Page 183 of Of Empires and Dust
Amatkai rose from the chair, sweeping back his robes as he did.
Tanner lunged, aiming to smash the man to the floor. But before he could reach his target, his entire body froze, suspended in time as though caught in a web unseen. Panic slithered through him, his limbs refusing to respond to his commands.
Amatkai leaned over Ella and brushed a strand of hair from her face. “The paths we walk,” he said absently, “they are ever winding, ever twisting, ever turning. It can often be so difficult to see which path is the one I need, which path is the one that leads to…” He tilted his head to the side, listening. “Ahhh, finally.” He stood upright, and the invisible bonds holding Tanner dissipated.
Tanner crashed to the ground, pain burning in his finger.
Amatkai hunkered beside him, resting his elbows on his knees with the spryness of a teenager. “Don’t worry, you live on all variations of this path. As does she, but she will have a headache. I tried to avoid this.”
Tanner lifted his head to see Yana storming into the room, a knife gripped in each fist. She howled and launched herself at Amatkai. The man just flicked his wrist, and Yana flew across the room and crashed into the wall, steel clattering, her body twisting into a heap.
“Yana!” Tanner tried to haul himself up, but those same invisible bonds held him in place. He looked from Yana to Amatkai. “Release me! Now!”
Amatkai wagged a finger. “Sometimes it’s like herding children. Stay down. This will all be over soon. I promise you, this was the only path without bloodshed.”
Another voice sounded from the hallway, one Tanner didn’t recognise. Deep and calm. “Why am I not surprised to find you here?”
“Because you’re smarter than you look.” Amatkai stood, leaving Tanner pinned to the floor by whatever magic the man possessed.
Tanner stared across the room at Yana. She grunted, her chest rising and falling slowly. He tried to twist so he could look at the newcomer’s face, but it was as though a collar bound him in place.
“I brought your child home,” Amatkai said. “She will be here shortly.”
“Am I to thank you?” Irritation slipped into the stranger’s voice.
“It would be a welcome change.”
The stranger laughed, a harsh, insincere laugh. “Your blood killed three of mine to bring her here. Do you think me so blind I cannot see the work of your hand? You did not bring her here for me. You simply couldn’t find the path to keep me from her.”
“I did what I needed to do. Do you blame me?”
“You wouldn’t have made these mistakes in past lives.” A pair of dark leather boots came into Tanner’s view, travel-worn, a mix of dry and wet dirt on the soles.
“I simply play the game differently than I used to.”
“That is your problem. You’ve always seen this as a game.”
“And your problem is that you have not.” Amatkai’s voice grew sharper, more deliberate. “You have never seen the pieces, never understood the board. Heart over mind.”
“Loyalty over all.”
More footsteps sounded. Tanner recognised these. He could hear claws clicking against the stone – Aneera and the other Angan. He continued to try and lift his head, to push himself from the floor, but the unseen bonds around him had not weakened in the slightest.
“What will it be then?” Amatkai asked. “Blood or patience?”
“You already know the answer, or you wouldn’t be here,” the stranger said, his boots marking the floor as he moved around Amatkai, closer to Ella. “Now remove your hold on the Blessed One, and leave before I change my mind.”
Claws tapped against the stone, and Tanner could see three pairs of fur-covered feet moving through the room, low growls rumbling.
“Ah, a Blessed One… That explains it. I thought I was losing my touch. Of course.”
Almost instantly, Faenir howled and lunged from where he sat on Ella’s bed, his weight sending a vibration through the stone. The wolfpine’s head dropped so low his chin scraped the ground, and Tanner could see his lips pull back, exposing vicious white teeth. The guttural sound that came from the wolfpine’s throat set even Tanner’s hairs on end. It was a thing of fury and death.
And yet, Faenir didn’t attack. The wolfpine stayed low to the ground, snarling and snapping, but drew no closer to Amatkai.
“You’ve earned an enemy today,” the stranger said, moving closer to Faenir.
“A fang in the light is easier to see than a fang in the dark.” Amatkai walked towards the door. “That is something I’d hoped you’d learned by now. Your Fragment should be here shortly. Her blood is strong. But she is lucky Tamzin found her when she did. I would remind you of that. Our time is coming again. Thanks to my hand, the pieces in this game you so despise are coming together. If we walk the right path, the shadows will be our home no longer.”
