Month: January 2025

Medieval 6: Giovanni 9 Three Ring Circus, part 4 of 4

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Giovanni traded places with Junior, but Junior kept up a glamour so he looked and sounded like Giovanni. “No,” she said. “I felt that. Let me see,” she insisted.

Junior frowned. He dropped the glamour for a moment, but quickly put it right back on again and spoke in Giovanni’s voice. “Ravi needs to meet Giovanni, his boss in the circus. Thank you Madam Figiori,” he said as he, Leonora, and Oberon vanished from the Venetian swamp and appeared in a hot and dusty land where few trees grew beside a very small river.

The woman stood from the cooking fire and stared at her guests. The young man, Giovanni’s age of nineteen, though Giovanni would be twenty soon, came from beneath the trees, followed by an enormous beast that made Leonora gasp at the size of the thing.

“I did not know you were coming,” the man said, and Leonora marveled at being to understand the strange language. Junior saw to that need. Of course he did not have to help Oberon understand. Oberon was graced with the gift all the little ones shared of being able to understand and be understood no matter the language spoken.

“I did not know either,” Junior said in Giovanni’s voice. “It was sort of last minute. I decided we need a few weeks to get used to having Mombo and her children around before we start out on the road. We need to practice a few things for your part in the center circle under the big tent. Mombo and her children need to get used to the circus people as well as the other way around.”

“Oh, she is very gentle and maternal. I don’t expect there to be any problems there.” Ravi smiled and encouraged Surti, his new wife, to greet their guests.

“Welcome to our fire,” she said and lowered her eyes, uncertain what to think about these magical people who appeared out of nowhere.

Leonora could not resist trying out this new language in her head. “Thank you,” she said and did a perfect cartwheel to get closer to the woman and further from the beast. “What are you making? It smells good.”

Surti sort of smiled.

“This one will do,” Oberon spoke up and took everyone’s attention. Somehow, he snuck over to the elephant and examined the beast in more ways than just physically.

“I think you have some gnome in you,” Junior teased and grinned for the dwarf so Oberon would not be too insulted. Junior’s point was that Oberon was very good with animals and a good judge of animals, too.

“Careful with Guru-something-something.” Ravi used an unrepeatable name. “The male is seven and growing up.”

Oberon picked up on the beginning of the name. “Guru might get a little rough when he gets older and bigger, but maybe protective, like a watchdog.” Guru became the elephant’s name. “Pretty Girl seems very nice, young as she is.” Oberon translated the smaller one’s name into Venetian.

“Pretty Girl,” Ravi said and paused to think he understood Venetian. “She is two, not quite three. Mombo…” he paused again as he realized that name was also shortened and made more palatable to the European mind and tongue. “Mombo is twenty-seven and won’t be ready to mate again until Pretty Girl is weaned.”

“No,” Leonora said and grabbed everyone’s attention, but she did not struggle too much when Surti took her hand and dragged her to the face of the elephant. Mombo reached out with her trunk, acknowledged Surti, and sniffed Leonora. Surti hugged the beast, and Leonora felt obliged to do the same. Mombo responded by wrapping her trunk around the two women and hugging them gently in return. Of course, Pretty Girl came right up wanting some of that hugging and petting, and Surti and Leonora both turned and fawned over the baby like it was the most natural thing in the world.

Ravi smiled for his wife and said, “Surti is a true reghawan. Mombo does what she asks out of love. When I married Surti, I believe Mombo adopted her.” He shrugged.

Junior looked out across the plains. There were a dozen more elephants in the small herd. He noticed the men and few women among the herd. This was a semi-captive herd sometimes use to carry lumber or pull wagons of stones for building purpose. He knew they were all cows and babies. The bulls got driven out when they reached puberty. He imagined Guru might be good for another five or seven years. No immediate concern about him becoming too aggressive just yet. He watched as Surti and Leonora moved on to include Guru in their loving. Oberon stood right there to keep watch, so Junior let Giovanni come back and he stepped up beside Ravi, so Mombo came to them and gave Giovanni a good sniff.

Oberon took that moment to offer a word of caution. “You realize bringing elephants to Europe will alert any Servants of the Masters that you might be the Kairos. It might not be hard evidence that you are the Kairos, but even if you produce a ship’s manifest that says they came to Venice from the east over the sea it will still raise questions.”

“Understood,” Giovanni said. He understood from Kirstie and others before her that once the Masters figured out who the Kairos was, he would become a target for assassination or elimination in some other way.

Giovanni traded again with Junior and Junior kept up the glamour so he looked, sounded, and even smelled like Giovanni, but as he suspected, Mombo sensed the change and became very still as Junior put his hand on her trunk. The elephants in the herd looked up when Giovanni came back. They moved partially in his direction when Junior returned, and the mahouts in the herd also moved and looked toward Ravi and Giovanni, curious about what might be happening. Junior ignored the men and spoke to the elephants.

“Not this time,” he said. “It won’t work to take the whole herd. But Mombo and her children will be back when the days turn cold again.” With that, he blinked and Mombo, Guru, Pretty Girl, Leonora and Surti, Oberon, Ravi and all his equipment including his Ankus, Junior, and the cooking fire with whatever Surti was cooking that smelled so good disappeared from that place and reappeared in the Venetian Swamp.

The elephants reacted the least, though Pretty Girl went around in a circle several times, like a dog chasing her tail, until she fell in the slushy March mud at her feet. Ravi and Surti let out a small shriek, and Leonora yelled that next time he should warn her. The other members of the circus who saw or soon saw tended to scream, and Mombo answered with a small trumpet.

Madam Figiori stood nearby, unmoved, and Sibelius stood next to her. He mumbled. “So, that is an elephant.”

Madam Figiori let out a small “Ugh,” and wandered off to her tent, probably to lie down.

Sibelius stepped up to Mombo, who sniffed him but did not mind him taking her gently by the trunk. Full grown elephants had no fear of the little spirits of the earth, even trolls or ogres. So she let Sibelius lead her gently to the enclosure he built for her and the tent Needles made. The babies followed, and after a moment to get over his shock, Ravi followed as well.

Surti and Leonora settled down quickly to finish cooking whatever concoction Surti invented. “I’m not going anywhere until I taste some of this,” she told Giovanni, who had come back to his own time and place.

“Okay,” he said with a knowing smile. He had an idea how spicey that concoction might be. He noticed Nicholi, Gregori, Rosa, and Pinky the monkey all raced up to the enclosure to see the elephants. Meanwhile, Giovanni had to calm down the rest of the circus and get Titania to stop screaming.

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MONDAY

Flesh Eaters, Witches, and Apes make their appearance in the center ring, more or less…Until then, Happy Reading

*

Medieval 6: Giovanni 9 Three Ring Circus, part 3 of 4

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

February turned to March, but outside of the calendar, one could hardly tell. The days remained cold and they had some snow in the swamp where the swamp remained half-frozen with ice. Giovanni thought there was no time like the present so he first taught Leonora, that is, he taught Harley the expression that March came in like a lion and went out like a lamb. He trusted her completely to know when to use that expression. She had proved her sense about that sort of thing as well as her comedic timing was much better than his.

The second week in March was not much better than the first, so again Giovanni thought there was no time like the present. He gathered Gabriella, once he got her away from the cooking fires, and he got Constantine, Madigan, Baklovani and Titania together with Madam Figiori and said he did not know how long his errand might take.

“What errand?” Constantine asked.

“Where are you going?” Titania wondered.

“You found a new act?” Madigan guessed.

“A new act. Yes,” Giovanni said. “And I need you people to keep things together while I am gone.” They all laughed a little because when did everything stay together? “Constantine. Seriously. You need to keep Nicholi, Gregori, and Rosa working on the swings, but under no circumstances are they allowed up there unless the net is beneath them.”

“I understand.”

“Madigan…”

“They fly through the air with the greatest of ease. I think Marci has the song perfectly.”

“She has a lovely voice,” Titania agreed.

“Just keep Sir Brutus in sight if he wakes. Don’t let Vader cut anyone and tell Rostanzio that he may be magnificent but he still needs to practice, and maybe come up with something new. Don’t let Rugello burn down anything while I am gone and watch out for Piccolo’s practical jokes. Tell Leonardo and Marta not to worry. I suppose it was inevitable that Marta’s mare should become pregnant. Leonardo and his stallion have a few tricks still, so we will make it work.”

“But where are you going?” Titania wondered.

“Far away,” Giovanni said as Leonora grabbed his arm.

“Not without me,” she said and gave him a hard stare.

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” he said and stared right back at her. “And I’ll be taking Oberon with me. Does Needles have the tent ready?” He asked Oberon.

“All set, and Sibelius has the reinforced fence up,” Oberon said. “ But it is going to take some extra work to carry that fence around with us.”

“Understood,” he said and dismissed the group, though he kept Oberon with him and asked Madam Figiori to stay. Leonora was not going anywhere without him. Madam Figiori kindly did not say anything until Giovanni seemed to have a hard time finding the words.

“Will you be traveling as Nameless or Junior?” she asked, referring to the gods he had once been.

“Junior,” he said and took Leonora’s hands. “I’m going to borrow someone from the past to transport us instantly to where we need to go.”

Leonora looked at him and trusted him completely, but she shook her head. She did not understand what he was saying.

“This is not my first rodeo,” he said, and she grinned, knowing the expression. “In the past, I lived as different people, though still me” He paused. He honestly did not know how to explain it.

“You lived before?” she asked. “You have other lives—lifetimes?”

“I have. And I can borrow them sometimes when there is something that needs to be done that I cannot do myself.”

“I don’t understand that part. How do you borrow other lives?”

“Still my lives. Still me, just a different me, if you follow me.”

Leonora looked down at her hands in his. She shook her head again. “I am not aware of having other lives.”

“No. Most people don’t. It is once to die and after this the judgment.”

“But…”

“I don’t die. Well, I get old and die, but not all the way. For some reason I get put into a new womb and nine months later I get born all over again.” he looked at her hands and when he raised his eyes she raised her eyes with him and looked deeply into his eyes. “Very disturbing when it happens, too,” he said.

“But… You are not kidding are you?” She looked at Oberon and Madam Figiori and asked them. “Why are you not saying anything?”

“We know all about it,” Oberon said.

“Our people have known the Kairos for thousands of years,” Madam Figiori said.

“Kairos? Wait. Your people?”

“I’m an elf,” Madam Figiori said plainly and removed her glamour of humanity so her ears and all could be clearly seen. Leonora surprised them. She merely nodded like it was something that now made sense to her.

“And Needles and I are dwarfs,” Oberon added.

“I know you are little people…”

“No. Dwarfs.”

“But you don’t have a beard. In all the stories, dwarfs are bearded.”

“To my shame,” Oberon said and stuck out his chin. He rubbed it. “See? Smooth as a baby’s bottom. I can’t grow a beard. My fellow dwarfs asked me to leave.”

“And you sometimes glimpse the future,” Leonora said. Her eyes shot to Madam Figiori as she thought things through. “I bet the other elves did not like that.”

Madam Figiori looked down. “It is true.”

“And Sibelius?” she asked Giovanni and he answered.

“Half human. three eighths troll and one eighth ogre.”

“I thought so,” she said. “And you have lived before?”

“Lord Giovanni is our god,” Oberon said without thinking. “But he doesn’t like the G-word so it is Lord or Lady when he lives as a woman.”

“You have lived as a woman?” That shocked Leonora.

“Yes,” Giovanni said and turned on Oberon. “I wasn’t going to tell her that part right now. And as for the G-part, sometimes you need to keep things to yourselves,” he scolded Oberon and turned to Leonora. “It isn’t what you think.”

“You don’t know what I am thinking… Do you?”

“No. No idea what you are thinking,” he said and she grinned. “I just did not want to scare you off, er, because of how I feel about you.”

“Yes. You should explain that part, about how you feel.” Giovanni shook his head so she continued. “Anyway, given the way I feel, it is going to take a lot more than strange tales to scare me off. I’m not leaving… but I do have a question.” she paused to think it through. “Why are you telling me this? I mean, is this something everyone knows? Who else knows?”

“Only you, as far as I’m aware. Of course the little ones know.”

“Little ones? Oh, you mean the elves and dwarfs.”

“And others. Not going into details right now. Anyway, I wanted to tell you so I can take you with me to India.”

“The faraway place,” Leonora said and smiled at the idea.

Medieval 6: Giovanni 9 Three Ring Circus, part 2 of 4

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

The second event that winter came on a day at the end of January. Giovanni sat down with Corriden to discuss business. Giovanni stiffened his lip and tried not to think about the way Corriden betrayed him. This was a chance to make peace and he tried to focus on that. Corriden came to the house looking wary and on the verge of anger but the first thing out of his mouth was interesting.

“I can see that running the circus is not nearly as easy as your father made it look.” He paused to get comfortable in his chair. Damien and Porto stood, though there were chairs available. Leonora and Oberon sat to either side of Giovanni, and Sibelius stayed outside the door, just in case. “It is impossible to keep everyone happy,” Corriden concluded.

“And it is not as lucrative as it might have appeared,” Giovanni agreed.

“Food, clothing, and shelter are not cheap,” Corriden complained. “Not to mention the cost of maintaining the tents.”

“And the wagons and oxen to carry it all.”

“Yes but look. It does no good having one of us out in front of the other. We struggled all down the east coast last spring because you moved out ahead of us and took all the business. We had to struggle through the mountains to reach the west coast and skip Rome in order to get in front of you.”

Giovanni indicated that he understood. “And once you got in front we had to travel through the hills of Tuscany to Florence, and eventually to Pavia and Lodi in order to not duplicate your route up the coast,” Giovanni agreed again as they were simply reviewing the past season.

“Yes, but then we did not make much coming home from Milan because you were in front again.” Giovanni nodded again and Corriden came to his conclusion. “This is not going to work. We need to either combine our circuses or one of us has to quit.”

“Not necessarily,” Giovanni said with a smile. “Mankin,” he called, and the human looking goblin came from the other room carrying two identical maps of the Italian peninsula. He laid one on the table and Corriden looked carefully. Corriden certainly new what maps were, such as they had in those days, but this was a bit different.

“What is this shaded area all down the boot?”

“It is the mountainous area in Italy. See how it runs like a curved spine down the whole peninsula. But the Italian mountains are not nearly as difficult as the Alps as long as you stick to the roads, and the rivers are also clearly marked.”

“And all of these lines?” He appeared to have an idea.

“They are the roads,” Giovanni smiled. “No guarantee how good or bad the roads may be, but you can see where they lead to the bigger towns and cities.”

“And there are pencil marks on the east and west side of the mountains. What are you proposing?”

“I am proposing we divide Italy in a way where we don’t have to climb over the worst of the mountains or over each other. Look. The east coast is skinny, but there is new territory in the south where the circus has never been. On the regular route, it has been forty years since my grandfather started the circus. The people on the regular, easy route along the coasts don’t come out like they did at first. That was why my father began to test the inland cities in the east and west, like Bologna, which became part of the regular route, and Florence in the west. While you came up the coast to Pisa and Genoa, I found out that there is a whole route inland where people heard of the circus but never got to see it. The trip was very lucrative.”

“Yes, I see, You have mapped things on the eastern route all the way to Bari and Tarento, and come back through Benevento, Salerno, Amalfi, and Naples. Then Capua to Spoleto and through the mountains there to Bologna, through Modena and all to Padua and home.”

“I don’t know how far south you will get and still get home before the cold weather sets in. You will have to judge the months and estimate the time it will take to get home. The pencil lines are just suggestions based on the number of miles and how far the circus can travel in a given day, especially in the eastern route to Naples. We have not gone that way before and have no idea what the roads may be like.”

Corriden sat back and almost smiled. “You know, when I was young, I performed feats of strength all around Naples. I went to Salerno, Amalfi, Capua, all around this whole area. I came to Rome and met your father when I heard about the circus and thought that would be better and safer than traveling alone.”

“And you were right,” Giovanni said. “Now, we just need to figure out how to go so we don’t interfere with each other.”

Corriden stared at the map and made mumbling noises for a minute before he asked, “So, how do we decide who takes which route?”

“I was thinking maybe we take turns. The Corriden Circus and the Don Giovanni Circus are similar, but with mostly different acts. Hopefully, people will come out knowing they will not see a repeat of the same acts they saw last year.”

“You are thinking,” Corriden said and finally let out the smile, though it looked like a mercenary smile. “Your father would be proud. But I imagine new territory is difficult to get the people to come out. “

“Not really,” Giovanni said. “You just need to send a couple of runners, people out along the route to let the people know that the circus is coming, and if anyone asks, “What is the circus?” Your people need to sell the idea and build excitement and anticipation. I think you will find after forty years of traveling around the north, many people in the south will have heard of the circus, especially in the trade center like Amalfi and Naples. I don’t think your runners in those places will have to work very hard to bring out the crowd.”

“I like it. So, you will be taking the south in this coming year?”

“Actually, I was hoping you might take the Naples route this year, especially because you came from there and know at least some of the area. Think of the people there and being able to show what a wonderful success you have become.”

Corriden got that sly look about him. “You have a reason for taking the northern and western route.” It was not really a question. “You have something in Rome?” he guessed.

“Yes, but not Rome.” Giovanni hesitated, but Leonora took his arm and supported him whatever he decided. “I have an invitation from Otto, the Holy Roman Emperor. He has asked to see the Don Giovanni Circus in Aachen in July. We will be going from Treviso to Trent as outlined on the map but instead of heading to Bergamo, we will be crossing the Alps and headed to Innsbruck and to the Danube. From there we plan to cut across to Breisach on the Rhine and up the Rhine to Cologne and across to Aachen. I don’t know how long that will take or how long we may be delayed in Aachen, but the return should bring us over the alps to Turin and the route home, either that or we may have to head straight to Milan and home from there if time is short.”

“I see,” Corriden mused and looked again at the map. “So you will not be going to Rome?”

“No. You can add Rome to your journey in the south this one time, but I would not add more if you plan to go to Naples, Amalfi, and Benevento. You definitely will not get to Bari or Tarento if you go to Rome. Remember, the following year you will go to Rome as well as Pisa, Florence, and Genoa and you should do well since it will be two years since the circus came to those towns.”

“Yes, I see,” He mused some more. “You will take good notes concerning your trip through the Germanies.”

“Of course. And you will take good notes concerning your trip on the east and south route and on the Naples area?”

“Of course.” he said and almost let out a genuine smile. “I came here a little worried that you had something terrible in mind because of our past, but I see that you have been thinking. You should do some more thinking. We might still find a way to get rich.”

Giovanni shook his head. “Food and clothing plus the upkeep of the tents, oxen, and wagons cost too much, and it is difficult to keep everyone happy.”

“So I have learned, and believe it or not, I am learning.”

Giovanni felt no need to add further to that statement. Corriden left, and Giovanni had something else on his mind.

How would you like to take a trip to the mysterious land of India?” He asked Leonora and she wondered what on earth he could be thinking now.

Medieval 6: Giovanni 9 Three Ring Circus, part 1 of 4

M G Kizzia 2 Comments

At the beginning of that winter, Giovanni and Leonora spent hours, some said days, staring hard at each other but not talking, like two stubborn mules determined to go in opposite directions. Don Giovanni could not give up the circus. He would not betray the dream of his father and grandfather. He had a whole circus full of people that were depending on him. He could not let them down.

Likewise, Leonora would not give up on Giovanni or the circus where, for the first time in her life, she felt she had worth, value, and meaning. She knew her father would neither hear that nor understand that, so she generally hid when people came to the swamp to visit or just to pass through. She was more likely to come out when new acts came to try out for the circus. Truth be told, her life had been shallow and pointless. Here, suddenly, the whole world opened up to her. She had a real contribution to make. She had real friends, no matter how odd they might look. In fact, she stopped seeing them from the outside and saw only their hearts. Giovanni’s heart was the only one she could not seem to reach, but she would not give up until she succeeded. “Like a slow back handspring,” she told herself. “I won’t give up until I master it.”

Three things happened that winter which changed the direction of everything. The first stretched over those months and gave Giovanni a number of sleepless nights, mainly because it was not a burden he could share with anyone.

Before the new year, Giovanni heard from Lady Alice of Avalon. “An Ape warship is scouring the asteroid belt looking for an escaped Flesh Eater shuttle. The shuttle scooted out from the search area and is presently sitting on Mars where they no doubt picked up the distress signal from the Flesh Eaters in the woods between Bavaria and Swabia. I expect the Flesh Eaters on Mars to make a dash for the Earth. Whether or not they can do so without being seen by the Apes is a question. If the Apes follow, the potential for a battle is great, and possibly in the atmosphere, and probably over the Danube.”

Giovanni did not know what to do. He tried to talk to Oberon and Madam Figiori about it, but they had nothing to suggest. Leonora talked to him about it when she saw that something was causing him stress, but she really did not understand.

“So, two armies are likely to come to blows. True, I don’t know what you mean by Flesh Eaters or Apes, but it is what armies do. Why is this so different, and why do you have to be involved?”

He tried to explain about them being aliens, not from this earth, but it was a hard concept to grasp in the abstract. He told her that the Apes and Flesh Eater ships had weapons of unbelievable power and they would inevitably spill over on to the earth. They might poison the whole Danube River and for miles, maybe hundreds of miles around contaminate the ground for a thousand years. They might make a whole area unlivable unless I can stop them. In the end, he felt she got the general idea, though seeing would be believing even though he hoped she would never have to get that close to a Flesh Eater. She did have one last thing to say.

“Just so you know. You are not allowed to have an adventure without me.”

She got up and walked off, and Giovanni thought that he had no intention of ever having an adventure without her or, for that matter, doing anything at all without her.

After the new year, Giovanni’s problem seemed to resolve itself. He wondered if maybe Lady Alice suggested the idea or maybe got some little ones, like some local elves or fairies to invisibly make the suggestion in the right ears. In any case, he got a return letter from Otto.

Otto said he was sorry to have missed them in Rome, but politics required him to be elsewhere. Now, his grandmother, Adelaide of Italy was ill and talking a lot about dying. Giovanni should remember her. She was the old lady with the cane when they first met ten years ago. She said if he wanted to make his residence in Rome, he needed to go to Aachen and gather the relics and symbols of his rule in the line of Charlemagne. He agreed and promised. He should be in or around Aachen all summer…

“I know it is a long trip, but for you it should be like all new territory. The people in the Germanies have never seen the circus and would greatly benefit from the entertainment that they will remember fondly for years to come, even as I remember. Please consider coming to Aachen. That would make me very happy.”

“It is a long way,” Oberon said.

“New territory worked out well, especially between Florence and Pavia,” Madigan pointed out.

“Yes,” Constantine agreed. “But the people there all heard about the circus only they never had a chance to see it, so they were curious and interested.”

“This will be like all completely new territory,” Baklovani said.

“We need runners,” Sibelius suggested.

“Runners??” Mankin asked. People looked at him with some surprise because normally he just sat at their meetings saying nothing and staring at everyone with his beady little eyes, like he was trying to figure out how he could save a penny here and a penny there.

“People to go out and tell what the circus is,” Giovanni understood and explained. “To build up anticipation for the arrival of the Greatest Show on Earth.” People smiled at the phrase and nodded. They liked that idea. Giovanni turned to Leonora. “What do you think?”

“I like new territory,” she said with her smile on full display. “My father will never find me in Germany.” She leaned over and kissed Giovanni smack on the lips, and he kissed her back. She never lost her smile, but she put one on his face, until Madam Figiori came into the tent where they were meeting.

“So, Germany,” she said without anyone having to tell her. “I hope you are prepared for the witches and terrors in the Bavarian woods, and the Black Forest and the big bad wolf.”

“That’s just a story,” Titania objected. “Isn’t it?”

Giovanni could only shrug.

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MONDAY

That winter in the swamp, Giovanni needs to make peace with Corriden and then he needs to fetch his elephant. Until Monday, Happy Reading

*

Medieval 6: Giovanni 8 Women and Answers, part 2 of 2

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

When the circus reached Fermo, traveled up the river valley to Camerino and over the hills to Spoleto, they began to look a bit ragged having been on the road and pushing themselves for two months. Normally, it was forty five days of travel to Rome and forty-five days of rest and performances. With Giovanni pushing everyone and skipping the Po valley, they still had forty days of travel but only twenty days to rest and perform in the bigger places. They normally arrive in Rome around the first week in July, but this time they had to be there by the first week in June and that cut thirty days from their itinerary. They were literally worn thin by the time they reached Spoleto but from there, once they reached the Tiber River, it was an easy way and good roads to Rome. They arrived late on Saturday, June fourth. Of course they did not perform on Sunday, so the people all got that much needed day off.

In Spoleto, Leonora first verbalized her fear that she might be recognized when they got to Rome. “What if Otto or one of his advisors figures it out?” she asked.

“Relax,” Giovanni said. “No one is going to recognize you.”

Leonora worried her hands before she spoke. “You know, if we got married it would not be a problem.” she paused before she spoke in her smallest voice. “I would not mind.” It was the first time either of them verbalized what they both thought, and immediately she wanted to take it back but not take it back. She studied his eyes to see how he felt about that.

Giovanni backed up. She said what he most wanted to hear, but he had a problem with that, and he told her. “You know, the circus is a family. We are like brothers and sisters and care for one another in that way. Most of the men and women are married, and that is a given, but otherwise it was my father’s strictest rule, and his father before him, that circus people are not supposed to form relationships like that. Work relationships often do not work out well. The risk is too great, not of falling in love, but of one or the other changing their mind. A broken relationship makes for unhappy people, releases bitter and angry emotions, and petty thinking that opens the door for revenge and sabotage. It kills performances and touches everyone around them with sadness and grief, taking sides, and all things negative and sinful. Even in love, it may interfere with the performances, even innocently…”

“The man who walked the tightrope before Constantine fell in love with Liza, a young woman who helped the cook. they were happy, but he started showing off and the time came when he fell. It was in the middle of his performance, and she was watching. He started pushing his performance too hard for her and he fell to his death. It was when my father was young, and he told me it took a long time for the circus to recover from that. I am not wishing bad on anyone, most of all you, but you must understand that I, of all people, must not break the relationship rule.” He leaned over and kissed her and she kissed him. He got up and walked off to do something, anything, and she cried, but just a little.

The big tent, the circus tent, and the tent of wonders got set up Monday morning in Rome before they started their shows at noon. The Monday performance was not quite full, but the rest of the week they had a line. They had to turn people away because they only had so much room in the big tent. On Saturday, they put on a command performance. Pope Gregory V came accompanied by Otto’s big sister, Sophia. Sophia invited Giovanni to come back to her residence and tell her all about the circus. Clearly, Sophia had little interest in circus life. Giovanni looked to the pope for help, but Gregory, who was cousin to Sophia and Otto and a young man himself just laughed.

Giovanni got helped, but by Leonora who came up and took his hand. She learned all about putting on a good performance by then. Giovanni profusely apologized to the emperor’s sister but he was otherwise occupied. Sophia kindly did not push the issue, but said she was available if he changed his mind. As soon as Pope Gregory and Sophia got out of earshot, Leonora dropped Giovanni’s hand with the word, “Don’t touch me.” After that, though no one would ever know from their performances, their relationship was strained all through the second half of the season. Giovanni walked carefully around her, and she did not know what to do.

She had made serious attachments with her circus family who all treated her as special, and listened to her, and valued her judgment. She did not want to return to her father who was harsh and hard on her and where she felt she lived under his thumb and was hardly able to breathe. Giovanni imagined Lord Stephano only wanted the best for Leonora and wanted her to do her best. He educated her so she spoke and could read and write in Italian, at least Venetian, Old German, and Latin. But wanting the best for his daughter made him the kind of man that wanted to control her every move. Giovanni did not blame her for not wanting to go back there. At the same time, she spent all year afraid that she was going to be found out. No one from Venice showed up at their performances, at least not a person anyone knew and certainly not someone who might identify Leonora. Otto’s advisors who might have seen her when she was young were absent as well.

“But I am happy here. For the first time in my life,” she told the others. Rosa sometimes patted her hand like Rosa was the big sister instead of the other way around and Leonora let out a few tears.

While the Don Giovanni Circus was in Rome, Corriden did something surprisingly intelligent. The Corriden Circus had hurried down the east coast of Italy because they did not do much business there. Don Giovanni being ahead of them meant the people already saw a circus. The Corriden Circus got as far as Ancona and opted to cut across country. They took the old and rougher road to Assisi, Orvieto and Corneto on the west coast of the peninsula. They arrived in Corneto on Monday, June thirteenth, having skipped Rome altogether.

 Giovanni felt obliged to stay in Rome through the seventeenth in order to be in Rome the first two weeks in June. Otto, who was on a pilgrimage in south Italy with his army, an odd combination taking an army on a pilgrimage, and he would not likely be back in Rome until the end of the Summer. Giovanni wrote a letter to his friend saying sorry he missed him and outlining where he intended to take the circus in the second half of the season. He passed the letter through Gregory, successfully avoided Sophia, packed up everything, and scooted out of town on Saturday the eighteenth.

Corriden was about a week ahead of them on the coastal road where he could hit all the big port cities like Pisa and Genoa. Giovanni imagined Corriden would also go to Turin to squeeze as much as they could out of the route before turning toward Milan. Giovanni did not even think of following the coast. He turned the circus to the harder and slower inland road through Tuscany, though the road was not bad all the way to Florence. After Florence, they did have to turn to the shore, but they hurried to Luna on the south end of Lombardy where they could once again head inland. They went through many small towns to reach Parma, Piacenza, and Pavia below Milan.

Maybe Giovanni and his circus did not get to play in the big coastal cities and got confined to the smaller inland cities and towns, but the people there had never seen the circus, though they heard about it. A few of the bigger places like Florence, Piacenza and Pavia had been visited by Giovanni’s father or grandfather when they tested the waters, but that was in decades past. People inland flocked to the circus and spent plenty of money out of curiosity if nothing else. It turned out to be a lucrative way to go as long as the wagons held together.

When Giovanni arrived in Pavia he heard that Corriden left Novara and was two days out from Milan. He decided to give the man the city and directed his circus to Lodi, where they stayed one day before they moved on to Brescia even as Corriden went into Milan. In this way, Giovanni ended up about a week ahead of Corriden for the last leg of the journey. It was Brescia, Verona, Vicenza, and back to Padua before Venice and home where Leonora once again became very afraid of being found out.

Out of deference to her, they only gave two performances instead of their usual three or four in the coastal town near the swamp, He said it was so Corriden could have a couple of performances and hopefully make peace, but he did not honestly expect actual peace.

Medieval 6: Giovanni 8 Women and Answers, part 1 of 2

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After the loss of Umberto, and Giovanni counted it as a sad loss, the circus suffered only the regular trials and troubles of life on the road. A wagon broke a wheel. Another broke and axel. An ox broke a leg in a hole in the road that no one saw. They suffered the usual tears and worn-out spots in the tents and costumes. Needles, with plenty of wives and Constantine to help stayed very busy patching things. The roustabouts under Borges, one of whom was a reasonably good carpenter, and one of whom, with Oberon the dwarf’s help, could light up something like a forge to do some blacksmithing also made their repairs along the way.

Oberon kept one eye on the books, but he mostly turned the books over to his cousin, a goblin named Mankin. They were in Bologna while Giovanni, Leonora, and Oberon sat in Giovanni’s tent discussing how the show went and where they might improve the transition time between the acts, when Mankin rose up right through the floorboards. It took him a moment to recognize Oberon because Leonora distracted him so badly with her scream.

Giovanni hushed Leonora who got behind him and peeked over his shoulder. “Very frightening,” Giovanni said of the goblin. “Can you put on a glamour to appear human?”

Mankin ignored Giovanni and turned to Oberon. “I am here. What do you want me for?”

“Your cousin?” Giovanni asked Oberon.

“His grandmother was a dwarf, sister of my great-grandfather,” Oberon said. “He can go about in the daytime, unlike some goblins.”

“It is to my shame to carry dwarf blood,” Mankin admitted.

“No, no,” Giovanni said. “I think you are very frightening to look at. What do you think Harley?” He threw that last over his shoulder where Leonora’s face peeked over from behind. Giovanni really could not look at her, but he imagined she had yet to blink.

“Very frightening,” she said.

“But come. You need to at least look human,” Giovanni insisted.

Mankin looked at Oberon who said, “You better do what the Kairos wants while he is in a good mood.”

Mankin nodded, like Oberon confirmed what he thought. He raised his hand and things like his horns, forked tongue, fangs and claws went away to reveal a man with dark, slicked back hair that he kept beneath an alpine hat, and a black goatee and beady eyes which made him frightening enough in human form.

“Is that better?” Giovanni asked.

“Not much,” Leonora said, and Mankin almost smiled.

Oberon spoke for his cousin. “He is a whiz with the numbers and can keep the books and pay the people perfectly and keep straight exactly how much pay is due the various people based on receipts.”

“Gringotts,” Giovanni said without explanation.

“Don’t worry, Lord,” Oberon said. “I’ll show him and he will keep the books straight and the money counted perfectly. You also won’t have to worry about Corriden or anyone else stealing the receipts, either.”

“Now,” Giovanni said. “It has not been proved that Corriden had anything to do with the theft, or for my father being killed…”

“With respect, where did Corriden get the money to get the Corriden Circus off the ground?”

Giovanni waved off those thoughts and changed the subject. “Maybe he could practice in front of the tents collecting the pennies of the people.”

“Don’t want to scare the people off,” Oberon said, and Giovanni felt Leonora nod.

“With Piccolo and Rugello.” Giovanni mentioned the two presently tasked with that job.

“Maybe…” Oberon said and Mankin interrupted.

“Hurry. Hurry. Hurry. Step right up. Come and see the greatest show on earth. Seating is limited and you don’t want to miss out. Hurry, hurry. The show will begin in the next five minutes. I got here yesterday.” Mankin said and smiled. Leonora turned her head away. Oberon commented.

“Maybe with Piccolo and Rugello.”

Giovanni nodded and said. “I leave you to it. Come on,” he grabbed Leonora’s hand to take her from the wagon. She looked down at his hand in hers and smiled as hard as she could. Sadly, that smile got tempered as they traveled down the coast.

In Bologna, three young women came looking for Don Giovanni III. He said no and turned them all away, but Leonora was not happy about it. In Ravenna there were two more women, and then one in just about every stop down the coast. Giovanni turned them all down, but Leonora got upset and found some tears. Tears did not help her performance one bit. Harlequin was supposed to be happy-go-lucky, not moping and melancholy. It helped a bit when the old timers sat down and explained things to her.

“In the old days, young Giovanni was wild and carefree, if you know what I mean,” Madigan the musician said.

“I told him he should not do that,” Titania said. “You know, I tried to watch out for him after his mother died.”

Baklovani added his thoughts. “I’m surprised he doesn’t have a pocket full of children all over Italy.”

“Maybe he does,” Constantine said.

“Anyway.” Madigan tried to get back to the subject. “Since his father died and he had to take over running the circus…”

“And especially after you came,” Constantine said.

“…He appears to have given up all the women he used to spend his time with.”

“Stopped cold,” Titania said with a shake of her head.

“Maybe he will explode,” Baklovani suggested.

“Maybe he will become a monk,” Constantine offered another suggestion before Madigan began again.

“Mostly we think it is running the circus and all that is involved in that that has kept him so busy. I imagine he does not have time for anything on the side. Still, I would not have expected him to stop cold like that. I imagine that would be very hard.”

“I’ll tell you what I think,” Constantine began before he got quiet, like he did not want to tell what he thought. Everyone stared at him while he looked down, but soon enough he looked up at Leonora and just let it out. “I think he fell in love and has no interest in any other women but the one he loves.”

Leonora stared at Constantine. She slowly turned her head to look at the others, but they turned their heads away and down when she looked at them. The smile slowly came back to Leonora’s face and she said, softly, “Oh, I hope so.”

The others all chuckled a bit.

Medieval 6: Giovanni 7 Sabotage, part 3 of 3

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In Bologna, one whole side of the big tent collapsed. The mast-like pole on that side remained sound and they had rope to replace the main rope that broke. They picked up plenty of new rope in Ferrara after the tightrope incident, but they had to cancel the performance that evening.

“Another cut rope,” Oberon confirmed.

“Anyone seen walking around with a knife in their hand?” Giovanni asked.

“Vader,” Sibelius suggested.

“He’s the knife thrower,” Leonora said with a roll of her eyes. “He always has knives on him.”

“I got my sheers for cutting the cloth,” Needles admitted.

“Gabriella uses plenty of knives around the cooking fires,” Baklovani said.

Giovanni held up his hands until they quieted. “And Rugello carries the sword that he swallows. All that is understood. What I mean is, has anyone been seen carrying knives or sharp instruments that doesn’t normally use them?”

Everyone quieted. They had to think. After a moment, several heads began to shake before Baklovani had a thought. “Well…” Baklovani hesitated and looked at Constantine.

Constantine nodded before he talked. “Baklovani and I were talking with Rostanzio the magician about the need to help out when we put up and take down the tents.”

“You know, he always says he has to protect his digits,” Baklovani interrupted.

Constantine nodded. “He says if he hurts his fingers he won’t be able to properly do his sleight of hand tricks.”

“Not that his tricks are that good or all that hard to figure out.” Baklovani chuckled.

“Get on with it,” Leonora and Giovanni said more or less at the same time.

“Well…” Baklovani hedged again, but Constantine got the message.

“We were out behind the tent of wonders and we saw Umberto walking with Rugello’s sword.”

“You know, the one he won’t let anyone touch,” Baklovani had to add his interruption.

“Rostanzio said as much. We all teased Umberto that he was going to be in big trouble but he said Rugello asked him to fetch it and stomped off. That dd not sound right then. It sounds less right now that I have said it out loud.”

“Come on,” Giovanni said, and the whole group went to find Rostanzio before it got dark. He confirmed the story and followed them to find Rugello. “So, you asked Umberto to fetch your sword?” he asked Rugello but interrupted himself. “When was that?” He asked Constantine.

“About two-thirty. We just finished the show of wonders.”

“And the tent collapsed around three just as the show in the circus tent began,” Leonora said.

“What is this all about?” Rugello asked.

“Never mind. Did you ask Umberto to fetch your sword around two thirty?”

“No,” Rugello answered honestly. “No one should be touching my sword.” He huffed so everyone understood, not to say they did not already understand. He huffed again to underline his sentiment, then he joined the crowd, and Piccolo who was there came too. He asked Constantine what was going on and Constantine carefully explained what he understood as they fetched Madam Figiori from her tent on the midway.

Madam Figiori said, “Umberto is by the food at a table waiting for supper to be called.” She said that before anyone asked her anything. The whole group trooped down to the food area and cornered Umberto. Umberto took one look at the crowd and began to cry.

“It was Corriden,” he said. “After the poison of Berlio failed, he offered me so much money to disrupt the circus. He never expected you to continue and be successful. He wants you to fail and plans to add some of the acts to his own circus lineup. he promised me a good place and more money.” He paused to wipe his tears and his runny nose. “I don’t know what I was thinking. When I almost killed my friend Constantine, I sent word to Corriden that I was not going to help him anymore. But he sent Damien all the way to Bologna to threaten me. He said he would expose me and I would no longer have a place in any circus. I didn’t know what to do.”

“Is Damien still around here?” Baklovani asked. He worried, thinking since Umberto got exposed, Damien himself might sneak onto the circus grounds and sabotage something, but Umberto shook his head.

“I am sure he is not. He came up with the idea to collapse the big tent but I am sure he meant during a performance and I am sure he hoped the mast would break. I cut the line that would bring down part of the tent without putting a strain on the mast. I am sorry. I am so sorry.”

“Me too,” Giovanni said. “Get your things and leave. I hope Corriden has a place for you in his circus because you are no longer welcome here.” Giovanni asked Piccolo and Rugello to follow Umberto. “And make sure he does not hurt anyone else of break anything on his way out of town.”

Leonora looked at Giovanni and actually complained. “That was too easy. We did not have to threaten him or anything.”

“I know,” Giovanni agreed, and he smiled at Leonora’s use of the word “We”. “I expected a good mystery, a slate of suspects and following the clues.” Leonora nodded.

“And denial,” Oberon said. “And catching the saboteur with the knife in his hand. And a struggle for possession of the knife. And coming in at the last minute to save the day.”

“But that is not the way things usually go,” Rostanzio said, honestly enough.

“No, but neither is a confession without first going through some period of denial,” Giovanni said. “All it takes, though, is a witness of either the act or something out of place and that points the finger.”

“Yes, and…” Oberon started again but paused when Madam Figiori stood and headed toward the cooking fire. “Where are you going in the middle of my pontificating?”

“Supper is ready,” she answered. “I am hungry and tired in that order.”

Portence came out from behind the table where they sold honey buns and cakes to the visitors, and she rang the big bell for supper. Nicholi, Gregori, and Rosa came running, though Madam Figiori got first in line.

************************

MONDAY

The Don Giovanni Circus finds some success, but life becomes difficult between Giovanni and Leonora. Until Monday, Happy Reading

*

Medieval 6: Giovanni 7 Sabotage, part 2 of 3

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After the week of dry runs, they added an audience. Outside of Umberto the panic stricken and Constantine, who was afraid of everything, apparently, except heights, Leonora had the worst stage fright, never having performed before an audience before. Most of the others had been performing their act on the road for a while. Leonora’s fright lasted until she told a joke and people laughed. After that, Giovanni had to keep her from getting carried away. As he suspected, she learned to love having an audience.

The first evening, they invited the people from the villages around the swamp. The second evening, they invited the people from the town where the ships came in from Venice and where Madam Delfin lived. On the third night, they packed up the tents and moved to the first main town away from the farmland where the Corriden Circus made their own preparations. They set up in the morning and performed in all three tents that day at two and four in the tent of wonders and three in the circus tent. The town was honestly not of a size to warrant setting up the big tent, but they needed the practice. In the morning, they packed up and began their journey on Tuesday April fifth on the Julian calendar. It was not exactly April first, but they did get out ahead of Corriden.

“I imagine Corriden is whipping his people to get them moving,” Madigan said over lunch.

“I would not be surprised,” Baklovani agreed.

“I’m just glad to be finally moving away from Venice,” Leonora said.

Constantine laughed. “Wait until September when we have been on the road for six months. You will be glad enough to be headed back to Venice and some rest.” Constantine’s monkey, Miss Pinky also laughed so as not to be left out of the conversation.

~~~*~~~

Everyone saw one or more people from Corriden’s circus at the three performances with an audience that Giovanni called the dress rehearsals. Corriden likely expected Giovanni to return to the swamp after those performances for a week or two in order to work out the rough spots and add some polish to the acts. Giovanni’s father always returned to the swamp for at least a week after the practice runs. Corriden probably panicked when Don Giovanni III headed off down the road, but Giovanni knew with so many new people there was no way to polish the acts until they had some experience. He said, “Now or never,” and they headed toward Padua.

Corriden’s flunkies, Damien and Porto followed the circus until noon when they rode back to warn Corriden. Giovanni knew it was important to get out in front of the others, but he had no doubt Corriden had no idea what he had in mind.

The normal route was to travel down the north side of the Po River to Manlova and then cross the river to the south side of the Po and come through Modena, to Bologna. From Bologna, the route went to Ravenna on the coast and down the coast to Ferma where it was not too difficult to travel inland to Spoleto, and from Spoleto there was a good road to Rome. Giovanni cut out all the travel up and down the Po River. He crossed over right away and stopped in Ferrara before Bologna. Ferrara had never had a visit from the circus before, but they heard about it and they were generous, so it was a good deal.

Giovanni figured Corriden was one to follow the schedule no matter what. He proved that the one time he served as ringmaster. By cutting off the travel up and down the Po River, he figured by the time Corriden got to Bologna and Ravenna, they would be three or four weeks behind. Whether or not the people all down the coast would come out for a second circus a month later remained to be seen, but it was the only way to go. Winding through the hills and mountains to all the towns and villages of central Italy would not work, not to say that even by then Corriden would consider altering the route.

Of course, the other reason Giovanni cut off the trip up and down the Po was the fact that he had a written invitation from the Holy Roman Emperor to be in Rome on June first. At best, including the trip up and down the Po would have put them in Rome at the end of June, and traveling with this madhouse, even on reasonably good roads, the best case could not be counted on. Cutting off the river portion was still no guarantee they would get to Rome on time. That was especially true when bad things started to happen.

It started in Padua, right at the beginning. Everyone got sick and a show had to be cancelled. Madam Figiori was not sure what substance got into the food but confirmed that they had all been poisoned with something. Titania was the only old timer who knew him on sight, but she swore she saw Berlio the magician and his wife Priscilla near the food wagon. Berlio tried it once before but got caught before he could poison anything. Apparently he came back and tried again. Giovanni believed Titania, but he thought it was odd. He heard Corriden was using Berlio and his naturally talkative nature as his ringmaster. Corriden himself must have filled in for a few days while Berlio ran his errand.

“Hopefully, when we get past Rovigo, get off the old route and head for Ferrara, they will not know where we are and we won’t have to worry about interference.”

Only Oberon said anything, and he only said “Hopefully” without much conviction.

Sure enough, in Ferrara, they almost had a disaster. Constantine got three steps out on the tightrope, and the rope snapped. He felt it and heard it rip, so he quickly reached down and grabbed his end of the rope. when it snapped. he swung to the pole and the ladder while Pinky the monkey shrieked and jumped up and down. The people that got to their feet applauded to see that he was alright. In fact, he never got so great an audience reaction before.

“But I hope they don’t think that was part of the act,” Constantine said. “I’m not doing that again if you don’t mind.”

Upon later examination, they decided that Constantine’s rope had been cut most of the way through. “Who would do such a thing?” Leonora asked.

Giovanni confided quietly to her. “We appear to have a saboteur in our midst. We better keep our eyes open.”

Medieval 6: Giovanni 7 Sabotage, part 1 of 3

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The circus went through a whole week of dry runs and Giovanni concluded that he had a show. Not a great show. Certainly not the Greatest Show on Earth, but a show. At dawn, his three clowns plus the three men he hired to be the primary roustabouts and put under the direction of Borges, husband of Gabriella the cook, and father of Rosa of the Flying Flutinis, along with as many performers as they could get took down all the tents. After breakfast, they put them all up again. They would do that regularly over the next seven months, and speed was important, but care was more important. It would be a disaster if a tent fell down during a performance.

The circus tent went up with equal care. Presently, it anchored one end of the midway, but it got the most use. It was the size of the tent Giovanni’s grandfather used, the one he started with. Three sides could be rolled up to accommodate an overflowing crowd. The fourth side had a slit door in it. The acts got ready behind that fourth side. Most people had a short, amended version of their act that they could perform in the smaller space. The acts suggested what the audience might see in the big tent, though they were miniature acts themselves, like the acts the performers might have done back in the days of traveling alone on the road. As long as it was not raining, they could put on the small version of the circus in every village and small town where they stopped for the night. The big tent got saved for the big towns, and the cities enroute. It did not get put up in the smaller places.

They also had a small tent they set at the entrance to the midway across the way from the food wagon. It was the tent of wonders where they showed off the magnificent diversity of God’s creation, which was the only safe way to describe things in 1000 AD in Italy under the church. It was never called the freak show though that name was hard to resist. They also had seats, charged a penny, and the show only lasted around a half hour.

Piccolo the juggler had a glib tongue. He got the job of introducing the various wonders and such. It was safer to put him on the stage so he would not be tempted to play any practical jokes and thus mess up his own chance to shine. Piccolo showed off the carcass of the mermaid which was really a cat and a fish sewn together by a talented taxidermist. He showed the unicorn horn and the dragon tooth telling a little story with each. It was not really possible to bring in Leonardo’s magnificent white horses or Sir Brutus the bear, but Constantine the tightrope walker brought his pet monkey, Pinky, the one dressed like a pink clown, and the children loved that. Children under a certain height were free in every tent when accompanied by adults. They had a sign in front of every tent to show the height and were pretty lenient about it, so they always had some children at every performance in the small tent of wonders, the circus tent, and the big tent.

When Constantine walked the tightrope in the big tent, the rope that got stretched between the two massive poles, like ship’s masts in size, that held the tent up, he always got a Ta-Da when he safely reached the other side. After he bowed, he waved to his monkey and the monkey easily scampered across the rope and jumped into Constantine’s arms. Constantine held the monkey like a baby, and they both waved to another Ta-Da before they climbed down the ladder.

Madigan the musician and two men from his orchestra once made a week-long winter trip to Padua the roads were slushy in the middle of January from recent rains. Madigan heard about a fiddle player who was the best anyone ever heard. He came back with a young woman with surprisingly Asian features. Merci had been born and raised in Brittany so her music sounded decidedly Celtic. How her Asian family got to Brittany remained a mystery, but Giovanni quickly learned the girl could also play the mandolin, though one hardly better than a Ukulele, and she had a remarkably good singing voice. Giovanni quickly took advantage of that. He put her in charge of the incidental music in the tent of wonders, and with the help of the drummer, they developed theme music for the various show people.

Merci was credited as coming from the land of silk which most people thought of as India, but who was Giovanni to correct them. Constantine came from Constantinople, even if the man had never been there, and his monkey came from the mysterious land of Egypt, which most people heard of. Umberto the contortionist came from France, and at least he spoke passable French The dwarfs, Oberon and Needles lived under the Alps, deep underground, where their brothers and sisters dug for gold and fine jewels, and iron for their forges. Sabelius the strongman came from the far north, the land of snow and ice, where it got so cold, even the bears turned white and ordinary men have been known to freeze like statues until the spring thaw. Sabelius was the only one who came from the place he was credited with. Then there was Titania, the bearded fat lady.

When Titania, supposedly from Iberia, came out to face the gawking audience, she sat on a stool and invited all the children to come to the front and sit cross legged on the ground. She talked about the other side of the Alps as being filled with dark and deep forests in Swabia and Bavaria. Piccolo, supposedly from that area, though his German was rather poor, called them the haunted forests filled with wolves, witches, trolls, goblins, and monsters to terrible to name. The curtain got pulled back showing the iron bars of a cage, though it was only the one side. It just looked like a cage.

Baklovani, the wolfman came roaring up to the face of the cage and stuck his hands made up to look like claws through the bars. The children, and plenty of the adults dutifully screamed. When things settled down, Titania told a story from the haunted woods called Little Red Riding Hood. Rosa got to pantomime the part of Red carrying her basket of goodies to grandma’s house. She loved the hood Needles made and often wore it even when she was not performing. When Titania said the line, “The better to eat you with,” Baklovani reached through the bars again and roared as the curtain got slowly closed. Piccolo played the woodcutter and rescued Rosa, and they all lived happily ever after. The end.

Of course, once again Giovanni scolded himself for stealing from the future, but he figured the Brothers Grimm collected their stories from the oral tradition. Most of the stories, including Little Red Riding Hood took place in Bavaria and the Black Forest, but later research suggested that many were rooted in Italian stories, so Giovanni figured he was safe enough.

People took bows in the tent of wonders, and in the bigger towns and cities, the people got the pitch to see the big show at five o’clock in the center ring—though they only had one ring. The big show ran a little over an hour or about as long as people could sit still. It ran a good bit over an hour until they got the timing down.

In the smaller towns and villages, people were encouraged to see the performances in the circus tent at the end of the midway. The show in the circus tent lasted about forty-five minutes, and everyone performed there once or twice in the day, roughly at one and at three, if a second performance was likely to gather enough of a crowd. Piccolo’s show of wonders could be performed three times, at noon, two, and four before the big show in the cities which started at five in order to be done well before dark. The show of wonders at noon was usually a small audience, but then people talked and tended to bring their friends and neighbors.

Medieval 6: Giovanni 6 A Morning Visit, part 2 of 2

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Two days later, the acrobats Nicholi, Gregori, their mother, Portence, and Rosa the scamp, as she came to be called, were putting Leonora through her morning paces. She was flexible enough, more flexible than the boys, though no one was as flexible as twelve-year-old Rosa. Back handsprings were not easy, especially if you wanted to do three in a row and end with a back flip, either curled or straight legged with a twist.

“Stick that landing,” Giovanni said a million times. “Take a bow. We will be having dress rehearsals in two weeks if we can get Madigan and his musicians working together and we are not nearly ready.”

Cartwheels and handstands were also not easy to do well. The handstand in particular was important if you wanted to do a slow roll backwards and end up on your feet. The boys tended to tuck and roll forward to their feet. Rosa could do a slow back walkover and come slowly to her feet. Leonora could not quite do that, but she was determined to do it and would not quit until she mastered it.

Giovanni had a seesaw built that the boys could use to get some height. Portence, their own mother came up with the idea of using the seesaw to land Gregori on Nicholi’s shoulders so they stood two people tall. Nicholi was the stronger of the two, being eighteen months older than his brother. Then Portence and Rosa came up with the idea that Rosa should be catapulted to the top, to stand three people tall. That was going to take real practice. Leonora thought she could sneak up and jump on the other end of the seesaw to send the little girl up to that height, but Leonora did not weigh enough alone. She got Oberon the dwarf when he dressed in his yellow clown outfit to jump with her. Again, they needed practice, but Giovanni thought if they could get good at it, that could be a boffo ending for their act. Maybe no one knew what a boffo was, but by then others were saying it.

Leonora spent at least two hours after lunch learning lines and jokes. Giovanni wiped the worry sweat from his forehead when he recognized that she had a good sense of comedic timing. When Giovanni realized that he took advantage of being the Kairos for the first time in his life. He had the Storyteller look up the Abbot and Costello routine of “Who’s on First.” They needed the megaphone and a strong voice in the big tent, but in the smaller circus tent it would be perfect. Leonora put a coat over her harlequin costume and pretended to be an outsider who wanted to join the circus. Giovanni talked about nicknames and brought out the clowns who carried a ball. The red clown was who. The white clown was what. The blue clown was I Don’t Know. He knew he should not tempt time in that way, but circus people were always practical, quick to use whatever came to mind or to hand. With some minor adjustments, the routine went well and he tried to ignore the scolding he gave himself.

Leonora also spent lunchtime getting to know the circus people. Much to Giovanni’s delight, though not unexpected, everyone liked her very much. She was easy to like, he decided.

On the third day, Oberon arrived with a jar of white makeup and a smaller jar of red. He had brushes for her eyelashes and a pencil for her brows. “Here,” he said. “She might as well start getting used to wearing the makeup, not that a high born woman needs much encouragement in the makeup department. Besides, I think you want her covered up for when the visitors arrive.” He walked off without further explanation. Leonora and Giovanni who sat at the table across from each other, turned their head like they were mirror images. They looked at the road. They turned back at the same time and looked at each other before they both dropped their eyes. Giovanni coughed to clear his throat.

He applied her whiteface. He made her lips red and did not let his fingers linger too long on her lips, though she said nothing about it. She just looked at him with big puppy dog eyes, so he went to work on the eyes. He made them appear extra big and darkened the lashes and eyebrows. He noticed the whiteface did not disguise her beauty. He would have to watch that, but meanwhile, she would not likely be recognized.

Moments later, some twenty men rode up on the road and six of the men came down on the wide and safe path to the barn, the stables, the workshop, and where all the tents and wagons rested. Most of the men were soldiers of some sort, but Giovanni knew or remembered four of them. Lord Stephano butted up front and his two henchmen, big and short, rode behind. The other one was Otto who gave a good look around before he got down.

Giovanni went straight to Otto while Leonora went to hide by the chuck wagon. She did a cartwheel and back handspring on her way. She thought it completed the disguise, but Otto noticed.

“Much nicer than the other one,” Otto said.

“The other one?” Giovanni asked as they greeted each other with the supposed secret circus handshake.

“We stopped at a farm down the road. We thought it was your circus farm. Some of the people looked familiar.”

“Not mine,” Giovanni said and Otto nodded.

“The Corriden Circus. I thought you were the only one.”

“He stole some of my people and started his own. You know, a good idea is bound to be copied.”

“I could get your people back,” Otto offered, but Giovanni quickly shook his head.

“They are free people and can go where they want. If they think they can do better with Corriden, that is their decision. I don’t own them. They may be surprised, though. I’ve got some new acts which are pretty good.”

“Your harlequin?” he paused for Giovanni to nod that he got the name right. Otto started again. “You harlequin is certainly pretty and I bet she is also good.”

“Harley is new and just learning with so much of this circus. Hard to believe we only have one more month to get ready before we have to start the season.”

“Get to the point,” Lord Stephano shouted down from where he sat on his horse and looked around everywhere.

“April starts it all.” Otto understood as he remembered. “So, we are here looking for my fiancé. She disappeared right before the wedding, and we know she took a boat to the mainland, but then we lost her. No telling where she may have gone. Some are saying she may have taken a ship to some distant port, like Constantinople or Provence, and we will never find her.”

“How do you feel about that?” Giovanni asked.

Otto shrugged. “Not one way or the other. I only saw her that one time, briefly, when she—when we were younger.” He shrugged again. “I have advisors who thought it was a bad deal from the beginning. They are already working on an arrangement with the Emperor of the Eastern Romans. Apparently, he has a second daughter, Zoe something.” He honestly did not look terribly interested in marriage of whatever kind. It told Giovanni that he might not have been an attentive or good husband, so keeping Leonora was just as well.

Giovanni looked up at Lord Stephano and raised his voice. “Sorry. Just circus people here. We don’t allow strangers in our midst. Have to protect the secrets of the circus, you know.”

Lord Stephano harumphed, but Otto smiled until Giovanni took his arm and led him a few steps further away.

“You asked me four questions last time. Now I have a question for you.”

“Fair enough,” as Giovanni let go and turned to face the young emperor.

“Do you have any friends?”

Otto looked taken aback by the question. “I…” He tried to play it straight. “I have lots of people who like to hang around the court and smile and agree with everything I say.”

“Seriously.”

Otto looked down. “I have generals, captains, advisors, counselors,,,”

“A butcher, a baker, and a candlestick maker, but that does not answer the question.”

Otto shuffled one foot. “No,” he said. “Not really.”

“Well, you have one,” Giovanni said. “I will always be your friend and tell you the truth, even if you don’t want to hear it, and even if it gets me in trouble.”

Otto nodded, paused, hugged Giovanni, and spoke. “I have an empire to run. You have a circus to run…”

“About like running a madhouse.”

“Same,” Otto said with a smile. “Still, I could envy you.”

“My father used to say, never judge a man until you have walked a mile in his shoes.”

“I’ve heard that one, or something like that.”

The two turned back to the horses and Lord Stephano had something more to say. “Aren’t you going to order your soldiers to search the camp?”

Otto shook his head as he mounted. “She is not here. But if she was you should not worry. If she is with Don Giovanni she is in the safest place in the world she could be, even if my friend misbehaves sometimes.” He smiled at that thought and said, “See you later.”

“Later,” Giovanni echoed.

One week later, he got a letter from Otto. It said he would be in Rome all summer, or at least at the beginning of the summer. He really wanted to see the circus again, but he did not know Giovanni’s schedule. If possible, he should certainly be in Rome the first two weeks in June. Could he maybe come to Rome June first? Then he said that things often change with two such busy people, but God willing they can hopefully catch up with each other in Rome. Good luck with all the new people, he said, and signed it informally, though it was sealed with all the bells and whistles of the Holy Roman Emperor.

“Good luck,” Giovanni said to himself.

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MONDAY

Sabotage, chapter 7 in three parts, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Don’t miss it. Happy Reading

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