by Liv Daniels
Leina’s shoulders drooped, but she did not speak.
Sasha sighed. “These are difficult times. Sometimes… sometimes you can’t save everyone. If saving one person condemns everyone else, would it be worth it?” Sasha herself seemed uncertain, as if she was searching for the answer.
“I don’t know,” was all Leina could bring herself to say. She thought of Sam, the undercover agent who was willing to show Dangerman’s slaves tremendous cruelty for the sake of pulling off his act convincingly. Leina still had a scar to remind her of that. But in the end, he had let her go. Was it only because of her usefulness? Or had he had some faint desire to save her, because of some grain of humanity in himself that even he couldn’t hide? Unable to make sense of it, Leina changed her angle. “They have… technology,” she said. “I saw one of the bombs with my own eyes. They’re getting bolder. What if they win before we even start fighting against them?”
“They won’t,” Sasha said firmly. “Trust us. We won’t let that happen. But if we are discovered too soon, this will all be over.”
There was a long pause. Neither of them knew what more to say. Finally, Leina said haltingly, “Kip thought I was some kind of hero. Apparently it’s a rumor of some kind. I used to believe in things like that. It’s just that the World is such a complicated place now.”
“Ah, yes, the Masked One.” Sasha laughed softly, but Leina did not see any humor in it. “That’s only what the World wants you to believe, about it being complicated. Often the answers to complicated questions are simpler than we want them to be.”
“I still don’t feel like one. I don’t think I’ve done anything worthy of legend.”
“According to the World you have. And it is the World that decides what is worthy of legend, whether they are right or not.” Sasha’s face grew serious again, and she said, “But if heroism felt heroic, it wouldn’t be heroic at all. That’s what we have to accept in our line of work. You will do things worthy of legend, but the legend is not for you. More often than not, heroism is like this.” Sasha lifted her right sleeve, revealing a long, ugly scar. In response to Leina’s questioning gaze, she explained, “The mark of a scourge. I saw my mother scourged to death by monsters. It was back in the darkest days of Estlebey, a time that those living there now would do well to remember more often. My mother was in hiding, but they found her and demanded that she tell them who her daughters were, where they were hiding. When she wouldn’t tell, they brought every young girl in Estlebey before her. By some cruel chance I was last. They asked her over and over again, ‘Is this your daughter?’ I knew that she was dying; she couldn’t take their torture any more. But even so, she only stared at me with steely eyes that said not to cry, not to let them know that I knew her. They threatened to scourge me, too, and they did, and my mother didn’t even let a change come over her face, to save me.” Sasha’s voice, normally so serene, rose and fell and broke as she spoke. Now she sighed. “Even if she never felt the pride of heroes, and even though she is remembered only by a few, did that make what she did any less heroic? Most of the true heroes in the World never felt heroic even for a moment. But that didn’t make them doubt. Doubt and fear are our worst enemies, and it is them most of all that we must overcome.”
Now Leina felt foolish, if not comforted. Nonetheless, the end of Sasha’s speech had solidified something that Leina had been considering—no, that she had known—ever since she returned from the village raid. It probably wasn’t anywhere near what Sasha had meant for her to get out of this conversation, but now Leina knew clearly that it was what she had to do. She just wasn’t ready to put it into words yet. The silence pressed on her heavily. Finally, for the sake of saying something, she said, “You said ‘daughters.’ You have sisters?”
“Just one,” Sasha said, and her voice was pained. “I was told that they found and killed her. It was all over some prophecy, or more of a general expectation, I should say. Our parents were among the greatest of the agents of old. Back when people still knew how to acknowledge that the darkness existed, they assumed that if anyone could defeat it, it would be either my sister or I when we grew up. Not unlike your Masked One rumor, actually. It was harmless, perhaps, but the darkness took it seriously. If nothing else, it wanted to crush the hope that we inspired.” Sasha looked like she was going to say something else, but she didn’t.
“You’re still around,” said Leina. “Maybe they were right that you would be the one to defeat the darkness.”
“I’m not so sure,” Sasha said, with an odd light in her eyes. “It was my sister, really, that most of the expectation was laid on.” Then she quickly added, “After my mother died, I made myself believe that the rumor was just some kind of excuse the Appeaser came up with so he could personally tear my life apart. After we left Estlebey, it was a long time before my father could convince me to join the Agency.”
Leina frowned. Sasha was always so calm and wise. Leina was not sure that she wanted to hear that she had ever been otherwise.
But then Sasha’s voice softened, and the Sasha that Leina had known was back. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have gone off on a tangent. Almost anyone’s life is someone else’s fantasy, Leina. So nothing has changed, really. Don’t try to live up to anything. Just be yourself. Greatness, I think, is a thing that we tend to shy away from. Some people spend their whole lives trying to hide from their own greatness. The World tries to make us think that we are missing something. What we forget is that everything that we long for most is right there with us. Sometimes it takes the dark moments where we can’t see anything else to remember.”
Leina was silent for a long time. Finally, she said, “Am I dangerous to you?”
Sasha hesitated. “You cannot wear the mask anymore, that is certain. The rumor will fade if you can manage to keep from causing a sensation again.”
“I can’t promise that. And if news of me reaches the Appeaser or Dangerman, they won’t be quick to forget it. As long as I’m linked with you, I will be dangerous.” She paused and took a deep breath. She knew that she couldn’t put off telling Sasha any longer. “And yet, no one knows where I come from. Not yet. If given long enough, they may figure it out, but right now they probably think I’m just some crazy vigilante, like Dangerman. Maybe that’s what I need to give them, before they have time to make other assumptions.”
Sasha immediately knew what Leina was proposing. “If you chose to do this, you would be on your own. We couldn’t offer any support that would link us to you. Not in an endeavor so… risky, so open.”
“I know. But I can’t sit in a corner and watch and do nothing anymore. And they need an explanation for what they’ve seen. Anyways, I think what Dangerman needs is someone to draw him out. Someone like himself. Someone like the Masked One.”
Sasha smiled slightly. “Not only Dangerman. The World is longing for someone like the Masked One, or else your rumor never would have spread. But…” she paused, and the smile disappeared. “Are you sure you understand what this would mean? You could not come back here for a long time, maybe never.”
Leina nodded. “I don’t want to leave. But I am ready.”
Sasha nodded. “I can offer you very little, Leina, but at least I will give you this advice. Keep your true identity hidden until it can best serve you. Used at the right time, it can be your most powerful weapon.”
Leina furrowed her brow in confusion. “Why? Because Dangerman hates me?”
“No.” Sasha shook her head. “Because you are Leina Skyvola.”
Leina’s face fell. “And what does that mean?”
Sasha smiled softly. “Someday you will discover that you have found out. There are some things about a person that one cannot truly conceal or destroy. Things that we are meant to be. There are too many who try to hide them.”
Chapter 5
That evening, Leina ate dinner with Ruby in one of the Agency’s small lounges. They had spent countless hours here. It was here where Leina often gave Ruby reading le
ssons, and afterwards they would talk and play games long into the night. But tonight they were silent. Leina didn’t want to have to tell Ruby that she was leaving. They had become good friends during Leina’s time here, and Leina knew that Ruby would be devastated.
Ruby had long ceased trying to make conversation. Occasionally she looked up from her food and gave Leina a sideways glance, but in fact this kind of unexpected silence on Leina’s part wasn’t out of the ordinary. Ruby knew that talking to Leina while she was deep in thought was as exciting as conversing with a robot pre-programmed with short automatic responses.
Kip and Lilly bounded into the room, precariously balancing plates heaped with food in their small arms. They both clamored to sit next to Leina at the lounge’s little corner table. Sasha and Max had agreed to let them stay at the Agency until someone from the outlying outpost-town could be found to adopt them. Already the children had shed any trace of their past life in the streets, and were as bright and happy as any of the other children here. Leina smiled at them weakly.
After taking a large bite of a bread roll, Kip bubbled, “Masked One, what was it like to save all of those people in Estlebey?”
“Really, you can call me Leina.” She tried not to frown. Kip had been following her around whenever he could, constantly asking questions like that. She wished that she could stop taking them so seriously, laugh them off. Either way, it wasn’t Kip’s fault. There was such bright youthful innocence in his eyes. It made Leina wish that she could be the hero he thought she was. But she wasn’t. She often wondered if she would have had the courage to jump if she had actually known about the monster.
“I was there,” Ruby said, saving Leina from having to answer Kip’s question. Leina flashed her a grateful glance.
“Really?” Kip said in awe.
Ruby nodded, smiling. “Yes. The monster would have gotten me if Leina didn’t jump in at just the right moment.” She was looking meaningfully at Leina as she said it. Leina knew that she was really saying, I don’t care if you knew about the monster or not. You did save us. Don’t be so angry with yourself.
Leina nodded slightly at Ruby. “Thanks,” she mouthed.
As soon as Kip and Lilly finished eating, they wandered from the table and found a ball in the corner. Leina and Ruby watched in silence as the children laughingly bounced it in the air, trying to keep it from hitting the ground.
Leina took a deep breath. “So…” she began, and then her voice faded.
“What?” Ruby asked sharply, instantly suspicious.
“I’m leaving,” Leina blurted.
Ruby’s eyes fell. “I know.”
“Huh? How?” Leina was taken off guard.
“I was listening.”
Leina laughed. “You’re already a spy and Max hasn’t even started training you yet.” Then her face fell again. “I don’t want to leave all of you, but I have to.”
“I know that too.” Ruby bit her lip. “Is it… forever?”
Leina shrugged. “I don’t know. I hope not.”
Ruby nodded slowly. Leina smiled a little, grateful that Ruby wasn’t making this more difficult than it already was. “You have to keep reading while I’m gone, okay? You have to get to the end of my book. It’s the best part. It’s taken all of the strength that I have to restrain myself from telling you about it, so you can’t let my efforts be in vain!”
“Of course,” said Ruby quietly. “Just… promise you’ll try to come back someday?”
“I will.”
Kip lunged to hit the ball higher into the air, but he missed and both he and the ball tumbled onto a heavily stuffed chair amidst Lilly’s fervent giggles. With a grin, Kip settled onto the chair and let the ball roll to the ground. “Are you going to save the World from Dangerman?”
The smile came more easily this time. “Something like that. I am the Masked One, right?”
***
A week later, Leina stood out front of the Agency, her eyes uplifted to the eagle insignia above the door that shone in the sunlight. She knew that she looked as ridiculous as she felt, but it was necessary. If she was going to play the part of the Masked One, she couldn’t risk underdoing it. So now the satin mask on her face was complimented with a matching cloak and boots and white elbow-length gloves. Her long dark hair was braided tightly. The cloak was tied closed below her neck, but underneath it a dull glimmer could be detected.
“You do realize that we’re not going to be able to fly in and lift you away if you get into trouble, right?” Max said, curt as ever. Ruby was standing next to him, and Kip and Lilly and Sasha and a few other agents were there too.
Leina lifted her mask and nodded in answer to Max’s question. Under the cloak she was wearing one of the Agency’s shiny magnetic jumpsuits. The Agency’s flying ships had controllable magnetic fields that could be used to quickly pick up agents without having to land. But that wasn’t why Leina had insisted on wearing the suit.
Max set his jaw to acknowledge her answer. “Good. Then I wish you well, Leina Skyvola. Don’t forget your training.”
“Of course not. How could I?” said Leina with a joking smile. Max certainly knew how to make his lessons memorable.
Sasha handed Leina a stuffed bag and Leina slung it over her shoulder.
“There should be enough food in here to keep you going for a while,” Sasha said.
“Good, thanks,” said Leina. Then she turned to a young agent nearby named Sal. He and his twin brother had quit training on Leina’s first day at the Agency, but she had since convinced them to come back. “Stick around, okay? We’re going to need you.”
Then, with a wave, Leina started off toward the mountains and the great barren expanse beyond. Once Leina had turned away, Sasha’s eyes lingered on her longer than the rest.
Leina struck the path that snaked between two twin hills that marked the hidden vale of the Agency. There she turned back to look one more time at the valley that had been her home. Her hand strayed to the trunk of a tree—the very tree that Ruby had been sitting in when Leina arrived. She ran her hand over the bark as if something in its roughness could imprint this place on her heart forever.
“Until we meet again,” she said softly, and her voice was carried away by the wind.
Chapter 6
It looked like the workings of Dangerman’s kitchen had been grinding along in much the same way since the last time Leina was here. In fact, they probably had. It made Leina shudder to think that, if she had not escaped, she probably would have been grinding along with them for all this time. She was endlessly glad that this hadn’t been the case. As it were, she had found much better uses for her time.
Leina was tucked away in a ventilation shaft, happily out of sight of the monster overseers that paced back and forth among the dismal rows of workers. She smiled at the thought that, six months ago, getting into this place unseen would have seemed impossible to her. But now it was childishly simple. Max’s training had served her well.
Leina had once complained that Max’s training lacked practicality, but now that she had completed it she saw that it was just the opposite. Max’s many lessons, though they often seemed random and unrelated, had laced themselves together into a very cohesive result. Now Leina was smarter, quicker, and more astute at any kind of work, and these things together made her much stronger than she would have been if Max had simply instructed her in the surface skills necessary for her craft.
Getting in had been simple enough. The only real trouble had been the bridge. It was open, exposed, and the only way to get across the flaming river of lava that surrounded Dangerman’s fortress. However, though the bridge itself was a brilliant defense, Dangerman had made one mistake: the wall. It surrounded the entire complex that comprised his fortress, and obstructed the view of everyone within. The only ones left to watch the bridge were the two monsters that guarded the wall’s single gate, and Leina had managed to cause enough of a disturbance to keep them busy. Monsters were formidable, maybe, b
ut they were quite easy to distract. And Leina hadn't bothered much at covering her tracks. She wanted them to know that the Masked One was here. Just not exactly where she was hiding, yet.
The monsters kept pacing back and forth, perfectly unaware that anything in their kitchen was not just as it had been for the last several years. It would have been the perfect time for Leina to make her move. But she wasn’t ready. Not yet. Tomorrow she would be.
***
Leina did her best to sleep a little within the tight confines of the air vent. At last she heard a break in the constant grating rhythm of the kitchen, then the shuffling feet of the slaves, finally retreating from their completed day’s work. Leina couldn’t be sure if she had actually slept, but it didn’t matter now. It was already late, and the inhabitants of this dismal place would be lapsing into dreams haunted by their own unhappy reality. Now Leina had work to do.
She pushed off the vent grate, which she had loosened early that morning before the slaves had come in. She emerged from the tight opening and stretched her sore limbs with a weary grunt. It was strange to be in this place in silence. To her it had always been a place of clanging and slicing, sweat and hunger. To be here now, alone… it was like visiting a ghostly vision of her past where everything was eerily out of place.
The kitchen’s rusty door creaked as Leina opened it, but she didn’t try to cover up the sound. She knew that at this time only a few monsters were about, and they didn’t come near the kitchen. Dangerman made the mistake of assuming that as long as all of his slaves were watched at night, there would never be any trouble to guard against elsewhere. He hadn’t taken outsiders into account.
Now Leina was glad that she had been observant during her time here. It would have been easy to have been here much longer and still know much less. Many here found the rhythm of the constant work hatefully alluring, and forgot themselves in the endless grind. Instead, partially to keep herself sharp and partially because she thought the information might be useful for an eventual escape, Leina had constantly observed her surroundings and asked questions of the other slaves during the quiet of night. The things that she had learned then were now making her current operation possible.