The Toll (79 page)

Giggling again, Lachesis shook her
head. “No regrets, you say? You claim you’d interfere again, if you
thought it would bring your offspring peace? Even if it meant they
walked the same path as poor Nugget?” Her lips, just barely visible
to the Elemental as Niniane’s eyes hardened with rage and anger,
then guilt, tipped up as she watched the byplay. “Hmm. And yet you
think you fail to connect to man?”

Stepping back, Niniane shook her head,
kneeling. “Don’t romanticize this. I am bad—have done evil things.
I’ll make the same mistakes twice, mark my words. Somehow, in my
quest, I’ll curse and crush others. I don’t deserve to serve this
realm, and maybe I never did. You must do as you should have long
ago.” Shutting her eyes tight, she tilted her neck, hands fisted at
her sides, and waited. “I should never had gone so long unchecked.
Fate has erred, it would seem. Right this wrong. Tis my
time.”

“
Your necklace? The
medallion?” Clothos asked curiously, gaze scanning the Elementals
bared neck.

Fingers fluttering over the creamy
white expanse, Niniane cleared her throat. “Tis where it should
be.”

“
Pity. I rather liked that
necklace.” Fingering her own neckline, her hood dipped.

“
A wise choice, though.”
Lachesis smiled slowly, tilting her head to expose a little more of
the lower half of her face. “And you think yourself unfazed by your
time with man, even now?”

“
I... I would do anything
for my children,” the Lady whispered fiercely, ducking her gaze,
referring to things she’d done to try and secure her son’s union,
things she wished not dwell on, hands fisted tight in her
lap.
“Anything.”

Those thin, bowed pink lips widened
into some semblance of a wide, slightly scary smile, and Lachesis
made a popping noise with her lips and tongue. “I see.”

“
And the verdict?” Clothos
asked slowly, catching something in her sister’s voice the
Elemental did not.

Snapping her fingers, a spark of black
and gold shooting off of the tips, mixing with white and red to
float, like dust moats, all around them in the air, Lachesis hummed
a funny, offbeat version of the Lady’s lullaby in the back of her
throat.

“
As fate divines.”
Gesturing to Atropos, Lachesis took a step back.

Leathers creaking as she closed the
space between them, Atropos ripped the ties of her hood off, the
billowing mass of fabric tumbling behind her. Exposing a slim body
encased in leather battle armor, a thick belt tied around her small
waist. Black eyes, full of the promise of the afterlife, she
approached.

Eyes snapping open wide, horror
suffusing her, Niniane gulped, fisting her hands in her lap to hide
her tremors.

Long, lithe, and predatory, Atropos’
smooth gait just made the Water Elemental’s nerves worse, her heart
beating wildly in her chest.

Warrior braids on either side of her
temples, streaming with bits of brown, tangling in her long,
flowing milky white locks, Atropos gripped Niniane’s chin in her
hand, forcing her to meet her eyes.

“
I am ready,” Niniane
croaked, heart pounding in her breast when she heard the metal
snick of fate’s scissors, coming closer and closer, waiting for
it.

“
So many worlds. So little
time. Not long for oversight in this one. What say you next, Atro,
the land of fire and scales?” Lachesis started up her humming,
grass crinkling beneath her feet as she danced in place.

“
You speak of nonsense,”
Clothos sighed heavily, lifting a hand to rub at her forehead, as
if they were used to this sort of thing by now, but thoroughly
tired of it.

“
Mm. Maybe,” Lachesis
whispered softly between hums, hips swaying in an odd, almost
hypnotic rhythm, “but not as much as you do. Atro, though, Atro
knows.” Tapping Death on the shoulder, she handed her something
that had the dark Fate tilting her head in question.

“
A tangled web we weave.
Not all should be lost. The loss can come at a cost, but yours was
not in vain, sister-dear. Some, but not all, if willing, can be
saved.”

Gripping it tight, the grim Fate
nodded.

“
Now,” Lachesis commanded
quietly.

Jumping in surprise, Niniane gasped
when Atropos leaned down, placing a chaste kiss upon her forehead,
murmuring something against her skin, then wrenched her face to the
side. Eyes popping open wide, she only had a moment to think before
Atropos raised her fist high, a long golden needle fisted in her
hand tight, stabbing Niniane in the neck.

“
NO!!” But it was too late.
Gasping as blue sparks shot from her limbs, leeching from her being
to soak into the soggy ground, falling back as she clawed
helplessly, her mouth open wide on a silent shout.

Gathering around her, the Fates all
bared their faces, hoods pulled down, staring down at her quietly
as she cried out silently, mouthing, ‘Why?’

“
You were right.” Clothos
shrugged. “You are not for this realm, and the age of Divinity is
ending. Man will eventually give up his faith in the ways of Other.
Soon enough, the four corners and the overseers will become
obsolete.”

Giggling into her hands,
eyes white and unseeing, Lachesis sang, “Man’s realm? No. But
you
could
be
perfect for...
this one!”

‘
Your love will be your
undoing, but it will set you free. Be still. Take heart. Have
faith. Accept your inner fire,’ Atropos mouthed, nodding as she
stepped forward, bending down, and tore the needle out of the Water
Elemental’s neck, sighing as she wiped the blood, no longer tipped
with red and silver, off onto her sleeve.

“
Peace be with you,
Niniane.” Clothos pulled a long black string from her pocket,
handing it off to her sister.

Lachesis accepted it, pulling a large,
oddly shaped object from the folds of her robe. “May the fires of
Tahl burn bright, and your mates be plenty!” Exclaiming excitedly,
she wrapped a piece of string around Niniane’s wrist, wrapping the
other end around the large, metallic, shimmering plate-sized
scale.

Niniane’s eyes bulged, a shocked cry
squeezing past her lips.

“
You said it wrong,”
Clothos whispered worriedly, eyes darting between them as Niniane
fought to stay in her head.

“
Matters not.” Lachesis
chortled into her hand, too giddy to care. “I liked mine better.
Besides, I’m not the one that asked all the wrong questions.” With
a flick of her wrist, Niniane’s body lit up, cutting off any
protests, licking with blue flames as she shrieked in surprise,
batting at her limbs, then promptly disappeared, bursting into a
million specks of stardust, winking right out.

Clothos’ white brows raised
questioningly.

“
Her necklace is valuable,
but it’s not her medallion. Smart Elemental, she tricked you!”
Cackling, Lachesis held her sides.

Blinking, dumbfounded, Clothos’
blurted, “Hardly.”

“
She said the necklace was
safe when you asked, not her medallion. Silly Clo, her tether is
Excala... Ecola... Exifragablur... Uhm, her sword.”

Face pinching tight, tinging red,
Clothos couldn’t believe her ears. “And you just let her?” she
gritted out.

“
No. You did. Huzzah! Tahl
is about to get very exciting,” the eccentric middle Fate sang.
“Excala... uh, catbur lives on!”

“
I don’t think that’s what
it’s called, either.”

The sisters all turned to see Feng Bo
approaching, nearly jumping out of their skin. A small smile tipped
his lips as he stared at the spot his fellow Elemental had just
been. It dipped, the longer his gaze lingered, sadness pooling on
the surface. “You are speaking of my sister Elemental Niniane’s
tether, yes? Excalibur is the name you’re looking for, I
believe.”

“
Excalibur,” Lachesis
whispered over and over, as if trying with all her might to
remember.

“
How did I not know this?”
Clothos muttered, arms crossing over her chest
stubbornly.

“
Will you send me to find
mates too?” Bo asked playfully, scanning across three very similar
faces of women with vastly different personalities. Masking the
fear hidden just beneath the superficial veneer of self-assured
cocky playfulness he wears so often, his raging emotions formed a
tight ball in the pit of his stomach, well hidden behind the quick
wit and wayward humor he’d always clung to like a second skin. When
his eyes landed on Atropos, they held for a moment longer than the
rest, a spark of something lighting then, but then he grimaced and
shook his head, quickly looking away.

Atropos, glaring down at her feet,
never looked up.

“
No,” Clothos replied
carefully, smiling tightly, “we had something else in mind
entirely.”

“
Really?” Mild surprise
registered as he quirked a brow, lighting his features. “Does it
involve stabbing me with fate’s needle to make me mortal
too?”

“
No,” Lachesis sang,
grinning when Atropos snuck up behind him, smashing him on the back
of the head with the butt of her scissors.

“
Well,” stumbling as he
wobbled toward the ground, grunting in pain as blood rushed to his
ears, he blurted, “that was unexpected...” Eyes rolling into the
back of his head as the world spun, Wind gurgled out a shocked
curse and slumped to the ground.

The sisters, all but Death, grinned as
Atropos hooked her scissors on her belt loop with a good job pat,
motioning that they each grab a limb.

“
Come now,” Clothos
muttered, grunting and grimacing under his weight. “We haven’t much
time.”

“
He’ll hold,” Lachesis said
non-chalantly, ever confident as they half dragged, half carried
him to a large oak tree. Eyes fixing on Atropos, she murmured,
“There’s always time for good-byes.”

“
This one,” Clothos
muttered, motioning to a wide, enormous tree, surrounded by thick
branches sprouting up and out— shaded, even without
leaves.

Atropos unhooked her scissors,
dropping Wind with a sound thump. Gaze set on her target, she
stepped over his slumped body, her boots crunching heavily,
steadily, as she strode to the tree. Fingers running over the base
smoothly, palms flattening wide, she pressed her ear, closed her
eyes, inhaled deeply, and waited. Pulling back after a long moment,
eyes slowly opening, she nodded once and handed her scissors over
to Lachesis, who prepared to rip a seam.

Opening a long gash with Death’s
scissors, a small pocket formed along the trunk—a gate way to
another plane of existence.

With a few not so gentle heaves as
Lachesis stepped back, scissors clutched to her breast, Atropos
helped Clothos lug his not so light frame, and with a few good
shoves and a hard push, they dumped the Elemental into his
temporary cocoon.

Clothos snatched the satchel at his
side—his bag of wind—his medallion—and handed it off to Atropos,
who promptly stabbed the golden needle clean through. The bag
flashed and lit up in a spray of gold and brown and a blustery gust
of wind, until it was nothing more than a sprinkle coated goatskin
bag, but Bo remained unscathed.

“
Peace be with you, brother
Wind.” Clothos nodded her head and took a step back.

‘
May the wind be with you’,
Atropos mouthed, ready to turn away. She got only a few steps
before she froze, indecision riding her hard.

“
Go,” Lachesis
ordered.

Rushing back, Atropos cupped his face
and brought her lips to his. ‘I will watch over our little one,
dear friend of my heart’, she swore, though no words left her lips,
pulling back to swipe a quick tear from her eye.

Clothos walked up behind her as she
stood, wrapping her arms around her waist tight, chin resting on
her shoulder. “She was worth it,” she whispered, “ears are but a
small price to pay. Who needs to hear anyways, eh? I’d give my
lips, nose, tongue, and heart, sister-dear, for your child if it
would have helped.”

Fingers tightening over hers, emotions
rushing her throat, Atropos nodded.

“
She is beautiful, you
know, your Vidi. If Feng Bo could have sensed it, could have
known-”

Atropos gave her head a vigorous
shake, imploring her not to take her thoughts where they were best
left un-thought.

“
He would have fought to
stay to be with his child, and he would have died,” Lachesis
interrupted. “Such is the hand, in a life like this. He will be
happy, and Vidi is destined for much.” Tapping her temple, the
sister Fate shrugged. “You did not care for him, sister, and nor he
for you.”

The fierce, outraged look on Atropos’
face said otherwise, but Clothos, wisely, kept silent on the
matter. It was not for her to say, and who was to say they knew
Atro’s heart, but the Fate herself?

“
Better you one night of
passion and a child, then love and punishment, never to love freely
with the one of your choosing, fate be damned. He doesn’t remember,
and maybe it is best he doesn’t. They will both move on, even if
you refuse.” Face pinched, Lachesis slammed her lips shut, a
guarded look crossing her porcelain features.