The Mask Wearer

by Bryan Perro

  Amos saw the words twirl in the ball, unable to escape. Then, with all his strength, he hurled the ball.

  “Go close to the ear of my friend Beorf Bromanson and shatter!” he instructed loudly.

  He looked on as the ball flew in the direction of Bratel-la-Grande, where he hoped that his friend was still alive. He missed Beorf and regretted having left him behind. Lost in thought, Amos went down to the dining hall of the castle to nibble on something. Junos was there, helping the servants clean the tables after the knights’ breakfast.

  “I’ve asked my men to get ready so we can leave soon,” Junos told Amos. “We have a long road ahead and many dangers await us. We have to be well rested if we hope to take Bratel-la-Grande back from the evil forces that occupy it. We can discuss our strategy later on. Long live the Knights of Equilibrium!”

  As Amos looked at Junos, he felt dizzy again and lost consciousness. His last act of magic had drained him of all his energy.

  —14—

  THE EYES OF MEDUSA

  For the last three days, Beorf and Medusa had shared the same hiding place. They did not go out of the cavern even once. Inside the pantry were enough provisions to allow them to survive for several weeks. The young gorgon had to be content with the few insects she found there. She did not like this diet too much. She would have preferred roaches rather than spiders.

  Violent thunderstorms and heavy rains kept them confined, but gave them the chance to talk at length. Beorf told Medusa about his life in the forest, his daily routine with his parents, and his games with the bees. The more time he spent with her, the more he liked Medusa. Never before had he had the occasion to make friends, and meeting her had filled his heart with unknown happiness. The young gorgon was sweet and attentive, calm and easygoing.

  Out of straw and small pieces of wood, Beorf made a charming doll in Medusa’s image. The young gorgon kissed him tenderly on the cheek to thank him. Beorf wished that their time in the cavern would never end. He felt respected and liked. He had fallen in love very fast. Medusa’s words sounded like soft music to his ears. At night they slept back-to-back to keep warm. The fat boy lived in a constant state of happiness. Hours seemed like minutes; days like hours.

  On the morning of the fourth day, Medusa asked Beorf if he knew why the sorcerer had taken such an interest in Bratel-la-Grande.

  “Oh, yes, I do know,” Beorf answered as he stuffed himself with hazelnuts. “He’s looking for a pendant. But don’t worry, he’ll never find it!”

  “Why?” asked the gorgon, surprised by Beorf’s confident tone.

  “Because I hid it myself,” Beorf answered proudly. “I don’t know what this pendant represents for the snake-man or what power it has. He told me a story about it, but I didn’t believe a word of what he said. One has to be wary of nagas. They’re wily liars.”

  Medusa thought for a moment. “But if we had the pendant, maybe we could use it against him,” she said. “I know a little bit about magic. If I could see it, it might help us understand its power.”

  “I believe it’s more dangerous to have it in our hands than to leave it where it’s hidden. I think that Karmakas could detect its presence. He would be after us in no time.”

  “Yes, you’re right, my friend,” Medusa answered. “Yet I’m curious to know where it’s hidden.”

  “I’d like to tell you but I won’t. If Karmakas ever captured you, you’d be tortured until he got the secret.”

  Vexed, the young gorgon turned her back to him. “If Karmakas were to capture me, I’d be killed right away for having helped you to escape,” she said. “I understand that you wish to keep the hiding place secret. But I thought I was your friend. Back home, we tell everything to our friends. You may be right not to trust me. After all, I’m only a vicious gorgon!”

  “Of course you’re my friend. Even my best friend,” Beorf said. He was confused. “It’s to protect you that I don’t want to tell you where the pendant is.”

  “Pardon me,” Medusa said after a while. “I know that you’re doing this for my own good. I’m too inquisitive. I admire you so much! I’d just like to know what trick you used to keep the sorcerer from finding his pendant, that’s all.”

  Beorf was touched by the compliment. “All right, I’ll tell you. It will be our secret,” he said, coming close to her ear. “I hid the pendant before I met Karmakas. My friend Amos Daragon told me that something or someone very powerful was looking for it. After he left for the woods of Tarkasis, I thought of a spot where no one would look for it. The pendant is hidden in Bratel-la-Grande’s cemetery. There are thousands of tombs and dozens of vaults there. It’s like a labyrinth of hiding places. I thought the gorgons would never question the dead, and I was right. I’m sure that Karmakas will never think to search there, either.”

  Medusa smiled tenderly. “Thank you for trusting me, my friend. I’ll never tell this secret to anyone. But if I may ask you one more question, where did you hide it in the cemetery?”

  “I’d rather keep that to myself,” Beorf answered. “It’s difficult to explain to someone who doesn’t know the place. I went there with my bees because the cemetery is covered with beautiful flowers rich in pollen. If you want, I’ll take you there later.”

  At that precise moment, Karmakas entered the cavern. His long tail was gone and he moved on two legs. Promptly he grabbed Medusa and put a dagger to her throat.

  “Ssss, it was about time! I’ve been watching you, ssss, for three days. I was becoming ssss, impatient. Now, young beorite, ssss, you will go to the cemetery and, ssss, bring me back my pendant. If not, ssss, I’ll kill your friend. One less gorgon makes no difference to my army.”

  Medusa seemed calm in spite of the menacing blade touching her throat.

  “Don’t yield to this blackmail, Beorf, don’t tell him anything!” she said. “If you save me, you will imperil many other people! Let him kill me! He’ll kill us anyway once he gets the pendant. Save your life and keep quiet!”

  Beorf did not know what to do.

  “Decide quickly!” Karmakas said, pushing the blade against the skin of the young gorgon.

  Medusa howled in pain.

  Unable to see his friend suffer, Beorf shouted, “All right, let her live and I’ll give you the pendant. Swear that you won’t hurt her!”

  “I swear,” the naga answered. “I’ll wait for you here, ssss, with her, ssss, to be sure that you come back. Retrieve my, ssss, pendant and hurry. My patience is running, ssss, thin.”

  Beorf morphed into his bear form and left the cavern in one leap. He ran as fast as he could to Bratel-la-Grande’s cemetery. On his way, he tried to come up with a solution, a way to outsmart the sorcerer. If only Amos were here! he thought. He would find a way to keep the pendant and save Medusa. One thing was clear to him: the gorgon had to be saved, and he would do all he could to keep her alive—and close to him. He was ready to sacrifice his own life to rescue her.

  Once in the cemetery, Beorf approached a vault belonging to a prominent family in the city. He moved one of the stones that had become loose over the years and recovered the pendant quickly. The beorite breathed a little easier with the precious object between his paws. His thoughts were confused and his fear of losing Medusa was torturing him. He was trapped! There was no reason for the naga to spare their lives once he got the pendant back. Beorf had done everything he could to keep the pendant from falling into the sorcerer’s hands. Now he had no choice: he had to face death with dignity, hoping for Karmakas’s mercy. With these somber thoughts, he walked back holding the pendant between his teeth.

  When he reached the cavern, Beorf took his human form again. He was perspiring.

  “Here is your pendant!” he told the sorcerer, who was still threatening Medusa with his weapon. “Now, spare us. If you really have to kill someone to satisfy your anger, take my life, but let Medusa live. She has nothing to do with this. It’s between you and me!”

  Karmakas grabbed the pendant. He let out a m
onstrous laugh. “Very well, ssss, I will take your life and, ssss, let Medusa live. You agree, ssss, to this?”

  Resigned, Beorf took a deep breath. “Yes, my life for hers!” he said solemnly.

  The naga seemed to enjoy Beorf’s predicament. He put his dagger aside and removed the hood from Medusa’s head.

  “You see, ssss, my beautiful child,” he said, addressing the young gorgon whose back faced Beorf, “how, ssss, everything ends well for you!”

  Medusa hugged Karmakas and kissed his cheek.

  “You told me once that beorites were stupid and sentimental,” she said. “You were right! It was easy to make him talk. So easy. Thank you for believing in me, Father. I think I played my part rather well.”

  Beorf stared at them openmouthed. He could not believe his ears or his eyes. Karmakas looked at him smugly.

  “Let me introduce my, ssss, daughter Medusa,” he said. “Every gorgon is, ssss, my child. We are, ssss, a large family!”

  Medusa brought her hood down over her eyes and turned toward Beorf.

  “Did you really believe that you had become my friend?” she said to him. “I hate hairy creatures. They disgust me! You stink like a wild beast and I find you repulsive. I don’t like you. In fact, I hate you. If you used your mind more often than your stomach, you’d have understood that I was not sincere. It was so simple to make you believe that I was your friend. I don’t deserve my father’s praise. You are stupid, Beorf!”

  Beorf held back tears. “I really loved you, Medusa,” he said. “And even if I know now that you lied and that I’m going to die, I’ll never regret the time I spent with you. They were the best moments of my life.”

  “Be quiet!” cried the gorgon. “You’re pitiful. But I will do something for you. In exchange for the stupid doll that you made me, I’ll grant one of your wishes. I’ll let you see my eyes. They will be the last thing you see before turning to stone. It would be a pity to deprive you of them!”

  Beorf’s desire to see Medusa’s eyes was so strong that when she pulled up her hood, Beorf did not even think of turning his head away. He saw that her eyes were bloodred. At the center of each pupil a light flickered like a blazing fire. He was suddenly unable to move. He felt his skin harden. A wave of cold invaded his body. But just before he turned to stone, Beorf spoke.

  “You have the most beautiful eyes in the world, Medusa,” he said tenderly.

  —15—

  THE NEW MISSION

  For almost a week, Medusa had returned every day to the cavern where Beorf stood petrified and lifeless. She studied his honest face, now frozen in stone. The gorgon could not get his last words out of her mind: You have the most beautiful eyes in the world, Medusa. Right until the end, Beorf had not wavered. He had proven that his feelings for her were true.

  Medusa did not understand his behavior. Love did not exist among gorgons. It was a feeling to be avoided, a weakness attributed to other races. Love and friendship were ridiculed. Having real friends was unheard of in Medusa’s country. It was only to survive that the weakest united with the strongest ones. At home, daily life was a constant struggle to gain power, to lead clans, to find food, and to secure a place to sleep.

  Since her childhood, Medusa had known only the cruelty of her fellow gorgons. The only being who had given her something similar to affection was her father. Karmakas took in the weakest gorgons and looked after them. From then on, they had to serve him without balking. This was the way he had created a powerful army. Each gorgon knew his power and nobody dared to defy him. He wanted to be called Father and promoted his best soldiers. All the highest-ranking gorgons were called Mother. The magician had thus managed to create a false sense of family.

  Beorf had told Medusa a lot about his own parents, but she had been unable to understand that sort of relationship. At home, there were no males. Gorgons were all women. Legend said that the first gorgon—the gorgon who had been transformed by Ceto—reproduced herself each time a drop of her blood fell on the ground. In fact, gorgons reproduced by means of their hair. A new gorgon was born out of each snake-hair. After reaching maturity, the reptile fell on the ground and in time became a gorgon. Therefore, Medusa had never known a close family structure. It was each gorgon for herself. To help the youngest ones, or to take care of the eldest, was out of the question. Life was difficult, and only the strongest, most cunning, and most vicious managed to survive.

  Medusa had not lied to Beorf when she told him that Karmakas was in control of her snake-hairs through his magic. When a gorgon did not obey the sorcerer’s orders, the reptiles bit the gorgon’s face and shoulders pitilessly. The pain was so intense that it destroyed any desire for revolt or independence.

  When Karmakas had realized that the humanimal refused to talk in spite of his hunger, he had decided to ensnare him. Karmakas ordered Medusa to free Beorf and make him believe that she was his friend. He then listened to every conversation that the gorgon and man-bear had in the cavern through the intermediary of the golden snakes of the gorgon’s hair. The heart of a beorite was as big as its stomach. The sorcerer’s ruse had proven successful.

  Now Karmakas had the pendant, and he remained locked inside Bratel-la-Grande’s castle. He had decreed that no one was to leave the capital. But Medusa knew Beorf’s secret passage and refused to obey the sorcerer. Every day, she slipped out of the city through the secret tunnel and went to be with the young humanimal.

  There was something fascinating about this boy. Looking at him, the young gorgon felt a new feeling grow inside of her—a sense of emptiness that she had never known before. She wanted to take him in her arms, to watch him stuff himself with nuts, to listen to his chatter, and to feel the warmth of his back against hers. The feeling that was growing slowly within her gave her increasing pain. It wasn’t like the pain from a snakebite or a wound received in battle. It was more acute, deeper and more serious.

  With her hand, she caressed Beorf’s stone face as she remembered his good humor and innocence. He would never again be alive by her side. To break a gorgon’s spell, the gorgon had to be killed by seeing her own reflection. This was the only way to bring a stone statue back to life, the only way to reverse the curse. She would never see Beorf alive again. For the first time ever, she missed someone. She caught herself laughing at the thought of Beorf’s silliness and cried to see him prisoner of her curse. She had betrayed her only friend and felt horribly guilty.

  As she caressed Beorf’s face one last time before going back to Bratel-la-Grande, a puff of wind entered the cavern. It went around the space carefully, brushing each object, whirling against the cavern walls. It seemed to be looking for something. The wind surrounded Medusa, then Beorf. It gathered in front of Beorf’s face, forming a translucent sphere that tried to enter into Beorf’s ears but could not penetrate the stone. Unable to deliver its message, the sphere broke in pieces and Medusa heard a boy’s voice.

  “Beorf, it’s me, Amos. I am well and will come as soon as possible with an army of four hundred knights. Hold tight, I’ll be there soon.”

  Medusa remembered that Beorf had mentioned that his friend Amos Daragon had left to go to the woods of Tarkasis. But he had never said that Amos was so powerful. Now Amos was coming with an army to take back Bratel-la-Grande. The young gorgon left the cavern in a hurry to go and warn Karmakas. Midway, she changed her mind.

  If I tell the sorcerer, she thought, I’ll betray Beorf a second time. But if I keep quiet, the knights will launch a surprise attack and take back the city. My fellow gorgons will be destroyed. I might lose my life too.

  Faced with this dilemma, Medusa sat down to think. She did not want to hurt anyone again. Her heart had discovered the importance of friendship. The fate of humans and that of gorgons was in her hands. She had to make a decision and take a side once and for all. She hurried back to the cavern. As she stood in front of Beorf, she looked at him from head to toe.

  “You too have the most beautiful eyes, my friend,” she whispere
d.

  Once he had the skull pendant in his hands, Karmakas had rushed to the castle of Bratel-la-Grande. Installed in his new quarters, he had told his gorgon servants that he was on no account to be disturbed. The naga spent hours at a time looking at the pendant. He fondled it between his long fingers, smiling with contentment. At last the sorcerer had gotten his property back. After he had searched so many years for Yaune the Purifier, his efforts had been fully rewarded. His enemies, the Knights of Light, were now just harmless statues. He would be able to give life to his basilisk.

  Karmakas felt a renewed strength, a courage fueled by a desire for revenge. He was going to create a living weapon capable of destroying humans, a weapon that would assure his reign on earth. He would start by extending his power from city to city, from realm to realm, and then take control of all of this part of the world. His armies of gorgons would go north to attack barbarians, then south to seize the rich and prosperous countries located on the other side of the ocean. Nothing could derail his plan. The gods of darkness would thank him and grant him infinite power. He might even be elevated to the rank of demigod!

  Karmakas came from a faraway country close to Hyperborea, where humanimals like him were considered devils. He lived in a large city cut into the stone face of arid mountains. From an early age, he had shown a special talent for magic. He knew better than anyone else how to control snakes. Having noticed this gift, his parents had entrusted him to a sect that worshipped Seth—a snake-headed god. Karmakas became a powerful sorcerer, quickly outshining his teachers. He easily inspired respect and fear.

  As soon as he had been proclaimed king and master of the city, Karmakas had encouraged the dwellers to revolt against humans. His arrogance and his unbridled ambition had driven him to wage a merciless war against all the surrounding kingdoms. Hordes of snake-men had attacked and ransacked cities and villages, leaving only misery and desolation in their wake. Tired of these incessant wars, several humanimals of his own species had decided to get rid of him. They wanted another leader. Karmakas didn’t care. He used his powers to form an army of gorgons that he led against his own people. To punish them for their treason, he had all the inhabitants killed. The snake-headed god, Seth, took notice and appeared to him; he offered Karmakas a rooster’s egg.