The Vengekeep Prophecies (7 page)

The smoke continued to envelop the crowd, and I knew that Nanni must have thrown the second satchel of winkroot onto the fire. The people closest to Nanni's stand were gagging and backing away, their curiosity turning to fear that this was something more than a boiled-over kettle. Da was running out of time. I looked back at the butcher shop and saw his fist shoot up in the air, thumb raised and wiggling. The signal for “I need you now.”

Head low, I moved against the gathering throngs toward the butcher shop. I ducked behind the counter, where I found Da on his knees. He'd snagged a big, roughly hewn key that could only be used on a vault door. In his other hand, he held a large block of wax. His face had gone red as he tried pressing the key into the wax.

“It won't budge,” he grunted. “I can't make the impression.”

“Lemme see,” I said, taking the key and holding it up to the light. No protective sigils were engraved on it. Good. My blue paste couldn't beat those. It was probably a low-level, no-clone spell. And that was beatable.

I consulted the
Formulary
and found an easy solution. Palming the key, I reached into my back hip pouch and grabbed a handful of ground roxpepper seeds. I sprinkled the dust liberally on both sides of the key and handed it back to Da.

“Try it now,” I said.

This time, when he pressed the key into the wax, it sank in deep, making a perfect impression. He wiped the key clean, slid it back on the ring, and handed the wax block to me. I had to get the block to Ma, stationed just around the corner from the Promenade, where she was waiting to take the wax imprint so she could forge a perfect copy of the key later.

Separately, Da and I each crawled out from behind the counter and melted back into the crowd. The smoke had all but vanished now. Nanni was thanking everyone loudly for their help. I hid the wax block in my backpack and moved toward the water tower, aiming for the opposite corner of the Promenade.

A low rumble sounded. Everyone stopped. Vengekeep was no stranger to tremors. It had been centuries since the town had felt a full-on earthquake, but still, everyone stopped when they heard that familiar rumble and felt the pavement below their feet shift.

Just as business was about to resume, a louder roar sounded; and this time, the cobblestoned paving buckled, sending dozens of people sprawling to the ground. More than a mere tremor, the ground continued to shake. I staggered to the base of the water tower and grabbed its leg to steady myself. People around me murmured that it would pass.

It didn't. The shaking grew worse. Some of the booths began to collapse. Nanni's stand fell apart, sending breadbowls rolling everywhere. Small children cried out and I suddenly thought of Aubrin. Looking around, I picked her out near the blade merchant's stand. Her eyes were on Nanni, who wiggled her thumb. Aubrin obeyed, running as fast as she could to Nanni. Together, Nanni and Aubrin fled the Promenade.

A thunderous crack filled the air. I turned in the direction of the noise and found a lightning-shaped fissure splitting the cobblestones near Lek's shop. People gasped and staggered to get away from the opening maw. Da, just about to leave the Promenade himself, stopped to watch the crack grow.

As quickly as it had come, the rumbling and shaking stopped. Everyone in the Promenade paused. Just then, a burbling sound spat from the fissure. I caught Da's eye and we both stared at the newly formed crack, where an eerie red glow rose from below. A moment later, thick molten rock oozed up and out of the crack, moving slowly across the upheaved stones. As the lava spread, bubbles began to rise across its surface. The bubbles expanded, refusing to pop. Instead, the lava began climbing straight up into the air and branching out … taking form.

The first of the lava flows, inching toward a small flower stand, reared up, sprouting legs, arms, and a head. The glowing crimson goo burst into flames as the living fire creature stepped forward, igniting the flowers with a wave of its misshapen hand. I searched for Maloch and his pal from the stateguard, hoping they would take action or sound an alarm. But they had disappeared with the fleeing mob. I looked to Da, whose eyes had fixed on another finger of lava spewing from the crack, crawling toward Lek's shop, sprouting limbs as it moved.

By now, people were screaming and tearing away from the Promenade in any direction that would take them far from the approaching lava beasts. The fiery creatures shambled slowly, scorching anything in their path. I watched as a third and finally a fourth figure emerged from the growing molten pool.

We had a strong instinct for self-preservation, us Grimjinxes. No matter the con, we knew that fleeing a desperate situation was always the easiest and most sound solution. With that in mind, I planned my exit. But with a manic mob behind me and the lava creatures before me, my options were severely limited. A trickle of water from the tower overhead reminded me I had only one sensible option at this point: going up. With a quick prayer to any deity willing to help me overcome my clumsiness just once, I scrambled up the ladder to the water tower's underbelly.

I only almost fell to my death twice. A record.

Atop the high platform beneath the water drum, I could see that Nanni and Aubrin had joined Ma at a safe distance while the rest of the crowd ran past. I scanned the neighboring streets, hoping for a sign of the fire brigade or stateguard or anyone else capable of helping. Nothing.

Unsure what to do, I peered through the hazy, hot air that rose from the lava and saw Da, trapped in a corner. The fissure had cut him off from all escape routes. It was around this time that the lava creatures noticed him as well. They stopped their slow, wanton destruction and turned toward my father.

I gripped the platform's rail. “Da!” I cried, hoping he could hear me over the crowd's screams. Reaching up, I took hold of the silver chain that released the water. Unfortunately, the slide from which the water would flow was pointed in the wrong direction and wouldn't go anywhere near the lava.

I stepped forward. The decrepit tower creaked and trembled under my meager weight. Staying up there much longer wasn't a good idea. Looking down, I examined the metal struts that crisscrossed to link the tower's three thin legs. The struts themselves were rusty and each time I moved, the bolts securing them to the legs shook. I got an idea. And I hated it.

Da had backed as far as he could go into the corner. Smoke began to cloud my view of him. All I could see were the creatures advancing on my helpless father. After another quick prayer, I descended the ladder until I was next to a loose strut. Wrapping my arms and legs around it, I shimmied down to the point where it connected to the tower's leg. The leg's rotted wood barely held the bolts. Standing at the juncture of leg and strut, I started jumping.

With each stomp, the tower squeaked and shuddered. Chunks of wood dropped to the ground far below as the rusty struts whined. Gripping the tower leg, I thrust myself up as high as I could go, yelling, “Yah!”

Coming down, I heard a mighty crack. Not only had the strut come undone but the leg of the tower had snapped in two. I hugged what remained of the leg as I felt the entire structure teeter and sway. My teeth hurt as the sound of grinding metal and snapping wood filled the air. The tower groaned and finally fell forward.

I braced myself as the support beams collapsed around me, pelting my body with the tower's remains. I fell twice my height and, before I disappeared under the rubble, I saw the great wooden drum hit the cobblestones and splinter into a thousand pieces. A huge wave of water flooded the Promenade. As the water met the lava, a roaring hiss of steam perforated the air. Within seconds, the advancing lava men froze as the molten rock hardened into obsidian.

Silence. I peeked out from under the tower wreckage. Miraculously, as the tower had fallen away from me, I'd escaped any major damage. I was sore all over but, apart from a few scrapes, unharmed. The next thing I knew, Da was throwing bits of the tower aside to pull me out. Once I was free of the debris, he carried me toward the Promenade perimeter. We hugged each other for a long time. A moment later, the rest of the family emerged from where they'd been waiting, unable to get to us against the flood of departing masses. They joined in the embrace as Da and I gasped for air.

Slowly, the people of Vengekeep returned to the Promenade. They stared in horror at the shattered water tower and the slick sheet of obsidian that marred the once perfectly spaced cobblestones. People looked from us to the destruction and I'm sure the same image was in everyone's minds. I know because it's the image that my entire family was picturing.

The flaming men in the tapestry. The
bogus
tapestry that my mother made. The tapestry that shouldn't have been able to predict a daily sunrise let alone a full-fledged attack by fiery creatures from the earth.

At first, I thought I heard a whip crack. The snap was followed by another. Then another. We looked around and realized that it was applause. The people returning to the square were applauding us, the Grimjinxes … fulfillers of prophecy, saviors of Vengekeep.

But we couldn't enjoy it, this moment when we were being made to feel truly welcome. We could only stare blankly at one another. Finally, amid the tumult of cheers, it was Ma who whispered what was on all our minds.

“What the zoc just happened?”

“Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, you die in your sleep like the dog you are.”

—
Andion Grimjinx, alleged cofounder of the Shadowhands

S
o, of course, they arrested us.

When it was all over, there were a hundred people in the Promenade and any one of them could have been responsible for the destruction evident everywhere. Did anyone else get so much as questioned? No. Ignoring the cheers of the crowd, which continued to hail what I had done, Aronas and his stateguards stormed on the scene, took one look at the devastation, and went right for the family of presumed felons, taking us all into custody.

It hardly seemed fair.

Crammed with the rest of us into a small, windowless cell, Nanni was the first to note that this was an occasion. “You know,” she said thoughtfully, “we've each of us spent time here over the years, but this is the first time we've been incarcerated as a family.” We took a moment to burn this special event into our memories.

Ironically, we hadn't done anything to deserve it this time.

Da paced restlessly down the middle of the cell, gnawing at his knuckle as he did whenever he was upset. Very little upset Da. He took most things in stride, including the threat of a lifetime prison sentence. To see him like this was rare and somewhat unsettling. Ma, by contrast, sat near the bars on a stool, the very picture of calm. Her dark blue eyes stared into space, a sign she was deep in thought.

“That didn't just happen, right?” Da muttered, his gnawed-on knuckle looking quite red and raw. “I mean, we didn't just see a completely falsified and fictitious prophecy come to life. We didn't, did we?”

“We did,” Ma said softly.

“Maybe you've got a bit of seer in you, Da,” I said, lying back on a haystack so Aubrin could rest her head on my lap.

“This was a fluke,” Da declared. “Has to be. A complete coincidence.”

“A coincidence,” Ma drawled, “that imaginary creatures, never before seen in nature, sprang to life based solely on a con we played? That's some coincidence.”

Da stopped pacing long enough to lean against the bars. He breathed out loudly through his nose. “By the Seven, Allia … you don't think it's going to happen again, do you? With … you know … the rest of the ‘prophecies.'”

Ma said nothing. She reached out and took Da's hand, giving it a reassuring pat. But Da's point was well taken. I closed my eyes and tried to remember what other terrors the fake tapestry had foretold.

The gaol door opened. Castellan Jorn himself entered, followed closely by Aronas, and at Aronas's heel, Maloch. My former friend looked at me with malice. I pushed my glasses all the way up the bridge of my nose and glared right back.

“You're free to go,” Jorn grumbled as Aronas unlocked the cell door.

“But we were just starting to settle in,” Da protested. He pointed around the cell. “We were going to put a table there, maybe paint that wall—”