Chapter Six
Vayne, who was now standing on his own, said, “Nice to met you, Lyla. Got any place to stay?”
She shook her head. She did not even look at him as she switched to picking mirror out of her right foot, her gaze still on the manor.
He flexed his chest muscles a bit. “Come back to the carnival with us. I'm sure Hither will find work for you.” He was giving her a quick up and down glance and Kara frowned at him. Did he think Naomi was blind to his constant casual perusing?
Lyla glanced at Kara and said, “Is the carnival safe?”
“Safer than being out in the wilds.” Kara found herself unable to hide the full truth. “But not entirely safe, no.” She glanced at Lyla's feet. “Do you want us to carry you?”
Lyla shook her head and turned around. “I will enter this carnival on my own feet.” She barely limped and Icari and Kara shared a quick glance. How could she bear the pain of shredded feet over thorny brush?
But bear it she did, so they all wove through the weeds and rocks in the yard and entered the hush of the forest. The sharp scent of green life growing was all around. It was such a normal summer's day. The birds were singing. The berries were ripe on their bushes and the flowers were in full bloom. Kara swiped a handful of blackberries along with Icari.
Despite the vibrant flowers, despite the trilling song, despite the sweet juice of the berries, the five moving through the forest held a tight knot of fear and darkness between them. Each had been marked in some way by the old powers of the world. She wondered if the old powers would forget them or not.
They found themselves at the edge of the carnival tents in a daze. The acrobats were still practicing, the whores were laughing in a group by the ale barrels, the snake charmer, Tristie, was stroking her boa as she flirted with the tattooed man.
No one noticed them so they hurried up to Mr. Hither's wagon, placed in the very center of the camp. Kara knocked, nervous suddenly. She decided not to mention the unicorn necklace hidden in a safe pocket under her shirt.
The door swung back and she stepped in without a verbal invitation. The others waited outside.
She said, “I did it.”
Mr. Hither looked up from his ledgers. “Excellent. And right on time for your bonus.”
Kara inclined her head. The matter of coin seemed so insignificant when such terrible things were out there, waiting in old manors. But those coins added up to freedom for her mother...
She said, “There was a dark mage. He tried to take Vayne's soul, to feed it to a demon, I think.”
A look of surprise crossed Mr. Hither's face, a slight tightening of the skin around his eyes. She was aghast. Rarely did this man show any kind of emotion, subtle or otherwise. He said, “What did this dark mage look like?”
“Tall, blonde, youngish. Maybe thirty? He was slim too, and wearing a red tunic. He knew my name.”
Mr. Hither raised a finger and pressed it to his lip. The raven croaked, “Samson! Samson!”
Her employer reached over and pinched the bird's beak shut. “I see. Any other news?”
“We found a girl. Or maybe a young woman. I'm not sure how old she is. Her name is Lyla. She doesn't talk much, but she's talked enough to prove she isn't Hollow. I think she is shocked.”
Mr. Hither said, “Her name is Lyla? Are you quite sure?”
Kara hesitated, then shrugged. “She said she remembered that name from her past.” She added quickly, “Until she remembers more, could she stay with Naomi and me? She doesn't have anywhere to go.”
“This is not a charity for orphans and traumatized girls.”
“I'll teach her how to pickpocket. She's small like me. She'll be making you good coin in a few days.”
“See that she does. Call her in.”
She poked her head out of the door and said, “Lyla? Could you come in here, please?”
She was standing there, blinking and squinting. She looked even worse out under the sun. Her bruises and filthy tunic made her look like a child raised by wolves. She shook her head and shuffled forward.
Kara squeezed into the cramped corner of the wagon house as Lyla stepped in. Mr. Hither regarded her coolly. He asked, “What circumstances led you to being in that manor?”
Lyla inhaled sharply and her knees began to shake, but she managed to answer. “The blonde man, the dark mage, he wanted me there. I do not-” Her voice broke and she fell silent.
Kara interjected quickly, explaining how she was chained up. She went on about the dark clouds and the shadowed door. Mr. Hither never once changed expression during her whole story, but she sensed a deep anger in him. He had not expected the mage to be there.
She did not tell him how they found the cellar, nor about the unicorn. She glibly smoothed those parts over, wondering why she was doing it even as she did it.
When she finished, Mr. Hither drew out a small pouch and tossed it to her. She caught it gracefully.
“As agreed, you have the night off.”
She pulled Lyla out as she thanked him. Him and his raven were making her more uncomfortable by the minute.
She gave Icari a quick hug, releasing Lyla, and asked, “See you tonight at midnight grub?”
“Indeed you will.” He nodded to Hither's wagon and drew back. “I am going to collect my pay.”
She nodded and turned to Naomi. “Lyla is staying in our tent.”
Naomi's face fell at that. She glanced at Lyla, who had wandered off as soon as Kara had let her elbow go. She was staring at the tigers as they batted at their trainer's hat. She leaned in and whispered, “She is crazy. It's going to rub off.”
“She saved my life.”
“We saved hers first.”
Kara set her jaw and said, “Hither said she is staying with us. You got a problem with it, bring it up with him.”
Vayne was watching them with his usual mildly amused expression. His stare lingered on Kara and she blushed. Why was he looking at her like that?
She grabbed Lyla, who was getting a little too close to the tigers. The tiger trainer, Maune, was openly staring at her, at her bruises, her filthy tunic, his eyes straying to the bloody footprints she left behind.
“She's new,” Kara said lightly. “I'll make formal introductions later.”
He nodded and turned back. She hurried Lyla as quick as she could through the camp, grateful that prying into people's business was so frowned upon here. They slipped into her and Naomi's tent. Kara nodded at the partitioned back. “There is a washbasin back there.”
Lyla shook her head and sat down on the canvas floor. She whispered, “Anywhere I can sleep?”
“There is a spare blanket in the corner. Help yourself to the most comfortable bit of floor you can find.”
She looked up at her and managed a ghost of a smile. “I feel safe here with you.” With that, she took the blanket, rolled up in it, and fell silent as she wedged in the corner.
Kara tried not to sigh. She quickly stripped her dirty clothes off and tossed them by the basin. She would wash them later. Right now she needed to lay down and think. She scrubbed the dust off her skin and rinsed her hair out. Now down to her underclothes, she stretched out on her own blanket, her fingers clutching the mysterious unicorn pendant. She had to flick a few grasshoppers off who had taken up residence on her blanket.
Her mind drifted off to a blank sort of softness. She watched a dust mote twirl around and down, listened to Lyla's soft, fluting breaths. Her thoughts kept circling back to the spirit of the unicorn, trapped with some faceless horror.
Her heart ached for the unicorn. Could she free it? Or was it hopelessly dangerous, pointless even, to try when you did not even know what trapped it?
She drifted off to sleep, and her thoughts rippled into dreams. Her dreaming mind saw a unicorn running through a labyrinth with no beginning nor end. The minotaur was chasing her, except the monster was far worse than a minotaur...
Kara awoke with a gasp, sitting straight up. Naomi, wh
o was leaning over her, fell back on her blanket and screamed.
Kara blinked the sleep out of her eyes. “Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you.”
Naomi tucked her feet under her calves. “It's okay. I've just been a little jumpy since the manor.”
“Me too. Why were you standing over me like that?”
“You were talking in your sleep and you sounded frightened. I wondered if I should wake you.”
“Thanks.” She paused. “I was having a nightmare about a unicorn spirit trapped in that manor.”
Naomi cocked her head, curious. “What happened after we split up?”
Kara explained about the talking stuffed unicorn, the dragons, the mirror that the unicorn helped to shatter so that the darkness could not get them. She finished, then sighed. “I think I have to free that unicorn spirit. I have to go back to the manor and figure it out.”
Naomi covered her face. “I told you her crazy would rub off on us.”
Kara ignored the comment and stood up. Lyla was still curled up in a blanket. “Could you keep an eye on her? I gotta pee and talk to Icari.”
“Okay. The midnight grub just started. He should be at the bonfire.”
“I'll bring you both dinner.”
“Thanks.” Naomi cast a glum glance at Lyla. She clearly did not want to be left alone with her.
Kara ducked out into the warm night and hurried to the women's latrine ditch. This was one of the things she hated most about life on the road. You had little privacy for the most private acts. All that separated you from prying eyes were thin flaps of canvas. The flies and rancid odor compounded the discomfort. When she had lived in her father's manor, they had water closets with actual doors and walls...
Now all she had was a ditch and a pile of dry leaves to wipe with. She peed quickly, trying not to breathe, then hurried through the camp to midnight grub. Tired laughter drifted by. She could tell it had been a good night. The jugglers were hefting their full money purses and the dancers were sitting in a tight circle, dividing the coins thrown at them. Most had not bothered to put their shirts back on.
She glimpsed the carnival goers heading home over the distant field, the twinkle of their oil lanterns beautiful against the night.
She got in the grub line and spooned a bowl of stew. There were a few bits of carrot and what looked like rabbit swirling in the brown liquid. Wow, she thought. Vegetable and meat in the same meal? Is Hither celebrating something?
She grabbed a plain clay cup of water then searched for Icari. He was in front of the bonfire, wiping sweat off his forehead. She sat down on the cut log that passed for seats beside him. “Hi.”
He gave her a huge smile. “Hello.”
She noticed he was wearing his stage act outfit, a wild thing composed of rainbow layers of scarves. He was an illusionist and used the bright cloth for his act, twirling and running with them as he performed minor magics of concealment and reappearance. It was, in her humble opinion, the classiest act at the carnival, and immensely popular. As a result, he was rising fast in the hierarchy, his earnings and prestige outstripping much older acts.
It made him the target of jealousy and resentment more often than not. His strange accent, his dark skin, his air of princely grace...
People were as jealous of him as they were intrigued by him.
Kara, however, was just a pickpocket and a plant. She wondered for the thousandth time why Icari even talked to her. She was about as low as you could go even by the carnival's low standards. Hell, even the whores and dancers got more respect and more coin than she did...
But stealing paid well enough, and she needed that a great deal more than respect right now.
She said, “You're wearing your scarves? Hither made you work after all the craziness earlier?”
“I volunteered.” He sipped some stew. “I needed the coin.”
Without thinking, Kara asked, “What for?”
She regretted asking the question before she even finished saying the two words. You should always mind your own business at the carnival. Many of their members were rumored fugitives, outcasts, debtors... They joined the carnival for a reason.
To hide in plain sight under gaudy clothes and gaudier masks.
Icari said lightly, “Traveling money.”
She nodded and took her first mouthful of stew. It was way better than usual, thick and flavored with a hint of horseradish. She swallowed and said, “I was lazy. I went back to my tent and slept. I dreamed of the unicorn.”
“The stuffed one?”
“Yes.” She glanced around and lowered her voice, trying to pitch it under the crackle and roar of the flaming bonfire. She shifted an inch over to him just to be extra safe. “Let me tell you what happened in the stuffed trophy room and the mirror room.”
He said, “Please do.”