* * *
She has her eyes on another man. She is forgetting her obligations. She is somewhere else when she talks to me. I will have to kill again. So as to hold onto her, so she will be mine alone. I ransomed her from the Church, I fulfilled my duties! Now I will resettle my people to a place where they will be more secure from the wild hordes that are advancing. Then I will take care of that dirty business. They are telling me about some monk with peculiar eyes. Maybe he is the one. Oh, Jasus, just you wait and see!
* * *
I know they are watching me. The eyes of Jasus are everywhere. I think he stuck me with the King so I would keep an eye on him. I don’t want to see her when she he is next to him. Then she doesn’t pay any attention to me.
* * *
The ember that glows in his breast arouses my blood. It is as though he is blind. But there is a gleam in his eye. Would he commit a sin for me…? Not just that, but he would take me before my husband’s eyes, if I would just look at him.
* * *
“Do you have peculiar eyes?” he asked me as I assembled my students. I lowered my glance so he did not see my anger, so as not to forewarn him, so he will not be able to protect himself when I fall upon him. “My eyes are the eyes of your obedient servant, My Lord,” I said, and my students lowered their glances toward his feet.
* * *
The caravan is as long as my longing for her is great.
* * *
He is constantly looking back, toward his teacher. If I just find the place! We will settle down, we will defend ourselves, and I’ll have no more need of him. I will destroy him right before her eyes! This young one with me will be able to take over his duties.
– Tekle?
– Yes, My Lord?
– Do you trust your Jasus?
– Yes, My Lord. He is my teacher.
– Do you trust the horse that is carrying you toward our new home, Tekle?
– No, My Lord. The horse does not know where to go if I do not show him.
* * *
It’s as though he suspects something. As though he is testing me. I would not dare admit that I don’t trust the Great Jasus, even if it is so. I have to stay alive, to be near her, to hear when she calls me. I don’t know why he asked me about the horse.
* * *
I am looking at the nape of his neck. His skin is black and stretched from the sun. If my husband were to die, if he were thrown from his horse right now, who would be king? The terrible Jasus Moa, or would they wait for me to give birth? But I am carrying no fruit in my womb. I don’t want his child.
* * *
“Jekuno,” my father said on his deathbed, “don’t forget that you are a prince!” Don’t ever forget that, you, my son, Jekuno Amlak, you, Prince of Amhara. I hear the sand shifting under the horses’ hooves. My father’s voice is all around me. It’s good that only I hear it. My people are tired.
* * *
They told me about some large lake. Perhaps we will settle there. The people are tired. The horses move more slowly. Perhaps we should stop, so they can catch their breath.
A horse is trotting toward me. Who is it, Tekle?
– The Prince of Amhara is coming, My Lord.
– I would like us to stop, Your Highness. My people are tired.
– We shall stop presently. A lake should appear in front of us.
* * *
The lake is in front of us. It smells. I have to find a way to be safe from his power. If he has decided that we settle here, I will go on further. My God will show me the way.
* * *
I feel her eyes on my back. She is not… she is not indifferent. I should snatch her up and we should flee… I should leave the Teacher, and the King, and my nation… What good is a nation if I don’t have her… The sun is as strong as my love.
* * *
At every opportunity he told me that I was a prince. As though he was afraid that I would forget that. However, I could never forget that, because every breath I take is the breath of a prince. My people are my people alone. I will settle them in the place that is best.
* * *
He did not seem surprised when the Prince of Amhara told him that he wanted to stay. He told him that he could keep his people, if he remained his loyal subject. His face was like a cold stone when the Prince said he would keep all his own people.
The terrible Moa went up to him, muttering something in his ear. The Nomad glanced at Tekle and smiled. At dawn, we went onward.
* * *
I had to let him stay. If he resisted once, he will always resist. It is better if he is far from me. He will be easy prey for the wild hordes that are coming. He will weaken their forces, making the work easier for me.
Jasus has gotten himself out of it. He knows more than I was able to guess. When I think about it, it was clever on his part that he decided to renounce her in order to hold onto his life. The young man will carry on his work.
* * *
Now I am my own master, father. Now I am master of my own people. The shore of this lake is our new home. Be with me still. I am beginning anew.
* * *
– Do you trust the horizon, Tekle?
– Yes, My Lord.
* * *
The absence of Jasus Moa is liberating for me. I would like us to get there, I would just like to stop. I want a window under which he will pass. I want an arch under which the swallows will build their nests.
* * *
“Let this place be called Debre Egziabeher, and here let His name be glorified!” the priest Jasus Moa told us that morning. And the people began to build. Even I said, “Let His name be glorified!” My nation had a new country, my nation took on a new faith. I knew that I would lead them, even after I was gone.