The Masked One

by Liv Daniels

  The Masked One

  by Liv Daniels

  This book is a work of fiction. The characters, names, incidents, dialogue, and plot are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons or events is purely coincidental.

  Copyright© 2017 by Mustelidae Media

  All rights reserved.

  Table of Contents

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  CHAPTER 19

  CHAPTER 20

  CHAPTER 21

  CHAPTER 22

  CHAPTER 23

  CHAPTER 24

  CHAPTER 25

  CHAPTER 26

  CHAPTER 27

  CHAPTER 28

  Chapter 1

  The agent leaped nimbly onto a stone that overlooked the village huddled in the gully below. All of the preparations for the coming celebration had been completed yesterday. Now the town slept uneasily, under a veil of mist. Did its inhabitants have any idea, any premonition, the agent wondered, of what was to befall them?

  A chill wind swept suddenly over the agent, and her eyes fell. At her feet was a white flower, its stem twisting between stony cracks, clutching at them in a death-grip, grappling to survive a little longer. It was such a beautiful and delicate thing, but no matter how tenaciously it persisted in life, it could not last. Already the greenness of summer was fading away, and the World would have to undergo the darkness of winter before it would see such things again.

  Let it come.

  The agent felt like she had been waiting on such a brink for some time now. She didn’t want to balance perilously on that edge anymore, powerless to do anything but watch the things of old cling stubbornly to life and finally wither. She wanted to plunge in. Because she knew that it was only through the plunge that she—and the World—could be whole again, and things long forgotten could be remembered. Because now, there was no going back.

  But she didn’t know where to begin. So here she was still, at the brink, utterly unable to move.

  She wasn’t just any agent. She was called Leina Skyvola, and that name boded some strange mix of hope and fear to all who heard it. The only problem was that she didn’t know why. Her own origins were as mysterious to her as were those of the audacious boy who called himself Dangerman, the one who had made her a slave in his desert fortress.

  But that didn’t matter. Not here. Not now. Leina had other things to worry about. Her job here was simply to observe what befell, to see if she could garner any useful information out of the event that was to occur today.

  She had been on a similar mission once before, in the city of Estlebey, just over a year ago. Back then, she had been excited for the chance to help in the fight against Dangerman. She hadn’t been entirely unsuccessful; she had witnessed a secret conversation between Dangerman and Estlebey’s king, who was known among his enemies as the Appeaser. From that conversation she had learned that Dangerman and the Appeaser were working together closely to undermine the freedom of Estlebey’s citizens. That knowledge was the most important breakthrough that the Agency had gained in quite some time.

  But today Leina couldn’t help but feel a deep sense of futility. She alone had no power to stop the horrors that she was to witness today. And even if she learned something more valuable than she had last time, what good would it do if the only ones who knew about it were of an outcast Agency that must remain hidden? If the Agency was discovered by the source of the evil that was eating away at the World, Max had said, it would all be over. They would be destroyed. They couldn’t risk that until the time was right. But Leina sometimes wondered if this was the Agency’s only opportunity, and they were missing it. Judging from Dangerman’s actions, something was coming to a point. When it did, would the Agency even stand a chance?

  Leina sighed, and the crisp mountain air turned to mist at the touch of her breath. She trusted Sasha and Max of the Agency more than she had ever trusted anyone before, even her grandmother. Why should she doubt their judgment? You shouldn’t feel so responsible for an operation that’s out of your hands, she had often told herself. Just do your part. But somehow she couldn’t cast off the feeling that she should be doing more.

  What seemed like so long ago, Grandmother had told her about the darkness that was coming over the World. Some evil power that caused the raids, and polluted the minds of all people in its reach. Leina hadn’t understood it then, but she did now. In the Desert and in Estlebey, she had seen the pain and confusion that it wrought. She felt the weight of it on her shoulders now—the weight of the World. Perhaps it was an unfair burden, but she had felt that kind of responsibility for some time now. It followed her, haunted her, like a foreboding shadow. Sometimes it gave her strength and purpose, but other times she could only feel its immeasurable weight threatening to crush her.

  The question still remained as to who or what the source of the darkness was. After what Leina had learned in Estlebey, it was clear that Dangerman was deeply involved. Indeed, he had been proven to be the source of all of the recent monster raids. But could it truly be he who was orchestrating something so massive? Though Leina detested Dangerman, she found it hard to believe that his motives would be so deep. He was very clever, yes. But he was also unbelievably foolish and selfish. Blind.

  Leina dismissed that jumble of wonderings, and turned her thoughts to the task at hand. She was much more prepared today than she was when she went to Estlebey. Upon her return, Max had regimented six months of intensive training, and now she was supposedly much more “well-rounded.” What that really meant was that she had undergone more physical training than she wanted to remember. As a child she had lived alone with her grandmother in the woods, and had spent a lot of time outside, wandering and exploring. She had considered her physical shape sufficient at the least. But she had always been more inclined to sit down with a book and exert herself mentally. Now, after Max’s training, Leina was more physically able than she had thought possible, even if she still didn’t appreciate the value of it.

  But today she had to forget all of that. She had to move and act like an average village girl, who wasn’t hyper-intelligent and who preferred to leave the heavy lifting to those more capable. Today she was undercover.

  Sasha and Max hadn’t thought that they would need Leina to do this kind of work again. But then they had received another tip, and, as a nineteen-year-old girl who looked much younger than she was, Leina was still the most inconspicuous agent on the team, even now that she was better trained. And though Leina had pleaded Max to let his daughter Ruby come with her again, he had insisted that once was enough until Ruby was old enough to actually begin training. Leina didn’t agree with his logic because she herself was still well under the prescribed age of 21, but she knew better than to argue with Max when she didn’t have to.

  What she still didn’t understand was why they had bothered to send her at all. They all knew what a monster raid was like. She supposed that they were simply hungry for news of the World. Estlebey was closed now, and no more newspapers made it out of those walls. The Agency lay in a disturbed calm, blind to the World in its seclusion. But what could Leina find today that would shed any light on what was happening? Nothing, she feared. She had been lucky in Estlebey, but she couldn’t even pretend to hope that the same would happen here.

 
; Leina lowered a decorative mask to cover her eyes. It’s silly of you to wear it again, she told herself. And yet, wearing the mask gave her security. It was the mask that she had worn in Estlebey to hide her face from Dangerman. She doubted that he would be here, too, and even if he was, he probably wouldn’t notice or recognize her after so long. But why not be safe? Masks like these were often worn during celebrations such as the one that was soon to begin in the little village, so at any rate it would help her to blend in.

  The mist still lay heavy over the town, but Leina could see signs of movement now. People were preparing. Soon it would begin. She descended from her lookout, down a grassy slope to the bottom of the gulch.

  Leina shivered, from more than the wind. But she was ready. Though there was nothing that she could do to stop the coming of destruction to this peaceful place, come it must. She would try, at least, to do what good she could.

  Let it come.

  Chapter 2

  The faces around her were joyous and excited. This village, called Drexel, was not like Estlebey. There were less people, and they moved with a slower kind of tranquility. They were content to be sheltered from the troubles of higher people, and they cared only for their simple lives to continue unchanged. Leina had not been so different from them, once. But she had been alone then, except for Grandmother. These people had the quiet and steadfast companionship of their neighbors. There was an allure in this place, and it pulled at Leina’s heart. It was the kind of place where she wished she could stay.

  It was the harvest celebration. These people were happy to celebrate the rich fruits that the earth produced in its greenness, before all fell dead. The harvest this year had been plentiful, and the townspeople looked forward to a winter of comfort and plenty, safe from hunger and biting cold. Leina only wished that the joy on their faces could last.

  She walked among them like a ghost, an observer destined to watch from a detached and shattered perspective. She knew that she should be blending in. You never know who’s watching, Max had told her countless times. But she couldn’t help it. Anyone who looked at her face must have wondered what brought such a pale, withdrawn stranger to this place, where she surely could not belong. Leina saw a kindly old woman eying her with gentle sympathy. She felt like the lady could see through her, right down to her thoughts, and it unnerved her. She turned away with an out-of-place violence, dissolving into a group of people bunched up across the street.

  A sweet smell rose to greet Leina, and she tilted her head down to find its source. The group that she had joined was congregated around a curly-haired street urchin. He couldn’t have been much older than nine or ten, but he was probably an orphan trying to earn enough money to make ends meet all on his own. He was hopefully extending a platter of hot pastries to the onlookers.

  Leina smiled at the little boy and took one, dropping a handful of coins into his outstretched hand, at least ten times its worth. He regarded the money with undisguised awe, and Leina disappeared before he looked up again.

  Leina wandered aimlessly around the edges of an adjoining square, taking an absent bite of the pastry from time to time. A rambunctious folk band was playing a lively tune across the way, and people were dancing and clapping with fervor. Leina watched them passively for a long while. It was a fast song. Desperate, almost, in its quickness. It should have been a cheerful tune, but the harmonies clashed in Leina’s head, a low, unnerving melody wandering independently underneath them. Feet tapping, arms swinging, bows slicing – all was a frantic, disconnected blur.

  It was then that the monsters came.

  Leina saw them before anyone else. Her face paled as she watched the joyous townspeople, laughing, moving quickly to keep in step, and behind them, creeping in the shadows, eyes that glowed with… nothing. Nothing human. Knowledge only of command.

  Leina felt unable to move. Unable to affect her surroundings in any way. She could only watch. Unbidden, an image of the little street urchin passed repeatedly before her. He must have had a hard life, but still he was so young, so innocent. Surely the monsters would kill him, or take him captive, and then he would never know anything beyond their merciless claws and whips. The poor kid didn’t deserve that.

  You’re a spy. You’re not supposed to let people affect you like this.

  All at once, the monsters descended. The frozen moment was shattered. And Leina was running back the way she had come.

  Chapter 3

  Leina found the little boy where he had been before. The only difference was that the pastries were now scattered on the ground around him, and there was no one else in sight. Except for the massive monster that crouched over him, clawed arm raised.

  That’s it for undercover.

  Leina leaped forward to put herself between the boy and the beast, and delivered a sharp blow to the monster’s nose, causing it to stagger back and yelp in pain. But it only took a moment for the creature to recover, and it wasn’t about to retreat.

  Monsters were frightening, and they certainly had brute force on their side, but they really were not very clever creatures. Though the monster slashed viciously at Leina, its movements were clumsy. She darted under its blows and in and out of its range easily, for once beginning to appreciate the merits of the physical regimen that Max had imposed upon her. The monster roared in rage, but Leina could see that its movements were becoming blunter, easier to dodge. Then, suddenly, behind Leina’s back, the sun rose out from the lingering mist, casting its brilliant morning rays in the monster’s face. It squinted its eyes and angled its face away.

  Taking advantage of the momentary distraction, Leina faked a lurch to the left, and the monster struck in that direction with a venomous screech, just a little too hard. In the moment that the monster took to regain its balance, Leina spun in the other direction, flipped a knife out from inside the sleeve of her dress, and stabbed the vile creature in the back. It bellowed angrily, then crumpled to the ground and lay still. Something small and round rolled out on the cobblestone from underneath it.

  The little boy hadn’t moved, and was staring at Leina with eyes as big as plates. But Leina was watching the round object, still rolling. She gingerly picked it up and held it to the light.

  “No,” she breathed helplessly.

  “What? What is it?” asked the little boy, coming up beside her to look.

  Leina rotated the little metal sphere in her hand. A deep dread seemed to emanate from its core. Hands shaking, she returned it carefully to the ground. Then she spun around and took the little boy by the shoulders.

  “What’s your name?”

  “Kip.”

  “Okay, Kip, we’re in serious danger. I want to get you out of here. Do you have any family in the village?”

  “Just my little sister Lilly,” said Kip solemnly. “We’re all alone. She’s still over there in the bakery, working so we can—“

  “Go get her. And then come back here. As quickly as you can.”

  Kip darted off and returned a few moments later with a smiling little blonde girl in tow. All had been quiet in the meantime. The monsters were busy ravaging other parts of the village, and Leina hadn’t seen so much as a stray movement.

  “Hi, Lilly,” Leina said, trying not to sound too panicked. “We’re going to run now, okay?”

  The children reached for her hands and she ran with them as fast as their little legs could go. They were near the outskirts of the village, so they didn’t have far to go. Since the celebration had been taking place mainly at the center of the village, the raid hadn’t reached this area yet. They passed without hindrance.

  Kip and Lilly were panting heavily by the time they emerged from the village, so Leina relented to letting them walk up the grassy slope to safer ground. But she was constantly glancing back at the village, and urging the children to hurry.

  When they were halfway up the slope, Leina saw floods of monsters issuing from the village, carrying prisoners with them. They were headed in the opposite direction
, but the sight caused her to grimace anyways. It wasn’t them she was worried about.

  “Can we run again?” Leina pleaded.

  Kip and Lilly nodded valiantly and started running. When they reached the top, Leina dove behind a large boulder and motioned frantically for them to do the same. No sooner had they taken shelter, the earth below them quaked, and the village below erupted into violent flame.

  “No,” Leina moaned. “How could they?”

  “You saved us,” said Lilly, eyes wide with awe.

  Suddenly Kip looked bashful. “Are you… are you the one who leaped from the sky and saved all of those people from the monster in Estlebey?” he asked.

  That wasn’t exactly how Leina would phrase it. Tumbling inadvertently into the situation and barely escaping with her life, maybe. Kip’s description sounded more like something out of the books she used to read. “Yes,” she said slowly. “How did you know about that?”

  Kip pointed to his eyes. Leina furrowed her brow in confusion, then touched her own eyes. She felt the smooth satin of the mask. “Oh.” Her eyes fell behind the mask. “But they closed Estlebey. News like that isn’t supposed to be let out.”

  “We still hear things. There are smugglers.” Kip paused, his voice heavy with admiration. “They call you the Masked One. You’re a legend.”

  Something in those words stung at Leina’s heart. It seemed a mockery. She could not save the village.

  Chapter 4

  “That was risky, Leina, risky.” That was Sasha’s nice way of repeating what Max had been yelling for the last half-hour before he violently stormed out of Sasha’s office. “You have so much talent, but sometimes I think you don’t know how to follow orders.”

  “I’m not trying to rebel. I just…”

  “Can’t help it because you feel compelled to do what you think is right. I know.” Sasha shook her head. “And the trouble is, you always are right. It’s just that doing things like that is a sure way to get us exposed. If that monster had lived, Leina, you can be sure its master would have heard about you. Maybe he already has.”