Read Online The King's Horse (Shioni of Sheba Book 2) by Marc Secchia - Free Book Online Page B

would be waiting for these rains to plant their second crop of the season. And then the land would change colour, dramatically so, from tans and browns to a deep, lush green; from reddish dust to a rich burgundy-coloured clay; from burbling streams to muddy, frothing torrents.
    A few vultures were drifting along on the warm air currents, high in the searing sky. Buzzards and vultures, Shioni reflected idly. Could they lead Sheba’s warriors to the Wasabi camp? They’d gather in large numbers wherever the Wasabi threw their waste. Could the scouts follow them?
    “Come on, Anni! Let’s see you practice your swimming!”
    Annakiya slipped into the water like a lithe brown otter, and paddled gamely towards Shioni.
    “It’ s free-eee-zing!”
    “Make bigger circles with your arms. You aren’t a dog.”
    Atop a rock covered in spongy moss, b eside the waterfall–which would swell to bursting once the rains swept in upon their cloudy chariots–Zi was splashing happily beneath a finger’s breadth of falling water. Her voice softly trilled a song at a register no human voice could possibly have attained, and in a lilting glissade of notes that would have caused all the songbirds in the King’s menagerie to gnash their beaks in helpless jealousy. It was a wild, fey tune, bringing to mind images of butterfly-people dancing and leaping and twirling on a moonlit night. Shioni felt her toes twitching and her legs itching to dance in response.
    “Swim, o scroll-warrior! The reed is mightier than the blade!”
    Annakiya stuck out her tongue in reply, lost concentration, and gave a shocked cough as she sank beneath the water!
    Shioni dived back in at once, but the Princess was fine. She waved to her anxious guards as she swam up to the waterfall.
    “Your hair’s grown, Shioni,” said Annakiya. “Look, it’s right past this dimple on your back. Apparently long isn’t in fashion. Hakim Isoke’s been saying I’ll have to cut my hair and style it ‘as befitting a Princess of Sheba’ when I return to Takazze.”
    “She ordered me to take hairdressing lessons,” Shioni grimaced, trying to hide the pang she felt at the thought Annakiya might return to the capital city. “She said, ‘Your hair’s a disgrace! You obviously haven’t learned the first thing about which end of a comb to hold. You will learn the proper management of your mistress’ hair, slave-girl. Perhaps you might learn to dress your own fittingly too.’ I need help, Anni!”
    “You are a desperate case,” Zi added, helpfully.
    “Thanks!”
    “It’s just that your hair is different,” said Annakiya, unable to keep a straight face at Shioni’s impression of her much-disliked tutor. “Hardly a curl in sight. It doesn’t behave. People here don’t know what to do with it.”
    “Yes, and my sk in freckles in the sunshine and–”
    The Princess sighed. “We’ve talked about this before, friend! Your skin is fine. It is lovely. It is a perfect map of bruises, each of which tells its own story.”
    Shioni was about to complain again when Azurelle interrupted, “ Right, Princess, make her listen.”
    “Listen to what–hey!”
    Shioni surfaced from the pool with angry words ready on her tongue, but found her friends beaming sweetly at her.
    “What happened?” asked Annakiya, the very picture of innocence.
    “Her foot slipped on a rock,” said Zi, “I saw it. Now listen, you two, I’ve been thinking–about Talaku. Well, before that. Shioni, doesn’t it cross your mind that just as humans and the Fiuri are different, you as a ferengi might be different to Sheban girls?”
    Shioni held onto the rocky edge with her fingers, letting her feet drift freely in the water. “I’m human too, and I don’t want to be different!”
    “ The main trouble’s right between your ears,” said Azurelle, but softened her words with a knowing smile. “It’s hard–trust me to know; I’m only just taller than your ankle! Now, about Talaku–have you seen