Last Lord of the Fey (Progression Fantasy)

B3 - Chapter 26: Under the sea


The group mounted up and the unicorns took off at a leisurely trot as they traveled along the sandy beach. Bertram spoke up, "A water dragon means that we will probably be going into the water. Can you still swim?"

"Yes," Tristan replied with confidence, recalling their swim lessons with their family going out to the lake side a few miles from the country estate. "Remember that time we raced? All the way to the rock at the center?"

Bertram cracked a smile, "I remember you were exhausted when we got to the rock. And then-" he chuckled, "Gisele scrabbled up top and we played king of the hill. She kept both of us down, and you lost your swim trunks when you slipped on the moss!" he let out a guffaw of laughter, and Tristan chuckled along with him at the embarrassing memory.

Rory smiled, "It's good you two are back together and getting along. I was a bit worried that your relationship was strained."

Tristan shook his head, "Bertram and I have always been buddies. He…" he quieted slightly, "He was always better than me…at a lot of things. But he wouldn't always shove my face in it."

Bertram nodded solemnly and though he kept his smile, his voice did deepen slightly with compassion. "I do apologize for that. But when you're as amazing as me, and as cocky as younger-me was, well, you can't help but brag."

Felicity interrupted, "I think you're still a bit cocky."

"Why wouldn't I be?" Bertram said with a quizzical look. "I'm one of three living dragonslayers – well, besides Gisele, but she doesn't count since she's playing noble. I'm special."

"Well, Tristan is more s-p-e-c-i-a-l," Felicity replied haughtily.

Bertram rolled his eyes, "Yes, yes." He mock bowed from his waist, "Lord Tristan, king of the capricious fairies and sexy nymphs."

Rory let out a small purr, and that elicited a jolt of laughter from the other three.

"Don't forget the strong unicorns," Onyx added.

Tristan ran a hand alongside his mane, "Yeah, can't forget about Onyx here. Carried me all the way from Bhant."

Bertram peered at Onyx, "I thought I recognized you. One of father's destriers."

"Yes. He treated me and my mare well. But Tristan has been an excellent master."

The sand beneath the unicorns began to shift and distort as the realm shifted once more. "Here we go," Bertram said. "We've been traveling long enough to go into the wild again. Think about the water dragon you seek with everything you've got!"

Tristan nodded and focused his attention on where the beach met the ocean, picturing the creature he sought within the shallows. Preferably in a cove or somewhere that I can fight on more equal ground, he thought. He tried to picture a blue version of the fire dragon that he had fought.

The world shifted and blurred around the group before recrystallizing. They were standing on a different beach, but a craggy coastline rose up all around them as they stood in the curve of a small cove.

Felicity used the dowsing rod, and it flicked out to point to the water. "Looks like it's in the ocean!"

The waters were deep, dark, and the rolling waves on the pebble shoreline were ominous, as they left behind small streaks of black silt that sank between the rocks and left behind a sinister, diseased appearance.

Rory dismounted, "If we are going into the depths to hunt this thing, we want appropriate weaponry and to use a few spells. Bertram?"

He sighed and dismounted as well. "Everyone gather up."

Tristan dismounted and looked at Onyx, "Get inland a small ways. Keep the cove in line of sight."

Onyx dipped his head and moved off with the other unicorns as Tristan looked to see Rory pulling off her boots alongside Bertram. "Come on," she said gesturing to his boots. "You don't want any boots for this spell. Mind us using Felicity's storage dimension?"

Felicity opened her storage space, taking everyone's boots and greaves, muttering, "Peee-eeww!" as she wrinkled her nose and tossed the clothing into the space with the dragon parts. "Disgusting!"

Tristan shook his head, "Drama queen," he muttered as he felt the rocky pebbles between his toes. "Okay, done. What next?" he asked. He saw that Rory's feet had small webbing between the toes. She had walked to mid-calf in the surf, and had stowed her shield. Bertram had also walked to that depth, and Tristan quickly followed.

Bertram vented essence that was a burnished orange just like his armor. He placed his palms on his thighs, with the fingers facing inward, and then slowly rotated them out to face the edge of the thigh, before then running them along the sides of his legs. "Verwandle meinen Körper in den der Menschen, die im Ozean leben. Passe meine Form an, um mich mit Anmut und Geschwindigkeit zu bewegen" (Transform my body to that of those who live in the ocean. Adapt my form to move with grace and speed).

Tristan saw the water form a skin around Bertram's legs, and through the dark water he could see a sheath of hardened water that formed around his feet. "That's neat," Tristan observed.

Bertram chuckled and flopped over to Tristan, crouching down and running his hands down Tristan's legs, repeating the spell. Tristan could feel a weird sensation – like bubbles traveling along his skin and tickling his flesh, as a sheath of water elongated and formed around his lower extremities. "One more spell," Bertram commented as he stood up. "We need to be able to breathe and see underwater. But, when I cast this spell, you will not be able to breathe air until I let it fade or see unless you're underwater. So, you gotta dive in almost instantly."

Tristan glanced at Felicity, "What about you?"

She smirked and shifted shape into a sea otter, splashing into the water and swimming in small, lazy circles around the duo. "I'm good!"

Bertram placed his right palm over his throat, and his left palm over his eyes. But he paused. "Right, I should probably do this on you first, then myself. Can't cast the spell if I can't breathe." He placed his hands on Tristan's face, and muttered, "Meinen Körper in den der Menschen verwandeln, die im Ozean leben. Passe meine Form an, um durch die trüben Tiefen zu sehen, und atme das Wasser unter mir." (Transform my body to that of those who live in the ocean. Adapt my form to see through the murky depths, and breathe the water below.).

Tristan's throat closed up, and his vision went white. He immediately dove forward and thankfully it was a shallow dive as he felt the rocks scrape against his armor. He could see once his head went under, and his armor caused him to sink down. His throat loosened, and he cautiously took in a breath – the water rushing into his throat. Soothing, and just a bit bitter and salty.

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He glanced sideways at Rory who was already beginning to swim out ahead of him into the depths, and a split-second later, Bertram dove in and began following her.

Felicity swam in front of Tristan in small circles, waving her flipper paws as she dove after the duo.

"Can we talk under here?" Tristan asked as he kicked his feet, rocketing forward thanks to the spell surrounding his feet with hardened water that acted like flippers.

Rory glanced back and her voice came back, slightly distorted and with a brief delay between her mouth moving and the words. "Yes."

Betram glanced back, "Dowsing rod?"

Felicity stopped in the water and pulled the item out of her storage dimension. She put it between her paws and the object spun before pointing down and ahead. "Further!" she garbled through the waters.

Rory took the lead and surged forward with sure kicks, and Tristan followed, feeling the cool water press in around him. We can't risk going too deep, he thought, unless the spell Bertram used helps deal with the pressure.

His fears were unfounded as Bertram's spell did, indeed, appear to allow them to descend far deeper than Tristan had ever gone before. The rocky floor gave way to kelp – long, loose, waving grasses that billowed with the surf up above about fifty feet to the surface. Bertram glanced back at Tristan, "I can keep the spells going for an hour on myself, so both of us means about half that before I'm tapped."

Felicity swam up next to Rory and used the dowsing rod again, "That way!" she said pointing with her flipper-paw to the bundles of kelp.

Rory held up a fist for Tristan and Bertram to stop, and as the two men held in place, flapping their feet just enough to counteract the weight of their arms and armor, she dove into the kelp.

Felicity swam over to the two men and put the rod back into her storage dimension, "What's she up to?" she asked.

Bertram took his huge sword and removed the thinner, middle, hidden blade before re-sheathing the longer containing blade on his back. "She's baiting it out. Fighting a water dragon in a kelp forest is a death sentence." He glanced to Tristan, "Better get ready. You need to take the lead again – I'm keeping us alive under here."

Tristan nodded and spun his crucible, feeling the cool, silver essence vent through his body as he filled up and activated his stored spells. Scales of Our Foe, Armor of Ice, Near Miss, Lucky Instinct, Dragon's Doom, and Elemental Imbuement, thinking of lightning as the blade began to arc with crackling energy that coursed through the water and zapped off of his armor.

Bertram swam away a short distance, "If you're doing that, warn me next time."

Felicity's fur poofed up and she swam to join Bertram, "Yeah! What's the big idea?" she said with affront.

"Sorry, didn't think of it," Tristan sheepishly replied. His attention was torn to the front as he spotted Rory's form darting toward them. A moment later, the kelp behind her was shoved to both sides as a sinuous form swam out in pursuit. A lengthy creature, with a head just like a regular dragon, but lacking any wings. However it was far slimmer, longer, and its head was only the size of Tristan's torso.

Rory shouted, "Get it!" as she dashed past Tristan.

He didn't question the move and instead kicked himself to the side, dodging the teeth that snapped down toward him. He stabbed, using his weapon's length and piercing qualities to be effective despite being underwater. The moment the tip touched the scales and pierced the flesh underneath, the electric jolt was transferred down the blade, and the creature writhed as its muscles locked up for a brief moment – enough time for Tristan to shove the blade deeper.

And then, he activated Bolt from his bracer; the essence surging through his crucible and into the small, stored rod before arcing out with a cascade of silver lightning, traveling down the sword and surging into the body of the water dragon. It continued to writhe, and Tristan felt the hunt-urge took over. He could hear his heartbeat pounding in his ears, the whining, pained grunts of the creature before him, the taste of the salt in his throat and mouth from the brine he was breathing with deep, sucking breaths.

The creature recovered and whipped its neck to the side, wrenching Tristan's blade out of its wound, which oozed a deep, black blood into the waters surrounding them. It let out a roar as the water around Tristan convulsed and surged out – sending him tumbling back through the water and struggling to upright himself. He felt the teeth crunch down on his leg, and winced as the pressure built on his leg – the armor holding firm thanks to both spells and its magnificent forging.

But, he was gripped in an awkward position where it was on his upper thigh, and he couldn't quite bend to stab at it. He was being taken back toward the kelp forest, and spun his crucible as fast as he could, pushing the essence into his cross guard as he activated Winter's Wrath. The storm of ice and bashing rime swirled around him.

And, to his surprise, the waters around him began to freeze. Him and the water dragon's head. As he felt his essence draining, and the water continued to freeze, he and the dragon floated up to the surface. Wait a second, he thought. I've got a huge chunk of ice! He reached a hand back and felt the Queen's Wood Staff, pouring essence into it as he activated Control Ice. Go into it and expand!

The sphere of ice that had formed around the duo and forced them to the surface slid down his body, into the creature's now-frozen-open maw, and into the body cavity before expanding. This forced the jaws open, and Tristan was able to pull himself out as he pulled himself along the hide. It was incapacitated as the ice inside of it began to crack from its mass of muscles flexing down.

Where's the heart?! Tristan thought frantically as his own heart beat in his temples. He had no clue where it was located, since this thing had no wings.

Bertram surfaced alongside Rory, and the Drakonid woman got right next to the beast and shoved her spear deep into the eye. "Get the other one!" she shouted.

Tristan didn't question the order and scrambled to the other side as the creature let out a miserable moan of pain. He jammed his sword down to the cross guard into the other eye, delivering another jolt along the body that caused it to flex its entire form. The ice inside crunched as it was cracked from the sudden flexing.

Rory grabbed onto the eye socket, "Water dragon hearts are near the brain, in the back of the skull! You gotta get the right angle!" She began twisting her spear, trying to find the object.

Tristan used some of his lingering essence, feeling his crucible near empty from fueling Winter's Wrath, as he used another Bolt, sending the lancing line of electricity down his sword. The water dragon convulsed and then stilled, floating in place. He felt the hunt-urge fade, and let out a laugh of triumph.

Rory grabbed the eye socket and began swimming back to shore, "Come on!"

Bertram grabbed the creature and began pulling as well. Tristan joined the two, and within a few minutes they had beached half of the heavy corpse. The spells Bertram was fueling were released, as Tristan found himself able to breathe once more; coughing up and retching water alongside Bertram.

Rory grabbed Bertram's sword, then configured his sword to its Greatsword mode and slashed down on top of the skull, cutting through scale and skin, cracking it enough for Tristan to use his dagger to pry the bones loose after recovering. The entire brain cavity was full of blood, and he could see the heart at the back of the mushy, now-stabbed and shredded brain mass.

"Drink up," Bertram said as he grabbed Tristan's head and shoved him down with a chuckle.

Tristan didn't resist the movement and felt that hunt-urge rise up. The feeling of this being his kill as he gulped down as much blood as he could, draining half the brain cavity on his own. He staggered back and felt his stomach cramp up, falling to his butt on the rocky pebbles and grunting, wincing in pain. His stomach churned and he felt like he had to throw up.

Bertram glanced back, "Choke it down!"

Tristan just gritted his teeth and swallowed as hard as he could, despite the surging torrent of blood sloshing around in his guts. Eventually, the roiling ended, and he gasped in relief. "I'm good," he said breathlessly.

"It's a juvenile," Rory commented as she began carving the beast up.

Tristan got to his feet and drew on his lingering essence, spinning his crucible to the last drop. "Mighty beast which now lays slain, I take from you what you can no longer use and is mine by right of conquest." He held his hands together, made the claw gesture, and slowly shut them as he spoke.

The silver essence surged out of him – intertwined with threads of flickering blue, black, red, and yellow. They encompassed the creature before sucking back toward him. He could feel a rush through his head and his vision swam as he heard the sounds of the crashing waves dominate his ears before fading.

Bertram glanced back at him, "Gonna help butcher it?"

Tristan shook his head clear and glanced down at a concerned-looking Felicity now back in her fairy dragon form. "I'm good. Go get the unicorns, please."

She put a paw-claw on his leg, "Pelästytät minua vähän joka kerta, kun teet noin," (You scare me a little each time you do that) she said softly.

Tristan squatted down and scratched her head between her antlers, "Se näyttää pelottavalta, mutta olen kunnossa" (It looks scary, but I'm good).

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