Ten Crescent Moons (Moonquest) (27 page)

"I
would obey your wishes. Gladly. As would the others, if they thought it would
bring safety."

Adalginza had
her own motives, of course. A curfew would give her an excuse to miss any
future meetings with Benfaaro and Bruna — as well as with their couriers.

"Not
necessary," Kalos said, waving his hand to gesture at the expanse of land
surrounding them. "The enemy is out there, not within our own walls."

Little
did he know.

For perhaps
the thousandth time, Adalginza began to contemplate death at her own hands.

The only
thing stopping her was that she feared death even more than she feared life,
because of the punishment that most surely awaited her in the hereafter.

"Kalos..."
Her voice drifted away, as it had the many other times she had tried to tell
him the truth.

"Yes,
my love?"

She struggled
against the impulse to tell him all she knew.

"It is
a fine day, is it not?"

Weariness
stole any enthusiasm from her voice, though it was indeed a fine day. Autumn
was upon them. The sun was lower in the crisp, blue sky and did not burn the
skin as it did in the summer.

"You do
not often see much of the day, do you?" Kalos asked. "This is usually
when you are at rest. But I have to ask you. Why do you wander each night as
you do?"

Adalginza
only shrugged in answer. But Kalos was determined to pursue the subject.

"You
have too many demons inside you. Would you be happier in the civilization and
security of the Prime Continent, away from this primitive world that seems to
have broken you?"

"The frontier
is all I have ever known."

"I am
new here. I have suffered here. And yet I feel as though I have at last found
my true home." Kalos took a deep breath of the fresh morning air. "This
place is wild and full of infinite possibilities."

"Then
you should go forth to explore, not kill. You are not a conqueror in your
heart."

"Because
I must sometimes kill, you are conflicted in your opinion of me. This may help
explain the troubles we are having of late."

When she
said nothing in response, Kalos spoke again.

"I do
not wish to conquer anyone. Benfaaro leaves me no choice. And in other matters
I have no choice either. I do, after all, take my orders from the Prime
Continent."

"You
could resign your commission in the Crescent knights. You could do this for me."

"You
ask too much, my lady. I am a man of my word and I cannot break my contract."

"The
people of the Crescent Houses could go back to the Prime Continent, and leave
the frontier to the savages. Then there would be peace. And there would be no
more killings."

Kalos shaded
his eyes against the sun and looked up at the day sky, where a few pale
outlines of crescent moons could be seen. Finally, he answered.

"Pretend
you were given a way to visit the sky. To walk upon the moons, and even to see
the stars beyond."

"Ridiculous."

He ignored her
scoffing.

"Then
once you were given a taste of the sky, you were told by beings who own the moon
and the stars beyond that you could see them no more. That you must go home and
stay there, never to visit the sky again. Would you accept this decision?"

"It mostly
amazes me that my husband thinks it is possible to visit the stars in the sky."

"Some
of the scholars of my House, the ones who dare speak of it, say this is where
the House of the Seventh Crescent Moon may now be found."

"In the
stars? And you accuse
me
of madness?" Adalginza's amused tone then
grew sober. "But I suspect you are only distracting me so that I will
speak no more of leaving the frontier."

"Perhaps.
Besides, I far prefer to speak of the stars than of the sorrows of this world.
Especially those I can do nothing about."

As they rode
together, Adalginza reached down and absently patted the shoulder of her
sturmon pinto.

"My
dear husband, I see only this truth. It seems the savages have far more to fear
from the explorers of the Crescent Houses, than from the conquerors. Conquerors
can in turn be conquered. But explorers will never be turned back. Their
spirits are too restless."

"There
are not many like me."

"But
they will nevertheless prevail."

"So there
you have your answer."

Kalos
reached out from where he sat on his sturmon, and took Adalginza's hand. He
squeezed it briefly. His eyes had the same glint as the finely hewn steel of
the sword in the saddle scabbard that now reflected back the sun.

"It
gives me no pleasure to kill," he said. "But Benfaaro has established
the rules of war in the frontier. I see no way to compromise. Either we die. Or
they die. And I will do what I must for those to whom I have sworn my loyalty."

"And what
if Benfaaro were to die?" Adalginza could barely find the voice to ask
this.

"Who
would take his place?"

"A most
important question."

Keen
interest showed on the captain's face.

"It is
at that. But if we are to find the answer, Benfaaro first must die."

An ache
squeezed Adalginza's heart at the same time she found herself bolstered by
newfound courage. She was about to speak again, close to revealing truths about
herself that might shock her husband.

But at that
moment, Kalos suddenly turned the Golden off the lane and onto a dim game trail.
It led through the heavy thickets and thick grasses of a marsh that lined the
back property of the captain's quarters.

Puzzled,
Adalginza followed on her own sturmon. At the same time, she flailed her arms
to fight back the grasping, thorned branches that tore at her skin.

"Kalos,
if this is your idea of a short cut, I must question your skills as a
pathfinder."

"Lower
your voice," Kalos said in a half whisper. "I do not wish others to
overhear. We came this way because there is something I must show you. I found
it last night, by accident, when I went looking for you."

Adalginza
saw the curious sparkle in his eyes, as though he had suddenly shed the yoke of
responsibility and was about to embark on some grand adventure.

"What
by all the ten crescent moons is going on with you?" she asked, mystified.

"I
cannot explain. I must show you."

They dismounted
from the sturmons, which they left tethered and grazing in a nearby clearing. Then
they walked until there was no longer any clear path to follow.

Kalos kept
going, eagerly leading the way.

When he
finally stopped, Adalginza's arms and legs were scratched and bleeding from the
unrelenting thorny branches that blocked their way.

"Here,"
Kalos whispered. "Look. See? There was something about a pile of stones and
other markers along the way that caught my eye, even in the darkness. And here
it is as though they have been arranged in a pattern."

"What
pattern?" Adalginza asked.

Then, she
saw the vaguest outline of a rock-lined path, mostly obscured by thickets and
overgrowth of dry grasses.

Kalos moved
ahead of her, and reached out to thrust aside some of the branches.

"Oh,"
Adalginza said, without enthusiasm. "It's a cave."

Caves in the
frontier were common and often occupied by ferocious, fanged creatures that
were best avoided.

So she could
not share the rapture now affixed to the face of the man who she had rightfully
branded explorer.

"Not
just any cave," Kalos said.

He reached
out to pull up some of the thick, tall grasses by their roots. He then expertly
wove them together to create a torch. He made another for Adalginza, who stood
watching in alarm.

Then, he
took out a firestone and scraped it against a nearby rock to create the spark
for lighting the first torch. With the first, he set the other on fire.

He forced
one of the torches into Adalginza's hand.

"This
will give us enough light, but only for a short time."

"No.
Please. I am too tired..."

"You
must see this first before we go home. Come on. Follow me."

Adalginza reluctantly
sent forth an inquiry from her mind, to see if they were about to disturb any
creatures of the dark that would make them sorry for their trespass.

Though she
caught the briefest of impressions from tiny rodents scurrying away from the
entrance at their approach, she sensed nothing menacing.

Once they
stepped inside, however, the uneasiness she felt was far more profound than the
threat of any monster that might be preparing to devour them.

"This
is most disturbing," Adalginza said. Her voice echoed hollowly against the
cave's walls. "This is not natural."

"Indeed
it is not," Kalos answered excitedly. "It was made by human hands."

Adalginza
walked across the dank floor of the cave and dared to run her own hand along
the smooth, whitish walls of the cave.

The cold
slickness of the material was similar to processed metal, but not metal. The
cave walls were clearly not made of rock, or of any substance that she
recognized at all.

Then, along
the edge of the tunnel that appeared to lead toward Sola Re, she saw the roughly
engraved symbol of the Seventh Crescent Moon. It also protruded in relief, in
the same way as the symbol in Tunnel Cave at the Place of the Circles.

"This
cannot be," she whispered.

"I wish
I had paid more attention to the cave we explored near your mother's
abode," Kalos said. "I saw the symbol, but it was so crude I had
doubts about its significance. Yet we are now so far away, and this carving is
identical."

"I…am
astonished." Adalginza could find no additional words to express herself. "What
does this mean?"

"I do
not know."

Because of
her upbringing in a Crescent House, she was usually less superstitious than
others among the tribes.

But now, in
these inexplicable surroundings, Adalginza was beginning to imagine she saw
evil spirits in every shadow cast by their torches.

"The
tunnel ends under Sola Re," Kalos said, unable to restrain the excitement
in his voice. "When I easily dug my way to the surface, I found myself standing
in the midst of our new cemetery. So I placed a marker at the cemetery entrance
to guide us. To others, it appears only as a freshly dug burial chamber."

"This
is so very strange," Adalginza said in a half whisper.

"It is
strange and also fortunate. For us. Now listen carefully. The name on the
burial stone, which you must remember, is Krarena of the House of the Second
Crescent Moon."

"Krarena,"
Adalginza repeated, committing the name to memory.

"I
borrowed the marker from a nearby grave site knowing that no clan members of
this person now live in the frontier. Its disturbance will not be noticed. Now
remember. The marker is nothing more than a heavy slab of rock. You need only
remove it to access this tunnel."

"But
why would I want to do that?"

"It is
a means of escape."

Adalginza
felt an odd premonition as she watched the cave shadows on the wall waver in
the torchlight. She somehow knew that someone she loved was going to die here.
But she could not share this apprehension with Kalos.

"Then you
fear Benfaaro will attack Sola Re."

Kalos held
his torch higher, as though hoping the different angle of the light would
reveal something new in the surroundings.

"It is
only a matter of time. And I may not be here to protect you when it happens."

"I hope
it never comes to this," she said quietly.

"As do
I. But I need to show Lady Redolo and Zartos as well. Only the four of us will
know of this tunnel. To tell others would be to put the entire settlement at
risk. For if word leaked out and Benfaaro knew of this secret way into Sola Re..."

"May he
never know!" Adalginza said vehemently.

"Indeed."
In the light of the torch, the captain's eyes now sparkled with wonder. "What
material is this that is found in the walls? Do you know of it?"

"I have
never seen such a thing," Adalginza said breathlessly.

The
captain's fingers now reverently traced the outline of the crescent moon
carving.

"Lady
Redolo will be most fascinated. I expect she will now spend much of her time
here in studies and documentation through numerous sketches. In secret, of
course. But when safety is restored and after the frontier belongs to the
Crescent Houses, she will surely have her writings published and distributed on
the Prime Continent."