Skillful Death (23 page)

As soon as the song finished, Constantine extracted himself from Maria’s grip and took a seat over on the stairs. He watched the partnerships dissolving and reforming as the children found equilibrium. He kept a close eye on the girl from the Shylan Road. She mostly danced with Sasha, often taking the fur of his suit between her finger and thumb, but she had plenty of other admirers as well. Meanwhile, the parents stood at the perimeter, drank tea, and talked about life.

The shadows dissolved as the sun set over the canopy of trees. In the twilight, several men circled the garden, lighting the paper lanterns. Outside the hedges, a group of stray dogs barked and snarled over some treasure until a few of the parents left to chase them away. The children took turns dancing and talking. The younger kids gave up their courting and collapsed into their normal social packs. The band played less up-tempo songs in favor of slower numbers. Some parents moved in to separate children who danced too close for polite company.

Several children, and even some adults, came by to compliment Constantine on his suit. Most attributed Sasha with the design, but a few said that they’d heard that Constantine helped with the construction. Constantine nodded at the comments.

The band drew out the last note to a sad, slow song. One of the men in front stood and conducted the band in a loud flourish. The children retreated to the edges of the garden and focused on the center of their circle. Constantine had to rise to his feet and stand on the stairs to see over their heads.
 

Skinny men, one from each side, dressed in red and yellow tights, met in the center of the ring. They joined hands and formed a circle of their arms before they spun around. As they twirled, they separated, but their hands were still joined with colorful bands of silk, which described a circle that grew larger and larger. Constantine looked at the rapt faces of the other children and he yawned.
 

When their circle was wide enough that a man could have laid down in the center without being stepped on, the two men reversed direction and their silks fluttered to the ground. They raised their arms and the silks flew up overhead, now making a dome in the center of the clapping group of children. The band played a rollicking march, in time with the clapping.
 

The silk dome fluttered with the wind and suddenly the two men dressed in red and yellow tights disappeared. Blue flame erupted from the bottom of the silk and the dome disappeared in a flash, revealing a pyramid of nine men, perched with their knees on the lower men’s shoulders. At the top, a woman rose up into a handstand from the heads of the two men below her.

The crowd exploded with applause.

A tiny man, dressed all in black and with a black hood, ran up from the side and spread out a black square of cloth on the ground. As the band played to a grand crescendo, the woman at the top of the pyramid launched herself upwards. She flipped in mid-air, and plunged down towards the square of cloth. The crowd gasped. The little man ran off to the side and ducked under a hedge.

Constantine crossed his arms.

When the woman hit the cloth, she was upside down with her arms extended. Instead of landing on the ground, she disappeared into the square of cloth, as if she was absorbed by the blackness. Several people in the crowd cried out in shock. One by one, the men of the pyramid jumped after the woman, each vanishing into the cloth until only the two men from the lower corners were left. These two, dressed in red and yellow tights, didn’t jump into the cloth. Instead, they joined hands and formed a circle with their arms. They danced in a circle around the black cloth and it levitated into the air between them. Once it cleared their heads, the cloth caught fire with the same blue flame from earlier. As the spectators watched the cloth rise and erupt into flame, the two men in red and yellow tights ran to the sides of the garden. Constantine watched them duck under hedges and crawl away.

The performance finished and the children ran for the stairs, queuing up for a chance to climb the tower. Maria approached Constantine as he stood near the back of the line. He was watching the girl from the Shylan Road who stood near the head of the line. She was holding Sasha’s hand.

“Do you want to go up again?” she asked. “The moon is beautiful from up there, but you don’t get to look at it very long because you have to make way for the next children.”

“I’ve seen the moon,” Constantine said.

“My thoughts exactly,” Maria said. She took Constantine’s hand and led him down towards the hedges. He walked alongside Maria, but couldn’t help looking over his shoulder until the girl from the Shylan Road and Sasha found their way inside the town hall.

“Which one are you looking at?” Maria asked. “My brother, or his girlfriend?”

“Pardon?” Constantine asked. The word felt strange in his mouth. It was one of the things that Sasha often said when his father barked out an order.

“Are you in love with my brother, or his girlfriend?” Maria asked. She tugged on his hand as he slowed down to ponder the question.

“Love?” he asked. He’d heard the word before. Sasha had accused him of being in love with Baron one day, but the meaning of the word used in these two contexts didn’t make sense.
 

“I’ve been in love before,” Maria said.

She stopped and turned to Constantine. He looked up and realized that they were alone, behind the hedges at the edge of the garden. She took his other hand and held both between them. Maria leaned down to kiss Constantine and he ducked out of the way, not understanding her intentions. Maria laughed and dropped his hands so she could wrap hers around his hooded head. She dug her fingers into the fur at his neck and pulled him close until their lips met. Constantine understood and kissed her back, wrapping his furry arms around her torso in a strong embrace.

After a moment, she pulled back. She stood several inches taller than Constantine, so even on his tiptoes, he couldn’t reach her lips when she pulled away.

“Little Forestling, you’re too young for such passion,” she said. In the light from the paper lanterns, she gazed at his eyes and breathed shallow flutters of air.
 

“Passion,” he said. This word he understood with no context at all.

From high above the trees, Sasha’s voice rang clear through the dusk. “I see you down there! Don’t go near my sister!”

Maria pushed Constantine back. For a second, her eyes darted from the Forestling up towards the canopy of trees. Then, they both heard the sound. It sounded like the blast from a dozen tuneless trumpets, and was followed by the crash of a falling tree.

Maria ran for the town hall and Constantine chased after her.

Shouts erupted from the crowd and everyone seemed to have differing opinions of the best direction to flee. Constantine followed Maria, who sprinted up the steps to the town hall and turned to look for her father. Screams erupted from the east, followed by the sounds of splintered trees crashing to the ground.

Children bounded down the stairs and spilled into the main room of the town hall, looking for their parents. Sasha and the girl from the Shylan road appeared and joined Constantine and Maria on the steps.

“Father!” Maria yelled.
 

At the south end of the garden, the hedges shook and paper lanterns swayed. Another trumpeting blast rang out.

“We must...” Maria began, but her shout was cut off by screams from the west. A group of people, some limping and bloody, ran by the rose bushes towards the side of the town hall. Another crash, like rumbling thunder, shook the ground and trailed off amidst the terrified squeals of horses.

The beast crashed through the hedges. Constantine thought it was walking backwards. The big forehead looked like buttocks, and the long gray nose could have been a tail. When it raised its trunk in the air and trumpeted again, he understood his mistake.

“The elephant,” Sasha said, smiling. He pushed past Constantine and began to descend the stairs.

From the side, Sasha’s father arrived at that moment. He grabbed his son by the shoulders, looked in his eyes, and nodded before releasing him.
 

Sasha’s father backed slowly up the stairs as his son stepped into the center of the garden and raised his arms. The elephant tossed its head, using its giant tusks to send bushes flying to the sides. It stood a few dozen paces south of Sasha.

Constantine had seen enough. Even the fascinating gray leather covering this enormous animal wasn’t enough to keep him on the stairs. He fled to his right, meaning to melt into the crowd as it limped away. Sasha’s father grabbed his arm and spun him around, yelling into his face. “Connie, the Providential’s partner helps him defeat the elephant. You must go over there and help Sasha.”

Constantine shook his head in disagreement. This gray beast was easily twice the height of the biggest animal that Constantine had ever seen. Furthermore, Constantine had nothing to fight with except the secret blade tucked into the back pocket of his suit. At four inches, what could this blade possibly do against such a fearsome beast?

Sasha’s father pulled Constantine back up the stairs and grabbed a decorative sword from the wall. He pushed the hilt of the blade into Constantine’s hand and shoved him back down the stairs.

Constantine continued to shake his head.

“Go! Or I’ll kill you myself,” Sasha’s father said.

Meanwhile, in the center of the garden, Sasha still stood with his hands raised over his head. The elephant came slowly, taking its time instead of charging the little boy. The girl from the Shylan Road stood next to Maria on the steps and both girls hid their mouths with their hands.

Around the perimeter of the garden, some of the townspeople slowed and stood, watching the showdown between the tiny boy and the massive elephant.

Constantine trudged down the steps with the untrustworthy piece of metal held out before him. When Constantine arrived at Sasha’s back, he turned the sword around and pressed the handle against Sasha’s arm.

“Your father wanted you to have this,” Constantine said.

Sasha turned to look at the boy holding the sword.

“What…?” Sasha began. He never finished the question. The elephant charged at full speed, bouncing on its enormous feet and leaving giant, springy holes in the soft turf.

Sasha turned towards it, growling as he swished the blade back and forth in front of himself. Constantine backed away to avoid the sloppy arcs of the sword’s dull point. The elephant lowered its head as it charged, fixing an angry eye on the pair of boys. Sasha slashed and the elephant caught the blade with its trunk, incurring deep cuts before flinging the blade up in the air. Its right tusk whisked over the ground before beginning its deadly upswing. The ivory caught Sasha in the stomach and drove him back against Constantine. The two boys were flung off to the side.

A growing thunder and a terrifying scream arrived with Baron. The horse charged up from the rear of the elephant and grabbed the beast’s face, just below its right eye. He held on with his stallion’s teeth and bounced as he kicked into the elephant’s flank. The elephant groaned a nasal curse and tossed his head, trying to shake loose from his equine tormentor.
 

Sasha landed on Constantine.
 

Constantine tried to roll from beneath Sasha. The sword bounced on the turf a few feet away.
 

The elephant managed to swing it’s tusks towards Baron, and shoved the big horse to the side. Constantine got to his feet and grabbed the untrustworthy metal sword from the ground. He held the sword with his left hand while his right pulled his secret flint from his pocket. He stepped over Sasha, who clutched both hands to the jagged hole the tusk had torn through his midsection.

Constantine barked at the elephant and drew his attention from Baron.
 

The elephant swung its massive head and narrowed a giant eye at the boy. The two stood, regarding each other, as fresh chaos erupted behind Constantine. The girls ran forward to drag Sasha back as his father yelled. “No! He’ll be alright!”

Constantine didn’t wave the sword or strike at the elephant, he merely stalked straight forward. The elephant raised its head and then a front leg, ready to strike down the boy. Behind the elephant, Baron turned and kicked his hind legs into the belly of the elephant, drawing its attention once more to the rear.

Seeing his chance, Constantine rushed forward, and stabbed the untrustworthy metal blade up into the gray chest of the elephant. He smelled the ripe musth of the beast as he pressed his shoulder into the handle, willing it to drive deeper into the thick hide. The elephant’s head whipped around and it stomped it’s feet at the boy, trying to strike him down, but Constantine danced between its blows.

The elephant rumbled a complaint from deep in its chest and trundled forward. Constantine dove out of the way of its rear legs as it moved over him. Baron stood, wide-legged and confused as the elephant pressed forward. Constantine ran to Baron, leapt up, and pulled himself with Baron’s mane to the horse’s back. Baron understood immediately and rushed forward as Constantine moved to his feet, balancing atop the galloping stallion.

The elephant stumbled towards Maria and the girl from the Shylan Road, who were dragging Sasha back to safety. As Baron pulled alongside the elephant, Constantine leapt from the back of the horse to the back of the elephant. Driving his flint into the big gray shoulder and using the stuck blade as a handhold, he pulled himself up.

Constantine straddled its neck as the elephant thrashed. He gripped the base of its ear and slashed wildly with his flint, trying to inflict any damage at all to the boney skull. His blade found no purchase. Baron was doing much more to hurt it with his tearing bites to the elephant’s sides.

The girls got Sasha to his feet and he pushed them back and raised his arms again. At the top of the stairs, a man ran through the doors of the town hall and raised an enormous gun to his shoulder. Sasha’s father shoved the barrel of the gun aside just as the man fired. The sound of the shot boomed through the garden and the bullet cut a path through the leaves.