Chapter XXIX (29)

  “Holly, this can’t seriously be the solution you came up with.”

  “And why not?” the gnome said defensively. “It’s a perfect disguise for you. They’re hiring and everyone wears makeup so chances are nobody will notice you. I even went and got you an audition.”

  “I am not auditioning to become a clown.”

  Mitsuko jabbed her finger at the poster Holly had brought, advertising the circus that had come into town. It was calling for - jugglers, tumblers, tightrope walkers, beast tamers, and, of course, clowns. There was an added signing bonus for anyone of an unusual race or skill. Unless Sterling somehow counted as a beast, with her missing foot Mitsuko only qualified for the last role listed. Clown.

  “Well, what else do you want? We can’t just hide under a tree until Wan wakes up and recovers from whatever is afflicting him. We need to be proactive!”

  Mitsuko rubbed her eyes. The worst part was that Holly’s idea wasn’t actually that horrible. Mitsuko could use the circus as an easy way to gather information about Mauve’s guardian and sage. Performers and audiences alike loved gossip in those sorts of places. Performers made their living off of entertainment. And nothing was more entertaining than a juicy local rumor. Plus, people let their guard down when watching a show.

  She supposed it was worth it for one loop. It wasn’t as if she had a lot of other options as a cripple.

  “Fine. But I am not applying as a clown.”

  “You have another idea?”

  Mitsuko flicked her wrist, creating a blade of ice. She spun it in her hand, then threw it out of their den. It flipped through the air, hilt over blade, until it embedded itself in a tree twenty meters away.

  “I’m a bladedancer,” Mitsuko said. “I might not be able to dance at the moment, but I think I’ll make do just fine.”

  “If you say so. Just don’t expect me to balance apples on my head while you’re throwing sharp objects.”

  They packed up their things and crawled out of their hideout soon after. It had been half a day since Mitsuko’s failed infiltration. Dogs and trackers had been out searching for them for the first few hours, but now they’d given up on catching her scent and gone home. Mitsuko knew this because Sterling had been complaining loudly about being chased by one of the dogs while Mitsuko was asleep. He claimed to have been stranded in a tree for over an hour before the dog’s handler came by and towed it back to Crocus City.

  Mitsuko used a walking stick to hobble through the forest. The healing potion had smoothed over her stump, but it was still tender and the potion didn’t include the calluses necessary for a rudimentary prosthetic or peg. She’d need to build something that could strap onto her leg so all her weight wasn’t on the missing appendage. It was an absolute pain, but she only needed to bear through it for a few days.

  The circus tent was set up in a clearing outside the city. Which was convenient since that meant less people would see a suspicious person missing a foot hobbling by.

  Orange and red stripes clashed with the surrounding purple forest. The gaudy tent proudly stretched up to the sky, beyond even the tallest of the nearby trees. It was utterly unmistakable and unmissable. While nobody was to be seen outside, they heard shouts and whoops from within the tent. Though far too few cheers to be a proper performance.

  “They set aside this time for auditions,” Holly explained. “Right now their testing for talent.”

  Several closed stalls were set up in front of the tent. Mitsuko spotted carnival games from all over the known world. Darts, goldfish netting, even a strength test. Mitsuko eyed an enchanted game designed to make the user choose which illusion was real out of a selection of nearly identical gnome statues. She hadn’t seen that one before. Probably a relic before the destruction of Ilson-don. She considered asking Holly about it, but bringing up her childhood home always put her friend in a melancholy mood. And right now she needed to harness Holly’s giddy friendliness.

  The tent’s front flap was an opening large enough to fit an elephant. They stepped through and entered the stands around the performance circle.

  At the center of the ring stood a human attempting to juggle several pots of various sizes. Mitsuko winced as one of the larger ones fell on the poor man’s brow. Surprisingly, he shook dramatically, but didn’t miss a beat. Each of the other pots went up into the air, then careened back down and hit his forehead in the exact same spot. He made a show of wobbling with each hit until the last where he fell flat on his back.

  “You see,” Holly said as the ringmaster broke into applause and nodded approvingly. “They love clowns.”

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  “I am not applying to be a clown,” Mitsuko replied, repeating herself for what must have been at least

  the twentieth time.

  The next act was a bitelas man who sat down in the center with a cello-sized instrument. He fanned his beetle wings out to create a flow of air, then began to pluck on the instrument. It took Mitsuko listening to half the song before she recognized it. This was the same bard that had played at the pub in her first loop.

  “He’s really good,” Holly commented. “Kazeuta’s are not an easy instrument to learn. Probably the best I’ve ever heard with it.”

  “I’ve heard better,” Sterling said. “This bard is of satisfactory skill, nothing more. I heard the exiled Prince Bupre play at a concert. Now that was performance. His riveting tale of being torn and forced to choose between the bastard son of his dead lover and the responsibilities he was raised to take on. A story put to music of love and a betrayal that cut deep from his own family. Not a dry eye in the audience. I still weep just at the memory of his magnificent emerald shell glinting in the stage light.”

  “You’re not weeping now,” Mitsuko noted.

  “Cat tear ducts function differently. They seem to use their tears in an entirely different way from humans. Mostly as a means of showing frustration at their situation. Not quite the same as sadness.”

  “Why would I be crying?” Holly asked. “Are you feeling okay, Mitsuko? You’ve been mumbling nonsense to yourself ever since the ship wreck. Did you hit your head on something?”

  Mitsuko sighed and shook her head.

  The bitelas’ performance inspired a bit more of a debate than the clown juggler, but the ringmaster did reluctantly accept him after some prodding from one of the other performers.

  The beetle man flared his wings and bowed deeply with a flourish.

  “Interesting that the tradition lasted the last millennium,” Sterling commented. “I’m consistently flabbergasted by the strange customs that survive.

  “Bowing is not that strange.”

  “Yes,” Holly said. “Good point. Make certain you bow at the end. But do it before they decide whether or not to accept you. It never hurts to show a bit of humility.”

  Mitsuko glanced down at Sterling. She’d need to start being more mindful that nobody else could hear the sage speaking.

  “You’re here for an audition?” the ringmaster hollered up at them. His voice boomed, likely the result of either a vocal enhancement spell or enchanted object.

  Mitsuko closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then she nodded and stood.

  “Good luck, Mitsuko!” Holly cheered for her. “You’ll be the best clown ever. I know it!”

  She rolled her eyes then painstakingly hobbled out of the stands and down to the circus floor. It had been covered in mulchy wood chips. Overhead, she saw trapeze swings and a tightrope. At the back of the ring, there were several props. Rings, stands, banners, and even a pair of stilts.

  “What can you do? Missing a foot? Hm. I can sort out a gag or two with that. Anything else you’ve got?” The ringmaster was a bit rotund. His outfit matched that of the tent’s fabric. Orange and red with suspenders and a bowtie. He fiddled with his curling mustache as he examined Mitsuko.

  “I’m a bladedancer,” she said calmly.

  “A one legged dancer?” The ringmaster chortled. “Now that’s a sight!”

  “I am admittedly a bit more limited at the moment. However….” Mitsuko flicked her wrist and created a blade of ice.

  “Nice little trick! A practiced spell? Wait, no, I see that ring. An artifact? Very lucky. Now what can you do with the sword? Swallow it? Juggle it?”

  Mitsuko tossed the sword high up into the air, then, as she caught the hilt on its return down, hurled it forward. It snapped through the air before embedding itself in one of the larger tent support beams. The entire tent wobbled at the impact.

  “Don’t bring down the tent!” The ringmaster scrambled off his pedestal and over to the wooden support beam. “Do you have any idea how long it took me to set this place up?”

  “Sorry. I wouldn’t have thought the entire tent was dependent on one support.”

  “It’s not! But if this one goes out, the center of the tent will collapse. It’s a nightmare to reconfigure. And I’d need to fetch Blok to fix it. And he’s currently in town enjoying fish sandwiches.”

  Once the ringmaster was certain the tent wouldn’t fall on his head, he reclaimed his position on his pedestal and readjusted his bowtie.

  “How accurate are you with sharp things? Can you do anything smaller than swords? Knives or hatchets?”

  “I can only create swords. But I am very accurate. If you have knives or hatchets I’m practiced with them, but I’m best with a sword.”

  “And a bow? Can you shoot an arrow?”

  “I have shot a bow before,” she admitted. It surprised her he’d even ask. Bows were not common in the east. Most people used enchanted objects or spells for ranged attacks.

  The ringmaster debated for a long minute. Then finally he gave her a curt nod.

  “You’re good for one act at least. And I can perhaps fit you in another place or two. Your wages will be limited to two silver doubloons a day. With a fifty percent increase if you last the week. There’s room and board included as well.”

  “And my companion?” Mitsuko asked, pointing up at Holly.

  “She needs to go elsewhere. Unless she’s part of your act?”

  “No. I actually have a different assistant in mind.”

  Mitsuko let a smile slip out as she met eyes with Sterling. The cat, who’d been licking himself clean, looked up from his sleek fur coat and blinked.