"You must tell me now. Where exactly did you see this symbol?"
Realizing that he was holding her in an unseemly way, he released his grip and backed off a few steps. Still, the captain continued to regard her in an eager and almost boyish manner.
And that's when Adalginza knew she had real power over this man who was more scholar than soldier. The House of the Seventh Crescent Moon was his weakness. Perhaps it was even a way to his heart. And, ultimately, his trust.
"I cannot tell you exactly enough where this cave is, for it is well hidden. But I can show you."
"You would do this?"
"For you, sir? Of course."
Kalos regarded her somberly.
"It is very dangerous now at the Place of the Circles. Because of the rebellion. Is that not why you and your clan left for Sola Re in the first place?"
"I would be safe with you, a brave warrior."
"Yes, but would I be safe with you?"
"Excuse me?"
Kalos laughed arrogantly, as though he had suddenly found himself again. Adopting his old cavalier and superior manner, he took Adalginza's arm to escort her to the stables.
"I see I have offended you yet again. Please forgive me yet again. But be assured I am most grateful to you for your offer. In fact, what you say is most fortuitous. Benfaaro is rumored to still dwell at the Place of the Circles. Perhaps I would be lucky enough to find him there. Or at least learn more about his homeland."
"Many savages still dwell there," Adalginza corrected him. "You would not have enough Crescent knights at your disposal to fend off any attacks."
"True."
"So I would suggest you wait until autumn's eve, when the savages will be gone. All the tribes will be gathered at the Festival of Blood in the next province. Then you could freely travel, as well as have access to the cave."
"An excellent idea, Lady Adalginza."
Adalginza at that moment felt the coldness of the mind, ahead of them on the path.
It was a small brain, yet dangerous in its single-minded purpose. It had found prey, much easier to squeeze into lifelessness than the sturmons that fought back with blows of painful, sharp hooves.
"There is danger!" Adalginza shouted. "A snake!"
Without waiting for Kalos, she grabbed for a sharp metal pole left leaning against the seedling to which it was meant to be bound for support.
She hurled herself down the path, screaming for Zartos and Lady Redolo to take shelter. But they were too far away to hear.
4
Adalginza's moccasined feet pounded the trail so desperately fast that she had no awareness of contact with the ground.
She could hear Kalos racing behind her, trying to catch up as he shouted at her to explain herself. She glanced behind her, seeing that he was out of sight behind a grove of trees.
She had no time to wait for his help.
She ducked through a thicket, taking a short cut she knew of that bypassed the trail. Kalos was too far behind to see her strategy, so he would be delayed even more. For now, she was on her own.
As Adalginza desperately thrashed her way through the brambles and thorns of the underbrush, she pulled constantly at her long gown to untangle it.
Finally, she emerged from the thicket to spot Lady Redolo and Zartos rounding a curve of the main path. She stopped abruptly.
They had not yet seen her, and she did not want to alarm them into any sudden move that would attract the snake's first strike.
Adalginza knew the creature was close, by the focused attention of its chilly mind. Its whole being was now centered on the two who remained oblivious to all but the playful bantering they now exchanged as they strolled closer.
Immediately beside her next to the main trail, Adalginza noticed the clean knife cut in the fiber webbing that helped provide screening against incursions from snakes. She realized then that Bruna had disobeyed orders to go to her sleep room after the "whipping."
Instead, the wretched woman must have slipped through the front door to furtively prowl the grounds.
Seeing that Lady Redolo and Zartos had gone off by themselves to the stables, Bruna must have stopped long enough to cut the screen behind them.
The area also had been baited with fresh, uncooked red meat from the kitchen. Adalginza saw some of the remnants, where the snake had been feeding.
Waves of fury pounded at Adalginza, fueling her frustration. But a reckoning with Bruna, along with demands for an explanation, must wait for later.
For now, Adalginza stepped back onto the main trail and steeled herself to slowly approach her two distracted guests.
As she gripped the metal rod, her eyes darted back and forth.
The monster could be anywhere.
Snakes were masters of camouflage, with their reptilian ability to change the color and patterns of skin to blend perfectly with the green of grass or the mottled, rocky patterns of an arroyo bottom.
The presence of this one would be known only when it moved.
Adalginza felt a startled awareness from the creature, as it finally spotted her. But it was not alarmed. It had not killed in days, and had plenty of venom to spare.
Adalginza guessed the snake must be huge if it regarded all three of the humans in its vicinity as viable meals to be eaten in one session.
Desperately she tried forcing her eyes to see in more detail, hoping to detect where it was hidden. At the same time, she felt the monster's growing anticipation.
After one quick strike, its prey would become slowly paralyzed while squirming in unspeakable pain. The snake would then take the meal into its open mouth, holding the squirming victim in place with its fangs while waiting for the final death throes.
The snake would swallow only after it was assured there would be no internal damage from a last, frantic kick.
Adalginza had once happened upon a snake that was holding its human prey in such a way.
Ordinarily, she could never detect the thoughts of humans because of the complexity and subtleties of the higher functioning of their brains.
But, in that instant when the snake had swallowed, she was pierced with the primal horror and agony emanating from the human victim as it began to dissolve within the snake's stomach acids.
There was nothing she could do, except kill the snake in a surprise attack from behind. It was far too late to save the victim, a tribesman who had chosen to walk the wrong trail that day.
She would wish such a fate on no one, not even a hated member of a Crescent House.
Adalginza thrust aside the memory and stood helplessly as she watched Redolo and Zartos approach.
Redolo was smiling indulgently at her only grandchild. In doing so, the older woman had allowed the mask of formality to slip away to erase many of the lines of her age.
Her unguarded expression was lit with joy and pride, as Zartos exclaimed with the thrill of the visit to the stables filled with fine sturmons.
"If the Lady Adalginza chose those sturmons for her stables, grandmother, then she has an eye far better than any of the knights. Never have I seen such a collection of animals. And cared for so well."
Lady Redolo merely shrugged.
"I'm sure they were selected by the men of her clan, before their deaths. But I will give credit to the Lady Adalginza for their care. Their coats were shining so bright one would have thought a polish had been applied."
"Look!"
Finally, Zartos had taken notice of Adalginza.
Adalginza raised her hand in a slow greeting and tried to force a smile.
No need to startle these two. Otherwise, if they moved too suddenly, the snake would strike purely from instinct.
Adalginza braced herself, and began to walk cautiously forward. She gripped the rod, knowing exactly what to do if the worst were to happen.
Her reaction must be instantaneous, and her aim accurate.
"Greetings!" Adalginza called out in a soft but forced tone. "Please heed me. Do not move. Stay where y
ou are."
"What do you mean?" Seeing Adalginza torn gown and disheveled appearance, Redolo's eyes narrowed. "Where is my son? What have you done to him?"
Zartos took a quick step forward in alarm, and this created an answering movement from the nearby pile of rock and rubble.
It was a ripple so slight that only a trained eye such as Adalginza's would have noticed. It was the snake, flattened and perfectly camouflaged.
Adalginza felt droplets of sweat popping on her forehead and chest, in direct contrast to the chill that was taking hold of her body.
"Walk backward, Zartos. Very slowly."
"You do not scare me with that rod you hold in your hand. I will not back down from you. Where is my Uncle Kalos?"
The boy stood his ground defiantly, following his grandmother's lead as he misinterpreted Adalginza's warning and intent.
"There is a snake..." She was not able to finish her explanation.
Kalos burst into sight, his heavier steps at a dead run much noisier than Adalginza's.
The explosion of unexpected sound and movement from a fourth human was too much for the snake. It immediately dropped its flattened camouflage and coiled itself into a defensive posture to tower above its enemies.
Now it was a giant, hissing monster vibrating its tail with a sound like millions of rustling leaves, so loud that it was deafening.
Adalginza knew snakes well. And she knew that, once coiled, this one would hold its ground without retreat.
She immediately lifted the rod threateningly to attract its attention to her and away from the boy.
The snake waved its head drunkenly from side to side, ready to strike. Then, it made its move toward the one it must have viewed as the smallest and least threatening.
As its head speared toward Zartos, Adalginza moved without hesitation to raise the steel rod and slice the snake on its side, drawing blood.
The move served only to anger the creature, which was what she intended. Diverted from its more immediate prey, it lunged toward her.
Adalginza's people knew well the next tactic she had planned. She had used it herself twice before in her lifetime, once to save herself and once to save Bruna's child, Calasta.
But no amount of experience could make her relish the task at hand.
A shudder shook her whole body as she watched the tongue twisting toward her, measuring her, tasting her scent from the air. Then that movement was follow by the gaping mouth, with hooked fangs aimed straight at her head.
It was at this moment that she rammed the steel rod straight down the snake's throat, taking care to avoid the pointed fangs and the venom they contained.
The snake writhed in confusion, as it tried to disgorge the object.
Then, as it raised itself up with its soft underbelly exposed, Kalos rushed forward and stabbed his sword into scaled, reptilian flesh.
With the powerful force of his muscled arm, Kalos ripped open the creature's skin as entrails spewed like a bloody geyser.
Adalginza leaped background, but Kalos continued to administer more pressure, to make sure of his kill. The spray of blood and guts covered his arm, and sprinkled the rest of his body and face with gore.
A horrible sucking sound of air entering the snake's eviscerated corpse was the final declaration of its death.
It plunged forward, stretched limp and lifeless like a hurled rope that had missed its target.
Adalginza had to consciously remind herself to hold her place, to not step forward to begin the ritual of skinning the valued hide that her people used for clothing.
Instead, she hurled the metal pole to one side as a final gesture of defiance against the despised creature.
"By the saints and all that's holy!" Zartos declared, regarding both his uncle and Adalginza with the same expression of rapt worship. "You are both great warriors! Uncle, you should give more consideration to this lady from the Fifth House. Did you see how she fights? And she has the finest sturmons in all the land. In fact, I think you should wed her!"
"So should I wed her because she's a great warrior, or because she has fine sturmons for you to ride?"
Kalos posed the question dryly, as he used one free hand to pick snake entrails from his shoulder.
He then methodically picked some nearby dry grass blades, and began to clean himself off. Finally, he swiped his gore-covered blade on some nearby tree moss.
Redolo was propped against a rock, where she fanned herself with one hand. Otherwise, she looked as calm as though the only problem she had recently been forced to endure was the warm weather.
"You are a mess, Kalos," she observed. "There was no reason to run your sword all the way through that snake, and splatter yourself so thoroughly. The Lady Adalginza had the matter well in hand. You were simply showing off."
Redolo straightened then, and gestured toward the boy.
"Come with me back to the courtyard. I have an urge for some more of that nectar. We'll leave these two alone to clean up the clutter they've left here. "
"You're not afraid of more snakes?" Adalginza asked.
"We've been in the frontier long enough to know that snakes are very territorial," Redolo said. "There are never two adults in the same vicinity, unless it is the mating season. We'll be safe enough."
"Let me escort you anyway," Adalginza volunteered.
She knew, though, from her own mind probe that Redolo was right. There would be no more snakes appearing here on this night.
"I am perfectly capable of finding my own way. I'm not an imbecile, even if I wasn't raised in the frontier. Like you."
"I, uh…" Adalginza was unsure whether the words from this harsh woman were meant as a compliment or a criticism. Or both.
Lady Redolo took her grandson's arm and started walking, but paused briefly in front of Adalginza to examine her frankly.
"I suppose that when a lady lives here she must learn skills that are fitting for her survival. On the Prime Continent, those skills would include reciting poetry or playing a musical instrument."
"That seems reasonable," Adalginza agreed cautiously.
"Had you been born on the Prime Continent and to a different House, Lady Adalginza, I suspect you would have learned all that would be needed for your survival regardless of what those skills might be. You have more facets than I first suspected. I may have to give you more of my attention."
Kalos muttered something under his breath, perhaps an expression of sympathy or warning to Adalginza. But the words weren't loud enough for hearing.
"I would be honored to share what I know of the frontier," Adalginza said.
"Indeed." Redolo narrowed her eyes. "I'm sure you have escaped death many times through the sharpness of your wit. Which reminds me. The bad water that killed your clansmen on the trail. Did you drink it?"
"Not directly from the stale pond, as they did. No."
"And why not?"
Adalginza noticed that Kalos now was only paying half attention to the cleansing of his sword. He watched Adalginza carefully, keenly interested in her answer.
Zartos, on the other hand, had retrieved the metal pole Adalginza had cast aside, and was now distracted with poking and prodding the snake's carcass with an expression of fascination.
"Because I knew of these...parasites...you mentioned."
"So you are educated?" Redolo's eyes narrowed again.
"About such matters. Yes. I tried to warn my clansmen, but they would not listen to me."
Adalginza knew she had to tell as much of the truth as possible. And this was the truth.
She had barely become acquainted with the newly arrived kinsmen of her supposed mother, Lady Donzala, because they had died so soon on the trail to Sola Re.
Redolo shook her head knowingly.
"They would not listen because women of the Fifth House have no worth, except as objects like a sword or a piece of jewelry. Your words, therefore, had no worth. Tell me. How was it that you knew about the parasites in the water?"
"I learned from the savages. I knew to boil the stagnant water and then to sterilize with powdered leaves of the undali plant."
At the shocked silence that greeted her words, she hastily spoke again.
"As I told you before, Sir Kalos, I played with the savages only when I was a child. Much of what I know also was taught to me by the gnostic, Medosa. He himself picked up much lore from the tribal shamans."
"A gnostic? In the frontier?" Redolo's questioning was sharp. "You mean the savages tolerated him?"
"For many full seasons, yes. He was a teacher, but he also learned much from the savages. He was known as the speaker of Truth. He lived near the Place of the Circles — before the savages murdered him, along with my mother."
Kalos viewed her with an expression of disbelief.
"A gnostic taught you, even though you were a female from the House of the Fifth Crescent Moon? Doesn't your House strictly forbid such a thing?"
"Yes." Adalginza answered simply, because this also was the truth. "There were no males from my clan in the abode where I grew up. Only me. And my mother."
Redolo addressed her next words to Kalos.
"A gnostic is always from the House of the Eighth Crescent Moon. Thus he would feel compelled to teach the words of the saints to all who would listen, even to a female of the Fifth House. And even though it violated the law. There was no male of authority there to forbid it."
"Lady Donzala was there," Kalos pointed out. "She had authority in the absence of any male."
"My mother was not in her right mind," Adalginza answered hastily. "She did not know or care what the gnostic taught. As I said, Medosa taught everyone who would listen. Even the children of the savages. This is part of the reason why he was killed. He was thought to be tainting young minds with the doctrine of the Crescent Moon Houses."
Being scholars, Redolo and Kalos immediately launched into an eager discussion of these revelations. A gnostic who was teaching the savages? What did they learn from him? What did he learn in turn?
Was Benfaaro one of his pupils? Who was Medosa, to risk his life in such a way?
Ten Crescent Moons (Moonquest) Page 6
