The Vengekeep Prophecies (22 page)

I fell the rest of the way into Edilman's arms and we tumbled to the ground together. Up on the balcony, we saw the statues regroup and bolt back into the room. On our feet, Edilman and I turned and ran across the grounds, hiding behind trees and hedges as best we could. The warncharm continued howling in the distance, growing fainter the farther we got from the mansion. Finally, we found ourselves at the perimeter wall near a giant glenoak, where Callie was waiting for us, torch in hand.

“I heard the howling before I saw the candle,” she whispered. “What happened?”

“Slight complication,” Edilman said breathlessly, staring up at the wall that stood between us and freedom.

“Did you get everything?” I asked, casting a glance back to the mansion. The Provincial Guards were searching the grounds.

Callie nodded. “Every ingredient. I could only fit two wraithweed pods in here. I hope it'll be enough.” I hoped so too.

“At this point,” Edilman said, “I'll entertain suggestions on what to do next.”

Callie whirled on him. “What do you mean? You said you had rope we could use to scale the wall.”

Edilman pointed to the balcony we'd just descended from. “We had to use it to escape. The hook's back there.”

“Oh, great!” Callie growled, throwing her arms up. The sound of hedges being hacked to bits alerted us to the approach of the statues. I could only guess the living guards weren't far behind.

I ground my teeth. I had a way out, but it wouldn't be pretty. I handed the heavy box to Callie and gave her torch to Edilman. I took my belt off and emptied the contents of several pouches into a mound of powder and sap on the ground. I kneaded it all together with my hands.

“Those Sarosans really know their stuff,” I muttered. “
The Kolohendriseenax Formulary
lists twelve magic-resistant plants. Did you know that there are four thousand and ninety-five ways to combine those twelve plants? Each combination does something different.”

“Yeah, that's great,” Edilman muttered. “Any chance that you're doing one of them to help us?”

“Grass, Callie,” I whispered. “I need a tall blade of grass.” As Callie searched, I emptied my entire pouch full of flashballs into the gooey mess on the ground, mixing them in to give it all a lumpy texture. Then I gathered up the slime I'd created and smeared it in a large circle on the wall. “As a matter of fact, Edilman, yes!”

Callie returned with a medium-sized blade of grass—shorter than I wanted but it would have to do. I buried half of it into the goo, bending it upright so it stood perpendicular to the wall.

“Stand back,” I warned, grabbing the torch from Edilman, who took Callie by the arm and led her a safe distance away. I cast a final glance over my shoulder to Redvalor Castle.

My eyes went directly to the observatory. There, silhouetted in the dome opening, I saw the Dowager's outline against the telescope. I forced myself to think about the danger my family was in. “I'm sorry,” I whispered to no one.

In my head, it all made sense and worked brilliantly. I meant for the blade of grass to act as a fuse. I'd light it, head for cover, there'd be a massive explosion, and we'd run through the resulting hole. That's what would have happened if anyone else had tried this. Me? I reached forward to light the grass and touched the flames directly to my explosive goo by mistake.

The last thing I remembered was a deafening roar and a flash.

“May your ironclad alibi never know the corrosion of trust.”

—
Ancient par-Goblin proverb

M
y hands hurt. They hurt to move, flex, touch. My head was in no better shape. When I dared open my eyes, pain shot through my temples at the first sight of the soft morning light. I lay there, afraid that any other movement would be similarly punished. My only clues as to my location came from staring straight up into a thick cover of trees and from the rich aroma of roast gekbeak. We were in the forest.

I could hear a fire crackling and someone—Edilman, I guessed—humming to himself. I wanted to just lie there motionless and mostly pain free. But I had to move sooner or later. So, pushing back gently with my elbows, I raised myself up.

I could now see that I was in a sunken grove, thick with wide-bodied trees. Perrin, his head against his chest, slept on a tree branch above. My movement caught Edilman's attention. He crouched over a small fire, turning a slowly browning gekbeak on a makeshift spit. Smiling, he crawled to my side.

“Welcome back,” he whispered, slipping my glasses up my nose. “Just in time for breakfast.”

“Morning,” I grumbled, and then winced. Even talking hurt. “Any sign of the guards?”

Edilman cocked his head. “No, I imagine they've given up trying to find us by now.”

I tried to chuckle, but it came out as a cough. “Not very persistent, giving up after a night.”

Edilman rubbed his chin, a look of uncertainty crossing his face. “Jaxter, you've been unconscious for nearly four days.”

Stunned, my hands dropped, hitting the ground. Pain shot up my arms and made me see white for a moment. I looked down. From my wrists to my fingertips, my hands were wrapped in tattered strips of cloth. I knew immediately what had happened. I'd used my hands to smear the explosive goo on the wall and when the wall exploded, the residual gunk on my hands must have caught fire.

I looked around for my belt and pouches, hoping to make a burn ointment to relieve the pain. I spotted the pouches, empty, near the fire. I remembered using nearly everything I had to blow an exit hole in the wall. I didn't have what I needed for the ointment. Groaning, I examined the improvised bandages closer: a pale tan weave with red and blue accents. It took me a moment to realize they were torn from Callie's dress.

“Callie!” I ignored the pain as my head spun. I searched for a sign of her, afraid she'd also been injured in the explosion. Edilman laid a calming hand on my shoulder.

“She's fine,” he assured me. “There's a small village not far from here called Cindervale. We wanted to lie low for a few days or we would have taken you to a healer. We've been taking turns nipping into town and swiping medicine from the apothecary. She should be back soon.”

I smacked my dry lips. Edilman helped me drink from my flagon, then unscrolled my map of the Five Provinces and indicated Cindervale. “Quiet little town. Often a haven for thieves. Now that you're awake, we can get rooms at the inn, blend in quietly, and I can sell a few of these.” He pointed to the box he'd stolen from the vaults, now open to reveal a mound of assorted jewels that sparkled in the morning sun. “I can get more than enough to hire us two coaches.”

“Two?” I asked.

He nodded. “One to take you and Callie back to Vengekeep, the other to take me to Port Scaldhaven, where my boat is waiting. A deal's a deal.”

I studied the map. Cindervale was on the border of Yonick Province. Just over the border were the aircaves, home of the spiderbats. Provided everything in Callie's pack had survived the explosion, we had all the components for the solvent. Except the essential spiderbat's milk. We were now closer than ever to succeeding.

Edilman added twigs to his dwindling fire. “You know, Jaxter,” he said, “I've stuck to the Creed and I haven't pushed you about what you and Callie are doing out here, scavenging for strange plants, so far from Vengekeep. What you need those plants for is your business, but I'm guessing it's not for a school project. You know you don't have to say anything, but since I'll be leaving the Provinces soon, I don't suppose you'd care to tell me what this little adventure was all about?”

I leaned forward and shifted to a kneeling position. Edilman had done exactly what he'd promised: he'd helped us get everything on our list. He'd earned the right to know exactly what was going on. So, taking a deep breath, I told him the whole story: fateskein, quarantine, and all. I explained my plan to make a solvent and how the plants we'd taken from the Dowager would help.

It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him about the spiderbat's milk, but I stopped. I guessed that he'd insist on accompanying us to the aircaves to acquire the milk. But this wasn't his fight. It was mine. Callie and I had to see this through, and the longer he stayed in the Provinces, the more danger he was in. I wasn't ready to risk that. It was better to let him catch his boat while Callie and I finished what we'd started.

He listened to my story with rapt attention and bowed his head humbly when I was done. “I'm honored that you chose to trust me. And I'm proud of you, taking on this challenge by yourselves. Are you sure I can't come with you to Vengekeep to make sure you get back safe—?”

“No!” I said. “You've done more than enough already, Edilman. It's too risky to come to Vengekeep. Callie and I will be fine.”

He sighed and clicked his tongue. Perrin woke instantly and came to his master's shoulder. Edilman fed the bird a stickworm he'd plucked from the ground. “Quite a team you two make. Reminds me of me and your da. I only wish I could see the hero's welcome that awaits when you return to Vengekeep.”

“Oya!”

Before I could react, Callie bounded through the forest, threw herself down next to me, and wrapped her arms around my neck. I gritted my teeth to keep from screaming in pain.

When she pulled back, she was scowling. “Four days, you naff-nut! Four days of forcing soup down your throat. I thought you were dead!”

I smiled weakly. “The way I feel, I kind of wish I was.”

She shook her head. “That's nothing compared to how you look. Dr. Callie prescribes no mirrors for you for a few more days.”

How kind.

She pulled her pack off her shoulder, dug around inside, and pulled out a small glass jar filled with a viscous, yellow slime. The label read “Essence of Yaiobean.”

“Compliments of Cindervale's apothecary. Let's see those hands.” She gently unwrapped my bandages.

Underneath, my palms were charred and red. The cool morning air stung the raw flesh, and I took in a quick breath to ease the pain. Callie did her best to be careful, but tears ran down my face as she applied the soothing salve. Edilman served up his gekbeak for breakfast as Callie removed what remained of her dress from her pack and tore it into long strips to make fresh bandages.

“You wanted to know why I brought a dress,” she said, her eyebrows raised mischievously. “Because I hate this ugly thing and this is
exactly
what I hoped we'd use it for.”

They took turns—Callie feeding me a forkful of gekbeak, Edilman holding the flagon for me as I drank—and with a little food in my belly, we were ready to break camp. They led me out of the grove to a winding dirt road, where we headed north.

Trudging along, I took my mind off the pain in my hands by trying to calculate the right amount of each of the ingredients. Although we had almost everything we needed, making the solvent would still be difficult. My mind flashed to the Dowager. I bet together we would have come up with exactly the right formula.

As we rounded a bend in the road and saw the edge of town, Edilman handed what little money we had left to Callie.

“Staying together helped us in the past,” he said, “but it's too dangerous now. If the Dowager sent out a warning, they'll be looking for a man with two kids. Best split up and regroup later. There's a small inn on the north side of town called the Wily Leathersmith. Kind of a shady place. They won't think anything of two kids showing up and booking three rooms. Get us set up there.”

“Where are you going?” Callie asked.

“I'm going to find the livery stable and hire the coaches we need to go our separate ways,” he said, flashing a handful of jewels. “Go on now. I'll meet you in the pub next to the Leathersmith in a while.”

Callie shook Edilman's hand, and together she and I headed down the path toward town. Cindervale was so small I was afraid two strangers would attract attention, especially one who—according to reports—looked very much the victim of an explosion. But no one paid us any mind as we wandered the streets. We kept watch for those wanted posters with our poorly drawn faces but saw none. Everyone was going about their business.