Industry & Intrigue

by Ryan McCall

  “If you requisition a Kangur pony then I shall be fine,” he replied. Kangur ponies were twice the size of other horse breeds and used by the agorid tribes.

  “If we can find one,” said Brenna. “I’ll get the horse. I know a dealer nearby that I’ve used a number of times. You stay with them until they get to a city gate.”

  She pulled a metallic disc out of her pocket and handed it to him. “Then use this to indicate which gate they’ve gone through and I’ll meet you there.”

  He took it from her and turned it in his paw, examining it carefully.

  “It’s a magical compass,” she explained. “One of a pair, press here, like this.” She showed him by pushing the engraving marked south. “The one I have will glow telling me which gate you’re at.” She pulled out the other disc she had and the south position was glowing a light yellow, highlighting the direction.

  Snar said, “I will see you at the gate with the horses.” He walked slowly in the direction the steam cart was headed. Brenna headed the opposite way in a sprint; she needed to find a horse fast. If they fell too far behind, they could lose Mikono’s associates.

  She handed the horse trader her watch receipts and she felt the compass glow. She pulled it out, the northerly direction was glowing.

  She thanked the man and climbed onto the smaller of the horses. She was lucky, he only had one Kangur pony left in his stables. She sped them along as fast she could without endangering herself. It was no easy task to pull along the gigantic pony while riding another horse.

  As she pulled up to the north gate, Snar waved her over. She pulled the reins of the Kangur pony towards him and he lifted himself up on it, expertly.

  “They left no more than ten minutes ago, it should not too difficult a task to keep up with them,” he said.

  “Good, let’s go.” She kicked the sides of her horse and it galloped past the open metal gates and out of the city, Snar following close behind.

  ***

  Reese walked with Cassandra and Michael among the stalls of the outer section of the Night Circus. The many stalls were arranged in a semi-circle shape in front of the main tent, which could be seen rising up above them.

  Dazzling, multi-colored lights lit up the walkways between the stalls and the smell of cooked meat, freshly baked breads and sickly-sweet candy wafted through the air. The sound of people enjoying themselves was an ever present background noise. Shouts of delight from children and adults alike mixed with the mechanical noises of the metallic spinning rides on the east side of the stalls.

  The stalls catered to all needs. There were stalls with games of skill and chance, stalls selling food and one large display area had several wild beasts in cages. Animals imported from foreign locations like Kordatia and Weicarus, there was even a red colored Arc creature.

  Reese thought it looked pitiable. It was slumped against the cage and not moving. He looked at its black eyes and he felt he could see an intelligence there that went beyond that of a beast. The poor animal shouldn’t have been treated like this. Reese reached out to the bars but there was a loud snap of a whip from the animal master as he slashed it across the cage.

  “I wouldn’t do that if I were you boy. That beast will take your hand clean off if you get close enough.”

  Reese stood back and folded his arms across his chest. “It doesn’t look like it’s even capable of feeding itself in the condition it’s in. Let alone able to bite off a hand.”

  The man walked closer to Reese and said, “So you think it’s a poor beast do you?” He threw back his head and laughed. “That’s exactly what these creatures want you to think. You put your guard down and then…bam! It’ll strike.”

  To prove his point, the man pulled a wooden baton out of his belt and shoved it between the bars of the cage. At lightning speed the insectoid scattered over and its mandibles bit into the end of the baton. The animal master laughed as the Arc made chittering and growling sounds while trying to bite the wood. “See what I mean boy.”

  Reese still wasn’t convinced. The Arc had intelligence, aggression was a natural reaction to being caged, no matter if it was smart or not. He couldn’t be bothered arguing further with the man and he walked across the grass to a large stall, where Michael and Cassandra had wandered.

  They were being entertained by an elderly man with spectacles that took up half of his face. The sign above his head said Alvid’s Alchemy. Behind him on several crooked looking shelves were row after row of glass bottles with labels like Muscle Builder and Energizer, clearly describing their function.

  “Well young man,” the man asked Michael. “Are you interested in bulking yourself up with little effort? Or if you want improved mental speed to help you in your studies? I have therapeutic chemicals for anything you can think of.”

  Michael had a skeptical look on his face. “And how do I know these work?” he asked.

  “Of course,” said the alchemist. Reese guessed that this was Alvid. “You need demonstrable evidence you can see with your own eyes. Fear not, I shall give it to you.” The man turned and picked a particular brown bottle off the middle shelf.

  “Observe my metal melting formulation,” he said with a dramatic flair and placed a piece of steel on the wooden bench in front of them. He poured only a few drops on it then closed the bottle back up.

  “Now,” he said. “You must wear these as the metal melts too brightly for our naked eyes to safely look at.” He handed each of them a pair of darkened lenses. They put them on and he said, “Take a step back, for it will become incredibly hot.” He struck a match and flung it on the steel.

  The effect was instantaneous and every bit as impressive as he had described. The entire stall lit up in hot, white light, brighter than a summer’s day. The top of the metal was burning with an intensity Reese hadn’t thought possible. If he wasn’t wearing the lenses, he would’ve had to turn his eyes away, lest he go blind.

  The metal burned for several minutes before finally extinguishing, leaving only a few wisps of smoke. He removed the lenses and looked down where the steel had been, there was now only a layer of molten metal clinging to the wood.

  Michael, now excited by the material, was abuzz with questions “How does it work? What’s in it?”

  Alvid waggled his finger. “I’m sorry but if I were to give those secrets away, then another chemist could go and replicate my formula. This particularly concoction sells big with the mining companies. Let’s them get down wherever they need when the digging equipment isn’t up to the job.”

  “What else do you have?” asked Michael. Reese could see his chemistry instincts kicking in.

  “Haven’t we seen enough?” asked Cassandra. “The main show’s going to start soon, if we don’t go there now, we’ll have to sit right at the back.”

  She was impatient to get through everything in the circus. Odd, since it had been her idea to come in the first place.

  “I will be here all night, if you want to come back after. You shouldn’t miss the main show,” said the older man.

  “Yeah, ok,” said Michael glumly.

  “Come on,” said Reese and clapped his hands on his friend’s shoulders. “We can come back here afterwards.”

  They walked towards the main tent along with most of the other circus-goers. The main show was the big event so there weren’t many willing to miss it. The walkways between the stalls became more crowded closer to the tent. When they reached the end of the walkway it thinned out as the crowd dispersed into the series of entrances. The main tent had lighting all around it, and loud orchestral music was playing from an unseen band.

  There were clowns manning the entrances and checking tickets. Reese saw Cassandra shiver. She must have a phobia of clowns, too bad for her he thought.

  ***

  Cassandra handed the tickets over to the clown that was manning the entrance of the tent. They passed through and he clipped them and handed them back. She shivered, the clown’s painted smile did not look at all fr
iendly.

  They sat down on the fourth row of seats from the front. Cassandra took the aisle seat after the other two sat down. Reese noticed her discomfort and asked, “Are you alright?”

  She shook her head and smiled weakly. “Upset stomach, must be the food here.”

  Reese chuckled. “It’s not exactly wholesome. Give me fair warning if you’re going to throw it back up so I can dodge out of the way as best I can.”

  “No problem.” She hated lying to him, but she hadn’t known whether he would have even come if she had told the truth. There were circus workers inside the ring, putting the last finishing touches on setting up. Cassandra scanned them to see if she could find who she was looking for and her true purpose for coming here.

  She had no luck. Most of the workers were wearing costumes and make-up. It was impossible to identify them, but they were definitely all men. Then the room went dark with the exception of a bright spotlight highlighting a tall man in the center. He turned around and opened his arms out wide. He was dressed in a black and white suit with a tall, black top-hat on his head.

  “Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, to the Night Circus!” he shouted and the audience cheered. “I am Pyrus Valus, Master of the Circus and your host for the evening. For our first act, I would like to introduce the fearsome fire-eaters of the west.”

  The man spun around in a quick dance and removed himself from the arena. More lights turned on and focused on new figures entering the arena. They had wooden masks covering the top half of their faces and rainbow colored plumes sprouting from their heads. They were dressed in dark leather, and were each holding aloft a brightly burning torch.

  They danced around the arena in a frenzy, swirling their torches every which way and creating an impressive display of spinning fire, while a fast drum beat played. Several of the dancers at the front took their torches into an upside down position, tilted their heads back and placed the fiery end into the mouths to the many gasps of the audience. They removed them again to the clapping and cheering of the crowd and continued to dance.

  This continued on for several minutes until the music and moving lights reached a crescendo and suddenly stopped. The dancers lined up, swallowed the fires of their torches all at the same time and the lights went out. The audience cheered even louder this time and then all of the lights came on again.

  The circus master emerged, twirling a blue and red baton. “Let’s give them a big round of applause ladies and gentlemen.”

  Everyone clapped as the performers took a bow. Cassandra suddenly recognized who she was looking for. In spite of the mask and dark clothes, it was her. The short honey-blonde hair and cute dimples were instantly recognizable. She gave a loud gasp and Reese looked over at her concerned.

  “Stomach trouble?” he asked.

  Cassandra looked at him and stammered. “Ah. Ye…yes. Oh, I think I need to go and-,” and she put her hand at her stomach.

  “Go, go. Better outside than in here,” and he waved her off. “I’ll watch your things, don’t worry.”

  Cassandra nodded and put her bag on the seat next to Reese. She needed to find Clarissa. She quickly walked down the stairs to the bottom row and left via the nearest exit.

  She looked around the sides of the tent and noticed a sign above a smaller tent attached to the back of main one. There was a sign that said Performers Only. She strode across the dirt and grass determined to find her.

  Workers were milling at the entrance, so Cassandra snuck round the side and slipped in through a small opening. She looked around; there were circus costumes and props lying around. The tent had a multi-room layout, she opened the flap to exit and one of the fire-eater performers brushed past her.

  “Excuse me,” she said, but he ignored her. “Hello? I’m looking for someone.” He continued walking as if he had not seen or heard her.

  That was odd she thought. What is going on at this circus? She had felt something innately wrong about this place since arriving.

  She decided to follow him. He walked through the tent corridor all the way to the back and into another room. She followed him through and emerged into a large room. She was surprised to see so many people in here. They were all circus performers and were dressed in their costumes but they were as still as statues. It was an eerie sight. The man she had followed, stopped, turned around and assumed the position as the others. Cassandra didn’t care about him anymore, she saw who she had come to find.

  “Clarissa!” She ran between the other performers to get to the girl. Clarissa was still in the dark leather outfit but her mask and headdress had been removed. When she came face to face with the girl, she stared in horror. It was definitely Clarissa, but her bright blue eyes were now white, all the color drained from them.

  “What have they done to you?!” she screamed. She grabbed Clarissa by the shoulders and shook her but there was no response. “Clarissa. It’s me Cassandra!” she said, tears spilling down her cheeks as there was still no response. “Say something! It’s Cassandra. Come on, you know me, it’s your Cass!”

  “I’m afraid that won’t help,” said a deep voice and she turned around in surprise. Standing at the flap was the circus master.

  Cassandra pushed past the performers to confront him. “What the fuck have you been doing to these people? What have you done to Clarissa?!” she shouted.

  “Something you wouldn’t comprehend. I cannot allow you to tell anyone else about this, which means you’ll have to be joining my circus,” he replied.

  “I don’t fucking think so,” said Cassandra, anger dripping off her voice.

  “Oh don’t be so negative,” he said. “Look at this way, you’ll get to be together with your little girlfriend there,” and he laughed in a sinister tone. He looked behind her and said to the stiff performers, “Take her to be processed.”

  They sprang to life and reached out towards Cassandra, even Clarissa. Pyrus was laughing as Cassandra backed away from the menacing performers. She clutched out with her hand for anything she could use as a weapon. She picked up the first hefty object her hand touched, one of the torches. She spun round and smashed the circus master over the head. He bellowed in pain, clutching at his head and she ran out of the room to find her way out of the tent.

  She heard him yell out at his minions. “Catch her and anyone she reaches. Whatever it takes. Even if we have to slaughter the entire audience!”

  As she ran down the tent corridor hands burst through the fabric to grab her. The performers had turned a sickly-green color and large growths had appeared on their skin. She shook herself free and kept going. As she backed away she watched in horror as the growths burst with vines and leaves. The green tendrils poured out and coated the performers with a thick growth.

  ***

  Reese was getting worried, if Cassandra only needed to throw up she should have been back by now. He said as much to Michael.

  “So she’s taking her time. She must’ve been distracted by something, there’s plenty of stalls still operating while this is on,” replied his friend. “Sit back and enjoy the show, she’ll be back, when she’s back.”

  “No it’s something else,” said Reese. “She’s been acting strange since all night and I don’t think it’s the food. I’m going to look for her.” He stood up and made his way down the stairs and Michael threw up his hands in mock frustration.

  “What’s up? We come all the way here and no one can be bothered to sit still for the main event.” Michael turned back to watch the current act, a group of blind-folded elves were throwing daggers at targets with uncanny accuracy.

  Reese arrived outside but could see no sign of Cassandra.

  “Reese!” He heard her scream his name and he whipped his head in the direction of the sound. She was running towards him, away from another tent.

  “What’s wrong?’ he asked. Before she could answer the circus master emerged from the tent and behind him came an army of performers but they didn’t look human. Re
ese had no idea what they were. They looked some horrifying amalgamation of people and plants, and they were chasing Cassandra.

  “Kill them all!” shouted the circus master and the plant beings moved faster. Reese turned and ran along with Cassandra, they had to get Michael and get out of here. At least the main tent would give them cover from the monstrosities, but when they reached the entrance that thought was dashed when he heard screams coming from inside.

  Chapter 14

  Brenna kept a careful eye on the carriage they had followed all the way to the town of Surrin and the Night Circus. Their horses were in a nearby stall while they stood behind a smaller carriage watching for signs of activity.

  Snar, whose agorid eyes could see far better in the lowlight, said, “Nothing sergeant. The kitsune is remaining vigilant at the carriage.”

  “No surprise there, if it’s a Red Knight,” said Brenna. Following their quarry had become more complicated than she had anticipated. The two who worked for Mikono had been joined by a masked kitsune outside the city gate. The red colored helm symbol on his clothes marked him as a Red Knights.

  “I have heard the name of course,” said Snar. “I thought them to be just another mercenary group.”

  Brenna shook her head. “They’re not mercenaries, they’re professional soldiers. They don’t even like to be called mercenaries, they prefer the term private security contractors. The founder, Hector Cicero came up with that term. He established the Red Knights from his own battalion of loyalist exiles of the Estaran Civil War. They now have the second largest armed force in Alkos after the Imperial Army.”

  Snar said, “I’m surprised the emperor allowed them to grow so large.”

  “Cicero is smart. He makes friends in the right places and always give imperial contracts first priority. The emperor and the government saw the benefits in employing them when it was called for.”

  Brenna didn’t mention that the Red Knights had played a major role in the latest expansions into Kangur, unsure how Snar would take the news they were involved in killing his brethren.