The Skull Throne

This time it was Wonda who spat. ‘Core they are.’

Jayan stepped in, balling a fist as if to strike her, but Renna Tanner moved to interpose herself. The wards on her skin flared, and even Inevera’s impulsive eldest son thought better of challenging her. It would not do to be beaten down by a woman before the very men he must convince to let him take the throne.

Jayan turned back to his mother. ‘And the spear?’ he demanded.

‘Lost,’ Inevera said. ‘It will be found again when Everam wills it, and not before.’

‘So we are to simply give up?’ Asome asked. ‘Leave Father to his fate?’

‘Of course not.’ Inevera turned to Shanjat. ‘Find the trail again and hunt. Follow every bent blade of grass and loose pebble. Do not return without the Deliverer or reliable news of his fate, even if it takes a thousand years.’

‘Yes, Damajah.’ Shanjat punched his chest.

Inevera turned to Shanvah. ‘Go with your father. Obey and protect him on his journey. His goal is your goal.’

The young woman bowed silently. Ashia squeezed her shoulder and their eyes met, then father and daughter were off.

Leesha turned to Wonda. ‘You have a look as well, but be back in an hour.’

Wonda grinned, showing a confidence that filled Inevera with envy. ‘Wan’t planning to hunt till my hair turns grey. Deliverer comes and goes, but he’ll be back, you’ll see.’ A moment later she, too, was gone.

‘Goin’ too,’ Renna said, but Leesha caught her arm.

The woman glared at her. Leesha quickly let go but did not back down. ‘Stay a moment, please.’

Even the Northerners are afraid of the Par’chin and his woman, Inevera noted, filing the information away as the two women moved off to speak in private.

‘Ashan, walk with me,’ she said, looking to the Damaji. The two of them stepped away as the others remained dumbstruck.

‘I cannot believe he is gone,’ Ashan said, his voice hollow. He and Ahmann had been as brothers for over twenty years. He had been the first dama to support Ahmann’s rise to Shar’Dama Ka, and believed in his divinity without question. ‘It seems like a dream.’

Inevera did not preamble. ‘You must take the Skull Throne as Andrah. You are the only one who can do it without inciting a war and hold it against my husband’s return.’

Ashan shook his head. ‘You are mistaken if you think that, Damajah.’

‘It was the Shar’Dama Ka’s wish,’ Inevera reminded him. ‘You swore an oath before him, and me.’

‘That was if he were to fall in battle at Waning, with all to see,’ Ashan said, ‘not killed by a greenlander on some forgotten mountainside. The throne should go to Jayan or Asome.’

‘He told you his sons were not ready for that burden,’ Inevera said. ‘Do you think that has changed in the last fortnight? My sons are cunning, but they are not yet wise. The dice foretell they will tear Everam’s Bounty asunder vying for the throne, and should one climb to the top of the bloodied steps and sit, he will not rise on his father’s return.’

‘If he returns,’ Ashan noted.

‘He will,’ Inevera said. ‘Likely with all the Core behind him. When he does, he will need all the armies of Ala to answer his call, and have neither time nor desire to kill his son to regain control.’

‘I don’t like it,’ Ashan said. ‘I have never coveted power.’

‘It is inevera,’ she told him. ‘Your likes are irrelevant, and your humility before Everam is why it must be you.’

‘Be quick,’ Renna said, as Leesha led her aside. ‘Wasted enough time already waitin’ on you lot. Arlen’s out there somewhere and I need to find him.’

‘Demonshit,’ Leesha snapped. ‘I don’t know you that well, Renna Bales, but well enough to know you wouldn’t have waited ten seconds on me if your husband was still unaccounted for. You and Arlen planned this. Where has he gone? What’s he done with Ahmann?’

‘Callin’ me a liar?’ Renna growled. Her brows tightened, fingers curling into fists.

For some reason, the bluster only made Leesha all the more sure of her guess. She doubted the woman would really strike her, but she held a pinch of blinding powder and would use it if need be.

‘Please,’ she said, keeping her voice calm. ‘If you know something, tell me. I swear to the Creator you can trust me.’

Renna seemed to calm a bit at that, relaxing her hands, but she held them palms up. ‘Search my pockets, you’ll find no answers.’

‘Renna,’ Leesha struggled to maintain her composure, ‘I know we had an ill start. You’ve little reason to like me, but this isn’t a game. You’re putting everyone at risk by keeping secrets.’

Renna barked a laugh. ‘If that ent the night callin’ it dark.’ She poked Leesha in the chest, hard enough to knock her back a step. ‘You’re the one got the demon of the desert’s baby in your belly. You think that ent puttin’ folk at risk?’

Leesha felt her face go cold, but she bulled forward, lest her silence confirm the guess. She lowered her voice to a harsh whisper. ‘Who told you that nonsense?’

‘You did,’ Renna said. ‘I can hear a butterfly flap its wings across a cornfield. Arlen, too. We both heard what you said to Jardir. You’re carrying his child, and setting the count up to take the blame.’

It was true enough. A ridiculous plot of her mother’s that Leesha had foolishly brought to fruition. It was doubtful the deception would last past the child’s birth, but that was seven months to prepare – or run and hide – before the Krasians came for her child.

‘All the more reason I find out what happened to Ahmann,’ Leesha said, hating the pleading tone that had slipped into her voice.

‘Ent got a notion,’ Renna said. ‘Wastin’ time should be spent lookin’.’

Leesha nodded, knowing when she was beaten. ‘Please don’t tell Thamos,’ she said. ‘I’ll tell him in time, honest word. But not now, with half the Krasian army just a few miles off.’

Renna snorted. ‘Ent stupid. How’d a Gatherer like you get pregnant, anyway? Even a dumb Tanner knows to pull out.’

Leesha dropped her eyes, unable to keep contact with Renna’s intense gaze. ‘Asked myself that same question.’ She shrugged. ‘History’s full of folk whose parents knew better.’

‘Din’t ask about history,’ Renna said. ‘Asked why the smartest woman in the Hollow’s got wood for brains. No one ever tell you how babes are made?’

Leesha bared her teeth at that. The woman had a point, but she’d no right to judge. ‘If you won’t tell me your secrets, I’ve no reason to trust you with mine.’ She swept a hand out at the valley. ‘Go. Pretend to look for Arlen till we’re out of sight, then go and meet him. I won’t stop you.’

Renna smiled. ‘As if you could.’ She blurred and was gone.

Why did I let her get to me? Leesha wondered, but her fingers slipped to her belly, and she knew full well.

Because she was right.

Leesha had been drunk on couzi the first time she’d kissed Ahmann. She hadn’t planned to stick him that first afternoon, but neither had she resisted when he moved to take her. She’d foolishly assumed he wouldn’t spend in her before marriage, but Krasians considered it a sin for a man to waste his seed. She’d felt him increase his pace, beginning to grunt, and could have pulled away. But a part of her had wanted it, too. To feel a man pulse and jerk within her, and corespawn the risk. It was a thrill she’d ridden to her own crescendo.

She’d meant to brew pomm tea that night, but instead found herself kidnapped by Inevera’s Watchers, ending the night battling a mind demon by the Damajah’s side. Leesha took a double dose the next day, and every time they had lain together since, but as her mentor Bruna said, ‘Sometimes a strong child finds a way, no matter what you do.’

Inevera eyed Thamos, the greenland princeling, as he stood before Ashan. He was a big man, tall and muscular but not without a share of grace. He moved like a warrior.

‘I expect you’ll want your men to search the valley,’ he said.