Read Moonlight for Free Online

unmistakable ring of finality as Ahijah closed
and locked the door.
     

Chapter Six
     
    The nightmares began the following night, always the same,
yet upon waking Navarre could remember nothing but the terror of being buried
alive.
    As the day of the sacrifice drew nearer, Ahijah spent more
time with Navarre, sitting outside the cage in silence when Navarre seemed
pensive, talking about his own childhood when Navarre was in the mood to
listen.
    Knowing Navarre’s penchant for sweets, Ahijah made sure that
Navarre’s supper always included a tart or some other kind of confection. Knowing
the scrolls were the prisoner’s only form of escape, he brought new ones every
week.
    It was just after dawn on a bright spring morning when
Ahijah made an unexpected appearance at the cage door.
    “What is it?” Navarre asked, his heart hammering with fear. “Is
it time?”
    “Not yet,” Ahijah said. “But soon. A healthy boy was born
Katlaina less than an hour ago.”
    The hope that she would somehow give birth to a girl child
drained out of him at the news. There would be no reprieve now.
    “How soon?”
    “When next the full moon shines.”
    Two nights hence, Navarre thought. A cold sense of dread
speared through him. Two nights, and his life would be over.
    “Ahijah…”
    “Do not ask it of me.”
    “Please.”
    The guard let out a sigh of resignation. “Try, I will.”
    An hour later, Ahijah returned carrying a small bundle
wrapped in a fleecy blue blanket. “Time you have for one quick look, that is
all.”
    One quick look. Navarre devoured the child in a single
glance, marveling at the infant’s tiny fingers and toes, at the thatch of curly
black hair, the soft skin that was only slightly wrinkled and red. He felt his
heart catch in his throat as the babe opened its eyes and looked at him.
    My son , Navarre thought. Joy mingled with despair as
the baby’s tiny fist curled around his finger. Tears welled in his eyes as he
imagined his son growing up in a cage, shut away from the rest of the world.
    “My son,” he murmured, “forgive me.”
    Ahijah cleared his throat. “Back I must take him before he
is missed.”
    “I understand. Bless you, Ahijah, you for letting me see
him.”
    “Remember your promise,” Ahijah said.
    “I remember,” Navarre replied, his gaze intent upon the
infant. “A dozen sons and wealth beyond your imagination.”
    “Do you…is there anything you want me to tell his mother?”
    Slowly, Navarre shook his head. It had all been said.
    * * * * *
    The next two days were the longest and the shortest of his
life.
    At dusk the second day, he was taken into a large room and
stripped of his clothing. Moments later, a eunuch was sent in to bathe him. His
body was rubbed with fragrant oils and spices. His hair was brushed until it
gleamed like polished ebony.
    Symbols of fertility and long life were painted on his
chest, and then the eunuch helped him into a pair of skin tight breeches made
of delicate cloth of gold. A long cloak made of finely woven black wool lined
with whisper-soft silk was draped across his shoulders.
    And then the priests entered the room. There were three of
them, all clad in long gray robes, their faces hidden within the folds of their
cowls.
    “You will present these requests to the goddess Shaylyn,”
said the first of the priests. “You will beg her for a good harvest, for rain
in due season.”
    “You will ask that our women and our beasts will be fertile,
that our enemies will be weak, that our men will be strong in battle,” said the
second.
    “You will ask that our crops will be fruitful, that his
Eminence will live long, that our people will prosper in the land,” added the
third.
    “And if I refuse?”
    “The woman Katlaina will be drawn and quartered, her
still-beating heart torn from her breast. Your son will be raised by strangers.”
    “How will you know if I’ve delivered your message once I’m
dead?”
    “The goddess has always granted our