by D. H. Aire
Lan’lein and Res’yr grabbed the flutes.
Nessa called out, “Opening!”
Vi’ya glanced at Ani’ya, “She’s not going to like it.”
“We’ll see about that!” Ani’ya replied.
Jen’yan and Tri’la shook their timbrels and the other nine girls stepped through the curtains, out onto the platforms, chiming the triangles.
#
Nessa frowned when three of the girls did not appear, then the fiddle rang out with a tune none of them had ever heard before as Ani’ya appeared through the window curtain, strumming, then Lan’lein and Res’yr strode forward, their flutes harmonizing.
Vi’ya lowered her timbrel and whispered to Jen’yan, who did the same, “I don’t think they’re going to be in trouble.”
Nessa and Yel’ane gaped as Casber clapped, as the three continued their performance, “When did they learn that?”
‘Good question,’ the unicorn replied as even the draft horses appreciated the impromptu concert.
Lawson muttered, “Mother.”
Greth whispered, “Marked improvement, wouldn’t you say, Nessa?”
“Uh huh.”
Casber frowned, the jewel about his neck glowing. “Where do I know that song from?”
Atop the roofs of the wagons, the eight dragon scales rested, a single tendril extended to scan. Each tendril beat to the music. :.: Repairs completed.
#
When Ani’ya lowered her fiddle and the girls the flutes, Nessa applauded as did Lawson, Yel’ane, and Casber. The mare did a little prancing dance.
“Uh,” Nessa said, “this is when you three will take your bows. Next time, though, you’re to wear your bed gowns over you costumes, then as soon as you’ve put your instruments away, doff them. Lawson will then announce himself ––” she looked at him.
“I can make a cloud.”
“A noxious one?” Greth asked.
“Well, yes.”
“Keep that for unruly crowds as a safeguard,” Greth told him. “Keep things simple.”
Yel’ane nodded, “Tell them you are the Master of charms found from across the Northlands and the Great Sea, which you have used to enchant the sprites they have just seen and...”
“I can do that,” Lawson said.
Nessa agreed, “Girls, when Lawson announces that his charms extends to more than controlling the troll they will soon meet, he will announce that you are sprites, who, through his enchantments, have become hounds!”
The girls grinned.
“That’s when you will bound out of the windows of the two wagons and sit on your haunches before Lawson the Magician.”
“Lawson the Magician doesn’t sound very magnificent,” Yel’ane said.
Casber added, “Lawson also sounds like an ogre name.”
Lawson blinked, “An ogre name? There is nothing wrong with my name.”
“Of course, not, but people will think that… you’re going to need a better name.”
“Let’s just call him, The Magician,” Yel’ane suggested.
With a groan, Lawson said, “Works for me…”
Nessa nodded, “Which brings us to Casber’s bareback riding act.”
‘No, in brings us to your introducing Greth’s act,’ the unicorn shared.
Shallowing, she looked down at the from Greth’s shoulder, “Casber’s act will come first, we agreed.”
“Actually, you told us the order,” Lawson said.
Greth glared.
“That’s a good look for him!” Ani’ya said.
“And he needs to smile a lot!” En’sta suggested.
Greth frowned, “Need to smile?” Then he did.
Nessa saw all the girls shiver, “Yep, just like that.”
Yel’ane blinked, whispered, “Lawson, don’t smile unless it’s just us.”
“Huh?”
“They’ll think you a troll, too.”
“But—”
Greth strained at the harness’s chains.
“That works, too!” En’sta offered.
#
Casber did his act for them. The jewel about his throat glowing faintly.
They stared.
The unicorn pranced, halted with Casber somersaulting and landing on her neck, sliding down to his back, then springing to land and taking a bow.
They continued to stare.
“Well, did you like it, or not,” Casber finally demanded.
Vi’ya whispered to Ani’ya, “Think Papa will let me bond him?”
“Huh?” she blinked, then muttered back as the girls started looking at each other, “You’ll have to ask him, but I think it’s going to be a long line...”
Nessa said, “Casber, that was perfect. Right everyone?”
“Uh huh,” echoed as Lawson and the girls nodded and Greth gazed at the unicorn, who seemed all too pleased with herself.
‘Your turn, Greth,’ she shared.
#
If Casber’s act stunned everyone, Nessa and Greth’s act had a more chilling effect. The girls cried.
“Um,” Greth raised his hands, “I, uh, didn’t mean to scare anyone.”
“It’s not that,” Vi’ya said, “that’s not who you are!”
“You are our friend,” Ani’ya sobbed.
“Our hero,” Jen’yan said as the girl wiped away tears.
Greth blinked.
Nessa shook her head, whispered in his ear, “Um, you all right?”
Hesitating, he finally said, “I am now.” More loudly, “Thank you, Kinswomen. You have given just what I need to play this part, knowing that you, who… love me, know who I am. Those others will fear me, not realizing I am as human as they.”
Chapter 43 – The Hundred Dales
People stared as the bareback riding boy rode through town, “The Enchanted Sprites and the Glamoured Troll are coming to your fair town!”
“Sprites?”
“Did he say ‘Troll?’”
The white mare turned about and the barefoot and shirtless boy in his red cloak, did a handstand, “Sprites and the Glamoured Troll are just some of the wonders our traveling show will provide this afternoon!”
“Marshall, the boy said…”
“I heard, fetch my horse, I’ll look into this. Last thing we need is a so-called troll running amok in our streets.” Soon the Marshall followed the prancing white horse, as the boy did a backflip. “Well, if nothing else,” the Marshall muttered, “our boys seeing that are going to break their necks trying it…”
#
‘The town Marshall comes,’ the unicorn shared.
Greth sat, looking suitably subdued as Lawson asked Yel’ane to fetch the letters of introduction the Seeress had placed in the box beneath the driver’s seat. The girls bounded onto the platforms and through the curtains, safely out of sight.
Casber slid from the unicorn’s flank as the Marshall rode up to their resting place.
He frowned seeing the changed troll, “Who’s in charge here?”
“I am, Good Marshall. I am the Magician of the troupe and grandfather to the boy and, well, his sisters and cousins in the wagons.”
He eyed Greth, “That is a troll?”
“Yes, I understand they are quite rare in these parts.”
“You have permission to bring that creature into these lands?”
“Of course,” Lawson said, gesturing for Yel’ane to show him the stamped letters.
“The High Counselor of Edous and Grand Council of Gwed, too? And letters of recommendation besides?”
“The enjoyed our performances.”
“Why come here?”
“We are on our way to the Empire, where we expect to make very good coin, indeed, with our show.”
“Those chains really hold him?”
“And the charms I’ve used to ward him. He will harm no one, Good Marshall.”
The man shook his head, “How tall is he?”
“Close to fourteen feet; which makes him rather small fo
r his kind.”
“Fourteen… small for his kind?”
“Oh, they grow to twenty feet or more, so of them.”
“Where did you find him?”
“In the northlands, bordering on the Dark One’s Realm.”
“Well, letters attesting to your control of the creature and welcome into the Crescent Lands under both Gwed’s and Edous’s seals, I will assign guard to watch that creature. I’ll not have it said I was not looking out to protect my people from harm.”
Lawson nodded. “For their safety as well as our own, your guards are welcome to watch from next to where the audience will stand. Closer, might prove unfortunate as my charms and wards may dull their senses as it does the troll’s.”
“Certainly, certainly, Magician.”
“Of course, we will not charge for their presence, but should they bring family…”
“That is understood. When do you plan to arrive?”
“In one hour. Is there a place open enough where we may stage our wagons and the show, as well as stay the night before moving on in the morning?”
“Yes, but you may not set up camping fires in the town limits.”
Lawson nodded, hiding a smile.
#
Greth sat behind the wagon, Nessa harnessed, a gentle hand on his shoulder, under the watchful gaze of the Marshall as the show began. Ani’ya’s fiddling, the two girls at flute, they enrapt the audience for Lawson’s spiel as the Magician. Casber and the unicorn waited behind the other wagon.
There were gasps as the girls bounded out of the wagons, then raced back to capture the flags. The crowd applauded. The girls ducked back inside the wagons. Casber and the unicorn pranced out before the audience and began his bareback riding acrobatic act. The audience kept applauding.
Then Yel’ane climbed out of the wagon behind Nessa, smiled as Lawson could be heard saying, “That boy is amazing, is he not? Almost like magic…” returning to center stage, as it were. Greth knew this is when Lawson would be gesturing, “It is a pleasure to present the Queen of Sprites!”
Yel’ane moved to stand by the tower. Lawson held out his right hand. “Sprite Queen.”
She dove off and there was applause as Lawson caught her mid-air, a single hand beneath her stomach. She spread her arms and waved at everyone, keeping her feet straight.
Lawson then bent his knees and elbow, then tossed her upward. She curled up and came down feet first. He opened his hand and she landed square on it. He reached out with his left arm and she walked out upon it, then scampered to his shoulder.
There was stunned silence as she turned on his shoulder and gave a slight bow. The applause was deafening as Lawson walked with Yel’ane on his shoulder as she balanced. As he passed the second wagon, he extended his right arm and Vi’ya scampered from a window and leaped, then climbed to his right shoulder, to be followed by En’sta, and Jen’yan.
Ani’ya’s fiddle rang out as a curtain was pulled back. The flutes joined in as Vi’ya bounded to Lawson’s head, then into Yel’ane’s arms.
“Sprites!” he called out.
Thri’la and the five remaining girls bounded out of the wagons and did a little dance around them as the girls on his shoulders did a routine as Lawson’s arms appeared to strain. There was more applause as girls bounded down from Lawson’s shoulders, all save Yel’ane. The girls bounded back to the wagons and through their assigned windows.
Lawson set out his left hand and Yel’ane jumped to it, then knees bent, dove out to land before the crowd, bow and run to the side of the wagon, clambering within.
“So, you’ve seen what my charms have allowed me to do with my Sprites… My power does not stop there. For I have glamoured a troll out of the Northlands…”
Hearing his cue, Greth smiled at the Marshall and his guards, who took sudden steps back as Nessa rasped, “Rise!”
He did and they kept looking up.
The crowd first saw the back of Nessa’s head, then… they were not certain what. Greth slowly walked as Nessa directed around the wagon and toward Lawson.
“I present the troll, Grrrr, and the Lady Sprite who holds his glamour by her very touch!”
“Smile,” Nessa cried.
Greth did.
There were gasps and cries.
“The chains that bind him are merely a precaution!” Lawson said. “Grrrr, like all his kind, is mute. But as I can attest from run-ins with bandits, trolls are as fast as any horse, and the Lady Sprite has proved again and again that my little troupe needs no protection from guards.”
Nessa drew out her bow and waved it in the air as Lawson went to the archery target, freshly stuffed with hay. He set it out and stepped back. Nessa let fly hitting dead center. She tapped Greth’s shoulder, drawing her next arrow. He moved across the ground, baggy pants fluttering, then she cried, “Return!”
He ran back to where he had stood. Nessa had loosed four arrows at the target in that time. Her first arrow was now the center of a line, two on either side of it.
The applause was deafening.
“That’s not a troll!” a surly fellow shouted from the crowd.
Lawson blinked, “No? You’ve seen a lot of trolls, have you?”
There was a twitter of laughter.
“That’s a man on stilts or something.”
Lawson asked an old gentleman in front, “Might I borrow your cane?”
“Certainly.”
Lawson tapped it against Greth’s leg.
“Bah! That’s no proof, at all!” the man yelled.
“Care to try?” Lawson said and heard gasps from the crowd.
“Sure!”
Lawson offered the man the cane. He strode forward, took it and wacked Greth’s right leg hard. The cane cracked and broke. Greth made not a sound.
“I’m sorry, Good Sir,” Lawson said. “We will buy you another one.”
“I’ll buy that broken one!” another man shouted.
Lawson was careful not to smile, “Or you are free to sell him this one, Good Sir.” The price offered made the old man blinked, “Sold! And, for that price, I can buy three.”
The odious man looked up and up at Greth, who looked down at him and smiled, then strained at his chains as Nessa cried, “Stay!”
The man ran back into the crowd as people gasped. Many others laughed.
Greth instantly stopped smiling as the Marshalls and the guards watched, hands tightening on their sword hilts.
Lawson then said, “Would anyone like the troll to pick them up? Sir, would like to come back and give it a try?”
“NO!”
There was laughter.
“Perhaps, some of the children? He really likes children.”
There was laughter and no takers.
“Then I call out our Sprites to take their bows and we will bid you a good day!”
#
“Magician! Magician!” a man called as Nessa directed Greth back behind the wagons as the Marshall’s men eyed him a little less warily, seeing how he truly was behaving himself. As several children ran to follow, Nessa called down, “Please, keep your distance. I must feed him and, well, it can be rather… messy.”
The children’s parents rounded them up and hurried off.
The Marshall looked up at her, “That true, young lady?”
She smiled, “He will not eat for hours, but I don’t want him being poked or prodded… If any want to see him again, they will have to see the show.”
Lawson turned as the people crowded close.
The girls and Casber were shaking lots of hands. Ani’ya found herself answering lots of questions of the music she had played. Lan’lein was peppered with questions about how long she had been playing the flute, and was more than happy when others crowded around, telling her how lovely it was, that she never had to answer.
“Magician! Let me tell you that was as fine a show as we’ve ever seen! Wish I had more coin to give as a tribute, I do! Once you reach Everheart, the capital of the Hundre
d Dales, you’ll need to do shows for at least a week!”
Lawson almost smiled, but Yel’ane elbowed him. He just nodded, “How many days from here is Everheart?”
“Well, there’s fifteen dales between here and there. It’s on the way to the northern spur of the Great Way.” The man looked up at him, “That’s where you’re bound, isn’t it?”
“The Great Way, you mean?”
“The Empire where it leads.”
‘Bound for Hollif.’
“We’re bound for Hollif,” Yel’ane said, the name popping into her head.
The unicorn looked away.
“Rich, port city, your show will earn you a lot of golds… Perhaps, you could use a guide?”
“We have a map we purchased in… Edous,” Lawson said.
The man went away less than happy. Yel’ane whispered, “We need to check the collection.”
#
“How much did we make?” Res’yr wanted to know as Yel’ane finished counting, what they had earned was put in the lock box built into the floor of the lead wagon. A number of the girls crowded around.
Nessa knocked at the back gate, “Lawson, come out here. I want to have a few words with you.”
Yel’ane looked the coin back up, “Let’s say we collected enough to restock our supply of oatmeal and feed for the horses, but not much more.”
“But they paid,” Jen’yan said.
“In bronze coin, not silver or gold,” Yel’ane explained as Lawson, walked stooped across the wagon, and stepped down.
“Yes, Nessa,” he said, seeing two of the Marshall’s men standing guard at a distance.
“How could you do that to him?” she whispered.
“What? Oh, you mean the cane,” he replied in kind.
“That was cruel.”
“Nessa, the cane couldn’t hurt him… couldn’t even hurt me for that matter.”
“Well, it was a terrible thing to do.”
“The crowd loved it.”
“Don’t do that again!” she replied, harshly and stalked back over to Greth, who gave him a long look.
Lawson turned away, so the Marshall’s men would not see him smile. Yel’ane peered out of the back of the lead wagon, “We’re going to need a lot more practice before we get to Everheart.”
“Hmm?”
“We could be a lot better –– or do you think two or three shows enough to earn enough coin to properly feed and clothe our family, Lawson?”
