The Sideshow: Part 1
I pushed back the canvas flap and entered the dimly lit tent – invisible to their eyes. The grizzled ticket taker was asleep at his podium.
My eyesight was keen even in the low light. Chains rattled behind the faded curtain. The perverse MC swept onto the stage and bowed.
“Ladies and Gentleman, prepare yourselves. You are about to enter the world of the strange and grotesque,” he said, pausing as the curtain rose. “Before you is The Half Born, a creature who is more beast than man. His feats of strength are unmatched, and he feels no pain.”
The audience cheered.
The creature pulled at his chains and issued a deafening roar. A woman near the front screamed.
The MC held out his hands. “Do not be alarmed. The monster will not hurt you,” he said. “Those chains have been specially spelled against his strength.”
The audience saw a terrifying monster, but I watched as fury turned to pain and shame carefully hidden under rage. This man was no monster, simply a tool being used and abused for profit.
I looked away as a black-cloaked figure appeared on stage with a Cat o’ nine tails in his hand. The crowd’s noise roused the ticket taker.
I moved back to the tent flap and materialized.
The ticket taker beckoned me over with a stained, gnarled finger.
“Best show on the whole midway,” he said. “Are you brave enough, Dearie?”
I smiled. “You have no idea,” I said. “How does one hire on?”
He cackled and turned his attention to the papers on the podium.
“You hire on?” he said, sneering. “Impossible. We’ve got no place for soft handed ladies.”
I pulled back my hood and held my ground. His eyes darted from the scar running across my face to my pointed ears. He swallowed and my grin widened.
“Perhaps you’ll reconsider?” I said. “I’m not as soft as I look.”
He recovered his composure. “We ain’t got room for another act, but maybe you can give the creatures their slops.”
I no longer cared about earning a wage. Any position in this pit would do. I held out my hand.
“It’s an accord,” I said.
He spat on the ground. “You can hire on, but I ain’t touching Dark Elf filth,” he said. “Get out of my sight.”
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