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Melody made her way through the cave slowly. The villagers complained about a blood thirsty naga that needed to be dealt with. Melody was the only one available, she did have some of the villagers push for her to wait on her usual partner. Kyrie was gone for weeks at least, if this naga is as dangerous as they say it’s not safe. She hit a rock and listened for the incoming danger.
Silence met her so she continued on her next steps. She needed to stay quiet. That quiet spell Caprice cast on her armor was coming in handy. She grunted as something caught her leg. A small web was attached to the lower part of her armor. She knew what that meant, driders. She hissed, they weren’t known to live in these caves.
“I’ll take care of the damned human,” a voice said.
She grabbed the hilt of her sword as she continued forward. She was entering the depth of the cave, it would be a lot more dangerous now. Especially with that voice planning to take care of her. Her arm was caught in another drider web. This was getting troublesome.
“Fuck off human. You don’t know the danger you’re in being in my territory!” the voice shouted. Melody tensed her hand on her sword, she couldn’t back down now.
She kept moving forward, scanning the area for a sign of danger. She slowly reached up and tilted the visor of her helmet down. Caprice and Kyrie never stopped talking about how she needed a dark-sight spell on it. She’d never hear the end now that they proved right. She hadn’t found anyone yet, it made sense with how quiet the voice sounded.
“Knight, I said to back the fuck off!” the voice yelled again. She just lowered her head to try and pinpoint the position.
“He’s not leaving, what do we do?” a louder feminine voice said.
“Quiet Nutmeg, I said I’d take care of the fucking knight,” the voice sounded almost desperate. “If you keep walking you’ll be trapped in my web and just a fucking snack to me!”
Melody stopped, this wasn’t a blood thirsty naga or anything else the village should fear. She let go of her sword, held her hands up and continued forward. She hit more webs, it didn’t feel like one of the larger ones. She had seen a drider web before and they were never this small. She didn’t stop until a large hand was placed directly in front of her.
“Aisling, are you ok?” the feminine voice said.
“I-I’m fine this stupid fucking knight just should look where he’s going. Oh right humans don’t see in the dark so they never fucking care!” the other one said. Melody sighed and took a step back from the hand in front of her. She had to make herself ignore the size of the fingers.
“So you’re the blood thirsty naga I was sent after,” she narrowed her eyes, they had a spell to mask her voice in the helmet too. They wouldn’t know who she is until she took it off. “Along with a drider that is apparently smaller than the usual ones I deal with.”
Melody felt her eyes widen as a small form climbed on top of the hand. It looked like she could hold them in one of her own. Red hair, dark skin, and the furry back of a smaller spider. Their eyes were locked on her, an orange against black staring up at her. She tilted her head up and tried to hide her shock at the naga.
She was bigger than any she’d seen before. Pink hair that met her snake half and covered her front. Eyes of orange and green that had the faintest glow. Pale skin covered in a number of bruises. Sharp teeth that could match the blood thirsty idea if she didn’t cower from Melody already. She was livid. The damned villagers wanted to wait and now she knew why.
“In all the fucking realms,” she cursed and ripped her helmet off. Both creatures before her made a shocked noise, the larger one cowered more before the drider hissed. “The damned villagers wanted to wait until someone else was here so I wouldn’t get to find out who they wanted slaughtered this time.”
“What the fuck do you mean?” the little drider shouted. Melody froze, choosing to use an emergency spell Cap had given her. She set her helmet on and tapped by her ear. She pulled the vizor up and left her brown hair cascading past her shoulders.
“Do you think she’ll kill it?” A villager asked. None of them trusted her, she knew that. She and her brother were bad omens. “She left that dragon alive, and the sorcerer.”
“If she’s not back soon we’ll be trapping them all in there anyway,” the one who came to get her asked. She glared behind her, bastards. Once Caprice came home he’d come to get her, Kyrie would definitely search for her body. He refuses to leave anyone behind.
“We don’t have time,” she growled.
She looked up at the naga again. The eyes that looked at her were filled with fear. She looked at the drider, clearly ready to fight, but Melody was covered in protective steel. A drider bite wouldn’t reach her. She pulled her helmet off again and hoped her face would be enough to convince the two.
“The village wants you dead, it’s clear you’re not the monster they claimed. I have a plan to get us out of here, all of us alive,” she explained. She set her helmet on the ground, leaving herself easily vulnerable in the dark. She drew her sword. “If I cut your hand, even just a finger, we let it coat my sword and armor. Then grab me and leave. Play like you’re taking me and run.”
“As if that could work!” the drider yelled. She glared at the small creature. They didn’t have time for her to be deceiving them.
“I don’t have the time to lie to you. I’m the only knight around for at least a week. Get to the woods, set me down and run. I’ll limp back, it might be better if you hurt my leg for real. I’ll claim you’ve died. If you have any old scales I can use it to lie.”
“Lady Melody? A-Are you still alive?” a villager yelled. The echo made her more desperate. The two creatures looked at her like she had three heads, hell she might as well.
“Stay back, I’ve yet to locate the naga. It has started to burrow through these caves!”
“You… really want to help me?” the naga asked. Melody glared out towards the villagers.
“I’m not killing someone because they’re bigger and stronger than most people.”
“Nutmeg you’re not thinking,” the little drider looked up in shock as the huge hand started to move.
The naga, Nutmeg it seemed, pinched Melody’s sword and pulled it from her grasp. Melody felt like a fool as the naga fiddled with the blade. None of the spells were active, she couldn’t call it back. The drider had jumped to her helmet when the hand moved, she couldn’t defend herself. She watched the naga finally pinch the hilt between two fingers and stab it into her own palm.
Melody let out a yell and moved forward, but the naga was quicker. She pushed her back with her bloodied hand and dropped the sword too. It was more force than she was used to and Melody’s head hit the rocks hard. She had to force herself to her feet as the naga gave her an apologetic look.
“I-I’m sorry,” she stammered. Melody shook her head there wasn’t time to deal with it.
“We don’t have time, you need to grab me and go now!” she ordered. The naga shrunk back, but the drider started climbing up Melody’s arm. A part of her wanted to send them flying, but her goal was to get them out of here.
“Just wait,” they murmured. The drider sounded almost resigned as they both looked at the naga.
Melody stayed frozen as the naga started to glow with a subtle deep amber hue. The giant creature that could hold her in one hand was getting smaller. She had no idea how much smaller the naga could get until she finally stopped small enough to fit in her hands. Melody kneeled, more in awe at such a small being in front of her. The drider had been shocking too, but she wasn’t expecting a mini naga.
The naga slithered close and wrapped around her arm. She almost closed her fist, the few times she ran into dangerous snakes cycling through her mind. She held back and the drider climbed down to sit near the now miniature naga. Melody forced her awe away and started to move. She had some pouches hidden within her armor for spells Cap wanted her to have. She dumped the two creatures into her helmet.
Melody’s head started to spin, but she couldn’t stop. She started to pull off her breastplate and let the heavy metal fall to the ground. She grabbed a pouch that she never refilled, a bit regretful since it would probably help her head. She didn’t have time to be careful grabbing the drider first and shoving them inside. The naga yelped as Melody grabbed her.
She didn’t have time to explain. She shoved the naga in and ignored the colorful words from the drider as she did so. She quickly placed the pouch where it belonged and grabbed her breast plate. She put it on and started running. She didn’t have much time, her head was starting to ache and if she passed out here the villagers would find the two.
“Quick, prepare the explosives!” she shouted as she ran out. The villagers jumped as she rolled out of the cave and hit the fire one was holding onto the gunpowder. She started panting as the villagers stared at her. She was coated in blood, had a bloody sword, and a head injury.
“L-lady Melody, we had only had the-” one started to explain. She stood and dusted herself off glaring at the villagers. She set her helmet back on as she started to walk away from them.
“Save it, the naga is trapped and should starve in there. I found its nest of bones, best to make sure it didn’t lay any eggs while in there by closing off the cave.”
“My lady knight, we are-”
“I know you were just as ready to trap me in there. Don’t think this is going to be forgotten.” She grabbed the village chief’s collar and pulled his face close. “Try and kill me again and see how well the order treats you after killing one of their best.”
She stormed off, pain she didn’t expect striking through her leg. She must have twisted it when she rolled out of the cave. Better for the act either way. She could hear the mumblings about her attitude as she left. They’re lucky Caprice liked this place or she would move on by now. Kyrie seemed to too and she couldn’t understand why.
The trip home she felt the squirming of her passengers the entire time. It wasn’t a good feeling. She just had to get home. Her vision was starting to swim and fill with spots. Her head injury was worse than she expected. She stumbled along until she almost fell into the door of her home. She took a few tries to finally grab the handle and stumble inside. She nearly forgot her passengers.
“I-I thought you should know,” the naga yelled, making Melody jump. She had to get them somewhere safe, her room should work. “I can’t really stay small all the time…”
Melody bit back a groan. She had a training room that was probably big enough. She limped through her home, stumbling the whole way. She knocked stray potion bottles and spell components to the ground as she moved. She thought she heard the drider’s voice, but the words were lost on her. She finally made it to the training room and collapsed on the floor, barely avoiding landing on her front.
She slid her breast plate off and pulled the pouch from her. Melody opened the pouch and dropped it as she moved. Her vision was going in and out. She knew she shouldn’t sleep, but her head hurt so much. Just a few minutes. The drider and naga climbed out of the pouch and came to her.
“Sorry, can’t stay awake,” she mumbled. She closed her eyes once and the amber hue appeared again. She blinked and the naga was growing. A part of her wondered if she just set herself up to die. Someone told her a long time ago it might happen. Each blink the naga seemed to get bigger. Finally hands were around her and she just accepted whatever would happen.
“Aisling, what do we do?” the naga’s voice echoed in her mind.
“I don’t know, stupid knight shouldn’t have removed that stupid helmet in the cave,” the drider said. Melody made a noise, suddenly remembering the helmet. She tried to move to pull it off, but it wasn’t working. She felt the drider’s legs near her neck but the helmet was stuck on her head. A spell by her brother to make sure she never lost it. “Shouldn’t put yourself at so much risk.”
Melody didn’t remember falling asleep, but she felt weird. She could still feel her armor on her legs and arms, but not her chest. She went to fight a naga, then came home. She couldn’t remember the in between. It was warm and soft, her head was on something extra soft, but her helmet was on. She groaned a bit and the warmth moved. It was probably Caprice again.
“Cap, I’m tired,” she whined. The warmth moved more and her head pounded. It kept moving by her head, the soft didn’t move.
“Miss knight are you ok?” a loud effeminate voice asked.
She felt something on her chest, if she could move her arms she’d swat at it. That made her confused, she couldn’t move her arms. She tried, but something held them down. She snapped her eyes open, the light in the room blinding. She tried to move more as the feeling of something on her chest moving came again.
“Stop moving, I think you hit your head pretty hard,” the voice was quiet, she sort of remembered it. Once the light seemed to die down she managed to make out a huge face above her. Sharp teeth, dual colored eyes, and a split tongue. The naga, the naga was here and she couldn’t remember why. The feeling on her chest left and a small face joined her face.
“I’m so sorry I hurt you like that, I didn’t mean to,” the naga cried. Melody was pulled close and pressed to a soft bare chest. “I just tried to do what you were saying and then you were closer and I don’t deal with humans much and I’m so sorry and-”
“Nutmeg, calm down,” the smaller one ordered. Melody’s head pounded, but she didn’t feel like she was in danger. The soft thing behind her was nice. “You’ve been out for a while… I uh made you a pillow while you were out. I figured it was better than the metal of your helmet.”
Melody was trying to come up with something to say. She didn’t know how to ask about what was happening without causing some issue. Of course the sound of a door far off made her realize she wouldn’t get that chance. She didn’t know how she still could hear that far, it must be the spell was still active…when did she activate a spell.
“Mel! Mel where are you!?” Caprice called. The hands holding her tightened. She almost shouted out but the naga quickly coiled up taking her and the other one deep behind scales. She had to know what was going on before he showed up. “Mel!? Th-the village said you took care of a monster. Did you get hurt? Mel where are you?”
The naga coiled tighter around her.
“You helped me, I won’t let you get in trouble,” the naga whispered. Her head pulsed and she remembered the naga in the cave and the tiny drider. She remembered telling off the villagers, but not how she got here. Especially with a giant naga.
“C-Cap I’m fine!” she tried shouting, buried in the scales it came out muffled. She felt the small hands of the little drider pressing against her face. At least, it had to be the drider and not something else.
“Nutmeg, let up she’ll make him stop!” the drider called out. The naga uncoiled enough that Melody’s head was free, but it was too late. Caprice was already walking into the room.
Caprice hadn’t known what to think when he found the mess of their house. He knew she’d do something insane and get hurt. He ran following the mess and he barely heard her muffled shout. Prepping a spell he slowly opened the door.
“H-hey Cap,” Melody smiled. He stared at her, then the naga, then the drider that had bits of web stuck to his sister. He let the spell he was building flare up prepared to save his sister. “No wait, don't do that. Dispel it!”
“Mel, I know how to take care of something without hitting you,” he growled. The naga moved a hand and blocked the drider and his sister from view. “Drop her now!”
“Cap it’s fine really!” Melody had to be getting threatened. The drider might have poisoned her. He grimaced as the spell started to fizzle out.
“Did you bite her?” Melody tried to speak, but the drider must have made her go silent.
“Do you fucking think I’d bite just anyone? You’re the one who fucking showed up ready to fight! Just fucking try to hurt us,” the drider glared. He had to think fast and get Mel out of this.
“Cap, it’s really fine.” Melody did something that grabbed the attention of both creatures. The huge hands of the naga moved and his sister was set on the ground in front of him. He pulled her back behind him, her armor was half off. She still had her helmet at least. She reached up and pulled it off, flinching as she did so.
“Mel, what the hell happened to your head?” He reached up and tapped a bad looking cut that was covered in dried blood. She pulled away, but he forced her to stay still. He called up a small spell to at least clean the wound. The helmet should have healed her right away. “Did you take your helmet off again?”
He looked back at the two creatures. Mel was defending them. He pushed her out of the room ahead of him. She was fighting, but her feet were unsteady. For now he’d know if the naga tried to leave. He kept forcing Melody through their house until she was sitting at their table. He went to his stash of healing potions first. He grabbed a cloth and water after.
Caprice sat next to her and started to clean the wound. It wasn’t bad, but knowing all the spells he set in her armor it was a lot worse than it looked. As long as she kept it on for most of the time it should avoid her being too injured. She grimaced and pulled away as he cleaned the wound. He shot her a look that made her sit still.
“That’s the naga isn’t it,” he murmured. She looked off in the distance like she didn’t know the answer and slowly she nodded. “How many times do you have to get hurt before you stop doing this?”
“I’m not blindly killing Cap,” she whispered. She reached for the potion, drinking it down quickly. He sighed and grabbed the empty bottle from her.
“You know I need to clean the wound before you drink that.”
“I… I can’t remember everything. I was in the cave, then I woke up here. I didn’t feel like I was in danger in her hands.”
“Mel you were being held captive by a fucking giant naga and some weird species of drider, don’t act like they’re innocents you need to protect. They would ki-”
“No they wouldn’t!” She stood and slammed her hands on the table. At the same time a quiet yelp sounded behind them. The two both turned to look at the sound and found the drider, staring at them with thinly veiled fear.
“Are you-” The drider hissed, a bit of web was in their hands.
“Fuck off!” They yelled. Caprice didn’t trust the drider sneaking around and stood to catch them. He took a few steps forward when they bared their fangs. “Stay the fuck away from me! From both of us!”
He wasn’t listening, driders had poison and even this small it could be deadly. He moved closer before a strong grip grabbed his arm. He turned back to see Melody glaring at him and not the drider that could kill them. She pulled him back and took a few steps forward before kneeling in front of them.
“Hey, my head is still foggy, but you guys were worried right?” Melody asked. He crossed his arms glaring at the two of them. “I don’t think we ever got names, if we did I’m still pretty bad. I’m Melody.”
“The fuck are you two gonna do now? Did you go through all of that to fucking kill us?” they shouted. Melody put her hands down in front of them and shook her head. Caprice sighed, she was going to die doing this. She had to stop saving creatures she thought weren’t bad. Knights were hired to take care of danger, she’s been lucky so far.
“Nothing, I’m going to talk to your friend and find out what I’m missing. Caprice is going to come with me and if he tries to cast a spell I’ll stop him.”
“Mel,” he started. She turned and glared at him. “Fine, let’s go talk to the naga.”
“Aisling.” Melody put her focus on the drider again, but Caprice didn’t care. He was trying to remember if he heard a spell that used that to cast it. “That’s my name…”
“Aisling, nice to meet you.” Caprice sighed again, this was another long day.
Melody remembered a bit more after drinking the potion. Most importantly she remembered the cave empty of anything showing a bloodthirsty monster. She kept her hands flat and tried to smile encouragingly at Aisling. They eventually relented and climbed on her hands. They climbed past her wrist and up to her head holding the bundle of web where her head was still bleeding.
“It’s better than human gauze,” they whispered. Melody just smiled and stood with her new passenger. It felt weird to carry someone on her shoulder, but she knew the drider was safe. If they wanted to kill her there was plenty of time. Neither of these beings were going to hurt her.
She made her way to the training room. Seeing the naga at her full size was a lot more intimidating. In the darkness it was easier to miss how big she actually was. Her tail was coiled to take up most of the room and she was curled up on top of it. It looked like she would reach the ceiling if she sat up straight. The naga was buried in her tail.
“Hey,” Melody tried. The naga jumped and curled up more.
“I’m so sorry, I’ll leave. Please don’t hurt us,” she begged. Melody walked up and set her hands down on the scales closest to her. She realized her gloves were still on and pulled them off, dropping them to the ground.
“Mel,” Caprice warned. Melody turned and glared at him before petting the scales in front of her.
“No one is going to hurt you, my mind is a little messed up from getting hurt so I don’t remember everything.” The naga curled tighter on herself. Melody felt the movement of the scales beneath her hands. “My name’s Melody.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it.” Melody knew Caprice came closer, but she also knew he was losing his nerve against them.
“Why are you sorry?” Melody’s head throbbed despite the rapid healing from the potion.
“I didn’t mean to hurt you. I tried to do what you said. Please don’t kill us.”
The memory of the cave hit Melody like a brick. She panicked, the naga took her sword, cut her own hand and knocked her back into a wall. It shouldn’t have been as bad, but her helmet was off and she took her breast plate off after. The protection spells wouldn’t do much when she willingly abandoned the things they were cast on. Caprice gasped next to her.
“I know you didn’t, it’s ok,” Melody whispered.
The naga’s tail slowly stopped moving. She looked up and the face she couldn’t see well earlier appeared over the coils of tail. Her skin was bruised a bit and she looked terrified. Caprice turned and left, Melody could guess why. It seemed like she hadn’t eaten any good meals in a while. Aisling climbed off Melody’s shoulder and up the coils of tail to the huge head above them.
“I’m Nutmeg,” she whispered. Melody smiled, she could already hear the sound of Caprice cooking. He was going to kill her later.
“Nice to meet you Nutmeg, you too Aisling. You’ll be safe here. A knight’s duty is to protect the innocent and you two fall into that,” she said.
“Mel, go to town and get more food. You brought home the giant snake, you're the one dealing with the food!” Caprice shouted. Nutmeg flinched, but Melody smiled.
“Anything specific we need for you two?”
Each shook their head and she smiled. She left to her room, changing out of the armor to normal clothes entirely. Caprice coming home was enough reason for her to go out shopping. She’d need to get more for them too. They keep some fairy things in stores that could work for Aisling. She went back to let the two know she was leaving. Nutmeg had gotten small again.
“You didn’t have to do that,” she said and kneeled in front of the two. Aisling stood in front as if they thought she’d hurt Nutmeg. She didn’t even reach closer.
“I… can’t always control it,” Nutmeg said. She cupped her hands around the head of both and turned away.
“Cap, I think you need to see this!” His footsteps were loud as he rushed back to them. He’d always assume it was bad until he saw differently. He slammed open the door and she made a face before revealing the now tiny naga.
“In all the realms…” he sighed. It seemed Nutmeg wasn’t just a naga that they were housing for a while.