The Lampo Circus Read Online Free

stilts parading up and down the main street. The children did not recognise the man with his long dreadlocks and spider web tattooed across his face. He was clearly an outsider. Every inch of him was hung with bells and with each step he created a racket that was impossible to ignore. He had the same effect as one hundred town criers all working together. (Town criers, as everyone knows, date back to the Middle Ages and existed to deliver important announcements and proclamations to the people. Unfortunately, they have long since been replaced by technology, which is undoubtedly more efficient but sadly less dramatic.)
    Suddenly the man stopped and the curious crowd closed in around him. Balancing effortlessly on his stilts, he drew something from his ear and popped it into his mouth.Throwing back his head, he inhaled deeply and breathed out a column of fire above his head. There was a collective gasp and the crowd took a step back. The fire hovered a moment before scattering. It twisted and danced until the blazing image of a circus tent hung in the air. Above it, the fire scrawled the message: The Lampo Circus Awaits.
    The burning letters gradually faded and began to fall. The onlookers ducked and shielded their children from the embers, but there was no need as they transformed midair into circus flyers that fluttered their way downwards. The crowd scrambled to collect them before they were snatched away by the wind. The fire breather’s feat was met with thunderous applause and cheering. His painted face remained surprisingly blank despite the thrill he had generated and, with a brief bow, he continued on his way.
    Now, you may be thinking that all this fuss by the Drabvillians about the arrival of a circus was just a touch disproportionate. But that is because you and I have been spoilt by access to a variety of events, each one more exhilaratingthan the last. I, myself, recently attended a birthday party hosted in a video-game parlour where the guests were invited to divide into armies, slip into bulletproof vests and do battle using laser guns. At home, we are able to visit virtual realities via our computer screens and help our favourite heroes save the world simply by pressing buttons and manoeuvring little levers. But this story is about the technologically naive citizens of Drabville who were about to get their first taste of something you and I engage in as routinely as brushing our teeth: entertainment. The truth is, if someone had walked down the streets of Drabville juggling a few old oranges, the citizens would have been impressed. The arrival of a world-renowned circus could not help but send them into a spin.
    Milli made her way back to Peppercorn Place with one of the flyers in her pocket. A flustered Dorkus, still in pelican-print pyjamas (despite it being late afternoon), greeted her at the door. This was the furthest distance Milli had ever seen her sister venture from her bedroom. Even Dorkus had heard the newsand was full of questions. Had Milli seen anything of the actual circus? What had she heard? What went on at a circus?
    Seeking answers to similar questions herself, Milli made her way to the kitchen. Given the excitement she had just witnessed in the square, it was disconcerting to find her parents seated at the table, deep in conversation and looking decidedly ill at ease.
    ‘The town’s gone mad,’ Milli blurted. ‘Everybody’s talking about this Lampo Circus.’
    ‘It’s been a long time since anything like a circus has come to Drabville,’ Rosie said. ‘I suppose the reaction is understandable.’
    ‘Why do you look so worried, then?’ Milli wanted to know.
    Rosie did not quite understand her own trepidation, but suspected it came from a vague awareness of her family’s, and indeed the town’s, vulnerability.
    They had only recently recovered from the upheaval of conquering Lord Aldor and restoring the townsfolk’s shadows. She did not feel prepared for another disruption so