2. By Moonlight
The house was empty now, each room filled with velvet and crushing silence. Lovina wandered with bare feet, staring blankly at wheeling motes of dust. She clutched at the wisps of her own clothing, for lack of anything else to hold. She wandered through time, past friezes and tapestries, silent suits of armor, thick oil paintings as large as the wall. Her fingers reached out for heavy velvet drapes, whorls of picture frames, anything solid. She refused to eat, sitting alone at the huge dining table and staring at the empty chairs. She couldn't sleep either, just lay naked on the floor in front of the huge arched window, letting the moonlight blanket her, throwing thick black shadows across bare skin.
She closed her eyes, feeling the peculiar prickle of moonlight on her skin, like the sudden chill once a warm touch has left her skin, like the lacking of something. Something lost. She threw an arm across her face to hide the light behind her closed lids. Where was he now? She saw the sparks of green framed under dark bangs. She clenched her eyes tighter, trying to strangle out the images. He left for the war. There was no use reasoning with herself. She saw the look on his face the day he left, the way his eyes had seemed shadowed, far away. Lost. War, the only thing he loves more than me. She wrapped her arms around herself, trying to block out those eyes. She could still feel the tingle of his lips against her neck, how his breath had raised goose prickles on her skin. She raked her fingernails over bare skin, digging them into her side just to feel something. Anything was better than this.
And she had just sat there like a statue and let him leave. She had counted his steps down to the foyer with every heave of her heart. She had let herself be caged here again. A cloud passed over the moon and she was in the darkness for once, the blessed darkness.
She counted her own ribs with trailing fingers, pressing her bare spine into the cold wood of the floorboards. She'd never said goodbye. She'd never told him to stay, never told him that he didn't need to protect her anymore. She'd never said that she just wanted to be with him. She would go to Hell with him if he asked. She would rather die with him, sink to the cold depths of the sea with him, burn to ashes in his arms, than lie here alone on the floor of her gilded cage. She'd tried, but the words just got stuck. She was always stuck, frozen in front of him.
And now he was gone, the empty house bearing down around her, and she was tethered here without him. How do I move without him? She opened her eyes, watching thin wisps of cloud sail across the pocked face of the moon. The moon, always paying homage to the sun. She's always chasing after him through the sky, but never catching him. She can never hold him. Lovina brushed her fingers against the curve of her neck, feeling the tender bruises nestled among her curls. She'd seen the look of pain, of horror on his face at the dull purple on her skin, marks from his hands. Like craters on the moon.
Is that it? Is the sun too afraid to hold her? Does he think he'll burn her with his touch? All this time he's been fighting off all the other stars, keeping their burning trails away from her pale white glow, but he thinks she should really be hiding from him. Lovina shot up from the floor, wrapping her arms around her legs. Her whole body tingled. He's off to get himself killed because he can't protect me from himself. I have to go, she thought to herself.
She jumped to her feet, grabbing a thin linen shirt that was strewn across the headboard and slipping it over her bare shoulders. She pulled on ballooning trousers and pulled up her riding boots around her thighs. She snatched her rapier off of the shelf and buckled it to her hip, feeling its familiar weight against her side. There was only one horse still in the stables, a light gray palfrey she didn't recognize. Her own little bay was nowhere to be seen. That's fine, I'll ride the moonlight. She jumped lightly onto its back and spurred the horse forwards through the forest, towards the sunrise, towards him.
The horse shied at the clearing, nostrils flaring and eyes rimmed in white, ears pressed flat against its head. It pranced side to side under the last shadow of the trees as if it was afraid to step into the parched sunlight. At first Lovina couldn't tell what was terrifying it so. But then she saw the bodies. She had thought it was some strange crop, or broken stones strewn about the empty field. But she saw a flag, like grasping fingers, raking at the harsh blue sky. She saw arms grasping for the horizon, heard a stifled cry in the distance. But it couldn't be. There couldn't be that many bodies. It looked like a spoiled child's room, toys strewn broken across the floor. Those things couldn't have ever been alive, not like that. They couldn't have been human.
The horse whinnied and snorted, pawing at the ground. She spurred it forwards with a light kick, steering it between the bodies. She just had to find him, then it would all be alright. Ahead of them she heard the shriek of a horse as it tried to stand on broken legs. Her own horse bucked in fear, trying to turn left or right, anywhere but further forwards. Its hind legs sank into the muck about them, splashing in rusty drops across its gray flanks. Lovina tried to spur the horse onwards, but the cries of the crippled horse and the smell of blood were sending it into frenzy. She pulled the reins to a halt, drawing out her rapier. The rasp of metal on leather sounded like a horrified gasp. Lovina vaulted out of the saddle, trying not to land on anything that had once been alive. She threw the reins up over the horse's head and smacked its flank with the flat of her blade.
"Run," she screamed as it raced towards the trees, flashing bright white against the field of brown and red. "Don't ever come back." She turned back around, slipping her rapier back into its sheath, and headed forwards over the battlefield. The going was slow, the field reduced to acres of mud, and she kept running into filthy shapes curled on the ground. At first she tried to figure out which side they were on, but they all just looked dead. Most of them didn't even look human anymore, arms at angles, fingers twisted grotesquely back on themselves. She saw a man leaning against a dead horse, frantically trying to stuff his own organs, like shining red worms, inside his stomach as he choked up blood. She saw the horse again, helplessly trying to stand on broken and bloody legs, slipping in the thick mud. A red banner streamed around its neck, fringed in bright gold. But the delicate embroidery was slowly being masked in thick mud as the horse flailed on the ground.
Lovina stumbled over to the creature through the muck. It shrieked as she drew closer, the most human sound she'd heard. It thrashed its head wildly, eyes white, screaming louder as it landed on its crushed legs. She held out her hand unsteadily, edging forwards until her fingers brushed its forehead. The horse quieted under her touch, breathing heavily as she ran her fingers through its mane. It tried to stand again, making it to one wobbly foot before collapsing sideways. Lovina cried out and wrapped her arms around its neck.
"No, please no. You're only hurting yourself." She cried into its thick mane, pressing her face to its forehead. Hot tears raced down her cheeks. "You don't have to fight anymore. You don't have to be afraid." She held its huge head in her hands, brushing over its coarse hair with shaking fingers. A hand made its way to her scabbard. The horse tried to stand again, weaker this time, as it saw her blade flash in the sunlight. "Shh, you're going home" she whispered as she stroked its mane with her other hand. "I'm so sorry." She slid the blade quickly across its throat, one hand still tangled in its mane. It shuddered silently then collapsed to the ground. The greedy earth drank its fill of red.
Lovina wandered onwards till she heard the scraping of steel on steel. She was tempted to flee and head back for the cover of trees. Who knew who she would find alive in this Hell? But her feet drew her forwards, scrambling over mud and bodies until she was running. There, framed against the burning sky, three figures dancing. That was her first thought, a waltz. Two of the figures twirled around the central one, who seemed surrounded by a shining glow. The glow resolved itself into a whirling halberd, flashing by in the setting sun. The two other figures ducked and dodged, slashing half-heartedly at the central man. One had the remains of a shield strapped to his arm, like a broken wing, feathers pointing the wrong way. The other tried a back slash at the central man, who swatted him aside with the butt end of his halberd like he was flicking away a fly. Lovina watched, entranced, as the halberd danced like water through the air, shining and slashing, every movement carefully leading to the next, no motion wasted. The other two seemed clumsy in comparison, hacking wildly, and then dashing back out of range. Surely the axe-wielder could have disposed of them by now, there was no fight left in them. They were just waiting to die. A thought struck her and she shivered. He's playing with them, like a cat with a wounded bird. He doesn't want to end it just yet because after them, there's nothing left for him to fight. Except me.
She clutched the rapier tighter in her hand and turned to run, but was stuck frozen as one man stumbled. The halberd came down in a silver arc against the red sky, and stuck heavily into the man's skull. He spun round, as if turning to her for help, then his arms dropped, limp, to his side. The central figure jerked his halberd sharply and for a second the man on the end of it danced grotesquely before he collapsed to the ground, just another broken toy on the field. The other man raised his sword and bent down, then charged forward. Lovina almost screamed after him to stop, to run away. No, he wants to die. The central figure just stood, drew his arm back calmly, and swung his halberd in a wide arc. Like cutting flowers. A round object detached itself from the man's body, rolling to his feet, and he followed it to the ground. The remaining figure bent down and wiped his blade off on the dead man's tunic, then rolled him over with his boot. He looked up to the sky, but caught sight of her, framed against the horizon.
Even from that distance she could see the flash of green. Her whole body locked. Her breath caught in her throat. A bright smile spread across his face, white against the blood and mud that stained it. Lovina stood frozen as Antonio advanced towards her over bodies, sky flaming behind him, slowly raising his gleaming halberd.