The Mage in the Iron Mask - Brian Thomsen [64]
Passepout nudged Rassendyll, motioned toward the hall signaling that he was about to make a hasty escape, and turned to go, only to take a hastened step forward and immediately run into an invisible wall not unlike the one that had stopped the swordmaster's first blow.
McKern looked at Passepout and Rassendyll sternly and said, "Neither of you are going anywhere until I find out what is going on here, even if I have to call to Mulmaster for reinforcements, and something tells me that more than one person in this room would not be in favor of that."
"I don't know what got into him," Chesslyn told McKern. "Sure, I've seen him angry before…"
"Anybody who has known him has," the mage acceded.
"… but such a rage," she continued. "Only once have I witnessed such animated anger from him, and that was after a night of too many libations and reminiscences of his days in service to Selfaril's father… but this time he hasn't had hardly anything to drink."
"It would appear that the reason lies beneath the turban," McKern observed. Turning his attention to Rassendyll, he instructed, "I have been forced to cast a spell against a dear friend in defense of your life. If you wish to keep that which I have protected, remove your mask."
Rassendyll realized that he had no choice. The old senior Cloak was a formidable opponent for the best of the wizards back at the Retreat, and without the use of his own powers, Rassendyll had very little recourse.
Shaking his head in resignation, he warned, "I will remove what I can," and began to undo the turban.
Volo inched over to Passepout, and whispered, "Who is this guy?"
"Rupert of Zenda," the thespian replied, then added, "and I thought that you were a barrel of laughs to travel with."
"Where did you meet him? I thought you were going to wait for me back at the Traveler's Cloak Inn."
"Dela and I had a lover's quarrel," the thespian extemporized, "so I temporarily became a dislocated person. I ran into Rupert on the Moonsea shore. I thought we were heading back to Mulmaster, but I guess Rupert had other ideas."
Chesslyn, feeling a little guilty for bludgeoning her former teacher, had joined Poins and Hal at Honor's side as the retired swordmaster gradually came around.
"What happened?" Honor asked groggily.
Poins looked at Chesslyn, then answered, "You hit your head, sir."
"On what?" he inquired, still not thinking quite clearly.
"On… something," Hal answered carefully.
"Oh," the swordmaster said, as if the question had been answered to his satisfaction.
Rassendyll had finished unwrapping one layer of cloth, and had begun to undo the second, under the watchful eyes of Mage McKern. As he unwrapped, the shape of the iron mask became more and more defined, until, fully unsheathed, the metal head cover was fully revealed.
"That's all I can do," Rassendyll stated. "I wish I could do more."
Mason carefully examined the metal handiwork that adorned the man's head.
"Why does he have that on?" Volo asked Passepout.
"I asked him the same question," Passepout answered.
"And?"
"He ran afoul of a wizard," the thespian explained, "and now he can't take it off. Something about it being bound to his skull."
The master traveler, in his research for Volo's Guide to All Things Magical, recalled reading about such masks. If memory served him, he seemed to remember that they usually did more than just hide one's face, but also dampened one's ability to perform magic. Legend had it that in olden days such masks had been used on imprisoned wizards to render them vulnerable to torture and interrogation.
Honor had just fully regained his senses after the final covering had been removed from the mask. He sat quietly surveying the situation, the watchful and restraining presence of Hal and Poins supporting him on either side.
"Do you remember what happened?" Chesslyn asked her burly mentor.
"I remember being hit