Returned

by Kimberley Griffiths Little

  A moment later, Horeb thrust aside the tent doors.

  “Your betrothed and king is on the plains. A search party is attempting to rescue you. A kiss for luck, my sweet Jayden—including the promise of our marriage bed.”

  “You’ve lost your sanity if you think I’ve been waiting for you to arrive in Sariba to save me.”

  He brushed aside my words. “Too bad I have to keep you tied up, daughter of Pharez. I desire a proper embrace before I go kill your maimed prince, but it will have to wait.”

  His face came down on mine and his lips pressed hard against my mouth. I tasted the salt of his sweat. I tried not to heave as his hand slid from my lower abdomen up along my chest. Images of the night he attacked me at the oasis rushed back again and I almost gagged.

  “Victory is mine, my future queen,” he said.

  I wanted to wipe my mouth to rid the taste of him. “Please stop this war, Horeb,” I pleaded. “You don’t need to slaughter the families of Sariba. That will gain you nothing but hatred and contempt if you want to rule them one day.”

  Horeb rose to his full height, ready for battle again with swords and daggers at his waist. Ready to go find Kadesh and kill him once and for all. I had to get out of here.

  He gave me a mock bow, and then he was gone. The shouts from outside the campsite faded. I pictured the scene of Horeb and Kadesh clashing yet again. Sariba couldn’t survive many more days of fighting.

  I worked at the knots, glad I’d spent so much time on the desert with my father who had taught me so well.

  All of a sudden the sound of trumpets came again, yet it was getting darker by the minute.

  “Guards!” I screamed.

  The same two soldiers snapped open the tent. One of them said to the other, “Go check what’s happening beyond the camp. Those trumpets aren’t ours. I’ll stay here, but if Sariba’s army is within our camp return immediately to tell me.”

  The first soldier disappeared at the exact moment I tore off the last of the rope and reared back, whipping the sling overhead. The stone hurled across the tent with a quiet snap. The rock hit the guard smack in the center of his forehead, and he went straight down, slamming into a chair before he hit the ground without a single whimper.

  Elation filled me. Immediately I wedged a second stone inside the sling in the event that he rose to his feet, but the man wasn’t moving. There was a breath of silence, and I lunged across the tent, stepping over the guard.

  Pausing at the door, I surveyed the camp. A few hired cooks were taking care of meals and wouldn’t be armed with much. Another handful of guards lined the perimeter, but were looking out toward the desert rather than back at camp.

  Every nerve tingled, but I had the advantage of dusk now. Moving slowly, I skirted the tent, searching for an opening that wasn’t as heavily guarded while I found three more stones for my sling. My grip tightened around the leather straps, holding one of the rocks in place in case I needed to use it quickly.

  Keeping low, I headed to the boulders of the mountains, hoping I could find the cave to the spring. When I flung myself toward an opening in the rocky foothills, a black horse reared directly in front of me, its legs scrabbling at the air. I fell, dropping the stones for my sling, my knees slamming into the ground.

  “Get up, Jayden!” a male voice yelled.

  The world around me whirled, and then I recognized the horse, Haran, Asher’s steed.

  Gripping the reins in one hand, Asher reached down with his other arm, seized me under the armpit, and jerked me up onto his horse in front of him. I fell backward, grabbing at his forearms so I wouldn’t lose my balance.

  Asher kicked the horse’s sides and swerved away from the oncoming Maachathite guards coming at us full speed. A spear whistled through the air, and I ducked against the horse’s neck, the weapon falling short by a mere fraction.

  My heart was in my throat while Asher skirted the battlefield and sprinted toward the city. The camp was soon a distant mirage, but the desert was littered with dead soldiers.

  The distance to the city gates was interminable, but we finally arrived. Asher pulled back on the reins and jumped down while I slid off the back. He gripped my arms, seething. “What were you thinking walking into the enemy camp? Have you gone insane?”

  I jerked his arm from off me, glaring at him. “I didn’t walk into Horeb’s camp—I fell from my horse and was taken by his men.”

  “You’re lucky he didn’t kill you!”

  “It’s not me he wants to kill,” I spit back. “It’s Kadesh and you, and everyone else I’ve grown to love—” I broke off, chest heaving while I tried to regain my balance. The world wobbled, mostly my legs.

  Asher rubbed at his dirty face. “Did you learn anything from him?”

  “I took the opportunity to try to stop this war. I tried to save my family, my friends, and this country. It’s my fault people are dying. What if I had offered myself in exchange for his vow that he would stop fighting? Would that change things?”

  Asher stared at me as if I’d lost my mind. “You offered yourself to Horeb? We never asked you to do that. If Kadesh knew about this, he’d string me up a tree and let me rot. As it is, I’ve been searching for you for hours. I failed in my duty.”

  “You didn’t fail. I failed. Again.”

  “There’s no reasoning with King Horeb,” Asher said soberly.

  Silently, I held up my hands in the moonlight. My wrists were raw and bloody.

  Asher went pale. “He did this to you?”

  “No, I managed to get out of the ropes he used on me. And then I took out the guard with a sling I made out of a piece of fabric and string. They took the one you helped me make.”

  Asher let out a sharp laugh, his chest heaving. But there was admiration in his eyes, alongside fear for me.

  “I think Horeb will survive this war,” I said quietly. “And he’ll take me anyway. King Ephrem tasked me with killing him, but I have no strength against him. He’s too big, too powerful.” A single tear leaked from my eyes at the futility of it all.

  Asher ran a weary hand through his hair. He was filthy and blood-stained from the day’s battle. “You need to trust Sariba’s forces. You need to trust Kadesh and his strategies. They’ve been defending the frankincense lands and its wealth and secrecy for hundreds of years. They have a strategy for a final outcome. But it can’t be implemented until Horeb’s forces are cut in half—and I think we are nearly there.”

  Clarity came slowly. Kadesh had alluded to Sariba’s secrets, but I’d been distracted by fear and Aliyah and the queen’s murder.

  “You need to listen to me,” Asher said evenly. “And you need to see something. Follow me.” We walked out of the stable and up the set of stairs by the northern gate tower.

  I took the stone steps to the parapet. All was darkness in the valley, except for the faint fires of Horeb’s camp. A cool breeze bathed my face, and I shivered. Only an hour ago I’d been inside Horeb’s tent.

  My legs shook, and Asher reached out a hand to steady me. “I need to get you back to the palace.”

  “Where’s Kadesh?” I asked, panic pressing against my ribs. “Horeb left me tied up with the express purpose of hunting him down and killing him. Now that the forces are shrinking, it will be easier for him to search out Kadesh and take him out—with the help of a platoon of his own soldiers. That can’t happen again.”

  Asher reached out a hand to steady me. “My lady, he’s alive. Kadesh is well. We were all heading back to the city when I discovered you missing. Yes, the final fight of the day was terrible, but when Kadesh discovered you were still out there somewhere, he was beside himself. But the fighting got so bad we had to retreat and get him off the battlefield.”

  I sagged against him in relief. “But how long are we safe? The casualties are worse every day. How long can we go on before Horeb’s forces truly do wipe us out?” I caught Asher staring up at the temple, its golden lamps shining on the hill. “Aliyah waits like a
spider in her web, for Horeb to bring Sariba down so low that we surrender and she and Horeb take over.”

  “That’s why I brought you up here,” Asher told me. “Because one of the secrets of Sariba is right before your eyes.” He pointed straight ahead. “To the east. What do you see?”

  “Camels. Hundreds of them,” I replied, gazing at him quizzically.

  “No, thousands. And when you own thousands of camels, you have a secret weapon that Horeb probably hasn’t thought of yet.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Kadesh and General Naham have been discussing using them, but I don’t want to speak out of turn. There is much to be planned if our king and general make the decision to implement the camels as a last resort. But be assured that we have a plan.”

  His words were confusing and ominous, but I was reassured to know that our king and general were discussing further strategies.

  Asher helped me down the steep parapet stairs, and it wasn’t long before we were entering the palace foyer. Within moments, we were at the royal suite. I burst inside and raced toward Kadesh. “You’re alive,” I cried, trying not to weep while I laughed with relief.

  “You’re alive.” Kadesh clasped me against him and fiercely kissed me. “You were in Horeb’s camp. I almost lost you. I should never have allowed you to come to the battlefield. It’s my fault.” He paused. “You and I will have words later.”

  “Yes, we will,” I agreed soberly, gazing across the large table where he’d been going over the day’s battle strategy and casualties with General Naham and Chemish. Asher’s father bent over the war plans table, his brow knit in consternation.

  “Chemish!” I cried, my voice choking. It had been over a week ago when he’d fallen at my wedding from the arrow sprung from the bow of Basim’s men. “You still have bandages wrapping your back and arm,” I chided him. “How can you possibly fight?”

  “Sore muscles heal,” Chemish said with a smile.

  “What about arrow holes?”

  He lifted an eyebrow. “I’ve been working my herbal medicine magic, but it’s slow these days.”

  “Perhaps it needs more than a week,” I pointed out affectionately.

  “My queen, I will be in the battle tomorrow and nobody is going to stop me. We need every capable man.”

  “Your doctors may tie you to your mattress, but I most certainly will not,” I assured him. “Tell me what the day’s news is. And I’ll need a salve, Chemish, for my raw wrists, if you have any to spare.”

  He inspected my hands and arms, grimacing at the chaffed and torn skin. “I have plenty, my lady.”

  After applying the ointment and wrapping linen around my wrists, we bent over the table spread with the map of Sariba and the positions of Horeb’s armies.

  “Despite poisoned soldiers and days of shock troops and battle,” Kadesh said, “the news isn’t getting better. Horeb lost a hundred soldiers today and Sariba just as many.”

  I’d learned that servants and scribes walked the battlefields each evening, writing down the dead men’s names before removing the bodies. The logistics of war revolted me. Lives gone—for nothing, only greed, power, and dominion. Each generation the cycle of war began again. Over and over it perpetuated the same conditions, the same bloodthirsty men through the ages.

  Kadesh sank into his desk chair, studying the numbers. Nobody spoke for a moment. The truth of the numbers was staggering. When the king lifted his face, his skin was gray, his expression both vulnerable and furious. I swore he hadn’t slept in a week. “How can I ask my people to sacrifice so much?” he asked quietly.

  “They will lose much more than this if Horeb rules this land,” Chemish said. “We need to find out if there are any seeds of discontent in his troops. See if we can lure anyone over. Tempt them with caravan riches.”

  “In two days’ time, we will use our camels,” Kadesh said. “No later than that time frame. Or we have truly lost.”

  There was an intake of breath from General Naham. “But Your Majesty, the risk is great indeed.”

  “I’m well aware of that, but we are already past the point of no return. We have no choice.”

  “Should we poison the water again?” the general asked.

  Kadesh shook his head. “Those springs will be well guarded by Horeb’s men. Any food or wine offered will be rejected as well.”

  “Surely there’s something else we can do,” General Naham said, pacing the floor.

  “We’ve used shock troops, archers, every weapon and strategy we can in open desert warfare.”

  “They’ll never be lured into the rocks of the mountains,” Asher added wisely.

  “The Assyrian and Maachathite armies are too powerful,” Chemish said. “They’ve always had the advantage of size and sheer numbers from the moment they arrived.”

  “Would that the desert sands had swallowed them,” I said softly. “But we’re beyond wishes.”

  Kadesh stepped away from the strategy table. “We’ve done well,” he said, standing erect before the room. “We’ve been able to cut their numbers down, but we’re still outnumbered. If we continue to fight as we do each day with our swords and spears, we will continue to die, until Sariba’s last resort is too late to carry out successfully.”

  General Naham’s voice was strained. “Already there is murmuring in our ranks of surrender rather than leave our wives and children to suffer the torture and slavery the Nephish King will inflict upon them. At this point, we have no other solutions, my king. I will follow whatever you think is best.”

  Kadesh rubbed at his face, staring unblinking at the battlefield sketches on the long table, and then moving toward the windows to gaze out upon the city. “There is risk in either choice. To fight in hand-to-hand combat and go down in dozens every hour, or use the camels in a final attempt to bring the enemy to their knees—and get them to surrender to us.”

  Chemish moved toward Kadesh. “I agree with you, King Kadesh. Despite the danger, it is the only way to have a chance at survival.

  “Please tell me,” I pleaded, staring at each man in turn. “What are you talking about?”

  Kadesh turned toward me, his voice softening, but laced with an icy vengeance. “We’re going to create a camel stampede, Jayden. We’ll run our camels straight into Horeb’s camp, before they’re ready for the day’s battle. Before they have time to prepare.”

  I sucked in air. “But isn’t that horribly dangerous for our army, as well? Stampeding camels can’t be stopped or controlled. Once they go . . . we could all die.”

  “That’s true, but this strategy has been in the back of my mind for weeks in case this day ever came. The day when we can’t fight Horeb’s soldiers two to one and hope to survive.”

  “I’ve heard my father talk of it. Warning me away from large groups of wild camels ever since I was a child.”

  “Exactly, my lady,” Asher said, his eyes meeting mine across the table.

  “It can actually work?” I asked. “To take out Horeb’s army?”

  “Yes, it will work,” Kadesh replied. “Once most of his armies are dead, we can demand their surrender once and for all.” He turned to General Naham.

  “Get the camel herders organized and your foot soldiers prepared. I want my lead camel riders in front. Tight, compact formation.”

  Chemish lifted a hand. “Allow me to be your strategist in this endeavor. I run your caravans from Edom to Salem and Egypt. My horsemen are excellent camel riders as you well know, my lord.”

  Kadesh kept his face steady on the King of the Edomites. “Are you positive your health is up to this?”

  “I’m tired of sleeping and taking my medicine. I’m better rested than all of you, and I’d love nothing better than to get rid of a few hundred Assyrians within an hour’s time on the battlefield. Safer for our soldiers and more deadly for the enemy.”

  “But only if the camels will run full speed, as one body,” Kadesh warned. “Not even a horse is safe from t
he impact of a camel’s weight at full speed.”

  “I’ve seen herds of feral camels go after a man who isn’t watchful and careful,” Asher spoke up.

  “Chemish,” Kadesh said. “Enlist the help and expertise of Jayden’s father, Pharez. As an experienced camel herder, he can advise us on the best methods to set up the motivation needed to get the camels galloping together in one large group. I think we should build fires near the dunes where we keep the animals,” he added. “Camels are terrified by desert fires and that will set them running.”

  “That would work well,” Chemish agreed. “Leave the details to me and Pharez.”

  “Is tomorrow too late to prepare?” the general asked. “Our men are spent after today.”

  “Yes, the camel herders and Pharez need tomorrow to organize the camels and prepare the fires. But we can’t let Horeb become suspicious if we don’t show up for battle. We don’t want them marching toward the city. Not yet, at least.”

  “Not yet?” I echoed.

  Kadesh’s eyes flickered to mine and then away, but nobody answered my question. “We need a day’s preparation, but it means that more of Sariba’s men will die before we can carry out our plan.

  “Chemish, take Asher and any camel handlers you need. Laying out the plans will take most of the night and they’ll need all day tomorrow to round up the herd and organize the animals into groups for riding.”

  Chemish bowed. “It’s already done, Your Majesty.”

  Kadesh stepped forward to embrace the man he’d known his entire life.

  Emotion pricked my eyes at the sight of these two men who so obviously loved and revered each other.

  I spoke up, but my words wouldn’t be met with acceptance. “I will ride next to my king. No more being on the outskirts to be captured.”

  “You don’t know what you’re saying, my lady,” General Naham said, obviously bothered by my presence. “This will be the most dangerous strategy yet. There’s great risk of dying under the legs of stampeding camels.”

  “That’s true,” I conceded. “But I’m a camel herder first, like my father, and I’ve been riding and training with him since I was small enough to sit on a single camel’s foot and hang on.”