Minlings: The Merger, page 12
It was a good thing he froze, or he might have screamed before he recognized Mason. His friend was kneeling in front of them, a finger against his lips and eyes open wide. He also had one hand across Emma's mouth to prevent her from screaming. The little Kobold was almost panicking, tears dripping from her eyes. After a second, she recognized Mason and calmed down before raising her hands and pulling Mason's hand away.
Jake blinked and swallowed down some bile before nodding, and he looked around. He was about to ask what was going on when Mason raised a finger in warning. Then he moved to the side, granting Jake his first unobstructed view of the small clearing behind Mason.
A tall, perfectly straight black tree stood in the middle of a mossy tapestry, its thick trunk disappearing amongst a canopy of leaves. It had no branches he could see, and all the other trees seemed to stay away from it, creating a perfect circle. Dense yellow and orange moss grew across the clearing, but even it stopped within two foot from the tree, creating a second circle. Scattered around the tree lay black, uneven branches, anywhere between two and six foot long and some as thick as his upper arm.
Jake frowned, looking around and confused. Why was Mason so on edge?
What is wrong? There is no-
Before he could finish the thought, one of the black branches shuddered, and a small twig grew from its side. With a smooth motion, it reached out to the soft carpet of moss and, with what resembled a little hand, ripped away a handful of moss before bringing it back to the main branch. A slit opened up, and the hand stuck the moss inside. The slit closed again, and the small arm merged back into the branch.
After a moment, another branch repeated the process.
Rushing through
Jake sat, frozen in place, feeling Emma's hand tremble. He turned to Mason, getting an uncertain shrug. Emma was looking at the behavior of the branches as if spellbound.
Jake turned back to the solid wall of foliage, suddenly wishing he was back inside. As careful as he could, he began rising, but as soon as he did, Mason gripped his arm, pulling him back. Jake shook his head, throwing him a confused look, and Mason grimaced before looking straight up.
Getting a terrible feeling, Jake looked above his head and felt his stomach clench. Black branches, similar to those on the ground, hung above the edge of the clearing. They appeared from between the green and purple leaves like snakes. If those were the same as those on the ground... he looked at Mason sharing a horrified look. Mason clenched his jaw, pointed at the tree, and raised a hand, mimicking how the tree went straight up, spread out, and back down like a bowl, forming something similar to a trap.
Now what? Jake thought. They couldn't just stay here, could they?
What they needed was a weapon. He carefully started rooting through the moss and soil below, looking for a stone. The branches showed no reaction, and he felt something smooth and round. Praying for something usable, he drew it out as quietly as possible, then blinked in shock. In his hands was an old and worn yellowed skull. It had three eye sockets and stumps where horns might have sat on the top. A sharp intake of air came from the side, and he shared another horrified look with Mason.
Mason mouthed, 'We are fucked' at him, and Jake shook his head. 'Not useful,' he mouthed back.
He put the skull down and dug around some more, quickly unearthing bones, both small and large, and many more skulls. As he tried to find one that might be useful, Emma started softly crying, and he gnashed his teeth. They needed a distraction of some sort. Recalling an old thing he had seen in movies, he picked up a skull, weighing it for a moment before looking at the far side of the clearing. With a flick of his wrist, he threw it across the moss-covered clearing.
Three pairs of reptilian eyes were following the skull as it hit the side of the vegetation and, unable to penetrate it, tumbled back down. Above it, one of the branches shivered and shot down, striking the skull before it could reach the ground. With a sharp pang, bone fragments scattered around, some knocking into the branches littering the ground.
The black branches shuddered, then rapidly grew legs and arms, scrambling to stand upright. Two orange bulbs sat atop each stick, staring around unblinking. Within moments seven of the scrawny, black entities were looking around, searching for what had awoken them.
Jake looked at Mason, who bent over until he was close to Jake's ear.
"We have a chance. Those fucking branches that are hovering at the top pause for a moment. The skull couldn't penetrate the jungle, but we should be able to jump right in."
Clenching his fists, Jake knew it was a gamble. Although Mason made it sound so easy, they might jump against a thicker wall of the canopy and bounce back, or the black branches might just rush after them. He stared at the tiny black stick figures, at the jungle, and nodded. They didn't really have another choice.
"I will carry Emma. Get ready," Mason whispered before crawling to the small blue Kobold and whispering something in her ear.
Jake kept an eye on the sticks and felt his mouth run dry when one turned directly toward them. It didn't show any sign of seeing them, though, and its body continued to turn. Then it stopped and snapped back, turning its horrifying orange orbs to Jake. A weird ticking noise echoed through the clearing, and immediately all branches turned to the tree Kobolds.
Mouthing "now," Mason picked up Emma and rushed towards the side of the jungle.
Jake followed right behind him, and nearly at the same time, they threw themselves at the thick wall. Jake felt a momentary resistance pushing him back, then a branch blocking him broke, and he tumbled back into the dense undergrowth.
--
Unbeknownst to them, the black branches walked to the edge of the clearing, clicking sounds coming from deep inside their wooden bodies. After a moment, a louder banging noise sounded from the central tree, and the black branches leaped forward, disappearing inside the jungle.
--
"We've gotta move. If those ugly sticks follow us, we won't be able to see them coming," Mason hissed, grabbing Jake's hand and pulling him forward. Jake held onto Emma's hand. Now in the lead, Mason began barreling through the jungle, using his bigger bulk to force his way through, no longer worrying about making a racket. Branches snapped left and right as he created a path, pulling the others along.
"Make sure you don't stake yourself, you fool!" Jake shouted in a panic.
He got no reply, but Mason slowed down a little.
"They are after us!"
Emma's high-pitched scream, filled with fright, made Jake want to roar in anger. He pulled her towards him, picking her up with one arm as he rushed after Mason.
The massive, golden-red Kobold started picking up speed again as his eyes narrowed to slits. Two very inhuman eyelids now covered his eyes and stopped even sharp sticks that would have penetrated them otherwise. A tree branch, thick and strong, caused him to come to a sudden stop, and he shook his head, slightly dazed. In the momentary silence, Jake heard something, and he was about to say so when Mason shouted.
"What the… I smell water!"
Mason began rushing forward again, not waiting for a response and pulling Jake and Emma along.
How the hell does he smell water? Jake thought when he heard something in a momentary lapse of Mason's bulldozing of plants. Something familiar.
"I think I hear running water!" he shouted, wondering how he even heard it over the sound of Mason moving through the jungle like a freight train.
Then he smelled it, a fresh, cool aroma, pure and clear. He instinctively knew it was water, surer about it than about the scent of orange or apple. There was also something different about it compared to what they had scented in the bike tunnel.
With a suddenness that caused all three of them to come to a staggering halt, they burst out of the jungle. Light, bright and warm caused Jake's eyes to close while the sound of surging water rippled around him. For a moment, he forgot the branch monsters, the jungle, everything, as he enjoyed the feeling of the sun on his now almost naked scale-covered body.
–
A group of five kobold soldiers and one Fiend raced through the jungle, the lead Kobold effortlessly shoving the dense pockets of vegetation out of her way. All of them were holding branches.
"Ten or more on our six, sergeant!"
Sandra cursed as she spun around, her long nails drawing deep gauges in the moss-covered sand. The purple and teal dungeon all around her was a chaotic mess playing with her sense of direction.
Behind her was a narrow path of broken leaves and branches. She gazed across the other Kobolds and past Tess, the sole remaining Fiend. Behind them, at the back of the group, was Denson, the most talkative of the soldier-turned-kobolds, who was backing away, staring at a group of Goblins running in and out of the jungle far behind them.
I had hoped that they would have needed more time to take care of those other two Fiends, Sandra thought as she gritted her teeth. The gray fools had run off in panic but sadly hadn't gotten very far.
Can we outrun them? she wondered. They were faster, but if she had to push through the jungle... A look around showed that the jungle was getting ever denser, so probably not.
We need to ambush them and-
A shadowy shape with six legs shot out of the side of the jungle, collided with Denson then disappeared with his flailing shape into the dense jungle on the other side, leaving nothing but rustling leaves.
"Denson!" the soldier closest to him shouted.
"Shit," another soldier grunted as he backed up closer to her.
"Hold your position," Sandra snapped.
She stared at the empty spot where the soldier had just stood, barely believing what she'd seen. No scream, no struggle. Nothing.
Before she could shut down, her training exerted itself, and she stepped back.
"Stay closer together and keep moving! Whatever it was, it didn't attack us while we were running! So keep going. With some luck, it'll grab those green-faced punks instead of us," she shouted before turning and running away.
Shoving the branches out of her way, she felt the double eyelids slide across her eyes again, causing the world to become slightly dim and fuzzy. A branch whipped back from her hand, struck her face, then her eye, and bounced back harmlessly.
Should have had these back then, she thought, as she recalled the last time running through the jungle. As she did, she recalled Hernandez following after her. Could have really used you here now, Dez, she thought as she gritted her teeth and continued forward.
She had no idea how long she kept running, but at some point, even her new, powerful body broke down, and she slowed to a walk. There had been no sign of the monstrous thing, but those Goblin shitheads were still after them.
"Sergeant... I think I just heard something!"
Sandra stopped and looked at the dark-brown and blue Kobold. It took her a moment to recall his name.
"What is it, Willson?" she whispered.
"Shouting," he said.
A high peel of laughter and shouting came from behind them, and Sandra frowned.
"Yeah, you don't say," another soldier said as he inched closer. "Those guys don't do anything but shout."
O'Reilly, Sandra thought, quickly putting a name with the completely green-scaled face.
She nodded at him in agreement and was about to turn when Willson shook his head.
"No. Not them, something else, from over there," he said, his voice a dull and deep rumble. He pointed towards a dense area of jungle that almost looked like a wall of green.
"Keep moving before that thing comes back," Sandra said as she continued forward, walking this time.
"Did the shouts sound-" She cut herself and shook her head. She'd almost said human. That didn't really apply anymore.
"Like us?" she finally grunted.
"I just heard it again," Willson whispered, more agitated now as he stepped beside her. "It's coming from over there. "
Sandra looked at the dense jungle, then back across the narrow path they had broken through the jungle. She detected movement, still far away but obviously still tracking them.
It's not like we can lose them here, she thought as she made a decision.
"Fine. Let's go see what they are. Worst case, they are monsters, and we lure those green punks to them and let them deal with it," she said as she turned to the far denser jungle.
"Stick together," she hissed as she barged inside, feeling branches and twigs bend and snap away.
Within moments their forward motion was slowed to a crawl as she forced a path forward. From behind, the laughter of the Goblins drew closer.
She hadn't heard anything yet and was starting to worry Willson had been mistaken.
"Did you hear something again?" she whispered.
"Nothing, sarge," Willson replied.
"Sarge, they are closing in," O'Reilly snapped. "At this pace, they will catch up in under a minute."
Shit, Sandra thought as she turned, gripping her branch so hard the wood splintered. There was barely any vision in the jungle, the path she had drawn no more than a smudge.
"Where are they?" she whispered.
"From ten to two-o'clock," O'Reilly said as he waved at what looked like a salad of green and purple leaves plastered against a wall.
"They are spreading out!"
I can't see anything, Sandra thought as she backed up, raising her stick.
"Fine, get ready for a scrap," she shouted.
–
Jake was the first to snap out of his reverie. He spun around and stared at the jungle. Were those nasty stick-things still after them? Seconds ticked by, but nothing moved in the wall of green except for leaves and shadows. Slowly his fear and anxiety faded, and he looked around. Mason stood next to him, eyes narrowed and fixated on the seemingly impenetrable wall of leaves.
"Perhaps they don't like it out in the open?" Jake whispered.
Mason looked up and shrugged. "Perhaps."
Jake backed up a bit, then turned to look around. It was bliss, being able to look around without leaves obstructing his view. He barely registered that his eyes didn't need time to adjust to the sudden light or how the thin extra eyelids slid back up as he drank in the view.
Roughly forty feet away was a river filled with glistening rocks jutting out like spear points. Some reached an arm's length above the water, their points curved like the teeth of some giant predatory animal. The jungle sprawled over the land on the other side, and trees flanked the muddy banks, their roots running down into the river. Both up and downstream, the sparkling turquoise water flowed until disappearing into the distant jungle.
Jake felt drawn to the glistening water and the cool reprieve it seemed to promise. Overwhelmed by thirst, he walked toward the muddy bank, looking for any movement below the surface. He frowned as he closed in on a thin film of water that washed over the shore. It was different, much brighter than it should be. Something about it worried him, though he couldn't put his finger on the way. Perhaps it would be better to wait.
Behind him, Mason and Emma were also looking around in wonder. Mason kept turning back to scan the jungle, but his frown had disappeared. Emma stood beside him, all her attention on the water. Almost as if she was sleepwalking, she walked forward, stopping just short of the raging river. A misty cloud of water vapor slowly enveloped her, causing her scales to shine with a dark luster.
"Emma, be careful!" Jake said as he moved forward. He heard Mason curse behind him.
Emma didn't respond but remained frozen on the edge of the glistening wet, muddy banks.
"Shit, now what?" Mason muttered behind him.
Jake had almost reached her when he saw a subtle movement in the water. It took a fraction for his eyes to focus, then he felt his heart rate spike. Yellow eyes with dark triangular pupils were looking up at Emma from the water. They were glowing with an inner light as more appeared.
A combination of rage, fear, and protectiveness almost drowned out any reason from Jake's mind. He leaped across the remaining distance, separating him from Emma, grabbed the girl's shoulder, and yanked her away from the river. In his haste, he forgot his new strength and tossed her almost halfway back to the jungle and Mason's path. Ignoring Emma's startled yelp, he kept his eyes on the indistinct figures that seemed to be coming closer.
--
Emma hit the ground, rolled, and raised herself on one knee, shaking her head while Mason rushed next to her.
"You okay?"
"I... I can hear them! They keep whispering, telling me to jump in the water," Emma muttered, shaking her head again.
"Who?" Mason asked.
A low growl caused him to turn around with blinding speed. Jake stood crouched low, growling at the river. Mason didn't hesitate a moment, and with his tail stretched behind him, he sprinted towards his friend.
He wasn't even halfway when Jake let out a guttural, inhuman roar, shattering the silence.
Startled, Mason nearly tripped as he gaped at Jake. His friend was prowling towards the water with his mouth opened so wide that his lower jaw almost touched his chest. He was fixated on something in the water. Mason followed his gaze and saw a dozen shapes swim up from the depths. Feeling his adrenaline spike, he came to a sliding halt.
"Jake, back up! They'll drag you into the water!" Mason roared, his voice dropping two octaves and sounding decidedly feral.
--
Jake faintly heard his friend as his naked feet splashed the muddy film of water. Intense hate filled him, bubbling up from deep in his mind and pushing him to jump and maul whatever was in the water. The struggle against the unfamiliar, alien urges felt like wrestling with a giant, and he shivered, his body a tense coil.
Part of him knew that the surging emotions were there to warn him and keep him safe, but the same part knew that if he gave in to the desire, he wouldn't come out alive. He couldn't jump into the water against an unknown foe that outnumbered him. Frozen in place, he struggled to regain control as the shapes got closer, details becoming clearer. They were reptilian and smaller than him. The closer they got, the more his instincts warred against his common sense, and just when he couldn't hold it anymore and was ready to jump, strong arms pulled him away.
