Menagerie - Martin Day [43]
The girl was pulled up on to the altar surface. Although she offered no resistance her arms were held by the two men.
The insect face nodded curtly and the brotherhood watched silently as the large man returned to the altar. He spat on his hands, and then reached for the handle of the huge hammer.
In deathly silence he raised the hammer over his head and prepared to bring it down.
Eight
Zoe had seen circuses in dramatic reconstructions and on archive film, but never had she expected to join one. She peered out at the audience through a gap in the curtains.
'Is it full?' asked Reisaz.
'Nearly,' said Zoe. She turned to the twins. 'Don't you find it frightening?'
Raitak straightened her jacket, an unusual tension in her movements. 'There are many frightening things in the world. Poverty, illness, hatred. Compared to them, a good crowd is nothing to be feared at all.'
'Mind you,' said Reisaz, 'we both get nervous, if that's what you mean.'
'Some people call it maggots in the stomach,' grimaced Raitak. 'A most unpleasant image.'
'And we're not worried about being called freaks, either,'
said Reisaz. 'The whole purpose of our act is to win over the crowd.'
Zoe parted the curtains again and looked through. The huge tent had been assembled with remarkable efficiency, and rows of seating stretched towards the roof. People were making their way to the last remaining seats. Mothers and children barely dressed in rags worked their way towards the benches near the ring as besuited gentlemen with tall, dark hats moved earnestly towards the plusher seats further up. Even higher up, gantries were suspended from the roof, people clambering over them like monkeys and settling into position behind large moveable lamps. The generator that powered them was silent beneath the waves of excited chatter.
All but one lamp flicked off, leaving a single dagger of light to illuminate Diseaeda as he walked smartly into the centre of the ring, dressed in an immaculate blue suit. The crowd immediately became quiet and a hushed expectation filled the air. Even from Zoe's vantage point she could tell that Diseaeda was in his element.
'My friends,' he said grandly, his rich voice ringing out as far as the back seats, 'welcome to the first performance of Diseaeda's Travelling Freak Show and Circus. I hope that you have enjoyed looking around the static displays beyond these walls — if not, then there is plenty of time afterwards to sample our selection of tricks, games and monsters. But for the moment, please enjoy tonight's show, and —'
He broke off as a monkey tugged at his sleeve, seemingly impatient for his attention. A second, smaller light illuminated the little creature.
Diseaeda looked down with annoyance. 'Not now,' he said in a loud whisper, 'I'm trying to greet our guests.' The crowd began to chuckle.
Diseaeda straightened and opened his mouth to speak when the creature tugged his jacket again, even more insistently. The monkey chattered and pointed towards the back of the ring.
Another light snapped on, revealing a figure in yellow and pink clothes suspended head-first from the ceiling by a long rope. The rest of the monkeys ran around in tiny circles, shrieking in alarm. The crowd roared with laughter.
Diseaeda stormed over to the hanging man. 'And just what are you doing there?'
'Oh hello,' said the man in a slurred voice. 'I had a little to drink and then . . . Then these monkeys tied me up and . . .
Has the show started yet?'
Diseaeda vainly tried to quieten the crowd. 'You've been drinking! Don't you realize we have children in the audience?'
'That's nice,' said the clown. 'Now I really must get down fro' here and —' He struggled pathetically for a few moments, and then looked pleadingly