The Scarlet Star Trilogy

by Ben Galley

  ‘Sorry to scare you,’ he muttered.

  ‘Not to worry,’ the woman piped up, in a high voice. Merion strangled the newspaper with one hand as he took her coin with the other. He did not blame her for scuttling off as soon as she could. He felt a throbbing in his forehead. His heart was punching his ribs. There was a tremor in his hands he could not control.

  Clutching the newspaper in a tight fist, Merion poked his head out of the door and waved a hand at the two stocky fellows standing under the entrance. One moseyed over. He raised an eyebrow when he noticed the colour and the quivering of the boy.

  ‘Everythin’ alright, Merion?’

  ‘No,’ he replied, trying to keep his voice civil. He wanted to shout and roar at the audacity of it. Kick and scream at the falsity and lies. Strangle something for all the helplessness he felt. He was three thousand miles away, powerless and stranded whilst his family name was being trampled in the mud. He wanted to bellow all of that in this man’s face, but instead, he held it back, straining, and said: ‘I need to see Yara.’

  ‘She’s in the middle of her show, Merion, last one of the night. I …’

  ‘Can I wait in her tent? I need to talk to her.’

  ‘Well, erm,’ said the man, scratching his head. ‘Guess I could watch the booth for you. For a little while at least.’

  ‘Thank you, thank you,’ Merion said, before storming off in the direction of his tent, hidden behind the circus.

  At first, the young Hark was polite in his weaving and squeezing, battling through the raucous crowd, drunk on sugar and beer, laughter and wonder. But his manners quickly decayed. Soon enough he was pushing and barging, baring his teeth to let them know he was not in the mood.

  It took him a good twenty minutes to make it back to his tent, only to find it empty and dark inside. It was nearing midnight. Lurker and Lilain must still have been braving the crowds. Rhin must still be in his cage. Merion snarled and whirled on his heel.

  Back out into the milling throngs he went, still strangling the crumpled newspaper firmly by his side, as if he were a soldier on the morning of his first battle, clutching a spear at his hip. He passed stall after stall, stopping only to peek backstage to see if his aunt or Lurker hid there. There were a few winks from the performers, which Merion grudgingly and distractedly returned. Cabele, for instance, even beckoned him up on stage so that he could pass her another hoop for her to juggle. Merion did so, but only because her mesmerised audience all turned to stare at the lucky helper. Merion pasted a smile onto his face, bowed and handed her the hoop. There it was: his first taste of the stage—such a fleeting moment to be quashed by rage. Merion barely noticed what he had just done. All he could see in his head were those bastard headlines and charcoal pictures of his father outside the Emerald House.

  Off he went again, passing by Big Jud and Jackabo, one cheery and surrounded by jeering and tittering patrons, the other stern-faced, encircled by gawping fans. Each had their way with their customers, and each played them like fiddles. The coin buckets would be heavy in the morning.

  Finally Merion made it to Neams’s zoo, and skipped ahead of the queue. The man holding a rope saw his face, and the expression burnt into it, and wisely decided to let him pass.

  ‘He works here, folks, not to worry,’ the man reassured them. Merion ducked under the rope and waded in. Under the sheets suspended over the cages, the going was dark. Lanterns were scarce, placed every other cage or so, painted red and blue to play tricks on eyes and daub the caged creatures in an unholy violet hue.

  The patrons lapped it up, of course. They huddled in front of cages, flinching whenever the big cats roared or prowled too close, laughing and pointing at the smaller, less fangful beasts, and whispering at the stranger creatures.

  Of course, none was stranger than the cage in the darkest depths of the zoo. Neams was a clever showman. Rhin’s cage was decorated with foliage and reeds he had stolen from the riverbank. A solitary lantern hung at the back of the cage, one of those with mirrored shutters to focus the light, so that it made you wince and squint if pointed your way. Merion weaved his way between the squeaking children and dubious muttering adults. Every eye was fixed on the cage. He was paid not a glance. The young Hark fumed as he waited.

  ‘Witness the most elusive wild fairy! You don’t have to see it to believe it!’ proclaimed a brightly coloured sign leant up against the side of the cage. Quite the showman indeed.

  There was a rustle in the reeds in the corner of the cage, and a high-pitched squealing from the children answered it. Merion rolled his eyes. They were only a few years younger than he was, but he saw a great gulf between them. He had tasted dark things. They had not. And he did not wish those things upon them.

  There was another shaking of the foliage, and laughter now, from the crowd. They suspected a cheap trick, some clockwork behind the scenes, perhaps, or simple strings. Merion, despite his foul mood, found himself smiling wryly.

  The bars rattled now, and there was a shimmer in the bright glare of the lantern. A few of the children in the front took a few tentative steps forward, peering wide-eyed into the cage. They were not making it very hard for the faerie. Not one bit.

  One of the children, a small boy, was wearing a cap. Something breezed past their noses and whipped it from his head. The boy wailed and ran back to the edge of the crowd. His friend, a little girl, just froze, too confused to move. She watched, eyes like saucers, as the cap danced around the cage floor, capering about as if it were possessed. There was a round of scattered applause from the grownups, too confused to know what else to do. The others looked about, narrowing their eyes, suspecting fish-hooks and thin line, a planted actor, or some other measure of foul play.

  The cap died in the centre of the cage, not moving again. The crowd fell quiet once more, deathly so, so very desperate to hear a footstep, or a breath, to cheat their own doubts. For everybody secretly believes in magic, no matter how much they scoff and decry it. That is why they pay their coin, and take their tickets, because one day, just maybe, they may catch a glimpse of real magic, true power, and know they had been right all along.

  Something scuffed at the dirt at the edge of the cage and the crowd recoiled as one. Merion was the only one who stayed still. He smirked a little more. There came a yowling, and a fluttering of wings, and the onlookers began to gasp and prod each other. Tiny stones began to zip through the air, striking some of the older men and women, catching them in harmless places; thighs, forearms, bellies. Rhin was a good shot. Merion scowled as a stone struck him in the chest, ricocheting off his creased shirt. The crowd stirred anxiously. Perhaps this magic was too real for them after all, the kind with a k. The children cavorted, giggling, but their parents swapped bemused glances.

  Neams chose the right moment to strike. He bounded from the shadows, where he had been lingering, brandishing a broom handle. He began to whack it against the bars, and after the necessary amount of yelling and hollering, and after apologising and bowing profusely to the now clapping, cheering crowd, Nelle spun the hat from his head and held it out. The crowd needed no further encouragement. Coins practically rained into it. The man had just saved them from a dangerous beast, after all. While they filtered back to the entrance, Merion stood like a pillar in a stream, unmoving with crossed arms. He waited until the crowd had moved on before approaching the cage.

  Rhin shimmered into view, perched on top of the cap. He was dressed in a dark green tunic, and his wings shone like clear crystal in the bright light, with their veins of purple and green. ‘A fine trophy,’ chuckled the faerie.

  ‘Quite a little act you have going here,’ Merion replied, his voice low.

  Rhin raised an eyebrow. ‘Why do I have the distinct feeling something’s happened?’

  Merion slammed the paper up against the bars. ‘Because it has, my friend.’

  The faerie strode forward, even though his quick eyes devoured it easily. ‘By the bloody Roots,’ was all he said.

&
nbsp; ‘You’re damn right,’ Merion hissed. ‘Dizali’s gone too far—branding my father and I as traitors, Aunt Lilain too, no doubt. How dare he!’ Merion was turning a rare shade of purple. His fingers strangled the bars, his knuckles bleached. ‘I knew this would happen. Didn’t I tell you, on the Tamarassie? They want my father’s estate—my estate—and they will do anything to get it.’

  ‘We’re going as fast as we can, Merion,’ Rhin offered, knowing it was a painfully weak consolation.

  The boy just knocked his head against the bars and growled quietly.

  Rhin tried to bypass the subject. ‘Have you shown this to your aunt yet?’ he asked.

  Merion shook his head. ‘I can’t find her.’

  ‘What about Yara?’

  ‘I may be full of rage, Rhin, but I’m not full of stupidity. She can’t know of this. It would reveal who I am. I need to get home,’ Merion said, gruffly. He got to his feet and stuffed the newspaper inside his coat. ‘We need to find my aunt.’

  ‘I can’t …’ Rhin winced. ‘I have another hour.’

  ‘Ugh,’ huffed the boy, before walking away, ignoring the sigh he heard behind him.

  Merion had a few good ideas about where his aunt would be. The first, naturally, was the Dolmers’ wagon. He set a course and walked as briskly as he could, heading for the darkened rear of the circus, where the wagons and tents had been pitched.

  The Dolmers’ wagon looked dead and still, parked between two tall tents. Merion stepped up to it, craning to hear anything over the clatter of the circus. He thought he heard the scuff of a shoe, or a muffled word. His hand reached for the ties of the canvas but a rustle of grass and a muttered curse made him turn.

  ‘Hello?’ Merion asked of the shadows. A figure stumbled into view, coming towards him, arms outstretched.

  ‘Hello?’ cried a voice, a man’s voice. Merion made out a young face, early twenties perhaps, and a smart suit. ‘My apologies, young Sir, I’m lost. I need your help,’ he said in a desperate tone. Merion caught the man’s hands as they attempted to rest on his shoulders. He stepped back, wary.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ he asked.

  ‘My daughter,’ the man said, clearly out of breath from fear and worry. ‘Sanja. She’s only ten. Blonde. Pigtails. Yellow dress with dots, white polka dots,’ he panted. ‘Have you seen her?’

  Merion had not, and he regrettably said as much.

  The man tugged at his hair with both hands. He made a strangled noise, and looked around at the shadows with wild hope in his eyes, as if he would suddenly realise she had been sitting there all along, and it had been some innocent game.

  Merion winced at the man’s pain. Something about this sounded very familiar. ‘I could help you look,’ he offered. ‘I’m with the circus. I can speak to the master, Ms Mizar.’

  The hopeful eyes turned on him. ‘Please. Yes!’

  Merion half-heartedly fended off the man’s embrace. ‘Follow me,’ he replied. ‘Mr?’

  ‘Jarlbor. Hant Jarlbor. With a soft ‘J’,’ he said, trying to catch his breath. He followed Merion closely as the boy led them back through the circus, by way of Yara’s tent.

  Merion decided to try and distract Jarlbor. ‘Tell me about yourself, Sir,’ he ventured, and listened politely as the man rambled on about his work in the airship yards, fixing the great lumbering sky-whales, as he called them. He spoke of his house, how his wife, who owned a string of ladies’ clothing stores in the area, was away on business. Fancy stuff for fancy ladies, or so Jarlbor told him. But then his talk turned inexorably back to his little girl Sanja. Again with a soft ‘J’. Merion listened to it all and nodded along, wincing as the man began to fret again, wringing his hands with worry.

  ‘It’s this way,’ Merion said, pointing to a small gap in the tents where they could slip back into the main area of the circus. Yara’s tent was to their left, glowing from the inside with candles. Merion saw no shadows, but he decided to look anyway.

  ‘Ms Mizar?’ he called, tapping on the canvas. There was no answer. Merion was just on the cusp of shrugging when he saw a figure standing between them and the circus. A sweating, bedraggled Yara the Lightning. Several knives were still tucked into the belt of her long green dress. Her dark red hair flowed in the riverside breeze.

  ‘Master Harlequin?’ she asked of him, her eyes a little on the fierce side, a curious frown on her face.

  ‘There you are,’ Merion smiled and gestured towards Hant. ‘Ms Mizar, this is Mr Jarlbor. I’m afraid to say he’s lost his ten-year-old daughter in the circus,’ he explained.

  Yara’s hard demeanour melted immediately into one of pity. ‘Mr Jarlbor, I am very sorry to hear that!’ she exclaimed, moving to grasp his hands. ‘Let us see what we can do for you. Merion, take our friend here to Devan, who has just finished for the night,’ she instructed. ‘He can help.’

  ‘Of course,’ Merion replied.

  ‘Come back when you’ve spoken to Devan,’ Yara added, and Merion nodded. She went to her tent, and he led Jarlbor back into the light and dazzle of the circus. Kadabra was winding down. With midnight long past, the patrons were beginning to tire. As were the circus folk, truth be told. They looked exhausted—bloodrushed out. Merion could see it in their eyes as he passed each one. Even Big Jud looked tired, and he had spent the whole evening on his backside, cracking jokes. It had been a grand show, that was for sure.

  They found the huge Devan perched on a chair that looked far too small of him, flicking the sweat from his forehead. Merion hopped up onto his stage. ‘Devan,’ he said. ‘This is Mr Jarlbor. He’s lost his daughter. Can’t find her anywhere. Yara said you might be able to help.’

  Devan looked up and stared at the frantic-looking man standing in front of him through wet strands of black hair. ‘That’s awful,’ he grunted. ‘Give me a moment, and I’ll be right with you, Sir.’

  Merion gingerly clapped Jarlbor on the shoulder. ‘I shall leave you in Mr Ford’s very capable, and very large, hands. Good luck. I hope you find your daughter.’

  ‘Thank you, young Sir. Master?’

  ‘Har … lequin,’ stuttered Merion, almost slipping. ‘Harlequin.’

  ‘Thank you,’ the man replied, shaking the boy’s hand firmly, feverishly tight.

  Merion made his exit, and quickly too. He was not sure how to deal with Jarlbor’s stress. Losing a father is one thing. But losing a daughter, or a son, in a place like this? Merion shook his head and ploughed into the shadows behind the glamour.

  Once more, he knocked on the canvas of Yara’s tent. This time there was an answer. ‘Come,’ Yara said.

  Merion had barely stepped through the flap when she pointed at a chair, a rather uncomfortable-looking one at that. ‘Sit,’ she bade him. He did as he was told.

  ‘I was here to ask you something, earlier,’ Merion explained.

  Yara nodded, gliding back and forth along the rug that formed the floor. ‘I thought as much. And so I will let you ask. I like to be the first to listen, as you know,’ she said quietly. She seemed deep in thought, half-distracted.

  Merion smiled. It was time to try his hand. ‘I know very well, Ms Mizar,’ he said. ‘I came here to ask something very simple indeed. I just want to know how long it will take us to reach the coast. The east coast that is. When can I expect to be on a ship?’

  Yara grinned and tapped her nose. ‘You and I think the same, Merion. If you had not come to me to ask, I would have come to you to tell. But before I tell you, how was the booth tonight?’

  Merion felt a twitch of anger inside of him, as he thought of the paper inside his coat. He shrugged. ‘Fine, I suppose. Fun at times. Busy.’

  Yara crouched down in front of him, her skirts rustling. ‘Would you like to know a secret, Master Harlequin? Something that only a handful of our family know?

  ‘Does it involve me getting home sooner?’

  Yara chuckled. ‘It just may! I have good news for you, Merion. The reasons we are here in Daevan Port is that it is time
to pick up the pace. We are here to catch a train headed east. The Bloodmoon is drawing closer with each passing night, and we have been offered a chance to celebrate it in the finest of ways. We have been offered a show, Merion, a very important one indeed.’

  ‘A show?’

  She came right out and said it, so matter-of-factly that Merion almost missed it: ‘A chance to perform in front of Red King Lincoln himself, in Washingtown.’

  Merion’s mind reeled with chance and possibility. ‘Are you serious?’

  ‘As a knife’s edge, Merion,’ Yara replied, magicking a knife into her hand and spinning it into a blur of silver. ‘He wants to prove his political indifference to the war in the east, it seems, I am not sure. Politics were never an interest of mine. In any case, being that I am Rosiyan, and Cirque Kadabra’s roots lie in eastern Europe, Lincoln sees it fit to have us entertain him. And we shall, Merion, we shall.’ Yara’s eyes glazed over as she came to a halt and stared at some imaginary horizon. ‘The show falls on the night of the Bloodmoon. Our shades will be stronger than ever. We will throw harder, lift heavier, and swing higher than ever before. We will stun them, Merion, show them what true magick is, and yet keep it just beyond their reach. We will dazzle them, we will,’ Yara expounded, her words becoming faster and louder as she went on. Merion was shocked, and excited, and all manner of other things. He almost forgot why he had come. Almost.

  ‘When is it?’

  Yara smiled knowingly. ‘A week from today, the sixteenth of this month. The earliest it has ever risen in the history of … well, since they started keeping records,’ she told him.

  ‘Who?’

  Yara shrugged disarmingly. ‘Rushers, lampreys, the first of us.’

  The young Hark could not help but lean forwards in the chair. ‘Have you known many?’ Merion asked. ‘Lampreys, I mean.’

  Yara’s face turned stony. ‘More than I care to think about, Master Harlequin. A disgusting practice,’ she hissed.

  Merion nodded. ‘My aunt says the same thing.’