Alexandra was debating whether to pour another glass of absinthe or to return to strong black tea. The flashing visions that had come during the card reading were subsiding, with the help of a large glass of her favorite green sin, and she was starting to feel like herself again. Deciding that tea would be a better choice, especially after Marie’s scolding, the fortune teller drank deeply from one of her remaining intact tea cups. Slowly, Alexandra set down the cup, rose and picked up the cards of her piquet deck off the floor and began sweeping the china shards into a pile on the floor.
Her cabin door flew open as Marie rushed in shouting, “Alexandra! Marguerite gave me a vial to drug Colette with so we can leave!”
Alexandra paused in her sweeping, “What did she give you?”
Marie shrugged, “I don’t know, something kind of…” She held up a vial and peered at its contents, “yellowish? She said to put half the vial in a cup of tea and it would make Colette sleep for a while.”
“Hm…” Alexandra mused, setting aside the broom and taking the vial from the acrobat and peering at it herself. “Alright then, grab three tea cups and follow me to Colette’s cabin.” The fortune teller wrapped a patchwork tea cozy around the pot of freshly brewed tea and lead the way out of her cabin and across the semicircular open space to where the ringmaster’s cabin was parked, guarded by Tom Sry.
The fortune teller nodded at the lounging Tom before rapping sharply at the door before opening it. The cabin was a wreck: chairs overturned, the few dishes shattered and lying along the base of the walls, curtains ripped off the windows and Colette sitting on the floor in the middle of the chaos, dozing against the corner of her bed. The ringmaster started awake at the sound of the knocking and scrambled to her feet, stumbling as she did so.
“Sit down,” Alexandra scolded as she righted the chairs and table, placing the teapot on it and motioning Marie to do the same with the tea cups.
Glowering, Colette reluctantly listened to her friend and slumped into a chair. Alexandra bustled about, uncovering the teapot and pouring tea into the china cups. As she poured, the fortune teller slipped the vial from her sleeve and deftly emptied half of it into one of the cups while her friend was looking the other way. Alexandra handed that cup to Colette and gave the other cup to Marie and took the last one herself.
“Drink up,” Alexandra encouraged Colette, “it’ll make you feel better.”
Reluctantly, the ringmaster raised the cup to her lips and took a small sip. “What do you want, Alex?”
“Nothing at all,” the fortune teller replied blithely as she sipped from her own tea cup, “I just thought that you could use some tea.”
Marie watched the exchange nervously as she sipped her tea, wondering if Alexandra could pull the trick off.
The three of them sat in silence until Colette had drank all but the dregs of the tea. “Alright then,” Alexandra said briskly as she rose from her seat and gathered up the china cups, “we’re off for now. I have some errands to run.”
Colette eyed the fortune teller suspiciously. “So, you came by just have a cup of tea with me?”
“Yes, of course,” said Alexandra, trying to look as innocent as possible.
Unfortunately, the ring master had known her friend too long and she rose from the chair angrily. “Alex, what did you put in my drink?” Colette lunged at the fortune teller but halfway through the motion her legs gave out beneath her and she collapsed face first into the floor.
“Come on, Marie, let’s get her to my cabin,” Alexandra sighed as she hauled the ring master up half off the floor. The acrobat hurried to assist her and together they carried the drugged woman out of the cabin.
Tom raised his eyebrows at the sight of the unconscious Colette, but remained where he was lounging by the door. “Need any help with that?” He drawled to Alexandra, as she and Marie started dragging their friend across the field.
“No, I think we’re good,” Alexandra said before pausing. “You could always get the teacups and tea pot from the table. Oh, and don’t forget the tea cozy. I spend an entire day quilting that.”
It only took a few minutes for them to drag Colette to Alexandra’s cabin, with Tom trailing behind carrying the china. Once inside the cabin, they dumped their unconscious burden into the large armchair.
“Keep an eye on her,” Alexandra said to Marie before going to a large storage closet and beginning to rummage around in it, “I don’t know how long Marguerite’s drug is going to last.”
It only took a few minutes of searching before the fortune teller found what she was looking for. “Ah ha!” She exclaimed, holding up a large coil of silken rope, “I knew I kept it around for some reason. Here,” Alexandra tossed the rope to Tom, “you know knots; tie her to the chair so she can’t get out when she wakes up. Oh, and make sure she can’t hurt herself, I don’t want to add to her distress.”
Once Tom had finished his task, Alexandra shooed him from the cabin. “Go on and help the others pack up the Cirque,” she said, “and don’t forget to have someone ready Colette’s cabin for flight. Oh, and make sure to help Marguerite with packing up my tent, I’m sure she’ll need it.”
“Alright, I’ll see you in the air then,” Tom gave her a mock salute and sauntered across the field to make sure the packing and flight preparations were going smoothly.
“Now then,” Alexandra turned to Marie, “we need to make everything in my old ship is ready for flight. Go up on top of the cabin and check to make sure the rigging isn’t tangled and that the balloon is ready to be completely filled.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Only a few short hours later the entire Cirque was packed and in the air, beginning the journey to their next destination. Asmodeus’s airship led the way, steering confidently across the bright blue sky with the rest of the ships trailing behind in a long, winding caravan.
Alexandra’s brightly coloured ship followed closely behind the magician’s. The fortune teller herself was seated in a swiveling leather and brass armchair in the small cockpit of her ship. The controls rested in front and to either side of her and above them was a large, three sided bay of windows. Alexandra deftly guided the ship with years of practice and was ignoring the commotion going on in the main cabin behind her.
Colette, having finally awoken from the drug induced sleep, was struggling against the ropes and yelling, occasionally incoherent with rage, at the other occupants of the cabin. Relaxing in one of the other comfortably upholstered chairs, Marguerite was knitting a pair of long, complicated lace gloves and was completely ignoring the shouting of the ring master. Marie was perched anxiously on a spindly, painted wood chair and was doing her best to not to meet Colette’s eyes as she yelled at the acrobat.
“Marie! If you don’t get me out of this chair right now, I swear I’ll—
“Don’t do it,” Marguerite said warningly to the young woman, “she won’t actually do anything to you. But we should probably keep her tied up until she wears herself a bit. Although, if she doesn’t I could always drug her again.”
“You traitor!” Colette screamed, following with a storm of rather imaginative profanity.
“Calm down,” Alexandra said over her shoulder through the curses, “this is for your own good, you know. We can’t have you going around and killing people, no matter how awful they are. You’d have gotten the whole Cirque into trouble. Believe me, it’s much better this way.”
The ring master quieted, but continued to mutter and swear to herself.
“So, where are we going, exactly?” Marie asked Alexandra as she peered out of one of the large windows at the fields and forests that passed below the airship.
“No idea,” the fortune teller replied as she pulled a lever to adjust the speed of the ship, “Asmodeus didn’t tell me where we were going and I have to trust his judgment on this one. But I’m sure wherever he takes us; it’s going to be an adventure.”
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