The Prophecy Machine

with plumes of lavender, green and gold.

Never stopping for a moment, never even slowing down, he hacked, slashed, and chopped himself a path through the killers like a mad reaper loose in a field.

For an instant, his foes seemed dazzled, stunned, completely out of sorts. Then they found their wits and came at him like an angry nest of hornets, like a hive of yellow bees. But this was not a bare, pasty old man, a man you could laugh at, poke with a stick …

Men dropped, men died, men crawled away and bled. Men shrieked and howled, men turned away and ran.

Then, as quickly as it had started, it was just as quickly done …

Finn watched, bewildered, as the big man lowered his blade, and the yellow-hats fell back. Moving to the rack, he slashed at the bonds that held the old man. The poor fellow sagged, wavered, but managed to stand his ground. The swordsman turned his back to the crowd and covered the old man with his cloak.

Still wielding his weapon, the tall man drew a leather sack from his belt, weighed it in his palm, then tossed it to the yellow-hats, tossed it with contempt. One of the Hatters caught it, peeked inside, let the others see, then quickly jerked it back. He spoke to the swordsman, waving his arms about. The swordsman laughed, and swung his blade in a blur, missing the man by an inch. The Hatters shrank back. The man with the sword gripped the old man's arm, and stalked away boldly through the crowd.

A few steps farther and he stopped, found another bag, dug around inside, pulled out a fistful of bright silver coins and threw them to the crowd.

The horde went mad, pounding, pummeling, and kicking one another to grab a precious coin. The big man laughed and stomped across the square, swinging his blade to keep the crowd aside.

Finn could see the plume of his hat bobbing above the crowd, then, for the first time, a glimpse of his face, the pock-marked flesh, the thick red hair-

“Great Gars and Guppies!” Finn gasped, scarcely able to believe his eyes. “It's him, by damn-it's that bloody lout, Sabatino Nucci in the flesh!”

Finn took a step back and drew his blade. Drew a breath and held it, felt his heart pound against his chest.

“Finn, dear,” Letitia said, resting her hand lightly on his arm, “I doubt he has the time to fight now, he seems to be quite occupied.”

“You simply don't know him,” Finn said, moving her gently aside, “The man's a lunatic, crazed, of unsound mind. You simply can't say-”

Finn sliced the air, bent one knee, parried, thrust, snapped to a dueler's stance again.

“-what a savage like that will do next. He doesn't think like a man of reason, Letitia. Don't be fooled by the fancy clothes, he's scarcely civilized. Stay here, love, I shall be right back.”

“Finn …!”

Townsmen stepped aside, puzzled, bewildered at a stranger pushing through their ranks. Something was amiss. One swordsman was ample entertainment, two was not proper, two was not right.

The crowd was behind Finn now, and there, not a dozen feet away, the man who'd tried to kill him stood before him once again. And, at the very same moment, Sabatino recognized him.

He stared, threw back his head and laughed soundly at the sky.

“Why, I can't believe this. Is it truly you, Master Finn? By damn, it is. What are you doing here, sir? I never expected to see you again!”

Sabatino stalked forward, bracing the old man with one hand, grasping his sword with the other. The crowd stepped even farther back. A pack of yellow-hats followed, keeping their distance, clearly not ready to let the pair out of their sight.

Finn gripped the hilt of his sword. Did this brute take him for a fool, greeting him like a friend? At least he had a weapon himself this time.

Finn glanced over his shoulder at Letitia. Her face was the color of chalk. Under his cloak, he could feel Julia Jessica Slagg clawing her way quickly from his frontside to his back.

“Coward,” Finn said beneath his breath, “if he spits me with that great heavy blade, it'll do you little good to hide there.”

Julia didn't answer. For the first time that Finn could recall, the loud-mouth lizard had nothing to say.

Sabatino came to a halt. “Well, sir, as I say, I did not expect to see you again.” He raised his eyes past Finn. “And that would be your Newlie, ah-serving wench, yes? Most attractive, my friend. I only got a glance aboard. She's certainly worth a second look.”

Sabatino's glance was so bold, open, and rife with lewd intent that it quickly brought Letitia's color back. Sabatino couldn't miss the sudden change in Finn's stance. He shrugged and met his foe's challenge with a grin.

“You're overly sensitive, sir. I only expressed admiration, I meant no sore offense.”

“You, sir, are an offense in yourself,” Finn said. “I know what you meant, and I resent it quite a bit.”

Sabatino sighed. “That's a craftsman for you, always sees himself a step above his class. An artist, if you will, a man of deeper soul. He strives for greater station, and forgets he was born to the hammer, not the brush.”

“This is neither the time nor the place, Sabatino, but by damn, you owe me satisfaction, and I'd have it now.”

“Yes? Now is perfectly fine with me.” He paused, then, and raised a curious brow. “Ah, where is that little tin toy of yours, sir? I only got a quick look before our-quarrel aboard that odorous vessel. If it's as pretty as I recall, I'd buy it from you-proceeds to whatever beneficiary you wish to name, of course …”

Finn stepped back and raised his blade. At once, Letitia moved up to his side.

“Don't be foolish, dear. You don't have to do this.”

“Listen to her, Finn.” Sabatino glanced over his shoulder, then faced Finn again. “Better still, heed a word from me.”

To Finn's surprise, Sabatino sheathed his weapon, left the old man on his own, and drew closer still.

“What you must do,” he said, so softly that no one else might hear, “is forget, for now, this quarrel with me. You don't know the game we're playing, or the rules, and I've no time to explain it to you now. We've very little time. I'd say two, three minutes at the most. I've cut it awfully short, standing here wasting time with you.”

Finn frowned. “What in all the hells are you talking about? I have no-”

“-no time at all, so kindly shut up, my friend. You and that pretty can stand here and die if you wish. Which you surely will, for they see you're in company with Sabatino Nucci, and that's what they have in mind for me.

“The rules, you see, call for the Moment of Useless Combat, then the Payment of the Honorable Fee. That's done, and we've jabbered right through the damned Horror of the Fallen, so we must get out of here, or wait for the Reckoning of the Just. That should begin about now.”

“I have no idea what you've gotten yourself into,” Finn said, “but whatever it is, it has nothing to do with Letitia and me.”

“Look back there, if you will,” Sabatino said. “Tell me what you see.”

“I see the same lot of yellow-hatted crazies I saw before. They're milling about, nodding their foolish heads. If I didn't know better, I'd say they'll soon break into dance.”

“Very perceptive, sir. In a moment, they'll pound those sharpened poles on the ground. We should have about twenty-two seconds after that. If you'll hold on to Father, I'll bring up the rear and try to hold them off. Keep your head and we'll make it out of here.”

“You mean him?” Finn looked at the shaggy-haired old man, bent, miserable, ready to collapse. “That's your father?”

“Yes, damn you, it is,” Sabatino said, quite annoyed now. “Do you think I'd pause to talk to the likes of you if I didn't require your help?”

Sabatino curled his lips in disgust. “Now would you do as I say, noble craftsman? Thanks to you, we have scarcely any time left.”

Indeed, Sabatino was right, for there was truly no time left at all. His words had scarcely passed his lips before the madmen began to pound their sharpened poles against the square, sway, shout, and dance madly about …