Ten Crescent Moons (Moonquest)

by Marilyn Haddrill

  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. S
he 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!"

  "It did not help that she saw the slaughter at the Mountain of Treasures."

  "You are right. I should have protected her from the sight of it. But I didn't realize — at least not then —what it would do to her. I thought she was stronger than this..." His voice drifted away.

  "She is strong," Lady Redolo said. "But old wounds are still there, unhealed, from having seen her own mother killed. And the gnostic, Medosa. She has seen too much death in her life. And hardship."

  "The frontier has not been kind to her," Kalos finally agreed, sounding reluctant.

  "Nor to us."

  "I will send her to the Prime Continent then. In your care?" His voice, sounding hopeful, carried a question.

  "No, son. I will stay here. Your place is with Lady Adalginza. You must help see her through the healing. She loves me and Zartos, but trusts only you."

  "My place is here!"

  "Your place is also with her. But I cannot influence you in a choice that is only yours to make."

  The voices faded into murmurs, and occasionally some conscious part of Adalginza heard other words. Other snippets of conversation. It sounded like Kalos had chosen to reveal secrets to his mother.

  "...should have told me Calasta was Adalginza's daughter...should have told Calasta..." Lady Redolo sounded immensely peeved with her son.

  "Adalginza and I both thought it best to keep it a secret."

  "And Benfaaro is the father? Better that the child know everything...No, I tell you it is wrong...The truth is always better..."

  The truth is always better.

  Adalginza fervently agreed with Redolo, but no one heard her.

  "The child will be mistreated on the Prime Continent," Kalos said.

  "She is a savage," Redolo agreed. "There is no hiding her heritage. And there is much prejudice. Maybe she should stay here?"

  "I suppose she belongs with her mother."

  I am not Calasta's mother. I am Benfaaro's sister. I am Of The Blood. This means something.

  Why was no one hearing her? Was she speaking only in her mind?

  "Zartos will miss Calasta." Lady Redolo again.

  "Zartos thinks she's a pest."

  "That is why he will miss her. Life is never dull with Calasta around."

  Redolo and Zartos must come with us. They must leave here, too. They must be kept safe. Can't you hear me? Someone is going to die at the Cave of the Seventh Crescent.

  Again, no one heard Adalginza. Or was she speaking only in her mind?

  "So Adalginza will meet her famous grandmother at last." Kalos sounded deeply troubled. "I cannot say that I look forward to this visit."

  Grandmother?

  "It is custom," Redolo said. "You must stay in her house, or it will be interpreted as a grave insult. You must give Lady Swiala the chance to know her granddaughter."

  Kalos sounded melancholy when he spoke again.

  "That woman has too much wealth. And too much power. Besides being a renowned beauty — and spoiled for it — she is outspoken besides."

  "It is not your place to judge."

  "You are right. She will welcome her long-lost granddaughter into her abode. Her only living kin. And I as the husband am part of the bargain. I suppose I will adjust."

  "You will retain your rank. Take comfort in that."

  "My rank will be for ceremony only. My uniform and my name will be paraded in the royal court and at those tedious parties Lady Swiala likes to host."

  Kalos sounded deeply despondent now.

  "I never thought I would say this," he continued. "But I wish now that Lady Swiala was a member of the Fifth House, as was her husband and son. Lady Swiala's First House is too prone to pompous display."

  "You will be safe, at least. I will miss you, son. But you know I must stay here. Your discovery of the Cave of the Seventh Crescent is something no scholar could or should ignore."

  "I know, Mother. You must do your research."

  "I will, of course, share credit."

  "Not necessary. Write and publish your findings with my blessings. The question remains. Should I take Zartos with us?"

  "Zartos loves the frontier. And, like you, he would have no use for Lady Swiala."

  "Then keep him away from the C
rescent knights. He is too keen on becoming a soldier."

  "I will do what I can. But you see how much influence I had on you."

  No! Redolo and Zartos must come with us, because Benfaaro will attack Sola Re once he learns I am gone!

  Adalginza was certain she screamed those last words.

  But no one heard her.

  ***

  As a small child, Adalginza often had wondered what madness was like for Lady Donzala.

  She had sometimes envied her mother's total lack of concern for the petty happenings of the outside world, even when tensions surrounding them grew increasingly terrifying.

  It was even possible that Adalginza had acquired a passion for night wanderings from this bizarre and unstructured childhood spent with the woman she called mother. The two of them often slept during the day while taking their meals at night, depending on the whims of Lady Donzala.

  It was only during a few brief moments of clarity on the long sea voyage that Adalginza pondered the possibility that she had, indeed, become just like Lady Donzala.

  But it was also at these very moments that she knew she was the most sane. For didn't a person require sanity in order to recognize madness?

  It was only when viewing the world through these brief windows of lucidity that Adalginza recognized she was no longer in the frontier. And that the rise and fall of turbulent waters beneath the ship frequently caused her to heave what little food she was able to eat over the sides of the railings.

  The illness and accompanying lack of nourishment eventually gave way to a fever, either of the mind or the body — or both.

  In one of those rare lucid moments, she became aware that Calasta was in her sleep room. The child insisted that Adalginza dress in her finest ceremonial sash and skirt. Calasta also braided her hair and helped her apply her masque.

  Soon thereafter Adalginza had a nebulous memory of the ship docking in a strange and frightening place filled with cobblestone streets, sturmons pulling carriages, stale fish odors, and people dressed in all manner of strange garb.