"Oh." It was all Adalginza could think of to say.
"Sagawea is conducting the research on Medosa's life on the Prime Continent," Kalos explained. "Lady Redolo has provided what she knows of his life in the frontier."
"All she knows is what I told her," Adalginza said coldly.
Kalos glanced at Sagawea.
"Well, not entirely. There are written records in Sola Re, recorded by officers of the Crescent Knights that once served at the Place of the Circles. I brought these with me, at Lady Sagawea's request."
Adalginza scowled down at the writings, causing a look of discomfort to be exchanged between Kalos and Sagawea.
"Lady Redolo surely does not know the full extent of this collaboration with Lady Sagawea," she observed. "Or of the title. Or even the content."
"She will," Kalos said reassuringly. "I have sent her a communication containing a copy of these writings."
An uncomfortable silence prevailed while Adalginza leaned over and skimmed through the carefully hand-printed lettering.
"These writings are not objective scholarly work at all. Lady Redolo would call them propaganda. Designed only to stir sentiment against the savages."
"All statements are well document!" Sagawea protested. "And what would you know of scholarly work? You are from the House of the Fifth Crescent Moon."
Adalginza straightened and looked her rival directly in the eye.
"I personally knew Medosa. I knew the savages he taught. Who else in this room can make that claim?"
"Adalginza, please." Kalos hesitated, then seemed to make up his mind about something.
"You are right," he said. "This document is not a scholarly work. It is designed to be presented before the Prime Congress of the Crescent Houses at their scheduled meeting at the next dawning of three full moons."
"And for what purpose?"
"We need more votes. Many in Congress do not approve of the newest orders that were issued by the High Command of the Crescent Knights. Congress rescinded those orders. Temporarily. Until the matter could be debated."
"And those were the orders to slaughter innocent women and children in the villages?"
Kalos held up his hand to silence Adalginza. An implacable servant stood at the door, her trays laden with cups of steaming tea.
Behind her, Calasta stood holding a tray of baked sweet treats. Kalos glanced at the child, then averted his gaze. But Sagawea eyed Calasta with open criticism.
"This child is a savage! Why is she here?"
Lady Swiala unexpectedly stepped through the door behind the servants, and gently placed her hands on Calasta's shoulders.
"She is here with my full permission. It is, after all, my abode."
"Your sentiments about the savages are well known, lady," Sagawea said. "It is you and others who lobbied to have the order rescinded in the first place. For what purpose, I do not know."
"For purposes of humanity and the greater good," Swiala replied with quiet dignity.
Adalginza at that moment regarded her flamboyant grandmother with new eyes. And considerable admiration.
Sagawea, however, wore an entirely different expression.
"You have extensive influence. I salute you for it, even though our views differ so extremely. But I believe as fervently in my cause as you do in yours. My motives are of the highest nature."
"Really?" Swiala lifted a cup of the fragrant herb tea from the tray held by the servant. She took a sip. "I hear the new School of Minds you founded in Solaria has suffered greatly for lack of funding — until recently."
"Just what are you implying?" Sagawea asked.
"I imply nothing. I simply state the facts. Your precious school was salvaged when a wealthy merchant gave you a considerable donation."
"And this is wrong…how?"
"This same merchant is associated with the secret society known as the Eradicators. We all know what they stand for. And now you renew your old — friendship — with Captain Kalos."
"And what is wrong with that? We have known each other a long time."
"Nothing, except you immediately started using him and the influence of his clan in Congress to further your own aims. As for your merchant friends, the extermination of the savages in the frontier will clear the way for a giant land grab. This means considerable wealth for them and their associated interests, does it not?"
Kalos took a few angry steps toward Swiala, and then stopped himself.
"I do what I do for the security of the settlements in the frontier. If you were there to see with your own eyes, you would understand the concerns. Our people are being slaughtered."
Sagawea also stepped forward, to stand beside Kalos in a most familiar way.
"And how dare you imply that my opinion can be bought for personal gain?" she asked. "Your statement is utterly improper."
Swiala took another cup of tea from the tray, which she handed to Adalginza.
"Then I must point out it is quite unmannerly of you, Lady Sagawea, to attempt to undermine me and my position in my own household. And we haven't even begun to explore the disrespect you have shown my granddaughter."
"That's it. I have heard enough."
Sagawea walked over to the game table and immediately began to roll up several of the scrolls, apparently the ones that belonged to her. She tucked them under her arm, as she turned back to Swiala.
"Just so you know, our original intent in meeting here together genuinely was to complete a scholarly work on the gnostic, Medosa. Then Captain Kalos began to tell me of all that had been suffered — and lost — by our people in the frontier. This was why we changed our direction. But you do have my apology, Lady Swiala, and my word that these actions will not be repeated under your roof."
"I know these actions will never be repeated, because you are not welcome to return to my abode." Lady Swiala placed her half empty cup on the tray still held by the servant. "Allow me to escort you outside to your carriage. Captain? Perhaps you have some matters you would like to discuss with your wife. I will leave the two of you to your privacy."
With Lady Sagawea's arm now firmly in her grip, Swiala instructed the servant and Calasta to place their trays upon the table and return to the kitchen. Calasta, however, lingered a few extra moments to glance down at the writings.
Then, as she left, she cast a curious glance over her shoulder at Adalginza before the other servant pulled the heavy metal door shut behind them.
Kalos swung around then, to face Adalginza.
"You had no right to be so confrontational. You embarrassed me in front of Lady Sagawea."
Adalginza placed her untouched cup of tea back down on the tray. She regarded Kalos irately.
"You were conspiring against Lady Swiala's interests, at the same time you were accepting her hospitality."
"Adalginza, your interests cannot possibly match those of Lady Swiala." Kalos held out both hands in appeal. "Not after all that you have seen and suffered for yourself at the hands of the savages."
"My interests are for peace, not slaughter. And there is another way, if you would but listen to me."
She spoke with such clarity of thought it was as though she had suddenly awakened from an extended nightmare orchestrated by others. She knew now that lies were no longer necessary. Lies had never been necessary.
She was about to tell him the truth — all of it — when Kalos interrupted her.
"It was not you who pulled the head of Luzicos with all its gore and grime off the spike of that tree limb."
"That must have been a terrible day for you," Adalginza said quietly.
"You became gravely ill after that, and we have never spoken of it since. But what I saw of the slaughter at the Mountain of Treasures changed me, maybe even as deeply as it changed you. If this disturbs you, then I am sorry."
She reached out and gently touched the sleeve of his tunic.
"Kalos, I am sorry, too. And I wish to speak of that day with you, at an appropriate time. But right now I
have something very important to say to you."
Kalos did not hear. His eyes were distant now, and he seemed determined to relive the horror.
"Luzicos was my friend. He was my father's friend. He was loyal to my clan in every way, and more like a father to me in some ways than my own father was."
Kalos put both hands up to his eyes and rubbed them vigorously, as though to erase the nightmare visions that still haunted him.
"I cannot close my eyes at night, without seeing his dead eyes staring back at me. Almost like they accuse me for not being there at his side when the attack came."
"You would have been dead, too. There was nothing you could have done."
"And then there was the caravan."
"I know," Adalginza said, knowing full well that this guilt was hers alone. "I saw."
"This proves beyond any doubt that the savages are heathen by nature. They are primitive. All of them. They never evolved, as we of the Crescent Houses did. This world will be better served once they no longer exist."
"Kalos! Are you listening to yourself?"
Kalos slammed the side of his fist into the adobe wall of the parlor.
"I tell you, I no longer have doubts. It was the decapitated body of my friend Luzicos that finally convinced me. You have no idea all that was done to him, and I will never tell you the details."
If ever there was a time to right a wrong, it was now.
Adalginza desperately reached out and took her husband's hands in hers as though to anchor him against a violent wind vortex that threatened to tear him away from her.
"I suffered deeply from what I saw," she said. "But you, also, are full of scars that cannot be seen. You also need refuge and healing. You need someone to listen to your pain, Kalos. And you think you have found a sympathetic ear in Sagawea. But I think she has found a fool so vulnerable and devoted to her that she can use him to promote her own interests."
'Enough!" Kalos yanked his hands away from hers. "This is not about your petty jealousies!"
"Maybe not. But she is clearly one of the Eradicators. She has convinced you that savages are less than human. She has radicalized you. Don't you see? You have been listening to her and her supporters for far too long, because I do not recognize any of these words as truly yours."
"No? Have you forgotten my sisters also were ravished before my very eyes and then murdered? Do you think I can ever forget that? Am I not entitled to vengeance?"
"Yes! Against the man responsible!"
Adalginza, once again, found herself speaking with a peculiar clarity of her own mind that she had never experienced before.
But Kalos regarded her with the haunted, distant eyes of someone who had become a stranger even to himself.
"My own wife, who lived as a neighbor and friend to Benfaaro, was taken as a child and mutilated in such a way that her bloodline — and now mine — has been forever extinguished. I blame this act upon Benfaaro as well. Who else could have done it? For all the pain he has caused me and mine, he will die. But those who follow him must die, too. They are all the same. They are worse than animals. Can you not see that?"
Adalginza felt a growing horror, as she realized just how much Kalos had changed.
"We have been apart for far too long. You are far away from me."
"It is not I who left! It was you who left me when I needed you the most!" Kalos gave her an apologetic look, then lowered his voice. "Forgive me. But even as I speak with you, I doubt that you are really back with me."
"I am, Kalos. I swear by all the moon gods I am back."
"Yet, I must always question your sanity. Because nothing you say makes sense any more. You tell me you had a child. And now I learn that you never had a child. That it is impossible for you to even conceive."
"I am sorry for this lie."
"I do not accuse you. I blame Benfaaro for your delusions. For all that has happened to you. I tell you the world has never seen a greater monster."
"The world has seen at least his equal," Adalginza gently reminded him. "It was your Captain Heinste the Cruel who raped and tortured little children when he and his followers first came to the frontier."
"He was brought to justice," Kalos said grimly.
"I see. And I also see that you live under a double standard. Rather than bring Benfaaro to justice to pay for his crimes, you instead instruct your knights to exterminate the women and children of the savages so that they can no longer exist to be a problem for you."
"Not the same thing at all," Kalos mumbled.
"Tell me, husband. How will you accomplish this noble mission of yours? Will there be civilized rules of conduct? Is there a way to kill that is kind? How will you do it? With a rock to smash in the skulls of their children? Or would a sword through tiny hearts be more humane?"
"Stop this talk! You are mad!"
"No. You are the one full of madness now. And hate! It is poisoning you. I do not even know you anymore."
"Maybe you think you don't know me," Kalos said softly. "Much has happened since we arrived here. But please know I have stood by your side for almost two full seasons now. Were you aware it has been that long?"
"No." She considered his words almost with wonder that so much time could have passed without her knowledge.
"You could walk with me at times, but your mind was somewhere else for so long. For too long."
Adalginza sank into one of the plush upholstered chairs, stunned at the news.
"Two seasons?"
Kalos sat in the chair beside her.
"Much has happened during that time," he said. "The savages have obliterated eighteen of our settlements. Did you know that?"
"No. Of course not."
"They have driven us back to the coastal regions of the frontier. Sola Re is the only interior settlement that remains whole. We have other remote fortifications, but they are all at risk now."
"I did not know."
"And while we suffer defeat after defeat, the Prime Congress holds back through talk. I am desperate for more knights and armament. At this point, I would do almost anything — even the unthinkable — to defeat Benfaaro. Do you understand now?"
Adalginza looked at him accusingly. "I understand only that you have been with Sagawea all this time. And she has been poisoning your mind."
"Please. I have a mind of my own."
"You heard Lady Swiala. Sagawea answers to a faction whose only motive is profit, even if she has convinced herself otherwise."
"She is an intelligent, well-spoken woman. And, at this point, I care not what her motives may be. We are, after all, on the same side."
"And what are your motives now, Kalos? Duty? Or revenge?"
Kalos considered this for a long while before he finally answered.
"I will not rest until I do to Benfaaro and those who follow him what was done to my own."
Adalginza took a deep breath, and then decided to take a monumental risk.
"Then let your bloodletting begin with Benfaaro's child. She is here. In Lady Swiala's abode."
Kalos watched her sadly. "You are delusional again. Calasta is not your child. And she is not Benfaaro's child."
"If she is not Benfaaro's child, then who do you think she is?"
"You are related," Kalos said. "I have no doubt of that, because I see the strong family resemblance in your faces."
"Then how do you suppose the child and I share a bloodline?"
Adalginza asked this question cautiously, wondering if Kalos had guessed the truth.
Kalos studied her face. "It was well known that Lady Donzala's husband enjoyed co-mingling with the natives at the Place of the Circles. I believe Calasta is a grandchild of your father. Such mixed births are rare, but not unheard of."
"I see. So you believe Calasta has at least a small part of the bloodline of one of the Crescent Houses. How, then, do you propose to kill the part of her that is still savage?"
"Stop it, Adalginza. I do not find conversation amusing. Or nece
ssary."
"You have sworn revenge against all savages. So will you kill this innocent little child? If so, go now. Find her. Be a brave soldier, take out your Crescent sword, and run her through. Or perhaps first you would like for her to suffer. Captain Heinste knew how to make little children suffer."
"You do me an injustice, woman!"
Adalginza remained unrelenting. It was of utmost importance for her to revive the Kalos she had once known.
"It might be better if you returned with Calasta to the frontier. Then you could instruct Zartos to kill her, instead of treating her as the little sister he never had."
"Enough of this."
Kalos regarded her furiously.
"I once thought you had the blood of savages in your veins. That perhaps your mother was so consumed with madness that she consorted with a savage and then bore you. But now that I am in this abode, I am certain of one thing. You are Lady Swiala's granddaughter in truth. For you have both her eyes and the blades on her tongue."
"Do not change the subject. I ask you. Do you understand that this little girl who has been under your protection wears the face of the enemy you have named?"
"I will hear no more of this."
Kalos started for the door. Adalginza kept pace with him, following.
"When you begin your campaign against the villages, you will see the face of Calasta each time you slay a child. For spilling the blood of innocents, your soul will be forever damned."
Adalginza wanted to add: As mine is. But she resisted the impulse, when he stopped and turned back to her with eyes full of pain..
"What else can I do? There is no other way."
"But Kalos, there is a way. Just listen to me. Please."
"All right then. I'm listening."
Adalginza hesitated. Now that she had his ear, she wondered just how much she really could trust this new Kalos. But she had to take the risk.
"Remember when I told you that there were others Of The Blood? Others who could rule the tribes?"
"Yes."
"The truth is there are only three. Benfaaro is Of The Blood. Calasta, too, is Of The Blood. She really is his daughter. And there is one other."
Ten Crescent Moons (Moonquest) Page 22