Returned

by Kimberley Griffiths Little

  I swallowed hard and asked, “How did you get him here so quickly?”

  “Basim’s man brought word to Kadesh, and he ordered his body taken from the desert and brought here before vultures dragged it off. The king has plans for it.”

  The royal uniform Horeb wore so proudly was shredded from our fight. Bruises crushed his skin, and his eyes stared unseeing at the blue skies above us.

  The boy of my childhood, my former betrothed, and the man my father had loved as a son was finally dead. It was real. I didn’t have to fear him any longer. I was free. I was living a new dream in a new world now and I was having a hard time taking it in.

  With a single motion of his hand, Chemish closed Horeb’s eyes and then rose to his feet. “It is finished,” he said quietly.

  I wavered and sat down on the grass with a thud, trying not to sob, my breath catching hard in my chest.

  Basim knelt beside me. “My lady, please rise. You should be in the city, not out here, with the bodies of our enemy.”

  Like a father, he gently took my hand in his rough one. Basim escorted me through the clamoring chaotic streets. Soldiers were cleaning themselves at the town plaza, dumping buckets of water over their heads. Some people were celebrating our victory while solemn women clutched children to their breasts. It was a mass of confusion on the main throughway and along the wide palace stairs and portico.

  Whispers scuttled around me like spiders in my ears. I was relieved the war was over, but I still had a long ways to go to fully win the people’s hearts. Perhaps I had a chance now—if Kadesh had survived.

  I was desperate to see my sisters. The temple had been untouched by war, but I could imagine the sober mood among the priestesses and Egyptians. Was Aliyah hiding her head, or was she already out recruiting King Hammurabi of Babylon or King Idrimi of Damascus to her ambitious cause?

  I spent the next two hours with my maids, who bathed me, washing Horeb’s blood from my crusted hair, and massaging my sore limbs. My wrists still hurt from the bonds of Horeb, bruising now in purple and green mottled colors.

  My filthy bloodstained clothes were taken to be burned and I could finally stop gagging.

  When word came that Kadesh was back at the palace, I tore through the halls, slamming doors, until I found him in his royal rooms and ran into his arms.

  There were no words to express all that had happened that day with the stampede and Horeb’s death. We held each other, the room spinning with emotion and relief and a euphoric sensation of liberation.

  “There’s something I have to take care of,” Kadesh finally murmured. I released him reluctantly, but he wasn’t that far away, only across the room at his desk.

  A servant bent to offer me food, but I shook my head.

  My clean hands and clothes were almost dreamlike, too. A world apart from what had happened earlier. Dusk settled over the city while I stared, unseeing, through the windows.

  Restless, I stood up to pace the room, touching a vase, clutching a piece of linen curtain. I stopped behind Kadesh’s desk, desperate for a way to fight the demons left over from the surge of thousands of camels slaughtering men under their feet.

  Kadesh turned to me, his face haunted. “I’m almost finished,” he finally said, gesturing to the ink brushes and tablet.

  “I can’t stop my mind from obsessing over the details of the stampede. Will I ever get the terrible images out of my head?”

  He rubbed his hands along his face before gathering me into his arms. “I wish you hadn’t been there. I wanted to protect the girl I love. The woman who will be my wife when this is over.”

  “But I will also be Sariba’s queen,” I reminded him, brushing my cheek across his jawline, my lips close to his. “And today, your men needed us both.”

  A scribe entered the room, and we broke apart.

  Kadesh directed him to recopy his notes and add the official royal lettering and the engraved stamp of King Kadesh in the soft clay.

  By this time, Chemish had arrived and inspected the letter.

  “Any words of wisdom?” Kadesh asked the old warrior.

  “After today’s bloody battle, I don’t see how Aliyah could reject this. You’re offering her and her Egyptians a chance at redemption, including supplies and water and fresh camels to see them back to Egypt.”

  “But my terms are that Aliyah departs from Sariba forever and never returns. If she does, she’ll be arrested and imprisoned.”

  “It’s generous. More than any other invading army would receive.”

  After dispatching the letter, Kadesh fell into an armchair, laying a hand across his forehead. His servants plied him with food and drink, but he barely ate a few mouthfuls.

  Instead, he ordered the lamps dimmed and me next to him on the sofa. I curled into his side while his arms went around me. His fingers stroked my hair, and I couldn’t recall a single time we’d ever sat quietly together. We’d always been traveling, with a roomful of people, hiding our love for each other—or hundreds of miles apart.

  We watched the moon float above the window, the desert stars like silver drops of molten liquid.

  “And now we wait,” Kadesh whispered. “For the answer that will bring an end to this madness. If Aliyah doesn’t respond and acquiesce by tomorrow, General Naham is under orders to invade the temple and arrest her and her coconspirators.”

  His words should have brought me comfort. To never see Aliyah again was all that I wished for, but I knew deep in my heart that Aliyah would go down fighting to her last breath. I dreaded that a temple invasion by our own army might be the result, and that Leila could be hurt in the process.

  32

  The next morning I determined to take care of something I’d been putting off. Sahmril’s adoptive parents, Thomas and Zarah, had been staying at one of the palace guest houses during the duration of the war, and I couldn’t ignore them any longer.

  Every day Sahmril and I had grown closer. I’d spent hours with her when I hadn’t been on the battlefield. Being with the daughter my father thought he’d lost had given him new life and purpose. He gazed adoringly at Sahmril each time she entered a room, smiles lighting his grizzled face for the first time in months.

  Despite my determination to accomplish the task at hand, my steps were slow that morning. Aunt Naomi met me in the hallway of her suite and we embraced for the first time since I’d returned with Basim from the battlefield.

  “Jayden, my girl! You’re safe, praise the living God.”

  She clasped me again, and then looked me in the eye. “You are a remarkable young woman. Josiah told me all that transpired yesterday, and it’s a miracle our enemies are dead and you are safe.”

  “I know it happened,” I told her. “But I’m still trying to convince myself it’s real. Where are Uncle Josiah and Kadesh this morning?”

  I hadn’t seen any of the royal family since the previous evening. After the letter Kadesh had sent to the temple demanding Aliyah’s surrender and banishment, the unsettling fear in my gut was growing instead of dissipating.

  “Josiah is overseeing the cleanup with General Naham. He told me that envoys will accompany the next caravans to take word of the war’s results to the tribes of the Nephish and Maachathites.”

  A chill came over me when I thought about Aunt Judith’s reaction to Horeb’s death. She would despise me until she took her last breath, but what would my cousins think—Horeb’s sisters and younger brother, Chezib? What truth or lies did they know about me and the events of the past year?

  “Will the Nephish tribe survive after all of this?” I wondered, speaking my thoughts aloud.

  Naomi smoothed out the frowns along my forehead. “Jayden, don’t trouble yourself. You are part of Sariba now.”

  “But will the rest of the people here ever feel as you do? Or will they now despise me for taking away their husbands and fathers?”

  “Give them your love, your kindness, and your service and they will know that this war wasn’t your doing
.”

  “I know you’re right, but my stomach is unsettled. Sa’ba is in a precarious situation.”

  Naomi nodded. “Prepare yourself for a trip with Kadesh to help provide a transitional period while they mourn their queen. Your presence can give that land comfort as well as stability.”

  I mused on her words and advice. She was right. When the aftermath of the war was cleaned up and Aliyah taken care of, a trip to Sa’ba was in order to help stabilize both kingdoms. And we would have Basim and his fifty warriors to accompany us. I glanced up at Naomi with a half smile. “Can Kadesh and I get married first?”

  “Oh, my girl!” Naomi said. “Yes, and I’m already a step ahead of you. I have a meeting with my servants and the palace staff to begin the preparations immediately. We’ve all waited long enough.”

  “You never did say where Kadesh is,” I reminded her. “Only Uncle Josiah.”

  “Kadesh ordered the capture of the enemy’s horses and the burning of their camp. Then he planned to ride to the temple to speak with the Egyptians about embalming arrangements for the queen. After that he planned to demand an answer from Aliyah. Josiah said the king was not happy when he left the palace this morning after not hearing from her.”

  “I was afraid she would have to be forced—” I broke off when Jasmine and Tijah ran in from the foyer.

  Jasmine buried her head against me, silent tears trickling down her face. “I’m ordering your mother to come here as soon as possible,” I said. “The widows and orphans in the city need her tender heart and skill, but her daughters need her most of all. Now take me to Sahmril. Is she napping? And where is my father?” I added.

  Aunt Naomi spoke up, her words reluctant. “I’m afraid Sahmril is in one of the private sitting rooms. The nobleman and his wife arrived this morning, demanding to see her.”

  Her words were like a punch in the chest.

  “Jayden, please,” Naomi said. “Stay calm.”

  She was too late. I was already running down the hallways and through the foyer, pushing open the doors to the various sitting rooms bathed in morning light.

  In the third room, I stopped short. Sahmril was lying with her head upon the shoulder of a woman I’d only seen once before in the city of Mari. A woman who had stared defiantly at me through the windows of her great house that overlooked a lush pond and gardens.

  Thomas straightened as I entered, his hand immediately reaching for his wife’s in a show of solidarity against me.

  I lost all breath, and my composure wilted.

  “Mama,” Sahmril said happily, snuggling into Zarah’s arms. She gave Thomas an adoring look. “Papa,” she told me, pointing to him.

  “Sahmril—” I couldn’t speak her name without my heart breaking. I sucked in the tears, trying to stay in control in front of these strangers, but my emotions were strung like a rope to its breaking point.

  I stepped forward, forcing a happy smile so Sahmril wouldn’t be afraid.

  Zarah and Thomas stiffened at my presence, their faces sober.

  I knelt down, my skirts sinking to the floor. I was a wreck, physically and emotionally. Every part of my body hurt, and my head still ached after Horeb slammed me to the ground. But none of that mattered when I saw my little sister. The hurt in my heart swelled to even greater proportions. “Sahmril, my darling girl,” I said softly.

  “Jayden,” she said with a giggle. After a week together, she knew me so much better now. I reached out a finger to stroke the soft skin along her arm. I touched her dress, the red silk ribbons in her black curls.

  “You will always be the sister of my heart, sweet Sahmril,” I said. I choked back the burn in my throat, tears streaming from my eyes.

  “No cry,” my little sister said, dimples breaking in her cheeks as she patted my face, trying to get me to laugh.

  “You’re right,” I told her. “No more tears. We’re happy now in this beautiful land.” I kissed her cheeks and smoothed a hand over her hair, then lifted my face to Thomas and Zarah. “Have you heard the news of the Queen of Sheba’s death?”

  “This country has seen great difficulties the past few weeks,” Thomas said in his quiet voice. “You have lost many loved ones and just finished a dreadful war. We empathize having recently survived the Babylonian war on our city last year.”

  “My father, Pharez, and I, have only recently been reunited with Sahmril. My father needs to be with her. These past two years have been devastating for him in more ways than I can begin to tell you.”

  “We’ve been talking,” Thomas said, glancing at his wife. “We learned much as we traveled with the queen from Sa’ba to King Kadesh’s kingdom. We were ungenerous when we first met you both. And now, after having a child for the first time in our lives we realize the heartache it was to take your sister from you.”

  “Is there another way?” Aunt Naomi said from the doorway. I hadn’t realized that she’d followed me and now her voice was serene and diplomatic. A voice of calm. “Is there a way to bring peace to both families? Sahmril only knows you as her parents, and yet she and Jayden have formed a bond—not including their blood bond. Jayden has fought for months to keep her mother’s deathbed promises.”

  “We do empathize with that,” Thomas said. His face was somber, but not unkind.

  I swiped away the tears on my lips. “Please stay and make your home in Sariba. You may stay in the guest house for as long as you like. And please come to the palace every day. Kadesh and I welcome you to our kingdom. Sahmril can enjoy both her families.”

  Thomas lifted his chin. “Thank you, my lady, that’s very considerate. We’ve been vagabonds since Mari burned, and running from dire fates across empty deserts for too long.”

  Zarah stared at me, and then dropped her eyes to her lap. “Thank you,” she said, her voice so soft I barely heard her. “I understand you are to be married to the King of Sariba.”

  “One day soon, I hope,” I said, forcing myself to remain serene. “Very soon. We’ve waited a long time.”

  “We wish you every happiness,” the woman told me, and I believed her sincerity.

  After our meeting, I went to visit the wounded soldiers in the infirmary. There were so many of them, and every physician in the city was on hand working.

  By afternoon, my path had yet to cross with Kadesh’s. I had so much to tell him, but he’d been busy with General Naham and his captains, as well as enlisting the Egyptians about embalming the queen. There were also the remaining soldiers of the Assyrian and Maachathite armies to deal with. I could only imagine he was beyond exhausted in the aftermath of the past several weeks.

  After an early dinner with Sahmril, my father, and the nobleman and his wife, I wrapped a shawl around my head and shoulders, hoping to stay anonymous while I marched up the hill to the temple. I needed to find Kadesh and see if Leila was there and well. I hadn’t learned a thing about my sister’s fate.

  At the eastern wall of the city, I was surprised to see scores of people moving through the gate, headed up the forest paths to the temple mount. The sound of their voices floated on the cool night air.

  I followed the crowd, and when we reached the upper temple courtyards, hundreds of lights blazed through the trees. A riot of sound and noise as people gathered at the place of sacrifice.

  I halted, my stomach in my throat.

  The priestesses of the Goddess were weeping and wailing at the temple gates. They were a stark contrast to hundreds of Sariba citizens jeering at the terrible sight that lay before us all.

  King Horeb and the leaders of the Assyrians and Maachathite armies hung from the temple gates. Proof of Sariba’s victory. Proof that the war was over.

  Their brass armor had been stripped, their heads cut off, and their bodies fastened to the walls of the Goddess and Ba’al.

  I shoved the nausea down my throat.

  Someone bumped into me and I turned to ask, “Where is the enemy’s armor and swords?”

  “They put it all in the house of th
e Goddess,” came the answer. “The king has decreed that their defeat be published in every land.”

  Down below in the city, the trumpets of Sariba blasted notes of triumph and peace, but up here at the temple, all was chaos and fighting. The hanging bodies of our enemies did not bode well for trying to get inside the temple and find Leila. I decided to wait until someone could accompany me, or until it was safer. I’d have a scribe deliver a letter asking her to come to the palace.

  Unsteadily, I walked back to the palace alone, passing restaurants aglow with lights. Something about all of this didn’t feel right.

  My bedroom suite had been freshly cleaned. The only thing that was missing was the presence of Sahmril playing with Jasmine, her giggles as the two of them built towers out of blocks and rocked their baby dolls to sleep. I’d agreed to Sahmril staying with her adoptive parents that night, but her presence was sorely missed.

  After my maids were asleep, I roamed the suite restlessly. Dozing in a chair by the window, I dreamed about Horeb pinning me to the earth, his mouth on mine while blood gushed from his chest and neck.

  I woke in a sweat and stood at the window to cool my hot face. Going to the door, I found a guard pacing the floor in the outer hallway. “Is there any word from the king?”

  “No, my lady,” he replied.

  “Please leave a message with his servant that I must see him. No matter how late it is.”

  I shut the door and leaned against it, sick with worry. Opening the door again, I said to the guard, “Please have someone find Basim and bring him to the palace to meet with me.”

  Unable to wait, I threw a robe around my shoulders and strode down to the foyer. The grand foyer was lit with dozens of sconces and burning lamps. Guards spoke quietly in the anteroom, discussing the week’s battles, a topic I did not want to think about anymore.

  I moved into a sitting room, unable to bear my own thoughts. Perched on the edge of a sofa, I stared into the lamp’s flame until a noise came at the door.

  “My lady, it’s well past midnight,” Basim said, fully dressed and armored as though he’d never gone to bed.