Ten Crescent Moons (Moonquest) (29 page)

They had
named it, between themselves, Fire Lake — a metaphor for their own passions,
and a private joke they delighted in sharing.

It was here
in the wilderness, where they had first been wed, that Adalginza sat with her
knee touching the captain's. They snuggled together on the rock overlooking the
lake, with their bare feet dangling and soaking in the warm water feeding the pool
from a hot spring.

They were
otherwise fully clothed, as waning daylight and the captain's misgivings held desires
at bay.

"I
thought, husband, that you would be happy for us to spend this time together.
Now that we have ridden off to be alone, I find you distracted."

Kalos put
his arm around her and squeezed her close momentarily. Then he frowned at the patterns
of the ripples caused by Adalginza's fluttering feet.

"I am
concerned for Luzicos and the others. They should not be left alone while they
build the foundation for the fortress. I am their captain. I should be with
them."

"Yet,
you never originally planned to go with them on this mission. Would you worry
like this if you were back in Sola Re?"

"I
cannot explain. It is a feeling I have. Of danger."

"Danger
is everywhere in the frontier."

Kalos cocked
his head, listening.

"I
believe I know now what was bothering me just as we were riding away. At the
fortress site on the north peak, I did not hear the birds singing or the
flutter of their wings in flight as I do here. Where my knights are working,
there was only silence. It was as though many eyes were watching us."

Adalginza,
too, had sensed the alarm of the animals in the vicinity. She had seen through
their eyes as Benfaaro and about three dozen of his rebels silently surrounded
the site, waiting for the right moment to attack.

She was equally
certain Benfaaro had seen her and Kalos ride away together. Because of the
bargain for which Adalginza had sacrificed her soul and honor, Benfaaro allowed
them to escape unharmed.

"It is
just the two of us here, sitting quietly." Adalginza said, desperately
trying to sound reasonable. "Of course, the creatures are stirring here.
They do not feel threatened by our presence."

"Something
is wrong," Kalos insisted. "I need to go back. Now."

Adalginza took
the captain's hand, knowing that if she did not find the right words to keep
him here with her he would most surely die a horrible death back at the
fortress site.

"And
what would you tell your men? Luzicos seems quite capable to me. I suspect he
would be insulted that you question his ability to lead in your absence."

"Perhaps
you are right." Kalos gave her a half-hearted smile. "Forgive me. It's
just that, during each day that passes, my heart grows heavier with the
responsibility I feel for the settlements and the caravans. There have been so
many deaths already. I oversee the security forces. I should have found a way
to provide better protection."

Adalginza
gently placed two of her fingers to his lips.

"Enough
talking and enough worry," she said softly. "The sun is down now. We
are alone."

Their love making
on this night was forced, as each unsuccessfully tried to convince the other
that they were consumed with passion. That they had indeed somehow recaptured the
ardor of their wedding night. That their minds were not elsewhere.

As they held
each other, with the gentle waves of the warm water lapping around them,
Adalginza tried desperately to put aside images in her mind of slaughter. Of
men being dismembered and eviscerated. Of screams. And war cries. And blood
staining the once virgin soil.

It was good
they were in the water, for it helped disguise the tears that otherwise would
have been too obvious as they wet her face. She buried her head in the captain's
chest, and consoled herself that she could at least feel his heart beating.

Kalos was
alive because of her. But he would not thank her, if he ever found out the
truth. Quite the opposite.

The sky was
black with clouds, but there was no rain. And there were no crescent moons
smiling down on them during this dark night.

Later, they
slept together on their sleep mats, snug under their blankets. The sun had not
yet risen the next morning, when Kalos urged her to quickly get dressed and
join him on the return trip to the fortress site.

Adalginza
did not want to go. But she also knew she had no choice.

And when
they reached the site of the slaughter, the bloody scene was filled with remnants
of exactly the gruesome images she had pictured in her mind the previous night.

Both of them
were numbed into silence as they slid off their sturmons and onto the ground. Kalos
drew his sword from the saddle scabbard, but there was nothing that could be
done.

Blood and
gore were strewn everywhere, spilled from the bodies of fourteen Crescent
knights.

Kalos
bellowed in fury and waved his sword at a pack of furred, fanged scavengers
that slunk away. But not too far away lest they receive another opportunity to
resume their meal.

The headless
body of Luzicos was strapped to a tree. They found the head attached to the
spike of a nearby branch, from which eyes still affixed with horror stared back
at them.

The
captain's face was gray with grief. There were no words that could possibly console
him. And so Adalginza said nothing.

She did what
she could to help Kalos. They dragged the bodies closer together, so that they
could be protected from the scavengers.

She averted
her eyes as Kalos retrieved the grisly remains of Luzicos, and placed them with
the others.

The sturmons
and weaponry were, of course, gone. Stolen by the rebel savages. But blankets
could still be found among items left strewn at the camp. They used these to
cover the bodies, and weighted down the edges with heavy boulders as protection
from the scavengers.

"We
must check on the caravan that was due to arrive here this morning," Kalos
said finally. "But I know what we will find."

He was
right. Only a short distance down the trail, they found the mutilated bodies
strewn along with remnants of the caravan. Only this time there were women. And
children.

All humans
who have any kind of conscience at all have a breaking point, and Adalginza
knew she had finally reached hers.

Her initial
response was shock. It was as though she were becoming detached from her own body.

She floated
like a ghost through the scene, while she checked to see if there might be any sign
of life among the corpses.

A tremor began
to quaver inside her, threatening to turn every muscle she had into shivering gel.
But she held herself together, because she knew Kalos needed her at his side.

Again, the
two of them gathered together what they could of the remains and placed them in
one of the wagons. The wagon, in turn, was harnessed to Adalginza's pinto sturmon.

Kalos drove
the wagon while she rode the Golden back to the fortress site. There, they uncovered
and then gathered up the bodies of the Crescent knights. And with these grisly
remains in their possession, they began the arduous journey back to Sola Re.

Adalginza
again rode the Golden, grateful that she was not required to sit close to the
bodies that were piled high in the back of the wagon behind Kalos. She rode
beside him, gripping the sturmon's reins while she stared straight ahead.

Icy chills
undulated through her, as she realized she was entering a deep state of mental
collapse. This was the first time she had witnessed, firsthand, the ghastly
results of her ongoing betrayals.

"I will
never forgive myself for this failure," Kalos said finally. "My place
was with my knights. My place was with that caravan."

Adalginza's
guilt was so pronounced she could not bring herself to even turn her head his
way.

"You
would have died with them. Besides, the fault was mine for luring you away from
your duties."

"I
allowed it. The decision was mine alone. But I must remind myself that, had we
not left, you would have been here, too. You would have died as they did. Only
much worse things would have happened to you."

"Nothing
is worse than this," Adalginza whispered.

In that
moment, she felt whatever was left of herself slide away into another realm.

She had no
memory whatsoever of the rest of the trip, or of their arrival in Sola Re.

For the next
quarter season, Adalginza could barely eat. Or sleep. Her body grew even
thinner, and her skin was pale for lack of sunlight.

She was
strictly a creature of the night now, taking refuge in the darkness. She rode
recklessly, sometimes in full gallop, trying to escape the horror of what she
had done.

In the
daytime, she watched those around her as though they were part of a distant,
detached dream belonging to someone else.

Kalos,
Redolo, Calasta, and Zartos. These were the people she could no longer allow
herself to be near, for fear she might somehow harm them.

She no
longer asked what her husband was doing. Or who he was killing. Or who had been
killed.

One night while
she was out riding the Pinto under the light of eight full moons, Bruna stepped
in front of her on the trail and grabbed the sturmon's rein. Adalginza simply
stared down at her dully.

"You
missed our last appointment," Bruna accused. "I told Benfaaro to take
his revenge upon Sola Re. But he was soft. He said you had done too much for us
in the past to reward you in such a way."

"Have
the villages been attacked yet?" Adalginza asked.

She had a
fuzzy memory of a recent conversation among Kalos and other officers meeting in
her home back at Sola Re. An order had been issued from the High Command of the
Prime Continent to proceed with the slaughter of the savages.

Has the
man I love killed your children? Did he torture them, too? Has he already lost
his soul, as I have mine?

Bruna
watched her closely.

"There
have been the usual skirmishes, but no direct attacks on the villages. What do
you mean? Will there be?"

War was to
be waged against all the villages of all the tribes. Without full surrender and
acquiescence to the laws of the Crescent Houses, no lives would be spared.

"Yes. Very
soon. Guard the children. Keep them from harm."

Bruna
dropped the rein and stepped back into a shadow. "You have done your duty,
then. I will report this to Benfaaro."

"What
will you do?"

"We
will move the villages. Hide them."

"They
will find you."

"If
they do, we will move them again. Into the caves and underground if need be."
Bruna paused. "You look gravely ill."

"Since
when do you have concern for me?"

"You? I
care nothing about you. Your life is my only concern. You have done enough
here. Come back with me now. I have healing potions."

"Never!"

Though she
had thought she was beyond caring, Adalginza managed to jerk the head of the
sturmon around in a full circle and beat the animal's sides with her feet until
it soon was in a full run.

She mentally
directed the Pinto to the abode of Captain Kalos. As though he knew she was
coming, her husband stood waiting in the moonlight near the stables.

Adalginza collapsed
off the sturmon and into his arms.

"This
has gone on long enough," Kalos said firmly.

He carried
her through the back door and into the warmth of the kitchen.

"You
have the look of death. We must do something about your condition."

"No..."
Adalginza protested, but her mind was disappearing again into the dense fog.

She
remembered being placed on a sleeping mat near the kitchen fire pit.

She saw
blurred faces floating around her. At one point, a wide-eyed Calasta was by her
side. The child pushed a cup of warm tea into Adalginza's hand, then
disappeared.

Throughout
the evening, Adalginza heard fragments of conversation around her.

"Polyper
is a gnostic on the Prime Continent." It was Lady Redolo who was speaking.
"He is a great healer of the mind as well as the body."

"It is
only her body that needs healing!" This was Kalos, and he sounded angry
about something.

"Son,
it is time you faced the truth. Adalginza is Lady Donzala's daughter. This
madness has been in the family for many generations."

"No, it
is something else. I tell you, I am sure of it!"