The fire was contained by a modern looking metal tray that was supported by four metal legs.
"Mendoza carries them" Agdta said of the fire pit and pointed to a woman who held her head down and shaded her eyes with one hand. "Lily brought it with her."
Lily Mendoza, Faith knew, was Laura's mother and her reason for being here was clear the moment the sandy haired woman raised her head. Her eyes were red from weeping. She dabbed at them with a sodden handkerchief and tried to smile as she said hello.
"Laura's gone," Briza said, putting words to Faith's fear.
"No," Faith tried to say aloud, but the word wouldn't come.
"We heard Engracia cry last night," Agdta said, "We knew another had been taken from us."
"Agdta?" Faith's hands flew in surprise. "You're a Daughter of Man?" Faith had felt the older woman's otherness, but what she'd felt from Agdta was closer to what she felt from Álvaro and Vasco.
"No." Agdta no longer sounded like the harried housekeeper. She sounded like a woman of power. "We are women of the People," she insisted. Our power comes from the earth and lies in our numbers. Many together become more powerful than one. We bear sons who carry the power to shape-shift. We bear daughters who carry our heritage in their hearts. Together, we called upon the earth in the name of Engracia, to send us a healer, a bruja with enough power to heal our land." She sighed and shook her head and suddenly became the woman Faith met in the kitchen each morning. "Instead, the earth sent us you. You looked like a scarecrow and a skinny one at that. I thought the earth had forsaken us for sure, but you were so pitiful and the Patron so taken with you, I thought we'd better give you a chance."
The other women in the circle laughed nervously, except for Lily who was now crying openly.
Faith moved to the crying woman and bent over her head. "Laura isn't one of the Forgotten. I heard Engracia cry as well, but I don't think she cries for the lost or Forgotten. I think she cries for the taken," she signed and looked around at the women in the circle, most of whom were older and wiser than she. "I had a dream," she began and several of the women nodded their heads.
"Dreams are good," one of them said.
"Mine usually aren't," Faith told them. She saw Eliza Murphy among the women and wondered how much of her story she should tell. She looked at Briza, who smiled wryly and nodded.
"She'll talk about your bra size, but not about your stain."
Eliza scowled and several women laughed.
In for a penny, in for a pound, Faith thought to herself before she continued, "And that's another thing," she told them with her hands on her hips like she was channeling Grace scolding the twins. "You've got to stop calling it a stain. A stain is something dirty that you try to scrub away. You wouldn't be here if you wanted to get rid of it. What we have is a gift whether it came from the Servants of God or from Mother Earth. It's a gift we should be proud of. It only becomes a stain if we use it for evil instead of good.
"My sister and I were like you once. We were told so often we were bad, we were stained, that we believed it. We're not stained and neither are you. Our gift is our power and our power is our gift."
"Our gift is our power," Briza began and the others joined her.
"Our power is our gift."
Three times they said it in unison and together they stopped as if they all knew that three was the magic number.
"I was held captive once," Faith told them. She ran her fingers along the scars on her cheek. "That's where I got this and others that you'll never see. I'm telling you this so you'll understand when I say my dreams are nightmares. Tonight one of the nightmares came again and just like always, I saw the other women who were held with me, the ones who didn't make it."
She closed her eyes and said a final prayer for those she couldn't save. The time had come to let them rest. It was the living who needed her now. She opened her eyes to the circle of women waiting patiently for her to continue.
"But this dream was different. It didn't end with the dead. This time there were two others with them and they didn't fade away. Laura and Rosie are alive. I'm sure of it."
Lily started to weep again and another woman choked on a strangled cry. Rosie's mother had come for vengeance and found Faith.
"I know they're alive for now," Faith told them honestly. "Briza thinks so, too, but I don't know where to look."
"We can help."
Agdta reached down to the basket by her chair which was piled high with bundles of herbs and other plants that had been gathered from the land. She chose a bundle and threw it on the fire and the flames rose high into the air. She chose another and tossed it and white smoke rose in a cloud above them.
As she did this she started to hum and Briza joined her. The hum grew louder as the other women joined and then the words began to form, words that Faith couldn't understand even with her power of translation, but she instinctively understood where they came from. These words were ancient; from the beginning of time. These were the words of the People.
And then Agdta rose and started to dance in place. The steps were simple. One-two, one-two, one-two-three, one-two-three, one-two, one-two, one-two-three… Her feet tapped out the rhythm that matched her humming tune. One by one, the others joined her and when they were all standing with their feet drumming against the stone, they began to move in a circle around the fire. Each time she passed her basket, Agdta tossed another bundle on the fire.
Faith could feel the power rising in the courtyard as chant and rhythm and movement joined the women together. Her heart took up the beat of their feet. Her mind thrummed with the low voiced chant. She could no longer pick out the individual women in the circle. They blurred together to become one; one voice, one heartbeat, one power.
At some unseen signal, the women stopped, each at the chair from which she had started. The drumbeat of their feet diminished as each woman withdrew to her seat until Agdta stood alone. The humming faded away.
Agdta stooped and reached behind her for the final bundle. When she tossed it on the fire, it flared briefly and went out.
Faith looked around the total darkness of the courtyard. What seemed like minutes had turned to hours.
*****
Lucien awoke at his usual hour and, as usual, found himself sleeping alone. He would have to speak to Faith about this early rising habit of hers. He wanted her here with him where he could enjoy the delights of her body and begin his day with the sound of her voice calling his name.
He rolled out of bed and began to dress. It was his own fault, he supposed. He was the one who decided she needed fresh air and exercise, but how was he to know she'd enjoy mucking out stalls with a twelve year old boy?
He pulled on his boots and headed for the dining room, smiling because he knew she'd be there.
She wasn't and neither was anyone else. He headed for the kitchen to see what Agdta had to say about this variation of routine. He had a busy night ahead and could afford no delay.
Agdta wasn't there either. Old Vasco stood at the stove stirring cornmeal batter in a bowl with one hand while using the other to poke the frying bacon with a fork.
"Where's Agdta?" Lucien asked.
"Lalo says he can scramble eggs," the old man greeted his Patron. "Adam volunteered to make the toast. You get to set the table. The dishes are over there." He pointed to a cupboard against the far wall. "Álvaro is missing in action. Again. If I didn't know better, I'd think he had a woman in the village."
"Mind your own business, old man," Álvaro said as he came through the door, but he was smiling when he said it. He was smiling a lot lately. "I overslept. Where's breakfast? Where's Agdta?"
Lalo came from the pantry, holding a bowl of eggs. He sniffed loudly and looked around, zeroing in on the Vigilante. "Geez, what's with you guys? Now you smell like flowers, too."
"Leave it, Lalo," the Liege Lord warned. He turned back to his plates so the trainees wouldn't see his smile.
"Good waking, my Lord. Gentlemen." Evrard
entered the kitchen buttoning the last button on his cuff. "Baching it this morning, are we? Has anyone made coffee? Never mind. I'll get it."
He ducked into the pantry, came out with a can and proceeded to load the coffee maker in the corner.
"Where is Agdta?" Lucien asked again a little more stridently. He was the Liege Lord after all and someone should answer his questions. "Has anyone seen Faith?"
"They're out in the courtyard," Adam said from the pantry. He waved a piece of bread. "We thought you knew. Can someone get me another knife? I lost the one I was using."
"Here it is. It was in the bowl with the eggs."
Lucien slammed his hands down on the table and everyone jumped. The trainees immediately snapped to attention.
"I am Liege Lord here," he said through gritted teeth. "When I ask a question, I expect it to be answered."
The trainees looked at Vasco, who shrugged.
"They're in the courtyard with a dozen women from the village. It's women's business and none of ours," he said and looked at his son and nodded, sending a message Lucien didn't understand.
"Shit. Briza said she had an early appointment…" He stopped with his mouth still open. His face turned red.
"You owe me ten bucks," Adam called to Lalo from the pantry.
"What women's business?" Lucien asked as calmly as he could. He pointed a finger at Lalo and then at Adam who still had his head stuck out the pantry door. "And not another word from either of you."
"Agdta is doing what she has always done," Vasco said solemnly. "What her mother taught her to do. She has called together the women of the People. It's usually only three or four, but this time Briza has brought others. She teaches them the rituals. She shows them the way of the People so our heritage won't be lost."
Lucien sat back in his chair. "How long has this been going on? I thought it was forbidden?"
Vasco laughed at his questions. "How long have you been paying women to come in and help Agdta clean the hacienda? It is forbidden, but only by the men. My Agdta is like her mother. She has no use for stupid men. Faith has been invited to join them. It's women's business and none of ours," he repeated and then he turned to Lalo. "Are those eggs ready yet?"
Lucien watched his men stumbling over each other in the kitchen trying to do what Agdta did on most days alone. Agdta, his cook and housekeeper, held a position of honor among the People. He remembered his father trying to explain it when he was a boy.
"The women of the People hold great power, Lucien. Their leader is always one of the wisest women of the clan. She holds the secrets of the People and passes them on to the girls as they become women. It's their rituals and dances and secrets that give power to their men."
Without Agdta and her women, men like his Vigilante and the others couldn't shift. By denying the women, the men were killing themselves. Why hadn't he seen it? He should have put a stop to it. In following his robotic routines in the name of duty, he'd failed in his most important duty of all. He was pledged to protect the People… even from themselves.
He was no different than his sister, no different from Faith. Like them, he'd dug himself a hole to hide from people and pain. It wasn't in his mind, but it worked the same way. His hole was called duty, but that was just a name and had nothing to do with the true meaning of the word.
Lucien retrieved the plates from the cupboard and after a bit of searching, he discovered the forks and knives. He waited until they were seated and digging in to their makeshift breakfast.
"I need to make some changes," he told them. "It isn't enough that we patrol the hills and the flatland. We need to be in the village and we need to be a presence at the Enclave. The Hacienda, the Enclave, and the village used to be parts of a whole. I've let them separate and none of the pieces have thrived. We need to find a way to bring them back together."
"Agdta thinks your little healer is the thread that can stitch them back together." Vasco took a bite of johnnycake from his fork, frowned, and poured more honey over the flat, rubbery mass on his plate.
Taking his cue from his father, Álvaro doused his plate with butter and honey before tasting the yellow mass. He chewed swallowed and pushed the plate aside in favor of Lalo's eggs. When he saw his father watching, he laughed.
"Got a couple of bald tires in the back of the truck if you want to fry 'em up for lunch." He turned to Lucien. "Another girl left the village last night and the rumor is that Faith helped her. She was the last person the girl was seen with."
"Faith wouldn't do that." Lucien said with conviction.
"Yeah well, apparently you're not the only one who thinks so. Some folks are saying she needed the girl for other reasons."
Lucien laid his fork down. "What other reasons?" he asked quietly.
Álvaro kept his eyes on his plate. He shoveled in another mouthful of eggs to give himself time to think. "Everyone knows what she looked like when she came here and everyone knows what she looks like now. It doesn't help that another young girl ran off the day she arrived. Now they're saying that one didn't run off either."
"Of course she ran off," Lalo interrupted, "We found her stuff." He then remembered his Liege Lord's orders and ducked his head. He began shoveling johnnycake into his mouth.
"What stuff?" Lucien asked.
It took Lalo a minute to swallow the lump of rubbery mush. He had to take a mouthful of juice before he could talk.
"The first night we were here, sir. You had us track the travelers. There was a backpack in the truck filled with girly stuff. It looked like she'd torn through it looking for something. Remember the panties?" He asked Adam.
There were no women with that group. Lucien had checked the bodies of the dead and frisked the remainder for weapons himself. If a woman had been with them at the time, surely one of them would have asked after her whereabouts. If there was a woman with them, she was gone by the time Lucien and the trainees caught up. There was no way to be sure.
"I don't want Faith leaving the hacienda, but if she feels she must, she doesn't go without one of us." Lucien understood her need for freedom and independence, but she would have to understand the need for caution.
"As soon as it's full dark, I want to head over to the enclave," the Liege Lord continued. He told the others about the travelers' camp the boys had found.
"How long has it been since you've visited the enclave, my Lord?" Evrard asked cautiously.
"Years. Why?"
"Did you find it…? Evrard couldn't finish the sentence. "The wall is new," he finished lamely.
"That wall was built when I was a boy," Vasco said and Evrard smiled.
"As I said, new. When I was a boy, they had guards patrolling the perimeter. Things have changed and yet they haven't." He shrugged. "Things look bigger when you're a child."
"When you became a Guardian, why didn't you come back here and serve in Lord Lucien's House," Adam asked. Evrard was from the area. He had family nearby. It only made sense.
Evrard glanced at Lucien, saw no help there, and answered as neutrally as he could. "I was born in the aftermath of the massacre. There were few children and the adults were, well, still recovering. My mother didn't think it was the healthiest environment for a boy my age, so she sent me off to school as soon as she was able."
Lalo laughed at that. Paenitentia mothers had strong bonds with their children and often became ill when parted from them.
"My mother stopped eating and lost thirty pounds when I went off to school, though my father said it was thirty pounds she'd been meaning to lose for thirty years, so it was all for the best. This time, she cried a little, but she didn't get sick." He tapped his chest. "I guess because I had my lilies and all."
Evrard nodded his understanding. "When I received my skull and tears, I wanted to see what else was out there in the world. Now I have, and I've come home." He turned to Lucien. "I'd like to go with you to the enclave, my Lord. I could pick up the rest of my belongings."
"I'd rather you stayed here,"
Lucien told him. "If you make us a list, I'm sure your mother will be glad to send what you need. Lalo, you're with me. Álvaro, Adam, I want you to go back to the village and see what you can find out about where these rumors started. I want them stopped. Álvaro, you check with those you know can be trusted. Adam, you stop in at the shops and use some of that charm I'm always hearing about on the ladies who work in them, then move to the Cantina and do it again. Listen," he instructed Adam, "Don't offer an opinion either way."
"And me?" Vasco asked.
"You stay here and do the dishes, old man. I don't want Álvaro or Adam worrying about you if trouble starts."
Chapter 33
Adam walked along the narrow side streets looking for an open shop. This wasn't like the city where shops stayed open until all hours of the night. These folks rolled up the sidewalks at 8:00PM or they would if there were any sidewalks to roll up.
He wasn't happy about this assignment. For the first time in his life, he hated being the charming one. Lalo was right. He was the supreme kiss-up. He had a knack for saying the right thing, or sometimes, the thing a person wanted to hear.
Most of the time, it was all right. He liked flattering Agdta. She really was a good cook and he'd bet she really was a hot little number when she was a sweet young thing. It made her smile when he told her so, but when he said he wanted to marry her, she didn't believe a word of it. Unfortunately, a lot people weren't like Agdta.
He'd figured out real quick that Lucien's direction to remain neutral wasn't going to cut it. People didn't want neutral. They wanted you to agree with whatever their opinions were. They saw neutral as a negative. It was the old 'If you ain't for us, you're against us' mentality. To them, neutral was just a polite way of saying, "I don't agree."
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