The Vengekeep Prophecies

by Brian Farrey

  Keeping an eye on the black cloud beyond the window, I tried to read Callie’s face. Why was she so calm?

  Xerrus sneered. “Nothing you can say would make me do that.”

  “Oh, really?” Callie asked. “How about this?” She held out her arm, opened her clenched fist, and revealed Talian’s spellsphere. “Ta-da.”

  She tossed the sphere to Talian. Before Xerrus could react, I shouted, “Duck!” Talian and Callie hit the floor as I picked up the nearby chair and sent it through the huge window.

  The sound of shattering glass filled the room. Xerrus cursed and ordered the jackalmen to attack. But as the beasts moved to pounce, the black cloud—a swarm of spiderbats—flew in and attacked our would-be captors. The jackalmen howled, swatting at the spiderbats, who fought back with impressive fangs and the occasional claw.

  Callie and I dove under the desk as Talian ran for the far side of the room.

  “You switched the spellsphere with your souvenir,” I said, recalling the obsidian stone I’d given her. “If we make it out of here, you’re definitely an honorary Grimjinx.”

  As the sound of fighting grew louder, I peered out. Talian was weaving through the melee, trying to get to Xerrus’s spellbook. But the older mage spotted Talian and moved to intercept.

  Before Xerrus reached his spellbook, Talian shouted a command and a burst of light from his spellsphere blew the door off the cage holding the spiderbats. The rest of the queen’s subjects poured out of the cramped quarters, creating a barrier that kept Xerrus from getting to the podium.

  “You know,” I said to Callie over the sounds of spiderbat chatter and jackalmen howls, “for a couple of heroes, we spend a lot of time hiding.”

  Just then, the spiderbat queen landed on the floor next to us, surprising Callie and making her squeak. The spiderbat chirped and even though the spellsphere was across the room, we heard the translation.

  “You have held up yourrrr end of the barrrrgain,” she said directly to Callie. “Now I will honorrr mine. Come with me.” The queen flew through the only doorway leading from the room.

  Callie gave me a queasy look that said She wants to do this now? Shrugging, I passed her the empty glass vials from my pack. She hunched over and followed the queen. Hoping to help Talian, I scurried out and hid under the nearby tables, waiting for a chance to strike.

  Backing away from the spiderbats, Xerrus roared and closed his fist around the amulet, chanting and spitting at the same time. The high-pitched whine returned to the air and I turned to see what the jackalmen would do next. But Xerrus’s magical command had done nothing to the jackalmen, who continued to fend off the aerial attacks of the spiderbats. Instead, I heard a faint rattling sound that quickly grew louder.

  As I looked around, my blood froze. The balanx skeletons were moving. Their massive bone wings spread out as the creatures stood upright, flexing their skeletal legs and clawlike arms. The bones flapped as if the balanx were trying to fly. Without any membrane between the bones, I thought this would be impossible. But as the gold medallions in their skulls glittered, the balanx rose up into the sky, sustained solely through magic. The largest of the skeletons threw its head back and dropped its jawbone, emitting a terrible, earsplitting screech that was echoed by its brethren. Soon all twelve skeletons were flying near the roof of the sanctum.

  At a word from Xerrus, they dove, clawing down with their bony talons, aiming for the spiderbats and Talian. Caught off guard at their agility, Talian spun as a sharp bone toe sliced across his face, leaving a deep gash. He fell to the ground, dropping his spellsphere, which rolled over near the cages. The animals within were going wild, squawking and bleating as if cheering us on.

  Xerrus ran toward the tables. I crouched near his feet where he couldn’t see me. He took an empty glass jar and began filling it from the cauldron of acid. I jumped out from under the table, pulled the amulet from around his neck, and dropped it into the cauldron. A plume of black smoke and fire rose up as the amulet blistered and dissolved.

  I retreated from Xerrus’s reach as the horrified mage realized what I’d done. He whirled, raising the jar of acid to throw at me. But before it could leave his hands, a thick jet of something wet and white hit him squarely in the face. More sticky strands descended, forcing him to drop the glass to the floor. I looked up to find a group of spiderbats, squirting Xerrus with webbing. Its magic-resistant qualities had an immediate effect. Xerrus doubled over weakly as the spiderbats continued to subdue him, gluing him to the spot to ensure he couldn’t escape.

  Callie reentered, bearing the vials filled to the brim with a viscous, pink liquid.

  “You got it!” I cried. “You know the answer: How do you milk a spiderbat?”

  “Sorry, Jaxter,” she said with a smirk, carefully depositing the sealed vials in my backpack. “That’s between us girls.”

  The sounds of battle faded. With the amulet destroyed, the jackalmen had stopped fighting. They dropped to all fours and cocked their heads, as if listening for something that was no longer there. Most whimpered and cowered, unsure what to do now that they were no longer under Xerrus’s control. When the fight left the jackalmen, the swarm of spiderbats had turned their attention to the balanx skeletons in the air near the ceiling.

  But the skeletons were also feeling the effects of the medallion’s destruction. Their attacks ceased as they hovered above the sanctum, great bony wings rattling with every flap. The largest balanx turned its head to scan the room, as if determining its next target. But the eyeless sockets of the skull came upon the shattered window and lingered there. The jawbone dropped and it let out another eerie squawk. The creature turned and dove toward the floor, pulling up just in time to fly out the window, bearing due south.

  I watched as one by one, the other skeletons did the same, screaming before escaping out the open window. And as each one did, numbness drained the feeling in my arms and legs. I knew where I’d seen them before. These were the creatures on the tapestry, the ones that were destined to attack Vengekeep. The scariest of all the prophecies was about to come true … and it was all my fault.

  “Zoc!”

  Talian’s curse snapped me out of my horror. He’d snatched his spellsphere from under the cages and was now racing through the pages of Xerrus’s spellbook. Callie and I ran to join him.

  “The balanx!” Callie cried, pointing out the window.

  “I saw! I saw!” Talian grunted. He held one hand to his face where the balanx had sliced open his cheek. The bleeding had nearly stopped, but the wound looked deep and painful. “I’ll give you one guess where they’re headed.”

  “We could get some mangs,” I said. “The balanx don’t have real wings. They can’t fly that fast. If we rode mangs, we could beat them back to Vengekeep—”

  Talian shook his head. “Look at the jackals!” The jackals had all lain down like docile dogs, and some had dozed off. “Destroying the medallion broke the magical hold on the jackals. It should have done the same with the balanx. They should have just collapsed. Something else is keeping the skeletons alive.”

  I couldn’t bear to look at either of them. “The tapestry. It’s my fault.” I suddenly understood how Ma felt when all the trouble started in Vengekeep. It was her tapestry that brought the problems to town. It was my stupidity that had sent the worst of those prophecies charging to Vengekeep’s door.

  “Don’t waste time laying blame,” Talian said. His rummaging through the spellbook slowed and he studied each page carefully. “It would take us days by mang to get to Vengekeep. With the tapestry’s power, the balanx will be there in hours.”

  “No!” I said, pulling out the calendar I’d carried since we left Vengekeep. “Mooncrux isn’t for three days.”

  Talian looked up from the spellbook and studied the calendar. “Jaxter,” he said quietly, “that’s last year’s calendar. This is a quellyear.”

  Quellyears occurred on our calendar every five years. During a quellyear, the third month lost th
ree days. Mooncrux was tonight.

  Talian thumped the spellbook as he found what he was looking for. Taking out his glowing spellsphere, he held it to the book and ran the sphere over the hastily scribbled spell he’d located. As he did, the strange words on the page began to squirm and twist. Then they shot across the surface of the parchment and disappeared into the spellsphere. A moment later, the entire page was blank.

  “The quickjump spell,” Talian said, holding his spellsphere triumphantly. “We can still beat the balanx to Vengekeep.”

  He stared into the glowing orb and whispered a few hurried words. At first nothing happened. Talian closed his eyes and chanted again. Still nothing.

  Opening his eyes, he stared upward. “It’s the spiderbats. Their presence is making it harder to cast the spell.”

  I’d forgotten about the spiderbats. With the jackalmen subdued and the balanx gone, most of the spiderbats had taken to hanging from the ceiling while others scaled the walls. A few flittered over Xerrus, now standing frozen, covered from shoulder to foot in thick webbing. He appeared to be unconscious. Talian looked rather pale and I remembered how ill he’d gotten in the aircaves.

  Callie looked up and around, waving to the spiderbat queen. The queen broke from her formation above and swooped down next to Callie.

  “Your Majesty,” Callie said, bowing humbly, “you’ve done us a great honor today by assisting us in our time of need and providing us with … that which we came for. We’ve no wish to keep you here any longer. You should attend to your people.”

  The queen chirped. “You honorrr us with yourrr thanks, Callie Strrrom. Should ourrr paths crrross again, you will be welcome in ourrr caves.” The queen emitted a string of high-pitched bleats. The rest of the spiderbats responded, swarming around their queen, then flying out the broken window into the approaching night.

  “Thank you,” Talian whispered to Callie, and closed his eyes to attempt the spell again. This time, the spellsphere responded. Slowly, a ring of green light flew up and out of the sphere. It rose into the air, widening as it did. The ring floated over to a bare spot of floor and dipped down, coming to rest just above the stone. As Talian continued whispering, the ring of light sizzled with energy and turned blue. I peered down into it. Instead of seeing the sanctum floor underneath, I saw what looked to be thatched roofs and cobblestoned streets as viewed from directly above. The scene within the ring had a dark blue hue, as if twilight was near.

  “That’s Vengekeep!” Callie noted, pointing into the ring.

  Talian traced the pulsating circle with his finger. “Once you step into the ring, you’ll find yourself back there.”

  “Bangers!” I said.

  “What do you mean ‘once you step into the ring’?” Callie asked, eyeing her cousin suspiciously. “You’re coming too, right?”

  Talian glanced over at Xerrus, immobilized by the spiderbat webbing. “I can’t tell you how many Palatinate strictures Xerrus has broken here. I know that Vengekeep’s in trouble, but my first duty as a mage is to see that those strictures are enforced. The Palatinate has to be notified about what Xerrus has been doing here. They’ll do something to help these poor creatures.” He pointed to Xerrus’s caged mutations.

  When Callie looked unconvinced, Talian said, “You don’t need me. You need to warn Vengekeep and destroy the tapestry. Jaxter’s got a terrific plan and now you’ve got the final ingredient. You just have to find that Edilman character and get back everything else you need for the solvent. Callie, I have to do this.”

  “C’mon, Cal,” I said, putting my arm around her shoulders. “We’ll see him again soon.”

  Callie nodded. She gave Talian a hug and I shook his hand. “Hurry,” he said. “Who knows how long it’ll take you to find Edilman and make the solvent. Warn Vengekeep.”

  Callie and I stood at the edge of the glowing ring. I felt her hand slip into mine and squeeze tightly. The burns on my hands had mostly healed so I screamed only a little.

  “Think this will make it into the Grimjinx family album?” she whispered, a smile in her voice.

  I squeezed her hand. “Better be in huge block letters.”

  Together, we jumped into the ring.

  It turned out that the picture we saw in the ring—of the streets of Vengekeep from above—was quite literal. I closed my eyes, expecting to feel disoriented, like when we passed through the illusion barrier. But I didn’t feel the slightest tingle leaping into the quickjump ring. We instantly found ourselves in Vengekeep. Or, more accurately, we found ourselves falling down from quite high up onto the hard, stone streets of Vengekeep.

  Of course, falling was nothing unusual to me. I’d seen the ground coming up to meet me more times than anyone should. Even from that height, I knew how to prepare for impact, roll, and walk away harm free. Which is what I did. Callie wasn’t so lucky.

  As I hit the ground and rolled, I heard Callie collide with the street, and a crack rang out with her scream. I jumped to my feet and went to her side. She held her left arm to her chest, her face racked with pain.

  “You okay?” I asked, helping her up.

  “I think it’s broken,” she said, wincing through gritted teeth.

  “Let’s get you to the healers—”

  “No,” she insisted. “Talian’s right. We have to warn everyone about the balanx. I’ll be fine. Let’s go to the Castellan and—”

  “There’ll be plenty of time to see the Castellan later.”

  We both froze on hearing the rough voice from behind. We turned and there stood Maloch, sword drawn, flanked by three members of the stateguard.

  “But first,” he said with a smirk, “you’ll be paying a visit to gaol.”

  I looked up to the night sky. Both moons hung directly overhead, moving slowly toward one another, minutes away from crossing....

  25

  Mooncrux

  “A man with one eye on his coffers and the other on his purse is blind to the theft caused by a lie.”

  —The Lymmaris Creed

  “You’re making a mistake, Maloch,” I protested as my former friend and three stateguards with spears marched me down the steps leading to the dungeon under Vengekeep’s gaol. The dungeon had gone unused for a century. For them to lock me up down there meant serious, serious trouble.

  “The prisoner will be silent,” Maloch barked.

  That was all he’d said since the arrest. Repeatedly. Callie and I had been taken to Aronas’s office. Despite our attempts to warn of the coming danger, we were ignored and separated. Aronas, seeing he could score points with a member of the town-state council, turned Callie over to her uncle for punishment. Aronas gave his apprentice the pleasure of seeing me locked away.

  “You remember those flying beasts?” I asked over my shoulder. “The ones in the tapestry? Well, they’re on their way to Vengekeep now. They’ll be here any minute. You’ve got to let me go to my family so I can—”

  “We’re taking you to your rotten family,” Maloch said.

  As we reached the bottom of the stairs, the moldy aroma of the dank dungeon air filled my nostrils. My feet slid on the mildew-coated floor as Maloch shoved me forward roughly.

  “Jaxter!”

  I looked ahead, where my entire family sat in a cell. Ma clutched the bars as Da, his arm in a sling, rose from a wooden stool. Nanni threw a handful of what I guessed was the gaol’s excuse for food at the stateguards who opened the cell doors. The guards thrust me through into Ma’s waiting arms. I held her for a moment, then turned as Maloch was about to disappear up the stairs.

  “Maloch!” I yelled. “I won’t be able to warn you again.” But he never turned around.

  Before I could say a word, Aubrin pulled me into a hug. Then she stepped back and showed me the black book I’d given her before leaving. “I did just as you said,” she whispered. “I wrote down everything that happened while you were gone.” She thumbed through the book, revealing pages and pages of writing. “And then some.”

&
nbsp; “Bangers, Aubrin,” I said with a smile. I turned to my parents. “What the zoc is going on here?”

  Ma ignored my cursing. “The last day has been crazy. Yesterday, some old geezer approached the Provincial Guards surrounding Vengekeep, claiming to be a cursebreaker from beyond the Five Provinces. Apparently, word of Vengekeep’s problems has spread across the seas and he came to offer his services.”

  Da picked up the story. “The whole town-state’s been on edge and of course Jorn, eager for any solution, let him in. This ‘cursebreaker’ took one look at the tapestry and announced that the scholars had misinterpreted what it meant. It didn’t say ‘The star-marked family alone shall be the salvation of Vengekeep.’ He claimed it said, ‘The star-marked family alone shall be the sal’viton of Vengekeep.’”

  I groaned. Sal’viton was par-Goblin for “mortal enemy.”

  Da continued. “And that’s all Jorn needed to hear. He had us arrested and locked up. So that leaves us with a cursebreaker trying to break a nonexistent curse. He probably doesn’t even realize that the tapestry is the source of all the problems!”

  I nodded grimly. “Oh, he realizes. He’s not a cursebreaker. It’s your old friend Edilman.”

  I reported everything that had happened to me and Callie. My parents were genuinely alarmed to hear that their old partner in crime was somehow involved in this mess. I finished by telling them how he’d stolen the solvent ingredients and was intending to destroy the tapestry to earn the High Laird’s pardon.

  “A death sentence?” Ma scoffed. “We warned him about dealing in illegal materials. That’s why we went our separate ways in the first place.”

  “Maybe we should just let Edilman do what he plans,” Da said. “If he destroys the tapestry and saves Vengekeep, the High Laird will pardon him and they won’t have any reason to hold us.”

  Nanni wasn’t convinced. “If he destroys the tapestry,” she said, “he’ll have to explain why he did it. He’ll tell everyone it was fateskein. Since we’re the only ones who feature in a positive light in the tapestry, it won’t take them long to figure out who wove it in the first place.”