The Gracekeepers by Kirsty Logan

Author:Kirsty Logan [Logan, Kirsty]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Crown/Archetype
Published: 2015-05-18T22:00:00+00:00

13

AINSEL

Fourteen islands, fourteen nights, fourteen performances. It did not take long for the Circus Excalibur to slip back into the comfort of routine. Behindcurtains they were individuals, each full of doubts and concerns; on stage they were the circus, with glitter for blood and glass for eyes.

Each night the curtain rose. Ainsel turned cartwheels on horseback, Avalon pranced gloriously around him, Jarrow boomed their introductions and exits. They were the picture of a perfect family, and the revivalist landlockers lapped it up. Every night the circus ate scrapings of baked cabbage and honey and raisins, black pudding and chicken hearts and pig snouts. There was never quite enough, but at least they were not sitting down to empty plates.

With every passing night, Ainsel became more convinced that Jarrow really believed their performance. The old man had always had a knack for storytelling, and he made best use of this in telling tales to himself that conflicted utterly with the cold facts of his life. Otherwise, Ainsel knew, he’d never have made it through all these years on a leaky, rusting boat when his rightful place was on land. Unfortunately for Ainsel, he had not inherited his father’s skill for self-deception. He knew that the Excalibur was rotten to its core. He needed to get ashore before the whole thing crumbled. The only good thing in the Excalibur was Avalon. But she didn’t want him—she wanted a house. And there was only one way for Ainsel to get a house.

At first he’d wanted to call off the wedding too. He’d just been waiting for the right moment. But then his father had taken them ashore and told them about the house, and Ainsel had seen the pieces of his life click perfectly into place.

He had to make sure that North went ahead with the wedding. He waylaid her one evening as she carried three dinner bowls back to her coracle. “Good show tonight, North,” he said, though of course he had not seen her act; what with the horses and Avalon and his father, he had no time to watch a bear dance. “Your bear looks well. Perhaps you could come and see the horses some time. Give me some tips.”

North smiled and nodded, so the words were worth it—but it had hurt him to speak them. His stallions were glossy-coated, bright-eyed, sure-footed: more elegant than that violent beast could ever be. But Ainsel had known North a long time. She scowled at praise for herself, yet glowed if you complimented the bear. If Ainsel didn’t know better, he’d say that North and the bear loved each other.

A week passed, and North did not visit his coracle to see the horses, but there was time enough for that—because now, finally, they had reached the North-West archipelago. Soon they’d be through it and at the North-East archipelago—and that meant North-East 19, and his father’s home island meant the wedding, and the wedding meant the house, and the house meant Avalon. She’d refused him so many times, but that would change when he had the house.

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