So I freaked out because I wasn't seeing any reviews, but then I figured out that my email was sending everything to the spam folder. Wow. So anyway, thank you to everyone who took time from their day to review: The Toast Ninja, Skychip, and Tytonic. Also a big thanks to everyone I missed because they favorited and stuff instead of reviewing.

EDIT 20 SEPTEMBER: Previously, this chapter began Part 2. But I decided to push that off. It'll become obvious why there's a better point for breaking it off in a couple chapters.

So, here is the first prophecy! Yes, there's more than one. (EDIT: maybe not.) Tell me how it is! I think you guys will like this chapter, even though it's kind of short. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: There is no sixth book.


Chapter 12

Firelight

At dinner, everyone was in a good mood, partly because Gregor was telling them how he had fallen through the grate in the laundry room—part of his mysterious past—and partly because they got to see him sitting next to Luxa and the two of them being awkward.

Of course, that didn't necessarily put him in a good mood, since he was more or less the source of the entertainment all of them (or most of them) had enjoyed. And of course Luxa didn't really care and so that left him to be the butt of the joke by himself.

Whatever. They were now walking to the prophecy room, led by Vikus, who seemed to have the beginning of a plan in mind. How he could do this, beset by a severe stroke a few years ago, was inexplicable. He explained the situation to the group as they walked, having recovered the ability to talk, or at least to get his point across. The main points: the cutters were attacking more and more, their situation was dire, the cutter forces were inexhaustible. He also filled in some background knowledge about the cutters in general. "Hive mind" and "anti-warmblood" would be the key words.

When they arrived at the prophecy room, the lamp was waiting for them, already illuminating a single prophecy. No offense, but Gregor silently heaved a sigh of relief when he saw that Nerissa wasn't there.

Luxa glanced over the prophecy. "This is not the one that led us to the conclusion that the cutters and spinners were allying."

"No," said Vikus, "but I have noticed it to be quite relevant to our situation. The other one is much more cryptic."

"Guys…" said Larry with some understandable skepticism. "…What exactly are these... prophecies?"

"The founder of the city, Bartholomew of Sandwich, had visions of the future and locked himself here, carving these prophecies into the walls for the rest of his life, so that the visions could not be easily interpreted but could still influence us in our actions," said Vikus.

"Hey," protested Gregor, "you never explained it that simply to me!"

Vikus mostly ignored him. "So, let us analyze this prophecy and see if we can extract anything from it. I have seen it many times, but tell me what you think of it."

They bent down to look at the lines, which were carved into the wall near the floor.

THE PROPHECY OF NIGHT

THE NIGHT

THE NIGHT

THE BRIGHT MUST FIGHT

IN A QUEST FOR LIGHT

IT IS COMING

IT IS HERE

AND THE NIGHT IS BRINGING FEAR

DRAWING NEAR

BRINGING FEAR

DRAWING NEAR AND FLINGING CHEER

FAR AWAY.

YOU MUST LISTEN

YOU MUST HEAR

FOR THE FORCES DRAWING NEAR

BE THEY PLOTTING

TIME ALOTTING

SCOUTS ARE SPOTTING, SPOTTING, SPOTTING

ALL YOUR WORK WAS DONE FOR NOTHING

YOU WILL LOSE.

THEY WILL COME TO OVERWHELM

THEY WILL TAKE OVER THE REALM

WHAT YOU BROUGHT TO FIGHT CANNOT

THEY WILL LAY YOU DOWN TO ROT

SOLDIERS FALLING

DEATH IS CALLING

FIRES BURNING, DAMAGE GALLING

YOU WILL LOSE.

UNLESS

BRING THEM BACK

BRING HIM BACK

PUT HIM BACK

ON

TRACK

SLEEP RECALLING

WAKE WHILE FALLING

ALWAYS STALLING, STALLING, STALLING

WISH TO KNOW

BEND AND BOW

BUT HE WILL NOT TELL YOU SECRETS

FOR THE PAIN THAT COMES FROM GAIN

WILL NOT DIE UNTIL THE STRAIN

HAS BEEN EASED.

THE MIND

THE MIND

MALIGNED ENTWINED

THEY ARE COMING

THEY ARRIVE

FOUR ALIVE THAT CAN SURVIVE

WHEN THE CROWN

IS SET DOWN

TWO AND THREE WILL TAKE THE KEY

TO THE DOOR.

Josie frowned. "It seems like you were all gonna die until someone came back down here."

"Yes," said Vikus. "When I first saw this, the person that this prophecy mentions was unclear to me. But now that you are back, it seems that you are the one. I rejected this idea at first, since I thought Sandwich would only refer to you as the warrior. But you do not seem to be the warrior anymore."

"Yeah, I guess when I broke the sword and everything, I 'killed' the warrior. So…" said Gregor. " I'm back now, anyway. What am I supposed to do?"

"The prophecy does mention a quest. No one knows much else, but the rhythm seems very much like that of the Prophecy of Time," said Vikus.

"Light in the Underland means life," Gregor explained to the others. "If people lose their light, they tend to lose their lives as well. So there's that."

"Very good, Gregor," said Vikus. "You seem to have a decent understanding of the situation. For now, I have other matters to attend to. You can all retire for the night, or stay and try to analyze the prophecy more. I will see you tomorrow morning."

And with that, he left.


Larry and Angelina had a room next to the royal quarters, so, clearly, it was obvious that Luxa trusted them as Gregor's friends. Joshua and his sister had the room across the hall, and of course Luxa wanted Gregor and his sisters to stay in the royal quarters. Gregor was never going to hear the end of this.

It wasn't that late, but they were all tired. Gregor's friends had handled their new environment much better than he had thought they would. They all gathered in Luxa's living-room-ish area (the Underlanders' quarters were different) to hear Gregor continue his grand legend of crawlers and rivers and the Prophecy of Gray. He got really tired, though, and left off at the part where he met Ripred.

They all went back to their rooms, ready to drop. Gregor closed the curtain after them, then turned to Luxa. "So, which one of these rooms is going to be mine?"

Luxa smiled and gestured to the empty room next to hers, down a short hallway. Gregor smiled back and headed in the indicated direction. "Good night," he yawned.

In reply, Luxa sent an even wider smile over her shoulder, with an almost predatory glimmer in her eye. Gregor made sure they were out of sight of each other before he shook his head. Classic Luxa.

He dropped into bed as soon as possible, barely bothering to change or anything. The light from outside in the central room seeped through around the edges of the curtain, washing over the walls with a soft glow. Gregor lay in bed for a while, eyes half closed, wondering what they would do tomorrow. Probably training.

He mentally groaned. Training was going to be pretty annoying with Ripred, but at least he would get to know Simon better. He'd only seen the guy occasionally during the battle with the cutters.

Gregor rolled over onto his side. Eventually someone put out the torches in the central room, leaving only a dim lamp lit. The Warrior let himself enjoy the relaxed, fuzzy feeling of falling asleep, trying not to think about whether he would have to endure any nightmares.

A few minutes after Gregor fell asleep, there was a quiet rustle as the curtain to his room was drawn aside. After just a moment, an almost-translucent hand pulled it back into place.

When Gregor awoke a few hours later, he found royalty in the bed with him.

Neither of them had any nightmares that night.


Chapter was originally posted on 25 May 2014. Most recent edit was 3 October 2018.