Unhonored Read Online Free

Ellis demanded.
    Now it was Alicia’s turn to shiver in the room. “Don’t you know what happened to me after I tried to help you in Gamin? I was cast out. Out into the … into the Bad Place. The Nothing Place. Those were the rules, Ellis, and you made me believe I could break the rules. But I can’t. I can’t go back there again and you can’t go back either.”
    â€œWhy?” Ellis asked. “Why can I not go back?”
    â€œI don’t know,” Alicia said simply. “It’s a rule.”
    â€œRules!” Ellis turned in exasperation away from Alicia. “Merrick’s rules! Rules he makes up that benefit only him and punish the rest of us. It’s hopeless!”
    Alicia stepped hesitantly back toward Ellis as she spoke. She leaned close to her ear as she whispered, her hands resting gently on Ellis’s shoulders. “No, not hopeless, Ellis. There are rules that were written before Merrick; rules that cannot be changed or ignored. There must always be a Gate. Whoever’s Day we are playing, somehow I know that they must obey that rule. Maybe Merrick likes to hide the Gate and maybe he’s gotten quite clever at it but he cannot destroy it and he cannot keep us from it.”
    Ellis reached up and laid her hand on Alicia’s.
    Alicia considered for a moment. “The soldiers know about the Gate and so does Dr. Carmichael. Maybe that friend of yours…”
    â€œJonas?” Ellis said, her voice flat as she spoke the name.
    â€œYes.” Alicia stepped again behind Ellis and, hesitantly at first, began again to untangle her hair.
    â€œI don’t know who Jonas is,” Ellis replied. “At least, not yet. I know who he says he is, but I don’t trust him any more than I trust Merrick.”
    â€œIt’s your funeral, Ellis.”
    Ellis considered for a moment. She still did not remember who she was or from where she had come. She was not even sure whether she was alive or dead. All she had were the words of others telling her who she was and those from people she no longer trusted.
    You can’t win the game until you know the rules …
    Ellis closed her eyes. It was a memory from long ago. It sounded in her mind like a woman’s voice but there was no name or face or place associated with it.
    You have to learn the rules before you can break them …
    Another voice in her memory and this time a man’s voice. A voice that made her smile. She tried desperately to hang on to the memory but it was gone as a wave retreating from the shore. Nothing more.
    â€œAlicia, just when is this masquerade?” Ellis asked.
    â€œWithin the hour, I believe,” she replied.
    â€œIndeed.” Ellis nodded. Ellis eyed the costume dress still draped over the chair. “You say I’ve been mistress of this house before?”
    â€œI don’t believe there were any others before you,” Alicia said more cheerfully.
    â€œWas I a good mistress?”
    The strokes of the comb through Ellis’s hair hesitated for a moment before continuing.
    Ellis considered for a moment and then rephrased her question. “Perhaps what I meant to ask was, ‘Was I good at playing the part of the mistress?’”
    â€œYou were always the best in your Day,” Alicia replied.
    You have to learn the rules before you can break them.
    â€œThank you, Alicia,” Ellis sighed. “Let me rest for a few minutes and then come back with Margaret to help me dress.”
    â€œOf course, dearest friend,” Alicia replied.
    Ellis turned toward the window. She could not see through the sheets of rain pelting the glass to anything that may be in the darkness beyond. “I guess the weather will prevent us from going outside.”
    â€œOutside?” Alicia giggled. “What a fanciful notion! May I be of any further service, Ellis?”
    â€œNot now,” Ellis said with a smile playing at the