Her True Form

Yvette groaned and crawled out of the boat, collapsing onto the sand and laying there. “It feels… weird...” she mumbled.

“It’ll pass. You’ve been on the water for a while. Before you know it, you’ll be fine.” He knelt beside her and gently stroked her hair.

She nodded and gave him a small smile. Already she could feel her stomach beginning to calm down. “Thank you.” She felt exhausted, as if she hadn’t had a full night’s sleep in days. Which, she supposed, she hadn’t.

“You should be happy. We made it here, didn’t we?” he asked. “The hard part is already done.”

“Isn’t the hard part getting the scale?” she asked. “Then getting off the island?”

“There can be more than one hard part.”

“Sometimes I feel like my whole life is the hard part,” she said. “It has gotten much easier since I’ve had someone helping, though.”

He rolled his eyes. “You’re going to be fine. Just--” He paused, his eyes turning from her towards the treeline. “Just fine.” His voice went low. “Someone is watching us. Something. I don’t know what, though.”

“Are we in danger?” she asked gently, thoughts of sleep driven from her mind by the impending threat. She was far too exhausted to want a fight, though, so she hoped that whatever it was would leave them be.

“I don’t know. Give me your bag,” he whispered.

She nodded and slowly handed it over to him. To ensure that if there were any accidents they wouldn’t be weighed down, his armor and most of his weapons had been put inside her enchanted bag. Now, however, she felt more vulnerable than ever knowing he wasn’t ready for anything that might come after them.

He opened the bag and, after a moment, dropped her bracer onto her chest. She nodded and slowly slid it on, resting while he slowly armed himself. He made it look casual, as if he had all the time in the world and as if he didn’t know someone, or something, was watching them. Pulling the chainmail hauberk over his head and shimmying a little so it unbunched and fell over his body. Once it was on, he pulled out his belt and wrapped it tightly around his waist.

She held her breath and watched, waiting for some sound, some sign of whatever was watching them was getting ready to strike. But there was nothing aside from the occasional rustling of leaves.

She tensed up when she heard a soft scratching sound from the treeline, but nothing burst from it. Gervas held out his left hand to her, once he was fully armed, a spear in his right hand and his bow unstrung and resting in the quiver tied over his shoulder. His shield on the ground and leaning against his leg. She finally allowed herself to breathe again, taking his hand and letting him help her up.

“Did it leave?” she asked softly.

“No. It’s still there. It’s watching us,” he whispered. “We’re going to go into the jungle and circle back to try and get it from behind. Okay?”

“Okay,” she whispered back. If nothing else, it seemed the tension had helped her recover from the disorientation of being back on land. She no longer felt like throwing up.

She did feel a pang of regret when he let her hand go, picked up his shield and started to walk up the beach. She followed behind him, shaking her head and silently berating herself for such foolish thoughts. They’d spent days out at sea together, which she had spent so sick she thought she was dying.

There was no way he would ever have feelings for her now. He’d seen her at her worst, disgusting and ugly. She--

Her eyes widened with horror. She put a hand up to her chest. “Cleanse,” she cast quickly, before reaching up to touch her cheeks. Her face burned with shame when she realized she hadn’t removed the hairs in days.

No, there was no way he could ever look at her like that, now. She gave a soft whimper and began to remove them with her magic.

Gervas glanced back and chuckled. “Back to your morning ritual, I see?” he teased. “Want to look your best in case we get ambushed?”

Her cheeks burned with shame and she gave a nod. “I’m sorry. You must think I’m disgusting,” she muttered. “I must have looked just--”

“You were sick.”

“That’s no excuse,” she said sheepishly. “I should have at least--”

“Everyone gets sick, Yvette. Even girls. It doesn’t make you disgusting. It makes you, well, mortal.”

She turned even redder. “Did… I look… I mean...”

“What?”

“Did I look like a guy?” she asked, her heart cracking a little bit at the thought. She knew she shouldn’t ask it, that she’d hate the answer. But she had to.

He was silent for a long moment, before finally shaking his head. “Not really, no. There were times where it was more noticeable. But...”

“But?”

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard you sound as much like a girl before,” he said casually. “You have a very feminine whimper and whine when you’re sick.”

She glared at him and reached out, giving him a very light shove. Though, while she wouldn’t admit it to him, her heart soared at those words.

Even at her worst, when she felt like she was dying, he still thought she sounded like a girl. No, not just a girl. She sounded feminine. Even if sometimes people could tell what she was, the fact she still seemed very girly made it not suck nearly as bad. Her cheeks burned even redder when she realized he was right. Now there had been one good memory from that terrible ordeal.

Gervas stopped and motioned her forward, while he moved behind a tree. “It’s following us. Keep going, make noise. Be careful. I’ll sneak up on it from behind,” he whispered, before slowly moving away from her.

Yvette nodded and gave him one last look before she started walking ahead. She couldn’t help but admire how quiet he could be, even in that chainmail armor of his. “Well, Gervas, I think we’ve finally done it. I hope the dragon turtle is nice. Here’s hoping we can convince it to let us go.” Tall trees surrounded her on all sides, but surprisingly the sun seemed more than able to pierce through the leaves overhead. While the narrow entrance had been cast in shadows, the forest itself seemed more than able to get plenty of sun, creating a beautiful green illumination of light across the ground. All manner of plant life seemed to be growing here and she knelt down by a small bush, admiring the red berries on it. “Do you think these ones are safe?” she asked, though she had no intention of trying them. They were so round and juicy looking she could barely resist, but she knew Gervas would be furious. Though, the longer she stared at them, the more her mouth watered at the thought of taking one. It had been so long since she’d had something real to eat that she could keep down.

She shook her head and quickly got back to her feet to start walking again, pushing bushes aside while she walked. The last thing she needed was to poison herself. “Do you think I can--”

A yell from behind made her turn back around and go entirely still. Her heart was pounding and fresh, new fear took hold of her. Moments seemed to pass like minutes while she waited, desperately, for Gervas to yell something.

It filled her heart with joy when he finally did. “Yvette, come back. I’ve got them. I...” His voice trailed off. “Just come back.”

She raced back to the source of his voice and stopped when she came on the scene. She stared at him, her hand moving to cover her mouth so she could avoid bursting into laughter.

Gervas was holding a pair of very small creatures up by their arms. On the ground were three spears, Gervas’ and two far smaller ones. Besides them his shield was resting. The creatures were wearing thin clothing woven with vines and leaves, allowing them to blend in with the foliage rather well.

They were yelling something, though she couldn’t understand it. Still, it sounded incredibly familiar. Sharp, but deep sounds coming from them.

Yvette wasn’t sure, but they seemed to be zmaj as well. However, unlike Ursula, these two were far smaller, smaller even than a child. They were both deep shades of green, with incredibly fine scales covering their bodies. “What are they?” she asked.

“Zmaj,” Gervas said softly. “I’m not sure why they’re so small, though, but--” Both of them suddenly lunged up and bit his arms in unison. He let out a yelp of pain, dropping the pair.

Her eyes widened with alarm once they hit the ground and took off. They moved so fast she could barely even see them move, one second on the ground, the next they were scrambling up a different tree each, leaping off the branches and disappearing deeper into the forest.

Gervas cursed, shaking his head. “Little biting monsters,” he growled, looking around. “Where’d they go?” he asked.

“They ran away,” she said nervously. She moved towards him. “Here, let me see your hands.” She tapped her bracer, making small dots form along it.

“It’s fine, I can barely--”

“Let me see,” she said firmly. “We both need you to have your arms. What if they come back and we have to fight them?”

Grudgingly, he did as he was told and held his arms out. Small, thin pricks had penetrated his gloves, leaving a small row of bloody holes in his hands. It only took a few moments for her to cleanse the blood and seal the wounds, even less to fix the gloves.

“Do you think they’ll come back?” she asked.

“I don’t know. I wouldn’t expect that trick to work again, though.”

“Why?”

“I was watching them. They were following you, but they didn’t seem to be paying much attention. I’ve seen enough guard duty to know when the guard is bored,” he muttered softly. “I got them by surprise, but they’re quick little creatures.”

She nodded before turning back towards the forest. “Do we keep going?”

Gervas turned towards the forest before looking back, towards the beach. “Do you have anything that can fly?”

“What?”

“You can transform into different things. Do you have any form that can fly?”

“Well, a few, but--”

“Then we’ll go back to the beach and camp there. You can fly, see if--”

“The form can fly, but I can’t,” she said sheepishly.

He stared at her as if she was mad. “What does that mean?”

“I don’t know how to fly. I can take the form of a bird, but I don’t really know how to do it.”

Gervas stared at her for a few moments, before sighing. “How can you NOT know how to fly?”

“Have you ever tried flying?” she snapped back, glaring at him. “I can glide a little, but it’s not an easy thing to do. Especially not in closed spaces.”

“Why would you practice in closed spaces?” he asked, staring at her.

Her cheeks burned red and she gave a soft cough, looking away. “Err… well… I ummm...”

“What?”

“When I first tried, I turned into a pigeon. I was attacked by a bigger bird. A much bigger bird. It just came out of nowhere and… well… I couldn’t really transform while in the sky. If Master Betan hadn’t been there, I really would have died. It’s just… I haven’t really… practiced it much. We did a bit inside the tower, but there wasn’t much space. Most flying forms tend to be really small, too, so it’s not really… I don’t like doing it,” she said, her cheeks burning with shame.

Gervas stared at her and gently put a hand on her shoulder, giving it a small squeeze. “It’s okay. I’m sorry. I never really thought about it. We’ll keep going. We’ll see if we can find someplace more defensible and stay there for the night. Okay? We have a little time until it’s dark.”

She nodded before glancing up. The forest, as beautiful as it had been, only looked more ominous now than ever before. A part of her wanted to go back onto the beach, but she suspected he was probably right.

Still, those green things could be anywhere out there, watching them. That first pair had underestimated them, others might not. This was their territory, as well.

Yvette reached her hand up to his and gave it a small squeeze. “Okay. Maybe a cave or something,” she whispered. Once they had a chance to rest and eat, she was sure they could come up with a better plan.

“Exactly. Tomorrow, once the sun rises, you’ll--” His words were cut off when a small spear embedded itself in the ground near their feet, forcing the two to jump back.

She looked up and her heart nearly stopped. There were dozens of them. She hadn’t even heard them approach. But more of those tiny, green creatures surrounded them in the trees. The hissing, guttural sound filled the air once more and she nervously gulped. “I don’t think we’re getting much of a choice,” she said softly.

“Stay behind me,” Gervas said, moving in front of her and readying his spear, his eyes wandering to his shield on the ground.

“Right, behind you, where the other half of them are,” she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “I don’t think there’s really a safe place to stand here, Gervas.”

One of the creatures dropped down in front of them and called out to them in its strange language. Her eyes widened when she recognized one of the words and why it seemed so familiar. “Gervas, Gervas, it’s trying to talk to us!”

“I figured that out,” he muttered. “But that’s not really relevant here.”

“No, no no. That’s not what I mean. I can translate it. Err, kind of,” she said.

“Can you speak it?” he asked.

“No, but I have a book that can. If… I can get it. Oh dear,” she said, looking up at the spears. “Gervas, put your spear down.”

“No.”

“Just trust me.”

“If I do that and they rush us, I--”

“If they rush us, we’re dead anyway. Does it really matter if you take one or two of them with you?” she asked.

He glared at her but, slowly, he stabbed his spear into the ground. She let out a sigh of relief and held out both her hands, showing them as empty. Very slowly she began to pull her bag off her back. “Mage. Err...” she tried to repeat the one word she recognized back to the creature, though it was a paltry, pathetic imitation. She couldn’t come close to getting the sounds right.

“What was that?”

“I was trying to tell them I’m a mage. Listen. That language? It’s dragon tongue.”

“Dragon tongue. You mean the language of dragons? It’s not really called that, is it?”

“Well, no. But it’s better than what the dragons apparently called it.”

“What did they call it?”

“Lexis of the superior.”

“That’s not so--”

“They call ours the lexis of the inferior.”

“Dragon tongue it is. I still think it’s a stupid name.”

“I didn’t name it. Do you mind just letting me work?” she asked. Slowly, she put her bag onto the ground and opened it. The creatures above bristled and she saw the one on the ground tensing up. She held out her hands and then, very slowly, began to lift her books out of the bag. Stacking them up neatly on the ground. The creatures began to slowly relax.

“Why do you even know it?”

“Part of that spell is in it. A bit of fay, as well. Plenty of older spells are coded that way. I’m not the best at it, but I can kind of, maybe, translate just enough we don’t get impaled. Here we go,” she said with a small sigh of relief when she pulled out a small, brown tome. She sent a thought of gratefulness towards her master who had given her the bag to ensure she would always have her books near at hand. She slowly opened the small tome and tried finding a few words.

Unfortunately, the book was meant for translating old magical spells and notes. Not for actually talking to a dragon. She tried to sound out the words as best she could and tell the creatures they were no threat.

She wasn’t sure what she said because, after a moment, the creatures started making soft, strangled hissing sounds. It took her a few more moments to realize they were laughing at her.

“What’d you say?” Gervas asked her.

“I don’t know,” she whispered. “It’s not exactly easy. These sounds are made for a dragon, not a human. It can take years of practice to learn how to properly speak it. I’m doing the best I can.”

“Can you write it?”

“Maybe?” she offered, staring at the creatures. She gulped and looked down at her book once more. She tried to dig her fingers into the ground and write out the words.

The ground was hard and she could only make a single line before having to pull her finger back and rubbing it. “Ow...”

“I don’t think that’s going to work,” Gervas muttered.

“It’s how the language is supposed to be written. Dragons draw it with their claws and--”

The hissing started to just get louder and when she looked up at the creature, she realized it was almost shaking with laughter, its red eyes filled with an almost human-like amusement. Her cheeks then turned red.

“I’m an idiot,” she said softly.

“Why?” he asked.

She cleared her throat. “Err… can you understand me?” she asked.

The creature gave a small nod and the hissing laughter only seemed to get louder.

“Can you speak our language?”

It shook its head.

“Wait, they can understand us?” Gervas asked. “Why didn’t they--”

“You were waving a spear at them and they didn’t know if we were dangerous,” she said, her voice filled with annoyance. “I can’t believe I didn’t think to even ask. That--” Now the laughter was so loud she nearly dropped her books. Her face burned with shame and she began to put her books back into her bag. “We mean you no harm,” she said, trying to ignore her embarrassment. “We arrived on this island and--”

The one in front of them came closer. It put both hands together and small, red lights formed over it, forming letters. Her eyes widened. “I can’t believe I didn’t think to do something like that,” she said.

“Can you do that?” Gervas asked.

“Of course. A small, simple illusion is easy enough,” she said firmly. “It’s not too big, either. Just in the--”

The creature motioned towards the letters with its head. The letters hovering over it were a little crude, but they clearly spelled out ‘Follow us.’

“I think they want us to follow them,” Yvette said softly.

“It is literally holding up a sign saying that,” Gervas said flatly. “I can read.”

“Sorry. I’m not used to running into any of this, I’m still a little on edge,” she said with annoyance. “Maybe you should do the talking.”

He sighed and then coughed into his hand. “Of course. We will come with you. I am sorry for ambushing your others of your tribe?” he said, his voice a little nervous.

The creature merely nodded.

“Okay. They were following us and I thought they meant us harm. I had no intention of hurting them.”

The creature lowered its arm and motioned deeper into the forest, before it began to walk, moving past the pair.

Yvette stood back up, her books back in her bag and slung over her shoulder. “I think we’re making progress,” she said. “Should you bring your spear?”

Gervas glanced down at his sword, before nodding. “I’m already heavily armed. As long as I don’t point it at them, I think they’re fine with it. You’re right. If we tried to fight them, as outnumbered as we are, we wouldn’t stand a chance.” He knelt down and picked grabbed his spear and shield before he began walking after the creature.

Yvette glanced up and watched the others moving through the trees. They kept the pair surrounded, though sometimes she swore it was as if they disappeared. While at times they could be loud, rustling leaves and their claws cutting into the bark, they were often hard to see when they blended into the green leaves. “They don’t eat humans, do they?” she whispered to him. Her stomach was once again twisting in knots at the thought they could be walking towards their doom. Even worse, she felt so tired she wasn’t sure how long she’d be able to follow them through the forest before she just collapsed. She tried to keep herself as calm as possible, however, driving herself forward.

Gervas stared at her for a few moments before shaking his head. “You mean cannibalism? I don’t think so. But it’s possible,” he said softly. “How are you holding up?”

Yvette nodded and tried not to think about that, though she now found her mind only able to think about that. They had been captured by these creatures and could only barely understand them. Yet the creatures could understand them easily enough. Who knew how long it had been since someone like them had last arrived on this island?

“Yvette?” Gervas asked. “I asked you a question.”

“W-what? Oh. Right. I’m fine. Sorry. Just… thinking,” she mumbled.

“If you need to lean on me, you can.”

“I’m fine, really,” she lied, giving him a weak smile. If they were going to die, she didn’t want his last memory of her to be of him having to carry her.

Fortunately the creatures didn’t seem very aggressive, either. In fact, they seemed to be relatively calm and gentle, the one leading them through the forest moving in slow, almost lazy steps. Occasionally even scrambling on all fours. Their movements seemed strange at times, as well. More akin to a lizards than a humans. While the ones overhead carried their spears, they didn’t aim them at the pair now. In fact, if not for the fact they were encircled, she’d almost believe the creatures were barely aware of their existence. They hardly appeared menacing or scary at all, now.

Yvette gulped and slowly worked up the courage to speak. “So. My name is Yvette. This is my guardian, Gervas. Do you have a name we can call you?”

The creature let out a low growling sound.

“Err, sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude. I just--”

Her words were cut off when she heard more of that laughter from the surrounding creatures.

“I think that’s its name,” Gervas said.

Their escort stopped for a moment to glance back and give a small nod.

Yvette’s cheeks burned even harder. “O-oh. Well, um, it’s pleasant to meet you, then. Grrr… og? Grogsh? Gr...” She shook her head. “I’m sorry.”

The laughter, however, was only getting louder from the creatures. If nothing else, her ignorance seemed amusing to them. It was better than them being offended, at least.

“Do they all have names like that?” she whispered, reaching up to rub her throat. “Ursula had a normal name.”

“Ursula has also never been to this island as far as I know. It--” His words stopped when they moved through a thick bundle of bushes and could finally see beyond.

Yvette stopped in place, her mouth falling open and a hand slowly moving to cover it. “That’s… that’s incredible...” she whispered.