The Days of the Golden Moons (The Two Moons of Rehnor, Book 5) (18 page)

"No
one.”

"So
you suffered in silence?"

No
response.

“You
were walking pretty good today.  It sounds like you got over your mild case of
space sickness.”

“Ay
yah.”

“And
you had no problems riding today?”

"No."

I
pressed my thumbs into the tight muscles at the base of his skull.  "What
did you want to talk about earlier?  When you came to take me riding?  Before
you magically fixed that little girl's head?"

He
abruptly turned to face me.  I abruptly stopped massaging.

“You
attempted to flee back to Mishnah this morning, did you not?”  He sounded
pissed.

“Why
are you mad about that?  You said that you didn't care whether or not I stayed. 
You told me yesterday I could go back to Mishnah if I wanted.”

His
eyes flashed.

“So
you do care,” I concluded.  “Why don't you admit it?  You do care if I stay or
go.  Either that or it's just a control issue.  You've got to control
everything, right?  It would look really bad if the Great and Wondrous Wizard
of Oz couldn't manage to keep his own wife in check.  Is that it?”

"That's
enough," he snapped and made a move to get up.

“Why
can't you cure yourself?”  I watched him struggle for a moment.  His cane
appeared from nowhere, and he stepped past me toward the door.

“I
can't do that," he replied irritably.

"You
can't just put your hands on your leg like you did that girl’s head and
magically fix it?"

"No."

“Can
I?”

He
stopped.

“I
want to,” I said.  “I want to fix whatever is broken in you."  I took a
deep breath.  “I won't leave you again, Senya.  I promise.  You can lock me in
a tower with my Craigslist furniture and I'll stay there forever.  I won't even
try to escape.  I'll just wait until you love me again even if that's never.  What?"

"You
are only saying this because you moved your mother into our house."

"What's
wrong with my mother living with us?  For heaven’s sake, we only have something
like a million square feet.  Ten thousand other people live there too!  My
mother is hardly taking up any space.  She can stay in the tower with me. 
Well, actually you should probably build her another tower.  Tower living is
bad enough but tower living with my mother, yikes!  What?"

"You're
not living in a tower."

"Well,
where am I living exactly?  Fern told me, you got rid of my apartment!"

He
leaned against the door and crossed his arms smugly.  "I did at that."

"Where
am I supposed to go then?"

"You
have a new flat, but it's in the same location as your previous flat.  I've
done a bit of remodeling."

"What
did you do?"

He
shrugged.  "I combined the flats."

"Yours
and mine?"

He
nodded. 

"So
we can live together again?"

"Mhm."

"Senya! 
Wait where are you going?"  He was hobbling out the door and heading
toward the stairs.

"I
want to eat Tuman's fish."

"No,
you don’t."  I grabbed his arm and pulled him across the hall to the
bedroom. "After that revelation, we are going in here."

"I'm
hungry."

"I'm
hungrier!"  I climbed up on the bed.  "And I want to play chess.  You
remember the rules, right?  You be the king and I'll be the queen, and we'll
just skip to the end and mate.  What's the matter?  Why are you just standing
there?  Senya?"

"I
couldn't rescue you."

"I
know," I said and put my arms around his neck.  "I know you
couldn't."

"No,
you don’t know."  He removed my arms and sat down on the bed. "I
could but I didn't because that was not how it was supposed to be."

I
choked on my saliva.

"I
made it possible for you to sleep through it.  That was the best I could
do."

I
fell off the bed.  My heart raced in my chest and pounded in my ears.  I
couldn’t believe what I was hearing.  It was like my worst nightmare come true. 
"Are you expecting me to thank you for that?  Did you pay them off too, so
they would keep me?"

He
looked away.

"You
bastard!  You bloody fucking bastard!"  I whacked him across the cheek. 
"Forget everything I just said!  I am leaving, and I'm never ever going to
come back!"

"Katie!"
he said, grabbing my arm before I bolted out the door.  "Listen to me.  I
need to explain."

"No!"
I cried.  "There is nothing you can say that will ever make me forgive you
for deliberately leaving me there."  I ripped my hand away from him and ran
to the door which slammed shut in front of my face.  I pulled on the handle,
but nothing happened.  "Open the door!" I screamed, pounding on it. 
"Let me out of here!"

"No.” 

"Then
I'll go out the window," I declared and raced across the room. 

Shoving
the window open, once again I scrambled out to the roof.  I was getting good at
this, and it wasn’t raining this time.  A minor detail was forgotten though.  I
had no make shift rope to ensnare the tree and the one I used the other day was
long gone.  I was totally stuck up there. 

So,
once again, I sat there, my back against the chimney, my butt aching from these
hard stone tiles, furious beyond imagination.   How could he have done that to
me?  How could he ever have loved me and done that to me?

Dusk
fell and then the night and I was still on the roof, alone with the stars.  I was
nostalgic for them, for the days and nights that encompassed twenty years of
sailing through the darkness.  I had control over my life then or at least I
thought I did.  I wasn't just a pawn to be placed here and locked in there. 
That's how it really was, I realized.  The king and queen are imprisoned.  They
are the real pawns.  I was profoundly sad.

“Time
has to happen in the way it has to happen,” he said. 

I
looked around.  He was sitting on the other side of the chimney smoking a
cigarette.  I had no clue how long he had been there as I had never heard a
sound.  Maybe he had been sitting there as long as I had been sitting on this
side.  It didn’t matter though, and I was in no mood for his other-worldly
excuses.

“When
I was sixteen,” he continued, breathing out a cloud of smoke.  “Pori, Karim and
I took a bunch of girls up to the hot springs pool and divested them of their
virginity.”

“Oh
gosh!  Thanks for sharing that.  Why don't I just jump off the roof right now
and call it a lifetime?  It just doesn't seem to be getting any better.” 
Making sandwiches and living in a beach hut on Derius sounded like heaven right
about now.

“Six
months later,” he continued, ignoring my outburst.

“I
really don't want to hear it,” I interrupted.  "I don't care who or how
many women you were with, where you were with them or how narcissistic you were
when you were with them.  Go do whatever you want.  You and I are completely
over and done with, Senya.  We were over and done with ten years ago, but I
guess I didn't realize it."

“Pori
and Karim were dead having had their brains blown out by Akan's men and I was
in Andorus recovering from four more bullet wounds and being raped by the
guards.  But you know about that."

That
was not what I expected to hear

“If
I could go back in time and give Pori and Karim a hundred more girls, I would. 
If I could go back in time and walk down that hill and give myself up before anyone
was shot, I would.”

“So
why didn't you?”

“I
could have prevented everything.  I could have killed Akan whilst he slept,
fifteen years before you took my sword to him.  I could have been here in
Karupatani and simply willed Akan to die and he would have done so, but I did
not."

"So
why didn't you," I repeated. 

"At
the time, I thought it because I was selfish.  I let Pedah be killed, and all
of the boys of the Bear Clan because I did not want to return to Mishnah.”

“What
do you mean?”  I moved around the chimney to sit next to him even though I told
myself, I still hated him.

“If
Akan had died in his sleep, I would have been immediately recalled to Mishnah
and from that moment on, I would have been locked inside the Palace as I am
now.  Instead, I went on to Andorus, the Child Moon, and eventually Rozari. 
Akan's life was my freedom.  I traded their lives for my freedom.”  He lit a
fresh cigarette and took a long drag, his blank eyes flickering, his silver
hair glowing in the night.

“You
weren't exactly free on Andorus or the Child Moon.”

“I
was on Rozari.”

I
reflected on this for a long time watching the sky as it began to lighten and the
birds of the forest around us started to sing their morning songs.

“If
the boys were not killed, they would not be alive now.  A few of them will go
on to do great things, far more than they would have done in their previous
form."

Lack
of sleep or lack of food was making my head swim.  The boys had all been
reincarnated?  What the heck was he talking about now?

“I
could have prevented you from leaving.  I could have rescued you in the
beginning or years earlier, but if I had, neither Talas, Lumineria nor Rozari
would belong to this empire.  The Luminerians would have destroyed each other
in a civil war.  Billions of people would have been killed.  Talas would today
still be fighting off pirates and trying desperately to feed a starving
population that could not trade enough to feed themselves.  Rozari…well Rozari
would not be what it is about to become.”

“Because
I would have stopped you from taking them over?”

“In
part.  I would have had no incentive to punish the Alliance had they not held
you hostage.”

“So
it's my fault that you took them over, and it would have been my fault if you
didn't.  I'm to blame in either case.”

“It
is the way it is supposed to be,” he replied.  “I am His servant.  I must do
what I am here to do no matter how unhappy it makes me.  You must bear this
same burden.  You are my partner in this.  Together or apart we will travel the
same road as we have in the lifetimes past and as we will in the future.”

“How
do you know all this?”

He
took a long drag on his cigarette.  “It’s complicated.”

“Okay,
smart ass,” I replied.  “How are we going to get off of this roof?”

"Well,
I am going to fly down," he said, standing up and stretching.  "You
may hold on to me if you like or you may wait until daylight when Tuman will
come for you with a ladder."

“I
don't care what Garinka thinks.  You're not an angel.”  I put my arms around
his neck again though I kept my distance.

“How
are you so certain?”  Silver light surrounded us and somewhere in the mist, I saw
great dark wings.  I was floating and then a moment later my feet were on the
ground.  I let go of him even as he grabbed me.  "I'm sorry, Katie.  I'm
sorry it had to be like this.  Please forgive me."

"Why
do you need me to forgive you when it's not your fault?"  I pulled away. 
"It's all my fault, remember?"

"It's
not your fault either.  It is what it is."

"It
is what it is," I agreed and walked away.

"Katie,"
he called after me.  "I love you.  I love you with all my heart.  I am
only here because of you."

"Sure
Senya.  You're forgiven, but you're still a bastard and a dickhead, and even
though we have to travel down the same road, right now, I want to stay on the
other side of the street."  

I
went into the house and slammed the door.  Then I went upstairs and climbed
into the big bed and spent the better part of the day making up for the night spent
sitting on the roof.

Chapter 27

Sorkan

I
found this game they were playing ever so annoying.  The little lady kept
climbing out the window, hiding on the rooftops and in trees, whilst my son did
nothing but take out his foul temper on us. 

In
the meantime, Tuman's loud-mouthed wife was trumpeting to the hilltops this
ridiculous notion that my son was not a mortal at all but a creature of Heavenly
origins who had come down amongst us mortals for a reason unbeknownst to all of
us.  She, Garinka had proclaimed this in a book which had sold many copies and
made her quite wealthy though none in Karupatani save me knew this. 

Now,
with the miraculous healing of the child whose head was bashed in by that
wicked beast of a horse, people had come from far and wide, such that the
streets of our village were so thick with bodies one could not pass from house
to house without stepping upon a hand or foot.

"Let
me through," I declared and along with my brother pushed our way past the
throngs that lay prostate before my son's door.  "Tell them to go
home," I urged my brother.  "Are you not the High Priest?  Do you not
have authority in this matter?"

"Who
is to say?" my brother shrugged.

"Ay
ow!" someone cried.

"Sorry,
very sorry," my brother said and pushing forward, we finally mounted the
porch from which Wertoka, the enormous younger son of the chief of a mountain
village, I forgot which one, would let us inside. 

Before
this, my brother stood upon the porch with his arms raised to the heavens and declared,
"Go home to your families and villages.  Go home to your shops and your
farms.  There is naught to be done here."

"We
must see the MaKennah," the people cried.  "Please, he must touch my
(insert wife, husband, son, daughter, mother, father, second cousin twice
removed) and heal them from that which afflicts them."

"This
is absurd," I commented to no one in particular, slamming the front door. 

Keko,
who was in the kitchen frying eggs as usual, nodded his head in agreement. 

"This
kind of nonsense never happened in your father's day, may he rest in
peace," Keko said.  He spat over his shoulder three times in the event
that any evil spirits might have been listening to his blessing and thus decided
to intercept it thereby interrupting my father’s heretofore restful slumber.

"I
don't think our father, though a kind man indeed, would ever have been mistaken
for an angel, fallen or otherwise."  My brother surveyed the kitchen
countertops.  "What happened to the loaf of bread Katie made
yesterday?"

Keko
dumped his eggs onto a plate and pulled a heel of bread from the bread box.
"This is all that is left."  He put it on the plate.  "The
MaKennah liked it.  Ach, I do not understand that woman.  She is happy to feed
him but locks her door and makes him sleep upon the sofa instead of giving him
that which he really hungers for."  He carried the plate upstairs.

"And
when did a door lock ever stop my son?" I asked.  "He is as complicit
in this game as she is."

"They
are both arguably insane," my brother agreed, finding a plate of cookies
instead.  "These are quite good.  Did I ever tell you about the excellent tuna
fish sandwiches Katie makes?"

"Often,"
I sighed.  "Tell me this, brother."  I sat down upon the sofa. 
"What are we to do about all these worshippers?  Our village cannot
sustain this number of people for much longer, the noise is wrecking our
nerves."  Even now the chanting was forcing me to yell across the room.

"What
the hell is going on out there?" my daughter demanded, coming down the
stairs.  "There are thousands of people outside!"

"Delicious
cookies, Niece," my brother said and brushed a crumb from his lip.

"Thanks
Tuman.  It's an old family recipe.  Can't you guys put a stop to whatever is
going on out there?"

"I
tried."  My brother shrugged, taking another cookie.

"What
do they want?"

"To
be healed," I sighed.  “Unlike the rest of us who are quite content to
wallow in our misery and enjoy our aches and pains.”

She
peeked out the window.  "They all want to be healed?"

"Or
blessed or just catch a glimpse of him.”

"Oh
please," the lady scoffed.  "We all see him plenty and do any of us
look healed or blessed?  Instead, we look sick and wretched."

"Speak
for yourself," my brother said, joining my daughter at the window.  "I
am in fine form.” 

"You
are at that."  My daughter patted my brother’s belly then turned toward
the stairs as Senya's odd thumping gait announced his arrival.  He didn’t look
happy and stared pointedly at his wife whose hand was still upon my brother's
midsection.  She saw this and put her arm around my brother's waist clinging to
his side.  I sighed yet again and rolled my eyes.  I was so tired of their
games.

"Senya,
please," I begged.  "Go out there and tell them all to go away.  We
all agree you are wondrous and miraculous but surely you are not a living god
and they blaspheme themselves to think thus."

"We
don't all agree," the lady said, still clinging to Tuman as if she loved
him best.

"You
think he is a living god?" Tuman inquired.

"Hardly,”
she scoffed.  "I just don't agree that he is wondrous and
miraculous."

My
son frowned at her and then sat beside me on the sofa, propping his leg upon
the coffee table.  If it were my house, I would have immediately told him to
put his foot down on the floor where it belonged.

"Why
don't you..." I started to say instead. 

"They
are flooding the streets of Mishnah too," he grumbled. "Surrounding
the Palace, trapping everyone inside."

"And
you're not even there," I declared. 

"Are
you?" Tuman asked.

"It's
possible," Katie replied.  "Metaphysically."

"No,
I am not there," my son snapped.  "I am only here, imprisoned with the
lot of you."

"On
gosh, poor Senya," my daughter simpered.  "Stuck in this little house
with only one elderly manservant to wait on him hand and foot.  How will he
ever survive in such depraved conditions?"

"Stop
it!" he snapped.

"That's
enough, Katie," Tuman said, releasing her arms from around him and sitting
on the sofa across from us.  Katie returned to the window and stood there
looking outside.

"Isn't
there anything you can do?"  I appealed to my son.

"About
the hordes outside or about her?" he replied, pointing at the lady with a
cigarette before placing it in his mouth.

"Both,"
my brother said.

"Can
you not call in your Imperial Guard to disperse the crowd?" I suggested.  "And
can you not sleep with your wife so she will cease to be such a wicked witch?"
 I said this last bit in Karupta so the lady would not understand me.

"You
think that will do it?"  He breathed out smoke like a dragon.

"Which
one?" Tuman asked.

"Both,"
I replied.

"Right
now fucking her would be more of a chore than a pleasure," he sighed. 
"And I can't bring in the guards and violate Karupatani sovereignty despite
how overrun the village has become."

"You
are the King of Karupatani, you can do whatever you wish here," Tuman
reminded him, "including violating the sovereignty."

"I
recall that I am the king," Senya nodded.  "But I still won't violate
the sovereignty."

"Maybe
you can cause a nasty weather disturbance?" I suggested.  "You
haven't done a trembler or tornado in a while, have you?"  At this moment,
Rekah arrived.

"Ay
yah!" he declared.  "What has brought this upon us?"  He slammed
the front door.

"Your
cousin," Tuman said now getting up to go look through the refrigerator. 
"He has confirmed your mother's supposition that he is a Heavenly creature
by miraculously fixing a child's crushed skull.  Now all and sundry wish to
gaze upon his magnificence."

"Ok,"
Rekah nodded and joined his father at the refrigerator.

"Do
your own wives not feed you?" I declared.

"Mine
is too busy granting interviews to the press throughout the Empire.  Perhaps
soon she will go on a book tour and then I will finally have some peace and
quiet."

"Mine
are all prostrate upon the dirt outside as if they have never before seen our
cousin."  Rekah stuck his fingers in a dish and extracted a confection
dripping with sugar.

"Katie
made cinnamon rolls," Tuman told him.  "They are quite good."

"Indeed,"
Rekah said, taking a bite out of one and then raising it in a toast to her. She
glared back at him from the window box.  "How did you repair the child's
head, Sir?"  He turned toward my son.

"It's
complicated," Katie replied.

Senya
shrugged and finished his cigarette.  He flicked his fingers, and it
disappeared.  "Go upstairs, Madame," he ordered.  "I find your
presence an irritant."

"Oh
gosh, I’m so sorry, Your Imperial Angelness," she replied but didn’t
move.  The clamor outside seemed to grow even louder.

"Perhaps
I will confine you to a tower after all," Senya mused, "along with
your mother and your brother.  The tower shall have only a massive kitchen where
you will spend your remaining days turning out cinnamon rolls and chocolate
chip cookies.  You will all grow very fat and annoying.  Ach, you are all
already very annoying."

"How
anyone could ever mistake you for something angelic is beyond my
comprehension," Katie replied.  "Would it help if I went outside and
swore a blood oath to everyone that you're an arrogant asshole and a dickhead?  Maybe
then they'll realize they've all made a mistake and go home."

"So
how are we to resolve this?" I sighed.

"What?"
Rekah asked.

"The
throngs out there."  I pointed emphatically at the door.

"And
the frosty atmosphere in here," my brother added.

"I'll
just do something entirely un-angelic."  Senya got up and joined the
others in the kitchen, picking at the remnants in the tray of cinnamon rolls.  "I'll
go out there and kill someone.  Any suggestions as to whom?"  He raised an
eyebrow at Katie.

"Bad
idea," I said.  "Do something else."

"What
else would be considered un-angelic behavior?" Rekah asked.

"Sex,"
my brother replied.  "Angels are thought to be sexless and above such a
base, animalistic activity.  And of course they cannot reproduce in this manner,
so there is no point in it."

The
lady made a snorting noise again.  "Yep, definitely not Senya.  Just about
every woman in this village can testify to that.  Why don't we call them all
upon the porch one by one and they can each tell a story about how Senya took
their virginity?  That ought to send everybody home fairly quickly."

"I
don't understand," Rekah said, a puzzled expression on his face.  "Every
one knows this.  Why do they still think..."

"You
will have to read chapter 17 in your mother's book to understand that."  Tuman
scrapped his finger around the bottom of the pan and extracted some icing.  He
put it in his mouth as the cacophony outside got louder still. 

"Senya,
please," I sighed.  "Do something to stop this.  I fear for the
village septic system."

"There
is naught I can do," Senya replied.  "Are there any more of these?"

"I
ate the last one," Rekah said.  "I'm sorry, Cousin."

"Did
Keko not just bring you breakfast?" I cried.  "The lot of you are standing
around eating whilst our village is being overrun.  I do not understand any of
you.  You are all bloody insane."  They all glanced at me as if I were the
crazy one.

"I
tire of Keko's eggs."  My son ignored me, opening the refrigerator and
sniffing inside.  "Katie, come make me something.”

"Yes,
Massa," the lady called from the window but did not budge from her perch. 

"What
shall we have?" Rekah asked.

"I
would like tuna fish salad," my brother said. "Have I ever told you
how much I enjoy Katie's tuna fish salad sandwiches?"

"Yes,
every bloody day!" I screamed and rose to my feet.  "If none of you
will go out there and tell these people to go home than I shall.  I have had
absolutely enough of this."

"I'll
go," Katie said and headed to the door. 

"What
will you tell them?"

"I
don't know," she shrugged. "Maybe I'll just listen to their
complaints and give them advice.  I seem to be very good at that.  Want to come
translate, Sorkan?"

"I
will," Rekah offered.

"No,
 thanks.  Sorkan?  Tuman?"