The Toll (81 page)

Nodding slowly, in understanding,
Atropos tilted her head a little, catching Clothos’ eye.

“
Will she hate us, do you
think?” Lachesis sniffled, stroking the Elemental’s long, red beard
as he pressed his lips gently to hers, tugging her closer. Lifting
her clean up off her feet to pull her to him tight, she sighed as
all that hot skin brushed against hers, a furnace, even with the
thick material of her billowing cape between them.

Unable to hold back a moment longer,
Fire took her lips ruthlessly, tasting her desperately. “A leg is
nothing, I’d pay that price and much more, take all your
punishments, if I could, to love you... I’d die for you,” he
murmured huskily.

“
And I you,” his love
whispered back.

“
We were sort of counting
on that,” Clothos called from off to their side, much closer than
one would have thought, considering what they were doing. Shrugging
helplessly as Atropos dealt the blow, jamming the lengthened
needle, long as a sword, right through Phaestus’ middle, into his
belt—his tether—angling it upward, and right into Lachesis. The
long end protruded from the middle Fate’s back as she gasped,
shrieking, clawing at Fire as he bellowed out in shocked
pain.

Gripping each other so hard their
nails dug into one another’s flesh, they both cried out, faces
creasing in agony.

As Clothos and Atropos watched on,
Lachesis forced her sightless eyes open, chest heaving, and smiled
slowly up at her siblings.

“
Thank you,” she garbled
out on a gurgling breath, before it became too difficult to speak,
tears streaming down her cheeks as her head shot back, body
bowing.

Holding a hand out to Clothos as the
Elemental’s legs gave out and he fell to his knees, clutching his
beloved to him tight as his powers bled from him, her life force
from hers, the bookend sisters wrapped two threads, one glowing
vibrant red, the other white and shimmering, around them, tying it
off as they tipped them to their sides.

“
Why?” Phaestus managed to
gasp out as blood bubbled from his lips.

Lachesis may have figured what they
were up to already, but Fire sure didn’t.

“
Some are meant to be one.
She would not have survived the loss of you. Find her on the
flipside,” Clothos murmured cryptically, eyeing their blood as it
pooled, deep blue and red swirling with silver, mixing together.
Her lips tipped up at Lachesis silly words, warming to the
ridiculous Earth phrase.

Pulling her scissors out, Atropos
ripped a seam in the fabric of this plane wide open, cutting out a
slow circle around them as she mouthed her question to Clothos.
‘How does one send others to Earth?’

“
I don’t know,” Clothos
shrugged helplessly as her eyes kept darting to Fire and Lachesis’
writhing, entwined bodies. Even now, they held tight to one
another, clinging in death and in life. “That is Lachesis’ job.
Think it, I’ll do the magicks, roll them in, and we’ll hope for the
best.

Nodding, Atropos walked around them,
dropped to her knees, and did as instructed as Clothos shouted, “To
Earth!” and they both shoved them into the black pit she’d just
made.

Poofing in a shower of shockingly red
dust and white smoke, the sisters closed the portal, sealing it
shut, and immediately clutched at each other, bereft at the loss of
their sibling.

“
It’s okay, you know,”
Clothos murmured quietly, pulling back. “I know what you’re going
to do, and it’s alright.”

‘
You cursed Magda, didn’t
you?’ Atropos signed.

Shrugging, the spinner glanced away.
“Maybe. Either way, she won’t be stealing any more magicks anytime
soon, no one the wiser.” Lips tipping up in a small smirk, she
chuckled. “We’ll just say, I put her away, but made sure to give
her company.”

Atropos’ eyes lit, thinking of the
lake, and they danced. Meeting Clothos’ gaze, she knew.

Just as fast, though, they
fell.

Brushing her fingers over her sister’s
hood, right where her ears should be, she mouthed, ‘You gave your
ears for my Vidi.’

“
Meh. Those old things?
They were ugly anyways,” the spinner muttered, lips quirking up in
one corner as she rolled her eyes. “Overrated, really. This way,
all I had to do was watch Lachesis when she gave over, instead of
listening to her insistent humming, as well.”

Standing up to pace back a ways,
Atropos held the needle out in front of herself, motioning her
sister forward. ‘What dimension should we weather?’

“
Together?” the pain in
Clothos’ eyes lifted, and Atropos smiled one of her full, rare
smiles.

‘
Of course. Did you think I
would be reborn without a partner in crime?’

“
Well, if you put it that
way... would it not be fitting to have all three?”

Both women smiled slowly, knowingly,
lips widening until they were grinning like mad women, opening a
seam to stand before it. Shortening the needle, they both took a
deep breath.

“
Being mortal is going to
hurt,” Clothos muttered.

‘
Living always does,’
Atropos signed, ‘but the journey will be well lived,’ climbing
inside. Holding onto the side, she waited until Clothos did the
same. Slicing their hands open, they both healed their seam, until
only their fingertips poked through, hanging onto this world by the
tips of their fingers.

“
I’m ready!” Clothos
shouted as the other world called to them, ready to suck them right
in.

Nodding, Atropos set the needle and
Clothos jumped towards her. Piercing them as they hugged and let
go, they both immediately shattered into a million brilliantly
colored pieces, like shimmering shades of a rainbow in a prism,
glittering the Earth sky, as they sped towards it, showering the
clear, midnight atmosphere with a thousand twinkling lights,
spreading generously across it.

Balls of burning gas millions of miles
away, they say? Or two Fates reborn?

The End, Though Not
Quite

Want more tales of Hegtrag
and all the realms attached? Humans and all those Other mixing? The
Cursed series, more to come soon, is where to get your
fix.

Periodically, I will also
be doing short novellas, peeks into Under, The Hill,
and Hearthe.

Want to know more about the
Elementals and where they ended up? Coming soon: The Elementals
series.

Bonus Short

“
Brother-cousins”

The barn door creaked and I poked my
head inside. Though it was still light out, I crept in and closed
the door as quietly as possible. Making myself comfortable in a
fresh pile of hay in the loft, I waited.

A calf bawled from somewhere below me,
crying out for its mother, but I studiously ignored it.

Was it odd that a man of my
age was hiding from his family?
I gave a
little mental shrug.
Maybe.
But it wouldn’t stop me.

Grandah had said Ma and Pa were
cursed, they all were, that it drove Pa crazy, until he’d wandered
off one day and never returned. Ma thought he took off on her, on
account of she’s so hideous, but I had a feeling, if anything, that
wasn’t the case.

If he was really going to
leave her,
I thought,
it would be because she’s so selfish.

Fingering her favored ruby necklace, I
couldn’t muster any real guilt or shame about the theft. She’d
taken so much, I saw no reasoning why I couldn’t put a claim on
this one measly bit.

I’d been planning to run off years
ago, but hadn’t a place to go, or the courage to leave. This year,
though, I’d found an out, and I was going to take it.

The woods would be the best path to
take, but I hadn’t a decent light, or the means to
navigate.

They say the Lux was
haunted, but I’d been to the lake
, the
Lady’s Lake.
Queasiness always rushed over
me whenever I tried to peer beneath the watery depths of what once
had been a large pond. For some unknown reason, it had expanded
years ago, before I’d been born, as if the ground had sunken in,
naturally making for room for it to fill, almost like magic. It was
a grave or something, I just knew it. Someone, or something, is or
was stuck down there.

They say you can feel a
person’s loss keenly, and though he’d been gone since I was a small
little thing, too young to remember him really, I always felt as if
Pa was somehow still alive. He doesn’t feel dead, just gone, if
that makes any sense.
But how could that
be so? Another curse, maybe?

No.
I shook it off.
He’s gone. Best let
sleeping dogs lie.

Unless... No. Couldn’t be.
And after all this time, how could he have survived down there? Eh,
no. Impossible.

“
Dame? Damian?” Grandah
shouted, voice as clear as a bell. Eyes widening, I burrowed into
the pile underneath me, holding perfectly still. My large frame,
much like my father’s, or so I’m told, was hard enough to
camouflage, let alone beneath a pile of straw. “You in here,
boy?”

The sound of steady footsteps as they
approached, had me biting my lip. The barn door creaked open slowly
and I heard him shuffle inside.

“
Damian? Damey-boy, you in
here?”

Frozen in place, I held
tight.

“
Look,” he said after a
long moment, “you know you don’t have to say yes to the lass. You
can always tell your ma no.” After a short pause, he chuckled. “Mm.
Forget I said anything. I know your ma. Maybe this way is best.” A
long sigh blasted through his lips and he clucked his tongue. “I’ll
leave a bit of coin in a sack for you by the door. I’ll put a bit
of extras in it too, you know, just in case.”

When I didn’t answer, he cleared his
throat hard. “You always were a good boy, Damian. Remind me of
your... of your...” His voice hitched but he forced himself to
continue, “Of your aunt.”

I’d heard of her, my
mother’s sister Daphedaenya, but not much. Everyone said she was a
witch, casting spells on unsuspecting people, siccing her troll on
them to gobble them up. Though I knew most of that to be hogwash,
it took me aback.
He thinks I’m like
her?

“
She was a good girl, and I
think we took advantage of her, didn’t appreciate her as we
shoulda. You... you’re a good boy, grandson, and I hope I’ve
changed my ways. I... I wish you luck.” About to step out, the door
creaking as it shifted open, he murmured, “I wish you happiness,
most of all, son. Don’t you worry about us any, you hear? I’m more
spry than I used to be, and I can mind things just fine. These old
bones aint up to quittin’ just yet, so you go and get you some.
Find a bit of happiness for me, for you.”

“
Thank you,” I called from
my hiding spot.

A deep chuckle left grandah’s throat
as my head popped up and I peered at him from over the
edge.

An older yet youthful face, set in
craggy laugh lines, surrounded by a thick thatch of red hair atop
his head, finished off with small but wide, watery blue eyes, full
of life, met mine.

‘
A curse is not always a
bad thing,’
he’d say, when I asked him why
he seemed to be getting younger and younger, instead of old like
grandmother. Giving himself over, grandah had said, made his
insides shine, the curse making sure his heart shone throughout. I
had to believe him, since Ma was so nasty, and she looked so
old.

“
I don’t guess I’ll be
seeing much of you, eh?” he said sadly, scratching at the stubble
on his cheeks, his thick, hardworking calloused hands rubbing
across his chin.

“
No,” I admitted without
any hesitation. My mother was not going to dictate my life for a
moment longer. Tonight, if all goes right, I’d be a free
man.
Well, uh... sort
of
, I corrected.

The Bridge Over Kellerman’s
Pond

Necklace in hand, I plunked down on
top of the newly redone bridge, trying to figure out my next move.
The water had long dried up, but the big ditch left behind was too
much to ask the more dainty sorts to cross. It looked good enough a
place as any to have a bit of a rest.

I had a long journey ahead, and the
rest stops would be few and far between. Sleeping in the woods was
my best likely option, especially if I was to travel all the way to
the sword master’s village for my apprenticeship. Fingering the
coins and the necklace in my pocket, along with the one grandah had
added to the bag, I might just have enough to get there. However
long that would take.

“
A toll,” a deep, snarly
voice rumbled, shaking the entire bridge in its wake.

Shooting up, I whirled around, gulping
hard when I got a good look at the interloper’s face.

A troll. Thick orange eyebrows and a
long, flat nose, set in a wide, granite hard grey face, eyes a
blazing electric blue, I blinked over at him, dumbfounded, my hands
going to my own thick mop of orange, the same as grandah’s, yet so
similar to this strange creature’s, fingering the lids of my own
wide blue eyes.