Author: M G Kizzia

Medieval 6: Giovanni 10 Flesh Eaters, Witches, Apes, part 2 of 2

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Matilda looked at the young couple that she imagined they were and wondered how such children could be in charge of this circus thing. “I came to warn you that we have worse than witches in our neighborhood.”

“The Flesh Eaters,” Leonora said, like she knew, though Giovanni felt her tighten her grip on his arm.

“Is that what you call them? We’ve been calling them Snake Heads….”

“Or Big Mouths,” one of the men spoke up.

“Or Big Mouths,” Matilda agreed. “What Rudolf said. They say they are not allowed to eat people, but we got four dead and eaten…”

“And that is why there are only eight left out of the twelve that came here. The four that could not resist eating people all died.”

“As it may,” Matilda said. “Though why God didn’t make it so they couldn’t eat people, I don’t know.”

“Because people always need to have a choice. Adam and Eve had a choice. It is part of the package.”

“And they chose wrong,” Rudolf said.

“Snake Heads aren’t people,” Matilda argued.

“But they are people,” Giovanni responded. “They are not human people, but they are Flesh Eater people. They talk and think and are self-aware. Just because they are not human it doesn’t make them less of a person.”

In the timing the little ones often exhibit, Oberon and Sibelius walked up and Oberon spoke. “Boss? We got to go see the Flesh Eaters?” Oberon and Sibelius together hardly looked like people in that moment. The two men looked at Sibelius and took a half-step back.

Matilda’s eyes widened for a second before she nodded for some reason. “I assumed you planned to go and see the Snake Heads—Flesh Eaters. I suppose I better go with you. How about you gentlemen?” One man waved them off, turned and walked away. Rudolf said he was game, and Matilda explained. “I understand Wilfred was the worst of the worst when he could do magic, but since the magic went away he has proved himself to be a real coward.”

“Everyone makes choices,” Giovanni said and Leonora nodded.

It took almost an hour to get there so they arrived around two in the afternoon. Giovanni heard from Lady Alice that the Ape ship kicked in the afterburners and nearly caught up to the Flesh Eater shuttle. While they walked to where Matilda knew the Flesh Eaters were parked, they saw the flash high in the sky when the shuttle broke into the atmosphere. They arrived just before the shuttle set down, and Leonora, Oberon, Sibelius, Matilda, and Rudolf were all eyes on the shuttle. Giovanni was busy with an internal dialogue and Leonora guessed.

“Junior?” she asked, knowing Giovanni had no special ability to deal with people from another world.

Giovanni shook his head. “Nameless,” he said. “This is his part of the world, and he needs a turn, though he is complaining that he always gets stuck with the werewolves and hags and such things.” Giovanni traded places with the ancient god he used to be, though like Junior, he kept up a perfect glamour of Giovanni so no one would notice unless they were sensitive to such things.

Leonora smiled at him and held on to his arm. His attention stayed focused on the newly arrived shuttle until the shuttle turned off all systems. He noticed when Leonora’s attention shifted from the spaceship to the oncoming local Flesh Eaters. She got one good look and swallowed her scream as she buried her face in Nameless’ shoulder.

“Matilda.” The Flesh Eater out front spoke. “We have rescue.”

“Snakes,” Matilda called the Flesh Eater. She obviously talked with the Flesh Eaters enough to not only name this one but to be able to distinguish between one Flesh Eater and another. Not an easy thing to do. “These people came to see you. I do not know what they want, but I thought to bring them because you can be frightening for our eyes to see.”

“Captain and crew,” Nameless said, and the newly arrived captain and all of his crew appeared with the others. “Quiet. Listen.” he made sure no Flesh Eater interrupted and they all heard so there would be no mistake. “Quercus,” he called. A fairy dropped down from the tree branch above. He faced Nameless and put his back to the Flesh Eaters. “Have they been good?”

“They have not used their VR Energy on the people and they have not used their weapons to kill people,” Quercus said, as Leonora dared to peek. “Define good.”

“Only one is good and he is beyond us. In this universe of flesh, good is relative, but there are some certainties, such as leaving the humans alone and not eating people.”

“Then they have been relatively good,” Quercus said, and smiled for Leonora. “My lady,” he bowed to her.

“Don’t start,” Nameless said and turned to the newly arrived Captain. “You are here to rescue this crew and leave this planet forever, and do not come back here.” He allowed the captain to speak though only himself and his little ones would understand the Flesh Eater language.

“I do not know what we may do.”

“I am not asking. I am telling. You will leave this planet and not come back here.”

“We are being followed. We might not be going anywhere.”

“What happens if we do come back?” Snakes asked.

“Your broken shuttle,” Nameless said and raised his hand. Every eye looked there as the shuttle slowly turned to dust, inch by inch. “It is now gone forever. So will you be the minute you touch the atmosphere.” Nameless tapped the shoulder Leonora was not using and Quercus came to take a seat and watch the fireworks, if any.

One of the Flesh Eaters did pull a gun and fired, but the fire stopped at the screen Nameless put up. Snakes and the captain both yelled, “No.” but it was too late. That Flesh Eater became dust and blew away on the wind.

“I am sorry for that, but we all make choices and choices have consequences.”

The Flesh Eater captain paused before he spoke. “We are here to rescue our people and leave this planet to never come back.”

Nameless nodded and put his hand up again, and the functioning Flesh Eater shuttle and all the Flesh Eaters present became invisible. Nameless allowed Leonora, Matilda, and Rudolf to continue to see the Flesh Eaters and their ship, but only after they saw everything vanish. When they reappeared, they appeared to be surrounded in a glowing light of some kind. Of course, Quercus the fairy, Oberon the dwarf, and Sibelius saw that as the invisible spectrum, so-called.

Moments later, the Ape warship broke into the atmosphere. It only took a couple of minutes before they landed and three Apes came out to face the humans. “Where have they gone?” The Ape commander insisted on an answer.

“Out of your reach,” Nameless said. “This world is off limits. You do not belong here.”

“In the years ago, the Kairos in this world said we could come and remove the hated Flesh Eaters from this place.” The Ape ground his teeth. “Where are they?” he raised his voice.

Nameless sighed. “The time for Apes and Flesh Eaters has ended, and you who were once the most kind and gentle of people have become filled with anger and hate. Let go of the evil that grips your heart and return to your peaceful ways. Please leave this world in peace and do not expect me to ask you again.”

‘Where are they?” the Ape yelled.

Nameless raised his hand and the three Apes vanished and maybe reappeared in their ship. The ship started its engines, whether voluntarily or forced, and the ship lifted back into the sky. It moved at maximum speed out of the atmosphere and when it was clear, it shifted to multiple light speed, as much as the engines could tolerate, and soon left the solar system.

The Flesh Eaters reappeared by their shuttle and the captain spoke again, and this time he meant it. “We will leave and not come back.” They boarded their ship and in a few minutes took off. Giovanni returned and hugged Leonora.

“I see what you mean,” she said as he turned her toward the village, and everyone turned with him. “I can’t imagine what a battle in the sky might have been like.”

“It would have destroyed everything around for miles, maybe hundreds of miles,” he said. She nodded and smiled for the fairy on his shoulder as he walked with his arm around her shoulder.

“One question,” Matilda spoke as they walked. “How come your magic still worked?”

“Because it was not magic.” Giovanni answered. “It was the ancient power rooted in the source… In God.”

Matilda nodded. “I certainly could not have done anything like that when I did have the magic.” She looked at Rudolf and he shook his head to say neither could he. They walked for a while before Matilda added, “But that certainly would be a power to conjure with. If I could do like that I could become really corrupt.”

Oberon took that moment to interject a thought. “That is strike two as you are fond of saying. The Masters are going to figure it out.”

Giovanni sighed, much like Nameless, and changed the subject. “By the way,” he said. “We have a magician as part of the circus. Try not to laugh too hard when you see his cheap tricks.”

“Oh, I hope I get a good laugh,” Matilda responded. “I’m looking forward to it. I haven’t had a good laugh in years. You know when you are a witch nothing is ever funny.”

Leonora shared her thought. “So you can be like march. you came in like a lion and can go out like a lamb.”

Medieval 6: Giovanni 10 Flesh Eaters, Witches, Apes, part 1 of 2

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March did not exactly go out like a lamb, but that was not going to stop the circus from leaving. Giovanni figured the longer he stayed in winter quarters, the more chance Corriden had to find out about the elephants. It took a few weeks to fit the elephant act into the lineup, and then practice the opening parade and the grand finale, but then they had to get going, especially if they were going to reach Aachen in July.

From Monday, April third to Saturday the eighth, they brought in audiences for their dress rehearsals. Since they had a whole year of experience, Giovanni was not so concerned with putting up and taking down the tents and all. He was more concerned with audience size.

On Monday, he invited the people from the fishing village and all the farms on his land, and from the small village across the road. The big tent was about half full, and he talked to the performers both before and after the show. They needed to give the full performance no matter the audience size, and in fact they could lean in a little and speak more directly to a smaller audience. Someone said they could personalize the performance a bit more.

“People talk,” Giovanni said. “And while I have mapped out a different return route, merchants and others travel, and word gets around. The smaller the audience at first, the better your performance must be if you want to fill the tent on our return trip. Apart from that, I have sent the travel schedule to both the Pope, though I would not expect much from Sylvester II like I might have expected from Gregory V, and I have written to Otto on the hope that the pope and emperor might write some letters to people along the way. This is all new territory and we need to be at peak performance every night to make this work.”

Privately, Giovanni confessed to Oberon and Leonora that he got a letter back from the pope and it was not encouraging. The man questioned the whole enterprise. He said he heard the circus was full of sorcery and strange half-human, half-demonic creatures meant to frighten the innocent and terrorize the faithful. “I wrote back and said we are all humans without any witchery or evil of any kind. Some are people that God in his wisdom gave a different and strange outward appearance, but their hearts are good and pure. As the Lord commanded, we have made a home for these poor unfortunate souls who would otherwise be abandoned to the streets, left to beg for their daily bread.”

“Do you think he believed you?” Leonora asked.

Giovanni shrugged. “He mentioned that he wrote to some bishops along our route. Who knows what he told them.”

On Wednesday and Saturday they filled the tent with people from the two nearest towns. It was standing room only, and the performers needed to experience that, too. They might hope for standing room only crowds every night, but they could not count on that. On Friday, he deliberately brought in only thirty-five people, and they all had to do their best and not be discouraged. To be sure, most of the people understood and honestly gave it their best. Only Rostanzio the Magnificent, the circus magician, and Madigan and his orchestra complained about the small number of people. Rostanzio complained that it was hard to distract such a small audience for his sleight of hand tricks, and Madigan, because he had to tone down the volume so much. Normally, the large crowd absorbed much of the sound.

Giovanni was ready to leave on Sunday the nineth, but Leonora insisted they take Ravi and Surti to church. Giovanni teased her. “What? Are you now the evangelist to the Indian people? Should I write a second letter to Pope Sylvester?”

“Ha, ha,” she said without laughing. “They were asking in particular why we don’t perform on Sundays.”

“We do travel on Sundays, which we probably should not do, but mostly people need a day off at least from performing once a week. God was no fool when he said rest on the seventh day. People can’t go every day without a break. Eventually, people will become exhausted and that is when accidents happen and performances are not their best.”

“I understand,” she said. “You are not the only smart one in the bunch.”

Giovanni bowed to her and offered his arm. She took it and they went into the church together followed by Ravi and Surti.

They left the swamp on the tenth, and Mombo in particular was anxious to go. Elephants could travel up to fifty miles a day when going from pasture to pasture. Ten miles per day would be easy, even for Pretty Girl, and even when they started up into the mountains, but at least they were moving.

They played to full houses in Treviso and even in Trento, but Giovanni expected that since they were Italian cities. He figured the story might be different when they reached Innsbruck. What he found was they could just about fill the tent in the big towns, and in the cities, thanks to word of mouth, they could usually fill the tent for a second night.

Giovanni worked hard to change the midway into something more like a medieval faire. In fact, the big sign in German called it The People’s Faire, for those who could read. Besides the food, sausages and beer, and cinnamon-type buns and honey cakes, like funnel cakes, they also sold knick-knacks of all sorts, or you could win such things, including some stuffed animals in the games on the midway. The big tent still only cost a penny, so filling it was important, but the tent of wonders also cost a penny and the circus tent took donations even as it encouraged people to try the games and don’t miss the big show in the big tent.

They had ways of squeezing the pennies out of the people, and some silver coins as well. In fact, they did very well until they got to the other side of Augsburg. The Flesh Eaters parked there above Ulm on the Danube. The Flesh Eater shuttle on Mars finally made a shot for the Earth, and the Ape warship was about a day behind. Apparently, the circus arrived in the nearby village just in time. Of course, Giovanni knew this and planned for it. What he did not know was the village was full of witches, or at least former witches and their children.

Madam Figiori knew and said something at the last minute when they already started to unpack. Madam Figiori smiled an elf-worthy smile and Giovanni gave her a sour look.

Giovanni took Leonora by the arm and told her to get everything set for the night. She laughed at him and latched on to his arm. He was not going anywhere without her. “Oberon. Sibelius. You are coming with me. Borges,” he raised his voice. “Make sure the roustabouts have everything in place for the circus tent and the tent of wonders. Constantine, you and Pinky need to help Ravi and Surti with the elephants, to get them dressed for viewing. Madam Figiori, tell Rostanzio the Magnificent that this village is full of former witches, so don’t be surprised if they laugh at his magic tricks.”

Madam Figiori’s eyes got big and her jaw fell. “Why do I have to tell him?”

“Because you know what you are talking about.” Giovanni returned her smile, though it was not nearly as elf pointed.

“What do you mean, former witches?” Leonora’s voice trembled, but only a little.

Giovanni took a deep breath. “Magic energy, like witches and wizards use comes from a completely different universe. Call it the universe next door. When our earth and the other earth grow close to each other, all kinds of magic energy seeps into our universe and rare people can tap into that energy and do magical things.”

Leonora paused him as Piccolo pointed an old woman and two older men in their direction. She refocused with the words, “I don’t understand.”

“The magic universe gets close and far away, close and far away on a regular basis. Here, Think of the moon. From a half-moon when it is getting smaller, to the new moon, and then slowly starts to grow again to the next half, the other universe is too far away to leak magic energy into our universe. Once it passes the half-way mark, magic energy returns to our universe and suddenly a very few people become able to do extraordinary things, magical things. That condition remains all through the full moon and again to the half-way point.”

“How long does this cycle take?” Leonora asked. “I’m assuming it takes longer than a month.”

“Six hundred years,” Giovanni said. “There are three hundred years of magic and three hundred years without, and the time with magic ended in 975, about twenty-four years ago. We are now in the days of no magic and we will be for the next, what? two hundred and seventy-six years.”

“That explains that.” The old woman who walked up and listened in spoke as she glanced at the two men with her. “My name is Matilda. I used to be a witch, and I was wicked, I confess. When I was in my twenties I had a whole village of people doing my bidding, er, not here. Then suddenly, well, slowly but surely the magic went away and I couldn’t do anything. It was terrible. My husband left me. He said he never loved me. My sister got crushed under a stone by the priest, killed for witchery. I got driven out. I would have died if these good people had not taken me in.”

“The Wicked Witch of the East got killed and the Wicked Witch of the West got driven out. You could have been the Good Witch of the North…”

“Not possible,” she said. “All that power is too irresistible. There is no such thing as a good witch.”

“Good is relative. There are relatively good witches, or have been, but they are or were very rare.”

“As it may,” she said with a shake of her head.

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

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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.

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

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

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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

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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.

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

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

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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

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

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.”