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In another part of the Underground, far from far from his erstwhile place of captivity, Athir huddled in darkness broken only by the shining of the mask his rescuer wore. He was holding a wriggling creature he could not identify. The mask-wearing girl had placed it in his hands.
“Eat it,” she said, her voice partially muffled by the mask.
Athir’s stomach heaved even though he was starving, not having eaten since the last time his captor had visited him and fed him just enough to keep alive. In the dim, silver glow of the mask, he could not determine what he was holding. A rat? A lizard? Some unknown slime-dweller unique to this benighted place?
“Go ahead,” the girl insisted when she noticed his hesitation. “Nothin’ else down here to eat.”
Fighting down a surge of nausea, Athir reached for what he hoped was the creature’s neck. A quick twist of his hands snapped its spine, and the wriggling ceased. Then Athir lowered his head and bit into the creature’s flesh. He swallowed hard and quickly, to make sure the chunks of raw, bitter-tasting flesh made it all the way to his stomach and stayed there. The girl’s masked face watched him imperturbably.
When he had eaten as much of the creature as he could manage, Athir tossed its remains aside. They landed with a splash somewhere beyond his range of vision. Then the Ship’s Rat took a long, close look at his rescuer.
“Who are you?” he asked. “Why did you set me free?”
“You know me, Fidi-tsotsi,” she replied. “From the Ashaki. My name Kalisha. They call me ‘Amiya-girl.’”
Athir remembered her as she was without the mask ... a somber girl who would appear from time to time with loot from the former Beit Amiya. His heart sank as he realized that she was a favorite of Jass Mofo.
So this isn’t a rescue after all, he thought. It’s a cruel trick, just what I should have expected from Mofo...
Athir tensed his muscles in anticipation of instant action. Kalisha was armed; he was not. But he was a full-grown man, and she was only a girl. Surely he could overpower her, then take the mask and use it to light his way while he searched for a way out of the Underground ... and then out of the city. The dagger wasn’t even in the girl’s hand now. And his own hands were quick.
As if she had been listening to his thoughts, Kalisha suddenly bared her dagger with a speed of hand that matched Athir’s at his best.
“You stayin’ with me,” she said.
Athir relaxed. Better to keep her talking, then find a way to distract her, he thought.
“Why don’t you take off that mask,” he suggested. “It must get hard for you to breathe with it on all the time.”
“Mask don’ want to come off,” Kalisha said.
“How’s that?”
“I carry Mask for long time, it don’ want me to put it on. Then one day, Mask tell me to put it on. Then it tell me where you be, and tell me to come get you. Now, I wait for Mask to tell me what to do with you.”
“I ... see,” Athir said noncommittally.
Inside, he shuddered.
This girl is crazy, he thought. And the mad were the most dangerous to deal with of all, because there was no way for even the shrewdest operator to anticipate what they might do next, or why. That was the reason Athir had never stolen from anyone he suspected of insanity.
“Do you think the mask might want you to take me out of these sewers?” Athir asked hopefully.
“No,” Kalisha replied. “Too dangerous up there. Muvuli ...”
“So you’re not going to take me to Jass Mofo?”
Kalisha shook her head. The mask moved with her, as if it had become part of her body.
“Mask want you. Forget Mofo.”
Athir stifled a sigh of relief. Kalisha might be mad, and she was carrying a weapon. But at least he was better off with her than he would have been had he remained trussed in the alcove like a sacrificial offering. And he had shadows of his own to avoid above the Underground. If his enemies could pluck him out of the Gebbi Senafa, it might well be better for him to remain here, hopefully well beyond their reach. And, even though she was clearly deranged, at least Kalisha did not appear to want him dead. Not yet, anyway.
Sooner or later, though, the Ship’s Rat would be free – Mask or no Mask.
“Come,” Kalisha declared. “It better not to stay in one place too long.”
“Truer words were never spoken,” Athir muttered as he followed the glow of the Mask into the darkness.