Read Online The Enchanted Castle (Shioni of Sheba Book 1) by Marc Secchia - Free Book Online
Authors: Marc Secchia
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images: humans throwing something down a waterfall; a great bonfire jetting sparks into the night sky; hyenas crawling on their bellies towards a dark figure with blazing red eyes seated on a throne decorated with writhing snakes; foxes fleeing from an unknown terror; talons swooping out of blackness…
Eyes like the python? Shioni hugged her knees as a nasty chill speared into her belly. And witchcraft? What in all Sheba could be hidden in that bottle, guarded by the snake?
One thing was for certain . She was not going back down the well to find out!
C hapter 9: Buildings and Births
S hioni raced back from the General’s chamber, her arms loaded with scrolls and maps and building plans. She scampered down the path to the outer defensive wall, which was reluctantly rising out of its foundations, over the rock causeway, and around the still-dry fosse ditch towards the northern side of the castle.
Getu was stumping along up there, leading a posse of masons, engineers and warriors on a merry chase. Her lungs were afire. They were burning like a nice, cheerful blaze had been lit inside and was funnelling its heat and smoke up her throat. But Shioni put her head down and ran faster , despite the fact that her ankle was still tender after her adventure with the python two days before. It was unwise to irritate the General.
And the building work had not stopped, despite preparations for tomorrow’s feast.
“About time!” Hakim Isoke greeted her panting arrival with her customary scowl. “Give me those elevations, girl! Now we will get to the bottom of this.”
Princess Annakiya deftly extracted a rolled-up plan from Shioni’s bundle and placed it in the Hakim’s outstretched palm. The old tutor had an encyclopaedic knowledge of architecture and war craft, and so was often consulted by the General and his building crew. She also had the personality of a thorn bush and the arrogance to tell anyone who would listen how clever she was, Shioni thought sourly. As she watched the Hakim glowering at the scroll, as if by sheer dint of malevolence she could scare it into giving up its secrets, an unaccustomed pair of fingers gripped her jaw and tilted her face up to the light.
“Hmm,” said General Getu . “Where’d you pick up that shiner, girl?”
“Weapons training with the warriors, my Lord.”
He raised an eyebrow . On his half-burned face, that was hardly a comforting expression. “My men playing rough?”
Her eye, Princess Annakiya had commented that very morning, looked like a ‘magnificent beetroot’. Shioni dropped her gaze to her toes, tongue-tied. It was a fine shade of purple, for sure, and starting to turn yellow as it healed up.
The General said, “Hmm,” again, and turned his attention back to the discussion.
What did he mean–‘hmm’? She was accustomed to being ignored by important people, or at very best, insulted or told how slow and lazy she was. Shioni directed a meaningful look at Princess Annakiya, who replied with a tiny shrug of her shoulder as she plucked another scroll out of the bundle.
“ My Lord, this old record we have from Axum says that the castle once supported up to a thousand people living hereabouts.”
Without raising her head, Hakim Isoke said, “Well, anyone could see that from the remains of the terracing o n the hillsides here. It was an extensive farming operation. That’s one thing we should start developing. When the rains come, the terracing will stop the flow of water downhill into our foundation works.”
“But we want to fill the moat.”
The Hakim rounded on the unfortunate mason and snarled, “When we’re well and ready, you fool, and not before! Have you not listened to anything I’ve been saying? If you want mud and rocks being swept into what you’ve just cleared out then carry on!” She rolled her eyes. “At least try to think with what God set on your shoulders, man!”
“No, this is not your average hilltop fort ress,” she said.
Eyes like the python? Shioni hugged her knees as a nasty chill speared into her belly. And witchcraft? What in all Sheba could be hidden in that bottle, guarded by the snake?
One thing was for certain . She was not going back down the well to find out!
C hapter 9: Buildings and Births
S hioni raced back from the General’s chamber, her arms loaded with scrolls and maps and building plans. She scampered down the path to the outer defensive wall, which was reluctantly rising out of its foundations, over the rock causeway, and around the still-dry fosse ditch towards the northern side of the castle.
Getu was stumping along up there, leading a posse of masons, engineers and warriors on a merry chase. Her lungs were afire. They were burning like a nice, cheerful blaze had been lit inside and was funnelling its heat and smoke up her throat. But Shioni put her head down and ran faster , despite the fact that her ankle was still tender after her adventure with the python two days before. It was unwise to irritate the General.
And the building work had not stopped, despite preparations for tomorrow’s feast.
“About time!” Hakim Isoke greeted her panting arrival with her customary scowl. “Give me those elevations, girl! Now we will get to the bottom of this.”
Princess Annakiya deftly extracted a rolled-up plan from Shioni’s bundle and placed it in the Hakim’s outstretched palm. The old tutor had an encyclopaedic knowledge of architecture and war craft, and so was often consulted by the General and his building crew. She also had the personality of a thorn bush and the arrogance to tell anyone who would listen how clever she was, Shioni thought sourly. As she watched the Hakim glowering at the scroll, as if by sheer dint of malevolence she could scare it into giving up its secrets, an unaccustomed pair of fingers gripped her jaw and tilted her face up to the light.
“Hmm,” said General Getu . “Where’d you pick up that shiner, girl?”
“Weapons training with the warriors, my Lord.”
He raised an eyebrow . On his half-burned face, that was hardly a comforting expression. “My men playing rough?”
Her eye, Princess Annakiya had commented that very morning, looked like a ‘magnificent beetroot’. Shioni dropped her gaze to her toes, tongue-tied. It was a fine shade of purple, for sure, and starting to turn yellow as it healed up.
The General said, “Hmm,” again, and turned his attention back to the discussion.
What did he mean–‘hmm’? She was accustomed to being ignored by important people, or at very best, insulted or told how slow and lazy she was. Shioni directed a meaningful look at Princess Annakiya, who replied with a tiny shrug of her shoulder as she plucked another scroll out of the bundle.
“ My Lord, this old record we have from Axum says that the castle once supported up to a thousand people living hereabouts.”
Without raising her head, Hakim Isoke said, “Well, anyone could see that from the remains of the terracing o n the hillsides here. It was an extensive farming operation. That’s one thing we should start developing. When the rains come, the terracing will stop the flow of water downhill into our foundation works.”
“But we want to fill the moat.”
The Hakim rounded on the unfortunate mason and snarled, “When we’re well and ready, you fool, and not before! Have you not listened to anything I’ve been saying? If you want mud and rocks being swept into what you’ve just cleared out then carry on!” She rolled her eyes. “At least try to think with what God set on your shoulders, man!”
“No, this is not your average hilltop fort ress,” she said.
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