Quests Episode Fourteen: The Giant Bat and Odd Friends

Read the series prologue.

Read episode thirteen.

Episode Fourteen: The Giant Bat and Odd Friends

Fedrick sat tense, clutching a crossbow and waiting in the moonlight outside the entrance to a large cave. A few days earlier goblin scouts had reported that deep within this cave was a creature which looked like a giant bat. This creature was called a strellogroth. The goblin council thought that if they could catch a strellogroth and keep it in the city they might be able to use it as a secret weapon against the fairies and elves. They chose a small group of goblins warriors to carry out their plan.

Fedrick was part of this group. The other warriors were spread out on the mountainside, crouching in bushes and behind rocks, also waiting. Finally, the great bat monster emerged to hunt.

The strellogroth opened its mouth and let out a call too high pitched for Fedrick’s ears to catch. As the sound bounced off the surrounding objects, the monster discovered their presence. The strellogroth wheeled in a tight circle over their heads then began to descend. It opened its mouth, showing large fangs. Fedrick jumped up and taking a deep breath to steady his aim, shot a tranquillizer dart into the strellogroth’s neck. For a moment the creature continued on its course, then the drug took effect. The strellogroth’s wings locked and it dropped harmlessly into some bushes.

Once they were sure the strellogroth was unconscious, the other goblins came out of hiding. A few of them pulled out a cart which had a cage on it. The captain of the group clapped Fedrick on the back as he passed him and commented, “Nice shot.”

The warriors gathered around the body of the strellogroth and each grabbed some part of the huge body. Then the captain cried, “All together, now!” Staggering, grunting and by the end of the task sweating they heaved the monster into the cage. They then took positions around the cart, some pulling it from the front some pushing the wheels, and slowly rolled it toward the underground city.

As he heaved and puffed his way home, Fedrick thought how pleased the goblin council would be with his night’s work. He imagined how terrified the fairies would be when they discovered this secret weapon of the underground army. A malicious grin spread across his face.

****

Bubble, the boggart, became bored with Fairy Wood. He decided to take a short vacation. He turned into a bird and flew to the plains of Wilderlah. Far below him, he saw a strange man with green skin and orange hair. Bubble hadn’t scared anyone in a long time. He decided to see if he could scare this person.

Glibbin was also bored. The elves were busy and could not play with him. He wandered out of the protective hills of the lake capital and into the fields beyond. The guards were used to Glibbin coming and going by that time, so they made no attempt to stop him. Glibbin was so busy watching a beetle climb a stem of grass that he hardly noticed when a bird landed nearby him. He turned away before he could see the bird change into something else. A minute later Glibbin heard something buzzing in his ear and turned to see a very large bumble bee hovering at his elbow.

He screamed and began running in circles crying, “A bee, a bee! It’s going to sting me!”

Bubble was so pleased that he had actually scared someone that he turned into a little man and laughed. “Got ya!” he shouted. “That was a good one. No one has been that scared of me in a long time.” He laughed again.

“That’s not fair!” cried Glibbin. “I didn’t know you weren’t a real bee. You could have warned me.”

“No way!” said Bubble. “That would spoil the fun.”

“It still isn’t fair!” Glibbin whined.

“Okay, I’ll give you another chance. Now that you know that I can change into things you’ll be prepared.”

“Like a game?” asked Glibbin.

“Sure,” Bubble replied.

“You mean you’ll play with me?”

“If you want me to.”

“Yippee!” shouted Glibbin. “I’ve been wanting someone to play with me for a long time.”

“You wanted someone to play with, I wanted someone to scare,” said Bubble happily, “It’s a good thing we met each other!”

They introduced themselves then proceeded to play. It turned out that knowing Bubble could turn into things didn’t help Glibbin much. Bubble was still able to scare Glibbin most of the time. Despite this, the two quickly became friends. They didn’t know that they were really supposed to be enemies. However, even if they had known, they probably wouldn’t have cared.

Continue to episode fifteen.