Pierrot's Song

Chapter 4 - A Puzzle Solved-2

In the magical, numinous light of the cave, she was outlined with a soft glow. If she looked away then, he might have found the strength to stop this before it began, but she held his gaze with such hope in her expression, her eyes shone in the sapphire light. He took a breath deep into his core and began to sing.

Pure and strong, his voice filled the cave as he began the song he had discovered in the princesses’ cavern. Echo after echo filled out the melody until it was as though a choir from the heavenly realms of Tarya had somehow reached their world. He shut his eyes, unable to look at Mina, knowing what he saw in her expression was not for him. This is what hope looks like, he thought, as the song soared through the space. Like starlight in her eyes.

Sensing her gaze on him, he was able to resist only for one round of the song. As though she had called his name, he felt the pull of her across the circle and opened his eyes again. She was no longer watching him, but stood with her own eyes closed and her arms raised, the key mask held high. Emotions welled within him. His nerves tingled, and he wanted to cross the circle to take her in his arms, but at the same time his chest and stomach hurt. For her, he would make this work. But if it did, she would be lost to him.

Despite this inner battle, his voice held true. Then a slight smile curved Mina’s lips and he nearly faltered. Under the blue stars of the cave she was luminous, as though the light of Tarya glowed inside her, though she had not even properly begun yet. Luka silently chided himself for the distracting thoughts and renewed his song.

As though in response, Mina began to turn in a circle. She drew the mask down toward her face just a little, and released it with her other hand, as if to reach for the glowing blue stars suspended from the ceiling, though her eyes were still closed. But her free hand kept moving, reaching for something invisible that surrounded her. Unable to hold the longing in anymore, Luka pushed his soul into the song as he never had before, and Tarya embraced him. Now he could see Mina was surrounded by dancing lights, glowing softly like the cave’s lights, but with a rainbow cast. As she continued to spin slowly, the mask in her hand began to give off a trail of golden threads that wafted behind her, growing longer and longer.

Luka watched in wonder as one of the gold threads touched a rainbow light, catching the bright star on its end. The shimmering thread began wrapping itself around the rainbow in a languorous motion until it formed a golden ball, coruscating with golden sparks. Completely formed, it drifted upward, and was caught on the mask by a final tail of gold. It twisted and turned, like a fish on a line. With her eyes closed Mina couldn’t see what was happening, and Luka was not sure if the others saw what he did. Holding the song, he moved toward her, but as he left the boundary of the circle, the golden threads seemed to dim. He quickly stepped back into place. Whatever he did, he would have to do it from here.

Carefully, his thoughts racing, he began to change the words of the song, shifting from the longing for a lost love, to a call for freedom, a heart’s cry for a life unconstrained. Few changes were needed to the words, he discovered. At its heart the song was about a shining dream—whether love or freedom, the expression of need was the same.

Other orbs were forming now as the golden threads found their homes among the rainbow stars, but the first was still attached to the mask. Luka began the song again, but this time he made a further, final change, not in the words, but in his own feelings. Instead of longing he looked for, and found within himself, hope. Hope for a future where Mina might choose him. The song became lighter; his voice lost some of the shadows that gave it a dark tone. Almost instantly, the golden orb gave a quick tug and drifted free of the mask.

There was a sudden flash of the brightest silver, searing a seven-pointed star on his vision, and then thread and orb and star were gone completely. His voice faltered, but not for long. Beginning the song again, he watched as more orbs reached completion, tugged their way free of the key mask and vanished in a dazzling blaze of silver.

This sequence happened again and again, leaving dark spots in his vision. The gold threads trailing from the mask were diminished now, only a few remaining, though there were still many rainbow lights dancing around Mina. Luka’s voice was getting tired. He longed for fresh, cool water. The melody broke, causing Mina to open her eyes. From across the distance between them she communicated support and encouragement, giving the Luka the strength to push through and sing again as the last threads found their glimmering counterparts and began the Transformation process.

Another star flashed, but this time it didn’t vanish. Instead, it hurtled across the cavern, a blazing, shooting light of unbearable brightness, and hit Paolo full in the chest. From where Luka watched, it seemed Paolo hadn’t seen it coming. He staggered backward at the unexpected onslaught and sat, his head bowing to his knees. Mina faltered in her turning, but like Luka she continued on, finishing the task. Only when the last few gold threads had disappeared did she stop. The rainbow lights flickered and vanished in an instant.

Breaking the circle, Mina rushed to Paolo, the key mask slipping from her hand to the cavern floor. Luka let the song die and joined the others at her side.

‘Paolo?’ Mina asked, her voice small.

He lifted his head, gazing at his sister. She searched his face, doubt evident in her scrunched brows and anxious eyes. Then Paolo gave out a short, barking laugh and pulled her into a hug.

‘My little dove!’ he said, his voice muffled in her shoulder. They pulled apart and Mina squealed with delight.

She touched Paolo’s cheek, then hugged him again. ‘You’re back!’

They helped each other stand, stumbling awkwardly on the uneven rock. Paolo lifted Mina and spun her in a circle as she laughed. Eventually they stilled and stared at each other.

‘I always knew you were the clever one,’ he said, then tilted his head a little and shook it. He reached up to touch his dreadlocks. ‘What is this? I think I need a haircut.’

‘I don’t know.’ Mina grinned back at him. ‘It’s a good look …’

She poked out her tongue. He pretended to cuff her across the ears. Mina dived at him and they wrestled briefly, but it swiftly ended in a hug. He spun her to face the others, an arm across her shoulders.

‘So, little dove, introduce me to your friends.’

‘Don’t you remember anything from … before?’ she asked.

‘Of course! Places, things that happened. But most of the time it didn’t seem to matter. There was so much that was far more interesting.’

‘Like what?’

‘Animals, music, dancing lights, farts.’ He made an exaggerated sound. ‘Especially farts.’ He waved his hand behind his backside and smirked. ‘Phew-ee! I’ve still got it.’

‘Well, that hasn’t changed.’ Mina turned away in mock disgust, then introduced him to the others, starting with Sofia and moving on to all the players.

‘So, you’re from the Gazini troupe?’ he asked Jal, who nodded. His next question was tentative. ‘Is … is Miranda still with the troupe?’

Jal shook his head. Luka recognised the look on Paolo’s face—it was hope, and more. Mina, too, must have seen it, because she turned away from her brother toward Dario, and the look of expectation on her face stabbed Luka in the heart.

‘Dario …?’ she whispered.

‘Dario?’ Paolo echoed. ‘Uberto’s adopted son? But he was just a child! How long have I been … away?’

Mina took his hand. ‘Ten years.

‘You’ve grown up without me.’

Lost years weighed heavily on them momentarily, but Dario began mumbling and they were brought back to the present.

‘Never dream in the dark … dark in the spark of the flowering shadows …’

Realisation flooded Paolo’s eyes as he watched the tall player reach up to bat the trailing threads that dangled from the ceiling. Despite his height, and the places where the ceiling dipped down, these threads were impossible to reach, yet he kept striving to touch them.

‘He’s like Uncle Tonio!’

Mina looked her brother full in the face. ‘Like you were. I healed you.’

‘I was like … I didn’t …’ Paolo’s words faded to nothing. Then he grinned. ‘You healed me?’

Mina’s face crumpled. ‘It didn’t work with Dario. It should have. I’m sure I let every thread out of the mask. I felt it becoming … lighter.’

‘I saw,’ Luka told her. ‘You did.’

He described what had happened, how the threads had bound together with the souls from the River, becoming brilliant stars, before vanishing, and how Paolo’s soul had returned to him.

‘But there was no star for Dario.’

Mina lifted both hands to her face, and Luka thought she was going to offer a prayer to the Creator, but she merely covered her mouth, her eyes bright with unspilled tears.

‘Why didn’t it work?’ she finally whispered.

Dario gave up his futile task and began wandering the cavern, alternating between gazing up at the softly pulsing light of the glowworms and sweeping his eyes across the glistening, damp stone of the walls. The others surrounded Mina, offering theories and thoughts, but none of them had any idea why Paolo was healed and Dario was not.

‘Dario knows how the key mask works,’ Mina finally said. ‘He’s the only one who might know why this happened, and look at him …’

Dario was crouched near something on the floor, reaching for it then pulling his hand back, over and over again, as though the thing burned. He shuffled forward a little, reaching again, a look of disgust on his face. Then he looked over at Mina and, turning his head away as though to avoid seeing something horrible, he seized the object and brought it over, pushing through the others to thrust it at her.

It was the key mask.

‘It’s no good, Dario,’ Mina said. ‘There are no threads left. I tried.’

Dario swept the mask around, snatching it with his other hand. He shook his head at her. Leaning forward, he stared into her eyes, waving the mask up and down, trying to communicate something.

‘What is it?’ Mina asked. ‘What am I missing?’

Dario wriggled the mask then tossed it into his other hand again, tilting his head in a query. Mina shrugged her shoulders in response. He gave a great huffing sound. In other circumstances his exasperation would have been funny. He sucked in his cheeks and wriggled the mask again, then spun around, passing the mask into his other hand and puffing out his cheeks, as well as changing his physicality so he appeared stooped.

Luka knew mime better than anyone. He suddenly understood what Dario was trying to communicate. ‘There are other masks!’ he cried. ‘This mask was Uberto’s, right?’

Mina nodded.

‘And this is where the golden threads are stored for the troupe’s characters.’ He spoke slowly as he ran through the thoughts. ‘But different troupes have different characters. So, wouldn’t every troupe have its own key mask?’

‘They do. Roberto had a different one when he …’ Mina looked at Dario, watching her expectantly, and her stomach dropped. ‘Roberto had a different one. Dario’s thread wasn’t put in this one.’