Summer's Cauldron (8 page)

“Looking for something?” a sandpapery voice said. “Maybe someone. Maybe some young girl?”

Alex turned to see an old woman with long gray hair pulled up in a bun setting up a small folding table and chairs within one of the sideshow tents. The painted cloth banner hanging over the edge of the tent read: “
Fortunes Told, Futures Revealed, Fate Uncovered — Madam Fortuna
.”

“Maybe you’re looking to have your fortune told,” the wrinkled woman who Alex took to be Madam Fortuna said.

“No,” Alex said with a weary smile as he looked into Madam Fortuna’s kind, blue eyes. “I’ve already seen my destiny.”

Madam Fortuna cocked her head in puzzlement a moment and then chuckled to herself quietly. “Yes, I believe you have.” She smiled and placed a deck of cards on the small wooden table. “But maybe there are other questions that plague you. Romantic questions, maybe? I could read your cards. Wouldn’t take long. I’ll give you the first reading for free.”

“No thanks,” Alex said. Although he was tempted by the possibility of the old soothsayer reading the cards to see what the future might hold for him and Victoria, he had finally caught sight of a black cloak dashing between the tents at the end of the lane. “Maybe some other time,” Alex said, running toward the tent where he had seen the shadowed figure make an appearance.

“There’s always time,” Madam Fortuna said with a sigh. “Only not as much as we think when we are young.”

Alex slid around the corner of the tent at the end of the row and caught another glimpse of the shadowed figure. He slipped through a gap between two wagons and followed the evasive black shape through another, even more slender space between two tents. Alex found himself in a dim and narrow channel between the backsides of two rows of medium-sized tents. He looked both ways down the thin, shadow-drenched path between the tents, but saw no sign of his elusive quarry.

He walked silently between the canvas walls, gently stepping over the safety lines crossing the path, each pinned to the ground with an enormous iron spike. Then he heard something. A word. A word spoken by someone in a tent nearby. A word he would not have heard if he had not been accustomed to moving so silently. A word he should never have heard. A word only a handful would know. A word no one should speak. A word whispered and carried by the still night air. A word at the beginning of a sentence as frightening as the word itself.

“Kal’Etrim shall be free within days and all that is required is your courage and my cunning.”

Alex froze where he stood, stilling his lungs into long shallow and silent breaths.

Kal’Etrim
.

That was not a word he should ever hear, especially not here in Runewood. It was a word known only by a few scholars. Only by those who would have need to know it. Only by two kinds of people — those who studied the history of the Shadow Wraith, of Shan’Kal — or those who were its servants and sought to set it loose upon the world again.

Alex listened closely. There were others in the tent. At least two more. He could discern a difference between their whispered voices, could tell two were women and one a man, but could not determine if he had ever heard them before. He doubted he would be able to identify the owners of the voices even if he heard them speak aloud. It meant only one thing — he’d have to get closer and try to see their faces. Maybe through a loose seam in the tent fabric. Maybe from the gap between the tent wall and the ground.

Alex crept slowly toward the tent where the whispered voices continued to speak.

“Is it really there?”

“Do you question me?”

“I only question your sources.”

“It is there.”

Was
what
where? Alex slowly lifted his foot over the safety rope at the edge of the tent.

“It will still be risky even with the device.”

“If he still has it.”

“Are you afraid of risk?”

Device?
Alex leaned in toward the tent. There was a dim light inside and it revealed small holes in the canvas wall.

“I am not afraid of risk. I am afraid of failure.”

“As well you should be.”

“A bank will have more protection than walls.”

Bank?
Alex slid his eye close to one of the holes in the tent. It was too small to see through properly, but he could make out three shadowed shapes within the tent.

“I have made preparations for…Quiet.”

Alex held his breath, locking his limbs into place.

“Someone is nearby.”

“Where?”

“Very nearby.”

Alex heard motion within the tent. The sound of feet crossing the ground and heading directly toward where he stood.

“Where?”

“Here!”

A knife blade slid through the fabric of the tent, slicing a long, clean gash as the blade flashed past Alex’s face.

He thought of running, trying to leap between the safety ropes and through a gap between the tents, but some instinctive part of his mind knew there was no time, he would be seen, would be caught. Before he was even conscious he had spoken, he whispered the rune-words for air and motion and his body thrust upward into the black sky above. There was a reason mages did not try to fly. It was too hard to control the variables of flight with an ever-changing chant of rune-words. But Alex did not need to fly. He only needed to get away. Away from the owner of that knife blade.

Alex landed five tents away in a part of the carnival grounds where the mechanical rides were staged and constructed before being hauled to their final place of assembly. Most of the rides were in wagons of one sort or another, with long metal arms and various cages and cars for passengers to sit in. No one else was around. Alex heard feet behind him and looked around for a place to hide or an avenue of escape. Running a few paces, he picked up a rock and threw it with all his strength to the far side of the clearing. It bounced off the steel sign of a ride,
The Pirate’s Revenge
, with a clattering echo.

Alex dodged between two girder-like metal legs of one of the rides and stopped. He crouched down in the middle the metal framework of the ride and hid in the shadows. He heard the feet of three pursuers cross the grounds and head to where the rock had struck the sign. They stopped. Then moved again. Closer. Alex could see nothing. The bulk of the mechanical apparatus around him blocked his view. He thought he heard them getting closer. Then they stopped again.

The metal around him creaked. Alex looked around frantically, afraid the sound would draw the Shadow Wraith’s minions to him.

The metal around him creaked again. Then groaned. Then squealed.

Alex looked up to see the metal legs of the contraption he sat in begin to collapse down upon him. There was no way to escape. No time to crawl between the steal arms of the ride. No time to even to call for help. He flattened himself back into the ground and said aloud the first rune-words that came to mind as he focused on the magical energy of the land. The metal machinery of the ride broke apart in unnatural ways, becoming sharp-edged talons plummeting toward Alex’s chest.

“
Jenu-Ka!
”

A wall of air, hard as iron, erupted around Alex as he repeated the rune-words. The metal shards and truss crashed into his protective bubble of air with a clangorous boom. Alex yelled the rune-words as the heavy parts of the machine continued to fall down around him, metal shrieking as it pressed down upon his shield of magical protection, bringing a spear-like shaft of metal closer and closer to his face.

Alex continued to chant the rune-words keeping him from being impaled as the metal mass around him finally settled and ceased its collapse. Alex fell silent and listened. Although the metal pressed down upon him was now more likely to crush than skewer him, it held him as tightly as if he had fallen into a bear trap. That didn’t seem like a simple accident. It seemed intentional. It seemed like someone had tried to kill him. If the three minions of the Shadow Wraith were still present, they would finish their work.

He heard one set of footsteps. Or were they feet? He struggled to move and see which direction they were approaching from, but only succeeded in banging his head against a hard steel gear shaft. The feet stopped and Alex thought about the most dangerous and powerful rune-words he knew.

“Are you okay?” a soft female voice said. “Are you hurt?”

The heart-shaped face of a girl with deep green eyes and short cropped brown hair slid into view above his face. She didn’t look like an agent of the Shadow Wraith. She actually looked rather concerned. And quite cute. Alex noticed her pointed ears and something about the moment felt altogether too familiar.

“I have a giant mass of crushed metal on top of me,” Alex said to the girl, “but other than that, I’m fine.” He realized he was being flippant, but it was true. If the girl was there, others would come soon, as well. She looked over her shoulder. Alex could hear other footsteps now. People running toward him. Whatever the identity of the evil carnies, as Alex had already started to think of them, they would not attack again with a crowd. They would know who he was for certain now, but they wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. Not yet, at least.

“Can you move?” the girl asked, looking back to Alex. “See if you can slide out.”

“I’m stuck,” Alex said. “The beam over my chest is too close.”

“Don’t move, I’ve got an idea,” the girl said and disappeared from view. Alex tried to watch her go, but the movement of his head was restricted. He could hear more people arriving on the scene. Gasps and exclamations filled the night. The sound of more feet moved toward him. A crowd. He could hear the girl saying something, but couldn’t make out what it was. Then the girl’s smiling face popped into view again.

“I’ve gathered some people and we’re going to lift the beams pinning you down and pull you out,” the girl said, her voice a mixture of excitement and worry.

Alex blinked in surprise. Then a thought crossed his mind — the mountain of metal above him being raised and suddenly crashing down again. “You lift the beams, I’ll get myself out.”

“It’s a plan,” the girl said as she moved once again from view.

A chorus of rune-words reached Alex’s ears, each a little different, but similar enough that he knew what to expect. The thousands of pounds of metal that had fallen down around him suddenly floated upward several feet as though they were momentarily immune to the pull of gravity and might float away.

Alex wasted no time, rolling on his belly and crawling swiftly from beneath the collapsed ride. As he jumped to his feet, he turned and saw the mound of twisted metal settle back to the ground with a bone-shaking thud.

“Are you hurt?” the girl asked again as she stepped before him.

Alex blinked and looked at her. She was half a head shorter than he was and the two furry goat legs she stood upon signaled she was not a girl, but a female faun. She looked concerned, but her eyes were alight with energy. Alex looked up from her and saw he was surrounded by carnie folk. Melvin the minotaur was there. As well as the soothsayer, Madam Fortuna. All of the same people he had met as Victoria showed him around the carnival. Twenty-some people stood around him with more arriving every second.

“I’m fine,” Alex said. “Just a few scrapes and bruises.”

“I heard the noise and rushed right over,” the girl said. “How did it happen?”

“I don’t know,” Alex lied. “I was looking inside to see how it worked and then the next thing I knew, it was falling down around me.”

“Shoddy craftsmanship,” Melvin said, stepping up beside them.

“I’m lucky you were all here,” Alex said.

“Lucky young Leanna here has a good head on her shoulders,” Melvin said with a low chuckle. “I was going to try and lift it. And me with my bad back.”

“Thank you,” Alex said, extending his hand to Leanna. “I’m Alex.”

“I know,” Leanna said with a slight smile.

“Saved the hero of Runewood from a metal monster,” Melvin said, patting Leanna on the back. “That’s a story to tell around the campfire.” Leanna blushed and looked as though she were about to say something when another voice cut through the wall of chatter surrounding Alex.

“Alex,” Victoria said, galloping to his side. “Are you okay? We were looking for you everywhere. We heard an awful metal crashing sound and feared the worst. We rushed right here.”

“I’m fine,” Alex said, happy to see Victoria was so concerned.

“Little Leanna here saved him,” Melvin said, giving Leanna a slight shove to place her between Alex and Victoria.

“I helped out,” Leanna said, embarrassed by the attention. “Hi, Victoria.”

“Thank you, Leanna,” Victoria said, looking between Alex and Leanna, her tail swishing nervously from side to side. “I don’t know what we’d have done if something had happened to Alex.” She stared deeply into Alex’s eyes, but for the life of him, he wasn’t sure what she was thinking.

“Experienced fewer brushes with death ourselves?” Rafael suggested, stepping up beside Victoria.

“Mmm, had weekends free to relax and sleep in,” Clark said, looking down at Alex with a mix of amusement and concern.

“Stupid,” Ben said, examining the mess of metal behind Alex. “Tell him how stupid he is for going off on his own.”

“Gorping stupid,” Daphne said and punched Alex in the arm.

“How am I supposed to keep you out of trouble if you go looking for it?” Nina said, frowning at Alex.

“I wasn’t looking for it,” Alex said, looking around and feeling uncomfortable having so many people staring at him. “It just happened.”

“Trouble always seems to happen around you,” Rafael said.

“I’m just glad you’re safe,” Victoria said, stepping closer and raising her hands to examine Alex’s bruises. “I can heal these if you want.”

“No, thanks,” Alex said, remembering the last healing he had received from Victoria. As he said the words, and watched the crestfallen look spreading across Victoria’s face, he knew it had been a mistake. “It’s not that bad,” he said trying to think of a way to keep from hurting Victoria’s feeling and letting her know how glad he was she was concerned for him. A flash of black cloak disappearing into the shadows between the tents behind Victoria brought his mind to the reason he was standing there.