The Vengekeep Prophecies (26 page)

But Callie waved her hand behind her back at us, telling Talian to hush. “What's happened?” she asked again.

The queen's wings fluttered softly as her legs thrashed about. “Two days ago, the beasts came. Sent by the mage.”

At this, Talian's eyes narrowed and we shared the same thought.
What mage?

“They took ourrr people,” the queen said. “Stuffed them into grrreat bags, killing those who rrresisted them. We arrre all that rrremains.” The chirping mixed with a gurgling sound and I realized that the queen was crying. “Ourrr husband! They took ourrr husband!”

Callie shook her head. “I'm so sorry, Your Majesty.”

Talian growled to himself.
Callie, you can't just
—

The queen chirped loudly. “Yourrrr people did this!”

“It wasn't us!” Callie insisted. “We would never harm you. We came here because we need your help.”

The queen paused, then emitted a short squeak. “Us?”

Just then, two spiderbats dropped quickly from the web on the ceiling, dangling from a self-made strand of silk, and landed on the rock near my head. They chirped excitedly at their queen.

“Please don't hurt them!” Callie pleaded. “They're my friends.”

“Then why do the callow men hide in the darrrk?” the queen demanded as her two drones bared their sizable teeth at me and Talian.

Callie straightened her posture and said, “Because I wanted to discuss this woman to woman.” She then told the queen the story of Vengekeep and how we'd come all this way to get the spiderbat milk. She paused and said, “Maybe we can help each other.”

The queen clicked and chirped, leaping up and flying directly in front of Callie. “How so?”

“We could help you … rescue your people. Your husband. Get them back from these beasts. Allow us to show you that not all of our kind are your enemies.”

Callie,
Talian moaned. The extremely close proximity of the spiderbats and their strands of web were taking their toll on him. He could barely move, and even his voice in my head sounded weak.
You are breaking all the rules of protocol. There's no way
—

“Ourrr people arrre being held in Splitscarrr Gorrrrge,” the queen chirped. “If you get us what we rrrequirrre, then you shall have what you rrrequirre.”

Callie stood and did her most elaborate curtsy. She backed away, then turned and joined us at the rocks. Together, we slung Talian's arms across our shoulders and made our way back toward the exit of the caves. Behind us, we could hear the flutter of wings as the remaining spiderbats assembled and followed at a distance.

“Bet you never learned
that
in your diplomatic lessons,” Callie said, shooting her sickened cousin a self-satisfied grin.

“A patsy should thank you for shifting the blame to them and giving them the chance to hone their skills at speaking quickly.”

—
Ancient par-Goblin proverb

W
e spent the next three days walking northwest across some of the most desolate terrain in the Five Provinces. With no roads or paths to guide us, we knew where to go only by looking up, where the spiderbats flew high above, leading us to our destination. For the most part, we moved on in silence, stopping only once when we came across a patch of vegetation. We scrounged what little food we could find but, by the end of the second day, we were hungry and tired.

Callie, having faced two of her greatest fears, walked with her head high, proud of her accomplishment. Talian had grown quiet and lagged behind us. I kept my concerns to myself. Now wasn't the time to quarrel.

An hour before sundown, we stopped at a stream near the edge of Splitscar Gorge. As Callie and I filled our flagons, Talian peeled off his boots and waded ankle deep to soothe his feet.

“I don't get it,” I said, dipping the neck of my flagon into the water. “You're a mage, right? Can't you just use your spellsphere to make us appear wherever the spiderbats are taking us? It would be a lot quicker.”

Talian chuckled softly as he sat on a rock in the stream. “That would require a quickjump spell. And even if I had one in the spellsphere, which I don't, quickjump doesn't work that way. I can use it only to go places I've been, a place I can visualize in my mind. I have no idea where we're going.”

We rested a while longer in silence until, finally, Callie burst out, “Just spit it out, Jaxter.”

I looked up innocently. “What?”

She pointed at my hands. “You always rub your thumb and forefinger together when you're trying not to say what's on your mind.”

I immediately stopped exactly what she said I was doing and slid my flagon into the holster around my waist. “It's just … the longer it takes, the farther ahead Edilman gets. He's probably in Vengekeep by now. We're going far out of our way here to help out the spiderbats. Don't get me wrong. What happened to them is terrible, but what's happening in Vengekeep is terrible too.”

Callie planted her fists on her hips. “You think I don't know that? What was I supposed to say to the queen? ‘Real sorry to hear about your husband and all. Mind if I snatch a bit of milk while I'm here?' You heard what she said. They hate people. She wouldn't have given us the milk any other way.”

Talian scoffed, his back to us. “If you'd just done what I'd told you—”

“At least I did something!”
Callie whirled on her cousin, her voice filled with fire.

Talian wouldn't look at her. “What's that supposed to mean?”

“You know what I mean,” she said. Then she looked at me. “Jaxter, did I ever tell you why I moved to Vengekeep? Just before the new year, there was a fire at the lower school in Ankhart, where I'm from. Children were trapped in their classroom. While the village stood by gawking, waiting for the fire brigade to arrive, my parents ran into the building and rescued everyone inside. No one asked them to do it. They did it because they had to. But it was too much for them. They died of their injuries. They might still be alive if the people of Ankhart had helped them.”

She walked right up to Talian and looked him in the eye. “That's why I can't stomach cowards. So tell us, Talian, why are you still here? You had your spellsphere with you in gaol. You could have escaped anytime. Why didn't you? Why come with us? We wouldn't want to keep you from hiding from your duties.”

Talian's shoulders straightened. When he stood, he did so slowly and deliberately. He fixed Callie with a hard stare that matched the one she was shooting at him.

“Do you know what the Trials are, Callie?” he asked in a soft, dangerous voice. Before she could respond, he continued, “Most people assume the Trials are spent casting spells, mixing potions, and proving how adept you are at wielding magic. But that's just one very, very small component. You know how you spend most of your time in the Trials? Thinking.”

He stepped from the stream and slid his boots back on, all the while keeping his eyes on Callie. “Not just thinking. Brooding. From the instant you wake until you drop from exhaustion at night, you're locked in a tiny room and forced to contemplate your responsibilities as a mage.

“Because that's what it's all about. Responsibility. Hour after hour thinking about what it
really means
to wield magic. When you're a mage, you're held to a higher standard than council members, Castellans, even the High Laird. You have a responsibility to use your power wisely, to help the greater good. And after months of sitting in the darkness, the reality of that responsibility sinking in deeper and deeper with every passing day, the weight of it all threatens to crush you.

“When I was twelve, everyone my age wanted to be Lotha's apprentice. Everyone had dreams of casting spells and possessing that much power. We all thought it would be fun. Well, there's nothing fun about it. Every time you cast a spell, you take a risk. Something could go wrong; someone could get hurt. And when I was riding home to Vengekeep, I couldn't bear the thought of looking into everyone's eyes as I arrived. They'd be expecting me to save them. To get out my spellsphere and take responsibility. And that scared me. So I ran.”

He stood and walked right up to Callie, looking down at her. “Why am I still here? I'm still here
because
of you. Both of you. You shamed me. I ran to Cindervale because I didn't want the responsibility. I never thought that two kids would charge out into the world, not even thinking about what they'd taken on. Only knowing that Vengekeep was doomed if they didn't do something.

“I didn't use my spellsphere to escape the jail in Cindervale because I'd accepted my fate. No matter where I hid, the Sentinels would find me. I'd decided to just let the Palatinate do whatever it wanted with me. But then you two arrived. You showed me that fate can change. I ran because I figured a better mage than me would save Vengekeep. But I can't run anymore. Because after months of having the immense responsibility of my position pounded into my head by the Lordcourt, I'm sickened that it took the two of you to really make me learn the lesson.”

Without saying another word, he turned and walked toward Splitscar Gorge. We watched him walk away. Callie sat dumbstruck. I nudged her and we gathered our things. Loaded up, we sprinted to catch up with Talian.

The tan stone walls of Splitscar Gorge rose on either side of us. The sun had started sinking on the horizon, painting the gorge with dark, foreboding shadows. High ahead, the spiderbats flew, guiding us forward among the twisting, rocky footpaths. We squeezed through a slim opening between two enormous rocks and found ourselves in a crescent-shaped canyon filled with boulders and weatherworn mesas.

Without warning, the spiderbats dropped from the sky and surrounded us. The queen perched herself on Callie's shoulder. Callie went pale and I thought she was going to faint. The queen chirped and a moment later, the spellsphere translated.

“Therrre,” she said. “Ourrr people arrre therrre.”

We stared directly ahead into the canyon but saw nothing other than stones. No spiderbats, no mages, nothing.

“I don't see anything,” Callie said tentatively.

“Therre! Therre!” the queen's chirps insisted.

Talian nodded, a grave look in his eyes. “She's right. There's something there, but we can't see it. An illusion is hiding whatever's in the canyon.”

I squinted but saw only the canyon. It finally occurred to me that the spiderbats, being resistant to magic, could see past the illusion. But until
we
could see where her people were, we wouldn't be much help to the queen.

“Can you break the illusion?” Callie asked Talian.

He closed his eyes, his brow furrowing. “I don't know. It's pretty powerful. I might—”

Just then, the spiderbats leaped into the air, flittering about and squawking agitatedly. Before the spellsphere could translate their warning, we were attacked.

“Evidence is the debris of a careless mind.”

—
The Lymmaris Creed

I
remember a flash of dark gray fur as my legs flew out from under me. My head struck a rock when I hit the ground. I winced as powerful hands pinned my arms and legs. As my eyes focused, I saw what looked to be a jackal crouched over me. But, although it had the head and body of a jackal, its thin legs and paws had been replaced with what looked to be human arms, hands, legs, and feet, all covered in the same gray fur. Dangling from its neck on a chain was a round, gold medallion with black sigils etched on the front.