Dragon Apocalypse (The Berserker and the Pedant Book 2) (25 page)

C
HAPTER
T
WENTY
-T
WO

The Berserker and the Orbs

“YOU CAN’T STOP the Phage,” Risabh said.
 
“Don’t worry, I’ll close the portal after a reasonable number make their way through.
 
Can’t have them killing off everyone in this world; what purpose would that serve?”

“We’re going to stop you,” Pellonia said.

Risabh laughed. “Oh, I doubt that very much.
 
On my side are the flesh golem wizard and Clem, plus you’ll have to deal wit—” A short blast of flame from the beholder singed Risabh’s whiskers.
 
“Yes, sorry.
 
Almost forgot Hinenuitepo. She hates that.”
 
The beast glared at Risabh.

Risabh continued, “As I was saying, you also must deal with all these pesky Phage entering your world, and let’s not forget Arthur.
 
You’ve got, let me see, a little girl, an impotent dwarf, and an ineffectual, off-key bard. If you’re ready to die, by all means try and stop me.”

Flames ripped through the air, engulfing Risabh, his golems, and a sizable portion of the Phage.
 
The Phage incinerated, and the golems caught fire.
 
“Hinenuitepo! Please control yourself, I—” Risabh said.

They turned to see a human-sized dragon disgorging a blast of fire where Ohm used to be.
 
It had a leathery hide, but no scales.

“I AM OMUMBOROMBONGA,” the dragon bellowed, her roar echoing through the valley.
 
“APOCALYPSE SHALL BE AVENGED.”

Pellonia smiled.
 
“A bard, you say?
 
I’m afraid we don’t have a bard.
 
Completely bardless.
 
All we’ve got is this here dragon.”

Everyone scattered as the dragon’s flames rippled along the ground, engulfing every surface in a bath of crippling flame.
 
Gurken and Pellonia ducked under the blast and rolled behind Omumborombonga.

“Why’s she so small?” Gurken asked.
 
“She was much bigger before.”

“Maximina has her treasure hoard in her magic sack. When she gets here, we’ll feed it to her and Omumborombonga can reach her full size and strength.
 
There’s no way we can lose after that,” Pellonia whispered, pressing a fist into her other hand.

Maximina dumped the last of Omumborombonga’s treasure hoard out of her magic sack as she backed into the tunnel.
 
Tiny to mid-sized dragons gorged themselves on a golden feast, swallowing gold, gems, and magical artifacts of various enchantments.

Maximina frowned as she reached into the sack and felt around, pulling out the levitation boots, shielding tiara, and wands of light from the elven ship.
 
“Unless I get back on board that elven ship, these are useless,” she said tossing them back into the sack.
 
“I’m out of dragon food.
 
At least we’ve got an army of dragons to aid us.”
 
Maximina evaluated the ravenous dragon horde.

A shimmering metallic dragon the size of a small horse gulped down a pile of amethysts, turning a beautiful shade of metallic periwinkle.
 
Maximina smiled as the dragon sniffed around some more, then looked up at her, eyes burrowing into her.
 
She flashed her teeth at him in a grin.
 
The dragon bared his teeth at her in a sneer, and a tentacle flicked through his teeth.

“Oh, boy,” Maximina gulped, a sinking feeling overwhelming her.
 
She smacked herself in the head.
 
“Oh, no.
 
Apocalypse had been taken by the Phage before he died.” Her face drooped.
 
“The resurrection plant seems to have resurrected the Phage, too.”
 
She scratched nervously at her chest and neck.

She looked beyond the periwinkle Apocalypse, and saw a swarming mass of Apocalypses… Apocalypsii… dragons.
 
They squirmed and fought for every last scrap of the dragon’s treasure hoard and when they were finished devouring it, their heads poked up and turned toward Maximina.

She waved at them, gave a nervous smile, and fled.

Risabh hid behind the beholder, as it formed a wall of ice using a sustained blast from its orb… uh, eye… err, ball thing.
 
Clem stood behind the flesh golem wizard as it enchanted a mystical barrier in front of them using a bony wand.
 
Dragon fire spewed around them, the barriers sparing them from the worst of the flames.

“It’s like that, is it?” Risabh said, exhaling in a reluctant sigh.
 
“Fine, we’ll have to kill you.
 
A pity.
 
Death follows you like a kobold stalks intruders in its lair.”

Risabh waved Clem and the beholder onward toward Gurken and Pellonia, while Risabh and the flesh golem wizard turned to face Omumborombonga.

Clem followed the beholder as it used its magic to protect them from the dragon and floated toward Pellonia and Gurken.

“Clem gonna smash little dwarf,” he growled.
 
Then, more politely, “I do apologize, Gurken, but I am about the business of Risabh and I must kill you.
 
Please understand and try not to hold it against me.”

Gurken stepped to the side several feet so that Clem followed him away from Pellonia.
 
He tapped on Algiz, the dwarfen rune of channeling appropriate energies and the protective urge to shelter others, but the etching on his axe remained fallow.
 
He heaved the axe overhead and swung at Clem in a devastating overhead strike, leveraging the axe’s great mass.
 
Clem caught the handle of the axe with one hand, ripped it away from Gurken, and tossed it to the ground.

Clem cracked his knuckles, picked Gurken up by the beard and slammed his face repeatedly to the ground.

The beholder drifted toward Pellonia, a beam of ice maintaining the frozen wall between it and the dragon.
 
The beholder focused in on her while lightning crackled and fire seethed around the creature’s eye-orb-balls.

Pellonia looked around and backed away, slowly circling around to the portal on the other side of the beholder.
 
She tossed some more salted cod into the beholder’s mouth, which it chewed and swallowed with great relish as it followed her.

Omumborombonga pressed the flesh golem wizard, spewing gouts of flame as it struggled to keep up its defensive shield.
 
The dragon backed them against the portal as Phage poured out, hit the ground, and fried from the dragon’s flame, unable to adapt quickly enough or warn other Phage that had yet to pass through the portal of their impending demise.

Risabh caught one of the Phage as it emerged from the portal, hoisted it into the air, and flung it back through.
 
“That should let them know what’s going on,” he said.
 
Risabh ducked, pulling the flesh golem wizard to the ground as another enormous tentacle pressed through the portal, plugging it with its girth, and shot forward, latching onto Omumborombonga, slithering around her neck and body.

The dragon lurched back, tugging on the purple, rubbery flesh.
 
The tentacle stretched taut and yanked, slamming the dragon into the ground.
 
The dragon twisted and shook, trying to displace the creature, but the tentacle held tight, suckers greedily latching onto the dragon’s leathery skin.

The tentacle extended further through the portal, wrapping the dragon in a giant serpentine sphere and squeezing.