Ellis
didn't know what to do. He was in an
intolerable situation: become the plaything of a debauched and wicked merchant,
an attraction for the wealthy and privileged of Searingsands, either locked in
a well-secured cage or under the watchful supervision of a skilled and
dangerous woman. He was just a boy from
an English market town, one who had never been very athletic, who had relied on
a mostly put-on attitude to get through the difficult years and who had come
out of it unsure of who he was. That
uncertainty had only grown stronger since he had arrived in Shadow, stripped of
all of that fake mystery, to be thrown from one dangerous situation to another,
always at the mercy of his enemies and relying on the strength and cunning of
his allies. He had none of his own, and
yet now he was alone, humiliated and degraded: more a thing than a person. He didn't know what to do.
These were the
thoughts that flooded his mind as Nadiyya hauled him out of the pavilion and
across the plaza, her strength more than enough to keep him from running, even
if he had had the energy, even if he had had a plan.
"The
booth should already be set up for you," Nadiyya said as she led him
across the plaza towards a large cleared area before a small, painted wooden
box.
As they drew
near he was able to see that it was covered in crude imagery of blue skies,
clouds, mountains and what Ellis assumed was the idea the citizens of Shadow
had of what a city on earth might look like.
It was wildly fantastical, completely implausible and gaudily coloured
in shades of pink, blue and yellow. It
looked like something out of a children's cartoon.
The front of
the box had a sort of hatch cut out of it, whilst at the back there was a door
with an enormous lock attached. Nadiyya
led him around to this, unlocked the door with one of the many keys she seemed
to carry on her person and then shoved him inside before locking the door once
more. Even with the hatch open it was
dark and tightly confined, making Ellis feel suddenly very claustrophobic. There wasn't enough room for him to sit and
nowhere to do so even if there had been, so he was forced to stand, turning
around so that he could lean partway out of the hatch - the only comfort he
could find, and exactly what a good little attraction ought to do.
"I will
be here," Nadiyya said, standing to one side of the hatch and eyeing him
suspiciously, "so do not try anything."
"Yeah,
I'd really hate to ruin your job security," Ellis replied, trying to sound
more confident than he really felt, but he feared that Nadiyya saw straight
through his act.
They waited
for some time. Nadiyya stood in
silence, back straight, eyes watchful, whilst Ellis tried to find a more
comfortable way to lean on the hatch, failing with frustrating consistency and
feeling increasingly nervous. He really
didn't know what to expect from the
rest of the evening and the worry of it gnawed at him.
Eventually
there was a sudden bustle of noise as
the circus audience erupted from the pavilion and began to flood out
into the plaza. Some of them went their
own way, drifting off into the city, but the majority began to make their way
over to Ellis' little booth, many with money already in hand. Weaving his way to the front of the crowd, saying the occasionally quick word to
one person or another as they tried to congratulate him, was Kerring. He had a broad, slimy grin plastered across
his face. Just the sight of him made
Ellis feel sick.
"Ah,
good," he said as he came to a halt in front of Ellis, blocking his view
of the crowd with his enormous girth, "the princess 'ere 'as settled you
in, right an' cosy, like."
"Five
star," Ellis replied and Kerring frowned, then leaned in close so Ellis
could smell the reek of his breath once again.
"Be
careful of that mouth o' yours, boy.
You say anythin' I don't like the sound of this evenin' an' you'll be
paid back tenfold once the crowds are gone.
Do you understand me?"
Ellis
swallowed, then nodded.
"Good, good. Now stay there an' be quiet whilst I give
these fine payin' customers a little patter to whet their 'owlin'
appetites."
Kerring turned around to face
the crowd, giving Ellis a delightful view of his enormous back and sweat-soaked
shirt.
“So, Ladies an’ Gentlemen, this
is the part you’ve all been waiting for, I ‘ope! Your chance to see an’ to speak to the latest wonder of this
world, somethin’ not from this world at all, somethin’ unique in all of
Shadow. For just a small contribution
you can introduce yourself to a marvel.
Ladies an’ Gentlemen, I give you Ellis, the boy from the other world!”
He stepped aside with a
flourish and Ellis was suddenly confronted with a vast, seething crowd of
customers, waving their money and calling out to him. A small group of the heavies Kerring had been using as porters
held them back about ten feet from the booth.
“One at a time, now,” Kerring
said, his rough voice cutting through the commotion, “who’s first? Ah, you Sir!”
He stepped forward, chose a
gentleman wearing a morning suit and a garish turban and gestured for him to
pass the porters and approach the booth.
“An’ ‘ow much will you be
donatin’ to ensure poor Ellis’ welfare, Mr…?”
“I am the Shahzada Navid
El-Amin, Mr. Kerring,” the gentleman replied with disdain, “and as for a
‘donation’, you might as well just say how much you want so that I can get on
and ask my questions.”
“Straight to the point,”
Kerring replied, “an’ business-like about it.
A man after my own, dear ‘eart.
‘Ow does three ‘undred sigloi sound?”
“Extortionate,” the Shahzada
replied, but he handed over the money nonetheless, “now, are you going to let
me through?”
“Of course, sir, of course.”
Kerring stood aside and let the
arrogant noble approach the booth, turning to the next person in the queue
almost immediately to negotiate another transaction.
“So you are the boy from the
other world, then?” El-Amin said as he came to a halt a couple of feet away
from the booth, giving Nadiyya a brief, dismissive glance and then eyeing Ellis
with deep suspicion and, Ellis suspected, disappointment.
“Apparently,” Ellis replied,
unsure what he should really be saying at this point. If he told the truth, explained that he had been kidnapped, would
this man be able to help him? A glance
at the Shahzada’s cold, disinterested eyes told him all he needed to know. He probably wouldn’t believe the accusations
of a circus freak, but even if he did, he wouldn’t see it as any of his
business.
“I admit I had heard rumours of
you for some time now, but I wasn’t sure if I believed any of them.”
“Do you now?”
“I’m still undecided. Tell me something of your world and perhaps
I’ll hear the truth, or the lie, of it.”
Ellis wasn’t entirely sure how
to answer that. He tried to think of
the really obvious differences between Shadow and Earth, but most of those were
things everyone in Shadow knew already, like the colour of the sky. He started with it anyway.
“Well, the sky is blue, rather
than green for a start and-”
“Is that the best he could
train you with?” the Shahzada interrupted with disgust.
“And, in fact, much of
the time, where I as from anyway, it was more of a pale grey colour from all
the clouds raining on us all the time.
Unlike Shadow my world is made up of lots of different cities and very
few of them have got close enough to each other to blur the municipal
lines. We are both much more
technologically advanced, thanks to the invention of the jet engine, the rocket
and the computer and yet also incapable of doing a great many things that folk
in Shadow would consider quite simple thanks to the wonders of Hypostatick
Philosophy. We have never discovered
hypostatick energy on my world, nor do we have any way to manipulate it, to my
knowledge.”
The Shahzada looked thoughtful
for a moment and Ellis paused, wondering how he would respond, but before he
could say anything else Nadiyya pushed him aside and the next customer was
waiting to ask her questions.
Ellis started much the same way
as before, received similar disbelief and continued with further details which
began to shake that disbelief just enough for the customer to look confused by
the time the next person was ready to take their place. This continued, customer after customer, for
some time, with each conversation lasting little more than a minute or
two. Somewhere, beyond the porters,
Ellis got the feeling that the crowd was growing restless. They seemed either impatient to get their
turn or angered by the brevity of a turn already passed.
For himself, however, Ellis
just found it wearying, saying the same things over and over again, getting the
same responses and always being examined (and occasionally pawed over) as if he
were a piece of merchandise. It was
humiliating and he just wanted it to end, but the size of the crowd and his understanding
of Kerring’s greed made him wonder just how long the night could get.
And then, quite suddenly, a
trumpet sounded, and it was all over, just like that. The crowd fell silent, almost eerily so. Kerring’s wicked grin slipped a little as
his eyes, along with the heads of all the crowd, turned to the source of the
noise. Nadiyya’s posture shifted
slightly, from watchful attentiveness to a tense, violent readiness.
“Make way for the Khan of all
Searingsands,” came a voice from the far end of the crowd, followed by another
blast from the trumpet, “make way!”
The crowd parted like the Red
Sea in one of those old biblical epics and, at the far side of this aisle of
sudden deference. there marched a tall, slender man of tanned skin wearing
cloth of gold robes and an enormous, ornate, sculpted gold headdress which
could almost have been described as a crown.
He strode confidently despite the wrinkles on his face and his mottled,
leathery skin, which became apparent to Ellis as he approached. A little behind him and to his left strode a
young woman with long silky black hair and a dress which left very little to
the imagination. Forming a cloud all
around these two figures were heralds, trumpeters, guards and servants, all in
the Khan’s rich golden livery. They
made quite an impressive sight, but more impressive still, to Ellis’ tired
eyes, were the two, somewhat more shabby figures following immediately behind
them.
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