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[talien]

It was the elorii’s turn to stand watch when she sounded the alarm. In the distance, two hundred yards off the starboard stern, a great geyser erupted from the ocean’s surface. At first it appeared to be a whale emitting air through its blowhole, but after a moment it became apparent that the phenomenon was all together different.

“What is that?” asked Vlad.

The jet of water rose thirty feet into the air, its source remaining hidden beneath the surface. The water was a majestic white plume and it sparkled as if motes of silver were contained in its stream.

“The Oracle of Osalian,” Ilmarė said in awe. “We must go to it.”

“Go to it?” Kham looked at the elorii sideways. “Didn’t you say before that you weren’t rowing out to any other islands?”

“This is different. The Oracle of Osalian has not appeared for hundreds of years. It is a sign of Osalian’s blessing that he has chosen to reveal its presence to me. I shall go alone.”

“Oh no you don’t,” said Kham. “I’m going with you.”

Beldin was already helping winch the rowboat down to the surface of the ocean. “We’re both going.”

They rowed out to the geyser. It stood immobile like a pillar, unwavering in its motion.

“Now what do we do?” asked Beldin.

”We must touch—“

But before Ilmarė could finish speaking, Kham dove into it…

The walls of the room were covered with mosaics depicting courtly scenes. The floor was polished marble. Two thrones sat atop a raised dais. At the east end of the room a red velvet carpet ran from the double doors to the thrones.

In his vision, Kham wore a white mask and a silken robe on which the Yellow Sign was embroidered. A woman, who Kham instinctively knew to be Cassilda, turned to look at him. She was the Queen of Carcosa Castle.

With a quick and violent motion, Cassilda plucked a torch from a sconce and hurled it from the balcony into the Lake. There was only starlight.

“I have not seen you! I have not seen you!”

“You echo you priest,” said the Stranger. “You are all blind and deaf—obviously by choice.”

“I…suppose it is too late to be afraid,” said Cassilda. “Well then; I am not.”

“Well spoken, Queen. There is in fact nothing to be afraid of."

“Please, phantom, no nonsense.” Cassilda pointed at his robes. “You wear the Sign.”

“How do you know that?” asked the Stranger. “You have never seen the Yellow Sign.”

“Oh, I know. The Sign is in the blood. That is why I…” he hesitated. “That is why I choose to abdicate to Aldones.”

Uncharacteristically, all the Stranger said was, “uh…”

Cassilda wasn’t following the script. This was all wrong. He had followed the ebb and flow of the play for countless months, maybe years, ever since he had ventured into Carcosa Castle and became trapped there. He lived it over and over.

But something was different. Cassilda had always chosen to marry Camilla, her daughter, to one of her own sons, either Thale or Uoht. Sebastian never discovered whom she chose; the King saw to that. Who was Aldones?

“No blood should have to carry such knowledge through a human heart,” continued Cassilda. “No children’s teeth so set on edge.”

The Stranger’s relief was palpable. They were back on track. “You face facts. That is a good beginning. Very well, then; yes, in fact, this is the Sign. Nevertheless, Cassilda—“

“Your Majesty—“

“—Cassilda, there is nothing to fear. You see how I wear it with impunity. Be reassured; it has no power left.”

“Is that…a truth?”

“It is the shadow cast by a truth. Nothing else is ever vouchsafed us, Queen Cassilda. That is why I am white: In order to survive such colored shadows. And the Pallid Mask protects me—as it will protect you.”

“How?” asked Cassilda.

“It deceives,” said the Stranger. “That is the function of a mask. What else?”

“You are not very full of straight answers.”

“There are no straight answers. But I tell you this: Anyone who wears the Pallid Mask need never fear the Yellow Sign. You tremble. All the same, my Queen, that era is over. Whatever else could you need to know? Now your Dynasty can start again; again there can be a king in Hastur; and again, Cassilda, the Black Stars can mount the sky once more against the Hyades. The mists can be lifted. Humankind can have its future back.”

The mists had surrounded the castle since the Stranger had entered the grounds. He tried several times to leave, but it would not let him. He experienced nightmarish visions of the King in Yellow, and the pain grew more intense with each passing second until he returned.

“So many dreams!”

“Only wear the Mask, and these are given,” said the Stranger. “There’s no other thing required of us.”

“Who tells me this?”

“I am called Sebastian.” That was new. He had never been able to say his own name.

“That is only Alaran for ‘stranger.’”

“And Aldones is only Hasturic for ‘father.’ What of that?” The words came out of the Stranger’s mouth but he didn’t know why he said them. Whoever Aldones was, he had altered the outcome of the play.

“Your facts are bitterer than your mysteries. And what will happen to you, Sebastian, you with the Yellow Sign on your bosom, when the Sign is sent for?”

“Nothing at all. What has Carcosa ever had to do with the human world, since you all lived in mud huts? The King in Yellow has other concerns, as is only supernatural. Once you don the Pallid Mask, he cannot even see you. Do you doubt me? You have only to look again for yourself across the Lake. Carcosa does not sit upon this world. It is, perhaps, not even real; or not so real as you and I. Certainly, the Living God does not believe it. Then why should you?”

“You are plausible, you in your ghost face. You talk as if you know the Living God. Do you also hear the Hyades sing in the evening of the world?”

“No,” the Stranger said shortly. “That is strictly the King’s business. It is of no earthly interest to me.”

Cassilda recovered a little of her aplomb. “I daresay. How can I trust any of these answers? Do we indeed have to do nothing more to be saved than don white masks? It sounds to me like a suspiciously easy answer.”

“Test it then.”

“And die? Thank you very much.”

“Not so fast,” said the Stranger. “I would not kill you, or myself.”

The Stranger had killed many outside the city, but he chose his victims in Carcosa Castle carefully. In all the incarnations, he had yet to kill the Queen, or indeed any of the key players. But the servants and guards were all fair game.

“I propose a masque, if you will pardon me the wordplay. All will wear exactly what they choose, except that all will also wear the Pallid Mask. I myself shall wear the Yellow Sign, just as I do now. When you are all convinced, the masks will be doffed; and then you may announce the Succession, all in perfect safety.”

“Oh, indeed. And then the King descends.”

“And if the King should then descend, we are all lost, and I have lost my bet. I have nothing to lose but my life. You have more. And if the King does not descend, what then? Think! The Yellow Sign denatured, human life suddenly charged with meaning, hope flowering everywhere, the Phantom of Truth laid forever, and the Dynasty free of all fear of Carcosa and whatever monsters live there, free of all fear of the King in Yellow and his tattered, smothering, inhuman robes!"

The moon rose slowly, contrary to the direction of sunset, and the stars faded, though they did not quite disappear.

“Oh Living God!” exclaimed Cassilda. “How would I dare to believe you?”

“You do not dare not to.“

Long waves of clouds began to pass over the surface of the Lake of Hali, which sighed and heaved. Spray rose. They stared at each other in a dawn and sunset of complicity and hatred.

“Why would I not dare?” challenged the Queen. “I who am Cassilda? I! I who am I?”

“Because, Cassilda, risk nothing, and you risk it all. That is the first law of rulership. And, too, because, Cassilda, in your ancient heart you love your children.”

“Oh, you are a demon! You have found me out.”

The Stranger laughed. He hadn’t laughed in previous versions of the play, but the Queen’s accusation was apt. She had never called him a demon before; but he most certainly was one, of that he was sure.

“That is what I came for. Very well. I shall see you tomorrow, after sunset. Wear the Mask, and all eyes will be opened, all ears unstopped. Good night, my Queen.”

“If you are human, you’ll regret this.”

“Utterly. And so, good night.”

Then Kham was out of the Oracle and back in the ship. He looked around, focusing on his companions.

Beldin and Ilmarė looked crestfallen.

“We saw nothing,” said Beldin. “What did you see?”

Kham rose to his feet, a new determination in his eyes. “Sebastian’s still alive.”