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(Page 2 of 2) Masked Beauty by Roy Radian
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She brought the mask closer to her face, felt the heat radiating from it, and she knew it's going to hurt like hell. Hele took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
The burning iron mask touched her face and she felt sensations flooded her mind. She screamed; her eyes opened, dilated with pain, and the world started spinning around. Agony seared her. The skin on her face swollen, melted by the heat. Her breath rugged as the little air she inhaled slowly changed to a fire, frying her brain, and she saw burning stars dancing in the peripheral of her mind.
The iron mask clattered on the floor as it fell from her grip. Her crooked nose breathed the air of life. The disorienting dizzy vision slowly came into focus and her mind, rang with clarity, screamed: Hurry!
Hele mold the warm skin on her face with delicacy. Her hand pulled the skin taut and smoothed the rough surface from the burn. She took the Sola mask from the washbasin, filled with ointment of olive oil mixed with lavender, and put it on her face. The oiled wooden mask soothed the heat on her face, a balm for her new red puckered skin. She poured the washbasin content to the hearth. The burning coal sizzled and the fire abated, leaving a steam of olive and lavender scent.
She lay down on her back, exhausted, then lulled to sleep by the warmth and the heady lavender scent.
The summer solstice night in Quasca, capital of Waella, is filled with the sound of parties, music playing, and the visible excitement of Beauty Pageant Contest. Small gondolas lined up in the middle of canals bearing lanterns on both sides as to hold the darkness at bay tonight, on the longest day of the year. Men and women walked on the road wearing slashed dark clothes, parading with a mask on their faces, some covering the upper part, or the right side, the other covering their entire faces.
Hele joined the throng moving toward Serrane Square where the Beauty Pageant Contest being held. She wrote down Sola as her name in the registered book and she was ushered to the backstage where the contestants assembled. She saw the contestants one by one going to the stage, opened their mask, and displayed their abilities to Queen Regia and the crowd.
When her name called, she walked down to the stage, bowed gracefully to Queen Regia, who sat on the left side of the stage, and positioned herself at the center of the stage where the crowd can see her clearly.
Foolish girls, I'll show you how to entice audience. She smiled beneath the mask, and took it off.
The crowd gasped at the resemblance between the face and the mask. Hele heard a stifled cry from Queen Regia's direction and her smile grew wider. She started to dance, lifting her hand high and brought it down to the side, took a small step forward and spun around, moving gracefully in the center of the stage.
To the crowd, she displayed the curve of her body, enticing them sensually; to the Queen, she presented a supple movement, regal and graceful, worthy of a royal family courtesy.
From the corner of her eyes she saw Queen Regia's tiara, glinting bright, illuminated by the lamp oil. Oh, she would have it. Not just for one night, it would remain in her possession forever.
But not tonight, tonight she is the Goddess of Love, beckoning her boon to the lovesick couples; of Wealth, bestowing rich dreams to the crowd; of Beauty, a shining masked beauty in the summer solstice night; of Magic, inducing them a glimpse of otherworld conjuration.
Tonight, she is Sola.
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