Return of the Penguins

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER TWELVE

Back in Asperios, Malcolm slept a complete night for the first time in several days. When he started to dream he saw Stephanie again.

“This may be the last time I will ever see you. I suspect Diablo now has the key. I don’t know if it is the final one he needs, but at most there is only one left,” said Stephanie.

“I fear it is the last one. It was safe and undetectable in the Vault here, but someone stole it,” said Malcolm, sadly.

“He has all but one of the Pentagram Council prisoner. He somehow infected the magic of the Dark Pool to make them powerless. But Talomere was in a different world at the time and escaped,” said Stephanie.

“It seems not long ago that the Pentagram Council was our biggest worry,” said Malcolm.

“Diablo is linked with the Dark Pool in some way,” said Stephanie.

“It seems like he was the power behind the pool in the first place,” said Malcolm.

“He went on an odd journey a few days ago. He was looking for something in the Badlands, but couldn’t find it. He seemed genuinely annoyed,” said Stephanie.

“There is no key there, as far as I know,” said Malcolm.

“Perhaps he thought there was,” said Stephanie.

“Things are looking pretty bad,” said Malcolm.

“There is always hope,” said Stephanie.

“True, though we need a miracle,” said Malcolm.

Suddenly Malcolm jolted awake as he heard a noise. He looked out at the window and saw a familiar beak tapping at the glass. It was Casper.

Trelio, Krolith and Kolan rushed through the corridors of the Orc Kingdom, feeling their bodies slowly reverting back to normal. Krolith was really struggling to keep up with the other two younger men and it seemed like an age to him until they reached the throne room again.

They almost fell into the throne room in exhaustion after running as fast as they could. When they looked up it became clear that they were too late.

The body of the Orc king lay on the floor in front of the throne, surrounded by two dead Orc guards. A pile of feathers that looked like a Magpie’s suggested that Diablo had already taken the key. The cushion it had been placed on was ripped into shreds across the room.

“We are too late!” cried Kolan.

“Let’s get out of here!” said Krolith.

“We don’t want to get accused of killing the king!” said Kolan.

With energy, they didn’t know they had, they started running. It took far longer than they remembered to clear the Orc Kingdom and get back to the relative safety of the Goblin Realm. For the moment, they were safe again.