The Prophecy Machine

42

“I've had a thousand chances to run you through, to pierce that arrogant smile, to stop that vain, insolent speech with a slash to the throat, to never, ever abide that cocky, condescending sneer. And I will, I swear, you prideful lout, if ever I walk again …”

Sabatino plucked a burr from his lavender hat.

“You may think what you wish, Finn, I'm certain that you will, but I did not push you, damn it, you fell.”

“That's patently ridiculous. I never fall. I have never fallen, even as a child.”

“Oh, please.”

“You're the consummate liar here, I would never try to best you on that. No, none could hope to ever-Where are we, do you have the faintest idea?”

“Near the back, not twenty paces from the kitchen door. That was a fine leap you made, sir. Most impressive for your very first fall.”

Finn didn't answer. Biting his lips until they bled, he tried to raise himself to see through the thicket of brambles, weeds and twisted trees. Pain ripped along his leg like a blade, and he sank back to the ground.

“I can't bend to take a look. Can you tell if it's broken, is there blood, is a bone showing through?”

Sabatino looked appalled. “How would I have any knowledge such as that? I cannot see through your trousers, sir.”

“No, of course not. Would you mind just tearing them a bit and take a look?”

“You go too far, Finn. I have never handled a man's leg, and I'm not starting now.”

Finn groaned, more in anger than in pain.

“I'm having a fever and a chill. I will not be conscious soon. When I'm not, would you consider it then? I wouldn't know, you see, and perhaps it would give you less offense.”

“I don't see how that would help me. I'd be aware of your, ah-limb, and when you awoke, you'd be aware of it too. No, there's no solution there.”

“Rocks and Socks, you pompous fool,” Finn shouted, “I'm going to lie here and die if you don't get off your-”

Finn's words were lost as a loud explosion shook the very air. A limb snapped, falling inches from Sabatino's head. A pall of dirty smoke drifted from the house.

“Damnation,” Sabatino said, shaking his fist, “stop that at once! I could have been severely injured. What's the matter with you up there!”

“Who is it?” Finn asked, “Squeen William?”

“Of course it's not Squeen. That fool would have no idea how to operate your basic firing arm, much less an exquisite piece like the Ponce-Klieterhaus 39. It's Father, who else?”

Sabatino paused, squinting thoughtfully at the house.

“Look, we're brothers in arms, and I will not desert you, Finn, I promise you that. However, it might be wise, from a tactical point, for me to move well away from here. He seems to have our range. Keep low, and I'll try to draw his fire …”

“What, do you think I'm feeble-minded?” Finn laughed, an action that hurt clear down to his toes. “You stay here, Sabatino, I'm not falling for that.”

“You're taking this all the wrong way.”

“Right. And you didn't push me, I fell.”

“I've come to think of you as an actual brother more than a comrade in arms.”

“Please, I can't stand to throw up, not now …”

The second shot hit another tree. The heavy iron ball whined off to the south, or possibly the west.

“Father, don't do that again.” Sabatino nearly stood up this time. “Reloads for that weapon are quite hard to find.”

“Sabatino,” Calabus called out, “get yourself off my property. You don't live here anymore.”

“What are you talking about? I'm your son, Father. How can you speak to me like that?”

“I had a son once, I don't anymore.”

“We need to talk about this. It's clear there's been a misunderstanding here. We've had our differences, Father, but we're family. There's no stronger tie than that. I suppose some of what's happened is my fault, but most of it's yours. Nevertheless, I'm willing to forget and start anew.”

“Start a new what?”

“You ignorant old bastard, I'm giving you a chance to make this right. I don't intend to sit here all day!”

“Why not?”

Sabatino frowned, giving thought to that. Finn shook his head. He couldn't think of anything to say.

“I have a casualty here. He's gravely injured, I fear. He's going to need help or he'll perish right away …”

As if in answer, Calabus loosed a high, piercing laugh, more like a cackle, more like a shriek, not like a laugh you might hear every day.

Sabatino took a deep breath. He seemed to sag, he seemed to wilt, seemed to go into decline. Finn felt he might simply fade before his eyes.

“Father is over the hill. There's nothing else for it.”

“No offense, but he's been over the hill for some time.”

“I know. But this is worse than that.”

Sabatino crawled to the edge of the brush and risked a look.

“This man is hurt, Father. Just let me come in there and get a glass of wine, perhaps a damp cloth of some kind.”

“It's that lizard fellow we're talking about.”

“Yes it is, Father. It's Master Finn. You remember him.”

“He's hurt real bad?”

“Extremely badly, Father. It's his leg.”

“One leg, you mean. Not two.”

“No, just one.”

“Tell him to limp the hell out of here, then. I'd just as soon shoot him too.”

Sabatino turned to Finn. “I'm doing my best. It's impossible to reason with the man.”

“I can see that.”

“Father-”

“That's no way for a son to do, boy. Locking me up like that. That hurt a lot. You've been breaking my heart since your mother passed on. I wish she'd stayed around to suffer, see what I had to go through.”

“You locked me up, Father, don't forget that.”

“Damn you, boy, you did it first. Whoever does it first, that's the one started it all, you ought to know that.”

“Grandfather's gone berserk again,” Sabatino said quietly, “He's worse than he's ever been before. I think he might have the Newlie girl. You've got to destroy that device of yours, Father. It's bulging all over the place, it's getting out of hand.”

Calabus was silent for a while. “He's got Miss Letitia, you think?”

“I think he likely does.”

“That's what people get for playing in the walls. I told you that when you were six. Tell that lizard fellow, tell him if she's still all right, I'll go and get her out. If I do, though, he's got to give her to me.”

“Like hell I will!”

Finn tried to get up. Pain pushed him back down.

“Stay out of this,” Sabatino said. “You think you're going to reason with him now?”

“Just help me up. Get me a stick, anything you can find …”

“He'll agree to that if he has to, Father,” Sabatino called out. “He loves the lady, but he'll give her up to save her life.”

“I want that lizard, too.”

“He'll go for that.”

Finn opened his mouth to protest, but Sabatino shook his head.

“Can I come in now? I'd like to get that wine and a cloth of some kind. Tell Squeen to find something clean-”

The shot clipped the plume off Sabatino's hat. Sabatino hit the ground. Lilac feathers filled the air.

“Damn you, boy,” Calabus shouted, “you think I'm deaf and blind? I know your intentions, I've got 'em right here!”

Calabus raised a tangle of paper and shook it in the air, endless loops and snarls, ravels and curls, whorls and kinks and coils. Finn swallowed his pain and stretched his neck to see. There, on the porch, was a man in a rage, a man with a musket, a man with severe disorders of the mind.

“It's all right here, you damn fools! The works! Everything!What's going to happen, everything that has! You can't trifle with me, I can read this stuff now!”

Calabus crowed again and spread his arms wide, tossing paper to the wind. “Don't try an' put something over on me. I know what you're up to before you know yoursel-”

The house began to shake, began to roll, began to twitch, began to rock, began to quake. To the left and to the right, to the bottom and the top, wood began to squeal, began to creak, squeak and groan.

Finn saw it, then, felt it in his belly, felt it in his toes. A window cracked, timber snapped, and dust began to fall. A spot near the roof began to swell. It bulged, oozed, festered like a boil, like a horrid open sore. A foul and awful corruption throbbing with dark bits of matter that tumbled through its grime-encrusted coils.

Finn couldn't breathe, couldn't draw a breath.

“It needs more room,” Sabatino said, “the damned thing's coming outside …”