Page 14 of Fateless

The Circle stared at me. I could feel the disapproval in their flat, unamused gazes. Clearly, I was not supposed to ask questions. But if Vahn didn’t want me to talk, he should’ve said something earlier. Finally, one of the skulls replied in a stiff voice, “It is a memory stone. It holds the final recollections of the Deathless King who ruled the city. If we can retrieve it, we will understand more about the First Kingdom and the people who lived there.”

Suspicion and doubt flickered within. The Circle ran the Thieves Guild, the largest institution of organized crime in Kovass. They weren’t scholars or academics or historians. They weren’t interested in preserving the past; they were concerned with things like power, profit, and personal wealth. Unless theywere going to sell this memory stone for a ridiculously high price, I couldn’t understand why they would be so eager to get it.

I wasn’t going to ask them to elaborate. That would certainly be pushing any amount of luck I had. I figured I could get away with one more question before the Circle decided I wasn’t worth the hassle and left my broken body down here for the roaches.

There was a shifting of cloth, and one of the figures drew a rolled-up parchment from beneath its robes. An emerald ring glimmered briefly on the third finger before the hand set the parchment down and vanished back into the folds of cloth.

“This is a map of the undercity,” the skull told me. “You will need this map to find your way through the sewers to your target, and then through the city to the vault itself. Beware,” the voice added as I reached for the scroll. “This will not be a simple stroll through an empty kingdom. The Deathless Kings built their cities on ancient magic and protected their riches with traps and powerful curses. I would advise caution at all times. The city swallows any who are not supposed to be there.”

Oh, this just sounds better and better. Now Ihave tobe on the lookout for traps and ancient curses as well?

“Succeed, and your reward will be great,” droned the female skull. “Fail, and your reward will be death. Return with the stone as soon as you are able. Do not disappoint us, Guildmember Sparrow. Yours is not the only life at stake.” The eyes behind the mask flickered, very briefly, to Vahn, standing quietly at the edge of the dais. My blood chilled, but the figure’s robed arm lifted in a dismissive gesture. “Now go,” she rasped. “And let us hope you fare better than your predecessors.”

I gave a small bow and turned away, searching for Vahn. He was already striding out of the room without a backward glance. I hurried to catch up, feeling the gazes of the Circle on my back the entire way.

I waited until we had crossed the walkway over the ancient cistern and were firmly back in the sewers before I quickened my pace to catch up to Vahn. He strode resolutely down the tunnels without looking at me, as if determined to pretend I didn’t exist.

“Vahn—”

“Don’t,” he said shortly, still not looking at me. “Your mission with the Circle is strictly between you and them. I’m not allowed to tell you anything about it, or the Circle members, so don’t ask.”

“I know,” I said. “I wasn’t going to. Just...” I remembered the look on his face when I’d presented him with the tapestry, the words that had haunted me ever since.You have no idea what you have set into motion. Soon, everything you know—your entire world—is going to change.

And then, the final words of the female Circle member:Let us hope you fare better than your predecessors.

“There have been others before me,” I said, and watched the faintest grimace cross Vahn’s face. It had been mostly a guess, but that tiny flinch confirmed my suspicions. “Others have tried what I’m about to attempt, haven’t they? And I’m guessing none of them came back.”

Vahn didn’t answer. “And you knew,” I accused him, almost jogging to keep pace now. “You knew what the Circle was goingto ask. Maybe not the details, but you knew they were going to send me to a place no one has come back from. So what makes you think I’ll be able to—”

“Sparrow.” Vahn whirled around abruptly and took me by the shoulders. I flinched as his rough grip squeezed my skin. His expression was conflicted and angry... almost haunted.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured. “I didn’t want this for you. When I took you from that hovel, I wanted only to save you from a life of misery. I never imagined that you would be the one to—” He broke off, his jaw tightening, then sighed. “You will succeed, Sparrow,” he told me, as if willing the words to be true. “Youmustsucceed. Even if everyone before you has failed, you will be the first to open the vault and retrieve whatever lies within. I’ve seen you work. I’ve watched you from the moment you took on your first job. You have something no other thief has.”

Unable to meet his intense stare, I dropped my gaze. “Luck,” I muttered, managing to dredge up a smirk.

“There is no such thing as luck,” Vahn said. “Even if there was, what do I keep telling you? Don’t rely on luck—it’s more fickle than the sands. No, you have something more—something unlike anything I’ve seen. It’s almost as if...” He paused, deliberately stopping himself.

I frowned. “As if what?” I asked softly.

“It doesn’t matter.” Abruptly, he straightened and turned around, slamming the door on the conversation. “You have your mission,” he said as we started walking again. “Be sure you have everything you need to complete it. I’ll come for you tomorrow, after Demon Hour. Take whatever resources you require fromthe guild—you have access to anything you think you’ll need.”

“Really?” Despite my disappointment and repressed fear of the upcoming mission, I grinned. “So those crates of explosives Amal and Neem stole from the quarry warehouse...”

I didn’t expect him to answer, but when he did, it did not assuage my fears. “Whatever you want,” Vahn said softly, “as long as you come back with the stone.”

Six

The guild was still fairly empty when we returned in the wee hours before dawn, its members either still out on other jobs or sleeping away the last minutes of night. Vahn immediately went to his office, shutting and locking the door behind him. Clearly, he did not want to talk to me. I stared at the closed door for a long moment, trying to gather the courage to step up and pound on it with a fist; surelythatwould get Vahn’s attention, if not his approval. But the seconds ticked by in agonizing silence, and I finally turned away. Annoying the Guildmaster wouldn’t get me what I was looking for, and I had other things to worry about now.

I wandered to my room, sat down on my cot, and tried to plan out a strategy for traversing the undercity. That sounded like a good idea; Vahn was always saying I needed to plan more, instead of my usual tactic of jumping into a heist headfirst and hoping things worked out. Which, to be fair, they usually did. But my mind kept spinning in circles, and fear crawled along the edge of my thoughts, making it hard to concentrate. I did not like being underground. I much preferred the rooftops and open sky; the higher and more open, the better. Going into the sewers with Vahn had been bad enough—how was I going to survive an ancient, cursed city and the buried vault of a Deathless King?

A soft tap on my door made me blink and glance up. Wondering if it was Vahn, I rose and walked across the room to crack open the door.

It wasn’t Vahn.

“Hey,” Jeran greeted, almost shyly. His smile was crooked, and he scratched the back of his neck in an atypically uncertain manner. “I saw you come back with Vahn, and Rala said you were out all night. Everything okay?”

“Um...” My heartbeat picked up, and my mouth was suddenly dry for a different reason. “Yeah,” I managed, taking a step back and opening the door. “I’m fine. Vahn... had something he needed to show me. You want to come in?”

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