�A lot of you earthies are wearing these,� explained Penna tying the strip over James� eyes. Amazingly James could see perfectly through the cloth, it was just like a pair of blue-tinted sunglasses. He felt a flood of relief and turned to Penna. �Your name is Penna,� said James, �how do I know that?� �You�re a funny one,� said Penna, taking James by the arm, �Let�s get you some Magic Blossom and join in the fun above, eh? I can�t wait to have a go of the guillotine!� �Yeah, me either.� said James. Oh dear, he thought. ******** Something felt wrong to Greenspan, he was unusually tired. He slumped against the giant sycamore weary and bemused. Even though he had spent the entire day going back and forth between the different crossover points using his magic to deliver the Insider folk to Carnival Circus, he should not be so tired. All insiders have their own internal magic. This meant that when Greenspan cast his crossing spell the magic inside the gnomes, nymphs, sprites and dryads reacted with his and helped him to transport the entire group to the circus. So Greenspan should have hardly used any magic at all, but he felt as tired as the time he had had to lift a human out from under a circus elephant two years ago! �Maybe I am getting old Karine.� He said to the giant tree. �No my friend,� whispered the sycamore, �there is something else.� The tree groaned to emphasise the last. �What then?� asked Greenspan leaning against Karine�s trunk for comfort, �why do I feel so drained?� �A new friend of mine has drained you so.� Karine the Sycamore answered, lifting Greenspan up into her boughs to a little room made in the middle of the brambles and brush that had lodged there. �What�s this?� asked Greenspan to no avail. Karine was finished talking for the moment. The tree�s huge slow intellect drifted down into her roots and into the soil of the forest, to sing with the rest of the growing life below leaving Greenspan to work the rest out for himself. Up in James� Ravens den, Greenspan did indeed read the signs correctly and he was horrified! How could he have let this happen? There were at least five thousand insider folk at the Weird and Wonderful Carnival Circus at this very moment. Amongst the burrowing slugs and gnomes, the sprites and dryads, the sky imps and nymphs, was a human. Most likely a boy! The others were bad enough but the hobgoblins, Bulbisards and worse were also at the circus in their hundreds. Practically a whole battalion of the anti-humanist league! Their coloured bands around their heads, or arms, or tentacles, marked them out from the crowd. Greenspan had hoped that there would be no trouble from them this year and there usually wouldn�t be at such a happy occasion, but a human boy? It was disastrous! ******** Gurgles Putragore was a dirty little hobgoblin, oh yes! He was proud of his smell and his matted hairy rump. He was wearing his favourite earrings, the same ones his mother had hatefully twisted into his ears during his fiftieth birthday beating. Oh the rust was building up nicely on them now and he even felt his ears might be infected. Hopefully he would have lovely green puss dribbling down his neck by the end of the week. Like a lot of the visitors to the Weird and Wonderful Carnival Circus, Gurgles wasn�t able to fly. He could hover on a jet of steam if he used his fire magic, but that would sap his strength after a while and probably burn some of the tents down. So Gurgles stood up to full height (three feet), straightened his Anti-humanist League armband and marched over to the Magic Blossom tent looking ruthless and impressive. At least he thought so. �Hey fire-bug�!� shouted a female Wind Wraith Gurgles had just walked through, �watch where your going.� Gurgles could barely see the wraith but sneered in the direction of the voice. �Shut up ghost!� He retorted stomping into the tent feeling truly impressed with the quickness of his comeback. �Little hairy git!� muttered the wraith drifting off through the crowd, �should be tied to truth rock.� she added whilst dodging a Burrowing Blander only to have a Wood Sprite walk straight through her this time. �Bloody wood sprites!� she shouted, �I�ll turn your mother into an aardvark!� In the Magic Blossom tent an impatient crowd was forming. Wilvaro De Notso the circus warlock and his muscle, Dernoc De Bulk, both victims of the popular and even newer three-name trend were at the edge of their capabilities. Dernoc was forced to turn a great many unruly Bulbisards to stone and leave them aside out of the way, supposedly leaving Wilvaro free to administer the blossom. Unfortunately Wilvaro�s wife Linda De Notso had decided to give him the cold shoulder all day yesterday and his poor arm was only now recovering. *** Penna pushed James forward to the magic blossom tent. �Come on!� he said, �hurry up will you?� Penna squirmed at James� reticence, �we�re missing the fun!� he moaned. �Ok ok� answered James. What is magic blossom he thought, what does it do? Was it a drink? �Come on!� Penna yelled impatiently, �I swear you crawlers are a real bunch of gawkers, when you are flying with blossom maybe then you will hurry up a bit�. �Ah� said James hurrying along, now it must make you fly, he thought and his heart leapt for joy at the idea of soaring between the rings. Just as they entered the tent Gurgles Putragore was leaving he stepped out in front of the two youths and, not even looking at them, he sprung into the air swimming his way upwards towards the first ring. �Wow!� said James. �Yes they are ugly little stinkers those hobgoblins, aren�t they? Answered Penna misunderstanding James� awed reaction. So in they went to join the queue leading up to Wilvaro�s table. Up at the front of the queue the little fire sprite girl Bale was holding a red flame out in front of her for Wilvaro to see. Whispering to himself all the while Wilvaro de Notso Warlock took the flame from her and brought it to his table. On the table there were bottles and tubes and numerous babbling flasks which were heated by little flames, some blue, some red, some brown, some green. A stranger array James had never seen. |
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