Unhonored Read Online Free Page B

panes. Beyond the glass, shadows shifted back and forth.
    Ellis hesitated.
    â€œWhat is it now?” Alicia demanded.
    For a moment, Ellis wished that she were back in Gamin. There, at least, the world largely made sense. She knew little more now about herself than she did when she had first arrived at that train station. But at least in that seaside town she had some hope of normality. Now, however, she was in a world where she could trust nothing and no one.
    You have to know the rules before you can win the game …
    She furrowed her brow and then stepped resolutely toward the doors. She grasped both handles, turned them and pulled.
    The sudden cheer startled her.
    The room beyond was crowded in the extreme, packed tightly with costumed revelers from blue wall to blue wall. All of them turned the caricatures of their masked faces toward Ellis, each adding their voice to the tumult that struck her like an unexpected wave on the shore. She was confronted in that moment by a dizzying array of costumes and false faces. The woman whose gown was that of a shepherdess but whose mask resembled the visage of a lamb. A samurai wearing a grinning Kabuki mask. A figure in pantaloons covered entirely in pinfeathers with the hood that obscured their face in the shape of an owl’s head extending down into a cape resembling wings. The strange menagerie poured out through the double doors, chattering, screeching and burbling as they surrounded and engulfed Ellis.
    â€œIt’s all for you, Ellis,” beamed Alicia. She took Ellis by her arm, drawing her into the blue room. “He did it all for you.”
    The crowd surged around her. The room was far too small for this number of people. Ellis felt the stifling closeness and a rising panic within her. Between the masked faces, overly elaborate headpieces, farcical hats and hairdos, she glimpsed open doorways that led to further rooms that seemed to be just as crowded and claustrophobic as the one she was in.
    Ellis turned, searching for the door through which they had just entered, but she was having difficulty seeing it through the press of people. She felt dizzy, disoriented, and her breaths were coming quickly. She closed her eyes, trying to push away the confusion and overwhelming colors surrounding her. Then, as if at her will, everything stilled.
    â€œWelcome home, Ellis.”
    Ellis’s eyes flew open, her head jerking toward the sound.
    â€œMerrick,” she said, her tone as much accusation as recognition.
    Merrick stood before her, beaming at her with a toothy, brilliant smile. His costume struck Ellis as that of a jester: a carefully fitted jacket with narrow matching pants, both of which displayed a symmetrical pattern of rectangles each made up of two opposing red triangles with green and blue triangles filling out the remaining sides. His gleaming white shoes were topped by ridiculously large balls made of the same material. Like Ellis, he, too, sported a ruff around his collar, although his was much smaller than hers. In his right hand he held an elaborate mask comprised of the features of three faces, each sharing the eye socket with the face to either side. In his left hand, he held a club-like object composed of two wooden slats bound tightly together at one end. Ellis took all of this in quickly and moved on in her mind. She knew that this plumage was just camouflage, bright colors and patterns meant to distract her.
    She concentrated instead on his face. It was a visage that she had come to know well since her arrival in Gamin. It was a painfully handsome face. His jawline had sharp and soft angles at once, obscured by the shadow of his heavy beard, which no amount of careful shaving could completely eradicate. He had a slightly aquiline nose that put Michelangelo’s David to shame. His unfashionably long hair was coiffed in a way that might have suggested a nonchalance to his appearance had he not so obviously taken such care in creating