32. Masks and stars
Her gown swooshed as Angelica twirled, genuine smile on her lips. She lifted her hand, mirrored by the gloved bones of the sad cracked porcelain echo of the Mann she danced with. But his mask wore a painted smile as well, his posture revealing his delight at dancing with a vision as stars flashed in reflection off the silver of her dress, and the soft warm light from the torches off the gold. The gown felt as if it had been made for her, Angelica reveled in her first real dance.
No! Frustration, shame, and a flare of fear sprang upon her happiness, their fangs sinking deeply into her composure. I am not here to enjoy myself! … Liva! Where is she?! Her eyes jumped about the shadowy figures gliding over the harsh cold stone, hunting for the shape of her friend.
The lich caught the change in her mood instantly, and rather than dance on offered her his arm. “Thank you” he said softly as she accepted, placing her hand lightly upon his forearm. “One may exist forever, but for this stolen moment I lived” he confided. “Alas you are right to worry for your friend, I have waited for eternity only to have no time.” he added gravely as he began to lead her through the organized chaos of dancers, their circles parting about them as waves meeting a rocky shore. “I may not intervene in this” he turned, bowed formally to her, then withdrew into the night.
As she rose from her obligatory curtsey in reply Angelica began to scan more methodically, her eyes probing behind the dancers, intruding past guards, seeking out the quiet places and intentionally hidden.
Two nobles arguing; no. Behind a carefully placed trio of guards a body slumped to the floor, a maskless vampire all too pleased with her meal to care that she was not as well hidden as she thought. Her heart paused as Angelica studied the fallen, then resumed more rapidly when she was satisfied that it was not Liva. But that the peril was all to obviously real, urgency pressing upon her.
Think! She tried to calm her mind, to shake off the mist of fear rising with the music. Why here? The lich had escorted her here, to this exact spot. Indeed he had chosen which way she faced, by where he stood when he bowed to her. She looked again, searching the curve of the theater, banners and tables were not close, servants and tables laden with foods and golden goblets. Nothing.
With a half smile she threw her eyes down, searching the stones, looking for a hidden lever or latch to a trap door; her smile rapidly fading as she found none. Dancers swirled past without interrupting her, the untouchable aura of fear from her dance with the lich holding them at a safe distance. There! The carving was old, but the three chevrons cut into the stone were definitely no accident. A quick step and she confirmed that it was just … another flag stone.
Think! She lifted her eyes and looked again, again searching beyond the obvious, she flung her attention out of the theater into the marquees she could glimpse beyond. She began moving the moment she spotted the same three overlapping chevrons on banners before a shadowy marquee, lit by torchlight carelessly cast from a nearby garden.
“Hold” two guards stepped forward before her as she approached, spears crossed to block her path.
“I am expected” Angelica bluffed, holding her head high and tapping her foot impatiently.
“Wait” one of the guards pulled off his glove and very gently touched the back of his hand to Angelica’s cheek. The look on his face was so genuinely concerned that Angelica forgot to be outraged by his familiarity. “Yeah, thought so” he said withdrawing his hand, then added “Look lady, take the hint” he whispered urgently “you do not want to go in there. Away! get out of here now. Get off this Qin forsaken island any way you can. And get far away from here before dawn if you value your soul.”
“My friend needs me” Angelica replied softly “I cannot forsake her.”
The guard pulled back his spear saluting her instead, his eyes sad with respect. His colleague quickly did the same. “Qin speed your soul to the light, My Lady.” he added softly as he pulled the cloth back for her to enter.
There was an antechamber with tables over which formal banners had been laid, but she paid them little notice as she stole closer to the heavy drapes blocking off the main area beyond.
“That is not yours, how dare you call its your own!” a young woman’s barely contained anger was muffled by the heavy fabric.
Liva! Angelica knelt and gently nudged the fabric apart to spy through.
She suppressed a sigh of relief to see Liva unharmed, pointing at a bowl on a table, resting on top of a very ornate tattered battle flag carrying the three chevrons. Three Menn in heavy black cowled robes stood about her, two behind to either side, the last across the table. That one lifted a golden chalice and poured water into the bowl, the ribbon of water sparkling in the bright torch light within.
“So you know what it does” that one chuckled “and yet you are not terrified?”
“What spirit” another laughed softly.
“This is an insult to the Qin” Liva fumed “how dare you seek to use the Chalice of the Stars thus?”
“We made a good bargain. She certainly knows far more than she ought to know.” the Third added wryly.
“I wonder, ought we discover what else she knows first?” the Second added.
“No” the First replied emphatically. “If she truly does have the gift of sight, we have not a moment to lose. Others would certainly drain her given but a moment, regardless of the consequences.”
Liva had gone quiet, her face pale at his words. “You wouldn’t” she whispered.
The First nodded, and shrugged off the robe revealing his dry eyeless skull, ancient battered armour, and gold and gem studded pendant about his neck on a gaudy gold chain. Torn remnants of skin were all that remained of his face: a mask he was clearly reluctant to part with. The others threw off their robes too, eyeless skulls laughing as Liva looked about in genuine terror seeking an escape.
The one closest to Angelica tilted his head, then turned to face her, rusted chainmail creaking loudly. “Come in or be gone” he commanded.
She stood tall and swept the curtain aside as she stepped into the room. “She is not yours.” Angelica declared simply.
“We paid for her.” the First replied.
“You were deceived” Angelica replied calmly “she was never theirs to sell.”
The Second and Third looked to each other. “She stepped ashore at the Cove” the First declared, “when her foot touched this land her soul was forfeit to Emery. Fairly Sold.”
“Her foot first touched upon the Cathedral of the Qin” Angelica replied evenly “she belongs to the Qin.”
“Is this true?” the Third shot to Liva.
“Yes” Liva choked out past the tears and fear “We came ashore on horses”.
“I don’t know you, My Lady” the Second said with careful clarity “Whom do you represent?”
“The Qin” Angelica replied evenly.
The First laughed, like sand falling on sun baked clay. “Nice try” he chuckled. “Your fate is sealed, so permit me introduce us. We are Adam.” All three bowed in unison.
Angelica dipped her head slightly in reply but did not honour them with her name. “We have a better plan. Release her, leave us, and ...” She smiled, and gestured to the bowl “leave that such that We may overlook your insults.”
“This?” the First replied incredulously. “Do you even know what it is?”
“Not a feather.” Angelica replied casually. “But it looks pretty. We want it.”
“Tell her” the Second pointed to Liva.
“This does not belong here” Liva coughed and cleared her throat, wiped her eyes, and began again. “When Elyria was still young, The Chalice of the Stars was given to the Priestesses who watch over the forests, that they could offer of their own time on Elyria so their wisest could remain to hold their knowledge and history.”
“Go on” the First commanded.
Liva beckoned Angelica closer to see into the shallow bowl as it rested on an intricate base of wood, slightly larger across than two hands cupped together. One half side shone brightly in the torchlight, tiny stars of silver sparkling as they caught the light. The golden colour of the bowl blended into inky black darkness on the far half of the bowl, into which a single star crystal was embedded. Intricate lines of script in silver ran in rows about the whole, tying the night and day together.
“The Priestesses would offer of themselves from this side, and the one who was to be renewed drank from the other.” Liva said quietly as she gestured to the side closest to the First. “It was lost long ago, believed destroyed.”
“Demonstrate or you both die.” the Second said sharply.
Liva lifted her hand to quell any complaint from Angelica. With a delicate gesture she traced her finger over the near edge of the chalice, then lightly brushed the water. A tendril of pure white light left her finger and swirled amid the stars within.
“Yes!” the Third exclaimed. “More! Now!”
“I think not” Angelica said simply.
“I’ve had enough of you” the First growled as he lifted the bowl off the table and advanced. “You first.”
“A word” Angelica lifted her finger daintily, the request so ordinary and polite that the First held himself without wondering what ancient custom he held to in permitting her time to utter her last words.
“Dawn's light shall find us dead; hearts ordered to stillness by despair if not sooner by steel. We grains of sand are but remnants from the beach; scattered forever, denied even solidarity of death in molten glass of home. To those who go on, may foxcelots dance in the meadows of your dreams, luring a sweet smile to your lips to ease your pain. Take from me now all that you would, for nothing left I care to keep. Sweet and gentle light, for me will rise no more; heart ash on distant shore, no tears left to weep.”
“Noble words” the First said with respect “I shall pass them on to your kin before they too die” his voice betraying his hunger. "I accept your offer". The First pressed the chalice to her bare chest above her heart, the smile upon his cracked lips melding to confusion when nothing happened. He drew the chalice back, stared at it, then pressed it back to her skin.
"What are you doing?" the Second exclaimed, looking at the First and the girl standing motionless and serene "You have rainwater in it, right?"
"Of course" the First retorted. "I don't understand" he muttered in frustration "this usually works."
"You must be doing it wrong" the Third reached for the chalice “here, give it to me”. Reluctantly the First did so, confusion milling about the room as again nothing happened.
“No” the Second staggering back in sudden horror as realization spilled over his face “no no no no!”
Angelica tugged down hard, the chain links snapping as the pendant came free from around the First’s neck. In one smooth motion she lifted it to her lips then bit down, hard. The First screamed in agony as the crystal cracked, then shrieked as Angelica gently placed the pendant into the bowl.
The Third seemed torn between dropping the bowl to flee and staring mesmerized at the eddying colours bleeding out of the cracked phylactery.
With quick hands Liva lifted the bowl free. She winced as droplets escaped over the side despite her best care as she restored it to the relative safety of the table, lights playing over her face.
Angelica’s hand shot out the instant Liva’s hands were clear, one snapping about the Third’s neck, the other grabbing his bejeweled sword and snapping the hilt off. “What are you?” the Third stammered.
“As you are darkness” Angelica replied “so I am to starlight.”
She bit the pommel and threw it past the Third’s desperate attempt to catch it. Liva caught it and placed it softly it into the chalice, the room glowing with the bright pure colours pouring out of the ruined stones.
Angelica stood calmly as the lich she held flailed helplessly at her, then as his strength rapidly ebbed she hurled the living corpse down upon the First’s whimpering remnants.
She drew her sword then stepped lightly besides Liva. Gingerly lifting the chalice with one had she cautiously dripped some of the swirling kaleidoscope of light onto the blade, lifting and lowering the hilt to encourage the colours to run its length before repeating her careful work on the other side.
Without haste she then walked over to the husks on the floor scraping slowly toward the entrance. As light swirled over her blade she methodically dismembered them, leaving two broken heaps of dry old bones on the floor. Angelica’s foot descended upon the second skull, shattering it into pieces on the stones as Liva interrupted with a polite half-cough “A-hem”.
“Oh” Angelica replied “sorry.” She returned to Liva’s side, her embarrassment writ large for all to see. “Sorry I ummm...”
“No need M’Lady” Liva replied with bright relief “what do we do with these?” she asked, her hand gesturing to the galaxy of swirling lights in the water.
“Well you need your light back” Angelica replied, turning the star gem to face Liva. “And you need to remember things that I will surely forget.”
“Like him” Liva said, pointing to the Second.
Angelica smiled and held out her hand. “Give.”
The Second reluctantly moved forward from where he had been standing transfixed by the spectacle, unlacing his chest armour. He reaching into his rib cage, and with a dry cracking snap he yanked out a dusty bone which he presented to Angelica with his head lowered in defeat.
With her off hand she accepted it, gently crushing the bone to reveal the beautifully worked sapphire and gold phylactery secreted within. “Now the terms of your surrender” Angelica said absently “You do as I say, forever, or your forever ends now.”
The lich fell to a knee. “I accept your terms, My Queen.”
She nodded in reply “now tell me, why did you have these with you? Are they not meant to be hidden away someplace safe?”
“Ah” the lich rose at her gesture, nodding his head. “Nothing can be truly hidden and remain unfound when we have forever to search. Should one fall, the other two could hold their life stone until their return. It was unimaginable that we three could be defeated.”
“Huh”. Angelica replied, thinking. “Do many hide them?”
“Most certainly” the last of the Adams replied.
“You clearly dance well to have risen so far. I presume you know where some are hidden?”
He nodded gravely, his head low guessing what she was about to ask of him.
“Excellent. Get as many as these as you can by morning - discretely.”
“My Lady” he bowed, but rather than leave he stared longingly at the swirling colours.
“Leave us.” Angelica said simply, and the lich withdrew without a sound.
“So?” Liva gestured to the bowl.
“You first. Take back what is yours, Priestess.” Angelica replied.
Liva dropped her eyes to try to hide the truth, but it was a little late to pretend some other way to know such secrets. Instead she turned the single star towards her, lifted the chalice, and after saying a short prayer sipped the water. Angelica watched as white lights swirled through the water and into Liva, a soft glow flaring about her until she set the chalice down. Liva was singing softly in a language Angelica had heard somewhere before but did not understand, somehow it felt like rain in the moonlight.
“Is this wise?” Liva asked as Angelica reached for the chalice.
“How would I know?” Angelica said with an impish smile, but she withdrew her hand, adding more formally “I defer to your sage advice.”
Instead Angelica went to the back of the room, rummaging under Liva’s curious gaze. Triumphant she returned with a silver flask with a sound stopper. “Let’s fill this and work it out later.”
Liva was lost for words for a moment, then nodded. Angelica set the flask down, and Liva carefully filled it.
“What happens to the rest?” Angelica asked curiously when it was obvious the glowing flask would not remotely fit the remaining water of swirling chaos of tiny lights remaining in the chalice.
“I know. Come on.” Liva left no room for question, lifting the chalice and heading for the entrance. Angelica opened the heavy cloths for her, and watched as Liva held the chalice high to the stars, said some words, then with a flick sent an arc of lights into the night sky, where they faded silently to freedom.
“My Lady” the guard from earlier loomed out of the darkness falling to one knee then holding something aloft. “You may need this.”
Liva moved forward carefully, then smiled in delight as she took the case for the chalice and tucked it neatly away, playing out the strap to hang it from her shoulder.
“What is your name, soldier?”
“Zakar M’Lady. You defeated my master, I am yours.”
“Well Zakar, I am not interested in owning people.” Angelica replied, then tilted her head. “But I am interested in finding one of mine. Have you seen Antaryon?”
“No M’Lady” Liva replied, Zakar’s expression obvious he had no idea whom they were talking about. “But let’s go find him” Liva replied.
Angelica looked at the play of lights over her drawn sword, and the stares of revelers afraid to meet her eyes. The story was undoubtedly flying ahead faster than any arrow. Rather than sheath her blade, she rested it on her shoulder and smiled, basking in the soft chaos of light sparkling off her necklace and the silver flowers in her hair. “Yes, let’s.”
“I do say” Liva added quietly with a smile “you rather did forget to pretend to be scared again, M’Lady.”
Angelica laughed, that carefree sound more terrifying to the crowd than any words she could summon as she walked forward, the shadows melting away from her as she swayed in step to the music.
