Spirits of the Ordinary by Kathleen Alcalá

Author:Kathleen Alcalá
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Raven Chronicles
Published: 2020-11-04T06:40:26+00:00

8

The Kingdom of Xipa

Upon gaining open country, Zacarías and La Gata broke into a gallop of sheer joy. After so many months of city living both were sick of the uneven, cobbled streets, the bad air, the miasma of outhouses, and the constraints of living at someone else’s pleasure brought on by their uneasy boarding arrangements with Magdalena.

All three bakeries had finally been completed to Magdalena’s satisfaction and inaugurated with the initial firing of their ovens. All three were an immediate success, and in the light of her bright fortune, Magdalena had paid Zacarías in pure gold for his time and trouble.

Zacarías could not believe his luck. After so many months, he was certain that she would simply deduct his room and board from his fee, leaving him with a mere pittance for the purchase of mining supplies. Against his wishes, Zacarías realized that he had paid for her hospitality in other ways, for he had proven to be a willing and able student in her bed, soon overcoming his own natural shyness, overlaid with his strict and emotionally frugal upbringing, to become a generous and sensitive lover.

In the end, however, both had to admit that there was little between them besides a natural physical affinity and once that was exhausted, they had had little about which to converse. As accomplished a lover as Zacarías had become, he could not take a serious interest in the business world that fascinated Magdalena, in the political intrigues of international economics and politics, and yearned for the simplicity of his stark mountains, for the open sky and the occasional companionship of fellow wanderers in the open country.

In addition, Zacarías had increasingly found himself feigning satisfaction and satiation after his bedroom interludes with Magdalena. In fact, his headaches had become increasingly worse as he had spent more time in romantic pursuits, reducing him to a near cripple with their severity, and it was with gratitude that he returned to the deprivations and hardships of a solitary bedroll spread upon the rocky ground.

He suspected that Magdalena, too, had grown bored with his company and probably welcomed the return to her former freedom afforded by his leave-taking. Increasingly, each had found reasons to spend less time together—purchasing construction supplies, a business meeting, the weather, the rough terrain—until they only dined together two or three times a week at the end of his stay.

“Take care when you venture into the western territories,” Magdalena had said to him that last night, “I am from those badlands and know just how cruel the people there can be.”

Looking into her emerald eyes Zacarías couldn’t help but wonder again at her mysterious past, something she had alluded to only in passing.

“Give me the name of your people and I will look them up,” he had said. “I will send your greetings for you.”

“I have no people,” had been Magdalena’s reply, and her eyes had grown so cold, like the icy wall of a deep canyon, that Zacarías had been unable to stifle a shiver that ran the length of his body.

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