A Quest to the Borat ✔

Chapter 48

A/N: Whoooohooo!!! A Quest to the Borat has reached over 2K reads guys!!! I am so grateful to each and every one of you for making this possible. So, early update in celebration. And that's Caspian ya'll.

****************

Karen's POV

We travel according to Darius's plan for hours and there has been no progress except that we've passed the forest we were in. Now, it has been hours that we are traveling through this grassland, and honestly, I feel like it is a desert. Because it is so dry and smoldering hot in here.

"Darius, you sure we're going the right way?" asks Caspian.

"Yeah, of course," he replies.

Talks between Caspian and Darius have been awkward. Maybe it's because they both desire the same girl and one of them has her while the other doesn't. It's almost like I am Elena and Darius is Stefan while Caspian is Damon. But to be honest, Darius looks more like Damon than Caspian.

And I made fun of the Salvatore brothers for fighting over Elena and Katherine.

Talks between me and Caspian have been awkward too. Not that it wasn't awkward before but now it has gotten more awkward.

But our growing concern is for Iris, who has been growing weaker each hour. And she can't exactly sit the way humans do since she's got a long beautiful fishtail. When sunlight hits her scales, her whole body gleams like diamonds. Both the gems on her breasts and the scales on her tail.

It's oddly hot, so being a mermaid supposed to live underwater, she is having difficulty dealing with the heat as well. Hell, I am roasting so I can only imagine what she must be feeling.

She sits sideways in front of Kevin as opposed to how she sat previously behind him. And she rests her head on his chest as she sleeps soundly. It is hard for Kevin to ride the horse in that position but nevertheless, he does both without an ounce of hesitation.

Later that day, when we rest, Kevin is the most exhausted. When Iris wakes up she informs us that there are only four more hours before she actually faints.

In accordance with the plan, we are supposed to reach Almine tomorrow. But so far there has been no sign of a kingdom or anything that hints at a civilization whatsoever. After resting for two hours, we resume our journey, with Iris on Caspian's horse this time. He manages better than Kevin since he is stronger and we desperately look for a water source.

Iris looks weaker than ever and none of the foods that we feed her does anything to give her a little energy. Sometimes, she weakly points at a distance and murmurs about seeing water, but all we see will be dry tall grass. So technically, she has begun hallucinating too.

"Mmm..." She moans.

"Shh....it's okay. We'll find it somewhere soon, darling. It's fine. I am here." Caspian consoles her and I doubt if someone else is hearing it because their voices are so low and I can hear it faintly because...well, you know what.

Her face has turned dull, and she is very weak. If a human is in this condition and is taken to the hospital, the doctor will immediately give the I.V glucose maybe shove a tube down their throat to give them liquid food. Bet Iris knows the name of whatever that is.

"Darius, I don't think we're going in the right direction." I say but he shakes his head.

"I am sure it is...just a little more further." He says. Now I have started to see some mountains too and I have no idea how Almine is having mountains. Because Almine is Highland but the mountains I see look pretty bigger than that.

Caspian doesn't say a word because then that would wake Iris up. A light gleam catches my eyes at a far off point and upon looking closely, I realize what it is. Water!

"Darius, there's the water! A source!" I yell and Caspian's head snaps in my direction.

"Where?" he asks

"Right there, right there in the clearing." I say. As soon as Caspian notices it, he signals his horse to go faster, and in a minute they reach the foot of the pond. Caspian jumps down with Iris in his arms and slowly lowers her into the pond.

The moment Iris's body touches the water, her fins flap up and down and she jumps out of Caspian's arms, splashing into the water. She splashes the water around like a maniac kid, and dips down, comes up, whooping flips like a dolphin seemingly having the time of her life. The wonders water does to mermaids.

"Yo, come on guys, take a swim!" she shouts. Caspian and Kevin quickly pull off their shirts and jump into the water with her. I glance at a hesitating Darius and signal him to join.

"It's just once." I say and pulls off his shirt. 

Holy cow! I am never getting enough of those abs.

I strip down to my undergarments swing into the pond. As soon as my hot skin touches the water, the coolness erupts sparks inside me and I shudder.

Iris leaps and yelps, her fins moving excitedly underwater. Sometimes, she even dips down and tickles the guys when they least expect it, earning screams from Kevin because he thinks that it is some other creature.

We're very close to those mountains I saw earlier. They're huge though and not like the ones we crossed earlier but like the crown of those. Like the farthest end of that trail. And the farthest end of that trail was...The Eastern Mountains.

I hear some branches breaking, snapping, and.... very hoarse breathing. That's when I notice that the place has been growing hotter by the second. I feel the water's temperature increasing.

"Why is the water getting hot?" asks Iris.

"Yeah, I noticed that too," I mumble, straining my eyes toward the direction of the breathing noise.

The grass is tall, like way too tall and thick for me to see anything beyond it. But I know there is something behind it.

"Guys...there's something over there," I say pointing my hand at the tall grass.

"Where?" asks Kevin, wiping off the water from his face.

"There. I can hear a breathing." I say and then... a huge figure emerges from behind the blades.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here..." rasps the rough, and chilling voice. 

Oh great, we just ventured into the Dragon house!