The Tales of Tarya, Books 1-3

Chapter 13 - Masks and Madness-4

Mina tried to hold her ground. The shadow bat slid closer, one wing beat at a time. It had no face, only a seething beneath the blackness. A wing tip arced slowly forward and pressed against Mina’s flesh. She was filled with a terrible fear. Her mind froze. Coldness crept up from her gut, climbing her spine and seizing her shoulders. In that terrible instant, her life stretched before her, empty, useless. She mattered to no one. Yet even as despair invaded her body, Mina refused it. She wished she could close her eyes to block out the nightmare image of the bat, now almost upon her. It was impossible. She couldn’t fight the creature, only her own rising panic, so she did. She became aware of her heart pounding with fear, and began to breathe as slowly as she could to slow the frantic fluttering in her chest.

The bat touched her again, with its chill, leathery body. Thought after thought flooded her mind, voices telling her she was no one, she was unimportant, she might as well not live.

‘Feel your dreams die,’ a whisper spoke from within.

Mina was pressed to her knees by the shadow creature. Its weight upon her made it hard to breathe, bowing her down.

‘You are alone,’ the voice said.

Mina struggled to take a breath. The weight upon her was unbearable. It beat with the grief of Uncle Tonio’s sad life, Paolo’s disappearance, leaving her parents for a fool’s errand, Ciro’s attack, Aldo’s unnecessary death, Dario’s betrayal, Harlequin’s darkness. Her chest heaving, she tried to suck in air, suffocating beneath the weight of the bat, the weight of despair. Mina clutched at the words that had just flickered through her thoughts.

‘A fool’s errand. Finding Paolo. That’s my errand, and if that makes me a fool I’m in good company, eh Uncle Tonio?’

Mina listened to her heart beat and drew the largest breath she could into her aching lungs. She fought the despair that was emptying her of life. She found a red spark in her heart, a memory of Paolo holding out a beaded piece of fabric. She fanned this spark with the realisation that Paolo hadn’t come back not because he didn’t want to, but because he couldn’t.

With that thought the faint, brilliant red of dawn flickered on Tarya’s impossible horizons, piercing the murky black with tendrils of light. Mina pushed upward with all her mind and might. The bat’s weight shifted just enough for her to drag in one last shallow breath.

‘Once, in a faraway land,’ she choked out, ‘the dawn arose and the night was ended.’

She flung herself upward, throwing the bat from her. Brilliant dawn colours of gold and scarlet streaked across Tarya. With a shriek the bat beat backward, growing smaller as it fled into the distance.

‘The sun rose, bringing a new day.’

A searing gold orb dissolved into the scene. The bat fought the light, but it grew still smaller with every beat of its leathery wings. Giving a final terrible shriek, it disappeared.

Mina fell to her knees, on the stage in the royal ballroom, drawing air into her lungs. In front of her, Uberto also knelt, sobbing, his mask fallen from his hand. It was only later, when she was able to think again, that Mina thought about his tears. For now, she barely registered his crumpled body. She may have saved herself in Tarya, but in this world the threat was no less real. She stood and ran into the wings, not seeing the shadow of a figure darting behind one of the long black curtains, past the dressing rooms, through the actors’ entrance.

Standing in the guild hallway she forced herself to slow, panting. Down the hall, and up the stairs, not looking back, not realising she was unpursued. Mina slammed through the door to the troupe’s accommodation and stopped dead.

Dario stood in the middle of the room, surprised in mid-pace. ‘Mina,’ he said, a relieved smile flooding his face. ‘We won! We can live a life of luxury. I’ve been looking for you. I thought we could celebrate. Where have you …’

Mina pushed his arms away as he tried to draw her into an embrace. She couldn’t speak. Too many words battled to be spoken.

Dario’s smile melted. ‘Have you been talking to …?’

‘Uberto.’ Mina nodded.

Dario reached out to her again. She crossed her arms and took a step back.

‘Mina, I trust him! I thought … he has to know, he can do something.’

As Dario spoke, words spilling out in a desperate torrent, Mina turned from him and began quickly gathering her few things: her two dresses, the meagre few coins she’d saved from her wages, and the pouch of beaded fabric from her brother.

Dario put his arms around her from behind, and without thinking about it she melted, pressing her body back against his.

‘Mina,’ he continued, his breath moving the hairs on her neck. ‘Uberto took me in. He’s my father, really. I trust him with my life.’

He brushed Mina’s hair aside and kissed her neck. Mina was finding it hard to breathe.

‘I knew I could entrust him with yours. You don’t have to face the Council alone.’

With a deep breath, Mina stepped forward, out of Dario’s embrace. Her legs felt weak.

‘My life isn’t yours to entrust,’ she said, her voice so low he almost missed her words.

‘Uberto would never …’ Dario began, then stopped speaking as Mina searched urgently for a calico bag, which she packed with clothing and her pouch.

Once she was done she faced him, finally. ‘You betrayed me.’

She saw a cloak lying across one of the beds and flung it over her shoulders, her body almost overcome with shivering. She still had her teller’s costume on. Let it be payment for the gifts she’d shared. She started for the door.

Dario grabbed her arm. ‘Where will you go? You belong with us! We can … I can help you. Protect you.’

Silently, Mina pushed his hand away. When he touched her it was much harder to keep her emotions at bay.

‘That’s what Uberto offered,’ she said, ‘before he tried to kill me.’

She left him standing alone, his face frozen. She ran from the room and closed the door behind her. Even as she raced down the hallway, she was unable to stop the tears from welling. Behind her she heard the tell-tale sound of the door.

‘Mina.’

Her memories of Dario’s tenderness were all that stopped her. She faced him from the other end of the hall, wanting to scream out her pain at his betrayal, hoping he would say he couldn’t live without her. Panic gripped her. She had to get away. Uberto might come after her, try to kill her again. Or he might report her to the palace guard as an Arcani, and let them do it for him.

‘I know where Paolo is,’ Dario said. ‘You have to go north-east, to a small town near the border of Rien. But Mina, he’s …’ Dario faltered.

Mina’s face set in a blank expression. ‘I know what to expect …’ She turned away, then looked back. ‘Thank you.’

She barely caught his final words as she hurried to the back stairwell.

‘The town is called Pedon.’

Mina shifted the bag on her shoulder and ran down the stairs, covering her face with the hood of her cloak to hide the tears that wouldn’t stay away any longer. A minute later, she stood at the edge of the palace maze. She hoped she wouldn’t have to travel far on foot. She didn’t know what would happen when she finally found Paolo, but now she had a destination, and some hope she could find a way, through Tarya, to restore her brother.

Mina set out across the empty courtyard of the Royal Palace of Aurea, passing swiftly through the shadows. In one trembling hand she clutched a scrap of beaded fabric. As she hurried through the gates of the royal palace, she looked back, wondering whether she would ever have the opportunity to perform within its walls again. Wondering, too, whether she would ever see Dario again. Turning, she continued on into the city streets.

Behind her, a cloaked figure slipped out of the shadows surrounding the hedge maze and followed silently.