THE FIFTH
Stars peeked from a blanket of navy sky, trying to break through the ever-present wool of shadow haunting Winter’s heavens. Fred’s sleigh was packed; Zane, Apple, Timblewon, Wanda, Kilen, Mirkra and I had all wedged in. At first, Timblewon had insisted he shouldn’t come, that the white lions would sniff him out. But Apple had been persuasive; she’d powdered his hair dark with cocoa and insisted the chocolate scent would fool the lions. She’d fixed everyone else with robes and coats, and Zane and I with large, preposterous hats—fake apples and berries sewn together with ribbons.
Apple giggled and hooted the whole way, exchanging wild banter with Wanda whose cackling howl echoed to the sky. I found myself laughing, especially when Zane mimicked Wanda’s laugh twice as loud and her smile dropped.
The circus glowed below a radiant halo of stardust when we arrived, casting visions of gold waters across the underside of the dark clouds. Zane chucked Kilen out of the sleigh first, right into a heap of snow.
Sky-high tents bloomed up from the ground, heavy-drummed music boomed through the fabrics, and dancing elves entertained the crowds. Multicoloured, sparkling fires breathed up from glass barrels to light the paths through the circus, painting the air with turquoise, sour pink, and dusty orange.
“Ragnashuck, it’s like being under a rainbow sea!” Kilen gushed, flicking a bulb-ornament.
“You’ve never been to the circus before?” Timblewon’s cocoa-dyed brow arched.
“Never,” Kilen replied. “I haven’t travelled anywhere apart from my birth village, the old library, the factory, and that one time we all went to the Scarlet City and Cohen started yelling at the Ruby Legion, and then we had to fight for our lives. You remember that, right, Timbie?”
Timblewon made a face. “It’s hard to forget.” He shuddered, no doubt remembering the viper’s bite.
“Cohen wasn’t yelling at the Ruby Legion,” Mirkra corrected. “He was yelling at the frostbit Crimson King, the Red Princes, Asteroth Ryuu, a measure of other scotchy fellows, and the Ruby Legion.” Mirkra jabbed Zane with his elbow.
“By the sharpest wind, was there anyone you weren’t yelling at, Mr. Zane?” Apple murmured, and Wanda snorted a laugh.
We ventured onto a misty path, warm with the fires’ glow. The banter faded amidst the folds of chatter and music as we braved the metropolis of brilliantly coloured tents. I scanned the paths, the creatures, the jugglers, the musicians, the acrobats on round stages. But I looked at the shadowed corners too. My gaze travelled past open tent flaps, along narrow drapery alleys, and into the crevices of the stages most would ignore.
Apple appeared at my side with a wand of sticky bubbles—bright gold and glittering with sugar crystals. She handed it to me, keeping a metallic blue one for herself. She bit into it and blue crumbs tumbled down her chin and into the snow. “I do love this stuff. I wonder if I can make a bubblebaker-stuffed chocolate tray. It would be excellent for the village children.”