The Tales of Tarya, Books 1-3

Chapter 10 - Vigil-4

Next to her, Dario shifted, the slightest movement, and she saw the answer. She’d trusted him once. She didn’t think that had been a mistake. He’d been with the troupe when Paolo joined. He must know.

Suddenly the vigil seemed like it would never end. Mina tried to resume a prayerful contemplation but excitement urged her to stand, and run, and shake Dario and ask him and know. She kept looking at him, a foolish grin on her face. Dario was looking fixedly at the throne of the Creator.

Night passed into dawn and a faint light began to fade into the room. Finally a bell rang, an infinite distance away. From the chalice throne the cloaked Creator stood, holding a tiny gold bell suspended within a cobweb of shimmering thread, which was itself suspended within a silver crescent moon frame. The silent figure waited, a tiny gold hammer with a crystal head poised next to the bell. Suddenly, a surge of light broke through the windows as the sun breached the horizon, creating a golden flare that flooded the room. At the same time the cloaked one lowered the hammer to strike the bell, and Mina heard another whisper.

‘Not just Paolo.’

The whisper came from nowhere and everywhere. Mina looked up and was dazzled by a young woman in the centre of the sunburst, her smile brilliant, her hair and eyes glowing like flame. Then the bell rang, sweet and clear. The sound grew, filling the room, and the well of silence broke. The light faded in an instant and the woman was gone. Artisans turned to each other and began chattering, casting off the imposed silence.

Mina turned at once to Dario, standing as he did. ‘I have to talk to you!’

‘Are you tired?’ he asked.

Mina shook her head vigorously. She felt energised and excited, the end of her search so near. ‘No, I’m not,’ she said with a laugh.

‘Good, then let’s enjoy the festivities.’ Dario smiled back at her. ‘We can sleep later! Dawn is here, the world awakens, and today we are national treasures.’

‘But I need to talk to you,’ Mina insisted. They had left their seats and were caught up in the surge of artisans leaving the hall. Mina noticed Dario still carried his mask.

‘Let’s get out of here first. We don’t have much choice, anyway.’

Mina tried to push down the impatience that gnawed at her as they were herded toward the outer doors of the divina by the irresistible movement of the crowd.

‘We can talk later,’ Dario called back over his shoulder as he was drawn away from her, ‘as long as we don’t lose each other …’ and he disappeared through the great doors.

Mina tried to catch up again, but the forward motion of the crowd had slowed, and her attempts to move were met with frowns, or a curt ‘wait your turn’. She was able to see through the double doors now and discovered the reason for the slowed movement. As the artisans passed through the doors, a cloaked figure addressed each person, and the single mass was split into two lines of people. Mina saw Dario directed to the right. It felt like an age until she reached the doors.

‘Sleep or festivities?’ the hidden figure asked in a low voice.

‘Festivities,’ she responded with certainty and was directed to the right. Her attempts to catch up to Dario were thwarted when another cloaked figure stepped in front of her. This person held a small open vial containing a faintly blue liquid.

‘What is it?’ Mina asked.

‘Drink,’ the figure responded.

Looking around, Mina realised all the artisans coming this way were being offered the vials, and all were drinking.

‘Is this part of the festival?’ she asked.

‘All artisans must drink the Visionnaire if they are to go out into the streets.’

Mina felt panic. No one had told her about this. ‘What does it do?’

‘All artisans must drink,’ the figure replied.

‘What if I go to sleep instead?’ she asked, but she knew she would not. She had to find Dario.

‘Then you will drink later.’

‘It’s harmless,’ Isabella spoke, from behind Mina. ‘It just makes the world more beautiful. We see the beauty and the brightness, then show it in our art. Come on, Mina. It’s fun.’

Isabella took the vial from the figure, who then retrieved another from a small table draped with a gold cloth. After a hesitation, Mina took the second drink. Isabella nodded to Mina and raised her vial. Nervous, Mina raised hers to her lips and drank. There was no discernible taste, nor any noticeable after-effect.

‘I have to find Dario,’ Mina said, handing the empty vial back, and hurried past Isabella and other artisans to the grand marble stairway.

At the bottom of the stairs she saw Dario. He was looking around, and when he saw her his eyes lit up. Mina rushed to him and flung herself into her arms.

He whispered, ‘I thought I’d lost you. I wanted to let you know about today. Today we belong to the city. We’ll find time alone later, I promise. Once the Visionnaire ends. Stay close to me.’

His promise made Mina shiver. Fingers woven together, they held tight to each other as they were pushed through the front doors of the palace. Excited townsfolk milled in the front courtyard, greeting each wave of artisans through the door with a loud cheer.

Dario and Mina were overwhelmed by the sound, and stood, stunned, until a group in the crowd broke free and came to greet them, drawing them out of the palace gates into the city.

It was then that the Visionnaire began its work. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, a shimmer of light began to build around every person Mina saw, faint at first but growing brighter. She wasn’t really aware of walking, not consciously moving her body. Just flowing along with those who held her arms protectively.

‘Dario,’ she said, and looked to her right. He was still close by, his mask dangling loosely from his hand. Though surrounded by people, he was the tallest amongst them and he gave her a smile of reassurance over their heads. Mina had barely managed to say his name, and now when she tried to form other words, they wouldn’t come. Her mind felt slow, her thoughts frozen. When Ciro drugged her she had felt similarly slowed down, but this time there was no fear.

Her attention was caught by the haloes of coloured light surrounding everyone nearby. Fascinated, she watched the colours entwining, linking everyone to each other, though they seemed unaware this was so. A young man on Mina’s left took her hand, and she was amazed to see how his colours, yellows and oranges, became interwoven with her own pulsing purple. Each person’s light had different qualities, sharp or bright or muted. It was textured too. Crystalline, pointed lines stretched from the hand that held Mina’s, while her purple was like a smudged drawing.

‘We’ll show you the city,’ the man said. ‘My family will take good care of you and your friend. It will be our honour. You must be players.’ He nodded to the mask Dario carried. ‘My name is Gianni. Here is my sister Sienna, and my mother, my other sister …’

Mina lost herself in colours as the boy named the twenty or so people around them, all members of his family. It was so hard to think.

She swam through the following hours. Gianni and his family took Mina and Dario to their home for an incredible banquet. They were a family of merchants, well off and able to acquire a wide range of delicious foods. Mina ate slowly, finding the movement of her hands fascinating. Even the food on the table was surrounded by light, though it diminished as the hours of eating passed. Throughout the meal, laughter echoed frequently across the table as the family held a lively conversation, but they didn’t ask their guests any questions, nor expect them to contribute in any way. Mina was unable to form thoughts about this, but Gianni’s mother put it into words for her, leaning across the table with a proud smile.

‘My family entertains you, no? Usually you are the ones who must entertain, but today you see our lives, those you entertain.’

‘Sienna wants to be a player,’ Gianni added, with a glance at Dario’s mask, which sat in the centre of the table. ‘I think she wants to take the drink of visions and see the world as you do today, all lit up from within.’

Sienna hit her brother and the family laughed, the shared humour of years of love. Mina clung to the words, savouring them.

‘Lit up from within,’ she thought, over and over. That was it. Everything glowed. Everything was beautiful, every colour brighter and more vivid than usual. And Mina felt it all, pulsing within her, all the emotion, all the life.

‘How come players still practice Arcani, when it’s banned?’ Sienna asked, leaning in very close, her voice a whisper. ‘What you do onstage, when your faces change … that’s Arcani, isn’t it?’

‘Sienna, how could you suggest such a thing!’ her mother cried, and Gianni frowned at her.

‘What the players do isn’t Arcani, it’s just an illusion,’ he said. ‘Nobody’s practised the dark enchantments in centuries. And don’t ask them questions. Let them enjoy the Visionnaire.’

Though they quickly changed the subject, all the light in the room dimmed, as though everyone had withdrawn within themselves. Sienna stood up and left the table, giving her brother an angry glare before leaving the room. She didn’t return for the rest of the afternoon.

Chapter 11