Ten Crescent Moons (Moonquest)

by Marilyn Haddrill

  Adalginza turned away from her and to Benfaaro.

  "Please hear me. Captain Kalos burned the Village of the Circles while you were gone so that he could demonstrate to you that he had the power to do so. That was his own message sent to you."

  "Child's play," Benfaaro said derisively. "It meant nothing to me."

  "You were not listening to what he was telling you. So far, he has not ordered an attack on any of the occupied villages. He knew of the planned revolt at Sola Re and prevented it by exiling the free savages who lived there. He could have killed them instead, but he has shown compassion. Repeatedly. Even while his heart is still sick with the loss of his own family."

  Benfaaro held up his hand.

  "Enough of such praise for the captain, or I will start to question your loyalty. Need I remind you of the terms of our bargain?"

  Adalginza lowered her eyes. "You will not attack any caravan led by Captain Kalos. You will not harm his mother or his nephew. And you will not attack Sola Re."

  "For as long as the information the captain gives you is useful. When he becomes more harmful than useful, he will be killed."

  "Or perhaps I will make him my slave," Bruna said malevolently. "I have potions that can make zombies of men. He will do all that I ask of him. He will even make love to me..."

  Adalginza suddenly jumped to her feet, appealing to Benfaaro.

  "Silence her for once!"

  "I have no power to do this."

  "Then you are not a man."

  Benfaaro visibly winced at the accusation, but Bruna only laughed.

  "I thought it would be dangerous for Adalginza to fall in love with the enemy," she said. "Instead, it has only made her weaker. She serves us much better now, because of this pitiful state she is in."

  Adalginza leaped toward Bruna, recklessly determined to shove her into the flames of the campfire. But Benfaaro moved even more swiftly to stand and intercept his sister. He wrapped his arms around her, restraining her.

  "I told you to guard your heart," Benfaaro said roughly. "You did not listen to me. For this folly, I have no pity for you. Sit back down and tell me the secrets you have brought me. You do this now or my spies stationed near Sola Re will execute your captain before the next eve. If you don't tell me what you know, I will have him, his mother, and his nephew gutted before your very eyes."

  Adalginza realized Benfaaro meant those words, because this was the man her brother had become. She had no doubt, at least, of who he was.

  She began talking, barely recognizing her own hoarse voice as she outlined the planned movements of troops in the frontier. She also related details of when the next caravans of settlers were scheduled to depart from the coast.

  "At the next dawning of the crescent moon twins, on the 'morrow, Luzicos will lead a group of about twenty knights to establish a military post on the north peak of the Mountain of Treasures," Adalginza said. "My husband will not be with him. Kalos has duties in Sola Re."

  "What is the purpose of this new post?" Benfaaro demanded.

  "Its existence is to be kept a closely guarded secret. It is a way to provide protection to caravans that are to be sent from an alternate route, arriving from the far shore of the Sumal Sea."

  Benfaaro held up one hand, stopping her.

  "Luzicos? The Crescent knight who murdered my daughter?"

  "I was there," Bruna spoke up hastily. "I was in hiding when I heard his name. And I saw the blood on his hands."

  "Hear that?" Benfaaro turned back to Adalginza. "Speak to me no more of compassion. The Crescent knights have taken that which is most dear to me. You know this man, Luzicos?"

  Adalginza felt the blood drain from her cheeks as she nodded wordlessly

  "Then give me his description in detail. I want to know who it is I am looking for. I plan to spend considerable time with him before he finally dies."

  "I know his face well," Bruna said. "I will describe him for you."

  Adalginza attempted to still the rapid beating of her heart, trying to think of something to say to ease her brother's wounded soul.

  But then, she suddenly sat upright.

  "Gather your things and go," she whispered urgently. "Someone comes."

  "You hear the animals?" Benfaaro asked.

  "I feel them, yes," Adalginza said. "They slip away as a man approaches."

  "She lies," Bruna interrupted. "She doesn't want to tell us anything else."

  "She told us enough," Benfaaro said. "And I do hear someone approaching."

  "It is Kalos," Adalginza said.

  She saw her husband's intense expression mirrored through the eyes of a frightened mewl doe bedded down in the cover of brush.

  When next she looked around, both Bruna and Benfaaro hastily were gathering their belongings including the cook pot and cups into a pack. Then they faded into the darkness.

  They left no prints, which was part of the purpose of their rocky meeting place. And when shortly thereafter Kalos stepped into the firelight, Adalginza looked up at him without surprise.

  He peered around, giving the surrounding area his usual scrutiny.

  "I saw the Pinto where you tethered him. Is this where you now spend your time? Brooding with the ghosts in the Canyon of Despair?"

  After Kalos sat down beside her where Benfaaro had been only moments earlier, Adalginza snuggled against her husband.

  He placed one arm around her to pull her against him. He moved aside a few strands of her hair, and whispered in her ear.

  "I miss my wife."

  "You are too busy planning the conquest of the frontier. I did not think you would miss me that much."

  "I miss her in my bed at night. I sometimes overhear the dowagers in Sola Re gossiping about the daughter of Lady Donzala, and her wanderings under the night moons. They are aghast that the captain's new wife now openly rides the sturmons as a man would ride. But then, most of them are from the House of the Fifth Crescent Moon. And ugly. And jealous."

  "Let them say I am crazy. It is explanation enough."

  "For them, maybe. But not for me." He hesitated. "As I approached your campfire, I thought I heard voices."

  "I was talking to the ghosts."

  "Tell me this isn't really so."

  "To myself, then. As disturbed women are apt to do."

  "I am concerned for the condition of both your mind and your body." Kalos held up one of her thin wrists, and let it drop limply to her side. "You are wasting to nothing before my very eyes. Is it so tragic, then, to be married to me?"

  "The tragedy is that you broke your promise to me. Without that promise, I never would have consented to wed you."

  Kalos gave her an exasperated look.

  "And you, in turn, are breaking my heart. Dear Adalginza, why can you not see that it is impossible for us to escape to the wilderness? I cannot abandon my family and my obligations just to satisfy some delusional notion you may have of happiness."

  "Bring Zartos and Lady Redolo with you then." Adalginza turned to him, and took both of his hands in appeal. "The two of them are strong. They will survive. The land is friendly to those who understand it. We will be safe. And we will be hidden."

  "You are still serious about this?"

  She put one hand on his chest, desperate for him to hear her next plea.

  "In this way, you can seek more evidence of the House of the Seventh Crescent Moon. This is your true desire, is it not? You are in your heart an explorer. And a scholar. You can seek for as long as you want, without being forced to carry the shield and sword of the Crescent knights."

  Kalos gave her a tender look, and kissed her cheek.

  "I understand only that you are pursued by fear. You refuse to tell me the source of it. But I know this much. No matter how far you flee or where you go, you still must turn around someday and look directly into the eyes of fear. Just as you faced down that snake."

  "You understand nothing about my fear."

  Adalginza stood angrily. Kalos stood with
her, and grabbed both of her wrists to hold them firmly in his hands.

  "You love me. I know you do. And yet you withhold yourself from me."

  "How dare you make such an accusation? I make myself available to you in our marriage bed."

  "Without looking at me. Without taking satisfaction for yourself. What kind of marriage is that?"

  "Then release me from our vow! I will return to my own clan house in Sola Re, so that you will no longer suffer the pain of my presence."

  "I will always suffer the pain of your presence," Kalos answered quietly.

  Then he reached out and forced her chin upwards.

  She knew better than to look at him while under the spell of the night sky and its powerful moons. For there was lunacy in the air once more.

  She felt him fumble with the bodice strappings that drew her sash together. She felt the warmth of his hands, though the night air was chilled.

  She closed her eyes, trying to shut out the sight of him. Trying not to feel him. Trying not to love him any more than she already did.

  Then they fell together on the hardness of the rocks. They would have bruises the next day. But for this tender moment, they were lost in each other.

  Two pale crescent moons smiled low on the horizon and the campfire had died to only a few lazy embers when finally the two lovers rose and donned their clothing.

  The sun was beginning to rise, casting a few exploratory rays into the cover of the canyon. Birds fluttered to life, beginning the day's cycle of pursuit of winged insects.

  Kalos was smiling now as he teased her.

  "Now we have given the dowagers new fodder for their gossip. Not only does the Lady Adalginza wander in the night, but she is followed by the love-crazed captain. And the two of them do not return to their home until the sun is high in the sky the next day."

  Feeling suddenly shy around him, Adalginza gave him a sidewise smile.

  "Luzicos will be worried about you."

  "Luzicos? Luzicos is not my mother. Why not Lady Redolo?"

  "Your mother knows you are with me. And approves. Luzicos probably knows you are with me also. But by the alarmed way he now looks at me, he probably thinks I have placed a blade to your throat."

  "You cannot blame the man. He still has a scar on his upper thigh from where you attacked him with my own Crescent sword. Lucky for him and his manhood that your aim was not slightly higher." Kalos sounded more amused than concerned.

  "That was where I was aiming."

  Adalginza suddenly fell silent and looked down, lost in thought.

  Kalos shook his head sadly.

  "Ah. I should have said nothing of that day. I have succeeded in dousing the mood. Once again."

  He held out his hand to her, eyeing her sternly.

  "It is time to go home. The Golden is tied where you left your sturmon."

  ***

  As they rode home, side-by-side, the distant rumbling of wagons could be heard from Sola Re.

  "Another caravan arriving?" Adalginza asked casually.

  "The only one that has managed to make it through during the entire past cycles of the full moons." Kalos furrowed his brow. "It is as though Benfaaro reaches into our minds and steals all our secrets. If I did not know better, I would say we had a spy in our midst."

  Adalginza momentarily felt faint at hearing his speculation.

  "You should impose a curfew," she suggested. "Post guards at the gates to the city. Make sure no one enters or exits, except by your permission."

  "A curfew would interfere with your nightly wanderings, my love. Why would I want to cage my beautiful wild bird and make her even sadder? Beyond that, why would I want to make myself a tyrant to my own people?"

  "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."

  Ka
los 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.