Chapter 10: Joke's On You

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Kaergat ran after Brunhild, who was faster than him. She was soon far enough away that Kaergat only saw her briefly each time he turned a corner.

They wove through rooms with dusty old food crates, bottles, weapons and in one case a huge, blue-glowing war machine – a ballista, was probably the word for it. There wasn't time to take in the sights, though; ahead, Brunhild shouted, "You're cornered now!"

"Brunhild! De-escalate!" yelled Kaergat. Panting, he turned a corner to find Brunhild brandishing a sword – she must have grabbed one from the armoury – at some kind of rat-man.

"You just try casting another spell and I will slit your throat like a salami," hissed Brunhild.

"Leave alone! Hendrik hate stupid dwarf!"

"You say that again!" yelled Brunhild.

"Hendrik is your name?" cut in Kaergat, loudly.

The rat-man's eyes went wide. "Hendrik. Hendrik name is. Agree," he said.

"And you're a were-rat?" asked Kaergat.

"Hendrik were-rat, agree," said Hendrik.

"Hey, what happened to his arm?" asked Dandelion casually. Kaergat glanced back, surprised she was there. Dandelion looked right as rain – not even out of breath. Lacrie ran in then, panting hard.

Kaergat looked a bit closer. The were-rat had been standing in such a way as to try to hide it, but his arm was shrivelled and limp. The skin there looked dry, even, like that of a mummy.

"You go. You leave Hendrik," barked Hendrik. A notch shriller, he shouted, "This Hendrik place. You go!"

"This is Hendrik place," said Kaergat, looking Hendrik in the eye and trying to show calming body language. "You want us to leave you alone. You want to have a safe place here, am I right?"

"Safe," said Hendrik, looking panicked. "No safe. Bad thing. Bad thing in sewer." Hendrik glanced fearfully at a pile of furniture at the far end of the room. Kaergat had the thought of a barricade.

"Bad thing in sewer, yeah?" reflected Kaergat. "Scary, bad thing?"

"Real bad thing, bad, bad, bad! Hendrik run, Hendrik hide, you go now!" Hendrik pulled out an ornate stick of wood and pointed it at Kaergat. "You GO!"

"That's a magic wand," hissed Kaergat to the others. "Okay," said Kaergat, holding up his hands and starting to back off, "We're going."

"No! A warrior never backs down!" shouted Brunhild. The were-rat screamed and pointed his wand at her. "Bad thing!" he shouted.

"You're calling me –"

Hendrik shot a fireball at Brunhild. Brunhild dove out of the way. The fireball exploded behind her.

"Leave my friend alone!" shouted Dandelion, drawing a knife.

Hendrik pointed his wand at Dandelion now.

Dandelion feinted to one side then dove forward.

Hendrik shot another fireball.

It exploded about in the spot where Dandelion would have been if she hadn't changed direction. It was close enough that she still fell to the ground with a grunt of pain.

"Scheiße Kacke Mist Arschgeweih," hissed Kaergat, and started to cast a spell.

Hendrik shot at Brunhild again. Brunhild dodged the shot skillfully.

"Joke's on you..." groaned Dandelion. "I've got a healing potion."

She drunk it.

Suddenly Dandelion started to expand very rapidly. She grew to twenty or thirty times her size, her swelling body shoving her friends out of the way. In the end she was cramped up unnaturally against the walls, filling up about three quarters of the room.

"Ugggghhh," groaned Dandelion. "Now my broken ribs are just bigger broken ribs. This suuucks." Dandelion took inventory of her three friends; they looked shocked and cramped, but seemed fine. Something dawned on her, though. "Hey... where's Hendrik?"

"I think you're sitting on him," groaned Kaergat.

Dandelion wiggled her butt. There was definitely something small, soft, and immobile underneath. She sighed. "Pity. I really kinda liked the guy."

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