magnificent torso like an ancient hero.
He had an incredible voice that reached everywhere and everyone, booming and intimate at the same time.
At the moment he was lit by a brilliant pool of light. And he was shouting:
'And now, without further ado, we present our star attraction. A wonder of all wonders.
'A gift from the heavens!'
Music blared and the dwarf gestured-hand coming up slowly, dramatically, commanding complete attention. A slowly opening fist, reaching for the heavens, promising entire volumes of mysteries that were about to be revealed. Music somehow sliding under all that anticipation, lifting it higher and higher on a rhythmic out-rushing tide of drums and pipes and strings all running toward the Mother Moon of imagination … and beyond.
And all the while the dwarf was saying, 'Only the gods themselves could have created the wonder you are about to see, my friends. A marvel, a mystery, unveiled before your very eyes.
'Look, my friends. Look high above! Look to the heavens themselves!'
As he spoke the music and the gesturing hand crept up to the penultimate point and all eyes were fixed on the dwarf's fist as it came fully open.
Palimak jumped as cymbals crashed and a shower of sparkling bits burst from the dwarf's mighty hand, shooting up and up, carrying Palimak and the whole audience with it to the very top of the tent. It hung there for an agonizing moment, swirling and boiling like a troubled, many colored cloud, slowly forming a glittering curtain of suspense. Seemingly held up only up by the building music.
And the dwarf said, 'Ladies and gentlemen, lads and lasses, beings of all ages, I present to you the one, the only…'
A skillful pause as the music reached its climax…
And then, in an enormous voice that filled the tented arena:
'Arlain!'
Cymbals crashed and the curtain burst, shattering in every direction.
Palimak, along with the entire audience, gasped as all was revealed and they saw a glorious figure dancing high above them on a wire so thin it was nearly invisible.
And the dwarf roared:
'Arlain!
'She's half dragon, half woman, my friends! And oh, what a woman she is! A great beauty, a wonder, known in every nook and cranny of Esmir. Thousands, tens of thousands, have been thrilled and fulfilled by her wondrous feats.'
As he spoke fiery bits rained down on the performer and Palimak oohed and ahhed at the sight-a blazing shimmer settling on Arlain like a cloak, setting off her startling body. She was a heady, enthralling sight for everyone, but especially a small boy. For beside the scraps of see-through gossamer Arlain was clothed only in the tiniest of breast coverings, plus the merest scrap of a modesty patch about her loins.
The covered part was all too human. The rest of her was just as striking and oddly seductive-an elegant white dragon who breathed fire through pearly fangs and lips, exploding all the particles drifting about her.
Palimak was instantly in love. He could see nothing, feel nothing but the presence of the strangely beautiful Arlain. And amidst all his mental bewilderment one thought leaped out from the rest: She's just like me! Except she's half dragon and I'm half demon. Other then the Favorites, Gundara and Gundaree, Palimak had never seen a being quite like himself.
The boy sat between his father and Leiria, hypnotized by Arlain, the audience's wild applause flowing over him.
He'd never attended a circus before, although he'd often tried to imagine one. The moment he entered the tent-before he'd even seen Arlain-Palimak's wildest circus imaginings became pale things. Not worth ever thinking about again.
It was a place of giddy lights and wonderful music, a place of mystery where performers did impossible things-flinging themselves across amazing heights, disappearing and appearing in clouds of fantastic smoke, hilariously costumed clowns-six of them-clambering out of a box too small for even one.
There was a turbaned snake charmer whose horn seemed to contain the sounds of all instruments, from strings to drums and pipes. But his snake was even more incredible. It rose six feet above the basket, weaving in time to the music, and it when it turned its head in Palimak's direction he gasped when he saw a man's face. Then there was the acrobat clown-a husky, seemingly normal person, except that he had a very small head, which he would continually lose-literally! The head tumbled off his shoulders and into his hands. Then you could see it still attached by a long rubbery neck and the acrobat would pretend to fumble to get it back on, his eyes and mouth contorting into a series of faces, each more comical than the other. Best of all was the master of ceremonies, the dwarf with the muscles of a giant, who spun the tales, leading the audience from one breath-taking act to the next, plus performing in half-a-dozen roles at the same time.
Palimak was stunned by all these amazements. They seemed magical, but yet there was not one bit of real magic being used. Otherwise he would sense it. The whole idea of this illusion without sorcery swept him away to the Land of the Circus!
The relief of being freed from his normal cares made him feel as light as a balloon rising in clear Kyranian skies. Although he was small, the weight of the world had been heavy on his slender shoulders. He was only trying to do his best but there were so many newly discovered shouldn'ts and oughto's-with many moral gradients of dark to light in between-that sometimes he thought it was a conspiracy concocted by adults to keep children in their place-whatever that might be.
Here in the circus, however, everyone was equal. On either side of him his father and Leiria were reacting like children, laughing and clapping in glee.
For a moment he became more aware of the audience, looking around and seeing they were all Caluzians, both human and demon, from infant to granny, completely fixed on the performance. This led to him to the realization that there was some other strange kind of magic in the air. The members of the audience all fed on one another's excitement and joy, becoming a warm, quivering whole reacting as one to the events in the big center ring. It was also the first time he'd seen honest emotion from the Caluzians.
What he noticed most, however, was their laughter. He strained hard to think what was different about it.
As close as he could get was that it seemed to come from someplace real-a sort of a home for laughter.
And this gave shape and form to their laughter instead of the hazy, spell-induced giggles he normally heard.
Thinking this made him suddenly feel very alone, apart from everyone else, examining them, looking at them through the pale, cold glow of his demon side. It was unsettling and his belly lurched. He wanted badly to rejoin them, to be once again part of that warm, quivering mass that made the audience.
Then he saw Arlain and got his wish.
Safar watched the emotions play across Palimak's face, grinning in memory of his own first introduction to the art of entertainment. It was long ago and far away, but it was this very same circus. Methydia's Flying Circus, except they no longer flew and Methydia, alas, was dead.
Even without the wondrous Methydia-who had been not only a great diva, but a powerful witch-the performance was every bit as marvelous as Safar remembered. Arlain was dazzling, witness Palimak's enchantment. And there was his old mentor, Biner, the massive dwarf, who had taught him everything he knew about showmanship and illusion. And he was pleased to see Elgy and Rabix-the snake charming/music act-were just as skilled as ever. No one would ever guess that it was the snake who was the 'brains' behind the act. Poor Rabix had the mind of a mouse, playing his instrument wonderfully, but following Elgy's commands. Finally, there was Kairo, he of the small detachable head and almost superhuman acrobatic talents.
Safar didn't know how his friends came to be here, although somehow he wasn't that surprised. Circus people had a way of showing up in the most amazing places and at the most interesting times.
Leiria was as entranced as anyone, but she couldn't help looking over at Safar, trying to imagine him as one of the performers.
