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“Excellent,” Tibby said, a pleased smile crossing her motherly face. “We’ll tell the children over dinner. And don’t worry so much. Everything will be fine, dear. You’ll see.”
Perhaps she was right. MaryAnne hoped so.
ChapterFour
Raskyuil propped himself against one thick pole planted in the ground, his tail swishing idly as he watched the first group of humans enter the grounds. They were as shabby-looking as all the other humans he had encountered, their clothing a mixture of roughly woven material and odd pieces scavenged that had been mended many times over, but they were smiling as they entered the carnival and that was a new look as far as he was concerned. He was far more accustomed to suspicion and defeated appearances when it came to humans.
The warm autumn sun shone down on them as they stepped within the confines of the carnival. A fire fairy dancing sinuously near the entrance blew a spurt of flame in an arc for the human spectators, drawing gasps from her wide-eyed audience as hints of shimmering flames glimmered over her skin in sparkling streaks of red and gold. At the other side of the entrance, a lanky cave goblin dressed in bright colors with several long ribbons tied off at his joints performed acrobatics, his slender body contorting to extreme angles with his performance, sending the ribbons dancing with a jungle of bells tied at the end of nearly half of them.
Raskyuil watched the male curiously. Although he was more familiar with the vicious little red-capped goblins that preferred the Eternal Forest, he knew that “goblins” referred to several species of many closely related fae that varied in size, temperament, and appearance. He never had the opportunity to meet any of the others before, but the willowy gray male contorting his body with his dangerously toothy grin and bright pigments marking his face drew nervous laughter from those passing.
They had a reason to be wary. Many goblins feasted on human blood and flesh. Even if this goblin preferred a different sort of prey, the sharp teeth filling his grotesquely wide smile, emphasized by the bloody red paint smeared over his mouth, marked him as a predator. Raskyuil stiffened momentarily as the male’s smile widened when a child passed a little too closely, his muscles tensing to intervene. The goblin’s clawed hand snapped out, and Raskyuil reached instinctively for his ax but then paused when the creature opened the long fingers of its hand to reveal a brightly painted wooden toy that he handed to the delighted human child. Tension bleeding from his muscles, Raskyuil’s hand dropped as the smiling humans led their offspring away and deeper into the jubilant atmosphere of the carnival, fairy music filling the air all around them.
His brow furrowed as he leaned against one of the support poles. He had half-expected something to go wrong, for some human to become frightened and send an ugly panic through the crowd. He didn’t expect laughter when most humans were predisposed to being terrified of nonhuman beings. From what Nathiel said, though the carnival was new, it seemed to be a success. All the same, Raskyuil hadn’t been entirely convinced. Yet the more he watched the humans walking through with wonder and excitement on their faces, the more he was starting to believe, and some hard, cynical part of him warmed slightly with the happy atmosphere. It was dark and treacherous, with a hint of the horrors that were hidden deep within the fae world, and yet it was still embraced with a merriment that surprised him.
Unsurprisingly, elves, goblins, and trolls from the forest and swamps made up most of the performers, along with elusive fairies of varying appearances, some more delicate and others more frightening in appearance. Many outwardly appeared like little more than predatory shapeshifters, such as the fox fairy, and others who were a frightful amalgamation of beast and fairy like those who bore lower bodies of arachnids or serpents.
There were even a few of the outlier races, such as the water folk and fauns, and a lone centaur among them. Aside from the performers, they ran booths and sold treats made from the surplus of goods that were provided—popcorn and spun sugar mostly. Human food, not fae fare designed to capture the unwary. Raskyuil had tested it himself just to be certain, to assure himself that there wasn’t a hint of fae magic in it. He hadn’t truly suspected so since they were not within the fae realm where unwary humans might be easily ensnared, but one couldn’t be too cautious.
A mountain troll lumbered by, his mottled dark gray flesh and enormous bulk drawing the attention of the onlookers with a startled gasp of delight as he bellowed and lifted the felled tree that he was dragging behind him over his head and slammed it repeatedly in a thumping rhythm against the ground, bringing to life the fairy music of the carnival. Red pigment streaked across his chest and face in a macabre look as he drummed the hard packed dirt with the tree, drawing onlookers into his periphery to watch with admiration for several minutes before moving on.
Animal skulls danced on long knotted ropes hanging from poles as goblins tugged on them in their erratic dance, and a troupe of female night elves with arching horns stomped their delicate feet to the rhythm between them. They lifted their dusky blue and gray arms, bidding the humans to join them. They didn’t fail to lure in at least one or two humans among every small group that stopped for a moment to linger in their company.
Unsurprisingly, it was mostly young males who eagerly stripped themselves free of their tunics, eager to be drawn in among them. Raskyuil snorted in amusement as he watched and dug out a cigar. Sticking it between his teeth, he clicked his claws to spark up a flame and held it to the end of his cigar, puffing on it as he watched them. Some of those same males would likely wake in the meadow or along the forest edge with their balls drained and a monstrous headache pounding between their ears, abandoned there by the females after they milked them of all their seed.
He shook his head and exhaled a cloud of fragrant smoke. The carnival catered to the pleasure and fantasy of the humans but not without purpose, and if the humans forgot that in their pleasure-chasing, then as far as he was concerned they had nothing to complain about.
“That lot is at it early,” Nathiel observed as he stopped at Raskyuil’s elbow, his arms laden with several intricately carved wooden sticks. “More than one will be breeding before autumn is over, I suspect.” His bright eyes scanned the crowd with interest as Raskyuil grunted in agreement. Somewhere near the entrance a pig squealed loudly. “Ah! It looks like a good turnout. Excellent! It may not be the fairy coin that we see when performing among our own kind, but at least we will eat well in the coming days.”
Raskyuil didn’t bother to comment. He had no doubt that fairy coin would eventually make its way farther into the human settlements. Fairy coin was nothing short of pure magic with slightly different concentrations depending on what coin was given. It would have value to even those humans who lacked magic of their own. Enough that it would give it value among humans and fae alike in currency. In fact, he knew that Elwyn was encouraging this by giving humans fairy coins to spend in the carnival in exchange for their goods. He had little doubt that the coins would make their way back into the human town or village.
He gave his cigar a tap to ash it, his gaze slipping back toward the entrance. He froze, his eyes falling on a large group of human offspring. There were several among them who appeared to be at the precipice of adulthood, their eyes roving with a frank interest as they took in the sights and sounds of the carnival. Just ahead of them, there appeared to be a courting pair with the scent of their impending first mating clinging to them, while the younger ones stayed more within the center of the pack and observed the ongoings with an innocent wonder that made Raskyuil want to whisk them away from the darkness of the carnival. To his surprise, they didn’t shrink from it but regarded it with an open fascination that could only come from younglings born into a dark, brutal world.
Fae offspring were hardly sheltered, but even young trolls were spared the grimmest parts of their world. This would be at the boundary of suitability even for them considering that troll celebrations tended to be wild within their clan villages. He would have thought that human offspring would be of a more delicate nature. Not watching everything with unfettered excitement when not nestled safely in the company of their sire and mother.
He scraped a claw along his jaw thoughtfully. Perhaps it would be different if it were human skulls clattering instead of those of beasts. Fae were typically less picky with such things—with some exceptions among the higher courts of elves. Trolls often kept the skulls of their ancestors in place of reverence, and it was not uncommon for them to be brought out and made part of the festivities as all the village offspring celebrated in a frenzied pack, their tails flicking wildly.
Recalling the packs that he ran with in his youth, his brow furrowed speculatively. He didn’t recall having ever seen such a large group of human offspring together, now that he thought of it. Observing them, he smirked at the bravado of the older males puffing up and engaging with the fairies and monsters before falling on a lone female who lingered toward the back of the pack. Curvy and of small stature, she seemed much like a wood sprite to him, though possessing a lusher form. Her dusky golden complexion gave her the warm appearance of the sun-kissed ones who dwelled among the trees rather than burrowing deep into the thick roots like many other fae races of the forest did.
He cocked his head as his eyes tracked her. He had to admit that she was pleasing enough to look at—for a human. Her face was shaped like that of a pixie, rounded except for the little point of her chin, all of which was just visible from behind the thick mass of dark, curly hair she peeked out from with big brown doe-like eyes. Unlike the other humans, she had a wary look to her as she peered around, jerking in alarm when the goblin swung close to her and grinned playfully. A younger female at her side paused and said something to her, but she shook her head in response as she stared at the goblin. Raskyuil’s nostrils flared. Dropping his cigar, he crushed it beneath his boot as he slowly straightened, his senses prickly as he soaked her scent in. Her sweetness was covered with a thick pungency. She was afraid.
He didn’t like it.
Something within him shifted, rising monstrously in reaction. A low grow rumbled deep within his chest as his gaze cut to the goblin, a potent, dark scent rising from him. The goblin’s nostrils flared, and an alarmed look came over him as he skittered back away from her, his gaze snapping around nervously until falling on Raskyuil. The male paled and drew farther away, allowing the female and her oddly large brood to hurry past him, and Nathiel made a choking sound as he waved his hand in front of his face.
“Gods’ mercy, what is that? It’s positively evil and soaked with violence. Makes my skin crawl,” the male complained. He glanced over at Raskyuil and risked a brief sniff in his direction before wrinkling his nose. “Is that you?”
“It’s a troll thing,” Raskyuil muttered, unwilling to explain the instinctual habit of trolls when exposed to fertile females with compatible pheromones. Her scent was a lure, and he was reacting to it as was natural, his stench rising with his protective fury, a natural warning to other males within the vicinity. He grunted with displeasure as he turned away from the female with her small pack of offspring, his tail twitching irritably. “It will pass,” he remarked sourly, his gaze fastening once more on the entrance.
Whatever allure that female held for his instincts, it would pass soon enough.
ChapterFive
MaryAnne gaped at the gray male covered in brightly colored fabrics. There was something both horrific and whimsical in his performance that captivated the eye even while stoking her fear higher. Thankfully, it didn’t last long. She was caught by surprise and felt a sharp burst of relief rush through her when he suddenly froze and withdrew nervously. His leering grin had fallen, and he had scurried back a short distance, giving her the opening that she needed to hurry the children by. She trembled as she quickly walked away, the terrible sights of the carnival mingling with a haunting melody that made every hair on her body stand on end.
Even the sight of the carnival itself was something of a shadow in hues of black and gray, broken by bold reds, dark green, and the darkest hues of blues. It crept on the edges of the mind, its shapes and performers not fully realized until they were coming upon it. It was as if the carnival’s shadows itself were alive and host to the fae that stepped out from them. The merry spinning lights were strategically placed to take the most advantage of this, and she cringed a little as she saw more of skinny gray and green males with their faces painted in grotesque parodies of clowns as they shrieked and cackled at those passing by then.
There were further unknown things deeper within the carnival that made MaryAnne sweat to even think about. She would have died of fright by now if it weren’t for the clamoring wall of children laughing around her as they dragged her along.
