Ten Crescent Moons (Moonquest) (20 page)

Finally, she
dabbed at her eyes to remove the tears of laughter with the back of her hand.

"So,"
she said, collecting herself. "I suppose you have been trying to tell me
that you fear you will be disappointed, now that your quest for these treasures
has led you here."

Kalos grew
instantly serious. "I have thought of nothing else but this visit for many
nights. Too many. Anticipation has deprived me of far too much sleep. So I have
convinced myself that the treasure cannot possibly be real."

"Well
then. That is settled," Adalginza said lightly. "We should just
leave."

She turned
as if to head back down the trail back to the Golden, when Kalos called after
her.

"Where
did you say these imposters you call artifacts were?"

She heard
the intoxication in his voice, and smiled. So she was not the only one who
could act in such a way as to hide her true feelings.

***

Adalginza
stood to one side and thoughtfully watched Kalos "find" the artifacts
that Benfaaro had so carefully placed, hidden in the rocks beside the waterfall.

Kalos also had
visited the small cave's interior, but showed only mild interest in the crude
engravings found on the walls. He deemed them authentic. But he had no idea
what they meant.

He
speculated aloud that the symbol of the Seventh Crescent, distinguished by an
odd-shaped moon crater, could have simply been etched there by a bored savage
in the long ago.

It was the
items he could hold in his hands that seemed endlessly fascinating to him.

Adalginza felt
both satisfaction at his delighted reaction, and guilt that the captain had
been so thoroughly deceived.

But the plan
was unfolding beyond her control, and she could do nothing about second
thoughts now.

 Kalos carefully
laid out the artifacts on a large rock, where they could be viewed from every angle.
Then he stepped back and reverently observed the silver goblet, a helmeted
figurine made of clay, and the pounded leather skin engraved with strange writings.

The artifact
that seemed to most captivate him, however, was the ancient amulet he now held
in his hand. It was a depiction of a crescent moon that had been carved into
bone and attached to a leather thong.

"There
is writing here," he said. "Something about a prophecy. But I do not
understand enough of the dialect to translate in full."

At his
words, Adalginza frowned as she recalled a childhood memory associated with
this very spot.

She had been
splashing in the waterfall with friends from the nearby Tribe of the Circles. A
little boy who was fascinated with Adalginza playfully leaned over and whispered
into her ear a secret he had overheard while his parents were talking the
previous night.

It was a prophecy
about a girl with indigo eyes.

When Adalginza
later told Benfaaro about the incident, he responded with such explosive and
unreasonable anger that she vowed to herself that she would never speak of it
again.

A few seasons
later, as leader Of The Blood, Benfaaro decreed among all the tribes that the
telling of such prophecies was witchcraft and strictly forbidden under penalty
of death.

Now, as she
watched Captain Kalos examine the artifacts, Adalginza felt an eerie sensation
like profound inner knowing.

This
disturbed her deeply.

She sank
slowly down on the ground, straightening her skirt and crossing her legs in
front of her as she took refuge under the shade of a tree with generous succulent
leaves.

She
continued to watch Kalos, as he moved to the other side of the flat rock. His
hair was still damp from the waterfall as he now leaned over to study the engravings
on the leather skin.

He repeated
some strange-sounding words aloud, rolling them off his tongue as though trying
them out. They sounded oddly familiar, but still made little sense to her.

Adalginza waited
uneasily, allowing Kalos time to rejoice in the discovery of the fraud she had
helped perpetrate. She assuaged her considerable guilt by reminding herself that
the pieces themselves were authentic.

They just
didn't belong here.

She had
spied the artifacts once before on Medosa's table, when as a child she had
dropped by unexpectedly for a visit. The holy man then quickly swept the items out
of sight, into a cloth bag.

When she
asked what they were, he refused to speak of them.

She did not
know why they had been in Medosa's possession. But she could only guess that the
gnostic had somehow removed them from the Dome of Archives tended by the Eighth
House on the Prime Continent.

Adalginza
told herself that, because the treasures were real, maybe there was no real
harm being done to Kalos.

She hoped
not anyway, because his face was radiant as he looked up and smiled at her.

"So
what do these objects of yours mean?" Adalginza forced herself to ask.
"As children, we merely viewed them as toys to be played with."

Kalos
responded happily, almost chattering.

"These
artifacts are genuine and, at this time, something beyond explaining. I will
have to be content with having them in my possession until more can be learned.
Perhaps there is even a lifetime of scholarly investigations awaiting me at
this place."

He paused,
interrupting himself. "You look so sad, Lady Adalginza. Why?"

 She wanted
to tell him that this was not at all what it seemed. Dreams never really come
true, because disappointment was inevitable.

She herself
was a disappointment, as he would find out soon enough.

Above all, she
never wanted to face Kalos when and if he discovered that he had been made a
fool of in so many ways.

Finally, she
spoke what was uppermost on her mind.

"I have
never seen you so truly alive. And I do not believe you were meant to be a
soldier."

That, at
least, was the truth.

Kalos was
unabashed. "You misunderstand me. I am proud of the sword I wear. What
better way to come to the frontier than as an officer in the Crescent knights?"

"A
terrible price to pay for knowledge."

Kalos began
to gather up his treasures, balancing them in his arms.

"The
choice was mine. No one else's."

"Then I
envy you your freedom to make such choices."

 Kalos began
delicately stepping from rock to rock, passing across a spring that also fed
the water pools. He carefully balanced the artifacts in each hand as he
approached her.

When he
reached her side, he looked down and regarded her playfully.

"You
forget. There are no men of your clan left to rule you. You have wealth. You
have no real family ties. You have much more freedom than most ladies of your
House."

"Yet, I
am bound by the customs of those ruled by the Fifth Crescent Moon. There is no
freedom in that."

She said the
words the captain expected. But her thoughts were on Benfaaro's rule, Benfaaro's
expectations, and her obligations to her people.

In this context,
she had no real self.

"Change
the rules. Break free."

"I
cannot."

"Why
not?"

"I
would be shunned. Banished, perhaps."

"That
is utter nonsense. Many Crescent Houses have citizens who behave in unseemly
ways. There are worldly laws observed by all the Houses that, when broken, may
lead to imprisonment or even execution. But  never have I heard of banishment.
You may not be able to change your House. But
you
can change."

"Then
who would I be?"

"Adalginza,
you will never find out unless you free yourself to explore just that question."

"You
sound exactly like Medosa." Adalginza hung her head. "I believed him
once. But Medosa's wisdom could not prevent even his own death."

"Death
is the ultimate freedom."

"You
are an optimist."

"A
realist." Kalos nodded toward the trail. "I enjoy conversing with
you, but we should go now."

He bent down
near her and moved a few heavy rocks that were part of a slide from a nearby cliff.
He placed the artifacts inside a hollowed area, then replaced the boulders.

"What
are you doing?" Adalginza asked.

"I am keeping
the amulet on my person, but stashing the rest of the artifacts here for
safety. I will retrieve them when we are ready to leave the Place of the
Circles. For now, you must lead me to Benfaaro's abode before darkness falls.
And do not forget the water for the Golden."

***

As the first
of the steeple straw huts of the Village of the Circles came into view,
Adalginza sensed the presence of a herd of about thirty prairie deer grazing extremely
close to Benfaaro's abode on the far side of the vacant dwellings.

Adalginza
stayed perfectly still on the Golden, her back to the captain, until it finally
came to her what she must do.

She shut her
eyes and mindlinked with the animals, simultaneously showing them the image of
a giant, ravenous grencat on the prowl.

As expected,
the image sent the panicked herd thundering directly by the hut.

She glimpsed
through one of the fleeing animal's eyes the startled faces of both Bruna and
Calasta peering from the entryway. Adalginza then placed the image of a fully
armored Crescent knight in the mind of one of the last of the fleeing deer.

Adalginza
could only hope that Calasta would see the message through her own mindlink,
and find a way to explain the danger to Bruna without giving away the secret of
her own power.

Through the
eyes of the very last fleeing animal, Adalginza at last caught sight of Bruna
and Calasta running toward the trail that traversed the brushy hill at the back
of the hut.

Feeling much
relieved, Adalginza felt herself relax.

"No one
is here," she whispered to the captain. "They are all at the
festival. But I still say we took a great risk coming here alone."

Directly behind
her, she could almost feel the captain's body vibrating with awareness, alert
to every sound and movement in the vicinity.

One of his
hands held the Golden's guiding rein, and the other gripped the hilt of the
Crescent sword resting in the saddle scabbard.

When they at
last reached Benfaaro's hut, Adalginza pointed it out.

She had
decided to reveal its location, mainly to boost her credibility in the
captain's eyes. Besides, whatever Kalos decided to do now, it could not cause
that much harm.

Sturmons
were the only possessions that had real value for the people of the Village of
the Circles, which specialized in breeding the animals and trading them to
other tribes.

She knew all
the sturmons were with the villagers, partly for purposes of bartering during
the festival.

Adalginza's
eyes swept the hillside behind the hut. She saw no movement. Bruna and Calasta
must be well hidden, perhaps even watching their approach.

When the
captain and Adalginza reached the dwelling, Kalos helped her slip from the
sturmon onto the mossy ground. Then he, too, threw one leg over the saddle and hopped
down to join her. He then pulled the sword from its scabbard.

"I
cannot believe Benfaaro would leave his abode unguarded in this way,"
Kalos said.

"Do you
have guards posted at yours in Sola Re?" Adalginza asked.

Kalos smiled
warily. "As a matter of fact, I do. Now. But in Tremasto I never posted
guards. There was a time when I felt very secure in my own home."

"Benfaaro
feels that the entire interior of the frontier is his home," Adalginza
said. "It would never occur to him that any Crescent knight would dare
penetrate this far into his territory."

"Then I
will take great pleasure in returning the favor of destroying any feeling of
security he might have about his personal wellbeing."

As she
expected him to, Kalos searched every inch of the grounds.

Then he
tried the door to the abode, his knuckles growing white as he gripped the sword
in anticipation. It was unbolted, and he walked inside.

Adalginza did
not accompany him. She knew what he would find there. Simple quarters. Two
rooms. Three sleeping mats. A dirt floor. A wood stove vented through the roof.

The savages
did not distinguish themselves by setting themselves apart from others with
elaborate possessions, even if the leader was Of The Blood.

Finally, the
captain walked outside. He looked grimly satisfied as he strode past Adalginza,
and to the Golden. There, he returned to the sword to its saddle sheath.