Dragon Apocalypse (The Berserker and the Pedant Book 2) by Josh Powell Read Free Book Online

  He slammed the newly fashioned club down on Maximina, but it passed harmlessly through her body as if through a thick fog.   Little whorls of mist swirled off her.
    “Hey, ya big oaf,” Maximina yelled, waving her arms about.   “That the best you can do?”
    The giant swung the club through her a few more times, the foggy substance of her body flowing away as the club passed through and then flowing back together again.
    “Ha!   You’ve got nothing!” Maximina yelled.
    “Maximina,” Pellonia said, “how long does that potion last?”
    “I… uh, that’s a good question.   I’m not really sure.   You better get out of here fast.”
    The giant sucked in a huge breath and exhaled an enormous freezing wind at Maximina.   Insubstantial as she was, the cold chilled her to the core.   She’d never felt so cold.   She tried to get out of the way but found her limbs wouldn’t follow her thoughts.   She couldn’t move; she was frozen in place.   “Oh, no,” she thought as the frost giant’s club shattered her into a thousand tiny pieces.
    “Ohm!   Help us, you’re a dragon!   Breathe fire on the giant or something!” Pellonia pleaded.
    Ohm chuckled.   “I can’t do anything like that, Pellonia.   I’m a bard.   I’ve never been a bard before. I have to play by the rules or I’ll never get to experience being one.   I’ll do what I can to help as a bard though.”
    “Ahhhh!” Pellonia yelled in frustration.
    Ohm strummed his lute, cleared his throat, and sang in a beautiful, deep baritone.

    Sa Gradacca b'jele kule
      Zmaja od Bosne
    sokolovi zakliktali
    kajde zalosne

    The frost giant stopped its rampage and listened to the song.   Ohm looked at Pellonia and whispered “It’s an old frost giant folk song about a dragon.”   Ohm continued to play and sing.

    Umrla je vjerna ljuba
    Husein-begova
    jer izgubi gospodara
    srca svojega

    Ohm whispered to Pellonia, “The melody is really quite touching, I wish I knew what it meant.”
    The frost giant sniffled, a tear running down the side of his face and freezing to his cheek.   “A tuzne pjesme, molim te unutra,” the giant said.   He turned and strode back into the great doorway as Gurken came running back through the snow, wielding the borrowed axe above his head and roaring a battle cry.
    “Woah, woah, woah!”   Pellonia shouted, stepping in front of Gurken and waving her hands. “It’s okay, we’re going inside.”
    Gurken pulled to a stop in front of Pellonia.   “Oh,” he said, lowering his axe.   “What happened to Maximina?”
    “She drank a potion and became an insubstantial fog, got frozen by the giant’s breath, then shattered by its club.   She’ll probably come back together again if she melts.” Pellonia said. “I hope.”
    Pellonia looked up at the baby dragon sitting on Ohm’s shoulder.   She patted her thighs with her hands and made kissing sounds at the dragon. “Come here, Kitty, Kitty, Kitty,” Pellonia sung.
    Ohm furled his brow. “His name is Apocalypse and he is to be feared!   He is the harbinger of the en-”   Ohm stopped mid-sentence as the little dragon jumped off of Ohm’s shoulder and fluttered down to land in front of Pellonia.   Apocalypse made a croaking sound and rubbed his head against her hand as she patted him.   “Who’s a good Kitty?”
    Gurken nodded in understanding.   “Kitty Apocalypse, perchance you might magic us some flame?”
    The dragon let out a sound like a cross between a frog and some sort of bird, and let loose a gout of flame over the area where Maximina had been frozen and shattered.   The little chunks of Maximina melted and dissolved back into a fog and floated together.
    “Oh, thank you,” Maximina said.   “That’s so much better.   I thought I’d never come together again.   My thoughts were so fragmented.”

    Inside the great wall, the frost giant led them to a great hall.   It was enormous and carved from solid ice.   They sat at