The Skull Throne

The Par’chin opened the door, casting light on the man and woman, clad only in their bidos, imprisoned within.

Shanjat and Shanvah looked up from their embrace, squinting in the sudden light.

8 (#ulink_3c10f81c-f861-535f-9e86-585070d9e96a)

The True Warrior (#ulink_3c10f81c-f861-535f-9e86-585070d9e96a)

333 AR Autumn

‘Deliverer!’ Shanjat and Shanvah leapt to their feet, moving to stand apart. Without veil or robe, there was nothing to hide the blush of their skin or the guilty looks on their faces.

Indeed, their auras matched the look, shame and embarrassment palpable. Jardir assessed the situation, and his eyes darkened. Even if Shanvah had lain with him willingly, she was Shanjat’s daughter, and Jardir’s niece. Whether his spirit was penitent or not, Jardir would have no choice but to sentence his old friend to death.

He considered the thought grimly. Shanjat had served him loyally since the two of them were children in sharaj, and proven a good husband for his sister Hoshvah. More, Jardir needed Shanjat and the Sharum he commanded at his side when the First War began in full. Perhaps he could commute the sentence until after Sharak Ka. Give his loyal servant a chance to die on alagai talons and bring that his honour with him on the lonely path before he stood before Everam to be judged.

‘Forgive us, Deliverer, we have failed you!’ Shanjat cried before Jardir could utter a word. He and Shanvah fell to their knees, pressing hands and foreheads to the dirt floor. ‘I swear by Everam we tried every method in our power to escape and continue our search for you, but the Par’chin—’

‘—is using hora magic to strengthen our cell,’ Shanvah cut in. Her fingernails were raw and dirty. In wardsight, Jardir could see the scratches where she and her father had tested every inch of their prison.

He looked around the room, seeing no robes or veils. Of course the Par’chin would have stripped and searched them before imprisoning them. Even he was not such a fool as to leave them tools to escape. The only other thing in the room was a covered chamber pot, too small and fragile to make an effective weapon.

Suddenly Jardir was the one to feel ashamed. Was the caress of parent and child, trapped in a lightless cell, a crime? He had been ready to assume the worst, to sentence one of his oldest friends to death, when his only guilt stemmed from the fear they had failed in their duty to him.

‘Always quick to turn on a friend,’ the Par’chin murmured, and Jardir gritted his teeth.

‘Rise in honour, brother, niece,’ he said. ‘The Par’chin is beyond your power. There is no shame in defeat at his hands.’

Both stayed on their knees. When Shanjat hesitated, Shanvah spoke in his place. ‘It was not the Par’chin who captured us, Deliverer.’

Most fathers would have been enraged at the face lost having their daughter speak for them before the Deliverer, but Shanjat only looked at her with gratitude, and a pride Jardir had not seen him show either of his sons.

‘Was me,’ the Par’chin’s jiwah said. Jardir turned a sceptical eye on her. He knew the woman was formidable, but Shanjat and his daughter were kai’Sharum, Krasian warrior elite.

Shanvah raised her eyes to give the Par’chin’s jiwah an appraising look. ‘Her sharusahk is pathetic, Deliverer. A child could defeat her. But her magic is strong. Even with our night strength, she was beyond us. Our shields and spears lay broken.’

The words sent anguish through Shanvah’s aura. Jardir Drew through her as the Par’chin had taught him, seeing a vision around her. Inevera commanding Shanvah to seek the missing Deliverer. Her first assignment, one of such immense honour she could barely contain her pride. A chance to show the Deliverer and Damajah her worth.

And she had failed. Utterly.

Another vision arose, her defeat at the hands of the Par’chin’s jiwah.

‘The Par’chin brought me down in the same way, niece,’ he said. ‘You have been trained well, but you would be unwise to challenge his Jiwah Ka …’—he met Renna’s eyes—‘… in the night. In day, she will be more vulnerable to sharusahk, and no match for you.’

The Par’chin’s jiwah glared at him. Jardir felt the weight of auras shift as face in the room was restored to balance. Shanvah looked at Renna in a new way. A predator’s appraisal.

Jardir waved for his warriors to rise and turned angrily to face the Par’chin. ‘If my brother-in-law and niece have been mistreated …’