The Masked One

by Liv Daniels

  Cora was a few rungs ahead now, dangling like a fly from a frail strand of a spider’s web. Leina caught her breath, and water billowed into her mouth. She started to cough, accidentally loosening her hands. Then, in a panic, she tightened her grip as hard as she could muster. Splinters from the ancient ladder dug into her hands, and she gritted her teeth.

  Focus on the hands. Nothing else exists.

  The storm blew Leina around so much that there was no need to swing to gather momentum (and not much use in trying). Figuring out where the unpredictable gusts would turn next was a guessing game at best. All she could do was wait for a wind that seemed to be propelling her in the right direction and hope that it wouldn’t change.

  The first time, there was a strong wind that swung Leina forward, and she mustered the courage to let go with one hand so she could grasp the next rung. Encouraged, she moved to transfer her other hand to that rung, but the wind shifted suddenly and threw her to the left. She held on desperately with one hand until the wind changed again and she was able to get her other hand on the ladder.

  Theo was behind Leina now, or so she surmised from his grunts. But she did not dare to let her eyes wander from her desperate white-knuckled hands. She did not look at Cora or Theo, and especially not at the blackness below.

  Holding onto the ladder amidst the tearing wind was exhausting work, and Leina was beginning to tire. She wondered faintly how much longer it was physically possible for her to hold on. But worse and more present in her mind was the sudden awareness of the frailty of the ladder. It groaned and bent with the ever-changing wind and with every change of weight that it was subjected to. Leina suddenly realized that her lifeline was weaker even than her failing grip, and that thought sent a frightful pulse through her heart.

  She only barely remembered to remind herself to focus, and pushed aside all other thoughts as best she could. With painstakingly forced patience, she cleared the next few rungs. She guessed that she was halfway across now, and some faint hope surfaced that she might actually survive.

  A strong gust sent Leina lurching forward, and she cleared two rungs before it subsided. But then a new wind came from the right, more powerful than any that had assaulted them thus far. Leina held on with all of her strength, but her grip was slipping dangerously. That, however, wasn’t the worst. The ladder made a terrible renting sound that could be heard even over the roaring of the wind.

  Leina panicked and threw her gaze to Theo. But at that moment the ladder snapped right between them! Instinct took over, and Leina did the best and most unwise thing possible. In one flashing instant, she hurled one hand away from the ladder and extended it blindly in Theo’s direction. Theo took hold of her wrist. Then in the next moment the ladder was in two, and Leina and Theo were the only failing link that held its parts together.

  Blinking the spray out of her eyes, Leina stared helplessly at Theo.

  “You’re in luck!” Theo yelled. “Your side of the ladder is pretty well stuck in place.”

  Theo’s side, however, was swinging violently this way and that. It was obvious that it would not stay in place much longer.

  “So let go of your side!” said Leina. “I can hold your weight… I think.”

  “Of course you can’t! I would rip you off of that thing like a feather.” His eyes set. “You need to trust me, Leina.” There was a great gust, and Leina was certain that one or both of them would be plummeting to the depths below before it was over.

  “Of course I trust you,” she said, but her heart was pounding again. She was afraid of the look in Theo’s eyes and the sound of his voice.

  “And don’t tear yourself up,” said Theo. “You’re worth it.”

  “Worth what?” Her voice trembled as she spoke.

  Theo looked at her steadily for an instant longer, then he was gone.

  Chapter 28

  Leina didn’t know how she made it to the other side. When she found herself there shuddering with Cora on the hard stone ground, she had only two handfuls of splinters and an equally sharp memory of Theo looking at her before he let go. The tumultuous roaring of wind and steam around her was nothing but a meaningless blur that seemed to prevent her thoughts from taking any definite shape.

  Theo had let go, of course, because he knew that she would have tried to save him and thus endanger herself. With that realization, the last shreds of her heart that remained together fell apart, and the tears came unbidden.

  Cora’s voice emerged suddenly from that moment of darkness, subdued as always but softer than usual. “It’s not your fault, Leina. It was Theo’s choice.”

  Leina looked up and saw that Cora’s face was as tear-stained as her own. They stared at one another for a long time, a mutual kind of reassurance passing between them that was stronger than words.

  Leina was at a loss to understand what had just happened. Theo had seen her at her worst in this place, and still he had been willing to die for her. In that act lay her greatest fear and her greatest hope incarnate, and it tore at her so sharply that she felt she could not stay in one piece. And yet, even after all that she had been through, it was not so long ago that she had come from the woods. There were many things that she still did not understand about the World. Something in her knew now that she could not let herself fear it.

  “I wish it didn’t have to come to that,” Leina said quietly. “I don’t think there was ever a better Book Man.”

  She stood up, blinked, and surveyed the island that they were now on. What was left of the ladder was wedged firmly in-between two stones. It was only a short length now. This island was surrounded on all sides by the hurricane-like vortex, and if there was another island nearby it was totally obscured.

  “I don’t know what we’re going to do,” Leina said faintly.

  A voice that was not Cora’s responded: “In that case, it’s a good thing you’re not all alone.”

  Leina jumped and whirled around, and found herself face to face with…

  “Theo!” Leina and Cora exclaimed at once.

  “But… how?” Leina breathed.

  Theo laughed, pulling himself up from the edge of the island. “Apparently it’s only about 20 feet deep here.” He grinned sheepishly. “I’m a little bruised, but nothing worse.”

  “Oh…” Leina said, at a loss for words.

  “Aren’t you glad to see me?” he said jokingly.

  “Infinitely,” Leina said. She paused, letting the reality of Theo’s reappearance sink in. Never had she felt sweeter relief. With a crooked smile, she said, “Do you have any idea how cruel that was?”

  “Yes, and I would do it again.”

  “You’re a wonder, Theo.”

  “Now,” Theo said. “How about we find our way out of here? Come on, jump— don’t be afraid!”

  After flashing Cora a hesitant glance, Leina plunged off the edge and abandoned herself to the great vortex. To her surprise she felt only the thrill of it. And sure enough, a moment later she felt the impact of solid ground beneath her feet. What a wonderful sensation it was!

  Here below the tumult there was an ethereal calm. Steam snaked gracefully up from vents in the ground amidst a forest of stone pillars that rose to become the islands above. A strange soft glow permeated the air. At first Leina could not tell where it was coming from, but then she noticed the seaweed. Or so that was what it appeared to be; she could think of no other name for it. It rose from the ground in long shoots that swayed languidly this way and that in the changing billows of steam. Some were Leina’s height, but others climbed far above her head before they reached their summit. How such plants (if plants they were) survived in such a deep place, Leina did not know. But most incredible was that the glow radiated from within their long paper-like leaves. Leina reached out to touch one of the luminous stalks, and it rested for a moment in her hand before curling away on a gentle gust.

  “Well, that's the source of our light,” said Theo.

  “Does that mean that we’re not
near the surface after all?” Cora muttered, suddenly glaring at the glowing stalks with a vengeance.

  Theo shrugged. “Only one way to find out. I trust we want to go where the ground is sloping up.”

  Behind them the ground sloped downward at a frightful steepness. No doubt they had really been in danger at the beginning of their journey. But before them it was sloping up, and they went that way with eager feet. Leina tried to hide her limp, but Theo noticed and offered her an arm that she reluctantly accepted. Cora walked a little ahead.

  “Can you believe we survived that?” Leina said, her voice glistening with awe. Then her tone dulled. “I’m such a fool. I don’t know why I was so afraid.”

  “I’ve known a lot of fools, Leina, and you’re not one of them. You don’t know how you’ve grown since I knew you last.”

  “If we get out… you’ll take care of Cora, won’t you? Take her back by the easy way?”

  “Of course,” said Theo. “I know that way well, and there is no danger. But what about you? You’re going to try to traverse the Desert with a hurt leg, aren’t you?” said Theo.

  Leina shrugged. “Yeah.”

  “You can’t do that, Leina.”

  She turned her face to look at him. “You can’t stop me. It’s important, Theo. I have to go to the Agency. They need me, and I’ve been gone too long.”

  A stone wall confronted them, but there was an opening in it. A short way in, the passage turned a corner suddenly, and the light blinded them.

  Theo stopped Leina with a hand on her shoulder. “Leina,” he said, concern in his voice, “are you ready for this?”

  Leina looked back at him. “What, to go back into the sun? Yes. I’m ready. I’m tired of not being able to see.”

  And so Leina found herself in the open air again at the setting of the sun. She breathed in the air like it was something new, soaked in the fading sunlight like its every moment could outlive ages of night. Then she laughed.

  Beside her, Cora stared at the open expanse of the Desert with wide eyes, not so stony as they had always been. “I still don’t know why you laugh,” she muttered.

  “Then laugh with me, and maybe you will see. There’s too much space here to be that quiet.”

  Cora gave a little scoff, as if to laugh at the idea of laughing. That made Leina laugh even more, and then in spite of herself Cora started laughing, too. They couldn’t stop, and soon they were on the ground, still laughing. Theo stood by with his arms crossed and shook his head.

  Cora stopped suddenly. “Thank you, Leina,” she said.

  Leina smiled. But then her face became grave. “If I ever need you in Estlebey, will you come?”

  Cora breathed in slowly. “They would kill me. And even if they didn’t… I’m not a leader. Not a queen.”

  “You know, the current king doesn’t leave much for you to live up to.”

  Cora turned her face away, to the sun. “I will come. You know that.”

  “Yeah. I know.”

  Now Leina stood up. She pulled her mask, which she had not worn in so long, out of her bag, slipped it over her eyes, and pulled the hood of her cloak over her head.

  “Now I must go,” she said. But suddenly she lifted the mask a little. “I don’t know how to thank either of you. I think I have better friends in this World than I should.”

  “And so you always will,” said Theo.

  Leina smiled. Then she let the mask fall, and she was the Masked One once more. “May we meet again,” she said.

  And then the Masked One was gone like a shadow dissipated in the omnipotent desert heat, off to see what lay ahead.

  COMING SOON!

  Song of Dawn Book 3, the final installment of Leina’s journey

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