Circus Of Seven Sins

Chapter 3: When The Rain Stops...

Once the cast had reached St George's Rd (and untied Oliver), night had fallen, and Alexander insisted that they keep going, despite many tribulations. For one, the unbearable heat from the afternoon had, somehow, made it's way into the night and forced the cast to become smothered in their own sweat-soaked clothing. Since they had been denied a short stop by the road, none of them had the privacy to change and although Oliver tried to change his clothes whilst walking alongside the wagon, this only resulted in him being covered in dust and even more sweat. The only ones who weren't affected, were Kitty and Arthur; yet they insisted on copying the many curse words and panting noises that fell from the mouths of the various other cast members, giggling merrily at each.

Eventually, many of the cast had the sense to try and sleep off the heat and were all unconscious within minutes, with the exception of the twins as neither of them could, but they could fall into a semi-conscious state; a state similar to a deep daydream. All slept except for Cards and Alexander, both of which decided to take turns in driving the Wagon and keeping a look out for others on the road whom they would wish not to encounter. Cards also took this time to speak some more to Alexander about the problem at hand.

"Why were they in that particular market square. Why the day we were performing and why so close?"

"I don't know, but I have a few theories." Alexander inhaled slightly and wiped several beads of sweat from his brow. Cards could see small white hairs from parts of his head. "The problem is that they are just that. Theories. And when it comes to theories, you need evidence before you run your mouth; I don't want to worry you in any way."

"Well, I'm curious now, so you might as well tell me." Cards crossed her arms over her chest and stared at Alexander in the eyes, until he eventually turned his back to her. Removing his hat and running his hands through his hair, he pointed to the town they would have gone to, a hill or two behind them.

"I won't tell you-" He raised his hand as cards opened her mouth, silencing her for a short while. "Everything yet. Alright? But the simplest and the most likely of my 'theories' is that they knew we were going to be there, and they knew where we were going. That means either they're getting better at following us and are getting smarter, I highly doubt this, or they have an inside source of information."

"Inside source?"

"Someone we know gave us away. Whether intentionally or unintentionally is debatable."

Cards remained silent for a while. She glanced at the sleeping cast behind her. "The latter is impossible." Alexander turned to look at her his eyebrow raised slightly.

"No one has been out of my sight for the past week or so, I've had everyone accounted for. It takes three days for any sort of message to be delivered on horse back, a week if on foot, without sleep, but depending on the distance. We're thinking of the other side of the country and left a bit." Cards stopped for a few seconds as Flynn let his head flop to the middle of his back. "That, and we only ever have a vague idea of which town we're going to next. If someone was going to give away information, they would need to be precise, and you make that impossible."

Alexander chuckled slightly under his breath and turned his eyes back to the road. "Never miss a trick, do you Cards?" Cards refused to respond. Instead, she laid her head down by Oliver's knee, watching him slowly but surely eat away at Jack's pant leg. She smiled in contentment at his unconscious comedy.