Crown in the Stars (52 page)

Kuwsh raved inwardly.
I was so close to avenging my son!
Now he was powerless against their weapons. They didn’t notice him amid the crowd, for they were riding toward the river, talking among themselves. Communicating.

Furious, Kuwsh looked away, hating them. But Achlai sighed, her head turning as she watched them depart. He saw longing in her expression. And grief. “Forget them!” he snapped, scowling at her.

“I cannot forget those I have loved, my lord,” Achlai said, her gaze and her words including him.

She put him to shame.

Shoshannah watched anxiously as her father dismounted in front of a modest clay-brick home. An ample earthen oven smoldered in front, but no one was visible until her father gave a sharp whistle.

A thin, sun-darkened man peered around the side of the dwelling. When he saw Zekaryah and the others, he threw his muddied hands up high, laughing. Alerted by his laughter, I’ma-Meherah, the ivory merchant Tso’bebaw, I’ma-Peletah, and the young man Shoshannah remembered from her first day in the Great City all came running around to the front of the house. Exultant, I’ma-Meherah hugged Zekaryah. He kissed her cheek and picked her up briefly as if she were a child.

Meherah scolded Zekaryah tenderly. Hearing her voice, Shoshannah sagged in despair. I’ma-Meherah and her family and friends had been separated from them by the awful confusion of speech that had swept through the Great City. Silently Zekaryah hugged his adoptive mother again, then embraced his adoptive father, Yabal. When Shoshannah next saw her father’s face, she realized there were tears in his eyes.

Father, I’m so sorry!
Following her mother’s lead, and Father Shem and I’ma-Annah’s, she slowly dismounted to hug I’ma-Meherah and the others good-bye.

Meherah fought down tears, realizing she didn’t have time to indulge her own emotions. Obviously Tso’bebaw and Peletah had been telling the truth: The Most High had separated the tribes and was scattering them. Mercifully, it
was only their speech that He had chosen to impair. She couldn’t tell her dear Zekaryah and his Keren how much she loved them, how much she would miss them.

But at least she could hug them before they made their escape. And she could smile at the cherished Ancient Ones and the lovely, wild-haired girl who had been in her prayers for so long. Shoshannah managed to smile in return. Moved, Meherah embraced the young woman and kissed her dimpled cheek. “You’re a good, brave girl! Like one of my own—how glad I am that we met!”

To her distress, Shoshannah cried. They parted in sorrow.

Adoniyram rode along the market street, yelling, “Who hears me and understands? Who remains?” A number of people called out to him gladly. Some of Ra-Anan’s own guardsmen, Ghid’ohn, Ye’uwsh, and the usually irritable Dibriy were riding with him now, protecting him because they could no longer understand Master Ra-Anan. Adoniyram was grateful for their presence. Not that he needed their protection—his people still loved him—but the guardsmen gave Adoniyram the appearance of normality and authority, which were necessary to calm his people.

Now, Ghid’ohn—a sensible, steady man—urged Adoniyram, “My lord, consider searching the temple; people are gathering there, trying to appeal to the priests and Shemesh to remove this disaster from us.”

Adoniyram reluctantly agreed and rode toward the tower. He hoped that someone had discreetly removed his mother’s body—and that Rab-Mawg had been effectively
silenced. Otherwise, Rab-Mawg could accuse him of not intervening to save his mother.

Maintaining his poise, Adoniyram nodded pleasantly to those people who didn’t understand his greetings. And he encouraged those who did understand him, “Stay! Don’t flee.” About one or two of every ten people comprehended his words and followed him.
My kingdom will be badly diminished
. He dismounted in the tower’s courtyard and forced himself to march up the steps to the temple.

The air was permeated with sharp-sweet clouds of smoking incense. And someone had rearranged the remaining linen curtains to hide the priests’ unfinished living area. Rab-Mawg was still there, but silent, huddled in a corner, his head in his hands, rocking back and forth. Ebed stood quietly before the altar, garbed in linen robes and a leopard-skin mantle that declared his status, comforting worshipers.

Summoning his courage, Adoniyram approached the priest. The worshipers around them backed away. Hushed, the young man asked, “Where’s my mother?”

Ebed seemed to wilt. “Haven’t you heard, my lord?”

“I have heard—I saw the attack,” Adoniyram agreed sadly, allowing the priest to see his regrets, which were few. “Has Rab-Mawg explained what happened?”

“No one can understand him, my lord. I fear he’s gone mad; he’s been sitting there for quite some time. Show him compassion, I beg you.”

“I will. He’s not entirely to blame; my mother provoked him.” Adoniyram sighed loudly now and drooped from relief, not sorrow, though the priest didn’t have to know that. “Where are the others? Ghez-ar and Awkawn?”

“I think they’ve fled to their families—I couldn’t understand them.”

“Will you flee also?” Adoniyram asked softly, hoping that this priest—the most easily manipulated one—would stay to serve him.

“I feel I’m needed here, my lord.”

“Thank you, Ebed. I hope you’ll stay.”
And I hope you’ll be satisfied with the temple as it is we won’t be able to finish it
. “Where is… my mother’s body?”

Barely audible, the priest whispered, “We buried her among the plants and trees on the terrace. Later we can build a small tomb…”

Adoniyram nodded and left Ebed to comfort those who had rushed to the temple for solace. The Young Lord understood his people’s desire for heavenly reassurance.

However, those who cannot understand and obey me, as their king, will have to leave
. Except Shoshannah, of course. She would be safer now; one of her enemies was half mad, and two others were the objects of devastating retribution. Adoniyram had seen smoke rising from Kuwsh’s and Ra’Anan’s homes, and he knew their servants and guards had abandoned them. As for Shoshannah’s fourth enemy…

The Young Lord searched the gardens until he discovered a newly disturbed mound of earth: his mother’s burial place. Ebed was right; they should make a small tomb for her, but discreet and unmarked. The circumstances of her death would be kept secret if possible.

You will be exalted
, Adoniyram told his mother, deciding to make restitution to her in the most practical yet glorious way he could imagine.
You will be finer than you ever were in life… adored and revered as Nimr-Rada is now. Perhaps more
.

When all this chaos was settled, his priest, Ebed, would declare that Sharah had rejoined her “husband” Nimr-Rada. And Ebed would proclaim a sign in the stars
for her… a crown for their Queen of the Heavens. Then, if she had a spirit, it might be satisfied.

At dusk Adoniyram returned to his house, exhausted. Their footsteps echoing, Ghid’ohn walked with him throughout his residence, checking for looters. But his house seemed untouched; no one else was here. No servants to tend him, no guards to protect him, no Lady Keren and her companions to tell him of his past… and no Shoshannah to take as his wife.

Unable to believe the truth, Adoniyram tore through his home, calling, “Kaleb? Kaleb! Where did you hide them?”

Ghid’ohn said, “Kaleb is gone, my lord. With the young lady and her family. I saw them ride away together—they understood each other.”

They took her. He took her. And I can’t leave my people, my kingdom, to go after them
. Adoniyram stumbled into his sleeping room and dropped onto his bed, shocked.
I am alone
.

For the first time in years, he wept.

Twenty-Eight

THROUGHOUT THE LONG DAY, as they rode in fear for their lives, Demamah alternately wept, then composed herself sternly. By sunset she was exhausted, starving, and aching. She was unused to riding for such a long time—they had paused only twice today to rest their horses and themselves. And this was only the beginning of their journey.

“We aren’t being chased,” the guardsman Kaleb announced, as he and Tiyrac rode up to join them; they had stayed behind the others all day, watching for pursuers.

“I don’t see anyone,” Tiyrac agreed, looking from the river to their right and across the vast, rippling, grass-filled plain that separated them from the Great City.

“Will we be safe to rest and camp for the night?” I’ma-Annah wondered aloud. She peered at I’ma-Keren worriedly.

For the first time today, Demamah forgot her own troubles; I’ma-Keren looked ill and ready to fall off her horse. Zekaryah halted and rushed to help his wife down.

“I’m just hungry and tired,” Keren protested, leaning against her husband, sighing comfortably, easing everyone’s concerns.

Now Kaleb dismounted and—to Demamah’s horror—hauled Shoshannah off her horse possessively, hugging her, kissing her, and growling. “I have you now!”

Even more appalling, Shoshannah wrapped her arms around the guardsman’s neck and kissed him, laughing, seeming… delighted.

Kaleb noticed Demamah’s shock and grinned. “Don’t worry; we’re married.”

“We are not,” Shoshannah argued.