Biner was in the center. To his left was a tall, skeletal fellow wearing nothing but a breech cloth and a turban. He had a huge snake draped about his necka snake with the face of a man. Just behind him was a stocky man with the hard muscles of an acrobat. He had a too-small head that was detachable, holding it up by the hair to see over the others, a long tube-like neck trailing down to his shoulders. Towering over the group was what had to be a dragon. A white dragon, with a long snout and a spiked tail, which curled up as Safar looked to scratch a place behind its ear. Then someone moved and Safar saw the creature wasn't entirely a dragon. The long torso was that of a well-endowed woman, complete with breast plates and a triangular modesty patch tied about the hips with a thong.
There was much to goggle at. But the dragon noticed Safar had fixed upon her.
'I altho juggle, she lisped. Thix globth and theven thwords. We thoak them in oil and I thet'm on fire with my breath.'
She raised a claw to her snout and burped. Smoke and flames shot around her fist.
'Excuthe me, she said. Mutht have been thomething I ate.'
Safar nodded. What a polite dragon, he thought. Then he passed out again.
The last thing he heard was:
'Really, Arlain! Methydia said. Can't you control yourself? You've scared another guest half to death!'
'I'm thorry, the dragon wailed. Wath'n my fault. The thquath we had for thupper mutht of been thpoiled.'
Several days of dreamless sleep passed, interspersed with half-conscious feedings. Then the sudden moment came when he awoke and felt very strong and very alert. He smelled perfume and immediately he felt very very…
He opened his eyes. A dim, flickering light illuminated his surroundings. There was a cabin roof above his head, shadows dancing on the dark ceiling. Safar looked down and saw a certain part had made itself embarrassingly apparent beneath the blankets.
Safar heard a familiar, throaty laugh. Methydia's face leaned over him, lips parted in a smile, almond eyes dancing with humor. She glanced down, then back at him again.
'It's good to see you among the living, she said.
Safar flushed. He started to apologize, but Methydia put a finger to his lips, silencing him.
'Don't be embarrassed on my account, she said. Consider your little upstart welcome. Any friend of yours, and all that.'
Safar opened his mouth to speak, but once again a long, slender finger touched his lips.
'You're a young man, Methydia said. Youth has its advantages and its disadvantages. The advantages are apparent. She glanced at the blanket. To Safar's relief his problem had subsided. The disadvantages arewhat to do with your advantages.'
'Oh, was all Safar could say.
'Now, I suppose you have some questions, Methydia said. Assuming your uninvited guest isn't so consumed with himself that he'll allow you to think.'
'First off, Safar said, I should tell you about myself before I have the right to ask any questions.'
'Go on, Methydia said.
'My name is Safar Timura, he said in a rush. I've just escaped execution in Walaria. I could swear on my mother's soul I didn't deserve such a fate. That I am no criminal. That I am only a studenta seeker of truth who has never done anyone harm. But none of that should matter to you.
'What should matter is that I am wanted by very powerful men who would most certainly do you harm if they learned you had aided me.'
Methydia clapped her hands. What a delicious speech, she said. And so well spoken. My compliments to your mother and father for raising such an honest lad.'
Once again Safar felt the discomfort of a blush. I was only trying to warn you about what you might be in for, he said, a bit sullen.
Methydia kissed him and patted his cheek. Don't mind me, dear, she said. I have an old woman's blathering tongue.'
Safar's eyes strayed to her lush figure, swathed in a many-layered, translucent gown.
'You're not so old, he mumbledand tore his eyes away.
'If you keep talking like that, my pretty lad, Methydia said, we're going to get ourselves in trouble.
'Now. Allow me to compose myself.'
Methydia, ever the actress as Safar eventually learned, fanned her cheek with a delicate hand, saying, You have a way of troubling a woman's concentration, dear.'
Safar had learned better than to automatically blurt an apology. He said, Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?'
'Ask away, Methydia replied.
'First I want to ask about the Cloudship, he said. Then I want to ask about the circus.'
The answers consumed many days and many miles. In fact, during the months Safar spent with Methydia and her troupe, he never did hear the entire talealthough everyone from Biner, the muscular dwarf, to Arlain, the human dragon who preferred vegetables over meat, was more than willing to enlighten him.
The Cloudship had no life of its own and although complicated in design, it was an object and therefore easier to explain.
Essentially, it was a shipa ship with its nose bobbed off and its masts and sails removed. It had a long ship's deck, a high ship's bridge and a ship's galleys and cabins. The timbers it was made of, however, were light as parchment and strong as steel.
Methydia said the rare planks were the gift of a woodsmana long ago loverwho stole the trees from a sacred grove to prove he'd make a worthy husband. The woodsman's most ardent rivala magical toy maker of great renownturned the planks into a marvelous vessel, hoping to upstage his opponent.
'I was very young, then, Methydia said. But although I was dumb enough to attract men I didn't want, I was bright enough to not only keep my gifts, but to avoid marrying my lovers without giving insult.'
The body of the Cloudship dangled beneath two balloons, each ninety feet high and made of a strong, light cloth that was not only moisture proof but offered a marvelous surface for all the colorful paints the troupe used for decoration. Methydia's face graced the front, or forward, balloon. The legend, Methydia's Flying Circus', the aft.
The quantities of hot air required to lift the vessel were provided by two big furnaces, called burners, with magically operated bellows to fan the fuela mixture of crumbled animal dung, dried herbs and witch's powders that gave off a faint odor of ammonia. Ballast was ordinary sand in ordinary bags that could be spilled out to gain greater heights. To descend, you worked the mouth'pulling on ropes that widened the balloons bottom openings so that gas could escape. One thing needing constant attention were the big clampsor carabinersthat were attached the cables holding the Cloudship's body to the balloons. They tended to loosen in a rough wind and had to be tightened constantly.
Beyond that, the vessel seemed simple enough to operate. Although sometimes there were periods of intenseand to Safar, bewilderingactivity, mostly the Cloudship seemed to run itself. Besides the main members of the troupe, there was a crew of half-a-dozen men and women called roustabouts. They were usually busy attending to the equipment and props that went into making a circus, leaving the routine operation of the Cloudship to the performers.
Part of that routine was steering. The task was performed on the bridge, where a large ship's wheel was mounted. The spoked wheel was linked to an elaborate system of scoops, sails and rudders that provided steerage.
'How fast does she go? Safar asked Biner one day. It was Biner's turn at the wheel, while Safar had the task of keeping an eye on the compass.
