Adzeo didn’t let that get to him. How much resignation, how much disappointment was in those words. He braced himself against the shame. “Once, you told me there’s hardly a mask in the world that would silence the Hirisa. I need to question that ‘hardly.’”
“Nothing can defeat the will to live, my boy. Nothing,” Toyou said, and finally looked up—not at Adzeo, but to the side of him.
In the shadowed corner, a motion stirred the air. Hassuna, hidden safely beyond the shelves of crude prototype masks, slipped out and smiled at him. Her freckled face was nothing shy of amiable now. She wore the mask of Yasa, the Friend, beneath her skin.
“Hello there, we were waiting for you for so long.”
She had a knife in her hand that she rested casually on Adzeo’s shoulder. Adzeo tried to ignore that, but Hirisa overtook his mind again. He shuddered. His legs carried him out of the shop, as though on their own, aching to sprint.
“Hey, stop. Come back!” Hassuna laughed, arms raised. She dropped her knife to the ground, flouncing, then rolled her eyes. “Don’t be like this. We can talk, all of us like friends. After all, what you came here for—it’s in everyone’s interest now, isn’t it?”
Adzeo noted every motion of her hands, every tiny shift in her eyes and change of conduct. She was as relaxed as usual when she moved out of the entrance and swept the curtains away for him to come back. Rigidly, he went.
“Did you count on me coming here from the start?”
“Yeah. I’m not an idiot, to chase after you through the whole city, am I?” Hassuna snapped the curtains closed behind him and stuck her thumb towards Toyou. “We had quite a talk while waiting. Many interesting things—”
“Enough, Hassuna.” Only now could Adzeo see his Master’s face in full. She had chosen an exquisite mask to wear tonight. Giyeu, the Necessity. It hurt to look at her directly and Adzeo averted his gaze. “Adzeo, look at me.”
He couldn’t bear, but she took his hand in both of hers, and stroked them with her dry warm fingers. “It is not your fault, my boy. Don’t even think of it like that.”
“I brought shame to the Guild and now—”
“The laws that govern the masks state so, yes. We—our profession—are fiddling with dangerous forces. But we aren’t exempt from the spirits that inhabit these masks. We can fall prey to them just as easily.” Adzeo welcomed her hand over his cheek, and Toyou said again, “I don’t blame you, not at all.”
“Will you help me do what I must?” he whispered, through budding tears.
Without another word, she put a mask in Adzeo’s hands. He turned it around, the golden surface marked with ink stars and hearts. A single beautifully-rendered tear stained the mask’s cheek, above the mouth curved in a savage smile. Adzeo didn’t know what to say.
“The Fool?” he breathed, beyond any attempt at actual laughter. “Abau, the Fool, can defeat Hirisa?”
“Nothing else comes even close.” Toyou withdrew. Her back was too round, her step heavy, and she had to put her hand on the wall to hold herself upright. “Please go, Adzeo. This is the only thing I can do for you. The only thing my heart can endure.”
“Will it kill me, or—”
“Madness,” Toyou replied.
Adzeo nodded, not to her but just—to accept this. His grip trembled as he leaned his head to strip Yungu off his face. Too shaky, he couldn’t even hold Yungu in his hands and it dropped to the floor.
“Hey.” Hassuna was there, beside him. She took Abau from him and gave it an appreciative smile. “What an ugly mug.” She snorted. “Still better than what you got.”
Adzeo trembled, holding still against his instincts.
“Hassuna, could you … help me …”
She punched him lightly in the shoulder.
“That’s what friends are for,” she said, eyes crinkling. She pressed Abau to his face, gently but with quiet, unwavering resolve. The mask seeped into his skin and, as soon as it did, Adzeo stopped shaking. Fear washed off him like grime under the rain.
Adzeo waited.
The Fool came to life inside him—itchy to move, desperate to dance in the blades or to rival an open flame, and Adzeo’s face dissolved into a rictus of a smile.
Hassuna watched him closely. “Better?”
“Yeah. That feels more like it,” he said. Within, Hirisa had finally stopped murmuring into his ears and it was such a blessed, divine silence. Empty and echoing. Only a wicked laugh rang back and forth through his mind now. Or maybe it was out loud, in Adzeo’s own voice—it was hard to tell. “Amanoori, my love. Here I come.”
He swung around and made towards the threshold, as weightless and easy in his step as he had never been. But he didn’t reach the exit.
At first, he didn’t understand what had happened, what the red wedge of metal coming out of his chest from behind meant. He watched it, transfixed, and even touched the hot liquid flooding the wound that it opened with his chilly fingers.
“What’s this, I wonder?” he asked, not sure to whom.
Hassuna caught him in her arms and eased him onto the floor. It was so eerie to see her remove the mask of the Friend and let her own beautiful face shine through, in all its glory. “It’s you, defeating the Hirisa, silly,” she said, such a proud look on her face.
“Is it?” Adzeo said. Joy fluttered in his numbing limbs, in the chant of his heart, slower with each strike.
Hassuna beamed at him, leaning close and wrenching her knife out of his back. “Oh, I swear to you.”
* * *
He didn’t come.
Amanoori spent days waiting, in her rooms, hidden from all the people who came to ask her—questions upon questions. She couldn’t answer any. She didn’t know what, or why. As usual, even their presence carried pain, and she only waited to be left alone, or to be killed for what she had done.
But neither happened.
Instead, one foggy morning, Amanoori woke up, weary and lost, to find a person in her room. It was a young woman. She stood above Amanoori’s bed, having passed beyond the silk curtains and the paper screens made into a maze for Amanoori to hide behind, as close as any intruder had ever come before. Amanoori should have felt the woman’s presence. She should have been in pain, so near to her.
The woman was tall and lean and she was smiling, her cheeks dimpled amidst the freckles. Amanoori had never met her, yet there was something so familiar and recognizable in her. So endearing.
Amanoori gulped a breath, eyes not straying from the woman’s face. “Did you come to … execute me for the—”
“No, my Queen. Never.” She shook her head, still smiling. “You’ve been cleared of any accusations. Your people and your servants know you’re not to blame for what has happened. The one who was, is punished enough.”
Adzeo. Amanoori steadied her voice as well as she could. “Is he …” she began, but the woman brought a finger to her own lips.
“Our Guild has succeeded in creating a mask for you, my Queen. I carved it personally. It’s not for you to wear, but for anyone who wants to come in contact with you. See? I’m wearing it now. It works. You will never be in pain again.” She was so proud, almost little-girl-excited to share this, and Amanoori wanted to be nice to her.
It was him she wanted, not other people, but that was not something she could tell anyone.
“A new mask? That is … great. What is it called?”
“Oh.” The woman rocked on the balls of her feet. “It’s called Adzeo, my Queen.”
Amanoori froze. “Excuse me?”
“The name just suits it very well. This—” the woman tapped a finger to her cheek “—is a prototype, but we can maybe make five or six more, with the material we have.”
“What … material?”
“Let’s say—a very special one.” The woman spoke in a secretive whisper, then giggled. “So these masks will last you a lifetime. A lifetime of friends and family and lovers you can share them with.”
It took a long ti
me for Amanoori to reply.
She wanted to hate the woman in front of her, wanted to despise or even feel a tiny bit of mistrust towards her. But how could she be angry with that dear, familiar face looming underneath? She couldn’t.
She was happy to just be near it.
“It’s perfect,” Amanoori told her.
About the Authors
JAMES ENGE lives in northwest Ohio with his wife and two crime-fighting, emotionally fragile dogs. He teaches Latin, Greek and classical civilization at a medium-sized public university. His stories have appeared in Black Gate, in the Stabby-Award-winning anthology Blackguards, in Tales from the Magician’s Skull, and elsewhere. His first novel, Blood of Ambrose (Pyr, 2009) was nominated for the World Fantasy Award in 2010; and the French translation was nominated for the Prix Imaginales in 2011. You can reach him through Facebook (as james.enge) or on Twitter (@jamesenge) or, if all else fails, via his website, jamesenge.com.
ANITA ENSAL has always been intrigued by possibilities inherent in myths and legends. She likes to find both the fantastical element in the mundane and the ordinary component within the incredible. She writes in all areas of speculative fiction and has stories in several fine anthologies including Love and Rockets and Boondocks Fantasy from DAW Books, as well as a novella, A Cup of Joe, out now. She will be re-releasing her The Neighborhood series in late 2018. You can reach Anita (aka Gini Koch) at her website, Fantastical Fiction (http://www.ginikoch.com/aebookstore.htm).
DAVID FARLAND is an award-winning, bestselling author with over 50 novels in print. He has won the Philip K. Dick Memorial Special Award for his science fiction novel On My Way to Paradise and over seven awards for his fantasy novel Nightingale. He is best known for his New York Times bestselling series The Runelords. Farland has written for major franchises such as Star Wars and The Mummy. He has worked in Hollywood greenlighting movies and doctoring scripts. He has been a movie producer, and he has even lived in China working as a screenwriter for a major fantasy film franchise.
Nebula Award winner ESTHER FRIESNER is the author of over 40 novels and more than 200 short stories. She is also the creator/editor of the Chicks in Chainmail series (Baen Books). The sixth, Chicks and Balances, appeared in July 2015. Deception’s Pawn, latest in her popular Princesses of Myth YA series (Random House), was published in April 2015. Esther is married, a mother of two, grandmother of two, harbors cats, and lives in Connecticut. There is no truth to the rumor that her family motto is “Oooooh, SHINY!”
LAWRENCE HARDING is the literary alter-ego of a PhD medievalist from Cambridge, England. After filling his life with medieval literature and folklore on the one hand and fantasy fiction on the other, it was inevitable that he would combine the two. This is one of the results of that (un)holy union. In between penning stories and marking essays, Lawrence also reviews at: exploringotherwheres.wordpress.co and can be found lurking on Twitter at @lhardingwrites.
D.B. JACKSON (http://www.DBJackson-Author.com) is the award-winning author of twenty novels and as many short stories. He is best known for the Thieftaker Chronicles, a series set in pre-Revolutionary Boston that combines urban fantasy, mystery, and historical fiction. As David B. Coe (http://www.DavidBCoe.com), he writes epic fantasy, urban fantasy, media tie-ins, and just about anything else. He is currently working on a new fantasy trilogy for Angry Robot and a tie-in project with the History Channel. David has a Ph.D. in U.S. history. His books have been translated into a dozen languages.
HOWARD ANDREW JONES lives beside the Sea of Monsters with a wicked and beautiful sorceress. His newest novel, For the Killing of Kings, will be released from St. Martin’s in the fall of 2018. He’s the writer of a critically acclaimed Arabian Fantasy series, four Pathfinder novels, and a slew of short stories. He’s the editor of the print magazine Tales From the Magician’s Skull, among other things, and lurks at www.howardandrewjones.com, where he blogs about writing craft, gaming, fantasy and adventure fiction, and assorted nerdery.
VIOLETTE MALAN is the author of the Dhulyn and Parno sword-and-sorcery series (now available in omnibus editions) and The Mirror Lands series of primary world fantasies. As VM Escalada, she’s the author of the Faraman Prophecy series. Book One, Halls of Law, is available now, and Book Two, Gift of Griffins, will be out next year. She’s on Facebook, she’s on Twitter, and website-wise check either www.violettemalan.com or www.vmescalada.com. She strongly urges you to remember that no one expects the Spanish Inquisition.
ASHLEY McCONNELL’s first novel was a finalist for the Bram Stoker Award. Since 1990, she has sold horror, fantasy, and numerous media tie-in novels, as well as a handful of short stories and assorted articles. (“A” and “the” featured prominently among them.) She is responsible for the erratic publication of the Bloodstained Bookshelf, a list of forthcoming traditionally-published mysteries at http://mirlacca.com/Bookshelf.html, and for the vet bills of one horse and far too many cats.
R.K. NICKEL works as a screenwriter in Los Angeles. His first feature film, Bear with Us, is available on Amazon Prime, and “Stellar People,” a sci-fi comedy series he wrote for Adaptive Studios, will be coming out sometime in 2018. He dove into his prose journey in 2017, and since then has made 6 sales and attended both the Odyssey Writing Workshop and the Launch Pad Astronomy Workshop. When he’s not writing, he’s probably playing an escape room or some Magic the Gathering. Or drinking coffee. Mmm … coffee. For more, check out @russnickel on Twitter or www.rknickel.com.
JASON PALMATIER is co-creator/co-writer of the epic comic fantasy series Plague published by AAM-Markosia (available on Comixology) and a contributor to the indie comic Lords of the Cosmos by Ugli Studios. His short stories Heart of the Empire and Zorlar the Terrible appeared in the anthologies Clockwork Universe: Steampunk vs Aliens and All Hail Our Robot Conquerors! published by Zombies Needs Brains, LLC. He has completed his first novel, War Mind, a near future military thriller, and is currently working on a second book titled Xenoslammer, a parody/rage-piece about the travesty that is the Aliens movie franchise.
JENNA RHODES is a pen name for a prolific author with over 55 books published to date, with several more on the horizon, as well as short fiction. “Rainbow Dark” is her second appearance with Zombies Need Brains. Look for “The Windlost” in the wondrous SUBMERGED anthology. Check out www.rhondiann.com for more background on what she’s working on under this and other names, in the fields of fantasy, science fiction, mystery, thriller, and romance.
AMELIA SIRINA is a Buryat-Russian speculative fiction writer. She studied Classics in Moscow State University, she falls in love with any new myths or fairytales easily and loves learning new languages. In her free time she travels. She currently doesn’t have a website, but she’s working on it.
LEAH WEBBER has been telling stories since she was three years old; the more fantastical, the better. After touring the world in the military for almost a decade, she’s finally back where she started in the wilds of Portland, Oregon with her two dogs, a feral computer, and assorted overflowing bookshelves. Find out more at www.leahwebber.com/
.
About the Editors
S.C. BUTLER is a writer living in New Hampshire with his wife and son. He is the author of the Stoneways trilogy: Reiffen’s Choice, Queen Ferris, and The Magicians’ Daughter, published by Tor Books; and a contributor of short stories to several anthologies and magazines. He made his editorial debut with the anthology Submerged.
* * *
JOSHUA PALMATIER is a fantasy author with a PhD in mathematics. He currently teaches at SUNY Oneonta in upstate New York, while writing in his “spare” time, editing anthologies, and running the anthology-producing small press Zombies Need Brains LLC. His most recent fantasy novel, Reaping the Aurora, concludes the fantasy series begun in Shattering the Ley and Threading the Needle, although you can also find his “Throne of Amenkor” series and the “Well of Sorrows” series still on the shelves. He is currently hard at work writing his next novel and designing the kickstart
er for the next Zombies Need Brains anthology project. You can find out more at www.joshuapalmatier.com or at the small press’ site www.zombiesneedbrains.com. Or follow him on Twitter as @bentateauthor or @ZNBLLC.
Acknowledgments
This anthology would not have been possible without the tremendous support of those who pledged during the Kickstarter. Everyone who contributed not only helped create this anthology, they also helped solidify the foundation of the small press Zombies Need Brains LLC, which I hope will be bringing SF&F themed anthologies to the reading public for years to come … as well as perhaps some select novels by leading authors, eventually. I want to thank each and every one of them for helping to bring this small dream into reality. Thank you, my zombie horde.
The Zombie Horde: Glennis LeBlanc, Kiya Nicoll, Jenny Barber, Ash Marten, Simon Dick, Y. K. Lee, Katherine Malloy, Stephanie Cranford, Chris Matosky, David Perkins, Maureen Brooks, Kevin Wallace, Jonathan Briggs, Laura and Bill Pearson, Sheryl R. Hayes, Kim Lloyd, Tanya Gough, Matt K., Millie Calistri-Yeh, Caitlin Jane Hughes, Harvey Brinda, Julie Haddy, Carolyn Petersen, Konstanze Tants, Nellie B, Bryan Wetterow, Austin, Teresa Carrigan, Aurora N., Michael Fedrowitz, Darrell Z. Grizzle, Debbie Fligor, Mark Carter, Rebecca Sims, Sarah Cornell, David Zurek, Duncan & Andrea Rittschof, The Bowers, Paul McNamee, Pam Blome, Arej Howlett, Troy Chrisman, Larisa LaBrant, Mollie Bowers, Andrew Wilson, Patrick Thomas, melme, Noah Bast, Joseph Hoopman, Stephen Kissinger, Christine Swendseid, Mary Alice Wuerz, Chad Bowden, John Appel, M Harold Page, Lyndsey Flatt, Jesse Klein, Chris Huning, Lorri-Lynne Brown, Mary Soon Lee, Kevin Winter, Ronnie J Darling, John O’Neill, Lily Connors, Casey Sharpe, Kitty Likes, Wolf SilverOak, Elektra, Nicholas Adams, Benjamin C. Kinney, Cherie Livingston, Jaq Greenspon, Howard J. Bampton, David VonAllmen, Kristine Kearney, Erik T Johnson, Andrew Hatchell, Regis M. Donovan, Stephanie Lucas, Brian Quirt, Paul Musselman, Wendy Cornwall, Jaime O. Mayer, Gina Freed, Vy Anh Tran, Elizabeth Kite, Claire Sims, Debbie Matsuura, K Kisner, April Broughton, R. Hamilton, Vincent Darlage, ANDREW AHN, Carol J. Guess, Cathy Green, Stephen Ballentine, Céline Malgen, Penny Ramirez, Julie Pitzel, Jake, Chrissie, Grace & Savannah, jjmcgaffey, Gabe Krabbe, Bregmann Roche, Patrick Osbaldeston, Lori & Maurice Forrester, Pat Gribben, Robert Claney, Patti Short, Shades of Vengeance, Patricia Bray, Leah Webber, Jen Woods, Rolf Laun, Tibicina, Martin Greening, Judith Bienvenu, Ty Wilda, Sasha, C. Lennox, Brendan Lonehawk, Tom B., Michele Fry, Helen French, Auston Habershaw, FrodoNL, Simba Pipsqueak, Vespry Family, Nancy Edwards, Melissa Tabon, Andy Arminio, K Crowell, Lawrence M. Schoen, Colette Reap, Michael Skolnik, Amy Goldman, Chris ‘Warcabbit’ Hare, Jo Carol Jones, Eduard Lukhmanov, M.J. Fiori, R.J.H., Eddy Black, Connor Bliss, Yaron Davidson, Annika Samuelsson, Sarah Cottell, Jerrie the filkferengi, Rick Galli, Jakub Narêbski, Tanya K., Todd V. Ehrenfels, Liz Wyatt, Uncle Batman, David Eggerschwiler, Tibs, Orla Carey, Jessica Reid, Paul Bustamante, Henry Schubert, Melissa Shumake, William Hughes, Donovan DiPasquale, Gary Phillips, Jay Lofstead, Nathan Turner, Becky Allyn Johnson, Evan Ladouceur, Colleen R., L.C., Jenni Peper, Curtis Frye, Kayliealien, Richard James Errington, Kristi Chadwick, Rick Dwyer, Katchoo, Queen of the Nowells, Revek, Leila Qýþýn, Heidi Berthiaume, David J. Fortier, Gavran, Sarah Hester, Joanne Burrows, Elise Power, Tasha Turner, Scott Raun, Miranda Floyd, Jörg Tremmel, David A. Holden, Angie Hogencamp, Vicki Greer, AM Scott, SometimesKate, Mike Hampton, Lisa Kruse, Nick W, David Drew, Sidney Whitaker, James Conason, Nancy M. Tice, Sally Qwill Janin, Paula Morehouse, Elaine Tindill-Rohr, Christine Ethier, Kai Delmas, Todd Stephens, Mark Newman, Phillip Spencer, Deanna Harrison, Susan Carlson, Sharon Goza, Marty Poling Tool, Yankton Robins, Linda Pierce, Victoria L. Sullian, Niall Gordon, Peter T, ‘Jonesy’ Oberholtzer, Michael Abbott, Jonathan Collins, R Tharp, Dave Hermann, Paul y cod asyn Jarman, Hoose Family, Andrija Popovic, Keith Nelson, Paula & Michael Whitehouse, Tory Shade, Brenda Moon, Tina & Byron Connell, Deborah Crook, Moonpuppy61, Nathaniel Pohl, Ian Chung, Beth LaClair, L. E. Doggett, Kerry aka Trouble, Brad L. Kicklighter, Kristine Smith, Michelle L., Elyse M Grasso, Roy Sachleben, Jason Palmatier, Ajay O., Cyn Armistead, Brenda Carre, Alli Martin, Catherine Gross-Colten, Rebecca M, Gary Ehrlich, Mark Hirschman, Anthony R. Cardno, Mark Kiraly, Ed Ellis, David Rowe, Clare Deming, Kat S., VeAnna Poulsen, Sharon Wood, Chuck Wilson, C. L. Werner, Morgan S. Brilliant, Andy Miller, Anders M. Ytterdahl, Heidegger and Mocha, A. Walter Abrao, Max Kaehn, Barbara Becc, Chloe Turner, Jen1701D, Andrew Taylor, Mervi Mustonen, Kimberly M. Lowe, Amanda Nixon, 2-Gun Bill, T. England, Heather Kelly, Darryl M. Wood, Belkis Marcillo, Meredith B, Mark Slauter, Arin Komins, Svend Andersen, Jomelson Co, rissatoo, Misty Massey, Anne Burner, Keith Jones, Jenn Whitworth, Doc Concrescence, Anders Kronquist, Keith West, Future Potentate of the Solar System, Stephanie Cheshire, Ian Harvey, Erin Penn, Beth Lobdell, Khinasidog, Erin Kowalski, Helen Cameron, Kendra Leigh Speedling, Mary-Michelle Moore, Micci Trolio, Amanda Weinstein, Catherine Sharp, K. Gavenman, RKBookman, H. Rasmussen, S Baur, Eagle Archambeault, Keith E. Hartman, Tom Connair, Ivan Donati, Brian Hugenbruch, Paul D Smith, CGJulian, Jeffry Rinkel, Mark F Goldfield, Chuck Hickson, Michelle Palmer, Alexander Smith, Bill Harting, Sean Collins, Paul Alex Gray, Jason Tongier, Pierre, Lark Cunningham, Brenda Cooper, Fen Eatough, Alysia Murphy, Ilene Tsuruoka, Sheryl Ehrlich, Tina Good, Shel Kennon, Judith Mortimore, Breagha, Fred and Mimi Bailey, Robby Thrasher, Rachel Sasseen, Thea Cooke, Peter Bernstorff, Dino Hicks, Margaret S. McGraw, Lace, Erin Himrod, Steven Mentzel, Samuel Lubell, Linda Bruno, Amanda Stein, Julie Holderman, D-Rock, Adam Thompson, Timothy Nakayama, Antonio Carlos Porto, Melinda Seckington, Nirven, Kristin Evenson Hirst, Mick Gall, Missy Katano, Ken Finlayson, Camden, Steven Torres-Roman, Jennifer Della’Zanna, Gretchen Persbacker, Crystal Sarakas, Michele Hall, K. Hodghead, Marla Anderson, Jennifer Berk, Christina Roberts, Steven Halter, R. Hunter, Ken Woychesko, Firestar, Cindy Cripps-Prawak, David Roffey, Coleman bland, Drammar English, Cheryl Losinger, Peter Hansen, Bryan Easton, Deirdre M. Murphy, Zion Russell, Danielle Hinesly, Dana, Jonathan S. Chance, Nick Martell, K. R. Smith, SwordFire, Jennie Goloboy, Chantelle Wilson, Jenni Hamilton, S. E. Altmann, Lara Ortiz de Montellano, Donna Gaudet, Thea Maia, Jamie Ibson, Wendy Kitchens, Sarah FW, Axisor and Mike, John B. McCarthy, Andrew Barton, Gordon Rios, Kerri Regan, M. E. Gibbs, Kelly Melnyk, Greg Vose, Joe Borrelli, The Mystic Bob, Chris Brant, R Kirkpatrick, Marzie Kaifer
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