Iron Quill - The Message - Carnage and the Vale

[James Yohe]

Carnage and the Vale

 

 

Victor sat watching as the train went through the breach. His eyes set in wonder as he played with a deck of incomplete cards he has had for a while now. The circus owner did not know what was in store for him and his troupe. Victor thought to himself, this is the price of progress and the show must go on.

 

A couple months had passed and the follies of the circus had taken a place in the Industrial zone of Malifaux.  As time passed the circus went from Penguins playing and frolicking, and trapeze artists flying through the air, to a grim and mangled sight. The circus didn’t open until midnight these nights and when it did you went to see the bizarre, the twisted and the insane. The show would start the same way every night but after that you never knew what to expect.

 

Smoke clung to the floor of the main tent like a creeping doom coming forth to engulf you and take you away. Victor would be lowered from the top of the tent, a squat man but with a booming voice. His eyes bore a blue like ice and his skin had grown ash like.

 

Victors voice boomed, “Ladies and Gentlemen!” there was no longer a, “and children of all ages”.

 

Although the kids would from time to time sneak around to try and get a glimpse of the patrons of the circus.

 

Victor continued, “What you are about to see may haunt you, it may make you scream in horror, but please do not, for we are the product of Malifaux, here for your entertainment.”

Victor leaves the center of the ring, and as he leaves a beautiful woman leading a creature enters the middle. She is wearing a pink tutu and holding a leash. Her locks of red hair cover her face and after looking trying to see her face, it is apparent the animal on the leash is an abomination. How could this be, there are a lot of things you have seen in Malifaux, but this is a sight to behold. Could it be a wolf, or a sheep, the question racks your mind and then the head of the animal being clearly that of a wolf, bites into itself taking a piece of flesh from its main body. It is clear to you that this is some sick and twisted play on the concept. The woman leads the animal around for a while and a loud scream escapes the mouth of someone in the crowd when they see her face. She has the face of a lamb under her red locks. The two work in tandem performing miscellaneous tricks. When the act is over the two leave the ring and the next act comes out.

Without any warning the tent goes black, torches around the edge of the seats pop one at time, lighting around the main ring. Out from the entrance comes a monster, is it elephant, or alligator, hippo or rhino, no one could tell. The monster crept to the center of the ring to be met by a cloud of smoke and a man, tall and slender dressed in long tuxedo tails. As the light catches the beast, the behemoth becomes clearer, the horn of a rhino, the legs of an elephant, the tail of an alligator, and the body of a hippo large and grotesque. You expected this creature to growl and snarl, but the skinny man plays a note on a pitch pipe and the beast starts to sing, a silver-tongued song, almost like a lullaby; shortly after the crowd fades to sleep. The beast keeps singing long enough for the troupe to take what they can off the patrons, not being greedy and only taking enough to not raise suspicion. The behemoth stops singing and disappears, when the crowd awakes the act has changed and the Penguins and jugglers have taken the stage. The show continues to awe and amaze the crowd; the hootchie cootchie girls come out and dance for the crowd showing an erotic flare. Dancing half-clad and in a very burlesque style.

Another night is over and Victor is back at his newly made vardo drinking tea from his gypsy grandmother’s teapot, pondering his thoughts of what they all had become. Victor was regretting his decision to come to Malifaux not knowing that it would make him and his troupe this gruesome band of thieves and abominations.
Eliza knocks on the door. Victor says, "come in", Eliza opens the door and walks in to see her lover drinking tea and she looks up at the wall to see the same broken clock that Victor continues to carry with him.

 

She looks at Victor and asks,” why do you keep that stupid clock?”

 

Victor replies “It reminds me that our time is short and that Malifaux has made us what we are.”

 

Eliza laughs, “You fool we have struck it rich here and there is no end to the possibilities.”

 

Victor throws the cup across the room and shows his anger at her comment. “Do you not see it has changed us, it has made us stygian like and greedy, twisted and cruel. I always understood you Eliza and have always thought of us as the lovers, but this is grim. We are nothing more than pawns to Malifaux, to make darker every day, this place will be the end of us, but the show must go on, and our plights will as well, I am sorry Eliza I dragged you here.”

 

Eliza clutches her lover and soothes him by rubbing his head buried in her bosom. “Shush my darling ringleader, you know sorries are like promises, they get bigger every time, and your promises are as hollow as your sorries, but I realize it is not your fault. You are right this place changes you, and it has changed us.”

 

Eliza holds Victor tight as she gazes at his neck and before he knows what has happened she is biting down hard, drawing blood from the ringleader. She gulps at his vitae and as he starts to slump, she lets go and pushes away from him. Eliza says, “Know I love you Victor, for you made me this beast”.

 

Victor slumps into slumber as the last words he hears is “Beware the honeyed words of a silver tongue.” His mind swims in the barren wastes of his own thoughts, scared, scared of what this place was, what horrors lurk everywhere, this was not his dream, but his nightmare.
Victor awoke, somewhere cold and unfamiliar, clenching at his coat he looked around to see he was nowhere he had ventured before, his neck killing him and a fear of what had happened in his thoughts. He tried to get his bearings but nothing looked familiar, a figure came out of the shadows of a building and pointed at him, “You are Victor the Ringleader, are you not.”

 

Victor in horror answered, “Yes, where am I.”

 

The figure answered, “Not to worry you are where you need to be”, the figure stepped out from behind the wall and made himself clear, it was Seamus. Seamus made a gesture to offer his hand and help Victor up. Victor took his hand only to be cut deep at the arm, blood trickling down like lifes fluid slipping from him yet again.

 

Seamus said, “Victor you are going to be sorry you ever came to Malifaux if you are not already. You see what is yours is mine and that includes your little side show of yours, oh and her.”

 

Eliza came from behind and walked right up to Seamus, kissing him deeply.
Victor astonished and bleeding felt weak and collapsed. When he awoke he was back in his vardo.

 

Eliza was hovered over him. “Wake up Victor; Wake up, it is time to deliver the message to the troupe”

 

Victor woke and said, “What message?”

 

Eliza stated, “It is time to tell the troupe we are RESSURECTIONISTS and take our place in Malifaux!!”

[James Yohe]

A side note, I tried as best as I could to catch up from October so as much as I could fit in from the ingredients are from October, November and December.

[Furio]

Really enjoyed this, but for some reason I feel a bit let down by the last sentence - it doesn't seem to fit.