Dragon Apocalypse (The Berserker and the Pedant Book 2) (12 page)

“Don’t worry, Pellonia,” said Melody to Pellonia.
 
“The other Pellonia is helping us as well. She created the portal that took me from the elven ship to here.
 
Arthur, dearest, do you think we can do anything with a portal that extends such great distances?”

“I do,” Arthur said.
 
“I do believe we can, oh, I don’t know, say, open a portal to the Phage homeworld and let them through?”

Melody looked at Pellonia.
 
“We’ll get you first, Pell.
 
You can take your rightful place alongside us.”

“Never!” Pellonia yelled.

Arthur, Melody, and the other Pellonia’s laughed and laughed.

The crowd, noticing the destruction of the tree beast, and the dissipation of the green mist, began to reform.
 
They began to clap and cheer and whistle.
 
“Huzzah!
 
The Lightning Brigade has returned!
 
They did it!
 
We’re saved!”
 
They pushed past The Ice Capaders, knocking them over in a rush to get to Arthur.

They surrounded Arthur.
 
“How did you do it?
 
How did you survive down there so long?
 
What did you use to kill the plant beast?” The crowd peppered him with questions before a nobleman stepped out.

“Fellow Arendalians,” he began.
 
“Our fair heroes, The Lightning Brigade, have returned triumphantly, quite triumphantly, from their quest.
 
Unlike some,” he said, staring at Lord FitzClarence who had come to stand next to Pellonia, “unlike some, they completed this quest at great risk to life and limb.
 
Some foolishly thought them dead and defeated, but those people, at no small humiliation and injury to their personal pride, have been proven wrong.
 
Come, let us carry our saviors and return them to the great hall for a great feast.”

Arthur, Melody, Rufus, the three Pellonias, and the hooded one were hoisted into the air, onto the shoulders of the crowd.
 
Someone tried to lift Pellonia into the air, but the other Pellonias hissed, “No, not her!” and they dropped her to the ground and ran over to help carry The Lightning Brigade.

The other nobleman leaned towards Lord FitzClarence and said, “I do apologize, your lordship, but I believe the feasting hall is full.
 
You’re welcome to come, of course, but your adventuring troupe simply must remain behind.”
 
With a wicked grin, the nobleman turned and left, following the crowd to the great hall.

Pellonia, Gurken, Maximina, Ohm, and Lord FitzClarence stood in stunned silence.

“What just happened?” Lord FitzClarence asked.

Walking back to the estate of Lord FitzClarence, along with the rest of The Ice Capaders and the Lord himself, Maximina asked, “What now?”

“Now, we must find another quest for you,” Lord FitzClarence explained.
 
“This quest may have been stolen right from under our noses, but there’s always another quest.”

“We’ve got to do something about them,” Pellonia said.
 
“They’re plan is to bring about the destruction of the world.”

“I do believe we’ve found our quest,” Gurken said.

“Not at all,” said Lord FitzClarence.
 
Pellonia looked at him, furrowing her brow.
 
Lord FitzClarence continued, “A quest must have a more precise goal than ‘do something about them’.”

“How about we kill them?” Maximina asked.
 
Gurken growled in appreciation of the idea.

Lord FitzClarence shook his head. “That’s not a quest, that’s an assassination.
 
Strictly against the law.
 
Now, if, while on a quest, you happen to encounter The Lightning Brigade and they happen to die, that’s perfectly acceptable.”

“Well,” said Pellonia.
 
“What shall we quest for then?”

Lord FitzClarence smiled.
 
“I’ve got just the thing.
 
There exists an item that is not of this world, it absorbs all magic cast in its direction.
 
That will aide you in any encounters with Arthur.
 
It also happens to destroy any physical object which comes in contact with it, or at least it transports it to another dimension.
 
No one knows for certain.
 
It’s called… The Sphere of Annihilation.”

C
HAPTER
E
LEVEN

The Berserker and the Sphere

“AND YOU’RE SURE it’s round?” Gurken asked.

“Of course it’s round,” Lord FitzClarence said.
 
“It’s a sphere.”

“We’ve learned to be careful about such things,” Pellonia replied.
 
“Might you have a picture of it?”

“It’s a sphere of darkest night, no light escapes its pull.”

“That’s very poetic,” Maximina said.
 
“Nevertheless, a picture would go a long way in helping us to identify it once it was found.”

“It’s just a black circle,” Lord FitzClarence said.
 
“It’s not that difficult to identify.
 
Also, if you throw something at it, it’s annihilated, hence the name.
 
Sphere of Annihilation.”

“A portable hole looks like a black circle; stick it on a wall and throw things at it, and they transport to another dimension,” Maximina said.
 
“That can look a lot like being annihilated, but you can reach through and pull it back.”

“That sounds more useful,” Pellonia said.

“No,” said Lord FitzClarence.
 
“The quest is for the Sphere of Annihilation.”

“Sounds like they look the same. How will we know the difference?” Gurken asked.

“Well, the portable hole is a circle, so if you walk around it, it looks flat,” Maximina said.
 
“Whereas the Sphere of Annihilation is spherical, so it will look like a circle from every side.”

“Circles don’t have sides,” said Pellonia.

“From every angle then,” Maximina amended.

“But if we happen to find a portable hole, we can we keep it?” Pellonia asked.

“Yes!
 
If you find one, feel free to keep it,” said Lord FitzClarence.
 
“In the meantime, however, you’ll be questing to find the Sphere.”

Some time later, deep in the tunnels under the city of Arendal, a bearlike creature lunged at Pellonia. The creature’s head had somehow been replaced with that of an owl.
 
A bear was intimidating enough on its own, but replacing the creature’s head with one that rotated 360 degrees was beyond horrifying.

It shrieked and came at her. “Hoo hoo hooooooooooo!”

Maximina walked along the ceiling, mystical boots clamping her upside down.
 
She pulled an anvil from her magic sack and dropped it on the bearlike creature.
 
The anvil struck the creature’s feathered head, knocking it to the ground.
 
Gurken’s axe cleaved the owl’s head from the bear body with his axe. Blood pooled around it.

“Owlbear?” Pellonia asked.

“I believe it’s called a Bearowl,” Gurken corrected.
 
“It’s mostly bear, so that part of the name comes first.”

“Pellonia’s correct,” Ohm said, bringing his song to a close.
 
“It’s known as an Owlbear.
 
Creatures don’t get their names based upon the surface area of the various part of their body.

“What about the Floating Eye?” Maximina asked, dropping from the ceiling, doing a flip and landing on her feet.
 
“It’s basically an eye that floats.”

“One example doesn—”

“The Crawling Hand is just a hand that crawls,” Gurken said.
 
“Stick to your musicking, bard; let real adventurers handle the adventuring.”

Ohm scowled at Gurken.
 
“I’ll have you know that bards are quite knowledgeable abou—”

“A Gelatinous Cube,” Maximina suggested.

“A cube is not a body part,” Gurken countered.

“But its body is a cube.”

“That’s true.”

“Bardic knowledge is legendary!” Ohm objected.

“A Shadow!” suggested Pellonia.

“Oh, good one,” Gurken said.
 
“That’s also basically what is sounds like, a shadow.”

“Fine,” said Ohm, sighing.
 
“It’s a Bearowl.”

Gurken nodded.
 
“Well, that’s that, then.
 
If Pellonia’s correct, the Sphere of Annihilation should be in the chest the Bearowl was guarding.”

“That’s what it says on the map. Lord FitzClarence even had his artist draw a picture of the Sphere on it,” Pellonia said, pointing at a solid black circle next to an illustration of the Owlbear.

Pellonia pointed at the chests. “But there are two chests here. The map only shows the one.”

“Maybe one has a portable hole in it,” Maximina suggested, walking towards one of the chests.

“Wait!” Ohm exclaimed.
 
“I know this one!
 
One of the chests may be… A Mimic!”

“You think one of the treasure chests is a monster?” Gurken asked.

“I do,” Ohm agreed.

“Then shouldn’t it be called a Chest Monster?”
 

Maximina snickered.
 
“Or a Cleavage Beast?”

“It’s called a Mimic,” Ohm said.
 
“Because it can mimic inanimate objects.
 
It does so in order to lure in its prey.”

“Who named these things, anyway?
 
The names are ridiculous,” Pellonia said.

“If the person that named those monsters had named dragons, they’d have been called Fire Lizards,” said a woman’s voice behind The Ice Capaders.

They all turned and looked. It was Melody.
 
Arthur, the Pellonias, Rufus, and the mysterious cloaked figure stood next to her.

“I believe Harold named them,” Melody said.
 
“He hasn’t much of a penchant for creativity.
 
Though, to be honest, using the word ’dwarf’ to describe a species of short people isn’t exactly the height of ingenuity, and that was Durstin’s idea.”

Gurken turned and raised his axe.
 
Pellonia pulled out her knives.
 
Maximina shuffled over to the wall.
 
Ohm strummed a tune.
 
Apocalypse sat on Ohm’s shoulder and licked himself.

“Now, now,” said Arthur.
 
“We’re not here to fight.
 
We did come for the Sphere of Annihilation, however, same as you.
 
There must be a way that we, as gentlemen and ladies, can handle this without resorting to violence.”

Pellonia looked at Arthur, her face contorted in skepticism.
 
She said hesitantly, “Without… violence?”

“Look, just because I’m Phage doesn’t mean I’m a bad guy.
 
I want what’s best for my species.
 
Our planet is overpopulated and we’re looking for some room to expand.
 
We’re perfectly happy to share this planet with you.
 
Let’s talk about it. In the end I’m sure you’ll see that the best thing to do is hand over the Sphere to us.”