Saga of Harmony Shan

Chapter four

"No way!" Briar exclaimed. I shushed her with a slight hand gesture. I stared longer and turned toward Cormac and Briar, then I turned back to the man who claims to be my father. "How's your mum?" Darius asked with a smile. "She's great. She thinks your dead." I said. "Ahh, great just as I left her. She hasn't re-married has she?" he asked concerned. "No she said she believes your still alive, and she's right, and believes your coming back for her." "Maybe this weekend I shall visit. I will follow you home after the show and visit this weekend." he trailed off. "No!" I said. "Why?" he asked curiously. "I don't want mum to know you're alive." "And why is that?" He asked curiously. "She's pregnant with my baby brother. Shed feel awful if you came back. She isn't married she just got drunk one night and got pregnant. It wasn't her fault though." I said. "Oh I see."he frowned, "I shall leave you guys be but we shall talk after the show."

"Ahh, the show!" Cormac exclaimed," come along." he rushed us along. We all followed him to the tent. Briar and I took our seats and Cormac and Darius went backstage. We waited for everyone to file in. We had arrived early and thank goodness nobody had arrived while we were talking. Cormac took tickets and let everyone in and they filed in around us. The theater was packed full by 10:30 pm. We sat in the second row near the aisle. We waited silently as the lights dimmed until it was pitch black and all talk ceased.

A spotlight shone on the stage and Cormac came onstage and introduced himself. "I am Cormac Limbs," he said, "And welcome to the Cirque Du Freak! we have toured for 500 years bringing the bizarre from generation to generation. The line-up is always changing. This line-up, as all, is as unique as can-be. Any of the faint hearted and people who are easily scared should leave now! This show is not safe. Accidents can as probably will happen. Everything you see in this show is real!" He boomed so everyone could hear him.

We sat quietly as a few people took head of Cormac's warning and left. The two headed man walked to the centre of the stage and looked out upon the crowd, he seemed pleased and bellowed, "Our first act of the night is... THE WOLF MAN!" Two women dressed in sparkly blue costumes wheeled a cage on stage. "For this act you must be completely still and silent. Any sudden movements or noises could awaken the wolf man from the trance my partner will put him in." one of the ladies in blue said as the other hypnotized the wolf man with her fingers.

She wiggled her fingers in front of his face until she got him under control and made a slight movement with her head. With that gesture the other lady unlocked the cage and opened it. she lead them through the audience and let anybody pet the wolf man if they wanted and as they passed us I reached out and pet him. His hair? Fur? whatever it was, it was course, thick and sharp. Suddenly as he was halfway through the fifth row a lady in a dress pet him and screeched. realizing what she did she shut up halfway through her cry. The wolf man awoke with a jump. He blinked and went crazy, thankfully one of ladies was expecting this and hypnotized him before he hurt anyone.

They lead him back to his cage and wheeled him off stage. Cormac appeared onstage, "Like I said this is no joke. And if you want to you may leave now or stay and enjoy the show. The next act is... TRUSKA, THE BEARDED LADY!" he left stage. A beautiful women with dark hair came on stage. she walked and sat on a chair in the middle of the stage and smiled. "My English not that good. Please forgive me if I say something wrong." she said in an accent I couldn't place. "May I have volenteer?" she asked. Manyen raised their hands and she chose one and he walked up to the stage. instead of taking the stairs he hopped up on the middle of the stage. She asked him to stand to her left and he did. She told him to stroke her cheeks. He hesitated and did as he was told. all of a sudden a beard started to grow.

The beard grew until it was at her feet and she showed it off to everyone. She produced a gold bar and held up. "Anyone who can cut beard gets gold bar." she said simply as crew workers brought on stage multiple items that could be used to cut her beard. many people rushed onstage and picked up items and nobody could cut her beard. She put the gold bar back where she got it and left stage.

"Next is Alexander Ribs!" boomed Cormac. Alexander Ribs was the skinniest man alive. His act wasn't the most interesting. The best part of his act was when he opened his mouth and played a tune with his ribs. Also when he twisted and curved his body, he was a contortionist.

"And now, my good friend, Cormac Limbs!" yelled Alexander as he left the stage. "Hello everyone! Hope your enjoying the show! Well you may be wondering why I have two heads. The story is, I was in battle a few years ago and it was cut off! I can cut off any part of my body and it will grow back. I'd never dared try with my head before and in battle somebody cut it off and two new heads grew. If I tried cutting those off i'd have four heads, so on and so forth. now I shall demonstrate!" said Cormac as pulled out a knife and cut off his fingers. He hacked off his legs and arms and his ears. he also cut off his toes and his tongue. When he was done he got the biggest round of applause.

"Now for the last act of the night... DARUIS!" he bellowed. My dad walked on stage and smiled, a wicked grin. He looked around and said, "Good evening! Hope you're enjoying the show! Now to be amazed with some card tricks!" He pulled out a deck of cards and they seemed to fly hand to hand. He smiled as the crowd stared. He flipped them faster and when they moved in a blur something started materializing from the cards. It was a spider, a beautiful one too. It was a dark purple with blue and red spots, it was big, the size of Darius's palm(not including legs.) Everyone gasped, it was the best truck they've ever seen.

"This is Spike, a rare and very poisonous breed of spider." His act was short but awesome. After the show I asked Briar if she was gonna stay with me and talk to my dad. "Of course!" she said. "Are you sure? you can just go home and forget about this and you won't have to worry about me." I said, kind of hoping she'd save herself and go. "No, I came here with you and I'm staying until you leave too." she said firmly. There was no arguing with her so I nodded in agreement. Everyone shuffled out of the tent and we stayed where we were. After everyone was gone my dad came onstage and invited us up.