Timothy turned around in a flash, and saw something that he would rather not see. He spotted this half-a-foot tall, rat-like creature, and didn't know what to think of this. Considering that the creature also had a belly button, he got even more confused, because this had to be a mammal, rather than a rat or anything like that.
“What in the name of Falakus, Firunal, and Farazal are you?!” He asked, and although he didn't worship those gods himself, he mentioned their name as a way to release his frustration. He was being dramatic.
“I'm a leech, well, I'm an Albino Scavenger Leech, but let's avoid the long names. Call me Thomas.” The creature answered, and he spoke the goblin tongue fluently somehow. “I'm supposed to be here, but what are you doing in a dragon’s stomach?”
“I'm looking for my friends, this orc bastard swallowed them whole! They were alive a few minutes ago, I could hear them, but now… I can't even find their bodies.” He explained.
Then, Thomas followed along. “Aqus goblins shouldn't be out here in The Old Sea, regardless of how you can breathe underwater, that's what my father always used to say. But anyway, your friends are fine, we managed to snatch them before the mothership, or the Sea Orc, as you know it, went nuts! It's rare to scare a dragon like this into full speed, so I salute whatever it was that you did to it out there.”
Timothy ignored most of what this little guy said, he stopped listening after he was assured that his friends were alive! Besides, this four-limbed leech had a very punny voice, so he couldn’t hear most of what the leech said, even if he tried to listen.
Although the leech was tiny, he was actually quite powerful. For example, as tough as the Sea Orc's insides and outsides were, the leech expelled just a little bit of multi-colored mana from his palm, and somehow forced a whole portion of the dragon's rock-hard, internal flesh to open up!
This was the stuff of horrors, the flesh opened up, and formed a two-foot wide, oval doorway! Timothy managed to squeeze through the doorway, and that was where he saw his four friends! They were alive and well!
Without thinking about it twice, he leaped over to them, and cried out in joy as he hugged them! His friends were equally happy to see him, but they had been comfortable enough here, from the looks of it, so they didn't have enough reasons to cry out. Still, they were quite happy to see their friend, because they understood that he was their passage that would get them out of here!
“Took you long enough,” Arvena lightly scolded him.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Furthermore, she added. “No offense to the leeches, they've been very helpful, but this place is too small for us, and it reeks!”
Regardless of how they were alive and well, they had the right to complain about these conditions. Though this little room they were in was like a grand cavern to these tens of leeches, it was just a two-foot tall, and five foot long pocket of space. Sure it kept their necks from breaking during all of the commotion, but it wasn't a place where they'd prefer to be!
“How about we get out of here, then? I have this big bastard crippled, he can't go anywhere without my say-so.” Tim asked.
The team was enthusiastic to get out of here, and their hosts were eager to have them get out of here, on the count of all the space that the team was taking. Skendus had shapeshifted into an aqus goblin a few minutes ago, so it was great that they didn’t have to drag him across the dragon's long throat. They couldn't lift a whole sawfish through physical strength alone, even if they tried to, so shapeshifting was really coming in handy once more! After what he experienced, Skendus didn't know if he wanted to be a sawfish any more.
Anyway, hundreds of these leeches gathered around to see their guests go, they had been hiding all over the place. Using their special kind of magic, they opened up tens of tiny, oval doorways and then followed the crowd!
Timothy noticed this, and he was fascinated, so as they were getting escorted, he turned to Thomas, and asked him. “I know the name ‘Leech’ is pretty self explanatory, but what is it that you do here? I would hate to be infested by you guys, but… I don't get it, I can't wrap my head around the fact that you willingly choose to live in this slimey hellhole!”
“This is the best hellhole we know of,” Thomas joked, and in a more serious matter, he then asked. “Have you ever heard of Flesh Mana? The name is very self explanatory.”
Furthermore, without waiting for an answer, he explained. “Flesh Mana allows us to move flesh around, yes, but the leeches who have a more pure mana quality, can assume the indefinite control of a huge beast, such as the one we're walking in right now! Our goal here is to turn this Sea Orc into our long term vessel, without killing the vessel, and you’ll probably be able to guess that we chose a Sea Orc, on the count of their exaggerated durability. This is a decent, potentially maneuverable vessel for us to raise our children in.”
“I hate to break it to you, but I kind of broke its spine… Well, he’s at least very crippled right now.” Timothy then added, and he expected Thomas to get mad, but that was not the case.
Thomas then stated, “We can heal its spine in two days, don't worry about it. Though, I have to ask you to remove the extra bones that you… summoned? It'll spare us several weeks of work, because it's very difficult for us to work with artificial bones.”
With conditions like these, it was easy for them to come to an agreement, Timothy was happy to cooperate. They made it to the exit point, it being the dragon's mouth, and this was where they said their goodbyes!
As they were leaving, Thomas started climbing down from Timothy's shoulder, and as he did, he also cautioned. “Swimming towards those old ruins is a death sentence as good as any, but it's not our place to stop you from trying. I wish you luck, friends, and I hope that you won't end up down another Sea Orc's throat anytime soon!”