by Marc Secchia
“As you stopped me calling for my royal robes earlier, this part I will manage for myself.” The King took a huge mouthful. “My God, I feel like I haven’t eaten for years.” And he cleaned out his bowl in just a few minutes. “Shioni, I’ll have another bowl if Mama has prepared it.”
Shioni’s feet hardly touched the stone floor of Castle Hiwot’s corridors as she dashed to the kitchen and back, several further bowls in hand.
“Vegetables, eh?” The King sounded in a positively jovial mood. Perhaps waking after a six-month sleep did that to a person, Shioni thought. Or was it the teshal? “This will be Mama’s doing. Now, I have consulted with Getu, with the Captains, and at some length with my children. But I have not spoken to the person who wishes to fundamentally change the social structure of my kingdom.”
Shioni’s cheeks grew hot. Surely he could not be refusing …?
“Everyone seems to be begging for your freedom,” said the King. “My General, my Captains, even my own children. Girl, I would hear these stories at greater length. And with my mind clouded by my recent waking, I cannot think through all of the implications. But what I will say now, I say with all my heart–my humble thanks go to you, Shioni of Sheba. As a King, I say you have held my kingdom in your hand, defended it, and restored it to me. As a father, I say you have been the truest friend I could ever have wished for to my children. As a person, you have brought me healing when no other could. This is service beyond expectation.”
“When I purchased you for a talent of silver, my motives were simple and selfish. I wanted my daughter to have a unique companion, a pretty plaything, to take her mind off her grief. When you came to us as a little slave-girl, I could never have imagined this day.” When Shioni glanced up, she saw the Sheban King smiling at her. “I have watched you grow into an extraordinary young woman, one who influences the fate of kings and kingdoms. And according to all reports you do this with grace. The King of Gondar sent me his personal commendation. Abba Petros, another commendation. Bekele, Annakiya, Getu, Tariku, Yirgu–they all agree. Sheba is heaped high with honour.”
The King paused. “Well put, father,” said Bekele.
“What would freedom mean to you, Shioni?”
Longingly, she touched the silver necklet which had been hers to wear since she could remember. “This says I am property. I am little better than an animal, my King. What I do, I must do, because I am a slave. I have no life of my own. I am less than the least villager in your kingdom.” She smiled hesitantly at him. “I’ve thought about freedom, and talked to Abba Petros and others. Freedom is complicated. There is choice and responsibility. I suppose the most important thing is not the bit of metal around my neck, my King, but who I am and who I’m allowed to be.”
“You’d feel more … human?” he asked, watching her rather more closely than she enjoyed.
“Yes, my King. You could say that.”
“And here I was wishing I felt less human right now,” the King chuckled. “I understand dignity, Shioni. I also see your spirit rising above your status, and that is an object lesson to me. I thought of slaves as … well, as slaves. Tools. Property. Instruments of my will. I didn’t consider them as thinking, feeling human beings.”
“O King, if you are considering freeing me, there are others–”
“Who?”
“Mama Nomuula, and the Archivist.”
“Really?”
“Freedom would be the greatest gift you could give me. Or any of us.”
“Slowly, very slowly, an egg grows feet and walks,” said the King, sliding down a little on his pillows. “What would you do with your freedom, if I were to grant it?”
Why was he still holding out on her? Shioni did not understand, but she swallowed the volcanic fury brewing within her, and said evenly, “Those I regard as my friends and family are right here, my King. I would want to continue serving the Princess, if she will have me.”
Annakiya chuckled. “I’ll have to think long and hard about that.”
“I would do two things as soon as I can. One, I’d want to see if I could trace my family. Two, I promised Talaku that when I returned to Castle Hiwot I would go find him. As for the rest? I honestly don’t know, my King. If Kalcha is moving against West Sheba again I’d want to be right here, where I’m needed.”
The King sighed. Suddenly, he looked weary. “Thank you. I’ve done enough for today. Annakiya, you’d be a fool not to gobble up her offer like a starving lion. Bekele, if you please.”
“Shioni,” said the Prince of West Sheba, suddenly formal, “we have an important mission for you to undertake in the morning. If you’re feeling ready, that is.”
“I … of course, my Prince.”
Princess Annakiya said, “This mission requires the utmost speed and discretion. You will therefore take the best horse from the King’s stable. He has been driving the stable hands crazy. But I believe you have the mastery of this beast?”
“I believe I do, my Lady.”
“Therefore I charge you to take this scroll to the royal archives in Takazze and lodge it there with the Archivist. He will proclaim it in three places as per the law–before the leaders of Royal Takazze, before the Church of the Mother Mary, and on the streets before the people. In each place, you will also proclaim our good King’s recovery.”
Shioni took the scroll curiously. It was covered in quite the most ridiculous number of royal seals and signatures. “What does it say?”
“To cut a great deal of legal foolery short,” said the Prince, “I–”
“–and to reveal some sneaky preparation on my brother’s part,” added Annakiya.
“–with which I was shamelessly ambushed shortly after waking this afternoon,” continued the King.
“It’s a modification to the old law about slaves, Shioni,” said Annakiya. “Bekele has been overseeing it. Based on merit and exceptional service, a slave might now be freed by a King’s signature. It removes the ‘slaves cannot be freed’ clause. When you take that scroll to the Archivist, you will add this one.” Annakiya popped another, smaller scroll into Shioni’s hands. “That one first, and then this one.”
Shioni turned it over in her fingers. Such a simple thing, a scroll. Yet one could contain greater power than all of Kalcha’s magic, and cut more keenly than a dragon-forged sword.
“This one establishes you, slave-girl–I just had to say that one last time–as a free citizen of West Sheba. The first slave to become a free person.”
There was a roaring in her ears. Shioni felt faint.
“Hurry back, Shioni of Sheba. We need you.”
“Sheba needs you,” said the King.
Shioni could barely sleep. Long before the birds wakened to the idea of singing, she padded into the stables, armed and ready to travel.
“Can’t catch me napping. I’m up,” said Thunder.
She withdrew the hand with which she had been ready to slap his rump. On second thoughts, she slapped him anyway. “Behave. You’re talking to the next free citizen of West Sheba.”
“Until then, slave-girl.”
“Why don’t you save your wind for the gallop to Takazze, you clapped-out old nag?”
Thunder took a playful nip at her shoulder. “I missed you, too. And I’ll eat that scroll if you don’t let me out of this stable right now.”
Shioni checked the saddle girth. “I am doing this one-handed.”
She used a turned-down bucket as a stepping-point to mount up. No broken wrist was going to stop her from rushing down to Takazze. As Thunder walked out of his stable, trembling with ill-hidden eagerness, a smile touched her lips. The gate guards shifted in the tall archway’s shadows, checking the stealthy movement within the stables. There was plenty of moonlight for the warriors to recognise her. And Captain Tariku would have briefed them the previous evening–but not for what she had in mind.
Her heels drummed against Thunder’s flanks. “Let’s ride, Thunder!”
The King’s Arabian
charged out of Castle Hiwot as though a thousand lions were snapping at his tail, scattering the outraged gate guards left and right.
Shioni threw back her head and whooped her joy to the night.
Freedom!
About the Author
Thank you for joining Shioni in this bumper adventure to ancient Gondar and Lake Tana! Of course, with this story being set in the 2nd century AD, things were a little different back then. Forests covered much greater swathes of the Ethiopian highlands than they do today. For the Ark of the Covenant, I have drawn from existing legends and folklore. There is a view that the Ark rested on Tana Qirqos for nearly 800 years, from 4 BC to 4 AD–right around the period that Shioni travels to the island.
Also, much Ethiopian sacred art contains images of lizard-like dragons. The legend of St George and the Dragon appears in Ethiopia in a slightly different form. The dragon is usually called ‘Saitan’ or Satan, and is always evil. Saint George (Kidus Giorgios) is venerated in Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity to this day.
Look out for Shioni’s next exciting adventure, Shioni of Sheba: The Fiuri Realms. And do come visit my website at www.marcsecchia.com to catch up on news, happenings and special offers.
Marc Secchia
Addis Ababa, February 2014
Marc is a South African-born author who lives and works in Ethiopia with his wife and 4 children, 2 dogs, a rabbit, and a variable number of marabou storks that roost on the acacia trees out back. On a good night you can also hear hyenas prowling along the back fence.
When he’s not writing about Africa Marc can be found travelling to remote locations. He thinks there’s nothing better than standing on a mountaintop wondering what lies over the next horizon.
Growing up in Cape Town gave Marc a love of all things salty, and is the inspiration for the IsleSong series–ocean worlds, whales as you have never imagined them, and adventure on the high seas await!
Books by Marc Secchia
The IsleSong series: (Young Adult and older readers) Richly imagined and evocative epic fantasy. A story for anyone who loves the ocean and its whales, salt water in their hair, and the gentle rasp of beach sand between their bare toes. This story will transport you to a beautiful, unspoiled ocean world where people have to rely on Whales to travel between the islands. A world where danger can, and does, lurk beneath any wave.
The Girl who Sang with Whales (IsleSong Book 1)
The Shioni of Sheba series: (Middle Grades and older readers) Unique African historical fantasy adventures set among the myths and legends of ancient Ethiopia.
Shioni of Sheba #1: The Enchanted Castle
Shioni of Sheba #2: The King's Horse
Shioni of Sheba #3: The Mad Giant
Shioni of Sheba #4: The Sacred Lake
Feynard–epic fantasy with a tongue-in-cheek twist (Young Adult and older readers)
For Kevin Jenkins, nothing good can come from being kidnapped out of his comfortable old slippers to save Feynard’s mythical Forest from the Blight. He’s bedridden, afraid of beetles, and he doesn’t believe in magic. But his abductors, a Unicorn and a Dryad, think differently.
The Unicorn Zephyr believes he’s the champion the Forest has been waiting for. The Dryad Alliathiune thinks he needs a jolly good slap. Everyone else thinks he’s a wet blanket, an impostor, or by complete coincidence, some sort of mighty High Wizard.
Throw in a Dark Apprentice with a fondness for shiny black boots and slaying everything in sight, a ten-foot swamp monster, a lethal romance, and a prodigal Faun. What could possibly go wrong?
A quest to save the Forest.
A mismatched set of companions.
Feynard needs a hero, and his name is Kevin.
The Legend of El Shashi (Young Adults and older readers) A tale of an extraordinary life and an unimaginable fate.
El Shashi. Man of many names. Some say he is a miracle-worker. Others, a god. Many call him an abomination, spitting at his name.
And these are his names: Soulstealer, Kin-Reaper, the Burning One, the Whisperer, the Running Man, Stormtide over Gethamadi, Benok Holyhand, Scourge of the Westland, the Plague-Rider, and, worst of all, Bringer of the Wurm.
Be it known: legend is his mantle,
Eldest of his race, the awesome progenitor of all burrowing creatures,
Name him God-mountain, sleeping at the root of the world,
Exalted and cunning in ancient ways,
The Great Wurm, the wellspring of power.
A mighty sorceress, bent on revenge. The man who dared to cross her. A curse of limitless power. The rest is history. This is the legend of El Shashi.
The Legend of El Shashi