Staring at the river feeling his burning rage fade, Jake heard a soft thud coming from somewhere beside him. Startled he looked over to find that Mason had fallen to the ground, holding himself on his hands. His friend's chest was heaving like a forge bellow, and drops of blood fell from his partially opened mouth.

"MASON!"

Jake wanted to rush forward, but before he could, Emma's small form shot passed him like a blur, appearing next to Mason.

Putting her hands on the fallen Kobold's face, the unchildlike rage show on hers disappeared, replaced by a look of worry and fear. Moving to sit behind Mason Emma saw the gaping wound on his back. Tears started falling from her eyes when she touched the spear sticking out of it. Moving next to her, Jake put a hand on Mason's scaled shoulder.

"You ok?" He asked, cringing at the stupid question.

"..yah… but it hurts. Pull it out will ya?" Mason answered weakly.

Jake nodded and moved behind him.

"Emma, make sure those things don't come back, ok?" Jake said while inspecting the spear that was sticking out of Masons back.

After a second Jake looked up when he realized Emma had not responded and he saw she had a terrified look on her face. Her lips were trembling, and she seemed close to crying. Smiling weakly, Jake nodded at the little Kobold. Remembering the menacing way she had fought only minutes before he wondered if she would be ok after all that had happened, but it seemed he had underestimated her.

A look off resolve crossed Emma's face, replacing the fear, and she nodded abruptly before turning around and scanning both the river and the treeline, her head swiveling from left to right.

Sighing in relieve, Jake turned his attention back to the bleeding hole in his friends back. Bright red blood oozed out from the edges, syrupy and thick, much thicker than human blood was. Putting his hand around the base of the grey wooden spear, he felt Mason shudder and heard him suppress a groan.

"Did you see if their spears have barbs?" Mason whispered, sounding scared.

Shuddering when he realized the implications, Jake quickly shook his head. "I don't know. Wait here. There are a few over there, il go grab one and see."

Jumping up, Jake rushed along the river bank as fast as he could. One of the spears was sticking out from the mud, a few meters away. Going way to fast, he grabbed it while coming to a sliding stop, his taloned feet leaving long lines. Turning around, he saw Emma was looking at him, a scared look on her face. Jake waved the spear at her quickly while running back, and she shakily nodded before looking back at the river. As he rushed along, Jake knew he and Mason would need to help the girl somehow, so she wouldn't keep a lifelong trauma from everything that was happening. He also knew he had no idea how he was going to do that.

Stopping next to Mason, Jake raised the tip close for inspection. It was long and angular, with a weird curve at the top part.

"No barbs," he said in relieve, holding it up for Mason to inspect.

"Oke, then get this thing out," Mason grunted.

Jake nodded, taking one more look at the spear. The spear tip seemed to have been wedged into the wood by force, and he had no idea why it wasn't falling out. Intrigued by the black and shiny surface, Jake raised the spear close to his eye. He could see lines along the rocklike tip, and there seemed to be a pattern in it as if tiny hands crafted it. Touching it revealed it was cold to the touch and smooth like silk.

"How about you make love to that thing after you pull its brother from my back?" Mason groaned, an annoyed and painful look on his face.

Jake felt the skin under the scales on his face heat up, and he knew they would be going darker. Although blushing wasn't as apparent as it used to be, he knew Mason would notice.

"Sorry," he mumbled, before handing the spear to Mason.

His friend just felt the edges for a second before dropping the spear and visibly steeling himself. "Pull it out.." Halfway his voice broke and sounded more like a growl.

Swallowing, Jake put both hands on Mason back. Wondering if he should count, he decided nothing would make it more pleasant for his friend, and he better just be done with it. Without as much a warning he yanked the spear out feeling only a little resistance at the start. As the spear slid out scales came with it, and a sliver of meat and blood was attached to the tip. Mason didn't make any noise, but all the muscles in his body bulged, causing ripples as if snakes were wrestling underneath a smooth, incredibly dense, golden scale mail. When the spear left the wound, he sank to the ground taking a shuddering gulp of air.

"We need to bind that," Jake said, looking at the stream of blood pouring from the wound.

"Yes, but not yet. The blood will wash out any infection." Mason replied, his voice sounding weak and tired.

Jake nodded, looking at a daze at was happening with Mason's back. As he did something started tickling the end of his mind, trying to get his attention. Distracted, he ignored Mason back for a moment, and a memory from a tunnel, what now seemed so long ago, appeared in his mind.

All of a sudden, Jake snapped his head around, looking at the corpses near the river bank. Hanging only half a meter above the ground, and drifting towards the water, was a small cloud of barely noticeable specs. With how bright the sun was, Jake knew he might never have seen them if he had not known they were there.

"Mason! Look there are more of those lights that we saw in the tunnel. They can heal you. We need to hurry; they are dissipating!" Jake rambled, at the same time running towards the lights.

Mason looked up, a shocked expression on his face. It took him a moment to find out what Jake was looking at and where to look, but as soon as he saw the nearest lights, he stood and in a staggering thread moved forward.

Although moving at a snake's pace, Mason managed to reach the small cloud when they were almost touching the ground. Trying to kneel, the golden scaled Kobold almost fell facefirst and barely managed to catch himself with his hands plunging into the middle of the cloud. The noticeable lights didn't react. Frustration surfaced on Mason's face, and he tried to catch one, but it just passed through his hand.

"Dammit, why doesn't this work?!" Mason growled banging a fist on the ground.

"Over here!" Jake yelled, standing close to the water, a small swirl of lights surrounding him, slowly disappearing inside his scales that began glowing. With hardly any clothes remaining to cover him, besides some ragged remains of his trousers, the glowing scales started glistening as if they were wet and all the small cuts and bruises began to disappear.

Jake slowly moved towards his friend, trying to keep the lights from disappearing inside his scaled-skin. Ten steps later, he put his hands on Masons, and they both held their breath when one of the lights touched Masons golden and red scales.

"Come on, come on," Jake muttered.

For a moment the light seemed to disappear, but then it just popped out at the other side of masons arm, before drifting away eventually going inside Jake's leg.

"DAMNIT!" Jake growled, and at the same time, Mason sagged down on the ground a lost look on his face.

A shuffle to the side caused Jake to snap back to attention, but it was only Emma. As she moved next to him, several of the lights surrounding him floated her way, and they quickly disappeared inside her scales.

"Damnit, I get it..." Mason said, sounding tired, before laying down on his back and closing his eyes.

Jake nodded. In the tunnel, when the lights had been easily visible, he had already noticed, but he wasn't sure until just now.

"The color's need to match. Whatever the lights are, we can only absorb those matching the colors of our scales." Jake said, before ignoring the lights and heading to the river. He scooped up water with his hands and moved back to Mason, dripping the crystal clear liquid on the wound of his back. Then he tore a small part of what remained of his jeans and started cleaning the wound. Mason groaned in protest but did not move.

"You are as gentle as a bull in heat," Mason said through clenched teeth.

Emma moved next to Jake, water in her small hands that she poured across Masons back. "What does in heat, mean? Can bulls catch fire?" She asked in a curious voice.

Shaking his head, Jake rubbed a bit harder on Masons back, causing his friend to squeal in protest. "No, Emma. This big loaf always likes saying silly things, ignore him. Can you bring me some more water? And be careful, make sure there are no more of those things in the water." Although he sounded annoyed, inside Jake was happy, Emma seemed to be feeling better already. At the same time, he knew this was far from normal, for a human anyway.

Emma nodded, her black, shoulder-length hair barely moving. Cluttered as it was with small twigs, mud and filth Jake wondered why he didn't smell her. Then again, and he looked at Mason and himself. They must all stink.

In the end, it took them almost one hour to clean Masons wound, but luckily no more monsters lurking in the river came for them. Sitting close to the river, Jake and Emma were discussing what to do. Tired from his ordeal, Mason was asleep next to them. The wound had already started closing, a testament to the incredible healing factor of their new bodies, and Jake was keeping an eye on his friend to make sure he didn't roll onto his back. He was just wondering if they should go up and downstream when he woke up when Emma's head jerked up, and she looked at the jungle.

"Jake… I can hear voices!" Emma's voice turned into a whisper, as she looked at him with a slight panic in her eyes at the same time baring her teeth and growling softly.