The Throne of Amenkor

by Joshua Palmatier

  “Tell me what you saw in the wreckage,” Eryn said curtly.

  I drew in a deep breath, then halted, not certain what to say. I’d been thinking about the remains of the ship since I’d seen it through Eryn’s eyes, had scrutinized the damage over and over in my mind, but I couldn’t figure out what had made Eryn so certain that the ship hadn’t been attacked by pirates.

  I looked at Eryn, then sighed. “I don’t know. I saw what you saw: the deck had been broken, the wood splintered as if the ship had been snapped in two. Captain Catrell reported that there were signs of a battle. Borund verified that it was a ship from Amenkor, one of his ships actually, the Tempest. And I saw the marks made by the fire on the deck. I know that’s what concerned you the most, but not why.”

  Eryn nodded, placed her hands in her lap and leaned forward intently. “The fire is the problem. If it hadn’t been for those markings, I would have concluded piracy as well, just as Captain Catrell did. But the fire . . . it wasn’t made naturally.”

  I frowned in consternation. Behind me, I felt Erick shift closer, grow more tense. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, the fire that helped to destroy that ship was controlled by the Sight. Think back on the markings. The scorch marks on the deck are too focused, the damage confined to a narrow path. And that path isn’t even linear. The markings on the deck ran straight and true, and then veered off sharply in another direction. Fire doesn’t behave that way naturally. This fire was guided.” Eryn sighed. “My guess is that whoever attacked the ship had the help of someone with the Sight. That person used the fire to target people.”

  I thought back to the shattered decking Eryn had leaned over on the beach, saw her tracing out the path of the fire with one hand, the way that path angled sharply away from the opening that would have led down to the hold.

  In my mind’s eye, I saw one of the deckhands on the ship running, terrified, fire scorching along the deck behind him. I saw him turn when he reached the opening in the deck in an attempt to escape, saw the fire turn to follow.

  There would be no escape from such an attack.

  I shuddered, looked up into Eryn’s eyes again with an expression of horror.

  Erick stepped forward. “How does that rule out piracy? Couldn’t the pirates have someone like Varis with them? Someone who learned to control the Sight on her own?”

  Eryn’s brow creased in thought. “It’s possible, but unlikely. Controlling fire in such a specific way . . . that requires training. It’s not something most of the Servants in the palace could do even after training. You have to have power, and you have to have an extreme force of will, a focus that doesn’t typically come naturally to anyone with the Sight.”

  “Could you do it?”

  Eryn turned toward me, thought for a moment, then nodded. “Yes. I’m not sure how, precisely. I’ve never seen it done before, never even really thought about trying it. Fire isn’t solid, rigid, like stone. It’s too flexible. And because it’s so amorphous, it would require much more power to mold, to shape and control it in a precise way. But with enough time I think I could figure out how.”

  Short, succinct, matter-of-fact. It was a small reminder that Eryn was powerful, even without the throne behind her. And it sent a shudder down into my core.

  I shifted uncomfortably on the stone bench.

  Erick had begun pacing. “How can we be certain that it isn’t pirates? And if it isn’t, who else could it be?”

  Eryn shifted. “The only other possibility along the coast is Venitte. The men at their school would have the training necessary to direct fire, but I don’t think they’d have anyone with enough power to actually do it.”

  “We keep coming back to Venitte,” I murmured.

  Eryn frowned. “I know. It’s becoming harder and harder for me to convince myself that somehow, in some way, March isn’t behind this.”

  “March?”

  “The Lord of Venitte. He rules our sister city, much as the Mistress rules here, except he has no throne—at least nothing like the Skewed Throne. He is . . . a very old friend.” She smiled, but it was filled with sadness and regret, tremulous and hurt at the same time.

  “Does Lord March have the means to build ships of war?” Erick asked into the silence. “Would he have ordered an attack on Amenkor’s trading ships?”

  Eryn shot him a glare, back stiffening, then faltered.

  Looking down at her hands clasped in her lap, she said, “Yes. He has the means to build ships of war. But,” she said, turning blazing eyes on Erick, “there have been no reports of any type of ship construction in the last few years. Nothing of this significance. Ask Avrell. He has agents in all of the key ports along the Frigean coast.”

  “I don’t want Avrell to know,” I said.

  Eryn seemed startled. “Why not?”

  I bit off a sharp retort, realized she didn’t know about the incident in the throne room, when I’d Reached toward Eryn and Colby. She hadn’t been back in the city long enough to find out.

  I straightened. “I’m not so certain I trust him completely yet.” At Eryn’s confused look, I added, “I’ll let Erick explain. For now, let Captain Catrell spread the rumor that it was pirates who destroyed the ship until we know otherwise.”

  “He’s going to be suspicious that it’s something else,” Eryn warned. “I wouldn’t have abandoned the escort on the return from Colby if I thought the ship had been attacked by pirates.”

  Erick grunted. “That’s even better. If the ship was attacked by someone else, having a little doubt spicing the rumor of piracy should make it that much less of a shock when we reveal who it really was.”

  Eryn didn’t respond, but it was obvious she didn’t agree. “And what about the harbor? Are you going to reestablish the blockade?”

  I considered a moment, then shook my head. “No. I don’t see any reason to.”

  Eryn’s expression darkened. “Even after the warning vision of the city burning? Even after seeing the scorch marks on the deck?”

  “No. Whoever is attacking the ships hasn’t made any attempt at our harbor—”

  “Yet,” Eryn cut in.

  “—yet,” I added with a glare. “Until we know who the attackers are, and what they want, I’m not going to risk causing a panic in the city, not when the people are already concerned about starving this winter.”

  And I didn’t want to give Avrell a reason to think I needed replacement either.

  I rose from my seat. Eryn followed suit.

  “And how are we going to find out who the attackers really are?” she asked as we made our way out of the garden.

  “I don’t know,” I said.

  But I had an idea.

  * * *

  “Good,” Marielle said as she passed behind me and glanced over my shoulder at the slate. I was working on my sentences on the settee in my chambers, sunlight streaming through the balcony doorway. A breeze blew in through the opening, cold with the edge of winter, but not cold enough to keep the doorway closed. “Now try to construct something more complex. Then I think we’ll shift to mathematics.”

  I growled. I hated mathematics, and Marielle knew it. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught her smile.

  I turned my attention back to the slate, wiped off the simple sentence I’d written with a damp cloth, then began a new one. I grinned maliciously as I began to write, the letters coming easily now.

  “Let me see,” Marielle said when I finished.

  I held up the slate.

  Marielle gasped, brought a hand up to cover her smile even as her expression grew stern. “Mistress! I didn’t teach you such language! Where did you learn that?”

  I laughed and set the slate to one side, then paused with a frown.

  Where had I learned those words?

  Marielle picked up the slate and sat down on the sett
ee beside me, shaking her head. “You did misspell ‘horsefucker,’ though. We’ll have to work on that.”

  She said it in such a serious tone that I burst out laughing. Marielle joined me a moment later.

  When the laughter had died down, Marielle wiping tears from her face, she asked, “Who is Bloodmark anyway?”

  I grew quiet instantly, turned away. “Someone I killed on the Dredge.”

  Marielle stilled. I thought she’d pull away, horrified, as William had always done, realized that I’d already tensed myself in preparation for that reaction and how it would hurt.

  But instead, Marielle placed a hand on my forearm. I turned toward her, startled, saw the sympathy in her eyes, an attempt at understanding, even though she couldn’t possibly relate. She’d been raised in the palace since she was six.

  Before I could respond, someone knocked on the outer door.

  “That’s probably Erick,” I said as Marielle rose to answer it. I stood as well and moved to the entrance to the balcony without stepping out to its edge, my mind shifting from sentences and Bloodmark and death to my idea on how to determine who was attacking the trade ships. From the balcony doorway, I could see one side of the jut of land that enclosed the bay and the stone tower that guarded the entrance.

  I didn’t want to have to blockade the harbor unless it was absolutely necessary. When Eryn had done it, it had thrown the city into a panic. I could still remember the mob thronging the palace gates within minutes of the bells tolling, issuing the orders.

  Behind, I heard Marielle lead Erick into the room, then turn to leave.

  “Marielle,” I said, heard her halt. I turned. “I think you should stay.”

  “As you wish,” she said, although her brow creased as she frowned. She clasped her hands in front of her and stood, waiting.

  “You wanted to see me?” Erick asked formally. He’d come as a guardsman, a Seeker, not as a mentor.

  “Yes.” I motioned to the settee, but he shook his head, preferring to stand, his gaze intent. “I wanted to talk about how to find out who has been attacking the trading ships.”

  Erick grunted. “I thought you were going to talk to Avrell about it eventually. As Eryn suggested.”

  My nose squinched up in annoyance. “Maybe. But by talking to Avrell we’d only be guessing. Avrell has already said he hasn’t received word from his contacts in the other cities regarding the missing trade ships. I want to know who’s attacking us, without any doubts, even if in the end it is only pirates.”

  “What did you have in mind?”

  I hesitated, biting my lip as I moved away from the balcony window back into the room. “I want to use the Fire.”

  Erick frowned. “I don’t understand.”

  Behind him, Marielle shifted uncomfortably as well. She’d never been asked to stay behind during any discussions between me and Erick, or any of the others for that matter. It was obvious she felt she shouldn’t be overhearing this conversation. But for the moment I ignored her, focused on Erick.

  “You know that I saw what Eryn saw in Colby,” I said, beginning to pace. Now that it came down to explaining my idea, it didn’t seem as solid as it had before. “What you don’t know is that I think that during the first use of the throne, when Eryn was trying to explain how I could find out who had been manipulating my dreams, somehow I placed a portion of the White Fire inside her in the process. At the end, when the vision of the city burning became too horrifying, I shoved it away. I think I tore a piece of the Fire inside me off in the process and it attached itself to Eryn.”

  Erick remained standing, eyes narrowed as he watched me pace. “How is that going to help us find out who’s attacking our ships?”

  I halted. “I want to send out more ships. I want to try to tag some of the people on those ships with the Fire as I accidentally tagged Eryn, and then I want to use the ships as bait. Hopefully, whoever is attacking the ships will seize the opportunity and attack again. Only this time, I can be watching using the Fire, as I watched what Eryn did in Colby.”

  “And what about the people on that ship? The one that gets attacked?”

  I grimaced. I’d already thought of that. “They’ll be prepared. They’ll know what to expect.”

  “No, they won’t. Not if what Eryn says is true and they have someone who can use the Sight participating in the attack. They won’t be able to defend against that.”

  My shoulders tightened at the rebuke in his voice, but I said nothing. Erick watched my reaction, then lowered his head as he thought.

  I glanced toward Marielle. She’d gone still, was staring at me with a slight look of bewilderment and fear. Then she glanced away, as if ashamed.

  I wondered what she was thinking, but then Erick grunted and looked up.

  “It has possibilities, but I don’t think you’ve thought everything out yet.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like the fact that you’ll be sending out a ship in the middle of winter. Have you seen the waves out beyond the harbor? They’re high and strong. The seas won’t be kind. It’s possible that the ship will founder simply because of the weather. You’ll have to find captains and crews willing to take that risk. Because of that, you won’t be able to send out more than one or two ships at best. Most won’t go, even if it is the Mistress ordering it. The captains and their crews aren’t stupid.” He began pacing.

  “So let’s say you get one ship, with a crew crazy enough to try this. There will have to be a contingent of guardsmen on board in case they do actually get attacked. You won’t be able to get the crew to go unless they feel they have a fair chance of surviving the attack. That requires even more men agreeing to the plan. But that shouldn’t be a problem. You can order the guardsmen to go and expect them to obey. As long as we choose the right men. We’d have to pick men familiar with ships and the way they operate.

  “Then there’s this idea of ‘tagging’ one of the crew members. From what happened in the throne room when you Reached for Eryn, I’d say you have to be in contact with this person in order to witness the events. But what if the attack comes when you aren’t connected? You won’t be able to watch them continuously. You are the Mistress. Amenkor is relying on you to get everyone through the winter. They have faith that you’ll get them through. That faith will falter if you vanish for a week or more while you deal with the ship. Even if you aren’t actively doing anything, just your presence out in the city—down in the slums, out at the communal ovens, on site at the rebuilding of the warehouses—is enough to keep the people going. I’ve seen the change in the people since you started visiting the construction sites and the warehouses, since you set up the kitchens and the Servants have been seen more outside the palace. You won’t be able to continue that if you’re tied to the throne watching the ship.”

  “He’s right,” Marielle broke in. She swallowed when we both turned toward her. “The people talk, Mistress. And for the first time since the Fire swept through the city six years ago, they’re speaking with hope. Even though it’s winter, even though food is scarce. All of the Servants have noticed it while working in the kitchens, handing out food. The people need you.”

  I shifted uncomfortably at the intensity in Marielle’s voice. I hadn’t realized people were paying such close attention to me, hadn’t realized that what I did mattered. Not to that extent.

  “So let’s review,” Erick said, voice tight. He began ticking off points on his fingers. “You need a ship. You need a captain. You need a crew. You need guardsmen. And you need the gods’ own luck to be in contact when the ship gets attacked.”

  “But we need to know who’s attacking the trade routes,” I countered, a defensive note creeping into my voice. “If it were simply a matter of a few lost ships, then I’d wait until spring. But it isn’t! More than a few ships have been lost, and according to Avrell, it isn’t just Amenkor that’s lost shi
ps. And then there’s the vision.”

  Erick scowled. “I thought Eryn said that what happened in the vision didn’t occur until summer. And she couldn’t even guarantee that it was this summer.”

  “But she also said that the visions weren’t always accurate.”

  “Which means that there may not be an attack on the city coming at all!”

  Now it was my turn to scowl. “Can you think of any other way to find out who has been attacking the ships? Besides using Avrell for educated guesses.”

  Erick, who’d drawn breath to speak, subsided, then shook his head. “No.”

  I sighed. “All this speculation won’t matter much if I can’t tag someone with the Fire in the first place.”

  “True,” he said. “Who do you—” He halted in mid-sentence, eyes narrowing suspiciously. “You want to try to tag me, don’t you?”

  I nodded. “If it doesn’t work, then we’ll go speak to Avrell, even if I don’t completely trust him. If it does work . . .”

  Erick seemed about to say no, but then his shoulders sagged. “What do you want me to do?”

  I motioned to an empty chair. “Have a seat, get comfortable.”

  As he moved to the chair, grudgingly and somewhat nervously, I turned to Marielle, who jumped as if goosed by one of the guardsmen.

  “Yes, Mistress?”

  “I want you to watch us,” I said, “that’s all. Put a protective shield around us both, as we’ve done during training, something that will contain . . . whatever it is that might happen. If something goes wrong, I want you to find Eryn.” If something did go wrong, there probably wouldn’t be anything Eryn could do, but still. . . .

  Marielle nodded, tension draining out of her in a rush. “Of course, Mistress. I thought—” but she cut herself off. She seemed extremely relieved. “Never mind. Where do you want me to sit?”

  I placed Marielle on the settee and watched her draw a few deep breaths before she relaxed and went still. A moment later, she murmured in a distant voice, “I’m ready.”