Contents
* * *
Title Page
Contents
Copyright
Dedication
Dramatis Personae
Map
The Test of Fire
Part One
Adri
Shvate
Jilana
Vrath
Adri
Vrath
Shvate
Vrath
Shvate
Adri
Jarsun
Part Two
The Guide
Belgarion
Crow
Jeel
Vessa
Jilana
Vrath
Jilana
Adri
The Conspirators
Jarsun
Vrath/Shvate
Jilana
Vrath
Jilana
Shvate
Vrath
Jilana
Vulture
Adri
Jilana
Vrath
Jarsun
Jilana
The Charioteers
Jilana
Adri
Shvate
Adri
Shvate
Vrath
Jilana
Part Three
Karni
Part Four
Shvate
Reeda
Kern
Jilana
Karni
Shvate
Karni
Jarsun
Geldry
Karni
Geldry
Karni
Adri
Jilana
Adri
Karni
Jilana
Karni
Jilana
Reeda
Karni
Reeda
Adri
Karni
Vessa
Mayla
Adri
Vessa
Jilana
Part Five
Mayla
Shvate
Karni
Vida
Kune
Adri
Prishata
Vessa
Karnaki
Vessa
Prishata
Vessa
Prishata
Karni
Part Six
Adri
Jilana
Vessa
Jilana
Karni
Mayla
Karni
Mayla
Karni
Mayla
Geldry
Jilana
Vida
Kune
Adri
Vessa
Cobra
Kula
Yudi
Vida
Shvate
Yudi
Vida
Mayla
The Five
Adri
Acknowledgments
Read More from John Joseph Adams Books
About the Author
Connect with HMH
Copyright © 2019 by Ashok K. Banker
All rights reserved
For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to trade.permissions@hmhco.com or to Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 3 Park Avenue, 19th Floor, New York, New York 10016.
hmhbooks.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Banker, Ashok, author.
Title: Upon a burning throne / Ashok K. Banker.
Description: Boston ; New York : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019. |
Series: The Burning Throne saga ; book 1 | “A John Joseph Adams book.”|
Identifiers: LCCN 2018043600 (print) | LCCN 2018044776 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781328916259 (ebook) | ISBN 9781328916280 (hardback)
Subjects: | BISAC: FICTION / Fantasy / Epic. | FICTION / Fairy Tales, Folk Tales, Legends & Mythology. | GSAFD: Fantasy fiction.
Classification: LCC PR9499.3.B264 (ebook) | LCC PR9499.3.B264 U66 2019 (print) | DDC 823.914—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018043600
Cover design by Brian Moore
Cover illustration by Alex Eckman-Lawn
Map by Carly Miller
Author photograph courtesy of the author
v1.0319
for bithika,
yashka,
ayush yoda,
helene,
and
leia.
~
this gift of words and swords, this forest of stories, this ocean of wonders, this epic of epics.
Dramatis Personae
The Burnt Empire
Kr’ush (deceased)
Founder of the Krushan dynasty and the Burnt Empire
Shapaar (deceased)
Descendant of Kr’ush; emperor of the Burnt Empire; king of Hastinaga; father of Sha’ant and Vessa
Sha’ant (deceased)
Son of Shapaar; emperor of the Burnt Empire; king of Hastinaga; father of Vrath, Virya, and Gada; husband of the goddess Jeel and of Jilana; cousin of Jarsun
Vrath
Son of Sha’ant and the goddess Jeel; uncle to Adri and Shvate; prince regent of the Burnt Empire
Jilana
Dowager empress of the Burnt Empire; dowager queen of Hastinaga; wife of Sha’ant; mother of Vessa, Virya, and Gada; stepmother of Vrath
Vessa
Seer-mage; son of Jilana; biological father of Adri, Shvate, and Vida
Virya (deceased)
Son of Sha’ant and Jilana; husband of Umber
Gada (deceased)
Son of Sha’ant and Jilana; husband of Ember
Ember
Wife of Gada; mother of Adri; sister to Umber
Umber
Wife of Virya; mother of Shvate; sister to Ember
Adri
Prince of the Burnt Empire; son of Ember and Gada (legally) and Vessa (biologically); grandson of Jilana; nephew of Vrath; half brother of Shvate and Vida; husband to Geldry
Shvate
Prince of the Burnt Empire; son of Umber and Virya (legally) and Vessa (biologically); grandson of Jilana; nephew of Vrath; half brother of Adri and Vida; husband to Mayla and Karni
Vida
Son of Vessa; half brother to Adri and Shvate
Mayla
Princess of Dirda; wife of Shvate
Karni
Princess of Stonecastle; wife of Shvate
Geldry
Princess of Geldran; wife of Adri
Kune
Prince of Geldran; brother of Geldry
Subjects of the Burnt Empire
Prishata
Captain of the imperial guards
Adran
Charioteer of Adri; husband of Reeda; adoptive father of Kern
Reeda
Wife of Adran; adoptive mother of Kern
Kern
Foundling son (adopted) of Adran and Reeda
Sauvali
Maid in the royal palace
The Reygistan Empire
Aqron
King of Aqron; father of Aqreen
Aqreen
Princess of Aqron (capital of the Reygistan Empire); daughter of Aqron; wife of Jarsun
Jarsun
Descendant of Kr’ush; nephew of Shapaar; cousin of Sha’ant and Vessa; husband to Princess Aqreen
Krushita
Daughter of Aqreen and Jarsun; cousin of Shvate and Adri
Hasar
Aide to Jarsun
Vidram
Aide to Jarsun
The Gods
Jeel
Goddess of water; former wife of Sha’ant; m
other of Vrath
Artha
Goddess of land; the Great Mother (a.k.a. Mother Goddess); protector of the mortal realm; sister of Goddess Jeel
Shima
God of death and duty
Sharra
God of the sun
Inadran
God of storms and war
Grrud
God of winds and birds
the Asva twins
Twin gods of animalia, health, and medicine
Shaiva
God of destruction
Coldheart
Spirit of mountains and high places; forebear of Jeel; grandfather of Vrath
Other Royals and Rulers of City-States
Belgarion
King of Darkfortress; lord of the mountain tribes
Anga
Vanga
King of Vanga
Kaurwa
Princess of Kanunga
Pundraki
Queen of Pundar
Vindva
Prince of Keyara
Vriddha
King of Virdhh
Ushanas
King of Ushati
Usha
Ushanas of Ushati’s successor
Druhyu
King of Druhyu
Sumhasana
King of Sumha
Karta Mara
King of the Hais
Ripunjaya
King of Avant
Drashya
King of Dirda
Baal
King of Bahlika
Shastra
Chief of the Longriders clan
Stonecastle
King of Stonecastle; adoptive father of Karni
Prologue
The Test of Fire
1
They came to watch the children burn.
The royal criers had gone about the city the night before, calling out the news that Dowager Empress Jilana and Prince Regent Vrath would appear before the royal assembly at the auspicious hour to issue an important announcement. One that they had all been waiting to hear for over a year.
That was the official word.
The unofficial word, passed shivering through the body of the great metropolis like a fever through a favela, was that there would be a Burning.
The imperial palace would not confirm this; they did not deny it either.
People believed the rumor. They always do.
They came from far and wide, high and low, leaving work unfinished, doors unlocked, food half eaten, eager for entertainment.
Who could blame them?
After all, it isn’t every day one gets to see princes and princesses burned to a crisp.
People packed the avenues and roadways, sat atop rooftops and terraces, crowding every dusty field, every mud-tracked street, every bylane leading to the palace. Children sat on their fathers’ shoulders or on their mothers’ hips. Caste was ignored; class, forgotten. Merchants and traders, hunters and farmers, priests and soldiers, all stood jostling one another. Two million perspiring bodies anxiously awaiting the royal proclamation. Runners awaited, the reins of their mounts in hand; horses, camels, elephants, wagon cart trains, and other transports all ready to depart for cities across the known world, for the outcome of a Burning could change the course of history, influence the rise and fall of empires, or launch a thousand wars.
Inside the magnificent palace stronghold, the great Senate Hall was thronged from wall to wall with kings, princes, ministers and merchant lords, preceptors and traders, as well as ambassadors from a score of distant foreign lands. Even the sentries posted at each of the thousand and eight pillars of the vast hall were pressed back against the cold stone by the crowd of humanity. The influence of the Burnt Empire extended not only to the far corners of the continent, but the entire civilized world. Traders and priests crossed oceans and deserts, mountain ranges and war-torn regions, braved barbarian hordes and bandit bands, to visit Hastinaga, City of Elephants and Snakes.
There were ambassadors with ebony complexions as dark as Dowager Empress Jilana’s as well as pale-skinned foreigners with yellow hair, strange garb, and stranger tongues; men from the East with long beards and drooping mustaches; allies, tributes, and even royal emissaries. Some were of dubious loyalty. A few had warred, allied against, or otherwise opposed the expansion and growth of the Burnt Empire, before being compelled by force, expedience, or simple economic necessity to join its ever-burgeoning expansion. Many of those present had ancestors who had been present at the legendary founding of this capital city. More than a few had lost ancestors in battles or rebellions against the Krushan.
Former enemies or past rivals, they were all as one on this historic occasion. In place of poison-tipped daggers, they brought honeyed words. In lieu of arrows and legions, they offered rich tributes and exotic gifts.
All present, without exception, bowed their heads with humility before the fabled and feared Burning Throne.
2
At first glance, it looked like nothing more than a big rock.
As first impressions go, this was a perceptive one.
If seen in a different setting, in the high rocky mountains of Kalimeru perhaps, or the desert wilderness of Reygistan, or even the inhospitable forests of Jangala, one would have passed it by without a second glance.
It was just a rock.
Yet it was not a rock at all.
The jet-black substance perfectly emulated the appearance and texture of a rock.
Yet unlike any ordinary rock, it was imbued with deep, powerful sorcery. For one thing, it evaded the human gaze. The obsidian-dark surface drank light as parched earth drinks rain. The jagged texture made it deadly to touch: a passing graze could strip the skin off one’s arm with the ease of a shredder.
Most importantly, if touched by living flesh, it burst into flame instantly and did not cease burning until the unfortunate limb or individual in possession of said limb was completely and conclusively consumed.
Stonefire, as it came to be known, did not simply burn you.
It devoured you.
A stonefire boulder in the wild could lash out with a tongue of fire reaching several feet, or yards, to snare its victim, yank them back into its fiery core and devour the unfortunate one, alive and screaming.
It emitted sounds as it ate its victims, terrible, inhuman noises comparable only to mythic beasts, and those who witnessed a Burning never forgot the sounds or the sight of the fire as it cavorted, frolicked, leaped, and laughed whilst consuming its prey.
It was no ordinary rock.
Yet little was known about it beyond these observed behaviors and qualities. For one thing, stonefire did not lend itself to examination but reacted to any living gaze. One indication of its presence was the utter absence of any fauna in its immediate vicinity. Even the fiercest predators gave it a wide berth. Those foolish few who sought to unearth its mysteries were consumed by its fiery flame, their ashes scattered by the wind.
All that was left then, as with most of life’s mysteries, was speculation.
The gurus said it came from the celestial void, the emptiness between stars. A fragment of time and space, hurtling across unimaginable distance to strike our planet like a stone hurled by a disorderly god.
Its arrival upon our planet caused a cataclysm that disrupted the natural order for millennia, led to the extinction of most life, displaced continents and oceans, raised new mountain ranges, erased entire civilizations, and brought a million years of geologic turmoil and volcanic changes.
When the ash clouds finally settled, those few mortals who had survived the million years of cataclysm emerged, tempered by fire, to repopulate Arthaloka.
Of those few, the Krushan blazed the brightest.
The gurus claimed that Kr’ush, the forebear of the dynasty, was formed of the burning rock itself, a fragment of that celestial substance that took the shape of a man and walked Arthaloka. Ten thousand years later, it was impossible to separate m
yth from reality. The truth, be it as it may, was forever submerged in the ocean of lost knowledge.
What was true then, as it was today, was that Kr’ush and all those born of his seed were possessed of a symbiotic link to the stonefire.
This link manifested itself in different ways with each individual, but there was one thing all Krushan had in common:
They did not burn.
3
The crowds had grown restless, the gossip more spirited, by the time the tall, dark, stately form of Dowager Empress Jilana appeared upon the dais of Senate Hall. Her appearance was met with instant silence as every pair of eyes turned to her, every pair of lips quieted, and every pair of ears awaited her proclamation.
She began with the customary homilies, made the usual ritual declarations, and honored the ancestors, gods, and all those required to be acknowledged by tradition. Priests surrounded her like a swarm of bees around their hive queen, prompting her with suitable quotes from Krushan scriptures, performing the ritual consecrations and other religious rites with efficient economy, condensing what would have been a ceremony lasting an entire moon-cycle into a sprightly three hours.
When all the formalities were over, she took to the dais, a raised, circular platform of polished marble with veins of gold and silver. Sunlight descended through the painted skylight dome a hundred yards above her head, pinning her with a shaft of brilliant gold.
Behind her, the brooding stonefire seat loomed.
The dais turned slowly, presenting her sharply angled features to all the thousand and eight rulers present in turn. Each represented a kingdom or a nation. Each was accompanied by only one armed aide and watched over by one armed Krushan guard.