A Shadow Around the Sun

by Hugo Damas

  Yet, what help was that? That much was obvious. He eventually was brought into a car by some strange guy, but there was no way he could be cooped up for so long. He had the need to joke and mess with the drivers and ended up freaking them out too much.

  They gave up, yelling at each other about why the Circus Freak hadn’t passed out, and kicked him out and drove away. Hugo thought that would be it, but soon after that, some robed figure came up and took him to talk to an old lady in a hood. She talked really slow, though, but had this one pen that could write without ink, which Hugo thought was amazing! So he took it and ran. But he was caught. Hugo still didn’t know how he had been caught since it was magic stuff. He was then thrown into a wagon that took him to Edho, Japien.

  It was his understanding that a lot of shady individuals -- professional thieves, and other criminals -- were competing with him to see who made the most money.

  Just as he turned a corner, his mind brought him back to the present, realizing he had just seen one of them. They were pushing someone against a wall.

  “HEY THERE!” Hugo yelled at once.

  They both turned to him, flinching as he sped at them faster than they expected. He stopped a foot away from them with a giggle, eyes closed. He leaned forward.

  “Wacha doing there?” Hugo asked in a silly voice.

  The bully regarded him with hostility. “What does it look like, clown? This spot’s mine, take a hike.”

  “I am taking a hike,” Hugo said, appalled. “I’m just taking a pause from taking a hike!” Hugo chuckled at himself and went back to a silly voice. “Are you robbing him?”

  “No, what? What’re you -- he’s giving me money so I can eat. Or else.” The boy made a fist. And he was a boy. Wearing some kind of school uniform, with his shaved white head, he sure looked intimidating.

  “Please don’t, just, here!” The man gave the schoolboy a wallet. The boy took it and shoved him off, allowing him to flee.

  The Circus Freak giggled. “So what’s your name, young one!? You people all have a nickname, right?”

  “It’s a title,” the boy replied, not knowing whether to be flustered or insulted. “Mine’s The Schoolboy.”

  The Circus Freak laughed at him, amused. “Well, it’s certainly not inaccurate, I’ll give ya that much!”

  The Schoolboy frowned at him. “What do you want?”

  “Oo! Yeah, what do I want?” He held up a finger to his chin and looked up in thought. Then his face lit up with an idea. “Oh! I know, check this out!” The Circus Freak grabbed his head and turned it all the way around. Then, he spun his body so he could look at the boy and see the horrified look on his face.

  The bully boy had flinched away, and was grimacing. “What the bloody void, man?!” Properly stunned, the boy staggered back, not really sure where to go.

  “Wait, wait, look!” The Circus Freak cart-wheeled and jumped with a little flip to land right in front of the boy, head still turned the wrong way. “Tada!!”

  Feeling the fear of not being able to run away from him, the Schoolboy stumbled around for a couple of seconds, frantically trying to figure out where to go.

  “Just leav’me alone! Go steal your stuff and lemme steal mine, yeah?”

  Unbeknownst to the bully boy, who was watching the Circus Freak all while walking back, a guard came turning the corner behind him. He was likely coming to see what the ruckus was about.

  “What is this, then?” the gruff voice demanded.

  The Schoolboy immediately turned “Oh bollocks.” He tried to run, but the guard quickly grabbed hold of his collar.

  “Nice night for some thieving, is it, runt?”

  “Uh, no sir, I certainly aren’t thieving, sir,” the Schoolboy replied, with a completely different demeanor than the bullying one the Circus Freak had just witnessed.

  “You just said you were, you lying runt. I’m taking you in,” the guard said.

  “But sir! Officer, sir!”

  “No buts, we’ll sort you out in the morning, we will.”

  All the while, Circus Freak had gone into an alleyway, out of sight, and had turned his head back around so he could giggle into his hand.

  The look on his face! This whole thing really is priceless!

  The Circus Freak was not aware of how rich he was since he never bothered to keep an account of his wealth -- he could hardly remember where most of it was, really -- but he knew he had a lot and he felt like not even all of it would be worth the look on the faces of these world-class thieves whenever he did his thing.

  Meanwhile, Hugo now had a small neighborhood to rob and a good amount of time to do so since the local patrol was taking a schoolboy to detention.

  Giggling, the Circus Freak ran around the wall and kicked open the door to the house.

  “What the?”

  “What was that?!”

  This time, the Circus Freak had invaded a two-floor house. The voices had come from upstairs. Most undoubtedly, the residents were waking up because of the noise. He grinned.

  The Circus Freak sent laughter up the echoing empty hallways of the house, and it was a cackling which would make anyone’s bones shiver and tremble.

  “I’m coming up,” the Circus Freak half-howled in response.

  * * *

  Later on, the Circus Freak found himself skipping his feet in a dance across a small bridge connecting streets, with no idea how he was doing in comparison to his competitors, and yet much less bothered by that than by the fact he couldn’t find them.

  “I managed to find a bunch before, where are they all now?!”

  The Circus Freak stopped at the other end of the bridge, looking up and down the street for some sign of whether or not someone else had already visited those houses. By doing so, he saw a faint hint of purple glint atop a rooftop for a couple of seconds.

  “Peek ‘a boo,” the Circus Freak whispered, triumphantly.

  He ran with quick, loud strides and then climbed the two-floors worth of height by using all protruding elements available for grabbing. It wasn’t that tall, so it took him only a minute from the point he saw the odd presence until he was standing there on the same roof, looking at the hooded figure. The thief was looking right back at him with an air of interrogation about them.

  The Circus Freak closed his eyes and grinned. “Hello!” The voice cracked loudly, making her shudder in response.

  He figured it was a woman inside the dark purple hooded robe. Her face, though concealed enough by the hood to be indiscernible, had a magical glow to her eyes and mouth of purple color. She was a very intimidating sight, he imagined, for those who could be scared. She also had golden hair curving around her neck, flowing from inside the hood to the front side within the robe. Still, the worst was she gave him no response.

  “So who are ya?” Hugo asked.

  “No one the Circus Freak need concern himself with,” a reverberated voice came as a reply. Her mouth-glow moved, and her eyes squinted. It was, nonetheless, a female voice.

  “You know me,” The Circus Freak stated, tilting his head to the side. “You got me at a disadvantage.”

  “Obviously.” She walked back to the edge of the building, keeping her eyes on him. “Goodbye.” She hopped back and fell out of view.

  “Hey!” The Circus Freak dashed to the ledge quicker than she could have expected, and was thus able to still spot her disappearing in a small burst of purple light.

  “Ooo, is that magic?! Wow.” She was interesting, he wanted to find her again.

  Hugo looked around, putting both his senses and instincts -- which is to say his luck -- to work. Alas, he couldn’t arrive at any thought that felt like a good lead into where he might find her.

  Not one minute later, he shrugged. “Bah. Ah well.” Unceremoniously, he walked to kick the roof door in, bored.

  The Circus Freak walked down to the first apartment in the building to steal all the stuff there. Then he did the same to the neighboring buildings, and by the time he wa
s done with the third, a group of guards showed up, so he ran to another part of the city. Whatever part he ended on by the time he lost them.

  At that time, the Circus Freak looked around and saw no one. Gazing up, he transitioned from a yawn to a yell of frustration.

  “SOMEONE COME OUT TO PLAY ALREADY!!!”

  There was no response, so he just slumped and went into another house. The Circus Freak was so bored he couldn’t even muster up the energy to kick the door open, which is why he just picked its lock.

  He went inside, as always, not even trying to be quiet.

  “Hey, who’s there?!”

  “A thief,” the Circus Freak replied, rolling his eyes. He was going through the coats left at the entrance hall. “Or a murderer. Haven’t exactly decided yet.” He gave a half-giggle, imagining the faces he had made them show.

  When he heard footsteps coming into the hall, the Circus Freak closed his eyes, grinned and looked at where they were coming from. The footsteps expectedly skipped back in fright.

  “What the--”

  “Hello. So.” The Circus Freak dropped the coats on the ground and walked towards the person. “I’m in a hurry, you think you could help a thief out? Just give me all the valuables so I can move on real quick.”

  “You-you want my help? How dare you.”

  Hugo opened one of his eyes to see the middle-aged man trembling a pistol at him and, noticing it, he just widened his grin.

  “This reminds me of that time I got shot,” he said, walking towards the man, “though I’m not sure which one exactly.” The Circus Freak tapped his mouth in wonder while still approaching. “Oh well, who cares, right?” He grabbed the pistol and instantly dodged the expected nervous shot that came out, letting it hit the coat hanger instead.

  The Circus Freak pushed the old man back and to the ground, shaking his head. He clicked his tongue and told him, “as someone who loves his toys, grandpa, lemme be the first to tell you this ain’t a toy, alright?” He threw the pistol back and faced him with an angry smile.

  “Your stuff. Now.”

  Guards would probably be on their way already since a gunshot was loud and left little doubt as to the fact it was a gunshot. Upon entering the living room, though, Hugo saw there was a window leading right to the neighbour’s rooftop so it would be impossible for the guards to catch him once they arrived.

  At least the chase would get his heart pumping, if only by a little, so he was looking forward to it.

  The guards did arrived, bellowing their commands and their threats, but Hugo kept shoving things into the pouch right up to the moment they walked into the living room with their big spears and intimidating armors.

  The leader made their demands first. “Freeze, thief!”

  “Oh I would, I would,” he replied while walking back and putting a final necklace into his pouch, “but it’s not even cold here! Lemme try outside.”

  Cackling, the Circus Freak ran at full speed. The guards reacted too late to stop him from jumping to crash out the window.

  Instead, the Circus Freak rammed straight into a wall. Luckily, his arms gave him a bit of protection since his body was expecting glass and not concrete.

  When his senses returned to him, he already had his hands tied behind his back and was being held down by two other guards.

  “Don’t give him any breathing room, men. The Circus Freak is famous for his ability to escape anything.”

  “And you’re famous for your ability to be fat,” Hugo spat out, not even checking if that was accurate. It felt accurate. “No wonder I can hardly breathe with you on top of me.”

  “Funny guy.” Someone punched him, but the Circus Freak just giggled.

  The Circus Freak attempted to get a look at the window he tried to jump through, but he only managed to when he was being carried out. And there was no window, just a wall that had been roughed up by him diving at it. Hugo tasted the blood from his broken nose and licked it off his lips with a grin.

  This had been one of them. One of them had laid a trap for him, and he had fallen for it. And for some reason, it made him giddy.

  Hugo laughed. Even though the guards didn’t like it. They asked him to stop, they slapped him even, but he couldn’t stop cackling.

  He was thrown in a jail cell, one that wasn’t empty.

  “I swear it’s like they all decided to roam our city,” the guard complained.

  “Reports are coming from a lot of homes.” The other guard locked the cell and followed his friend.

  The Circus Freak had been happy to confirm the man was indeed fat, it meant his comment made comedic sense.

  “Well, they all get caught eventually.”

  “Indeed they do,” the guard remarked, glancing at the Circus Freak.

  The cell door was an actual door, with a small crevice at eye level which had bars.

  The Circus Freak turned his eyes over to his prison mate who was a woman in quite the flamboyant dress and top hat, and a cape! All vividly colored red and black. Every thing about her was colorful and intricate -- including her hair. Hugo made the assumption she was from the circus, as well.

  “And who are you supposed to be?” Hugo asked.

  “Me? You don’t recognize me?” She smiled and opened her arms in presentation, “I’m the Magnificent Magician! The greatest thief in the world!”

  “Is that what you are?” The Circus Freak giggled and approached her with his eyes closed, cocking his head in curiosity. “And yet here you are.”

  “I said greatest, not perfect.” She kept her composure, which annoyed him a little. “In fact, I’ve already devised a way to escape this pit of unoriginality. I can leave whenever I want,” she said it with the most snobbish look on her face.

  “Sure you have,” Hugo said, goading her.

  “Oh, the magic words!” She flicked her wrist, indeed like a magician, and produced the prison key, and at least, it was a key. “Tadaaa!”

  “Oh!” The Circus Freak opened one of his eyes, thoroughly amused at the situation. “Very good! Shall we escape together, then? Spark a passion, marry, live happily ever after?”

  To her credit, she didn’t skip a beat, or hesitate the slightest bit.

  “Oh, terribly sorry, deary, but I’m married to my talent. And very happily, too!” She nodded in excitement. “I can’t possibly even consider risking that relationship, it really does take care of my every need. Meanwhile, would you like to leave or not?”

  The Circus Freak grinned in impatience but joked all the same. “Me? I just got here, I haven’t even tried the food.”

  The Magnificent Magician finally flinched, confounded. “You want to try prison food?”

  “Hey, this is a classy city we got here. Might have some tasty prison food. Some fish, perhaps? I like fish, do you like fish?” Hugo asked, excited.

  “Wha…what?” Her look turned pitiful. “Are you wrong in the head, clown? A bit crazy, perhaps?”

  “I don’t know, do the crazy know they’re crazy?” Hugo asked, leaning his head one way,

  “Hm.” The Magnificen Magician frowned and crossed her arms. “Well, if you’re happy staying stuck in here, that’s fine too.”

  “And why don’t you escape on your own?” Hugo asked, leaning his head the other way.

  “I do not want to escape, I want to trade,” the magician said with a wink. “This key for your pouch. Forfeit the tournament or rot in here forever. Otherwise, I’ll simply leave while you sleep.” She gave a little bow which was extremely self-congratulatory, and thus tasteless.

  That was it for his patience.

  “Oh!” The Circus Freak giggled, menacingly. “What a cunning little minx you are!”

  “Thank you,” the magician said with a nod, reflexively closing her eyes, and they would remain closed for longer than she thought they would.

  The Circus Freak dashed forward and slapped her across the temple before she could finish her blink. She lost her senses for about ten seconds, long enou
gh for him to take the key and her pouch.

  The Magnificent Magician recovered in time to hear the door unlocking. “Hey…whah…ow.” She looked up and around, and felt for what she was missing. “Hey,” she called out, standing up in anger. “You can’t do that! You hit me, we can’t attack each other!”

  “Oh, but we can,” Hugo said, playfully looking back at her. “We just can’t cause ‘lasting damage.’ See?” Hugo pointed out, poking his own head. “People think I don’t listen, but I listen. A little love tap to leave you out of it for a bit, it won’t break the rules. ‘Sides, you practically begged me to.”

  The Magnificent Magician tensed her arms all the way down, fists clenching. “What? No, I did not! And give that back!”

  The woman rushed at him, but he left and closed the door. She didn’t have the strength to push it against him, so he just locked it.

  “’Course you did,” the Circus Freak continued. “Closing your eyes like that, you little tease.”

  Her face warmed up, insulted. She stared daggers through the bars in the tiny door window.

  “How…dare you little! GUARDS! GUARDS! THE CIRCUS FREAK IS ESCAPING!”

  The Circus Freak laughed in her face before running away.

  He ran straight for one of the guards, vaulting over his attempt to tackle him, and then kept running, spinning around a second guard.

  As he was running up some stairs, another guard came running down. Hugo dived at his legs, grabbing them, and then pulled so the guy would hurt himself very badly over the stairs.

  The Circus Freak left the barracks with around ten guards chasing him. He checked the scroll for new information and found out his timing wasn’t all that bad.

  The Militia are executing the Raid.

  Escape the City.

  That was how it had ended in Edho.

  The Shadow Conclave people alerted the law enforcement so they would do a city-wide raid to catch every thief, and the thieves had to escape.

  The Circus Freak was ahead of them all in that regard since he was already escaping.

  He turned a corner, but found himself surrounded, so he turned aside and dove, crashing through a window.