Fated

the barrier was gone, and the fateweaver was clearly visible: a simple, unmarked wand of ivory. I snatched it up, and—

—silence.

I didn’t hesitate. As soon as I felt the momentary dizziness I stepped back, looking around. I could see my body crouched over the pedestal, Luna slumped beneath. ‘Abithriax!’

‘Well, well.’ I spun to see Abithriax walking towards me across the floor, picking his way through the battle in his red robes. Onyx and Rachel were duelling all around him, and a blast of force passed straight through Abithriax’s image without touching him. ‘Things have gotten lively.’

‘I need to use the fateweaver!’

‘Yes, you do,’ Abithriax said. ‘Listen carefully. To use the fateweaver, you and I must merge. I will open my mind to you; my knowledge and skill will be yours. The link requires your willing consent.’ Abithriax’s eyes held mine. ‘Hold back even a little, and it will fail.’

Behind Abithriax, Onyx shattered Rachel’s shield into shards of sea-green light. I knew the kind of mind magic Abithriax was describing was dangerous. If I went along with this, I wasn’t sure who I’d be when I returned to my body. I looked down at Luna. She was crouched down on the dais, trying to hide from the battle raging around us. ‘Do it.’

Something flickered in Abithriax’s eyes, then they were smooth again. He nodded and walked up to the dais. ‘Then hold out your hand.’

I lifted my right arm. Abithriax reached out, then paused. ‘I suggest you brace yourself.’ He looked into my eyes. ‘This will feel … a little odd.’

Abithriax grasped my hand, and everything went white.

14

When I came back to my body it was like waking up for the first time.

Luna was saying something, but I barely noticed. I knew exactly what was happening without needing to look. I started walking down off the dais, twirling the fateweaver absent-mindedly in my right hand. ‘Starbreeze,’ I called. ‘Break off.’

Starbreeze tore herself away from Thirteen. Her form was tattered, mist leaking from her wounds. She shot me one terrified look and fled. Thirteen didn’t pursue, instead turning back to me, her primary target. She’d shed the last of the glitterdust and as she moved she faded into invisibility again.

Thirteen was the greater threat; I should eliminate her first. I turned my back on her and looked to the other side of the room. ‘Onyx!’

Onyx had crippled Rachel, sending her limping into the darkness of the pillars; now he turned to me. ‘Rules changed, Chosen,’ I told him. I kept walking, placing myself between the two killers. ‘Surrender or die.’

Onyx didn’t waste time answering. A whirlwind of razor-edged discs of force flashed towards me.

I sidestepped and the attack hit Thirteen just as she swept in at me from behind. She flashed into visibility as the force blades chewed her to pieces. Her mouth opened in surprise, and she looked at me with wide eyes, and for a moment I thought she was going to speak. Then she was nothing but wisps of drifting air.

I looked back to see Onyx staring at me in shock. That attack should have hit me; I knew it, and he knew it. ‘Last chance,’ I said.

Onyx threw a lance of force at me, followed by a spinning sawblade that could have cut me in half. Next was a series of hammer blows, then a force wave, then he just blasted the entire area in a thirty-foot radius.

He might as well have saved his strength.

The power the fateweaver gave me was beautifully simple. My divination magic let me see what might happen; the fateweaver let me pick what would happen. Together, they were invincible. Fighting Onyx was like a chess match where I got to play both sides of the board. Each attack had a hole, a flaw; I lined up each flaw with my own movement so that it would miss. I didn’t even move fast enough to break a sweat.

‘What the fuck!’ Onyx screamed as I walked through the blast, bits of stone chipping and bouncing around me.

I kept advancing, and Onyx backed away. ‘Your aim really is terrible, you know that?’

Onyx threw an entire wall of force at me. He was panicking now, and that made it even easier; I found a flaw in the wall, enlarged it, and chose the future where the flaw was aligned with my course. I had to dip my head slightly as the wall ruffled my hair, then I straightened up and kept walking. ‘What the fuck!’ Onyx screamed again. ‘I hit you! I know I hit you!’

I sprang at him.

Onyx struck with everything he had, but my attack had been a feint and I slipped away as Onyx filled the air around him with missiles. Onyx’s strikes were frantic, uncontrolled, and it was easy to curve one of the bolts of force around to strike him in the back. The impact threw him from his feet, blood spattering the stone.

Onyx struggled to rise, gasping, until the sound of my footsteps made him look up. I was walking towards him, and as I did I slid my knife from its sheath, letting its blade glint in the dusk. ‘Should have listened when you had the chance,’ I told Onyx, and I was smiling as I said it.

Onyx looked up at me, and for the first time I saw fear in his eyes. I knew Onyx was no coward. He could face battle without flinching, but this was something beyond his understanding, and the magic that had been a sword and a shield since childhood had betrayed him. To Onyx it must have seemed as though his world had turned upside down. He made his decision and acted in the same instant, and his body vanished in a mote of darkness as he teleported away. All that was left were drops of blood on the stone.

I came to halt with an annoyed tch. If I’d been paying more attention, I could have anticipated Onyx’s flight and prevented it. Still, not bad for a first try, I suppose.

‘Alex?’