Peter Brett - The Core

Inevera blinked as Asome looked down at his pillow. ‘Perhaps he took her on this very spot! She was a filthy chin , of course, but comely enough, if one likes that sort of thing. I hear you redecorated with fire when they were done.’

He knew how to cut at her. Inevera gave him credit for that. She bent against wind of it, face serene, giving him nothing. ‘And where did you kneel, when you sucked Cashiv’s cock?’

Asome’s grin was wicked. ‘I won’t be sucking Cashiv’s cock. That will be Grandfather Kasaad’s duty, if you do not return Kaji to me. At least, until Cashiv decides to kill him.’

For a moment Inevera lost her centre. An instant only, but Asome did not miss it, his aura showing satisfaction at the tiny victory.

‘Your father forgave Kasaad’s sins,’ Inevera said. ‘He will go clean to Everam.’

‘He murdered your brother for being push’ting ,’ Asome said. ‘Perhaps that is why you hid them from us. You knew I might not be as forgiving as Father.’

‘Shar’Dama Ka must be merciful,’ Inevera said.

‘Only Everam’s mercy is infinite.’ Asome shrugged. ‘You have kept our families so separate that I will not weep at the loss.’

Inevera herself had only recently reconciled with her father over the crime. It weighed on her, but there was never a choice. Her prisoners were her strongest leverage against Asome, and she could not give that up, even for her father’s life. ‘And Manvah?’

‘Will be kept safely in my custody,’ Asome said. ‘Accorded every courtesy befitting the mother of the Damajah. As I trust my Tikka is.’

Inevera gave a shallow nod. ‘Of course. Now let us discuss your failure to bring the Majah into the fold as you stumbled up the seven steps.’

Irritation pricked Asome’s aura even as he smiled. ‘How is it different from Father’s own rise? Father, too, was unable to quell the Majah fully. They have been a plague on unity since Kaji defeated Majah in Domin Sharum three thousand years ago.’

‘If you had waited until Maji was older …’

Asome waved the idea away. ‘I knew my brother better than you, Mother. I grew up with him in Sharik Hora. He was never going to grow enough to defeat Aleverak, hora stones or no. It was inevera he fail.’

‘And what was your plan in that eventuality?’ Inevera asked.

‘There are only two choices,’ Asome said. ‘Find something that will appease them into accepting the new order, or force them into submission.’

‘At what cost?’ Inevera asked. ‘The Majah are too numerous. Open war will destroy our forces just as Sharak Ka is nigh.’

‘We could let them go,’ Asome said, ‘but that weakens us as well. The greenlanders already outnumber us.’

Inevera reached into her hora pouch, producing her electrum-coated dice. ‘These are questions for Everam.’

Inevera raised her curved knife. ‘Hold out your arm.’

Aleveran’s aura was stone, but his eyes flicked to Chavis. The Damaji’ting gave a slight nod, and Aleveran rolled his sleeve, arm steady as he extended it.

She made a quick, shallow cut, enough blood for the spell and not a drop more. No need to antagonize the Majah any further.

‘Everam, Creator of Heaven and Ala, Giver of Light and Life, your children need guidance. Should Damaji Aleveran lead his people back to the Desert Spear?’

The dice flared as she shook. She and Chavis leaned in the moment the dice settled from her throw. Their eyes flicked from symbol to symbol, taking in the orientation of the dice to one another and to due east, where Everam’s light was born each day. Even then, there were many interpretations, all potential futures. Reading the most likely was an art dama’ting spent lifetimes perfecting, and even the most skilled often disagreed.

‘If the gates of the Desert Spear close behind the Majah, they will not open again without bloodshed.’ Inevera glanced at Chavis to see if she would dispute the reading, but the old woman only grunted in assent.

‘It is inevera ,’ Chavis said. ‘Ahmann Jardir was a false Deliverer, and his armies are destined to fail. The Desert Spear is our last hope.’

‘I do not know what they taught in the Chamber of Shadows when you were young, Damaji’ting,’ Inevera said, ‘but we teach nie’dama’ting not to assume what the dice do not tell.’

‘Perhaps our armies risk failure because the Majah desert in our hour of need,’ Asome noted. ‘Slinking away to hide like khaffit as all mankind unites against Nie.’

‘No one is uniting behind you, boy,’ Aleveran said. ‘Already your army is a fraction of your father’s, eroding more each day. Would you add warring in the streets to the attrition?’

‘I will make you leader of the council of Damaji , as your father was,’ Asome said. ‘You will stand above all save the throne.’

Aleveran shook his head. ‘To the abyss with your council. I will not bow to a man who broke sacred law to murder my father in the night.’

Inevera looked to Chavis. ‘Let us consult the dice again.’

‘You have had your question in Aleveran’s blood,’ Chavis said. ‘Now Asome will surrender his arm for a question of mine.’

Asome stiffened, pulling up to his full height. ‘I am Shar’Dama Ka. You presume to ask for my blood?’

‘Your blood now may spare the blood of many of our people,’ Chavis said. ‘If you are Shar’Dama Ka, you are wise enough to see that.’

Doubt flickered across Asome’s aura. He started to look to Inevera for advice, but thought better of it. He rolled his sleeve and held out his arm as Aleveran had.

‘Everam, Creator of Heaven and Ala, Giver of Light and Life,’ Chavis shook the dice after coating them in his blood, ‘your children need guidance. Should Damaji Aleveran bow before Asome asu Ahmann am’Jardir am’Kaji?’

She threw, and again the women bent together, studying the dice. As before, one answer was stronger than the others.

‘No.’

Inevera nodded to Asome, confirming the word as Chavis spoke it, but she could see he did not trust her.

‘If you cannot stay, take your people to Everam’s Reservoir,’ Asome said. ‘Fine lands, rich with water and as green as the Bounty. I give you those lands, to claim for Everam.’

Aleveran shook his head. ‘Take the land just as the waters of the fish men thaw and they renew their assaults? I will not be your buffer against the greenlanders after they scattered your brother’s armies. Take it yourself, and leave us Everam’s Bounty.’

‘I would sooner have your head,’ Asome growled.

‘Try and take it now,’ Aleveran dared. ‘Or let us go in peace, a last bulwark against the forces of Nie.’

Beware, sister, Jarvah’s fingers said. I have never seen the Damajah so angry.

Ashia found her centre in the comforting weight of Kaji sleeping in his sling as the Damajah stormed into the room. With the windows covered, she glowed and crackled in Everam’s light.

‘He has my family,’ the Damajah growled.

Ashia tilted her head. Her family? Ashia and her spear sisters were Inevera’s nieces after all. The Deliverer was lost, Jayan was dead, and Asome sat the throne. Who was she referring to? ‘Apologies, Damajah, but I do not understand.’

Inevera’s eyes found hers. The Damajah’s gaze was unnerving under any circumstances, but now it burned with such intensity, Ashia wished she could look away.