Firstly, sincere apologies for not updating sooner. I've had a lot of deadlines due this week, so I've had to concentrate on college work rather than my stories. Still, I should have some time off over the Christmas period, so hopefully I should have more time to devote to this story over the next few weeks. Thank you all for your patience. Now on with the tale;
Chapter 7 – The Youngest Performer
Margali examined the roof of her caravan, and nodded in satisfaction. It was now covered in brightly coloured material, so that, if Kurti wanted to climb along the roof, he could do so without her worrying that he would be hurt. Kurti himself stared up at the ceiling in wonder, clearly awed by the bright purples, yellows and greens. Margali smiled down at him, and then pointed towards the ceiling. "There," she said, "now you can climb around the ceiling until your heart's content." She sighed quietly to herself. Cleaning and decorating the ceiling of the caravan had taken far longer than she had expected, and it was nearly time for the first show of the evening to begin. "But later," she added, "right now, we have to go and prepare for our act."
She carried Kurti into a small changing room, adjacent to the Big Top. The clowns were just finishing their act and bowing to the applauding audience, as Margali looked down at Kurti worriedly. "I must be mad," she muttered. She was beginning to question the wisdom of her plan. There was just so much that could potentially go wrong, so much that could potentially lead to disaster, not only for herself and Kurti, but for the entire Szardos Circus itself. Margali shook her head suddenly, as though to dislodge her worries and fears. Thinking like that would do no good, and indeed, could potentially cause a great deal of harm. Besides, if the worst came to the worst, she could always erase the memories of everyone present. She did not like using her powers in that way, but she was prepared to do almost anything in order to ensure that her family remained safe.
"And now," the Ring-Master's booming voice echoed around the Big Top, "we have a very special act, one never before witnessed throughout the whole of Europe."
Margali gulped slightly at the introduction, as she listened to the confused, excited muttering from amongst the crowd. The Ring-Master cracked his whip, and the Big Top instantaneously became silent once more. "We have a very special guest, all the way from the deepest, darkest jungle, in a far and distant land," his voice suddenly became much quieter, "and he is very nervous, and very shy, so I must urge you all to be very quiet, for this amazing creature has incredible hearing, so please do not applaud until after he has left the tent. And now, without further ado, I present to you our newest act; Margali the Sorceress, and her amazing blue child!"
Margali strode purposefully onto the Big Top, Kurti hidden inside a small compartment within a rather large and ornate hat. Margali smiled to herself, feeling hopeful, despite her sudden nervous. She had never really liked actually performing within the circus, preferring to take on a primarily managerial and organisational role, but she had at times performed in front of the crowds, when other performers had been too ill to perform. The show had to go on, no matter what; she had not been exaggerating when she had told Klaus that if the circus did not make money, they would not be able to afford to eat. Margali took a bow, and placed the hat upon a small wooden table near the centre of the Big Top. A few of the children within the audience leaned forward, as though curious to see what was going to happen next. Margali grinned at them, and lifted the hat, showing them that it was empty, since Kurti was still hidden within the secret compartment. Then, as she placed the hat back on the table, she gently nudged Kurti out of the compartment, and lifted him out of the hat, before holding him above her head, so that everyone in the audience could see him. A few of the children began to clap, but were quickly reminded by their parents not to applaud until the act was finished. Margali smiled at them gratefully. "Please," she said, "this little one's ears are very sensitive. I would be most grateful if you did not applaud until after he is safely out of earshot."
The crowd instantly became silent once more, and Margali cautiously moved closer to the audience. They seemed to find Kurti exceptionally cute as they looked at him with wonder, and no small amount of curiosity. A little girl in the front row asked shyly if she could stroke him. Margali smiled, and nodded at her reassuringly. "Just be gentle," she said, and watched her carefully as the child gently stroked Kurti's head. Kurti himself seemed to love all of this new attention, and rubbed his head against the delighted girl's hand in a manner very reminiscent of a cat. Then Margali returned to the centre of Big Top, where there were a number of ladders that would be used by the acrobats later in the show. Kurti looked up at the nearest ladder hopefully, and then looked back at Margali uncertainly.
Yes, dear one, you may climb up there, she assured him telepathically, I will not let you fall.
A moment later, Kurti had begun to eagerly climb up the ladder, in a manner very reminiscent of a monkey. Margali watched him carefully, ready to use her magic if necessary to prevent him from falling or hurting himself, but Kurti seemed to be as sure-footed as a mountain goat, and did not slip even once. Then Margali used her magic – her real magic, not the conjuring tricks that were used for prestidigitation – to attempt to understand what the crowd was thinking, as they watched Kurti climb towards the top of the tent.
She would have liked to think that all of those watching the performance would have been thinking about nothing except the current act, but human thought rarely worked that way. She sensed vague fears and worries about the future, and remembered episodes from the past, as well as thoughts concerning the show.
...I hope the twins are enjoying the show...
...I wonder if they are still selling sweets outside...
...I hope no-one finds out that I snuck into the circus without paying...
Margali narrowed her eyes angrily when she caught the last thought. So someone had thought he could watch the show without paying, had he? Well, Margali would not allow him to get away with that. They were barely making enough money to survive as it was, they certainly could not afford to let people see the show for free, and if one person had managed to sneak in without paying, then there would almost certainly be more people trying the same trick in the not too distant future. She concentrated on where the thought had originated, and located it coming from a boy of about Klaus' age in the second row. She would have to approach him later, when her act was finished, but for the moment, Kurti was a far more urgent consideration. She concentrated on the thoughts of the audience once more, forcing herself to ignore all thoughts that did not relate to Kurti, as the crowd continued to watch him ascending the ladder.
...What is that thing...?
...Is it some sort of monkey...?
...A lemur...?
...Some sort of strange jungle cat...?
...I've never seen anything quite like that before, what is it...?
I hope the circus treats that thing well, whatever it is, I hate it when circuses treat their animals badly...
Although Margali hated the thought that the audience considered that Kurti was some kind of animal, she nevertheless agreed with the final thought. It was, after all, the duty of those in power to look after those that were powerless. To Margali's mind, those that abused their power, either by being abusive or neglectful, were the very worst kinds of people. Margali found that her own mind was wondering back to the day when she had found Kurti in the river, and her own disbelief that any mother could abandon her child in such a way. Still, she had promised Maja that she would not judge Kurti's mother until she knew the whole story, and she intended to keep her promise.
She used her magic to search the thoughts of the audience once more, trying to find anything that could possibly indicate that someone present knew something, anything, which could possibly lead to her being able to locate Kurti's parents. Despite her best efforts, she was unable to find anything within the thoughts of all of those present that indicated that anyone knew anything at all that might help her to uncover the secrets of Kurti's past. She frowned in frustration. Someone had to know something! Yet she was unable to uncover anything that might prove to be even vaguely helpful. She sighed quietly to herself, and scanned the audience momentarily. At least they seemed to be enjoying watching Kurti, as he climbed along the roof of the Big Top with incredible ease, laughing happily the entire time. Several of the children in the audience also laughed, and pointed towards Kurti, who looked down at them, grinned mischievously towards them, and waved his tail at them in a friendly manner. This only made the children laugh even louder, and suddenly Kurti let go of the roof of the tent, and performed a rather impressive summersault in mid-air, before landing gently in the lap of the little girl in the front row who had stroked him, mere minutes before. Unfortunately, this startled the surprised the little girl and she suddenly screamed in fright.
Margali's heart stopped momentarily, as she quickly raced towards where Kurti was staring up at the little girl in confusion. It was clear that her surprised scream had hurt his sensitive ears, and he did not understand her sudden change in attitude. Margali reached towards Kurti with her mind, to coax him and reassure him that there was nothing to be afraid of. Do not be distressed, dear one, she desperately tried to reason with him, you merely startled her, that is all, that is the only reason why she screamed.
Kurti looked up at Margali as she gently patted his head, and then he turned his attention back towards the little girl, who suddenly looked rather embarrassed. Kurti nuzzled the girl's hand uncertainly, and a moment later, she was once more stroking him and petting him. She quietly apologised to Kurti for her screaming, and Kurti merely purred in contentment as she tickled him under the chin. Margali let out a relieved sigh, and ever so gently, she used her telekinesis to lift Kurti out of the girl's hand and allowed him to float across the heads of the audience, who laughed and stared up at Kurti in wonder, clearly curious to know how such a trick was being performed. Margali smiled knowingly to herself, and wondered what the audience would think if they were to realise that she was performing real magic, rather than mere conjuring tricks. Of course, most would never suspect as much, they knew that there were many magicians within the circus, and believed that all of their talents were nothing more than trickery and illusion. It was best that they believed that, after all, sometimes the best place to hide was in plain sight.
Finally, Margali used her telekinesis to float Kurti back into her waiting embrace. Kurti giggled happily, clearly having enjoyed his performance immensely, even if he had been momentarily freighted by the little girl's screaming. Margali smiled in relief, and bowed to the audience, who began to throw flowers at them. Margali reached down and picked up a small pink rose from the floor, then bowed to the audience again. As she left the ring, Kurti still in her arms, she heard the crowd applauding and clapping enthusiastically. She stared down at Kurti proudly. "Do you hear that?" she said asked him quietly. "That's all for you. They're clapping because they were so impressed with your performance out there, I'm so proud of you!" She giggled when Kurti smiled up at her happily, and gave Kurti a wry smile. "You impressed them so much that even the best of our acrobats will have serious trouble impressing the crowd after they've seen what you can do." She stared back at the audience for a moment, before returning her attention back to Kurti once more. "Still, I was less than successful concerning the main purpose of this act, which was to try and find out something that might help me to find out about your parents," she admitted, "I'm beginning to think that no-one knows anything, even though, logically, I know that cannot be the truth."
She sighed quietly to herself, and then narrowed her eyes when she saw the boy who had managed to sneak into the Big Top and watch the performance without paying for it. She grinned menacingly, and then strode over towards him. She tapped him on the shoulder, and he turned around and stared at her, his eyes frightened, as she used her magic in order to look inside his mind. "Jacques," she said, folding her arms, "Jacques Alvo. I believe you were under the mistaken impression that you could get away with watching my show without paying for the honour, is that not correct?" she asked.
Jacques gulped. "What?" he asked. "How did you know my name?"
Margali leaned in close to him. "Oh, I know the names of all of those who choose to sneak in to watch my circus without paying," she told him.
Jacques gulped again, and he bit his lip nervously. "I-I..." he stuttered, but Margali interrupted him.
"Come with me. Do exactly what I say and I won't tell your parents," she said.
Jacques silently followed as Margali led him towards where Klaus was once more shovelling horse dung. Klaus looked up at Margali in confusion when he saw Jacques by her side. "Hello Klaus," said Margali, "I have found an assistant for you. I would like you to have a more supervisory role for the next hour or two."
Klaus looked at her in confusion. "I'm not sure that I understand," he admitted.
Margali grinned, and pointed towards the terrified Jacques. "This is Jacques Alvo," she said, "he was under the mistaken impression that he could get away with watching our show without paying for it; however you and I both know that all must contribute, if the circus is to run in an efficient manner. So I would like Jacques to earn his ticket, by shovelling dung, while you supervise him, and make sure that he works efficiently and effectively."
Klaus grinned, clearly liking this plan immensely. He handed his shovel over to the terrified and slightly confused Jacques. "Of course, Margali," he said enthusiastically, "I think I am going to enjoy my supervisory role."
Jacques had little choice but to shovel dung, under the watchful gaze of the rather smug Klaus, as Margali returned back to her caravan, and began preparing Kurti for bed. "How did it go?" asked Sabu, who had been watching Stefan and Jimaine while Margali and Kurti had been performing.
Margali shrugged. "The act?" she asked. "The crowd seemed to love Kurti, so that's good. But I was unable to find out anything about Kurti's parents, so that's bad.
Sabu nodded thoughtfully. "No matter," he said, putting a reassuring hand upon Margali's shoulder. "After all, there's always tomorrow."
