The Mad Giant (Shioni of Sheba Book 3) (7 page)

S
hioni weighed up the
contestants in Castle Hiwot’s courtyard.

She was growing heartily tired of kneeling upon the courtyard stones. She could identify her exact position now, and it had grown no softer since three days before, when Annakiya had sat in judgement of Desta. She had been allowed just two days to recover from nearly being drowned.

Her injured foot ached as though one more violent throb would make it drop off. The pain speared all the way up through her knee into her thigh. Shioni eased her foot and tried to concentrate on goings-on despite feeling woozy from Mama’s medicine. She was afraid she might faint.

There were three
distinct groups in the courtyard–Talaku in the first, managing despite his gigantic presence to remind her of a sullen boy accused of stealing honeyed sweets from Mama’s kitchen, Princess Annakiya and General Getu in the next, presiding over proceedings, and a gaggle of quarrelsome village elders in the third, trying not to be intimidated by the one hundred Sheban Elite warriors standing to attention all around them and lining the battlements above.

“How many goats was that?” whispered Princess Annakiya.

“I make it nineteen,” General Getu muttered out of the corner of his mouth.

“Twenty-three,” said Shioni, who had been scratching lines
on the stones by her knees. “And counting.”

She just about caught Getu’s
snigger of amusement, made with a perfectly straight face. He clapped his hand on his knee for attention. “My fathers! From what I hear, you have been blessed with many goats. We Shebans will of course offer fair compensation for these stolen animals. Appoint therefore amongst yourselves one who will receive an agreed sum and distribute it among you according to what you agree has been lost by each person.”

Getu
, the old fox, had lost none of his wiles. Shioni grinned inwardly. How she wished she could have as much wisdom dealing with people! Maybe then she would spend less time floating underwater. A shiver touched her neck with spiderlike delicacy. The three slave-girls had vanished. Overnight, sent away, as though they had never been–at Annakiya’s orders, she reasoned, or she was a plodding old donkey. But things were no better for her since.

Her latest
nickname was ‘the ferengi witch’. When they saw her coming, her fellow slaves and many of the warriors would make a sign to ward off evil. The tale of the attacking birds was like a grass fire stoked by a blustering breeze. Shioni would have preferred the tale of the flying elephant, which Mama loved to tell in her unique style. Her jaw was tender from constantly gritting her teeth over the matter. Either way, there was nothing natural about what had happened.

And
she would never be the same person again.

Shioni held that thought for a moment. It was frightening what one experience could do to her. Mama had ordered her to go back to the pool and swim there. Would she find the courage? There had been no opportunity as yet.

At least Dusky was alright–winded and sore, but otherwise none the worse for wear. That was more important than her stupid, aching foot!

Here came
Mama now, directing a group of slave-girls to lay out a meal,
missobs
–low, round tables woven from rushes–for eating from, and three-legged stools for the elders. The stools had been carved by the carpenters just last week, she remembered. The shared meal symbolised the understanding between West Sheba, or Talaku, and the villagers. She just hoped the giant would not stuff his face too obviously. Her thoughts must have shown, because Talaku was giving her a sinister glare across the courtyard. His cheek twitched once. And then she caught a picture from him, remembering how he had stolen his most recent goat.

Her jaw
sagged open. Heavens above, Talaku was talking–well, emoting, that was what Shuba called it–just like an animal! How creepy! Nausea burned in the pit of her stomach. How… disturbing. Shioni clamped her teeth back together. She tried to think it through, but all she could imagine was that either he was changing, or she was. And she didn’t fancy either idea. Not one bit.

Her neck was killing her
. So much for having time to recover, as Mama Nomuula had ordered. The village elders had not announced their visit–which was not unusual, but it threw the castle staff into a frenzy of preparations. Apparently she was still fit to chop onions. No bandaged foot or red weals on her wrists from fighting the leather thong had changed that.

The Elite warriors
had spent the days preparing for their raid on Chiro Leba, judging from the sounds she had heard as she was resting and recovering on her pallet. The patrols had been redoubled, night and day, and General Getu issued orders that hyenas were to be killed on sight. But now the ranks of dark, battle-ready warriors stood to attention beneath a cloudless sky, roasting in their armour, sweat dripping down their necks, as the hasty court wound to its inevitable conclusion.

Her stomach
gave a gurgle similar to a feeding hippopotamus. Annakiya was enjoying herself, smiling prettily as she flattered several of the elders, eating as much as she wanted–and her slave had a rack of ribs one could play music on.

Shioni sighed and lifted her eyes to the heavens. Immediately, she
spotted an eagle atop the baobab. Squinting into the glaring sun, she judged it a fish eagle from the cotton-white head and chestnut belly. What a savage, beautiful mien it had! The predatory, hooked beak and curled talons! It was the first fish eagle had seen up in the mountains. What if she called it now? Would the eagle respond to her? As if it had sensed her inmost thoughts, the eagle opened its wings and took off gracefully, winging over the castle with a plaintive cry.

“Come,” said Annakiya
, touching Shioni’s shoulder. She rose gratefully. “Walk with me, old woman.”

“I’ll
whack you with this stick if you don’t watch out.”

“Now, is that any way to treat the Princess of the realm?”
But Annakiya slowed her pace to match Shioni’s game hopping. “How’s the foot?”

Shioni grimaced.
“Infected. Smelly. Mama’s upset with me.”

“Sorry you had to be out here today.”

“Somebody had to count the goats.”

“Ah, the amazingly multiplying goats?”
The Princess steadied her up the small stone step into the cool corridor of the castle. “Careful. Talaku must have been ravenous. He did take them, didn’t he?”

“A good number, I’d guess.
But not twenty-three.”

Chatting away, they entered the relative coolness of Annakiya’s chamber.
A few purchases from the merchants, and it was looking much more homely now–linen hangings to cover the bare stone walls, hand-woven with stylised Ethiopic crosses hand-stitched along their borders, a wooden table to hold an oil lamp, a writing desk with scrolls neatly arranged across its entire surface, a comfortable wood frame bed with Shioni’s separate pallet at its foot, and a tall cupboard for her clothes: these were all the things the Princess needed.

“Finally!
Where have you two been?” Azurelle put her hands on her hips. “How am I supposed to unfurl a scroll without my personal slave present?” And she turned her cheekiest grin on the Princess. “Hey, slave-girl, make yourself useful!”

“At once, your royal tininess.”

“And just you step lively there!”

“Found anything?
” Annakiya turned a frown upon Shioni. “And just you lie down. Now! No, not on your pallet! On my bed, you silly duck. That’s an order.”

Annakiya gave her a sharp look as Shioni mumbled
an unhappy response. Too many orders! But Zi was prattling away about the inscription they had taken from the stele, and what she had discovered by checking every seventh letter in the section of scroll she had been examining. The Princess was quickly distracted.

Soon bored of lying on the bed listening to their animated
discussion about characters, frequencies, codes and keys, Shioni gazed out of the window. A tiny sparrowhawk was surveying the castle from atop the north battlement. She was a fierce little creature–much tinier than the fish eagle, but every bit as much the hunter. She pitied any mouse found scuttling about the gardens or between the huge stones that made up the walls. Shioni pursed her lips, wondering how she had known it was female? The bird gazed unblinkingly into her window, as if aware of her regard.

Shioni focussed intently, and breathed, ‘Come here, little one.’

Goodness! The bird opened its wings and swooped in a low, shallow dive straight across the courtyard. Before Shioni could even think about retreating across the bed, the sparrowhawk had fluttered to a neat landing on the bedpost nearest her!

Annakiya and Azurelle were too
engrossed in their discussion to notice the sudden rush of air. Shioni hoped the sparrowhawk would not turn on the Fiuri–she was the size of a large mouse, after all, and might just be considered dinner. But instead, the bird cocked its head and gazed keenly at her from one yellow eye.

“I do wish I had food for you,”
said Shioni. “What did you want?”

For a second, as she concentrated deeply, it seemed she was inside a storm: the hunger of an empty belly mixed with fear of humans; talons and beak ready to strike; the walls looming like monsters ready to crush a creature used to the endless expanse of the skies…

There was a gasp nearby. With a piercing shriek, the sparrowhawk darted out of the window and, beating its wings furiously, shot up into the heavens.

Shioni turned to see Annakiya
and Zi staring at her–and her friend Tensi, trapped in the doorway with surprise written clearly in her stance and expression.

“What was that about?” asked the Princess.

Tensi was cradling a large clay mug brimming with one of Mama’s medicinal brews, in both hands. Shioni could smell it right across the room. Leaping hyenas! Shioni could smell it right across the room. She realised she had not told Tensi about her rapport with animals–but then, she would have heard the gossip, wouldn’t she?

Tensi
was the warrior Tariku’s daughter, the sister of Gion, whom Shioni had recently been paired with a number of times in warrior training. She and Tensi had in common a love of animals. But speaking to them was almost certainly going too far. Shioni was unsure about how Tariku felt about her skills, even though he knew her well enough since they had travelled into the mountains to rescue the King’s horse.

Tensi was
also a herbalist after Mama Nomuula’s heart. Since her miraculous turnaround of Thunder’s condition, Shioni thought her capable of almost anything.

“Well?” Annakiya pressed.

“I think it was meant to be a message from Anbessa,” she said, quietly. “But you scared her away.”

Tensi’s eyes
became perfectly round.

Then there came a no-nonsense rap
at the doorpost.

A
nnakiya called, “Enter!”

Shuba swept into Princess Annakiya’s room
with her customary aplomb. She loved a dramatic entrance, did Shuba. Her lean, black-robed frame was perfectly suited to lurking in shadowy places and she took a ghoulish delight in bursting out to scare people–at least, Shioni imagined so.

The Kwegu scholar
took one look at Shioni, tucked up in the Princess’ bed, let her scarified eyebrows crawl towards her hairline as if to indicate her disapproval, and turned to Annakiya. “At last, they’ve found something!” she cried.

“Who?”

“My acolytes in Ma’rib. I must have permission to travel at once!”

Seldom had Shioni seen Shuba so excited.
The Kwegu Ascetic was usually coolly rational, but she was waving a message scroll about as though it were a traditional fly-whisk and she wanted to swat someone with it.

Annakiya asked, “Is it about a cure for Father?”

“I’m hopeful,” said Shuba, hopping from one foot to the other. “The source is ancient… a papyrus crumbling with age, possibly from the Library of Alexandria itself! I am required to preserve the remains and discern its secrets.”

“I will authorise your travel and expenses at once
. And the fastest ship. And… whatever else you need.”

The Princess
appeared to be trying for calm, but she fumbled for a reed pen and cast about aimlessly for a blank message scroll embossed with the royal seal of West Sheba. When Shioni made to get up to help a chorus of scolding sent her sulking back between the sheets. As Annakiya wrote quickly, biting her lip, Shuba and Zi discussed the stele and what they had discovered so far.

Tensi
took the opportunity to press the mug of medicine upon Shioni. “Mama’s orders. You’re to drink up.”

“Phew.
Get a whiff of that!”

“I added honey,” she
added testily. “Twice what Mama would put in. So don’t you sniff at my work.”

“I’m not very thirsty…”

“Mama said you’d be a bad patient,” Tensi giggled behind her hand. It was a common belief that to show teeth when smiling or laughing was to look like a braying donkey. “She said to tell you she will come and sit on you if you don’t behave. Now stop being a monkey and let me change the dressing on your foot too.”

Shioni groaned, “Now you sound just like Mama.”
But she sipped carefully. “Mmm–that is a lot of honey. Yum!”

“You don’t want to know what
the Hakim Isoke said.”

“She’s the most spoiled slave
-girl in all of West Sheba,” Shuba said, blowing carefully on the ink signature to dry it in preparation for sealing. The girls, startled by her flawless imitation of Isoke’s nasal tones, broke into fits of giggles. Shuba’s scarred, severe face creased into a smile as rare as an anteater with an aversion to ants. “Shioni, the look of horror on your face when I mentioned my acolytes... no, there aren’t more of me, girl. But the Ascetic community boasts over two hundred scholars from my people alone. It is a point of Kwegu pride. Now, I will ride as the wind.”

Shuba took three steps across the room, and then whirled in the doorway.
Her bony forefinger speared out at Shioni. “Mind what you’re doing with your powers, girl! Such a powerful summoning! I understand you were drowning, but you could have killed the old elephant!”

And with that chilling admonition, she rushed
away like a storm hurrying off into the distance to find the right place to drop its fill of hailstones and lightning.

Tiny feet pattered across the desk.
With a hop and a skip, Azurelle deftly leaped the gap between the desk and the bed. She kissed Shioni’s cheek and twiddled her hair between her fingers. “Don’t you listen to that toothless old lioness.”

“She means well,” Annakiya added, putting down her reed
pen with a sigh. She rubbed her temples. “She’s as scary as a hyena with the mange, but well-meaning.”

“Magic can be arbitrary.
And awfully dangerous.” Zi struck a pose on the pillow. “Just look at what happened to oh-most-beauteous me.”

“If she meant Dusky
–Dusky is fine,” Tensi said stoutly. “Bruised, but fine.” But her eyes were full of unspoken questions that Shioni would rather not have answered.

Shioni said softly,
“Dusky saved my life.”

“Ew, your foot is a mess!
” exclaimed the Fiuri, holding her nose.

“Rather that, Zi, than
–you know. And, I must add, you’ve lost not an ounce of your beauty. Do you think Shuba can bring the King out of his coma?”

“You
do make me laugh, Shioni,” chuckled Annakiya, losing her serious expression. “Thoughts blowing with the winds as always. You just managed three corners of the world in one breath.”

The
Fiuri put in, “About my beauty…”

“Zi.”
Shioni touched her friend’s grass-green tresses with a gentle fingertip. “Riddle me this: how is it that a Fiuri with a name like Azurelle–you know, azure, as in the colour of the sunlit sky–comes to have green hair and eyes? And why haven’t you ever spoken about your life back in the Fiuri realms? Don’t you want to return? Is it really better for you here without your magic? Without the use of your wings?”

“Don’t I want to go back?” Zi echoed, looking so deflated that Shioni felt terrible.
“Well–”

“
Shioni!
”

Zi’s head was bowed low, but she
held up both hands to forestall the Princess’ indignant interruption. “No, no, Annakiya. She has every right to question me. It’s difficult. I have wanted to tell you more, much more… but I just haven’t found the right moment. You’ve been such good friends. I didn’t want to spoil things. And green is
common!
A colour as common as mud!”

The only sound in the room was water dripping
as Tensi cleaned Shioni’s wounded foot with a cloth. Every eye was riveted on the Fiuri.

“I wasn’t
very nice before,” said Zi in a small voice. “I was bullied–a lot–when I was young. That was part of the reason I joined the rebellion when Tazaka, my clan father and leader of all the Greens, rose up against the Fiuri King. I wanted nothing but revenge. I would have done anything to get it. I was ruthless and mean and cruel and... I did many things I regret now. Tazaka betrayed me to the witch. She needed Fiuri magic. I don’t know what he received in return.”

“So you’re a Green?”

In bitter tones, Zi said, “In all but name. Somehow, at the Naming Ceremony after my chrysalis stage, when I came into my Colour… well, they made a mistake. Stupid elders! Or it was a sick joke! But I wasn’t laughing. And when it turned out I was just an ordinary Green, that’s when people began to tease me and I lost all of my friends.”

“You were a
chrysalis?” the Princess chimed in. “As in, you were a
caterpillar
before?”

“Well it’s the closest description I can find
that you’d understand, Miss Smarty-Scrolls,” sniffed the Fiuri. “A caterpillar made of pure crystal.”

Annakiya looked
as though she desperately wanted to roll about on the floor laughing, but was afraid of hurting Zi’s feelings. “So then, who are the Azures?”

“Only the highest, noblest and most mysterious of the
Blue clans. That’s what makes my name such a horrid, horrid… well, anyway, now you know why I don’t want to go back.” Zi folded her arms tightly across her chest. “And I don’t want to hear any jokes about caterpillars! Or butterflies either.”

“
Well, we might only be ignorant humans,” Tensi put in unexpectedly, “but to us you’re exceptional.”

“Exceptionally beautiful,” Shioni
corrected.

“
Our butterflies would weep in a jealous rage if they saw you,” said Annakiya. “They would swoon and gnash their… well, they don’t have teeth, do they? Anyway, despite Shioni’s brash questions, there’s no need to tell us anything if you don’t want to.”

“I’m sorry I asked.”

“I will tell you everything, I promise. Just not right now.”

And Zi
made for herself a nest of Shioni’s hair and hid in there. She could feel the Fiuri trembling.