The Great Tent

The circus tent, in Alexander's opinion, must have been a vile mockery of the kind of tents the great Khans of the Steppes had dwelt within. As he, Roxana and Olga all approached the tent where the laughter of Herr von Fell and his minions could be heard from within, the first thing that the Northern caracal noticed was Beelzebub beating the ground with a rather large tree branch. It seemed that the Monkey-Man had found himself a club. Wonderful.

Olga paid no mind to Beelzebub, she merely walked right past him, carrying the knife to return it to Herr von Fell. Upon noticing the little girl, the Monkey Man ceased beating his club against the ground and grunted to his master. Immediately, Herr von Fell ceased his laughter and Alexander and Roxana could see the Devil turn around upon the chair he was sitting and glare malevolently down at the Romani girl.

Seeing his knife, the Exiled Herr uttered: "So, you were the one who took my knife."

"Y-Yes, sir." Replied Olga, shaking a bit as she looked into Herr von Fell's coal black eyes. "I-I borrowed it without asking to help my mother."

Taking the knife from Olga, the Prussian stared at the knife, inspecting it. Without even looking away from the blade, he said to his minions: "Grab her, she can have her head crushed first!" He did not even look as Salazar took hold of the little girl, screaming for help, he merely put his knife down on a stool and instructed Salazar: "And gag her with that bandana of hers, Charles. With her screaming I might lose my concentration. I do not wish to kill or injure Young Alan here… Not yet anyway."

Alexander and Roxana watched as Olga was pulled aside, her bandana indeed being used to gag her. This was followed by Herr von Fell picking up his crossbow and firing a bolt, while Beelzebub returned to beating the ground with his club, his back turned to the two caracals, not even aware they were present and for good reason: the moon had been obscured by a cloud and the two felines, standing beneath a nearby wagon, were not as noticeable to the troglodyte, whose species was strictly diurnal.

Sneaking out from under the wagon, Alexander and Roxana both kept their golden eyes upon Beelzebub. He was still just pounding away at the ground with his club. Creeping ever closer towards the entrance of the large tent, the two caracals continued to keep their eyes on Beelzebub and when he finally ceased banging his club, the two grimalkins froze.

Straightening his back, the Albino Chimpanzee brought his free hand to his right shoulder and pulled off a clump of white fur. The shocked grunts that the Monkey-Man emitted were followed by Beelzebub dropping his club and proceeding to pull more clumps of fur from his body than he should have been able to with such ease. What followed was a horrified cry from the Troglodyte. He was going bald!

Continuing on their way into the tent, Alexander and Roxana both crept behind the seating. From where they were located, they could see everything perfectly. Alan was tired to a spinning wheel with crossbow bolts on various portions of the wheel, but thankfully, he was unharmed. Gemma and Olga were close to one another, both bound and gagged while the Cortes family were just bound. Salazar, Diego and Carol were all nearby with Salazar close to Gemma and Olga, Diego close to the Cortes family and Carol close to Herr von Fell, upon whose shoulder Hermann was perched.

What was also in the tent, was something mammoth in size, one of the behemoths spoken of in the Bible, or a dragon perhaps. Alexander knew not what the beast was, but he had just seen his first elephant.

It was not an Africa elephant. This was no Jumbo, falsely called the "Giant African Elephant". It was an Asian elephant and for all his moral failings, Herr von Fell was a more honest man than that American Phineas Taylor Barnum ever had been.

Suddenly, Hermann grew tense. Turning his head, the Golden Eagle's gaze fell upon the seating that Alexander and Roxana were behind. Even obscured, the two caracals could feel the raptor's eyes upon them.

From behind the seating, the felines could hear Beelzebub approach his master. Grunting as he typically did, what followed was a pained cry from Beelzebub and Alan exclaiming: "There was no need for that!"

"Boy, there is always need for that when it comes to Beelzebub." Replied Herr von Fell. Upon hearing a screech from Hermann however, Herr von Fell's demeanor changed. Rather than annoyed and spiteful, the old man rose to his feet and asked the eagle: "What is it? What do you sense?"

Alexander's eyes widened. To some extent could the Devil actually understand that bird of his? Humans that could understand the tongue of the beasts, the birds and the bats, who were both but neither, was something Alexander thought impossible. An animal may have been able to understand a human, but could a human have been truly capable of understanding an animal?

Alas, Alexander knew not.

Hearing the footsteps of Herr von Fell, the two caracals proceeded to move, only hoping that the Exiled Herr was not about the appear in the direction they were moving. As they turned a corner, they heard Salazar inquire: "See anything, sir?"

"There is someone here." Herr von Fell replied. "Hermann knows it to be so!" Upon hearing the elephant make a rumbling noise, the Devil chuckled and uttered: "Yes, you want to crush some heads don't you, old girl? As they say in India 'In with his head!'"

Now located in a different part of the tent, Alexander and Roxana looked up from behind some items: a stool, a sack and a crate. Herr von Fell was returning to his seat and the two caracals could see the back of the wheel that Alan was bound to.

"Is that to be my fate as well, Herr von Fell?" asked Alan. "To have my head crushed by a pachyderm?"

Pachyderm? What an odd word. Alexander almost thought it sounded incorrect.

"My boy, I have a different plan for you." Answered Herr von Fell, quite nonchalant in tone. "I will take you back to my estate, while having Adolph absent of course, let you out into the cloisters and hunt you myself! If the spotted hyenas don't get you, and we certainly know the cheetahs won't, then I will." From where he was located, Alexander could see the Exiled Herr take hold of his eagle-headed cane and proceed to tap it against his right boot. "And your dear friend Gemma here will be in my circus for the foreseeable future, either until her attractiveness fades or until I die, I am sixty-eight after all, but I could live longer. My father was seventy when I killed him in a 'hunting accident', for all I know he could have lived to be one hundred. I will not take her as my wife, I will not pollute my good German blood by taking a wife of English descent… Yes, I will not pollute my good German blood as your half-German grandfather did by marrying your half-Irish grandmother!"

"My grandparents were worth ten of you!" Alan roared, fighting against the bonds that held him to the wheel.

All eyes fell upon Herr von Fell as began to stroke Hermann with a cold, murderous look in his coal-black eyes. Gemma, Olga and the Cortes family all stared in horror, Diego and Carol both smiled, but it was Salazar alone amongst the Devil's minions who grew nervous.

"S-Sir! Might I remind you that your plan is to kill Alan on the estate, not here under the big top." Uttered Salazar. Perhaps the rumour of him having been a torturer to the King of Italy had been little more than that.

Herr von Fell did not answer. Keeping his eyes upon Alan, the Devil ceased stroking Hermann's feathers and snarled one word: "Blind!"