The Enchanted Castle (Shioni of Sheba Book 1) Read Online Free Page B

leggings. And once Annakiya worked the fragrant hair oil into her troublesome locks, they would tumble down her back like an ebony waterfall. Her own hair was tied in two places with worn leather thongs. Having never been cut, as was traditional for Sheban girls, it fell to her waist. But in comparison to the Princess’ glossy mane, hers looked like straw. Old straw.
    Not only that, Shioni thought enviously, but Annakiya was petite and pretty too. She was smart–Hakim Isoke was always saying so, and she gave praise like a grudging miser counting out his last kernels of grain. Annakiya looked and moved and even smelled like a Princess ought to.
    The contrast could not be starker. At half a head taller, Shioni felt she looked like a gangly, green-eyed giraffe–all long bony limbs but minus the amazing tongue that could strip the thorniest acacia branch of all its leaves in a second. Annakiya had a pet giraffe back in Takazze, but once it had grown too large, the King had made her donate it to the royal menagerie. But Annakiya still loved the animal and doted on it quite foolishly.
    Green, the colour of her jealousy . The colour of a slave-girl’s thoughts towards her owner, which would have more than confirmed Hakim Isoke’s poor opinion of her. Anni, as she liked to nickname her friend, was often subjected to lectures on how to treat her servants, even while those same servants were listening. She always cringed and acted terribly awkward afterwards.
    As Shioni limped into the room, her friend spied her in the mirror, gasped, and dropped the comb as though she had scalded her fingers. “You’re hurt! What happened?”
    “Weapons practice happened,” Shioni said. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
    “You’re bleeding! Your eye! Look at your poor eye!”
    At this moment Mama Nomuula came rushing up, which was rather like seeing an avalanche in motion. She swamped Shioni in a rib-bending hug. “An nakiya, what you let her do? By the holy cross–just look at your face!”
    “Mama, please . I’m fine, honestly. You smell nice. Have you been baking?”
    “And your knees!” She set Shioni down and, gripping her arms firmly, declared, “Them warriors, I’ll tan their backsides like they was snotty-nosed little boys for what they done!”
    Annakiya broke in, “The warriors did this?”
    “True as chickens lay eggs–I heard it all.” Mama’s face darkened like a thundercloud threatening to unleash a load of hail. “This here’s Captain Dabir’s work, or I’s a bald-headed old vulture. Honey, Shioni, now you just tell Mama Nomuula everything .”
    “Well, I went down into the valley for training this morning,” Shioni started. The warriors were strangely cool towards her, she remembered. During the usual hour’s run, she had been tripped up not once, but three times. The first time was on grass–spindly, tan grass to be sure–but the next had sent her over a small boulder. After that, a big brute had taken keen pleasure in knocking her black and blue with his wooden staff. Wrestling training, for strength and agility, was even worse. After being winded by a punch to her chest during one particular clash, she began to struggle to her feet, whereupon the warrior kneed her in the face to finish her off. She had blacked out.
    Shioni touched the cut on her cheek gingerly , struggling to hold back the tears filling her eyes. “This man said ‘Here’s your lesson’, Mama, when he hit me with his knee. And afterwards, said he got carried away–but he meant to hurt me, I know he did.”

    “ It’s that Captain Dabir!” stormed Annakiya. “It’s unfair! I’ll have him reported!”
    Mama was dabbing Shioni’s knees with her apron. “Sorry, my cub, I need to get all the dirt out. I’s sorry you got hurt.” Her smile widened. “Problem is you doesn’t give up. I knows you.”
    Shioni grimaced . “You do, Mama.”
    “Well , there’s brave and there’s foolish.”
    “I know, I know . I’m not