Page 74 of Fateless

Though that statement was justified, it stung a lot more than I expected. “Just answer me one question,” I went on, glaring up at my former Guildmaster. “What does the Deathless King want with me? Why put in all this effort? I was no one. I had no intention of getting in his way. We came here, to the Scarab Clan, because you kept trying to kill me with magic. If you had just left me alone, I would have fled to the other side of the kingdom and not looked back.”

“Because you are a force of chaos.” The Guildmaster’s voice was ruthlessly flat. “It doesn’t matter where you go or what you intend, Sparrow. You are the uncertainty in the story, the thorn in the Deathless King’s perfect world. Rather than kill you, he will break this curse and turn you into a servant of order.”

“And you’re all right with that?” I had to force the quaver from my voice. Even now, after everything I’d been through, the thought that Vahn would let that happen left a sick feeling in my stomach. “You raised me, Vahn.Youtaught me how to break the rules, how to steal and evade notice, how to defy the laws and challenge order. Everything I know, I learned from you.”

“I did what was required,” Vahn said. “To prepare you for the world. To make sure you survived. But a new era has begun, one of law and purpose, and we must evolve. As of now, Sparrow, you have no place in the Deathless King’s empire. Look around you.” He gestured to the devastation surrounding us. “This is your doing. All this death and violence and suffering is because you decided to come here, and chaos followed you. You insist upon defiance, and like a pebble dropped into a pond, you cause waves of unrest inyour wake. The king will fix that. The king will bring about an era where there are no waves, where there is no war or unrest or fighting between kingdoms. There will be only one kingdom, one rule, and everyone will know their place.”

I clenched my fists. “You know what, Vahn? You’re right.” Wary surprise flickered across his face, but I set my jaw and went on. “Iaman agent of chaos. Because I refuse to lie down and let someone dictate my fate. Before any of this happened, I just cared about myself. I wasn’t willing to stand up and take a chance on anything other than me. But now, thanks to you...” I faltered, remembering all the little moments on our journey. Halek, whirling back to fight the abomination on the strider. Kysa, refusing to leave us when the swarm attacked. And Raithe, snatching me back from the edge of the Dust Sea. Shielding me from the two merchant princes. Seeing the look in his eyes when Vahn told him to kill himself.

Kissing him beneath the shade of the tent and realizing just what he meant to me.

“It’s not just about me anymore,” I finished softly. “I have people I want to protect. And there are things in this world that are worth risking my neck for. If this is what it means to be Fateless, then so be it. I will be the agent of chaos the Deathless King fears. I will stand up and defy him for as long as I am able.” I raised my head, looking him right in the eye. “So, congratulations, Vahn,” I shouted at him. “You wanted the Fateless—here I am. If I can change the story of everyone around me, I will do everything I can to make certain that happens. And I will make sure the Deathless King never sees his perfect world come to pass.”

Vahn’s face twisted in anger and resignation. “Defiant to the end.” He sighed. “Your insolence will break when you stand before the king.” Raising his staff, he made a sharp gesture with the wood. I felt eyes on the back of my neck and turned to see a pair of large undead spring onto the base of the spike. “But now, Sparrow, the game is over. If you would be so kind as to let theseminionsbring you to me,” Vahn went on, “we can leave this place and return toKovass. I will warnyou,it is a bit different than when you saw it last. But it is still home, and soon, you will realize this new world is far better than the one that stood before.”

The pair of undead stalked toward me, rotting muzzles pulled back in ghastly snarls, and my heart twisted with fear.

Something bright flashed in the sun. I turned my head and saw the ballista beetle crawling up another spike, driven by Kysa and Halek. Vahn spotted it as well, and his face crinkled in a snarl of anger.

“Futile.” He swept his staff around. The abomination’s head turned, nostrils flaring as it opened its jaws. I saw what was happening and reached into my belt, my fingers brushing the smooth, round edges of Halek’s fire globe. “I would have spared you now that I have theFateless,” Vahn said. “But you can burn with the rest of them!”

Vahn pointed. The abomination’s jaws gaped. I yanked the globe free, drew my arm back, and threw it as hard as I could at my former Guildmaster.

The little sphere struck the side of the abomination’s head just as the creature was breathing fire, and the explosion erupted in a massive cloud of flame and smoke, causing it to reel backwith a scream. I saw Raithe spring forward, grab the ballista’s lever with both hands, and yank it back. There was a snap that seemed to ring out over the battlefield, and the barbed ten-foot length of iron flew through the air and slammed directly into the abomination’s chest, punching halfway out the other side.

The abomination wailed. Its wings jerked and faltered in the air as it tried desperately to keep itself afloat. On its skull, Vahn fell to his knees, bracing himself to keep his balance and not be thrown off.

A snarl rang in my ears. I glanced up just in time to see the claws of an undead scything down at me. There was nowhere to go on the edge of the spike except backward into empty air, and I could only brace myself. The slashing talons missed my face by a hair, but fire raced up my shoulder as it ripped a gash through my tunic... and I fell.

Instinctively, I turned and rolled with the impact, though the ground still sent a jolt and a flare of pain through my body as I hit the unforgiving earth. Gasping, I clawed myself to my feet and gazed at the turmoil surrounding me.

With a final shriek, the abomination collapsed. I saw the wall of meat, bones, and rotting flesh descending from above, and threw myself beneath the spike, pressing back against the stone. The impact from the huge abomination made the ground tremble, and dirt rained down on me from above.

And then, things got eerily silent. I peeked up, and saw the abomination lying sprawled against the outcropping, only the bottom half of its body visible, the huge, tattered wings motionless in the dirt. The stench of decay was overpowering.

Cautiously, I picked my way forward, leaving the safety of the outcropping to better see what had happened. The monster lay sprawled over the spike, its skull hanging off the side of the rock, huge jaws gaping and silent. Vahn was nowhere to be seen.

“Enough!”

The voice came a split second before a blow to my head sent me reeling to the ground. Gasping, I tried to get up, but Vahn stepped forward, twisted staff raised, and struck me in the chest. Pain exploded, my breath left my lungs in a rush, and I gasped helplessly as Vahn dropped down, driving his knee into my stomach with all his weight behind it.

“Defiant child.” His face was cold, his eyes terrifying, as he circled one hand around my neck and pressed backward. I scrabbled weakly at his arm, but I had no air, and my strength was already gone. “I have reached my limit with your insolence, Fateless. Everything I have done has been for a better future, one where we are not thieves or peasants or wretched nobodies. One where we can be kings of lesser men. But you refuse to see that.”

Desperately, I tried to pry his fingers from my neck, but he only squeezed harder, sending pain stabbing through my head.

“No matter.” Vahn’s voice seemed to come from very far away now. “I will bring you back to the king by force if I must, and he will open your stubborn eyes himself.”

Darkness swam at the edges of my vision, but through the haze, I saw Raithe’s face appear behind Vahn’s shoulder, pale eyes furious as he leaped forward. Raithe’s sword came slashing down, but Vahn, somehow sensing the danger, whirled around and threw up a hand. Sickly green fire bloomed from his palmand hurtled toward Raithe, who leaped aside. Vahn bared his teeth, the eerie green light making him look like a demon.

I reached down, and my fingers closed around the hilt of my dagger. As Vahn turned back, still smiling that demonic grin, his eyes glowing with a terrible light, I sat up and plunged the blade of the knife into his chest, sinking it into his heart.

He froze. The anger faded from his face as he looked down, fingers touching the hilt of the dagger in his breast. Panting, I scrambled back, away from him, as his gaze rose to mine, stunned and disbelieving.

“You...” He fell forward, catching himself with one arm, the stunned look turning to rage. “Ungrateful child,” he whispered, glaring at me. “You were... nothing. A nobody. The king would have made you... so much... more.”

Then the terrible light in his eyes dimmed, his face went slack, and he collapsed to the dirt.

I stared at the body of the Guildmaster—the man who had raised me, taught me everything I knew, all with the intent of betraying me to the Deathless King—and felt a yawning pit open deep inside me. In that moment, I couldn’t feel anything.

---