The Hidden Mask (Wizard's Helper Book 6)

by Guy Antibes

  Penny laughed again.

  “I’m glad you are being entertained. Perhaps we can draw lots or something for the bed,” Jack said.

  Penny frowned, but she still had a gleam in her eyes. “You wouldn’t deprive Lady Penneta Ephram of a good night’s sleep.”

  Jack sighed. “I suppose not. Lady Penneta Ephram is a delicate jewel who might shatter into a million pieces if she had to sleep on a cold stone floor.”

  “I think you are right,” Penny said. She looked around the small room. “What do we do now?”

  “Wait until the bells ring, I guess.”

  Penny looked at the little desk and opened the drawer to see a small stack of paper and a box of pencils. “Perhaps I could document what we learned today, and then we could discuss it.”

  “No,” Jack said. “I don’t think it would be appropriate to do that in this place. I’m not sure what Yvessa and others would think about it. What if someone is listening in or if the walls have ears.”

  “Oh,” Penny said. “Like the townhouse?”

  Jack shrugged. “Who knows? I’d rather talk about something else.”

  “I thought you performed well today.”

  “Something else,” Jack said.

  “Are you eager to see little Annette again? She has eyes for you.”

  Jack laughed for the first time since he entered the room. “Eyes for a married man? Don’t you think that is a little wicked for an eighteen-year-old?”

  “It hasn’t been that long since you were eighteen,” Penny said, sitting on the bed.

  Jack took the rickety little desk chair. “I think she was interested in a guard, Terry, as I recall.”

  “Terry Hortine, she told me,” Penny said. “Her brother’s name is Grier. They are both royal guards.”

  Jack’s eyes grew. “We should make sure we meet them at Annette’s party.” He nodded to Penny. “We really should.”

  She reached over and grasped Jack’s hand. “You are right.”

  Penny shouldn’t have done that, Jack thought. He couldn’t resist pulling her over into his lap and whispering in her ear. “I had forgotten they were royal guards. We might be able to get some information.”

  Penny shivered as he spoke and rubbed her ear and then snuggled closer. The door flew open. A man, dressed in white, apologized as his face turned red. “That is right. You are the married couple. Forgive me, I forgot the room was occupied.” He quickly shut the door.

  Jack glimpsed at the latch. “No lock,” he said. “Were they checking?” he asked Penny, whispering in her ear again.

  She stood up, rubbing her arms. “Maybe this isn’t the best idea.”

  “We will have to behave. I can, but can you? I wasn’t doing the nestling.”

  Penny smiled, but her face was turning as red as the intruding priest’s. “I will be a better girl.”

  The bells began to ring.

  “Dinnertime. I’m taking my valuables. No lock, remember?” Jack said, stuffing a few items into his clothes. Penny did the same. He held out his hand. “Shall we go, Mrs. Winder?”

  “Just call me Penny, or you’ll be hobbling back to the room tonight,” she said, but she squeezed his hand as they entered the hallway.

  A few others walked out of their rooms, and Jack and Penny followed them to a corridor that led to a connected building that was colder. Through a few windows, they saw the day had already turned dark. They could hear the wind blowing outside. They entered a small refectory. Two long tables ran down the sides with a table bridged between the two.

  A man dressed in a tunic filled with clear jewels sat in the middle of the central table, talking to more simply dressed clerics. A few clerics that were dressed better were along the sides, along with three men in the style of the gentry of Bristone. Jack didn’t recognize any of them except for the woman who greeted them. She was beginning to serve dinner.

  She saw them and approached Jack and Penny. “You are a darling couple with your white-haired wife. A credit to Yvessa. You may sit on the end. The archbishop and his men hold places of honor. Generally, we don’t assign seats, but tonight…”

  Jack and Penny took facing seats at the end of the table. It didn’t matter about protocol. They were the only seats left. Jack shook his head. Didn’t the woman say the archbishop? Fortune had smiled on Jack, after all.

  The cleric sitting to the left of the archbishop stood.

  “We have other guests who have taken shelter with us. Would you stand and introduce yourselves?”

  “I am Jack, and this is my wife, Penny. We were on our way to Bristone and are very appreciative that you have allowed us to take shelter tonight. I’m afraid we might have perished along the way had not Penny noticed your church in the gloom.”

  “We are thankful you are with us to share some bread. We do not accept donations for our assistance. It is a way for us to show our devotion to Yvessa.”

  Jack wasn’t so sure Yvessa would be so friendly, but he smiled anyway and sat down. The woman served everyone else before setting a large pile of bread and steaming stew in front of them and two local clerics across the table, from the look of their robes. The woman left and returned with a flagon of white wine. Cups and spoons were already on the table. No one had started eating yet, so Jack looked at Penny.

  “You are not from around here?” one of the clerics said. Jack recognized him as the one who barged into their room.

  “No.”

  “No rings? Couples who are married by Yvessa clerics wear rings.”

  “Ah,” Jack said. “We follow the tradition of Penny’s village and wear matching bracelets.” He pulled back his sleeve to show the protective bracelet that Ari had given them. Penny did the same.

  “Oh, that is a nice tradition. However, it would be better if you both wore rings in Bristone so there would be no confusion. We sell simple jewelry at the local market to fund the church. I will fetch two rings that will work. You just need to twist them around to turn them into simple bands,” the cleric said.

  Penny smiled and nodded. “That would be so nice of you. Everyone understands in my village. Jack is the world traveler and should have known.”

  “Oh? Where have you been?” the other cleric asked.

  “Corand, Tesoria, Lajia, and Masukai.” Jack could have mentioned Passoran, but he had already told them too many countries. “It was time to settle down, and I chose Penny to do it with.”

  “Masukai. That is a closed country. How did you ever get in?”

  “We traveled to Port Taiyo on a dare. They don’t let foreigners roam around the countryside.”

  “We?”

  “Some friends of mine. They have more money than they need and paid my way. I acquired my sword from Masukai.”

  The two men laughed. “We know nothing of swords. Few men of Antibeaux leave the embrace of Yvessa.”

  “They do in the winter,” Jack said. “We spent some time in Boxwood.”

  “Oh, of course. What is your profession?”

  “I’ve done many things. I’ve have been a bodyguard, an adventurer of sorts, as evidenced on my trip to Masukai. I’m not much of a farmer or a craftsman, although my father is a furniture maker.”

  “What is your business in Bristone?”

  Jack didn’t like all the questions, but he had no idea what to ask them about Yvessa, and that would lead to being quickly discovered as an unbeliever. “I am looking into joining the royal guard. I have connections to a few. Quite frankly, we don’t know if I will qualify, but we wanted to travel a bit.”

  “A honeymoon? Those bracelets look very new.”

  Penny nodded. “We really don’t want anyone to know.”

  Jack smiled weakly.

  The other priest put his finger to his lips. “The archbishop is going to ask Yvessa to bless our dinner.”

  The archbishop’s prayer was much the same as what his father had intoned at family dinners. Yvessa’s name was merely substituted for Alderach.

 
Once the archbishop sat down, everyone began to eat. Jack was very hungry, and nerves did little to stave off his appetite. Penny was a bit the opposite, Jack guessed. The intruding cleric shoveled his food down and then left to get the rings.

  The man returned in short order, but instead of sitting back down, he had a few words with the archbishop who looked at Jack and Penny.

  Jack didn’t know if they should bolt out of the refectory, but where would they go? The sound of the wind had been a constant companion while they ate, and he was sure the blizzard was still throwing snow on the road. He took another helping of the stew.

  “Eat up, Penny,” he said, earning a dirty look from her.

  Once everyone had eaten their fill, the archbishop rose from the table, and that was a signal for others to leave the room. The archbishop walked toward them.

  “I’m sure we haven’t met before. I am Etienne Tolmoux, Archbishop of the Church.”

  “I’m Jack, and this is Penny.”

  “I understand you were recently married in the tradition of your village?”

  Penny nodded.

  “That won’t do under the roof of the Church. We will repeat your vows and marry you properly. You will be able to tell your children that you were married by the archbishop. That will make them proud of their mommy and daddy,” Tolmoux said.

  “We wouldn’t want to inconvenience you, Archbishop,” Penny said.

  “Your Grace will do,” Tolmoux said.

  “Your Grace,” Penny and Jack said simultaneously, bowing to the man.

  “Then, it is settled. Let us go into the chapel and get this blessed event completed under the gaze of our goddess, Yvessa.”

  They were taken to the main room of the church. The archbishop stood in front of Yvessa and held the two rings that the cleric had given the archbishop.

  Jack and Penny were surrounded by at least twenty people. Jack frantically tried to come up with a solution, but they were stuck in the church. He didn’t see a way out. Penny stood there with an ironic smile on her face. He had no idea what was going on in her mind, but then he shook his head.

  I can’t see a way out of this, Penny.

  She laughed in her mind. “I don’t either, and believe me, I have been thinking furiously. I suppose we are going to have to go through with this. You cross your fingers, and I’ll cross mine. That is what Liddy and I used to do when we lied to our parents.

  Jack sighed. I’ll do it if you will.

  Just make sure you cross your fingers.

  “Face each other and hold your hands,” the archbishop ordered.

  How would he cross his fingers if they were in plain sight?

  I’m crossing my fingers telepathically, Penny said. You’d better do the same.

  They looked at each other. Jack was sweating, and it appeared that so was Penny. She did look lovely, if a little worn from their ride in the snowstorm. She still wore the white girtle. Perhaps she could create a disturbance, but as Jack looked around, there were too many people. He forced a smile as if he were the groom, and she smiled back as if she were the bride.

  He hardly noticed the brief words the archbishop said, thinking of Penny, and then Tolmoux said, “The rings.”

  He placed a ring on Jack’s finger. The front of the ring had a crest similar to Penny’s WWS pin. The archbishop made a show of flipping the crest underneath. He did the same to Penny. “I now declare you married under the grace of Yvessa, to be recognized by all the gods and goddesses of our world.” He smiled at them. “You may kiss and seal this blessed event.”

  Penny looked at him with wet eyes and closed them as she held him close. Jack sighed before doing the same, just after finding her lips with his. They kissed to the applause of all the witnesses.

  “That was wonderful,” whispered the woman who first let them in. “Now, you are married for real.” She giggled for joy.

  Jack wasn’t feeling joy at the moment.

  “The archbishop would like to speak with you both privately,” one of the archbishop’s aides said. “I will show you to the deacon’s office.”

  Jack held Penny’s hand. He didn’t dare to communicate with her. She might ask him if he mentally crossed his fingers during the service. There weren’t any vows to be made in the Yvessa version of the marriage ceremony anyway.

  They followed the archbishop inside the small office on the other side of the chapel from the bank of rooms where they were to spend the night.

  The archbishop closed the door and pointed to chairs facing the desk. Archbishop Etienne Tolmoux sat and smiled at them, but it wasn’t the same smile he had shown when he married them.

  “I am assuming you are Lady Penneta Ephram,” the archbishop said to Penny, and he turned to Jack. “You are Lord Jack Winder of Raker Falls? Is there such a place as Raker Falls in Corand?” The archbishop pursed his lips before continuing. “You, sir, probably have the only Masukaian sword in Antibeaux. I should know I am a sword connoisseur. There wouldn’t be another Jack with a Masukaian sword in my country.”

  “Raker Falls is where we both live,” Penny said.

  “As man and wife?”

  “No.” Penny folded her arms.

  Jack didn’t like the archbishop’s sinister chuckle.

  “You are both married now if you choose to accept it or not. I bound your marriage to all the gods and goddesses, which isn’t a normal part of our marriage vows, you know.” The archbishop leaned forward. “Now, just what are you up to? Did you follow me on purpose to get an audience about Adoree’s Mask?”

  Jack was surprised the archbishop knew so much about them. Perhaps it was the WWS who had the listening posts, he thought. As long as the archbishop mentioned it, Jack might as well take advantage of the disadvantageous situation.

  “I didn’t follow you here. I don’t know what direction you were headed, but we spent some time in the countryside and were heading back to Bristone when the storm hit.”

  Tolmoux looked at Jack with narrowed eyes. “I can’t disbelieve you. The snow was a surprise to us, as well.” He sat back and stared at them. “What am I to do with you?”

  “Tell us where the mask is and let us go on our way,” Jack said. He shrugged. “As you said, I was trying to figure out a way to meet with you anyway.”

  The archbishop’s mind seemed to whir from Jack’s perspective.

  “Not that it will do you any good, but it is in a fissure two-thirds of the way toward Niemeaux in the middle of the Great Blue Glacier. There is no way you could find it, so I have no problem telling you. It is a fool’s errand to retrieve it.”

  “You won’t deny me the chance to try?” Jack was surprised that most of the people who had said where the mask was were right, just not as specific as the archbishop.

  “Yvessa doesn’t want you to have it.”

  “You can speak to her?”

  Tolmoux smiled. “No man can speak to the gods. I am the head of my church, man, and all I get is a nudge from time to time.”

  Jack nodded. “Are you the head of the WWS?”

  “Another question? What do you mean?”

  “I’m curious about it. Have you heard of the Black Finger Society?”

  “Of course. Do you think we are bumpkins since we don’t act like Corandians?” Tolmoux said.

  “Are the WWS and the Black Fingers allies?” Penny said.

  The archbishop shook his head. “Not to my knowledge, but I am not the head of the WWS to answer your previous question. The prime minister, Payare Bellet, heads the secular arm of Yvessa’s minions, and I tend to the spiritual matters only. The Black Finger Society is a secular group, but I believe Payare has been in contact.”

  That was to be expected, thought Jack. That meant his primary enemy in Bristone wasn’t the archbishop, but the prime minister.

  “Will you let us go?” Penny asked.

  “No,” the archbishop said. “I haven’t restrained you in the first place, so there is no need to let you go.” He chuckled ag
ain. “You are now a newly married couple. Go do what newly married couples do. If our paths ever cross in Bristone this winter, as they likely will, I will treat you as acquaintances as I am doing now.” He stood up. “If you choose to freeze to death on your way to Niemeaux, don’t say I didn’t warn you. It isn’t winter in Bristone yet, despite the blizzard, but it is worse to the north.” He walked out the door, leaving Jack and Penny looking at each other.

  “Did you cross your fingers?” Penny asked, the first words out of her mouth after the archbishop left.

  “How could I?” Jack said truthfully. I was noticing how pretty you were, and the next thing I knew, Tolmoux slapped a ring on my finger.”

  Penny turned bright red. “I did the same thing.”

  “Thinking of how pretty you were?” Jack asked.

  “No. You looked rather handsome, despite your rumpled appearance.”

  Jack was going to comment on her rumpled appearance but kept the thought to himself.

  “So, are we married?” Penny asked.

  “Should I ask Ari?”

  “Why would you ask him?”

  Jack turned red. “He has been around Antibeaux for long enough to know what happens to a sham marriage.”

  “A sham marriage,” Penny said. She sighed. “If the archbishop spreads around the fact that he married us—”

  “So, we have to pretend that we are married?” Jack asked.

  Penny nodded. “I hope we are pretending. Not that I am totally opposed to the concept.”

  Jack didn’t know what he felt. “At least the kiss was genuine.”

  “On your part,” Penny said, but her look was unconvincing. “People are glancing through the open door to the office. Perhaps we will have to fool them with another kiss.”

  “I think that is the prudent thing to do. Now that our first ruse has been exposed, we can’t immediately expose our second ruse.”

  “The marriage?”

  Jack nodded. He took Penny in his arms and kissed her. It was much more passionate than the one in front of everyone. He knew better than Penny what a genuine kiss was, and that was very genuine.

  Chapter Thirty-One