Medieval 6: Giovanni 12 Lost and Found, part 2 of 2

February 12, 2025January 7, 2025M G Kizzia Leave a comment

The circus people got up early Monday morning. They normally got up just before dawn. It came from living in camps where they became attuned to the natural rhythm of the sun. People who normally lived inside spent much more time in torchlight and tended to wake for breakfast, but not before. The two Venetians thought they were being extra early and would not be seen as they arrived at the circus site when the sun still touched the horizon. They were seen by plenty of workers in the growing light, not the least being the roustabouts who were preparing to set up the big tent with Mombo’s wonderful help.

The Venetians scooted carefully through the shadows, from tent to tent, trying to hide though they were seen all the way. By the time they reached the tent where Leonora went in to do her face for the day, Giovanni got the word and he ran. The two Venetians slipped into the tent there, though Giovanni saw them from a distance. He had no doubt who they were and found himself trading places with Kirstie as he, or rather she ran. Kirstie found a sword in her hand.

Leonora screamed as the big one grabbed her. The short one placed the gold crown of Germany on the table before the mirror. “The watch will find the crown in the circus, accuse them of being the thieves, and shut everything down. It should be easy then to see the Kairos condemned.”

“No,” Leonora started to scream, but the big one clamped his hand over her mouth so she could hardly breathe.

“Stop playing with your tart. Let’s go before we are found with the goods.”

“Why does this one look familiar?” The big one asked.

The short one stared for a second before his eyes got wide. “Lady Leonora,” he gasped. “Bring her.” The man turned to the tent door and found a scimitar slice across his throat, nearly taking his head off.

Kirstie said, “Three,” and added the man’s name. “Lind… and Gruden,” she said, looking at the big man. That man tightened his grip around Leonora. Kirstie found her scimitar gone so she pulled her battleax and shield. Gruden had his sword out, but he was not about to let go of Leonora who he used as his own shield. Leonora, however, was not one to be so easily used. When she came to herself, she stomped on Gruden’s toe, wiggled out from his grip, and rolled away from the man.

Gruden tried to rush out from the tent, but Kirstie caught him with her axe in his shoulder. He howled as the axe fell out. He waved his sword generally at the people coming in response to Leonora’s scream, and he ran off in the only way open to him, his arm hanging limp by his side.

Kirstie did not give chase. Instead, she traded places with Giovanni and he hugged Leonora. They were kissing when the others arrived, but quickly Leonora began to cry and pushed Giovanni away. “It’s too late,” she said. “If Gubio gets back to the palace, they will know.”

“They will know?” Rosa asked as she pushed forward to take Leonora’s hand.

“Luigi and Gubio recognized me. They will tell the emperor and they will come looking for me.”

“Lind and Gruden,” Giovanni said, pointing to the man at his feet who was almost decapitated. “Luigi and Gubio? I thought it was Luigi and Mario.” He smiled at himself, but this was no smiling matter.

“I’m serious,” Leonora yelled and slapped him softly in his upper arm.

“Quite right,” Giovanni agreed. “The only thing we can do is take the crown back to Otto and explain how they were trying to plant the stolen goods in order to accuse us of the crime, but we caught them in the act.”

“I’m going.” Oberon said, and many voices echoed that, but Giovanni shook his head to the crowd. “Constantine, Madigan, Oberon and myself…”

“I’m going,” Rosa insisted and Leonora hung on to Rosa’s hand.

“And Rosa. That is enough people to be thrown in jail in one day.”

“Optimism,” Constantine teased. “That is what I like about the circus.”

Sibelius had to come. With Madigan and Constantine they carried the stretcher with Luigi’s body on it. Giovanni wanted to hold on to Leonora’s hand, but Leonora would not let go of Rosa’s hand and Rosa walked between them. When they arrived at the palace, the guards appeared to be waiting for them, and one suggested guards were sent to the circus to fetch them. They got escorted to a big room, an audience chamber, where Otto, some king, possibly from Poland, and the Venetians waited. It turned out Leonora’s father, Lord Stephano headed the Venetian delegation.

“Father…”

“Leonora…”

“Quiet! Quiet for a minute,” Giovanni interrupted and held out the crown to Otto who was grinning before he saw and looked quickly around the room at all his advisors and such. “I believe this is yours. We caught Luigi and Gubio in the act of trying to plant this at the circus in order to blame us for the theft. The question is who hates the circus enough to want to blame us for the crime?” He looked hard at Lord Stephano.

Leonora’s father pleaded innocence. “No secret that I don’t like you, and all the more now that I see you held my daughter prisoner, but I would never do such a thing. You are guilty in my book of too many things to mention. And now that you have despoiled my innocent child…”

“I despoiled no one,” Giovanni objected. “Leonora is in the same virgin state she was when she came to us. I haven’t touched her.”

“I’ll say you haven’t touched me,” Leonora harumphed and turned on her father. She pointed to the young girl that stood to the side. “What were you thinking bringing my little sister Honoria on the road? The road can be dangerous.” They all noticed Rosa who slid over to the girl closer to her age and they were whispering.

“Untouched?” both Otto and Lord Stephano wondered about that one.

“I have reformed,” Giovanni said with his hand up like he was taking a sacred pledge.

Otto frowned but kept to the subject. He asked, “Well, If Lord Stephano did not set you up, who did?”

A woman’s voice came from the back of the room. “It was the bishop. He heard lies about the circus and lies about Don Giovanni and he believed them.” She stepped forward and pointed at the man, much to Giovanni’s surprise because he did not know Madam Figiori came with them.

The bishop proved to have no spine whatsoever, even less than spineless Umberto the saboteur. He did not even imagine denial. He immediately fell to his knees and wept. “Lord, forgive me. I heard the circus was a pagan shrine full of witches and demons trying to entice people away from the faith. Forgive me.”

“So you had the crown stolen, planned to plant it to accuse innocent people of the crime and then planned to lie about it,” Giovanni said quickly. “I think tears are not enough for lying, stealing, and cheating. I think some penance is in order. What do you think?”

“Penance,” Otto agreed. “But I will leave that up to the church if you don’t mind.”

“One thing I like about my friend. You are not only smart you are also wise.” He grinned for his friend and turned to the weeping bishop. “You should come and see the show for yourself. We have some tricks up our sleeves, but it is all human. No witchery. No evil things allowed, and Leonora drags me to church every chance she gets. Anyway, come see for yourself. You don’t want to miss the Don Giovanni Circus…

…The Greatest Show on Earth.” Otto and Leonora joined him on the tag line.

“So, people. We have to get back and get ready for the show,” Giovanni said before the repentant bishop began to confess all the evil things he heard.

“I can’t go back,” Leonora said, and when Giovanni gave her his questioning look she explained. “Now that I am caught, I’m afraid there is no going back for me.”

“What do you mean?” Giovanni asked. “Where else will you go?”

Leonora shrugged. “Back to my father’s house where I will be miserable for the rest of my life.” she shrugged again. “Maybe I’ll marry your best friend, Otto, so we can both be miserable together.”

Otto did not like that idea. “Can’t,” he said. “I am re-engaged to a girl from the Eastern Romans, Zoe something.”

“Porphyrogentia.” The voice came from the back of the room. “Her name is Zoe Porphyrogentia.”

“You see?” Otto said. “Zoe something-or-other.”

‘So, I guess it is home for me,” Leonora said sadly. “Maybe I can make everyone around me miserable too.” She gave her father that mean look. “As I always say, share the misery.”

“But, you always say share the happiness,” Constantine found his voice.

“Makes me want to cry already,” Madigan whispered.

“But what about the circus? What about your family?” Giovanni prodded her.

“Father and Honoria are my family,” Leonora said with a big sigh.

Giovanni reached out for her hand and suggested that he would drag her back if necessary. She got loud as she extracted her hand from his. “Forget the circus. I quit your circus.”

“You can’t quit your family.”

“I don’t care. I quit. Do you hear me? I quit.”

Giovanni growled at her. “Is that your final answer?”

“Yes,” she shouted.

“In that case, will you marry me?” he shouted back.

“Yes,” she growled and threw her arms around his neck and they kissed like they intended to be there still kissing when the sun went down.

Everyone smiled except Leonora’s sister and Rosa who gushed at true love, and Leonora’s father who frowned and put his face in his hand before he seemed to shrug like his daughter. That caused the foreign king who did not quite follow everything to let out a good belly laugh.

“Well, you are not getting my other daughter,” Lord Stephano groused.

Otto got the man’s attention. “Both Giovanni and I have agreed to support your nephew as the new Doge at whatever time your brother passes away. Be content that he is not against you.”

“Father,” Honoria spoke into the silence that followed. “Can I go with my friend Rosa. She has promised to show me the elephant.”

“What a wonderful idea,” Otto said. “Let’s all go see the elephant.” They trooped out of the room. As Otto went by he taped Giovanni on the shoulder and said, “Take a breath.”

Lord Stephano’s comment was more pointed. “Just wait until you have a daughter.”

Giovanni pulled his head back an inch though his eyes and Leonora’s eyes never left each other. He said, “I’m looking forward to it.”

She whispered, “So am I,” and turned red thinking about it before they went right back for kissing round two. That got another belly laugh.

END

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

Beginning Monday

If you have read the Avalon stories that have appeared regularly on this blog, seasons one to nine, you might recall that much of the trouble the travelers faced was the result of a demon-goddess who once invaded Avalon and used the Heart of Time to try and change history. The Golden Door is that story.

The Kairos is deathly ill. Avalon is slowly falling apart. History and time itself is threatened, and the four children of the Kairos, Beth, Christopher, David, and James are the only hope of overcoming the demonized goddess and saving the Heart of Time. Don’t miss it.

Medieval 6: Giovanni 12 Lost and Found, part 1 of 2

February 11, 2025January 6, 2025M G Kizzia Leave a comment

After Heidelberg, they stuck with the river and went through Mannheim, Worms, Mainz, and all the way up to Cologne. From Cologne, they crossed the river and made for Aachen where they arrived on Sunday, July ninth. They were taken to a field where they could set up, but they did nothing except go to church and rest on that day.

Leonora got nervous in Cologne. From there it took five days on good roads to reach Aachen and every step of the way she became more nervous and got grumpy and cranky about everything. She spent that Sunday, the day of rest, hiding in Giovanni’s wagon. She locked herself in at one point and Giovanni had to get Mankin to turn insubstantial, the way goblins can and come up through the floorboards to the inside of the cabin to unlock the door from the inside.

Leonora did not scream or make any indication that she was scared in any way. She just huffed and called Giovanni a cheater. “Cheat,” she said. “Cheater.” Giovanni and Mankin got the papers and ledger they needed and left her alone.

Gabriella could not entice her out with food. Titania and Baklovani could not get her to come out and play a game with them. They were going to play a card game with Madam Figiori’s fortune telling cards. Rosa said that she and the boys were going to practice and they needed her to help and critique their work, but she would not budge.

Finally, Giovanni, Oberon, and Edwina, the knife thrower’s wife with the sheers to trim Harley’s hair came to the door and more or less forced their way in.

“I’m afraid,” she confessed. “I have this awful premonition that after all this time I am going to be found out. It feels like what Madam Figiori must go through all the time. It feels terrible, but I can feel it. People are sneaking around. Your friend Otto is going to find out and I am going to be trapped and forced into a marriage I don’t want.”

“Do you even know what you want?” Edwina asked while she snipped. “I thought I wanted Vader. He seemed so handsome and dashing. Now, he throws daggers at me every night.” She sighed without explaining anymore.

“Yes,” Leonora said. “I know exactly what I want, but someone is too stupid and stubborn for words.” She gave Giovanni her meanest stare.

Oberon looked at Giovanni, who looked distressed. Oberon said, “She must have heard you use the phrase stupid and stubborn, though they do go together like bacon and eggs. Okay, now I’m hungry.”

“There is nothing more stubborn than a man who is wrong but thinks he is right,” Edwina said while she brushed away the cut hair.

“Not just men,” Giovanni said. “It means ignorant people think they know everything whereas intelligent people understand how little they know.”

“No,” Leonora grumped and again gave Giovanni her meanest stare. “It is just men.”

“You know the rule,” he raised his voice a little and gave her mean stare right back at her.

“It’s a stupid rule,” she shouted at him.

“I’m not going there,” he shouted.

Her face turned red with anger. She looked ready to explode, but at the last second it all poured out of her and in a small voice she said, “Maybe you really don’t want to go there.”

“That is not true. You know exactly what I want.” Giovanni growled and stomped out of the wagon.

Sibelius sat on the wagon steps whittling something. Rosa tumbled into the wagon as soon as the door opened. She arrived in time to see Leonora’s tears and hear Leonora say, “Maybe I should go to the palace and turn myself in.”

“No,” Rosa spouted. “You can’t do that.” And Rosa, Edwina, and Oberon spent the next half hour talking Leonora out of that idea.

On that Sunday of rest, they found out that Otto was out of town, but he would be coming in that evening, so that was good. A delegation from Venice was also in town to finalize and sign some trade agreements. Giovanni hoped the Venetians had seen the circus and might encourage the people to go and see for themselves. They also heard that some bishop from the east was visiting the bishop in Aachen and he presumably heard all about the circus. Of course, what he heard was distorted in his mind.

The bishop imagined the circus was full of magic, that is, witches, demons, and pagan practices that would lead people away from the true faith. The circus and circus master had already enticed Otto, and that was a danger to all the people. From the Venetians, he heard all about the immoral adulterer that ran the circus, this Don Giovanni.

The bishop went to the Venetian delegation since he heard the circus was from Venice. He found two Venetians in particular who agreed with him and supported all of his misconceptions. He thought they should know since they came from the same place.

The two Venetians talked about people they called Flesh Eaters. They sounded like cannibals, or demons that consumed the souls of the faithful. They talked about a whole village of witches. The bishop could only imagine witches cursing the ground, making slaves of the people, or worse, making the dead rise up to serve them like the Witch of Endor.

They told how the circus master fit right in there. He was a man who despoiled poor innocent virgins everywhere he went. He made the evil ones, the cannibals and witches, work together for some unknown foul reason and purpose. He used his black arts to travel halfway around the world and brought back a monster, eight feet tall at the shoulder, eighteen feet long and measured in the tons. And the beast obeys him to destroy his enemies.

They also talked about Wolvs in the Black Forest. He heard about the big bad wolves that hid in the darkness of the woods. This circus master bent the Wolvs to his will, so the Wolvs attacked a town on the Rhine and ate many of the people before they were sent back into the woods to wait. Wait for what?

They say this circus master is thousands of years old. He can change his appearance, clothes, and everything so he can hide in a crowd. He can speak every language and is responsible for the rising up and tearing down of all the great civilizations. His power is great to the ends of the Earth, and the numberless spirits of the air, fire, water, and earth worship him and do his bidding.

The bishop spoke to his priests and to the two Venetians. “And now he is here to do who knows what wicked mischief and maybe even sway the emperor against the faith.”

The bishop decided he needed to find a way to shut down the circus before this circus master, this Don Giovanni could begin whatever malicious plan he had in mind for Aachen and maybe for the whole empire. The problem was the circus people had yet to do anything he could honestly accuse them of. He liked to think of himself as a true to godly, upright, and righteous man. He never wanted to be accused of undue prejudice. He wanted real evidence. It was one of the Venetians that came up with the plan, and he endorsed it even if it involved lying and stealing. He figured he could repent later.

Medieval 6: Giovanni 11 And the Wolv, part 2 of 2

February 10, 2025January 6, 2025M G Kizzia Leave a comment

As they moved up the Rhine through the Black Forest, Titania became scared because of the stories Giovanni told. She feared the wicked witches and their ovens. She feared the trickster spirits that might require her to spin straw into gold. She especially feared the big bad wolf, and no amount of reassurance from Leonora, Baklovani, Sibelius, Needles, and the others made any difference. In fact, she believed so strongly, some of the people were inclined to blame her for their bad luck, though they did not hold it against her. Most said they understood.

At that time, Leonora found out there were more space aliens than she imagined. What happened was the Gott-Druk, that is the Neanderthals who left Earth between twenty and forty thousand years ago and had all that time to work on space technology brought a whole brigade of Wolv to the area to see how long it would take the wild ones to clean out an area from human habitation. The Gott-Druk wanted to repopulate their ancient homeland, which was essentially Europe, but they had to first get rid of the humans living there.

The Wolv looked much like their name but with snub noses like a bear. On their home world, they lived in tribes in a kind of neolithic existence of hunter-gatherers, though they did not gather much. They were carnivores and always hungry. When they stood on their hind feet, they were also seven feet tall and with fangs and front claws that could shred a man in armor. Most important, they could be trained to work together as first-rate soldiers. They had their own language and could communicate with each other. They were not just dumb beasts.

The circus and the people in Baden-Baden locked the gates of the town. They had a wall, but it was made of wood and not anything that would keep out six hundred hungry Wolv. The local priest came up angry and ready to accuse the circus of bringing this evil on them, but he got surprised when Giovanni asked him to say a special mass and lead a time of prayer for the safety of all the people. He got doubly surprised when the circus people sat in the front row and prayed fervently for the Lord to deliver them from the Wolv. The priest still though the circus might be an evil thing in its own way, but at least he realized that against the Wolv, they were all in the same predicament.

Fortunately, the Elenar, that is, the Denisovan people who were cousins and rivals of the Gott-Druk had been watching and followed the Gott-Druk to Earth. They were able to chase away the Gott-Druk and stop the Wolv from doing too much damage. Though no circus people died, many of the men in the town did not survive the attack. Two days later, the circus left town and headed north.

“Do you think the Elenar got them all?” Oberon asked while the circus made for Karlsruhe.

“Quiet,” Giovanni scolded Oberon and his mouth. “Don’t even suggest that they didn’t.”

Of course, the Elenar did not get them all, being mostly concerned with the Gott-Druk. Soon enough, the circus ran into a three-Wolv scout team that was terrorizing the whole area around Heidelberg. It was nearly June by then and Giovanni started pushing the group, though not so fast that they ran into the jaws of the Wolv.

The circus camped south of the city so they could go in at first light and set up for the day of festivities. Leonora and Needles, were the first to hear the howls in the distance. Madam Figiori began to shout and gather the people around the elephant tent. Titania, Baklovani, and Constantine hid where Ravi and Surti desperately tried to keep the elephants calm. Vader brought his knives. Leonardo the horseman and Rugello the fire eater both brought their swords. Others had something like weapons, and Severas had Sir Brutus the bear on his leash. That was probably not a good idea as the bear became very agitated and threatened to break loose at any minute. Pinky the monkey screeched every now and then and that did not help anyone’s nerves.

The Wolv came out of the dark. The first came directly toward them, and the other two held back a minute before they approached the sides more carefully. When the Wolv got close enough, just before it charged, Vader threw a well-aimed knife, followed quickly by more until he ran out of knives. The Wolv did not appeared terribly bothered by having knives sticking out of its hide here and there, until it tried to stand on its hind legs. The legs collapsed. Vader must have cut through to a major muscle group.

“I was right,” Giovanni mumbled as he knew the other two Wolv would come from the sides. Only a loud trumpet like a war cry from Mombo made them hesitate. “If the Wolv broke through the gate in Baden-Baden where the circus was deployed, this circus would not have lasted a minute. He traded places with Nameless and everything froze except he let Leonora and his little ones still move.

Oberon came up holding his bow, though dwarfs were notoriously bad shots. Sibelius came holding his big hammer that only he could lift. Madam Figiori came from the other side with Needles as Leonora grabbed on to Nameless and tried not to look.

Nameless merely waved his hand and the two Wolv on the sides turned to dust. Then he moved out to the wounded one. It is not normally wise to approach any wounded animal. To approach a wounded Wolv might be considered a form of suicide. But in this case, the Wolv did not even growl. It stuck its neck out for the headsman’s axe and plainly said the Greek word, “Kairos.” It was crippled and in Wolv thinking, the crippled were a drag on the tribe and needed to be done away with. This Wolv wanted to die.

“This is not the first time Wolv have come to Earth,” Nameless told Leonora. “In fact, they have over a thousand years of history of being brought by their masters to fight on earth. They once tried to invade, back in the time of the Roman Emperor Hadrian. Despite the conquests of Trajan before him, Hadrian, you might know, gave back much of the land, and made peace. He lost too many men—whole legions fighting off the Wolv. He did not have much choice but to be a peacemaker.”

Nameless turned to the Wolv and asked. “Are there any more Wolv around?” He took a breath and took a look in the Wolv’s chaotic mind. As far as this one knew, they were the last. Just to be sure, Nameless let his senses stretch out through that whole section of the lands of Aesgard. He found no more Wolv so he let it go.

Nameless traded places with another man who appeared in the armor of the Kairos, the great sword Wyrd across his back. The new man immediately shouted, “No. Why d-do I have to d-do it?” But he did not hesitate as the Wolv sat patiently waiting for judgment. He pulled that sword and said, “God forgive me.” In one swift move he cleanly cut the head off the beast and fell to his knees in prayer, asking for forgiveness. Leonora wanted to run to him but she did not dare until he changed back to Giovanni. Then she cried on his back until he stood and wrapped her up in his arms.

Later, Oberon said, “Three strikes, you’re out.”

“I know,” Giovanni responded. The Masters would soon know if they did not already know that he was the Kairos. That would put a target on his back. He chose not to think about that. He stayed busy reassuring the circus that the Wolv were now gone for good.

Titania said it was her worst nightmare. She decided that maybe she was spending too much time with Madam Figiori and maybe that was rubbing off on her. For sure, tales of the big bad wolf would ring through that part of Germany for many years to come.

Medieval 6: Giovanni 11 And the Wolv, part 1 of 2

February 5, 2025January 6, 2025M G Kizzia Leave a comment

They filled the big tent twice in Ulm and might have stayed for a third show, but Giovanni made them move on. It was the first place they said they would try and come again. It was also the first place where the local bishop showed some hostility. Fortunately, they did nothing to accuse them of, and his spies actually enjoyed the show, so he did nothing to prevent them moving on. Most of the circus did not know this. They left happy and optimistic about the journey. Leonora asked if maybe Nameless or Junior did something on their behalf to fill the tent. Giovanni said absolutely not.

“My other lives are not allowed to interfere in that way. This is my life to live it well or screw it up all on my own. There are strict rules on how any life in the past or future might interfere with the present, but even stricter rules as far as the gods are concerned.”

“We have an elephant,” she said, and neither of them could think of any good reason why Junior would do that.

‘I guess when I was a kid I promised Otto I would show him an elephant. I think Junior did it mostly for me because I should know better than to make those kinds of promises.”

“What kind of promises?” she asked, sounding as innocent as possible.

“The kind where I have to depend on others to deliver.”

“Oh…” She tried not to sound disappointed, but she nodded that she understood. Then she had another thought. “I can’t believe you are friends with the Holy Roman Emperor.”

“Worse than that,” he said. “I may be his only real friend and everyone needs at least one real friend.”

“You are my one real friend. I don’t have any others.”

Giovanni laughed. “You have no friends in the circus?”

“Like friends,” she said. “More like family, like you told me. Oh, honestly, I love them all, well just about, and that is certainly like family, but it is different. You know what I mean…”

He hugged her and laughed again.

Giovanni and Leonora were soft and tender with each other in those days. They often touched and sometimes even kissed. When they got to Breisach on the Rhine, Giovanni said he had a surprise for her. He took her into the village. It was not what Leonora expected and hardly what she hoped for. Giovanni traded places with Genevieve who took Leonora all around the town, pointing out many things that had changed since her day, but many things that were the same. She talked to Leonora as woman to woman. Genevieve liked to talk and, after getting over her initial shock, Leonora got to where she opened up in a way she would never open up to a man.

In the end, it came down to one thing. “I want to be with him and no one else for the rest of my life. Why won’t he marry me? I dream about our children.” Leonora cried a little because he was not there to see her cry.

Genevieve thought about it before she answered, a habit she only picked up later in life, though she appeared to be around eighteen, maybe Leonora’s age. “One of his oldest and most sacred rules is he will never be with one of his little ones in that way, or even half and half’s down to the tenth generation. No matter how tempting that might be, he never will and I never did. I never even thought about that. You see, more than four thousand years ago, he, or rather she became a fairy for a period of time for reasons I won’t go into. She accomplished what she wanted, but during that time she fell in love with a fairy prince and they had a son. When she returned to herself, she spent the next four thousand years kicking herself because, while her son was ninety-nine percent fairy, he had just enough of the goddess in him to be immortal. And I don’t think he ever grew out of being a teenager, if you can imagine four thousand years of that.”

“Goddess?”

“No need to go into that. The point is, he made a rule and he has kept to it. The rule about circus people is like a reflection of that rule, I think. Others may violate the rule. That has to be judged on a case to case basis, but he will not violate his own rule. You are circus now and so he just won’t go there.”

She cried some more and Genevieve just had to say something. “You know, whatever you share with me he will also hear and see. This is his time and place. I’m just a guest. I was born in the year of our Lord 755. Want to know when I died?”

“What?”

“It is funny that I remember it now. I think it is because it happened in the past. It was around 820 because that is when I was born in Wessex as Elgar the Saxon. Would you like to meet Elgar? Wait, I know.” Genevieve vanished at that point and another woman took her place. She still had blond hair, like Giovanni had blond hair, but Giovanni’s hazel eyes that turned medium brown in Genevieve now turned striking blue. This woman’s blond hair was also much lighter, almost like a platinum blond. She said. “My name is Kirstie. I was born after Elgar and I’m not going to talk your ear off like Genevieve. Let me just say Giovanni’s a fool if he loses you, and that is all I am going to say.”

Leonora hugged her and they walked slowly back to the circus. After a while, Leonora did have a question.

“What makes you think he might lose me?”

Kirstie always thought before she spoke, or almost always. “Girls talk about forever all the time, but that is not realistic. Maybe he will get killed. The Kairos is not guaranteed to live a long life. I died young. Maybe your father will find you out. Maybe you will find someone else who will give you those children, not on purpose, but it happens.”

“No, never happen,” she said, and Kirstie was not going to argue with her.

Kirstie stopped their forward progress before they got back into the crowd. Leonora had another question. “Where are you from?” She heard all about how Genevieve was the Countess of Breisach before she married and became the Margravine of Provence. Kirstie said nothing so Leonora asked.

“Norway,” Kirstie said. “I’m one of those terrible Norsemen you heard about.” She smiled and vanished as Giovanni came home and added, “A real Viking who sadly died young.” he held his arm out for her to take. “Lind and Gruden were the assassins. Lind was a short one and Gruden a great big man with a sword. I killed them twice now.”

“Twice?”

“Kirstie killed them, though it cost her life to do it. Actually, she had a busted side and many broken bones and still managed. Then Yasmina after Kirstie killed them again when they were trying to mess up history.”

Leonora nodded. “You said keeping history on track was the main thing. but how could they have been in both places?”

“The Masters, whoever they are, have learned how to give their servants another life. Through them they can really mess things up if I am not careful.”

“The Masters?”

“Demons from the pit of Hell is what I think.”

“And they want to change history?”

“Well, let’s just say they certainly don’t want a good outcome. Don’t worry about it. Look, it is after noon. We have a performance to get to.”

“Oh!” Leonora jumped. “I have to get in costume. I have to get my face on.” She ran off.

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

Monday

The circus heads to the capital of the Hoy Roman Empire and Leonora fears she will be caught. Until Monday, Happy Reading

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

February 4, 2025January 6, 2025M G Kizzia Leave a comment

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

February 3, 2025January 6, 2025M G Kizzia Leave a comment

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

January 29, 2025January 4, 2025M 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.

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

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

January 28, 2025January 4, 2025M 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

January 27, 2025January 4, 2025M 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

January 22, 2025January 4, 2025M 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