Eshanai suspected the Biquix was playing with her. Every time she got close, it would put on a burst of speed, but never enough to entirely escape, and all the while, it laughed at her. She had resorted to throwing things at it, but solid objects simply passed through its gaseous body.

The only real way to hurt a Biquix was to force it to take a solid form. It would have to turn corporeal if it wanted to attack her, but it didn’t seem too keen on that, content to lead Eshanai on a merry goose chase. She could trap it somehow and wait it out, the Biquix’s smoky form couldn’t pass through solid objects, but that was easier said than done without the help of a spirit. Before the Naga were unfavoured, she would have simply asked the stone of the floor to rise up and surround it, but no spirit would obey her every whim now. Except, the castle itself had listened to her, Eshanai immediately tried to think of what she wanted. For plates of stone to rise out of the floor to trap the Biquix, but without music, nothing seemed to happen.

“Trap the Biquix in stone so that we all can go home,” Eshanai tried to sing, but again nothing happened. The only thing she succeeded in doing was to make the Biquix laugh even harder. She had never been a great singer.

“You sound like a beached whale, bleating like that,” The Biquix jeered as it laughed at her, still turned to smoke hovering out of Eshanai’s reach. She didn’t know what a whale was, but she was sure she didn’t sound that bad. The Biquix was just trying to get a rise out of her. She wouldn’t let the foul little creature get to her. In fact, Eshanai wasn’t sure why she was pursuing the Biquix. As far as Eshanai knew, she was the best and only flutist on the whole island because there were no instruments. If the Biquix could play, it would have done so already as it was so desperate to please its master. The Catfish wouldn’t have wanted Eshanai to play for it so bad if it had a capable musician among its ranks.

The only problem Eshanai could foresee was if the Catfish got the castle back on its side. She couldn’t turn it back without her flute. But she had no way of retrieving it, simply doing precisely what the Biquix wanted by chasing it. Whatever creature was still waking up must have a real shot at beating her, or the Biquix wouldn’t go through all this trouble to stall. No, her time was better spent helping Sikhez. Then they could fight this monster together or, even better, go after the Catfish while they had it trapped.

“Where do you think you’re going?” The Biquix shouted after her as Eshanai turned her back to look for Sikhez and moved away. “Don’t you want your doodad back?”

“You can keep it. You don’t know how to play it anyway,” Eshanai said with a dismissive wave of her hand.

“I’ll-I’ll break it,” stopped Eshanai in her tracks briefly. She wanted the flute back, but she wouldn’t play this little game with the Biquix, so she continued slithering. “It’s probably the only one of its kind left on the island. You won’t find another one.”

“Then neither will you or your master. Oh, the thrashing you’ll receive if you break the only instrument left on the island.” Eshanai smirked as she heard the Biquix mutter in frustration, but it left her alone as she finally spotted Sikhez. She was still fighting her group of Bugbears and Hobgoblins, and from the looks of things, she was holding her own.

Eshanai joined the fray by slapping a Hobgoblin out of the air that was about to jump at Sikhez from behind. The little monsters might be bigger and denser than goblins, but the impact with her hand still sent it careening away at speed. If Sikhez had noticed, she didn’t show it, simply snarling at her remaining foes. She had let her anger get to her again. Eshanai didn’t remember Sikhez ever being this easily provoked. She was worried about the young Naga. If she continued like this one day she would find herself fighting something she couldn’t handle. The Catfish must have done a number on her.

“You’re letting them control the flow of battle, overextending yourself and getting surrounded,” Eshanai berated as she broke through the loose formation surrounding Sikhez to get them off her back.

“So what? They can’t hurt me anyway,” she answered as she fought three Bugbears at once, laying into them with her fists.

“It’s still foolish. You need to use your head. Why do you think they went through all this trouble to separate us?” Eshanai shot back as she guarded Sikhez’s flank. She used her tail to disrupt their enemy's formation, herding them like cats.

“Separate us? We weren’t separated,” Sikhez protested but grew silent at Eshanai’s flat stare.

“You underestimate our enemy's cunning. While you went chasing after what was clearly bait in your unthinking rage. I was stuck dealing with a Biquix. By myself.” The young Naga winced at Eshanai’s harsh words but shrugged anyway.

“Okay, so I might have gone a little overboard,” she said, having regained some of her sense. “But everything is still fine, right? You can just use that instrument you have to get the castle to fight for us,” at Eshanai’s silence Sikhez visibly tensed. “Right?”

“They took it.”

“What?”

“They took the damn flute, okay. And I couldn’t get it back. What do you want me to say?” Sikhez simply stared opened mouthed at Eshanai before closing it with an audible click of her teeth.

“Oh,” was all she said before a colossal roar shook the cavernous hall, and one of the new busty statues came flying at them. Eshanai hadn’t been ready, and the statue would have hit Sikhez if she hadn’t pushed the young Naga out of the way but placed herself right in its trajectory.

Eshanai had closed her eyes, bracing for an impact that never came. She did feel pain, but only in her wrists. She had thrown up her hands to try and ward off some of the blow, but the rest of her body shouldn’t have been spared entirely. As she slowly opened her eyes, she saw blood trickling down her forearms, and then her eyes widened. Vines had pierced through her skin to wrap around the statue, catching it before it could hit her. Eshanai thought idly about putting it down, and the vines obeyed, setting the statue down gently beside her before releasing it and snaking back under her skin. The wounds knitted together as if they had never been there, blood the only sign that she had even been hurt.

“Of course, how could I have been so stupid?” Eshanai exclaimed and put her face in her palms. She didn’t need the castle to do her bidding when she had a literal nature spirit living rent-free in her tummy. Eshanai had been hesitant about asking it for help, but why should she be? It was using her body as a house. The least it could do was help out once in a while. She spent some time shooting vines out of various body parts just to see if she could. It hurt every time, but it would be worth it.

“Ehm, you never really explained what that thing inside you was,” Sikhez hedged slowly from where she had landed before standing back up.

“Later, for now, we have to deal with this Troll. Just know that the vines are on my side.” Eshanai explained hurriedly, and Sikhez gave a grim nod. They both turned to look at the pair of grey-skinned heads towering above the rest of the guests. The two heads sharing the same torso couldn’t be more different. Where one was plump, with a bulbous nose and thick cheeks, the other was almost gaunt with hawkish features. But the most notable thing about it was the fact that only one head seemed to be awake at the moment.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

The head with a bulbous nose glared at the pair of Naga that rushed towards it, the other head apparently asleep, lolling to the side and snoring loudly. It roared in outrage as it picked up a table and hurled it at them. They were ready now, and the table missed as they dodged, smashing into the floor with a loud crash. The Troll’s frustration only grew as it kept missing before it gave up entirely in favor of stomping around in an overgrown temper tantrum. Furniture and goblins alike lay scattered in the wake of its rampage.

“Stop destroying all my furniture and get back to killing them,” the Catfish suddenly shrieked. It had been trying to do something with the walls, but now it looked at the Troll with horror. “Do you know how long it took me to gather all of this, what it cost me?”

“No boss, sorry boss,” The Troll answered to Eshanai’s astonishment. Trolls were generally not smart enough to speak.

“Of course, you don’t,” the Catfish sneered. It sure seemed protective of all of its stuff, not just the tables and chairs but the walls and decorations too. It had gone ballistic when the walls had changed, not just because it couldn’t escape anymore, but it seemed to find the new themes offensive.

Something Jiro had said about spirits suddenly popped into Eshanai’s mind. About how they grew and changed depending on their environment. The Catfish’s castle seemed very deliberate in that light, at least this cavernous hall was. With the carefully arranged furniture and decorations, not to mention the corpses that turned out not to be corpses, placed like guests in their chairs. The rest of the castle had been overgrown and falling apart, but this room was well cared for.

What would happen to the Catfish if the whole castle were to disappear? Would it change, maybe even die? No, Eshanai would have to drain the entire lake for that to happen, but it would certainly do something. It would explain why the Catfish had been so upset about the change in decor.

“Oops,” Eshanai said with an innocent look as a chair smashed into the Troll's face. It didn’t seem to do much damage, its thick skin protecting it. All it did was make the Troll look down at its nose with a frown of confusion as if it didn’t understand what had happened. And, of course, it made the Catfish’s ire turn on her. The two Naga smiled at each other, and Sikhez picked up a whole table and heaved it up over her head as she eyed the Catfish.

“Oh no, young lady, don’t even think about throwing that table. It’s imported marble,” the spirit warned in a low voice, trying to stay calm. Sikhez only grinned at it before, with a grunt of effort, she too hurled her table. It hit the Troll in the chest, and it actually stumbled back from the impact, but other than that, it seemed unharmed. Eshanai could see the gears in the Trolls head turning as it looked between the two Naga and where it had been hit, a frown of concentration on its face.

“Hey, you two are pretty good at this,” it finally said after a long moment of thought, its whole face lighting up in a grin as it gave a thumb up.

“Don’t compliment them. Kill them.” The Catfish was completely irate, practically vibrating from the effort it took to restrain itself to not completely bite the Troll's head off.

“Yes boss, sorry boss,” the Troll parroted, but it seemed to mollify the Catfish.

“Good,” It said and returned to the wall. “You do that while I try to talk my treacherous castle back into some sort of order.” The spirit proceeded to mutter something to itself that Eshanai could not hear.

“Sorry, I’m going to have to kill you now,” the Troll said in a harsh whisper, giving a helpless shrug before it ran at the pair of Naga. It charged through furniture and goblins alike, taking no care not to damage any of its master's belongings as it lumbered forward excitedly. Its long legs ate up the distance quickly. Eshanai would only reach up to about its knee if she stood normally. There would be no way to outrun this beast.

“Stand still so I can smash you,” the Troll growled in frustration as she and Sikhez snaked their way between its towering legs as it brought its meaty fists down to try and punch them. There was much smashing going on, just not of any Naga, them being too quick for the lumbering Troll. Plenty of furniture didn’t stand a chance as the two Naga led the Troll on their own goose chase. The Catfish didn’t notice, being too engrossed in what looked like an intense conversation with a wall.

“Argh!” The Troll roared, having reached a breaking point as it smashed both its fists down into the floor so hard that it almost overwhelmed Eshanai’s tremor sense. Sikhez was quicker to react, slithering up one of the Troll's arms to wrap herself around its bowed neck. She squeezed, and the Troll coughed as it choked. Standing on its knees, it brought its hands up to try and pry Sikhez away, but the young Naga managed to batter them away.

The Troll frowned as it redoubled its efforts, managing to get ahold of Sikhez’s tail with one hand it pulled, but she held on, punching its thick fingers and biting them. Eshanai didn’t know how long it would take for the Troll to choke or how long Sikhez could hold on. She didn’t know how it even could choke when its other head was breathing just fine, albeit still asleep. Didn’t they share the same lungs or something? Whatever the case, it seemed to work as the Troll turned blue in the face and its movement more sluggish.

Eshanai wouldn’t leave her friend hanging, so she attached herself to the beast's thigh and bit down. She pumped her venom, but the Troll's rocky skin was too hard and thick, and she watched as the toxins ran uselessly down the Troll's leg to pool at its bent knee. She thought this had better work as she held out her arms and vines grew out of her wrists. She winced at the uncomfortable feeling, but the vines obeyed her nonetheless.

They shot forward like striking vipers and slowly but surely burrowed into the Trolls leg. Eshanai could see where the beast's skin bulged and deformed that the vines were making their way under the skin and up the body. The Troll cried out in soundless agony as flowers sprouted from its flesh as the vines made their inexorable way upwards. The Troll brought a hand down to swipe at Eshanai, and she had to duck or risk having her head turned to a pulp as the Troll brought its monstrous strength to bear. A moment later, it turned to claw at its own hide, trying to get at the vines that seemed to be eating it from the inside.

Eventually, it grew too exhausted, and it collapsed to the floor with a low thud that shook the hall, having finally passed out. A whole garden of colorful flowers in full bloom covered its left side as Eshanai let the vines retract back into her. She felt strangely rejuvenated but had no time to wonder about that.

The Biquix was standing next to the Catfish and was about to blow into the flute, with the spirit egging it on. A discordant note rang out as the dark creature's lips met the flute. The sound cut into Eshanai’s ears painfully, and she had to cover them to muffle the sound. She saw Sikhez doing the same. In fact, every single one of the Catfish’s guests seemed to be unable to stand the sound. Even the castle reacted, a wave of distortion flowing through the walls, leaving the new themes slightly skewed. The troll even groaned as it raised itself slowly to its feet. Sikhez jumped down to stand next to Eshanai when she felt movement.

“Why did you let go?” Eshanai asked when the horrible sound had finally stopped.

“I don’t understand. It still seems passed out. I kinda freaked out,” she explained, and they both looked up to see that as the Troll righted itself, the head with the big nose was indeed still knocked out, its tongue hanging out of its mouth as it lolled to the side, but the other head was moving. The one who was supposed to be asleep, who had slept through their whole chaotic fight, was now waking up.

“Brother? It's still too early. wake me up after the next solstice,” it said groggily, but its eyes widened, and it grew alert as it noticed the state of its other head. “Ugo, what’s wrong? What happened?” It sounded a bit panicky, and Eshanai couldn’t help but feel a little bad for it. It had seemed so innocent, a gullible victim for the Catfish to use. Its eyes searched the room, seeming bewildered, but it focused as it found the two Naga standing at its feet.

“Ahem,” Eshanai cleared her throat. How would she explain this? Could she explain this? But the Troll wouldn’t have it.

“What have you done to my brother?” It asked them in a low voice that was somehow much more intimidating than if it had roared as it bent down to glare at them. The red glow beginning to brighten in its eyes, larger than Eshanai’s head, also contributed to the uneasy feeling.