The Enchanted Castle (Shioni of Sheba Book 1) by Marc Secchia Page A

from the pain. But his tongue seemed to soothe rather than scrape. Her whole arm was tingling now. At his urging she raised herself onto her elbow, so that he could reach behind her shoulder blade. The tingling started there too.
    Understanding blossomed within her . The lion had healed so quickly, even from the severe wounds he had suffered from the hyenas and from the hunter’s arrow which had stuck deep in his chest. However, healing herbs and food forced down his throat was no explanation for this miraculous recovery. It must be magic.
    She had helped him, now he was healing her.
    Shioni’s eyes were agog, huge with wonder. The lion padded in lithe circles, flexing his claws impatiently as she examined her shoulder.
    “Do not use your limb for several days,” he cautioned . “The bleeding has stopped, but you will always bear my mark. Bear it with pride.”
    “You… who are you? What are you?”
    “Who are you, human cub, that you boldly enter the lion’s lair?” he growled back. “As for me, I am called Anbessa. I am the Lord of all Lions, and ruler of these mountains.” And with this he lifted his head to the stars and roared a shattering roar!
    Shioni found herself backed up against a boulder, as far away from Anbessa as she could be. Her ears were ringing, and her heart thumped madly against her ribs.
    N arrowing his eyes to slits, the lion demanded, “Answer my questions! Why do your people make a den beneath Kalcha’s curse? Why is your mane like a lion’s?”
    Quite unexpectedly, Shioni’s anger flared like wildfire. Why, this lion was nothing but a big bully, thundering at her like this! She pushed off the rock. “Stop snarling at me!”
    Anbessa ’s lips curled up over his dagger-like canines, but his snarl was mixed with laughter. “Showing your teeth, little cub?” He seemed oddly pleased. “Then speak.”
    Shioni explained about her origins; about her owner, and the strangeness of the castle, infested with snakes; how the workers had become afraid of witchcraft because of the many accidents. Just the day before, a wall had collapsed, killing six slaves and a warrior. Mama Nomuula had more snakebite cases than she could deal with. She related her encounter with the python and her strange faint in the elephant pen. Then, at Anbessa’s urging, she backtracked to the hyena-pack, and why she had returned to treat his wounds. “I could not leave you,” she finished. “I feared the warriors would return for their trophy. Indeed, you should leave this place. The warriors will come.”
    “So, your people do not practice witchcraft?” asked the lion.
    “We hate witchcraft!”
    “Then how is it you speak to me? And to the four-hoof? Are you a witch–Shioni?”
    “Me?” she squeaked , realising he must have been stalking her. Somewhere in the shadows, predatory, slit yellow eyes–and she hadn’t sensed a thing. “No way! No, I told you, I don’t know why... or how.”
    Anbessa nodded , seeming satisfied.
    “ I hear you, Shioni. Now hear me too. There is a power of witchery over your stone den. It is the power of Kalcha, the witch-leader of the Wasabi. The Wasabi sacrifice their children to feed her power. The python beneath the tree may well be one of her servants. Red eyes? That is a hallmark of her power. The power of a witch is in the eyes.”
    “The hyenas that attacked me belonged to Kalcha. Her Wasabi worship the hyena. Her kind and mine have battled since ancient times, but now, since Kalcha’s power has grown, the battle goes ill with us.”
    “We’ll help you!”
    Her outburst did not seem to move him. He demanded, “And how will a slave change the course of Sheba?”
    “I don’t know.”
    “Or best this mighty Wasabi witch?
    “I don’t know–but I will try!”
    The lion showed his great canines again. “I see much of a lion in your spirit, Shioni of Sheba,” he rumbled, prowling towards her again with fluid, muscular menace. Her every instinct was screaming at her