Dragon Apocalypse (The Berserker and the Pedant Book 2) (9 page)

“Fine, fine.
 
But we don’t even have enough money to pay for the taxes on the items, much less a license and a fine.”

“You’ll need to obtain a sponsor from the nobility.
 
Please go look on the board on the wall.”

Pellonia, Gurken, and Maximina walked over to the wall, which had a number of parchments and scrolls tacked up advertising nobility looking for adventurers to sponsor.

“Pardon me,” said Ohm.
 
“I do not see any parchments looking for bards.
 
Is there another section for those?
 
Also, do I need a license?”

“Bardic licenses are free.
 
Here you go.”

“It doesn’t even have my name on it.”

“Not required, we don’t bother to track bards.
 
No money in it.
 
Would you like a beggar’s license as well while you’re here?”

“A what?”

“Bards frequently seek out a second profession so they can afford to play.
 
Begging is quite common.
 
Or are you with the adventurers?
 
Adventuring is also quite common, but for the life of me, I’m not sure why adventuring parties need a bard.
 
I only ask because a beggar’s license costs 10 pence.”

“I think I’m done talking to you now,” Ohm said, and walked over to the rest of the group in a huff.

“It’s definitely him,” Gurken said as Ohm walked up. “That’s the nobleman that gave us a ride from the village to the troll’s cave last year.”

Pellonia scrunched her eyes, looking at the drawing on the parchment.
 
“I do believe you’re right.”

Pellonia walked over to the counter and said, “We’d like to contact this fellow, he seems like the right type to sponsor us.”

“Nevil FitzClarence?
 
Good luck with that one.
 
Quite wealthy but quite particular, he’s only ever sponsored one adventuring party before.
 
They were recently lost in the dungeons, presumed dead.
 
So maybe he’s looking for another.
 
Worth a shot, anyway.
 
What name are you all going by?”

“The Ice Capaders.”

“The Ice Capaders?”

“Everything else was taken.”

The woman at the counter shrugged, turned around, and shouted through the doorway behind her, “Davina!
 
The Ice Capaders to see Nevil FitzClarence!”

The stout dwarven maiden walked into the room, looking at a sheet of paper.
 
“The Ice Capaders?
 
What kind of name is that?”
 
She looked up and saw Gurken staring at her, flexing his hands in his leather gauntlets, which creaked at the pressure he was suddenly applying to them.
 
Pellonia was crossing her arms, glaring at Davina, and Maximina was rummaging through her magic sack, looking for something.

“Gurken!” Davina said.
 
“So happy to see you made it out alive.
 
Thank you again for your help.
 
We couldn’t have gotten away without you.” Davina smiled.

“Davina Bloodhammer.
 
Nice try, wench,” Gurken growled.
 
“You gave me a cursed sword and used me as bait to distract the dragon while you made your escape.
 
I would have helped you anyway.”

“Yes, well— look, a dragon!” Davina pointed out the window.
 
Gurken, Pellonia, Ohm, and Apocalypse turned to look while Davina turned and ran back through the doorway.

“Aha!
 
Found it!” Maximina said, pulling a rope from her magic sack.
 
She twirled it over her head, flung it towards Davina, and shouted, “Liga Illam!”

The rope stretched taut and flew towards Davina like a spear. It struck her in the middle of her back, knocking her over, and slithered around her coiling about, and holding down her legs and arms.
 
Davina struggled to move but couldn’t.

“Yes!
 
Oh, that was beautiful!” Maximina shouted.
 
“Now, wench. You’re going to talk!”

“Enough with the ‘wench,’” Pellonia said.

“What are you talking about?” Gurken said.
 
“We just got her.
 
We’ve some torturing and interrogating to do before we’re through.”

“This is going to be fun,” Maximina said.

Davina’s eyes widened and she said “No, please.
 
I’ll tell you anything.”

“Oh,” Gurken said.
 
“Right then. Why did you give me the cursed sword?”

“My employer asked me to do it.
 
He hired me to steal the Orb of Skzd from the temple of Durstin and give you the cursed sword.”

Melody and Pellonia looked at each other.
 
“The Orb of Skzd is missing?”

“Aye, it was pretty easy to take.
 
No one was guarding it. Seems they were out and about chasing a thief that had stolen one of the lesser artifacts.”

“Lesser!” Maximina said in a raised voice.
 
“I’ll have you know, that in the right hands, the quiver of unending darts is a very useful artifact!”

“That was you?” Davina said.
 
“Then Gurken and Pellonia must have been the guards.” Davina chuckled.
 
“That’s too funny.
 
Thanks for the distraction, made my job much simpler.”

“Where is the orb now?” Gurken asked.

“I handed it over to my employer.”

“Who’s hired you?” Pellonia asked.

Davina shrugged.
 
“His name is Arthur, some high wizard of something.”

“Arthur Gimble?” Pellonia asked.

“One and the same.”

“What is he up to?” Pellonia asked.

“Can’t be anything good,” Gurken replied.

C
HAPTER
E
IGHT

The Pedant and the Portal

“THE WAY IS prepared, sire. All we have to do is wait for her to open the portal on the other side,” said Roofus.
 

Roofus, Arthur, and a mysterious cloaked figure were standing in a hollowed-out cavern in a dungeon deep in the earth below the city of Arendal.
 
Roofus was dressed in his black burlap rags, Arthur in his blue silken wizarding robes with four orbs floating above and behind him.
 
The cloaked figure was clothed in blood-red silk with yellow mystical symbols embroidered along the hem, face obscured by a large hood.

“Excellent,” said Arthur.
 
“Once she is through, we close the portal and use the artifact she brings combined with the Orb of Skzd to open another portal to the Phage home world.”

“Yes, sire,” Roofus said, bouncing his head in agreement.

“You,” Arthur said, referring to the cloaked figure.
 
“If anything comes through that portal other than Melody, I want you to kill it.”

The cloaked figure nodded.

Some time later the Orb of Skzd began to hum and vibrate.
 
A beam shot out one side of the cube, illuminating a spot in the middle of the room with a circle of bluish light.
 
A woman stepped through the circle and into this world.
 
She moved with fluidity and grace, flowing as she moved, every movement deliberate.

She pivoted a few steps after coming through and turned back toward the portal.
 
“Close it!” she shouted, but it was too late.

Vines emerged from the portal, wrapping themselves around the edges and pulling through an enormous tree beast.
 
Its body was a massive wooden trunk, with thick branches for arms and a massive ball of roots pulling it along where its legs should be.

The woman rolled backwards in a single graceful movement, out of reach of the tree.
 
The portal closed behind the creature as it came into the world.

“I see you brought a friend with you, Melody,” Arthur said.

“A gift from my sister, a treant,” said Melody.
 
“Kill it!”

Arthur nodded. “With fire,” he said.
 
“Ignis Copiosus!” Arthur incanted.
 
A gout of flame erupted from one of the orbs, engulfing the creature. The leaves sizzled and burst into flames and the branches blackened in the heat.

The Treant stepped forward into the flame and smacked the orb from the air with one of its thick branches.

“Oh my,” Arthur said, suddenly a bit concerned.

The man in the silken robes brandished two long curved swords, running the blades along each other.
 
Lightning sizzled along the edges of the blades, and he jumped into the air, twirling the blades in an intricate pattern, striking the branch the treant had used to knock away the orbs.
 
The blades bit deeply into the wood and stuck.
 

The lightning crackled against the thick branch, causing smoke to billow where the blades bit into the beast.
 
The man released the blades and fell to the floor.
 
The blades remained stuck in the treant’s arm.

He tumbled away from the treant and rolled over to the orb Arthur had lost.
 
The man held out an arm and said “Baculo oporet me.”
 
A staff materialized in his hands. He held the tip of the staff against the fallen orb.
 
The orb clanked into place at the top of the staff and the man pointed it at the treant.

“Flammas,” the man in the silken robes said, and the treant was engulfed in flames emanating from the orb perched atop the staff.
 
The man dodged the treant’s flailing branches, keeping the flames directed at the creature.

Arthur hurled streaks of lightning from another one of the orbs, and Melody leapt, tucked into a roll midair, grabbed the hilts of the swords and used the leverage of her spin to dislodge them.
 
She landed with a tuck and roll and came up holding a sword in either hand.

The treant had had quite enough of the rough treatment and fled down a corridor, roots dragging behind.

“After it!” Arthur shouted.
 
“Don’t let it get away!”

C
HAPTER
N
INE

The Berserker and the Nobility

“WHO’S ARTHUR GIMBLE?” Maximina asked.

Gurken looked at Pellonia.
 
She was silent for a time, a look of melancholy on her face.
 
Finally, she said “He was a very good friend of ours.
 
He was taken over by one of the Phage and now he’s trying to destroy the world.
 
We haven’t heard from him in some time.”

Davina’s eyes grew wide.
 
“He’s Phage?
 
I’m sorry.
 
I didn’t know.
 
The Phage killed many a dwarf when they came.
 
His assistant said something about an operative on the elven ship coming back with the ability to open a portal across long distances.
 
They needed the Orb of Skzd for that.”