Page 27 of Fateless

“I’m sure.” It had been only a ripple, a split-second glimpse, but I had no doubt. “I don’t think he saw us, but I know he’s there.”

Halek chewed his bottom lip. “If heisout there, he’ll be waiting for us to run for the door,” he said thoughtfully. “He knows it’s the only exit out of the city. Or at least, it’s the only oneweknow of.”

I clenched a fist to stifle my rising fear. “How are we going to get around him?”

Halek was silent, scanning the darkness between us and the door. Finally, he took a deep breath, nodded once, and turned to me. “The assassin is after you,” he said, as if I weren’t acutely aware of that fact. “If you go out there now, you won’t make it halfway to the door before you meet him. Or maybe he’s waiting on a ledge with a crossbow aimed and ready. We won’t be able to outwait him. Like I said, the kahjai are ruthless. They don’t give up until their mission is done.”

“Then what are we going to do?”

“Youare going to stay here.” Halek put a hand on my arm, smiling. “I’ll lead him away. When the path is clear, run. Run to the door and get back to the surface.”

“Halek...” I couldn’t explain the sudden desperation rising inside me. I was a thief. In the Thieves Guild, you looked after yourself and no one else. If you were with a crew and the situation went bad, you got yourself out first and trusted thatthe others would do the same. We didn’t stick our necks out for each other. We didn’t risk our skins for someone else. If a thief couldn’t take care of themself without relying on others, they were of no use to the guild.

I didn’t know Halek. I had been with him only a few hours. And yet he was willing to confront a kahjai, one of the most dangerous people in Arkyennah, so I could escape.

Why?

“It’s all right.” Halek gave me a reassuring grin. “Don’t worry about me. If it’s not my fate to die at the hands of a coldhearted killer, a dozen kahjai won’t be able to run me down. If it is...” He shrugged, though his smile faltered. “There’s nothing I can do to stop it, anyway.

“So wait here,” he went on. “And when you’re sure it’s safe,go. Like I said, don’t worry.” That crooked, charming grin came creeping back. “Meetings like this are never by accident. I get the feeling our paths will cross again.”

I didn’t know what to say or feel, so I just nodded. Halek drew back, peering out at the shadowed streets once more. “This is going to be interesting,” I heard him mutter. “I’m guessing wherever the iylvahn is, he can probably see the whole area. I can’t be too obvious, or he’s not going to be fooled.”

Reaching into his belt pouch, he pulled out a white cloth, then wrapped it around his head like a shawl, hiding his hair. “Not the greatest disguise I’ve ever worn,” he said wryly, tucking the ends of the cloth into his collar. “But at least I’m not dressed as a Ragnian sword swallower this time.”

My stomach twisted. “Be careful, Halek,” I told him. I was worried, I realized. Halek was still a stranger, but I didn’t want him to be killed. He might be a bit too fatalistic, but he was kind and brave, and he hadn’t vanished on me the second things got dangerous.

For a moment, a prick of anger filtered through the fear.This is why you keep things distant and professional. This is why you do not get attached.

“I will be.” The blue-eyed Fatechaser glanced at me once more and winked. “Fate be with you, Sparrow,” he whispered. “And don’t cry for me. If the Weaver is kind, our paths will cross again.”

He darted out of the alley, keeping to the shadows, and vanished from sight.

Biting my lip, I drew back, crouched down in the darkness, and waited.

I didn’t see the iylvahn, but I knew he was watching for us, invisible, silent, and deadly. He must’ve come straight to the door after getting out of the palace, rather than wasting time tracking us through the streets. A smart tactic; if I hadn’t caught that fleeting glimpse of a moving shadow, I wouldn’t have known he was there at all. How he had beaten us to the door, I didn’t know, but the implications were terrifying. It was pure chance that my gaze had been in the right place at the exactly right time.

At least my luckwas holding.

Minutes passed. I didn’t see movement in the shadows, from either Halek or the iylvahn. I didn’t hear anything. No footsteps, voices, or anything to indicate the assassin had taken the baitand gone after Halek. The silence throbbed in my ears until it was deafening.

After a few excruciatingly indecisive moments, I slowly rose and stepped to the mouth of the alley. On the other side of the street, across the shallow pool of water, the door to the surface beckoned. So close. And yet it might as well have been on the other side of the Dust Sea.

Move, Sparrow. You can’t stay here forever.

I took a quick breath and tensed to run, but as I did, a cry echoed somewhere in the alleys behind me. A sound of pain, fear, and alarm that made my stomach clench. I couldn’t tell if it was Halek, the iylvahn, or something else, but in that moment, I had a choice. Turn back and try to find Halek, or keep going.

I bolted for the door.

Guilt clawed at me, but I kept running. If Halek had met the iylvahn, he was probably dead, and nothing I could do would change that. I tried not to think about it as I splashed through the water, shoved open the door, and stumbled blindly down the tunnel, hoping I wouldn’t feel a knife in my back at any moment. I hit the ladder and started climbing, the darkness of the shaft closing around me. My glowstone still hung dead and lifeless at my waist, and I didn’t dare light it up again for fear of being seen.

Gasping, I reached the top of the ladder and scrambled onto solid ground. Heart pounding, I dared a peek down the shaft, wondering if I would see the cowled head of the kahjaiascending after me. But the chute remained dark and silent, and I backed away from the hole and fled the room, slamming the door as I did.

I wove my way through the sewers, not daring to stop, until I finally had to pause at a small alcove to catch my breath. Leaning back against the damp stone, I closed my eyes and tried to comprehend everything that had happened.

With shaking hands, I reached into my satchel and pulled out the black stone. It pulsed steadily against my fingers, cold and ominous, and holding it caused my insides to squirm. This was the thing everyone was after. The Circle, who’d sent me down there to get it. The iylvahn, who was willing to kill for it. What was this thing? I wasn’t ignorant. I was a thief, and I knew that the more rare, dangerous, or valuable an item was, the more people wanted it. And the more atrocities they were willing to commit to get it. It couldn’t be just a memory stone.

Regardless, I had a job to complete. That hadn’t changed, and I’d be relieved to get it over with. Once I delivered this thing to the Circle, my part in their plan, whatever it was, was finished. And hopefully, once I’d handed it off, I wouldn’t have to worry about iylvahn assassins climbing through my window to murder me in my sleep.

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