The Devil's Carnival

Welcome to the Show

The organ played even louder as the man straitened up and placed his hat back on his head. He again placed both his hands on the cane and watched the expressions of his unwilling guests. After a small smirk her raised the cane and brought it down on the ground with an almost metallic clank. As he did from behind them seemingly out of the shadows walked a clown dressed in bright green and on stilts. It had to be stilts although the way he walked made it look so natural one couldn’t help but wonder. He was so tall he walked right over them and the massive gates, blowing kisses and stopping to pose in some or other dramatic fashion. Swerving around his feet were five or six three foot tall clowns on unicycles each juggling bright yellow balls. Everyone looked on in awe. They were mesmerised and the more they stared the more the clowns smiled and danced, the one on stilts even bowing to Tessa who simply looked the other way. Allen was dumb struck and turned to their host. As he did he saw two slender gray arms wrap around his shoulders. For only a moment the yellow eyed stranger glace over his shoulder before turning his attention back to his guests. A young woman stepped out from behind him with fiery red hair and dressed in a white dress that left very little to the imagination. Despite the reviling gown Allen wasn’t staring at her assets. Instead he was staring at her gray skin which was covered in scales and her black eyes. She noticed him staring and slowly walked over. As she circled him she ran her claws down his arm before walking off. He was left gasping for breath and wanting to follow as she walked into one of the tents. He only got about three feet before the ring master put an arm around his shoulders and let him back to the group. “I wouldn’t do that. She will swallow you whole and eat you alive.” He may have been carefully steered away but Allen still has his eyes glued to the mysterious woman even as she disappeared into the distance. He was enthralled and almost completely hypnotised. While he had only one interest the rest of the group was equally taken by everything else that surrounded them. Three more clowns on stilts walked over them along with a few of the acts you would expect from the carnival. There was a woman with four legs who blew kisses to all around her as she sat on the shoulder of a bald man who was built like a tank. A woman dressed in a wedding gown with a second fully developed torso on her back compiled of two arms holding a bouquet of dead flowers and a second face of the back of her head which looked up at them as they passed. A young girl in a delicate black dress and her hair done up in two ponytailed how had congenital genu recurvatum and walked on all fours. Walking next to her was a massive black animal that looked something between a dog and a wolf easily four times her size with bright red eyes and massive clawed paws. It growled softly, almost affectionately, as it walked next to the laughing girl but snarled viciously at the on lookers. Although astonishing the display left the group just a little too disturbed. So much so that Tessa Parker crossed herself. “Please come, tonight’s entertainment has only just begun.” With his arm still around Allen’s shoulders the ring master urged everyone towards the big top. None really wanted to follow but felt strangely compelled. The longer they stared at the metal gates the more it looked like a cell door to keep anyone from escaping. “No, I’m not going anywhere until I find my boys.” Mrs. Gimble shouted and all eyes turned to her. She was shaking and had tears streamed down her face. She was not only as frightened and disturbed as the rest of them but with her children still missing she was now far more worried. The ring master looked at her for a moment before he released Allen, who was hardly able to stand and still looking for the strange woman, and rested both his hands on the head of the cane. He was consumed in thought and with one finger tapped the top of his other hand. “Children?” Thinking he would step up and explain they would only find the children and then leave Bob cleared his throat. As he did the ring master turned slightly to look at him. “There were two boys with us. They get excited when they saw all the lights and ran off.” Bob explained. “Of course.” The ring master suddenly looked up and snapped his fingers. “How silly of me. What other children could it possibly be?” As he stood and waited he places both hands in his cane and stared at the entrance of the tent. It wasn’t long before Edward and Alfonse walked out of the big top and stood in the doorway. The two of them stood hand in hand and smiled as children probably did at the carnival, the regular one anyway. Mrs. Gimble fell to her knees, relieved that they were unharmed. The ring master crouched down on one knee and extended an arm. The two boys ran to him and Alfonse leaped into the stranger’s arms while Edward took his extended hand. “There you are, go to your mother and you shouldn’t make her worry.” The ring master handed both the boys to Mrs. Gimble but both Mina and Danielle noticed that as she embraced them they were looking back at the ring master. The two women shared a glance and a common thought. The boys looked very uncomfortable in their mother’s arms, as if she was a stranger and they wanted desperately to return to the enigmatic man’s side.