The scouting party mounted their horses and headed north, at pace along the banks of the River Blau. Bearclaw Irontooth rode side by side with Elana, the pair engaged in furious conversation regarding the target of their investigations. That left Saturin Waechter to accompany James, something that had not occurred until this moment. James had been uncomfortable initiating any serious contact with Saturin, and had few opportunities to get to know her in human form. Being less than an enthusiastic conversationalist, James was still considering his opening line when Saturin got the ball rolling and then some.

  “Well Jimmy boy! I guess that we’re stuck with one another for the time being. Seems like a good time to get to know each other better. Do you like me better as a girl, or a hound?” asked the strongly built and outgoing young enchantress.

  At first James didn’t really know how to reply, but eventually stammered out, “Well, you were pretty amazing defending those sheep from the Chimera!”. As he finished the sentence, he instantly regretted it.

  “Thanks a lot buddy. My guess would be that your world doesn’t have an oversupply of lady’s men. Or at least that’s how it seemed when I was there, and your response just confirmed it,” responded Saturin.

  “That was you?” asked James, suddenly remembering the dog in the park back in Cambridge.

  “Of course it was me, dummy! We had to check on your availability for this little soiree and I volunteered to find out if there was any competition to worry about, back in your home world. Looks like things have been going about as well for you back in your home world as they are here in the Empire. Or have you been holding someone back from us?” questioned Saturin.

  “No, nobody is waiting for me back in Cambridge, or anywhere in Scotland for that matter. Has anyone ever told you that you are rather direct, Mage Saturin?” asked James.

  “Well, maybe just a time or two. Some of us have to work harder on the personality side, if you know what I mean. We are not all gorgeous waifs like Elana over there. So, what do you do for kicks back in Cambridge, Jimmy boy?”

  This was not a conversation that James had ever imagined having in this world. Most of the characters James had met so far in this ‘Alternate Earth’ seemed so serious, and the situations which presented themselves so dire, that James hadn’t imagined a scenario where he would be able to banter with an energetic young woman such as Saturin. “Well, it probably sounds unbelievable to you but I often play elaborate board games with my friends on the weekends from school.”

  “Like draughts or parcheesi you mean?” responded the beast magic Mage.

  “Not exactly,” explained James. “The games my friends and I play are rather more complicated, and my favourite is based on your world, or so it seems.”

  “Imagine that….” said Saturin. “I don’t suppose that one of the game pieces represents me?”

  James was actually pretty surprised at Saturin’s ability to comprehend the games played by he and his friends well enough to ask such a question. Bizarrely, a thought appeared in James’s mind that he had sometimes wondered about back in his life in the United Kingdom. What if he had met a young woman that enjoyed playing and painting tabletop board games as much as James did? “I don’t have one yet, but if I did I would need two models, one to represent your human form, and the other your canine form.”

  “So you'd be painting me?” asked Saturin. “You’d better make me look damn good!”

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  “I will do my best, Saturin,” explained James. “I’m not really the best model painter.”

  “Oh boy! Here we go!” interrupted Saturin, changing the subject, and gesturing with her hand towards a group of horse drawn carts in the distance. The four companions had just crested a rise in the road and that brought the carts into view. “That’s what we are here to investigate. A ragtag bunch of carneys if ever there was one,” she said, with a note of disgust in her voice.

  James observed four large carnival coaches, each pulled by one strong horse. They did look a disreputable lot, with weatherbeaten wooden coaches and torn carnival flags. Strangely styled paintings and crazy carved likenesses advertised the acts and performers who made up the traveling carnival. It was difficult to identify the drivers of each cart as the leather reins leading up from the horse’s necks angled up to shadowed enclosures at the front end of the carnival coaches.

  “Be careful of these jokers, James,” warned Saturin, with an unfamiliar edge of seriousness in her voice. “All is not as it seems here.”

  The leading cart came to a stop as Bearclaw Irontooth and Elana halted their own horses. The three trailing coaches also pulled up behind the leader. Lord Irontooth beckoned towards the shadowed coach driver, “Who goes there?”

  The response was not immediate but eventually James noted some movement occurring within the shadows. A bespeckled wiry man with a weathered face emerged from the gloom. He wore a black leather hat and earth toned canvas clothing.

  “How may I be of service to you, sir,” asked the coach driver, in a voice laced with deception.

  “We represent Kaiser Willhelm Fredrick, and we wish to know the nature of your business in the Empire’s fine province of Sudenland?” queeried Bearclaw Irontooth.

  “Entertainment is our business, kind sir. We wish to bring our fine Carnival of Wirr to the residents of Bellsburg,” answered the weasley traveler. James dutifully noted that each of the carts had inexpertly painted on their sides somewhere: ‘The Carnival of Wirr’. Each cart also seemed to advertise its occupants. ‘The World’s Strongest Man!’ ‘Lobster boy!’ ‘The Headless Woman!’ ‘Siamese Triplets!’ ‘The Living Mummy!’ ‘Goat Headed Man!’ ‘What kind of a weird show is this?’ thought James.

  “Fine sir, would you be so kind as to allow us to inspect your carnival. The Kaiser has a Royal Caravan approaching and we will need to have you stand aside to permit its passage.” explained Bearclaw Irontooth. “In the meantime I must ensure that your fine company poses no threat to the Kaiser’s expedition.

  By this time a another carnival member, who had stepped off of the cart second in line, worked his way forward to the side of the driver wearing glasses. “Weazhat eazis eazup weazith theazese meazarks, Jeazabeazall?” asked the second man, speaking in some strange language unknown to James. He was dressed in equally tattered clothing.

  “Jeazust deazo wheazat eazi teazell yeazou teazo, Freazed.” replied the first man. He then turned towards Lord Irontooth and explained, “Of course, of course you can inspect us! We are pleased to cooperate with the Kaiser’s people. I just instructed my man to follow me onto the side of the road here,” he said, gesturing with his left arm. “He doesn’t understand English too well! The others will follow behind.”

  Sure enough, with some difficulty all four coaches were pulled off the main road by their powerful horses. James still had some trouble seeing into the shadows where the coach drivers were, but the whole carnival seemed to be cooperating.

  “I really don’t trust these guys. Jimmy boy. Looks like we’re going to need my super senses to investigate this operation,” spouted Saturin. “I need you to take my horse.” With that Saturin handed James the reins of her horse and leapt from the saddle to the ground, arriving at ground level in her canine form. Saturin, now an armored Saint Bernard, ran off towards the rear most carriage.

  The shady carnival man raised his eyebrows at the site of the energetic Animalia mage transforming before his very eyes, then observed dryly, “I could use an act like that in my show”……

  By this point the four carts were safely off the road and positioned end to end along the dry grass surrounded by rolling forest. Elana and Bearclaw were trotting around slowly, looking carefully at the carts from every angle, commenting softly to one another. James remained motionless, holding the reins of Saturin’s horse, wondering what to do next. Just then James heard the first sounds of the Royal Carriage caravan cresting the hill above the carnival inspection. Bearclaw Irontooth directed his horse towards the lead soldier of the caravan, Captain Kendrich. Behind him followed the whole group with the Chimera’s cage cart bringing up the rear.

  “All seems in order, Captain Kendrich. The carnival operator is cooperating. Proceed!” explained Bearclaw.

  The parade of soldiers descended slowly, reaching the level ground where the carnival carts were parked on the side of the road. Just as the two streams of travelers became parallel, Saturin emerged from behind the fourth cart, her nose to the carts, vacuuming up the scents undetectable to humans. Her excitement level was at a fever pitch as she ran forward along the line of dishevelled wooden carriages, smelling as she ran, then transforming back into her human form as she tumbled to the ground in a heap at the feet of Lord Irontooth’s horse. The Animal magic Lord grimaced at what he knew was coming.

  “Lord Irontooth!’” exclaimed the panting Saturin. “Demons! Loads of them!”

  Just then the cart walls facing the Kaiser’s caravan, from each of the four carnival carts, swung open, releasing hideous forms. All Hell was breaking loose.