Chapter 20

(The moons that orbit most planets are small planets themselves, tiny dead planetesimals that reflect the light of the sun, thereby giving their planets below the different moon phases. The moon that orbits the discworld is actually a failed micro star. Like the sun that orbits the discworld, the moon generates its own light, caused by its passing through the magical field around the discworld. The moon and the sun are roughly the same size, the sun was more efficient in using the magical field to generate yellow light, so the sun’s light is more in tune with the rainbow of natural hydrogen based stars while the moon’s light is closely in tune with a very inexpensive LED bulb.)

Octavia opened the door to their bookstore by the bluish light of the moon and found a few notes from the locals requesting specific titles. Nick will find them for his customers. It’s like the people of the village know that Nick and Octavia have access to every book ever printed and quite a few that haven’t been written yet. She laid the notes on his desk then set the vellum in the out box for Bruce Dinkum. There were two sheets that had spells on them, and they were ready to cast. One was marked “For my darling Octavia, open when we’re together.” The other one was marked The Rite of Prose Mino; she reviewed that spell and realized that Nick was right. They ran from side to side of the Discworld to gather up that spell and it reads like sentimental gibberish. It had better work.

She looked around the bookstore one last time, her nervous breathing shuddering in her chest. What was she waiting for? She looked out the door window one last time and saw no one approaching, so she locked the door and headed back for the stacks. She paused in the narrow aisle and looked back at the dusty little store that they both fell so in love with and sniffed back a sob. It probably wouldn’t have worked out anyhow ... and she was gone.

The trip through L-Space was difficult, the aisles that led to Krull were tight and filled with rolled up scrolls which caused her to wonder if she took a wrong turn and was heading backward in time, but she checked a scroll in the Keluaran Baharu (New Releases) section and one of the scrolls was dated The Year of the Constipated Geode, which was just two years ago. She shrugged and put it back and squeezed through the aisles until she came to the Library of the Grand Observatory of Krull.

She expected the library to be completely empty because she arrived at midnight, but all the royal Astro-zoologists and Proto-diluvian theorists along with wizards from all over the disc were awake and gathered in the auditorium some were in pajamas, some were in robes, but all were in an uproar. Someone was lecturing. She couldn’t see who, but she could hear the gruff voice.

“This leviathan is the Pétra Trógon Vasiliás, the Rock Eater King.” Suddenly every one of Octavia’s nightmares appeared at the head of the auditorium. A monstrous winged worm with a maw that could swallow a world, relatively tiny eyes ringed an opening surrounded by rows of teeth that were longer than she was tall ringed the mouth. The beast that her mind could only describe as animated hate glared at her, and she saw it had no throat, just a round opening that went deeper and deeper into the depths of hell, surrounded by ever more rows of teeth. It was a world eating machine, each circular row of teeth sheared off a layer of the asteroid, moon, or planet that it ate. It looked at her and roared a terrifying call to battle and the thought of those precious baby world turtles being shredded by this hell spawn monster filled her with sorrow and dread.

Its wings unfolded, and it bellowed flames directly at Octavia. There was a huge outcry of terror from the wizards and Octavia joined them in her shriek of terror, then suddenly it froze in its attack position even the flames froze. And then the cries of horror stopped, and the great minds of the entire disc chuckled, then applauded.

“DON’T LAUGH!” came the narrator’s voice again. “If Pétra Trógon Vasiliás consumes two of the immature world turtles following us, it will absorb enough nutritional and magical energy to threaten our disc. If it eats all eight, IT WILL BE ABLE TO SWALLOW US WHOLE!”

Many of the wizards and Proto-diluvian theorists harrumphed (in unison which multiplies the audacity of the harrumph) but the nightmare up on the stage swallowed up its flames and pointed to an Astro-zoologist and the announcer said, “Doctor Stoat?”

The Astro-zoologist walked up to the megaphone stand to speak and Octavia noticed for the first time that the megaphone stand was manned by a dog. A familiar-looking wire-haired terrier was sitting on a box, looking into the cone of a megaphone from the narrow end. (A sketch artist covering the meeting for The Ankh-Morpork Times sold signed prints of his drawing titled “Echoing His Master’s Voice”) The scholar stepped up to the megaphone, a huge cone mounted on an upright pole and said, “Thank you Doctor Stein.”

“Don’t mention it,” said Gaspode.