THE VILLAGE LOOKED deserted\u2014as indeed it should be. Never had Celia seen such desolation, each dwelling reduced to individual piles of rubble. She had seen regions of egregious poverty in her travels, and this was so much greater it seemed to be some sort of evil mirage as she\u2019d experienced in the desert between Casa Blanca and Marrakech.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy God,\u201d she whispered in horror as one man hesitantly crawled out from under a pile of rubble. \u201cIs that his house<\/em>?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLooks like it,\u201d Bataar said. \u201cA hole in the ground. A few boards and stones to cover it.\u201d<\/p>\n The man, emaciated so that she could see his sternum and every rib he possessed, looked around at her mounted force in utter fear. She supposed she couldn\u2019t blame him, what with thirty armed mercenaries and another twenty pirates behind her. He studied the three leaders of the group warily: an Arab male, a white female, and a Mongolian female.<\/p>\n Yet he gathered himself and looked at Celia. \u201cYou have pink hair.\u201d<\/p>\n Celia blinked.<\/p>\n \u201cYou are Se\u00f1ora Capit\u00e1n? Our condesa? The conde is dead, then?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cS\u00ed,\u201d she answered shortly, not bothering to correct his assumption.<\/p>\n \u201cHe expected you,\u201d Solomon muttered. \u201cI wonder how many others are here.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou know my purpose?\u201d she called.<\/p>\n \u201cS\u00ed, Condesa Capit\u00e1n.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWill you resist?\u201d<\/p>\n He shrugged helplessly. \u201cEven if we desired to, we could not. We are starving and beset by illness.\u201d<\/p>\n Celia nodded and continued to survey the surrounds, growing more and more shocked. It was nothing more than a patch of dirt in a slightly less desolate landscape, craggy hills covered with rough brush. There was little to recommend it. No wonder Rafael held it in such low esteem he had shrugged off the loss of his deeds to his brothers. It was worth nothing, and the few scraggly olive trees were in the midst of an orchard that had been left to rot long ago.<\/p>\n Celia took a deep breath. They were far from the coast and the Thunderstorm<\/em>. Aboard it, she had food aplenty for these people and could certainly purchase more, but they would not be able to endure the trip back to partake. The towns between M\u00e1laga and this village were few and far between.<\/p>\n \u201cSolomon,\u201d she whispered. \u201cI\u2014 I am\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n The Arab dismounted from his fine gelding and strode toward the man, who cowered, and demanded, \u201cShow me your stores.\u201d<\/p>\n But the man simply sighed.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have water?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cS\u00ed. Rio Guadalhorce, just over the rise.\u201d<\/p>\n Celia nodded and turned to Bataar. \u201cThese people need to be fed before we do anything, else they won\u2019t survive long enough to enjoy the victory. They may not survive long enough for us to fetch them food.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe last good-sized village is better than a day\u2019s ride back through that terrain.\u201d<\/p>\n Celia simply nodded, and with that, Bataar turned her mount and barked orders for a third of their force to follow her. They took a last look at the village and did not protest a whit at the prospect of traveling another day and a half after already one hard day\u2019s ride nor being led by a female\u2014she had already proven to deadly effect she was no more to be trifled with than Celia.<\/p>\n \u201cCookie!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAye, Cap\u2019n!\u201d The shout echoed from far behind, against the walls of the pass through which Bataar and company had disappeared.<\/p>\n \u201cMake camp.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAye, Cap\u2019n.\u201d<\/p>\n Celia slid off her own horse\u2014devil take it, she loathed horses, but with soldiers to command, she would not be seen as weak by riding in a carriage\u2014and approached the man, who, distracted by the sight of cartloads of supplies just now pulling through the pass, had forgotten his fear.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat is your name?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJos\u00e9.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I am finished with the task my, ah \u2026 husband \u2026 set me, this land will belong to your king. Is that something you can tolerate?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDo we have a choice?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou could leave.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cS\u00ed, and we would if we could.\u201d<\/p>\n Celia nodded. \u201cYou will eat well tonight, but I only have provisions for my men. I had not thought to stay but two or three days. My leftenant has gone for more and will return two days hence. At that time, you should be well fed and rested enough to make a journey to better lands if you wish.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe do<\/em> wish, Condesa.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThen do you wish to leave after you\u2019re a bit more fortified or after I have cleared your land of its serpents?\u201d<\/p>\n His face hardened. \u201cWe will wait.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cGood enough, then. Gather your people. I have only biscuits to provide you until my cook has prepared a proper meal. Pray do not eat too fast or too much, as it will make you ill.\u201d<\/p>\n Celia started when he grabbed her hand and fell to his knees, kissing it over and over again, weeping. \u201cAh, se\u00f1or \u2026 \u201d<\/p>\n \u201cGood lady,\u201d he sobbed. \u201cOur salvation. The Blessed Mother has sent you to us.\u201d<\/p>\n Nonplussed, she gently tried to retrieve her hand, but he hung on. \u201cSe\u00f1or, please. Rise. Please. Please do not do this.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLet him be,\u201d Solomon murmured from behind her. \u201cHis prayers have been answered.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cGod help us all if I am the answer to someone\u2019s prayer.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSomebody has to be.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWHO ARE YOU TO make camp on our land? Get out before I set my men on you!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCommander!<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n Celia sat up on her pallet and groggily pulled on her moccasins, tied her hair back with a leather thong, then strapped her sword to her hip, daggers around each thigh, and shoved a pistol in her breeches. She emerged from her tent and looked at the stars. Two o\u2019clock in the morning. Carefully tended fires dotted the village, some with spits still roasting freshly slaughtered game, and women and children crept about in the dead of night as if eating were a crime here.<\/p>\n Then Celia remembered: It was.<\/p>\n The villagers had protested the fires, as they would draw the attention of the Covarrubias brother charged with overseeing the villagers\u2019 compliance. But they were hungry enough to wager their lives that Celia and her force could protect them.<\/p>\n \u201cA woman?!\u201d the man roared when he saw her and that the captain of the guard deferred to her. It was disconcerting how he resembled Rafael. How did such a Teutonic family happen this far south into a Moorish stronghold? \u201cI\u2019ll not speak with a woman!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI am the condesa,\u201d Celia said in the haughtiest Spanish she could muster. \u201cAnd I am here to claim it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019t,\u201d he scoffed. \u201cIf Rafael is dead\u2014\u201d He crossed himself. \u201c\u2014I am then the new Conde and my wife the new Condesa.\u201d<\/p>\n Calmly Celia pulled out her flintlock and pressed it to the man\u2019s nose, and he gasped, his eyes wide. \u201cDo you test me?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe\u2014 The lands are still mine!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cS\u00ed, I know you have the papers.\u201d She smiled beatifically. \u201cBegone, Covarrubias. I will call on you tomorrow at your villa and we will talk business then. I\u2019m eager to meet my \u2026 family.\u201d<\/p>\n He could hardly protest. He turned with a snarl and stalked toward his fine mount. Only then did Celia see that he had brought his own regiment. Four well-fed men\u2014not nearly enough to counter Celia\u2019s thirty. On his way to his horse, he passed by a woman at a cookfire and brought down a quirt on her back with vicious intent.<\/p>\n The new conde hit the ground before the woman could scream, a dagger buried in the back of his neck.<\/p>\n Celia looked up at the conde\u2019s men and said, \u201cWarn your people, then. Attempt to flee if you must keep your pride. But know this: I am here to destroy the Covarrubias family with the same mercy you have shown your people, and you will not be able to hide until I have finished off every last male heir.\u201d<\/p>\n CELIA RODE UP TO the villa the next morning in the finest clothing she could manage to don in her meager accommodations, in the finest carriage they had managed to acquire and drive over miles and miles of rocky terrain.<\/p>\n Her hair was piled high and her face lightly but carefully made up. Her mantua was of expensive lace and her dress of even more expensive silk. Her bum and hip rolls made her skirts stand out by only two disgraceful feet, but she could not do what she intended in eight-foot panniers. By contrast, her underskirt was heavily embroidered, the heels of her pink pumps were studded in diamonds, and her d\u00e9colletage was so low her nipples threatened to pop out at any moment. But most importantly, her scars were bared for all to see.<\/p>\n Rafael would approve.<\/p>\n No one met her at the door to either welcome her or stop her. Indeed, the magnificent home seemed as abandoned as the village had at first.<\/p>\n Because she had expected that, she had sent her soldiers out immediately after the wee-hours confrontation to scour the landscape and make certain the cowards did not go far.<\/p>\n She and Solomon strolled first through one lavishly furnished room to another until they came to what she remembered to be a receiving room. She seated herself on the biggest, most opulent chair in the room\u2014the one Rafael\u2019s mother claimed as hers alone\u2014and crossed one knee over the other. She relaxed, fanning herself with a pink silk fan with ivory filigree ribs.<\/p>\n \u201cBring them to me.\u201d<\/p>\n A full quarter hour passed until an old woman walked in proudly, encouraged by Solomon\u2019s presence.<\/p>\n She raked Celia with a sneer, but said nothing. She couldn\u2019t. Celia was clad far more grandly than she\u2014and she had clearly attired herself for this meeting, her gray-streaked blonde hair piled on her head and her dress of black.<\/p>\n Celia cocked an eyebrow. \u201cMourning?\u201d<\/p>\n Her chin came up. \u201cMy sons are dead, are they not? First Rafael and then Carlos. How do I know you<\/em> did not kill Rafael?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYour gall, Se\u00f1ora, is extraordinary. Summon your men to me.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey are gone.\u201d<\/p>\n Celia smiled slowly. \u201cAre they? Then summon your women.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe are of no threat to you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDo any of them bear the next heir to the earldom?\u201d<\/p>\n Her eyes widened and nostrils flared. \u201cYou wouldn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI would,\u201d she said flatly.<\/p>\n \u201cNo,\u201d she spat. \u201cNone do.\u201d<\/p>\n So far as Celia knew, that was true. \u201cThere are still male children, no?\u201d<\/p>\n Her mouth tightened. \u201cYou would kill a child for his birth?\u201d<\/p>\n Celia spread her hands wide and said with feigned shock. \u201cI\u2019m a pirate. Of course<\/em> I would. However, for the children\u2019s sake, I will make it swift and painless. I\u2019m quite sure you have enough poison in this house to kill an entire village.\u201d Her eyes narrowed. \u201cDon\u2019t you.\u201d<\/p>\n The woman gulped.<\/p>\n It was mid-morning before the entire clan was brought to Celia, who sat as a queen amongst supplicants, some of whom sobbed at her feet and begged for their husbands\u2019 or their children\u2019s or their own lives, some of whom stood silent, too proud to beg.<\/p>\n The men were bound and gagged, roped to the pedestals that bore the load of the roof.<\/p>\n Celia looked down at the parchment in her lap and bade her men, under the direction of Rafael\u2019s stewards, who were only too eager to assist, to account for every family member on the list, paying particular attention to the heirs.<\/p>\n There were three male children, all under the age of five, who were far down the line, but heirs nonetheless.<\/p>\n \u201cTake them and may their innocent blood seep into the soil to feed it,\u201d Celia said, absently waving her closed fan to the two of her crew charged with their care.<\/p>\n The wails and keening started in earnest when the children were taken, screaming for their mamas, and Celia simply waited for it to subside.<\/p>\n It was a long wait.<\/p>\n Rafael\u2019s mother, who had been shoved to the floor and bound to the leg of her own chair, the one Celia had claimed, was otherwise free to squirm and, unfortunately, speak. But if she spoke, her pride would break, thus, Celia did not require her to be gagged.<\/p>\n Celia looked around at the gathered and bade Rafael\u2019s senior land steward\u2014himself with the look of hunger, although not emaciation like the rest\u2014to recite the crimes Rafael\u2019s brothers, uncles, and cousins had committed against the villagers \u2026<\/p>\n \u2026 and they were legion.<\/p>\n None of them were blameless, but none could claim they had acted under duress.<\/p>\n After the recitation\u2014which took better than an hour\u2014was finished, most of the women were again weeping and the men had simply lost their coloring but for a faint greenish cast.<\/p>\n Celia leaned down to the dowager countess, grabbed a handful of her hair, and jerked her head up and back until the two could almost touch noses. The old woman whimpered in pain.<\/p>\n \u201cYou realize, of course,\u201d Celia murmured conversationally, \u201cI have said nothing about your crimes against Rafael and his father before him. He was not concerned for himself. He was concerned for his people, so I have come to rescue them. However, what I do here today is to avenge Rafael and his father.\u201d<\/p>\n The dowager looked away, her nose in the air\u2014or as well as she could manage it.<\/p>\n Celia let her go with a jerk and straightened. \u201cLadies,\u201d she said congenially while the steward drank from a bottle of Madeira to soothe his voice, \u201cplease turn and bid your husbands, fathers, brothers, uncles, cousins, and sons bon voyage. For where they are going, it will be the last kind word they receive.\u201d<\/p>\n Not a word was spoken before Celia looked to her soldiers and said, \u201cKill them all.\u201d<\/p>\n And amidst the screams of the women, the blood of eleven men flowed from their necks onto the finely crafted marble floors.<\/p>\n \u201cNow, Se\u00f1ora,\u201d Celia said gently five minutes later as she inspected the drops of blood that had splattered onto her fine shoes. \u201cDo you see what your sin has wrought?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI will not bear this sin,\u201d she returned with stiff, but weary and resigned pride.<\/p>\n \u201cI should not speak for God, but were I he, I would disagree.\u201d<\/p>\n No answer.<\/p>\n Celia held her hand out to the nearest soldier, who slapped the hilt of his bloody dagger into her palm. The women and girls were keening and cringing, afraid they would be next. Celia stood, her skirts flaring out behind her as she turned and squatted in front of the dowager to cut her ropes. Once free, the woman barely had time to rub one wrist before Celia snatched her chin in her hand and squeezed\u2014hard\u2014jerking her face up. <\/p>\n After a long moment of trading stares, Celia said, \u201cI find myself with nothing to say to you,\u201d and released her chin. Once again, she snatched a handful of the dowager\u2019s hair and straightened to her full height, taking the dowager with her.<\/p>\n She screamed in pain, and the women\u2019s cries rose in volume again.<\/p>\n Celia dragged her into the middle of the room, which task was made far easier by not only a marble floor, but one slicked with blood. Celia stood in a half inch of blood, her shoes and the hem of her gown soaking it up like lamp oil, but the dowager was lying in it, crying \u2026 and now begging.<\/p>\n \u201cAh, and here I thought you would not be so crass as to beg,\u201d Celia cooed. \u201cYour gown is ruined, Se\u00f1ora. I doubt your maids and laundresses will be able to clean it to your satisfaction.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPlease let me live.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOh, I cannot do that,\u201d Celia replied with faux regret. \u201cIn truth, I am showing you mercy, for you will have no means of support once I am gone. You would starve to death.\u201d<\/p>\n She was sobbing now, keening.<\/p>\n Celia looked at the steward and said, \u201cThat would be a cruel thing to do, would it not?\u201d<\/p>\n The steward, though he had been eager to assist Celia\u2019s forces to gain his and the villeins\u2019 freedom, was ashen.<\/p>\n \u201cThough I am tempted to do just that, I cannot risk it. Where there is life, there is hope. And I have never been one to leave an enemy alive to visit me another day wearing a cloak of vengeance.\u201d<\/p>\n The dowager gasped and gurgled when Celia reared back, then sank the dagger into her stomach. Celia bent with a snarl, gave it a quarter turn, and sliced her belly from left to right.<\/p>\n The woman stared at Celia with wide eyes. She put her hand to her stomach, bringing it to her face, and stared at her blood-soaked fingers in horror.<\/p>\n \u201cI will be taking your womenfolk with me,\u201d Celia said matter-of-factly as she wiped the blade on her own fine gown. \u201cYou will die here alone but for the bodies of your menfolk, in this pool of blood and in great pain. If you have some small amount of luck, it will take mere minutes for you to die. If I<\/em> have the luck, it will take you days. And thus we see,\u201d she said airily as she turned and dragged her now-soaked skirts through the blood on her way to the door. Soldiers, with their expressions of awe, parted for her as if she were Moses. Solomon offered her his arm as her crew fell in behind her. \u201cThat the wages of sin is death.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cARE YOU GOING to torch it?\u201d Bataar asked quietly.<\/p>\n Celia, Solomon, and Bataar sat together on a rock in front of one of the many campfires, late in the night after the bloodletting. Her ruined gown was drying over a shrub, the blood-encrusted fabric and jewels a testament to the promise she had honored. She was clean now, after she and her men bathed in Rio Guadalhorce, which could most generously be called a trickle. They were now all eating from the stores Bataar had managed to purchase and transport in a little less than two days. There was music and dancing, though Celia had no reason to sing. Indeed, the entire village was celebrating.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat need have I to do that?\u201d she asked, gesturing into the darkness. \u201cDoes dust burn? It has never borne fruit and never will.\u201d She paused. \u201cBut order the house burnt.\u201d<\/p>\n It took mere moments for the order to be given and a small group set out for the home.<\/p>\n Celia turned to Solomon when the first hints of smoke curled through the dusk. \u201cAnd now you know why an earl took a position as a lowly university professor. \u2019Twas the only way he could feed his people.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes,\u201d he murmured. \u201cI may have done the man wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n She waved that off. \u201cYou were not wrong in your assessment, though.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cChildren to larboard,\u201d Bataar muttered.<\/p>\n She looked to her left to see two of the three remaining Covarrubias heirs staring at her with wide eyes. They were under guard, but they didn\u2019t seem to know that. The crewman charged with that duty dandled the middle boy on his knee and entertained him with his recorder flute while a wet nurse fed the infant.<\/p>\n \u201cI couldn\u2019t do it,\u201d she said low. \u201cIf that makes me weak, so be it.\u201d<\/p>\n Solomon clucked. \u201cIt is not weak to let a child live, but what are your plans for them?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTake them with me. The oldest is too young to remember for long. Do they stay with me until adulthood, I can make sure they never know and have no reason to return. Look at them. \u2019Twill be easy enough to pass them off as mine.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJudas will have something to say about that,\u201d Bataar muttered.<\/p>\n Aye, he would, and none of it good.<\/p>\n \u201cGive them to Muehl,\u201d Solomon said. \u201cHe cannot work his lands without sons, and his woman is barren. As the rest of us, he has funds aplenty, but there is no glory in owning land one cannot tend, especially for a man like Muehl. Labor costs dearly, and he would have no one to leave it to anyhow.\u201d<\/p>\n What if I asked you to become a farmer\u2019s wife? And to sweeten the proposition, a farmer\u2019s wife on the frontier, chopping down trees and breaking new sod, alone, surrounded by Indians. Hunting. Planting. Milking cows. Butchering pigs. Living off the land. You\u2014well, both of us, I imagine\u2014would have to learn how to cook.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cI cannot assure they will not return to claim this.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd what harm would it do if they did?\u201d Solomon demanded low. \u201cLet us suppose they come back to this<\/em> in fifteen years. What would they do with it, even had they coin?\u201d<\/p>\n She pursed her lips and looked back at the two older children, both of whom were now engaged with Muehl\u2019s music. \u201cAye, I see your argument.\u201d She continued to watch when Muehl arose and herded them to a small shelter he had fashioned. He pulled his own bedroll apart and rolled it in a configuration just the right size for two small boys, then tucked them in.<\/p>\n He went to the wet nurse and sat beside her. They spoke briefly before she called another woman over. In mere moments, the women were teaching Muehl how to feed the babe without benefit of a breast.<\/p>\n \u201cBataar, make him the offer,\u201d she murmured. \u201cIf he accepts, take him back to\u00a0M\u00e1laga with five men riding guard. You will know what type of woman to hire as a wet nurse.\u201d<\/p>\n Celia and Solomon watched as Bataar sauntered over to him to present him with the proposal. When his face lit up with joy and he sent a jaunty salute to Celia, Solomon said, \u201cIt is a good decision. He will be very happy.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThen mayhap he can spread his cheer to the rest of us. I am weary, and our task is only half done. God willing, Charlie will welcome me with more charity than he has before.\u201d<\/p>\n Solomon snorted. \u201cOne cannot blame the King of Spain for taking umbrage at being addressed as \u2018Charlie.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Celia laughed and got to her feet. \u201cI\u2019m an American, Solomon. He adores<\/em> Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou may be the only American he does not.\u201d<\/p>\n She snickered. \u201cAh, but he will fair cover my face in kisses when he learns I have come bearing land.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe will not question how you attained it?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWould you?\u201d<\/p>\n ★<\/p>\n THE VILLAGE LOOKED deserted\u2014as indeed it should be. Never had Celia seen such desolation, each dwelling reduced to individual piles of rubble. She had seen regions of egregious poverty in her travels, and this was so much greater it seemed to be some sort of evil mirage as she\u2019d experienced in the desert between Casa […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":2749,"menu_order":4414,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3584","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3584"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3584"}],"version-history":[{"count":31,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3584\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25062,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3584\/revisions\/25062"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}