The King's Horse (Shioni of Sheba Book 2) (15 page)

“Y
ou were snoring.” Shioni
turned her head and scowled sleepily. “Nice doze?”

“I’m not quite better, Anni.”

“You’ve been back for a week! I have to pick my own clothes in the morning–”

“You do not! Anni…” Shioni tried to indicate that the General was sitting right next to her. The last thing he needed was to suspect her of laziness.

“That’s the last time I let you go pleasure-riding in the mountains, slave-girl,” said the Princess, in high-and-mighty tones that earned a tiny snort of amusement from the General. He was nose-deep in castle plans, as usual. “Anyway, Hakim Isoke has summoned me for lessons. Have a
nice
time out here. Zi is coming with me.”

Shioni tried to swallow
the lump of jealousy lodged in her throat. Of course Azurelle would have other friends. Of course she would be friends with Annakiya–the two got on like cats and milk. But they had seemed awfully close lately. It was only because she had been sick, she told herself. She hadn’t seen her friends as much as usual.

Her eyes rolled up
ward to light upon the baobab tree. The priest liked to say it was the tree which God had planted upside-down. The curiously root-like branches and potbellied trunk certainly gave that impression! Heavy with new growth, the tips of the branches were beginning to swell with buds as well. She wondered if it would blossom after the little rains.

Little rains?
What a joke! The trail back to the castle had been a slippery nightmare. Were it not for Talaku’s strength and Tariku’s trail-craft, they might not have made it. Shioni, wet and chilled for days on end, had been burning with fever or shivering uncontrollably for the most part. She hardly remembered crossing the high pass, or fording the swollen river that thundered past the castle now. The time on Thunder’s back seemed to have passed in a dream.

A
dozen or more bright blue finches were chirruping industriously up there in the baobab, planning a raid on Mama’s kitchen. Mama Nomuula had taken to tossing the crumbs from her baking outside the door, and the cheeky little finches had quickly taken notice. Higher up, two carmine bee-eaters were squabbling over a large wood-boring bee one of them had caught. She recalled how when they arrived the baobab had looked dead, and the only live animals in the castle had been snakes!

The General’s voice broke into her thoughts.
“So, tell me about Talaku, Shioni. How was he while you were out there?”

“
Fine,” said Shioni. “Well, not entirely, my Lord. There were… incidents. When I twisted my ankle, it was because Tariku had been teasing him and he just snapped unexpectedly, like an angry dog. He said he didn’t know why he had thrown a stone.”

“Go on.”

Shioni rubbed her arms, suddenly feeling chilled. “His appetite seems to have grown, my Lord, if that is possible. The second night he finished pretty much a whole goat on his own. And then the night before the rains returned, he went out hunting again. He doesn’t remember. But he brought back the remains of a walia ibex, and that’s a big animal. He cooked it for us and it lasted two further meals.”

“Full
y grown?” The General scratched his beard.

“Almost, I think.
Enough meat to feed… I don’t know, thirty men? And he
burns
it, he burns it all. There’s no trace of fat on his body. And–Tariku told me–he hardly goes to the toilet.” Shioni felt her ears heat up, nothing to do with the sunshine. “When he does, it’s like little pebbles. Like a bushbuck.”

Getu fell into one of his silences, but just when Shioni thought he must have drifted off with the clouds, he said, “Is he dangerous?”

She’d chewed this question like a dog which kept returning to its favourite bone. “Maybe. I don’t know. But he saved my life. Truly.”

“Tariku
told me. But Talaku doesn’t remember his nocturnal hunting, does he? And he was acting strangely the time you found him down by the river.” Shioni nodded glumly. “A mad giant would be bad–what’s all that shouting?”

They both looked up in surprise as a group of warriors burst into the courtyard.
“Shut him up!” someone shouted. A man was struggling in the middle of the group. Three or four of the warriors wrestled him down. Tariku emerged and rushed over to the General, his face flushed and animated, with Captain Dabir hot on his heels.

Curious heads were popping around corners and out of windows.

“My Lord! We have captured one of the rebels, right here, within our walls!”

“A
t last!” Getu smacked his fist against his knee. “I knew we’d cleared out the dungeons for a reason. Lock him up and we’ll question him later.”

“I’m
innocent! I’ve done nothing!”

Every drop of
blood drained out of Shioni’s face as she recognised the young man. Oh no! How terrible! But, seated beside the General, she was unable to move or to hide. The warriors, having secured his arms with a lashing of leather thongs, dragged the man upright and started to strong-arm him towards the doorway that led to the store rooms and cells beneath the northern wall of the castle. He looked over his shoulder, and spied her across the courtyard.

“You!” he shrieked, absolutely beside himself now.
“You evil ferengi witch! You betrayed me to the Shebans! After all I did for you!” He was fighting so hard, the warriors almost lost their grip on him. “Traitor! Ferengi witch! Asmati devil!”

Oh, Desta!
Shioni’s eyes flicked to Tariku, who gave her a grim, white-lipped nod.

“Oh y
es,” he said. “I knew I’d seen one of those rebels before. And I never forget a face. But to find this snake in the grass right beneath our very noses…”

Desta was spouting
obscenities now, and frothing at the mouth like a rabid dog. One of the warriors punched him hard on the jaw. They dragged him away.

Tariku’s finger rose until it pointed straight at Shioni’s head, as though it were a spear
with which he intended to impale her. “She knew!” he cried. “Ask her, General Getu. She knew all about the rebel!”

Behind him,
Captain Dabir’s lips curled into a snakelike smile.

Getu’s powerful arm folded like a forbidding gate shutting across his chest. His fingers gripping the stump of his left arm were white-knuckled; she felt ashamed of noticing this detail.
“Well, Shioni. Here we are again.” Her heart felt squeezed in her chest, hardly able to beat. But when he spoke, it was with unexpected generosity. “Last time I clapped you in chains, it turned out I was wrong. I hope I am wrong again. Don’t you?”

Shioni saw Tariku’s expression shift to anger.
Had he been
hoping
she would get punished? He shifted like the winds! Friend one moment, enemy the next? What under the heavens was making him behave this way?

“It started the same evening I was attacked by the lion,
my Lord,” she said, forcing herself to meet the General’s piercing eyes directly, without squirming. “Earlier, I found a girl–called Selam–in trouble by the river. When I took her home, I accidentally overhead a meeting of these rebels. They were all shouting about the yoke of Sheba and how they didn’t want us here. The girl’s brother, Desta–that man–was with them. Desta threatened me with a knife. But the
arogit
, the old woman of the village, stopped him. And then Selam made me promise I wouldn’t get him into trouble. She said he was hot-headed but she thought nothing would come of it.”

“
He sold us to the Wasabi!” Tariku snapped his fingers. “You said someone knocked you out at the river. Desta, right?”

“He said he’d promised Selam he wouldn’t
let me come to harm.”

The
General sighed. “A web of promises worthy of ten spiders. So, exactly how long were you planning to keep these rebels’ presence in the castle secret, Shioni?”

“I told her!”

“Tariku! Be still.”

Captain Dabir looked on with beastly glee. Shioni did not know where to look–she tried the sky, then the castle walls, and then the rough flagstones between her feet. If only a lammergeyer would swoop down o
ut of the sky and carry her off…

“I made a promise,”
she said miserably. “We should keep our promises.”

Getu shook his head
, ignoring Dabir’s snickering in the background. “That’s exactly what Mama Nomuula would say. While I admire your resolve and your honesty, you placed us all in terrible danger, Shioni. Keeping your promise was foolish–but why in heaven’s name make it in the first place? You knew he was a rebel who planned to kill us all, or sell us to the Wasabi.”

He raised his hand to forestall an interruption from Captain Dabir.
“You need to choose where your loyalties lie, girl! As for Desta, he will face the consequences. Captain, you may interrogate the rebel.”

Dabir’s face lit up.
“And what about the slave-girl, my Lord?”

“
Takazze wasn’t built in a day, Captain. She is young. Her owner should determine her punishment, if any.”

“I will speak to the Princess
at once.” Dabir executed a stiff-as-a-spear bow and marched off. He was unable to conceal a gratified swagger as he left. Shioni sensed he must have been waiting for just such an opportunity to see her humiliated. Oh, it was not finished with the Captain yet!

Beside her, she thought she heard the General mutter, “Oh
, you do that.”

She leaned back o
n her chair to survey the storm wreck of her afternoon. But before she could brood upon it, Mama Nomuula rushed over to her like an angry mother elephant ready to defend her offspring.

Getu
held up his hand to still Mama’s impending explosion. Whatever was in the look he gave her, Mama Nomuula bit her lip and uttered not a word–which in itself was an unheard-of event.

Turning
to Shioni, the General heaved such an enormous sigh that she felt compelled to lift her chin and meet his gaze. His eyes were a strange mixture of kindliness, vehemence, and a dozen other emotions she could not identify. “The Captain will demand his justice, Shioni. Send me the Princess and I’ll ask her to punish you–a couple of weeks’ mucking out the stables might do it. And the King’s horse needs daily exercise. That is very important.”

A weight
rolled off Shioni’s shoulders. He understood! “My Lord, I–”

“I’m not
done with you yet!” Getu, being a commander of warriors, had a roar that could carry across a battlefield, and he used it on her now. “By all that’s holy, girl, just for once–even if it seems an impossible task–will you kindly STAY OUT OF TROUBLE!”

Arogit
– Old woman, female village elder

Asmat
– Black or evil magic

Asmati
– Small, trouble-making creatures, bring bad luck

Ferengi
– Stranger or alien in the land, a white-skinned person, sometimes derogatory

Firfir
– A mix of injera and sauce cooked together

Gabi
– Thick white cotton covering for men, worn over the head and/or shoulders

Gebeta
– Strategy game played using stones

Hakim
– Title of a wise or learned person, means ‘doctor’

Hiwot
– Life

Injera
– A slightly fermented large pancake made from tef (Ethiopian grain) used to scoop up spicy vegetable or meat sauces with the fingers

Kebero
– Very large cowhide drum used in religious worship

Kolo
– Dried, slightly spiced grain for snacking on, often combined with peanuts

Shemagele
– Old man, male village elder

Tej
– Ethiopian honey wine

Tosign
– Herb used in tea, similar to oregano

Dear Reader,

Thank you for joining
Shioni
in her second adventure in the mysterious Simien Mountains of Ethiopia! You might be asking, “What next?” Good question! There are many questions so far left unanswered, such as: where does Shioni come from? Does she find her parents? Does the King of Sheba get better? How will Azurelle recover the Fiuri powers Kalcha has stolen from her? And what becomes of Talaku, the mad giant?

I hope to answer these questions and many more as
Shioni’s
story unfolds. Here is a suggested reading order for the series:

Shioni of Sheba: The Enchanted Castle

Shioni of Sheba: The King’s Horse

Shioni of Sheba: The Mad Giant

Shioni of Sheba: The Sacred Lake

Shioni of Sheba: The
Fiuri Realms

Do come and visit
Marc’s website at
www.marcsecchia.com
to read more about
Shioni
and catch up on exclusive announcements and previews, and find special offers.

I leave you with a preview
of
The Mad Giant
, the third volume in the
Shioni of Sheba
series.

Many greet
ings from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,

Marc Secchia