Oathbreaker: A Dark Fantasy Web Serial

Arc 2: Chapter 29: An Immortal's Fate

Days after our departure from Liutgarde I stood outside the manor, leaning against a tree at the edge of the woods. In my left hand I held the medallion Vicar had given me, running a calloused thumb over its marred surface. On my right hand, my ring sat in its usual place on my forefinger, weighty for something so small.

Emma was inside, taking stock of her life as it were. Brenner wasn’t aware we’d returned, but I knew that wouldn’t last. I wasn’t yet sure what she would do.

But I knew what I needed to do. Best to be done with it.

The sun rose over fields still half covered in snow, though it would melt quickly. The premature winter had retreated, at least for a time. True winter wouldn’t be far off.

Time to get going. I turned and started moving into the forest.

The manor’s front door opened and a figure appeared, rushing towards me. I kept walking, though I didn’t increase my pace or use glamour to vanish. Foolish, but I can be that.

“You’re just going to leave?” Vanya asked as she reached the edge of the woods, breathless.

I stopped, sighed, and turned to her. The woman watched me with a neutral expression, then padded forward into the shadow of the woods to stand just out of arms reach. She adjusted her apron and hair, then folded her hands. She waited for an explanation.

“I didn’t want to make a fuss about it,” I said.

I traced the edge of my lip with a thumb. “Because you kissed me?”

Vanya’s face hardened, but she took a moment to settle and nodded.

Instead of answering I said, “I hear you’ve gotten work at Antlerhall. Helping your kid with laundry?”

The maid looked perplexed at the change in topic. “You and Emma are just alike, you know that? You wrap yourself in mystery and think it impresses the rest of us.”

“Doesn’t it?” I asked.

She gave me a light shove. “Maybe a bit, in your case. Why are you leaving?”

I shrugged. “Because of me, Brenner lost a marriage for his son and a Blood Art for his grandchildren, not to mention a damned throne. I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to stick around.”

In truth, Brenner didn’t know a lick of what was going on. I only felt glad his son had survived, though I didn’t like to think on the broken heart the boy would be dealing with soon enough.

Still, better a broken heart than a share of a lifelong curse.

Vanya didn’t reply immediately. Then, seeming to gather her courage she took a step forward and pressed a hand to the front of my hauberk.

“You don’t have to go so quickly,” she said in a quiet voice, her green eyes downcast. “You could stay a while. Rest, before you have to go back to whoever you were.”

The autumn wind rustled the trees. Leaves fell, settling here and there across the ground. I sighed.

“Does Emma know?” Or Hannah? That you’re dead.”

The hand on my chest went stiff. Vanya’s brow crinkled as though in confusion. “Why would you say that?”

I took the hand gently. It was still very cold.

“Your daughter knows, doesn’t she? She was terrified of you. I’m guessing that’s the real reason you sent her to Brenner’s castle. You didn’t want Emma getting suspicious.”

Vanya’s face became angry. “You’re being rude. Stop this.”

She tried to pull her hand back, but my grip was firm. She tugged, and when I wouldn’t let go she slapped at me. I ignored it.

“You’re hurting me!”

“Are you going to make me remove the glamour?” I asked. “It’s painful.”

All at once Vanya stopped struggling and leaned forward, surprising me. She pressed her forehead to my chest, shaking. At first I thought with sobs, but I soon realized it was laughter.

“Good, Ser Knight. Very good.”

The voice wasn’t Vanya’s. She lifted her face, revealing paler skin and eyes that’d become empty sockets full of bottomless darkness.

I leapt back, my hand going for my axe. Vanya didn’t move. She seemed to have gone limp, slumped where she stood like a puppet with its strings cut. The shadows of the woods seemed to gather around her, forming into a pale hand resting on the maidservant’s shoulder. It dissipated in an instant, turning into a black fog that engulfed the woman. I could see shapes writhing in it. Thorny brambles the color of blood. A single enormous feathered wing.

The fog scattered, and a very different figure stood where Vanya had. She smiled down at me.

“Nath.” I kept my hand on my weapon, but didn’t draw it. Nor did I bother to hide the anger in my voice.

“Knightling. However did you figure it out?”

“About Vanya? Honestly, I thought she was a dyghoul. I assumed it was Emma’s grandmother in there, or maybe even Astraea.”

“So you didn’t know it was me?” Nath let out a low cackle. “But you lured me out anyway! I’ll give this round to you, my dear. But what made you think she was dead?”

Dead or possessed, I hadn’t been sure. I didn’t bother saying as much. “The way her daughter acted, mostly. But I knew when she — you — kissed me.”

Nath made an O with her lips. “You tasted death on her?”

“I know you tried to slip a curse through.” I held up Rysanthe’s ring. The normally black stone shone a bright red. “This caught it.”

Nath sneered at the ring. “Drow magic. How droll.”

“I was watching for tricks. I figured if anyone would try to get close to Emma, they’d use the maid. She was an obvious weak spot. An ordinary woman with a young daughter who spent every day around her? I was suspicious from the start.”

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I felt my anger, always present and under the surface, growing hot in my chest. “You were trying to use Vanya to seduce me. That way I’d have more of a reason to stay near the girl and fall under your influence.”

Nath knew what I’d lost, what part of me still longed for in my dreams. That was her weapon, and it might have worked if I hadn’t taken measures to protect myself.

“You didn’t plan to let me go after this matter. Do you intend to kill me now? Because I’ve ruined your schemes?”

“Ruined them?” Nath tilted her head, looking perplexed. “Whatever do you mean?”

I glared at her, wary of tricks and misdirections. “You wanted Jon Orley and Vicar out of the way so Emma could go through with his alliance with Brenner Hunting. She’d have no obstacle to reclaiming the throne of the Westvales, and you’d have your own godchild and warlock become a queen. House Carreon would be your puppets from now on.”

Nath nodded slowly, the amusement fading from her ghostly pale face. “That was one outcome, yes. But no, you’ve ruined nothing for me Headsman. In fact I am well pleased.”

I paused, confused. “Pleased? How?”

Nath began to pace in a slow circle around the clearing, folding her arms like a queen wandering idly through her palace garden. She wore an outfit very similar to Vanya’s peasant garb, a long green dress and apron, though on her it looked more like the vestments of a regal witch. “My dear godchild is free of the machinations of Orkael, her fate untethered. She has chosen a destiny that has shocked a long standing balance of power in the land, an act that has shaken even my own brethren. The breaking of such a powerful curse causes ripples.”

She paused and smiled at me. “I could not have asked for a more interesting outcome.”

I shook my head, feeling some of my anger recede. “I would have thought you’d have been annoyed at this. Weren’t you mentoring her because of her lineage?”

Nath snorted, shaking her head. “Perhaps at first, but do you truly believe I hold such value in the constructs of family and right of rule? I abandoned all of that. No, this only brings the dear child closer to my aspect.”

That sent a shiver down my spine. “If you’re planning to bring her into the Briar, I will take issue with that.”

“Have you learned nothing from all of this?” Nath finally turned to face me, her empty eyes narrowing into black slits. “All that matters is her choice. Besides…” She sighed heavily. “I do not think she will choose to stay under my wing, loathe as I am to admit it. She seems enamored with a wholly different path, one I find most dull. But I am but her guide, her teacher.”

She shrugged.

I frowned, not understanding. “You know what she plans to do?”

“She hasn’t spoken to you? Ah well, no matter. In any case, I have a reward for you.”

I blinked, taken aback. “A… reward?” I’d felt certain she was going to try and kill me. I could sense Qoth lurking in the woods, watching and ready.

“Oh, that’s right.” The Fallen let out a low, chortling laugh. “My kin don’t really pay you, do they? Stingy, short sighted creatures. Well, you will find that I always reward good service. Qoth?”

She beckoned, and the briarfae stepped out of the shadows. Qoth approached me. He held something in his hands — a folded bundle, the material darkly red.

I took it with caution, still wary of tricks, and in a moment I realized what I held. A new cloak, much the same as the one I’d worn for many seasons, long enough to trail along the ground even with my height. It had a pointed cowl with a more defined shape than my current one, and deeper color. A red so dark it looked near black in the woodland gloom.

The material felt impossibly light and smooth. Like velvet, though its color reminded me of dried blood.

“Made by Qoth’s own kin,” Nath told me. “It will not easily fray from long roads, and many beings will find you harder to track by magical means. There’s a glamour woven into it. You may find the shades that haunt your steps less dogged so long as you wear this. It has an aspect of fear woven into it, one that affects mortals too.”

I opened my mouth, then closed it. I hesitated, and Nath let out an eerie laugh.

“Oh, don’t worry. It is not infested.”

I glanced at her, not trusting her an inch. “The stories say you trap most of your marks like this. With gifts.”

I couldn’t find any signs of barbed thorns or creeping vines in the cloak, but that didn’t mean they weren’t there.

“I promise you this is no trick.” Nath shook her head so her mane of writhing black hair twisted into strange shapes. “I may call on your services again. I would rather you be… unspoiled.”

She’d already tried to curse me once, but that’d been before when Emma was still in line to inherit a kingdom. Probably she’d wanted me as the girl’s champion.

I still took the time to look for a hidden trick. No matter how hard I looked with my eyes or my aura, I couldn’t find any signs of a trap.

Even still, the cloak was a fell thing. Elf-make like my armor and axe, it had a sort of life in it. I could feel the aspect Nath had mentioned. Wearing this would add to my own supernatural visage.

No use tiptoeing around. This is what you’ve chosen. I let my tattered old rag fall to the ground and donned the new cloak. It wrapped easily about my neck, almost up to my chin, hugging close to my skin as though relieved to be worn. It fell down to the forest floor like deep crimson liquid, its folds shifting subtly in an unseen wind.

Creepy. And damn comfortable.

“Thanks,” I said. “It’s very, uh… ominous.”

“Isn’t it?” Nath pressed a hand to her cheek, admiring me. “Flatterer.”

I turned to go, then paused. “I should thank you.”

Nath quirked an eyebrow. “Hm?”

I half turned to face the Onsolain. “At the Circle of Doom… Eanor was there because of you, wasn’t she? I don’t think that would have turned out the way it did had there not been someone sympathetic to Emma’s plight.”

Nath lifted both her hands in a dismissive gesture. “Oh, my beloved twin does have a weakness for causes tragic and romantic. I may have ensured a little bird whispered in her ear, but who can know such things?”

Donnelly. I owed him thanks as well.

“What happened to the real Vanya?” I asked.

Nath considered. “She died in her sleep. A problem with her brain. You mortals can be so fragile… I caught her soul and trapped it in the body, but not for free. We share time now. Sometimes she is herself, and sometimes she is me. Hannah still has her mother, though the girl is sensitive. She senses my shadow.”

“And you’re alright with that?” I asked. “Splitting yourself with a mortal?”

Nath’s empty eyes seemed to grow remote. “There are many things I have not yet experienced. Besides, this is but one of my shadows. It can spare time to play house. She did have an attraction to you, you know. Vanya, I mean. That kiss was all her, even if I interfered.”

“Best she forget about me. I was never going to be able to stay, and her life is haunted enough.”

I started to turn, then paused. “I don’t understand what you gained from this. Emma deserves some answers, Nath.”

“She deserves nothing,” the Onsolain intoned. “She has been given all the tools necessary to claim what she desires. That was the role I played as her patron. I taught her how to navigate these paths — let us consider this a test. Perhaps she will surprise us both?”

I scoffed. “It’s always a goring test with you immortals. It’s like half of you are senile and the rest are children, playing with ants.”

Nath wagged a finger through the air, flashing pale teeth. “Hope your gods are like children, mortal, for children can be pleased. An absent power is only void, and that is a truly terrible thing.”

“I’m not a priest,” I said. “You can’t goad me by making allusions to God. And I’m not here to discuss theology.”

“Wrong.” Nath paused next to me, looking down from her towering height. “That is exactly what we discuss today. I placed you here and interfered in this matter because I wanted an answer.”

I felt wary of this close distance between us. “An answer to what?”

“My own fate.” She closed her eyes and tilted her head upward. A wind disturbed the forest. I shuddered, unsure why.

“I will rejoin the Choir,” Nath said in almost a whisper. “I will be Onsolain again. Perhaps the Briar will disavow me for it… in fact, I suspect they will. Even so, greater engines are beginning to shift and I…”

She turned her head and looked at me. “I wish to see it again. That light. When the time comes and the Gates open, I will fight to reclaim what was lost long ago. The dream of mine own kingdom was a pretty thing, but fleeting.”

I had the strong sensation that I’d just witnessed something… not historic. That wasn’t the right word. Something mythic. A decision that would echo through time and alter currents I couldn’t fathom.

For Nath it was a choice made quietly, without drama or fanfare, in this quiet countryside with only the wind, the trees, and one frustrated mortal to hear it. I suspected she’d been contemplating this very choice back in that starlit glade we’d last spoken in, while she’d listened to the stars, meditated, and dreamed of war.

I wondered what had happened to the preoster, Eskander. Against my better judgement I asked.

Nath did not smile when she answered. “He broke.”