This Fierce Splendor

24

Elspeth took a step closer to the mosaic on the wall of the temple, her eyes blazing with excitement. “It’s a serpent gliding around the bole of a palm tree. Oh, Rising Star, I wish there were some way I could take it with me.”

“Patrick told me you didn’t like snakes.” Rising Star smiled. “Why would you want an entire wall with the picture of one?”

“This is different.” Elspeth’s fingertip reached out to touch the smooth amber of the trunk of the palm tree. “It’s a link, a symbol. Don’t you see? The palm represents the tree of life, and the serpent, evil. It’s the legend of the Garden of Eden. In Tyre they discovered ancient coins with this same design and in Guatamala copper coins with the identical serpent and tree. And now it’s here in Kantalan too. A common symbol uniting cultures thousands of miles apart.”

“Coincidence?”

Elspeth shook her head. “There are too many coincidences, too many stories about godlike white men from the east. Quetzalcoatl came from the ‘distant east’ to become patron god of the Toltecs. Samé, the great Brazilian leader, came across the ocean from the rising sun. The Mayans claim that the birthplace of Tulan was across the sea to the east. There’s even one Mexican legend that says after the flood, Coxcox and his wife landed first at Antlan and then journeyed to Mexico. If they came from Atlantis, it would be logical for them to name their first landing place Antlan. And according to folklore, all the races that settled in Mexico trace their origin back to a wonderous place called Aztlan.” She stopped to draw a breath and smiled apologetically. “I’m sorry. I tend to get excited when I talk about anything that touches on Atlantis.”

Rising Star shook her head. “I find it very interesting that you think we’re all voyagers from this Atlantis. My people too?”

“In the beginning.”

“Then we’re all the same, just fellow voyagers from the same port of origin.” Rising Star’s eyes were wistful as she looked at the mosaic. “How sad that some stay on course and some are lost forever. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could all travel together, respecting and helping each other.”

Elspeth experienced a pang of compassion. “Perhaps someday we will.”

“Someday.” Rising Star turned away. “Now, what shall we gather to take with us-something smaller than that monstrous wall?”

“Rising Star.” Elspeth hesitated. “Patrick is very worried about you.”

Rising Star stopped but didn’t look at her. “I know. He has a warm heart and he cares for me. I’m sorry he’s in pain.”

“Dominic and I care about you too. Let us help you.”

Rising Star’s voice was muffled. “What can you do? Can you fade my skin from brown to white? Can you turn the clock back and bring Boyd and Rory to life? Can you make Joshua love me as much as I love him?”

Elspeth could feel the tears sting behind her eyes. “No, I can’t do those things, but I can offer you and your child a home with us and the affection of friends.”

Rising Star turned to her, a misty smile lighting her face. “That’s a beautiful gift, Elspeth. Thank you.”

“Will you come with us?”

“I don’t know. I must think about it. Right now I’m trying not to think at all until I heal.” She looked back at the mosaic. “Perhaps there is an Eden for me somewhere too. I hope so.” She laughed shakily. “Maybe I’ll take Silver and go in search of it. Living in Eden would be too tame for her but she’d enjoy the quest.”

Elspeth nodded. “Yes, I believe she would enjoy it.” Her eyes were troubled as she gazed at Rising Star. “We can’t promise you Eden but-”

“You are kind.” Rising Star’s voice was suddenly brisk. “But it is I who must make the decision on this. In time I will rid myself of this sorrow and make a fine life for myself. You will see, I will be content again.” She walked quickly across the chamber toward the table on which they’d placed a number of objects. “Dominic and Patrick will be here soon and you must choose which of these is most important to you so that I can put them in the knapsack.”

Content but not happy, Elspeth thought as she gazed at Rising Star, wanting to give comfort and having none to give. She smiled with an effort. “The compass, I think.” She pointed to a small wooden container. “And that box of white powder. I have an idea it might be gunpowder. Some scholars believe that Atlantis invented gunpowder even before their colony in China. And perhaps that strange amulet with the cross…”

Dominic and Elspeth stood on the top step of the temple watching Patrick and Rising Star lead all the pack animals up the winding trail to the pass. They had reached the halfway point when Dominic smothered a smile as he saw Patrick tugging at Azuquita’s lead rope. The mule had stopped and plopped down stubbornly in the middle of the trail. It was too far to hear, but he’d bet Patrick was swearing a blue streak.

“Why did you send them away so soon, Dominic? They didn’t even have a chance to look around the city.”

“Kantalan doesn’t have the same meaning for them as it does for you.” Dominic’s gaze was still on Patrick and Azuquita. “Did you talk to Rising Star?”

She nodded. “She wouldn’t discuss her future. Oh, Dominic, she’s so unhappy. What will she do?”

“I wish I could say I knew. Maybe Patrick-”

“Patrick?” Then as she grasped his meaning her eyes widened in surprise. “But she thinks of him as a child. He’s much younger than she is.”

“That’s not unusual in Rising Star’s tribe, and he loves her. In time she might come to love him in the same way.”

“And you could accept that? Joshua is your brother.”

“And I love him,” Dominic said wearily. “But I love Patrick and Rising Star too. Why should all three of them be miserable?”

“Patrick would have to leave Killara, and I think he loves it almost as much as you do, Dominic.”

“Yes.” His gaze left Patrick and shifted to Elspeth’s face. “Sometimes we must choose to give up what we love.” He turned back to the entrance of the temple. “Have you found anything else you want to take with us?”

“I tied a few artifacts in a knapsack and fastened it on Nina’s saddlehorn,” she said absently as her gaze returned to the figures on the trail. “How strange. Dominic, look at Azuquita.”

Dominic turned to see Azuquita leap off his haunches, his long ears laid flat against his head. The mule lunged forward, tearing the lead rope from Patrick’s hands. He shouldered Patrick’s horse aside and passed Rising Star at a gallop.

“Damn, I’ve never seen him move that fast,” Dominic said with a grin. “I wonder what’s gotten into him? I bet Patrick-”

The stone steps suddenly jerked beneath Dominic’s boots, throwing him to his knees! “What in-”

The steps were splitting, great jagged cracks gaping like hungry mouths in the stone.

“Dominic!” Elspeth screamed. “What’s happening?”

Dominic’s gaze flew to the Sun Child. A thin wisp of black smoke belched into the air. Poisonous smoke?

“Oh, my God!” He leapt to his feet and caught Elspeth’s hand. “Come on.” He pulled her down the steps, tossed her on Nina’s back, and slapped the mares rump. “Get going! Follow Rising Star and Patrick. Don’t wait for me.” He jumped on Blanco and turned the stallion to follow Elspeth.

“Of course I’m going to wait for you.” Elspeth had reined in Nina a few yards away. The streets were shivering, undulating as if they were alive. It was like riding on the back of a giant serpent flexing in the sun. “It’s the Sun Child, isn’t it? Do we have time to get out of the city?”

“How do I know?” Dominic yelled as he grabbed Nina’s reins and put both horses to a run. The balcony of the house they were passing suddenly shattered and fell to the street. Blanco reared, pawing the air. “Lord save me from an obstinate woman. Do you want to get yourself killed? My saddlebags are heavily loaded and Blanco may not be able to move as fast as your horse. Get going, dammit.”

“I’ll wait for you.” Elspeth was pale, but her lips were firmly set. “But I think we’d best hurry.”

Dominic cast her a glance that was a mixture of desperation and exasperation. “If we get out of this alive, remind me to tell you about the virtues of wifely obedience.” He turned down the street leading to the trail to the pass.

They had to stop twice to avoid falling columns, but they were finally climbing, leaving the city behind.

The billows of smoke had increased but there was still no sound except the shattering cacophony that came from Kantalan itself as the earth quaked and shivered, bringing houses, palace, and temple alike crashing. The trail was also shaking, and Dominic could feel Blanco trembling with fear.

“Patrick and Rising Star have reached the pass,” Elspeth called back to him. “Does that mean they’re safe?”

Dominic shook his head. “With the mountain shaking like this, there are bound to be landslides. We just have to hope there’s not too much loose rock. There’s a chance the-”

The world exploded.

Elspeth’s mare fell to her knees and Dominic had to jerk Blanco aside to keep him from stumbling over the fallen horse. Then Nina struggled to her feet and Elspeth had time to glance at the Sun Child.

“Merciful God,” she whispered.

A third of the top of the mountain had blown away in the explosion and a thick stream of orange-red lava-like an obscene tongue of fire-poured down the mountain toward Kantalan.

“Not very merciful at the moment,” Dominic muttered. “Lets hope for more leniency in the next ten minutes or so.”

The sky was raining fireballs of lava, some as large as a mans torso. It was no longer early afternoon but night, the entire valley shrouded by black smoke. The only illumination was the fireballs being hurled into the air and the stream of lava rushing toward the city in an invincible tide of destruction.

“Cover your nose and mouth,” he shouted, tying his bandanna over his lower face. “Even if the fumes aren’t poisonous the smoke could still-” He broke off as a small fireball hit Blanco’s left flank. The horse gave a shrill neigh of terror and then bolted. Elspeth’s mare followed in a flight of panic, straight up the trail, ignoring the trembling earth and tumbling rocks, desperately fleeing from the fire falling from the sky.

Dominic managed to rein Blanco in as they reached the pass. The trail was straight down, and a misstep could cause the fragile bones of the horse’s legs to snap. He cast a hasty glance down the trail as he waited for Elspeth to reach him. There had been no slide yet as far as he could see, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t a blockage farther on.

Elspeth was now beside him, her eyes streaming above the handkerchief tied over her nose and mouth. “Patrick and Rising Star-”

“They should be almost down to the waterfall by now if they…” He didn’t complete the sentence, there was no use stating the obvious when Elspeth was frightened enough as it was. “Let me go first and keep a tight rein.”

“Oh, Dominic.” Elspeth was looking back at the city with shocked sorrow. “Kantalan.”

Dominic’s gaze followed hers. The lava that had entered the canal at the foot of the Sun Child had flowed into the other canals and there was now a flaming cross intersecting the smoke-shrouded darkness of the city. Elspeth and Dominic were breathless with wonder at the sight. Slowly the canals began to overflow and the lava spilled out to begin to cover the city.

“We have to go,” Dominic said gently. “Now, Elspeth.”

“I know.” She closed her eyes. Good-bye Kantalan. Her eyes flicked open and she turned to face the trail leading through the pass. “I’m ready to follow you.”

He nodded and began the downhill trek.

The way was clear for the first few hundred yards, then they ran into a minor landslide but nothing the horses couldn’t pick their way around. Three quarters of the way down there was a more serious blockage, and they were forced to get off the horses and climb over the four-foot-high pile of rubble, tugging the leads of the horses until they managed to clamber over the obstruction.

The ground was still shaking, but Dominic was allowing himself to be more hopeful. He caught sight of the lake a few hundred feet ahead of them and turned his head to call back to Elspeth. “Just a few minutes more.”

She nodded silently.

He turned back to the trail.

Another explosion rocked the mountain.

“No!” Dammit, not when they were so close.

“The Sun Child.” Elspeth’s gasp behind him. “Another eruption.”

Huge jagged cracks were appearing in the stone on either side of them. A cool rush of air, pocketed for perhaps a million years within the bowels of the mountain, touched their faces. “Run for it!”

Huge chunks of rocks dislodged from the cliffs, hurtling down behind them, in front of them, all around them. They plunged into the cold water of the lake at the same time. The horses swam frantically. A boulder the size of a tree plunged into the lake behind them. Crashing, roaring noises assaulted their ears; shards of smaller stones were flying through the air.

Then they were climbing onto the rock-strewn bank behind the waterfall, the mist bathing them in a soothing balm. In another moment they had made their way under the waterfall and around the rocky ledge to the grassy bank.

Elspeth’s breath was coming in little gasps, her chest hurting, her eyes burning. “Are we safe?”

“I think so.” Dominic was in little better condition than Elspeth. He pulled the bandanna from his face. “I don’t know.” He slipped out of the saddle, crossed the short distance separating them, helped her off the mare, and swiftly untied the handkerchief from her face. “Are you all right?”

She nodded, her gaze returning to the waterfall. “Kantalan’s gone, but we saw it,” she said softly. “And it was as beautiful as I knew it would be. We were there, Dominic. I’ll remember that for the rest of my life.”

“Then maybe Kantalan won’t be gone after all. Not as long as it exists here.” Dominic touched the center of her forehead with a gentle fingertip. “And here.” His hand brushed her left breast lightly.

“Perhaps.” Her lips were tremulous as she smiled at him.

“I think we’d better find Patrick and Rising Star and make camp. We need to build a fire and dry out.” He continued in a deliberate, matter-of-fact tone. “It may turn cool when the sun goes down.”

It didn’t feel cool now, she thought. A suffocating heat pervaded the air and there was a haze of smoke even here on the other side of the mountain. Still, it was important that they locate Patrick and Rising Star. Her boots were squishing uncomfortably as she shifted from foot to foot. “I’d imagine they would stay near until they knew we were safe. Shall we-”

Patrick burst through the underbrush at the side of the bank. “Come quick.” His hair was water darkened to deep brown and formed a spiky helmet around his pale face. “Rising Star’s horse fell in the pass. I think she’s going to have the child right away.”

Rising Star did not have the child right away.

She underwent nearly eighteen hours of agonizing labor before her son struggled from her tortured body. He was immediately followed by a tiny girl child.

“Twins.” Rising Star laughed huskily as Elspeth put the second tiny blanket-swathed baby in the curve of her arm. “The Delaneys wouldn’t do things in the ordinary way, of course.” She looked at Patrick over Elspeth’s shoulder. “I suppose I should have expected it. Twins run in the Delaney family. You and Brianne…” She trailed off, her eyes closing. “I did not do this well. Indian women are supposed to be much better at having babies. I may have become too much of a white woman.”

“You’ve done splendidly.” Elspeth brushed the sweat-dampened hair from Rising Star’s forehead with a cool cloth. “You have a fine strong son and a beautiful little girl.”

A faint smile touched Rising Star’s lips. “I shall call the boy Kevin, a white man’s name, but the girl I will keep for myself. I will call her Ko-Do, the firefly.”

“They’re both fine names,” Dominic said gently.

“Yes.” Rising Star was almost asleep. “Fine names…”

Dominic’s hand clasped Elspeth’s shoulder. “You need to rest too. Patrick and I will watch over her.”

Elspeth shook her head. “You haven’t had any sleep either. I’ll go change my clothes and wash up. Perhaps she’ll wake again and can take a little nourishment. She seems very weak.”

Patrick was staring down at Rising Star, his features drawn with fear. “She’s going to be fine now.”

Elspeth stood up and turned to walk away.

“She’s going to be fine,” Patrick repeated sharply. “It wouldn’t make any sense for her to suffer like this and not get well. No woman should have to go through what she has.”

“None of us is a doctor,” Dominic said wearily as he rubbed his stubbled cheek. “We can only do our best, then pray. She seems to be sleeping well now. After what she’s gone through it’s probably the best medicine for her. Why don’t you make some coffee? We need it.”

“You make it,” Patrick said jerkily, falling to his knees beside Rising Star. “I’m staying here.”

Dominic hesitated, his gaze on the boy’s tense face. Then he nodded and turned away. “I’ll make the coffee.”

Two hours later the tiny girl child, Ko-Do, died peacefully in her sleep. First she was there, life burning brightly, then she was gone like the firefly after which she was named.

“What the hell are we going to do?” Patrick asked, looking down at the child. “We can’t tell Rising Star it’s all been for nothing. What if the boy dies too?” His hand clenched into a fist of impotent rage. “What can we tell her?”

“Nothing.” Dominic took the baby girl gently away from Rising Star. “For now. If we have to lie to her, we will. The boy seems healthy enough.”

“Seems,” Patrick echoed. “He’s got to be all right.”

Rising Star began to hemorrhage an hour later. They all worked frantically to staunch the flow, but the bleeding would not stop. By nightfall even Patrick realized they couldn’t save her. All he could do was hold her hand and stare desperately at her still face.

She woke only once. Her lids opened heavily and her great dark eyes searched Patrick’s face above her. “So White Buffalo was right.” Her voice was a mere breath of sound. “There is no choice.” Her gaze wandered down to where the baby girl had slept within the curve of her arm. “Ko-Do?”

Patrick opened his lips to speak but couldn’t force the words through the tightness of his throat.

He didn’t have to speak. He could see by her expression that she knew. “Poor little Firefly.” She shook her head. “And poor Patrick.” Her lids shut again. “Don’t be sad. Maybe I’ll be able to find my shadow… and Ko-Do. It won’t be so lonely with Ko-Do there.” She was silent and at first he thought she was unconscious. “Silver… help her, Patrick.”

“I will. I promise you.”

“And my son. Don’t let them steal his shadow… Don’t let them…”

The words drifted away, and a few minutes later Patrick knew that Rising Star was no longer with them.

Dominic and Patrick built a coffin large enough to accommodate both Rising Star and Ko-Do. The two were wrapped securely in Elspeth’s plaid and buried that night in a grassy glade several yards from the lake. There were no words spoken over the grave. None were needed. Their silence as they stood there was eloquent with sorrow.

Patrick turned away and stalked back to the camp-fire. Dominic and Elspeth followed more slowly.

Patrick was already saddling his horse when they came into the circle of the campfire. “The baby has to be fed,” he said jerkily. “He’ll die if he doesn’t get milk. He’s not going to die. Where’s the nearest village?”

“No village. Probably Indino’s camp is the closest thing to it. It’s about a day’s hard ride into the hills.” Dominic knelt and drew a rough map in the dirt with a stick. “Tell him I sent you.”

“I’ll fill a canteen with broth.” Elspeth ran her fingers wearily through her hair as she turned away. “I hope it won’t make him sick. It’s the only thing I can think to do. I only wish I knew more about babies.”

Ten minutes later Patrick swung up into the saddle and Elspeth handed him the canteen and the small bundle containing Rising Star’s son. Patrick scarcely looked at Elspeth and Dominic as he wheeled and rode out.

Elspeth shivered and drew a step nearer to Dominic, her gaze following Patrick’s rapidly moving figure. “He looks ten years older.”

“And probably feels over a hundred.”

“What do we do now?” Elspeth felt empty.

“We try to sleep for a few hours and then we break camp and start for Killara.” He rubbed the back of his neck to ease the tension knotting it.

“Rising Star…” She could feel the tears rise to her eyes. “Patrick is right. Its not fair.”

“No.” His arms went around her and he held her tight, pressing her cheek to his chest. “No, it’s not fair.”

“She was so beautiful and gentle.” The tears were running down her cheeks, dampening his shirt. “She was-”

“Shh, I know.” His voice was husky, and Elspeth suddenly felt a warm dampness on her temple. He stood there rocking her, sharing her pain and his own, until the fire burned low and the darkness began to be lightened by the first streaks of dawn.