Returned

by Kimberley Griffiths Little

  Kadesh was curt. “How did they breach the walls, General Naham? I was nearly assassinated in my bed tonight. A spy of Horeb’s lies in that corner in his own blood.”

  “Sire, they didn’t breach the walls,” the general said in a peculiar tone.

  The room seemed to hold its breath. “How?” Kadesh demanded. “If not over the walls or through the city, do you mean—?” he broke off as understanding flooded his face.

  General Naham nodded soberly.

  Kadesh gave a loud, frustrated sound, running a hand through his sweaty hair. “This changes everything if they came through the tunnels.”

  I glanced between the two men. “Wouldn’t they need to breach the walls of the city to reach any tunnels under the palace?”

  Kadesh shook his head. “The tunnels twist under the mountains from the temple to the palace.”

  I nearly choked, realizing that he meant the same tunnels Tijah and Jasmine had taken me through from behind the waterfall to the temple. Which meant that Aliyah could use the tunnels from the temple straight to Kadesh’s suite. “Why aren’t they blocked off?”

  “The tunnels can’t be blocked off. They serve too many purposes—but they are supposed to be guarded at all times.”

  “I’m sure Aliyah had the guards killed,” I said. “She knows the palace’s habits and forces. How easy for her to escort Horeb’s army straight to you.”

  General Naham said, “The foreigners infiltrated with a small envoy to ascertain how easy—or difficult—our defenses are to overcome.”

  “So Horeb’s army isn’t in the streets of Sariba yet?” Kadesh said coldly.

  The general shook his head, watching Kadesh’s face chiseled with anger. “Even as we speak, Sariba’s army is on the walls of the city to protect it.”

  “Aliyah sent Horeb’s spies through the tunnels to assassinate you, Kadesh,” I told him evenly.

  “If tonight’s infiltration had been successful, the war would have been over before it even began. Aliyah had only to wait for a signal to enter the palace, find my dead body, and snatch the throne.” Kadesh whirled on his feet, anger rippling out from his body in waves. “Just that easy.”

  General Naham narrowed his eyes. “I believe tonight was merely a strike to intimidate us. Too bad Horeb lost his best spies on a suicide mission.”

  Kadesh lifted his chin and our eyes locked. We were thinking the same thing. Softly, he said, “The Queen of Sheba was right. And I failed to act.”

  “It’s not too late,” I told him. “I would gladly volunteer if you need an assassin—”

  “No!” Kadesh said, his eyes widening at what I was implying.

  “I’ve stood in her temple apartment,” I said boldly. “I can even scale the wall,” I added with a half smile.

  Uncle Josiah’s voice spoke from the doorway, where he had appeared from the shadows. “You may not be queen yet, Jayden, but I can’t think of anyone more worthy of the role.”

  “The only reason Horeb’s armies lie in wait to decimate us is because of me. People have already died. I will kill Aliyah, or I will kill Horeb. That is my responsibility. King Ephrem gave it to me. We both heard it.”

  Kadesh snapped a finger at his general. “Send a platoon to guard the entrance and exit to the tunnel. Horeb’s soldiers will never come into the city again.”

  “And I will go out with Jonah to poison the springs,” I added in a louder voice. “That plan has to work if Sariba stands a chance at living to fight again. We’re outnumbered.”

  General Naham winced, glancing at the guards and servants standing nearby who didn’t deserve to hear the odds we were up against. “Jonah goes alone,” he said in a steely tone.

  I interrupted. “Jonah will need backup. Someone to watch for the enemy while he gets to the springs. After this attempt on your life tonight, Kadesh, I want to go more than ever. I have to go while you assemble your army.”

  “That mission is far too dangerous, Jayden. I want you safely in the palace.”

  “And we’ve so recently seen how safe the palace is,” I said pointedly.

  Kadesh shook his head, clenching his fists in frustration. “General Naham, send two soldiers with Jonah,” he ordered.

  The General must have seen the look on my face because he didn’t speak at first.

  “A soldier can’t move as quietly as I can,” I told the room.

  A voice—Asher—spoke from the back of the room. “She just took out your assassin, King Kadesh.”

  “I have to go. You need everyone here to prepare for the first battle. Let me do something.”

  “As if saving my life tonight weren’t enough?” he said with a brief laugh.

  “I have no doubt you would have killed him.” I reached for Kadesh’s hand, pressing my lips against his palm. “Most importantly, I’m a desert girl. I know how to move among the sand and rocks with stealth. I know how to become the wind or the rocks. Jonah and I will perform this task so that your first day of battle is successful.”

  Kadesh gave a sigh. “I can’t seem to argue with you anymore.” He lifted his head toward the scout, Jonah. “Bring back my betrothed alive and a gold coin bonus will be yours.”

  Jonah bowed deeply and the room seemed to exhale.

  “Bury Horeb’s dead. Clean up the blood. Then get some sleep before the night is completely over if you can,” Kadesh said wearily to the guards still standing at attention, even as a cock crowed despite the darkness still engulfing the city. “We meet midmorning to finalize our attack for tomorrow.”

  17

  When I returned to my suite to dress in my dark clothes again, my handmaidens had come out of hiding and were sitting on their beds in their nightgowns, Tijah whispering and Jasmine signing her thoughts to her sister with her hands. Seeing them together made me homesick, but I had to brush the nostalgia aside.

  My fingers fumbled with nerves. I dreaded going back out on the desert, but I hoped with only me and Jonah we would be as unobtrusive as a salt scrub.

  A knock came at the door and a messenger entered. “A message from Erina at the temple, my lady,” he began.

  Erina, Tijah and Jasmine’s mother. It was highly unusual that she would send a message by courier to me. “Go on,” I said.

  “She wants to make sure her daughters are here at the palace, safe.”

  “Of course they are. You may reassure her of that.”

  The man went on to read off a list of names, and Tijah turned white.

  “Do you recognize these people’s names?” I asked her.

  She nodded, her words coming out in jerks. “My aunt—my mother’s sister—her husband and children—my cousins.”

  “What do these names mean?” I asked the messenger.

  “The family was part of a group killed by the enemy on their way to safety in the foothills.”

  Tijah burst into tears. I took her cold hands in mine and rubbed them while she sobbed. Jasmine had read the boy’s lips, and silent tears rolled down her face.

  Horeb was killing innocent people. Not soldiers, not warriors, but citizens escaping to the caves they used for summer homes. Land they tilled for personal gardens, using the natural springs of the mountains.

  “I’m so sorry,” I said to Tijah, my arms around her. Jasmine buried her head in my chest, whimpering. I lifted my eyes to the ceiling, praying that Aliyah wouldn’t take the same revenge when I thwarted her sacrificial ceremony.

  When I returned from the poisoning mission, I would sleep a few hours and then make final plans to figure out how to save Sahmril from the temple sacrifice.

  “You’ll be safe here at the palace,” I told my maids. “Naomi has invited you girls to have luncheon at her suite with her servants. Everyone needs to take their minds off the coming battles. If I’m not back in time, please go without me.”

  Jonah appeared at the door before Tijah could protest. “Are you ready, my lady?” he asked.

  “I’ll meet you at the stables in a few minutes.” I re
turned to the dressing room and quickly pulled on the black pair of trousers I’d worn the night before for our scouting expedition.

  A roughhewn tunic went over my head. A black sash knotted around my waist and then my sword belt. Dagger in a sheath on the side of my leg. Pulling my hair up into a knot on top of my head again, I covered it with a dark headscarf and then wrapped it about my neck, tucking the ends into my cloak.

  Down at the stables, Jonah had horses ready.

  We rode silently, passing hundreds of camels and goats out to pasture on the eastern plains of Sariba. Far from where Horeb was camped on the opposite end of the valley, and guarded against marauders from Horeb’s soldiers. Sariba’s caravan camels were protected at all costs. A bounty Horeb was probably salivating to plunder.

  My legs ached by the time we skirted the temple. I’d done more riding the past few days than I ever had in my life, and I wasn’t used to the saddle of a horse.

  We continued east and took a path that cut across the bottom of the mountains. A circuitous route, but one that wouldn’t lead us directly to Horeb’s camp.

  There was no time to walk. We had to get in and out quickly and then race back to the city, but pockets of trees and shrubs along the rise and fall of the earth helped keep us invisible.

  When we came out from a dry river bottom, I gulped down a swig of water.

  Less than half a league ahead was the camp of Horeb’s armies, a familiar but ominous sea of tents and men.

  Jonah’s arm shot out to keep me at his side. “There are cooks and guards still at the campsites. We need to walk in from here.”

  We tied our horses behind a copse of bushes and climbed over the rocks, slipping through a ravine and approaching a series of yawning, black shadows—caves.

  I pulled the scarf over my nose, speculating about whether I could find the caves that held the sepulcher of Kadesh’s parents’ bodies. A deep ache lay heavy inside my chest when I thought about his loss.

  “Here,” Jonah whispered, slipping inside one of the stone hollows.

  Pausing only a moment to let our eyes adjust, we moved along the dusty floor. Soon we reached a stream of water cutting a path along the ground, which then disappeared into the rock.

  “Where does the water go?” I asked, barely speaking above a murmur.

  “This spring leads to three wells along the lower ridge of hills. The springs are the reason our enemy camped here.”

  “Will the poison affect the city’s water supply?”

  He shook his head. “Sariba’s water comes from its own underground city springs, actually. Fed by the lakes and rivers you pass to climb up to the Temple of Sariba. The city is well situated with indoor plumbing because of natural cisterns underneath the tunnels. The cisterns are a constant source of water. In fact, these springs will dilute the poison after a few days, if not within hours.”

  “Why did Kadesh ask for the citizens to collect water, then?”

  “I believe it was a precaution, and probably wise. Especially if the enemy invades the city or lays siege and cuts off the water supply.”

  “We should put all of the poison in then,” I said decisively. “If it kills the Maachathites and Assyrians faster, so be it.”

  Jonah lifted an eyebrow as though surprised by my ruthless words, but he didn’t speak, merely pulled out the package of hemlock he’d been carrying in his pack.

  I knelt on the cool stone floor of the cave and helped him break it into pieces, grinding the flakes of herbs with my fingers to break it apart. The dark green herb floated away into the chilly water.

  By the time we were done, I was anxious to be gone. Paranoia was setting in. Leaving the relative safety of the cave and returning to the desert where we might run into Horeb’s scout was enough to immobilize me.

  Without speaking, we moved to the entrance, a hazy dawn pouring in along the opposite wall from where we stood in shadow. Peering around the jagged rock to make sure we were alone, I finally moved forward and caught the reins of my horse—just as a man in a foreign uniform ran straight for me.

  Before I could flee, he grabbed me and forced me to my knees. I fumbled for my dagger, but he shoved me to the dirt and placed a foot on my chest, pinning my arms to my sides so I couldn’t move.

  The soldier, a Maachathite, laughed. “I saw your shadow, girl.”

  “I’m not a girl,” I sputtered.

  His chuckling turned to sudden, gasping gurgles when Jonah plunged his sword straight through the man’s back, puncturing his heart and shooting forward through his chest. The spy’s eyes froze, bright red blood dribbling from his nostrils.

  “Get up, my lady,” ordered Jonah. “Run!”

  Scrambling to my feet, I untied my horse, swung myself up, and dug a heel into the animal’s side. We took off at a full gallop.

  My scarf whipped about my face, stinging my cheeks. Wind dried my eyes, bringing sharp gasps from my mouth. Jonah’s horse kept pace with mine while I hung on with all my strength. The leather reins burned the skin of my hands, but I’d gladly let the halter tear off all my skin if it meant I returned to the palace safely.

  Finally, I dared a glance behind but we were alone.

  Once we entered the forest, we slowed to allow the horses to breathe. Their coats were lathered with foam, eyes rolling from the frantic speed.

  “Good girl,” I murmured to Hara. “We’re almost home.”

  Birds chattered in the sycamores above us. As though we were a world apart and there wasn’t about to be hundreds of men fighting and dying within sight of our location in a few hours.

  A little while later I said, “That spy is dead, correct?”

  “Yes. I just hope nobody finds him for a while. They could trace our steps to the mouth of the spring and deduce our mission. And ban the army from using the wells.”

  “If so, all of this will be for naught.”

  Jonah nodded soberly.

  At last the eastern entrance to the city was within sight. Guards opened the giant bronzed gates and we galloped straight to the stables. After I slid off my mount, a groom was already nickering to my horse while I limped my way to the door, still gasping for air.

  When I departed the stable, Jonah nodded to me without speaking. I watched him disappear into the streets, presumably back to his platoon. I knew nothing about him, only that he had heeded a royal call and fulfilled his duty.

  I sagged against a post and sipped at my water pouch for a few moments before taking the side streets and heading back to the palace.

  “Walk,” I muttered, anxiety setting in as I passed empty shops and quiet streets. Everyone was in hiding. I didn’t think I could stand enduring the hours awaiting the first battle tomorrow.

  Even though my handmaidens and the rest of Kadesh’s family were safe within the palace—the most secure spot in the city—I started to run.

  18

  After a quick wash, I dropped into bed for several hours. But when I woke, the sound of troops practicing under the direction of General Naham and the Sariba captains came through the window. Shouts and the thunder of horses’ hooves, including the ringing of the metal forgers fixing swords and knives and fierce metal-tipped spears.

  I lay in bed, my eyes burning, watching the sun rise toward noon. A moment later, I shoved back the bedding and staggered to my feet. Tomorrow night was the temple sacrifice, and I needed to get myself together, along with a few committed soldiers, to help me rescue Sahmril and Leila.

  Raw nerves chewed at my gut while I took a deep cleansing bath, scrubbing away the dirt and sand from the night.

  I also hoped Horeb’s men were sick as dogs right now, but we wouldn’t know how the poison had affected them until tomorrow’s dawn, when they were crawling out of their beds and the Sariba army attacked with fury.

  My maids and I were silent while I dressed. We were all thinking and hoping the same thing. “I’m going to Lady Naomi’s suite. If I stay here alone in my room,” I said, “I’ll go crazy waiting.”
<
br />   My maids nodded, looking relieved at not having to entertain me or watch me pace the floors.

  A quick brush through my drying hair and a pinch to my cheeks to get rid of the ashen color, and I went to find Aunt Naomi. I needed my mother badly. I wished I could talk to my father about Sahmril, but he would be heartbroken to hear of Sahmril’s capture by Aliyah, especially after foolishly walking out to the desert to try and talk to Horeb.

  Naomi was the closest thing to my mother that I had. She would be unbiased and perhaps have more experience with the temple rituals after watching Kadesh’s mother sacrifice herself to the Sariba Goddess two years ago.

  At first, Naomi’s maids were reluctant to disturb her, but then her voice came through the door. “Jayden, please, come in!”

  “I don’t want to intrude,” I told her as the door to her private bedroom closed behind me. A rush of orchid perfume wafted on the air.

  “I’ve finished bathing.” Aunt Naomi had one arm raised while her maid slipped a dress over her shoulders. “It seems so frivolous, doesn’t it? Putting on jewels and glitter for dinner when an army sits on our doorstep preparing to annihilate us all?”

  I glanced at the maids hanging on to our every word. “Could we speak privately?”

  “Of course,” Naomi said, nodding at her servants.

  A few moments later we sat in her sitting room, hand-painted linens on the couches and bowls of fresh-cut flowers on the tables. Beyond the sheer curtains, the air was still, bringing the sound of battalion drills from the upper barrack yards.

  Naomi brushed her damp hair from her forehead. “I shouldn’t have said that about the enemy ready to annihilate us. My maids will be up all night worrying. But we’ll be safe here in the center of the city.”

  “Horeb’s troops would have to get past our entire army to reach us, but that’s why I’ve come. I think we should have our rooms double guarded until this is over. Unless Kadesh has already ordered it. We believe we’re immune to Horeb’s army getting past our soldiers, but I was in the city of Mari last summer. The citizens there thought they were safe until King Hammurabi invaded and burned the palace down.”