The Bone Mask Trilogy: (An Epic Fantasy Boxed Set), page 89
The day wore on. Sofia helped Alcina fish with twine and remnants of dried worm taken from supplies her father had stowed on the boat. By night, the moon was a giant white ball hanging in the black sky, its reflection splattered across the waves. What had become of Notch and Nia? Were they safe – had they put a stop to Efran? And back home, would the city even be standing? Seto, Luik and Flir, were they safe too?
She sighed. Let Ana smile upon them.
“You should sleep, My Lady,” Emilio said quietly from where he sat by the tiller. Her father had stretched out in the aft and Alcina was curled nearby. Conditions were cramped and Sofia hadn’t been able to fall asleep.
“I know.”
“Is anything amiss?”
“Just thinking about Notch. And the city. I miss them both, the longer I am away. I miss having him with us; he protected me when Father couldn’t.”
“They will be well. I am certain.”
In the night it was hard to tell, but his expression appeared confident. “How can you be sure?”
“Faith in them. Captain Notch and Nia are skilful, resourceful. Strong. They will prevail.”
“And Anaskar?”
He hesitated. “I admit, that is testing my faith in even the hearts of my fellow Shield. The acor is a fearsome thing. Add to that new Greatmasks and we are in grave peril.”
“Father must have a plan.”
“I agree. You should try resting again, My Lady,” he said, his deep voice full of concern. “Take my cloak, if you wish.”
“Thank you, but you’ll be cold,” she said. “I’ll try again.”
Sofia lay back against her pack, pulling her robe over her body. When she closed her eyes, pictures of a burning city filled her vision and she tried but failed to banish them.
***
Days passed with only the routine of rowing, fishing and occasional landfall to break the trip, where they cooked and took the opportunity to stretch out. Living in such crammed quarters made each stop precious and she happily collected wood for fires among the waving grey grass of the plains.
Rain was frequent, but the first time it cleared to reveal a spotless blue sky, her father put the oars aside. “Sofia, come and take my hand.”
They sat on the rower’s bench, masks facing.
“I’m going to ask Argeon to watch over you while you are not wearing Osani. It will be painful but not for long at first. Each time we try this, you will have to resist wearing Osani for longer periods.”
She removed the Greatmask. “I’m ready.”
His grip grew firmer. Sofia held her breath. Nothing was – no, something was changing. A presence crept across her, replacing the sense of Osani – which until now she’d not noticed. Osani was...younger? Whereas Argeon’s familiar age fell across her, yet as in the beginning, his attention remained divided.
But the changes were not over. Her toes and ankles started to throb, deep inside. Pain grew. It spread up her legs and into her hips and she growled, squeezing her father’s hands. Worse than when she had woken from a deep sleep in the past.
“A little longer, Petal.”
Through her chest, like a smouldering within her ribs, then shooting down her arms and up into her neck, which stiffened into immobility – only now the pain went further. Her bones were...twisting inside her limbs.
“Father!” She ground the word out before her jaw locked.
And then the pain was gone and she could move again, shuddering as she fell into him. Father’s heart thumped so hard against his chest she could feel it beneath her palm. He’d been afraid.
She swallowed.
Argeon had faded and Osani returned. She pulled herself back, breathing hard. “How can I stand that for any longer than moments?”
Emilio had stopped rowing and she gave him a weak smile. He continued, face troubled.
Father rubbed her hand. “You cannot yet. We must take small steps.”
“Small steps.” Whatever it took. Being dependant on wearing the mask, she was vulnerable. All it would take would be for someone to remove her mask and she’d be helpless and likely dead in under an hour, especially if her bones were going to keep twisting and fusing. “It came on so fast, this time.”
“Each time will be slower; I have asked Argeon to help you. We will try again tomorrow.”
“Not later today?” Despite the pain, she wanted it over and done with.
He shook his head. “You need to recover.”
“I don’t feel that bad.”
“Tonight you will be weary, I have seen the weaning before.”
She leant forward. “With Argeon? Who?”
“Your great uncle Medaco. Father helped wean him off Argeon. I was privy to it.”
“We shared masks?”
“There was a time, yes, when our family was large enough. A time when we shared common goals, that we took on co-guardianship of Argeon.”
“How long did it take to free him?”
“Weeks of incremental progress. I suspect Argeon and I will have to develop something more efficient for you, Petal.”
“We must be close to Anaskar too.”
“Indeed. And I must also find a way to break through to Osani before then.”
“Can I help?”
“Possibly. We will attempt something tonight.”
She replaced Osani and they sailed on, Father taking a turn on the oars. The sea remained calm and near nightfall Sofia caught herself nodding off. She blinked when her father directed them around a reef, jerking the tiller a little harder. They soon landed, Emilio and her father dragging the boat up the sand once she’d hopped out to help Alcina.
Sofia stood off to the side, pinching herself.
“We’ll have camp ready in no time and you can rest,” Emilio said.
She nodded. When her bedroll was laid out she bent down to crawl atop, closing her eyes with a shiver for the cold. Someone placed a cloak over her and she murmured her thanks before closing her eyes.
It was dawn when she woke to sound of the stirring camp. Her stomach grumbled when she stood. She wrapped up her sleeping gear before cramming down the last of her ration; sweet berries.
“Slow down, you’ll choke,” Alcina said.
“Huh?”
“I can hear you inhaling that from here,” she said. Beyond, Emilio and her father worked on the boat.
“Sorry. I’m hungry today.” There was a spring in her step too, a little more than before, especially seeing as it had not been apparent in the lead up to her trial on the boat. But when she removed Osani, an ache began to spread through her bones – not as swiftly, but she still replaced it at once.
No way was it going to beat her. Sofia moved to help load the boat.
They soon skimmed across the waves and near noon, her father bade Emilio rest at the oar. He sat at the tiller, watching the water as he spoke. “I have been thinking on our return to Anaskar and nothing truly satisfactory has come to mind. It will be dangerous, even with the cover of darkness. Still I cannot contact Metti or any other and so we will have no information there.”
“The harbour will be watched,” Emilio said. “And the streets.”
Father drummed fingers on the gunwale. “And who knows how keen their sight will be, with Greatmasks to help? I will ask Argeon to cloak us, but I do not know if that alone will be enough. We must enter Anaskar via an old way.”
“From outside the walls?” Sofia asked.
“Yes. There are few ways into the city aside from the gates but there is one little-known path we can take. It will get us into the Lower Tier, but from there I cannot say how we will fare finding the next passage. Much will depend on the state of the city itself.”
“Worry about that when we’re in,” Alcina said.
“True enough,” he said.
“And within the city itself, what is our plan?” Emilio asked.
“We should find Flir and the others,” Sofia said.
“Flir?” her father asked. “Of the Glass War?”
“The same.” She was surprised she hadn’t mentioned it before, as she outlined her time with Flir and Seto. “If she can, Flir and Luik will help.”
“Two heroes no less? We could have used Captain Medoro too,” he mused. “And Seto now king?” He laughed. “I had never thought to see the day; the old Rat.”
“I hope they are all right,” she said.
Emilio pulled the oars in. “So we find Seto and the others then begin to organise resistance? What if we can’t find anyone?”
“The same. We will locate a safe place and begin gathering information, weaknesses about our enemy – primarily their masks.”
“You want to steal one?”
“Yes. One and more, for I fear we are out-matched on that front.”
“We need Osani,” Sofia said.
“We do,” he replied. “In fact, let that be our next task. I believe Argeon and I have come up with something that will help.”
Chapter 16.
Flir ran her finger down the list of items for Bodol. She checked off each one where she leant against the door in the dim light of the Harper’s basement. “I disagree,” she told Kanis without looking up.
“Doesn’t matter,” he replied from the table. “You know I’m right.”
The lamp flickered when Pevin stood, his grey robe swirling. He strode to a water-barrel and dunked his cup. “Forgive me, dilars. But I have been thinking upon this for some time now and I believe you are both wrong.”
Kanis snorted.
“Go on,” Flir said.
“I don’t believe infiltrating the palace is the best course of action. Even if you were able to spirit the king away, the Ecsoli will turn themselves to finding him and his mask. Their obsession with bone is clear – they will hardly let a Greatmask slip from their reach and that is additional attention we do not want.”
“I can’t just leave him there,” Flir said.
“Of course not. But we know he lives yet; the appearance yesterday revealed as much.”
Flir nodded. True. And the old rat had appeared well enough – save for the anger that lurked beneath his words. From atop the city walls, he’d urged the populace to cooperate with the Ecsoli, to continue working and trading. Little else of note had been said, before his guard returned him to the palace.
Word spread quickly via those the invaders had rounded up in order to witness Seto’s proclamation.
And to some extent the city had resumed its life, if a strained one. Murders of anyone with even the suggestion of non-Anaskari heritage continued, along with forced exile for others, and the Ecsoli continued to take at their will. Some Ecsoli had even attempted to revive the ‘hound-races’, only now the competitors were adults, the hounds were horses and all riders were being forced to watch the losing mounts, and sometimes each other, being slaughtered.
Grimcarts were rarely at rest.
But Ecsoli and Gigansi were also put to work cleaning up the harbour and had begun repairs on the wharves and the walls. Fishing had resumed – the Ecsoli were hard at work ‘cleansing’ the fish caught. Other blue-cloaks ordered their slaves to make repairs on bigger, opulent and practical buildings in the Second Tier, while yet more were sent into the surrounding farmlands to spread word of the new rule and to collect supplies, though, it appeared, rarely to pillage.
Yet it was worse, perhaps, that they sought to take and keep her home, rather than simply destroy it. And all her ideas to stop them had come to naught so far – latest of which was the failure to locate the other Rats. Ciano, one of Seto’s surviving men, hadn’t been able to locate any on his searches, coming to the conclusion that they were dead, fled or hidden so deep as to be as good as buried.
Something still had to be done.
Pevin returned to his seat. “Whether we enter the palace from below or from above, it will not solve the bigger problem.”
“Being?” Kanis asked.
“Bones.”
“Yes. Bones. They have all the bones. They can use the bones.” Pevin moved his cup a little way across the table. “We have none. The moment we do something that draws attention – whether climbing up from below via Bodol or breaking into the Tier wall again, we are finished. We are out-classed here.”
Kanis’ expression was dark. Flir imagined her own to be a mirror. Pevin was right. And she’d been loath to confront the fact. It was just...uncomfortable to be so...powerless. High odds she’d faced many times. Brushes with death, great pain and a slew of bitter disappointments but the Ecsoli were beyond anything she’d faced. Kanis too, would have hardly come across anything so apparently insurmountable.
“Only if we give up, Pevin, though I take your point. So, we have no bones. What do we have?”
“You and I,” Kanis said.
Pevin retrieved his cup. “The remnants of King Oseto’s network of thieves and underground elements.”
“Acor,” Kanis added.
“Where?” Flir asked as she took her seat.
“Bottom of the harbour. I can swim down and salvage it. The stuff was sealed watertight.”
“Do you think so?”
“Worth a try.”
Flir shrugged. “Why not? And there is at least one other weapon we ought to have. The Storm Singers. We left them and Alosus guarding the entry to the mountain.”
“But no word since,” Pevin noted.
Flir set her list aside and drummed her fingers on the tabletop. “We’re overpowered whichever way we cut it. We need bones – or to take their bones away.”
“So you know how to use a Greatmask?” Kanis asked, eyebrow raised.
“No, but I wonder if the suits are different?” Flir mused. “Vinezi had something similar to the Ecsoli. Not as sophisticated, but he could do much of what they can.”
“He was still Anaskari or Ecsoli and we are not,” Pevin said.
Flir muttered a curse. Of course. “Then we’re back to taking their bones away.”
Kanis shook his head. “They already have the sea beast’s bones and their own masks and suits. We’re not taking anything. They’ll snap us like rotten tree branches. I say we blow up the palace with them in it.”
“Not while Seto’s inside.”
“And if even but two or three are on the streets at that time, we’ll still be overpowered,” Pevin said.
“We need help,” Flir agreed.
Pevin chuckled. “A fair assessment. What then, is our best bet to find the Storm Singers?”
“Isn’t there another option?” Kanis said. “The first option?”
“And what would that be?” Flir stood again and began to pace.
“Vinezi. He made a suit before his countrymen arrived. Find him and we find our own bones, don’t we?”
“Assuming he was able to cheat death again,” Pevin said.
“He did it before, didn’t he?” Kanis asked. “And he’s been planning this for a long time, no doubt. One of his lackeys stayed on my ship but was quick to try to leave before the attack – no doubt on his way to help Vinezi. I wouldn’t bet on him staying dead. Flir?”
She shook her head. “I’m not taking that bet – but I just don’t know how he could return this time. I killed him myself.”
“Maybe he’s alive, maybe not. I’d be more than happy to force him to hand over whatever he has – or make him craft whatever we need for one of your Anaskari friends to use.”
Flir stopped. It wasn’t a terrible idea. And maybe their best lead. After all, it’d mean returning to the Tier wall, where Abrensi and Lavinia were last seen, which was a chance to search for the two of them at the same time. Vinezi might return somehow – or he might still be dead and his store of bone waiting unclaimed.
If he had a store of bone.
On the other hand, chasing Vinezi and his bone meant leaving Seto to the Ecsoli. “I have to think about it,” she said.
Kanis swung his feet from the table then stood, heading for the stairs. “I’m going to get something to drink while you do.”
She sighed. Typical.
“Dilar?”
“Yes, Pevin?”
“He might be right for all his faults.”
“It still leaves Seto in their hands.”
“So long as he is in possession of the Greatmask, he will be fine, I believe.”
“Why don’t they simply take it?”
Pevin shrugged. “Do not the Greatmasks have a bond with their wearer, making them useless to other houses?”
“True,” Flir said.
Pevin reached out to take her own cup, offering to refill it. When she shook her head, he continued. “Thus, I’m forced to surmise that even if they kill him, the Greatmask may be useless. It is well within their needs to seek another way to transfer ownership – something which is difficult enough that had they been able to do so easily, I feel they would have already achieved the task?”
“You’re only guessing all of this.”
“Educated guesses, I feel. But yes.”
She laughed. “Well, I think I agree with you. There is a chance he’s safer within their reach. For now.”
“Then our best hope is still to find Vinezi’s bones.”
“If he hasn’t used them all. Or lost them. Or had them taken by the Ecsoli.”
“But we have to know, one way or another.”
She sighed. “Which means we’re heading back into the mountain.”
“Tonight?”
“No. I want to prepare properly. And look for Luik near the Celno’s Temple this time. We’ll leave tomorrow night.”
Pevin’s expression saddened. “You still hope?”
“Of course,” she snapped.
“It has been many days, dilar.” He did not react to her tone.
Flir started toward the stairs. “Drop off Bodol’s things and find Ciano again will you? I want him to help you provision a force of six.”
“Six?”
“If I find no bone, I intend to return with Alosus and the Storm Singers – they’re just as important,” she called over her shoulder.
In the Harper’s common room, conversation was hushed. Patrons had half their attention on the door, half on their meals. Expecting the Ecsoli. Kanis was no-where to be seen. He’d probably grown bored and headed upstairs to take a nap. She nearly started up to check on Alfeo and his mother, but didn’t have the energy to summon any cheer for the boy, who was wracked with worry over Bel. Instead, she pulled her hood up before exiting, stepping into the afternoon sun and turning up the street.
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