NOVEL NEXT Volume 2 Chapter 19
She gave Gervas an apologetic smile. “Remember what you said before? About us mages?” she whispered.
“What about it?”
“We really do jump straight into the mouth,” she whispered, moving in a little closer, letting the great beast ramble on mockingly. “I have a plan. But we’re going to need to swim.” She slowly slid her bag off her shoulder and let it sink to the ground.
“Of course we are,” he said softly. “Anything better?” he asked before slowly leaning his spear back against the stone doorway and lowering his shield to the ground.
“No, not really,” she whispered. “Stay close to the wall. I’ll move as fast as I can. Go!” She raced off the right side of the platform and heard him going the opposite way, the two splashing into the water at the same time.
Laughter echoed in her head. ‘Ah, of course. Yes, flee, my little morsels. It’s so much more fun when you run.’
The water swirled around her like a storm, sending her careening into the wall of the cavern. She hit it hard, knocking the air out of her mouth and filling it with sea water.
Her eyes opened, though the water burned. She could see the massive creature, but its underbelly looked like an island all its own. She’d have to get closer in order to find whatever the source was, but it was so dark she doubted she could even see it if she was right on top of it.
She mentally cursed herself, wishing she’d spent more time studying how to track magic, rather than just on her transformation magic. The turtle began to shift, slowly letting itself sink into the water. As massive as it was, it had to move carefully in the chamber, though it wouldn’t do them much good.
In the end, he could remain underwater far longer and even if, by some miracle, they managed to get out of this chamber and into the sea, with more space to maneuver he would crush them with ease. All her tactic had done was buy them a little bit of time so long as they swam too close to the wall for him to come after them.
She let out a soft gasp when she realized what she had to do. She couldn’t track down the source with her magic, but she did have another way. She swam back to the surface, struggling to keep her head above water for a moment when she spat out the water in her mouth and took in deep mouthfuls of air. She touched her bracer, making the dots form across it.
She then dove back down into the water, praying that this would work, though if it didn’t it wasn’t as if she’d have to regret it for very long.
Yvette’s form began to shift, scales forming across her body while her limbs fused to her side. The form, at least, was simple. Sharks were surprisingly easy forms to turn into, most larger fish were. Within moments she was able to glide through the water with ease, even the currents caused by the great turtle doing little more than slowing her down.
With her new form, she swam down, deeper under the water, under the great turtle. Now came the hard part. While it was something she knew was doable, it was something she’d never done herself. Adapting part of one form, while fully transformed into another, was difficult even for mages far more experienced than her. But she had to do it.
She focused, willing her magic to shift her eyes into those of the troll, to allow her to see magic, not just touch it with her own.
Pain shot through them, forcing her to blink. Fortunately, she could still see under the murky waters, the turtle above her, slowly turning in the water. ‘Where did you go, little morsel? You cannot hide forever.’
Above, on the water’s surface, she could see Gervas. Nestled into the corner where the wall met the platform, he was temporarily hidden. The turtle couldn’t see either of them, though she knew it wouldn’t last long.
A new thought came to her mind. She could escape. She could see the exit to the outside world from here, the light from the sun glimmering through it. It would be so easy to escape. Make her way back to the shore. She knew about the zmaj. She could warn them, make them listen. Make them understand the dangers that were--
Yvette shoved those thoughts aside, scolding herself. She would be abandoning Gervas. She would never, ever do that. Not after everything he had done for her. She couldn’t believe she even allowed those thoughts to flicker into her mind. She had to focus on the task at hand. She forced her magic into her eyes, doing her best to ignore the pain. The world turned blurry and wild, the underwater scene darkening and making her feel dizzy.
However, after a moment, her vision returned to normal, for a shark at least. She let out an internal scream. She was a transfiguration mage. She wanted to be a girl. She couldn’t, wouldn’t, allow some overgrown shellfish to stop her!
‘Ahhhh, there we are. Now where’s the other one?’
Yvette froze in place, her heart nearly stopped in her new, fishy chest. It took her a moment to realize that the turtle wasn’t speaking about her.
He was talking about Gervas.
Above her, the turtle shifted lazily in the water, his beak moving out and cutting a thick gouge in the stone over her guardian’s head, dropping stone on him while he tried to shield himself. Again, the voice only laughed. ‘Come now, you can do better than that. It has been so, so many years since anyone has faced these trials. Go on. Swim. I’ll even give you a few seconds head start.’
Yvette growled internally, barely able to resist charging her snout into him. She had to do this. She had to find the source if they were going to get out of this.
She focused, though it made her eyes feel as if they were burning inside her head. Transforming her body was one thing, but to do two separate transformations was just too much for her. No matter what she did, she couldn’t do them together.
She had no choice. It was reckless, but it was that or just wait to die. She rolled over onto her back and undid her transformation, her body shifting back into that of a human.
She couldn’t breathe. Her hands reached up to her throat and she began to panic, struggling to keep herself from trying to inhale the water. Without any air, she felt her lungs begin to burn. Even if she tried to swim up now, she would at best drown, at worst be noticed by the monstrous turtle over her.
If she wanted to survive, she only had one option.
Though it hurt while she was already struggling for air, she forced herself to focus on the troll she had faced not long ago. Only partially transitioning, her eyes burned even more than ever, but the world seemed to darken once more.
Then light. Overhead, she could see the outline of the massive turtle. While its body had emanated a light glow before, now it was as if she was staring at a second sun made of many brilliant lines.
More importantly, like this she could see the source of the glow, where the lines came from. Just below where its neck came out of the shell, five small, glowing points rested.
‘Ahhhh. I was wondering where you had gone, little one,’ the voice said into her mind. She ended the spell, her vision returning to normal, though she couldn’t make out much through the murky water. But she could make out the turtle’s slightly glowing head having turned towards her.
Yvette moved her hands to her side, once again shifting into a shark. It took a moment once she shifted to move, though. Her entire body ached, the magic use from shifting over and over making it feel as if she had fire burning through her veins. Doing it underwater, without the ability to breathe in her other form, only made it worse. She floundered in the water for a few moments, trying to get her body back in control and struggling to keep her body from trying to revert back to its true form. Trying to ‘breathe’ in her new form. If she reverted now, she’d drown, there was no way she’d be able to transform again.
‘Oh my. So the little morsel can become a fish? I’ve never had one of you do that before. I wonder how you’ll taste?’
She had barely a moment to react, the beak coming down at her. She tried to move as quickly as possible, away from the mouth.
She wasn’t fast enough. The beak came down, the tip cutting across her tail and making a small cloud of blood flow from the deep gash. She spun through the water, struggling to right herself, the fins on her tail slashed up and made every movement send ripples of pain through her body.
The water swirled around her when the turtle pulled its head back, readying for another strike.
She couldn’t do it. She wasn’t going to be fast enough. She watched helplessly when the turtle readied itself for another strike.
An explosion tore through the water, echoing through the chamber. She heard the voice let out a scream, less of pain so much as anger. ‘WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!’ the voice roared. It then slammed back, slamming the entirety of its body against the wall.
Yvette was unable to take her eyes off the sight of crushed wall and stones dropping into the water. When it pulled back, the platform was a damaged fraction of what it had been. Worse, she didn’t see Gervas.
‘GET OFF OF ME!’ the voice roared again, so loud she felt her brain would explode from the sheer force. The turtle thrashed in the water, slamming itself into the wall once more.
Her heart soared. She didn’t know what he was doing, but whatever it was, it was buying her time. She dove forward, ignoring the pain searing through her tail with every movement. With the creature focused on slamming its back against the wall, its chest was open for her.
She came closer and her heart jumped when she saw the sources of power.
Five scales embedded in the creature’s shell, spread out and forming a five-point spell seal. Lines had been cut into the shell, connecting the scales. A long term and powerful enchantment. She flew through the water, charging into it. When she came closer, she ended the spell, her body reverting back to its normal form.
Once again her lungs screamed for air that she couldn’t get, but she tried to ignore it. The momentum she’d had pushed her forward and she reached out towards the scales, trying to grab them.
Her body crashed into the shell. One of the scales pierced her abdomen, but her hands managed to wrap around two more of the scales. Their sharp edges dug into her hands, slashing deep into them, but she tried to tune it out. Instead, she pulled.
The scales didn’t budge, but the turtle froze in place. Then the voice echoed in her mind. ‘DO NOT TOUCH THAT!’ She could feel the creature trying to spin, but she held on even though the edges of the scales tore deep into her hand.
It was a little surprising how little it hurt, though. She could feel the bloody gashes in her legs, stomach and hands. She knew they were deep, but mostly, all she could feel was light headed and cold. Tired.
But she had to keep going. Gervas had bought her time, she had to do what she could to ensure it didn’t go to waste. Exhausted as she was, she couldn’t hope to overpower the spell that was currently on the turtle. However, she could disrupt it. She sent her magic deep into the scales, mixing it with the magic that made the spell.
Magic could be so delicate, at times. The body longed to return to its true form, it required a delicate balance to maintain it in such a way. For a moment, she regretted that she had to do this. If she had an opportunity to study this, to learn how it worked, she could possibly learn how to extend her own transformations far longer.
Unfortunately, she only had a few moments to act, so she did what she had to. Her magic flowed into the scales, pushing and prodding and breaking every weakness it could find, disrupting the balance that kept the turtle from reverting back to the form it once had. She felt the scales come loose in her hands, but not fall out, yet.
She focused, gathering what little magic she had left, before letting it out in a single big burst in the now weakened enchantment.
The spell-seal exploded, the scales coming off in her hands. She flew back through the water, two of the scales held tightly in her grasp. Then she connected with the wall of the cave, smashing her body back into it and knocking the scales away.
Everything hurt. She felt so cold. So tired. She couldn’t breathe. She tried to breathe, but water flowed into her, only making the pain worse. She tried to move, to make it back to the surface, but she had no more strength.
When the darkness began to take over and the pain faded, cold numbness replacing it, she could see one thing that gave her hope.
The massive turtle no longer glowed. It no longer yelled in her head. Instead, the creature was shrinking smaller and smaller. Or perhaps it only seemed smaller. She gave a weak smile before the world faded entirely to darkness.
She’d done it.
