Mercadian Masques

Sitting beside a bushel basket of carrots-her main sustenance since Squee's disappearance-Ha

"I fear as much," the silver golem replied from the dark corner where he crouched, do

"Do we dare risk it? We don't want to lead the Mercadians to the rebels."

Karn shrugged. "We haven't much choice. We're out of water-"

"Shhh," Ha

Hinges complained as the shabby doors above lifted away. A foot quietly settled on the top stair. Grit crackled beneath that furtive tread. A few more steps, and the doors swung closed above.

Ha

Silver flesh shuddered beneath half-do

Down the dark wedge of stairway stalked a slim, muscular figure-as lithe and brutal as a bullwhip. The shadow reached the last stair and ducked into the cellar. Even in the murk, the fiery shock of red hair was unmistakable.

"Takara!" Ha

"There you are," Takara said, striding into the room. She bore a bag in one hand. "What are you doing hiding in the dark-and under those… rags?"

"We didn't know who you were," Ha

Karn drew the sackcloth from his shoulders. "How did you find us?"

"Squee told me where you were," Takara said levelly. "He's been living it up in the Magistrate's Tower."

Hissing, Ha

"I was sure he'd been reformed," Karn said suspiciously.

"I've come to take you out of here." Takara upended her bag. Its contents emptied atop a bulging grain sack. Out tumbled five stones, the size and general shape of hands laid out flat. They glowed brightly, red and white, green and blueone even cast a purple-black tone over everything around. The candle's light was tepid murk beside the stones' collective gleam.

"The Bones of Ramos!" Ha

Karn loomed up behind her, staring down at the glimmering crystals. "More than that. There is an intelligence in these stones."

"That's Ramos himself. He has infused the crystals with power," Takara said.

Ha

"That's the sad news…" Takara interrupted. "We can't gather everyone."

Karn's jaw dropped slowly open.

A cloud of worry passed over Ha

"Dead," Takara said. She stared unblinkingly down at Weatherlight's navigator. "They gave their lives for these stones."

"Dead?" Ha

"No," Ha

Takara sobbed into her hands. "That was just Tahngarth.

Sisay was… Sisay was… It's too horrible to say…"

"What?" Karn asked mournfully. "What happened to Sisay?"

"A wumpus attacked her," Takara said, shaking her mantle of gleaming hair. "A hulking beast, all hair and claws. It leaped down on her from the treetops. It crushed her body.

She split open like a burst sausage. And then the wumpus plucked her head loose as though it were simply a grape. It bit her face in half and…" The horrific account ended with more wracking sobs.

Through tears, Ha

Takara's voice was muffled by her hands. "That was the worst of all."

"Tell me!" Ha

"He and I were the only ones who had survived the ghouls and the wumpuses. We reached Ouramos. We were gathering the stones from the altar where they lay. Ramos appeared."

"Ramos!" Ha

"He was a huge dragon engine, a hundred feet tall, with rending talons and fiery breath."

"Gerrard was burned alive!" Ha

"Worse."

"He was ripped to pieces…"

"No," Takara said, choking on her tears. "He died of fear."

"What?"

"As soon as the dragon engine appeared, Gerrard fell down dead. He died of fear."

"He died of fear?"

"Yes." Takara shook with weeping. "Of course, he soiled himself first." She lifted her head. In the weird light of the Bones of Ramos, Takara seemed to be laughing instead of sobbing. Her face seemed a hateful, leering mask. She drew a deep, raking breath, and then sobs transformed into gales of mocking mirth.

Ha

"Gerrard soiled himself and died!" Takara shouted exultantly.

A vast silver hand struck her face, and the red-haired woman spun away. She was thrown like a rag doll into the comer.

"Vicious monster!" Karn growled, looming before the woman. "Hateful, vicious monster!"

Takara rose, blood replacing laughter on her lips. Fearlessly, she stared at the silver golem and growled, "Strike me again, Karn. Strike me again!"

Shivering in fury, Karn backed away. He hissed. "I want to, but I will not. If I struck you again, I would kill you."

Wiping the blood from her lip, Takara said, "Oh, no you wouldn't." In the strange light of candle and powerstones, her face changed. Red hair turned to gray skin and bone. Small black horns traced out the ridges of a rumpled skull. Human eyes became white, piercing orbs. The woman's whiplike body bulked into a powerful torso. Only Takara's mocking, bleeding smile remained the same. Otherwise, in her place stood Volrath.

"Strike me again, Karn! Strike me again!"

With a shout of animal rage, Karn lunged at the hateful figure. Volrath was too quick. He leaped aside, and Karn smashed into a stack of empty crates. He turned, bashing them aside. Wood hit the wall and fell in splintery showers. "I'm going to kill you, Volrath!"

"No, you aren't," Volrath replied placidly. He stood behind Ha

Karn stood, quivering, his hands hungry to tear the monster apart. "You are a coward, Volrath. Skulking, sneaking, hiding, pretending to be a friend only because you feared to fight us openly. You are a snake and a coward. You have always been one, since the time you were Vuel, you have always been a coward."

With his face pressed up beside Ha