The Berserker and the Pedant (14 page)

"Leon had been working on getting all of the goblin tribes together to help fight the invasion."

Gurken furled his brows. "Voluntarily, I'm sure," he said.

"Well… no, not exactly. We've been collecting them for several months and containing them in this cave. Goblins are very afraid of trolls; we were going to use the trolls to herd the goblins through a portal opened by the Orb of Skzd and towards the invaders, but I'm afraid we can't do that now. Maybe if Arthur and I take the orbs, we can herd th-"

"We're not herding anyone," Gurken said.

"But the fa-"

"I know, the fate of the world," said Gurken.

"But, without the goblins this wor-"

"I'm afraid that I must agree with Gurken," Arthur interjected. "A slave army, besides being entirely ineffective, is utterly immoral."

"I'm with Gurken as well," said Pellonia, hands on her hips.

"Moog like Gurken better," said Moog.

"You want to give up and let the Phage kill everyone and take over the world?" Melody said, voice rising in pitch as she spoke.

"No," said Gurken. "That's not acceptable, either."

"What then?"

"We ask them," Gurken said.

"Ask them? Ask the Phage to go away, won't they please? They're invading, Gurken. I don't think asking them politely to please go away will accomplish anything."

"Ask the goblins," Gurken said.

"Ah. That does make more sense. Still, there are thousands of them; how do we ask them all? Send around a petition? They can't read!"

"The same way you'd ask for the help of any people. You ask their leaders."

"They have leaders?"

"You don't know much about goblins, do you?"

"Well, no, just enough to know they will be useful against the Phage."

Arthur interjected again, "I don't see how they'll be of any use in battle, anyway. They'll probably die just trying to get to the battlefield."

Gurken ignored Arthur and continued, "Tell me where you want the goblins to go, and we'll meet you there."

Gurken entered the cave, holding a torch in one hand and his axe slung on his back. He walked for a time, twisting through the dank tunnels, but found nothing. From time to time, he heard chattering in the distance, but never saw anything. He walked for several hours and finally came upon a small goblin standing in the middle of the tunnel, holding a spear.

"HALT!" said the goblin, pointing the spear toward Gurken. Gurken halted.

"Hail, fierce goblin warrior. It is I, Gurken Stonebiter. I'm on a quest to find the leaders of the goblin clans. May I, perhaps, speak to your Gr-ma?"

The goblin eyed Gurken suspiciously, but perhaps due to Gurken's friendly demeanor, didn't immediately attack. "Do you have a pass?" asked the goblin.

"Pardon, a pass?"

"Yes. You have it exactly. You need a pass to travel in Gr-ma's tunnel."

Gurken felt his berserker rage roil inside of him. Here was yet another pass-seeking fool. He reached behind him, touching the hilt of his axe. The goblin whistled, and two more goblins sprang out of the shadows, standing on either side of the first goblin. "Come on, then," the goblin said, hopping from side to side. "Have at you!" The goblin on the left eyed Gurken suspiciously; the one on the right picked his nose.

Gurken fought down his rage. He needed the goblins' help. When the heat inside of him had cooled to a controllable level, he raised his hands in surrender and smiled. Then, he lowered one hand to his beard and lifted up the cord of knots Gr-ma had tied. The goblins eyes grew wide. "Here's my pass," Gurken said. The goblin approached tentatively, reaching up to touch the cord. He rubbed a knot with his fingers, then leapt back.

"It's a cord with knots in it, so what? Anyone could hav-" Gurken sung one of the songs Gr-ma had taught him. It was a low, sad song about the quick, violent life of a goblin and the hope for a better, simpler and longer life filled with good food and a happy, healthy family. The three goblins stood transfixed by what they heard, tears running down their face.

When he stopped, the first goblin wiped his face and said, "Come with us, lore keeper. We'll take you to Gr-ma's den." The third goblin stopped digging in his nose, and turned a bit too quickly, impaling himself on the the first goblin's spear. He slumped over, dead. The first goblin shook him off the spear, turned and walked down the tunnel, gesturing for Gurken to follow.

Episode Fifteen

The Berserker and the Walnut

Melody stood on the edge of a cliff, overlooking a vast valley. It was midday and the sun burned hotly overhead. There wasn't a cloud to be seen. They had gone on a four-day hike up and around the mountain from where they had left Gurken. The valley stretched on for miles in front of her. 

Melody was looking at the village from which Gurken and Pellonia had started their quest, the hill where Moog lived, and another small mountain. Actually, it was a large ant hill - that is, a small hill made from the activities of large ants, not a large hill made by the activity of small ants, though perhaps the two would be difficult to distinguish.

Pellonia walked up to her sister. "Here?" she asked, panting for breath in the thinner air.

"Here," Melody agreed, putting her arm around Pellonia's neck and pulling her in close. They stayed like that for a moment.

Arthur finally caught up, weighed down by a backpack. Within which were four orbs and The Orb. He also carried the goblin under one arm. He set the goblin down, dropped the pack to the ground and staggered, sitting down to avoid falling. "Finally!" he said. "I'm not a pack animal, you know. I can't keep up this march any longer."

Melody walked over and pulled one of the smaller orbs from the backpack, Arthur was too tired to resist. She fiddled with the orb and a layer of frost formed over its exterior. She set it just above Arthur's head and let go. It floated, lightly dusting Arthur with snow. Arthur wrinkled his eyebrows. "Ah… I see that it floats. By itself. Nice of you to wait until now to show me," he said. "I suppose that all of the orbs can float?" Melody smiled.

She pulled out the other small orbs and showed Arthur how to make them float. There were now four small orbs floating about a foot over Arthur's head, slowly rotating and moving around in a circle. "It would be best if you learned how to use those," Melody said. "Moog, you too."

Moog trotted over to Arthur, and they started fiddling with the orbs and speaking on mysticism and the nature of magic.

Melody took the Orb of Skzd out of the sack, waved her hand over it, and pushed her finger on a protrusion on top. The Orb began floating. She pushed the Orb of Skzd near the edge of the cliff, stopping it about two feet from the edge. 

"What are you doing?" Pellonia asked.

"The Phage will be here soon. I need to prepare." 

Melody pushed another protrusion and the side closest to her fell open, coming to rest horizontally. On top of it were rows of protrusions with elven letters, numbers and other symbols engraved on them. A roughly rectangular transparent image formed behind the Orb, a dark blue shape about the size of a small house. Through the image, the valley and sky were visible. 

Melody wiggled her fingers over the protrusions, and a crimson dot appeared on the image in the sky. Pellonia walked to the edge of the rectangle and looked behind the image; the red dot was gone. She looked back to the image and the dot was still there. Numerous lines and numbers started appearing in the image. The lines extended from the dot and ran to a point in the valley several hours hike in front of them, followed by another line moving towards them. The numbers were constantly changing.

"What's that?" Pellonia asked, pointing at the red dot.

"That," Melody said, not looking up from the Orb, "is the Phage, and that" - she pointed at the lines - "is their trajectory, the path they're coming in on."

Pellonia squinted, "Where are they flying from?" She looked around the side of the image again, and the lines and numbers were gone. She looked through the image and they were back again.

"Another world," Melody said. "I don't know which one."

"An odd way to arrive. I'd have thought they'd use some sort of mystic portal."

Melody glanced at Pellonia, then went back to working on the Orb. "All of this is explained during the Awakening, Pellonia."

"Oh," Pellonia said and fell silent.

Melody pushed a protrusion on the orb and a beam of light projected onto the ground, forming into an upright disc of light. Through the disc, Pellonia could see a clearing in the forest.

"Come on, Gurken, where are you?" Melody said. She stabbed the protrusion on the Orb with her finger, and the disc collapsed and faded away.

The image on the rectangle in front of the valley blurred and changed, then Gurken's face stared back at them. Well, almost Gurken's face. It looked like Gurken, but he was - well - clean-shaven and his hair was combed. He didn't have any scars and was dressed in a strange blue outfit that clung to his skin. Also, his ears were pointed.

"Melody!" strange Gurken said. "Thank God! I'd begun to think the worst. Where's Leon? We need the goblins; everyone else is in place."

"Durstin," Melody said. Pellonia's eyes widened at the mention of the dwarfen god of butchery and battle's name. Melody continued, "Good to see you again. Time is short, so I'll be brief. I'm fine. Leon's dead. He had an… altercation with Gurken. The trolls are dead too, so Gurken is fetching the goblins."

"Ha! Leon won't ever live this down." Then Durstin's face grew serious. "Are we done then? Do we pull out?"

"Abandon this world to the Phage? No," Melody said, looking over at Pellonia. "I think we can still pull it off - if - the dwarf can bring the goblins."

"He can do it," Pellonia said, nodding.

"Is that little Pellonia?" Durstin asked. "Why, it's been ages since I last saw you. You're almost all grown up. I can't wait to see you on board the ship and hear all about your adventures."

The red light reappeared on the image, flashing above Durstin's head. It was no longer a small speck, it was as big as an egg. Pellonia looked around the image and saw a dark object far off in the distance.

"Melody, the dwarves are in position, but they'll be slaughtered without the goblins. The goblins must strike first," Durstin said.

"I understand. I'll do my best, but this was Leon's plan. I was just supposed to watch. I'm a bit overwhelmed, to be honest."

Pellonia's jaw dropped. Melody, overwhelmed?

"You'll do fine. Now, I've got to go finish my own preparations. I'll see you back on board the ship." With that, Durstin's face faded from view, and the lines and numbers returned. The glowing red dot was now the size of a fist and growing.

Melody stopped playing with the Orb and turned to Pellonia.

"I'm sorry I have to do this, but it's time to decide. We may need to leave very quickly and I won't have time to ask once the battle starts. What's it going to be? Stay here and remain a little girl, or come with us, undergo the Awakening and become a woman?"

Pellonia's eyes grew wide. "I - uh - don't know."

"I'm sorry, you have to choose and you have to choose now. I can't decide this for you, it's a decision you have to come to on your own."

Pellonia blinked rapidly and sniffed. "I… I'm sorry, I don't know… I can't, I just can't." She turned and ran down the mountain.

Melody ran after her, "Pellonia, wait!"

An ear-piercing boom thundered over the valley. Everyone looked. The ball was now the size of a warrior's shield, traveling high in the air toward them. Flames engulfed it as they watched, and it grew larger and larger as it came closer. 

Pellonia kept on running. Melody turned to Arthur and yelled over the roaring of the fireball. "Go and get her!" Arthur ran down the mountain after Pellonia, orbs whizzing about his head. Moog jogged after them both. Melody ran back to the Orb of Skzd. The ball of fire in the air now took up a sizable portion of the sky.