Kate Novak - Masquerades

"Now, tell me what's wrong," Victor insisted, sinking onto a cushion beside her.

Alias shook her head. "It's nothing, Victor… really. Drag-onbait and I just had an argument. He can be so-so-Oh! It just doesn't make any-sense! Victor, have you been telling me the truth about your father?" she demanded.

Victor looked into the flames of the fire. "No," he admitted softly.

Alias removed her mask, then reached up and untied the strings of the fabric covering Victor's eyes and pulled it away. She laid both masks down on the pillow beside her. Then she said, "Victor, you have to tell me everything you know."

"You have to understand," Victor said, looking her in the eye. "I love my father. I'm sure he thinks somehow what he's doing is right. He's not an evil man, Alias. He's just-well, he's just so certain that he's always right" "You know he's involved with the Night Masks?"

"I've suspected it for some time. There hasn't been any money missing, but I guess he's been making some other kind of payments. He's in charge of all the smoke powder the city confiscates. There's a lot of it. It isn't all in the warehouse where the books say it should be. When I told | him I'd found the key, I also told him I'd discovered about I the smoke powder. He seemed pretty shaken. He asked me to cover for him, to give him time to take care of some personal matters. He promised me, though, that he would come here tonight and explain things to you and Durgar."

The young man looked away, and Alias could see there were tears in his eyes. "It doesn't look good, does it?" he asked. "No. It doesn't," Alias agreed.

"You'd better go back downstairs," Victor said. "It would be better for you if you weren't seen with me, I think." "Why not?" Alias demanded.

"My father is going to be the center of a scandal, Alias. He could be involved with the Night Masks. Gods! He might even be the Faceless. I have to stand beside him, but there's no reason for you to be involved."

"Victor, no," Alias said, feeling her heart breaking for the young man's pain. "Look. I can't approve of your father, but I love you. I'm not going to abandon you because of something your father did."

"I love you" Victor replied, "which is why I can't allow you to stay. I don't want your name dragged down with ours."

"If you love me," Alias whispered vehemently, "you'll let me stay."

Victor smiled sadly. He ran his finger across her cheek, then down her neck and along her shoulder. "You are so very beautiful," he whispered. "You made me feel so lucky."

Alias put her hand behind the nobleman's neck and pulled his face close to her own. "I am not leaving you. You say you love me. Prove it," she demanded, and she threw her arms about his neck and pressed her lips against his own.

Lord Victor slid one hand about the swordswoman's waist to pull her closer as his other hand rested over Alias's porcelain mask, covering its eyes completely.

Below, in the main room of the Tower, the interminably long quadrille had ended and Dragonbait excused himself from Thistle Thalavar's company as quickly as good manners allowed. Now he scanned the crowded room for either Alias or Victor. In the end, it was Olive who found him. She tugged anxiously on the hem of his tunic. Where is she? he signed surreptitiously.

The halfling jerked her finger in the direction of the stairway. "With Lord Victor," she growled. "Didn't you talk to her?"

Dragonbait cursed in Saurial and began pushing his way through the crowd, toward the stairs. He managed to climb four steps before his way was blocked by a wall of leather armor and white plumes.

Dragonbait hesitated, considering whether he should fetch Olive to translate his need to the guard or whether he should just shove his way past them. He had just decided on the more forceful option when the screaming began.

The paladin wheeled just in time to see a huge figure leap down from one-of the mirrors mounted on the wall and land with a great thoom on the stone floor. The creature was twice the size of a human, kettle black, with a head shaped like a dragon's. An identical creature had already landed on a young noble, who screamed as his legs were crushed beneath the monster's weight. The saurial recognized the figures as iron golems from the lair of the Faceless. A third appeared in the mirror, pausing only for the first two to move out of the way before it, too, leaped down onto the floor.

The crowd was already panicking, driving like a herd of cattle for the entrance, only to find that the portcullis to the entrance had been lowered. Those in the rear were being decapitated by blows from the iron golems' fists, while those in the front were being crushed by their fellow guests.

A fourth and a fifth golem emerged from the mirror before the guardsmen poured off the stairs to meet the assault.

Dragonbait hovered uncertainly. He could search upstairs for Alias or battle the creatures. As a sixth golem appeared in the mirror, he knew he must act. With a sharpened claw, he cut the peace-bonded cord from his weapon and drew his blade. Then he launched himself at the magical mirror, swinging his sword.

The mirror shattered in a burst of light. Glass rained on the guests, but if there were any other golems, they would not be entering the Tower as easily as the first six had.

The paladin crunched broken glass beneath his feet as he landed. He turned in time to witness Haztor Urdo, with his sword drawn, run toward the sixth golem. The nobleman feinted to the right, then struck the creature on the opposite leg, but his blade broke on the monster's iron surface. The golem grabbed the youth by the arm, slammed him hard against the wall, then released him. Haztor's body slid down the wall, leaving a long, bloody smear, his Captain Crocodile mask still smiling.

With a snarl, the paladin leaped onto the shoulder of one of the creatures. He knew heat helped such creatures repair themselves, so he did not ignite his sword. Fortunately, the weapon carried other powerful enchantments, so the blade bit deep into the side of the creature's face, parting it like butter.

The golem reached up to grab the saurial, but the ornate dragon head prevented it from reaching its assailant. Dragonbait struck again and again with his sword, reducing the golem to spinning around in place while swatting ineffectually at the saurial.

The other five golems were not so distracted. The swords of the watch did not carry the necessary enchantments to slice through magically enlivened iron, and the monsters carved a wide swath through watchmen and party-goers alike. The frightened nobles' only hope was to dodge between the beasts.

Durgar's voice rose above the din, and Dragonbait caught a glimpse of the old priest, his mace glowing with its own eldritch power, smashing huge dents into one of the iron creatures. The golem was swift enough to grab Durgar by the arm, however, and it tossed the old man aside easily and moved back into the crowd, punching and crushing anyone in its path. The priest of Tyr landed heavily, but he rose, albeit unsteadily, and returned to the fray.

A smattering of magic missiles plinked without effect on a golem's surface, indicating a few nobles were not above learning the Art. At least one mage must have had some advanced training, for he sent a lightning bolt arcing across the room. The bolt struck two golems and a handful of nobles. The humans collapsed to the ground, but the golems were slowed.

The situation was deteriorating quickly. With the golem beneath him cracking along its entire length and breadth, Dragonbait leaped clear and vaulted up the stairs, three at a time. Alias could help turn the tide of the battle, if he could only find her.

Kimbel stood waiting at the first landing, with a double-loaded drow crossbow aimed at the paladin. Dragonbait could smell as well as see the resinous putty smeared on the bmts' tips, but he wasn't quick enough to dodge the missile". The first caught the saurial in the shoulder, the second in the chest. Dragonbait hissed and lunged in an attempt to skewer the assassin, but he fell short and crumpled into a heap on the stairs.