Circus of Marvels

by Justin Fisher

  “George, dear, we’ve had the most marvellous adventure! Benissimo’s brother has a magnificent ship, you know, delicious food, and the rooms, such attention to detail …”

  It started to spit with rain.

  “Oh, fiddlesticks,” she said. “I knew it. I really should have brought my brolly. I do so hate to travel with wet hair.”

  Ned let her gabble on, and stayed quiet himself – he had a lot to think about.

  ***

  The convoy had set up camp outside the Veil, in a remote part of the Italian countryside. As they came in to land, the first beams of sunrise were creeping over the horizon.

  When he set foot on solid ground, Ned’s eardrums were nearly blown apart by a blast of Alice’s trunk.

  “Oh, I am sorry, Mr Waddlewats, but she’s been beside herself with worry. Poor luv ain’t eaten in days and she’s even started sheddin’ her feathers. ‘Alice, old girl,’ I says. ‘Not a squeak out of you, you let the poor lad come ’ome in peace,’ I says. And here she’s sat. Ain’t so much as twitched an eyelid waitin’ for you to come back,” explained Norman in a rush.

  “Hello, Alice.” Ned smiled slightly, while fighting off her affectionate trunk.

  “Grooooar!” replied the elephant.

  “Yes, I’m fine, Alice, it’s nice to see you too.”

  Despite his ringing ears and Alice’s continuous attempts to lick him, he was almost happy to see her. As far as he knew, winged elephants did not tell lies.

  “Welcome back, Widdler,” said one of the kitchen hands as he crossed the field.

  “Well done, kid,” said another.

  “Bless you, Ned, welcome home!” called the Glimmerman in passing.

  Till now, most of the troupe had largely ignored him, or treated him as a josser. Today was different. Even Finn gave him a nod, with an unintelligible grunt, and George had already told him that Finn never spoke to anyone except his hawk or lions. But the friendlier they were, the more he boiled inside. Why bother with the pretence of Waddlewats or Widdler? Surely they knew he was an Armstrong by now? Knew who and what he was and how much danger he was in? Their journey to Shalazaar had not been about saving his father, but about retrieving the Amplification-Engine, and Benissimo had known all along that it would then probably fall to Ned to find Lucy and mend the Veil. Why else would his dad have given him the blood-key? Whatever Barbarossa was, he had at least told Ned about being an Engineer. More importantly, he’d told him the truth about his mum.

  By the door to George’s container stood Benissimo, brows furrowed and whip coiling. Ned strode towards him.

  “Ned Waddlesworth, thank the heavens you’re safe.”

  It was the first time the Ringmaster had called him anything other than josser, pup or boy, and it infuriated Ned even more than those hated nicknames – because his name was yet another lie.

  “Don’t touch me – you’re a liar, you’re all liars!” he seethed, brushing away Benissimo’s hand, storming into the container and slamming the door shut behind him.

  “I’m guessing my brother told you then?” asked the Ringmaster, but the door did not answer.

  Benissimo was not known for his apologies, but he did send his able number two to try and break Ned’s silence, armed rather foolishly with a plate of Scraggs’s pancakes. Mystero managed to ‘mistify’ himself in time and did not take it personally that the tray, plate and breakfast had been hurled directly at his head.

  Ned did not want a pancake or anything else remotely sweet, ever again. A short while later, however, George’s giant hand braved the doorway, waving a white handkerchief … and the letter that Ned had found waiting for him at Fidgit and Sons.

  “Ned, dear chap. I come in peace. Can I enter?”

  By now, Ned was in such a fury that even his beloved Whiskers didn’t dare look him in the eye. But the giant gorilla had risked his life to rescue him, and besides, it was really George’s trailer.

  “Come in,” said Ned eventually.

  “If I come in, do you promise not to throw anything at my head?”

  “No.”

  George approached him carefully and handed him a letter.

  The letter was from his mother.

  He looked at it a moment, then opened the envelope, and read what was inside.

  My darling boy,

  As I write this, I am on the run, hounded by Barba’s men wherever I turn, and you, my darling child, have just turned one. If you are reading this, then your father is now on the run too – or worse – and only you are free to save us all. My only hope is that you have grown big enough and strong enough to understand the choices we have made.

  Lucy Beaumont’s parents were murdered two weeks ago and I was delivering her to safety – one last mission for our friends behind the Veil. But our contact on the other side has been turned, and I have been forced into hiding. Everyone I go to for help loses their life and I fear for all of our safeties.

  I cry for you and your father every day, for the lies that must be told, for the secrets that must be kept. If I leave my ward, she will perish, and perhaps the world with her. If I come home, I bring this nightmare to your doorstep, and to you. You may never forgive us for lying to you but I hope and pray you will see it for what it is: the only way to keep you, and the world as we know it, safe.

  This ring holds power and danger in equal measure. Only you can decide whether you will wear it. When the time comes, if it comes, I know you will find the courage you need inside of yourself. We have a lifetime of love to catch up on, but only the slimmest chance to live it.

  I love you, my dearest, to the stars and back again.

  Your Mother,

  Olivia Armstrong.

  Ned could hardly breathe – there were so many emotions rushing through his heart and mind. It was not as the butcher had suggested, his mum hadn’t chosen anyone over him. The truth was that she’d had no choice at all.

  “So … so what happened?” Ned asked.

  The great ape removed his spectacles.

  “I’m still trying to put all the pieces together, old bean, but so far this is what I’ve managed to garner. Years ago, when Terrence went under the name of ‘Mentor’, rumours began to circulate that the Veil might be weakening. Barbarossa became obsessed with letting it fall. He insisted it would usher in a brave new age and asked your father and Lucy’s mother – the Medic at the time – to let it happen. Obviously they refused, aware of the disastrous repercussions that would follow, and went into hiding shortly after. The place from where the Veil’s power springs – the Source, as it is known – has been kept secret for centuries. Its location, even its form, is to this day a mystery, as far as we know. Their plan was to somehow locate and mend the Source, after Barbarossa had stopped hounding them. But he didn’t.

  “Two years later, he finally caught up with the Beaumonts. And, well, you know now how badly that ended.” Ned nodded. “Lucy and your good self were barely past your first birthdays. Now, Barbarossa did not know about you, dear chap, but it was quite clear that he would do anything to get what he wanted. For your safety and any hope of the Veil’s, your parents chose to separate themselves, and you and Lucy. They’ve lived in total secrecy ever since. It was no doubt a bitter sacrifice. They must have believed it to be the only way. But when the Veil did truly begin to fail, Barbarossa upped his search, your dad realised this and, well, here we all are …”

  “I don’t get it, though. Why bother kidnapping me? Surely it would have been easier to just have me killed?”

  “That’s what we can’t figure out, old chap. Whatever the reason, he most definitely needs you for some purpose and I should venture, given his new warship, it’s utterly foul.”

  “He did mention something about ‘great plans’ when I was on the Daedalus …”

  “As for all the secrecy, your dad held out on you for the same reason as Benissimo did. The less you knew, the more safe your cover. As you’ve seen first hand, Barbarossa will use unspeakable means
to get what he wants, Ned … unspeakable.”

  Ned felt the last of the numbness thaw and the wound in his heart reopen. “Nothing I know is real …”

  “Your parents, Ned, they’re real,” grunted George kindly.

  “Are they? You probably knew my mum. I expect half the troupe knew both my parents and the girl … Lucy, she’ll be like a daughter to her by now. But I don’t, George. I don’t know them, or this world they come from, or even what I am, not really … not any more.”

  George sighed.

  “That makes two of us, old chap, at least it did. I never knew my parents at all. And I’ve read every tome on every species on both sides of the Veil and I’m the only ‘me’ I know of.”

  Ned looked up to see what might have been tears forming in the giant ape’s black eyes.

  “But if this circus of oddities has taught me anything, dear boy, it’s that your family is who you say it is and that your home is where your heart beats loudest.”

  Ned thought of his dad and how he’d lived on the run to keep him safe, missing his wife and pretending to be something he wasn’t. He thought of the old poster he’d seen of his mum, how pretty she’d looked, how alive. And then how different she’d sounded in the letter; how alone and how afraid.

  “We don’t know what kind of dastardly pact Barba’s made with the Demons, Ned,” George continued, “but if the Veil falls and they fight for him, there will be no stopping them. Unless …”

  The great ape looked over at Ned’s bunk.

  “That picture frame over there. It was meant for a picture of your mother, wasn’t it?”

  Ned nodded.

  “And you mean to tell me, that now you know she’s alive, and with Lucy Beaumont, you’re going to lock yourself in this room and mope?”

  Ned said nothing, feeling a rush of emotion as it all finally clicked into place. Barbarossa had crushed his parents’ bravery and stolen his childhood. And no matter what he’d claimed on his ship, the Darklings Ned had seen weren’t fighting for freedom. They fought because they liked to kill.

  Whatever Barba’s plan, his parents, the world on both sides of the Veil, needed him to be so much more than average, more than Grittlesby and jam sandwiches. Now was his chance … why wasn’t he leaping on it?

  “Waddlesworth or Armstrong, it makes no difference. Turning people is what that brute does best. There isn’t a man or monster that’s lasted even half as long as you did. You’re special. And you’re the next Engineer. Now, old boy, you get out there and prove it!”

  The Amplification-Engine

  Ned burst into Benissimo’s trailer, jabbering wildly.

  “When you told me the blood-key was a way for us to unearth Lucy, you knew the ring was waiting for me, didn’t you?”

  “I hoped—”

  “Well, I don’t know about you,” Ned rushed on, “but where I’m from people earn each other’s trust by being truthful. You’ve been lying to me all along, about everything, and if I’m going to do this, then I need to trust you, so you’re going to not do that any more, right?”

  For the first time since they’d met, Benissimo – fearless Ringmaster of the Circus of Marvels – was at a loss for words.

  “And while I’m at it, every time you give me an order, like ‘stay in your bunk’ or ‘wait outside the shop’ or ‘go to your trailer’, someone tries to hurt or kidnap me. So from now on you’re going to stop treating me like a baby, right? Because … because I’m an Engineer. And I know you don’t think I’m up to it, but right now I’m the only one you’ve got!”

  “Being an Engineer is much harder than just saying so, pup. You have to have what it takes.”

  “Do you know what …” fumed Ned, feeling all the injustice of the last few days, of his life, rise up inside him, “your brother might well be the end of the world on legs, but at least he’s polite!” Ned was on a roll now, furious anger pouring out of him like molten lava. “And at least he doesn’t look like he’s got a rat strapped to his top lip!”

  Benissimo raised his eyebrow. There was a long pause. Ned held his breath and wondered if he’d gone too far, until Benissimo broke into the first actual smile Ned had seen since the two of them had met.

  “Why are you smiling?” Ned suddenly found himself annoyingly disarmed.

  “Because that fire inside of you now, the one burning so brightly in your belly, is what I’ve been waiting to see since you joined us.”

  “Oh … right.”

  But Benissimo’s smile faded as quickly as it had appeared, and he furrowed his great brows. Ned had already worked out that it was the kind of furrow he liked to use when he was about to give a warning.

  The Ringmaster got up and began pacing his trailer. “I know you think I’ve been harsh on you, Ned, but I’ve been around a very long time, and I’ve seen a lot of people I care about die, and the truth is … I’ve lost the stomach for it, and sending you in to do your father’s job just doesn’t feel right or fair. You weren’t even born our side of the Veil – whereas most of your predecessors have been, for many decades now. Your lack of size, age and training, it all counts against you … but there it is. Your father isn’t here, and time is pressing. Barba obviously knows about you now, making your father’s distraction attempts futile. So we’ve sent out word, but what we don’t know is whether the message will get to him in time, or even if it will find him at all. Maybe he’ll make it back to us, but maybe he won’t. But if he doesn’t … it’s all up to you.”

  Ned sighed. “No pressure then.”

  “The fact that your gift passes down the bloodline doesn’t guarantee success. The Engineers in your family don’t always ‘connect’ right with the ring. Even those older, more learned in the ways of Amplification. Sometimes it has to go to the nearest relative, a sister, brother, uncle or aunt, to pick up the reins. If things go wrong … you could wind up with even more loose screws than Kit-Kat, or six feet under in a pine box. Once bound to the wearer, the Engine cannot be removed, not until their final breath. Your forefathers have tried and failed.”

  “Failed?”

  “Died.”

  “Right. And what about the ones that bonded OK?”

  “Honestly?”

  “Honestly.”

  “Some became corrupt, ruined by their greed for power. Many died in the thrusts and parries of battle against the Darklings. Some led more ordinary lives, in quiet times, others did not. They say one simply vanished off the face of the earth. A whole Engineer, just up and evaporated. You may have noticed, Ned, but you don’t have any other relatives. Your bloodline just doesn’t seem to last.”

  “So not the best odds for survival?”

  “Not the best, no, but despite my concerns, it seems there is something about you, something that Kitty saw in you when you first came to us, the very same thing that made you work that red button aboard my Marilyn, and stand up to Barbarossa where countless others have failed. Your dad also thought that you could do this …”

  And Ned realised he was right. His dad had believed in him, even if Benissimo was still unsure.

  “There’s one more thing,” continued the Ringmaster.

  Ned wondered how there could possibly be anything else.

  “If my brother manages to find and kill Lucy, the Veil cannot be saved. The same could be said for you and your dad, but for some reason my brother wants you alive, and is getting information about you from a source which I can only assume is within our circle. Miz and I have turned over every bunk and trailer a hundred times looking for the culprit, but we can’t find them, or work out how the messages are getting out. If you succeed in bonding with your ring, Ned, his spies will send their whispers, and when they do, he’ll come after you again, but this time with everything he’s got. The question is, are you up to it? Are you man enough to face whatever he sends us? To do what needs to be done?”

  Just the thought of Barbarossa made Ned shudder. But the Waddlesworths or Armstrongs or whatever they were had
done more than enough running. He might not be man enough, or even really boy enough, but he was certainly going to try.

  “Let’s make a start tonight.”

  The Ringmaster half-smiled. “Welcome to the circus, my boy.”

  ***

  When Ned and Whiskers got to the infirmary, Kitty was sat at her desk in a particularly bright pink outfit, writing swiftly on pieces of parchment, one after the other. She was not alone. At her feet were the strangest assortment of creatures Ned had ever seen. They were green, very small and partly transparent blobs but with bright glowing eyes, warm, smiling faces and short stubby limbs. One had little wings that beat away furiously, another was short and stout with at least eight eyes, another had a mouth as wide as its waist. Like Kitty, they were writing on pieces of parchment, matching the speed and movement of her hands perfectly, as if joined by invisible thread. When they heard Ned enter, they squealed, changing colour from green, to yellow, to bright orange, before running behind the Farseer’s legs. Whiskers squeaked at them distrustfully from his perch on Ned’s shoulder, his fur on end, as though he’d been plugged into a wall socket.

  “What … are … those?”

  “Good evening to you too, dearie. These are my familiars, and be nice, please, you’re scaring them.”

  “But what are familiars?” asked Ned, bending down for a better look.

  “Good spirits are the closest thing that might make any sense, dearie, though they’re not human in origin. Familiars are, to the witching kind, friends, butlers, protectors and mischief-makers. Though I’d call this little lot of lemon-drops my family. You can come out now, boys, Ned’s one of us.”

  One by one, the little creatures crept out from their cover.

  “That’s better. Now Ned, this is Frimshaw, Hookscarp, Orazal and Groir.”

  Each one bowed in turn, their colours changing to placid blues and washes of green. At the back of the infirmary, what Ned had thought was a shadow, started to move.