Free The Mask Wearer by Bryan Perro

brought the book with him.
    As he read, Amos learned about the existence of the basilisk. An illustration showed an impressive beast, with a snakelike body and tail, a cock’s comb on its head, the beak of a vulture, and rooster-like wings and legs. Described as one of the most abominable and frightening of the world’s creatures, this monster was the creation of the magicians of darkness. To create a basilisk, you had to find a rooster’s egg that a toad would brood for at least a day. Once it was born, a basilisk could let out a single piercing whistle that was able to paralyze its victim before it attacked.
    The basilisk always bit on the tender flesh of the neck. Its bite was extremely venomous and deadly. According to the book, the gaze of a basilisk had the power to wilt vegetationor to roast a bird in flight. So far there was no antidote to the basilisk’s bite. No bigger than a chicken at birth, it grew to an imposing size once it took flight. In the air it was as nimble as a snake and as voracious as a vulture. The basilisk killed for the thrill of it. Humans were its prey of choice. The book cited several cities that had been totally decimated by only three or four of these monsters.
    Yet this dangerous creature became very vulnerable under certain circumstances. For example, it died instantly if it heard a rooster’s
cock-a-doodle-doo
. In addition, just like gorgons, the basilisk was unable see its reflection and survive. So it lived in perpetual fear of mirrors and other reflecting objects that could cause its immediate death.
    One by one, the pieces of the puzzle were falling into place in Amos’s mind, and he was finally able to imagine a way to free Bratel-la-Grande of the snake-haired women. First, it was obvious that the gorgons would not leave the city without getting back the pendant that was now in Beorf’s possession. Second, Yaune the Purifier, who knew of the gorgons’ power and therefore should have been able to protect his knights, had made a grave mistake. Since the knights’ well-polished armor shined as bright as mirrors, the creatures should have died instantly when facing them—well before they could curse the city. But Yaune had neglected an important fact: gorgons always attacked at night, when mirrors don’t reflect anything.
    The only way to eliminate these monsters was to install mirrors everywhere and to light hundreds of simultaneous fires in the city. But how did one go about executing such a plan?Amos wondered. He thought of Beorf’s fireflies, but he would never be able to rally thousands, even millions of them.
    Deep in thought, Amos was still trying to come up with the best way of eliminating the gorgons when he arrived at a village. He stopped to drink at a fountain.
    “Who are you, young man, and what are you doing here?” an old lady asked. She was dressed in white and bent over her cane.
    “I’m on my way to the woods of Tarkasis,” Amos told her. “Can you point me in the right direction?”
    The old lady remained pensive for a moment. “Unfortunately, I can’t help you. In two days, you’re the second person who’s mentioned this forest to me. Isn’t it strange?”
    Amos was surprised. “Who else asked you about the forest?” he wanted to know.
    “A very nice man and his wife. They also inquired if I had seen a boy with long dark hair, wearing leather armor and an earring, and carrying a stick made out of ivory on his back. Yesterday I had not seen him, but today he’s right in front of me!”
    “Those are my parents!” Amos cried out, deliriously happy to hear news of them. “We had to go our separate ways and I absolutely must find them. Please, madam, tell me which way they went.”
    “I believe they went that way,” she said, pointing.
    Amos thanked the old woman, eager to take off. But the woman asked him to stay with her a few more minutes.
    “I’m going to tell you something, my young friend,” shesaid, inviting him to sit down next to