The Fateless: Errata

by Seri Anne Lynn

  The explosions intensified. Horrifying screams erupted along with windows shattering and the sound of engines roaring through the streets creating a deafening symphony of terror.

  Aidan fought back the panic that was welling up in him as he and Tat hurriedly guided the slogbotton out of the stall. Thankfully, the creature didn’t seem to be all that alarmed as it was used to loud noises and carrying on from the Fae folk, or perhaps it was because Tat had thought to grab a feed bag to lure it out with. She was definitely resourceful, there was no denying that.

  They spotted Tybor and Rowen carrying the crazy looking contraption. Rowen called out for Aidan to assist them, so he quickly passed the reins over to Tat.

  It didn’t take much of an effort to hitch the single-car to the slogbotton once Tat successfully led it down the ramp and into the pit, thanks to the couple of weeks’ worth of practice they’d had of getting the harnesses on and off the creature. While Aidan and Rowen finished securing it, Tat and Tybor loaded all their packs to the top being sure to lash them tightly into place.

  Before any of them could even ask what to do next, Tybor lowered a small rope with slats, a makeshift ladder attached to the single-car frame under the door and ordered them inside. After they were safely in, the agile elf shut the door. Hanging onto a small step and rail, he grabbed the reins, directing the slogbotton onto the southern outbound track.

  Reaching the track, instinct took hold and its stout legs began pounding in place, sounding to Aidan like a jackhammer. It was good that the single-car had a great shock system, without it, it would jar them unmercifully.

  Those who have studied physics would have said that the way the slogbotton generally traveled would be impossible, and if you stopped and watched the action of the beasts dragging the skitterdus it would have seemed like the slogbotton’s legs disappeared altogether. But the truth was it moved so fast that the human and generally most fae eyes couldn’t see it. The truth is slogbotton don’t step forward at all, the sheer force of their legs pounding propels it forward like magic, defying the pull of gravity.

  After the slogbotton gained momentum and picked up speed, Tybor knocked, then opened the single-car door and slid on the bench seat next to Rowen across from Tat and Aidan. Sitting stark silent they let the pace of their hearts settle to a normal rhythm.

  Rowen wanted to begin his long-waited interrogation on Tybor, but even he needed a moment to collect himself and process what had just happened.

  Tat did everything in her power to not start crying, but she simply couldn’t hold it in any longer. How could they leave Tok behind? She didn’t care why all of this was happening or even what it was that was actually happening. The only thoughts that entered her mind was why it was necessary to leave Tok? Anger welled up inside of her and she was just about to tell them all just how she felt about it when a thump sounded on top of the car.

  Flinching, not knowing what to expect, Tat squeezed Aidan’s arm. Tybor unsheathed a dagger from somewhere that none of them had seen. Rowen started to ask a question, probably a general ‘what was that’, but Tybor put his fingers to his lips signaling for them all to be silent.

  Shoving open the door Tybor was back out again. Rowen leaned over and tried to peek through the cracks of the shuttered window but could see nothing. What was going on? Was it some kind of intruder, perhaps one of the devotees that were bombing the town?

  A few seconds later Tybor swung back down and entered the car. His blade had been sheathed again and in the crook of one of his arms was Tok. “See, I’s tol’ ya de critter woul’ be fine.”

  Chapter Ten

  Answers

  T he two bench seats in the single-car allowed them to face one another. The seating arrangement permitted Tybor to wait until he saw they had caught their breaths and had once again become agitated.

  Rowen was right, they deserved an explanation, he was just uncertain as to how much information he should give them. He decided to wait until their faces became more or less expressionless before even trying. This bought him some time considering Tat continued to cry a bit even after having Tok safe and sound in her lap as she stroked her fur.

  “A’ight, le’s have it. I says I’ll tell ya, so’s I will,” he cut Rowen off just as he was about to speak. “But first ya need ta know, dere are dings I can’t say. So watcha wanna know ‘bout first?”

  All three of them began questioning him with different questions at the same time: “I still can’t believe we were just going to leave Tok! What was that all about anyway?”, “I want to know everything, like why you insisted on coming with us and then just up and left. And where have you been man?”, “This is all crazy. Are you some kind of spy?”

  “Ok. How’s ‘bout one atta time,” he snickered.

  “You think this is funny!” Rowen’s temper flared. “We’ve been starving ourselves, and working ourselves to death, for weeks, and you’ve been doing what exactly?”

  “Well ya look fine ta me; you migh’ smell like a rottin’ corpse, but ya dun look like one,” he dismissed Rowen’s outrage with a smirk. “An’ like I said, dere are some dings I can’t answer. What I can say is dis, I gots obligations to da Crown. An’ you know it, so dun go lookin’ so shocked. I been takin’ care of you’n.”

  “Taking care of us? You jerk! Leaving us in a washed-up hick town to fend for ourselves, that’s how you take care of us?” Rowen balled his fists then crossed his arms across his chest, fearing if he didn’t he would actually take a swing at his old friend.

  “It was da best place, given da circumstances. ‘Sides, I knew Perry an’ ol’ Gorvin woul’ make sure you’n be fine once dey knew who ya were. An’ it didn’t hurt nothin’ fer you’n ta do a lil work. An’ le’s’n forget it gots ya some spendin’ money outta da deal.”

  “You’ve been gone for weeks! And–”

  Tybor cut Rowen’s tirade short, “I’s truly sorry ‘bout dat. I didn’t intend fer it to take as long as it did. Fer all da good it did...” he trailed off, lost in his thoughts for a moment. “But anyway, you’n safe now an’ we’re headed where we need ta be. No need ta keep harpin’ ‘bout da past.”

  Rowen started to finish getting it all off his chest, but Aidan interrupted, “So you are a spy then?”

  “Like I said, I got obligations. If’n you wanna call it dat, den I suppose you’s can.”

  “Of course he’s a spy man, they’re all spies and assassins. The whole damn Envarian elf race, every damn one of ‘em trained in espionage and how to kill you in more ways than you can count since they’re old enough to stand up straight. Most everyone knows that; thought you’d figure it out by now. It’s not like I haven’t been telling you all about it.”

  “I can’t keep up with all this crap. It’s all too political for me. Envarians, Aelish, Myrr, Devotees, Braegins... It’s not like I’ve been dragged here from another world or anything.”

  At the mention of ‘being dragged here’ Tat looked as if she were about to burst into tears again then tried to hide her face in the palm of her hands.

  “Aw dammit man, not this again!” Rowen scolded Aidan. “You know your girlfriend gets worked up when you bring that up.”

  “She’s not my girl–”

  “No, I’m definitely not!” Tat spat it out like a slap to the face. “It’s just… I’m just… I just don’t understand what’s happening is all.”

  “What is happening?” Rowen directed the conversation back to Tybor, “I mean I know there’s been skirmishes with the devotees for a while, but what is this shit about a war and all? Where did you disappear to? And how the hell do you know Gorvin well enough for him to give you the keys to the stalls? And Miss Perry, is she some kind of boss of yours... and what the fuck is up with that accent?”

  Tybor sighed, not caring for Rowen’s language or his attitude. This would be a long explanation, but it’s not like they didn’t have time, especially since the trip to Graymark border would take a while.

  He began b
y explaining that the devotees were a sordid group of Fae rebels that organized against the Elven Crown. Their mission was to see the Queen dethroned, and the Royal Envarian lines deceased, putting an end to the Crown’s imperial rule over most of the Otherworld.

  He told them the story of when he was young and how many of them fled to the Notherworld, living in disguise amongst the humans to avoid getting caught up in any civil unrest. Most were satisfied with living in the human world, but some decided the Otherworld had way too many problems and it was hard for them to adapt to the humans’ frivolous lifestyles; so some eventually returned.

  “Hold on a minute,” Aidan interrupted Tybor’s Envarian history lesson, “I thought us humans couldn’t see your kind unless they were Errata.”

  “Dat woul’ be true if’n elves were purely fae, but we’s not. Somewheres down da line we gots a common ancestor, or dat’s da best guess anyway, but de Fate’s seals still protect us some. It camouflages our skin color an’ ear shape, making us look human ta dem.”

  “So you’re saying that elves live with humans in the Otherworld?” Aidan gasped, the thought of this never crossed his mind.

  “Yup, elves, dwarves, dwyver, and even some fae an’ o’ers if’n dey got some kinda magick amulet er somethin’ so your kin’ can’t see deir true forms.”

  “That...” Aidan stammered, “that’s just... not right!”

  “An’ why ain’t it? Da humans near destroyed our worl’ den go off an’ get deir own worl’ an’ leave us wid da leftovers. Is dat righ’ den? An’ you’s gonna tell me dat if dey know ‘bout us, dey wouldn’t be o’er here in a heartbeat tryin’ ta take dis place o’er again too?”

  Aidan paused. Tybor had a point. Not one that he cared for, but he had a valid argument and now he understood why it was so important that no one else became Errata.

  “Man, this is all ancient history, no point in getting worked up over it now,” Rowen put in his opinion on the subject. “And what’s any of that got to do with all this going on now anyhow?”

  “Well, if you’n ‘ll lets me, I’ll tell ya,” Tybor grumbled then continued explaining. His immediate family were some of the ones that chose to stay in the Otherworld, settling around the southern part of the United States near New Orleans, back when most of the swampier area was still untouched and the rest of the area was just starting to be populated as a French territory.

  They chose the swampy woodlands that allowed for them to stay rural and away from most humans. It also wasn’t much different from the usual Octaginaw lands his family were familiar with. This allowed for him to continue a typical Envarian upbringing, but it was close enough to human civilization to allow for a cultural education there as well.

  “It was dere a few hundred years later dat I’d met Emelda, in her younger years,” he reminded Rowen before continuing.

  “So Amma lived near you or something?” Rowen asked trying to piece together what he was hearing now with what his amma had mentioned in the past.

  “Nope, but she was down stayin’ with some distant cousins or somethin’. Some of Fortuna’s people dere used ta trade horses wid my ol’ man an’ dat’s how I met her. An’ we fell in love an’ dere was nothin’ I wouldn’t do fer her since. She was the main reason I even went back to de Notherworld. She’d just been learnin’ ‘bout her people and wanted to explore where dey first come from.”

  Time, as they all knew by now, moved differently in each world and much had changed, he continued to explain. Upon one of his many return trips through the gates from visiting Emelda, he was captured and imprisoned, then conscripted into an Envarian training camp. Given his prior knowledge of other cultures they enlisted him into the espionage division in service to the Crown.

  He’d worked diligently; serving as a pitter for Gorvin by day and any other available time he spent doing special training and missions for his fellow Envarians in the Queen’s service. Eventually, they awarded him an Ambassadorship and allowed him back in the Otherworld where he could be reunited with his family and the woman he loved.

  He admitted to Emelda that he was divided by his pledge of love to her and his duty to the Crown. They decided that to have a daily romantic life together wouldn’t serve either of them, so they chose to live separately but agreed to maintain contact with each other.

  If Rowen hadn’t known any better, he would have sworn that bit of recollection had almost brought a tear to Tybor’s eye, but maybe now wasn’t the time to bring it up. Besides the whole thought of him with his amma had him feeling queasy anyway.

  “So where does Miss Perry fit into all of this?” Aidan nonchalantly asked as soon as Tybor stopped talking.

  “Yeah I’d like to know that too,” Rowen added.

  “A’ight, yes. I’mma subordinate ta Miss Perry in rank in de Imperial Service, an’ a subordinate in da Queen’s rank only. We trained toge’er an’ had become kinda close, but she made de military her main goal in life an’ I had Emelda. Miss Perry’s ‘Mistress of de Inn’ persona is jus’ a cover ta gain info an’ she uses dat place ta get her sources.

  Technically I gotta obey any order given to me by Miss Perry, but I got ‘o’er’ higher rankin’ bosses to answer to as well. An’ Miss Perry well knows it,” with that bit of info he cleared his throat hoping they’d let it drop now.

  “So you’re a soldier then?” Tatyana asked for clarification.

  “I’m suppose’n you’s can call it dat. Envarians are dutiful to de Crown, but sometimes dey serve as hired mercenaries to de highest payin’ client. Dey’s only devoted to de Crown, which means sometimes dey fight against one ano’er. I admit, I done some dings I’m not proud of because of dat. But I’s taught dat ‘the mission is all’ and dat’s words I live by.”

  Seeing that they were intently listening he explained that the Myrr and the Devotees had bad blood between them for going on forever it seemed so skirmishes there were no big deal, but lately the Devotees had crept in on other territories other than just the Octaginaws. Lately they’d stirred up similar problems with the Braegin.

  No one knew why the Devotees, or this one particular sect known as the ‘Minions of Khaos’ were encroaching on neutral territory, but it coincided with the most recent threat of an assassination attempt on the Queen’s life.

  Yon’s Pass was one of the designated neutral zones. Everyone knew that it was a skitterdu point; but it was also where the Envarians conducted their operations; and thus, labeled a neutral territory. And an act of violence on the neutral zones is considered an act of war.

  Generally, the Envarians had no play in the doings of the Devotees, unless hired for some scrupulous mission by the highest paying client. Tybor assured them that he knew nothing about this latest addition, the ‘Minions of Khaos’, and mumbled something about he didn’t even believe they were actually Devotees.

  Continuing, he explained he visited with the Crown’s council the past few weeks to discuss this new development. When Gyrren contacted him at the outpost just before they left, he relayed his new orders to attend. At the meeting he was given another order to do a reconnaissance mission for intel on the progression of the Devotees into the neutral zones.

  As feared, Tybor discovered the Devotees were planning to attack Yon’s Pass but hadn’t realized it would be so soon. After reporting his findings, they ordered him to report under Perry’s command. However other things happened, and that he told them he could not go into detail about.

  “Ok, but what about that damn accent!” Rowen bellowed. “You haven’t explained that yet. Earlier you were all proper sounding with Gorvin and now you’re back to talking like some ol’ Cajun back in the swamps. What gives? Why don’t you just talk normal in your normal voice all the time like everyone else?”

  “Dis is my normal voice, da one I grew up wid. I had ta learn ta speak like dat fer da Crown,” Tybor laughed. “Da Council deman’s it, says dey can’s un’nerstan’s me at times. So’s when’s I speak to ‘em or gots Crown business I use dat
voice.”

  “So what you’re saying is, Gorvin is on the Crown’s council?” Aidan questioned.

  “Well, I didn’t mean ta, but I guess ya figur’d dat out, so, yeah I guess so.”

  “So that’s where the jackass went that week and why he gave you the keys. Damn. Well that just blew my mind.” Rowen shook his head, surprised that Aidan had figured that little bit of information out before he did.

  “Well dat, an’ I his adopted son.”

  “What?” shocked; they all simultaneously asked.

  “Dey banished my birth parents from dis world fer abandonin’ it. By da law of da Crown, in deir eye’s, dey’s was good as dead. So when I returned an’ still a youth an’ all, dey labeled me an orphan. It was necessary ta be adopted in order ta be trained an’ go inta service. I didn’t care fer dat, but it was better den da alternative of bein’ in prison.

  “Gorvin’s da only one who’d do it. Guess he figured cheap labor an’ all, but de ol’ hard sod sof’n’d ta me in time, an’ treated me like a son. Dat’s how I knew youn’s woul’ be a’ight. ‘Tween him an’ Perry, youn’s were in good hands.”

  “You know, I get that you can’t tell us everything,” Rowen pointedly chided, “but there are some things we should know beforehand. If you got any other grand ideas like running off and leaving us with a bastard like that then tell us! I’ve had it with the surprises, and you being a jerk all the time.”

  “Once again, as I says before, I tell ya if’n I can. Past dat you’n need ta know dat dis now is my main mission, ta get ya to Breah Dorn safely. An’ da mission is all.

  “An’ furthermore, you’s got no call ta be talkin’ ta me like dat Rowen. I know yer amma an’ yer mama taught you to respect yer elders better ‘en dat. An’ I ‘bout fed up wid it.

  “I knows dere were explanations I needed ta give you’ns fer my delay, but I done dat. Now I goin’ ta tell all uv ya righ’ here an’ now how dis is goin’ ta go from dis point out. You’s three are jus’ kids an’ I expect ya’ll ta min’ me an’ do as I say. Dere’s dangers out dere dat I doubt any of you’s have even imagined an’ I’s here to protect you’s from it. As I said, it’s my main mission–”