“However,” the queen went on, her dark gaze suddenly piercing, “you are the Fateless. Able to unravel the threads of Fate just by existing. If you leave the kahjai here, perhaps he will be safe, or perhaps his destiny will come for him. But, if he is with you...”
She made a vague gesture with one elegant hand, and I felt like I was drowning. Everywhere I looked, I saw nothing but impossible choices. Leave Raithe behind, not knowing if trying to save his life would trigger the very thing I was trying to stop. Or bring him with us on this near suicidal mission, hoping that Imightbe able to unravel his fate.
“Of course, this will all be for naught if you cannot get the loom,” the queen finished. “If the prophecy comes true, if the goddess of Fate is slain, your kahjaiwilldie. Of that I am certain. The Deathless King is a tyrant and a conqueror and has already tried to wipe out my people once. If he becomes the new god of Fate, he will certainly finish the job.”
I nodded numbly, and the queen settled back on her throne, looking satisfied. “It was good to finally meet you, Fateless,” she said, as if everything we had spoken about was routine. A normalconversation. “I know this task might seem overwhelming, but I have faith in your abilities. I would say Fate be with you, but in this situation, I am hoping the opposite is true.” Her lips curved in the faintest of smiles, as if she found that notion amusing. “And so, I will say nothing, beyond I trust we will see each other again once the Deathless King has been destroyed for good.”
Kysa and Halek were waiting for me outside the throne room. I could hear Halek’s footsteps as he paced the area, going from one wall to the next, unable to stand still. Stepping through the doorway, I saw Kysa leaning against a column with her arms crossed, watching Halek with subtle exasperation as he prowled back and forth.
Raithe was nowhere to be seen.
“Sparrow.” Halek turned and immediately jogged up, casting an anxious look back at the throne room. “Are you all right?” he asked, studying my face with concern. “The queen didn’t tell you anything horrible, did she?”
I grimaced. “You mean other than sending us to the World Scar to find a piece of Maederyss’s loom so we can challenge and somehow defeat the Deathless King before he destroys all the other kingdoms and kills the goddess of Fate?”
Also,Raitheis fated to die soon. And I don’t know if I can stop it. Or if I should even try.
“Well, yes, other than that.”
Kysa pushed herself off the column and walked toward us, her boots clicking softly on the marble tiles. “Ratuk needs looking after,” she said in a matter-of-fact voice. I blinked at her inbewilderment. She met my gaze steadily. “Go care for your mount, rider,” she said, staring at me with intent, as if trying to convey a message without saying it. “These iylvahn stables are not well suited for rock beetles,” she went on, flicking her gaze at one of the guards, standing at the end of the hall. “Ratuk needs to hear your voice—he is in a small, unfamiliar space, and there are no iylvahn around to soothe him.”
I suddenly got what she was implying. Seventeen years in the Thieves Guild had taught me to hear the underlying message in an otherwise a normal conversation. It was how we could plan a heist in the middle of a crowded marketplace or discuss the rotation of the guards where anyone could hear it. Kysa was telling me that the stables were empty of iylvahn, and we could talk about what the queen had said without fear of being overheard.
“Right,” I said. “I’ll go take care of him now.”
The iylvahn stables were actually very nice, shaded by trees whose branches formed an interlocking dome over the stalls, protecting them from the suns. The stone walls were much taller than those of regular stables. I peeked into the individual stalls and saw huge lizards clinging to the walls like spiders. Their bulbous eyes blinked at me, membranes sliding up from the bottom lid, but other than that, they didn’t move.
Rhyne and Ratuk had adjacent stalls, and the rock beetles did look mildly uncomfortable, squashed into a space that was obviously too small. The doorway of Rhyne’s stall had large chunks taken out of the wood, as if the rock beetle had already started chewing it. Ratuk huddled in the center of his space, notmoving. I slid into the stall and walked up to him, putting a hand on his slicing horn.
“Hey, Ratuk,” I said quietly, and the rock beetle’s head lifted, his beady black eyes fixing on me. “I know this probably isn’t comfortable, but we’ll be leaving soon. Just try to endure a little longer, okay?”
Ratuk made a soft chittering noise and settled deeper into the straw. I looked at his carapace, at the shell that hid the severed wing, and wondered how we were going to travel long distances if my rock beetle couldn’t fly.
“I don’t trust the queen,” Kysa said. Her voice was soft, hushed, but matter-of-fact. “I don’t believe her intentions are altruistic. She is Deathless. She has lived for thousands of years. In her own words, she desired immortal life, so much so that she and the other Deathless broke the Loom of Maederyss to tear themselves from the Weave. The only reason we are here is because she wants to use the Fateless to achieve something she cannot. What that something is, I am not certain yet, but I don’t think the queen is telling us everything.”
I shivered as a memory surfaced: a heated conversation with Vahn after he had betrayed me. I’d accused him of lying to me my whole life, and he’d responded with his usual infuriating calmness, Theiylvahnhas been lying to you. He is not what you think, and he is taking you to his queen so that she may use you to bring herself to power.
Back then, I’d immediately disregarded those words. Now I didn’t know what to think, or who to believe.
“I know you hate the Deathless, Kysa,” Halek said. “I know, Iknow, it’s with good reason, so don’t glare at me like you’re going to stab me in the face.” He held up both hands, grinning, before going somber again. “But I’ve heard the stories of the Deathless, too, and nothing I’ve seen here tells me that the queen is a power-hungry conqueror who wants to enslave the world. Her people aren’t suffering—if anything, she’s given them a paradise that the other kingdoms would risk everything to acquire if they knew about it. Maybe she just wants to exist here, in peace, without armies or invading kingdoms crouching at her doorstep.”
“I don’t believe that,” Kysa said flatly. “She is a Deathless with the power of a god. Even if her intentions are pure today, what happens if she grows tired of ruling in obscurity? The last time the Deathless grew bored of their present circumstances, they destroyed the world. If even one Deathless exists, every living creature is in danger.”
“She is right about one thing, though,” I muttered, causing Kysa and Halek to glance at me. “The Deathless King is the biggest threat the world faces right now. She’s lived here, with the iylvahn, for centuries. But the king clearly intends to invade the other kingdoms and start conquering them. Vahn told me as much.” I shivered, remembering those dreams of fire and blood, watching a city burn while Vahn calmly stated that no one who opposed the Deathless King would live.
“The Deathless King is the one we have to worry about now,” I went on, stroking Ratuk’s carapace. “If there is a way to stop him, and if I’m the only one who can reach the Loom of Maederyss, I have to try. I can’t run from this. He’s just going to keep coming, and every kingdom will end up like Kovass.”I drummed my fingers against Ratuk’s hard shell, then added, “You... don’t have to come with me, either of you. I’ve heard stories of the World Scar, as well. If you want to go home—”
“Stop,” Kysa said, her voice hard. “I know you mean no insult, but I have already sworn to protect the Fateless until the Deathless King breathes his last or I do. If I abandon my vows, I am not fit to be called a warrior. I would return to my clan in shame.”
“Why are you trying to get rid of us, Sparrow?” Halek added, crossing his arms. “I already told you, you’re my lucky charm. You’re what’s keeping my fate from catching up. So, I’m afraid you’re stuck with me, World Scar or no.”
“I just...” I clenched a fist on Ratuk’s shell. “I don’t want to alter your fates any more than I have,” I said, unable to look at either of them. “The queen said that I can unravel a person’s fate just by meeting them. Kysa, if you’d never met me on the strider, you would be home now. Halek, if I hadn’t run into you on that rooftop—”
“I would be dead,” Halek said simply, and shrugged. “Or maybe I wouldn’t, but my life would certainly be much duller than it is now.”
“And my clan would have been unaware of the Deathless King until he showed up in our territory to claim us all,” Kysa added. “I thank the goddess that I was on that strider the day we met. At least my clan knows what’s coming. Besides, my skills are better served here. If I can help you figure out the secret to defeating the Deathless King, that is the best I can do to protect my clan.”
“We can’t know what our fates would have been, Sparrow,” Halek finished, stepping up beside me. “And, to put it simply, the damage is already done. You can’t ‘reweave’ your fate once it’s been unraveled; not even Maederyss can do that. You just have to keep going, and see where the threads take you next.”
