"What do you want to do now, then?" Sam asked as we left the cavernous City Hall.
From atop the wide stairs, I stood head and shoulders above the crowd. Well, most of the crowd. Here and there, about one in every fifty people, stood those who were stretched out like the guards inside. Their masks are practically featureless. The one concession to humanity is a single horizontal line representing a mouth. Yet even that lone mark conveys so much. They are clearly guardians...wards of the citizenry. The single line turns a blank slate into a stern visage.
I could also see what looked like a large garden a few streets away. The trees were predominantly black, however there were a handful of white willows. As I scanned the garden, I began to notice the crowd gathering. The majority of the people were maskless, and from my vantage point I could see a familiar wide-brimmed hat in the center. It seemed Oar Ellis had found his way to the city as well.
"I think I'm just going to find a spot and people-watch." I waved my hand at the distant crowd. "How about you see if we can get someone to pick up all that stuff we left behind?"
The Trader followed my gaze. "That sounds like a fucking terrible idea."
"I know. I'll be careful." This statement provoked a sneer that clearly demonstrated Sam's opinion of my ability to stay out of trouble. I placed a hand over my heart and put on my most innocent smile, though we both realized that the likelihood of me not finding trouble was slim to nil.
"All right, kid. But these masks only afford us so much protection. So don't go poking your nose into other people's business!" With that, Sam turned and walked away. For a while, I could track the bodyguard's progress through the streets by her battered cowboy hat, however eventually that too faded from my sight. Once Sam was gone, I trotted down the steps and to the entrance of the black and white garden.
I found a bench near enough to Oar Ellis to hear his orations, yet far enough that the mass of the crowd still blocked me from his sight. It was nearly identical to the speech he had given a couple of nights ago, however the reaction he received from the people of Slender Falls was very confusing.
Most of the maskless would wander away, brows furrowed in concentration. I overheard one or two making plans to take the next westbound caravan out. The few masked people would leave without a word. After a couple of hours, one of the masked people who had been there at least as long as I had stumbled away, trying to pull her mask off her face. The mask itself was a full-face, with blue eyes, cupid's bow lips, and rosy cheeks. Someone of some minor importance; perhaps this was the kind of mask the life license clerk would wear when he had to leave his mirrored protection.
As I watched, she tore at the mask, trying to pry her fingers under it. No one else seemed to pay her any attention. They were all entranced by Oar Ellis. When she could not rip the mask loose, she stumbled to the nearest tree and began smashing her face into the rough bark.
"Hey!" I jumped to my feet and ran to her... Or rather, tried to. A heavy hand, pale, with fingers like spider legs, fell onto my shoulder and held me back. I looked up...and up....and up...into the stern mask of one of the city's guardians. One more had wrapped both spidery hands around the woman, who had cracked her mask from the force of her blows. I could hear her panting, see her struggling against the tight hold. The cracks distorted the expression of the mask, and blood had leaked through, turning a formerly plain mask into resigned terror weeping red tears.
"This is not your concern," the masked guardian told me in a deep voice that shook my spine.
I looked at the crowd around Oar Ellis. Well over twenty of the tall men were scattered throughout the crowd. The Michaelman seemed not to notice, though I could see that he avoided meeting their blank gaze. I turned back to the woman, but she and the other had disappeared.
These must be the Bone Men of which the clerk had spoken. While I watched, they began to close in on the Michaelman. They never seemed to move, but when I blinked, they would be closer. And there would be more. Until nearly the entire crowd had been replaced by Bone Men.
Strangely enough, Oar did not try to run. He accepted the long fingers wrapping around his neck with a nod and a peaceful smile. "I have spread His word in this terrible place and rescued the sheep that have been led astray." Even though I was certain he didn't know I was there, it seemed as if his words were directed at me. "I will go back to His embrace knowing that I have done all that He asked."
"No." All of the Bone Men spoke at once, in a thundering rumble that shook my bones and weakened my muscles. "The Tall King does not suffer trespassers lightly. One has words for you."
Oar Ellis lost his serene smile. His eyes widened until it seemed as though the dark irises were lost in a sea of white sclera. "No!" He shouted, pulling against the pale hand imprisoning him. It did no good, as the Bone Man pulled him off his feet and began to carry him further into the garden.
The weight on my shoulder lifted. I looked back to find that my own Bone Man had disappeared, probably to join the rest as they followed Oar further in. I waited until the last Bone Man passed, then followed in their footsteps.
"Sen!" Sam called out, her voice sounding so far away. I turned around and saw Sam, standing at the end of a long corridor framed by black trees. I stretched out my hand to her, and it seemed to reach out for forever. I felt her fingertips touch mine, then she wrapped her hand around mine in a firm grip.
In an instant, my bodyguard was back at my side, breathing raggedly. "Sen! What the hell do you think you're doing? You said you were going to stay out of trouble." She realized then that she still had my hand in her grasp. She glanced at it, then at the trees towering over us and opted to keep hold of it. "Don't you have any survival instincts at all?" She pulled me toward the way she had come, but I dug in my heels and pulled back.
"They took Oar Ellis."
Like always, Sam sneered at the Michaelman's name. "Good riddance to him, then."
I resisted her pull once more. "I need to know what happens." I needed it like my next breath. With every fiber of my being, I needed.
Sam gritted her teeth and pulled out her gun, holding it against her leg. "Fine. If we end up stretched like taffy, I'm going to paint "I TOLD YOU SO" on my mask." Black leaves crunched under our feet as we headed further down the path.
After an eternity/after a moment, the path opened up into a clearing filled with Bone Men. A space was cleared in the middle, and there knelt Oar Ellis. And before him, stood the Tall King.
We give the New Gods names that try to define them, when really all we do is mock our own inability to comprehend them. He is tall, as tall as the trees. He is man-shaped, but even a child would see that he is not a man. He forces rigorous structure on the people and cities in his domain. Why? Why does he do that? Why does he seek to turn people into faceless automatons?
I am scared now. The Tall King stands as high as the tree-tops, but his aura spreads through the clearing and beyond. I see now that the trees are made in his image, tall and thin and black. He has no face, but I know that he sees me. To him, our half-masked faces must stand out like glaring beacons. There is no hole deep enough to hide me from his attention. He will find me. He will always find me.
I hold Sam's hand in a white-knuckle grip as we stand at the edge of the clearing and watch Oar Ellis being put to trial.
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