“Ladies ad gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to Circus Epsilon!” from the middle of the huge canvas tent a loud voice boomed across the multitudes of anxious chitter chattering crowds who filled the towering stands surrounding the circus ring. Immediately the circus band played a jovial tune as a few clowns came rushing out to humour the crowds with their antics. The crowds marvelled over their skilful juggling, but were soon overcome with laughter when the clowns started to disagree with each other; they slapped, wrestled, threw pies and chased each other out of the tent.
“Next, we present you our talented little acrobats, the Tumbling Ten!” announced the ringmaster energetically. Then, ten children no more than five feet tall streamed into the circus ring while doing cartwheels and somersaults, each of them adorn in identical white costumes with yellow streaks running along the sides. They awed the crowd with their splendid display as they leaped, flipped and rolled while forming various formations. But they saved their best stunt for last. As the drum roll begun, four little tumblers spun into position and held their ground forming a horizontal row. Then three little tumblers cart wheeled and leaped into place above the four, followed by two more tumblers which made a running leap, landing right at the shoulders of the earlier three.
The atmosphere tensed as all eyes shifted to the last remaining tumbler which stood before the gigantic human pyramid. The drum roll continued to play, the child took one step back, made a short run and stomped on a small springboard protruding from the ground, launching him high into the air, and landing him at the peak of the human pyramid. Wobbling slightly, he stretched out his arms to regain his balance, but soon raised them high above his head as he beamed broadly to mark his success. The crowd cheered loudly at the spectacular feat.
“Flying high and free on the trapeze, next up, we bring you the High Flyers!” the crowd went wild at the announcement of the ringmaster. But amidst the excitement, a mysterious dark figure hidden in the shadows at the top of the stand not far away from me caught my eye. He had a hood over his head and a cape over his shoulders concealing his appearance. Unlike the other spectators, he did not show any expressions or gestures, he was just standing there watching, watching the circus ring motionlessly.
I found it rather odd, as he could not be security personnel; usually circus personnel have their respective uniforms and would bear the circus emblem. Maybe he is an assassin who was there to assassinate someone of high rank. That was just a thought, but I knew for sure that a commotion would take place. So I decided to leave the place to take shelter just in case anything would happen.
Unfortunately the steps leading down the stands were just beside that shady figure, I dreaded for a moment, thinking if I should proceed, but decided to go on anyway. When I was approaching the stairs, the tent fell silent as the ringmaster continued to make another announcement. “Tonight, we have a special treat for all of you, our most valued guests – tonight, for the first time ever, we present you our latest addition to the show, a majestic beast known as the Pterippus!”
Gasps of astonishment and amazement rose from the crowd. “Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, feast your eyes on the Pterippus! The mystical winged horse!” declared the ringmaster as the circus crew unveiled a large cage set in the middle of the circus ring. Within the cage was a horse like creature as white as snow, it had big wings which were folded by its sides.
“Shame on you humans, what right do you have to hold such majestic beast in captivity…” muttered the dark hooded figure which I now stood just a few feet away from. “Now Di-yan!” came a voice from far behind me which I did not pay attention to as my focus was on the dark character. He stepped up, withdrew his hood revealing a cleanly shaved head bearing a serious look upon his tanned face, he shouted “SPARTANS ENGAGE!!” Instantly there was a loud explosion at the circus ring and in a flurry, it was consumed by a smoke screen.
The whole circus crew was caught by surprise by the sudden commotion. The whole circus was thrown into chaos; people were screaming and running wild rushing towards the nearest exits in panic. I could see a few more caped figures jumping into the smoke heading straight towards the cage. Shortly after that, the Pterippus flew up high above the stands, it circled it a few times and shot straight through a ventilation flap at the ceiling of the canvas tent.
Much investigation had been done on that incident, and on the group of caped figures who caused it. The authorities claimed that it was the job of the band of rangers who roamed the central forest of Eepo. They were never caught as there were none others who knew those forests as well as they do. They called themselves Spartans, as a code name.
The Wandering Minstrel,
Rong Tau
No comments:
Post a Comment