Pantomime Read Online Free Page A

that when her babe was born, he was part bull. She herself died from childbirth and poor Tauro was left in an orphanage and grew up bullied by the others until he learned to fight. R.H. Ragona's Circus of Magic rescued him from the stocks so that you fine ladies and gentlemen could see him this evening." The bull-man only stared at us balefully in response.
      The others chatted excitedly as we left the tent, but I was subdued and almost wished that I had not gone. First almost seeing the naked women in the tent, and now seeing the sadness of the menagerie and the freakshow had dimmed the vivacity of the circus. People wandered through the carnival, laughing and pointing out oddities. I watched a man juggle whatever the crowd passed him – bottles, trash, books, and a baby's doll – to the delight of the crowd. The fire-eater's dragon breath illuminated the funfair. Stalls sold hot drinking chocolate and roasted hazelnuts, popping corn and caramel apples.
      I returned to the jewelry stall with the woman in the red headdress. The "alchemist" pointedly ignored me from across the lane. The woman's wares were lovely, polished black stones with silver wire swirling over their faces. A necklace looked as though a spider had woven a web over the stone, and another looked like plant tendrils had taken possession of it.
      "Do you wish for a gift for a special lady?" the woman asked, her voice authentically exotic. She was from Byssia.
      "I'm afraid I'm lacking in both coin and a lady," I said.
      "Come to me when you have found both, will you not?"
      I nodded and she smiled before turning her attention to a young pair new to love. The girl put a necklace to her neck and posed for the boy, tossing her head. His eyes glazed, and I knew he would buy it for her.
      I stood on the stretch of sand that had once been a carnival and wondered what to do next. I sat underneath one of the nearby docks and watched as, little by little, people left and went their various ways. The merchants packed up their remaining wares or empty boxes and men came and lowered the front flaps of their tents and stalls. Circus workers led animals away and put them into large carts that were parked on the road overlooking the ocean. The carnival returned to being a stretch of beach with a few lingering tents, and more litter and footprints than before. I should leave, and find shelter to spend the night. But I had nowhere to go.
    • • • •
    As the cold seeped into my bones and my teeth chattered, I saw the glass globes were still shining in the big circus tent, and I heard voices. A sign slung across the fastened entrance read "Circus closed."
      I crept around the tent until I found a rent in the thick canvas. I crouched and peered in. I did not know what sparked me to do so. The memory of the magic of the circus, undimmed even by the darkness that undercut the carnival? The image of the trapeze artists flying through the air?
      Mr Ragona stood to the side of the ring, beaming at those gathered around. The performers lounged in the stands, rubbing each other's muscles. The clowns sat in a rainbow of motley in the corner closest to me. Workers entered and left, stacking equipment into the corner of the tent.
      "Excellent work, me lovelies," Mr Ragona boomed, his lilting false accent replaced by gravelly Imacharan vowels. He swung his cane lazily. "Excellent work. An extra round to all tonight."
      The circus folk cheered.
      "Now, to business." Mr Ragona rubbed his hands together. "We got a tight schedule coming up, with no room for mistakes. A show each night here for two months, and then a few weeks in Cowl, three months in Imachara, and then we're done for the season. If we keep filling the seats like we did tonight, then we'll all have a hefty bonus in our pockets for our troubles by the time the rains come." Smiles split the faces of those gathered, though their exchanged skeptical glances showed they had all heard the