The circus is coming to town / Through the eye of a needle
Nov 14, 2018 21:53:07 GMT
Nowhere, Grimes, and 4 more like this
Post by Malri 'Taffeta' Thistletop on Nov 14, 2018 21:53:07 GMT
1495 DR, 14 Uktar
‘Nerry, love, there’s a letter for you!’ calls Taffeta.
Dusting off his hands, Nerry emerges from the kitchen. ‘What’s that, my tawny owl?’ Taffeta is waving a piece of parchment. She hands it to her husband. ‘I found this inside the door. Someone must have pushed it underneath.’
‘Hold on, my love – it’s for you.’
Taffeta laughs. ‘Then it isn’t from anyone who knows me! Who’d write a letter to someone who can’t read?’
‘D’you want to find out?’
‘Sure, why not.’
The two of them sit down on the rug near the fireplace, as they always do for reading.
‘It looks fancy,’ says Taffeta. ‘Do your posh voice.’
Nerry grins and then composes his face into an exaggerated seriousness, nose upturned.
‘Ah-heh-hem,’ Nerry begins. ‘“Dear Miz Thistletop” – does anyone really call you that?’
‘Not that I know of! Keep going.’
‘“You are a caring soul with real integrity” – ah, I bet it’s someone asking for money!’
‘Well they’ll get it if they carry on like that,’ Taffeta laughs. ‘Now stop interrupting my fancy admirer.’
Nerry chuckles and reads on. ‘“I admit, I am not one for caring, but I am a woman–”’ he stops and then continues in an equally aristocratic but rather higher-pitched voice: ‘“– but I am a woman of integrity and I respect wisdom when I see it. Things are rapidly coming to a head between–” oh.’
‘What is it?’
‘– between Nowhere and myself, in a conflict I would rather not see occur.”’ Nerry has dropped his impersonation and continues reading in his normal voice, glancing nervously at Taffeta.
“‘I do not ask you to side with me, I would not ask that of you. I ask you to consider if Nowhere’s quest is just and wise. He has led you down this path before and now you are forever marked by the…” Love, maybe we should take this to Aurelia?’
‘Keep going,’ says Taffeta grimly.
‘If you’re sure. Um… “by the,” uh, “the god of murder. I can’t imagine you bear Nowhere any significant good will.”’
This elicits a derisive snort from the listener.
‘“I trust someone of your wisdom to act in accordance with Daring Heights’ best interest. Know that aiding me will be rewarded, through only–” no, hang on, “–though only should you wish to accept such a boon. The adventurers of Daring Heights have been the deciding factor in every major incident in the area since the town’s…” I don’t think I know this word. Looks like… “imiption”?’
‘Probably elvish.’
‘Mm. “A single word, a single arrow, can change the course of history. I am not blind to the significant role you may play, Malri. Respectfully–”’
‘Ha!’
‘“Granny Longtooth, Queen of Witchhold, south-east of Daring Heights, the feywild.”’
Nerry looks at his wife nervously.
‘Burn it,’ she says. He slowly moves his hand, holding the letter, towards the fire. She sighs. ‘No, wait. We’d better keep it. Maybe we should show it to Aurelia like you said. Ugh, I don’t know.’
He gently folds the letter and puts it inside his shirt, then scoots closer to Taffeta. ‘What’s going on, my starling? What’s this conflict she’s talking about?’
She stares into the fire.
‘Nowhere’s going to start a war. May’ve started it already, come to that. That’s why he took you and the girls.’
‘He told us that was – what did he call the thing, Pascal?’
She shakes her head. ‘For someone who wants everyone to take responsibility for their actions, he surely was very keen to blame Pascal for everything. No, it was Nowhere. He may have got his pet monster to do the work, but it was him who arranged it all.’
‘Arranged what? The trick with the cupboards?’
‘The whole circus, near as I can tell. Conjured up a travelling circus, dragged half the town out to plains on the promise of a big show, arranged for “free tickets for the adventurers of Daring” so we’d be there, got you and the girls to volunteer for that stupid conjuring trick, all so he could “teach us a lesson” and make us listen to a big stupid speech.’
‘Is that all that happened? You were gone a long time.’
She sighs again. ‘That’s what it boils down to. It was just a bunch of tests and games. First of all, after the three of you went into those wardrobes and disappeared, and the rest of the audience just left and went home, there were the eight tents. I was too worried and angry to think properly but Daisy reckoned it was some kind of puzzle, so off she went with the others to look in the other tents trying to solve it.’
‘Lady Sunday solved a riddle in one tent and it gave her a key. So Daisy says okay, we have to find all the keys. An orc in another tent did a card trick on Tugark and he got another key. There was an archery range, that got us another one. And one tent had three folks in it tied up, and one of them was disguised to look like Grimes and was saying he’d run away from his past and now he was living in luxury and making moral judgements about other people. One of them was supposed to have eaten a key or something. Sunday wanted to cut the fake Grimes open and have a look, but Grimes and Daisy made a potion that made the fake one throw up the key. Sisters know what that was all about. Then another tent had a bird in it that Daisy talked to for a long time, said it was her mother – she seemed pretty upset by the whole thing. And Lady Sunday – well, you saw her later.’
‘Yeah, what happened to her?’
‘There was a tent of mirrors and one of them wasn’t a mirror, it was like a window into Sunday’s past. We could see her as a child, in a horrible burning place, other tieflings dead all around her, and she had a key. It really seemed to get to Sunday. I’ve heard her talk about that time before, and… I don’t know what happened, but it must have been horrific. And then to get the key, she had to make herself look like the child version of her, and then she got stuck and couldn’t turn back. She completely lost it. Started smashing everything. The poor girl.’
Taffeta goes quiet for a while, looking at the fire. Then she seems to remember what she was saying. ‘And there was a tent with some silly puppet-show of Nowhere and Granny fighting, and the last tent was a fortune-teller who wanted me to choose between two crystal balls. One had an image of you and Aila and Idari in that cave, and the other was those two young silver dragons. I was supposed to smash one, but she didn’t say what would happen to the one I smashed. So I broke the one with the dragons in, and then I broke her nose.’
Nerry almost laughs at the idea, but he sees Taffeta’s face full of remembered anger and bites his lip.
‘And when we got the wardrobe unlocked and found the three of you in that cave, and the dragons, and Skiercarta–’
‘I thought he was called Pascal? Who’s Skiercarta?’
‘The giant who was controlling the army I saw in the mountains a few tendays back. Except it was never a giant, apparently. It was Pascal putting on a show, with Nowhere pulling his strings. That’s Nowhere’s army.’
‘He’s got an army?’
‘That’s what he told us. After I got you and the girls out of the cave and back to Daring, I went back to give him a piece of my mind, and he was in the middle of making a big speech about how Granny’s too powerful and he’s going to fight her, and he wanted us all to stop doing what other people tell us and choose a side in the war.’
‘And… did you?’
‘The hells I did. I told him where to stick it, and so did Daisy.’
Nerry smiles and squeezes Taffeta’s hand. ‘So what happened then?’
‘Then he wanted us to play another of his little games. Said there was a portal high in the mountains that would get his army to Granny’s kingdom and he needed those young dragons, Imis and Semat, to unlock it for him. And we were to protect them while they did it.’
‘From what?’
‘From the silver dragon, Reaxis.’
‘I thought she was their mother?’
Taffeta seems to deflate a little, and looks up at their ceiling. ‘So did I, but… I don’t think she was. I don’t know. Nowhere said they were orphans, and Reaxis tried to… adopt them, I guess. Said she went crazy with sadness that she couldn’t have her own children, so she wanted them to be hers, but they rejected her and she turned against them. He claims he had them in that army camp to protect them from her, and she tried to trick us into getting them out for her. I… I don’t know. Why would she do that? When we met her then, she really seemed to love them. But I couldn’t risk it. I’d failed those wyrmlings once and I couldn’t do it again. So I had to do what Nowhere wanted.’
‘And did Reaxis attack?’
‘Yes. I tried asking her why, but she didn’t respond. Maybe she really was out of her mind, or maybe someone was controlling her. It could all have been another set-up by Nowhere. One thing I’m sure about: he didn’t need us to protect Semat and Imis. If Nowhere and Pascal could keep Reaxis from getting to them while they were in the camp, they could do the same at the top of the mountain. Five of us brought Reaxis down in just a couple of minutes. Nowhere has Pascal and an army of giants and trolls and mammoths. He didn’t need us. He just wanted to see which way we’d jump. The whole thing was a load of pointless fake situations he created – just to force us to make choices that we’d never have needed to make if he hadn’t staged them in the first place. As if that was supposed to teach us some sort of valuable lesson about free will and responsibility. What a crock of shite.’
After a while, Nerry breaks the silence.
‘So – another war, is it?’
‘Seems that way.’
‘Can it be stopped?’
‘Doubt it. But maybe it can be kept away from here. I don’t want to lose another home.’
‘Why d’you think Longtooth sent you that letter?’
‘I don’t know. Maybe she wants to butter me up so I’ll fight for her. Or at least fight against Nowhere.’
‘And… will you?’
Taffeta takes her eyes off the ceiling and looks at him with an expression that he hasn’t seen since they lived in Hardbuckler and found out that Aila was being bullied by some other local children. It’s the expression that says: someone is in a lot of trouble.
‘Nerry, love, there’s a letter for you!’ calls Taffeta.
Dusting off his hands, Nerry emerges from the kitchen. ‘What’s that, my tawny owl?’ Taffeta is waving a piece of parchment. She hands it to her husband. ‘I found this inside the door. Someone must have pushed it underneath.’
‘Hold on, my love – it’s for you.’
Taffeta laughs. ‘Then it isn’t from anyone who knows me! Who’d write a letter to someone who can’t read?’
‘D’you want to find out?’
‘Sure, why not.’
The two of them sit down on the rug near the fireplace, as they always do for reading.
‘It looks fancy,’ says Taffeta. ‘Do your posh voice.’
Nerry grins and then composes his face into an exaggerated seriousness, nose upturned.
‘Ah-heh-hem,’ Nerry begins. ‘“Dear Miz Thistletop” – does anyone really call you that?’
‘Not that I know of! Keep going.’
‘“You are a caring soul with real integrity” – ah, I bet it’s someone asking for money!’
‘Well they’ll get it if they carry on like that,’ Taffeta laughs. ‘Now stop interrupting my fancy admirer.’
Nerry chuckles and reads on. ‘“I admit, I am not one for caring, but I am a woman–”’ he stops and then continues in an equally aristocratic but rather higher-pitched voice: ‘“– but I am a woman of integrity and I respect wisdom when I see it. Things are rapidly coming to a head between–” oh.’
‘What is it?’
‘– between Nowhere and myself, in a conflict I would rather not see occur.”’ Nerry has dropped his impersonation and continues reading in his normal voice, glancing nervously at Taffeta.
“‘I do not ask you to side with me, I would not ask that of you. I ask you to consider if Nowhere’s quest is just and wise. He has led you down this path before and now you are forever marked by the…” Love, maybe we should take this to Aurelia?’
‘Keep going,’ says Taffeta grimly.
‘If you’re sure. Um… “by the,” uh, “the god of murder. I can’t imagine you bear Nowhere any significant good will.”’
This elicits a derisive snort from the listener.
‘“I trust someone of your wisdom to act in accordance with Daring Heights’ best interest. Know that aiding me will be rewarded, through only–” no, hang on, “–though only should you wish to accept such a boon. The adventurers of Daring Heights have been the deciding factor in every major incident in the area since the town’s…” I don’t think I know this word. Looks like… “imiption”?’
‘Probably elvish.’
‘Mm. “A single word, a single arrow, can change the course of history. I am not blind to the significant role you may play, Malri. Respectfully–”’
‘Ha!’
‘“Granny Longtooth, Queen of Witchhold, south-east of Daring Heights, the feywild.”’
Nerry looks at his wife nervously.
‘Burn it,’ she says. He slowly moves his hand, holding the letter, towards the fire. She sighs. ‘No, wait. We’d better keep it. Maybe we should show it to Aurelia like you said. Ugh, I don’t know.’
He gently folds the letter and puts it inside his shirt, then scoots closer to Taffeta. ‘What’s going on, my starling? What’s this conflict she’s talking about?’
She stares into the fire.
‘Nowhere’s going to start a war. May’ve started it already, come to that. That’s why he took you and the girls.’
‘He told us that was – what did he call the thing, Pascal?’
She shakes her head. ‘For someone who wants everyone to take responsibility for their actions, he surely was very keen to blame Pascal for everything. No, it was Nowhere. He may have got his pet monster to do the work, but it was him who arranged it all.’
‘Arranged what? The trick with the cupboards?’
‘The whole circus, near as I can tell. Conjured up a travelling circus, dragged half the town out to plains on the promise of a big show, arranged for “free tickets for the adventurers of Daring” so we’d be there, got you and the girls to volunteer for that stupid conjuring trick, all so he could “teach us a lesson” and make us listen to a big stupid speech.’
‘Is that all that happened? You were gone a long time.’
She sighs again. ‘That’s what it boils down to. It was just a bunch of tests and games. First of all, after the three of you went into those wardrobes and disappeared, and the rest of the audience just left and went home, there were the eight tents. I was too worried and angry to think properly but Daisy reckoned it was some kind of puzzle, so off she went with the others to look in the other tents trying to solve it.’
‘Lady Sunday solved a riddle in one tent and it gave her a key. So Daisy says okay, we have to find all the keys. An orc in another tent did a card trick on Tugark and he got another key. There was an archery range, that got us another one. And one tent had three folks in it tied up, and one of them was disguised to look like Grimes and was saying he’d run away from his past and now he was living in luxury and making moral judgements about other people. One of them was supposed to have eaten a key or something. Sunday wanted to cut the fake Grimes open and have a look, but Grimes and Daisy made a potion that made the fake one throw up the key. Sisters know what that was all about. Then another tent had a bird in it that Daisy talked to for a long time, said it was her mother – she seemed pretty upset by the whole thing. And Lady Sunday – well, you saw her later.’
‘Yeah, what happened to her?’
‘There was a tent of mirrors and one of them wasn’t a mirror, it was like a window into Sunday’s past. We could see her as a child, in a horrible burning place, other tieflings dead all around her, and she had a key. It really seemed to get to Sunday. I’ve heard her talk about that time before, and… I don’t know what happened, but it must have been horrific. And then to get the key, she had to make herself look like the child version of her, and then she got stuck and couldn’t turn back. She completely lost it. Started smashing everything. The poor girl.’
Taffeta goes quiet for a while, looking at the fire. Then she seems to remember what she was saying. ‘And there was a tent with some silly puppet-show of Nowhere and Granny fighting, and the last tent was a fortune-teller who wanted me to choose between two crystal balls. One had an image of you and Aila and Idari in that cave, and the other was those two young silver dragons. I was supposed to smash one, but she didn’t say what would happen to the one I smashed. So I broke the one with the dragons in, and then I broke her nose.’
Nerry almost laughs at the idea, but he sees Taffeta’s face full of remembered anger and bites his lip.
‘And when we got the wardrobe unlocked and found the three of you in that cave, and the dragons, and Skiercarta–’
‘I thought he was called Pascal? Who’s Skiercarta?’
‘The giant who was controlling the army I saw in the mountains a few tendays back. Except it was never a giant, apparently. It was Pascal putting on a show, with Nowhere pulling his strings. That’s Nowhere’s army.’
‘He’s got an army?’
‘That’s what he told us. After I got you and the girls out of the cave and back to Daring, I went back to give him a piece of my mind, and he was in the middle of making a big speech about how Granny’s too powerful and he’s going to fight her, and he wanted us all to stop doing what other people tell us and choose a side in the war.’
‘And… did you?’
‘The hells I did. I told him where to stick it, and so did Daisy.’
Nerry smiles and squeezes Taffeta’s hand. ‘So what happened then?’
‘Then he wanted us to play another of his little games. Said there was a portal high in the mountains that would get his army to Granny’s kingdom and he needed those young dragons, Imis and Semat, to unlock it for him. And we were to protect them while they did it.’
‘From what?’
‘From the silver dragon, Reaxis.’
‘I thought she was their mother?’
Taffeta seems to deflate a little, and looks up at their ceiling. ‘So did I, but… I don’t think she was. I don’t know. Nowhere said they were orphans, and Reaxis tried to… adopt them, I guess. Said she went crazy with sadness that she couldn’t have her own children, so she wanted them to be hers, but they rejected her and she turned against them. He claims he had them in that army camp to protect them from her, and she tried to trick us into getting them out for her. I… I don’t know. Why would she do that? When we met her then, she really seemed to love them. But I couldn’t risk it. I’d failed those wyrmlings once and I couldn’t do it again. So I had to do what Nowhere wanted.’
‘And did Reaxis attack?’
‘Yes. I tried asking her why, but she didn’t respond. Maybe she really was out of her mind, or maybe someone was controlling her. It could all have been another set-up by Nowhere. One thing I’m sure about: he didn’t need us to protect Semat and Imis. If Nowhere and Pascal could keep Reaxis from getting to them while they were in the camp, they could do the same at the top of the mountain. Five of us brought Reaxis down in just a couple of minutes. Nowhere has Pascal and an army of giants and trolls and mammoths. He didn’t need us. He just wanted to see which way we’d jump. The whole thing was a load of pointless fake situations he created – just to force us to make choices that we’d never have needed to make if he hadn’t staged them in the first place. As if that was supposed to teach us some sort of valuable lesson about free will and responsibility. What a crock of shite.’
After a while, Nerry breaks the silence.
‘So – another war, is it?’
‘Seems that way.’
‘Can it be stopped?’
‘Doubt it. But maybe it can be kept away from here. I don’t want to lose another home.’
‘Why d’you think Longtooth sent you that letter?’
‘I don’t know. Maybe she wants to butter me up so I’ll fight for her. Or at least fight against Nowhere.’
‘And… will you?’
Taffeta takes her eyes off the ceiling and looks at him with an expression that he hasn’t seen since they lived in Hardbuckler and found out that Aila was being bullied by some other local children. It’s the expression that says: someone is in a lot of trouble.
