Her True Form

Yvette’s eyes opened and she let out a low groan. Was it morning already? It felt like she only just laid down and--

She went entirely still when she realized what woke her. Something had triggered her ward. Something big. Yvette reached out, slowly picking her bracer up off the ground and moving it to her arm. She quickly triggered the reagents and waited for something to happen, straining to hear whatever was out there.

A soft squishing sound could be heard, as if bundles of soaked herbs were being pressed down and squashed. Yvette held her breath, her hands clenching so tight she could almost draw blood. She wondered if she should shake Gervas awake, but what if he made a noise and alerted whatever was out there? What if whatever was out there wasn’t even a threat and she woke him up for nothing?

She felt the ward go off again when whatever was out there kept going, the squishing sound slowly fading away. She didn’t move aside from taking in a small breath and then relaxing once more. She slowly peeled her bracer back off and dropped it down besides herself. Some kind of animal, likely. Maybe she was too paranoid, she was starting to sound like Gervas.

“Silly,” she muttered to herself.

Suddenly the squishing sound came back and she could hear it racing towards them. She grabbed her bracer and felt panic rising in her when the ward was triggered a second time. She activated the reagents and--

The distant rumble of lightning hit the air, the sky above illuminated in a bright, white light. A moment later she felt the ward trigger again when whatever was out there raced away. Yvette didn’t move, instead just laying there and waiting, her heart pounding. But there was no more squishing sounds anymore.

Now only a single thought was in her mind. They hadn’t seen any animals since coming to this island, so what kind of thing was that?

She didn’t receive an answer, though, as eventually sleepiness washed over her and the tension faded away. She refused to take her bracer off again, though.

------

Yvette woke up with a light yawn, opening her eyes and, to her surprise, staring into Gervas’ face. “Hey,” she said.

“Hey,” Gervas said, still looking down at her.

“Sooo not to complain. But what are you doing?” she asked.

“Looking at you,” Gervas said with a smile.

“Why?” Yvette asked.

“Because you’re kind of cute when you’re sleeping,” Gervas said.

Yvette tried to come up with a response to that, her cheeks going a brilliant burning red. She opened her mouth, but no words came out.

“Awwww. Did you know when you blush like that it goes all the way down your neck?” Gervas asked with a small smile before reaching out a hand and gently stroking her throat. “It’s cute.”

“You… YOU!” Yvette said, quickly turning away and trying to hide the smile that she couldn’t keep off her face. Of all the ways to wake up, that was certainly not one she expected. “You shouldn’t be so flirty first thing in the morning!”

“Why not? It seems to wake you up better. Besides, I thought you liked it when I, how did you put it? ‘Liiiiiiiked you’,” Gervas said, his voice filled with amusement. “But fine. I won’t tell you how adorable you look in the morning anymore. Would that make you happy?”

Yvette shook her head and reached out, grabbing his hand. “No, you can tell me. It’s okay. I’ll endure it,” she said, trying to keep her stomach from jumping too much. It felt like she just swallowed a dozen butterflies.

“Oh, you don’t have to endure it if you don’t want to,” Gervas said.

“I want to,” Yvette said, the blush only growing and thanks to his earlier comment she was far too aware of it burning down her throat.

Gervas snickered and shook his head before slowly getting to his feet, sticking his hands out on the edge of the bag. “You’re such a girl,” he said before pausing once his head popped out of the bad. “Huh. That’s interesting. Yvette, up,” he said before climbing out from the bag, shoving the stick aside when he went. A moment later he held his hand out to her.

Yvette took his hand and let him pull her up. She quickly let out a soft prayer that whatever it was wasn’t too bad, as she hadn’t even had a chance to get ready for the day yet.

Within a few moments she was standing outside once more and she let out a soft, startled gasp at the sight. At least now she knew whatever she’d heard the prior night wasn’t her imagination. A thick trail of water cut through where her ward had been, passing within only a few feet of their hidden bag. “What is it?” Yvette asked before kneeling down and pushing a finger against the trail. It wasn’t slimy or anything, it was just water.

“Something was here last night,” Gervas said. “Come on, get ready, then we’re getting off this island.”

Yvette nodded, though she couldn’t help feeling more nervous than ever. Was it just coincidence that whatever had left the trail had come by them or had it been looking for them? Was it something that the Eterna Empire had brought with them? Or something they had upset? What if it was one of the sirens? It had been big enough, judging by what triggered the ward. She didn’t remember them sounding so squishy, though.

“Did you notice anything last night?” Gervas asked. “Your ward?”

“Yes,” Yvette said before frowning when she saw something glimmering in the morning light. “Last night, but it just passed by us without any issue. I kind of fell asleep after.” She got to her feet and walked towards the shining thing before finally kneeling down and picking it up. A small, light green scale.

“You should have woken me up,” Gervas said. “Did you find something?”

“A scale,” Yvette said, holding it up. “Sirens don’t have scales, do they? They had feathers.”

Gervas frowned and moved over to her, kneeling down and looking at it. “A scale like that could be from any of a thousand different things,” he said. “Any ideas?”

“None I’d like to voice,” Yvette said before glancing back towards the beach. Every story of monstrous abominations hiding in the darkest depths of the sea came to mind, but she tried to shove them aside. She could become a dragon turtle, what in the sea could hurt her then? Aside from the dozens of things that could but hopefully wouldn’t come onto land. “Do you have any ideas?”

“Some good, some bad. Something aquatic, though.”

“Good thing we’re going out to sea, right?” Yvette said, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

“The alternative is getting killed by the empire,” Gervas said.

“Fair,” Yvette said.

“Eat this,” Gervas said before shoving some dry, bland travel rations into her hand. While normally they were unappealing, now they seemed almost disgusting. How was she supposed to eat when she knew there was something out there, right now, possibly stalking them?

Yvette could take solace in the fact that, whatever it was, it wasn’t much bigger than them. She choked down the food before readying herself for the day. Removing any hair on her face, cleansing herself, brushing her hair. It was times like this that she truly was thankful she was a mage and she could do such tasks with just the barest administration of her magic, rather than requiring the tools a normal person would. She glanced down at her robe, wondering if she should change it as well or if the spell to cleanse it would be enough.

She finally settled against grabbing something else, she could change once they stopped again for the night. It would feel far more refreshing after swimming all day. “Okay, I’m ready,” Yvette said, though honestly she felt nothing of the sort.

“Are you sure you’re going to be up for this? It’s going to be a long day,” Gervas said before picking up her bag and walking to the shore.

“Do I have much choice if I’m not?” Yvette asked. “Not like we can just swim from island to island normally. Unless you’ve got some great teleporting ability I was never told about.”

Gervas gave a sigh and shook his head. “No, nothing like that. Only thing I have access to like that would be, well, it doesn’t matter. Let’s go,” he said before walking towards the water’s edge and kneeling down to splash some of the water onto his face. “You smell that?”

Yvette sniffed the air. All she could smell was a bit of salt. “Salt water?”

“No. Never mind. Don’t worry about it.”

“Has that EVER worked in the history of ever?” Yvette asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “’Oh, I’m going to draw attention to this thing. Oh, well, don’t worry about it.’ Can you just tell me what it is so I can decide for myself if I’m going to worry or not?” she asked before instantly feeling a wave of guilt. She knew her reaction and tone were far harsher than they needed to be, but she couldn’t help it. She was tense and quickly getting more anxious. It was too quiet. Everything felt just strange and wrong. As if it was in the air itself.

“It smells like something is rotting,” Gervas finally said. “Like rotting fish, I guess. But it’s also like something is burning.”

“Ew,” Yvette said before sniffing the air. She could almost pick up something from under the smell of salt, but it didn’t smell rotten. She shook her head. “Are you sure it’s not your imagination? Or maybe you’re just paranoid?” she said before walking across the beach towards the edge of the water. She paused when she came closer and a new smell struck her nose. It wasn’t very strong, but it was definitely something there, under the smell of salt. “Wait, no, I think I smell it,” she said, taking a deep breath.

It didn’t smell rotten to her. It smelled like something was burning, but very faint. Familiar. She frowned and then looked around. No birds, no animals, just the beach, the trees and them. She sighed again. “I don’t like this. It smells like-- Ermina! It smells like Ermina!”

Gervas turned to stare at her. “Who?”

“Master Betan’s other student! The pyromancer. It smells like her, whenever she messed up a spell. Burning magic,” Yvette said, taking another deep breath and closing her eyes. It was definitely that. Fire magic, but unfocused and wild, powerful though. Fading quickly. She glanced back at the volcano behind her, but there was no smoke rising from it. Yet, at least. “Let’s get out of here,” Yvette said. She checked her bracer once, making sure it was secure, before tapping it and making her reagents appear once more. She glanced to the dragon turtle scale before looking to him. “Just look out in case anything comes after us, okay?”

Gervas nodded and she couldn’t help but notice that he already had his sword strapped to his hip. He hadn’t changed his clothes, either. He was no doubt as wary as she was. She closed her eyes and gently whispered the incantation for the spell, her body beginning to shift and change once more. Soon she was once more on all fours, her far weaker body replaced with that of a mighty dragon turtle, albeit a small one. She waited for a few moments before Gervas was on her back once more, though she could honestly barely feel him. He might as well have been a feather to this form.

“Okay, all ready. Let’s go,” Gervas said.

Yvette nodded and walked forward, stepping into the water once more. She couldn’t help feeling tense when she slowly inched further and further out into the water, moving through it with the same ease she could take a breath. She didn’t feel anything strange, though she supposed it could just be that the form she had was so durable that if there was any magic or threats in the water assaulting her, she couldn’t feel them.

Yvette let her head sink under the water and looked as she went. The seabed was still littered with the broken remains of vessels, their masts shattered and chunks missing from their hulls. She wondered if any of them were new, had they been struck by lightning like they had seen? Some of them had burn marks, was it from that magic? Struck by lightning like they’d seen the night before? A part of her wanted to go down and examine them closer, another part of her was thankful that they were leaving so quickly so she’d never know and need to worry about it again.

Movement. Something out of the corner of her eye flickered, but when she turned her head towards it there was nothing there. But then there was another bit of movement. Then another. A part of her wondered if she was going mad, but she doubted it. Something was definitely out here with them. When she turned her head, she managed to just catch a glimpse of something blue disappearing from sight, a trail of bubbles left in its wake.

“Yvette, you’re going too fast!” Gervas said, but she ignored him. Something was out there, watching them. Was it the empire’s? A defense? “Yvette!” Gervas yelled.

Then she hit it. Electricity crackled across the water for a moment before surging into her body, enveloping her making it near impossible to move. Fortunately, at the speed she was going she blasted right through it. The electricity died a moment later, leaving her tingling all over.

Yvette began to slow down, glancing up to see Gervas holding onto her shell as tightly as he could, practically laying down on her back. She gave as apologetic a smile as she could with a dragon turtle’s face. Which, if she was honest with herself, wasn’t at all.

“Was that on purpose?” Gervas asked with a low groan. “Are you okay?”

Yvette shook her head before sinking her head back below the water. She didn’t see anything else in the water’s depths anymore and that anxious feeling was passing. Whatever defenses the island held were now gone, left far behind them. All she had to do was keep swimming.

Gervas slowly sat up. “I’m fine,” he said softly, shaking his head. “So at least now we know they have defenses out there. Let’s get out of here before anything else hits us.”

Everything was going to be fine.

------

Everything was not fine.

“Yvette? What’s wrong?” Gervas asked.

Yvette didn’t dare move, remaining perfectly still in the water, hoping that she wasn’t noticed. Though she knew that was incredibly unlikely, after all they were coming right at her.

Merfolk, dozens of them. Even for her dragon turtle eyes they were hard to see in the water, their strange greenish-blue bodies seeming to mix almost perfectly in with the surrounding water. But when they had come closer it was impossible for her to not see them and realize just how many of them there were. Worst of all, they weren’t anywhere near land. If she was by herself she might be able to escape, but with Gervas on her back she doubted she could. She couldn’t even tell Gervas why they had stopped, causing him to get more and more panicked with every passing second.

At least now she knew where that scale had come from. But it was little comfort when she focused on the long tridents they wielded. She gave a silent prayer to the heavens that they would be friendly.