Page 211 of Famine

Fall, damn you.

Lifting a booted foot, I kick out at his knee.

He moves out of the way, his hand at the edge of his armor. I can hear the fastenings ripping clean away as he tears the breastplate off of himself.

“I wouldn’t remove that if I were you,” I say. “This is going to hurt a lot worse.”

Vaguely I remember the first time I felt pain. There’s nothing like it. It’s terrible to endure and a shock to a newly wrought horseman.

Death casts it aside anyway.

“You wish to fight me, brother?” Thanatos says. “Fine.”

He waits for me, and I descend on him again, fists at the ready. I throw another punch, my grief and anger consuming me.

But the blow never lands.

Death catches my closed fist. His dark eyes meet mine as his hold tightens. All at once he twists my hand until—

Snap.

I grunt at the sharp, shooting pain of my broken bone. Thanatos releases my fist then, and I clench my teeth, my breath hissing out of me as my arm falls uselessly to my side.

If he thought a mere broken bone would stop me,he thought wrong.

I bring up a booted foot and I kick him square in the chest, the force of my blow so powerful his feet leave the ground.

Death pitches backwards, hitting the earth hard, his wings pinned beneath him. Nearby, his horse whinnies, shuffling away from us.

I’m on my brother in an instant, my good hand going to his throat. His breath comes in ragged gasps, and I can see him wincing from the pain.

I tighten my hold on his neck, and he reaches up with his hands, clawing at my grip. He lets out a strangled noise.

I smile malevolently at him. Now he knows what it means to be powerless.

Under my will, earth splits apart violently, opening up beneath my brother. Mud begins to slip over his wings, pulling him down, down.

I’ll bury him alive. Then he will understand the crushing, suffocating feel of grief.

Right when he’s sure he will die, I will make my own bargain with him, one where Ana lives and I don’t have to destroy the world as payment for it.

Death grabs my good arm, his hold tightening.

In the next instant, I feel …odd. Weak and tingly. I choke a little on the sensation before I realize—

He’s sucking the very life out of me.

It’s the same ability I have, only his is much,muchmore powerful.

I choke again, my hold loosening around his neck. It’s a struggle simply to breathe as I try to force my body toreviveitself.

Death pushes me off him easily then. Now it’s his turn to loom over me. He places a boot on my chest to hold me down.

“Do you still want to fight me?” he says, his black wings spreading wide behind him.

In response, I kick out at him, a blow he easily dodges.

He laughs, bending down to grab me. He drags me up by my shirt. My feet touch the ground for only a moment before I hear the great thundering thump of Death’s wings.