Twenty
We scattered and dove behind pillars as the huge bull skeleton plowed into them. Stones shattered, exploding outward or crumbling
completely with the power of the undead’s attack.
“Sparrow!” Raithe drew his sword as the monster turned, shaking its horned head. “Get to the platform,” the iylvahn said,
gesturing at the dais with his blade. “Find whatever it is we’re supposed to find. I’ll keep it distracted.”
The monster roared again, swinging its axe and crushing several statues as Raithe leaped away. The kahjai didn’t bother attacking
it, perhaps knowing that swords would be useless against its gigantic bulk and bones. He dodged as the monster swung at him
again, bringing its weapon down with a boom that shattered the stones beneath it and sent rocks flying in every direction.
Meeka and I ran for the platform. Racing up the steps, I looked around frantically, searching for anything that seemed out
of place. But the dais seemed empty; broken pillars surrounded it and were scattered across the surface, but there were no
doors, levers, hatches, or anything that pointed to a way out.
“Nothing here,” Meeka said, hopping onto a chunk of rock that was once a statue torso. “Human sure we went right way?”
“It has to be,” I whispered. “This is the center of the maze. There has to be something here.”
A chill went through me. Unless the Deathless never intended for anyone to find the loom piece. Unless they raised the temple around it and made it
truly impossible to get to.
A crash at the edge of the dais made me flinch. Raithe was still holding the attention of the monster. He was counting on
me to find a way out, to unravel this puzzle. I had to solve this; otherwise, we would all be crushed under falling pillars
and grinding bones.
“Where is it?” I hissed after a few more seconds of futile searching. This wasn’t right. Why would the ghostly figure lead
me here if there was nothing?
A roar in the darkness reminded me that time was running out, and I slammed a fist into a pillar in desperation. “Void, I
don’t even know what I’m looking for! But we must be missing something.”
“Wait.”
Meeka froze, tail up and ears twitching. “Meeka feel something,” he said as I rushed to his side, kneeling on the broken stone
surface. “Here,” the jair’oa said, tapping the ground with his paws. “Feel here.”
I hovered my hand over the rocks and felt a cold wind gusting up from a crack in the surface. “The platform is hollow,” I
gasped. “There’s something beneath the floor.”
“Is hole,” Meeka said. “Meeka can smell different air.” He scratched at the cracked stones with tiny claws. “Not easy to get
to, though. Meeka can’t break ground.”
I slammed the hilt of my dagger into the stones, barely making a dent in the rocky surface. Air wafted from the crack, smelling of sand and confirming my suspicion. Somehow, we had to break through this floor made of solid rock.
A tremor of fear went through me, but I pushed it down and rose, steeling myself for what I had to do. “I know what will,”
I told the jair’oa, who cocked his head at me. “Go hide, Meeka. Hopefully, this will work.”
The roars of the giant skeleton made the ground tremble as I rushed to the edge of the dais, scanning the room for Raithe
and the monster. I could see the creature’s skull looming over the maze of statues.
“Raithe!” I called into the darkness, hoping he would hear me over the cacophony of howls and breaking stone. “I think found
the way out! But we have to bring that thing up here! It’s beneath the platform—”
The huge skeleton turned its head at the sound of my voice, the sickly flames in its eye sockets glowing brighter. With a
roar, it charged, smashing through pillars in explosions of rock and plowing its way toward me.
Okay, that got its attention.
I scrambled into the center of the dais, hearing the thunderous footfalls of the monster smashing its way up the stairs. Spinning
around, I gazed up at the hulking monstrosity of bone and hair as it lumbered onto the platform, cloven hooves crushing the
stones beneath it. Peering down with those sickly green flames, it let out a roar that shook the pillars and the entire dais.
“Sparrow!”
Raithe suddenly appeared in front of me, sword held before him. “What’s the plan?” he asked in a low voice, never taking his eyes from the giant. I swallowed.
“The way out . . . is below us,” I replied. He gave a single nod, and the skeleton bellowed and lunged, sweeping its huge
axe down at our heads. I dove aside, feeling the weapon slam into the spot where we had been, sending a vibration through
the platform. Cracks appeared in the floor, spreading like spiderwebs across the surface, but the stones didn’t fall. The
monster stepped farther onto the dais, gazing around for us, and the floor under its rotting hooves sagged a little.
That’s it. I darted from the edge and ran beneath the creature’s legs, causing it to bellow with rage. It swung down not its axe, but
a huge fist, and I barely dodged the blow, feeling the scream of bones as it slammed into the ground. I pitched forward and
rolled, coming up on my knees to face the burning glare of the skeleton. It reached for me, claws open as if to swat me into
the ground like an insect.
Something grabbed my waist, yanking me back at the last second, and the monster’s hand smashed into the dais. As Raithe and
I hit the ground, the stones beneath us shivered once last time, then crumbled with a roar.
We fell into darkness.
I hit the edge of a slope, stopping my straight downward plunge, though I continued to slide.
It was still pitch black; I couldn’t see Raithe or Meeka, could only feel smooth stone beneath me as I slid down what felt like a chute, rocks and pebbles bouncing around me.
For a split second, I panicked, imagining the chute ending and dumping us into a lake of magma.
A light appeared at the bottom of the chute, not the orange glow of lamps or even the ghostly blue flicker of the chamber
we’d just come from, but natural daylight. I slid toward it, unable to stop myself, and went hurtling into open air. The light
blinded me, and I fell again.
I hit the ground on my back, knocking the wind from my lungs. Fortunately, I hadn’t landed on stone or rock and broken every
bone in my body; the surface beneath me didn’t feel entirely solid, and the air I tried desperately to gasp in was filled
with dust.
Coughing, I pushed myself to my hands and knees and gazed around blearily.
Rather than obsidian or lava, sand surrounded me, and the steep walls of the chamber around me soared to dizzying heights.
Hazy light filtered in from above. I looked up and saw that the ceiling of the massive chamber had fallen in; large chunks
of stone and rock littered the rolling sand dunes, and the sky overhead swirled with noxious clouds.
In the center of the chamber, the enormous tree I had seen in the vision soared into the air, branches outstretched to cover
the missing ceiling. The trunk was entirely cocooned in webbing, the branches looking like they were infested with millions
of spiderwebs. Shimmering threads coiled around the trunk and dangled from leaves and branches, waving in the wind. I looked
closer and saw that the threads were moving on their own, writhing back and forth as if searching for prey.
I shuddered, not liking the thought of having to reach into that mess to find the loom. I could also feel the presence in the room with us, something ancient and powerful, raising the hairs on the back of my arms and neck.
A few paces away, Raithe grunted and pushed himself upright, breaking free of the sand that had half buried him. Seeing me,
he reached out a hand and pulled me to my feet, then drew me close, brushing away the sand still clinging to my hood.
“Are you all right?” he asked breathlessly.
I nodded, and saw Meeka pop up from a nearby sand hill. The jair’oa shook himself vigorously, a cloud of dust poofing around
him, then began scrubbing his paws over his nose and ears. Turning, he grabbed his tail and cleaned it rapidly from base to
tip. I gazed past the jair’oa to scan the rest of the room, searching for that looming presence, but I didn’t see anything
but us and the tree.
Raithe followed my gaze. “Is this the room from your vision?” he asked. “The one with the tree?”
“And the millions of spiderwebs? Yes.”
Raithe’s brow furrowed. “I don’t see spiderwebs,” he told me, making me frown. “I do see a tree, but the branches are clear.
Do you see something different?”
I looked at the trunk again. There was no way he could miss the shroud of white that covered the trunk and wrapped around
the branches. “Meeka,” I called, and the jair’oa looked up from his task of cleaning himself. “Do you see a tree?”
“Meeka see tree.”
“Is there anything strange about it?”
The jair’oa twitched his whiskers. “Branches dead,” he stated simply. “Tree dead, but living. Meeka not see anything else.”
I shook my head. “Why am I the only one who can see the webs?”
Raithe drew in a slow breath. “Because you are the Fateless, Sparrow,” he said. “Remember what the queen told us—only one
who steps outside the Weave can see Maederyss’s loom. Those aren’t spiderwebs that you’re seeing—they’re the fates of everyone
still bound within that piece of the loom.”
A chill unlike anything I’d ever known crept up my spine. I studied the tree again, seeing the shimmering threads hanging
from the branches writhing back and forth, always moving, always searching.
Without realizing it, I’d taken a staggering step away from the tree. Something was wrong here. I could still feel that presence,
closer than ever before, watching me. Watching all of us.
At the base of the trunk, the sands began to move.
I drew in a breath. The shallow dunes shifted, then began to rise, causing my insides to shrivel with fear. Vahn? No, he can’t be here. How could he reach this place before we did?
A massive leonine shape broke through the top of the sands and turned a piercing blue gaze upon us.
Not Vahn, but a creature no less terrifying.
A monster with the body of a great sand cat, though the tawny fur had peeled back in places to reveal muscle and bone.
A pair of tattered, skeletal wings sprang from its back, feathers spiraling to the ground as the beast moved.
Its face was that of a once beautiful woman, though the left side of her cheek was wasted away, teeth and the edge of a jawbone poking through the fur.
Shimmering strands wove through its body, as if the threads were holding it together.
Like a beloved puppet, tearing apart at the seams.
“Fateless. You have come.”
I shivered. The voice was the same as the one I’d heard in the labyrinth, only reverberating in my ears now as well as my
head. At least Raithe and Meeka heard it this time; Meeka jerked up at the creature’s voice, and Raithe moved protectively
closer to me. The woman-cat monster sat down, folding her tattered wings behind her, and gazed down upon us with eyes as ancient
as time.
“Who are you?” I managed to ask, once it became clear the abomination wasn’t interested in killing us. At least, not yet.
“I heard you . . . before. Were you also the one sending those spirits to guide us through the temple?”
“This body,” the great cat creature began, “was the last obstacle the defilers placed in this temple to guard the piece of the loom they shattered. Like the Tauryss who now wander the halls, mindless and forever trapped. The magic of the defilers keeps their rotted bodies anchored to this
world, even though their fates have long expired. Throughout the long millennia, I have managed to infuse a portion of my
will into this temple. Not enough to subvert what the defilers have done, but enough to guide you along the right path.” The cat monster spread her wings, casting me in her terrible shadow. “Now you stand before me, Fateless. And we will see if you are truly worthy to bear the power of a goddess.”
I took a deep breath to steady myself. I was absolutely not worthy, but there was no turning back now. “What do I have to
do?” I whispered.
“Nothing.” The monster rose languidly to her feet, the threads intertwined within her body shifting with the motion. “I will be looking through your memories and judging for myself if you are worthy. Everything I need to know has already happened.
But you will be coming with me, Fateless. Together, we will see what type of soul seeks the power of a goddess.”
I glanced at Raithe, who was not gazing at the terrifying cat monster standing before us, but at me. His pale eyes met mine,
and I tried to will some of his strength and courage into myself. “Any advice about what to say to the goddess of Fate when
she’s weighing my soul?”
“Just be honest,” Raithe answered. “Maederyss is neither good nor evil. She doesn’t care about concepts of morality or ethics,
so you can’t predict what she’ll value at any given moment. All you can do is be yourself. You have nothing to be ashamed
of.”
“Yes, I do,” I whispered back. “Many, many things. What if I’m not worthy?”
“You are.” Raithe placed a gentle hand on my cheek. “You wouldn’t be standing here if you weren’t.” The hand on my cheek slid
down to gently cup my chin, tilting my head up to his. “You are the last person who needs it, but . . . for luck,” he murmured,
and very softly kissed me. I closed my eyes and melted into him, forgetting about trials and tests and the literal goddess
of Fate judging my soul for just a moment.
Pulling back, I gave him a brave smile, then turned to the monstrous creature looming over us. Her bright blue eyes were as impassive as the Void.
“I’m ready.”
“Then, come.” The monster’s wings opened again, the shadow seeming to swallow me. “Step forward, Fateless. And we shall see what type of soul you truly are.”
The sands around us swirled, as if caught in a violent storm. Everything—the chamber, Meeka, Raithe, the tree—disappeared, until I stood in the center
of a silent vortex.
The sands fell away, and I was somewhere else.