The Prophecy Machine

51

Merely standing near the dread machine was enough to fry a brave man's soul. Ducking through the clang and the clatter of that terrible maze, fighting the shriek and the throb and the clamor that howled through his head was a hundred-fold worse than Finn had imagined only moments before.

Madness waited there in the hot, churning bowels of the thing, a thing that had likely drained his love, stripped her of her reason, sucked her mind dry.

Hold on, Letitia, wherever you are … I'm coming for you, dear …

One instant Sabatino was beside him, the next he was gone. The Foxers were nowhere in sight. Perhaps they'd sated their fury on the hapless old man, Finn thought. Or maybe they were smart enough not to go near the thing at all.

Once more he squeezed through the vile convolution of fat, distended coils, countless tunnels of soiled and sullied glass, foul viscera that wound their way through the tangle, through the snarl of the device.

And, as ever, through the filth and the splatter, there was something almost heard, something almost seen, a blur of dark motion rushing swiftly about within.

“Letitia!”

“Sabatino!”

A hopeless cry, his voice all but lost in the din.

Finn made his way through shuttering cogs and wheezing gears, through the tremble and the quaver and the roar, the awesome emanations shrieking through his head.

Unsteady on his feet, he nearly stumbled again, caught himself, and-

— there and then it struck, hit him like a great enormous fist, a wall that wasn't there, a wall he couldn't see.

He shook himself, dazed, dazzled, stupefied. The machine was still there, but there was something else as well, something vaguely sketched, like a shimmer, like a veil, like a thousand panes of crystal that shimmered in impossible light.

The sight made him queasy, made him want to retch. The rapid oscillation numbed his sense of balance, his sense of far and near. Finn took a step, and UP swept him over, DOWN jerked him back to his right and to his left, turning him in directions he'd never seen before.

He shouted, flailed about, but no words came out. He was spinning, whirling like a top, but he couldn't move a bit. A face he'd never seen before loomed up at him, grinned and disappeared. Another, and another after that, one face atop the next moving so incredibly fast they seemed to be made of molten wax.

The faces vanished.

Finn vanished as well …

He stood on a flat, endless plain, as great shaggy beasts plodded by under a broiling sun that dropped into the bloody sea as the mighty vessel died, spewing gouts of flame, flame that reflected in the woman's chocolate eyes as the silver craft whined overhead, as the stars swept by in a spidery veil, a veil of deadly smoke that ate the soldier's eyes, eyes that looked out on a flat, endless plain as great shaggy beasts plodded by under a broiling sun, as the mighty vessel vanished, spewing gouts of Sabatino everywhere …

“You're coming apart,” Finn cried out in alarm, “you're just-going everywhere!”

Sabatino was gone, lost in a blink. Finn saw him dash through a bright crystal pane, followed him over a flat, endless-

Finn?

FINN?

PLEASE

Help

ME

FINN …!

“Letitia? Letitia Louise!”

“Who do you think,” Julia said, “how many people do you know in this place?”

“Shut up, I'm trying to think.”

“Don't waste your time. It's not allowed here.”

“You don't know, you don't know where here is.”

“Here is where you are. Here is where you're going, here is where you've been.”

“That's all I need, lizard philosophy talk. And what are you doing up there? You're in my pocket with the rest of your parts.”

Julia walked on nothing, upside down. Turning shades of amber, saffron and a horrid tone of green.

“Stop that, you're making me ill.”

“Stop what?”

“Whatever you're doing, don't do it again.”

“Whatever or when? I can't do both at one time.”

FINN …

FINN …

PLEASE,

FINN!

“Letitia, over here!”

“Let's not start that again,” Julia said, wherever she was, wherever she'd been.

“I'm coming,” Finn said, “I'll be right with you, dear …”

Letitia's scream shattered all the crystal panes, splintered every when, shredded every where, and suddenly she was there, or maybe not at all, maybe a vapor or a wisp, and all about her a pale luminescence, a nimbus of light.

Sometimes she flickered and was gone, less than a whisper, less than a fleeting breath of air.

“I can't see you well, love,” Finn said. “I'm not certain that you're there.”

“I might be, I can't really tell. I'm frightened, Finn, I'm really awfully scared.”

“Tell me what to do, tell me where you are.”

“I do love you, Finn.”

“And I love you as well. I'll get you out of there.”

“I don't think so, I don't think you can.”

“Don't say that, listen to me, I will.”

“Finn, something awful's happening, something's happening to me.”

“No, this isn't real, this is an illusion, it's magic, is what it is-”

“It's happening. It's happening inside-it's happening now.”

“Letitia, stop this, please, this kind of talk won't do us any-”

A moan, a wail, a sad lamentation, a grievous sound that rose into a shriek, into a cry of unbearable pain.

Finn stared in horror, in awesome disbelief as something moved in Letitia, something twisted, something seethed. Something crackled, sizzled, and burst into sight.

Finn shrank back, raised an arm against the blistering heat that surged from his love, not his love at all, but the creature she'd become, a grim apparition that wailed, shouted out his name, stared out at nothing with black and fiery eyes.

And, from this dark, charred cremation, this beauty with slender limbs and ashen hair, burst a nightmare from beyond nature's realm, from a place devoid of light. They spilled from her belly, from the fire that burned within, this foul and hungry blight, this hideous plague, lurching blindly all about.

Finn stood frozen in fright. The terrible horde kept coming, but Letitia Louise began to fade, began to waver out of sight, scarcely a shadow now, scarcely a wisp, as the magic of the horrid machine began to steal away her life …

Tears scalded Finn's cheeks as he cursed every dark incantation, every wizard, every witch, every hex and every spell. For magic was his ruination, magic had snatched away the only thing he loved, the being that made him whole, made his life worthwhile. Damned sorcerers and seers, damned-

“Letitia! Letitia Louise!”

It struck him then, like a quake, like a bolt that splits a mighty tree.

“The amulet-the amulet, Letitia! Grab it, hold it, squeeze it in your hand, whatever the hell you do with such a thing!”

She was gone though, vanished, nothing left to see.

“Come back,” he shouted. “None of it's real, it's magic, it's a spell. Ah, I take that back. The amulet part, that's real, all right? The rest of it's a trick, you don't have to go, you don't have to disappear!”

Nothing.

Nothing but the wheres, nothing but the whens.

A shimmer, then a glow, a flicker, a dim and phantom light. He saw her. She was there, lying quietly, curled in a ball, the way she slept at night.

His heart leaped at the sight. She was still very frail, no more substantial than fireflies winking in the night, but what could you expect? The seer's charm was clearly working well, but these things took a while. He'd wait, give it time, not even try to go to her, to hold her, till then …

“I'm afraid this is as good as it gets, craftsman. Bloody rules everywhere, you know.”

“What?” Finn started. Sabatino stood just beyond Letitia, a wraith, a phantom himself, better than a Coldie, but not a great deal.

“What do you mean? She's all right now, she'll be just fine.”

“She will, Finn, but not with you, I fear. We can't come there, you can't come over here.”

“Don't try your tricks on me, I can go anywhere I-”

Not a step, not an inch, no closer than a hair.

Sabatino showed him a wispy smile. “I shall be glad to take care of her, trust me on that. Wherever we are, though I'm not at all certain of that. We're comrades, you know. Brothers in arms.”

“No, we're not. Let her go, Sabatino, she doesn't belong to you!”

“No one belongs to anyone, Finn. We are, in the end, whoever we are. Ourselves all alone. Even a liar and a rogue knows that.”

“Oh, fine. Words of wisdom from a Nucci. I've heard it all now.”

“Sometimes I even surprise myself,” Sabatino said.

He bent then, raising Letitia's limp figure in his arms, both of them sheer, gossamer thin, perfectly clear.

“Put her down,” Finn demanded. “You can't do this, I won't allow it, you hear?”

“I don't know how it happened, I haven't the foggiest, Finn. But I do have the pleasure of besting you, though I can't take credit, I fear. Oh, if you can, I'd advise you to get out of here. I feel this illusion is rather shaky. I doubt it's going to last.”

“Damn you, Sabatino-”

“It could happen, I'll grant you that.”

“Get your hands off me, right now. I can't feel a thing, but if you touch me, you'll wish you were dead, or possibly alive!”

Sabatino's shade looked startled. Letitia began to pound upon his chest, which did little harm to flesh that wasn't there. Still, he looked annoyed, greatly alarmed.

“Is this how you intend to act? Can I expect behavior like this?”

“You haven't seen behavior, you odorous brute. This is just a start.”

Sabatino sighed, walked a few steps across nothing, and laid Letitia gently on the ground.

“All right,” he said, “I lied. She doesn't truly belong over here. Apparently, for some damned reason, I do.”

He backed off, and looked at the two. “Sorry we couldn't have our duel. I was so looking forward to that. You're a miserable person, craftsman, a low-born fellow, no trace of a gentleman about you, nothing proper that I can ferret out …”

Perhaps there was more. Finn was sure the fellow could go for quite a while, but he was gone now, not a trace at all. Finn bent to Letitia to tell her that he loved her, to tell her he was sorry their vacation had not been pleasant so far. Before he could speak, the illusion shattered, and the horrid machine was everywhere, wheezing and chugging, dead Foxers all about.

“You bessst bes comin' with me, getting yourselvesss out of here. Isss bad place to bes …”

“Squeen?” Finn glanced up in surprise. “Where have you been? I assumed you'd perished. I was certain everyone was dead.”

Squeen William showed him a twisted Vampie smile. “Squeen isss not bes dead, sir. Dead is perssssons in here. Squeen is not stupids, Squeen bes staying outssside …”