So privileged. So damned.
All you see, hear, and feel of this world is but an illusion. You will find peace when you listen to a Greater Voice, which speaks only the Truth...
It sounded like Medosa. But Medosa was dead. And it wasn't really a voice, but a whispering inside her head.
"Be silent! You are not real!" Adalginza mouthed the words in a whisper, but did not shout them out loud for fear of rousing the Crescent knights who kept watch along the outer perimeters of the grounds.
Adalginza felt thorns tear at her flesh and clothing as she finally plunged through the thicket, to the cleared earth and mounds where Lady Donzala and Medosa were buried.
Three of the moons above her were full, casting a vague shadowed lighting on the scene.
Adalginza used her bare hands to tear a hole in the dry, reluctant earth. Only after her fingers started bleeding, did she find a nearby rock and begin beating the ground into compliance. At this point, she did not care if a Crescent knight heard her.
But the muffled noise created no alert. Most of the knights were asleep, and those on guard were too far away.
It took a long while, but she finally had a place for Herol. She laid the furred corpse inside, and covered it up. Then she stood, feeling depleted and better somehow from the almost violent explosion of physical effort.
"I felt Herol die."
The words both startled and disheartened Adalginza, as she turned to face the tiny girl who had voiced the words almost breathlessly.
"Calasta." Adalginza held out her arms. "Come here, child. Poor child."
Calasta rushed into her arms.
"Don't tell mother that the animals speak to me. She is so proud that she is a knower of the plants. She wouldn't like it that I have a gift, too. She already doesn't like it that I am Of The Blood."
"I won't say anything. You know that."
It had been more than a season since they had last been together, and they held each other for a long time.
Adalginza finally released her grip and stepped back, so that she could get a better view of Calasta's thin face. It was filled so appealingly with huge, dark eyes.
She would steal many hearts when she was older. Regardless of her looks, however, there would never be a lack of suitors.
Calasta was Of The Blood.
She would likely never be loved for herself alone. It was the curse of status. And the unfairness of the world in general.
Even worse, this child of Benfaaro's was now a target of the captain's revenge.
Feeling at a loss, Adalginza spent a few moments contemplating the wisdom of grabbing Calasta, stealing a sturmon, and running away into the night.
To go where?
"Mother is here," Calasta said, a little gloomily.
"What?" Adalginza looked around. "Where?"
"Not here. Yet. She is looking for you."
"Then I suppose she will find me. What are you doing here, child?"
"Herol was missing. I came to bring him home."
"You were taking care of Herol for me?"
"Yes."
Sparks flew like embers from Calasta's eyes as she glared down at the distant abode. Through the open doorway, they could see the shadow of the captain outlined against the firelight.
He appeared to be peering out into the night. Looking for Adalginza?
"That man killed Herol," Calasta said furiously. "I hate him!"
"Never hate until you fully know the truth." Adalginza's heart was heavy as she regarded the captain's outline. "You know how Herol's eyes catch the glow of the firelight? The captain believed the glowing orbs to be an evil spirit."
"But we always thought it was so funny!" The catch in Calasta's voice was the only sign that she was stifling her tears.
"It's funny only when you know what it is." Adalginza sighed deeply. "Captain Kalos is very sorry about what happened. It was an accident. You should not hate him."
"He is the enemy." Bruna's voice sliced through the conversation, as she stepped out of the darkness. "Of course you should hate him."
"Then why is he with Adalginza?" Calasta asked.
"I am spying on him," Adalginza said simply. "To learn his secrets. To help our people."
"Do not tell such things to this silly child," Bruna scolded. "Only a few among us know you or of what you are doing."
"She will keep silent. I trust Calasta with my life."
"Ridiculous." Bruna clapped both hands together toward the child, a habit that always jangled Adalginza's nerves. "You go now. Go home."
"Her dear pet has been killed," Adalginza said. "Can you not show your daughter a little compassion?"
"She must learn to deal with death sooner or later." Bruna nodded her head sharply toward Calasta. "I said go home."
"Yes, Mother."
The child paused momentarily to stare at the tiny heap of ground, and then melted into the darkness where she would no doubt find a place to cry alone.
"I thought you would be at the Festival of Blood," Adalginza said.
"Benfaaro is there. You are here, and in need of watching."
"Both you and Calasta should be by Benfaaro's side at such an esteemed event. Calasta is Of The Blood. Her place is there."
Bruna toed the mound of dirt, taking a curious interest in a few drops of fresh blood left beside the grave.
"Benfaaro has some foolish notion that it is better for Calasta that she not realize the full importance of being Of The Blood. At least not while she is so young. Nor did he want her to see him celebrated."
When Bruna looked up, naked hatred was in her eyes.
"Benfaaro knows you are here, little one. He does not appreciate that you brought the captain to the Place of the Circles at this time. Now that he and his warriors are away, the village is unprotected."
"Captain Kalos has no plans to attack the village that I know of. It would be a foolish and unnecessary gesture, with everyone gone."
"You waited to do this until after I left for the festival. You told me nothing of your plans to bring the captain here. And then I learn from my spies that you dared entrust the care of valuable sturmons at Sola Re to that boy."
"Why shouldn't I? Zartos is very trustworthy."
"Who is receiving the benefit of your spying, Adalginza? Benfaaro? Or Captain Kalos?"
"I gave you Tremasto."
"We wanted Sola Re. And now it is too late, because the captain has fortified the settlement. I ask you. What good are you to us?"
"Hear me well. I have learned much more because of this journey."
Adalginza glanced down at the abode, still keenly aware of the captain's silhouette as he scanned the darkness.
"Captain Kalos fears that I am mad. Like Lady Donzala. He fears that her madness has been passed on to me. This is why he holds back from me."
"Then this is such a fine joke." Bruna chuckled with wicked satisfaction. "Lady Donzala was never mad."
"What are you saying? Of course she was mad. Madness was in her bloodline."
Bruna walked over to the mound representing Lady Donzala's grave. The replica of the crescent moon that Adalginza had placed on her grave was untouched. Made of crudely fabricated bronze, it was a product of the Fifth House.
When Bruna kicked at the mound, Adalginza had to restrain herself to keep from pushing her away.
"It took only a few times," Bruna said vaguely.
"What did?"
"I know of a very special plant. It grows on the east slope of the Mountain of Treasures. It does something to the mind. Of a permanent nature."
"You poisoned Lady Donzala." Adalginza turned her head, determined not to let Bruna see the tears of grief pooling in her eyes.
"I placed some of the leaves within the water of her well. It made her more pliable to our wishes. Do not worry about yourself. It was before you joined her here."
Adalginza suddenly thought of something else. But does one really ever want to know the full extent of evil?
; She slowly walked over to where a tiny mound could barely be seen below the wild growth of suckleberries.
"Medosa said the baby was not healthy when she was born."
Bruna laughed out loud. "It would be more accurate to say that the baby was not healthy soon after she was born."
Adalginza stared down at the tiny grave. "You killed Lady Donzala's baby?"
"The plant that caused madness for the mother killed the infant. But I soon gave Lady Donzala another to suckle. You."
Adalginza tried to find her voice. "How could you kill a tiny, innocent baby? How?"
Bruna shrugged. "If I find a den of baby snakes, I kill them before they can grow to kill me. It is the same."
"It is not the same." Adalginza turned and shifted her gaze back to the grave with the crescent moon marker. "You show great courage by standing so close to Lady Donzala. Her hands could reach up from below the earth and take you by the throat. Right now."
Bruna started, and took several involuntary steps backward. The malicious smile she wore was abruptly erased.
"She was not murdered here," Bruna protested. "She was murdered in the abode. And that is where her spirit is tied."
"Bruna, where did you learn such hate? It is unnatural."
Bruna kept an anxious eye on the grave.
"It was taught to me. By Captain Heinste of the Crescent knights."
Adalginza's voice softened. "I heard that something terrible happened to you. When you were a child. No older than Calasta."
Bruna clutched both of her hands into fists.
"After the plague killed my parents, the captain and his knights found me. I was half starved. And they gave me sweets, from the Prime Continent. I thought they were being kind. I trusted them. Then the captain started doing things to me. He tortured me, saying I was a savage and no better than an animal. After that, he gave me to the knights."
"I am sorry, Bruna," Adalginza whispered.
"There were three of them, besides him. They were all swine from the House of the Fifth Crescent Moon."
"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."
7
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, Adalginz
a 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."
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