The Fiends arrived back at the staging area of the tent exactly 30 minutes before showtime, and Rallie noticed a sharp spike in anxiety when they appeared out of nowhere. Normally before each show, she’d get a bit nervous when she saw the crowd start to fill the stands. Tonight was no exception in this regard, but the racing heart that the Fiends caused her was incomparable. She had always felt proud of her power after becoming a Lesser Fiend, but until now, she had never really understood just how ‘lesser’ she was. It was irritating.
Thankfully, the Fiends For Hire just sat around quietly until the start. Rallie never even got a chance to talk to them, since Prep, the showrunner for the circus, was talking them through the flow of the entire performance and gave them their cues.
Finally, it reached that time, and the woman walked out into the main area of the tent. The moment the spotlight hit her, her performer mode activated. All anxiety and nervousness was gone. She was no longer just Rallie, a girl with a life of problems and burdens she was carrying. She was now the ringmaster, and her only purpose was to put on the show of a lifetime. Rallie spun her cane, and the head turned into a microphone. She raised it to her face and took a deep breath.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to welcome you to tonight’s show!” the ringmaster addressed the crowd. It was indeed a full house, just as Croak had said. There had never been so many eyes on her, and they all fueled her energy. She gave her usual spiel filled with words like ‘miraculous spectacles’ to pump up the crowd, never really understanding why it garnered such a reaction. Often, she’d fantasize about going out there and saying random zjik but in the same tone of voice, and see if there was even a change in reaction.
Finally, she reached the part about the special guests. The reaction from the crowd was phenomenal, annoyingly so, as their volume tripled what it had been so far. We may not be as revered as you Fiends, but we’ll use the fame from tonight's show to grow and conquer! Soon, we’ll be so widespread that even you will be jealous of the attention we can muster. So thank you in advance for your willingness to be used!
The show began, and the arena was filled with movement. It started with a lot of choreographed dancing, along with gymnastics, accompanied by a bit of magic and special effects. The crowd was clearly drawn in, and they became even more enthralled as the show progressed to the more specific tricks. Finally, it came time to introduce the first of the Fiend acts.
“Up next, we have a special performance by Kada Susten!” Lights rose up on a tall pole, centering on Susten who was standing on a diving board. “She’s an up-and-coming Fiend, rapidly gaining popularity under her alias as The Mermaid. Some say she’s called that because of her Curse and incredible swimming ability, but we know the truth don’t we fellas? With that attire, she’s definitely bewitching the hearts of men!”
“Tonight, she’ll be performing a diving act. Though this isn’t the normal act you’d see at a regular circus. No, she won’t just be diving into a small pool from a tall height. She’ll be diving into a pool fraught with perils!” Another spotlight shined on a small pool below, no larger than what a child would play in at their home. However, this pool was filled with unpleasantries.
“That’s right, one dip in that pool would send a normal person to their grave. It’s filled with spikes, needles, bamboo shoots, and small plastic toys; clearly the most dangerous thing to land on! Let’s see her prove her mettle, and watch as she comes out without even a scrape!”
Susten walked toward the edge of the board and took a diver’s pose. Music started building suspense, and she was waiting for her cue on a particular beat. When that beat came though, Susten slipped. One of her feet went completely under the other, and she fell off the side of the board. Kada went hurtling to the ground but managed to reorient herself in midair back into diving.
However, her trajectory was off, and she hit the ground about a foot away from the pool. The Mermaid submerged completely as the crowd gasped and was met with roaring cheers when she shot back out of the ground a bit further away. She missed!? How could she miss?! Rallie screamed in her head. Oh well, the audience loved it anyways. Hopefully the others will go a little more within expectations.
The ringmaster noticed that her grip on her cane had tightened immensely, so she loosened it. This annoyance was due to something going awry. She hated it when things went off script, even though it worked out in the end. It’d likely bother her for weeks to come. There was an added level of annoyance since Susten’s act was the least likely to fail, and since that one was met with complications, it heavily increased her worries for the rest. Rallie cleared her head and introduced the next act. The parts showcasing the Fiends were spaced throughout the night, not wanting to waste them all in one chunk.
“Tonight, our jugglers are joined by Xard Randex,” the ringmaster started Xard’s presentation. “Only made a Fiend earlier this year, this hot-head has exploded onto the scene, and has since earned the name of The Artillery! He can shield you with any part of his body or blow you away with a single flick of his wrist. With him on your side, you've got nothing to fear, but how will he handle attacks from every side?!”
Randex was standing on the ground with four jugglers, one on each side of him. The idea was that they were going to juggle around him, and he just had to stay perfectly still as things got close, and if possible, ham up how risky it was. The jugglers started with balls and would slowly work their way up to more dangerous objects.
The balls went flying, and soon there was a swarm of them buzzing around Xard, at least fifty in total. They were getting quite close to him, some just narrowly grazing the hairs on his body. It was obvious that he was having a tough time keeping up, his eyes darting all over the place, trying to keep track of every ball. This was exactly the reaction Rallie had been hoping for; genuine panic and unease. It would make the show that much more entertaining.
But then the ringmaster was caught off-guard—another unexpected predicament. Randex had caught a few of the balls, and started juggling them on his own. She had no idea he could juggle, but it wasn’t exactly unexpected. The information she had been able to dig up on him showed that he had a bit of a hidden performer side. It was likely that the spotlight was enhancing those inhibitions. If the Fiend business didn’t work out for him, Rallie wouldn’t be surprised if he came knocking on her tent.
The balls started being phased out to juggling pins, and The Artillery seemed a bit more phased then before. No doubt the heavier and more blunt objects would cause more stress. Of course, he could just use his Curse as complete protection from any incoming hits, not that any of them would actually hit him. Her jugglers were professionals, and their accuracy was everything to them. If one of them messed up, Rallie wouldn’t even have to scold them. There’s nothing she could say to them that would be more effective then what they would already be thinking.
Again, he acted off script. Randex tossed his balls aside and grabbed a few pins. The ringmaster had to give him credit. He was pretty good for an amateur. However, no matter how good he was, only a professional with years of training would be able to handle what was to come. Up next was bowling balls. Regular jugglers wouldn’t be able to handle these unless they were modified in some way. It’d be too much strain on their wrists. Lessers could take it, though, and exceed beyond the normal limits.
There were only about twenty bowling balls flying around, but that was more than enough to be dangerous. A normal person would get a severe concussion or a few broken bones if they were hit by one at the speeds they were going. Rallie was certain there was no way Randex would be able to juggle them properly at his level. She was right, but no less surprised.
The Artillery had grabbed one of the balls as she assumed he would, but instead of attempting to juggle it, he flung it up into the air. He grabbed two more balls and did the same. Then, he began spinning around in a circle. When one of the bowling balls would come back down to him, he wouldn’t catch it. Instead he’d get his hand on the side of it and spin it back into the air. It definitely wasn’t the traditional form of juggling, but still counted in a technical sense. Rallie’s jaw dropped a little, his ability to think and adapt on the fly was incredible.
When the bowling balls started getting phased out, the redhead launched all three of his into the air, then flicked his fingers at them. All three balls split into perfectly equal halves, then thumped to the ground next to his feet. Lit torches were next, but The Artillery didn’t even attempt to catch them, and he was clearly wary of the fire getting too close and potentially singeing his skin. Instead, once they’d been going a while, he began shooting at them. One by one, the torches were snuffed out until all that remained were a bunch of wooden sticks flying through the air.
Next, the real danger began. The jugglers pulled out large throwing knives. Like before, they all got extremely close to Randex, a stray hair even being cut off as one just barely grazed his skin without leaving a scratch. Then the dozen knives were gone from the jugglers’ hands, leaving each performer just as baffled as Rallie in regards to what they were witnessing. Every knife was now high in the hair, spinning as they bobbed up and down.
Randex was using his Curse to hit the hilts of the knives. They were perfectly balanced to spin, so the blades were acting as they should, but in Rallie’s mind it simply shouldn’t be possible. The amount of precision and mental calculation to apply just the right amount of force, along with the level of awareness to focus on each knife shouldn’t be possible for anyone, even a Fiend. The ringmaster lost herself for a moment. This was so out of her expectations that she felt she needed to sit down to process it.
Then came the finale, chainsaws. Like with the knives, there were a dozen chainsaws dancing around The Artillery, but he didn’t seem to care. He was too focused on keeping the knives afloat to even register the rampaging tools of death around him. This can still be recovered, as long as the ending goes as planned. Rallie gripped her cane tighter in anticipation.
The idea was to have one of the chainsaw’s suddenly go flying at Randex to give the audience a bit of a scare. He was on a trap door, so he’d fall through at the same time. A red and golden mist would spray up as well to add effect and tension. They weren’t sure whether they should focus on realism or not with his blood, so they just went with both colors.
Rallie’s grand plan never came to pass, however. Before the chainsaw could be thrown at him, Randex launched himself into the air, rising above his knives. He did a flip so he was facing the ground, then blasted off 12 shots from his fingers. Each one hit a still flying knife, propelling them downard. Every knife hit the base of a chainsaw directly, driving them all into the floor.
Oi, kid, do you know how much of a pain it’s going to be to replace all that?! With the ringmaster’s ability for rational thought currently limited, this was the only thing she could bring herself to worry about. She didn’t know if she wanted to murder him or beg him to join. Once more, the act had completely gone off the rails. Once more, Rallie was the only one who seemed to care since the audience lauded the spectacle. She had to practically pry her fingers off her cane from being gripped so tightly so that she could move on with her duties.
A little after the halfway point in the show, it came time for Phon Drazah’s performance. “Tonight on the trapeze, joining our world-renowned acrobats in her flying debut is Phon Drazah! Better known as The Vixen, known by all as the most dangerous woman in the world, with the most famous face. Whether you’re terrified of it, think it’s cute, or are just curious what it would look like if she actually smiled for once, you know it’s a face you can’t take your eyes off of. What kind of face will she make tonight as she’s soaring through the air?!”
Spotlights rose to the top of the tent where Phon Drazah stood elegantly on a tightrope. Her balance was so perfect that it looked like she was on solid ground. Rallie was already fed-up with surprises tonight, but at least this one was at the calmer end. She had expected Drazah to be dangling from the rope rather than standing on it in the beginning, but her having unnaturally good balance wasn’t out of the realm of probability, and it shouldn’t affect the performance.
Two acrobats swung in from either side, and did a few flips and tricks around the young woman. After a few passes, Drazah took a step back and started falling straight down from the rope. The floor had been decorated to look like a pit of lava beneath her. Obviously, it was just effects, but it did appear rather convincing. Beneath the fake lava was a safety net for precaution’s sake.
One of the acrobats grabbed Phon Drazah’s hand just before she was out of reach and they kept flying together. On the swing back, the acrobat tossed her, and she was caught by the other. Dramatic music began to play as they treated her like a ball, passing her back and forth. This continued for a while, as the performers got more and more daring with their throws.
Eventually, the two acrobats met in the middle, and using their momentum, they lifted Drazah up high, then tossed her up in the air even further. They both swung away, leaving her alone in the open space. Then, they both spun on their trapeze, so they were dangling by their feet. Both went flying full speed back at her, with their arms held out. It was a contest of who could reach her first, but neither of them did. Phon Drazah fell too fast, slipping between the two of them. Rallie smiled. Finally, something was going as planned, but it didn’t last.
Just before she would have plummeted into the fake lava, The VIzen put her hands to her eyes and vanished. She reappeared back up in the air, standing on the soles of one of the acrobat’s feet. The two performers were clearly surprised by this event as well, unsure of how to proceed and just swung back and forth for a moment. Then, they resumed their routine, hoping that everything would work out in the end.
Drazah wrapped her ribbon around her eyes then jumped off one acrobat and vanished, appearing on the other. She started out teleporting between the two of them, but then focused on just one. The woman began walking around him, using the arc of his body as he swung to stay upright. Then she teleported herself underneath him, rapidly re-teleporting in order to stay in place and fight gravity. She casually walked around him in a full circle, from head to toe and back again.
Next, she started traversing between the two acrobats. Any time they would pass each other, she would walk from one to the other. When she got more confident, The Vixen began hopping a bit to match the music. Rallie would have to give her acrobats a raise, still able to perform flawlessly with this absurdity weighing them down.
While standing on one of the acrobats, Phon Drazah raised her arms. She then crossed them rapidly. The two performers switched places, swapping to each other's trapeze. She then jumped into the air just before they crossed, swapped them, and landed on the other. After performing a few more similar stunts, she jumped back down onto the tightrope.
The ringmaster prayed that this meant she was done, hoping Drazah had gotten bored and they could move on with the show. Then Rallie’s world shifted around her. The next thing she knew, she was up high, standing on the tightrope as well. She was in Phon Drazah’s arms. Otherwise, she would have immediately lost balance from the transition and fallen. “Just what are you—”
Before Rallie could question what The Vixen was planning, she had been thrown into the air. One of the acrobats caught her, and Rallie felt immediate relief. At least she was out of the hands of that psychopath. Then, the acrobat tossed her, and she was caught by the other. Now, the ringmaster found herself stuck in the exact same routine Drazah had participated in earlier, being tossed around like a rag doll.
“Just how much did she pay you to do this?! Get me down now and I’ll give you whatever you want!” The circus leader tried to coerce her employees, but it was to no avail. The routine proceeded, and Rallie just had to accept her fate. Then the moment came where she’d be tossed up in the air and the two would try to catch her. Surely they wouldn’t actually let me fall, right?!
However, neither of them swung back for her, not even making the attempt. Instead, they stood on their perches as they watched her plummet. Drazah grabbed her by her coat when the two were close. It was a rough snag, but better than falling the whole way. Perhaps she’d been wrong about Phon Drazah. No doubt she was certainly still a psychopath, but at least she wasn’t overly cruel. This feeling of hope was immediately dashed when The Vizen flashed a diabolic grin at her.
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Drazah jumped off the tightrope, dragging Rallie down with her. She then positioned the two of them so Rallie was on the bottom, looking like Drazah was trying to kill her. Maybe she was. At this speed… the net… oh no! The ringmaster went into full panic and helplessness overtook her. She closed her eyes and prayed to Cosmos, and any other deity that would listen. Then she felt solid ground beneath her. She opened her eyes, finding herself on one of the platforms connecting the tightrope with The Vixen standing on the other.
Drazah gestured her head, looking down at the crowd. Rallie stood up, and they both gave a bow as the crowd roared with cheers. A minute later, the ringmaster was back down on the ground, grateful to no longer be at Drazah’s mercy, but she wouldn’t have minded if the applause went on a while longer. Honestly, Rallie just wanted to lie down and cry, but knew she had to make it through the show.
The psychopath’s brother was the only Fiend performance left, and Rallie honestly didn’t feel good about it at all. From the get-go, it was the most unpredictable. Since it involved forces she couldn’t fully control, it was a crapshoot as to what the ending would be. Though it was the final act of the night, so it was alright if it went completely off the rails a bit.
Finally, it came, the grand finale. The ringmaster could only sigh internally with a fake smile plastered on her face as a large cage was rolled into the ring. Everyone immediately cleared out from the floor as roars rumbled from the sealed cage. No one could see what creature was inside, but it was terrifying the audience.
After the entire floor had been cleared, green petals began falling from the sky. The ringmaster took this as her cue to start the introduction, which was a bit awkward since she too was in the stands. “Ladies and gentlemen, I want to thank you all for sticking with us tonight. It’s been exciting, hasn’t it? Full of twists and surprises even I didn’t expect. I hope you’ve enjoyed your time, and I hope you will remember us in the future.”
“But before we go, we have one final performance. Though to call it a performance is wildly inaccurate. What you’re about to see before you is real. There are no tricks, no illusions, and no safety measures. I’m sure you haven’t forgotten, but there are four Fiends in the Fiends for Hire, well at least those who visited tonight. Drim Drazah, The Slayer, the most publically contested man in recent history.”
“Some see him as a hero. The savior that stopped the world from destruction by killing his own mother, and then went on to save us time and time again by stopping the monsters she created. Then there are just as many who see him as a villain, no better than his mother, or the monsters he kills. They know he is scheming something, and this is undeniably true. The world waits to see what he’ll do next.”
“But right now he is here before you, at his most vulnerable!” The falling petals shifted toward the center of the ring. They spun up into a tornado, then all vanished at once. Drim Drazah was left standing in front of the cage, almost completely bare. He was shirtless and wasn’t wearing shoes. All he had on was a pair of shorts and a detached hood to cover his distortion-inducing hair. There were quite a few gasps in the stands, as a highly contagious case of the vapors rapidly spread through a good portion of the female audience, along with a few men as they stared at his physique.
“This stage is no longer a circus. Where we are now is an arena, make no mistake. Now, I’d like you all to meet his opponent!” Rallie pulled a remote out of her coat and pressed a button. The sides of the cage collapsed, revealing the hidden monster for all to see. It was still chained, so the fight hadn’t begun, but the crowd was losing their minds regardless. “That’s right, a Polar Lion, straight from the icy mountains of hell itself! Let’s see if Drim Drazah can avoid getting frostbite!”
It had the head and tail of a lion with the body and build of a polar bear. The monster’s most noticeable and unique factor was its mane. First of all, it was surprising that despite being female it had a mane to begin with, but that wasn’t the important part. Instead of fur, it was composed entirely of sharp icicles. This was actually their trained and tamed Polar Lion that they’d had since the circus began. One of the first Lessers that joined up was a self-proclaimed monster tamer, and the Polar Lion came with him. Her name was Igloo, and she was honestly just a big fluffy sweetheart who wouldn’t hurt a fly.
However, in a bit of a change for tonight, like everyone else here, Igloo was going to perform. She was to play the part of the ferocious beast. They knew she had it in her, having tackled monsters on her own that would get in the way of the troupe's caravan. She had never fought a human, though, so they hoped she would be alright. They actually hadn’t fed her yet today, to help her get properly motivated. Rallie felt bad, promising her a huge meal after if she did well, though she wasn’t sure if a proper understanding had been made.
On cue, Igloo roared, and her icicle mane flared around her. No matter the monster’s disposition, she would make any normal person wet their pants if they got that close. Just as the stories would imply, Drim Drazah stood there, unflinching when faced with the best. “Tonight, these two will clash, but there’s a twist! You could see The Slayer fight a monster just about anywhere. Simply search for it online and you’ll find a hundred videos. We want to show you something you can only see here. Drim Drazah has agreed to our demands as a chance to prove his valor.”
“Right now, in front of you all, he will fight this raging beast, but he will do so only with what Cosmos gave him. There will be no weapons, and he won’t use his Curse. It will be a pure fight of man versus monster. Which one will come out on top and reign as the true King of Beasts?!” The ringmaster pressed another button, releasing the monster’s chains.
Igloo didn’t waste a moment and immediately charged at her opponent. She pounced at him, brandishing her claws and fangs. Naturally, Drazah dodged. As skilled as he was, at least this much was to be expected. He jumped backwards, sliding on his feet, touching his fingertips to the ground to keep balance. Then, he charged right back at the beast. If anyone else in the world tried this, Rallie could only consider them foolish.
The monster seemed taken aback by the sudden advancement and flinched when Drazah got close. Unexpectedly, he didn’t strike at her, but instead leapt over her entire body in a single bound. The Slayer then grabbed her tail and tugged. Igloo let out a yelp, and spun around, swiping her claws at him. Drazah spun around the other side of her, then slid under her legs, pulling her tail with him. He tugged hard again, and impossibly, Igloo’s entire body was flipped, landing her on her back.
Drim Drazah gave a triumphant bow to the audience, but it wasn’t over yet. The monster wriggled on her back for a second like a turtle until she was able to get properly upright. Igloo’s fury was obvious as she crept up behind Drazah while he was bowing. She opened her mouth wide, then lunged her head forward, trying to take a chomp out of him. Drazah reflexively spun around and shot out his arms, grabbing onto her mouth, stopping her in her tracks.
Igloo’s breath flowed onto her enemy, their faces just an inch away. Rallie couldn’t even imagine how terrified she’d be if she was in his position, a hair away from being a snack. This didn’t even phase Drazah, however, and he started pushing back. He forced the monster’s head to shove up into her neck, then her whole body started to move backwards. Igloo tried to stop it by digging her claws into the floor, but it was no use.
Drazah continued to push her, almost halfway across the entire arena. But then he stopped suddenly, and Igloo immediately tried another chomp once her mouth was free. The Slayer dodged again, this time jumping into the air and onto Igloo’s back. He wrapped his arms around her neck, and Rallie feared the worst. No, is he going to snap her neck?! Can I stop this?! The audience was just as antsy as her, all of them leaning forward in their seats.
None of them were prepared for what happened next, as the entire tent was filled with an unmistakable, heavy purring. Drim Drazah had begun petting Igloo, scratching her behind her ears and all over her face. No way?! How could he know that’s her favorite spot? The purring intensified, and soon the monster was putty in Drazah’s hands. She laid down, and was clearly at peace. Her face went sleepy, unable to resist at all.
Drazah climbed off of her and began petting her side. Igloo then rolled over, exposing her belly to him. In the feline kingdom, this was an irrefutable sign of complete trust and submission, one Igloo had never done for anyone, not even her tamer. Drazah scratched her belly, and her body went crazy. Every limb was shaking, and her head was bouncing around so much it looked like she was having a spasm. It was hard to hear, but Rallie felt she couldn’t help but make out, “Who’s a good girl,” being muttered by The Slayer in slight baby talk.
To finish it off, Drim Drazah climbed on her once more, and laid out on her stomach. The two of them snuggled up, and it looked like they went to sleep. Rallie looked down as she felt a snap in her hands. Her grip had gone into overdrive, snapping her cane in two. One of the troupe handed her a replacement mic, and she headed out into the ring.
As she approached the content Polar Lion, the ringmaster addressed the audience. “Thank you for coming everyone, goodnight!” When the spotlight was off of her, Igloo wriggled out a paw, and wrapped it around Rallie. She then pulled the woman in, forcing her to join in on the group snuggling. Though to her, it was much closer to torture from being squeezed into Igloo’s mane.
◆◆◆
About twenty minutes after the audience had cleared out, Rallie headed to the back of the tent. There the main cast were all waiting for her with dismayed and distraught looks on each of their faces. “Where are they?” the circus leader asked, doing her best to stay calm.
“They said something about going off ‘tuh get food,” Mill reported to her. “Not sure we’re gonna see them again, I’d have to say.”
Rallie strode over to one of the support beams without saying a word. She then unleashed a fury of fists into the beam, and began screaming, “Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!” repeatedly. She kept punching until her knuckles started to bleed, then grabbed the back of her hand, and spun back to the troupe. “How?! How did they know?! Did they even know, or are they just that insane?! They managed to avoid every single attempt to try and kill them, and they made us look like fools while they did it!”
“Susten I can understand. She looks like the clumsy type. So I can believe that she actually missed the pool. Of course, she would have melted through with her Curse, but she completely dodged the pool of acid beneath the ground. We even dug it out a bit farther just in case!”
“Randex… Don’t even get me started on him… You guys did properly lace those knives with the poison, right?!” The four jugglers nodded back at her. “Then how is he still alive?! I saw with my own eyes that you grazed him, and you four drank the only vials of antidote we had. He even dodged the backup chainsaw attack!”
“Phon Drazah… why is she so damn insistent on being in the spotlight! If that Draz just accepted her role and fell into the net like she was supposed to we’d have at least one of them. She’d be torn to bits from that fake safety net. We tested it and everything. Every dummy and carcass we used was torn to ribbons by the metal lacing.”
“Drim Drazah… I just… can’t even talk about what happened there. Damn it, Igloo! I know you tried your best, but you’re on treat probation until further notice for succumbing to the enemy!”
“Leader… we’re sorry it didn’t work out,” Mill was sympathetic. “Your plan was perfect, but they’re just out of our league. We need to work our way up to people like them.”
“You’re right, Mill… I know you’re right,” Rallie settled down a bit. “I’m sorry for getting you all swept up in my ambition, everyone. We just had such success with our past targets that I thought we could handle it. Let’s use this as a learning experience going forward... Thank Cosmos it’s over. If they wanted to, they could have killed us for what we tried to pull. I guess I should just be grateful that we’re all safe and that they’re gone.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure about that…” a voice came from up high that made Rallie jump in place. Then the floor glowed green, and a forest’s worth of vines erupted from it. Every circus member was wrapped up tightly with no chance of escape. The Fiends for Hire appeared in front of the ringmaster, and her life began flashing before her eyes. Maybe if I offer myself then they’ll let the others go… Oh, who am I kidding? I’m not noble enough for that. Somebody save me!
“So, you’re bounty hunters disguised as a circus then? Or a circus dabbling in bounty hunting?” Drim Drazah asked for clarification.
It took a moment for Rallie to answer. She started to regain her sanity once she finally accepted that her throat wasn’t immediately going to be slit. “Closer to the latter, I guess. Lots of lowlifes like to come to our circus. I guess we draw them in. We check everyone who comes against the bounty database. Then if we find someone, we use the magical excuse of ‘audience participation’ to get them isolated and then make them vanish.”
“That’s... really clever actually,” the leader of the Fiends For Hire complimented their tactics. “And no repercussions from their family, or friends, or criminal acquaintances?”
“Not really, no,” Rallie was still hesitant when answering, expecting to be tortured or killed at any moment. “Most people don’t go asking questions when a known criminal goes missing. Those who do, we direct them to Mill, and they run off, scared zjikless in seconds.”
“Guess he’s not here,” Phon Drazah reported out of the blue. “The crowd’s still too large for me to grab him without nabbing a few civilians too, but I can tell he’s still on the premises.”
“I fetch!” Kada Susten blurted and then ran off out of the tent.
“Wow, she’s really just accepted that she’s a dog, hasn’t she?” Xard Randex commented.
The ringmaster was confused by this event but had a more burning question she couldn’t ignore. “How… How did you know? The traps, we made sure that you were nowhere around when we set them up, and no one talked about them when you were within even a lage of the circus. You definitely had to know. I won’t believe otherwise. There’s no way you could have foiled all of our plans out of sheer coincidence and dumb luck.”
“Yeah, we knew,” Phon Drazah acknowledged. “Besides it being super obviously a setup from the get-go, my brother has a reconnaissance ability that rivals or even surpasses mine in certain situations. This just happened to be one of them.”
Drim Drazah shrugged. “People should be more wary of oddly colored flowers that just appear randomly.” He raised his hand, and from all over the tent, green roses went flying at him, which he then reabsorbed back into his body.
“Let me go, let me go, put me down, I’ve done nothing wrong! Leader Rallie, help me!” There was a sudden commotion when Kada Susten returned to the tent. A young boy, around the same age as the male Fiends, was slung over her shoulder, wriggling and trying to get himself free. Susten set him down next to Drim, and he joined the others in their vine restraints.
“Good work Kada, here’s a treat.” Drim Drazah pulled a candy bar out of his quiver and handed it to her.
“Awesome! Let me know if you need anything else fetched in the future.” The Mermaid took it gladly, and walked away while unwrapping it.
The Slayer bent down next to the boy, meeting his eyeline, and grabbed his face. He stared deeply into his eyes, and Rallie honestly thought they were about to start kissing. “Not even a Lesser… You’ve never done an evil thing in your life, have you?” Drazah questioned him softly.
“Huh? No, of course not!” The boy fervently rebutted.
“Tell me about him, Rallie,” Drim Drazah ordered.
The ringmaster had assumed she wasn’t a part of this conversation, and jumped again when he addressed her. “Uhh, pretty standard story: bad parents, bad neighborhood, just wanted a new life so he came to us. We set him up running one of the game booths. Is he why you were acting so suspiciously earlier when I was showing you around?”
“Yeah,” The S;auer didn’t even hesitate in answering. “He had the misfortune of triggering an annoying quirk of mine, so I had to get a closer look at him. I think I understand now, though. This boy isn’t evil, he just has the capacity to be in the future. Given the wrong life circumstances he could easily go down that path and become someone very dangerous later in life.”
Drazah then looked back at the boy, straight in the eyes. “I’m guessing you’ve had a very troubled life. That’s something I can very much relate to. You can’t let it suck you in, be yourself, not what the world defines you as given your roots.”
“And you, Rallie, keep an eye on him. Make sure he doesn’t lose his way, and be sure to get him any help he needs. That’s all I had to say, thanks for being patient. We’ll be off now.” Drim Drazah snapped his fingers, and all of the vines disappeared. His entire body glowed brightly for a moment from absorbing so much at once.
“Wait, that’s it?!” Rallie exclaimed. “You’re letting us off just like that? We tried to kill you!”
“Yes, and you failed miserably,” Drim Drazah laughed insultingly. “Like you said earlier, use this as a learning experience. Get better, and learn to pick your targets more wisely. I’m sure we’ll meet again in the future. We have very similar ideals after all. Maybe next time you’ll actually be able to pull one over on us. I look forward to it.”
After Drim’s closing statement, Phon Drazah teleported the four Fiends away. Now in the clear, the rest of the circus troupe tried to confer with Rallie over the ordeal, but she wasn’t having it. Exhaustion had set in, and she was going to sleep away this waking nightmare. The woman immediately flumped down into her bed once she reached her tent, but found her pillow much less comfy than usual. Her face was buried in a piece of paper, accompanied by a business card. It read, ‘If you ever get into any real trouble, give us a call - The Fiends for Hire.’
Fiends For Hire Internal Dialogue 4
Eleen: Drim, I’m going to need you to stop!
Drim: Huh, what are you talking about?
Eleen: That cosdamned circus music. It’s stuck in your head, and it keeps leaking into my head. It’s so mawhging annoying!
Drim: And here I was thinking of buying their soundtrack and listening to it on constant repeat.
Eleen: I would expend all the energy I have solely to take over your body and smash any copy I could find.
Drim: That’s quite the commitment. I’ll keep that in mind if I ever want to get rid of you for a while. For now, I suppose I’ll just hum it instead.
Eleen: Don’t you dare!
Discord, , and Amazon Release (Pending), can be found on the Fiends For Hire .
Who had the best act?
