the Insectoids could or something from them with violence.

His full attention turned to the bushes as they rustled violently. The green leaves parted, and an Insectoid lept out and into the water. Jake concentrated and pulled in the mana, using it to agitate the water around the bottom of the river. Within moments a murky layer rose up, hiding him and the others. He couldn't hold it for long, but he wouldn't have to. From the top, it would look almost the same, only a slight heat haze showing something was going on.

Plunges came as more insectoids jumped in and began swimming away from the river island, heading towards the nearest riverbank. Twenty, thirty, a hundred, Jake lost count as he swallowed. Those things had multiplied again. Ten minutes later, he'd last count and was glad to see the small army of insectoids disappear into the jungle.

Feeling somewhat drained, he released his hold on the murky water cover. He stared at Bolyr, who was at the front of the group, closest to the island, and nodded. Besides Melissa, he was the only Kobold here that couldn't breathe underwater, and having both here would take a big chunk out of their underwater breathing plant stock.

The yellow-armed Kobold nodded back before slowly swimming towards the island. At the edge, he climbed up and disappeared inside the bushes. Seconds turned to minutes, and Jake was getting worried when Bolyr finally stuck his head back out, signaling.

Jake released a pent-up breath and used his tail to propel himself through the water.

"Follow me and keep quiet. If we want to save the others, we can't let them know we are here," he said, glaring at Garry.

The annoying Kobold didn't even notice, as he only had eyes for the shore.

Hoping that Gary wouldn't cause problems, Jake crawled out of the water. A minute later, the Kobold strikeforce was crouching between the bushes behind Jake.

Bolyr sat beside him, seeming as relaxed as ever as if he had done these things many times.

"I found the insect hive. It's a round mound of mud and sand in the middle of the island. There is barely any movement," Bolyr said.

"Alright, you take the lead, and let's free some Kobolds," Jake said.

Bolyr nodded and moved forward, Jake close behind. The group snuck after them. Less than a hundred meters further, they arrived at a wide-open space next to the massive trunk of the Hometree that dominated the island. Pushed up against the trunk was a mass of mud with a single opening in the front.

I wonder why they don't have any sentries, Jake thought as he looked up and around before frowning at Bolyr.

The other seemed to understand what he meant and shook his head.

Jake waited, staring at the entrance for a minute before motioning at Bolyr. "Begin."

Without a response, the native Kobold snuck towards the entrance, his arms full of twigs and branches. He deposited them to the side of the entrance and bent towards them. Jake couldn't see what he was doing, but within a minute, a plume of smoke rose, and flames began licking the branches and twigs.

"Bring him the rest," Jake whispered to three Kobolds with arms filled with branches.

They obeyed instantly, running forward and dropping their load next to Bolyr, who began feeding the fire. As soon as it was larger enough, they began piling the wood up in front of the entrance, and smoke started pouring in.

"Ok, bring the larger wood, then wait next to the entrance," Jake said.

More Kobolds ran forward, nobody trying to keep quiet anymore, and soon a roaring bonfire blocked the entrance, smoke following the air stream into the opening.

This feels too easy, Jake thought as he looked around. He'd expected an instant reaction, not this.

He joined the kobolds waiting at the sides of the entrance, his worry growing. They didn't have to wait that long.

Half a minute later, chittering screams came from the insect burrow, and dozens of Insectoids burst through the fire. They began kicking at the branches, trying to disperse it.

"NOW!" Jake didn't wait but rushed forward, ramming into the nearest Insectoid, a massive thing with shells covering its back.

With a swipe of his tail, Jake cracked the ugly mandible head before it could as much as resist.

Around him, the Kobolds swarmed the other Insectoids, and before he could even join in, the Insectoids were overcome, dismembered, or beheaded.

Bolyr dragged an armless praying mantis-like Insectoid to him, dropping it on the ground.

Jake bent down to the much smaller thing and brought his razor-sharp teeth within an inch of its face. "Tell me where the Kobolds are, and I might let you live!"

The Insectoid hissed softly, and it seemed to shiver. "They are in the center of the home nest," it said before making a weird chittering sound that Jake had come to associate with laughing.

"How many of you are there guarding it!"

The Insectoid didn't respond, but continued to chitter softly.

Jake turned to Bolyr, his worry growing.

"Something feels wrong. This seems too easy..."

Bolyr frowned at the Insectoid then at Jake before turning to the entrance. "Stay here. I will check inside,"

Without giving Jake a chance to disagree, the Kobold ran through the scattered and smoldering wood and into the cave.

Dammit, thats not what I mean, Jake thought.

He looked around, but none of the Kobolds had more than a superficial injury.

Something is wrong... this feels like a-

"TRAP!"

Bolyr's loud voice echoed from the entrance, and moments later, he burst out. "It's a trap! We need to get out of here!"

~Too late,~ from all around, many voices sang in unison.

They came from the bushes around them, the forest above, and the entrance of the burrow, and with a rustle, Insectoids attacked them from all sides.

"Incoming!" Jake roared, cursing himself for his overconfidence. "Stay close together! Don't get swarmed!"

It was the last thing he managed to shout before the first insectoids rushed him, aiming for his wings. He jumped to the side and grabbed the nearest one in his front claws, ripped its head off, then tossed the still-flailing body into two others about to jump him.

As large as he was, he was agile and fast and jumped around, biting, slicing, and ripping apart everything that got too close. Within mere moments he'd decimated half a dozen while the Insectoid claws and mandibles barely scratched his scales.

Around him, the Kobolds weren't doing as well, as the insectoids swarmed over them, two or three jumping each Kobold.

With a roar, Jake ran to the nearest besieged Kobold and ripped the Insectoid away and into pieces before moving to the next. Sadly there was only one of him and hundreds or maybe thousands of Insectoids. He felt an agonizing pain in his chest as the Kobold bodies began piling up rapidly. Many had little experience with fighting, and even with their new instincts helping along, Jake saw they were starting to panic and break.

Anger bubbled up so fast, it overflowed, and he roared, his throat vibrating from the force while leaves shook free of the trees above, falling down like rain.

The battle around him froze for a moment, then a similar, though weaker, roar came from the Kobolds, and they tore into the insectoids, seeming to lose any inhibition. The Insectoids, on the other hand, seemed to move more sluggishly, and within moments the tide of battle turned.

Growling in a fury, Jake rushed around, tearing the Insectoids to pieces. A tiny portion of his mind somehow managed to stay clear, and it was what woke him almost ten minutes later.

The battle was almost over, and the ground was littered with unmoving shapes and ripped-off limbs and shells. Wounded Kobolds were crying and moaning, while the wounded Insectoids barely made a sound.

Nearby two insectoids were mauling at a downed Kobold, and Jake ripped them away. He was too late, though, and as he watched the ripped-out throat of the Kobold, blood bubbling from between her lips as her eyes dimmed, he roared and bit off one of the Insectoids’ heads. He dismantled the others with his claws before looking around, breathing raggedly. Only two insectoids still stood. They backed up to the muddy nest as a dozen Kobolds closed in on them.

Bolyr ran in from the side, knocking them to the ground, and as one, the other Kobolds rushed to his aid. A moment later, the final two Insectoids were ripped apart.

A sudden silence fell over the clearing, and without the shouting and fighting, only the rustling of the leaves and the soft lapping of the waves remained.

That didn't go well, Jake thought as he looked around.

Bolyr moved next to him, blood streaming from his arms. "We got tricked. Either they had far more here, or those we thought had left somehow circled back."

"Impossible, we would have seen," Jake snapped before taking a deep breath. This wasn't Bolyr's fault. He had been the one to plan this.

He looked around, weary and with a sense of profound sadness, counting the bleeding Kobold corpses littered everywhere. He faltered at thirty and tried hard to push back the strong feeling of guilt threatening to swallow him.

He shook his head, trying to clear it. This wasn't the time. They weren't even done yet!

"Help the wounded! We need to get out of here before more show up," he shouted.

Limping slightly, Bolyr moved to sit next to him and shook his head. "I don't think there will be many more left. If there were, they would have been here by now. We need to go inside and find the captured Kobolds before a new batch hatches or the others return. They will know what is happening here and will be rushing back."

Jake nodded and rose. "Stay here and care for the wounded. Get a few people to stand on the lookout near the water. When they see the Insectoids, tell them to shout and return!" Bolyr nodded, and Jake walked towards the opening, trying hard to ignore the bodies around him.

Next to the entrance, one of the Kobolds was checking an unmoving body, and when he got up, Jake realized it was Garry. Of course, he had survived. Garry looked up, and his eyes narrowed. Ignoring the accusing look in the other's eyes, Jake stepped through the muddy opening.

The dark tunnels were large enough for him to move through easily, and he made his way further down. All of the side branches exited in empty, small chambers while the main tunnel began spiraling down. Jake kept listening for movement, only his nails keeping him from sliding down.

Five minutes later, he realized he could still see, even though he was deep under the ground now. He wasn't unfamiliar with his own dark vision, but it usually worked best in water and needed at least some light. There shouldn't be any here...

He frowned as he looked around and finally noticed tiny mushrooms growing on the ceiling and walls. They glowed ever so softly, which was apparently enough for his dark vision, as he could see a few dozen feet ahead. A bloody, fetid scent began spreading through the tunnel, getting thicker the further he went.

The tunnel ended after another hundred or so feet, and Jake stopped as he neared the end. More light was ahead, and from the entrance, he could barely see a wall opposite the tunnel.

Listening for movement, he carefully stuck his long neck into the room. As soon as he did, the scent of old blood and rot overwhelmed him, almost causing him to throw up. Blinking from the odor that was so thick that it burned his eyes, he closed his underwater eyelids. It helped, though not with the smell.

Finding nothing moving, he carefully stepped into the room and looked around.

Oh no...

Dozens of mangled Kobold bodies littered the ground, their bellies ripped open and their intestines gone, replaced by large amounts of gelatinous eggs. Their faces were all warped in horrified looks of fear and agony.

Turning around, Jake felt his dragon stomach heave, and before he could stop himself, he puked its contents on the muddy floor.