Broken Prophecy

by K J Taylor

  ‘Even if they did something you hate them for?’ said Ambit.

  ‘Even then, if that’s what you want,’ said Ana. ‘It’s all up to you.’ She winked at him over the stolen beer. ‘I like you, Ambit. That’s why I decided to come and cheer you up. I really shouldn’t be here, because I’ve got a boyfriend, but I can’t help myself. It’s not as if you’re looking for anything long-term. You’ve already found the only person you’re ever going to stick with. Anyway, are you going to buy me another drink or what?’

  Ambit grinned properly for the first time in days. ‘Sure thing, sweetie.’

  Ana smirked back. ‘That’s the spirit. Now go on – before I change my mind.’

  Sometime later, sweatily entangled on the bed in Ambit’s room, the two of them paused and looked each other in the face.

  ‘Okay, is it me, or did the earth actually move just now?’ Ana panted.

  Ambit opened his mouth to answer, but at that point the window started to rattle in its frame, and the floor shook. A low rumbling came from somewhere deep in the ground. ‘I’m good, but I’m not that good,’ he said. ‘What’s going on?’

  ‘Beats me,’ said Ana. ‘Let’s finish up and go and find out.’

  By the time the two of them got outside the ground had shaken several more times, and people were gathering in the streets to see what was happening. The sky had turned an ominous shade of dusky red. Dogs and cats ran past in a panic, and day-birds were twittering and flying everywhere, woken up by whatever was happening.

  ‘I know what this is,’ Ambit said as the ground rumbled again. He could feel his heart pounding. ‘This is the mountain. Quick – let’s get to the gates.’

  He shoved his way through the crowd, spear in hand and Ana at his heels. Plenty of people had already gathered at the city gates, in the same spot they’d been when Diamons came to try and see the king. This time, though, someone had forced the gates open and people had spilled out onto the open ground in front of the city to watch. The sky cast a lurid glow on a hundred pale, nervous faces and gleamed in metallic eyes.

  A hot wind had started to blow, ruffling Ambit’s hair as he turned to look at the First Mountain. Sure enough, something had started to happen to it. Black smoke was pouring out of its peak, easily visible in the night because of the massive deep-orange glow inside it. Spurts of lava lanced into the sky and more ran down the mountain’s sides, and the ground shook again, knocking several people over.

  Ambit leaned on the spear to hold himself up, and cringed when he put weight on his injured hand. ‘I think we’re in trouble,’ he said.

  Ana followed his gaze. ‘Yeah . . .’

  And then it happened. While everyone watched, the First Mountain seemed to convulse. Lava vomited out of it in a seemingly endless torrent, up and up, so bright that it was as if daylight were shining on Lucknow City. People screamed and scattered, dodging the red-hot boulders that started to crash down from the sky. An instant later it began to rain ash.

  Ana pressed herself against the wall. ‘Any suggestions?’ she asked with ludicrous calmness.

  ‘I think it’s time I checked out of my room,’ said Ambit.

  ‘Right,’ said Ana. ‘Good luck, Ambit. It’s been fun.’

  Ambit squeezed through the crowd barrelling its way back into the city. For a moment, with bodies pressing in on him from all sides, he could barely move. He managed to free himself and looked around for Ana, but she seemed to have vanished. He shrugged and ran back toward his quarters.

  The door had been shaken out of its frame. Ambit kicked it out of the way and hastily repacked his bag. He left the building before he’d even finished slinging the bag on his back – instinct told him staying inside right now would be a very bad idea.

  Outside it was chaos. People were everywhere, some packing up to leave like himself, and others running toward the castle in the hopes of finding shelter there. Ambit briefly thought of finding a cellar to hide in until the eruption was over, but all he wanted to do now was leave Lucknow. So, in the face of all common sense, he made for the gates.

  By now everyone had come back inside, and some guards were busy closing the gates.

  ‘Sorry, but you’ve got to go back,’ one of them told Ambit. ‘The city is in shutdown until this is over.’

  ‘What, until everyone chokes on the ashes?’ said Ambit. ‘Get out of the way, you idiot.’

  The guard started to argue, but Ambit knocked him over with his spear-butt and kicked the gate open. He might not have gotten away with it, but he wasn’t the only person trying to leave the city. Other refugees pressed in behind him, overwhelming the other guard. The gates fell open, and everyone went rushing out and made a run for it. Nobody seemed to have much idea of where they wanted to go – just that they wanted it to be away from the First Mountain.

  Only Ambit went that way. He walked slowly down the slope toward the edge of demon country, watching the chaos. The boulders had stopped falling by now, but there was still plenty of ash coming down. The air felt hot and smothering, and the plants around the city had started to wither. The lava had stopped shooting straight up from the mountain and had now started to flow down its sides, making pools and rivers which lit up the demon territory around it.

  ‘Holy shit,’ Ambit muttered.

  Was his dream coming true? As far as he knew this was the first time any demon mountain had erupted since the very beginning, when the demons themselves had first emerged. Now that the human king had rejected the idea of peace talks, maybe this was Volcan’s revenge. After all, Diamons had said they’d destroy Lucknow. Maybe this was it. Maybe right now every one of the Nine Mountains was erupting, spreading lava and making more demon country. And if he, Ambit, had done what he was supposed to have done, then maybe he could have stopped this.

  ‘Oh shit,’ he said at last. ‘Oh, shit. What have I done? I didn’t want to do it, but I never thought this would happen. I mean . . .’ He watched as more lava belched out of the First Mountain. ‘This is all my fault. I have to do something. I have to go and get those idiots out of there, and then . . .’ He gripped the spear. It was safely wrapped in leather again, but he could feel the shape of the holes where the gems from the nine demon lords were supposed to go. ‘I really don’t have a choice,’ he said to himself. His right hand was hurting again – it felt as if it were burning. On an impulse, he ripped the bandage off and held up his mutilated palm.

  The skin was starting to heal. While he stared at it, it began to knit itself back together before his eyes.

  ‘I’m the Chosen One,’ he said, and the wound’s closing began to happen even faster. It was horribly scarred, of course, but he could see the mark – the silver bellflower – slowly starting to reappear. ‘I’m the Chosen One,’ he said again, ‘and it’s my destiny to –’

  ‘STOP!’

  Ambit broke off mid-sentence, and a small demon came rushing straight toward him, still shouting. ‘Ambit, no!’

  Ambit lowered his hand. ‘Snarl?’

  Snarl bounded to a halt. ‘Ambit, don’t do this.’

  He glared at her. ‘What the fuck do you want?’

  Snarl’s spiked tail lashed at the ground. ‘I came to find you,’ she said.

  ‘Yeah, well, I’m busy starting to do what I should have done years ago,’ said Ambit. ‘And once I have, I’m going to kill you first.’

  Snarl stared at him. ‘What? Are you mad? Volcan needs our help!’

  Now it was Ambit’s turn to stare. ‘Help?’ he repeated. He pointed the spear at the First Mountain. ‘In case you haven’t noticed, he’s destroying Lucknow and killing everyone in it. It’s Vinewood all over again. And you think he needs help with that?’

  ‘He’s not destroying the city,’ said Snarl. ‘Ambit, it’s the weapons. The companions’ weapons. They’re making this happen. Volcan’s been holding them down all this time, but he couldn’t do it any longer. He’s lost control.’

  ‘You what?’ said Ambit. ‘You mean . . .�
� He jabbed the spear at the erupting mountain again. ‘You’re saying that is just a nasty case of indigestion?’

  ‘Pretty much, yes,’ said Snarl.

  ‘Why should I even believe you?’ said Ambit, turning his attention back to her. ‘You got Vinewood destroyed, and you stabbed me in the back. For fuck’s sake, I was just a kid. I thought I’d made the best friend ever. I used to bring you rocks to eat. I helped you when you fell in the river that time. I never told anyone about you. And what did you do? Went running off to tell the nearest demon lord about me. How could you?’

  ‘I was just an imp!’ Snarl wailed. ‘I didn’t know any better! I thought it was amazing that I’d made friends with a human. Not just any human: the Chosen One. So I told some of my friends at home – I said I’d met the Chosen One and he wasn’t that bad. I told them he was nice. I was just an imp – I was bragging! I didn’t know they’d tell Lord Phos about it. And then when he sent demons to destroy Vinewood, I couldn’t do anything about that.’

  ‘You could have warned us,’ said Ambit.

  ‘I tried,’ said Snarl. ‘I was too late. But I knew it was all my fault. All I could think of was that I had to find you, and when I did I couldn’t bring myself to tell you what I’d done. Please, believe me. I never meant for any of it . . .’

  Ambit heaved a sigh. ‘So you’re sorry everyone died. And now you want me to help your king again.’

  ‘He asked me to come and find you,’ said Snarl. ‘I missed you, but I couldn’t face searching for you until he told me to do it. Please, Ambit. Without you, we’re done for.’

  Ambit looked at his hand. It was nearly healed now, and the vague, ghostlike shape of the bellflower had begun to show through on the scarred skin. The pain had gone. ‘Well, what d’you expect me to do about it?’ he said eventually. ‘I might be the Chosen One, but I don’t think I’ve got anything that can stop that.’

  ‘You have to try,’ said Snarl.

  Ambit heaved a sigh. ‘See, this is why I never wanted to be the Chosen One,’ he said. ‘Everyone always wants me to solve their problems for them. Come here, you little moron.’

  ‘What?’ said Snarl.

  Ambit threw the spear down, and crouched. ‘I said come here, Snarl.’

  She waddled closer, head held up toward him. ‘Ambit, you shouldn’t . . .’

  Ambit held up his right hand, paused for just an instant, and then pressed the palm onto Snarl’s forehead and kept it there.

  After a moment or two, Ambit’s hand started to smoke. A faint hissing sound disturbed the pool of silence around the two of them, and Ambit’s face twisted. Snarl stayed completely still, one front foot still raised.

  The smell of burning flesh started to drift into the air, and Ambit pulled away with a sudden motion and a strangled yell. He left a layer of skin behind on Snarl’s forehead, where it shrivelled and blackened away into ash. Ambit fell back, clutching at himself and cursing. ‘Shit, shit, shit, fuck, shit!’

  Snarl shook her head. ‘I hate to say this now of all times, Ambit, but . . . you’re an idiot.’

  ‘I love you too,’ Ambit said through gritted teeth. He dragged his pack off his back, and fumbled in it for bandages and burn cream.

  ‘You know, you really could have saved that for after we went to help Volcan,’ said Snarl.

  Ambit slapped some of the ointment the doctor had given him over the burn on his hand, and wrapped the whole thing in bandages. ‘Unbelievable,’ he said. ‘We’ve been back together for five minutes and you’re already going on at me.’

  ‘Someone has to do it,’ said Snarl, and though most humans had trouble picking up different tones in a demon’s voice, Ambit could hear fondness in hers.

  He finished dressing his hand and got up, pack on his back and spear in his hand. ‘Well, you’ll be happy to know I’m very well supplied with money now,’ he said. ‘So even if this doesn’t work out I can still keep us in beer and gemstones for a while.’

  ‘Good,’ said Snarl. ‘Now let’s go.’

  Seventeen

  ‘I still don’t really get what I’m supposed to do,’ Ambit said as they headed back toward the First Mountain. ‘I mean, this is demon business, right? I can’t exactly fix that. I won’t even be able to handle my spear properly for a while.’

  ‘It’s not Volcan that’s the problem,’ said Snarl. ‘It’s the weapons. They’ve escaped.’

  ‘Escaped?’ said Ambit. ‘You mean he puked them up again?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Snarl, ‘and with all of this it wouldn’t be surprising if the eight companions got out of their cell. My king can’t hold everything together like this. If that happens, we have to find their weapons before they do.’

  ‘Oh, great,’ said Ambit. ‘We’re never going to get rid of that lot, are we?’

  ‘Probably not,’ said Snarl, ‘but we can try.’

  Ambit broke into a jog. ‘Damn right we can.’

  The two of them ran back into demon territory, hurrying over the hard rock ground. The closer they got to the mountain, the worse the damage became. The ground had broken open, creating deep fissures spitting fire and smoke. Little demon imps came crawling out of them, squalling loudly in protest as the cooler air hardened their molten skins.

  ‘Aren’t they cute?’ said Snarl. ‘Reminds me of when I was an imp.’

  ‘Adorable,’ said Ambit. ‘Wait, are they being born?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Snarl, ‘that’s how all demons are born.’

  ‘Huh,’ said Ambit. ‘So that’s why you never talked about your parents. I thought you were just embarrassed about them or something. But I suppose if you came out of a big smelly crack in the ground . . .’

  ‘Ambit?’ said Snarl.

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘Shut up.’

  ‘You’re no fun,’ said Ambit.

  They came across demon settlements again soon enough, but if anything they were even more chaotic than Lucknow. Most of the buildings had been shaken apart, and demons were scurrying around trying to avoid the falling debris. Some had been killed – Ambit saw their bodies melting into the ground. A few of the younger or stupider demons had found some entertainment in the situation; with lava rivers now flowing everywhere, quite a few had bathers in them.

  ‘I’ve heard of floods where people decided to go boating in the wreckage afterward,’ said Ambit. ‘There’s no harm in getting something good out of a bad situation, I suppose.’

  ‘Ambit, are you drunk?’ said Snarl.

  ‘A bit, but I don’t see what that’s got to do with anything,’ said Ambit. ‘Don’t look at me like that. I didn’t know this was going to happen.’

  Snarl sighed and licked some ash off her snout. ‘Remind me. Why was I so sad when I lost you?’

  ‘Because I’m so incredibly worth it,’ said Ambit. ‘Wait – what’s that?’

  They were close to the mountain now, and something was coming toward them. Ambit slowed down to look, and Snarl went on ahead for a short distance and then stopped. ‘Wait,’ she said. ‘Is that –?’

  ‘Look out!’ Ambit shouted.

  Snarl dived to one side, and a shining silver arrow embedded itself in the ground directly in front of her. The small demon turned and ran back toward Ambit. ‘It’s them! Ambit, get out of here!’

  Ambit did not need telling twice. He had already seen the gang of people coming his way, and if they were too far away for him to see their faces he already knew who they were by the silvery gleam of the weapons in their hands.

  ‘You’ve got to be kidding,’ he said, and ran.

  Another arrow went whistling past his ear. Ambit put his head down and ran faster, back the way he had come. He could hear the pounding footsteps of the eight companions behind him, and as he stumbled on an inconveniently placed rock he heard their voices.

  ‘It’s him! Don’t let him get away!’

  ‘Ambit!’ one voice bellowed over the others. ‘You’re not going to get away from me again.’

  ‘
Fuck you, Northrop,’ Ambit muttered under his breath.

  He ran, dodging fleeing demons and falling rocks, but the ground was too uneven for proper running, and he was too worn out by the last few days to have enough stamina. And, anyway, the eight companions were probably too angry to care about anything that might have slowed them down. They circled around ahead of him, Whitear raising her bow with another arrow ready to loose at him. Ambit slowed, spear ready to defend himself, and Snarl reared up angrily beside him.

  ‘Keep away from us,’ she threatened.

  Northrop was at the head of the group, as usual. ‘Get them,’ he said.

  Rigby hurled his trident. Ambit knocked it away with his spear, but while he was distracted Wittock came up behind him and hit him in the back of the head with his staff. Ambit staggered and fell, and as the world turned sideways he saw Tannock and Elyne closing in on Snarl, weapons raised. With a last effort, he swung the spear shaft as hard as he could at their legs, knocking them over.

  ‘Get out of here, Snarl!’ he shouted.

  Snarl backed away from them, toward Ambit. ‘I won’t leave you,’ she said. ‘Not again.’

  ‘They won’t kill me,’ said Ambit. ‘They can’t. But they’ll kill you. Run, Snarl.’

  ‘No,’ said Snarl. ‘Get up, Ambit. Come on!’

  Ambit dragged himself to his feet and knocked Wittock away. The others were on him now, and they looked more than ready to kill him. Deeble aimed a stab at him with his dagger, slashing his spear-arm open from wrist to elbow. Srawn hit him with the flat of her axe blade, knocking him sideways into Tannock, who took Ambit’s left arm and twisted it up behind his back. Ambit yelled in pain and kicked out, catching Elyne in the knee. Snarl rushed in and bit Tannock on the leg. The hero bellowed and let go of Ambit, and Snarl gave his leg a good shaking before she let go and turned to defend herself against Northrop. Elyne swung her morningstar, knocking the small demon down, and Srawn raised her axe to finish the job.