Jala's Mask (34 page)

“My queen. You said you would take us home. Do you remember? You made me promise to remind you.”

Jala stirred from the dream of Lord Water. It was Askel's voice that woke her. Slowly, like the tide pulling back from the shore, Lord Water receded from her mind. Like the tide, she felt herself changed, felt parts of him still lingering, but she was in control of herself again.

It took her a moment to remember how to speak on her own. “I remember,” she said, her voice raspy in her throat.

She regarded Askel through the eyes of the mask but didn't take it off. She wasn't done with it yet. She had let Lord Water use her to take back the Hashon people. Now she was going to use him to get the rest of her people back home.

Askel's brow furrowed, and he seemed to be trying to peer through the eyeholes in her mask, as if he wasn't sure what was behind it.

“I'm all right,” she whispered. “I remember now. Thank you.”

She looked around. The other masked lords watched her. The same men and women who had refused her offer of peace now waited for her commands. Or was it the masks that waited for her? Were these men and women nothing more than messenger birds, repeating the words of gods?

The few men and women who'd come with her waited outside. Their voices were carried to her on the river as it flowed beneath the floor.

“I can't believe it's over. It's like waking from a nightmare, only you're not sure what was real and what wasn't.”

“Lord Stone was real. See? That's part of his mask. A little souvenir, something for my last daughter's children to remember me by.”

“Get that away from me, it's probably cursed. You should throw it in the river.”

There was a long silence. “What happens now?” one of the speakers asked softly. “It's going to be better than before, won't it?”

“It will be better,” Jala said, stepping out to meet them. They looked up and held their breaths. They were afraid of her, and they would die for her. “The Hashana will wash away the blood, and soon life will return, just as it always has.”

Lord Water was speaking again. It was so easy to let his words overwhelm her. She had to remember why she made this bargain in the first place. She had to stay awake.

“Listen to me,” she said. “Lord Stone blamed the islanders for stealing the Anka, and maybe some of you do as well. But they're not to blame. Lord Stone is broken. You've had your justice, more than any mortal has a right to. You've had your revenge. The islanders played the part that was set out for them, and now they'll be allowed to leave, with the river's blessing to speed them home.”

The Hashon glanced at each other but said nothing. She knew they would obey her as long as she was Lord Water.

“Bring the islanders to me. Bring their ships, find their clothes and their weapons. Give them coins and clothes and trinkets to trade when they reach the Constant City. Set them on the Hashana and think of them no more.”

They moved quickly to obey, scattering toward different doors. She had to speak quickly before they all disappeared.

“One more thing. There was a girl here. An islander girl, left here in the palace when we rode into the desert. Take me to her. The rest of you can go. Askel, go with them, make sure the islanders understand they're being freed and don't need to fight their way out.”

Askel nodded, and then they left, all except for a woman who wouldn't meet Jala's gaze. “I know where they took the girl,” she whispered. She led Jala out of the palace and down through the streets. She stopped in a narrow alley in front of a short wooden door hidden in the shadows. It might have been a shop once, but the sign painted on the door had faded and cracked until it was illegible, and the wood was splintered and rotten. The rusted hinges groaned as the woman pulled the door open.

“I've brought the great lord,” the woman whispered into the darkness.

Jala pushed past her and stepped inside. She had nothing to fear from these people. “Where is the islander girl? Bring her to me.” Then, in a voice that was all her own, in a language that she knew, she called out, “Marjani, where are you?”

“Jala?” Marjani called out from the darkness. Jala heard the sound of feet running on the wooden floor and of people shouting. Marjani appeared, her face lit up with relief, her arms outstretched. But then she saw Jala, and she stopped, uncertain. A man and a woman caught up with Marjani, ready to grab her, but they, too, stopped and stared at Jala.

It was good to see Marjani again. It made it easier for Jala to remember who she was and what she had to do. Jala took a step forward. The rest of them shrank back, but Marjani stayed, though she still eyed Jala suspiciously.

“Are you all right? Did they hurt you?” Jala whispered.

“I'm fine,” Marjani said. She hesitated. “And you?”

“I'm taking us home.” Jala glanced at the woman who had brought her here. She only needed to be Lord Water for a little while longer. “Have the grayships brought to the water outside the palace. I will wait for the islanders there.”

Then she walked away, down the alleys, without having to be led. She may not have known where Marjani was, but this was her city so long as she wore the mask. Her blood flowed through the sand and the bricks and the people here.

No, this wasn't her city. She had to remember that, had to remember where she ended and Lord Water began. It was hard, and she took Marjani's hand and held it tight in hers. She thought of home, of Azi, of being queen. That was who she was.

“What was that?” Marjani hissed. “You sounded just like them when you spoke.”

“It's the mask,” Jala said. “I can't explain it. Not now. Maybe when we're on our way home I can tell you what it's like.”

“If it's sorcery . . . what if you turn out like Askel? All shriveled up like a date left out in the sun?”

“Then I'll be shriveled up,” Jala said with a laugh. Marjani gave her a disbelieving look, but it just didn't seem important right now. Lord Water didn't see individual lives as any great things. He had seen a thousand thousand such lives flourish and die, like reeds on the riverbank. Jala had to keep reminding herself that getting her people home was what mattered.

Soon I'll be able to take this damn thing off
, Jala thought, touching the edge of the mask. It would be such a relief to have her mind and body to herself again. But the thought scared her, too, even if she didn't know why.

The two grayships stolen from the Gana had been placed on the river flowing out from under the palace, and her people waited by them, just as she'd commanded. Captain Natari, Boka the Trader, Askel, and the sailors. They whispered among themselves, glancing around nervously and eyeing the Hashon who had brought them here with suspicion. A few of them surreptitiously picked up stones or bits of sharp wood. One sailor had managed to acquire a knife. But it didn't look like anyone had been killed, at least not here, and the bloodstains she saw looked hours dry.

They looked up at her as she approached, confused by what they saw. Only Boka sputtered at seeing her wearing one of the masks. The rest had no idea what it meant.

“We will not return the way we came,” Jala said. “We'll sail the ships down the Hashana River, until its tributaries lead us back to the Great Ocean. From there we'll return to the Constant City, then home.”

The islanders cheered, and Marjani squeezed Jala's hand quickly. The Hashon whispered among themselves but made no move to stop them as Captain Natari divided up the remaining sailors between the two ships and assigned an eager-looking younger woman as captain of the second ship.

“My queen, what about the mask?” Askel asked. “They may simply kill us as soon as you take it off. Keep it with us. Who knows when we might need it again?”

“They'll do as I tell them,” Jala said.

“They'll do as Lord Water tells them,” Askel said. “Keep the mask. Who knows what power it might have?”

She wanted to. She'd be naked without the mask, weak and powerless. Some part of her thought without the mask she would die.

I'm going home
, she thought, and looked at Marjani again. It wasn't any easier. But it was possible.

“No,” Jala said. “The mask stays here. Lord Water stays here.”

Askel looked like he wanted to argue, but then he shrugged and followed Boka onto one of the ships. Supplies were brought for them, and the sailors loaded each of the ships in turn. There were clothes, dyes, fruits and wines, coins. All the things they would have taken if they'd raided the city instead of saving it. Not that she was entirely sure they had saved it, whatever Lord Water said.

“Is it good, what I did?” Jala asked Marjani. “Leaving them to Lord Water?” He cared for the Hashon, but only as a whole. He cared no more for any one life than Lord Stone had. Perhaps that was the way of it with gods.

“Well, it's good for us,” Marjani said. “We're going home. How could that be wrong?”

“My queen, we're ready to leave now,” Captain Natari said. “The farther we go while the night still hides us, the better, I think, no matter what power you have over these people.”

Jala looked at Captain Natari, then at Marjani. She lifted her hands to the mask. It had looked like such a bulky thing, but even now it was hard to imagine being without it. Like taking off your own arm.

What do you have to go back to?
whispered Lord Water's voice.
You've lost your family. You've lost your love.

Then she heard Azi's voice, whispering, full of passion. “I do love her,” he said, and she could almost feel the man behind the words. She could almost touch him, the words felt so real. Somewhere, Azi was saying these words. “Can you be happy as my queen?”

Was he talking to her? Could he feel her too? She couldn't breathe. The mask felt stifling, and she lifted her hands up again to pull it off.

Then she heard Lord Inas's voice, echoing in her head. “There's no reason to deny it now. That Bardo girl twisted your head around until you couldn't steer straight. But it's not too late.”

Her hands froze on the mask.
Stop it
, she thought.
I don't want to hear this.

But it was too late. Kona's voice floated into her mind, as inevitable as the tide. “Your uncle says we can be together.” A soft whisper, almost uncertain, so quiet it seemed to fade at the end. “You wanted to know if I'd be happy as your queen . . .”

The king takes a new queen, and the old burns in the desert.

Her head spun. This couldn't be. She wouldn't—couldn't—let herself believe it of him. Azi loved her. He wouldn't run back to Kona while she risked everything for the islands. It was Lord Inas scheming against her, that was all.

It had to be. Or everything between them had been a lie. She'd never seen the real Azi. He'd lied to her. She'd lied to herself.

But I have only ever told you what is true
, Lord Water whispered in her mind.

She felt the truth of his words settle on her. Jala let her hands fall back to her sides. The mask no longer felt stifling. As long as she had it on, no one could see the tears. Behind the mask, she didn't have to feel what she felt, didn't have to be what she was. The queen had hidden the girl, and now the mask could, too.

She shut her eyes. The tears were gone, nothing but dried salt and stillness. She was the beach after the tide, the ruin after the storm. She let his voice fill her mind. She let him speak through her.

It was easier this way. It was better.

She was Lord Water.

“I'm not going with you,” she heard herself say. Captain Natari started to say something, but she wanted them gone. She had no need of the islanders now, when she had a city and a faith to restore to former glories.

“Go,” she commanded, her voice like a great wave washing over them. Captain Natari and Askel stumbled back. Natari looked at her in fear, uncertain if he should argue. Askel only looked at her with hunger.

“My queen,” Captain Natari said uncertainly. “I can't just leave you here. You must come with us. What would the king say?”

He might thank you
, Jala thought. She'd caused nothing but trouble for him, for her family, for everyone. And he wouldn't be alone. She was growing small again inside her head. It was easier that way. Like falling asleep.

Marjani was shouting at her. “Jala, what are you saying? You can't stay here, you have to come home. What about me? What about Azi?”

Jala pulled the Queen's Earring out of her ear and held it out to Marjani. “Tell him I'm dead,” she said softly.

Marjani stared at the earring, then back at Jala. “No. No, I can't. I won't let you.”

“There is sorcery here beyond your understanding,” Askel hissed. “Beyond mine, too.”

“I could take the mask from her,” Captain Natari said, though he made no move to do so.

Askel shook his head. “If she didn't kill you, the rest of them would.”

“We can't leave her here,” Marjani said. When the two men did nothing, she growled and threw herself at Jala, clawing at the mask. Immediately the Hashon were on her, pulling her off. She fought them the whole time, but there were too many of them. They held her back.

“Go,” Lord Water commanded. “Forget Jala.”

“Don't listen to her,” Marjani said. “It's the mask, it's not her.”

Captain Natari bowed to Jala. “All of the Five-and-One will know what you did for them, I promise you. And I thank you. But my crew wants to go home, my queen, as do I. They've had enough of this strange city with their strange masked lords, enough of sorcery.”

Enough of their queen's madness. He didn't say it, but she could hear it in his voice, see it in the way he looked at her. She scared them.

“Then go home,” she said. She held the earring out again. Captain Natari took it. Jala waved a hand at Marjani, not daring to look at her. “Put her on the ship.”