The Ringmaster's Revenge

The Ringmaster's Revenge: Phase Seventeen

Phase Seventeen

35 Hours until the Ringmaster’s Revenge

Grift’s own mumbling woke him and he found himself staring into Wynne’s lovely face, with its pale eyelids closed behind blond lashes.  Her mouth was slightly parted and her breath was inexplicably warm and sweet.  They were huddled together in the shrubs so closely that he could feel her heart beating against his stomach.  With a horrified yelp, he wiggled away and sat panting beside the dying fire.  The afternoon air was cold and as he rubbed his eyes clean of grit it chilled his fingers so that he had to cram his hands between his thighs to get the blood flowing again.

“Great job, Ol’Grifter.  First real good girly-dream and it’s about your own ma.  Figures.  Just figures…  Why am I still dreaming his dreams?  Damn that Aviraz, the rat bastard.”  Grift tucked his knees against his chest and rocked for a moment, thinking carefully as he thumbed the necklace out of his pocket.  He studied it then let out a low moan.  Next he crawled back to his mother’s side and shook her shoulders.  “Ma?  Eh, mother.  Wake up.”

She slowly opened her eyes and Grift found himself unable to meet her gaze without seeing her naked in his mind.  Both ashamed and disgusted with himself, he turned away.

“What is it Grift?  Did you have a nightmare?”

“Kinda,” he whimpered.  “Uh, you see, I lied when I said I’d found you all on my own.  There was this guy… a shadow-man.”

Wynne snatched the necklace out of his hand and looked towards Blaze to be sure he was sleeping.  “Where did you get this?”

“The shadow-man.  His name is Aviraz.  I saw him in the woods and stole his necklace and bound him to me so he’d have to be my slave.”  As he spoke, Grift’s words grew louder.  The recognition and confusion mirrored in his mother’s face turned his childish grief into something more fearsome.  “You know all about him, don’t you?  And he knows about me!  He touched my face and looked at me, all sad, and still he ran away.  He knew!”

In a rush he told her how they’d met and all they had been through while trying to find the circus.  Then, taking the shade’s amulet back, Grift heaved it into the woods with a grunt and Wynne wrapped her arms around him, whispering, “It’s alright.  It’s just his way.  We don’t need him, Grifter.  He brought us together and that’s all that matters, right?”

“But it aint fair.  He should have told me once he realized,” Grift sobbed.  “I hate him.  I hate all Shadow-men.  How could he do that to me?  He left me too.  Just like he left you.”

Wynne drowsily patted her son’s head and let him bury his face in her shirt to cry.  How strange, she thought.  And how awful for Aviraz to have realized he’d come so close to killing his own child.  How terribly coincidental that the two of them came together to find her without knowing… must have been fate.  Glaring at the shadows, Wynne hugged Grift close.

“You know,” sniffed the boy.  “He didn’t leave you ‘because he wanted to.  He left because you were in danger.  But me?  I bet he hates me.”

Kissing his cheeks dry, Wynne curled him against her chest.  “No.  He couldn’t hate you, Grifter.  You’re a good boy.  Now, why don’t you just close your eyes and try to dream your own dreams.  We need to rest and don’t want to wake up Blaze.”

The boy nodded.  He fell asleep quickly and his mother was not far behind, as traveling through the marsh had taken a lot out of her.  There was, however, one member of their party awake and staring into the woods where the amulet had been thrown.  He waited to hear his lady and the child’s breath slow then shifted to his feet.  With a wide gait he swept across the clearing, pinning his eyes and a crooked smile on the little golden sun peeking out of the wet leaves.  One last worried glance was given to the sleeping pair then he headed west under the path the sun was taking.  When he was out of range of the campsite, he ran while making as much noise as possible and it wasn’t long before the Motteh Doo were on his trail.  When Blaze knew he was good and surrounded, he gazed straight into the bushes bordering the grassy mound he stood upon and said, “Tell your master that Blaze has something he’s been hunting for and is willing to do business.”