Page 57

monster’s thigh and stuck there, glinting in the light of the suns. The abomination roared, its voice shaking the air, but

it was obviously more angry than hurt.

Kysa blew out a breath. “No good,” she muttered. “It’s too far up. We don’t have the height to hit that thing effectively.”

Heart in my throat, I looked up and saw Vahn staring down at us, his glare colder than ice.

“ I grow weary of this defiance, Sparrow. ” My stomach twisted as my name rang out over the battlefield. “ And I find your obstinance trying. You wish me to come to you? Very well. Let me oblige. ”

With an almost lazy flap of its tattered wings, the abomination rose, then came swooping down toward the village. Its bony

jaws opened, and a gout of sickly green flame seared forth, carving a fiery path through the center of the battle. Screams

rose into the air as huts, beetles, and flesh ignited, and the ghastly flames consumed both humans and undead alike.

As the abomination soared over us, I dove behind a boulder with Raithe, feeling the heat of the fire as it roared across the

path. The column of flame caught the ballista dead-on; I heard shrieks coming from the poor beetle as it was cooked alive,

and I pressed my face into Raithe’s arm.

Memories flooded me, the screams and wails as Kovass crumbled around us. It was happening again. I was watching the destruction

of yet another civilization, and I couldn’t do anything to stop it.

The abomination whirled lazily away, circling the village, as Vahn’s voice rang out overhead. “ I warned you ,” he droned. “ I showed you what would happen to those who defied the one true king. This is on your head, Sparrow. You could have stopped

this. You can still stop this. Return with me, and I will spare what is left. ”

I clutched Raithe’s sleeve in my fist. There was something I could do. I had told myself I wouldn’t run away any longer, but I needed to do more. To save Kysa’s people, and everyone here, I had to take that final step.

“I have to go back with him,” I whispered.

“What?” Raithe pulled back, a look of alarm crossing his face.

“I can stop this,” I said. “I can’t watch more people die because of me, Raithe. I couldn’t do anything for Kovass. I couldn’t...”

My voice faltered as memories flooded in once more, bright and painful. “I couldn’t do anything for Jeran, or Rala, or Dahveen,

or anyone in the guild. This... this is something I can stop.”

“No.” Raithe gripped my shoulders, his eyes intense. “Sparrow, listen to me. If you die, the Deathless King will slaughter

everyone here anyway. We can’t give up. There’s more at stake than you know.”

“People are already dying.” I shuddered as the abomination cast its huge shadow over us. “What is more important than saving

this village and those who are left? Why shouldn’t I go with Vahn if I can stop this?”

“Because without the Fateless, there is no future, for anyone.”

I blinked at him. “What do you mean?”

Raithe paused, closing his eyes as if struggling with himself. Finally, he gave a heavy sigh and bowed his head. “The queen

of my people is a seer,” he murmured. “Someone who can glimpse the future. Recently, she had a vision,” he went on in a near

whisper. “In this vision, she saw the Deathless rise up to the heavens, to the place where Maederyss sat weaving the Tapestry

of the World. And she watched as the Deathless slew the goddess of Fate.”

The bottom dropped out of my stomach. I stared at Raithe, a numb horror creeping over me. Suddenly, nothing was sacred, and nowhere in the world was safe. If the Deathless King could kill even a goddess?.?.?.

“The Weaver perished,” Raithe went on grimly, “and the Deathless claimed the Tapestry of the World as their own. All the threads

within the tapestry became bound to the will of the Deathless. And as the temples of Fate and Maederyss burned, a new god

rose up to enslave the world, holding everyone’s lives—and their very fates—in their hands.

“That is why the Fateless is so important,” Raithe continued, as I stood there trying to catch my breath. “The queen’s visions

have never been wrong, but the Fateless can defy prophecy. Fate and destiny have no hold on them, even if that destiny is

the death of a goddess and the end of all things.” He pressed his palm against my cheek, his expression a curious mix of sorrow,

regret, and determination. “If there is a chance to save this world from the Deathless King, Sparrow,” he whispered, “you

are the only one who can.”

The breath left my lungs in a rush, and I struggled to draw it back in. Words seemed inadequate for what I was feeling. A

world where the Deathless King had killed the Weaver and was now the new god of Fate. And I, somehow, was supposed to stop

this?

Raithe pressed his forehead to mine. “I’m sorry,” he murmured.

“I wasn’t supposed to tell you. The queen should have been the one to explain everything.

” His eyes opened, searingly bright, gazing down at me.

“But you can’t give yourself to the Deathless King, Sparrow. If you die, all hope dies with you.”

“But everyone here...” I cast a look at the battle, where flames and blood and screams filled the air, and felt pulled

in a thousand directions at once. “They’re going to be killed if I don’t go back with Vahn.”

“Do not insult my people with thoughts of surrender.” Kysa appeared, not mounted on Rhyne, but sweeping around the boulder

to glare at me. Her helmet had been torn off, and gore covered one side of her face, but she stood tall and proud with Rhyne

at her back. “You came to us for aid—it is against our honor to turn over someone who is under the protection of the clan.

The Scarab Clan does not submit. We will not bend to the will of tyrants. We will fight, and we will die, as a choice. Do

not let my people’s deaths be for nothing.”

“Besides, who said anything about dying?” Halek gasped, staggering around to join us. Soot covered him, streaks of black across

his face and hands, and his hair had turned gray with ash. He raked a hand over his scalp, sending a dust cloud into the air,

and grinned defiantly. “We’re still alive. And there’s still one more ballista left, right?”

“Yes.” Kysa looked up at the abomination circling overhead. “But it’s going to be almost impossible to shoot down now,” she

muttered. “Even if we had the height, it’s too fast. We need it to stop moving if we’re going to have any chance of hitting

it.”

I peeked around the rock, though the burning, shriveled remains of the first beetle ballista, and saw the second still standing,

its bulk covered with cloth. Glancing up at Vahn and his enormous undead mount, I clenched my fists.

“Get the ballista ready,” I told them, and rose, taking a deep breath. “I’ll get Vahn’s attention. Just be ready to shoot that thing when it stops moving.”

“Sparrow...” Raithe stood as well, his expression conflicted.

I put a hand on his chest before he could say anything else. “You can’t come with me, Raithe. This is between me and Vahn.”

“I know. I just...” With a sigh, he leaned in and kissed me, making my heart seize. I felt his hands on the sides of my

head and shivered. “I trust you,” he murmured, his eyes intense as he drew away. “Be careful.”

“Sparrow.” Halek grabbed my arm as I stepped back. “Here,” he said, and pressed something round and warm into my palm. I looked

down and saw one of his fire globes cradled between my fingers, and my stomach clenched. “My last one. I think you might get

more use out of it now.” Halek smiled. “Just in case.”

The battlefield seemed strangely muted as I sprinted back through the village, though it was far from silent. Flames roared,

licking at structures and the blackened corpses scattered along the path, and the shouts and howls of those still locked in

battle rang through the air. But everything felt hauntingly tranquil after the pandemonium of the first attack, with the charred,

torn bodies of both warriors and undead a gruesome testament to all the deaths that were, technically, on my head. Vahn had

come here for me. I had to make this right.

“You cannot run, Sparrow.”

I looked up. The abomination glided above me on tattered wings, and I could see the Guildmaster atop its skull, his eyes scanning the battleground.

Looking around, I spotted one of the stone spikes, pointing at my target like a finger.

Setting my jaw, I hurried toward it, as Vahn’s words droned overhead like a chant of doom.

“ There is nowhere to go ,” Vahn continued, as the abomination wheeled lazily around again. Nowhere to run. Stop hiding from me. For once in your life, stop trying to escape the things you cannot change. We both know

how this is going to end. ”

Reaching the spike, I leaped onto the rocky surface and raced up to the very point. Glaring up at my former Guildmaster, I

took a deep breath.

“I’m not hiding!”

The abomination jerked in the air, rearing up and pumping its wings. On its skull, Vahn gazed around the battlefield, searching

for my voice.

“I’m not hiding, Vahn!” I called again, and lifted my arms from my sides. “You want me? I’m right here.”

Both abomination and blood mage turned, their gazes finding me below. Slowly, the monstrous undead creature drifted down until

it was hovering before me, the downbeat from its wings blasting my face. My hood was blown back, and my heart pounded, but

I stood firm and forced myself not to move, as both the abomination’s and Vahn’s gazes seemed to pierce right through me.

“No more,” I said quietly, knowing, somehow, that my words would reach him. “Enough, Vahn. I’ll come with you, if that’s what

it takes to stop this.”

“ Well .” The corner of his lip turned up in a humorless smile. “ I will say, I am surprised. The Sparrow I knew would have let the world burn before she decided to stick her neck out. ”

Though that statement was justified, it stung a lot more than I expected. “Just answer me one question,” I went on, glaring