The Mad Giant (Shioni of Sheba Book 3) (11 page)

“W
e’re lost.”

Zi’
s voice echoed plaintively in the great gallery that had opened before them, a cave of such breathtaking magnitude, a thick and far-reaching forest of stalagmites and stalactites, that the light they carried with them seemed but a puddle cast adrift in a vast underground ocean. Water was plinking and plopping here and there, in no discernible hurry. The lamplight winked cunningly off a thousand moist surfaces all around them. But it only served to impress on them how lost they were. In this place, the hours they had been wandering through tunnel after tunnel and cave upon cave for nearly two days, came crashing home with deadly certitude.

They had run out of food and the lamp oil was running dangerously low too. Shioni berated herself silently for not stealing another gourd–but she had never expected to be underground for so long.

Zi’s voice quivered as she added, “There must be fifty tunnels out of here. And no mention of this in Annakiya’s scroll. It’s hopeless. Shioni, I’m sorry. That break in the text… we must have taken a wrong turn–”

“Thunder says you should follow you instincts.”

“Oh he does, does he?”

“He
wishes to add that you are the most beautiful Fiuri he has ever seen.”

Zi
touched her left antenna–a sure sign of irritation, Shioni had learned. “Tell that great lump of horseflesh he’s only ever seen one Fiuri, and that’s
me
.”

Shioni laughed. “He says you only need to see one jewel to know it for what it is.”

“Ooh, what a nice compliment! You lovely horsy.”

Thunder took a semi-playful snap at the air just above her head. Zi affected complete nonchalance.

“Well, you
are
the best option we have.”

“The only option, you mean. Oh, very well, I’ll stop arguing.” Azurelle’s
bright green eyes fluttered closed. She breathed deeply, twice, three times, and after a lingering pause, said, “Well, I don’t know. We should be heading over
that
way, but I feel something more… more interesting
this
way. More of a pull.”

Shioni stroked a
n imaginary beard right down to her stomach as she aped her most befuddled expression. “Mmm… the push or the pull… let me think…”

“
If I were your size, I’d slap you silly!”

It was hard to know whether to take Zi’s hot response at face value, or if there was an element of joking beneath that she had not heard.
“Sorry… er, lead on, brave friend.”

Shioni dismounted and
, following Azurelle’s whispered instructions, led Thunder deeper into the great cavern. They wound steadily between the great stone columns, now and again finding the way blocked; having to detour to find a route wide enough to allow the horse passage.

After a time, she frowned. “
Is it my imagination, or is it a bit lighter here?”

“It is,” said Thunder.

“Here,” said Zi, pointing excitedly. “
This
is what I felt!”

A strange, reddish radiance was emanating from between two
squat columns, which formed a kind of natural entryway to a short passage beyond. And further still? The tunnel seemed to have been cut through by a knife. “Careful,” cautioned the Fiuri as they pressed forward. Shioni held the lantern high, although she hardly needed to. There was enough light to see that they had stepped into a wonderland.

Instinctively
, they fell into a long, reverential silence.

The explorers
found themselves teetering on the lip of a huge, vertical tube. From somewhere high above their heads, light filtered down through the lenses and facets of myriad gemstones that thickly encrusted the inner surface of the tube like a growth of strangely orderly, sharp-edged plants. The light bathed the travellers in slowly shifting rainbows and ruddy refractions somehow conducted from the world above into the very bowels of the mountain. The tube continued downward an unknown distance. There it twisted and vanished from sight. But as far as the eye could see, a king’s ransom of gemstones surrounded them, in every conceivable hue and tint of red, crimson, rose and ruby; a crystal garden painted by a master artist who had limited herself to but a single theme colour and uncountable subtle variations.

“I’ve read about these,” Azurelle said eventually. “It’s a volcanic pipe
, but how magnificent! Those gemstones are called garnets. Look–see–someone has mined here in times past. They must have descended into the pipe on ropes, attached to those rusty old rings.”

“You could sell
all of West Sheba for this,” said Shioni.

“Many times over,” agreed Azurelle.

“Is this what your Fiuri realms are like?”

Zi’s
eyes grew suddenly moist. “In places...”

Her position on Shioni’s shoulder meant that the
Fiuri had to hold her slave-necklet in order to keep her balance. Shioni heard several muffled sobs next to her ear. Something icy splashed on her neck. She pushed back her hair and found Zi’s free hand with her thumb and forefinger. “You’ll get back there one day, you’ll see.”

“Really?”

But she had noticed something else on the far side–separated from their perch by an enormous leap over nothingness. “Look, Zi! Could that be the rocky door the scroll was talking about?”

“‘
A rocky door… a gallery of beauty before thee’?” Azurelle’s voice rose to an impossible pitch, “You’re right! That’s definitely a rocky door! Look, the old timbers have rotted… oh, Shioni! We’re saved! Saved!”

“We’re
not
saved, Zi. Stop scratching my neck. How do you propose to get over there–fly?” The moment the words left her lips, Shioni recognised how cruel she sounded. “Sorry… I mean, that was awful of me. Zi–”

“I know what you mean
. But do you think Thunder could jump–”

“Zi–no, don’t you dare!” Shioni heard her voice
thicken with emotion. “It’s too far! I lost one pony already! I couldn’t stand to lose Thunder too.”

“Nobody is losing anybody,” said Thunder
, nudging Shioni’s shoulder with his nose to give his words added force. “But I for one am not game for wandering about this maze until we perish from hunger, or run out of lamp oil and fall prey to one of those traps. I yearn for open skies and green grass.”

“No, Thunder.”

“Yes, Thunder. If he thinks he can do it–”

“NO!”

Instead of becoming angry, Thunder completely undermined her protests by nuzzling the back of her neck and whispering, “Dear one, you once rescued me and restored me to life. That debt can never be repaid. I am ever grateful, as you well know. So please, allow me to do this small thing for you. And–don’t forget those Sheban warriors who are hourly marching closer to Kalcha’s ambush. We must not delay.”

“Stubborn horse… oh! Honestly!”
Shioni pressed her cheek against his side, shuddering, fighting to regain her composure. “You make me madder than a wasp! Be careful–you will be careful, won’t you? No, I
can’t
let you, I just can’t!”

“It is not for you to decide,” replied the horse, resolutely.
“Now, unburden me, and tie a rope to my saddle. I will leap that gap, and then you will climb across.”

Shioni measured the gap with her eyes. She tried not to look down. She forced herself to think about the space on the far side, the upsl
ope on which Thunder would land; the thirty or forty feet of clear space on the far side. It was loose and pebbly, but clear of any obvious dangers. The issue was the gap.

But
, after a time, she pursed her lips and fell to unloading Thunder. Nothing she could add would change his mind, would it? Stubborn son of a donkey!

She wanted to turn away, but could not. She wanted to close her eyes, but they seemed to be held open by invisible pins. She p
layed out the rope between cold, numb fingers. She was about to be one friend less in the world, she knew it.

Here came Thunder.

The sound of the tall stallion’s hooves striking stone preceded him, echoes hammering around in the enclosed space into a crescendo that suddenly died away, chopped short in the throes of a tremendous leap. Thunder soared across the gemstone pipe. For half a breath, he was bathed in kingly glory. His mane seemed to sparkle and flow with a magic of its own. The rope burned through her fingers, uncoiling faster than her eye could follow.

And then sparks struck from his hooves. He slipped on the loose gravel.
He scrabbled madly on the loose scree slope, kicking a shower of gemstones down into the pipe.

“
THUND–!
”

Shioni clapped a hand over her mouth. She willed him, she
willed
him home…

And he found purchase. Two, three steps clear, and the horse turned.
Even across the divide, she could sense the burning of his gaze.

“I felt that.”

“W-W-What?”

“You did something.”

Shioni shook her head, pulling the rope taut, looping it around one of the thick stone columns on her side of the volcanic pipe. “I wished you safe. A bit like praying, I suppose.”

“Praying does not push a horse’s
backside.”

“You were too busy finding your feet, you clumsy oaf!
Your hooves, even.”

Azurelle was t
apping her foot. Shioni sighed. “Thunder has a wild idea I pushed him up that slope with a wish and a prayer. Come on. Let’s get this stuff across. Pull the rope a bit tighter, would you, Thunder?”

She had to make
three trips to get everything across the pipe. Talaku’s axe took one trip by itself. Hanging halfway across, with the weight of the massive weapon killing her shoulders, she did have to fight off a serious temptation to let it slip–accidentally, of course. But by the time she was done, Shioni was too tired to lift another finger. “Can I sit down now?”

“Cut the rope, pick up a garnet, load all
of our things, and then you can rest on Thunder’s back while I take us the rest of the way,” ordered the Fiuri.

“At once, General Azurelle
the slave-driver.”

“You grimy, grubby, good-for-nothing excuse for a slave-girl, I’ll have none of your lip,” declaimed the
Fiuri, looking up from the scroll, upon which she had been pacing while Shioni dragged their belongings from one side of the volcanic pipe to the other.

The division of labour did not
strike her as quite fair.

She picked up a garnet crystal the size of her hand and stuffed it into her bag. General Getu’s eye would pop when he saw it!

“It’s not actually that far from here,” said Zi, her wings all a-flutter in excitement. But they did nothing to support her in the air. Shioni noticed how quickly the Fiuri’s smile reasserted itself, however. “Four more traps, I make it, and then in an hour or so we should be out the other side just in time for the last rays of sunset.”

“Ooh, the sun!” Shioni leaped to her feet, her aches and pains momentarily forgotten. “I never wan
t to see another cave, ever again!”

“N
early two days in
those caves,” Shioni grumbled. “I’ve never been so discouraged and frustrated in my life.”

“But we made it,” said Zi, shaking water droplets off her wings before checking them with exaggerated care. “How are my wings, Shioni? Do they look alright?”

“The wellsprings of your ample vanity have lost none of their former radiance.”

“Ooh, do I hear Princess Annakiya speaking?”

“No!”

“And now a lie. You are a
very
bad liar, Shioni.”

“Oh… go
tell it to a hyena!”

Zi
smoothed out the edges of her wings and dried them with a scrap of cloth–high quality cotton cloth, probably filched from the Princess’ bedchamber, Shioni thought crossly. But then a smile curved her lips. Thieves evidently hunted in pairs in the Kingdom of West Sheba!

How long would the warriors take to cross the mountain pass? They would be travelling under the cover of night, wouldn’t they?
Otherwise they might just as well march into Chiro Leba banging on drums and tinkling their sistra for all the good it would do. A mountain squall to make things slippery–that would have been perfect. The undergrowth near the river had a touch of dampness to it, as if it had rained recently, but the brush always dried out so quickly once the sun emerged. It was hard to tell if the hint of moisture near the roots meant anything.

Shioni chewed her dry crust sparingly. Just look at Thunder stuffing himself on the luxuriant grass
es along the watercourse! Lucky thing, he could eat almost anywhere. She had to content herself with a chunk of bread that could have been better used for a paving stone back at Castle Hiwot, which had somehow been missed in the bottom of her bag. Or, more likely, forgotten in there since the bag’s last excursion. Never mind. A few hearty swigs of water to chase the unappetising chunk down. Better stale bread than an empty stomach!

She dusted the crumbs off her hands and stood up.
Time to move on and find Talaku. Now there was a thought to sour her digestion!

“You are in a foul mood,” Zi observed.

“I’m hungry, that’s all.”

The
Fiuri screwed up her nose until Shioni looked away, cheeks burning. Yes, another lie. “You’re frightened of Talaku,” said Zi. “You’re scared of asking him for help.” Shioni wanted to shut her ears, but the piping little voice refused to be shut out. “You brought the axe to bargain with him–I’m right, aren’t I? And you’re thinking it’s a dirt-poor incentive.”

“Right, right, you’re always right.” Shioni popped the
Fiuri into her pocket more clumsily than she had intended. “Sorry, I don’t mean to take it out on you. I’m grateful… I’m very, very glad you came through the mountain with me. I think I might have gone mad, otherwise.”

Azurelle regarded her speculatively. “You could show your gratitude by letting me snack
on that frangipani tree before we head off.”

“I… er, oh. Shall I hold you?”

“Do your duty, slave-girl!”

“Or
, if you’re going to continue being so cheeky, shall I rather toss you to the nearest hyena?”

“I’d charm him into rolling over to let me scratch his tummy.
Can’t you see I already have you wrapped around my tiny little finger, slave-girl?”

“I’m warning you!”

As Shioni lifted the Fiuri into the branches of the fragrant frangipani with its distinctive, five-petalled white flowers, each with a bright yellow heart, Zi declaimed, “I have been taking lessons in the high art of snottiness from the Lord of all snot himself, Prince Bekele!”

Shioni nearly choked with laughter.

And then Zi unfurled her violet tongue and stuck it deep into the nearest flower.

Seven
flowers later, Azurelle smacked her lips and snapped her fingers at Shioni. “That was
mag-ni-fee-cent!
My ride, if you please!”

Shioni whistled Thunder over to her. “
So, an hour or so upriver, we should find a waterfall, and apparently our tame giant is right underneath it. I don’t know how that works…”

“We shall see.”
Zi tucked her wings into Shioni’s tunic pocket. “You don’t suppose the moon would come out to light our path, do you?”

“I’ll wish it up
just for you, Zi.”

“
You’re my hero.”

“Ha.”
Shioni squinted into the gathering gloom. The cicadas and crickets were already chirruping their evening song, filling their ears with buzzing, clicking and squeaking sounds that carried even over the sound of the river’s flow. The bats would soon flit out of their caves to feed on the insects swarming above the river. Insects–she slapped her neck crossly–that were far too fond of her blood. Blood-sucking fiends!

The trail would be challenging to follow until the moon rose–although, this section appeared to be mostly tall river grasses and reeds. Still, anything could be hiding in the dense undergrowth, anything at all.
“Keep those bat eyes open, alright?” she said. “The moon won’t rise until the third hour.”