Ten Crescent Moons (Moonquest) (31 page)

"I am
her husband," Kalos said to the gnostic. "It seems that I should have
noticed something wrong?"

The gnostic
looked down at Adalginza, and briefly placed a comforting hand on her forehead.

"The
effect is only upon her capacity to have children. She is fully a woman in
every other way."

"Then
this is why she is not already with child from our marriage." Kalos
sounded thoughtful. And deeply disappointed.

"Furthermore,"
Lady Swiala continued, as though the two of them had never exchanged a word.
"I would never for any reason consider a granddaughter of mine useless — for
my purposes, or for any purposes! In fact, I will now go out of my way to prove
the worth of her!"

"I know
the worth of her already," Kalos said, smiling slightly as he again turned
his attention back to Lady Swiala. He lightly touched her shoulder. "Forgive
me. This has been a very hard time for me. I grieve for my wife in many ways.
For you must also realize that I, too, will be without a bloodline."

"Then
you have the right by the rules of your House to disavow your marriage to this
woman," Lady Swiala said briskly. "All you need do is declare it so
in front of witnesses. And then leave Adalginza with me. As my companion."

Kalos
dropped his hand. "What are you saying?"

"Go
your way, Captain Kalos. You are released from your duty here. I already have
heard whisperings that Lady Sagawea has been inquiring about you, since your
arrival."

"My
apology is withdrawn, old woman. And you will not be rid of me that easily."

"I am
not old! I am still sought after to model the very latest in fashion."

Lady
Sagawea? Here? And asking about Kalos?

 Time
continued to drift, but Adalginza heard many whisperings from the servants and
from Lady Swiala herself about how bold Lady Sagawea had become. Her visits now
were quite frequent.

How dare
this woman invade the household when the wife of the captain was so clearly ailing?

Lady Sagawea
was at the door. Again. Would she be permitted to come inside and say hello to
her old friend, Captain Kalos? But, of course.

This was
Lady Swiala answering a servant. Show the lovely young visitor to the parlor,
and do summon the captain quickly.

What was
Lady Swiala doing?

The visits
became so common that the servants were now whispering furiously.

Wasn't it
well known in the royal court that Kalos and Sagawea were once nearly betrothed?

Poor,
pathetic Lady Adalginza. She wasn't even well enough to rise up and defend her
honor against this brazen interloper.

It was only
then that Adalginza began to revive, inflamed by a hot, burning rage that
caused life to flare once more.

"It is
auspicious that your husband, who has been so lonely without you, has such a
good, dear friend in Lady Sagawea. Even at this very moment she is downstairs
entertaining him."

These words
spoken on one afternoon blasted away the lingering fog in her mind, causing Adalginza
to stir angrily. She sat up in her bed and looked straight into the triumphant,
indigo eyes of Lady Swiala.

The elderly
woman seemed prepared for her reaction, and casually handed the younger woman a
cup of hot, steaming soup.

"As I
told your captain, we have no need of a holy man to awaken your spirit. I have
my own ways."

"And
Lady Sagawea? Is she really here?" Adalginza took a feeble sip of the hot
liquid.

"Oh
yes. And she sits with your captain in the parlor as we speak. You must regain
your strength quickly, granddaughter — and your wit — or the battle will be
lost."

"You...really
are...a horrible...old woman..." Adalginza gasped out the words, as she
struggled to sit up even higher in the bed.

"I am
not old!"

Adalginza
sank back into the bed, as her head swam with the dizziness of sudden movement.
Her grandmother eyed her sharply.

"Lady
Sagawea has a strong and most appealing body. I'm sure she could bear Captain
Kalos many children."

"That
is a most cruel thing to say!"

Adalginza's furious
voice sounded strong, surprising even herself.

"Then
how do you — and your captain — judge your worth? This is a most important
issue for you both to determine. He was deeply disturbed to find you could not
give him children, and has since continued to withdraw from you."

"I
thought it was you who were disturbed."

"So you
heard all this? I stated it, to test him. And he defended you. A good sign at
least. But that was a long, long time ago."

"That
long?"

Lady Swiala
gave an exaggerated sigh as she inspected her granddaughter critically.

"Longer
than you realize. Your muscles have been kept toned because of your mindless
night wanderings, which I have permitted under the watchful eyes of that adorable
little savage girl you brought with you."

"Calasta?"

"Yes. But
now that you are with us again in your mind as well as your body, your choices
are your own. So you tell me. Will you languish here in this bed until your
spine turns to sponge?"

"Give
me that wrap." Adalginza reached a hand toward the brightly flowered
kiminu lying on a nearby chair.

Lady Swiala
reached for it, and threw it on the bed within Adalginza's reach.

"That's
my granddaughter," she said approvingly. "Now. Let me go find that
girl of yours to help."

Soon Calasta
shyly entered the room, followed by Lady Swiala. Calasta, under Swiala's
directions, helped Adalginza with her bath as well as the cleansing and drying
of her hair.

Lady Swiala
lingered long enough to help braid the long tresses and to pinch some color
into Adalginza's cheeks. Then the older woman departed, announcing she must
take care of other household business.

"Thank
you, child," Adalginza told Calasta, as she donned her kiminu.

She was
suddenly struck by how much older the girl looked.

"And now
I must ask you. How is it with you here?"

Calasta's
expression was stoic. "Fine."

"No,
dear. I mean, really. How is it for you here?"

"The
servants hate me." Tears pooled in Calasta's eyes, but they did not spill
over. "My skin is darker than theirs."

"My
skin is darker, too. It comes from living in the frontier."

"They
call you terrible things, too."

"Such
as?"

"Demented.
Like Lady Donzala." Calasta gave her a curious look, and with childlike
bluntness spoke in a straightforward way. "They say you bathe naked in the
sun. They say you wander at night, and talk directly to the crescent moons.
That you ride sturmons like a man. Are you really crazy?"

"Sometimes.
But not in the way other people think."

"What
about me? Am I crazy because I have so few memories? The servants say I am."

"Speak
no more to the servants of these things," Adalginza said sharply. "Speak
only to me. And the captain."

"Captain
Kalos no longer notices me." Calasta finally allowed a lone tear to
escape. "I want to go back home. To Sola Re. And Lady Redolo. And even
back to that blister bug, Zartos!"

"Oh...Calasta."
Adalginza wrapped the child in a hug.

There were
so many other things she wanted to say. That she was sorry for Calasta's
aloneness. That she was sorry for prejudice.

She was
unable to explain that Calasta was in this predicament because she was in dire
danger. Someone wanted her out of the way.

Adalginza
was certain she knew who that someone was. But she had no proof.

Most of all,
Adalginza was sorry that Kalos — once he learned that Calasta could not
possibly be Adalginza's daughter — had rejected her.

Did he still
believe that Calasta belonged to Benfaaro? Adalginza didn't think so. Otherwise,
he might be tempted to use her as leverage against his enemy. Or worse.

Adalginza
desperately hoped that the captain would not harm a child. But she was no
longer certain of anything in this cruel world, not even of the man she loved.

"Thank
you for your help." Adalginza gave the girl a warm hug. "Now go take
your meal in the kitchen. I have things I must do."

***

By the time Adalginza
confronted a startled woman servant and received directions to the parlor, her
mood already was foul.

She reminded
herself that she should be grateful for the sudden and miraculous return of her
sanity. She instead felt disoriented, displaced, and without purpose in these
opulent surroundings.

Her
irritation grew as she made her way down a series of plushy carpeted hallways, interspersed
with stairways to numerous unused rooms.

This simply
illustrated the extremes of self-indulgence within Lady Swiala's palace.

All this
space was required to house one cantankerous old woman? How selfish could she
be?

While Lady
Swiala's son had sworn allegiance to the House of the Fifth Crescent Moon, the
birthplace of his father, Swiala herself had stubbornly remained loyal to the
First House to which she had been born. And it was this house that produced
most of the power brokers, money lenders, and courtesans.

It was no
secret even in the frontier that most members of Lady Swiala's immediate clan adored
extravagance and wealth.

Their antics
and love affairs were the subject of much discussion and speculation in the
regular news dispatches sent from the Prime Continent and distributed to the
islands and the frontier.

These people
were famous. They were celebrated. And Lady Swiala, with her enigmatic beauty,
was the most famous of all.

But why
should so few among all of humanity have so much? And all strictly by accident
of birth, rather than from their own labors?

Like
Calasta, Adalginza found herself yearning to go back to the frontier where
things made more sense —even among the societies of the more practical Crescent
House citizens who had settled there.

It did not
help Adalginza's dark thoughts when, upon flinging open the door to the parlor,
she saw Sagawea and Kalos seated so closely together that their heads almost
touched.

The two of
them stared down at a scroll laid flat upon a small gaming table as though it
contained all the secrets of the vast skies beyond this speck of a world.

They were so
locked in intimate conversation that neither of them noticed Adalginza's
presence.

"So
Kalos," she said quietly. "I see you have a guest."

Sagawea hastily
scooted her chair backwards and away from Kalos, her expression clearly filled
with guilt.

Kalos rose
to his feet and regarded his wife with open delight.

"Adalginza!
Your eyes are so clear. And you are on your feet, too. This pleases me greatly."

He wore his
off duty uniform, casual but with the Crescent knight insignia sewn onto the
collar of his blue tunic.

His beard
was neatly trimmed, and his chest hairs exposed in the "V" of the
uniform's design. Unexpectedly, Adalginza felt a stirring of old passions just
from the nearness of him.

He strolled over
to Adalginza, slipped his hand behind her neck, and gave her a long, searching kiss.

When Kalos released
her and turned back to Sagawea, he seemed completely unaware of the hostility Adalginza
felt upon meeting her rival for the first time.

Sagawea was
a handsome and statuesque woman. Attractive, but not beautiful. She had sharply
defined bone structure. Reddish hair. Gray eyes brimming with a sly
intelligence.

She wore no
masque, as would be the custom of a woman from the captain's own Ninth House. And
she was dressed as Lady Redolo typically was in an unadorned, simply designed
white frock.

Disturbingly,
Lady Sagawea seemed not in the least cowed by Adalginza's fierce gaze.

Adalginza
wondered if this was because of what she had overheard Lady Swiala once say. Her
standing as honored wife was quite tenuous now that it was proven she could not
continue the captain's bloodline.

Marriage
vows in the Ninth House were considered sacred for the good of the children.
But, if there could be no children…

By the rules
of his House, all Captain Kalos need do now was verbally declare in public that
the vow was broken. Considering how the servants here loved to gossip, Adalginza
was certain that Lady Sagawea was well aware of the status of their marriage.

Still
oblivious to anything being amiss, Kalos reached for a nearby frayed cord that he
pulled to create the tingling of a bell in the kitchen. This signaled the need
for refreshments.