Broken Prophecy

by K J Taylor

  They got quite a long way into the First Mountain’s surrounds without encountering anything; as usual, the outlying areas were fairly quiet. They did see plenty of evidence of demon activity, because many of the rock formations they passed had clearly been mined, and they came across craters and tunnel entrances where demons had been searching for food. Up ahead they could see the shapes of what were probably demon settlements, nearly invisible against the backdrop of the First Mountain itself, which was towering above them now – so huge it was almost beyond belief. Its black flanks seemed to blot out the sky, and even Ambit avoided looking up at it – not just because it made him nervous, but because it made him nauseous trying to crane his neck back that far.

  In any case, they had bigger problems on the ground. Not long before they reached the first demon settlement, Snarl finally arrived. Her inner glow looked brighter than before, and she moved with a new vigour. When she was close enough she raised her tail, and Ambit saw it had started to grow back – a thin whip of glowing orange snaked out of the stump, its surface beginning to harden into fresh rocky skin.

  ‘Feeling better now?’ he asked.

  ‘Much better, thank you,’ said Snarl. ‘A good lava bath cures all ills.’

  ‘Forget that,’ Northrop interrupted. ‘Are there any demons ahead? Tell us what you know.’

  ‘You’ll be happy to know I’ve been helping you as well as myself,’ Snarl told him primly. ‘I went through this village and told the others that the Chosen One himself was coming with the eight companions. They believed me, and I warned them you were coming to kill everyone. Most of them ran away immediately.’

  ‘Frightened of us!’ said Whitear. ‘Excellent.’

  ‘Most of them?’ said Wittock. ‘So some stayed behind. How many?’

  ‘Only a few, but you should be careful,’ said Snarl. ‘They might have an ambush ready for you. Let me go ahead, and I’ll give a warning if I see anything.’

  ‘Sure she will,’ Northrop muttered as Snarl left. ‘She’ll give the word for her friends to come and get us, more likely.’

  ‘Well, now’s her chance to prove whose side she’s on, isn’t it?’ said Ambit. ‘Let’s go and find out. Be ready.’

  They entered the demon village, careful to go around its edge until they found a way in that was nice and open. A narrow entrance would make it easier for any waiting demons to take them by surprise. As it happened they didn’t see a single demon; the village’s humped stone dwellings looked completely empty.

  This village looked a little nicer than the last demon settlement Ambit had visited. The caves carved into the rock had large entrances and windows with nothing to cover them, just as before, but many of them were decorated, with strings of precious stones hanging up inside and around the open doorways. Some of the occupants had even built mounds of stones, or had melted rock into strange and apparently artistic shapes around their homes.

  ‘Cosy,’ Ambit remarked as he entered the open area in the middle of the village. Snarl had gone into it without showing any sign that there was something wrong. The nine humans stopped to check the coast was clear anyway, and then hurried on after the small demon, who had disappeared between two homes. Ambit was about to go after her, but at that moment Snarl stopped. She reared onto her hind legs for a moment, sniffing the air.

  ‘What is it?’ Ambit whispered.

  Snarl turned. ‘Attack!’ she shouted, and ran back toward Ambit as fast as she could go.

  The eerie silence in the village broke. A gang of demons, some human-sized, some huge and bulky, charged out from behind the houses in front and off to one side of the travellers, who pulled back, readying their weapons.

  The demons said nothing. Roaring and bellowing, they charged at Ambit and the others with their claws raised.

  ‘Oh fuck,’ Ambit muttered, and went for them.

  Two large demons attacked him. He speared one of them in the shoulder, and got the second one in the soft spot under his chin. A third demon caught him in the back with her claws; he felt the red-hot lines searing his skin. He yelped and staggered forward, but a moment later he heard the demon behind him screech and whipped around to see her fall down, trailing lava from a severed arm.

  Northrop took the opportunity to nod to Ambit, and raised his sword to take the demon’s head off as well.

  Ambit hastily tapped his spear-point on the ground to break off the flakes of dried lava, and darted away to deal with a fourth demon who had just knocked Wittock down. This time he didn’t muck about trying not to kill. He thrust the spear into the demon’s stomach and then hopped back out of reach, letting go of the weapon. The demon went down, howling, and his impact on the ground drove the spear straight through his body.

  Ambit had already pulled on his gauntlets. He caught the spear behind its point and pulled it out of the dying demon’s body. Not bothering to wait for it to cool down, he hurled the spear straight through another demon’s forehead. That demon died, but it was the last one to go. Four others had already died at the hands of the eight companions, and the survivors took in their crumbling bodies and fled.

  ‘Right,’ Ambit said afterward, ‘did anyone get hurt?’

  Srawn had a nasty burn on her arm and Tannock needed a small piece of shrapnel pulled out of his scalp, but other than that nobody was seriously wounded. They stopped to slap some ointment on their burns and, at Deeble’s insistence, to collect eyes from the dead demons, and then hurried on toward the mountain. Snarl emerged from her hiding place to rejoin them.

  ‘I guess she really did come through for us,’ Tannock said grudgingly.

  ‘Told you she would,’ said Ambit. ‘Thanks, Snarl.’

  ‘No problem,’ said Snarl, ‘but don’t stop now. The mountain isn’t too far. We have to get there before dark.’

  They had to pass through several more demon settlements after that, but for some reason there were no more attacks, even though they saw plenty of the creatures. The demons stayed in the open and watched them come, only to hurry away when the humans came too close.

  ‘They must have learned their lesson last time,’ Tannock said with satisfaction.

  ‘Let’s hope so,’ said Ambit. ‘We’ve got a lot ahead. We don’t need to waste time fighting this lot.’

  The settlements themselves got bigger the further they went. After two or three villages separated by stone plains, rivers of lava and outcrops of black rock, they started to see demon towns and cities as well. They avoided most of those, but had to go through the outer limits of one of the largest cities, whose buildings were taller and sharper than any of the others. They were even multi-storeyed, if the windows were anything to go by. They reminded Ambit of termite nests, if termites could build their nests out of hardened lava. Demons watched them from the safety of their homes, and very few made any attempt to come out into the open. Those that did scurried off before the travellers could look twice at them.

  ‘Don’t be fooled,’ said Snarl. ‘They’re just ordinary citizens, not fighters. You’ll see the fighters guarding the mountain when we get there. They won’t run away from you.’

  ‘Let’s hope not,’ Tannock growled. ‘I came here for a fight, not a walkover.’

  ‘You’ll get one,’ said Snarl. ‘I can promise you that.’

  They had deliberately chosen to enter this patch of demon country at a point where they wouldn’t have to cross too much land to reach the mountain. Even so, the sun was well and truly setting by the time they arrived. The First Mountain made the sky look even darker than it was, and the sinking sun outlined its titanic black bulk in red and orange, mirroring the lava at the mountain’s heart.

  There wasn’t only lava at its heart, though. The peak high above created a constant cloud of black smoke, lit from within by sparks and spurts of magma. Lava rivers flowed down the mountain, edges hardening into ridges and spires, but still perpetually flowing. The heat was unbearable.

  Snarl had found an entrance at the mountain’s foo
t – a long, low passageway, its opening lined by fangs of rock. It looked completely deserted.

  ‘Just like the way into the Third Mountain,’ said Wittock. ‘We can’t let ourselves fall for that one again. They’ll lure us in and corner us just like they did last time. Ambit, don’t rush in. We have to think this through.’

  Ambit was about to say something impetuous and go charging in anyway, but at that moment the ground started to shake. Whitear shouted a warning and everyone braced themselves, ready to throw themselves flat if they had to. But Ambit saw almost immediately that it wasn’t an earthquake.

  At least, it wasn’t the ground beneath them that was moving – it was the mountain.

  Ahead of them, the rock on either side of the entrance cracked and crumbled. Fissures went racing down the slopes on either side, while great chunks of rock broke away and came skipping down the mountainside – often narrowly missing the travellers – to slam into the ground and shatter. Ambit backed off with the others, but before they had gone very far they saw shapes begin to emerge. The glow of lava showed through the breaking rock and a moment later the lava itself oozed into view, but it wasn’t flowing downward. It thrust out into the open air, shaping itself into two vaguely humanoid forms. Soft and blazing with heat, they stepped onto the ground and started to come toward the travellers, each one taking shape as it moved. Horns thrust out of the heads, claws and tails formed, and the surface of each hardened into skin. Red gemstones came to the surface, setting themselves into newly-grown eye sockets, and metal separated itself from the rest as it hardened into long fangs.

  The two demons towered over Ambit and the others, and spoke as one.

  ‘The king will see you now.’

  Fourteen

  Ambit and the eight companions stared blankly at the two giant demons who had just created themselves in front of them. Each one was about three times Ambit’s height, but neither one looked aggressive. They stood right where they were, having proffered their polite invitation, and waited for the response.

  ‘Er, I guess he’s expecting us,’ Ambit said eventually.

  ‘Correct,’ the giants said in unison.

  ‘Snarl, is this normal?’ Ambit hissed at her out of the corner of his mouth. ‘Was that how you were born?’

  ‘I think so,’ said Snarl. She went forward to stand between her two fellow demons, and turned to face the band of humans. ‘My king wants to talk to you,’ she said imperiously. ‘Will you accept his hospitality?’

  ‘Sure,’ Ambit said before anyone else could speak up. ‘Let’s go and meet him.’

  ‘You seriously want us to walk right into the demon king’s throne room?’ said Northrop.

  ‘I thought we already wanted to do that,’ said Ambit. ‘This is just the easy way of doing it. C’mon.’ He nodded to the two giants and made for the entrance. Snarl waddled along beside him, leaving the others to follow, which, with some hesitation, they did.

  Ambit went in through the entrance with Snarl to light the way. Neither of the two guards followed him, possibly because they were too large. But he was pleased by how things were turning out. They wouldn’t have to fight at all. The demon king would have a chat with them and Ambit could try and negotiate some kind of reward out of him. After that, it wouldn’t matter if the companions decided to surrender. They’d never get out of the mountain unless the demon king allowed it, which he wouldn’t. Frankly, anyone dumb enough to stroll right into the demon king’s throne room like this deserved to be thrown in a dungeon.

  Ambit had expected some kind of escort inside the mountain, but there wasn’t one. The passageway was completely dark, except for Snarl’s light, and much wider than it was tall, lined with nothing more impressive than pointed rocks, which made it difficult to walk. Anyone trying to run out of here would be tripping over every five steps.

  The heat in the passageway was far more intense than anything he’d encountered in any other mountain or, in fact, anywhere at all. Sweat poured down his back, making the healing burn lines sting. His hair stuck to his head, his clothes hung heavily off his body, and his boots squelched.

  ‘This is disgusting,’ he said, with feeling.

  ‘You can say that again. You stink,’ said Snarl.

  Ambit’s spear was starting to grow uncomfortably warm in his hands. He put his gauntlets on – not an easy job – and turned a corner into a massive wall of light and heat.

  The nine humans found themselves in a gargantuan cavern. It must have taken up almost the entire inside of the mountain. Its ceiling was so high that Ambit couldn’t see it, and if it had a back wall at all he couldn’t see that either – but not because it was so far away, though it probably was. The floor ahead of them sloped down into a pit big enough to drown a city, and the pit was full of lava. It made a colossal pillar, rising up out of the pit and disappearing into the distance above them, its sides refusing to harden but somehow not collapsing. Its surface glowed yellow-white, so bright it was almost unbearable to look at.

  The heat was appalling. Ambit could hear his sweat hissing and steaming as it hit the floor, his head and eyes ached, and his skin felt as if it were starting to shrivel. Behind him, the others groaned softly.

  ‘I can’t stand it,’ Rigby rasped. ‘I’m going to die if I stay in here.’

  Ambit’s head was starting to spin. ‘Let’s not stay here too long,’ he said. ‘I think my shirt would burst into flames if it wasn’t soaked in sweat.’

  Snarl, however, clearly wasn’t suffering at all. Just the opposite, in fact. She went ahead of them, glowing more brightly than ever, and threw herself flat at the edge of the pit. ‘My king,’ she said. ‘I’m so honoured to be in your presence. I don’t know what to say.’

  ‘Wait, that’s their king?’ said Deeble.

  ‘Yes, I am,’ a voice replied – the biggest voice any of them had ever heard, a voice that seemed to come from the very earth, from the rock, from the sky. The voice of a living mountain.

  ‘Yikes!’ said Ambit. He knelt hastily, and then stood up just as quickly when his knee started to sizzle.

  ‘That will not be necessary,’ said the voice, and as it spoke a face formed in the lava column. A demon’s face the size of a hillside, its eyes red lava, its fangs dripping molten rock. Its horns thrust out of the column, dozens of them, each one as big as a man.

  ‘Holy shit on a stick,’ Ambit said under his breath, ‘now I really have seen it all.’

  The demon king looked down at him. ‘I am the King of Demons, and my name is Volcan,’ he said in his unbearable voice. ‘And you are the one I have been waiting for. You are Ambit Afterman from Vinewood. The Chosen One.’

  ‘Er, yeah,’ said Ambit, whose head was starting to spin. ‘Pleased to meet you. And these are the eight companions, as promised.’

  Volcan looked briefly at them. ‘All eight? Are you certain?’

  ‘Yeah, I am,’ said Ambit, ‘and this is Snarl.’

  Volcan’s massive eyes turned toward her. ‘Welcome, faithful Snarl,’ he said. ‘I welcome you and your loyalty. Please, come to me and be one with me. Your wounds will be healed, and your strength increased.’

  Snarl didn’t need a second invitation. She dived into the lava pit and vanished into its bubbling mass.

  ‘Now,’ said demon king, ‘it is time. You have brought the eight companions to me, and I thank you.’

  ‘You’re welcome,’ said Ambit. ‘It wasn’t easy but, well, you know . . .’ He looked hopefully up at the gigantic face.

  ‘All right, enough of this,’ Northrop butted in. ‘We’re here for the princess. Where is she?’

  ‘Safely beneath my mountain,’ said Volcan. ‘You will join her there soon. But first you should know who you have to thank for your reunion with her. Ambit, do you expect a reward for your service to me?’

  Ambit paused, and then shrugged. No point in keeping up the charade now. ‘I wouldn’t mind one,’ he said. ‘If it’s not too much trouble.’

  ‘Then
tell them the truth,’ said Volcan.

  ‘What truth?’ said Elyne. ‘What is he talking about, Ambit?’

  Ambit’s head was hurting unbearably in the heat. ‘Okay,’ he said. He turned to face the companions. ‘I’ve been working for the demons all along,’ he said. ‘I made a deal with them that I’d find you all and make sure you were taken prisoner. You were meant to be locked up in the Third Mountain and brought here by Lord Saphron, but since you escaped I brought you here myself. I also told the demons about the princess. Well, sort of – actually, Snarl did that part, but it was a good idea. There, is that everything?’

  They gaped at him.

  ‘That’s a lie!’ said Whitear.

  ‘Nope, all true,’ said Ambit. ‘I don’t want anything to do with saving the world. Never have. All I want to do is get drunk and laid, and anything else that looks like fun. This bullshit about fighting demons has been driving me mad for the last three-odd months, so all I can say is I’m very glad it’s finally over with.’

  ‘But . . .’ Rigby looked like he might burst into tears. ‘But . . .’

  ‘Go ahead and call me names,’ said Ambit. ‘With any luck this’ll be your only chance. You were right, Northrop. You can gloat about that in the dungeon.’

  ‘That is enough,’ said Volcan. ‘Now they know the truth they can be removed.’

  ‘You bastard!’ Northrop roared, and charged at Ambit.

  Ambit managed to block the sword with his spear, but he didn’t have to fight the hero any further than that. A long whip of lava emerged from the demon king’s roiling body and slammed into the ground, making a ring around the eight companions. From there it stretched itself upward, making a high, red-hot fence which penned them in.

  ‘Now,’ the demon king rumbled, ‘give me the weapons.’