Ten Crescent Moons (Moonquest) (18 page)

"Please
let me help you." Adalginza reached out hesitantly to touch Bruna's
shoulder, but she pulled away.

"
You?
Help
me
? You who are yet another product of their lust? You do not understand
how I hate the very sight of you. The captain had indigo eyes, you know."

"Where
does it all end?" Adalginza asked softly.

"It
ends when they are gone from our land. All of them. Preferably hacked into
little pieces and fed to the carrion eaters of the ocean." Bruna smiled
again, but only with her lips. "Do not concern yourself with me. I had my
revenge. Captain Heinste was sent back to the Prime Continent. But I killed the
three knights."

"How?"
Adalginza asked, horrified. "You were only a child."

"I told
them I would like to make them a very special meal. They laughed, and thought I
liked what was happening to me. In the end, killing was so easy."

"Killing
should never be easy."

"The
problem is that killing is never enough." Bruna laughed in the direction
of the faraway silhouette in the doorway. "Look at your captain. He has
stood there this whole time, awaiting your return. Caring what happens to you
out here in the darkness. But what would he do if he knew you were part savage,
Of The Blood? Do you think he would care then? Or would he think of you as less
than an animal?"

"I…do
not know."

"Of
course you know the answer." Bruna laughed again. "Did you know it
was I who carried the message to our people in Tremasto? As the wife of
Benfaaro, my word was believed without question. So I told our people there that
the women of the captain's clan must be ravaged first, then tortured. Killing alone
is never enough."

"And
then you let Benfaaro take responsibility for those vile deeds."

"I did
him a favor. He is now more feared than any leader Of The Blood of our recent
past."

Adalginza gazed
down at the tiny figure of the captain outlined in firelight.

"You
gave us a powerful enemy, Bruna."

"It is
they who made an enemy of
me
."

Adalginza again
seriously considered fleeing into the night.

If she vanished
now, perhaps this man awaiting her in the doorway might have time to heal from
the emotional wounds Bruna had inflicted. Perhaps he could reconnect with his
humanity before it was too late for him.

But it was
not to be.

"I have
a message for you from Benfaaro," Bruna said.

Adalginza
slowly turned toward her brother's consort.

"After
what you just told me, how do I know the message is really from my brother?"

Bruna
laughed dryly. "It does not really matter, because he will not contradict
me. Surely you know this by now. But what I have to say to you is truly from
Benfaaro. It is serious. So listen well."

Benfaaro had
determined that a revolt at Sola Re was impossible, now that the captain had
worked so hard and so unexpectedly fast to organize village defenses.

"We should
have killed the captain when we had the chance," Bruna said. "And now
he is using the considerable influence of his clan on the Prime Continent to
request that additional legions of knights and armament be sent to the frontier."

"I had
not heard this," Adalginza said.

"Of
course not. We had to depend on other spies because you were too busy amusing
yourself with a child and his grandmother. Sola Re is now much stronger. And
the rest of the Crescent House settlements will be made equally strong."

"But why
would this be seen as unusual? The Crescent knights are here to protect the
settlements."

"It is
more than that. Based on what we have heard from the Prime Continent, Captain
Kalos could be organizing a major assault against all the tribes. Perhaps to
destroy us completely."

Adalginza
felt a sudden weakness in her knees. "Captain Kalos is certainly capable
of leading such an effort."

"It is
good you recognize this. Because you need to be of more help to us."

"This
journey has brought me closer to Captain Kalos."

"That
is a start. But it is not enough. Benfaaro has made a decision. If you have not
won over the captain by the next dawning of the second and sixth full moons, he
and the remaining members of his clan will be killed."

"I
remind you that it was Benfaaro who told me to bide my time."

"The urgency
has grown since then." Bruna gave her a twisted smile. "You should
also know that, if you fail, you will be brought back home. Talan eagerly
awaits your return. If this happens, then Benfaaro intends for the two of you to
wed."

"You
lie! I do not believe that Benfaaro has agreed to such a thing."

"Quiet,"
Bruna hissed. "The knights will hear you."

Adalginza
dropped her voice. "I no longer know if any of what you say is true."

"You
want the truth?" Bruna gazed up at the sky, at a full crescent moon that was
the symbol of the Fourth House. "The truth is that you care about Captain
Kalos and what is left of his little family. Do you deny this?"

"No."

"Then
here is another truth, whether they be my words or Benfaaro's. If you wish to
save your captain's life, little Adalginza, you must earn his trust. And then
you must deceive him. He must be of use to us or there will be no point in
letting him live. Understand? We need information. Unless it is Benfaaro you
plan to betray?

"I
would never betray my brother!" Adalginza at least felt the certainty of
those
words.

Bruna's eyes
narrowed. She nodded once in grudging approval.

"Very
well. Then you know what you must do. So do it."

As the sun's
rays crowned the distant mountains the next morning, Adalginza dressed swiftly
in the purpleberry-stained bodice sash, skirts, and masque of a proper lady of
the Fifth House.

Then she
silently stepped into the corridor, leaving the sleep room that had been her
sanctuary as a child. She stood still, listening for a moment to the soft
snoring of Captain Kalos in the adjacent sleep room once occupied by Lady
Donzala.

 Slowing her
steps to nearly a tiptoe, Adalginza reached the door leading to the outside
porch. Then she slipped quietly outside, pausing to take a deep breath of the
cool, dewy air.

She
readjusted the bodice sash, loosening it and lowering it strategically to offer
a more provocative view of her bosom. Then she gathered her skirts, marched
down the porch steps, and boldly smiled as she approached the Crescent knight
who stood guard at the corrals.

"Good
morn, fine sir."

At the
unexpected sight of her, the knight dropped his sword and then bent to retrieve
it before composing himself. 

"I — uh
— good morn to you, too, lady."

"I
thought to please the captain by preparing our sturmons for the day's journey.
You will stand aside and allow me to pass."

"Of
course. At once..."

She again
beamed prettily at him, causing the guard to stumble backward a few steps in
his haste to oblige her.

She pushed
by him, and her confidence blossomed.

Last night,
after Adalginza had returned to the abode, she and the captain had in truth agreed
that this was the day they would ride out to visit the cave site with the artifacts
from the House of the Seventh Crescent Moon.

The guard,
who already had been informed of an excursion, had no reason to question her
intentions.

 Adalginza
removed the lead ropes from the corral fence posts, and attached them to the
halters of the two swiftest sturmons in the enclosure — a black-and-white
mottled steed and the captain's own Golden.

There was no
other sturmon present that had any hope of overtaking these two fine animals in
the chase that was sure to follow.

And if good
fortune remained with Adalginza, she would find Calasta alone at the village
and not in the company of Bruna.

Then she and
the child would ride off together, never to return to any kind of civilization
where their faces would be recognized.

"I
would be most happy to assist the lady," the guard offered.

But
Adalginza held up her hand.

"No,
no. I have been bored on this journey, and this is my way of being of use. I
know well the ways of sturmons. And I know how to adjust their riding gear."

"You
will ride your own sturmon?" the guard asked, plainly horrified. "You
will not be taking the wagon? Or riding with the captain on his Golden?"

"The polite
rules of the Crescent House settlements do not apply in the wilderness, good
sir. Besides, you know the stories about me in Sola Re. It is no use to keep
the secret any longer. I ride a sturmon like a man. And of this I am most
proud."

The guard
was now struck speechless as Adalginza led the sturmons right past him and a
good ways beyond until she was behind the screen of the suckleberry thicket.

She then
strolled to the nearby storage hut, and retrieved the gear needed for her
daring plan.

Behind the
screen of the heavy brush, Adalginza draped the mounts with elaborate,
decorative bridle trappings and adjusted heavy, metal stirrups designed to hold
booted feet.

Her spirits
soared as the bold new morning sun, now higher, glowed upon the scene. Perhaps
it really would be this easy.

 Adalginza then
strapped on packs loaded with dried provisions that she also had found stored
in the hut.

She then
balanced across the saddle of the Golden a strap holding two hollow gourds
filled with water. But just as she was about to hitch up her skirts and leap on
the back of the Golden, Captain Kalos melted quietly from the thicket.

At the sight
of him, she was overcome with despair.

So there
really was to be no escape. Not for her. Not for Calasta. And most certainly
not for him.

"Lady,
you have already made preparations for our journey?" Kalos sounded
astonished.

Becoming by
now utterly used to instant lies, Adalginza swirled to face him with a
ready-made explanation. She plastered a coy smile on her face.

"I
wished to prove to you that a lady of the Fifth House is not completely
helpless. You have indicated enough times that you admire women of sufficiency.
Such as the one you mentioned from your past. What was her name again? Sagawea?"

Kalos
chuckled low in his throat. "Lady Adalginza, you will never be Sagawea."

His comparison
of her to this unknown woman pierced Adalginza's heart as surely as the dagger the
captain had used last night to slay Herol.

She said
nothing as Kalos began circling the two mounts. He checked the pouches, and
methodically began to lighten the load, tossing packets of provisions into the
grass.

"I will
summon one of the guards to retrieve these." He gave her a curious look. "You
have packed enough food to last us for days. We will be gone only for the
night."

"I
thought an emergency might arise," Adalginza replied frostily. "You
did seem overly concerned about our provisions last night."

"Well,
we need not be excessive. You yourself informed me that you could find us game if
we were to run short of food. If that be the case, then we would have fresh
meat because my own aim with a blade is sure."

"Especially
with a dagger thrown at a helpless pet," Adalginza mumbled, thinking that
he could not hear.

Her eyes
misted when she glanced up toward the hill with the burial ground.

"Ah."
Kalos dropped his eyes as he readjusted one stirrup on the Golden. "Despite
all your reassurances when you returned last night, I see I am not forgiven after
all."

"Perhaps
not quite yet."

"Well,
words are one thing. Feelings are another. I cannot blame you."

Kalos sighed
heavily as he peered at her over the back of the Golden.

"I wish
I could turn back time, and start over with that first day that you awaited me
on the streets of Sola Re. I rue my arrogance then. But understand that I knew
you not. Now, I have seen more of the woman behind the masque, and she
intrigues me. Though this may surprise you, I miss your flirtations."

"Do
you? You indicated to me that you thought my behavior was both crude and
forward."

"In
truth, I was flattered." Kalos grinned at her impishly.  "What man
wouldn't be?"

"If all
you miss is my flattery, then I have little sympathy for your plight."

Kalos
laughed heartily as he reached out to the mottled sturmon and unceremoniously
yanked off the saddle and trappings, leaving them in a heap on the ground.