by Marc Secchia
“Oh?”
“I had her teaching the slaves in Takazze. And me. I can manage now, General, without sinking.”
Getu growled, “You tell your slave-girl that if there’s the merest whiff of trouble, I will personally see to it that her guts are turned into bowstrings!” But he added, more respectfully, “With your permission, Princess, I would like to add weapons training with the Elite warriors to her schedule. Every morning, several hours.”
It had been on the tip of Shioni’s tongue to thank Annakiya for her stout support. But now she had something else to chew upon. Her training in Takazze had been with gentle tutors afraid of hurting the Princess. But these veteran Elites, Sheba’s finest–they would carve her up for breakfast and spit out the bones.
Annakiya nodded. “It would be beneficial. If she can fit her other duties around it, General.”
“Agreed. Remember, she’s your last line of defence. Takazze is another world. Up in these mountains we’re fighting the Wasabi and their witch-leader, Kalcha. I do not doubt our King, my Lady… but I’ve learned to listen to my instincts. A little preparation could not hurt.”
Shioni wondered suddenly if the King had been overconfident in moving half of his court up to Castle Asmat. If the danger was so immediate… and the experienced General was, in no uncertain terms, warning the Princess…
“Who will she train with?”
“The younger warriors.” Getu turned to pin Shioni with his one-eyed stare. “Hand-picked for the Elite ranks. They like to play rough, girl. Be warned.”
Generals clearly took lessons in snarling from lions, Shioni thought. Why did Getu dislike her so? Every time he spoke to her–which was not often, thankfully–it was with a tone of barely veiled anger she felt she didn’t deserve. It wasn’t only that she had insulted one of his Captains… he had been this way since she could remember. Why, o why, had she not held her tongue?
How much more exciting would this trip become? She smiled wryly.
Just look at those nobles craning their necks to take in the tall cliffs that frowned over the valley! Anyone would think they were riding out for a feast or a celebration, judging by their constant chattering and laughter. Huge, black basalt cliffs paralleled their route to either side. She imagined them leaning over like two bullies to squeeze the pretty valley between, with its reed-fringed, babbling river, huge stands of juniper trees, and abundant bird life. The grassy parts were surprisingly green. Did it rain more here in the mountains?
The Shebans crawled along beneath the cliffs like a slow-moving column of army ants. But sooner than Shioni would have imagined, General Getu pointed ahead of them. “Castle Asmat, Princess.”
Shioni saw a reddish, blocky building standing toward the northern cliffs of the valley on low rise above the river. A wide, roughly circular ring around it marked the wrecked remains of a once-mighty defensive wall. Only a few small sections still stood upright. And right in the middle of the castle, above the keep itself, she noticed a giant, spreading baobab tree standing like a man with his bare arms raised to the heavens.
“It’s a ruin,” said Annakiya.
“I’m told the inner keep is basically sound,” said the General. “But the outer defensive wall will require a complete rebuild–hence the slaves and elephants, for the King wants a fortress which can withstand all the might of the Wasabi. If you would excuse me, Princess, I need to see to arrangements for our camp.”
Before early afternoon, the Shebans had swarmed over the castle like bees taking over a hive. Shioni was set to scrubbing out and preparing a room for the Princess, while Mama Nomuula took command of the kitchens, which were situated in the best-preserved part of the inner keep. Outside, it was mayhem. Shioni could hear General Getu and his Captains marching about, rapping out orders and making their plans.
Carpenters and stonemasons had been sent up to the castle ahead of the King. Shioni helped position a bed and a desk for the Princess and a small wooden chest for her valuables. Annakiya’s fine brass mirror and dressing table arrived, having been carted all the way up from Takazze. She was startled by the appearance of a pallet meant for her. This went at the foot of the Princess’ bed. Then she moved over to help prepare the King’s chamber while several other slave-girls hung curtains over the royal bed and positioned a plush-looking rush mattress. Creature comforts for the royal personage. Shioni smiled. She would enjoy no such pampering!
After that Shioni was summoned to the kitchens to help Mama serve the evening meal. Afterward she helped clean up and tried to make some sense of the unpacking, which occupied her and a dozen other slave-girls until even the night birds were too sleepy to sing.
She hardly even remembered lying down on her pallet. But she dreamed all night long that the lion was calling to her.
The first word out of her mouth come morning was, “Ridiculous!”
Chapter 3: Hearing Things
For Shioni her first few days in Castle Asmat passed in a blur of dawn-to-dusk activity, but soon settled into a more regular routine. She would rouse briefly toward midnight to find the royal scroll-muncher’s head slumped on a scroll and her lamp or candle burned out. Annakiya and her love of reading! She made sure the linens and covering furs were tucked up to her friend’s chin, and then settled down to try to catch as many winks as were left of the night.
Waking properly at the eleventh hour each morning–not long before dawn–she pulled on her linen tunic and leggings, shivering in the pre-dawn cold, before grabbing her weapons and joining the warriors in their stamping, breath-steaming run down-valley for half an hour. There the Elite warriors trained at knives or staves or archery, alone and in teams, and staged mock battles and ambushes with blunted training swords and shields, before running back to the castle ready for a full day’s hauling lumber or rocks or supervising the male slaves at work.
Having laid out the Princess’ outfit for the day, Shioni prepared a breakfast of thick anise bread with honey, or often tasty firfir, one of Mama’s sauces mixed with a slightly sour bread called injera.
Her Highness usually woke between the second and third hours of the morning and took a leisurely breakfast. But her fourth breakfast was different.
Shioni, bone-tired and trying her best not to drag her feet after three hours either spent running or being taught–with many bruises–how little she knew about stave fighting, was returning from the kitchen with a bowl of firfir for Annakiya and a small gourd of water when she heard the Princess scream.
“Annakiya!” she gasped. Shioni fumbled for her long dagger as she dashed past the King’s doorway to Annakiya’s room, dropping the food en route–but what did that matter? Blade in hand she pounced into the room like a lioness, prepared for anything… except for the sight of the Princess of West Sheba standing in the middle of her bed doing a strange dance as she frantically slapped at her nightclothes.
Shioni blurted out, “What are you doing?”
“Ants! Army ants, you silly mongoose!”
“Oh. Oh! Quickly!”
Her friend was too busy wailing and dancing to care for her outstretched hand. Shioni leaped up onto the bed, which was crawling with army ants, and yanked her friend off of it and out into the corridor. She fell to brushing down Annakiya’s clothes. There were black ants as long as the first joint of her thumb everywhere–up her back, in her hair, even one hanging off her lower lip. Breaking an ant’s body did not stop the head from biting, nor did it seem that a single slap would necessarily kill them.
“Annakiya! My poor pet!” cried Mama Nomuula, storming down the corridor without a care for the warriors, or the King, who stood in her path. The King sidestepped smartly into his doorway. The juggernaut that was Mama in motion bounced two warriors right off their feet. “You’s not been bitten by a snake?”
“Army ants,” said Shioni.
“Thank God!” said the King. “This castle is overrun with snakes. Ants we can handle. Mama?”
“My little bushbuck, you’s alright
now,” said Mama, holding Annakiya to her bosom as the Princess began to sob. “You’s gonna be all fine.”
Looking past Mama, Shioni saw the King’s face harden at the sight of his daughter’s tears. “Clear out those ants!” he snapped. “I don’t want another scene like this!”
Mama’s eyes flashed darkly, but she said in a perfectly mild tone, “I’s a-putting some girls on it at once, o King.”
“Good.”
Shioni and Mama used their fingernails to carefully pinch the ant heads off Annakiya’s skin, making sure that no mandibles were left behind to start an infection. Then Mama fetched a gourd of green paste and proceeded to daub the Princess’ wounds until she resembled a piece of mildewed cloth and Shioni had a fit of the giggles that earned her a stern talking-to from her friend.
Hakim Isoke appeared for the Princess’ lessons and dismissed Shioni with a sniff: “My latrine bucket was not emptied this morning. Make sure you empty all the rest too, slave-girl.”
Ugh!
Her day did not improve much either. Down at the rubbish midden, Shioni spied several more of the very large hyena tracks. She hunkered down to measure their size with her fingers. How large did hyenas grow in the mountains, she wondered? Were these hyena tracks or some kind of wolf? Even those must be gigantic…
She felt a foot shove her from behind.
Shioni sprawled headlong into a patch of rotting kitchen slops and came up spitting oily vegetable peels.
“Oops,” said Yeshi, one of the older slave-girls. “Mind you don’t slip!” And she flung the contents of her small barrel directly into Shioni’s lap.
She was too aghast to do more than gasp Yeshi’s name before the older girl darted away.
Shioni washed quickly in the river before returning to the kitchens to fetch Annakiya’s lunch. The Princess smelled her from the doorway and, with a sympathetic grimace, pressed a chunk of soapstone into her hand and ordered her back to the river.
Hakim Isoke clucked something about not diving into the latrine buckets.
Hyenas and lions. Lions and hyenas. It made no sense. Shioni puzzled over this all afternoon. Hyenas were not particularly stupid creatures–ugly, yes. Carrion eaters were not her favourite animals. But were they stupid enough to attack a mature male lion? She doubted that. So how should she interpret those tracks by the cave? And her strange feelings?
It was not like she could return to the cave to investigate… could she?
Toward nightfall she heard the hyenas down by the midden and restrained an urge to go take a look. ‘Oh, mister hyena, could I just measure your paw?’ she chuckled to herself. ‘Oh, little miss slave-girl, I see you brought us dinner–yourself!’
But Shioni dreamed about being chased by lions and hyenas all night long. At one point she actually woke up sobbing for the lion, having dreamed he was sick to death in that dank cave and crying to her for help. She lay awake for ages before she could fall asleep. Shioni woke with the dawn feeling as though she could toss a stone at any birds that dared sing.
“For an animal lover, that’s a serious case of sore head!” she grumbled, closing Annakiya’s door softly behind her.
Shioni shuffled down the corridor and out into the courtyard, yawning and rubbing her eyes. Oh scabby vulture-heads, even the mouth-watering smell of Mama’s bread baking in the huge, domed clay ovens was doing nothing to lift her mood! But… talking to her might. Everyone loved Mama Nomuula. She could make words feel like hugs.
She noticed the kitchen cat–Mama had insisted on bringing her up from Takazze in a rush basket–walking proudly into the kitchen with a large dead rat delicately poised in her mouth. That would make Mama scream!
“Clever kitty!” she called, rushing over.
At the sound of her voice, the cat turned a disdainful amber-eyed glare upon her. “Rude child, who are you calling ‘kitty’?” Dumping the rat, the cat stalked off stiff-legged.
“Shioni!” Mama called. “You looks as pale as you’s spoken to a ghost. Come in, girl.”
“Mama…” She shook her head rather violently. “Mama, did you just hear that cat speak?”
Mama smoothed Shioni’s hair fondly. “What you prattling about, my pet? Cats don’t talk. You’s still dreaming. What’s eating you is how that Captain treated you the other day, right?”
“No, Mama.” She yawned again and stretched for the ceiling. The cat had… no. Impossible! She must have been dreaming on her feet. “The kitchen’s taking shape now.”
“It’ll do, for a time. Bread? It’s fresh and hot! No training today?”
“They’re all out on patrol.”
Shioni gnawed on a hunk of dense oven-bread, thoughtfully. Mama, never one to be fooled, kept casting her glances even as she kneaded a mound of dough with her huge, expert hands. Finally, she felt compelled to explain what she had sensed outside the lion’s cave and how it had bothered her ever since.
“Ah,” said Mama, scratching the bridge of her nose with a doughy finger. “You’s always been a fine hand with animals, girl. You’s sure you not just… well, empathising with them?”
“Well… no, I’m not sure.”
She turned to look out of the door, but the cat was nowhere to be seen. Mama was right. As usual!
“Tell you what.” Mama handed her another hunk of bread. “While you’s filling that bottomless pit you calls a stomach, go see the elephant handler. He’s been a-jawing about one of his pets being off her work and all. You talk to them elephants and find what’s the matter, alright?”
A grin began to tug at the corners of her mouth. “Mama, you’re just humouring me. I know you.”
“You needs a change of scenery. No more swimming in rubbish heaps for you.”
And what escaped Mama’s notice in the castle would hardly fit on the head of a pin. “Mama, it wasn’t–”
“You’s still here? Shoo!”
A dawn of blazing colours was firing up the eastern sky, but the sun had not yet risen over the hills. Shioni walked resolutely down to the elephant pen. The Shebans had been at the castle just over five days, but with a workforce the size of a small army, much had been accomplished already. Their five elephants had a cool enclosure around a stand of trees, which they had already begun to strip for food. Elephants were stomachs on legs.
Maybe she could put her lunatic ideas to the test.
Not bothering to unlock the gate, Shioni climbed up and over the fence. She knew the elephants and they knew her.
“Good morning!”
The elephants turned to look at her. Nothing.
Shioni heaved a sigh of relief. There, that proved it. She was not going mad and she was no stranger than the next person. Apart from being a ferengi, of course. She liked it when people said she worked well with animals. But that was a far cry from hearing things!
She became aware of an odd itchiness in her mind. But it was too fleeting, impossible to catch, as though she was standing in a swarm of mosquitos and a few had bumped into her. The group of elephants, particularly the huge bull elephant, who was all of twelve feet in height, seemed to be staring at her expectantly.
“You all look hungry. Where are your keepers this morning?” Five trunks rose to sniff her outstretched hand. She chuckled. “I know you want salt, but we’re all out. Mama says there’s a shipment coming this week. Sorry.”
The bull elephant’s trunk curled around her shoulders. Although he was gentle enough, his enormous strength forced Shioni to shuffle forward. He looked her right in the eye. His eye was a light hazel brown, deeply set in a field of grey wrinkles that made him look a hundred years old. She had a very strong impression he was trying to communicate with her. When she tried to focus all her attention on him, the mosquito feeling returned and Shioni felt a sense of encouragement–although, it was very hard work. The world seemed to tilt on its axis. She staggered and caught the elephant’s trunk just in time.
“Wow.” She massaged her throbbing temples. “Much more of this and my head will s
plit open like a melon. You couldn’t just tell me what you want?”
The elephant was bending his front legs, until his long ivory tusks dug into the dirt. He gazed intently at her. It was a gentle look, not threatening, but rather like a well of deep secrets drawing her in to new insights and avenues of understanding. Although she was intrigued, part of her still resisted. She also had a mad urge to poke him in the eye!
If she had any mental muscles, Shioni decided to try to flex them. At once the headache mushroomed until it was a solid band compressing her skull and streaks of light were shooting in front of her eyes. She sensed the bull elephant was frustrated at her reticence, a touch angry, and the prickling contact at the edge of her mind suddenly changed into a fist thumping on a door. Every knock reverberated through her whole being.
“Ouch, stop that!” She tried to push him away. “Look, I came here to find out what the problem is with one of you!”
The trunk uncoiled.
Shioni’s eyes popped wide open. “You understand…!”
A smaller trunk drew her aside now. It was one of the females, the one Shioni always thought of as the cutest and youngest of the elephants–although she was fully grown, she was dwarfed by the bull. She was making a deep, rumbling sound in her chest. Unlike the cat she had imagined speaking earlier, Shioni could not distinguish anything that made sense, until her intuition kicked in and she realised:
“You’re having a baby!” A trumpet squealed beside her ear. Shioni clapped her hands. “How exciting! No wonder you’re off your work.”
Leaping lizards, Annakiya would be delighted by this news! The General too. She could hear the sounds of the elephant handlers approaching now. They had probably been down to the river to wash. But Shioni became distracted by a different, random thought–a picture of a mushroom. No, a fungus.
She frowned. Her headache was roaring back, complete with teeth and claws this time. She could not continue like this. One more throb and her head would drop right off her shoulders.
“Trouble under your right front foot,” she realised slowly, and felt her knees crumple. Darkness rushed in from all sides.
