B. The Games We Play

B.05. Blade Enthusiast

Neil tried phoning Galant again.

He couldn't have just disappeared. He circled the area around the rollercoaster entrance, calling for Galant. He even gave glances to the sky in case he was flying around.

Neil searched by the other rides as well. Galant could have just decided to ride something else. Neil took a drink of water to ease his stomach.

After two hours he started to get worried. He went to different rides and stalls. He didn't find Galant but he did find Harly and Polly sitting inside a makeshift tavern.

Harly was building a house of cards. Polly watched curiously. She removed one of the loadbearing cards, then two, then three, growing increasingly perplexed when it didn't fall.

"Have you two seen Galant?"

Harly shook her head. Placing the last two cards on top of the house. "He's probably just riding the twister or something."

"I checked everywhere. It's like he disappeared. He might be out there, sad and alone, without me to guide him through the perils of life." Neil dramatically placed his fingers on his chest and held out his other hand.

"It's a big carnival, people are easy to lose track of." Harly clapped her hands. The card house tumbled and the cards jumped into her hand, stacking themselves in a neat deck. "Or maybe it's a plot point. It would explain why the narrator is focusing on us. I'll help you look."

Neil gave her a look, then sighed. He wasn't always gonna understand what Harly is saying. There is no reason to try.

.....

Ada walked between the game stands. Trying to find a proper game of skill, but it's all just fishing and ring toss games. What did I expect from a common fair?

A woman beckened her to the knife throwing stand. Ada gave the stand a look, red and blue targets were mounted on the wall at the back, with hidden mechanisms moving them around.

Ada shrugged and left for elsewhere. But the woman didn't let her leave. "One game, come on, it's easy."

Way too easy. Ada thought.

The woman appeared in front of her, the dice pendants on her necklace clicked with the movement. "Please, I'll even give you a discount."

Ada rolled her eyes and walked to the knife throwing stand. The woman was back at her post. Ada didn't even see her move.

She gave the woman a few coins. The woman offered her three knives. Ada took out three of her own in response. The woman shrugged and allowed her to procede.

Ada took an aim and hit a bullseye on a blue target and then on a second one, then the third.

The woman looked impressed. "If you can hit the red one, I'll give you this." She showed Ada a bloodred hihi'irokane dagger.

Ada studied it curiously. Hihi'rokane was a metal that was well known for its heat conduction property, so it was mainly used by fire users in their weapons or in some forges. It was hard and rust proof, thus durable, long lasting.

It was one of the few types of knives missing from her collection.

It had faint salamander designs on the blade and a deep green hilt that resembled a tail. Ada felt the flat part of the blade with her finger, it gave off a slight warmth. It seemed like the real deal.

"So wanna try it?" The woman asked.

Ada paid and got her knives ready. The red target was much smaller then the others. It was just a bit wider then her knife blade, it also moved faster than the blue targets, albeit in a predictable pattern.

She took a careful aim. To Ada's surprise it was a second too late. She aimed another one. Now she was sure, the target had sped up to evade the dagger.

Ada glanced at the woman, she gave an innocent shrug in answer.

Ada blew air threw her nose and lowered her head. Her ears flattened. She took her final aim, giving herself an extra couple of seconds to calculate the abnormal speed.

She threw the dagger. It hit the bullseye. The women's dice necklace glew, then gave off a flash.

Ada lost consciousness.

.....

Phineas paged through an old scrapbook, pausing at a photo of a caramel haired woman holding up a young Harly.

He waved his hand over the photo, causing it to animate. Now the woman was spinning in a circle, the giggling Harly holding her arms out like a plane. She slowled down and pulled Harly in for a hug. Harly wrapped her limbs around her mother in return.

Yew entered the compartment and sat down next to Phineas. "Are you alright?"

Phineas had a sad smile, he sighed. "Felix's return...just brought up some bad memories. I miss her Yew."

Yew pulled him into a hug. "I would offer to let you talk to her but..."

"The veil between this world and the afterlife are only at its thinest during certain times of the year," Phineas finished. "It's fine, I shouldn't misuse your magic like that anyway."

Phineas closed the scrapbook and looked at the lamp on his alligator table, that for some reason turned pink with violet spots today.

"We could renew the protection spells if that would make you feel better," Yew offered.

"I already did and I even added a few extra traps for intruders to fall for." He gave a cheeky smile and a wink.

Yew raised a confused eyebrow.

"That will make sense in a couple of chapters," Phineas explained, not that it cleared up Yew's confusion.

"Maybe we should change our show schedule so we can come to Scatterstar at another time and not so close to the fair."

"I considered that, but I need to think what would be best for the circus. Everyone comes to Scatterstar for the fair so the week before is quite busy when people arrive here. People look for ways to fill the time before the fair starts so they come here." Phineas leaned back. "And if that means some personal sacrifice on my part....then so be it."

"You're not worried that Roulette will-"

"No, yes, well...." Phineas shook his head to clear his thoughts. "He doesn't have the dice, I made sure to keep them safe."

Yew sighed. He gave Phineas another hug and stood up to leave. "Just let me know if you need to talk, Phin."

Phineas nodded. "You're a good friend Yew."

He stared at the alligator table, which got up, stretched then started gnawing on the nightstand. This struck Phineas as strange, the alligator usually only came to life on Wednesdays.