circus eleohant

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

M 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

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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.

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

M 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 10 Flesh Eaters, Witches, Apes, part 1 of 2

M 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.