The Fateless: Errata

by Seri Anne Lynn

  “He said she most likely would!”

  Cirklan whistled. “Yup, Tybor said they liked to argue.”

  “Hey Cirklan, remember what Tybor had us do at Seth’s induction?” Tobias asked.

  “Yup,” he smiled and with that they both lunged at Aidan.

  Tobias grabbed him from behind, locking the boys arms behind him while Cirklan grabbed his legs. Aidan struggled, kicking and flailing trying to get away. They carried him off to the training room, throwing him in. He landed like a sack of bricks. Hurrying in, they locked the door behind them.

  “What the hell!” Aidan screamed again. “I thought you were supposed to protect us, not keep us prisoners.”

  “I am protecting you,” Tobias answered him calmly, “from yourself. Now like I said, a good workout usually helps clear the mind. Why don’t we start with a bit of sparring?”

  “You’re all crazy! You, Tybor, the lot of you!” Aidan yelled back. “I’m not sparring with anyone.”

  “Suit yourself,” Tobias said, grabbing a wooden training sword from the wall. He pounced at Aidan. Aidan rolled away just in time.

  “I don’t know about you, but if it were me I’d find a weapon to defend myself,” Cirklan advised with a grin from ear to ear, as he stood with arms folded guarding the door.

  Unfortunately, Tobias didn’t give him a chance to take Cirklan’s advice. Aidan jumped up then ducked behind some training equipment just as Tobias spun another blow aiming for Aidan’s shoulder. The strike rang loudly as it hit the metal stand, knocking it over.

  “You can’t duck every hit,” Tobias instructed. And as by example the wooden blade landed broadside hard against Aidan’s left thigh, knocking him off his feet again. Aidan, screamed in pain, already feeling the bruise rising.

  “I didn’t think protecting meant beating us up either!”

  “You’re the one who said you didn’t need bodyguards, so prove it.” Tobias spurred him on. Aidan rolled over, pushing himself up and made a dash for the weapons stand, managing to grab a wooden sword. The next swing was met defensively with Aidan’s.

  “That’s better. Keep it coming,” Tobias coached, and soon Aidan was attacking as well as defending. Over and over they exchanged attacks as Cirklan called out who landed what blow, which generally was Tobias.

  Aidan had no idea how long this ‘workout’ session went on for. With each strike, both minions critiqued him with instructions on how to improve. Aidan took their advice and began copying Tobias’s movements.

  Cirklan, bored of being the door guard and mock sports announcer, grabbed another training sword and joined them. After taking several direct blows Aidan’s limbs began to lock up. With a guttural yell, Aidan made his final assault. Tobias easily dodged as Aidan fell forward landing on the floor, bruised and exhausted.

  “That’s just pathetic,” Tobias taunted, throwing the sword on his shoulder.

  “Even Seth the wimp lasted longer his first go around,” Cirklan added laughing.

  “I’ve... never... fought before...” panting, Aidan verbally defended himself as he accepted Cirklan’s outstretched hand to help him up.

  “With a sword? Yeah, we can tell,” Tobias chuckled.

  “No... I’ve never fought... ever.” The minions looked at one another and laughed.

  “Yeah, it shows. Well, for the record – you lasted longer than I thought you would,” Cirklan smirked.

  “So, you good now?” Tobias asked. Aidan had to stop and think about it, but Tobias was right. He hadn’t thought about Tat or the guilt he’d been pouring on himself in a while. Maybe the ‘workout’ was what he needed.

  “Yeah, I guess...”

  “Come on, I’ll take you to infirmary and get you an iceweed compress,” Tobias instructed.

  “Iceweed?”

  “Yeah, it stays as cool as ice for a long time after it’s picked; maybe even longer than ice does. It will be good for the bruises.”

  Cirklan decided he’d spent enough time away from the crystal coms and figured he should be getting back. He slapped Aidan hard on his bruised shoulder as he was leaving, and Aidan winced. “Keep practicing, I want another sparring match soon,” Cirklan chuckled.

  Aidan followed Tobias down a hall and into the room marked ‘infirmary’, half expecting Tat and the others to be there, but to his dismay they were not.

  “Why isn’t Tat here?”

  “Most likely Seth’s got her in his lab.” Tobias picked a few leaves off a waist high icy-blue broad-leafed potted plant. He broke up the leaves, snapping it like they were frozen, then wrapped it in a bit of cloth and handed the compress to Aidan.

  “His lab? I thought Jeriah said he was a seer, like some kind of psychic magician or something.” Aidan applied the compress to the worst of the bruising on his left thigh and winced in pain again.

  “Oh, he is but with this small of a squad everyone wears many different hats. He also serves as the doc around here and handles all the science-y stuff as well as the magickal. And even though we tease him about being a wimp because he’s so small and all, he’s definitely got his strengths. Like, if it weren’t for him, we wouldn’t have the glimmer stone amulets.”

  “That’s the things that make you all look like Braegin instead of Annokai?”

  “Daemon,” Tobias corrected, “but yeah, it keeps the Annokai off our backs while we’re out if we just look like elves instead.”

  “Right, Daemon. Why do you guys call yourselves that? Isn’t that their word meaning you’re all disgraced?”

  “Kid, you shouldn’t speak about things you don’t know anything about.”

  “I’m sorry, it was just a question.”

  “Well some questions may not have the answer you want to hear.”

  “You sound like Tybor.”

  “I’ll take that as a compliment,” Tobias smiled.

  “So, anyway, about those glimmer stones, could he make one for us? I mean if we had a way to disguise ourselves, maybe it would take us off the Black Doves radar.”

  “I don’t know, but even if he could, it still won’t hide the fact you have no seal. Annokai and Daemon alike can see a seal if they want to as plain as seeing the nose on your face.”

  “It would help though, wouldn’t it? And maybe he could figure out some way to fake a seal?”

  “Maybe. But one thing at a time. Right now he needs to concentrate on saving the girl.”

  “Right.” Aidan moped.

  “Now don’t go down that road again, or we’re on for round two,” Tobias joked, halfway hoping that Aidan would take on the challenge.

  “Hand me that jar of sulfur over there,” Seth instructed Rowen, pointing to what looked like a doctor’s medicine cabinet on the wall.

  “Which one?” Rowen asked, opening the cabinet and seeing about a dozen jars labeled as some form of sulfur.

  “Right, uhm, diasporic should do.” Seth quickly answered not wanting to break his concentration from the book. To Rowen’s amazement it hadn’t taken Seth any time to break the encryption spell on the grimoire, and he was already delving into creating a crystallized catalyst, an ingredient he’d need to create the time gate that would rescue Tat.

  Rowen rifled through the small jars and found the one marked diasporic sulfur. He never knew there were so many types of different sulfurs and wondered if it were the same in the Otherworld or if these were just local to this one.

  “Be careful with that,” Seth warned. “It could dissolve the flesh to your bone if it touches you.”

  “That’s good to know,” Rowen held it away from him and treated it like it was about to explode at any second, getting it to Seth as quickly and as safely as he could.

  “Check her vitals again please,” Seth requested as soon as he handed him the jar, glad that Rowen was such a willing assistant. Rowen picked up the stethoscope laying on the table next to her cot. She appeared as if she were sleeping but having a fitful dream, shaking from side to side as if she were seizing. Rowen was gla
d she had been tied to the cot. He hated having to assist with that, but he knew it was for her safety.

  He listened with the stethoscope as Seth showed him how to do, and took her pulse at the same time. When he grabbed her wrist, heat radiated from it. Nothing had changed there. She was still as hot as a furnace. Her breathing was just as labored as before too.

  “No change,” Rowen sadly reported. Seth began mumbling something in some elvish sounding language. A shimmering golden light exploded, sparking all over the room.

  “I’ve done it,” Seth declared. “I have the catalyst ready. Go get Tybor and Jeriah, we don’t have much time.”

  “Are you sure? That doesn’t look very stable to me,” Rowen questioned, seeing that the sparks were still active.

  “Yes. Hurry. Like I said, we don’t have a lot of time,” he answered, carefully balancing the catalyst in his hands while walking over to Tat.

  Rowen quickly put down the medical device and ran for the door. He felt nervous about leaving Seth with the light flickering from the crystal like that – but what do I know about this stuff?

  Seth knew that Rowen was right. It was unstable. Highly unstable, but then again when it came to dealing with time, it always was. If this weren’t absolutely necessary and if Tybor had never given him the order to keep her safe, this was an undertaking he’d never even consider. But Tybor had ordered it. He would die for Tybor, or anything Tybor ordered him to do.

  Dying was something that as a Seer he had the opportunity of knowing about ahead of time. The problem was, like with everything he’d seen before its time, it was only a probability. In visions, Seth seen himself die for this very girl many times, in many ways. Who is she? What is so special about her? That, he had no way of knowing, but desperately wanted an answer.

  No sooner than those thoughts left him the catalyst flickered. Sparks flew, bathing them both in a golden hue. His skin burned immensely, and he could do nothing but suffer the pain. It felt as if his very being was being consumed by them.

  Unexpectedly, he was in the Otherworld and all the pain had subsided as if it never existed. The dim orangish light spilled from the electrical street lamps. It was not that foreign of a place to him. He’d been in the Otherworld many times before; however, this street was very unfamiliar.

  “I’ll always love you my Tatyana,” he’d heard the woman say, placing her hand on the baby. The gate brought him to the beginning. To when Tat was just an infant. The woman, obviously her mother; seemed oddly familiar to him, but he couldn’t place her.

  Seth watched as a soft white light emitted around the woman’s hand. She was breaking Tatyana’s seal. He wanted to stop it, but he knew if he did at this point, Tatyana would come out of the time loop with a young child’s mind. He had to let things progress naturally and not disturb the order of things.

  Seth continued watching as she was left alone and wailed for her mother to come back. He watched as she grew cold. Exhausted from tears she cried until she was dehydrated and almost dead. He wanted to pick her up and comfort her, but he knew that wasn’t what needed to happen. Tatyana must relive this. She must move forward on her own.

  Thankfully, two pookas arrived, they saved her and took her back with them.

  Tatyana had done it, she had moved them forward and suddenly they were back in the alley, but she wasn’t much older. This time he was too near them. Her pooka mother snatched her up and brought her back safely to the Notherworld. Tatyana cried until Tok mewed her tears away.

  In succession, Seth watched through the specific points of Tatyana’s life; dodging each time, doing his best to stay out of view. This wasn’t memories he was witnessing. This was the actual events of Tat’s life. Everything could change if anyone simply saw him.

  Watching from behind corners she learned to walk, talk, and sing. He hid behind bushes and trees as she grew and took walks with Tok and Muk. Tybor’s stealth training had come in handy, and he was glad now that Tybor pushed him so hard with it. If not for that, the pooka beasts who were defter at spotting things would surely see him.

  He listened from down the hall in the little cottage as Tat argued with them about going to the Otherworld. Sneaking out of the window he watched her leave the little cottage. She slammed the door behind her, and then he witnessed her stubborn decision to take the keystone and go anyway.

  Should he stop her now? If he did, would she even be here at this moment? This is why time magick was so complicated and forbidden in most places. No, he had to let it move forward.

  He watched from behind boxes as Aidan crashed into her, and then everything became a blur... meeting Rowen... caught in a storm... pinned downed by the net and snarling blink wolves... Seth could barely keep up, it was all moving so fast. He had to keep moving with it or he knew the loop would start all over.

  He saw when she met Tybor. Typical; the commander ditched meeting up with his squad at the den to go on a hunting trip near the Envarian village of Knottagin... They moved on to Yon’s pass. He didn’t envy them when they were slaving in the slogbotton pits. He continued watching as she blamed herself for Aidan’s misery.

  Things were gaining in momentum with each memorial passage. It seemed to all run together. It saddened him seeing her cry when they had to flee the pass and leave Tok behind… Well, maybe a little intervention wouldn’t hurt.

  He snatched the cat up, just as they were leaving the station, he lunged, jumping on, then over the single car and depositing the cat on top before jumping into the dirt. The loop shifted forward.

  Tybor was lecturing them at the Graymark border inn, then suddenly they were on the skitterdu with the Ceil and being thrown in a jail cell. He shook his head wondering why Tybor had done some of the things he’d done with these kids. He’d never been that patient or lenient with any of the Minions.

  She’d cried her eyes out on Tybor’s shoulders on the zypher. He wished he could be the one to hold her and tell her it wasn’t her fault like Tybor was doing. He noticed how oblivious to Tatyana’s feelings both Rowen and Aidan had been in all of this. Just how stupid were these boys?

  The dragons stampeded. He watched as Tybor punished her right along with them, knowing she’d done nothing wrong... but then again, that is pretty typical of the Boss. He couldn’t help but admire her for taking the punishment without complaint even though she wasn’t at fault.

  She loved being with Tok and that baby dragon though, and Seth was happy to see her happy again, even if it were just for a moment. Now she was terrifyingly being heaved into the air by one of the Black Doves. One he’d known well.

  She skipped forward then, so he didn’t see what happened next, only that she rode with Jocelyn and he was holding her on his cycle while she was unconscious. Even though she was terrified, she was brave. Seth couldn’t help but grow fond of her, falling in love with the very compassionate and courageous young woman she was becoming.

  It seriously hurt her when she lost Tok with her pack and cloak, and he felt it all right alongside her. It had been her last ties to the Pooka’s that had loved her all her life, her last ties to family. Her childhood and everything that had made her who she was, was now over. They’d made it to the temples.

  Then Tybor left, that’s when she realized she was losing everything. Tok, the Pookas; her family, Tybor whom she had finally started trusting, the boys, and even herself. He could sense the current moment was coming up.

  He began feeling everything she was feeling. One of his gifts from the Fates was empathy, and he’d become overwhelmed with sensing all of her emotions. The loss, the regret, the self-hatred, the loneliness, and the constant feeling of failure and guilt.

  Soon she’d be at the moment that triggered the vortex and the loop. Aidan and Rowen were arguing because of her, she couldn’t keep herself under control any longer. It was too soon; she didn’t want to lose them too – not now. His head felt as if it were going to burst into flames. Seth saw that Tatyana was surrounded with a golden light.

&
nbsp; The sister was threatening them with the Annokai, insisting they were the children of prophecy, the Children of Khaos. Tat didn’t know what she meant; she just knew it wasn’t good.

  And then... this is it... this was the moment Seth had to act. He ran to them, grabbing tightly onto Tatyana, telling her that Tybor sent him and she needed to remain calm and stare into his eyes. Just for a moment. That’s all it would take. Just focus on the present – not the past, and it would be over.

  The ground opened up beneath them. Aidan and Rowen and the room they were in faded away. They were falling, falling into a deep dark abyss. Just the two of them. Falling faster than either of them could realize what was happening. She knew him. She didn’t know how, just knew that she knew him. Knew she could trust him.

  They embraced one another. Seth knew they would soon have impact and told her to hold onto him tight, so she wrapped her arms further, squeezing tighter. The room exploded with a brilliant light. The entire cave shook, and it sounded as if a bomb had gone off.

  Tybor and Jeriah were on their way back with Rowen, hearing this they picked up their pace. The rest came running as well.

  The lab looked as if an earthquake happened, and it might as well have. Both of them were covered in layers of dust and dirt as they laid there in each other’s arms. Seth jumped up, he’d come through the loop fully intact, but had she?

  She didn’t move.

  The others pushed debris from the door and made a path to them.

  “Tat!” Aidan called to her then asked anyone who would answer. “Is she alright?”

  “I...” Seth breathed heavily, “don’t know.”

  “What happened?” Tybor demanded to know.

  “Sir... the gate... it wasn’t stable, it activated too soon,” he tried to explain.

  “Tat!” Aidan continued calling to her, shaking her by the shoulder. “Wake up! You’ve got to wake up!”

  She didn’t budge.

  “Give him some room,” Rowen pulled Aidan back, “let Seth do this.”

  “Seth’s nearly killed her!” Aidan accused.