A Curious Mask

IV- Reading Problems

Sir Untany watched Finch as the capital came into view. The wister boy's eyes widened in excitement, and a hint of fear showed in his facial features. Finch's mask had never been obvious, but it had improved. The knight guessed that not even another wanderer could see through it the way he had. Hopefully neither could the king.

Sir Untany stopped his horse and Finch did the same, his eyes locked on the castle surrounded by a sprawling city and a thick, terraced wall.

"Finch, I'm not going to tell the king, but I'm not going to lie to him either."

Finch looked to Sir Untany gratefully. "Thank you, sir."

"So, you will meet him like a normal squire, and whether or not he knows is entirely up to you. I won't do anything different, and if another wanderer sees through your mask... I won't step in."

Finch's eyes widened and he nodded swiftly in fear, but then he smirked arrogantly. "No one will see through it."

"Glad you're confident..." Sir Untany mumbled before starting out again. "Replay your rules."

"Don't leave your sight unless on order. Keep my mask on at all times. Bow to the king and obey him as I do you. Answer any question he has and be respectful at all times. How do you expect me to be myself and keep on the mask?"

"Oh, just act natural."

Finch shook his head but said nothing. They soon overtook a group of peasants going into the capital, so Sir Untany dismounted and began to chat amiably with them. Finch followed his lead, keeping his horse's reigns tight around his hand, both to keep himself from wandering away and to keep the horse from being stolen. The guards saluted as Sir Untany passed and checked the peasants' papers, making them fall behind the knight. Finch stayed with him, grinning from ear to ear.

Sir Untany looked at him skeptically. "What are you smiling about?"

"They're rock climbers, they proceed the quarrymen on a mountain and find the best places to begin."

"And why is this smile worthy?"

Finch shrugged. "I've just decided to be a happy person, sir."

"Uh-huh. You like learning."

Finch raised an eyebrow in imitation of the knight himself. "You don't?"

"I do. I was commenting for my own benefit."

"Ah."

The guards at the castle actually asked to see Sir Untany's symbol, so he took it from the chain around his neck and held it out to them. Satisfied, they let him and Finch in, and a stable boy came to take their horses. Sir Untany grabbed a passing page and told him to inform the king that a wanderer would like his time soon, and the page nodded quickly before dashing off.

Finch looked around him in awe. The castle was built around the Verge Age, when the king of the circle split his kingdom into sevenths, one for each of his sons. The first king of Montevia, the southernmost kingdom of the circle whose main export was granite, built this castle in the side of a mountain, basically carving half of it into the mountain itself. Every hall was dark but well-lit with plenty of skylights and torches. Slabs of granite slid into place if the castle were to be attacked, and soldiers and guards regularly made rounds on the flat roof. Montevia was the furthest from any source of water, and the southernmost portion of it, where the capital lie, was a dry grassland that rarely got any rain and was supported by a network of aquifers.

They arrived at an extensive, multi-leveled library with a huge, spiraling staircase in the middle, visible above the solid, carved bookshelves. Sir Untany strode over to a section blocked by a burly guard, who smiled at him and looked inquisitively at the kid who had his gaze stuck firmly to the ground.