Pentad of Un

Chapter 23 - Jelro

     One of the things that Jelro liked about being underwater was that it wasn't easy to break the calmness that the world was wrapped in.

     He could float freely along the currents, feeling the ripples of everything that moved. It was like a game—trying to determine how far away something was based on the movements in the water.

     Jelro stiffened.

     Those movements aren't natural.

     They felt like they were being made by something that wasn't supposed to be in the water.

     Suddenly alarmed, Jelro flicked his tail and swam upstream, shocked to see how far he had drifted from where the rest of the group was.

     And then he saw Adif and Shayrow in the water.

     Without a second thought, Jelro shot towards Adif and hauled her to the surface, relieved to see that Luss and Kestek were at the edge of the river so they could help get Adif out of the water.

     Jelro dove back down to see if Shayrow needed any help—and panicked when he didn't see the dhampyr anywhere nearby. Either the current had already pulled him away, or...

     Surfacing for an instant, Jelro confirmed that Shayrow hadn't gotten himself out of the water, then he shot off down the stream.

     He could feel violent motions rippling through the water.

     Around the corner, Shayrow was grappling with some kind of creature that Jelro had never actually seen before, although he knew what it was. It was around the size of a small humanoid being, and it had green scales and webbed hands and feet, as well as a carapace that resembled a turtle's shell to some extent.

     There was a cavity on the top of its head, almost like it had a bowl carved into its skull.

     It was a kha'pha.

     Jelro took his bow into his hands and aimed for the wall of the river, sending an arrow brushing past the kha'pha and harmlessly plunking into the clay.

     The creature looked to see where the arrow had come from, giving Jelro time to zip over and yank Shayrow to the surface.

     The dhampyr hacked up water, struggling to keep his head above the surface.

     "Is that a kappa?" he gasped out.

     "Is that Segaugnal for it?" Jelro responded, jerking his fin when he felt something try to grab it. "Can you swim?"

     "Not upriver."

     "Here." Jelro managed to get Shayrow to the edge of the river without moving downstream, warding off the kappa while Shayrow climbed out of the water. "I'm going to try to lure it upstream," he hissed, flailing his tail to try and bat away the creature. "I'm hoping someone will know how to get it to leave us alone."

     "Can kappas come on land?"

     "Yeah, and that's the last thing I want it to do." Jelro flinched as he felt his quiver being tampered with. "I'll meet you there!" he said before ducking under the water.

     The kappa was indeed trying to steal Jelro's arrows, and he could barely wrestle the creature away from the loot.

     Jelro would have tried signing to see if the kappa could understand him, but the creature didn't seem very interested in "talking it out" and instead kept trying to put Jelro in a headlock.