Page 14 of Fate’s Bane

T HE T ALE G OES LIKE T HIS

Bannos the Bold killed the fates-bane.

Bannos the Clever trapped the fates-bane in a cage of briars.

Bannos the Bold stole the fates-bane’s child.

Bannos the Clever tricked the fates-bane from the Fens.

And how did Bannos the Clever, Bannos the Bold defeat the fates-bane? How did he turn his ill-luck to the fates-bane’s own doom?

Before the twig could crack beneath his boots, before the frog could startle his prey, Bannos the Clever strung chimes throughout the trees, and when the fen winds blew, their noise was the birdsong of a hundred hundred starlings. No other noise could be heard beneath it.

He carved out his own eye and threw it at the fates-bane’s feet, and his arrow pierced it in the throat while it bent over the gift.

Before his hilt could fall apart, Bannos the Bold held his sword high over the luck-hound, so that the blade plunged, falcon-dive upon its breast.

Bannos the Clever could make anything grow.

Bannos the Bold had no mercy in his heart.

Bannos the Clever had a tongue like honey.

Bannos the Bold kept his clan safe from the dark.