“I have not fashioned the noose around his neck. That was his own bloodline. King turned Emperor Wollu. Emperor Rellu. Emperor Millu. They have cursed their bloodline, as one might poison a stream at its source and kill the cattle down river.” Spider reached out, her fingers ghosting over her own throat. There was a flash of brilliant gold and I startled, turning to look at Tallu. A thousand threads wrapped around his neck, sliding into his open mouth. I could see them in his body, the sharp edges of early death tearing at his lungs and heart.
“No!” I reached for him, but my fingers passed through the threads. “Why can’t I touch them?”
“Because neither you nor I can stop the curse. It is not in our power,” Spider snapped. “Wewere not given that key.”
“What key?” I demanded.
“The Dragon Monks already gave him the answer when they sealed their fates. They gave Wollu the answer, and he thought it a promise,” Spider said.
“The Imperium’s promise?” I asked. “That House Atobe will unite the continent?”
“Thatwas the second prophecy given to Wollu by the Dragon Seers. They could also see the threads of fate, as they sat in the One Dragon’s Cave, unaware of the fine line they walked. They were a fly caught in the webs of fate. They could see the gossamer threads and thought that made them powerful. Fools. OnlyIhave the ability to weave them. OnlyIalone was given that sway.” Spiderchuckled. “And would you like to know what these fools told Wollu—the violent despot who would use any excuse to hold onto his recently gotten power?”
“What?” I whispered.
“They told him, a man desperately afraid that the One Dragon would choose another to lead the Southern Kingdom,” Spider leaned forward, hissing the words. “‘You will not be king for long.’”
Spider laughed, her words carrying it, “Thatwas his prophecy. ‘You will not be king for long.’ And it was true, but only I could see that in telling him, they had woven fate into a different form. This is why humans should never have been given the ability to see the future. Those small flies trapped in their web, those seers drinking their poisoned water and looking into the strings of fate with blind eyes. But who am I to argue with the One Dragon?”
“So Wollu lied? About the promise?” I asked. All of the lives lost to his deception. Every nation that had fallen because one king of a small nation wanted an empire.
“No,” Spider said firmly. “After Wollu, infinitely angry, killed the One Dragon and smashed her eggs, he was given his second prophecy. ‘Your line will unite the continent and be free.’ Of course he would only tell people of that second promise, and even then, leave out half of it. Wollu was not agood, nor an honest, man.”
Tallu was choking on the hundreds of golden threads before my eyes. Blood spilled out of his mouth, more than I had ever seen when he was using electro magic. With a scream, I took him into my arms again, trying desperately to free him.
“Let him go!” I screamed again, trying to grab the threads, trying to get him free.
Spider was suddenly there, her expression grim. A pair of her hands grabbed hold of my face, wrenching my neck until I faced her. “You have been given the greatest gift a human has ever earnedsince the One Dragon taught the people of this world magic. Use it.”
With a gasp, I reached for ice magic, remembering at the last minute to curb my desperation. I would never show desperation to an acquaintance, a friend I didn’t know.
Heal him. Heal him now.
The want burned inside of me, so clear and pure I could see the glow within my chest. It pulsed, fast and quick, a heartbeat matching my own. Ice raced down my arms, covering Tallu, following the golden threads of fate down his throat and into his chest.
I could see the pulse of light, illuminating him from within. He gasped, and I didn’t let up, pushing more and more wants into it. I pushed all of the want I had been holding back on, all of the desire that I had been holding tight to in our long, endless journey to Tavornai.
“Airón,” Tallu choked out. He spat blood, but then ice covered his mouth and nose and for a moment he wasn’t breathing at all.
I didn’t let up, forcing my mind to stay calm, pushing until finally I felt the crackle of healing inside of him. He gasped, and I filled every crevice inside of him with ice, packing it in tight, feeling it knit together the parts of him that had torn themselves open, stitched together the frayed bits of his lungs that had been sliced clean by the broken threads of blood monks’ fates.
He leaned against me, burying his head in my neck, and I felt the cold against my throat, burning the skin, but I didn’t stop, didn’t let up until he stopped trembling, going still.
I released the magic, letting it slip free from my fingers. Tallu gasped, but this time all he coughed up was melted water.
He looked at me with wonder. “It doesn’t hurt.”
I tried to smile but found my face wouldn’t make the expression. What good was healing him when the curse would continue its damage, destroying everything I had just fixed. When I turned back to Spider,I glared at her.
“You are the animalia who weaves the webs of fate. You see the future. You can change his.” It was as though the ice I had wielded with my magic had come home, wrapping around my heart.
Around us, the fog shifted, tightening, a brilliant white band that trapped the three of us close together.
“If I had the ability to change fate, do you think I wouldn’t have changed the fate of the One Dragon?” Spider demanded. “Do you think I would have let the Imperium burn the elder trees that I have watched grow from seeds? They contained all of the memories of every elf I have ever loved. If I could change destiny, I would notwasteit on him. I would have saved the things I cared about.”
My shoulders slumped, and I finally, truly, understood that all of it had been for nothing.
“As I said, Wollu was never king for long, although not in the way initially intended, and his linewillunite the continentand befree.” Spider stepped back, her arms spreading wide, almost like wings.
