23. The Black Circus

Just as quickly as Brooke gained her freedom, she lost it. Brooke is now stuck with a baby and a princess who hates her.

It was the night that Yoko had cried when the ship halted. The ocean gurgled beneath the ship and then stilled. Brooke heard a wild orchestra of crickets and sea gulls; they made her feel antsy and uneasy. She sat up. Half of the elves continued to slumber while a few felt the abrupt jerk of the floor. The servant rocked her baby whispering hushes to him. Brooke heard tromping on the main deck and she scooted against the wall. Questioning murmurs arose from the elves. The hooded man unlocked the door, standing in the arch, and he said to the crowd, “We have arrived; please make a single filed line.” The elves exchanged glances with one another and obeyed. Princess Meredith stood in the back of the line. The hooded man arched a brow at Brooke. “You too, Human.”

          Brooke followed the line out of the hold and off the ship. As the elves walked, the hooded man snapped shackles around their wrists, except for her and the servant. She had won her freedom here in Desdemonia. Diagonal from her were the sidewalks to what appeared to be an urban community, or perhaps the market complex. In front of her was a black coated circus tent. It was large and Brooke heard the sound of excited screams. The screams didn’t sound anything human.

A creature about her height stepped out of the tent wearing a green cloak and once Brooke saw its face, she wished the creature would wear the hood too. Its head looked composed of corpse skin and she saw he had missing teeth when he smiled. The remaining ones were sharp and pointy like wooden spikes. The hooded man and the creature thing shook hands. The little elfin thief approached the creature and they shook hands. “How have you been, Ozark?” it rasped.  

          “Quite well, my good orc,” chirped the little elfin thief. He stepped aside and said, “Here they are, take your pick of the ones you want.”

The words made Brooke shiver. Elves weren’t animals and they shouldn’t be picked like chickens plump for using. This wasn’t right. Brooke wanted to say something, but should she? And what could she say? She knew elves had no freedom, but what about humans? Was she lucky to have the freedom she so called won?

          The elves squirmed, and they tried to back away, but the hooded man yanked the lead chain. He pulled them forward and the orc approached the elves, one by one. He rubbed his crooked fingers onto his chinless jaw. He hummed in thought and inspected them. He chose one female elf, laying his finger on her shoulder. She winced and looked to the hooded man with pleading eyes. The hooded man unshackled her and shoved her. She tried to run, but a blue elfin thief stopped her waving his club around. She screamed and returned to where the hooded man had her.

          The orc picked a skinny male elfin. He tripped when the hooded man shoved him towards the circus tent and the elfin male stood next to the female. The orc chose two more female and one more male. Finally, the orc stumbled onto the servant, cradling her baby. The orc hummed, looking the servant up and down. He laid his finger on Yoko. The hooded man approached the servant. “Hand him over,” he demanded. The servant’s eyes turned to sorrow. She hugged the baby close to her chest, her heart, and she stared at him as if he’d asked her to hand over a leg. The hooded man groaned. “Don’t make this harder than it has to be.”

The hooded man snatched Yoko away from the servant. Blue elfin thieves restrained the servant by her arms as she struggled, tears cascading down her cheeks. She fell onto her knees. “What are you doing, why are you taking him?” the woman cried, her fingers clawing the earth, reaching for the baby the hooded man took from her. “Please don’t do this!”

Brooke stepped forward. She couldn’t take this. She had to say something, do something, but the princess expressed it faster. “I implore you not to commit this, it’s too cruel!” she begged. “Don’t separate them please!”

The orc looked her up and down. “How dare you command me?” His ugly eyes squinted at her and then he smirked. “You are the princess, Daughter of King Victor and Queen Shahana.” Princess Meredith said nothing. “I can see the insignia of that worthless kingdom on your dress.” The orc laughed. “You have no power here in Desdemonia, Woman.”

“But how can you separate a child from its mother like this?” Yoko cried and the servant reached for him. Princess Meredith looked like she wanted to cry.

“Sir, please,” Brooke started. “I saved your lives, the least you can do is act with some form of decency.”

The orc turned his attention to Brooke and he approached her. He cupped her cheeks with his disgusting fingers and Brooke broke out into shivers. She attempted to back away as the orc smelled her, his breath stinking of rotten milk, his nose close to her nose. “You are valuable,” he said with a sinister smile. Brooke hated it. The orc faced Ozark. “May I purchase her?” Brooke snatched her jaw away and glared at him. 

Ozark rubbed his hands and his eyes ricocheted. “Uh, actually, no-” The orc’s snout crinkled and he gave the little elfin thief a look. “We promised her freedom because she saved us from a sea serpent that would have killed us all.”

“Hmmm, you are creatures of your word, huh?” the orc asked, but then said, “Until money comes into play.”

“How much are we talking?” Ozark asked too quickly. Brooke cleared her throat. “I mean, I can’t.”

“I’ll pay for her more than I’ll pay for the princess.” The orc’s voice lowered. “And that’s saying something, Honorable Thief.” As the little elfin thief shook his head, the orc pulled out what appeared to be a wad of cash. He threw it to the ground and the thief picked it up, caressing the paper. “There’s more where that came from.” The orc chuckled and pulled out what looked like a checkbook. He wrote in a number and showed it to the little elfin thief. His eyes widened and he sighed.

“I am sorry, dear,” apologized the elfin thief. Brooke gasped and then closed her mouth. She was in a land full of thieves after all. She didn’t expect anyone to take this much interest in her. Brooke arched her brow in suspicion as the hooded man directed Brooke to stand beside the chosen ones.

“Get over here, Princess,” commanded the orc. Meredith seemed nonplussed and the hooded man had to force her to move.

“Gimme him at least!” Princess Meredith took Yoko from the hooded man and he shrugged. As she rocked him, Yoko’s crying softened.

The orc clasped his hands together. “Well, that’s all I wanted, pleasure doing business with ya, Ozark.”

The two shook hands. Ozark took the check and hopped on the big creature thing. “The rest of ya will follow me into the Wilderness so that we may find the camp site.”

The servant cried and the blue elfin thieves forced her onward. She watched Yoko longingly. Brooke bit her bottom lip, and clenched her fists, feeling sad for the woman, but there was nothing she could do.

“Okay, into the tent!” The orc raised the flap, and waited for the elves to enter. The screaming increased and the smell of popcorn was thick. Brooke heard the play of a circus melody. They passed four ticket booths where more orcs worked them. Then, they entered the snack room. The orc picked up a chocolate bar and waved it in front of Meredith’s face. “Y’all don’t want nothing to eat?” She said nothing and continued to rock Yoko. His cries rose and the orc dug in his ear, flinging wax aside. Meredith grimaced. “Oh come on, lighten up, it’s a circus.” The orc laughed, unwrapped the chocolate bar, and bit the top off.

“Hey, you gonna pay for that, Grayer?” a female voice asked. It was a female orc with an ugly face and long black hair. She leaned on the glass counter, staring into a compact mirror, applying red lipstick to her lips. 

“Sure, the money’ll just come straight back to me, but you know that huh, Ferra?”

Ferra giggled and it sounded like she had a coal rock in her throat. “Just kidding, oh, hey this the new crew?” She peered at them and frowned for some reason.

“Yep.”

“Thought you liked the last ones?”

“They couldn’t entertain the audience right, so I fired them.” Ferra and Grayer shared a laugh, but the female elf began to cry. The skinny male elf looked like he wanted to cry as well.

“Wow, you got some pretty ones this time I see,” Ferra complemented. “Especially that one.” She pointed to Brooke.

Grayer nodded. “Yep, she was peculiar all right, so I paid extra for ‘er.” Ferra gawked at her. Peculiar? Exactly what was so peculiar about her? She didn’t understand this. She felt like an animal, a prized pig, or something. “The next show starts in five minutes I presume, see ya Ferra.” She nodded and leaned on the counter.

The elves and Brooke followed Grayer to the back of the tent. Four large cages sat there in front of them. Grayer opened them, pairing the elves in twos. He paired Meredith and Brooke together. “I want Yoko with me,” Meredith demanded. Brooke rolled her eyes. Her stubborn attitude was brave and all, but Brooke was tired, and her demanding things just wouldn’t do anything.

Grayer chewed the chocolate bar. He sucked on his fingers and replied, “No can do; I’ve paired him up with one of them other elves.”

Meredith glared at him. “I want Yoko with me.”

“Here, eat something, you’ll feel better.” Grayer pointed the half-eaten chocolate bar at Meredith. She spat in his face and he grabbed her throat, backing her onto the cage bars. Grayer bit off another piece and chewed it. Meredith gagged, but her eyes were still determined. Grayer swallowed and leaned close to her ear. “You have no rule here, got it?” Grayer shoved her and Yoko on the ground. Meredith embraced the baby as his cries rose, his face reddening. “But fine, keep the brat.”

Meredith coughed and rose. She followed Brooke into the cage. Grayer slammed the door and locked it shut. Brooke sat behind bars again. Great. She found a spot and laid down, emotionally drained. She wanted to sleep. Meredith continued to rock Yoko until he fell asleep exhausted from crying. When Brooke tried to sleep then, Meredith kept her awake with her crying.

 

Author's Note

Dear Reader,

This chapter is to put Brooke and Meredith together. Meredith is like a foil to Brooke if you notice as you read later on in the story. I hope that's the right term for it. Oh, and I hope you get a feel of who Meredith and how she is. She is stubborn, very kind, caring, but pretty tough.

Thanks for reading!

Sincerely JazzSoulKeke,

God bless