A Throne’s Might

Gane lounged on his throne, the image of an unconcerned king before his court. An image he’d spent far too many years cultivating to wreck now, even as the encanters stood in their circle around the silvered basin in the room’s center. Grasping another grape, he placed it between his teeth and bit. Cool juices washed over his tongue. Stomach twisting with worry, he wanted to spit it out.

“Undine has entered the center chamber,” the encanters’ words, spoken in unison, washed over the court. Unison. Surety of a true vision.

Gane managed to keep from clutching his throne’s armrest. She’d entered the central chamber. Soon she would emerge. Or never emerge.

His eyes dropped to his hand and the new grape in it. His stomach twisted further. This was too high of a price to pay for a potential scant of wisdom. No matter that Undine had volunteered, wanted to retrieve the answer he needed. This was not worth her safety.

“She approaches the altar,” the encounter’s intoned.

Gane shifted, uncomforted by his slothful position. No one could have accompanied Undine, but it galled him to have to pretend such casualness.

“The altar awakens and–” The encounter’s voices lost unison. Each broke into a different variation of events. A different fate for Undine.

Pretense cast aside, Gane sat forward. “What is happening,” he demanded.

The encounter’s hands stretched over the basin, reaching towards the mystic waters. Reaching for all which allowed them to follow Undine. Their voices did not regain unison. The men raised their eyes from the waters, each collapsing in a heap where they stood.

Gane wrapped his hands around his throne’s armrests, wishing to push himself from the seat. To rise and go to the altar’s core himself. To find Undine.

However, the altar would keep any other out until Undine’s fate was determined. A golden shield would bar the entrance. Gane remained in this throne. Until that barrier opened, he would not know her fate. He would dwell in the myriad of possibilities the encounters had intoned.

Settling back into his throne, Undine cursed softly. A king with no real power.