Bloodmoon (The Scarlet Star Trilogy Book 2) by Ben Galley

Author:Ben Galley [Galley, Ben]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction
ISBN: 9780992787189
Publisher: BenGalley.com
Published: 2015-07-23T21:00:00+00:00

Chapter XV

TRICKERY

9th July, 1867

It was noon. The sun beat down like an angry blacksmith who had just found his wife in bed with the cobbler. The day was a sweltering one. Vicious, after the coolness of the damp morning. The rainclouds were long gone, beating a hasty retreat at the first sight of dawn.

Daeven Port was a bustling hub, paying homage to railroad, riverboats, and airships aplenty. It sat like a flattened hive at the bottom of a river valley, fingers of wooden slats and roof-tiles creeping up and out onto the slopes, muddled and disjointed. Two airship towers dominated each half of the city: one in the north, one in the south, both vying for space in the skies. The fat, bulbous airships floated lazily around them, while smaller airskiffs and clockwork balloons buzzed around them.

Below, in the river, steam and paddle plied the blue waters, rippling like a conveyor belt of gemstones in the hot sunlight. Riverboats fought for a spot at the crowded docks, splashing their paddles and props and ringing their bells. Merion could hear them even from the valley ridge.

Plumes of steam bubbled up from the railroad station, deeply embedded in Daeven Port’s core, where the buildings piled on top of each other and the streets wandered outwards like the disjointed spokes of a wheel. Every now and again a whistle would blow and a train of grey carriages would sneak out from between the buildings, running for the wilderness along the gleaming silver railroad. Merion wondered where they were going.

Yara was waiting until she had surveyed the scene in the proper manner. It was very important, the positioning of a circus. Kon had taught her that many years before. Too far away, and the patrons might baulk at walking for the pleasure. Too deep into the town or city, and they risked causing queues and strife. Neither the town nor Cirque Kadabra needed that sour taste in their mouth. No, a circus must be pitched in the perfect spot between the two, neither too close to the richer areas, nor too close to the poorer. Yara was a professional circus master, after all.

Only once she had chosen their spot did they begin to move. The valley’s slope was severe in parts, and Merion helped Lurker and his aunt to keep the wagons from slipping. The worst culprits were those ferrying the animals and their heavy cages. They were tall, and more than once a wheel or two lifted, and shouts and calls brought help running. Devan Ford and Big Jud Jepson excelled, of course, using their strength and sheer weight to keep the wagons from tipping over. The beasts roared and whinnied. Nelle wandered back and forth with a switch of wood, whacking it against the bars and telling them to pipe down with whispers here and there.

It took an hour to make it down to the river’s edge. From there they swung north to their chosen spot, nestled in a vacant field between the port and a busy street on the edge of town.

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