Nebu strode into the courtyard alongside Yasha and Kaleb, escorted by bronze-clad guards. She’d never felt more important. Back home, no one ever received such treatment. How did her tribe fare without her? Did hope remain? Or had they resigned themselves to never seeing her again?

  You need only wait a little longer, Tolah.

  It was two hours shy of high noon, the air balmy, the sky cloudless, leaving little room for complaint. Monkeys dangled from overhanging palm branches, helping themselves to fistfuls of dates. Nebu avoided sprays of juice and spittle, passing dancers who twirled on the balls of their feet.

  The escorting guards stopped and knelt as one.

  Sidoniya reclined upon a sofa strewn with leopard skins, her beauty breathtaking. Around her scalp sat a red-gold circlet adorned with glittering honeybee charms. Her eyes looked unreal, alabaster bulbs set with polished jasper, and she wore a scarlet sheath that matched her painted toenails. Surrounding her was a cloud of spikenard that made the air itself lovesick.

  A doting maidservant kept the queen shaded under a palm-woven parasol. Naked manservants stood at attention, fanning the queen with iridescent green feathers. One scribe was busy moving beads on an abacus, tracking taxes, tallies, grain shipments, or whatever.

  Yasha stepped forward, looking different today, now possessed of a woman’s body. Tohu was its own tongue, after all, allowing the world to be spoken anew. Nebu hoped to learn such powers. She’d be strong then, strong enough to protect her tribe.

  Sidoniya straightened, leering at Yasha. Nebu glanced warily at Kaleb. He looked ill at ease himself. Everyone ought to tread lightly. Escape was so close, and it’d be foolish to offend Sidoniya.

  “Good morning, Your Excellency,” Yasha said.

  Sidoniya shifted where she sat. “You wish to cross the Great Sea? Your destination?”

  “Mefithys.”

  Nebu let out an excited squeak. “Nebu’s going home?”

  Yasha nodded. “We were bound for Mefithys, anyway.”

  “Why must you go there?” Sidoniya asked.

  “I’m running out of secrets, Your Excellency.”

  “I’m running out of patience.”

  “Nonetheless, my affairs are the least of your worries. What will you do about Kergalon? Your city is ripe for the taking, a fig waiting to be plucked.”

  Sidoniya canted her head, twisted her mouth. “Need I remind you what happened last time?”

  “That trick won’t work again. How many soldiers can you levy?”

  “No less than four thousand.”

  “Can you afford as many mercenaries? How full are your coffers?”

  “What’s in my coffers is of no account to you.”

  “Not as much as you’d like, then? Is that why you’ve opened your doors to the Artificers?”

  Something registered on Sidoniya’s face, perhaps fear. “Careful. They have ears everywhere.”

  “Don’t fall into their trap. The Artificers can’t be trusted. Before long they’ll sell your people into slavery.”

  “That’ll never come to pass. Hezebel has never known brighter days.”

  Yasha swigged from her wineskin, then looked the queen square in the eye. “Bright days bring the vipers.”

  Above, something flapped. Nebu lifted her head, and the sky was dotted with white-feathered storks moving in lazy circles. One broke off from the rest, descending. Kaleb jolted.

  Nebu laid a hand on his knee. “Don’t worry. Yonah’s Wings are harmless.”

  He raised a brow. “Yonah?”

  The stork opened its talon and dropped a black-shelled egg into Sidoniya’s waiting hand. It then regrouped with its flock and soared away at the head of the formation.

  Sidoniya cracked the egg over her knee, freed a roll of papyrus, and flattened it across her lap. She mouthed the contents to herself. Nebu craned her neck, seeing what looked like cuneiform scrawled in a rough hand.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  “Who writes you?” Yasha asked.

  Sidoniya lowered the scroll. “Golgosh, King of the Velphites. His astrologers have divined a bountiful harvest this year. The Kishgal will flow fierce and strong indeed, blessing our crops.”

  “Glad tidings, but surely he’d more to say.”

  She crumpled the papyrus in her fist. “He also speaks of keeping peace with Mefithys.”

  “How, pray tell?”

  “Mefithys celebrates its jubilee next month. All debts public and private will be swept away. The Artificers are already on their way, and guests have been summoned from across the Great Sea.”

  Yasha scratched her cheek. “I’m not the only one bound for Mefithys, then. Did you receive an invitation?”

  Sidoniya chortled. “Do gazelles couple in the plains? Of course I received an invitation, but it’ll take more than that to make me leave Hezebel.”

  Nebu knew all about that celebration. Every fifty years, Mefithys hosted contests in which a hundred and more lands competed to determine the fastest runners, the surest slingers, the strongest wrestlers.

  “My finest charioteer is attending,” Sidoniya continued. “His name is Umbin the Brave, and he will bring glory to Hezebel.”

  Yasha winked. “I’ll see him there.”

  “You’ll see him sooner. You’re sailing to Mefithys with him.”

  “Should I be on my way? You’ve a city to look after. Statecraft is no small task.”

  Sidoniya smirked, draping one leg over another. “Some counsel, Yasha. Don’t be so quick to trust those disciples of yours. A Toraphite? A Baphomite? They want nothing more than to break their chains. Not even you can tame such beasts.”

  “Well taken, Your Excellency.”

  “One more thing,” Sidoniya said, licking her plump, scarlet lips. “If you return without my brother, I’ll cook your disciples and feed you their flesh.”

  Nebu was on camelback now, riding Hezebel’s streets alongside her companions. If you asked her, there was no reason to keep promises to someone like Sidoniya. Why risk their lives trying to capture Apharoth? Heavens forbid he was worse than Sidoniya.

  An honor guard flanked Nebu and the others, all stern faces and glittering bronze, their breastplates adorned with opals the size of eyeballs. Their camels marched in saddles chased with mother-of-pearl, clopping through markets, passing stalls packed with wares and fruits, onlookers gawping at the spectacle.

  Despite everything, Nebu still admired Hezebel. How couldn’t she? Groves and fountains at every turn, fragrant flowers never far.

  But, more than anywhere, she belonged across the Great Sea.

  Mefithys wasn’t the land of her forebears, but it was the only placed she’d ever called home. She closed her eyes, and shapes swirled in the darkness. Here, the bridge of a nose. There, the ball of a cheek. There, the canal of an ear. Her mother. Her father. Tolah. Nearer than yesterday, all of them.

  Nebu clung to her saddle, her camel moving with all the grace of a ship in a storm. Maybe the beast hated her. Yasha rode ahead, silent. Kaleb kept closer, handling his reins with the ease of someone born in a saddle. His camel, Eber, was apparently a keepsake from his tribe.

  “I meant to ask you something,” Kaleb said. “Where’d those birds come from?”

  “Yonah’s Wings? Nebu’s not sure herself, but you can call on them somehow. Cough up enough shekels, and they’ll send a message for you.”

  He nodded. “I’ll get my hands on those birds. That way, I can tell my mother how I’m doing. You’ll have to write the message for me, though.”

  “This one isn’t your personal scribe,” Nebu huffed.

  She glanced over her shoulder. Hezebel already felt like a distant memory, its glazed walls, lofty columns, and terraced gardens receding into the horizon.

  “There’s my new disciple,” Yasha said, slowing her pace.

  Nebu turned back around. “Again, many thanks. This one is forever in your debt.”

  “Forever’s a bit long for my taste. Do you look forward to Mefithys?”

  “Not truly. Nebu was supposed to find a black-pearled necklace for her friend Tolah. This one asked around last night, but no one in the palace was any help. Alas, it’s nowhere to be found. Woe!”

  “Woe indeed.”

  “Nebu won’t fail another soul. Your new disciple has many talents. This one can recite forty thousand psalms and run a hundred leagues without tiring. You’ll see!”

  “I can hardly wait.”

  Nebu sniffed fish and brine, enough to make her gag.

  Docks slid into view, dotted with sweating, toiling bodies. Workers stomped up and down gangplanks, bearing crates and bundles in their muscled arms. Pushcarts trundled along, crammed with jewels and rare dyes. Dockhands dragged cages filled with apes and peacocks.

  The escorting guards reined up before one ship, by far the largest here.

  The galley sat at her moorings, swaying over clear, turquoise waters. Trumpets blared from the poop, and deep drumrolls echoed from the midships. Jutting from its sides were banks of oars inlaid with mother-of-pearl, glittering like so many dragonfly wings. Adorning the prow was a bronze figurehead hammered in the likeness of the goddess Ninush.

  A chariot thundered onto the docks, drawn by red-furred sunrunners. The man standing in the box lashed at their hindquarters with a seven-tailed whip. With a flick of his wrist, he yanked their reins and the camels halted along with the chariot’s wheels.

  Must’ve been Umbin, Sidoniya’s prized charioteer. It didn’t take an oracle to see why he was held in such high esteem. He was tall, strong, blessed with piercing hazel eyes and flawless ocher skin. An aurochs was carved in low relief on his breastplate, and his skirt ended in tassels.

  Umbin eyed Yasha, then Kaleb, then Nebu. “Friends of the queen? How can I refuse?” He indicated the galley. “This here is Honeybreath. Never has more beautiful a ship graced these waters. Leave your camels behind. We’ve enough cargo.”

  Nebu and Yasha dismounted.

  Kaleb, however, remained with Eber. “He goes where I go.”

  Umbin could’ve reprimanded Kaleb, but he grinned instead. “He stays belowdecks. Come. We’ll enjoy our time at sea. I have food and song and whores if you so desire.”

  After everyone boarded, the crew unmoored and lowered the mainsail. The sea ahead was choked with fishing skiffs and pleasure barges, but they all parted for Honeybreath.

  Nebu slowed her breathing. She’d be home soon, right? Reunited with everyone—everything—she’d ever known.

  So why was her belly in knots?