Going for the Juggler
6
Rings
THREE DAYS LATER, we crossed the border into Chang’s province with pledges that we would see Khan again at Beilong. It was still several days to Chang’s citadel. In that time, our party had a chance to solidify and work out our differences.
I was happy to be reunited with Saul and the twins. I complimented him on his dancing and acrobatics. He was pleased to see me and demonstrated a balancing act that he was working on with his sisters. He climbed to the top of a ladder, balancing it as he went. Once at the top, the two girls tossed him a chair that he balanced and then continued to climb. Once he was perched on the chair, the girls climbed the ladder from each side and ended up sitting on his shoulders as they sang an enchanting tune that was as carefully balanced as the three on their ladder.
Unfortunately, they were still having difficulty with the dismount.
Saul, of course, was immediately smitten with Cadence. I kept reminding myself that he wasn’t a twelve-year-old boy any longer. He was very close to the same age as Cadence and treated her like royalty. That proved to be a source of conflict for Legs and Cadence as well. Legs was only four or five years older and I had a feeling her relationship with Saul was not strictly parental in nature. At the same time, I had twelve-year-old twin girls who hung on me constantly. For them, it was truly a case of Hero worship. Their voices had only grown more beautiful over the years. As had they.
It was incredibly good to see Lisa. I brought her completely up to speed on what was going on. She raved about Wilson crippling our portal and then raved about Al’s sadistic nature in arranging his portal. At the same time, she wished Wilson had taken the plunge.
For her part, she and Niccolò had plenty of opportunity to discuss family and had already reached the point where they knew Cadence was his niece. She’d even met Carlotta and it was like meeting a sister. Allegra’s younger sister was a pleasant but completely domestic girl who hoped to marry soon. For Allegra’s part, she had been a true and loving companion to Lees and they managed the circus together. Legs was treated like the princess she was by the troupe. Since Lees never spoke except to the children and Thorin, Legs was the voice of management. To everyone’s eye, she owned the circus.
“Will it be safe for me to return with you, darling Lincoln?” Lisa whispered. “It has been tiring here. I want a shower.”
“It should be safe enough to return,” I said. “We will enter a room that has at least two dozen witnesses in it, few of whom have any desire to see Wilson on the throne. After our return, Gino will be on guard to protect us. In nineteen days, Wilson will gain nothing by harming any of us and with luck he’ll be in jail as well. I’m not sure how he has avoided it so far, except that the police have no evidence that he harmed you until you turn up and that they recommended I file civil suit against him for the damage to my possessions as a court would be more inclined to grant me damages than they would to find him guilty in a domestic disturbance.”
“Domestic disturbance?”
“That’s what the detective called it when I finally spoke to one last week. He said that since Wilson and I are brothers the court would see Wilson’s damaging my possessions as a sibling rivalry and it would take more time than the DA would want to invest to bring criminal charges against him. In a civil suit, he and I would have to pay the lawyers, not the state.”
“We can’t stay at the house. It’s not safe,” Lisa said flatly.
“We’ve been staying at a hotel that the lawyer arranged for you, expecting that you would be the one who came to see him. Gino is providing security,” I said. “Lisa, you need to come back. You need to be with Cadence and me through this. There is no reason for you to stay on Chaos any longer.”
“And there is no reason for me to be celibate any longer,” Lisa said. “I think we need to have a talk with Cadence and Allegra.”
When we found the two women that evening, I panicked. I ran at Cadence with Lisa on my heels and tackled her just after the knife had left her hand. I heard the thud as it hit the wall next to Legs.
“What do you think you are doing?” I screamed. “This has to stop. You are cousins, not enemies. I swear, Cadence, if you harm her, I will never bring you to Chaos again.”
“Harm her? Lincoln, get off me. You’re getting my clothes muddy. Would you look at what you are doing?” Cadence bellowed at me. I eased up and saw four more knives in her hand. I looked over at Legs. Lees was doubled over laughing. Two knives were stuck in the wall on either side of Allegra’s torso.
“What the fuck?”
“We were practicing an act.”
“Where did you get seven good throwing knives?”
“There are five more in the kit, but we were just practicing,” Cadence said. “Aren’t they cool? I wouldn’t want to carry one into battle, but they are great for the cork wall.”
“Cork wall?” It was beginning to make sense. A knife throwing act.
“The next time we juggle we should probably use these knives instead of real daggers. They’re made of ironwood. They’d do serious damage if one hit you, but they hardly damage the cork at all. And you don’t risk nicking your good blade.”
“You scared me to death, Cadence.”
“Allegra and I came to an agreement a couple of days ago. Since then we’ve been working on our act. She gets blowjobs and licking, but no intercourse. I don’t want to risk you having to marry her here and be celibate on Earth like Al.”
“Ah. Yes. Lisa and I were just on our way to talk to you both.”
“Wanting a little privacy with Mom tonight?” Cadence laughed.
“Well, actually, yes.”
“That’s why we decided we’d better start getting along,” Legs said as we approached. “The look of longing in your eyes was almost too much to bear.”
“That’s why we’re taking the kids out tonight,” Cadence said.
“That and the fact that Cadence wants to get to know Saul better,” Legs added. I snapped a look at Cadence.
“I need to approve him as my potential future cousin-in-law,” Cadence sighed. “Geez, Lincoln, you can’t expect Legs to go celibate for years while she waits and pines for you, can you?”
“No, of course not. And Saul is a fine guy. But you…”
“Don’t worry. I won’t do more than get him pointed in the right direction.”
“What do you think those girls are up to?” Lisa whispered as we lay in bed kissing that night.
“I don’t know and I’ve resolved not to think about it,” I said. “I love you, Lisa. Tonight is all about you.”
“Us. Lincoln, I’ve loved you as long as you have loved me. You can’t count the number of nights I’ve lain next to your brother wishing it was you. Or how many times I’ve wished that I’d just told Al ‘No.’ We’ve made love in so many ways during our time here on Chaos. But make love to me now in the way we’ve both wanted for so long.”
She gripped my erection and pulled me on top of her swabbing the head through her abundant juices.
“Lisa, I’ve wanted this for so long. I love you, darling.” I started to push forward and then jerked back suddenly. “Lisa, we can’t do this,” I gasped.
“Lincoln! Why? We are here. We’ve told Cadence. We love each other.”
“Birth control,” I said. “Lisa, you’ve been here on Chaos for five years. No birth control from Earth lasts that long. If I got you pregnant, you’d be stuck here on Chaos for good. No. I won’t take that chance!”
“Oh, shit. I think I went into menopause when I got here. I haven’t had a period in years. Just do it.”
“No. I won’t take the chance. Lisa, I love you too much. As soon as we are back on Earth, I will make love to you day and night. I’ll get you pregnant if you want and you’ll bear my wife a baby sister… or brother. But I won’t take the chance of losing you here on Chaos.”
“I am your caretaker. I will care for your needs now and forever,” she whispered. “On this planet and the next. But I understand.”
We did our best to make sure neither of us was too frustrated by the turn of events.
We arrived at Chang’s fortress town two days later and went immediately to the stockade set up for our use. Lisa had discovered that it was not only for the safety of both the townspeople and the performers, but also to control the flow of traffic in and out of our shows. I wanted to set off immediately to visit Lord Chang, but Lisa informed me that he would summon us when he was ready. We were scheduled for four days of performances before the circus moved west and we turned east. Apparently, someone saw the evening show and sent a runner to Lord Chang. When we finished the performance and the sun was setting, an honor guard came to our wagon.
“Lord Chang requests the honor of the presence of Lincoln Minstrel, Master Lees, Allegra Dancer, and… your guest,” the leader of the guard said nodding toward Cadence. “He has ordered a dinner to be prepared and wishes to welcome you to our fair city.”
“We are honored,” I said. Lees and I walked side-by-side with Legs and Cadence following a step behind. There was no quarrel over our weapons on this visit and we were led directly to the antechamber of the dining room where Lord Chang greeted us warmly.
“Welcome back to Chaos, Hero Lincoln,” he said. “Please join me for dinner and introduce your entourage.” We entered the dining area and sat at low hassocks around the table. I noted that Lees and Legs were given the seats to Chang’s left and right. I seated Cadence next to Allegra and sat between her and Lees.
“Lord Chang, I believe you know my caretaker, Master Lees,” I said.
“Lisa, it is my pleasure to have your company,” Chang said. “I wish our yearly visits were more frequent.” Cadence snapped to attention when Chang called Lisa by name.
“Thank you, Chang. Your hospitality is always impeccable and you have been a respite to my wanderings the past five seasons,” Lisa said.
“And our company manager and dancer, Allegra,” I continued.
“Allegra, my dear, when will you bow to my entreaties and remain with me?” Chang said taking her hand and leaning in to kiss her cheek.
“You flatter me, Lord Chang. But I caution you. One day you will say that and I will acquiesce,” Allegra laughed.
“Lord Chang,” Lisa said. “May I introduce my daughter, Hero Lincoln’s Companion, Cadence.”
“Enchanted,” Chang breathed as he reached for Cadence’s hand. “I believe our Hero has chosen well. We must have a chat, Companion. Perhaps I have learned something over the past many years that will help you to be an effective Companion for your Hero.”
With that, food began to arrive at the table and the chatter was lively. There was obviously a longstanding flirtation going on between Chang and Legs, though I doubted if either took it seriously. We brought Cadence up to speed on Chang’s standing as an abandoned Companion. She found him fascinating and shortly a whispered conversation between Legs and Cadence was followed by them changing places at the table. Legs immediately took advantage of the situation by stroking my thigh, discovering Lisa’s hand in the process. Cadence, however, used the opportunity to discuss being a companion with a man who had many years’ experience before being stranded during the slaver wars.
Eventually, as we drank tea and ate sweet dumplings, Chang turned to me and as was inevitable, asked me about my mission.
“Twins? I didn’t know Cassandran women came in twins. I’ll bet they are descended from a hero,” he said.
“That is what we were told. They have some celebrity status on Cassandra and it is hoped that they will conceive twins. We need to rescue them,” Cadence said. “They are being tortured in a perfume factory.”
“Noble sentiment, Cadence,” Chang agreed. “Have you thought of how to extract them?”
“I thought I’d just go in and offer to buy them,” I said. “It seems that this area places more value on coins than the North does.”
“That’s true,” Chang said. “Probably because our population centers are larger. When Danny and I visited the Jones Citadel before the slaver war, we were amazed at how small it was and how isolated. But you might have difficulty simply offering money to the scent factory. You must remember that you are removing a very lucrative asset. You might have to fight for them.”
“Then we’d have to flee in order to escape your justice,” I said.
“Not necessarily. Beilong is a split city. The factory is outside Chang Province. Largely because of the men who own the scent factory. It is not only because it stinks. People believe I rule with an iron hand, but I rule with a set of laws. The Tsao Brothers rule as if all in their district are their slaves. It is possible that they are.”
“I’m surprised you would allow that on your border,” I said.
“There are difficulties in either liberating or subjugating a place like Beilong,” Chang said. “As I say, the city is split. Their side is unapproachable from this side of the chasm. In order to cross, we must travel three days north where the canyon is narrow enough that a bridge has been built. Then it is three days ride back south to the town through a passage that would leave us exposed. The Tsao Brothers have a ruthless army and a wide influence on the east side of the great divide.”
“That’s something Persephone didn’t mention,” Cadence said. “It’s going to take us longer to get in and out than what we thought. I’m sure her map showed the city on this side of the gorge.”
“And part of it is,” I sighed.
“I believe I owe the brothers an ambassadorial visit,” Chang said. “An honor guard only, of say ten men. Perhaps you would care to join it.” He grinned at me. Since we were leaving the company of the circus, having Chang and a few of his men with us would make traveling seem a little safer. “And while we travel, perhaps I can continue some instruction on the art of being a Companion,” he said to Cadence. She beamed at him.
Cadence was my lover, but I guess that made me too close to be the object of her hero worship. She hung on every word Chang said as we rode west. Lisa and I rode next to each other as Chang’s men brought up the rear of the column.
“I hate to admit it, but Legs and I did the same thing,” Lisa chuckled beside me. “He’s a fascinating storyteller. I’m so glad you weren’t a hero during the slaver wars.”
“The way I understand it, I wasn’t even born.”
“Al fought in them. Apparently, the major battles were fought in the midlands, but there were outlying battles and heroes all over the world. The main concern in the midlands was that the slavers were organized by a former hero. There are still isolated pockets of slavery, especially in the Southeast.”
“Have you noticed that the timelines and history don’t sync?” I asked. “We know that they aren’t the same between Earth and Chaos, but I mean even on Chaos. History seems to be… flexible. There’s no calendar dating system here. No Chinese New Year 5386 or Year of Our Lord 2016. There are so few people moving around that stories don’t get critically compared. You meet someone like Chang and according to him, he’s been here for twenty-five years since Danny Sun died. Niccolò said Al fought in them before he was born and I know he’s more than forty years old. Closer to fifty. In that tavern in Pottsville, there were old men who claimed their fathers fought beside Sid before they were born. It’s gotten me thinking that each Hero has his own timeline on Chaos. Sid, Malcolm, General Lee, and Danny Sun all intersected during a specific campaign, but the time for each of them has been different. Of course, since the battle didn’t happen in 1991, there is no way to say it’s now 2016, therefore it’s been twenty-five years. Maybe that’s why heroes are forbidden to work together.”
“You’re making my head hurt,” Lisa said.
“Mine, too.”
“We should take him back to Earth with us,” Lisa sighed, looking at Chang and Cadence laughing. There was a sudden blur flitting past Cadence’s head. She screeched and had her sword out as her horse spun to track the… whatever it was. I had a shuriken in my hand and Lisa had nocked an arrow before Chang held up a hand and yelled for us to put up our weapons.
We relaxed back a moment while Lisa and I nudged our horses forward to flank Chang and Cadence.
“What was that?” I asked.
In answer, a tiny creature zipped in front of Cadence and hovered about two feet in front of her. The two stared at each other, then the little creature zipped away again.
“She’ll be back,” Chang said. “Just stay calm. They aren’t usually so daring.”
“What is it?” Cadence echoed my question.
“That, my dear, is a pixie.”
“That did not look like any pixie I’ve seen pictures of,” I said. Of course, what did I have to go on? It’s not like there were photographs of pixies. They were mythological creatures, so every artist had his own rendition. This simply didn’t look like any of them.
“Remember that the protected and endangered species here on Chaos have the same names as mythological creatures on Earth, but they have no relationship to them and share few characteristics, if any.”
“That’s right,” I said, remembering the rules. I wished they’d had pictures in the rulebook. “Pixies are protected. We aren’t to kill them. Are they dangerous?”
“Well, not in and of themselves. Mischievous. They’re like having little monkeys running around. If you are missing something in the morning, chances are one stole it. Check your cinches every time you mount. They could have been loosened. On the other hand, you could find a freshly killed squirrel lying next to your bedroll in the morning and a pixie sitting on a limb waiting for you to cook it.”
“It looked more like a sphinx,” Cadence said. “But so tiny. It was only six or eight inches tall.”
“You got a better look at her than I did,” I said. “Why do you say like a sphinx?”
“You mean you think I looked at something besides her breasts?” Cadence laughed. “I have to say, she was better proportioned than a Barbie doll. But besides the wings, like a dragonfly, she had hindquarters like a cat and a tail almost like a monkey. Can they talk?”
“Well, they chatter amongst themselves, but I’m not sure you would call it talking. More like dogs barking. They communicate with each other, but we can’t understand them,” Chang said. “In the past thirty years I’ve seen half a dozen of them. When Holland killed Danny, I was trying to fight through a crowd to get to them. Holland had already kneeled beside the body and was going to take Danny’s ring. Someone had apparently told him about the importance of sapphire rings and to watch for them. Just before he reached for the hand, two pixies flew in his face and he stumbled back. Then they turned and threw dirt on Danny.”
“That seems too bizarre,” I said. “Did they have a grudge against Danny that they wanted to desecrate the body?”
“No. You don’t understand. When a Hero or a Damsel dies on Chaos, the body is returned to their home world once it is buried. When the pixies threw dirt on his body, they effectively buried him and his body immediately vaporized. One of the two pixies escaped. Holland slashed the other one down.”
“So, they’re smart,” Lisa said. “Treat them with respect, guys.”
We were all careful. The pixie showed up a couple of times and always seemed most interested in Cadence After she’d accepted the appearance of the little creature, Cadence started to like her. A lot. She spoke to the little creature and the facial expression showed that the pixie was pleased.
When we camped, I saw the pixie sitting in a tree at the edge of our circle. We all went about our usual evening routines, but when we sat with plates of field stew prepared over our fire, Cadence kept looking up at the pixie. Finally, she held up a piece of the rabbit that was in the stew. The pixie flew to her at once and snatched the morsel in her tiny fingers before flying back to her limb. She chittered away as she ate. Shortly, Cadence put another scrap on her shoulder. The pixie flew to her and hovered a foot away, staring at the meat. She cocked her head to the side and then lightly landed on Cadence’s shoulder. She perched there as she had on the tree limb and began to eat, still chittering softly in my companion’s ear.
“I’ll be,” Chang said. “Your companion has made a friend, hero. This is a good omen. Still, everyone check your cinches before we ride tomorrow. Even a friendly pixie can be mischievous.”
I pulled a few beanbag balls from my bag and began juggling for the entertainment of our company. I started with just two and switched them to a single hand cascade. The pixie darted to me, hovered for a second and then returned to Cadence’s shoulder to watch. I reached over to Chang and tapped him on the chin with my other hand and a third ball appeared to fly from his mouth to join the others. The pixie darted over to hover in front of Chang and stare at his mouth. Chang opened to show her it was empty. She clapped her hands and returned to Cadence’s shoulder.
I switched from a cascade to a shower, passing the balls between my two hands. I dropped a hand and used a back-cross to toss a fourth ball into the mix from behind my shoulder. The little pixie was bouncing on Cadence’s shoulder and clapping her tiny hands while chittering away as the men with us also clapped. I was practicing a new move and dropped one of the beanbags to my foot like a Hacky Sack. When it bounced to my hand, I swapped a scarf for it. On each bounce of the balls, I replaced them with a silk scarf until I had four scarves in the air. Our little pixie suddenly darted into the mix, snatched a scarf away from me and returned to Cadence. She gently rubbed the scarf on the cheek of my companion and draped it over her shoulder.
“Rings, Cadence,” I said. Cadence reached in her bag for a set of wooden rings we’d had made. They were a little heavier than either the plastic or metal rings we used on Earth. The wood had to be substantial enough that it wouldn’t break if we dropped one. Of course, the likelihood that we would drop a ring on cement was remote, but there were enough marble floors and stone courtyards that we performed in to make breakage a real issue. Cadence stood up and the pixie flew off her shoulder and hovered a few feet away.
“Hup!” Cadence shouted. The first of the rings headed my way. I pulled the scarves out of circulation and did one selfie with the ring as Cadence launched a second. Before the third was in the air, I was sending the first back to her. With one more toss, we had four rings passing between us. The trick of passing rings is when you add a fifth and sixth to the mix. Then there are always three or four in the air at a time going both directions.
“Liberty!” I called. Cadence raised her right hand in the air and kept passing the rings with just her left. My next toss was sideways and the first ring dropped over her hand and down to her shoulder. In a few seconds, all six rings were on her arm and we turned to bow to our appreciative audience. The little pixie immediately returned to Cadence’s shoulder and bowed as well, waving the scarf in the air.
Periodically through the next day, the little pixie would flit up to Cadence and perch on her shoulder as we rode. She would chitter for a while and Cadence talked to her, but you could tell by their expressions that neither one understood the other. Still, it was funny to watch.
We entered the village of Beilong and rode straight to the end. Not just the end of the village, but the end of the road. I realized what a paranoid, lawsuit-happy culture we live in back home. The road ended at a mile-wide chasm. There was no safety barrier, no fence, no yellow tape, and no warning signs. If one were riding at night, it would be easy to simply plunge off the edge for a drop of about five hundred feet. Our horses stepped back nervously. Chang pointed across the chasm.
“There lies Beilong City,” he said. It was clearly visible. Above it hung a pillar of black smoke. “The scent factory is not the only thing that creates a stench there. There are charcoal works, tanneries, smithies, and kilns. Practically anything that requires a fire to finish is located in that city ten times over.” Even at the edge of the chasm a mile away, I could smell the smoke.
“Why?” I asked. “Aside from keeping the stench away from civilization.”
“Coal,” Chang answered. “I’ve had plenty to do in the province, so I haven’t explored all of Chaos by a long-shot. But so far as I know, Beilong City is located on the only coal seam on the planet.”
“Coal is a fossil fuel,” Cadence said. “Has Chaos been around long enough to develop fossils?”
“We don’t know all that much about Chaos,” Chang said. “Earth hasn’t discovered it astronomically. Crossroads is stingy with its information. Not that the Cassandrans there know any more than we do. And the people of Chaos have no concept of history or even science outside of what it takes to live their grubby lives. I would guess that even technologies introduced by heroes don’t outlast the hero by more than a dozen years. We’re told that it was created by collisions of astronomical bodies. Who is to say whether some of those might have had fossil fuels? Or like so many things, it might have the appearance of a history it never had.”
“How do you mean?” Cadence persisted. I loved how curious she was about everything. She was going to be a fantastic companion after being trained by Chang.
“Take that little lady on your shoulder,” Chang said. “Chaos was planted with flora and fauna from Earth, according to what we were told on Crossroads. Yet, on Earth, pixies, dragons, hippogriffs, fairies, unicorns, are all things of mythology with no archeological evidence that any actually existed. Yet here she is. A mythological creature of Earth on the physical world of Chaos. Evidence of a history she never had on Earth.”
“I had no idea you were so philosophical, Chang,” Lisa joined in as we turned toward the village and an inn where we could rest for the night.
“I’m a college graduate,” he responded. “Though I might not be familiar with the current technology and philosophy of Earth, I was considered pretty good at it when I was last there.”
“Speaking of which,” I said, “do you want to go back? I have to tell you, Chang, I’m willing to take you with us when we go. But I don’t know what it would be like for you. We would return to Earth fifteen minutes after Cadence and I left, if what Persephone tells me is true. She said that no matter how long Lees had been here, she would return through the portal with us and will have been gone for a week while Cadence and I were gone for only fifteen minutes.”
“To return to my future,” Chang said. “An amazing thought. I would be nobody. Presumed dead after twenty-five years. Nothing to my name. Even my name. Still, if you have hot showers and indoor plumbing, I would risk it.”
“I think I could find a way to employ you at Pesciano Holdings,” Cadence said. “I can see advantages of having a truly undocumented employee. I’ll bet Gino could fix you up.”
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