Chapter 23
The Fate’s Fury
Echo slowly lowered her daggers. Her heart raced so furiously she was certain it would leap straight through her chest. The Fate gazed back at her with an expressionless face. Her blue skin sparkled like the millions of snowflakes that surrounded her.
“Are you dumb?” the Fate asked, surprising Echo. “Is your tongue dead and useless in your mouth, or can you speak?”
“N-No. I mean, yes, I can speak,” she said nervously. She was still in shock at seeing the Fate, and she didn’t have any idea how this was supposed to go. Was she supposed to make her request right away? Should she wait for the Fate to ask what she wanted?
The Fate slowly circled Echo, much as the wolfix had done with Song. She felt uncomfortable under her icy scrutiny. When she stopped again in front of Echo, she smiled. “You’ve come far, haven’t you? Far, yet not so far.”
“Yes,” Echo answered uncertainly.
“Then you must have a request. No one comes here for any other reason. I’m forever alone at the top of this wretched mountain. Won’t you stay for a spell? I could use news of what has been happening in Shae Vale.”
Echo studied the blue woman, wondering if this was some sort of trap. Everyone’s warnings rushed inside her head, making her wary. “I can’t stay,” she said. “I have an urgent request. One that could save my brother and Thildin Valley from Belzac the doon.”
The Fate’s eyes flashed at the sound of Belzac’s name. Her voice was steady when she spoke, “Belzac? So, he has finally returned.” She laughed in a frightening way, causing chills to run up Echo’s spine. “What I wouldn’t give to be down there now. To see his return--if only to see his demise!” Her eyes looked into the pale sky as if she were dreaming of something far away. Then, she looked at Echo.
“Forgive me. The past haunts me now and again. But ‘now’ is about you. First, give me your request. I will decide if it’s worthy of my attention.” The Fate held her head haughtily. “Then, if it is acceptable, you must deliver to me a gift both pure and valuable beyond measure. Do you understand?”
Echo thought for a long while before answering. Her only offering was the crystal. But what if the crystal wasn’t pure or valuable enough? It was all she had. Finally, she spoke, “Yes. I understand.”
The Fate’s cold eyes bore into Echo’s, causing her to feel like a trapped animal. “Then make your request now.”
Echo knelt in the snow before the Fate--more so to keep her knees from shaking than anything. She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. This is it. If I speak, there won’t be any turning back. Echo looked into the Fate’s eyes. “I wish that Degus had never loosed Belzac from his shadow prison.”
Echo nearly choked as the words hovered on the air between her and the Fate. The silence throbbed in her ears to the point of deafening her. The Fate stood statuesque for a long while.
Finally, she took Echo’s hand and helped her to stand. Her hands were cold and Echo was glad when she let go. Her heart skipped a beat as the Fate smiled and opened her mouth to speak. “Do you like my hair?” she asked as she patted the spikes at the back of her neck. “I wanted a new look. The long, flowing thing was too old century, don’t you think?”
Echo gaped at her as anger heated her core. What? What did her hair have to do with anything? She took a couple of deep breaths as the Fate studied her carefully. This is a test. I have to be careful how I answer, or I won’t get anything.
Swallowing the few choice words that had begun to form in Echo’s throat, she took another deep breath and answered, “The style suits you.” She gave the Fate a surgery smile. She hadn’t lied. The spikes definitely suited the woman’s frosted personality. Echo wondered how many centuries old the entity was.
The Fate seemed pleased. “I agree. I find your request suitable. Have you anything pure and valuable to offer?”
Echo dug in her pack, grasped the crystal, and pulled it out. Her gloved hand hid the treasure as she extended her arm toward the Fate. The Fate’s eyes sparked greedily as Echo slowly opened her fingers to reveal the star and crystal.
The expression that took hold of the Fate’s features was not what Echo had expected. Her visage became as dark as a storm cloud, and her heavy breath plumed from her nostrils like smoke from a fire. Echo’s hand remained frozen, holding the crystal before the enraged entity.
Then, the Fate’s eyes softened and she reached for the crystal. “For an eternity, I have longed for this, to possess this power,” she whispered. But when her hand was only inches from the crystal, her expression resumed its terrifying state. Flaming eyes shot at Echo as the Fate spoke, “How dare you bring this here? Who sent you? Why did you come? You mean to destroy me? You fool!”
Echo pulled in her arm sharply, cradling the crystal against her chest to protect it, to hide it from the fury of the Fate. “I-I don’t understand. No one sent me. I don’t want to destroy you!”
“Liar!” the Fate screamed and the mountain shook with her voice. She hit Echo across the face so forcefully, Echo flew through the air and landed hard on the ground. “You’ve brought the one thing that would give me the greatest power, yet would ultimately destroy me. That is no mistake. You have come to kill me. But you will fail! I will destroy you!”
Slowly standing as she regained her breath, Echo opened her mouth to argue, but no voice came from her throat. The Fate was summoning some terrible power as snow flew madly around her body.
Echo stumbled back, terrified. The Fate’s body spun, causing a twisting flurry of snow and ice. She spun and spun until her body and the snow mingled together to form a winter tornado. She leapt from the white twister and watched as it engulfed Echo.
Curling in a tight ball, Echo braced herself for the onslaught of fierce wind. The twister picked her up, cutting her face with sharp bits of flying ice, and then slammed her into a tree before it vanished. Echo yelled in pain as her spine smashed against the rock-hard trunk. Then, she slid to the ground with a thud as the Fate laughed.
“Pathetic! You are not even worth my time,” the Fate said and then made a strange warbling noise from her throat. Laughing again, she stepped away from Echo, back into the stone from where she’d emerged. As she absorbed into the rock, her chilling words trailed on the air to Echo. “I will let my pets finish you. They’re hungry.”
Echo forced herself to stand, grimacing as pain shot through her back where the tree had bruised her. She put the crystal in her pocket and then reached painfully for her daggers. She staggered between the rows of trees until she was once again between the first two trees. In desperation, she reached out, hoping the barrier had vanished. Her heart sank as her fingers pressed against the invisible shield.
A clicking sound caused her to spin around. She watched, horrified, as four snow scorpions emerged from the same stone where the Fate had disappeared moments before. Echo didn’t understand what had happened. Why had the crystal caused the Fate such fury? Whatever the reason, the Fate had sent four deadly predators to finish Echo because of it. And she had not saved Brecker.