fiction by
HEATHER ELMORE
“The dancing tiger act is getting stale,” Alex complained, leaning far too much over the wooden table we were seated at. “Folks are already getting bored of seeing Mimi. We need something new.” He slapped the table with an open palm, squinting at the stocky man sitting across from him.
The man crossed his arms across his broad chest, and a disapproving look dampened his stony expression. “We’ve sold out every city,” He said flatly, “We only fully introduced Mimi’s act a few months ago.”
I glanced warily towards Alex as he leaned back into his seat. He rocked his chair slightly as he considered the troupe leader’s words. “Marvolo, our audiences don’t love hearing about the Majestic Mimi,” He sighed, “Don’t you think we need some excitement? Something to get us into the headlines of the next newspaper?”
“Who reads those nowadays?” Simon, who was sitting besides me, chuckled, “I think you’re more worried about money than Marvolo. And that’s saying something.”
Marvolo didn’t respond to Simon’s jibe, but instead suddenly stood up, his chair squeaking angrily against the polished floors. “Enough!” He snapped, “Mimi is already ‘exciting’ enough for the show. You will perform with her, and then we leave for Ausburg in the morning.” He glared pointedly at Alex, placing his hands on the table and leaning towards him. “Am I understood?”
I shrunk back into my chair uncomfortably. It was rare to see Marvolo getting so worked up over Alex’s nonsense. Hearing the irritation in his voice only told me that this was a conversation he had already debated with Alex, probably a handful of times. Alex smiled thinly as an uncomfortable silence fell between the four of us. The already stuffy atmosphere of the bar felt even thicker. My eyes quickly darted towards Simon, whose eyebrows were raised in surprise. I suppose even he didn’t expect Marvolo to snap so quickly.
Whistling slowly, Simon pushed away from the table and stood up. “Welp, I think that’s enough for today.” He mused, “June, we’ll go over your routine two hours early.”
“Sounds good,” I nodded, glancing nervously at the door “Well. Uh—”
“Go, just go.” Simon muttered under his breath, “You don’t want to see Marvolo when he loses his temper.”
With that final warning, Simon quickly ushered me away from the table, leaving Alex
and Marvolo to bicker. Though my time in the troupe had been relatively short, Alex was the newest addition, unceremoniously dubbing himself the ‘Beast Tamer’ when he managed to train Mimi to dance. Though, she wasn’t much of a beast to begin with; Marvolo had spoiled her rotten since she was just a small kitten. Even I could have done something as simple as that, but Alex insisted that the beast taming act was his specialty.
Finally, we exited the bar, stepping out onto the bustling streets of Blaubeuren. The town was one of my favorites so far; the inhabitants had been very eager to show us around ever since we arrived. Compared to many of the cities we had been performing in prior, it was a breath of fresh air.
Simon’s brow was furrowed slightly. Lost in thought again, most likely. Hopefully Alex
wouldn’t cause another scene.
“Was leaving the two of them alone the best call?” I asked, walking slightly faster to keep up with Simon. “I feel like one of them is going to come back with a black eye. Or maybe both of them will.”
Simon snorted, glancing over at me with a grin. “Probably, yeah. But as the saying goes, an object in motion stays in motion. I wouldn’t worry about them too much.”
“Well, I’m not going to be doing Alex’s makeup if he comes back looking like he got into a fight.”
“Neither am I!”
*
Night had settled over the peaceful town of Blaubeuren much faster than I had
anticipated. Bright orange and white lights lit up the inside of the overwhelmingly large circus tent, and the crowd whispered amongst themselves. The stage crew was getting the first act of the night ready – or so they should have been.
“Where is he?” Marvolo thundered backstage, his face scrunched in rage. “That no-good slacking piece of—”
“I’m sure he’s just running behind,” Simon said quickly, adjusting his embellished tophat to sit comfortably. “The clown crew is good at improvising. Let them have some fun, and he’ll be back in no time.”
I grimaced internally. That was wishful thinking at best. Stepping away from my vanity, I watched as Marvolo angrily barked orders at the clowns. They looked about as excited as a sack of rocks.
“Alex is never late,” I commented, crossing my arms as I approached Simon. “He loves being the first act.”
“June, honestly, I don’t even want to think about what’s going to happen to Marv’s poor heart if he doesn’t show,” Simon grumbled, grabbing his bejeweled cane and trudging towards the entrance. “If you see him before I get back, please yell at him. Very loudly.”
I raised a hand to my forehead and saluted him. “Understood!” I said, biting back an
amused grin as he disappeared into the stadium.
*
Time passed quickly. Far too quickly. Minutes quickly turned into an hour, and as the
crowd started to complain, Marvolo was quick to find me.
“June,” He grumbled, the fight in his eyes burnt into utter defeat, “Your team is going to have to go first. Go get into place.”
The one thing that never got old, or perhaps that I never grew out of, was the pinch at the bottom of my stomach when I was climbing the metal ladder up to the trapeze. The ascender clipped to my belt was of little comfort; I knew how cheap Marvolo could be when it came to saving a few dollars. Far below, I could hear Simon’s charismatic voice booming throughout the stadium, thanking the audience for their patience. The one thing I hated the most about the climb up was just how loud it would get—the audience, the ringleader; it felt like the vibrations were in my skull.
Finally, my hand connected with wood. I pulled myself up to the platform alongside two others. The rest of the trapeze team had already made the climb, and I gave them a reassuring nod. Sweat had formed beneath my leather grips, and I quickly clenched my hands.
This is the last place you should be nervous, I scolded myself.
“Now please, ladies and gentlemen, be awed and inspired by the daring-do of our very
own!” Simon bellowed, stepping away to let the show begin.
An intense blast of light landed on me and the platform. I took a deep breath, reaching out to take the fly bar in my hands, and jumped off.
Wind whistled past my ears as I swung back and forth, quickly gaining momentum. My arms burned slightly with the pressure it took to hold on. Gritting my teeth, I finished the third swing and let go again, reaching out to grasp the arms of the catcher across from me.
At least, that’s what I thought I had jumped into. Screams of terror filled the tent, and I
collided with what felt like a wall. Panicked, I quickly scrambled for a hold, my hands wrapping around what I didn’t immediately recognize as a tooth. A large tooth—one that was almost as long as my arms. The color drained from my face as I finally managed to glance up. A long snout of angry red scales protruded from the creature’s face, its large eye focused on the scattering crowd of humans. It exhaled suddenly, heat blasting my skin and carrying the nauseating scent of smoke.
A dragon had crashed into the circus.
Bile rose in the back of my throat. That couldn’t possibly be real. This had to be some
sort of elaborate prank, some sort of animatronic gone rogue. The longer that I held onto the beast’s tooth, the harder it was to deny what had happened.
The dragon’s leathery wings nearly eclipsed the roof of the tent, folded in at its sides as it studied the fleeing crowd. Only half of its entire body was peeking inside, like a cat sticking its nose into something it shouldn’t be.
Suddenly, it inhaled. I was still dangling off of the tooth poking out of its mouth as I felt an intense rush of heat again – it was going to blast the circus with fire.
The net beneath the trapeze rig had been mostly torn down, the beast’s giant claws
ripping it apart like cobwebs. Shit, I panicked, I don’t have a choice.
Just as the dragon let out a blistering wave of fire from its mouth, my hands slipped away, and I was sent hurtling towards the ground. I could feel the dry heat scorch my hands and arms as the floor grew nearer, and then there was nothing.
*
All I could sense between then and when I later woke up was pain—brutal pain that
stabbed into every muscle. It was dark, too, with a cold breeze stirring goose-bumps on my arms.
I could hear people talking.
“She’s… fine.” A voice muttered, “I got everyone else out.”
I rolled over onto my other side, each movement causing a ricochet of discomfort. That voice was familiar.
“Alex?” I croaked.
Alex turned around in surprise at hearing my voice, a grin tugging at his features as he gestured towards me like some sort of wild attraction. “See? I told you she’d be fine. It was just an accident.”
“Kid.” I could hear Marvolo’s voice, but I couldn’t see him from my position. “I took you
off the streets. I fed you, gave you a place to stay and make a living.”
He sighed heavily, and another silence fell between the remains of the troupe. I could
spot a few of the trapeze and clown crew, even Mimi, but I couldn’t see Simon anywhere. I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came out.
“…I don’t even know what to say, Alex.” Marvolo continued, his voice breaking. “But
you can’t stay here.”
Alex recoiled in shock, as if Marvolo had smacked him across the mouth. “No, no, Marv, come on,” He pleaded, “Don’t you realize what I did? I managed to tame a dragon. I brought a dragon, Marv, straight to the circus. Did you even know they were real up until tonight? It’s just…it wasn’t show-ready.”
I could feel myself slipping away again, the cold comfort of unconsciousness tugging me back. But before I lost consciousness, I heard Marvolo speak up again.
“Of course I knew they were real. I just didn’t realize there was one with us the whole
time.”