Secrets and Songs
The Unmasking of the Red Death, Part Two of Four
“Secrets and Songs”
[Click Here for Part One]
(Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s beloved classic short story “Masque of the Red Death” and the television series The Masked Singer.)
~~Count Nicolae Kane~~
With a classy turban wrapped over the top of his head, Count Nicolae Kane stood on a stage newly built by his servants. Though wooden, the stage was painted green to match the rest of the chamber. Where he stood at the stage’s edge was perfect for amplifying his voice through the entire party so all the masked guests could hear him.
He took a small, black mask from his own face and announced, “Welcome all, ladies and gentlemen, counts and countesses, dukes and duchesses, all who can hear—welcome to the Masquerade of Singers!
“We have twenty of your peers masked, their identities hidden, and all of them harbor dreams to thrill the world with their songs. At the end of the competition, one will be crowned the winner, but to get there, our esteemed nobles will have to prove they can sing. The weakest performers at each level of the competition will be eliminated and unmasked. Along the way, the singers will give us clues to their identity, and before each unmasking we will guess who we think hides beneath.
“I proclaim there will be no better way to celebrate our fellowship and safety, at rest nestled away from the world beyond. Now, let me introduce to you our panelists who will both judge the singing and help us guess our singers’ mysterious identities. We have the esteemed Minstrel Robert Thissler, the popular Duchess Jemma Walters, the funny physician and former court jester Doctor Kenneth Johns, and the lovely and scholarly Sage Nikita Shellanze.”
The crowd applauded and all the judges looked pleased except for the doctor, who likely didn’t appreciate being labeled as former jester even though it was true. He’ll get over it, Nicolae thought. Jesters are more entertaining than doctors, and keeping the crowd entertained was the count’s top priority next to finding the intruder.
As the clapping died down, Nicolae shouted, “Next, we will hear from all twenty of our competitors. They have been split into four groups of five, and one person from each group will be eliminated tonight! For the first group, we have Dragon, Cricket, Lion, Tiger, and Bear.”
Someone from the crowd yelled, “Oh my!”
“For the second group, we have Goose, Condor, Sheep, Rooster, and Pheasant. Third group is Bull, Antelope, Unicorn, Minotaur, and Albatross. The final group is Leviathan, Squid, Snake, Wolf, and Bat.”
All twenty masked singers crowded the stage behind Nicolae, and the partiers cheered even louder. Count Nicolae was impressed as well. All the costumes were lavish, shiny, and left no skin uncovered, almost as if they knew about the competition before Nicolae did.
“Now, we will begin with our first performer in our first group. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the dragon!”
On cue, the other nineteen left the stage, and Dragon stepped forward, accidentally hitting Nicolae with her scaly fake wings.
Count Nicolae said, “Please, Dragon, disguise your voice and introduce yourself to the judges and give us our first set of clues.”
Behind the mask, a high squeaky voice said, “Hello all! I’m Dragon, and I’ve always been the fiercest of the fierce. Hear my roar! Born in a valley of six hills, my mother always knew I’d be a singer. I never left our minstrels alone. Of course, Daddy didn’t like the attention I gave those singers and he had them beheaded, but my dream never died. I told my daddy that one day, this dragon will fly, and I would spray the countryside with my songs of fire, all from the depths of my desire. I’m not married, but my former husband is speechless. He—”
Dooonnngg! Dooonnngg! Dooonnngg! Dooonnngg! Dooonnngg! Dooonnngg! Dooonnngg!
Everything stopped at the clock’s ringing, and Nicolae looked over his guests. Frightened and confused, somehow he thought he saw someone sick. As the last chime of the seven o’clock bell echoed to oblivion, Dragon started to giggle, and the rest of the room, Nicolae included, started laughing.
Dragon finished her clues and sang the classic sea shanty “Like a Dragon Over the Ocean”, and the judges each offered their guesses, causing the partiers to nod pensively and decisively, even though the four panelists guessed different names.
The night continued through the remaining contestants, and though he projected fun and enthusiasm to the crowd, secretly, Count Nicolae was worried.
Will this even work? If the intruder is sick, will we be all be contaminated before his unmasking?
He thought about the work that went into the building of Villa Apsconditum, as well as the fortune spent in making this quarantine a reality. Though he often felt invincible and liked to appear invincible, Count Nicolae couldn’t shake the fear, the dread that all he worked for might soon unravel and slip from his grasp.
The night ended with the unmasking of Tiger, Rooster, Bull, and Squid—two dukes, a countess, and a former royal advisor. Nicolae knew them and recognized them from his original guest list, and he was happy to see them alive and well, but he was also disappointed that the intruder had not yet been discovered.
As the orchestra played and the audience dispersed to get more drinks and party into the night, Nicolae announced that tomorrow they would have both a brunch show and an evening show, eliminating four more people total.
As he walked away toward a side corridor that would lead out of the colored ballrooms, the judges stopped him to check in.
Sage Nikita said, “I’d say it’s going rather well. Truthfully, even better than expected. Our intruder is playing along for now.”
“For now, yes,” Nicolae admitted. “I need all of you to be watching for anything suspicious, though. Report anything foul to my guards. The intruder may try something before we unmask him.”
“Or her,” Duchess Jemma Walters corrected. “By the way, Doctor, you were hilarious tonight. I like the jester side of you.”
“Though it is fun for me, I’m worried I won’t be taken seriously as the resident physician,” Doctor Kenneth Johns admitted.
The minstrel said, “The people’s entertainment is the most important piece of this. If anyone suspects this castle’s been compromised, panic will spread even faster than the Red Death. Which is why after tomorrow, we should do less eliminations.”
Count Nicolae said, “Robert, this is urgent. How long do you expect me to draw this out?”
Nikita said, “If the people see us rush through this, they will get nervous. After tomorrow, let’s just do one elimination at a time, one for brunch, one during the evening.”
“Fine,” Nicolae conceded. “If it gets down to four, we will unmask them all at once. Now, I need to get some sleep.”
He retired to his bedchambers, but slept little that night, his worries plaguing him with visions of the Red Death’s bloodshed.
~~Minstrel Robert Thissler~~
The next morning, they unmasked Lion and Condor from the first two groups.
Minstrel Robert Thissler felt alive, energized by the puzzle, invigoration by both the competition and the mystery.
That evening, the partiers gathered around the green stage with their food and heard clues and songs from the next two groups.
The night’s most entertaining moment came when Robert and Jemma were arguing whether Antelope’s clues meant she was a wealthy merchant’s daughter (such as the respectable Mrs. Margaret Smith) or if she started out poor and married into the upper class (like Susan Sallistine, the tanner’s daughter).
As their argument escalated, Doctor Kenneth jumped up and yelled, “I know EXACTLY who this is!” and after a long convoluted explanation that only half made sense, Antelope was eliminated and revealed to be Susan Sallistine, just as Duchess Jemma predicated.
“You win, Duchess!” Robert yelled over the applause. “It looks like I owe you a drink after this is done.”
The fourth group performed, and Wolf made Sage Nikita Shellanze blush with his proclamation of love, and a deep, smooth voice to back it up. In the end, Snake was eliminated, the partiers returned to the drinks, and twelve suspects remained.
Though still fun, the whole day was a blur for Robert. All day he’d been looking forward to cavorting and carousing long past the midnight hour, but as he mingled with the masked crowd, he started to feel alone in the sea of anonymity.
After a while, he stopped dancing and started looking for anything suspicious. Instead, he found Jemma in the violet room. She held a plate stacked with meatballs.
“Duchess, how about that drink? I owe you, and I know exactly what drink pairs excellently with your appetizer.”
“No thank you Minstrel. I’m not in the mood.”
“And why not? It’s a never-ending party, a dream come true.”
“Haven’t you noticed my husband isn’t here?”
Only then did he pause long enough to see the worry in her eyes. “I’m sorry Duchess. I assumed he was among the masks.”
“He was visiting Viscount Vladimir Vordair at the kingdom’s far border when the Red Death broke out. Last I heard he was safe but quarantined after several of Vordair’s servants fell ill. I’m worried.”
“Do any messengers know to find you here?”
“Nicolae said he’d take care of it, but his messenger hasn’t returned yet. So, as you can see, I’m not exactly in the party mood right now.”
“You definitely fooled me and everyone else during the Masquerade of Singers tonight. To tell the truth, I’m not really in a party mood. Wanna come with me somewhere quieter?”
She glared at him. “My husband isn’t dead yet, Thissler. Have you no shame?” She shoved more food in her mouth.
“It’s nothing like that. I was just thinking, if we’re both not dancing, why not not-dance together? Come on.”
Robert walked away hoping she’d follow. He weaved through the crowd through each ballroom chamber until he and the duchess were alone in the black room. He sat on a chair and grabbed his lyre which he’d left there earlier.
Duchess Jemma put her hands on her hips. “What are we doing here?”
“Isn’t it quiet here? And peaceful?”
“More like dreadful. I’d rather be anywhere but here.”
Robert started plucking the strings. “The clock’s like a metronome. I like to watch it and listen sometimes. It calms me. Does it not to you?”
She shook her head.
“I’m working on a new song. Two, actually.”
She faked a swoon and said, “Oh tell what they’re about, my favorite famed minstrel!” She laughed.
“I’ll take your sarcasm as a compliment. The first one’s about death and mortality, and darkness. Fun stuff like that.”
Jemma scanned the room and said, “I wonder what inspired that one.” She ate the last meatball from her snack plate.
“Yeah, I know. It’s a weird creepy room, but artists get inspiration from everywhere. In fact, you inspired my second song.”
“Really?” she said in a nervous grin. “What’s it about?”
“It’s about a man. And a woman. He’s trying to be honest with her about what he’s feeling, and he’s pretty sure she feels the same way, but she won’t admit it to him, or even to herself.” Robert sighed, looked directly into her eyes, and continued, “The man knows that he has what she needs, and he knows she wants it deep down, but even though she acts like she wants it, she won’t admit it to anyone, and he longs to help, but he doesn’t want to cross any lines, but he can’t even see the lines anymore because she blurred them, and—”
Jemma threw her plate and it shattered against Robert’s face. “I told you I’m waiting for my husband. There’s nothing blurry about that line!”
She stomped away, but Thissler remained in the black chamber, relatively unfazed by her outburst.
He chuckled. “I suppose I deserved that.”
He kept working on his first song until the clock struck one.
When the clock did, he noticed something about the clock that made him both laugh and cry…
TO BE CONTINUED
