Caleb & Molly, backdated to 11/27/18
Nov. 27th, 2018 10:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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ax_mainCaleb is the lucky recipient of an invitation to the Fletcher and Moondrop Traveling Carnival.
The tavern Molly walked into was impressively dreary, but that was sort of the point, wasn't it? This was most certainly a town that could use some brightening up, and that was what the Fletcher and Moondrop Traveling Carnival was here for. Well. One of the things it was here for. But it was most definitely what Molly was here for, and he planted his hands on his hips as he stepped inside to get a good look around.
He got a few stares in return, though nothing that lingered for long. That was probably a good sign. It wouldn't have made him leave regardless, but it was always good to start things off correctly. Molly started to make his way to the bar with purpose, but found himself a bit distracted by the hooded figure in the corner. Someone who hadn't bothered to look up at all at his sudden entrance. That wouldn't do at all.
It didn't take much work to acquire two drinks instead of one, and he even left a stack of the fliers he'd come to hand around on the bartop as he carted them over to that table in the corner. And blithely helped himself to the empty seat across from the cloak, setting both drinks down on the table.
"You looked like you could use one, friend."
The tankard hit the table with a thunk and Caleb looked at it, then at the one who’d done the thunking with a frown. It was a lavender tiefling with dark purple hair artfully tousled around curling ram-like horns. He had red eyes, like rubies or blood, and a quick, friendly smile that was probably trouble. His clothing was a riot of color.
“I think you have mistaken me for someone else,” Caleb said. He pushed back the hood to reveal a human with a mop of red hair and eyes a startling shade of bright blue. An observer might even almost call him handsome if it were not for the shabby clothes, and the bit of grime on his skin.
Molly cocked his head slightly at the accent, and found himself studying the human face sitting across from him. At least for a second, before he was grinning widely. "No, you seem exactly the right one. You, sir, look very in need of a carnival.”
Caleb still didn’t take the mug. His eyebrows lifted inquisitively, a bit of a smile at the corner of his mouth. “Do I?”
One elbow planted on the tabletop next to his drink, and Molly braced his chin on his hand in order to lean in and better study his new friend. Or make a show of studying him, at least. "Oh yes. Clearly in desperate need of a good time or two.”
“This is the carnival I saw them setting up this morning?” Eyeing the man distrustfully, Caleb asked, “How much will this good time cost me?” and the grimaced when he realized how that sounded. “At the carnival.”
Molly grinned widely enough to show that the innuendo hadn't gotten past him, but he let it slide. Clearly he was getting somewhere. "Not that much, I assure you. Only a few silver pieces.”
Maybe it was because it was something Nott would have like to do had she been there, or perhaps the strange man was charming in an odd sort of way. Or, maybe he was just bored, but, after a moment, Caleb found himself saying, “Okay.”
There was a brief pause, apparently Molly trying to reshuffle things in his head. He hadn't expected it to be that easy. "Wonderful. I think you'll enjoy it.”
Caleb wasn’t entirely convinced, but he was committed now. “When does the show start?”
"Tonight? Around sundown." Which wasn't that far off, honestly. Molly tipped his head as he studied him, considering. "I could take you over, if you like. Maybe get you a discount." He only held of winking by sheer force of will, but it was close.
It was hard to say no to discount, even if Caleb suspected the man was just having a laugh at his expense. “Can I bring my cat?” He only asked to be polite. Whatever the answer was, Frumpkin was coming.
Molly blinked once, eyes darting between man and feline, before he shrugged. "Sure, as long as you keep an eye on him. Can't have him distracting the performers with excessive cuteness."
“He is very well-behaved,” Caleb assured the man. “I can’t make any promises regarding his excessive cuteness, though. He is the cutest of cats.”
Well that was probably the most enthusiastic Molly had heard him sound about anything so far. "Fair enough. What's his name?”
Caleb scratched Frumpkin under the chin, smiling when he began to purr. “Frumpkin. And I am Caleb.”
"Caleb. And Frumpkin." Molly swept one arm across his waist and bowed to both of them, grinning to himself. "Molly. How do you do.”
“A pleasure to meet you, Molly.” Caleb wondered if he should offer a hand to shake, then decided it didn’t matter because he didn’t want to. “What do you do with the circus?”
"This, mainly." Molly gesture elaborately around them. "Find us an eager audience." He paused, something almost mischievous in his expression. "And maybe a little light fortune telling here and there.”
“Cards? Palms…?” Caleb asked. He had never met a fortunate teller who wasn’t a con-artist, and he doubted Molly would be an outlier.
"Card," he said with a wide, pleased grin. "Want a reading? First one's free." Well. It was now.
Well, since it was free… “Okay.” Caleb rested his folded arms on the table and leaned in to watch.
Molly dropped into the seat, flipping back his coat with a flourish as he produced a deck of cards. "Do you have a specific question you want answered? You don't have to tell me what it is, just concentrate on it.”
“Okay.” It was easy for Caleb to come up with a question. There was only one that he asked himself every day: Will I find the spell I am looking for? He concentrated on it, but said nothing, and kept his eyes on Molly’s hands.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The sky was starting to turn the reds and oranges of early evening when Caleb approached the carnival. He had been told to meet Molly just outside the entrance, and, even as a crowd of people began to gather, all of them streaming toward the flimsy wood archway decorated with fading paint and enchanted lights, he was sure he’d have no trouble spotting him. A lavender tiefling in a brightly colored jacket would be hard to miss any day, but he had a feeling that, even without all that, Molly was the type to attract attention.
Molly was indeed doing his best to gather as much attention as possible just in front of the tent door, aided by the two curved swords he was nimbly juggling as he called out for curious passersby to step inside and see something even better. And even with all that going on, he still managed to spot the human pacing through the crowd and shoot him a bright smile.
"Mr Caleb!" He called, swords still dancing through his hands. "You came!”
“Did your cards not tell you I would?” Caleb watched as the swords somersaulted in the air, their blades glinting in the lamplight. It was like they were dancing. “You did not say you juggled too.”
"The future is never set in stone," Molly said with a flash of a wider grin. "Oh, I do many things around here. Always best to keep busy." And with that, he launched the last sword higher into the air and caught it behind his back, bowing extravagantly to both Caleb and the small crowd he'd attracted.
Caleb clapped along with the crowd. “Bravo, Mr. Molly,” he said. “If the show is as good as the opening act, your troupe is giving us more than our coins worth.”
"Oh much better, I assure you." He tossed a wink Caleb's way, then gestured for him to end in to the tent behind him. "After you, honored guest.”
“Thank you.” Caleb dug the silver pieces out of his coin pouch as he walked over, and then stopped beside Molly, offering them out.
Molly collected them with a grin, vanishing the coins into his coat as he ushered Caleb inside. "Clearly for that, we're going to have to find you a nice seat right up at the front.”
“For what?” Caleb asked innocently and he gave Molly a smile.
"For being an honored guest," Molly said blithely, setting a hand briefly on the human's shoulder as he steered him towards the front row.
Caleb’s shoulders stiffened reflexively under the touch, but he let Molly guide him to his seat. “Are you really that hard-up for guests?” he joked, trying to force himself to relax.
"Ones I've hand picked myself? Of course." Hard not to notice that stiffening, but Molly still waited until Caleb was settled to pat his shoulder and moved away.
The cheap, wooden bench was not the most comfortable thing in the world, but the view it offered was undeniably the best. Caleb could see the whole ring. …He was starting to get kind of excited. It had been ages since he’d last been to the carnival. “Will you be joining me?”
Molly tipped his head to give the human an almost curious look, but smiled. "I can, if you like," he said, and proceeded to drop down onto the bench next to him with a flourish of his coat.
Caleb had never been able to get his coat to do that trick. It usually just flopped like a dying fish. “You can explain the acts to me. Give me all the best insider information, ja?” he said and, now that they were both settled, he snapped his fingers. Frumpkin appeared by his feet beneath the bench.
"Oh, if commentary is what you want." Molly grinned, pleased, even as his eyes tracked down to the mysteriously appearing cat with a thoughtful look. He glanced back at the man himself a moment later. "I should really be charging extra.”
In another time, when he was another person, Caleb would have had a joke, or a charming reply, but he wasn’t that person anymore and it eventually got to the point where saying something would be more awkward than not saying something, so he just stayed silent.
The show started, and it was like nothing Caleb had ever seen. A man juggled and threw knives, two women, identical and dressed as snakes, performed impossible acrobatic feats, another woman danced with fire… If Molly did share any of the carnival’s secrets, Caleb didn’t hear them, his attention rapt. Then, the curtains parted and an enormous creature was hauled, struggling and snarling, into the ring by two men. He was green scaled and slimy looking, like some kind of a bipedal toad or lizard. Gasps and screams went up from the audience.
At the last, Molly smiled and leaned in closer to murmur directly into Caleb's ear, "Don't worry, dear. I promise you it's entirely safe.”
Caleb gave Molly a nervous smile.
Suddenly, over the shouts of the crowd and the growls of the toad creature, a soft singing rose up and filled the room. A spotlight lit on a swing hanging high over the ring, and followed it as it was lowered. A girl in a white gown sat in it, her bare feet were gently swaying.
The singing grew louder. It was like nothing Caleb had ever heard. Hauntingly beautiful with an aching longing like…loneliness and a yearning for home, for belonging. All around him, the crowd went silent, mesmerized. Even the toad creature stopped his struggling. It had stilled completely, its eyes fixed on the singing girl like it, too, had never heard anything so angelic.
"You see?" Molly smiled, but his eyes were fixed intently on the toad creature. This was a routine he'd seen countless times, but something seemed off, even if Molly couldn't put his finger on it. He shifted unconsciously closer to Caleb, watching everything with far more intensity than it probably deserved.
An elderly man to their left suddenly lurched to his feet, his cheeks wet with tears. A garbled shout of sound escaped and, arms outstretched, he jerkily walked toward the center of the ring, his eyes fixed on the singing girl. Another tremor wracked his body, and his arms dropped, hands clutching his chest. He screamed and, suddenly, the skin on his arms began to tear, the bones splitting from the flesh, writhing, cracking. Dust and blood shaking from his wounds as his form swelled.
Caleb stared-wide eyed, the people around them beginning to shout and scream, pushing and stumbling over one another as they turned to run. Above them, the girl, no longer singing, stood on the swinging, holding on tightly, her own expression terrified. “Molly—” The old man’s body had stopped quaking, his flesh now grey and mangled like an ancient tree trunk, his eyes blood-red and bulging, his lips curled into a horrifying grimace.
The toad creature croaked, and the old man turned and lurched toward the crowd.
Molly had surged to his feet the moment the man had gotten up, swords in hand almost without his realizing it. "Something is wrong," he said to no one in particular, or maybe all of them. He locked eyes with the girl, Toya, trying to get her to go backstage even as he advanced towards the shambling man.
Quickly standing as well, Caleb said, “What? I thought you said this was part of the show?”
"I never said that!" He might have implied it, but that was different. "You should leave. Now.”
Caleb should, but, for some reason, he wasn’t going to. Heart in his throat, he called up a fire spell. “You’re going to need help.”
"Yes, and you should go get it!" The shambling figure was coming closer, and with a curse Molly flipped one of his swords and dragged the edge of it along his other arm, eyes still fixed on the old man as ice coated the blade. "Caleb, go!”
Caleb should. He really should. Pulling back his hand, he flung the ball of flame at the…whatever it was. It struck him in the side, and the rotted flesh sizzled and burned, bubbling under the fire’s heat. The man—creature—let out a bellowing shout of pain that sounded neither human nor animal, but some strange, horror-show amalgam of the two.
Molly's eyes flicked towards him, measuring for a split second before he suddenly darted in towards the wounded figure. The ice-coated blade cut into the other side, and with another inhuman noise it suddenly toppled over.
That…had been easier than Caleb had expected. “…Is it dead?” he asked, slowly lowering his hands. He glanced to Molly, then looked back to the unmoving thing.
"...good question." Molly nudged it slightly with one foot, then pulled back with a grimace. "Well. That was unexpected," he said brightly.
Which was about when someone else started screaming, body writhing the way the old man's had. “...hells."
Caleb swore in Zemnian. He turned towards the shouts to see a woman, much younger than the man had been, convulsing and contorting. “That is also unexpected.”
"You're not kidding," Molly said through gritted teeth. "Something has to be causing it.”
Molly was right. Caleb’s brain started riffling through the possibilities A sickness, maybe? No, no, this wasn’t natural. Was it a magic? Could someone have— “Where is the girl? It started when she started singing.”
"Toya?" He shot Caleb a sharp look. "No. She would never.”
“Except we just killed a walking pile of dead flesh, and there’s another one right there,” Caleb replied, gesturing at the creature that was, yup, advancing toward them, “and neither Toya or her toad-thing are anywhere to be seen.”
"Kylre?" Molly eyes darted back towards the stage. "He's a lizardman. Neither of them would have done this. It has to be a coincidence."
They didn’t have time to argue. The creature was getting closer, and they had to deal with it before they dealt with anything else. “Well, get your fancy swords ready, circus man, or we won’t have a chance to find out if you are right.”
He made an irritated, oddly inhuman sound low in his throat, but launched himself at the new figure, swinging in with his ice-covered blade. "You can still leave!”
“I paid for a show. I am going to get a show,” Caleb replied and he flung a ball of flame at the creature. It raked across her side, just barely missing her, before rocketing off through side of the tent, tearing a fist-sized hole in it.
"Suit yourself," he growled out, cleaving into the figure. This one took a bit more to go down, Molly dancing out of the way as she swung back at him. "We need to cut this off, fast.”
“Move away!” Caleb repeated the words and motions for the fireball spell, this time gathering more energy and pouring it into the magic as it took shape. The flame in his hand glowed brighter than the last, flickering with a kind of wild ferocity. Shouting another warning, he hurled it at the creature. A fireball now, it grew larger and larger as it flew through the air, until fireball didn’t seem like a good enough word for it anymore.
The massive sphere of flame slammed into the creature’s side, and immediately it was engulfed in flames. It screamed, but there was nothing ‘creature’ about the sound it let out—It sounded human, and it sounded like it was in agony. Rooted to the spot, Caleb stared as the fire devoured the former woman, and he kept staring even as the flames died out and she finally laying unmoving on the ground, a blackened husk.
"Well," Molly said after a moment, slowly lowering his swords. "That was certainly dramatic. Are you sure you're not looking for work?" He glanced over his shoulder, but Molly's ready smile slipped a little at the blank look on the human's face. “Caleb?"
Caleb didn’t seem to hear Molly. His gaze, haunted and far-away, was fixed on the still, burnt out creature. Fire filled his senses. The smell of smoke filled his nose and mouth, the taste of char was thick on his tongue, and the sound of roaring flames and screams drowned out the world around him.
A breath hissed out from between his teeth as Molly glanced back towards where the others had vanished out the back of the tent. He needed to know if the rest of the circus was safe, but he couldn't leave the human either. With a quietly muttered curse, he pulled back and slapped Caleb sharply across the face. Not hard, just enough to crack.
Caleb blinked, his eyes coming back into focus, and looked at Molly.
"There you are," Molly said briskly, and quickly leaned in to press a kiss against his forehead before he pulled away. "Come on.”
Caleb blinked again, seemingly just as stunned by the kiss as he had been the slap. “Where are we going?” he asked, already following Molly.
"To take care of this," Molly said, sounding a bit grim for the first time. "I need to make sure everyone's alright.”
“We don’t have much time. The city guard will be here at any moment, and they’re going to have questions.” Questions whose answers would point toward the circus troupe as the guilty party, and the city guard weren’t just gonna take Molly’s word that they were all innocent.
"Then we need to move." And Molly was already throwing himself out of the tent towards where he knew the others would have gone, coat billowing out behind him.
Caleb had clearly lost his mind again because, for no reason he knew, without even stopping to consider the intelligence of it, he quickly raced after Molly, Frumpkin hard at his heels.
The tavern Molly walked into was impressively dreary, but that was sort of the point, wasn't it? This was most certainly a town that could use some brightening up, and that was what the Fletcher and Moondrop Traveling Carnival was here for. Well. One of the things it was here for. But it was most definitely what Molly was here for, and he planted his hands on his hips as he stepped inside to get a good look around.
He got a few stares in return, though nothing that lingered for long. That was probably a good sign. It wouldn't have made him leave regardless, but it was always good to start things off correctly. Molly started to make his way to the bar with purpose, but found himself a bit distracted by the hooded figure in the corner. Someone who hadn't bothered to look up at all at his sudden entrance. That wouldn't do at all.
It didn't take much work to acquire two drinks instead of one, and he even left a stack of the fliers he'd come to hand around on the bartop as he carted them over to that table in the corner. And blithely helped himself to the empty seat across from the cloak, setting both drinks down on the table.
"You looked like you could use one, friend."
The tankard hit the table with a thunk and Caleb looked at it, then at the one who’d done the thunking with a frown. It was a lavender tiefling with dark purple hair artfully tousled around curling ram-like horns. He had red eyes, like rubies or blood, and a quick, friendly smile that was probably trouble. His clothing was a riot of color.
“I think you have mistaken me for someone else,” Caleb said. He pushed back the hood to reveal a human with a mop of red hair and eyes a startling shade of bright blue. An observer might even almost call him handsome if it were not for the shabby clothes, and the bit of grime on his skin.
Molly cocked his head slightly at the accent, and found himself studying the human face sitting across from him. At least for a second, before he was grinning widely. "No, you seem exactly the right one. You, sir, look very in need of a carnival.”
Caleb still didn’t take the mug. His eyebrows lifted inquisitively, a bit of a smile at the corner of his mouth. “Do I?”
One elbow planted on the tabletop next to his drink, and Molly braced his chin on his hand in order to lean in and better study his new friend. Or make a show of studying him, at least. "Oh yes. Clearly in desperate need of a good time or two.”
“This is the carnival I saw them setting up this morning?” Eyeing the man distrustfully, Caleb asked, “How much will this good time cost me?” and the grimaced when he realized how that sounded. “At the carnival.”
Molly grinned widely enough to show that the innuendo hadn't gotten past him, but he let it slide. Clearly he was getting somewhere. "Not that much, I assure you. Only a few silver pieces.”
Maybe it was because it was something Nott would have like to do had she been there, or perhaps the strange man was charming in an odd sort of way. Or, maybe he was just bored, but, after a moment, Caleb found himself saying, “Okay.”
There was a brief pause, apparently Molly trying to reshuffle things in his head. He hadn't expected it to be that easy. "Wonderful. I think you'll enjoy it.”
Caleb wasn’t entirely convinced, but he was committed now. “When does the show start?”
"Tonight? Around sundown." Which wasn't that far off, honestly. Molly tipped his head as he studied him, considering. "I could take you over, if you like. Maybe get you a discount." He only held of winking by sheer force of will, but it was close.
It was hard to say no to discount, even if Caleb suspected the man was just having a laugh at his expense. “Can I bring my cat?” He only asked to be polite. Whatever the answer was, Frumpkin was coming.
Molly blinked once, eyes darting between man and feline, before he shrugged. "Sure, as long as you keep an eye on him. Can't have him distracting the performers with excessive cuteness."
“He is very well-behaved,” Caleb assured the man. “I can’t make any promises regarding his excessive cuteness, though. He is the cutest of cats.”
Well that was probably the most enthusiastic Molly had heard him sound about anything so far. "Fair enough. What's his name?”
Caleb scratched Frumpkin under the chin, smiling when he began to purr. “Frumpkin. And I am Caleb.”
"Caleb. And Frumpkin." Molly swept one arm across his waist and bowed to both of them, grinning to himself. "Molly. How do you do.”
“A pleasure to meet you, Molly.” Caleb wondered if he should offer a hand to shake, then decided it didn’t matter because he didn’t want to. “What do you do with the circus?”
"This, mainly." Molly gesture elaborately around them. "Find us an eager audience." He paused, something almost mischievous in his expression. "And maybe a little light fortune telling here and there.”
“Cards? Palms…?” Caleb asked. He had never met a fortunate teller who wasn’t a con-artist, and he doubted Molly would be an outlier.
"Card," he said with a wide, pleased grin. "Want a reading? First one's free." Well. It was now.
Well, since it was free… “Okay.” Caleb rested his folded arms on the table and leaned in to watch.
Molly dropped into the seat, flipping back his coat with a flourish as he produced a deck of cards. "Do you have a specific question you want answered? You don't have to tell me what it is, just concentrate on it.”
“Okay.” It was easy for Caleb to come up with a question. There was only one that he asked himself every day: Will I find the spell I am looking for? He concentrated on it, but said nothing, and kept his eyes on Molly’s hands.
The sky was starting to turn the reds and oranges of early evening when Caleb approached the carnival. He had been told to meet Molly just outside the entrance, and, even as a crowd of people began to gather, all of them streaming toward the flimsy wood archway decorated with fading paint and enchanted lights, he was sure he’d have no trouble spotting him. A lavender tiefling in a brightly colored jacket would be hard to miss any day, but he had a feeling that, even without all that, Molly was the type to attract attention.
Molly was indeed doing his best to gather as much attention as possible just in front of the tent door, aided by the two curved swords he was nimbly juggling as he called out for curious passersby to step inside and see something even better. And even with all that going on, he still managed to spot the human pacing through the crowd and shoot him a bright smile.
"Mr Caleb!" He called, swords still dancing through his hands. "You came!”
“Did your cards not tell you I would?” Caleb watched as the swords somersaulted in the air, their blades glinting in the lamplight. It was like they were dancing. “You did not say you juggled too.”
"The future is never set in stone," Molly said with a flash of a wider grin. "Oh, I do many things around here. Always best to keep busy." And with that, he launched the last sword higher into the air and caught it behind his back, bowing extravagantly to both Caleb and the small crowd he'd attracted.
Caleb clapped along with the crowd. “Bravo, Mr. Molly,” he said. “If the show is as good as the opening act, your troupe is giving us more than our coins worth.”
"Oh much better, I assure you." He tossed a wink Caleb's way, then gestured for him to end in to the tent behind him. "After you, honored guest.”
“Thank you.” Caleb dug the silver pieces out of his coin pouch as he walked over, and then stopped beside Molly, offering them out.
Molly collected them with a grin, vanishing the coins into his coat as he ushered Caleb inside. "Clearly for that, we're going to have to find you a nice seat right up at the front.”
“For what?” Caleb asked innocently and he gave Molly a smile.
"For being an honored guest," Molly said blithely, setting a hand briefly on the human's shoulder as he steered him towards the front row.
Caleb’s shoulders stiffened reflexively under the touch, but he let Molly guide him to his seat. “Are you really that hard-up for guests?” he joked, trying to force himself to relax.
"Ones I've hand picked myself? Of course." Hard not to notice that stiffening, but Molly still waited until Caleb was settled to pat his shoulder and moved away.
The cheap, wooden bench was not the most comfortable thing in the world, but the view it offered was undeniably the best. Caleb could see the whole ring. …He was starting to get kind of excited. It had been ages since he’d last been to the carnival. “Will you be joining me?”
Molly tipped his head to give the human an almost curious look, but smiled. "I can, if you like," he said, and proceeded to drop down onto the bench next to him with a flourish of his coat.
Caleb had never been able to get his coat to do that trick. It usually just flopped like a dying fish. “You can explain the acts to me. Give me all the best insider information, ja?” he said and, now that they were both settled, he snapped his fingers. Frumpkin appeared by his feet beneath the bench.
"Oh, if commentary is what you want." Molly grinned, pleased, even as his eyes tracked down to the mysteriously appearing cat with a thoughtful look. He glanced back at the man himself a moment later. "I should really be charging extra.”
In another time, when he was another person, Caleb would have had a joke, or a charming reply, but he wasn’t that person anymore and it eventually got to the point where saying something would be more awkward than not saying something, so he just stayed silent.
The show started, and it was like nothing Caleb had ever seen. A man juggled and threw knives, two women, identical and dressed as snakes, performed impossible acrobatic feats, another woman danced with fire… If Molly did share any of the carnival’s secrets, Caleb didn’t hear them, his attention rapt. Then, the curtains parted and an enormous creature was hauled, struggling and snarling, into the ring by two men. He was green scaled and slimy looking, like some kind of a bipedal toad or lizard. Gasps and screams went up from the audience.
At the last, Molly smiled and leaned in closer to murmur directly into Caleb's ear, "Don't worry, dear. I promise you it's entirely safe.”
Caleb gave Molly a nervous smile.
Suddenly, over the shouts of the crowd and the growls of the toad creature, a soft singing rose up and filled the room. A spotlight lit on a swing hanging high over the ring, and followed it as it was lowered. A girl in a white gown sat in it, her bare feet were gently swaying.
The singing grew louder. It was like nothing Caleb had ever heard. Hauntingly beautiful with an aching longing like…loneliness and a yearning for home, for belonging. All around him, the crowd went silent, mesmerized. Even the toad creature stopped his struggling. It had stilled completely, its eyes fixed on the singing girl like it, too, had never heard anything so angelic.
"You see?" Molly smiled, but his eyes were fixed intently on the toad creature. This was a routine he'd seen countless times, but something seemed off, even if Molly couldn't put his finger on it. He shifted unconsciously closer to Caleb, watching everything with far more intensity than it probably deserved.
An elderly man to their left suddenly lurched to his feet, his cheeks wet with tears. A garbled shout of sound escaped and, arms outstretched, he jerkily walked toward the center of the ring, his eyes fixed on the singing girl. Another tremor wracked his body, and his arms dropped, hands clutching his chest. He screamed and, suddenly, the skin on his arms began to tear, the bones splitting from the flesh, writhing, cracking. Dust and blood shaking from his wounds as his form swelled.
Caleb stared-wide eyed, the people around them beginning to shout and scream, pushing and stumbling over one another as they turned to run. Above them, the girl, no longer singing, stood on the swinging, holding on tightly, her own expression terrified. “Molly—” The old man’s body had stopped quaking, his flesh now grey and mangled like an ancient tree trunk, his eyes blood-red and bulging, his lips curled into a horrifying grimace.
The toad creature croaked, and the old man turned and lurched toward the crowd.
Molly had surged to his feet the moment the man had gotten up, swords in hand almost without his realizing it. "Something is wrong," he said to no one in particular, or maybe all of them. He locked eyes with the girl, Toya, trying to get her to go backstage even as he advanced towards the shambling man.
Quickly standing as well, Caleb said, “What? I thought you said this was part of the show?”
"I never said that!" He might have implied it, but that was different. "You should leave. Now.”
Caleb should, but, for some reason, he wasn’t going to. Heart in his throat, he called up a fire spell. “You’re going to need help.”
"Yes, and you should go get it!" The shambling figure was coming closer, and with a curse Molly flipped one of his swords and dragged the edge of it along his other arm, eyes still fixed on the old man as ice coated the blade. "Caleb, go!”
Caleb should. He really should. Pulling back his hand, he flung the ball of flame at the…whatever it was. It struck him in the side, and the rotted flesh sizzled and burned, bubbling under the fire’s heat. The man—creature—let out a bellowing shout of pain that sounded neither human nor animal, but some strange, horror-show amalgam of the two.
Molly's eyes flicked towards him, measuring for a split second before he suddenly darted in towards the wounded figure. The ice-coated blade cut into the other side, and with another inhuman noise it suddenly toppled over.
That…had been easier than Caleb had expected. “…Is it dead?” he asked, slowly lowering his hands. He glanced to Molly, then looked back to the unmoving thing.
"...good question." Molly nudged it slightly with one foot, then pulled back with a grimace. "Well. That was unexpected," he said brightly.
Which was about when someone else started screaming, body writhing the way the old man's had. “...hells."
Caleb swore in Zemnian. He turned towards the shouts to see a woman, much younger than the man had been, convulsing and contorting. “That is also unexpected.”
"You're not kidding," Molly said through gritted teeth. "Something has to be causing it.”
Molly was right. Caleb’s brain started riffling through the possibilities A sickness, maybe? No, no, this wasn’t natural. Was it a magic? Could someone have— “Where is the girl? It started when she started singing.”
"Toya?" He shot Caleb a sharp look. "No. She would never.”
“Except we just killed a walking pile of dead flesh, and there’s another one right there,” Caleb replied, gesturing at the creature that was, yup, advancing toward them, “and neither Toya or her toad-thing are anywhere to be seen.”
"Kylre?" Molly eyes darted back towards the stage. "He's a lizardman. Neither of them would have done this. It has to be a coincidence."
They didn’t have time to argue. The creature was getting closer, and they had to deal with it before they dealt with anything else. “Well, get your fancy swords ready, circus man, or we won’t have a chance to find out if you are right.”
He made an irritated, oddly inhuman sound low in his throat, but launched himself at the new figure, swinging in with his ice-covered blade. "You can still leave!”
“I paid for a show. I am going to get a show,” Caleb replied and he flung a ball of flame at the creature. It raked across her side, just barely missing her, before rocketing off through side of the tent, tearing a fist-sized hole in it.
"Suit yourself," he growled out, cleaving into the figure. This one took a bit more to go down, Molly dancing out of the way as she swung back at him. "We need to cut this off, fast.”
“Move away!” Caleb repeated the words and motions for the fireball spell, this time gathering more energy and pouring it into the magic as it took shape. The flame in his hand glowed brighter than the last, flickering with a kind of wild ferocity. Shouting another warning, he hurled it at the creature. A fireball now, it grew larger and larger as it flew through the air, until fireball didn’t seem like a good enough word for it anymore.
The massive sphere of flame slammed into the creature’s side, and immediately it was engulfed in flames. It screamed, but there was nothing ‘creature’ about the sound it let out—It sounded human, and it sounded like it was in agony. Rooted to the spot, Caleb stared as the fire devoured the former woman, and he kept staring even as the flames died out and she finally laying unmoving on the ground, a blackened husk.
"Well," Molly said after a moment, slowly lowering his swords. "That was certainly dramatic. Are you sure you're not looking for work?" He glanced over his shoulder, but Molly's ready smile slipped a little at the blank look on the human's face. “Caleb?"
Caleb didn’t seem to hear Molly. His gaze, haunted and far-away, was fixed on the still, burnt out creature. Fire filled his senses. The smell of smoke filled his nose and mouth, the taste of char was thick on his tongue, and the sound of roaring flames and screams drowned out the world around him.
A breath hissed out from between his teeth as Molly glanced back towards where the others had vanished out the back of the tent. He needed to know if the rest of the circus was safe, but he couldn't leave the human either. With a quietly muttered curse, he pulled back and slapped Caleb sharply across the face. Not hard, just enough to crack.
Caleb blinked, his eyes coming back into focus, and looked at Molly.
"There you are," Molly said briskly, and quickly leaned in to press a kiss against his forehead before he pulled away. "Come on.”
Caleb blinked again, seemingly just as stunned by the kiss as he had been the slap. “Where are we going?” he asked, already following Molly.
"To take care of this," Molly said, sounding a bit grim for the first time. "I need to make sure everyone's alright.”
“We don’t have much time. The city guard will be here at any moment, and they’re going to have questions.” Questions whose answers would point toward the circus troupe as the guilty party, and the city guard weren’t just gonna take Molly’s word that they were all innocent.
"Then we need to move." And Molly was already throwing himself out of the tent towards where he knew the others would have gone, coat billowing out behind him.
Caleb had clearly lost his mind again because, for no reason he knew, without even stopping to consider the intelligence of it, he quickly raced after Molly, Frumpkin hard at his heels.
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