Ten Crescent Moons (Moonquest) (13 page)

Finally, the
Crescent knight regarded her insolently.

"And
that knowledge was of great use, I see, when it came to protecting the life of
your own mother."

"Luzicos!
Enough!" Kalos waved his hand dismissively. "Go back to the troops.
Take them to the servant barracks behind the main house. Post a few guards, but
use this as an opportunity for rest."

"I
cannot leave you here alone, sir."

"Yes.
You can. We have sanctuary here. Lady Adalginza informs me that savages will
not occupy or ravage a dwelling where a murder has taken place."

Adalginza
added her own explanation. "They fear the spirits of the dead may linger
in search of an opportunity for revenge."

"Nonsense,"
Luzicos growled.

He yanked
the head of his sturmon in the direction of the abode and kicked the animal
into galloping obedience.

The
answering rage from the rebellious black washed over Adalginza, as real as
though the animal had found human words to shout out its frustration at being
in bondage.

This man and
beast had an uneasy alliance, maybe even a shared love. But Luzicos could be a
hard master.

"Now we
are alone." Kalos spoke again only after the delegation of knights had
disappeared behind the distant abode. His eyebrows were knitted in a scowl as
he scanned every scruffy desert tree, inspected every rock. "I hope, as
you say, that we are not being observed by Benfaaro or any of his people. Otherwise,
our remaining time on this world is now very short."

"I told
you," Adalginza repeated wearily. "The Festival of Blood requires the
presence of the dominant chief of all the thirteen tribes, or it cannot take
place at all. Benfaaro's bloodline has retained this honor for at least a
century, without dispute. His word is law. And it is final. This is the only
reason that peace has prevailed among the tribes for so long."

Adalginza
knew this was the reason why Talan had so relentlessly wooed her, even before
she came of age. He was far more interested in power than in sex.

Because
Benfaaro was the dominant chief, any close relative also was considered to be
Of The Blood.

There were
only two. Benfaaro's sister, Adalginza. And his daughter, Calasta.

Calasta was
the direct heir. When she came of age, she would be the undisputed ruler after
Benfaaro.

But if Talan
married Adalginza, he could challenge Benfaaro's rule if he had enough cause. Also,
under tribal law, Benfaaro himself could designate the husband of his sister as
leader Of The Blood for as long as she lived.

She herself
also could be designated leader Of The Blood, but only if Benfaaro decreed it.

Adalginza
knew this would never happen, especially with Bruna always in the background
and whispering doubts in his ear.

She sighed
heavily, as she glanced around.

The sweeter
memories of this place were marred by the image of Talan's scar-pocked face and
almost brutal insistence on her submission. Had Benfaaro not protected her, she
would have been taken against her will on more than one occasion.

Adalginza looked
down at hands that now shook as though she had been afflicted with a palsy for
which there was no cure.

There were
ghosts here, all right. But not the kind that the savages feared.

"Are
you going to be able to go on?" Kalos asked gently.

"I am
not sure."

Adalginza
felt so drained of energy that even a brave front was beyond her capacity at
the moment.

"When
was the last time you were here?"

"Three seasons
ago, more or less."

"Is
that when your mother was murdered?"

"My — mother,
yes. And Medosa only moments before her. I stayed only long enough for the two
cousins of my clan to arrive from Sola Re and take charge of her possessions.
It was unsafe here for me to live alone. So we packed in much haste, then left."

"Whereupon
they then died on the trail."

"Yes. I
told them not to drink the water at the place where we took rest. They did not
heed the words of a lady of the Fifth House, and paid the price in their
deaths."

"Fools."

"I then
made my way to Sola Re alone. Except for Bruna, of course."

"Bruna.
Now there is a prize that would have been best left behind."

"My mother
was growing ill, and purchased her from the savages to serve us."

"I did
not know the savages would allow such a thing."

"Only
as a form of punishment for the person sold. It is a rare occurrence."
Adalginza hastily made up the story. "Anyway, once in Sola Re, I took
charge of the abode that had been occupied by my cousins. You know the rest."

Kalos
wrapped the guiding reins around the post of the footboard and leaned back,
seeming in no hurry to continue onward.

The sun was
lower now, and the heat was fast dissipating. They were serenaded by insects
rubbing their wings together in a harmony of song. Birds flitted through the
bushes in search of the source of the noise and a good meal.

Adalginza
could sense their hunger, and the primal drive for sustenance.

"It is
quite pleasant here," Kalos observed.

Adalginza
swallowed hard. "Yes. I loved it here. As a child anyway."

The air was
fragrant with the scent of sweet, yellow suckleblossoms that seemed able to
derive sustenance from what little moisture was provided by sparse desert rains.

Through
mindspeak, Adalginza reached out to the many hidden beasts that watched them from
cautious, crouching stances in nearby thickets.

These
creatures, too, were intent on the last of the day's business that involved
finding roosts or dens.

She sensed
no danger here. Why, then, was she so afraid?

"Why is
this area called Place of the Circles?" Kalos asked.

Adalginza
knew that Kalos was resorting to casual talk, to relax her and put her mind at
ease. She was grateful to him for the diversion.

"It is
an ancient name, originating from the Tribe of the Circles to which Benfaaro
belongs. The name refers to infinity."

"Why
infinity?"

"Great
power is thought to be embodied within the symbol of a circle. And when
multiple circles are linked, they amplify this power."

Kalos
considered her words for a moment. "This is high-level thinking, when you
consider we are dealing with savages."

"It
is."

Adalginza
chose not to elaborate or defend her people, who were more than capable of
highly abstract thinking despite their primitive image with those of the
Crescent Houses.

"I am
most grateful, lady, that you honored my wishes and left your churlish slave in
Sola Re."

"Leaving
me to tend to my own needs." Adalginza tried to sound petulant, adopting
the tone of a spoiled lady of the Fifth House.

"You
seem well able to manage, quite on your own, to paint all those blackened lines
around your eyes, and the red smears across cheeks and lips. I always thought
before this was the hideous work of Bruna, who secretly and maliciously wished
to vandalize the face of her mistress."

Adalginza
actually took strange delight in the aggravation her elaborate face masking
caused her companion. Perhaps it was because he bothered to care at all what
she did with her appearance.

"I
simply follow the custom of the Fifth House, a custom that I see is fast
spreading to some of the other Crescent Houses."

"I
know, I know. I see the same masquerade repeated in the other ladies of
knights. It is in high fashion, even on the Prime Continent. Sometimes I yearn
for the clean, honest face of a woman from my own house."

"Like the
woman your mother spoke of? The one of intellect and breeding? Unlike me?"

"Fear
not, Lady Adalginza. You have won my mother. You will never again hear from
Lady Redolo the name of Lady Sagawea."

"Yet, I
hear her name from your lips. For the first time, in fact, I hear the name of
the woman who is in your heart."

"How do
you know she is in my heart?"

"Because
you did not instantly deny it."

There was a
long pause as Kalos squinted toward the bushes. Movement from behind the distant
abode suddenly caught his attention, and he tensed. His hand hovered above the
hilt of the crescent sword he always wore.

When he saw
that it was only Luzicos patrolling the grounds in search of possible hidden
enemies, Kalos dropped his hand to his side.

"Sagawea
was a lifetime ago, when I was a very young man from a very privileged clan. We
were at the School of Minds together, in Stalau on the Prime Continent. It is a
very elite school. Of course, you have never heard of the place."

"Certainly
not. Being a woman who lacks breeding and intellect."

"You do
not easily forget a slight, do you?" Kalos gave her a quick, sideways
smile. "Anyway, Sagawea would hate the frontier. There is no doubt of it.
For one thing, she would never abide the lack of Trinalodia wine."

"Do
you?"

"Do I
what? Yearn for Trinalodia wine? I most certainly do."

"You
know what I mean."

"Do I
hate the frontier?" Kalos reached down purposefully, and began slowly to
unwind the guiding reins from their post in preparation for moving on. "I
hate some of the things that have happened to me here. Don't you? Isn't that
why you don't want me to go any farther down this road toward that empty abode
of your mother's?"

Adalginza
reached out, and gently took his arm.

"Please,"
she said. "Let us not stay here with the others. Let us instead make a camp
by the cave. We could go now, to look for the artifacts of the House of the
Seventh Crescent Moon."

"You
and me? Spending the night alone together? Whatever would my men say?"

"They
would applaud your instincts."

"You no
longer fool me. While it is pleasing to feast my eyes upon you, I know by now
that you only tease with what you will never deliver."

 "I
cannot deliver what you refuse to explore."

"I have
many responsibilities, Lady Adalginza." He sounded genuinely weary. "While
you have spent your idle time delighting my mother and my nephew, I have reorganized
what once was a very casual military structure in Sola Re. The people there
have not been touched by death as I have. And as you have. They do not take the
threat of the savages as seriously as they should."

"And
yet even you, their savior, must find the time to crawl into bed at night to
close his eyes and clutch only his pillow. Alone, while many of the real men
among his knights have found pleasure and renewal in the warmth of another's flesh."

"As I
told you before, you would not look my way except that I am the captain. It is
why you have gone out of your way to so completely charm my family."

"As a
way of gaining access to you?"

"I am
sure of it."

"And if
Benfaaro slays you, as he probably will, then I suppose you think that I would
then make myself known to the next captain. Because of his rank."

"If the
man is not yet wed, yes. If he is unavailable, then you would cast your net
over his cousin."

"I see
now. You are jealous of the man who came before you."

"Jealous?
You flatter yourself."

"Anyway,
I thought you said I would never deliver what I promise."

"Ah, but
you do enjoy the game."

Adalginza
glanced ahead at the mud walls of her old home, and felt the growing dread. Whatever
it took, she needed to convince Captain Kalos to go elsewhere.

She smiled
at him with false sweetness.

"Regardless
of how you view my motives, why refuse my company? Is it because you fear you
cannot guard your heart nearly as well as you guard Sola Re?"

Kalos met
her look squarely, eye-to-eye. "I do not trust you, Lady Adalginza. It is
as simple as that."

"And
what is it that you think I want from you that you cannot trust me?"
Adalginza forced herself to laugh in scorn. "You may be a fearless warrior
in battle, Captain Kalos. But in matters of the heart..."

She let her
words trail away, for anything she said now to finish that sentence would be
too cruel to voice aloud.

"I will
not forget that you just called me a coward."

Kalos did
not sound particularly disturbed, though his eyes grew distant. It was as
though he had other matters on his mind.

"Enough
with this duel of words, my lady," he said crisply. "You want very
much for me to take you away from here. That much is true. But you are trying
to divert, not seduce me."