The Calm Before (Reign and Ruin novella) (5 page)

"There are
stories flying around Palet, the main rumor being a couple's spat.
Two crossed lovers fighting it out for the throne." He wrung his
heads mockingly and pulled the face of distress. "
If they could
only work it out, we would have peace! And they could rule
together
." He broke out laughing and swallowed the marble in
one smooth gulp. "You are really the golden couple to those who
don't know better."

"But you
do."

"I do," he
whispered. Shutting his eyes, he leaned back in the chair and drew
a great sigh. He ran his hands up and over his chest as the drugs
kicked in and the blood rushed to his brain. And at that point, the
crimson fabric of the wall was lifted up by Leof, pulling along
Lucan. Timothy followed obediently behind. The Ringmaster stirred
and opened his eyes. Upon seeing Leof, his face lit up with pupils
the size of the moon.

"Oh what
fun
! What an absolute hoot. A prize for me!" The Ringmaster
rose, teetering a bit, and began to circle Lucan. "Do you recall
when I last saw you?" Lucan clamped his mouth shut and watched the
Ringmaster stroke his the whip tenderly. "You were gearing up to be
quite the protégé. Cirrus had very high hopes," he said. "Too bad
they were so high you ended up ten feet off the ground."

Leof laughed
and Timothy joined in, but I doubt he understood why. I took in
Leof's pistol, Timothy's fists, the Ringmaster's whip. What I
wouldn't have given for something to help me fight back. I was
beginning to get really sick of being toyed with.

The Ringmaster
was delicately rubbing a marble along Lucan's lips. Lucan jammed
his teeth together and tensed his jaw, but the Ringmaster was
whispering soothing noises in his ear.

"Come now,
petal. Open up. It all feels so good, don't you know? We would all
have so much more fun." His teeth closed over Lucan's earlobe and
tugged gently.

I couldn't take
it anymore.

"So now what?"
I asked, standing up pointedly and opening my hands. The men turned
towards me and I saw Lucan raise his eyebrows. It was a warning,
probably a really sensible one. But I ignored it. "It's not the
first time I've been kidnapped. You must have a plan. Care to share
it?"

Leof glanced
uneasily at his boss. The Ringmaster's whip was unrolled and his
eyes were only for me as he idly dragged it through the hard packed
dirt floor. He casually tossed the marble back into the bowl where
it landed with a soft clack.

"Well, I could
turn you in for a sizable reward if I wanted." He flicked the end
of his whip with a sharp snap that made me flinch. "And I
desperately do want to. I want to turn you in, Maggie, for the
money; in addition, I would love to see the little bastard brother
Lucan put back in his place."

Leof gripped
the back of Lucan's neck and gave his cheek a little lick. I could
see the effort Lucan was making not to explode.

"And what about
Cirrus, Maggie? Something in those rumors must be true. Does he
hold a torch for you? For what he wants?" The Ringmaster sucked his
needle teeth and winked. "You cannot be so impervious to him,
either. But I don't think you know what you want. Yet."

We remained
silent, although I wanted to knock the pointy teeth out of his
jaw.

"However, I
have a new proposition for you." He flicked the tip of his whip
towards Leof. "Leof, please step over here for one second."

Leof slicked
back his hair and stepped around Lucan. The Ringmaster clapped him
on the shoulder and pinched his cheek.

"Did you know
he was my nephew?"

"No, I did
not," I said.

"Since his
father died, I've been looking after him. He's a good boy.
Absolutely insane, addicted to havoc. But all in all, a good
catch."

Leof rolled his
eyes and adjusted the pistol in his belt.

"So what? He
also held me at gun point and sliced a friend open," I replied
through gritted teeth. The Ringmaster waved it away.

"Business,
business. The world keeps turning round and people are killed and
bartered and made rich by business." He placed one hand on my
shoulder – it was clammy with sweat and heat, blood boiling under
his skin from the marble, but it still sent a shiver down my back.
"And now for my business. I brought you here, Maggie, because I
could turn you in. But I won't."

"You
won't?"

"You
won'
t?" Leof parroted, looking at his uncle like he was
crazy.

"No!" The
Ringmaster squeezed our shoulders gleefully. "I will not. I will
let you live and rule this great land. And you will marry my nephew
and he will rule you."

I think both
Leof and I were both too shocked to say anything. It was almost
laughable. Marry Leof? Marrying anyone seemed ridiculous, but marry
this guy? This cruel, ugly bounty hunter? Pass.

But before I
could protest Old Weasel Face piped up.

"I am not
marrying her!" Leof said angrily. He was backing away from both of
us, shaking his head determinedly. "She has tits like a little
boy."

"Woah, slow
down cowboy!" I replied before I knew what I was doing. "I don't
want to marry you either! And you can fuck right off, you're not
getting anywhere near my tits."

"Children, calm
down," the Ringmaster hushed. He turned to Leof. "You could be
King. Don't you want that for yourself?"

"What I want is
a woman who doesn't come with such a big mouth," he shot back.
Behind him, Lucan's face was growing redder and redder. Timothy was
watching the uproar with great interest and his grip on Lucan was
getting slack. "Think I want the soiled goods of someone like
Cirrus?"

"And what is
that supposed to mean?" I cried.

"He's one sick
fuck. And you're trying to push his whore –"

But before he
could finish, Lucan's fist lashed out and struck Leof viciously on
the back of the head. Leof barreled to the side and I heard a crack
as his forehead hit the sharp edge of the ornamental table. The
bowl of marbles tipped over and scattered across the table top, the
sandy floor and under furniture. As Leof's body slumped to the
ground and the room went still, all that could be heard was the
sound of rolling glass.

The Ringmaster
looked up and I quickly took a step back. His eyes were twin
infernos of fire, burning in the gas light, and before Lucan could
move Timothy lunged forward to wrap his torso in a gigantic bear
hug. Lucan struggled, fighting desperately against the grip, but
Timothy was as solid as a pillar of concrete.

The Ringmaster
pulled the whip through his hands slowly, his gaze scorching and
unwavering on Lucan pushing and twisting in Timothy's arms.

"Take him
outside," he said softly. It was too soft, like the calm before a
terrifying, death-defying storm. "A lesson needs to be taught for
boys who put their hand in the cookie jar." And with that Lucan was
pulled out of the red chamber and back through the dark room to the
ring.

My body was
made of stone for a few seconds. They had left me alone and I could
run. I knew that I could grab my backpack, discarded next to Leof,
and run back through the sands of the Wilds. But my brain wasn't
speaking to my limbs and I found myself staring blankly at a
particularly shiny cat's eye marble that had settled by my
heel.

But then I
heard a sharp crack in the distance and all at once my feet were
moving towards Leof before I could think. I had no time to close my
eyes, calm down, think this over. My hands reached to his belt – he
was still breathing – and pulled out the pistol.

Crack.

I moved quickly
through the middle chamber, the animals following me as I sped
thoughtlessly past. No one noticed as I broke back through the tarp
into the large performance ring.

Crack!

Lucan was on
his knees and I could already see the blood dripping softly down
his tanned skin and down the sides of his muscled calves. Timothy
stood a few feet away, biting his fist and rocking back and
forth.

The Ringmaster
had removed his red coat and top hat. His hair gleamed in the torch
light and glistening sweat had begun to gather on his brow as he
raised his arm and brought it down, expertly lashing his bull whip
across Lucan's torn back.

Crack!
Crack!

Lucan let out a
strangled cry and stiffened against his binds. None of them noticed
me raise the pistol. Until I cocked it backwards with an ominous
hammer click.

I had never
held a gun before. My mother was strictly anti-gun, but my uncle
had one in the house. It was stashed underneath the sink and every
time I got a glass of water, I faintly remembered it was there,
wrapped in a piece of greasy dish towel and loaded. At least, I
think it was loaded. Marty once got so high he convinced my uncle
to get it out. They ended up trying to shoot the rats in the street
below, but they couldn't see straight and left the gun beneath the
window. I kicked it under the rug because I couldn't stand to touch
it. And now here I was, shooting my own kind of rats out the
window.

The
Ringmaster's arm froze and when he turned around, his face was a
mask of fury. The blood had rushed to his face and sweat dripped
down onto his collar. He no longer looked terrifying, only ugly and
cruel and out of control.

But I was the
one with the gun.

"And when she
was good, she was very, very good," he breathed.

"And when she
was bad, she was horrid," I finished, regarding him evenly down the
nose of Leof's pistol. I was remarkably calm and centered. Or at
least I think I felt calm; perhaps it was just incredibly similar
to bat-shit crazy.

"This is not
how you gain followers here," he said.

"You know what
I've realized?" I laughed, "I've realized that unless I have one of
these –" My gun hand shook and the Ringmaster took a cautious step
back. "– no one is going to follow me anywhere. I'm better off
alone."

"You will never
be alone in Palet," he said.

"I am always
alone." My voice came out in a grim whisper like the rustling of
dry leaves. I straightened my arm and looked down the barrel of the
gun. It was surprisingly easy to envision myself pulling the
trigger and releasing the burning, gray bullet into the air. It
didn't scare me at the time. But it should have. I didn't think
what it meant for my soul. What it was doing to my heart . . .

"You will let
Lucan go and you will allow us to leave," I said. "There will be no
marriage today." The Ringmaster's mouth twisted up over his sharp
teeth, emitting a low growl, and I saw his fingers tighten around
his whip. "And if you want a bullet in your skull, keep
grinning."

Timothy was
staring at the gun like it was the one thing he could understand;
there was no help coming from him.

"You have so
much courage now," the Ringmaster purred. "But I remember how you
quailed at the sound of my boots. Will you have the courage now to
kill a man?"

"Want to find
out?" I took a step forward to illustrate my point, but the
Ringmaster only shook his head pityingly.

"He's not worth
it, you know. A coward through and through. He wouldn't kill for
you." He smiled. "It's the real measure of a man, that. The
ultimate sacrifice."

Those words
would forever follow me. I did not know it then, but they would,
like an ancient, gypsy curse. And I am truly sorry for that, but
how was I to know? If I had, perhaps I could have said something,
something that would make the declaration untrue. But it hung in
the air like perfume, clinging to my clothes and seeping into my
skin . . .

The Ringmaster
made to walk away and my arm relaxed, but with the sound of a cat
he turned on his heel and reared forwards towards me. His arm
flashed and I reeled back from the whip approaching my face like in
slow motion. I squeezed my eyes shut tightly and saw fireworks, red
and blue stars exploding in the black.

And my body was
suddenly thrust backwards, shaking with a force like a locomotive
and sending vibrations down my limbs that made my teeth rattle. My
ass hit the ground and the air burst out of my body from the
impact. My hand was suddenly extremely hot and I dropped the pistol
to the ground with a cry.

My ears rang
with a loud, pulsating hum. The light swirled the images around my
vision like a kaleidoscope but as my eyes adjusted, I saw the small
wisps of smoke rising from the mouth of my dropped pistol. Raising
my hand to my face, my fingers felt along my unmarred cheek. The
whip must have missed.

I numbly lolled
my head around and saw the Ringmaster standing where I had left
him. His whip hung limp in his hands.

It didn't take
long for it to register. As his eyes rolled into his head and his
tall body made the long fall to the ground, I realized that the
bullet had left the pistol and hit his stomach. Or chest. I hadn't
had a chance to look closely before he fell, but I was definitely
the one who put it there. My hand had pulled the trigger and I had
killed him.

I killed
him.

I must have sat
there for a full minute, maybe more, just watching the sand soak up
the blood. A bit had splattered across my white top and I thought I
felt a wetness on my neck, but I wasn't going to touch it in case
my fingers came away red.

"I hate to ask
this, because it sounds so damn insensitive, but it would be real
useful to have you untie my hands from this pole."

I stood up
clumsily and staggered over to Lucan. Timothy was still rocking
back and forth, his hands covering his ears from the gun blast. As
the ties fell from his wrists, Lucan rose and surveyed the
ring.

"Seems like
you're always untying me from compromising positions," he murmured
under his breath. I nodded blankly. Lucan walked quickly over to
the where I had fallen and picked up the discarded pistol. He eyed
me as his fingers counted the shots. "You ok?"